Introducing: Miss Koala!

The Bean has a sister!
Miss Koala was born on Wednesday, May 19th at 7:43 PM. She weighed 8 pound 2 oz and was 20.5 inches long.
We think she's gorgeous!



Things will likely be quiet around here while N and I learn how to parent 2!

Being Me: 39 Weeks And Counting

If I stand for too long, my feet hurt.
If I sit for too long, my back hurts.
If I lie down for too long, my back and hips hurt.
I'm not even going to talk about the heartburn and spontaneous vomiting.

Yeah, I'm done with being pregnant. Not looking forward to labor, but very excited to meet (and name?!) Baby Meow Meow aka #2! Also very excited to wear pants without elastic and see my feet.

Books?

So it feels like I'm at the doctor's office like every day now, but it's only once a week. Normally it's pretty quick too---pee, get my blood pressure done, get weighed, listen to Baby Meow Meow's heart, and go home. It's not weird for me to be the only person in the waiting room. Another 10 pts for NH. But today felt like I was back in the New York. It was crowded y'all and I had to wait an hour! I was so mad at myself for not bringing my library book---it's very slim pickings in the waiting room and only a National Geographic that I've already looked at in the office itself. Anyway, I got to thinking how I've been reading a lot lately. I think I'm trying to get it all in although I'm hopeful it won't take me quite as long to get back to reading as it did with The Bean.

So here's an update of some of the recent books I've read.

Amy Bloom's Where The God of Love Hangs Out: I just finished this collection of short stories but a bunch of them are connected and I like those ones best. Bloom is a good writer and this was a quick read. The stuff is heavy but in a lightish way: affairs, older people ailments, parental rage. I took a class with Bloom back in the day and she was so self-involved that it's kind of marred by opinion of her. But still. She knows how to write a story and she's especially good at endings.

Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed: I took this out because I was so surprised that my little library had it and like almost every other white chick in America I dug Eat, Pray, Love. This book is also non-fiction and while I wasn't really all that interested in the "history" of marriage (I was more interested in Gilbert's story about remarrying after an awful divorce) I surprised myself by reading it all and reading it quickly. When I was done with it, I didn't have any insight into my own marriage, but I do think it's interesting how different cultures view marriage. Love marriages are great, but it's the arranged ones that historically work.

Julia Child's My Life in France: This was a lot of fun, actually. Julia Child was a really funny, kooky, lady. I liked reading about her life with Paul and the beginning of her love affair with food/cookery.

Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge: This is a great book. You should read it right now. It's interconnected stories about elderly people in coastal Maine. The writing is so good and the characters are believable and interesting.

I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I can't remember. Also, there are no books by men up here either. Oh well. I just bought Michael Lewis' The Blind Side, which is about football so that should balance something out. Except "Real Simple" came today and it's all about organizing your life, which may take over everything.

Full Term!

Yup, I'm 37 weeks today. It seems like there might be a baby 'round these parts sometime within the next five weeks or so.
Wait, let me rephrase that.
THERE'S GOING TO BE A BABY HERE? IN LIKE A MONTH?