What I Didn't Expect While Expecting

There's a classic pregnancy book called What to Expect When Expecting, and I thought I'd share a few of the things I didn't expect during this third pregnancy. Not all though, as some are truly gross and embarrassing.

1. The stares - I don't go out much anymore. There are two main reasons - it takes up too much energy and people stare and then talk about me as I'm going by. Yes, I know my belly is big and I'm waddling, but could you be a little more discreet?

2. The breathing - I no longer breathe through my nose, as I need lots of oxygen with each breath. So I am now a loud mouth-breather. Also, if I stand up, I am out of breath. If I walk 15 steps to the kitchen, I sound like I just ran a 5k.

3. The heat - with two babies, my metabolism is extra high (it's worse than being pregnant in South Florida). That means that even though it's 30 degrees outside today, the heaters are not turned on. Todd goes to bed with two layers of clothes and three layers of blankets. I go to bed with shorts, t-shirt, cold water, and a fan blowing on me all night.

4. The size - I am wearing a lot of size medium workout/fleece pants that I wore pre-pregnancy (woohoo!!), coupled with XL and XXL pregnancy shirts. And they're still not completely covering me. At church a few weeks ago a friend's husband was talking to Todd. Here's what he said. "So I guess I haven't seen Megan in a while. WOW."

5. The numbness - my hands are continually numb (even while I'm trying to type this they are falling asleep). I have developed pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel syndrome. My hands must hang over the edge of the bed/couch at night in order to not fall asleep.

6. The morning sickness - typically morning sickness ends around the start of the second trimester (about 14 weeks in). My morning sickness began April 5th (it was at the zoo and I predicted that I must be pregnant) and hasn't let up.

7. The thirst - I drink about 3/4 gallon of milk and easily over 64 oz. of water daily. Combine that with 11 lbs. resting on the bladder, and that's another reason why I don't get out that much! I leave the bathroom and sometimes turn around and go right back in.

8. The food - with twins, I have the pleasant task of eating as much protein and calcium as possible. That means a HUGE bowl of ice cream each night (it is for the babies, of course) and ordering steak whenever possible. I'm supposed to consume a lot of iron as well, with the suggestion of eating liver, but gladly will take the little iron vitamin instead. This is the only time in my life where the experts want me to eat more protein than fruits/vegetables and I fully intend to take advantage of it.

9. This is normal - I bring in questions to my ob each week about new aches and symptoms that have developed, and it's ALL normal.

10. The kindness of others - it all began early in the summer. Every time I rode the bus, someone offered their seat. Friends from church offer to bring over meals. And my favorite has been Todd. I am completely amazed at how unselfish he has been, helping out as much as possible. Washing dishes, taking care of all the needs of the boys, vacuuming, picking up, grocery shopping, doing laundry, basically everything except cooking supper (and that's only because we don't want to die of food poisoning nor eat hot dogs each night), he's kindly and without complaint taken over everything for me.

Best Date Ever

I just got back from an evening that I told Todd was blog-worthy. It was the best date (aside from the proposal) we ever had. It had a rocky start, though, as the bus was late and then jam-packed. One of the best things about being pregnant is that a lot of people offer their seats to you on the bus - sometimes you've got to rub your tummy a few times and give seated people the sad puppy eyes, but that usually does the trick.

Our first stop was Fulton's on the River. It was situated by the lovely green Chicago River. Everything is a la carte. We dined on calamari for appetizers, bread and soup, and then steak. Todd had the petite 16 oz. portion of a bone-in Ribeye, and I had the 24 oz. Porterhouse. The sad thing is that after that, I wasn't stuffed. Not that I wanted to be, but a 1 1/2 pound steak doesn't make me stuffed?! There were two lovely couples that sat next to us and after my steak was served, one lady said "look at that - oink, oink". We knew right then we were in high society. I did hear her tell the other lady at the table that they go out about twice a year, so I figure she just needs to get out more or maybe she was jealous. I'm pregnant, and gosh darn it, I can eat a whole cow if it keeps me from feeling sick!

Then we took a walk down Michigan Avenue. It was nice because with so many people, at the Taste of Chicago, the rest of downtown wasn't overwhelmingly busy. (I may need to add a blog about the TOC experience.) We walked down to Water Tower Plaza and did some shopping, and then headed over to the biggest indulgence... The Chocolate Bar at the Peninsula.

The Chocolate Bar is amazing. It's an all-you-can-eat chocolate/dessert buffet - can you imagine?! Bite sized portions of probably 20-30 different desserts. Plus they had some great jazz playing in the background - the singer was a little wacky, but she sang well.

