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Three (3!) Things Thursday – super depressing edition

Jan 12th, 2012
by gazelle.
9 comments

1. Last night’s swim wasn’t very good. I’m trying to not be too hard on myself. I got dressed (first time since Monday morning!), left the house (again, first time since Monday!), and got in the water. Also, I looked cute in my maternity suit. BUT – after 250 yds, I started to cramp up in my lower abdomen. Ordinarily, I’d just push through it via my patented process of “ignore the pain until it either goes away or completely sidelines you for an entire season.” However, I am trying to be a good girl and NOT push through pain right now (apparently not as recommended in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy, or honestly, in life). So, I stopped for a breather. Eventually I decided that maybe it was dissipating enough that I could give it another go. yeah, not so much. I ended up walking in the last bit of that lap as soon as my feet touched the ground.  I wouldn’t have been so alarmist, except that’s where all the false labor contractions started earlier this week, and I really would like to not do that again for at least 10 more weeks. SO – all that being said, I totally forgot to have the Ambitious One take a picture of me in my cute maternity suit. SORRY!  Pretend, instead, that this is me:

(used under creative commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic)

 

2. My dad is finally awake again after his surgery on Tuesday. I don’t think he’s very alert yet, but he was extubated this morning & is breathing on his own. I am going to try not to talk about this too much on my blog because (a) my family reads this blog, and I’d like to try to keep this as a place we don’t have to deal with this too much; (b) I write this blog and am trying super hard to be upbeat, positive, and wicked relaxed/Zen, because I hate crying while writing blog posts;  and (c) I am not here trying to garner sympathy or whatever. Shit happens. Currently shit is happening to my family. And that shit has happened in the form of brain tumors. There is good news – the largest tumors were successfully removed via the surgery. And now, there is waiting. Waiting for the biopsy results so a treatment plan can be made. Waiting for my dad to fully wake up from the surgery. Waiting to find out prognosis. Waiting to have this baby – in NOT LESS THAN 10 WEEKS, Alvie, so stop punching me in the cervix…that avenue is closed – so that I can take him to meet his grandfather.

(I was secretly pregnant in this picture. Please admire how I am managing to NOT look like I’m five seconds away from barfing on everyone! I am a champion!)

3. Um – so something happy? Alvie Bean is super active this week, and when he’s not punching me in the cervix, it’s actually kind of fun. The architect has got to feel a lot of kicks in the last couple of days, which is awesome, because previously the fetus would freeze up every time someone even thought about touching my belly. (He has a bit of performance anxiety.) (Funny side story – I got home from the pool last night as said to the architect, “Guess who kept punching me in the cervix while I was trying to swim?” His response, “The Ambitious One?” ha ha ha ha – fortunately, not.  I think I couldn’t be friends with her anymore if that were the case!  :) )

 

This is a dramatic reenactment, as that is not my belly, and as far as I know, those hands do not belong to the architect. (Used under Creative Common License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) )

 

So – there you are. I hope I didn’t bum anyone out too much. I am going to try to be my regular glass half-full, sunny side up, cheery person, blue skies, puppies, rainbows & unicorns self soon!

Happy (?) Thursday!

The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 12 (Back to reality)

Jan 3rd, 2012
by gazelle.
4 comments

Oh, people. I am at work! The 12th day of gazellemas sucks.

There were only 98 new emails, though! That was good.

I had a fantastic New Year’s weekend. I was at the coast with the architect & 8 other good friends. There was so much good food! And lots of wine & booze & beer….and San Pellegrino Aranciata, and Italian Soda (or “pregnant juice” as at least one person called it).

We had a great house right on the beach next to Haystack Rock. The weather was beautiful on New Year’s Day, and then we got a taste of the stormy weather yesterday as we were leaving.  The Cannon Beach vacation guide said that the whales would be migrating by from 12/26 – 1/1, but I didn’t see any. SAD!

I have tons of pics, but haven’t yet downloaded them from the camera, so you’re stuck with this fabulous pic from the Ambitious One on our New Year’s Day walk (it was supposed to be a run, but it turns out I can no longer do that without wanting to cry. Of course, not running also makes me want to cry, which sucks.) ANYWAYS – I walked a couple of miles (and ran for about 2 minutes) on New Year’s Day to keep up my tradition of doing a run every year on New Year’s Day (or 1/2) since 2007. Any my friends, being the awesomesauce people that they are, walked that 2 miles with me before doing a run of their own.

Good times. Good people. And a great sign for a fantastic new year. 2012 is going to be awesome, isn’t it?

