October 28, 2004

Underlying Issues?

After spending an enjoyable dinner with a good friend last night, I found myself with 45 minutes until the stores in the mall where we had had dinner closed for the night. Since I had the opportunity, I decided it was time to go in search of new underwear. I'd been feeling the need to purchase these "delicate" items for some weeks, ever since I'd been feeling the ever increasing pressure of my regular ones because of my ever-growing belly. So I went into the mall's sole department store.

When I came home, new underthings in tow, and told Josh what I had purchased, he gave me this look like I was completely crazy. It was a look like, "What did you need to buy underwear for?"

Sometimes men just don't understand, especially when they're the type who wear the same underwear and socks for a decade and think that they're perfectly ok even if they have several holes in them and are so thin in places as to be almost translucent! :p

October 26, 2004

One of the Differences Between Cats and Babies

I had to take Callie, our younger cat, to the vet today for her annual checkup. Everything went fine: she's at a good weight, she got poked and prodded, she got her claws clipped, and she got her shots.

Later on, while speaking to a friend who has two children of her own, my friend made the comment that this was good practice for when I have to start taking the baby to the doctor.

"Yeah, it kinda is," I said, "except that cats don't scream when they're stuck with a needle."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that's true," she conceded.

:)

October 21, 2004

A Change of Plans

Josh was supposed to go in for dental surgery this afternoon to clean out an infected area above one of his teeth, but due to a cold that has plagued him for the last couple of days he decided to reschedule the procedure. He's staying home today and (hopefully) getting plenty of rest (I say "hopefully" because I'm worried about his workaholic tendencies that might prompt him to do significant amounts of work from home when he should be resting).

My original plan was to take the afternoon off in order to help him out as needed since we both assumed he'd be loopy from going under for the procedure and would be a little too groggy and in too much pain to be by himself. In order to do this, I was going to have to miss a mandatory workshop at my church for those who are interested in becoming lectors (readers for the first and second readings of Mass). I'd been planning to attend the workshop for about a month and was looking forward to being a lector again, having been one during my last couple of years at W&L. However, I considered staying with Josh to be my top priority, so I was going to skip the workshop.

As it turns out, I won't have to miss the workshop after all, and this means that I'll be reading at Mass again for the first time in over seven years. Please pray for me as I begin this new service to Our Lord. Even though I've done this before, it's a bit different to read in front of the 1,000 people who attend each service at St. Mark's in Vienna, VA, compared to the couple hundred who showed up at St. Patrick's in Lexington, VA!

Please also pray for Josh's speedy recovery!

October 19, 2004

Differences of Opinion and Weight Loss

I sometimes wonder if Josh and I are the oddest couple among the people we know. I wonder about this because we rarely seem to agree on anything political, and we've gotten into numerous "debates" over the past few weeks. For example, he's seriously thinking about voting for John Kerry, while I am staunchly in the Bush camp, which would make it two presidential elections in a row where we have voted for different candidates. He thinks that the answer to defeating terrorists in the Middle East is to nuke some area where extremists are known to hide out, regardless of how many innocent people may happen to be in the wrong place at that time, in order to instill fear into the whole area, sort of in the same manner in which we dealt with Japan during WWII. I believe such a tactic would only exacerbate the problems we already face over there with religious extremists; in fact, I think we'd only wind up creating even more extremists over there, and that certainly can't be good.

On another topic altogether, I had my second prenatal doctor's appointment today, and it went very well. Blood pressure and urine were both fine. The doc couldn't pick up the baby's heartbeat using the little Doppler thing they have, but she said that was normal with the pregnancy still being in the early stage - we will definitely hear it next time. The only odd thing was that I had actually lost a pound between this appointment and my last. I know weight loss can be normal in women who experience morning sickness during the first trimester, but I haven't been sick at all. Plus, I feel like I've been eating more, I haven't really been exercising, and I have defintely noticed a bulge in the abdominal area. Either my body is using up a lot of food to make room for the little one, or this baby is one ravenous little creature and is really sucking up everything I eat! I wonder if this bodes ill for me as a hoping-to-be-breastfeeding mother?! :)

October 14, 2004

Politics and Morality

Josh and I watched the presidential debates last night, and while there are many things about John Kerry that irritate me, the thing that irked me the most was his statement on how he has a certain faith and belief system but that he would not impose or legislate his religion on others. Why are some politicians so afraid to bring their morals into their politics? I am certainly not advocating that religion be imposed on others; religion is a matter of choice, a decison made between you and God (assuming you believe in one). Regardless of what religion you choose to follow, however, we all have a certain sense of what is right and wrong. If you're a politcian, and you believe in your heart of hearts that some things are right, doesn't it make sense to bring those morals into your policy-making? Isn't living our lives according to our faith precisely what God wants us to do? Isn't gently guiding others to the right choices a quality of a good leader?