Todd kept the whole night a secret, but promised that at the end I'd be able to tell him that he knows me well - he's right!

Fat Pants

So Todd is in his fourth week of work for the summer. During the school year he often walks to school, which is a little over a mile, but now he walks just to and from bus stops so is not getting nearly as much exercise. Also, the firm pays for lunch EVERY day. Needless to say he's not choosing salads when he's eating out. So with all of this, he is weighing about 25 pounds more than usual. We're not sure if all of that was gained in three weeks, but he has gone up a size in his dress pants since last summer. He proudly tells his coworkers that he had to buy fat pants because his skinny pants don't fit anymore. With how much these new pants cost (he's quickly become a Brooks Brothers snob), if he gains more weight and can't wear the fat pants, he will be forced to wear my maternity pants. :)

In other news, we went to a Cubs game last night. Firm sponsored, so of course I gained a few pounds! It was a meat-lover's dream with hot dogs, sausages, pulled pork, cheeseburgers, and a few veggie burgers. The boys had a great time being babysat. The babysitter seemed quite amused with Anders. His plate was filled with vegetables, which he chose, and later for dessert he chose pickles over ice cream. She had spooned out the pickles into a bowl, and after eating that he proceeded to drink the leftover pickle juice. He said he loved it. I swear he resembles Todd's side more than mine!

Where is everyone?

I hope that lack of blogging means that everyone is having a wonderful, busy May.

Todd gave himself his last haircut. And this is why:

No, that's not him, but it looks a little like what he did to himself! He actually shaved off one of his sideburns as well until he noticed the clipper wasn't on. Needless to say, he wore caps for quite a few weeks. He's finally getting a haircut today in preparation for beginning his summer job.

Lost

Did anyone see the last episode last night? I'm surprised I could sleep last night after all of that. At least questions from over the season were answered.

And last, Death Cab for Cutie is coming on Tuesday. Hopefully the weather forecast is off as usual - they're calling for rain and it's an outdoor concert.

Bumping Jo's Post (The News) updated

Sorry for bumping the Memphis post down, but I guess it's time to share news from our family - baby #3 is on its way! I'll have my first ob appointment in a few weeks, but according to the online calendars, I'm due mid-December. Elijah has already nicknamed the baby - Oven. He is very excited about the baby. For Anders, though, if it doesn't have anything to do with legos, he's really not that interested. He's been really excited about starting kindergarten next year until this morning when he found out that they don't play with legos at school.

Our university hospital has many urban legends about the maternity area. So we decided to take a tour last weekend. I was pleased to see that the triage area that supposedly has laboring women circled around a room in beds (I was totally picturing the Friends episode with Monica in labor next to Janice), is really just a double hospital room. And it has wifi, so if I feel as adventurous as Sarah, I can blog while in the hospital (but don't count on it).

The hardest part about this pregnancy is I gained about five pounds the day I found out, and even though the baby is right now the size of a lentil, I am already in maternity clothes. And how can something that small make me so sick and so tired all the time? I've had more naps in the last couple of weeks than I've had in the last four years!

And a p.s. to an earlier post - I found two friends to go with me to see Death Cab for Cutie! It should be lots of fun - Millenium Park on the lawn. And yes, the tickets really are $10.

Missing college days right now

I have to admit, I loved the college years. Although I usually would rather live in the present, one aspect I miss the most is going to events with friends. I've been checking out some great concerts in the city and know that if it were 10 years ago, I could probably drag one of you along. There are three concerts in the area I would love to go to - Iron and Wine, Death Cab for Cutie, and the Ryan Montbleu Band. Tix are cheap ($10!), and yet I bet that none of my friends (and definitely not hubby) here would be interested in joining - it's too late at night, too hard to find babysitting, too old to go out and have fun, etc. I'm already depressed that Jack Johnson won't be playing in Chicago. Sigh...

Pickle Cake

So Anders asked for a blueberry cake for his birthday. What did Elijah ask for? A pickle cake. This morning I called up a local grocery store that offers custom cakes. The conversation:

Me: Do you make custom birthday cakes?
Baker: Yes we do. How do you want it decorated?
Me: Well, um, it's for my four year old and he wants a pickle birthday cake.
Baker: HAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAA. Sorry, we can't do that.

At least I made her day.

So here's my plan. I welcome ANY suggestions from you guys. Triple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Mix white frosting with green food coloring and create a giant pickle. Then put some chocolate sprinkles on it. Do you think that sounds good?

