Already

First, I'm already 29? I remember when I was on the verge of turning 20 (and, yes, time goes so fast now that I feel like I'm on the verge of becoming a year older on the actual day of my birthday). My little brother was turning 10, and I thought to myself myself "This is fun now, but it's not going to be as fun when I'm about to turn 30 and he's about to turn turn 20." And I was right. Kind of. Except for I'm not dying to be 19 again (although I think one of the very first functions Josh and I ever attended together was my 19th birthday celebration up the canyon; that was fun). I really love my life at 29. So, welcome 29!

Second, I've already done so much celebrating considering that I'm only a few hours into my birthday day. Thanks to the generosity of our family friends Dave and Cindy (visiting from Minnesota), we stayed in the Waldorf Astoria in Park City this weekend. (If you haven't stayed in a luxury resort in Park City during the summer months, you are missing one of the best deals in UT--we're talking rooms at 1/5 the cost of the winter months. And it's beautiful there during the summer!)

When Zoë woke up, she declared: "We no go home. We stay this home." My feelings exactly.

My parents treated us to a plentiful spread of Bombay House Indian food (I've never found better, even though I try new Indian restaurants everywhere I travel), and last night we had death by chocolate cake.

My biggest birthday treat thus far? Not going back to school today!

Camping

We've decided last minute that we want to go camping this weekend to unwind a bit. But it seems like most places close by are full. Anyone know of a less frequented spot within an hour of UT valley?

Done and done

Grades are in!! Let the relaxing and baby preparations begin!

p.s. the next best thing to running is listening to my running songs. Can't wait until I can do that again . . .

A blessing of insomnia

When I'm pregnant, my internal alarm clock starts waking me up at 3am. It wakes me up to worry, to dream about my baby, feel the baby's movements, to plan, to contemplate. I'm up for at least a couple of hours. Last night I got some good grading done, but usually I just lie there and process through whatever my pregnant brain needs to process.

I got a special treat last night though. I was completely alert when Zoë rolled over and mumbled in her mostly asleep voice "I love you," as she wrapped her arms around me. I said "I love you too" and kissed her head. She turned and kissed what she thought was me (but was actually a pillow). We repeated the exchange a few times before she rolled over and wrapped my arm around her tummy. "You got me?" she asked? "I got you," I replied.

And secretly, that's one of the main reasons she's not sleeping in her big girl bed yet. I would be missing moments like that. And these days, as she becomes increasingly intent on asserting both her independence and her extremely strong will, those moments are all the more precious.

More complaining

So I have some more complaining to do.

I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (my class ends this week), when I was totally incapacitated by sleeping on my neck wrong. That's right--upon waking up last Friday I had a kink in my neck, and by Saturday I could barely move my head. By Sunday morning, I was begging my mom to rescue me because I couldn't perform basic tasks like changing Zoë's diaper or dressing myself (and Josh was of course out of town). Thanks to several hours of physical therapy from my very talented and sweet spine specialist of a mother-in-law, around the clock care from my parents that included a 3am trip to the emergency room with my dad when the pain just got too bad Sunday night, and the miracles of modern medicine (it turns out you can take Loritabs and muscle relaxants while pregnant if you really need to), I recovered some time mid-last week.

But wow. I don't know how people with chronic spine pain manage. The pain was so much worse than labor, especially because there were no breaks in it, no slightly more comfortable position to get into, and no foreseeable end in sight.

After I got off the Loritab and Tylenol, I had a headache for a couple of days--I figured it was a mild withdrawal symptom (is that possible after such a short amount of time?). Anyway, for that reason, I didn't take any Tylenol to combat it. Bad idea. By Saturday night I had the worst headache of my life, was throwing up, the whole lot. Luckily, some Tylenol and a Coke got that under control eventually (now Zoë will say periodically "I sick. I need a Coke.")

So this week, I just have to finish coordinating a video release at work, get my glucose test and Rhogam shot, go to a midwife appointment, try for the fourth time to get our washer fixed (yes, we've been without a washer for over a month--they keep ordering the wrong parts), grade 21 15-page research papers, attend the UT Cleanflix premier (for more info, go here), and anticipate next week.

I promise this will be my last complaining post. At least for a long while.

Finally, do you miss Zoë on this blog? She's hilarious these days. To keep up with her antics, email me and I'll add you to the list of readers for her blog at zoetalei.blogpost.com (which I still may make public again one of these days).