Starfish Envy

One Down, Two To Go

Today, I am thirteen weeks pregnant!

Goodbye, first trimester of queasiness and sickness and heartburn!  Hello, second trimester, of energy and nesting and... well, probably heartburn.

I had an appointment with my midwife this morning, and got to hear Little Girl's heartbeat.  150 beats of beautiful per minute.

My midwife was happy with my weight and blood pressure, and is looking into chewable prenatal vitamins for me, since I absolutely detest taking the horse pills that pass as normal prenatal vitamins. 

After the appointment, I sort floated back to the office.  I haven't been happy-- really happy-- in a long time.  Sucks to say, but it's true.

Right now, I'm happy.

And I sure hope it lasts.

For exactly two more trimesters.  At which point I will gladly trade in my happy for euphoria and exhaustion.

No Talking!

For the last week or so-- ever since I got the happy results from the CVS-- I've found myself wanting to isolate.  

I don't wanna talk on the phone, I don't wanna returning emails, I don't wanna hang out.  All the stuff I have to get done?  Don't wanna do it.

I just want to process.

I.  Am.  Having.  A.  Baby.  Girl!

I'd been feeling a little odd and guilty about the whole isolation thing until this morning, when I read this quote in the book Momma Zen, by Karen Maezen Miller:

"The more you talk and think about it,

the further you wander from the truth.

So cease attachment to talking and thinking

And there is nothing you will not be able to know."  -- Seng t'san, "Verses on the Faith Mind"

Cease attachment to talking and thinking?  Say WHAT?

But that's exactly what I've been doing... and it's been amazing.  Just letting it settle, allowing things to just be.  And somehow, I feel more connected to my baby, to my pregnancy.  I feel more positive and excited and ready.

A few days late, perhaps... but that's certainly something to be thankful for.

Anna's No Fail Pie Crust

Like most good marriages, my dad and step-mom have their own domains.

When it comes to cooking, my dad's domain is breakfast and grilling.  Anna's domain is everything else.  

As I write, my dad is outside at the grill, my step-mom is checking on her apple pie, and I am drooling as the most divinely mouth-watering scents waft through the entire house.

So, in honor of Thanksgiving and apple pie and all things good and delicious, I thought tonight I would share with you Anna's no fail pie crust recipe.

All you need is a food processor, one and a half cups of flour, one stick of butter, and half a package of Philadelphia cream cheese.  Put it all together in the food processor, and pulse it until it forms a dough.  (Don't over-mix!)  Then put it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for an hour or so.  Then roll it out.  And there you go!  Perfect dough!   Enough for one two-crust pie, or two one-crust pies.

So simple.  So easy.  So good.  

Now, Bobby Flay would say the butter has to be ice cold.  Anna believes room-temperature butter and cream cheese are better.

I say, the proof is in the pudding.  And the pudding in this case is Anna's pie crust. Which rocks.  

So, ice cold butter or not... you're gonna love it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Goodness knows, I've got a lot to be thankful for this year.  

I hope all of you do, too. 

For Real, This Time...

It's a girl!

A girl!

A GIRL!!!!

It's A...

Secret.

I know, I know, horrible!

I don't mean to be a tease.  And I promise it's only a secret until Wednesday.  

I realized I'm going to see my parents on Tuesday, and I really want to tell them in person.  And since they sometimes check in here... I gotta keep mum.

But I can tell you that I got the call while in therapy this morning.  I warned my therapist that I was expecting the most important call of my life, so when I answered the phone five minutes into our session she understood.

As the genetic counselor on the other end of the line said "All the chromosomes are normal," I burst into tears.  

And so did my therapist!  It was one of the kindest, sweetest things I've ever seen, and I'm so glad I got to share the moment with her.  She's a rare treasure, for sure.

And then the genetic counselor asked me if I wanted to know the sex.

Which, of course, I did.

So she told me.

And then the tears began in earnest.  Because suddenly this baby wasn't just a theoretical concept or a blur on an ultrasound.  It was a...

Well.  More on THAT on Wednesday...

Please forgive me for the wait.

Hello? HELLO????

What phone call do you really NOT want to miss?

The one where you're gonna find out 1) your CVS test results; and 2) the sex of your baby.

REALLY don't want to miss that call, do you?

No.

Well, I did.

And although I called back fairly quickly, apparently I'm not going to hear from them again until tomorrow.

TOMORROW.

C'mon.

The good news (quite literally) is that the message said: "I have good news about your preliminary test results."

So at least I don't have to spend this time waiting in a complete state of panic.  I can be happy, and relieved, and take a huge deep breath.

All while silently screaming: "BUT AM I HAVING A GIRL OR A BOY??????"

Put Your Pencils Down

Pretty wiped, so I'm gonna keep this short...

The CVS test went well!  They did a VERY thorough sonogram prior to the procedure, so I got to very clearly see both arms and both legs, which was incredible.  Little Guy/Girl was moving around a lot again-- he/she seems to know when he/she's being watched.  

And now I'm on bedrest for twenty-four hours.  Good thing I can work in bed!

No exercise for four to five days.  (Shucks!)

Hopefully I'll get the majority of the results on Friday.

I'm sure I'll get increasingly nervous over the course of the week, but right now I just feel really positive.

And I can't WAIT to find out the sex!

A Test I Really Want To Pass

Tomorrow, I am having a CVS.  Also known as a chorionic villus sampling.

A CVS tests the chromosomes in the chorionic villus (which I'm pretty sure is the tissue between the placenta and the uterus) to see if a fetus has any chromosomal abnormalites, such as Down's Syndrome or Trisomy-13.

There is a slight risk of miscarriage associated with CVS, although I'm going to a doctor who specializes in the procedure and whose risk rate is much, much lower than the national average.

I'm not as nervous as perhaps I should be.

I feel in my bones, my gut, my heart that the procedure will go well and everything will be fine.

Still, if you feel like sending positive energy my way tomorrow... I'd be totally cool with that.  :)

.

And... oh my God, you guys.  A new Hunger Games trailer!  I cried.

An Urban Farm Of My Own

I went to the Rosebowl Flea Market today, and my friend and I both fell in love with these whimsical and wonderful metal animals:

She exercised restraint and got only two small roosters for herself.

I got this big rooster...

And a big pig...

And two baby pigs.

And, okay, I also got an elephant.

The rooster will remain in the living room... the pig family will be on the back deck... and the elephant will find a spot amidst the jungle that is my backyard.  (Pictures coming.)

If I can't actually have chickens and pigs (and elephants)... these guys are definitely the next best thing.

Although the elephant totally freaks out Moose and Daisy.

It's In The Details...

There's a magical place in Los Angeles called Liz's Antique Hardware.  

Until today, I'd never been there.

And that's a good thing.

Because HOLY SMOKE, it's amazing!  I could spend days exploring the store and then readily drop a thousand dollars without even being aware of what happened or where exactly it went.  

Every kind of fabulous fixture that you could ever want in your home is there, but today, I was specifically looking for knobs and handles for my new built-ins (which I swear I will post a picture of once they're all pretty).

This is what I found:

Hundred-year old glass knobs and antique brass handles and mounts.  They're absolutely perfect for Ryan's built-ins, which genuinely look like they were built in the '20s with the house.

Were they cheap?

They were not.

But like everything else at Liz's Antique Hardware, they were worth every penny.