Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Megapost! Also, this is marathon...

And I'm late again with the weekly post. In fact, I've skipped an entire week. Really I'm just trying to be spontaneous and not too predictable. Yes, that's it -- we're going with spontaneity. So hang on to your hats, because you are about to experience two weeks in one post. That's right... you might want to go get a snack before you read further.

You would think after all the Halloween festivities, that last week would have been a quiet one. Not so. My last pregnancy pilates class was scheduled for Monday night, but I got an email saying our instructor had food poisoning. I didn't want to wait a whole week for the make-up class, so I took advantage of Oh Baby! Fitness' wonderful make-up policy and tried out one of their other class offerings -- water aerobics. I had mom's maternity swimsuit from 1979, which amazingly, actually fit me (It is somewhat hilarious though. I considered posting a picture of it for about two seconds, then came to my senses). Class was a lot of fun. You really do feel weightless in the water, which is the opposite of how I usually feel these days.

We had an appointment with our midwife on Wednesday morning, and she says everything is going as it should. The big excitement came Wednesday night. We caved in and had a 3d ultrasound. I think they make babies look pretty scary, but we hadn't seen her in 9 weeks at that point, wouldn't see her again until birth, and Fox really wanted to check in on her. I forget that since he doesn't feel her every move like I do, it probably seems less real and less like everything is okay to him. Our appointment was at 8 pm. I knew we were in trouble around 6:30 when she had been moving around nonstop since 4 that afternoon -- by 8, she was going to be sound asleep! Sure enough, when the technician finally got the settings to the proper level and she no longer looked demonic or fishy (seriously, the distortion of the fluid is terrifying), we saw Baby Fox curled up in a little ball with not just her hands on her face, but also her feet (!), sound asleep. After some poking with the transducer and some stomach jostling, she woke up and gave us some yawns and blinks, but she never really uncurled. Regardless, we got a couple of really cute face shots. It's hard to tell who she looks like, but she is a cutie. I'm not going to put the photos on the blog (it just seems too personal and/or medical to post out into the ether -- like posting x-rays on the internet), but if you want to see them, send me an email.


Friday and Saturday I had seminars at work. We did manage to make it to the Chomp and Stomp on Saturday afternoon. What is the Chomp and Stomp, you ask? The better question is what isn't the Chomp and Stomp. It is a chili cook-off, bluegrass festival, art show, you name it. I even saw some magicians this year. It is probably our favorite Atlanta festival, and they have a surprisingly large array of vegetarian chili to taste. After the Chomp and Stomp, we went to the birthday party for our favorite one-year-old, Adrienne Bartlett. She was surprisingly gentle and lady-like with her cake, much to my disappointment. Adrienne's mom, Rebecca, did an amazing job with her party. Everything was beautiful and delicious.


After Adrienne the party animal got tuckered out, we headed to Grant Central Pizza for our favorite Atlanta pizza, then to the Earl to have the Felice Brothers sous our blues away (it's a lyric from one of their songs, and refers to John Phillip Sousa -- I'm not just making up works for the heck of it, Bush-style). It was a wonderful show, and I secured a seat in the back on the only couch in the Earl. Baby Fox seemed to enjoy the accordion, and they played one of the songs from the birth mix, Run Chicken Run.

Whew... one week down. One photoless week. I will now give you a photo dear reader, so you will see where this post is going.



Fox was set to run his ninth marathon on Saturday -- the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon. He was finishing up his training the week before, and we were working hard at our jobs. On Wednesday, we did have a reprieve to take Baby Fox to see her last show for many years. We saw Lucero and Social Distortion at the Tabernacle. It was a great time -- we got comfy seats in the front of the top balcony. Lucero played my favorite of their songs, Nights Like These, which is, you guessed it, on the birth mix.
Friday night, after a particularly trying day at work in which all technology rebelled against me to make practicing law nearly impossible, we headed to Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia. We picked up Fox's race packet at the elementary school and carb loaded at the local Fazoli's. We then checked into the EconoLodge on General Bushrod Johnson Avenue (you can't make this up) to catch some zzzs before 6:30 a.m. came and along with it the shuttle to take us to the battlefield.

I was particularly excited about this marathon because it had been voted the most spectator-friendly marathon in America, largely because there were shuttles (small school buses) to take spectators to different spots along the marathon for cheering. After 8 other marathons involving me holding a map and using simple multiplication to figure out where I needed to be at what time (and how to get there with multiple roads closed) in order to cheer for Fox, this sounded great. Unfortunately, the shuttles showed up sporadically (use it in a sentence! Bonus points if this movie reference makes sense to you) and were often too full to board, thus leaving me the spectators waiting long periods of time for the next shuttle as the runners kept going. I was only able to see Fox three times during the marathon. My personal best is five times.


The marathon was fun for me because I got to spend time with my friend Leah and her four (!) daughters, ages 7, 5, 3, and 17 months. Her husband Chad was running too. Needless to say, I got some good daughter practice in.


The picture above is Fox at the 15 mile marker. I have to note that our camera is weird. I like to take photos in the portrait orientation (as opposed to landscape). When one takes a photo in this orientation with our camera then downloads it to the computer and rotates it, it makes the photo wider than it should be. I'm not sure why this happens, but it is very unfair to the subject in the photo. Maybe there is a setting I can find to keep the proportions true, or maybe it is time for a new camera. Who knows. Anyway, Fox finished his marathon in 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 11 seconds. I was very proud of him. He was happy but sore.



On Sunday, I turned 31. For some reason, it sounds extra-old to me. But, as dad says, it's better than the alternative. Fox brought me Einstein pumpkin bagels in bed and the prettiest grocery store roses I've ever seen. I asked for a Dyson vacuum, which Fox begrudgingly got me. He felt like it was a crappy present, but I love it. It is crazy-powerful, and living with two people, two cats, and a dog, it makes my life a lot easier. We also went to the mall and picked out some make-up at Sephora. I don't wear make-up, but I feel like I need to start so the baby won't think I'm totally unglamorous. I think I have time to learn before she figures it out. Wearing make-up is my least-kept New Year's resolution. I actually pride myself on my landspeed record from bed to desk chair. I did feel like the Sephora salespeople were judging me, but some of them looked ridiculous (I'm talking to you, Ms. Frosted Lipstick) so it didn't really bother me. Then we went and saw Due Date, which was hilarious, and had a nice dinner at One.Midtown.Kitchen. All in all, a really nice way to turn 31.


Baby Fox turned 31 weeks on Saturday. She weighs as much as four navel oranges. She moves around a lot and is supposed to be putting on some fat to ready her for the outside world. I can't believe she'll be here in less than nine weeks.



I promise to be a better blogger and not skip weeks. You might even see pictures of me in make-up! So really, join us next week when we'll recap the Bellwether Station show and when Baby Fox is the size of a large jicama (here I am with the made up vegetables again!)