Picture Perfect

Your Mom and I had Mimi and Pops over for dinner last night. Using ingredients from our garden, we made Thai basil fried rice and a Thai beef salad. Your Mother ate leftover spaghetti. The nausea is gone, but the aversions continue! In fact, the salad "smelled too much like salad" while we were sitting at the dining room table (which is currently living in the room which is going to be your nursery). Needless to say, I moved the salad bowl away from your Mom's general area, which seemed to help. But, she still was pleasant enough to say that the meal we prepared "stunk" and "made the whole house smell like stink"-- but at least she was nice about it! You definitely are making her senses go crazy!

But, the meal was hardly the coolest part of Mimi and Pops' visit, and isn't even close to being the main point of my entry today.

My Dad (your Pops) has invested in having about 20 years worth of slides converted into viewable, digital pictures. Not the fun kind of slides you're thinking of.

Fun Slide.

These types of slides were a major Pyramid Scheme propogated in the late 20th century. People would take pictures on their analog cameras, and instead of having the pictures developed (like being printed out), they would have them put on to tiny, translucent, white-cardboard-bound slides.

Less Fun Slide.

These slides could then be presented at a "slideshow" (which computers now use, I guess ironically, to describe a streaming display of pictures). Back in the day, people would set up a portable screen and slide projector and then be forced to gather round and be bored to death while looking at somebody else's pictures. Tons of people were duped into participating in this slide scam; and, because he falls quite easily for scams (ask him about the property in Waterwood or the "original" painting of some Eastern European castle he bought from a door-to-door salesman), Pops fell for the slide scam too.


So, about 20 years (or more) of family photos were developed into slides, put in metal boxes and never seen ever again. That is, until Mimi and Pops decided to pay some poor joe to convert over 10,000 slides one at a time into digital photographs.


For the first time in my life, last night, I saw photos of my infancy beyond the dozen or so I'd seen before. In fact, I saw pictures of me being removed from Mimi's belly (it was a Caserian). I saw pictures of my first moments on earth. I saw pictures of me being held and loved on by your Aunt Deborah and Uncles Taff and Dana when they were just kids.







I saw pictures of your Aunt Rebekka- who was just 2 - not trying to kill me. Although I may have been trying to eat her face.


And I saw tons of pictures of Mimi and Pops holding me, making silly faces, and looking altogether 80s-tastic with gigantic glasses and laughable hairstyles.

Now, the good news for you is that your Mom, seeing these new-found pictures of me as a baby, admitted that I was "mostly cute." But, the bad news is that from other angles I kind of looked like a turtle who had fallen out of his shell.

Turtle baby?

And those were the good pictures. In the rest I looked a bit like a wormy polyp. But, I had my moments. I wouldn't worry too much: hopefully your Mom's "cute genes" will outweigh my amphibious ones. And if not, you will have what they call "character" (which has served me reasonably well...afterall, I did manage to get your mom to marry me!)

Cuter Baby?

We also noted that I had gigantic ears. It's a well-known fact that your Mom did too. So, judging from the photos that we saw last night, your chances of not being blessed with dinner-plate-ears are slim to none.


But looking at these pictures from my infancy made me nostalgic for a time I don't remember and pre-nostalgic for the times that are fast-approaching your mother and me. And don't worry, I shoot exclusively on digital-- no slides here. Except for maybe one in the backyard.

Fudging the Diet

When our friends Buck and Jen stayed at our house before they drove to their new home in Seattle about two weeks ago, they had to leave something behind in our freezer. There was no way these could have survived a 4 day drive across the country. But, don't worry, from the second your Mom opened the freezer, she knew that we would find those left-over items a good home.

And she's been devouring Blue Bell Fudge Bars ever since.

In fact, the cravings for these Fudge Bars are so extreme, that, between dinner with friends and hanging out with them at our house, we HAD to stop at the grocery store to buy more Fudge Bars. There was no other option.

Oddly enough, your Mom has developped a serious aversion to the grocery store. Her heightened powers of smell transform the store's aroma (especially back near the deli and butcher sections) into an olfactory deflector shield.

Since I only had been able to have one Fudge Bar, I didn't know exactly which ones to get. Luckily, I recognized the creepy Coach from the box. He seems like just the type of person NOT to be selling confections to children.

Shouldn't he be keeping his eyes on the game?

But, I digress: Fudge Bars are THE most-craved food of the past two weeks. We're about to be on box number Three.

On another note, I think it's safe to say that the "Prune Experiment" from earlier this week was a complete failure. Though I tried to whet her appetite through offering nibbles here and there of my prunes, Holly has probably only eaten one prune in total all week. I, on the other hand, have had half the bag. Which means I'm lucky to have enough "down time" to sit at the computer and write this entry without having to run...if you know what I mean...which you don't, because, quite frankly, you probably don't even DO that yet!

