pregnancy diet

What I ate before 10am today:

• english muffin
• 1 mango
• grape juice

(brief pause to walk the dog)

• veggie sausages
• clementine
• granola bar

(brief pause to walk from house to car)

• organic Cheetos

(Have you had them?! Holy geeze, man. GOOD.)

Other things that I can't get enough of:

• apple juice. I could drink it allllll day.
• fish. but i don't get to eat it enough bc we are still washing dishes in our bathtub, which puts a serious crimp in my creative cooking.
• eggs.
• South Beach peanut butter granola bars. PROTEIN packed, but tastes suspiciously like peanut butter rice krispie treats (thnx to my sis for these).
• HAMBURGERS.

What I can't seem to eat:

• Any members of the Brassicaceae family, including my beloved brocolli.
• peanut butter (what?!)

all in all, though, it seems worth it

Things they don't tell you about pregnancy until it is too late:

-heartburn & bloating

-the crazy peeing schedule starts immediately

-acne!?

-curly hair that was finally starting to get long and more wavy abruptly changes course & becomes more curly and frizzy

Also- in these early months, I have this feeling of a lack of control. Like, all I can do is eat and sleep and hope all is going well down there. Shouldn't there be more to it than a few vitamins and a bag of almonds & apricots? And shouldn't I have to go to the doctor at least once a week for... something? a pat on the back at least?

FACT: The people who will be the MOST excited when you tell them you are expecting (aside from the future grandparents) are people who have already kids.

And there will be lots of exclamations about how "Having kids is Just Great!"

This is very encouraging.

Although in hindsight those same people were all just complaining on facebook about cleaning poo out of their sandboxes, so maybe they are just excited to have company at Camp KidsWorld, but still.

shortage of beds

"are you sure you're cool on the floor?"

"yeah, I'm good. It's your turn."

finally

Everything else was kind of crappy today, so it was a nice surprise to
see some proof that spring is kind of here, sort of, almost, just
barely.

double, double, toil and trouble

As a scientist, I'm dismayed at recent news that American's attitudes regarding climate change are taking a bit of a nose-dive toward disbelief. I am definitely in the camp that feels that blame for this can be split between poorly-communicating scientists and fear-mongering pundits. Come on science! Get on the ball!

With that said, I was heartened to see this figure which seems to indicate that the majority of the population is at least considering the consequences.

from: Global Warming's Six Americas

long drive home

Crossing back across the country with my three undergrad field
assistants. The 19 year old guy is taking a turning at driving & has
taken this opportunity to play the soundtrack to Glee.

Ten hours down, 14 to go.

see?! i'm not kidding.

Oh. Well, I guess before we head out to the study plots I should clean
the snow off of the truck.

Wait, did we bring an ice scraper?
No. No we didn't bc we were headed for the desert.

Bundle up, kids!

cruel joke

Spring is springing back in the STL but it's 40s & windy out here in
the desert.
Fieldwork schmieldwork. I am cursed. I will never be warm again.

easing into my geriatric years

Things I honestly enjoy that your grandpa probably loves too:

-Ovaltine
-prunes
-air-popped popcorn
-watching birds
-Arizona
-Cream of Wheat
-new socks (so exciting!)
-high fiber cereals

I'm really on the fence about orange marmalade though.

i am a sucker for all manner of rube goldberg goodness

oh, the nerdery. looove.

physics teachers of the world, please please incorporate this into your curriculum.