Just my two cents.......

October 13, 2004

Crazy Drivers

The DC area is generally known to have some of worst traffic in the nation. I think a fair extension of that assessment would be to state that the area probably also has some of the worst drivers. I ought to know because I've had more than my fair share of run-ins (literally) with them. In fact, I had one this morning on my way in to work.

I usually drive in with Josh, since it's pretty easy for him to drop me off at my office before going on to his own, which is just a block away. Occasionally, however, he has to work downtown, and on those days I have to take a bus to and from work. Today was such a day.

My bus situation is a little strange. There is a bus that picks me up and drops me off right in front of our neighborhood, but it necessitates a half-mile walk to and from the office on the other end of the ride. There is another bus that is just the oppostie: the stop is a little over half a mile from our condo, but the other stop is just across the street from the office. I generally prefer the first option - I like being able to just walk outside of our complex to catch a bus and being dropped off right at home - it may all be in my head, but it somehow seems quicker.

Anyway, during my half-mile walk to the office this morning, I came to an intersection that I've crossed probably several hundred times before. In other words, I know precisely how to safely cross the street there. As I was stepping off the curb, a car pulled up on my left, getting ready to make the right-hand turn. The driver must have only been looking to his left at the potentially oncoming traffic before making his turn because, after only a brief pause, he began to make his turn......right into me. Needless to say, I screamed, and he stopped his car just as his front bumper touched my left leg. I then proceeded to yell at him to watch where he was going, then continued to cross the intersection, somewhat more rattled than I had been five seconds earlier.

This isn't the first time such incidents have happened to me. I think it probably happens once in a while to people who spend a good part of their lives as pedestrians, which I have. It's never a pleasant experience, but this one shook me even more than any other prior occurence because of the knowledge of the precious cargo I carry with me everywhere I go now. If something happens to me, it's no longer just me that would get hurt. I know there's no way for a crazy driver to know all this, but I know it, and that's enough.

October 11, 2004

House Envy

I have to admit to having some house envy right now, even though I know I shouldn't. Over the weekend, Josh wanted to visit with some friends who just recently moved into a $600K+ house, and, needless to say, it's huge. In my opinion, it's a lot more house than the two of them really need, even with a baby on the way. Oh, the unfairness of it all!

Ok, I'm done venting now...... :)

Actually, I think, more than envy, I'm just feeling frustrated with the DC housing market. I mean, it seems rather odd to me that two people who are holding down decent, steady jobs can't afford even a small house with a little bit of yard anywhere within thirty miles of the city or good transportation routes. What seems even more odd is that the small condo we currently own has appreciated so much in the two years since we purchased it that, if we were trying to buy it now, we probably couldn't.

Josh keeps telling me that prices will level off or even decline within the next few years because, economically speaking, they have to at some point. I just hope it happens before our child goes off to college!

October 08, 2004

Changes

Well, here goes my first sojourn into the realm of blogging......This is a change from my normal means of communication, which usually consists of calling people or emailing them. I'm not certain if I'm evolving or simply following everybody else's lead in doing this, but I'm willing to see where the journey takes me! :)

Speaking of changes, I was looking at myself in the mirror this morning, and I commented to Josh that I could definitely notice a "pooch" in my abdomen, presumably from my now-ever-expanding uterus. "It's either that or I'm getting fat," I jokingly said.

"Yeah, it might be time to start exercising," he quipped back with the look in his eye that he gets when he's teasing me, at which I gave him my very best pout-and-whine, which I know makes him laugh but is usually guaranteed to make him come over and kiss me.

Seriously, though, I have noticed changes in my abdomen size over the last few weeks. Instead of mourning the loss of my nearly flat stomach, however, I an looking forward to the changes that are happening inside me. I may never have that stomach again of which I used to be so proud, but that's okay because these changes in body form are only a presage of the wonderful and miraculous changes that are going to happen in the life of me and the husband who loves to laugh teasingly at me!