THEY'RE BAAAACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

And they're hanging tough (sorry, that was a little too cheesy). I can hardly wait to see what these guys look like after 15 years!

School for Sale!

I got an email from one of my high school teachers showing my former grade school and junior high/high school for sale. The schools consolidated with other towns, and they built a new building. How odd to see them on ebay!

And a funny side note. If you scroll down and look at the pictures, you'll notice pictures of the new gym and the old gym. The old gym was remodeled when I was in high school, so is actually more updated than the new gym. Makes a lot of sense, huh?!

My Update

We watched the ABC Super Tuesday program last night. My question to Todd was if it really is this exciting of an election, or am I just getting old.


I've probably mentioned it before, but Obama is a law professor at U of C (though is taking extended time off), and lives 4 blocks from us. He lives across the street from my church and we are stared down by secret service each week as we walk by - I'm sure my boys look quite threatening of their safety. I love the new campaign song created by will.i.am. I actually teared up because I'm that much of a sap.



We listen to a lot of Jack Johnson and G. Love and Secret Sauce around here (and unfortunately Bubbly, which is Anders' third favorite song, after the Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ever popular ABC's), and Elijah declared that when he grows up, he's going to be G. Love. Then we decided that since the name's taken, he could be called E. Love. To Todd's relief, he changed his mind again and now will be known as Hunter in a few years. Speaking of Jack Johnson, here's an amusing video of his (and another, which is almost as good). I must talk about J. J. often, because Elijah is convinced that we are friends. And right now he is standing beside me dancing because once again I'm playing Sitting, Waiting, Wishing. I got that as a ringtone last summer, and it sounded SO bad on my phone that I got another one almost immediately.



And last, my baby turned 5. Amazing. So in honor of that, I'm posting a few pics. We got a great one of Anders seeing his birthday cake the first time. Let me tell you first about his birthday supper. We asked him to pick each part of his supper. So here it was... frozen peas (kept frozen) for veggies (although I've heard that technically they're fruit as well - it's all about the seeds), tomatoes for fruit, hot dogs for the main course, and a white cake with blueberries. We had a soccer theme, so the blueberries helped create a soccer ball. Not exactly Martha Stewart, but still got a very sweet expression from Anders. As you can tell, he was excited when he saw the cake.

Cake picture

And one current pic of the boys...

P.S. I just saw Krista's blog - congrats to Kristy for passing!!!!!!

Persuasion

How many watched it last night?? I loved it (minus the kiss at the end - that was painful) - thanks Kelly for reminding us about it! I'm tempted to try to read Northanger Abbey before next Sunday's movie.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

We found the boys on the couch after lunch enjoying a lazy day. Anders was reading the comics and Elijah was playing the harmonica.

And another pic of the boys, watching the Charlie Brown Christmas special (which seems to be on at least once a week, including tonight) and eating popcorn. Don't you wish you still had the footed pajamas?

And since I'm posting pictures, here's one more. Halloween night trick-or-treating with their friends Susie and Adam. Poor Susie had to inform everyone that she was not a crocodile or dragon, but was a dinosaur.

Rock Star

I jogged today for 30 straight minutes, and have now been proclaimed a rock star by my workout friend. Woohoo! It's been years since I've tried running, and I don't think I ever got up to 30 minutes before. Granted, I was going pretty slow, but at least I stuck with it!

The gym at UofC is a lot more sophisticated than our alma mater. I can watch cable tv during every workout, including the music channels. My favorite workout song is Clumsy by Fergie (I can't believe I'm admitting this) and I crack up almost every time I see the video, especially the car scenes. VH1 seems to show the same videos each morning between 6:30 and 7:30, and I've caught myself singing a few times, and this morning almost started moving my arms around for an upper body dance (the props move). I probably would've lost my workout friend if I hadn't stopped myself in time! It's bad enough that we probably are banned from a local Starbucks after I spilled a Venti coffee all over the counter during rush hour after one of our workouts.

The pizza that went kerplop

I made pizza for supper tonight - we usually eat around 5 but on Sundays eat around 6. I made the crust before church so we could put toppings on and stick it in the oven when we got home. As I took it out, the pizza flipped over and landed upside down in the oven. We were able to salvage the crust, and voila! - pizza (with a distinct smoky flavor usually only found in a restaurant) was ready about 20 minutes later. Now I just have to clean the oven tomorrow. I've never cleaned an oven in my life, so if you have tips, let me know!