Finally, though, I wanted to let you know that as we approach the end of your 10th week in your Mom's belly, it seems that the nausea is decreasing day by day. In fact, she's not feeling too sick at all! She's not passing out on the couch and drooling all over it, she's not turning green whenever I suggest food choices, and she's no longer seeking elixirs like hot tea, honey on crackers, Jolly Ranchers, Seltzer, or Voodoo chanting to help lift the nausea. Also a good sign, she's been increasingly more giddy, giggling, happy and fiesty; it must feel so good to not constantly feel sick-ish!

But, being in a love affair with Chunky the Coach and his fantastic Fudge Bars is bound to make one feel giddy... I mean, that's a lot of chocolate!

Now Showing!

Today is picture day! "What's picture day," you might ask? Well, your Mom and I are going to document your growth by taking a picture once a week of your Mom's belly. When we're all done, we're gonna make a time lapse movie of it and put sappy music behind it! It'll be really cool, and we'll probably show it at key points during your life to embarrass you: Graduation, Wedding, First Date, Every subsequent date. Don't worry; we do it because we love you!

But, looking at your Mom without even the side-by-side pictures, it's easy to see that she's already showing!

Now, I really thought this was a "food baby" (or distended bowel, if you want to get technical...and gross); but apparently, as I'm told, this visual change in your Mom's physique is NOT, I repeat, NOT a food baby! It's actually you! It's a legitimate BABY BUMP!

You're growing so much! And that makes sense, because on Sunday, you'll be 10 weeks along!

Everyone's so excited you're coming to live with us, by the way. The Grandmas and Grandpas are ecstatic, and so are all your Aunts and Uncles!

Some of your cousins don't quite know what to make of this development, though, as Uncle Aaron and Aunt Holly will have to be shared now!

Your cousin Kathryn seems the most confused: she told Holly, "that boy has a baby in his belly!" So, not only did she think I was the one who was pregnant, but she also seemed to have misplaced my identity. Perhaps I was just some stranger who let myself in to the room. But, we quickly reminded her that I am "Unkie A" (although she calls me "Aaron"). But you, you can call me "Dad!" (Or whatever you want...as long as it's G-rated)

P.S. Your Mom's battle with food has continued. We went to Japanese food, and your Mom ordered Beef Teriyaki, which is basically a steak (I don't know why I'm explaining that, because as of now, you don't really like to eat anything except for amniotic fluid or something). But, I digress, she could only take one bite of it, and then couldn't touch the rest. Needless to say, my lunch the next day was awesome. I mean, who eats steak for lunch!? But, on a sadder note, the aversion to my odor continues. Even though I wear a car-freshener around my neck.

Green Olive!

You're 9 weeks and 2 days old now! We're still keeping you a little bit of a secret, but a lot of people know about you now! They are so excited and can't wait to see you grow. As of now, you are officially a fetus (as opposed to an embryo) and the size of a green olive, or so says "the bump."
Speaking of bumps, it sometimes looks like your Mom is showing, but then other days she doesn't appear to have a bump at all. Well, I did some reading in "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and answered that question. Even though your Mom is really petite, you're just the size of a green olive! Soon enough you'll be showing, but most of the visible bump now is actually a distended bowel (gross, right?)! That basically means she's full; she's full and it ain't going anywhere. Kind of like what happens when you eat too much Matzah.


Good news though, your Mom is feeling way better. Last night she said the nausea was almost gone...but the food aversions and cravings are still rocking the menu selections at Casa de Weinstein.


The tortilla soup was not at all appetizing to Holly. Instead she had a nectarine and two bowls of Rice Krispies.


oh, PS, we're having a fun time refining baby name lists. Via email today, Holly officially icks-nayed "Harrison," "Garrison," (which I didn't like anyway) and "Lennon, " if you're a boy. To be honest, I didn't really like 2/3 of those names either. Sometimes I just suggest names to her to test the limits...something you'll probably learn all about soon enough.

Cravings, Cravings, Cravings

Well, your mom's cravings (and anti-cravings) continue:

She's sent me to the store for STEAK, although now the thought of meat disgusts her.She was really into Saltine Crackers with Honey for about five minutes, until she lost appetite for those.

Then there was Cottage Cheese. I think the jury's still out on that one though.

Then there were home-made juice popsicles. Which I wound up eating because they were too sweet.

She's wanted Burgers, Cheese Fries, Pizza, Fruit - but as quickly as she wants them, she can't stand them!

It's like feeding a moving target!