24 weeks, 6 days I haven't posted in a while. But ironically, it's because I had a sudden burst of energy over a week ago and have been taking advantage of it instead of sitting in my Aeron. For example, on Saturday I woke up at 7:00AM, drove 30 miles to Pleasanton, worked for 4 hours, drove 30 miles back, baked an apple pie from scratch (I even brushed egg whites and sugar on the top crust, which I hardly ever do) took it to Ed's house warming party, and stayed up until 2AM. Then, woke up at 9AM, went to the farmer's market, met up with friends for dim sum, went to the city, saw a movie (I really recommend Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), walked around for 2 hours, came home at 10:30PM. This really is the easy part of the pregnancy. Now, if only it would not be so damned hot (93F), I could keep the energy up. August seems to be asleep most of the time while I run around during the day, but more than makes up for it at night. Right when I'm falling asleep, as Anand is dabbing lotion on my belly, August squirms around enough that Anand can *watch*. He seemed a little bit surprised the first time, but now he expects the nightly entertainment. I'm finally used to all the kicking. I would even venture to describe it as enjoyment.

Today I ate: 1 cheese/lemon danish, 1/2 glass of berry juice, half a chicken sandwich with pesto, 1 can of Aranciata, 1 Acme bread roll, 1 egg roll (while waiting for butcher to check for fresh stock at the new Golden Phoenix - I will never buy meat there - they don't date what's on the shelves and the stuff has been sitting so long it looks dry), homemade beef chowfun (beef from Castro Market, disappointingly mushy fresh noodles from Golden Phoenix), 1/2 glass of berry juice, 1 pear, 1 navel orange, 1 quadratini, (9 Quads = 1 serving, but I love how delicate they are on their own), and 1 cup of yogurt.  ¶ 11:11 PM

  22 weeks, 6 days The nesting instinct is very strong right now. Here's proof - I vaccuumed under the bed and under both dressers. I made Anand move the bed at first, but he was Quickening and very distracted. So I moved it. It was easier than I thought it would be. I didn't even have to use any muscle, I just leaned my pregnant self against it and - voila! I spent over 1.5 hours cleaning just one bedroom - without the use of chemicals. If that's not nesting, I don't know what is. The baby will be sleeping in our room at first, so after I finished cleaning, I rearranged a bit and I told Anand to install a new ceiling light fixture. I would have done it myself, but neither one of us wanted to accidentally electrocute August. Anand was ready to give up a couple of times, but I dug through my toolbox and found some nuts and bolts to replace the ones that didn't work. I also had him improvise the bracket from my old ceiling hook. The only complaint I can make about Ikea light fixtures is that they really don't include everything you need for installation.

According to my sources, August weighs 15oz and is 11 inches long. I've gained about 22 pounds. Hmm. Today I ate: one bowl of cereal, one mocha, rice and prawns for lunch, half an orange, two handfuls of trail mix (raisins, almonds, and pumpkin seeds), one cup of orange juice, 1 Dannon yogurt, 1 Oreo cookie, 5 animal crackers, spinach and tomato salad, asparagus and a pork chop, some grapes, and 2 Quadratinis (Italians really know how to eat). It's not even 10PM yet, so I'll probably have a few more quads.   ¶ 9:29 PM

  22 weeks My mom visited and stayed with us for the weekend. When she first saw me, she immediately zoomed in on my tummy. She looked really happy that I was showing. But when I showed her the ultrasound, she walked off in the middle of it to get something from the kitchen. Ah well. We took her for a 1.5 hour hike and then my sister, Ryan, Anand & I cooked a traditional Indonesian meal for her. Anand assigned me to the satay and my sister to the gado-gado salad, so the guys spent more time at the stove. At one point, my sister, my mom and I were all sitting at the table watching Ryan and Anand scurry around the kitchen. My mom remarked, "The men do all the cooking. The world has changed."

It's been an interesting pregnancy day - got my first Braxton-Hicks contractions in the morning. A tiny bit scary at first, but I'd read a bit about them so I wasn't completely in the dark. Also today, I went to my first pre-natal yoga class. That was in the afternoon, so I can guarantee that these two events were not related. The yoga intructor focused on shoulder and upper torso stretching to counteract the effects of extra weight in the lower torso. She took care to avoid anything that would stretch the abdominal region. It was extremely gentle, not at all like the ashtanga I'm used to. August never woke up the entire time. August maintained a rhythmic kicking. I did learn one new thing today. Do not engage pregnant women in a discussion that requires comparing hospitals or doctors. Also, comparing weight gain is not much better.

On a completely non-baby-related topic - I closed my first case today! I prevented a disabled couple from being evicted from their home. Hurrah!  ¶ 11:15 PM