Les Miserables

Growing up, my sister and I loved musicals.  Our favorite was Les Miserables (aka Les Mis) and it's still my favorite today.  There are so many complex themes in the musical - love, forgiveness, morality, death, ethics, suicide, war, God, redemption, hope - and the songs are so powerful.  Back before law school started, I decided I wanted to read Les Mis, the novel, by Victor Hugo.  My original goal was to finish it during the summer before law school.  Needless to say, that didn't happen and my new goal is to finish it before law school ends!  The book is 1,460 pages long.  I can only read it during summer break, winter break and spring break, because I just don't have time during the school year to read it.  I'm proud to say I'm on page 968 currently; less than 500 pages to go.

As an adult, I've enjoyed finding complex themes from the book, hidden in the lyrics and music of the musical.  But as a child, I loved Les Mis for a completely different reason.  Les Mis has a lot of bad words in it.  Most of them are in the very comical "Master of the House" song.  My parents, not wanting to stifle our creativity and interest in the arts, decided to let us listen to the songs.  The agreement was, if you were singing along to Les Mis, you got to say the bad words out loud.  So Haley and I played "Master of the House" over and over again.  My dad figured that he'd rather listen to a musical than whatever Madonna song was popular at the time, so they'd just shake their heads when we'd belt out the curse words (and there were quite a few).  Now, keep in mind, I was introduced to Les Mis when I was about 10 years old and Haley was 5, so getting to sing curse words in front of our parents was a big deal.  And I actually think it was a good way to desensitize us to curse words.  When my friends would use those words behind their parents back, it really wasn't a big deal to me - I'd already heard them, and said them, and it wasn't that cool to say because I could do it in front of my parents.  So throughout my childhood and my teens, I actually cursed the least in conversation among all my friends.  I hardly ever did it, because it was way more fun to just sing the bad words in Les Mis in front of my parents.

Welcome to the Second Trimester

3 months (aprox. 14 weeks)

I made it.  14 weeks!  Saturday was the first day of my second trimester.  All the pregnancy websites and books tell you that morning sickness should be subsiding by the time you are at 14 weeks.  So despite having no indications that my morning sickness was in fact going away, I decided to take their word for it and try and go drug-free all day.  I ate at Chipotle for lunch, went shopping, and even played tennis for the first time in over 8 weeks.  And I felt great ... until 5 pm when I started to feel slightly queasy and decided I’d had enough fun for one day and popped a pill.  So I’m hopeful.  Sunday and Monday were not quite as easy as Saturday, so it seems I’m still going through nauseous peaks and valleys, but I am hopeful that there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

I've begun telling people at my law school and they have been so excited for me.  It's great to have friends at school who know my secret and who aren't going to look at me in horror and say behind my back, "I would just DIE if I were pregnant AND in law school."  I've heard people say that about other pregnant students in the past so I know they will be saying it about me too.  But I have great friends who will still talk to me when I'm huge so I don't really care.  I'm still trying to hide my belly, and doing a pretty good job at it so far, but it's not going to be long before I can't do that anymore. 

Build-a-Baby

You know those stores in the mall called “Build-a-Bear” where kids can go in and create the exact stuffed bear they want.  Well, if I could choose the traits for my baby from my direct lineage here’s what he/she would be like.  (In no particular order of importance)

• Grandpa’s brain and sense of humor (my Italian grandfather was a brilliant chemist and business man, and so so funny)

• Grandma’s musical ability (I got all my artistic talent from her)

• Papa’s height and social skills (my dad’s father was 6’3” and never met an enemy)

• Granny D.’s style (best dressed grandma around)

• My Mom’s health (she’s the healthiest person I know and at 64 she will always be able to walk faster and bike longer than me)

• My Dad’s athleticism (he’s 67 and can still beat the under 40 crowd on the tennis court)

• My sister’s good looks (her nose, blue eyes, eyebrows, weight, thick hair – she was,  and still is, the prettiest baby I’ve ever seen)

• BA’s work ethic and kindness (he’s just the best)

• Priscilla’s love for her family  (BA’s mom will do anything for her family)

• Frank’s calm leadership style  (BA’s dad makes decisions with a cool sense of authority)

• Me???  I’d probably want the kid to inherit my drive for success, and determination to reach his/her goals.

But knowing my luck the kid will get just the opposite of all that.  He’ll/She’ll be a short, fat, un-athletic, lazy, idiot child, who couldn’t care less about the family AND has a big Italian nose!

The Green Food of the Gods

Yesterday I had guacamole for the first time in 7 weeks!  (I used to eat it about once a week pre-pregnancy).  BA took me to Chipotle for lunch, and while I had a little trouble eating my lunch, I had no trouble chowing down on the chips and guac.  I just LOVE  their guacamole.  And the chips were perfectly salted to just the right degree.  I think I could eat it almost every day.  I know guacamole is an acquired taste, and I guess I've really acquired it, but it was just so nice to be able to eat something that I used to love, and enjoy it.

