babies, babies, everywhere!

I've had a fabulous couple of weeks. New York was great and the conference was oh, so informative. The best part was spending time with the girls all over New York. Allie, Luisa, Sabina and I stayed at Hotel Mela together in Times Square and I got to catch up with Laura and Lesley, as well as Sal and Enrique. I had one of the best meals of my life at Babbo and we even got to meet chef Mario Batali. I feel so lucky that I got to take this trip while I am still feeling good (even though I am huge) and it really made me appreciate these friends that much more. Everyone was so easy going and fun to travel with. I love these ladies!

After New York, I headed home to SF for one day and spent 4 hours at work before Damon and I drove the Susanville to spend Thanksgiving with the family. While home, I learned that Kathryn was checked in CPMC and delivered her precious little one, Juliana on November 20th. She is so beautiful! It sounds like their experience didn't go according to plan, but I am sure that that is the way most births must go. I must remember to keep an open mind once we start thinking about the whole birthing process. I can't even think about it yet because I know I will start tripping out. Anyhow, Juliana is amongst us now, and I, again, feel so fortunate that we will be raising our little one alongside Jeremy and Kathryn. What wonderful parents they will be (I guess I should say, are), and I look forward to sharing poopie stories and watching them grow together. I can't wait to meet her.

We drove to Reno on Tuesday night and hung out with Missy for a short spell. Wednesday morning we headed to Susanville and had some quality time with the family. We had a delicious meal, prepared by my mom, for Thanksgiving, and spent lots of time watching baby Tyler and football. Tyler is about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He spends most of his time laughing and checking out everything around him. I love him so much and hope that my little baby is as wonderful as he is.

some thoughts

This weekend I had the good fortune to spend lots of quality time with friends. Damon and I met up for dinner with my new friend Anne and her husband. It’s pretty marvelous that Anne and I met and have the same due days and we can run things by each other and truly empathize what the other is currently going through. I spent the day on Saturday inside reading, since it was a depressing, rainy day. I read Anne Lamott’s book, Operating Instructions, which is a great book about the first year of her son’s life. She is a great writer, and although she is pretty religious, she is also very politically liberal and a feminist and I love how real and honest she is as a writer. One minute she’s writing about the beauty and joy of being a mother and the next she is stating that her son is scum. It seems very refreshing and genuine to have someone tell it like it I imagine it is. There is one quote from her book, which I’m sure I’ll screw up, but it’s something like how becoming a mother opens and blossoms this whole part of your heart that you don’t even know you have. I think that is what I am looking forward to the most—loving and putting someone else before myself, always. Becoming a parent is truly a selfish and completely selfless thing, all at the same time.

I also met up with a bunch of other pregnant ladies for brunch on Sunday. It was great to hear perspectives and thoughts and it really made me realize what a shift is going to happen in our lives socially. It also made me realize that I have some amazing friends already. It’s a little strange, because Damon and I are the first ones in our close circle of friends to have a baby. Ever since we found out the pregnancy news, I have been very worried about things changing and friendships shifting and possibly ending. But man, I have some awesome friends. Although most of them (dare I say nearly all) are not in the same places in their lives as Damon and me (many don’t want kids; many are single; many aren’t ready), they are sincerely happy and excited for us, and go out of their way to show it. They aren’t feeling (or at least voicing to me) much anxiety about the change and I appreciate that they can look outside how this birth might personally affect them and see what it will be bringing us. They can see our joy and excitement around this birth and they support us completely. I feel so fortunate to have such a loving “village” of friends and family that is going to help us raise this child.

See, Angela, I can write some emotional stuff.

kicker

Damon was giving me a hard time about not posting more often, so here it is. Not much has been going on in the pregnancy front, just getting bigger and bigger and feeling more and more movement. It's pretty constant these days, but I can especially feels the tummy-a-movin when I am still. Damon has felt the baby moving a few times as well and yesterday he felt several of the movements at once. It's hard not to make people feel my belly when it's moving, as it is so distracting, but I figure people will ask if they want to feel it. I think this baby is taking after it's mama since it gets very excited during and after I'm eating. Now that the baby is hearing, Damon is reading us The Golden Compass, but he is mad because the last time he tried to read to us, I was messing around, and now he's threatening not to read anymore. I do hope he continues, because I enjoy this time with the whole family. Usually, both cats join us as well.

I am excited to be going to New York next week for a conference. Many teacher friends are going as well, and we'll get to see the lezzie aunties and uncle Sal. Good times! Then off to Susanville for Tofurkey Day.