8 months in...and you're unbelievable

It's hard to believe but as of Saturday- the day of our Shower for you- we are 32 weeks along. That officially puts us in our 8th month of pregnancy! In an effort to avoid cussing, but still express to you the enormity of this number and the awe we are in at the proximity of your impending birth, I'll say the following (because I like fishing): "HOLY CARP! We're 8 months pregnant!"

It seems just like yesterday that we were in awe of being 10 weeks pregnant! But now, this is getting real.

It's hard to believe that you're now over 3 pounds and around 16.5 inches long (if averages are supposed to be trusted). It's hard to believe that your Mom is starting to have what the book is calling "Braxton Hicks" contractions, which is basically her body practicing for delivering you.

It's hard to believe that you're now using all 5 of your senses actively. It's hard to believe that you could already be sucking your thumb and (believe it or not) crying in there! But, just like crying in space, no one can hear you scream in utero.

It's hard to believe that you're blinking and dreaming and learning already.

Finally, though, here's something that I CAN readily believe: now that you're 8 months in, your skin is no longer transparent. With all the baby fat you've been accumulating over the past months, your skin is finally getting to be opaque. And that's way easier to picture than transparent skin.

Speaking of accumulating fat: the food at the shower was great! I ate a lot of it, to be honest. But I did leave some for your guests. We couldn't have done it without your Grandmas (Mimi and Nannah Joon) and your Great Aunt Chrissy who all rocked the house with their food and party planning.

And the games were a lot of fun too. A lot of people had far too much fun with the "what will you look like" game, creating monsters that are even creepier than the well-intentioned cut-and-paste babies.

I'll show you some of the "winners" later this week. But, just to prep you, we know you're not going to have two heads, or noses for ears. You're going to be far cuter than that! And that, too, isn't hard to believe at all (you'll believe me when you see these collages).

A Matter of Taste

At 21 weeks, you are officially the size of a banana: Over 10 ounces and 12.5 inches long, on average.

Well, techincally YOU are a banana!

One of the coolest things about being a banana (aka being 21 weeks "old") is that you are now TASTING. That's right, bud, your taste buds are now fully functional- and you are tasting whatever your Momma is eating!

Baby-rearing sources suggest eating a variety of foods while pregnant, since studies show that when you come out, you'll be most interested in food you've already experienced.

And, boy, did we hook you up yesterday. But the sensory overload wasn't just a tasting-adventure; you got fine dining AND fine arts.

As a birthday celebration, Mimi and Pops took us to see a matinee showing of the opera "Otello" (a hilarious comedy) at the brand new Winspear Opera house in Dallas. But before we went, your Mom packed a lunch for the road. This lunch consisted of a PB&J, an apple and pumpkin seeds. And more pumpkin seeds. And more pumpkin seeds. In fact, your Mom didn't stop eating until we got to the Opera house, which was a gorgeous building which, unfortunately, you couldn't see. But, you did get to hear some really loud classical music and operatic singing! And you reacted like crazy-- kicking and rolling and punching.

By the end of act I (aka 45 minutes later), your Mom was starving again. So we went to the concession bar and being faced with a designer "micro sandwich" for 6 bucks (a micro sandwich is even smaller than it sounds) and candy, your mother chose candy.

So, a half a box of chocolate-covered almonds later, we were back in the opera house.

Now, maybe you were just a little bit bored (like your Mother who was more fascinated by the new building and hall than that particular opera) or maybe you really liked loud, tragic song. But, by the end of it, you were most likely just kicking because your mom was playing with you.

Finding the "Moor" a bore, your Mom took to pushing gently on her belly to wake you up-- and you responded by kicking and turning and stretching. At least you were both entertained!

After the last curtain call, we headed to dinner at The Grape, where you had a very nice gourmet meal. For appetizer, you tried candied brie (which we made sure was pasteurized, so you'd be safe) with crackers and bread with butter. For dinner you had grilled beef tournedos, maitre d'butter, garlic-herb frites, bitter greens salad and a red-wine demi glace (that's gourmet talk for steak, with garlic fries and a salad). And for dessert, you had the apple pie with Heath bar ice cream.

So, sensory overload for you in the taste department- what a way to start using your taste buds!

But, of course, later that evening, your Mother was starving again and- low and behold- needed to eat...you guessed it...a banana. But I wouldn't be to worried about those cannibalism worries we had earlier. It's been weeks since she's craved the fruit that matches your weekly size.