I've been struggling lately because the sickness hasn't eased up yet.  I'm at the point where I've been so sick, for so long, that I really don't believe I'll ever feel better.  My doctor says to give it one or two more weeks and I really hope she's right.  I'm terrified that I'll be this way until the baby comes in July.  But on the bright side, I've finally got guacamole back in my life!

12 or 13 Week Check-up

I'm still pregnant, still nauseous, still want peaches.  The doctor said everything looks good.  I am the exact same weight I was 4 weeks ago, so that made me happy.  I guess the constant nausea kept me from gaining any weight this trimester.  She thinks I am closer to 13 weeks along instead of 12 which resulted in some very stressful moments while I tried to schedule a last minute appointment for first trimester screening.  I only have until 13 weeks and 6 days to be able to do that so according to her calculation I was almost too late.  But I managed to get an appointment for next week.  Fingers crossed that the baby is healthy.

The little peanut at between 12 and 13 weeks. He/She is about the size of a lime.

During the ultrasound the baby was kicking up a storm and flipping around.  We saw two kicks, and then the baby raised it's fist above his/her head.  I imagined it was screaming "FREEDOM" like in the movie "Braveheart."  The doctor commented that it was a very active baby.  Hum... I think they call that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." My mom of coursed laughed when I told her how active the baby was because I was, and still am, the exact same way.  Always on the go.

If I wasn't in law school

Things I would like to do if I wasn't in law school right now.

Take a hip-hop dance class, take yoga classes, learn Spanish, read books for fun, go to the beach, eat peaches.  Actually the peaches have nothing to do with being in law school - it's just something I've decided I want as a hungry, pregnant lady, but can't have because they aren't in season. 

I need a break

I'm supposed to be working on a journal article right now but I'm burned out and need a break.  Of course I realize I just came off of a 3 week Christmas break, however, I haven't really had all that time free of law school.  This past week I took a 1-week intensive law class so that I could earn 2 credit hours in just 5 days.  I almost didn't take it because I was tired and not sure how my stomach would feel sitting in class all day.  But I kept hearing my mother's voice in my head "when the going gets tough, the tough get going," and decided to just tough it out for a week.  It was a great class, called the psychology of conflict, but it was every day from 8:30-5:30 and now I'm exhausted and have no initiative to do any school work.  This is unfortunate because classes start tomorrow and I have to do homework for 4 classes, and I also have a 20-page journal article due tomorrow night at mid-night and I only have 12 pages so far.  Grrrrrr.

Here's another present BA picked up for the little peanut.  He bought it at McGuire's Irish Pub in Pensacola, back in October before I was even pregnant, when we visited Pensacola for my 10-year high school reunion. 

The writing on the bottom says "Make Mine a Double."  If I could drink I'd say the same thing right now!

Law School Grades

...are so arbitrary.  After 3 semesters of law school I'm convinced that there really isn't that much of a difference between an "A" student and a "D" student, it's just that the "A" student figured out what the professor wanted to read on the particular day he read that student's exam.  Some professors want a coherent, well thought-out essay and will take away points for irrelevant arguments, others just want you to throw in every rule you know, even if it's not relevant and even if it's not entirely accurate.  There is no consistency among the various professors' grading styles and you really don't know what each professor's style is until after the exam.

Some of my fall semester grades have finally come in and with every new grade, my frustration with higher education grows.  I'm paying tons of money for a professor to tell me what to do all semester, then put me through 3 hours of torture at the end of the semester, and then finally tell me how stupid I am.  Considering the morning sickness I was dealing with, this semester was much harder for me during exams than the previous two.  I'm okay with my grades this semester, not thrilled, but satisfied with most of them.  Needless to say, I'm ready to be out of school, away from arbitrary grades, and getting paid for what I do.

Check this out.  It's the little peanut's first outfit!  Assuming I actually graduate from law school, and assuming that I actually have this baby, the little peanut can wear this to my graduation ceremony.  

2011 - a year of BIG changes

Here are the first of my monthly belly photos.

Month 1 - Skinny and Happy.

Month 2 - Chubby and Nauseated.

I can't believe how pudgy I've already become.  I've been eating a lot, but it's mostly super healthy food so I'm surprised that I already look so bloated.  Oh well, guess I better get used to feeling like a fat cow ... a nauseated fat cow!

And here is how I spend most of my free time these days.  Eating cereal in a Snuggie on the couch.

Over the Christmas holidays we told both sides of the family the baby news.  Both sets of parents were super happy.  My mom especially can't stop talking about it.  Even though we told everyone that the news was still a secret until I hit 14 weeks, my mom keeps "accidentally" telling neighbors and friends.  My sister is the only one who is still adjusting to the news.  She wasn't expecting this announcement for at least a few more years, and she's almost 5 years younger than me so this is a bit of a shock.  She did a very good job acting excited and even went shopping for a pair of maternity jeans with me (yes, I already feel the need to wear maternity jeans).  She's being a very good sport about the baby and will be the best aunt ever, once she gets used to the idea :)

Here is the first ultra-sound photo of the little peanut.  It was taken at 8.5 weeks so it's a little old, I'm 10.5 weeks now.  2011 is going to be quite a year.

The little peanut is about the size of, well, a peanut.