Cherry Pie, Being Seen, Toddler Beds, Feeling Green

Children,

Your mother's cravings continue to amaze. The other night she took a big breath in and said 'MMM...cherry pie!' I have no clue what she was smelling because I was making noodles. The good news is though, even though the first trimester blues has your Mom feeling a little green, she's feeling a little better.

She actually went to the store to get her own late-night craving. Also, the instructions were too complicated for me to follow: "cherry pie that is like flaky on top but not too thick and is ready instantly."

She found Mrs. Smith.

And Mrs. Smith treated your Mommy very well.
You might be wondering where your Mom is putting all this food...well, it's a lot of effort to build a new little Weinstein, so that's where it's headed.

And I do declare, your Mom is 'showing' already! Check it out: Here is the last picture of her - at week 10.5 - with her long hair.

This is going to be a rough summer. We're already in the high 80s and your Mom just couldn't take the heat anymore. So she chopped her hair off. I couldn't be a posed picture for the "after" view, but you'll notice in the following pictures that her hair is much shorter. I'm working on getting your Mom to pose for the belly pictures we did during Aidan's pregnancy. But every time I ask her to take a picture, she gets a little more green...you'll understand more later. But don't worry: we're starting tonight, with Week 11.



Okay, I'm going on the record here: I'm thinking that you, little one, are going to be Aidan's little SISTER. I'm officially thinking that you're going to be a girl. The cravings, the nausea, the way she's carrying you are all so much different that with you, Aidan.

Plus the Chinese Gender calculator predictor nonsense says you're a girl, little one. But it also predicted Aidan would be a girl. And he's definitely not. He's a boy.

And in fact, this weekend, Aidan, you got to take another big step toward being a big boy!

We did some re-arranging and bed trading and wound up with a toddler bed. You were super excited by this development and, after you got over being upset that we weren't going to let you just play on the wooden frame and that you couldn't lift the mattress off yourself (and no one was going to help you do it, despite your multiple requests for "halp...halp"), you really liked your bed. You stand on it to look out the window, you crawl up on it to sit. You brought some snacks up on it to eat while relaxing. And you called it "bed."

With this kind of reaction to the toddler bed, we thought we'd give napping in it a try.

So we tucked you in and sang to you as usual, and you were just really excited to be in the toddler bed.

I gotta be honest, I had my doubts that you, such an excited little boy, would fall asleep on the toddler bed. But, low and behold, you took a good, long 1.5 hour nap on your big boy bed.
Your Mom and I were so proud of you. But, of course, not being caged in a crib makes for an eventful time when you woke up. Your Mom was napping while I was outside doing yard work with Pops. Your Mom said she awoke with a start when she heard your familiar loud-stomping through the house. You just got up, crawled out of bed and decided to go to the living room and check out what was going on out the window. I guess you had places to go! You're getting so grown up, Aidan; but it's a good thing you've still go lots of room to grow.

And speaking of growth, little one, you are now 11 weeks along and you're the size of a LIME! (no wonder your Mom's feeling green!) I can hardly remember when it was lime time for you, Aidan!

Your head is the same size as you body, and your fingers and toes are no longer webbed. You're working on growing hair follicles, tooth buds, and nail beds. That sounds like a lot of work indeed. No wonder your Mom's a bit soured on making lime-ade out of these limes. She's feeling better, but sometimes, Pregnant Mommy feels so green that she says hilarious things.

The best line of the pregnancy thus far happened in our kitchen. I'm trying to have a conversation with your Mom, asking her question after question...with no response. Finally I stop and realize I'm talking to myself and say..."hello?"

Your mom looks up at me, lookin' pretty green and says "answering questions makes me sick."

We eventually had a great laugh over that one, and a great weekend playing outside with you Aidan, and watching you grow inside, Little One.

So, a week of hair cuts, cherry pies, new beds, new aversions (questions...who knew?) were just what the doctor ordered.

We've got a big boy and a bitty baby bump on our hands; and we're loving every second of it. As long as pie or strawberries and nutella or mangos or almond milk are readily and as long as no body ends a sentence with a question mark.

Any questions?

Placemat Placement

I don't really buy into all of this stuff, but it's still kind of cool. Unless you're born in the next 2 days, you will be a PISCES on the Zodiac Calendar.

I'm a Capricorn- that means I'm a half goat half fish.

Your Mom is a Libra- that means she's scales.

And apparently goat fish plus scales equals...more fish!

Pisces is the "fish" from the sky, which is a water sign. A bit ironic, since your name means "Little Fire," but what can you do?

Apparently Pisces is two fish trying to eat each other's rear ends, just like Toby and Preston do.

I won't even go into all of the personality pros and cons of your sign, because, like I said before, I think we make our own destinies and that nothing is pre-written. But, you can always Google it anyway, so maybe I'll just put the personality pros up here, as encouragement.

According to Madame Zelda Astroplane, Pisces are...

- Compassionate
- Adaptable
- Accepting
- Devoted
- Imaginative

Those are some good qualities to have! I dont' think anyone born in any month would turn those down!

But, of course, everyone knows that if you're going to talk about birth signs, you have to give credence to the wisdom of the Chinese Zodiac Calendar restaurant placemat as well.

Each year is the year of a rotating assortment of animals and creatures. Your Mom was born in 1981 and she is a Rooster. I was born in 1982, the year of the dog. So, supposedly, me and everyone else born in 1982 have similar aspirations, characteristics, likes and dislikes. I think this is bogus because I know lots of '82ers and we're all different!

But, all that aside, let's see where your Egg Drop Soup will land on the Chinese Restaurant Placemat!

So Dog Plus Rooster Equals TIGER!

According to the placemat, the Chinese Zodiac Tiger is "sensitive, emotional and capable of great love. However, he has a tendency to get carried away and be stubborn about what he thinks is right; often seen as a "Hothead" or rebel. The sign shows he would be excellent as a boss, an explorer, a race car driver, or a matador."

Well, let me just say up front that you can be anything you want to be when you grow up...except a Matador or Race Car Driver. You can explore though, as long as you don't do any Bear Grylls type stuff (if he's not still alive when you read this, let me know and I'll explain).

I hope you're not too rebellious, though, and try to miss your Chinese Zodiac sign by staying in for an extra 9 months. First of all, 2011 is the year of the Rabbit, so that's not worth being rebellious for, and, secondly, the Doctor won't let you rebel for more than a week past your due date.

You're going to be a Tiger no matter what. And, unless you're born in the next two days (which it doesn't look like you're going to be), you're a fish too.

And for some reason, there is a picture of the Tiger/Fish duo online. As you'll find out, the internet is a wealth of information:

And you'd better not be too stubborn either! Apparently "during the journey out of the womb, baby will produce more stress hormones than any other time in life." So, between your Mom's pain and your stress hormones, you might to wait to be stubborn until your about, say, 18 years old.

But then again, I don't buy into this whole Zodiac stuff anyway (which makes it even more odd that I decided to write about it). Afterall, the Chinese Gender Predictor said you were going to be a girl, and we all know how correct that turned out to be!