Yes, I ate all the French Bread

Things are on the up around here — well, mainly the number on the scale. My growing belly and newly fierce appetite is bringing back those 10 lbs I lost during the first trimester when irascible spells of nausea and vomiting had me camping out around the porcelain. Those episodes still creep up once in awhile, but they are certainly less frequent. My husband was lucky he spent the month of September out in field training, or he would have been subject to my whining and pity parties. It wasn’t easy going through that alone, so single preggy ladies, I salute you.

I’m happy to report that I have returned to the kitchen, cooking and eating healthier dishes like the olden days. That doesn’t mean I haven’t given into cravings of the occasional Yoo Hoo and ahem, entire loaf of French Bread. It was over the course of two days, and it came hot from the bakery! It was like, the only thing I ate. OK, it wasn’t but whatever, throw it in the bucket of pregnancy excuses (which is heaping, my friends). It was delicious.

Before long, I’ll have a ton of news to share. Until then, try not to shame me too badly for my lap full of bread crumbs and messy hair . Growing a human is hard work.

Wall Art from the Archives

I’ve got six months of gestation left before this kiddo comes. I don’t even know what we’re having yet but as far as I can tell from the sonograms, it’s a human. Whew! That being said, I’ve been thinking a lot about (gender neutral) baby room stuff. I know, gag. The baby room decor from major baby retailers has left an emphatic scowl on my face. I’m just not impressed. Aside from basic linens and an essential item here and there, I’ve decided I really don’t want to pull decor straight off a shelf. Goodness, I’m already way over thinking this…

In an unrelated turn of events, I went through all my old photos from the last 5 years last night. I have boxes upon boxes of film negatives, data CDs and prints from my earlier years of film photography. Scavenging through the photos, reliving my early college days was more fun than I thought it would be. But I thought to myself; what am I supposed to do with all these images?

Then it hit me. Why not pull some of my favorite nature prints from those old backpacking trips and make them into wall art for the future baby’s room? They’re certainly gender neutral enough! Suddenly my archive browsing brought on by boredom had a direction.

I’m still pulling prints from both the film and digital archives, but so far these are some of my favorites. I really like the soft light of the outdoors from a Colorado trip I took awhile back. I may take some filters to them in Lightroom or edit them otherwise. Not sure yet, but I’m sure I’ll be too excited not to share when the end product is at hand.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on which images you think might look nice either enlarged or on canvas!

Zoo Babies and Other Babies

We decided that it was finally time to hit up the local Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium this weekend. I usually love these things, but I’ve been so fatigued lately that I was pretty much useless. Most of the little energy I had was focused on the prevention of hitting small children in the head with my purse, or giving any strangers accidental ‘flat-tires’ during my zombie-like stroll. Yet, somehow I was also able to snap a few photos of the most animated animals at the Zoo.

We were drawn to the zoo with the promise of Zoo Babies. Right now there are a few Red Wolf Pups at the zoo, they were romping further away in the exhibit. Cute overload. And has anyone else noticed that Wolves don’t look dangerous at all? Their adorable appearance is all too deceptive!

It took a lot of restraint to not push this monkey out of the hammock so I could steal a snooze, trust me.

Watching the Walruses swim back and forth in their pool also instilled a sense of envy. I could make a happy life for myself as a big fat walrus. Really, I could! Eat, swim, be merry.

The single-most adorable thing we saw all day was the most playful Puffin in the world. A little boy had a stuffed dog up to the glass driving the Puffin into a frenzy. The bird put up an adorable fight to win the prize through the glass, without success. 

A pretzel with cheese and an Ice Cream cone later, I was completely exhausted. Creating a human being is exhausting work, even when you do get 10-12 hours of sleep a day.

Did I mention I had that little side project going? Yep, I’m pregnant. Close friends, family and some of my twitter/blogging buddies know about the pregnancy already, and many thanks to them for the tips on eliminating the nausea! 

The first trimester will be over soon, but not soon enough. Until then, please don’t call me before 10 am, and please avoid eating any Indian food around me. Your shoes look so much nicer without vomit all over them. 🙂