 

On the the twelfth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Twelve days of blogging

Eleven hours remaining

Ten friends celebrating

Nine goals a-making

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 8 (2011 In review)

Dec 30th, 2011
by gazelle.
1 comment

First of all, I need to mention that I fell asleep about 11:30 pm last night and then: I slept until almost 7 AM! I woke once & briefly about 5, but did not need to get up. I’m sure those of you who aren’t/have never been pregnant (or closely associated with a pregnant person) are not sure why that’s news-worthy, so let me enlighten you.  This is probably the 3rd or 4th time since late July that I haven’t had to get up to pee at least once. I don’t know if you remember me bitching about remodeling our bathroom in August – the month of no running water in our upstairs (read: bedroom adjacent) bathroom. I know you didn’t know I was pregnant, but I was, and holy balls, that sucked the big one.

ANYWAYS – looking back! Such an interesting year. A lot of surprises – mostly  good ones.  How did I do with my 2011 goals, you (probably don’t) ask?

Well – let’s just look at that, shall we?

 

  1. Run a half marathon by the end of June. – FAIL! In fact, I didn’t run a half marathon all year. I only had one run over 13 miles, even. Boo!  However, it took a LOT longer to recover from my foot surgery, and just as I was getting into the swing of things, I got myself all knocked up.
  2. Read 52 non-paranormal romance books, including at least 12 from my Nobel Prize list. – FAIL! I only read about 50 books (not counting textbooks) total in 2011, and only 2 were from my Nobel prize list. There’s no way a majority were not brain candy.
  3. SIRASANA! With no wall support. – SUCCESS! Albeit, briefly. I did hit this pose a couple of times, for short periods of time. This is something I will never stop working on.
  4. Take fencing classes. – FAIL!  Due to school/work/pregnancy, this, too, was put off.
  5. Achieve contentment with my body (which may be a combination of weight loss and muscle gain) – EH??? I don’t know. Pregnancy has really thrown this off.
  6. Take a few risks that may lead to happiness. – SUCCESS! Job risks, Toast risks, getting knocked up risks….
  7. Secret Goal that I don’t want to talk about – FAIL! Job changes really got in the way of this (btw, it involved a career switch, and I did interview for a new job in January/February 2011, and was a finalist, but it was not to be….)
  8. Finalize my capstone paper topic and get ready to finish grad school! – SUCCESS! I have only 7 weeks left until I’m done with grad school! YAY!
  9. 5K PR – FAIL!  Again with the recovery from foot surgery + getting knocked up. 2013 is my new year of the runner!
  10. Successful cheddar cheese! – SUCCESS! I love cheese.
  11. Eliminate all non-mortgage & non-student loan debt. – EH….I am in much better shape now than at the beginning of the year. Of course, I’m sure that having a baby will make all my financial dreams come true, right?

 

Overall – even though it looks like I had an approximate 50% fail rate for goals, I am okay with the ones that are fails. I failed for good reasons (i.e. not pushing too hard during surgery recovery, getting pregnant, getting a new job that changed a few of those goals), and I am pretty happy with my 2011 overall.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for – both here in PDX, back in South D, and in the internets, as well as the best architect in the land. I’m having a great(ish) pregnancy, I’m almost done with school, I got a promotion at work (and no longer feel one step away from failure at work), and life is pretty damn good.  There are still changes I want to make with my life and my job and all sorts of things, but overall, I’m generally pretty content.

***First the song, and then I will reward (punish?) you with a photo recap of the year!***

On the eighth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

 

January 2011:

February 2011:

March 2011:

April 2011:

 

May 2011:

 

June 2011:

 

July 2011:

 

August 2011:

September 2011:

 

October 2011:

 

November 2011:

 

December 2011:

 

 

I am pretty excited to see what 2012 will bring. It certainly won’t be boring!

 

 

Weekend in Review – a bit late

Dec 20th, 2011
by gazelle.
2 comments

Yeah – this usually happens on Monday. As it happens, I spent Monday on the couch, moaning dramatically (which did not seem to impress the cats, at least not enough for them to fetch me important things like cocoa or the remote).

I had a great weekend. Really awesome. BUT – I may have overdone it a bit. This is something I struggle with ALWAYS, and especially now.

Anyways – on to the fun!

Friday, I hit the Hatha 2 yoga class with my friend & fellow preggo Emily. It was pretty awesome, although I totally tipped over once. I’d like to blame my balance issues on pregnancy, but am pretty sure that they’ve always been with me. After yoga, we did a 5-mile hike in Forest Park (in 90 minutes, bitches!), and then refueld with brunch at Besaw’s. Yum.

Then I shopped at the Nike Employee Store (Yay!) and picked up gifties for the architect. I also really had to resist buying tiny UO onesies for Alvie. CUTE.

By the time I got home Friday, I was wiped out.

Saturday, I planned on going to the prenatal yoga class, and got up and dressed in my yoga finery. I knew the class was at noon, but just before 10, decided to check to ensure it really was noon and not 11:30 or 12:15 or something. Yeah. It was at 10. I didn’t so much make it. :(   The Wednesday prenatal class that I’d previously attended is at noon. Not so much the weekend one. Oops!

