Insomnia!

I was sleeping along just fine and them - BAM! - my eyes sprung open. All of the sudden I was wide awake. My body took a 5 hour rest and decided it had had enough. I was so disappointed because I was actually in a very comfortable position (which is hard to maintain when you're 9 months pregnant).

So, after laying there for 30 minutes or so, I thought I should get up and make good use of the time. Figaro and I went to the kitchen and had a snack. I washed dishes, I prepped some of Baby K's cloth diapers. I wrote a letter. I finished the novel I had been reading.

At 4:15, I thought I'd give sleep another chance and snuggled under the covers to see what would happen. I fell asleep almost immediately. Then, of course when my alarm went off at 6:00, my brain was screaming "NOOOOOO! NOT YET!!!! WANT MORE SLEEP!"

I dragged my arse out of bed and got my day officially started. Sheesh! False labor on Saturday night robbed me of about an hour of sleep, then this! I wonder what tonight has in store?

In other news, my BFF, Christy, came up for a short weekend trip and threw me a virtual shower. It was very cool to host a shower on the internet and have my friends and family all over the globe tune it. I loved it and everyone had fun playing games and interacting online. Technology - I am so ahead of the curve!

From the Vaults

I have kept a journal for as long as I can remember. Writing is cathartic and has been my most reliable stress-reliever/problem-solver for a long time. I was digging through an old journal over the weekend and found this little gem:

"Things I Must Never Do To My Kids" - by Karla Smith, 1998

1. Give my kids nicknames with repeating syllables (ie. Mee-mee, Shay-shay, Tee-tee)

2. Call my children into my grown-up party to show everybody that they can do the latest booty dance.

3. Run loose around any store or restaurant.

4. Let them sit around the house all day and get fat.

5.Let my adolescent daughter dress in adult clothing.

6. Be seen strolling with my kids on Bourbon Street after dark.

7. Bring my kids to a sports bar to watch games. Kids do not belong in sports bars.


Okay, now that I've posted this, I will have to hold myself to it, right? Ha! We'll see. I'm really going to try!

Etiquette and The Chimp Debacle

Okay, I have two etiquette questions here. As a former debutante, I pride myself on being appropriately proper in most circumstances, but I had a moment of etiquette confusion yesterday (Where's Ms. Manners when you need her?)

So, I was at the bus stop and there was a 20-something guy sitting on the bench. I joined him. Then, an elderly lady and another 20-something guy walking with a cane approached the bus stop. Now, the bench only fits two adults comfortably. The kid sitting next to me made no motion to get up. After a minute, I asked him if he wouldn't mind giving his seat to the elderly lady. After looking at me like I was a complete idiot, he offered her the seat. Then, I felt bad for the guy with the cane. I felt like I should offer him the seat, but does a pregnant lady (who was extremely worn out from the day) have to defer to a physically handicapped person? Is pregnancy a handicap? When I wasn't pregnant, I always offered my seats to pregnant ladies.

Oy! Some people stress over the economy or world peace - I, on the other hand, fret for a whole day about bus stop etiquette. Go figure.

Now, about this thing with the New York Post chimpanzee editorial cartoon:
Racist undertones aside, am I the only one that thought it was insensitive and much too soon to be making fun of the chimp attack that almost cost a woman her life and may have cost her the structure of her face? There was nothing remotely funny about that chimp attack, a woman could have died and another woman lost her beloved pet companion. Whatever. I've been really disappointed with the Post lately.

Feet? What feet?

This is a view "from the top" of me at 28 weeks - me looking down at my belly. That flat white panel at the top of the picture are my gigantic boobs, My belly is the roundish portion below. Notice that my feet are not present in the picture. Yeah, I haven't seen those standing for about 2 months now.

Was that a great Superbowl or what? I made too much food, then proceeded to eat too much food. So, it was a good day all around.

Baby K's blog is up and running

My new goal

One of my favorite bloggers, Nilsa, has just signed up to run a half-marathon. Oh, no biggie...she's done marathons and 5Ks and such before - she's a runner (take that, Nilsa!). However, I was inspired by her committment and have decided to make one of my own.

I will also begin training. Even though I don't have the benefit of months to prepare, I am going to start on a strict regimen. I will stop eating chocolate frosted donuts. I have a visit with my midwife on Thursday and I have a suspicious feeling that she is going to schedule my gestational diabetes screening. I don't want to have gestational diabetes, so I'm going to wean myself from chocolate frosteds. I have been indulging in chocolate frosteds about once a week (but 3 at a time!) for the last month or so. The buck stops here. Well, after I eat the 2 that I picked up this morning on my way in to work...

Thanks, Nilsa for being my inspiration. I will continue to look to you for motivation. If you can run in Chicago, in January, outside - then I can bypass WesternCo donuts on Saturday morning.

Guess what?

I'm stuck in DFW airport overnight. Why? Cuz I misread my itinerary and missed my first flight, which led to a missed connection to Seattle. What's worse than finding a comfortable sleeping position when pregnant? Finding a comfortable sleeping position on an airport cot when pregnant. Oh, and did I mention that the restaurants and shops closed at 8:30 (which is about 30 minutes BEFORE I knew I was going to be stuck here overnight)? That lovely gem of information is only enhanced by the fact that all the vending machines in the terminal are "CURRENTLY UNDERGOING PROCESSING". I don't know what that means in vending machine-ese, but in real-life, it means that they don't accept currency and don't dispense food or drinks. Good thing I stashed a bag of cookies in my bag. Looks like it will be dinner and breakfast.

I'll be back later in the week to really blog about my vacation. As you hopefully understand, I'm just not in the mood right now.

Small wonders never cease to amaze

Our first look at our little one. Boy or girl? We swore the tech to secrecy. We'll leave it for the big moment at delivery.

Any dream interpreters out there?

I have been having the weirdest dreams lately. The pregnancy books mention that the unusual hormone levels can often cause this, so I'm not worried. Normal, unpregnant Karla already has crazy, vivid dreams that I remember like movies when I wake up. However, lately, they are super weird and more real people are involved (usually my dreams are filled with imaginary friends or people I am no longer in contact with).

Saturday night, I dreamt that my dad passed away while I was home for a visit. A sudden death. I remember feeling an extreme heaviness and depression, but not necessarily being sad or angry. Weird!

Sunday night, I dreamt that hubby and I crashed into a young woman's car while we were visiting some other place. Apparently, the law of this place is that if you cause an accident (even if noone gets hurt) you must be punished by death. So, after the cars were towed and we made sure everyone was okay, we waited at our guest house for the police to show - which they did - and inform us of the day of our demise. On death day, my friend took me to my favorite place for breakfast and I remember thinking as I enjoyed my ham, bacon and cheese omelet that in a few hours I'd be dead.

One common thread in both dreams is that my cousin J showed up after bad news was delivered and took care of things - making phone calls and arrangements, making sure I ate and bathed, etc.

Clearly, J is my guiding light, but I don't understand the rest of it. Any clues? Dream readers, help me out here.