I'll push myself up through the dirt and shake my petals free
I'm resigned to being born and so resigned to bravery.
~Dar Williams

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

But often, in the world's most crowded streets,

But often, in the din of strife,

There rises an unspeakable desire

After the knowledge of our buried life;

~Matthew Arnold, The Buried Life



I know this will come as a surprise to most of you (particularly given my perpetual smiling and uncomplaining nature), but this pregnancy has actually been quite uncomfortable for me. The first two months I suffered through warm-up nausea by distracting myself with mountain bike rides, epic hikes in the Tetons, wave-running, and, well... having a life.

Then I was hit with the real-deal barfs, and found myself becoming a nearly permanent blob-like tumor extending from the corner of my couch. I stopped biking and hiking and existed in a borderline-catatonic state. Seriously.

Seven months later, I decided it was time to stop being a blob. So Tim took me to New Hampshire for Valentine's day weekend.

We went snowshoeing in Franconia National Park, had dinner at the Common Man (delicious!), and stayed in a really fancy... ummm... motel (everything was booked) in Franconia. I breathed fresh air, and loved every second.

Tim had a problem taking photos of me, because my automatic camera kept focusing the little box on my belly. Not funny.

We visited the Basin, which was just as cool frozen (above) as it is in the summer (below).

We also visited the Flume, where lunatics were climbing up walls of ice:

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

A true story.

The other day I was at a beach, and the sea looked absolutely beautiful and shimmering and warm, so of course I took off my clothes and headed for the water.

On my way there, I noticed a duck-billed platypus heading toward me at super-platypus speed. I thought it was cute at first, but then it totally attacked me, and started biting my arm to shreds. I tried to shake it off, but it was a persistent little bugger. I was starting to fear that I would lose a limb, so I knew the only way to fight it was to kick with all my might.

I woke up to my very bewildered husband shouting, "OUCH! Stop kicking me!" Apparently I haven't mastered the art of sharing my bed with another human and need to work on my manners a bit.