Things that are kind of kicking my butt right now in the last 6 weeks:

• Fatigue--back with a vengeance. Is it possible I feel MORE tired now than in the first trimester? Seriously. I could sleep in every day and go to bed by 7:30 every night.
• Heartburn. Blah.
• Sleep, ironically. Tossing and turning all night on the Sno*gle does not a good night's sleep make. Add to that the occasional toddler in the bed, and it all makes for a not-so-restful nor peaceful night despite my pure exhaustion.
• Papers. Okay, that has nothing to do with being pregnant, but I have so many papers to grade. Why am I giving so much work? I must be a mean teacher!
• Finding a new car---why do car salespeople suck so badly?

Things I love:

• Being extremely, visibly pregnant. I love the way my belly looks, I must say.
• Feeling so close to the baby, who moves and grooves and twists and turns in there all the time. I love it (except when I get an unexpected swift kick to the ribs--ouch).
• My family. Theo. Wife. Imagining us as a foursome very soon.
• Halloween and fall. Seriously---who wants to spend fall anywhere else but New England? My heart aches happily just thinking about it. It's especially grand this year since I don't have to blow or rake leaves (at least not for too long). And---I also love Halloween candy. Yum.

Purple Day

Our GSA gave out purple ribbons today -- it's Ally Week, plus purple day today to honor the 7 young men who took their own lives over the past month due to anti-gay bullying and harassment. We had a ton of students sign pledge forms and take ribbons during the lunch waves, so obviously I'm ecstatic about that.

Here is what I am very un-ecstatic about---an annoying, homophobic, unprofessional teacher who totally ruined the day. She basically accosted my student who was working at the GSA table to explain (not in my presence - the student was totally by herself and defenseless) how she doesn't believe that "all this" (GSAs, ribbons, allies, anything having to do with supporting gay anything) belongs in a school. May I mention we are a PUBLIC school, so nevermind that the GSA has about a gazillion legal rights to exist and disseminate information, but we also have a student-lead prayer group, which is also totally legal (if it's student-initiated and student lead, as is our GSA and many other clubs at school). So this is basically the equivalent of me marching into the bible study and telling them that I believe everything in the bible is a lie and that this group shouldn't exist.

But I would never do that. Do you know why? I am a professional who cares about students.

And we wonder why teenagers feel the need to kill themselves.

Can you just imagine if a person like this said something like this to your own child? It makes me not just angry for my children, but also scared. I hope-hope-hope we can do a good job strengthening our kids' confidence enough to never listen to this kind of bullshit nor take it seriously. But it still scares me.

Cautionary Tale List

Things not to do when you're 32 weeks pregnant: A List

1. Collide with a student in the hallway and then land on all-fours, hard, only to suffer excruciating back pain for the next two days

2. Somehow pick up a lingering massive head cold and sore throat

3. Drive through Chinatown in New York on a Saturday looking for a parking space

4. Smack the steering wheel and yell "F*CK!" while crying hysterically in said Chinatown traffic drive

5. Inadvertently teach your two-year-old how to say "F*CK", which really sounds like "PUT!" followed by hysterical laughter

6. Continue to say the word mentioned in 4 and 5 without realizing it, again eliciting peals of ecstatic laughter from your two-year-old

7. Try to get a two-year-old boy to say "nice words" instead of "put" or "puttin" - because they'll just end up saying "POOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" or "PEE PEE!!!!!"

And that was my week in a nutshell. Take it as a cautionary tale, all ye pregnant ladies with no center of balance, a penchant for spontaneous emotional breakdowns, and an easily-influenced little bugger listening to your every word.

32 weeks down, 8 to go!

Another Rushing Week

No time for real posts - just pics. Theo is currently hurling himself off of the couch at an alarming angle, I have to pick up a pizza for dinner, and S. is painting our new cabinet to stash all the office crap we had to move out of our, well, office, to make Theo's new room. And...I am 31 weeks and starting to finally slow down. Thank god for my birth ball and some wisely selected yoga-ish exercises and deep relaxation CDs - otherwise my back pain would be tailspinning out of control. Whew. Needless to say, I could use a day off to just sleep and relax, but I'm trying to hold out as long as I can. With a long weekend coming up, I'm channeling the little engine that could...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

30 Weeks self-portrait (very hard when one is only 5 feet tall and one's profile barely clears the mirror!)

31 Weeks

Blondie cousin love with typical poses - cousin J. with his big smile, Theo with his little coy smirk