In the Nude

Yesterday my friend came over to my house for a photo shoot. She wanted some pregnancy pictures to expand her portfolio. I was more than happy to help out! She does our family photos every September as well, and it's always a treat to see her.

The photo shoot was so much fun -- I wore a pretty skirt and was topless. I truly felt like a pregnant goddess, glowing, nice little (not huge) belly, and breasts that are full and round and preparing to nurse another sweet little babe. I cannot wait to see the pictures, and have plans to frame one of them to hang in my bedroom.

This is not the first time I have done a nude photo shoot. Twice, in college, I was a nude model for an art class, and got paid for it. That was quite the experience! The first time I did it with a group of 3 other women, and the second time with just one other woman. For an hour we did different poses in front of students half-hidden behind their easels, drawing their hearts out. I didn't mind being nude in front of other people -- as long as my toenails were nicely painted!! Strangely, this was the one thing that made me feel relaxed about having no clothes on. The oddest part about the whole thing was then walking around campus and occasionally recognizing an art student for whom you posed...

One other time I did a private photo shoot for a good friend who was taking a photography class. The most memorable shot she did (and the one that her professor thought was AMAZING) was a close-up of my torso, with about 7 knives of various shapes and sizes laid out in a row from my breasts to my pelvis. Talk about a contrast -- the soft curves of my body versus the sharpness of the knives. I still have that photo somewhere.

I really do enjoy those types of opportunities. I think our bodies are meant to be celebrated. Thanks, A, for another opportunity to have fun celebrating!

Update on Cousin M

Thought I should give you an update on Urban Shaman's cousin M. Last I mentioned on this blog, he was in a coma after a snowmobile versus truck collision.

We waited 3 weeks without hearing any news about him -- the last bit of news is that he was still in a coma, his leg was still pretty bad, and he had double pneumonia. Yikes.

Finally after 3 weeks, I emailed my MIL to ask about cousin M. The response "Oh, he got out of the hospital yesterday! He starts physical therapy this week."

Very good news. But seriously, we go from thinking he's on his deathbed to being released from the hospital? It's like this family only shares the drama/bad news. I was just a little peeved. A little. But very happy for cousin M. Although I am still wondering how he is doing, since I haven't had any further news for a month. Oh well, I suppose if he was dying again or something, they'd let us know.

I have such weird in-laws.

You Shall Have Joy, Dammit!

The thing about having in-laws who are Mormon is that it can occasionally be amusing. Note I said occasionally, sometimes it is annoying.

The other day Urban Shaman received a care package from his mother in the mail. It contained some very cool, very hippie t-shirts, some DVD movies, books, and the following crap literature.

Finding Faith in Christ. With an enclosed booklet entitled "The Plan of Salvation" accompanied by a DVD.
Yes, so very important. Except those of us who live in the household at which the package was addressed are not even remotely practicing, let alone interested in this type of thing. Both Urban Shaman and myself grew up attending Jesus-oriented churches, so it is not like we are ignorant of this, it's just that we have chosen a different way of believing in and expressing our feelings about... you know... all that sort of stuff. I honestly wonder what they think when they see pictures of us all decked out at the Oregon Country Fair or having gone to Brazil for the spiritual workshop. Oh yeah... they probably think "holy moly, they need The Plan of Salvation!"

But that isn't all. Luckily a piece of more amusing crap literature was also present in the box.

And They Shall Have Joy. But wait! It's *gasp* all in American Sign Language! With real deaf actors! Wow.



Yup.

Science at the Table

We have this book:
A few months ago Il Tonino was really interested in it, and reading it daily.

When we got to this part, the digestive system, we explained how food goes in and comes out as pee or poop. This was a concept he could grasp.



Fast forward to yesterday. Gramma, Il Tonino, and I were eating dinner together.

IT: eats a bean from his soup.
G: your body loves the bean! Your tummy goes yummy!
IT: and then it comes out as poop! with great emphasis on making the sign for 'poop'
G: sudden shocked and slightly amused look on her face
Me: total failure at not laughing

I guess he learned something from that book.