In other news, we're keeping pretty busy here. Most nights we have stuff going on - class, small group, mops planning sessions, and game nights. I can't imagine what it will be like once the boys start having evening activities! OH, and had a very twilight moment with a new friend of mine that is originally from Ohio. Guess whose school she went to in the middle of nowhere... I'll probably email that one to you because it's really funny but I don't want it published.

Hope all of you are doing well.

Update

I really don't have anything big to update, but feel guilty for not posting for awhile. By the way, where is everybody?

I can't believe it's October in Chicago, and we are consistently having 80 degree days. I just want autumn! We went to an orchard over Labor Day (it was near where we honeymooned in Michigan - now how many people can say, or are willing to admit, that their honeymoon destination was Michigan??) and bought 50 pounds of apples and 4 quarts of raspberries. If I had more room in the fridge I'd go back and get more!

In another case of being extreme, we went grocery shopping last weekend. Now when we go shopping, we tend to buy a lot since shopping in Hyde Park is practically non-existent and we try to buy enough non-perishables to last us for 2-3 months. So we went to the suburbs to an area that has Sam's Club, Walmart and Aldi. We took this trip enough times last year to know what items are generally cheapest at each place. We came home with the back of the minivan filled up to the bottom of the middle seats headrests. It probably took at least an hour to unpack the van, and then the rest of the afternoon putting everything away. And that is why we take this trip only every 2-3 months! I think I could open up a small store in our apartment.

The boys are in Lil' Kickers, which is a soccer class. Last week the kiddos were all sitting in a circle, and Coach Alex asked what game they'd like to play next. Elijah spoke up with his idea: Padada. Alex was confused - Pa-da-da? Yes, Padada. Then Anders echoed and said, "Elijah wants to play Padada." And then another boy said, "He wants to play Padada." Alex was still confused - how do you play Padada? Elijah explained the "rules" for Padada (it was suspiciously similar to other games they play), and then Alex nicely told him that maybe they could play another game instead. It was cute how the other kids acted like they knew the made-up game and were surprised Alex hadn't.

We visited the Shedd Aquarium yesterday, and the otters were not in their designated spot. Anders decided that they must've escaped and was certain that they were now in Lake Michigan.

I'm now working on creating photobooks for baby pictures. I'm still researching, so if any of you have bought these online and have had good or bad luck with a particular website (I'm looking mostly at Picaboo, My Publisher, PhotoWorks, and Shutterfly) I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Daily Dose of Salt

I had a piece of bread on a plate last night at supper that I planned to eat once we were ready and the food was on the table. I put some butter on it, and then topped it off (liberally) with homemade apple butter. Little did I know that the more innocent child of mine was playing with the salt shaker and poured a bunch of it on the bread while I was out of the room. I noticed it was a little bit salty and thought maybe the bread machine hadn't mixed it well enough, which, although it never happens, could be the culprit. But the next bite I knew that I probably didn't even add that much salt for the entire loaf! We knew Anders was playing with the shaker, but he was adamant that he didn't pour it on my bread.

A little bit later he asked if it's ok to pour salt on bread when someone isn't sitting at the table.

My New Favorite Website

Spiral Frog

Back Home

We made the trip up north and are officially in Chicago. Is it wrong to admit that I already really miss Indianapolis? I think I could sell that city to anyone with preschoolers. We had such an enjoyable summer - catching up with friends from college, going to the nation's largest children's museum at least twice a week, going to the zoo, eating out multiple times weekly, and of course taking road trips to see family and friends. It's sad to see the summer end.
Todd begins interviews tomorrow for next summer. He's already committed to 8 weeks in Indy, so will be looking for a clerk position in Chicago for 9 weeks - have you ever heard of a summer vacation from school that lasts 17 weeks??
The boys will (hopefully) be signing up for soccer this fall, and we're trying to drag some of their friends along. And then there's apple picking at local orchards. Fall is my favorite season in Illinois, so even though I miss Indy, we came back just in time.

My favorite line

My new favorite line is, "Well, if you had read the blog...."

I had such a great time with all of you!!

The Traveler

I've realized today that I have the uncanny ability to cancel shows. All I have to do is proclaim it is my new favorite show, and off the tv they go. My latest is The Traveler. Because it's on so late in Indy, I watched it online the next day. Imagine my horror this morning when there was new show to watch, and after some research on google, finding out that last week's cliffhanger episode was not only the season finale, but also the SERIES FINALE. I am now in mourning and am playing Zuma for hours to fill this void.

Here are a few other shows that I must've jinxed as being one of the few fans.

1. Less Than Perfect (at least this one was on for a few seasons, but I started watching it late in the game)
2. Married to the Kellys
3. John Doe