09.22.04

Ways in which my life seems like a Three Stooges episode:

#1--Sitting at my desk, minding my own business when a passing coworker looks in and says, �Oh, hey, there�s a spider on your desk.� So I look and there is this HUGE BLACK HAIRY spider RUNNING towards me at break-neck speed. What do I do?

I jump back in my chair, lift my legs off the ground and literally shriek �EEEK!� at the top of my lungs.

The spider? Immediately stops, turns, and runs the other way.

The coworker? �I didn�t� even know people did that outside of cartoons.�

#2--At the mall yesterday, I stop by Chick-fil-A (yum) to get some nuggets and a lemonade. When handed the lemonade, while waiting for my chicken, I go to take a sip from the straw, tipping the supposedly securely-lidded cup towards me, and proceed to spill half the contents down the front of my shirt and onto my foot. Then, while trying to make a somewhat graceful exit after that brilliant maneuver, I turn and start walking across the food court only to slip (probably in the lemonade) and almost end up doing the splits in front of a table full of teenage mallrats. Fun times.

I seriously need a camera crew following me around at all times. Mark Burnett?

Speaking of TV, I have a taped copy of The Amazing Race finale sitting at home. I have strategically avoided news reports and websites that might ruin it for me. All I can say is I�ll be happy if anyone wins besides Colin and Christie.

Also, I�m looking forward to watching (er, taping--who am I kidding?) the premiere of Lost tonight. Because I need another reason to be nervous of flying.

:::

So as mentioned, I finally broke down and went shopping the other day. Seriously, I don�t fit into a single pair of my pants at home. And I am actually getting sick of wearing skirts everyday. So I took a gift certificate so generously donated by my stepmom and headed to the mall. I did find some really cute jeans with that stretchy-waist thing (that is oh-so-hot) that were really cute. They don�t even look maternity. Then I picked up a couple of pairs of slacks for work. Ah, I can breathe! How exciting!

I also finally told my boss at work. She was so cool about it. And they have a really great maternity leave program here. Mostly, though, I just wanted the word to be out so that people knew I wasn�t simply getting fat. Ha. I�m getting fat with a purpose here, people!

I still need to get some in-between shirts to wear with the new pants. I definitely don�t fit in maternity tops yet, but regular tops in large sizes, while fitting my waistline, just drown me everywhere else. Somebody really needs to come up with an in-between clothing line for women who need bigger stuff, but not full-on maternity wear yet. I would be all over that.

Other than that, I am feeling okay. Still not as good as I would like to be feeling. In fact, the last few days I�ve felt like I was regressing back to weeks 7 and 8. I just haven�t felt well at all. The desire to hurl is a constant companion and I am so sick of it. Bleh.

But emotionally, I�m feeling really good. I�m feeling safe enough to relax and enjoy the changes that are happening with my body. The other day I was with a girlfriend whose baby is about 2 months and, awww, babies are so sweet. And, hey! I�m going to have me one of those! Crazy.

before ~ after