Currently: September

Happy Friday! This is the one-year anniversary of the day we looked at the house we ended up buying. What a whirlwind year it's been - if you told me masks would be part of my daily wardrobe, I would have told you that you were crazy! But here we are, living in a global pandemic, preparing to bring a 2nd child into the world. Life is full of unexpected surprises, both good and bad!

Here's what currently on my mind!

Reading: You're Not Listening by Kate Murphy. I can't tell you how this ended up on my hold list at the library - I must have read about it or heard about it on a podcast? But when another blogging friend (Jolene from Everyday Foodie) raved about it, I was glad it was on my hold list. It's all about how bad our culture is at truly listening and how much we under emphasize the skill of listening. For example, there are lots of public speaking classes, debate teams, etc, but our curriculums don't focus on listening, but it's an important skill. I feel like social media and the shift to text/email has really hurt our ability to listen, especially for young people who conduct so much of their communication via text! It's been an interesting and fast read so far.

Loving: the cooler fall temps we've had this week. Some of the temps have been a bit colder than ideal, but I will take what I can get. I was just so ready for cool, crisp weather after the hot, steamy summer we had. It was the 4th hottest summer on record for Minnesota and previous record summers were when I was 7 or before I was born. So it really was the hottest summer that I can remember. We'll be back in the 70s next week which I'm looking forward to. 70s with no humidity is ideal weather for me!

Feeling: really tired, and tired of being tired! I don't remember feeling this tired when I was pregnant with Paul but I guess the body can forget things like that! I do think that chasing a toddler around adds to the exhaustion and my anemia doesn't help either. I'm iron supplements but those seem to take awhile to make a difference!

Thinking: about 9/11/01 and shocked that it was 19 years ago. It doesn't seem like that long ago, does it? I am sure we all remember where we were when it was happening. I was a junior in college and was in the tv rooom of my sorority. We were all glued to the tv and couldn't believe what was happening. I felt so powerless so the only thing I could think to do was donate blood. What I remember most, though, was the unity of our country at that time. There were yellow ribbons on trees and everyone banded together. Will we ever have that kind of unity again? It's hard to believe we will given the current state of the world.

Anticipating: my 28 week appointment on Tuesday! It's a long one as I have the glucose test, which takes an hour and a growth ultrasound. I know I'm going to fail the glucose test since I'm on prednisone - it's basically impossible to pass when you are on that drug. So I might ask if I can just avoid the whole thing and get the endocrinologist referral. But we will see if I have to follow the protocol. I'm looking forward to seeing the baby - given how much he is moving and shaking in my tummy, it seems like he's growing well so I don't expect any issues to pop up on the growth  ultrasound but we'll see! 28 weeks means I'll officially be in the 3rd trimester and will only have 11 more weeks of pregnancy. Hooray!!

Struggling: with insomnia. It's very common in pregnancy although I don't remember having it with Paul? But maybe I am just forgetting! About 2-3 nights/week I will wake during the night and have trouble falling back asleep. I usually get up and read but sometimes I just toss and turn because I don't feel like reading at 2 or 4 in the morning when I should be sleeping! I know it's a passing thing, though, so will focus on the fact that in about 11.5 weeks, it will be over!

Grateful: that my company is having employees work from home for the remainder of 2020 and likely for the first half of 2021. They've been very conservative about bringing people back to work and I'm glad. Anyone can opt to WFH at least through next August since they recognize many parents are also dealing with virtual schooling. My plan is to WFH until there is a widely available vaccine, so I am guessing I'll be home for most if not all of 2021 (I'm skeptical about the availability of a vaccine - especially with the AstraZeneca trial being put on hold this week due to an adverse, unexplainable outcome in a patient in the trial). Luckily I've thrived in the WFH environment. I'm equally productive and while I miss being able to talk face-to-face with colleagues, for me, it's not worth risking getting covid. My company has been very respectful of people with risk factors so I think they'll be willing to accommodate me if I ask to remain home in 2021. 

Working: on seeing as many friends - outdoors, socially distanced - as I possibly can while the weather is still nice enough. I've reached out to a lot of different friends to arrange outdoor coffees, walks, take-out dinners, etc. Once the cold weather hits in November, we'll be in lock-down again to lower our risk of getting covid. And then when the baby is born, we'll continue to be pretty locked down until we are out of cold/flu season - especially for the first several months of the baby's life as hospitalization is often required if an infant spikes a fever. Knowing we'll be pretty isolated come Nov/Dec, I want to see as many people in person as I can to 'fill up my cup.' 

Listening: to "Inside the Bubble" which is a podcast about Covid. The host lives in Minneapolis and is a healthcare policy expert as he used to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. He covers a lot of super interesting topics and has great experts on his show. Up until recently, his co-host was his 18 year old son. I thought it was very cool that he involved his young son in this project. He did a send-off (his son starts college this fall) during a recent episode that was very sweet and touching.

Watching: Alone which is a History Channel survival reality tv show that we got hooked on recently! They drop 10 people in a remote area and whoever survives the longest wins $500k. The participants are dropped far enough apart from each other that they do not see each other, so the contestants are alone.

Wishing: for a long, warm fall! I hope we don't see any white stuff until Thanksgiving! That's probably unlikely but a girl can dream!

Bonus Paul Pictures:

Paul stayed home one morning last week as he had a 10:30 ENT follow-up appointment. He was quite the cute and well-behaved little coworker. He's very into stickers and coloring right now so that occupied him for a good chunk of time.

And here's another sleeping photo of him - you can tell he's a big drooler when he's sleeping hard, hence the web crib sheet! Check out all of the toys he brings to bed with him. There's a fish (bath toy), cat, owl, and captain (another bath toy) plus a kitty lovey by his hand. He's been wanting more and more 'friends' to sleep with him - at one point last week he must have had 10 toys in there, including a T-rex! So starting this week we've made him choose 3 'friends' to bring to bed with him.He doesn't play with them once he goes to bed, he just seems like having them close by. But it's just a lot of stuff to have around in a small mini-crib!

What are you anticipating, watching and wishing for?