Yesterday and the day before that

Even though today is mother's day, I am not writing about it yet. In fact I am typing away in the bedroom while my husband is working on some surprises. We've had quite the interesting weekend and I haven't updated in so long. I honestly do not know where time goes.

This is a picture that Mark took. I was trying to stand on both feet but my sciatic nerve wasn't letting me. Walking seems to help. I try to be patriotic about the whole thing by singing "You're a Grand Old Flag" while I march around the house. The upbeat melody really helps stomp the pain out. :)
 I'll be 34 weeks pregnant this Tuesday and I'm definitely starting to lose sleep already. I don't mind getting up several times a night to go to the bathroom or be awoken by a kick, but this Thursday I got a cold and wasn't feeling up to losing sleep and feeling lousy. On Friday, Mark was super-husband getting soup for me and encouraging me to go for a walk with him. We took a walk in the evening when it wasn't so hot and it was quite nice to sit down in the grass and talk face to face. Awhile back our dear friend Sam shared some good marriage advice, which is to go for a walk and ask each other these three questions each week.

1. How have you been loved by me this week?
2. How can I love you in the coming week? (anything you're stressed about?)
3. How can I pursue you intimately?

These are great questions and I loved sitting in the cool of the shade, being face to face with my guy. We walked back home and Mark decided to play with my hair, which I was very excited about. (I'm one of those ladies who loves to be touched, especially now that I'm pregnant.) However, while he was running his fingers through my hair he found a little friend. Mark very quietly told me to hold still. I was silently freaking out. He wouldn't tell me what it was until he got it out. I was "tick attacked". Luckily, he or she hadn't burrowed into my head yet but while I was shampooing my hair three times I begged and pleaded for Mark to call the advice nurse. I was pretty much a drama queen about the whole thing. He calmly told me that I had at least 72 hours to live and we could schedule an appointment within that time. He also placed my attacker in a plastic bag to punish him. Mark said they could probably torture this guy at the hospital.



Saturday morning I felt defeated. I still had a nasty cold, I had "barely survived" a tick attack, and now we had to get up to go to an all day birthing class in Roseville. Mark helped make the day better. He took me to my favorite breakfast place. Cafe Bernardo in Sacramento. I really wanted to get their amaretto french toast but choose to eat for baby so I had an omelette instead.

The birthing class was a lot of fun. One of the activities was practicing different strategies for staying calm during labor. The teacher had us practice with pain simulation which was to grip an ice cube for a minute. The teacher taught us several strategies and I decided to listen to the music and meditate a little bit. The cd she was playing had sounds of the ocean and boats. With the ice in my hand I was picturing ice bergs and old ships coming into a cold port. I even had started imagining a dark grey sky when all of a sudden Mark is moaning and hunching over next to me during his "simulated contraction". Everyone started laughing, including me which broke my concentration and increased the pain. It was worth it though, but I told him that he can't do that to me while I'm in labor. :)
So now I'm about to be welcomed out of our bedroom for some mother's day breakfast. I feel funny about celebrating since mothering has been basically the easiest job so far, but I can't say no to home made french toast. Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies! You'll be hearing from me soon.