Chapter the Eighth
In which the author takes time to reflect on the busyness of life, the blessings of life, and the preoccupations of life…
If you follow this blog, you may have noticed the lack of tea reviews lately. The truth is I haven’t been drinking a lot of tea. (Gasp!)
Honestly, most of my days are spent at work, driving to and from work, going to the grocery store (300 extra calories/day translates to extra grocery runs), carrying grocery bags up our unfortunate flight of concrete steps out front, plopping myself down in front of the tube, spending time with my husband, researching baby registry lists, practicing my mothering instincts on the cat (giving him milk from my hand at breakfast–so spoiled), etc., etc.
6 months!
I have been drinking a LOT of water and lemonade. Water is being guzzled per my doctor’s instructions. My thirst has increased, so that helps me maintain my fluid intake. I’ve also noticed that certain things I’ve never cared for before have become completely delicious to me during pregnancy. Lemonade is one of these things.
If we’re eating out, I’ll order lemonade. If we’re staying in, I’ll buy lemonade at the store. When we were in Portland this Spring, we went to an outdoor market and tried the best orange lemonade I’ve ever had. Ever since then, Mike and I have been trying to recreate this delicacy with various mixtures of orange juice and lemonade. It never tasted like our rare find from the Portland market. Oh well. (If you have a nice orange lemonade recipe, please share it in the comments.)
Even though I’ve been telling myself not to indulge in expensive brands that ultimately increase the expectations of my standard of living, I am in love with Oberweis’ lemonade. At first, I thought this was an expensive, on-a-whim purchase that required a $1.50 deposit for the glass bottle. Now, on my second bottle, the extra charge has zeroed out and the price for good lemonade is more reasonable. Will I have the inclination (or the funds) to keep up this habit after Oliver is born? Maybe not. But right now, it’s deliciously fun.
There’s also the added environmental advantage of a glass, reusable bottle. It feels good to return the bottle and take home a “new” one that’s a little worn from use.
I’ve been tempted to sign up for their dairy delivery service (how amazing would that be!), but at $3 extra charge for delivery, I might as well drive to our very conveniently located grocery store for my milk and future (cheap) lemonade purchases with baby in tow.
Speaking of which, Mike and I recently tried on different types of baby carriers at a local store. And by “tried on” I mean fashion show. It was hilarious. I was surprised by how not silly Mike looked in these baby carriers. “Baby wearing” agrees with him.
Back to more focused ramblings…
When I’m not worrying about stuff that needs to get done, I’m too busy worrying about myself to write a tea review. Back pain has been creeping into this whole wonderful pregnancy experience. It hasn’t been too bad yet. Usually I just get a little pain in the evenings, so I take Tylenol and turn on the heating pad. This seems to help. However, some days (dark days), the pain starts early. Sunday, I started feeling back pain as soon as we got to church. This throws off the mood of the entire day. (Feel free to leave any back pain remedies in the comments as well.)
When days like this hit, it’s definitely important to remember that I have an excellent husband who is trying very hard to take care of his pregnant, sometimes irrational, wife. We had a lazy Saturday (by lazy I mean he slept in, I lounged around, and he ended up doing yard work outside–my increasing lack of bending ability and the uncomfortable heat kept me inside). It was the follow-up to a date night Friday, in which we looked around for a restaurant we hadn’t been to since we were dating, but couldn’t remember the name. When we found it, we realized the food wasn’t that great and the bill was expensive, but it was fun to get out, regardless. Spending time with my husband makes me appreciate the struggles of our ever-changing life for what they are: opportunities to grow our marriage, and preparation for this bundle of joy I can’t wait to meet.
A fun tidbit I’ve noticed in Mike through the pregnancy so far: My extra calories is throwing him off. He recently informed me that he usually eats about 20% more than I do, but now that I’m eating for two, an extra 20% on top of that is overeating for him. It could be the calorie confusion, or it could be seeing his wife blow up like a balloon, but he’s decided he needs to cut back and exercise more. I’m right there with him on that one! I even ordered a pregnancy workout video with my Amazon points. Maybe I’ll blog about this later…
I planned to post an iced tea blind taste test with several volunteers, perfect for summer. I also have some nice herbal tea on the shelf that I haven’t had a chance to blog about. With September upon us, hopefully you’ll see one or both of those in the coming weeks, but don’t hold your breath. As my circumference expands, I find myself more inclined to dream up blog posts than actually write them.