Ahh... kids.

Okay Universe, that's enough.

Ugh. I'm down for the count. After spending a whole week taking care of 2 sick boys who had high fevers and bad coughs, I was hit with the fever, hard, last night.

I've been taking tyelnol to keep the fever down but despite that, it sometimes hovers in the 101's and other than diving into an ice bath (no thanks), there's nothing I can do. I've been trying to drink lots of fluids but every time I gulp something down I end up throwing it back up. Not a good feeling.

Fortunately, this was a pretty short-lived thing for Urban Shaman so I'm hoping it will be that way for me, too. Just lots of time in bed, fluids, and tylenol.

What sucks is worrying about the baby. Fevers are not good for babies in the first trimester (hence lots of tylenol). So send me quick healing vibes, healthy baby vibes, and sticky baby vibes.

Helmets, please

Saturday morning at 5am we received an email that late Friday night, Urban Shaman's cousin M (age 19), who lives way up north in a tiny village, was a passenger on a snowmachine that was struck by a truck. The driver of the snowmachine did not survive. M was medvac'ed 1.5 hours away to the nearest metropolitan city with a major hospital. He arrived unconscious and with a leg broken in 3 places and the thigh bone shattered. Saturday saw him still unconscious, but with good-looking brain waves. However, he was not breathing on his own and was on a respirator. Today (Tuesday) he is in a drug-induced coma, has had 2 surgeries on his leg, and is breathing a little better. He's doing well despite still being in critical care.

I'm glad he's doing well, and while this is scary, what is even scarier and sadder is that neither snowmachine rider was wearing a helmet. They simply don't wear helmets at all up in that little village; similarly, carseats for children do not exist/are not sold up there, either. Children simply are held in laps, whether it is while in a car or on a snowmachine. It's a small enough town where the maximum speed limit anywhere is 35mph. But still, when you combine snow, late-night partying (no idea if alcohol was involved -- this is a dry town but it is not impossible to find a drink if you really want it), and even a speed limit as low as 35 mph, snowmachine versus truck is not a good thing.

So we're praying for a full recovery for M. And I'm left thinking about how long, and how many accidents it took before people started wearing helmets to ski/snowboard. Surely one is able to go faster on a snowmachine?

This just leaves me shaking my head.

What's happening to me and what time is it?

Hello!!!

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. And I don't blame Facebook either. Really, the blame goes to this little bean-sized person growing inside of me who, despite only being like an inch long, is SUCKING UP ALL MY ENERGY.

But the days are getting better, or at least my hormones are giving me a break every so often, and allowing me to think about things like my blog. And really, I'm thrilled to be pregnant, even though you might see me only giving a very faint, mundane yay at the moment, in-between running to the bathroom thinking I'm going to puke, and running to the kitchen for yet another shot of protein.

And then realizing that this pregnancy actually turned me into a hormonal bitch at certain moments was a shock, especially when with Il Tonino's pregnancy I was totally emotionally calm and stable and happy the whole time, even in the midst of planning a wedding. This time? No wedding or other major life event to plan and once already I have found myself a sobbing mess and having to apologize to my husband for my sudden need to complain about everything and then realizing that this is really not me and I don't like it but dang hormones!

But like I said, it is getting better. No, really! The second trimester is only 3.5 weeks away, and alongside with the promise of spring, is bringing the promise of relief from hormones gone wild and 2am kitchen raids.

Oh and one non-pregnancy related thing I wanted to mention -- time change sucks. Just look at this list. Is this CRAZY or what? Not only do we have global warming, but twice a year we have global time confusion.

March 8 - US DST begins at 2am

March 15 - Buenos Aires DST begins at midnight

March 29 - DST begins in the UK and the rest of Europe at 1am

April 5 - Australia DST ends at 3am

Countries/states that don't observe DST:

China

South Africa

Arizona, USA

Hawaii, USA

Singapore

Japan

My next post will be more uplifting, I promise. Just thought you might enjoy a glimpse of my life these past few weeks :)