Instead I went grocery shopping and then made a delivery to east Vancouver before heading home to collapse in a pile of sore and mentally prepare for Zoolights! I have never been to Zoolights, even though I actually worked at the Zoo for the first couple of years I lived in Portland AND have been a Zoo member for the entire time. I have worked at the opening night of Zoolights, but never actually went in.

The architect & I met up with friends, and we rode MAX over to the Zoo. It was fun – and I’m glad we went. However, now we know that we ride the train FIRST, and not after walking around. Due to the 1 hr and 20 min wait for the train, we decided to just leave. We went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner (the architect was likely reminded of home, as this is a pizza chain common in the South) and then home to bed.

Sunday was naked santa nut brunch day!  (hee.) Some friends and I got together for brunch (delicious french toast bake, bacon, chocolate croissants, mimosas, OJ, toffee), then a naked lady exchange, then secret santa gift exchange, then the Nutcracker! So fun. (There was no actual nudity – sorry!)

Again, I was totally wiped out, and spent the rest of the day doing….nothing? I don’t even remember. I made chili and cornbread (which was delicious), but am not sure I did anything else.

 

We clean up nice, don’t we? Also, I am short. And blueberry-esque.

Anyways – I have all of next week off, and am planning on sleeping and working on my capstone, and sleeping. I cannot wait. I just need to get through this week of crazy work, and then 11 days in a row of no work! YAY!

 

Happy week! AND Happy Chanukah to all who will begin celebrating tonight!

So tired I didn’t even notice there was no post title for almost 5 hours….

Dec 5th, 2011
by gazelle.
5 comments

Every 2-3 weeks, I get a few nights of weird insomnia. Last time, I was waking up in the middle of the night & being awake for 4-5 hours. This weekend, it was inability to fall asleep. Saturday night, I was up until nearly 6 am, then awake for a half hour from 8-3:30, and then asleep until just after 10.  That did not so much make for a productive Sunday. I pushed myself to stay up all day Sunday, doing important things like “watching Netflix” and “reading” (and making dinner), but not getting anything I’d actually planned to do done. Then, last night, I went to bed at about 9, convinced that I was tired enough that I’d fall asleep instantly. Not so much. However, I did fall asleep right around midnight, so it wasn’t terrible. However, today is not so much an “awake” kind of day.

Friday & Saturday were pretty good days.

Friday morning, I met up with Emily for a Hatha 2 class. I felt pretty awesome about myself after finishing the class, since I haven’t been doing as much yoga the last 4 months or so. Until the teacher said he’d kept it at more of a 1.35 level.

After class, Emily & I continued our day of fun with a 3.5 mile hike in Forest Park – over 600 feet of elevation gain! Go us!

After finishing the hike, I headed out to meet another friend for Mexican lunch! YUM!

Check out these ginormous burritos:

IMAG0678

Even as a ravening pregnant beast, I could barely get through half…it sure was delicious later, though!

 

Friday afternoon was spent working, then relaxing with the architect.

Saturday, I was pleasantly sore from Friday’s exercise. I got up, made pancakes (still obsessed – best meal ever!), did a little work, and then headed over to my friend Lisa’s so she could help me put my marathon shadowbox together. Yes, my marathon was, in fact, over two years ago. BUT – I am not this kind of crafty, and definitely needed help. I think it turned out pretty good!  (Also, she & her husband gave me water and hot chocolate, and cheese and cookies! They are awesome.)

IMAG0681-1

 

Now I just need to find a place to hang it so everyone who comes over knows how awesome I am.

Saturday night, the architect & I went to Laurelwood Brewing for our annual Vinter Varmer beer drinking! Vinter Varmer is my all-time favorite winter seasonal beer. I first had it with my friend Kim in 2006, and she & I did Vinter Varmer days until she left Portland. Now, I go with the architect, take a picture of the beer, and taunt her with the pic of delicious beer text her the photo as a sign of friendship.

IMAG0682 The architect’s beer. Not as taunty this year, unfortunately.

Saturday night was the aforementioned not sleeping, and I honestly did not accomplish anything Sunday. Nada. Zip. I mean, I did make dinner, but it really didn’t turn out well (which is odd, for me – I am usually more than proficient in the kitchen).

I am still tired today, and am having trouble being productive at work. I have meetings from 1-4 this afternoon, and then am packing it up and heading home.

Tonight’s strategy for sleep: Get on the bike trainer for 45 minutes when I get home. Do upper arms weights for 15 minutes. Make dinner. Eat. Homework until 9:00.  Warm Shower. Bed with “Men in Tights” on our new bedroom TV (it’s one of my “fall asleep movies”).  I was thinking of trying herbal tea with bedtime, but (a) I hate tea and (b) Beverages and bedtime do not equal a nice long sleep.

(Pregnancy-safe) Suggestions for getting to sleep at night? I am definitely open to trying new things, here.

Happy week!

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