In the end, though, no matter what you experience in utero, whether you like bananas or tournedos or the Bard or Turendot, it's all a matter of taste. And now that you have taste buds, you know what I'm talking about!

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.

Holy Holly Hearing!

Pregnancy continues to give your Mom super powers: super taste, super smell, super-sensitive vision.

But, now there are another couple of super strengths to add to the list.

SUPER JAWS and HYPER HEARING

Even though she pretends not to hear me on regular basis, your Mom's hearing seems to have been suped up by pregnancy too. And, not that she had a glass jaw before, but man, she might be able to pull a plane with her teeth now!

Last night at around 11:30 pm, your Mom was hungry (surprise, surprise). So, she got herself a bowl of Frosted Flakes. She started chomping down - CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.

I looked around for a microphone to see why that noise was so loud, but there was no artificial amplification!

I assumed it was her high quality wooden teeth that made such a loud noise; and I stand by that hypothesis. Pregnancy may have given your mother enhanced jaw strength. No Frosted Flakes survived the incident to confirm or deny that claim.

According to your mom, though, Frosted Flakes is just too loud of a cereal. The decibels put out by chomping on one Frosted Flake is simply too loud for those with super human hearing. In fact, the Frosted Flakes were hurting her ears. Something like a "Cheerios" puts out a pleasant and more subdued sound, she explained, but those Flakes create a cacophony of chomping. But Holly's super hunger was able to win that battle, and she ate the whole bowl, while serenading me, Preston and Toby with a symphony of crunch-Crunch-CRUNCH!

So, add two more radioactive superhuman abilities to the list: a bite that would make Washington and his wooden chompers jealous and hyper-sensitive hearing that most would need spy equipment to duplicate.

Now if only I could get her to stop pretending to not hear me when I'm whining! I really have important things to say when I'm whining!

P.S. Remember when I said that the nausea was waning? I totally lied. She's still nauseous a lot. It's definitely less than it was before, but last night she had to hit the Candy hard (before the cereal) to help calm the nausea. I definitely claimed "Mission: Accomplished" far too early on that one. Maybe you shouldn't listen to me either!

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!

Consensus: Senses are Senseless

Besides her sense of taste being all out of whack, your Mom's other senses are giving her fits too.

Her Eyes deceive her.

+ Yesterday she couldn't come water the garden with me, because the visual of running water flowing out of the hose made her nauseous.

+For his birthday we bought BJ "The Watchmen" (you can see it when you're 15; I will force you to read the comic book first though). But your Mom couldn't even look at the gift. The lenticular cover on the DVD gave her motion sickness!

The biggest clue that her eyes are messed up:

+ Your mother said I looked cute the other day.

The Olfactory seems to be working at full steam.

The old sniffer has been in high gear for a couple of weeks now:

+ Note: Don't cook salmon for yourself with a pregnant woman in the house. EVER. Don't ask.

+ We couldn't walk by the old boat house down at White Rock Lake because it "smelled like old fish." For the record, I was at maximum smell capability, and I didn't smell a thing!

+ Our dogs (well, I guess they're your dogs too, now!), Preston and Toby, have a certain aroma (when they're clean, not dirty) that your Mom absolutely loves. "Their feet smell like Cheetos," your Mom used to say. But, their smell is now too overpowering for Holly's nose!

And, the lastest victim of your mother's nose:

+ ME! My smell (my signature scent) is too much-- it's overwhelming her! Now we're not talking about post-lawn-mowing or bike-riding sweaty stink or even Tex-Mex induced airborne events. We're just talking my regular smell...my musk. So, I've been rendered into some sort of Rogue-type character...I can't get too close to the one I love because my mutant ability can do incredible harm.

But, at least I'm cute! (according to a very reliable source)

On a side note, I've also been instructed to take my constitutionals elsewhere...not in the master bathroom. At least I'm still allowed to do it indoors! It's too hot outside for that kind of nonsense.

p.s. Cravings update: Last night your Mom needed Breathe Right strips to...well...breathe. This is an unrelated symptom to pregnancy...probably allergies (hopefully to ragweed or cottonwood...not Aaron). But, while at the store, I got your Mom some stuff she was craving: Wintergreen Gum, Peaches and Shockers (but, alas, they were out of Shockers).