February is always intense. I don't know why, really. At our last appointment, I got a bit of a scolding for gaining too fast again, but the doctor also hinted that Isabella is a little larger than average, not just me.

My birthday this year was probably the simplest one I've had, ever, really. Alex kept asking what I wanted or wanted to do - really, I didn't want anything. He's so sweet though, he bought me roses that he surprised me with (I came home to them on the table), and gave me Seasons 5 and 6 of House MD, and on my actual birthday we got to spend the day together just relaxing, walking around Ala Moana, and spending time together. That's really all I wanted. We had a late lunch/early dinner with Mom and Nick at The Pineapple Room which was delicious.

Naturally I paid for it violently, later. Even with my careful timing (we had lunch about 3pm so that I wouldn't have reflux all night, nor would I get totally hungry before I went to bed early), I still woke with forceful gastrointestinal repercussions. I suspect that I am truly intolerant of avocado - I had a Cobb sandwich with avocado. I've had problems with avocado in the past, but usually we were able to at least co-exist, while perhaps disgruntled-ly. I sure hope Isabella doesn't have issues with avocado - she will be Mexican after all, and I believe it would be tragic for any Mexican, even a half-breed of sorts, to be gastrointestinally intolerant of such a staple.

Valentine's day was just as simple. In fact, Alex and I didn't really see each other at all. I started work at 6:45am and he worked the night before so he was asleep when I left (along with most of the rest of the island!) and was scheduled until 6:15pm. Even if I had gotten out of work on time (I was over an hour late), we would have missed each other, because he started at 6pm. But the next day we spent as our Valentine's day. We went to Sea Life Park, which we've been talking about doing for so long! We got to see the dolphin show of course. It was a hundred times better when I was a kid, but that's ok. It was still pretty entertaining. We also got to hang around the loud and smelly sea lions, got some pictures of penguins (my favorite!) and saw another animal show featuring penguins, sea lions and bottle nosed dolphins.

Work has been absolutely insane for me. I'm on a new, experimental schedule: 11.5 hour scheduled days but only 4 days per week and off for 3 days. Sounds like a long day, but if it stays within the scheduled times it's not too bad. The thing is, at work we've been switching our entire operating system from one that was designed to take reservations and dispatch transportation around the time of the Titanic to one that was designed much more recently - but still has so many bugs that it rivals Joe's Apartment. This is resulting in everyone in our department working zombie hours. There was one night that one of my supervisors literally stayed overnight. And did not sleep. The regular staff has all been putting in insane hours. Full timers are getting tons of overtime, and part timers are working close to 40 hours per week. It helps to know that everyone is contributing and working their butts off, like a team, but it's definitely wearing all of us down. Everyone is snappy and groggy and deliriously giggly at different times. Our brains are for sure fried. This also means that my 11.5 hour days have become 12 to 13, one night 14, hour days without the scheduled lunch break. (Don't worry, I eat and feed Isabella - it's just in between phone calls and radio checks and money deposits.) Depending on how fast we can get this system completely switched over, I'm thinking this experimental schedule just won't quite work for me...or for Bella.

So that's February so far. We still have so much to do! We have to hang photos on her walls, install the car seat in my car, we have a baby shower to look forward to, interviewing and picking pediatricians, and the baby classes we've signed up for! Not to mention all the little things we still have to get! Physically I am so very ready for her to pop out. Logistically, I wish we had 3 more months! But it sure is getting to be exciting! I can't wait to meet her, see what she looks like, hear her little voice. Hurry up Isabella!!

Going to pop soon!...

There's not much more stretching my belly can do - or at least that's how it feels! My belly button keeps getting shallower and shallower - today it's pretty much flat and starting to turn inside out. Does that mean the turkey's about done? Well I hope we make it to the end of March - but as soon as we pass that last week in March I am totally ready to meet Isabella! (Our birthing classes go until the end of March, and we are still interviewing pediatricians - it's been hard to get an appointment in before April.)

Here are the latest photos - taken yesterday, February 8th.

TRUTH: Chivalry is Dead

For any curious new pregnant ladies, or women for whom pregnancy may be on the horizon: If you think that your protruding pregnant belly and cute waddle will afford you extra politeness and courtesy from other people (strangers) you're WRONG. No, no, even the men will ignore your condition with absurd indifference.

Alex and I were waiting in line for something a few weeks ago, outdoors, and along the line were a few benches. Not a single person offered to get up for me. (Pictures will be posted soon to show how painfully obvious my pregnant belly is.) "In Mexico, every one of these guys would have gotten up for you by now," he commented. Yes, even young, military-level-fit men were sitting and pretending not to see me. It has also happened in restaurants waiting for our table. Normally I don't mind too much (Alex gets more disgusted than I do - I have less and less expectations of people as I get older haha). I don't expect the world to revolve around this baby bump just because my world does. But it is interesting to observe - they don't just not give way - they purposely avoid eye contact, as if they know they should offer to get up and feel bad not doing it - oh but not bad enough to do it.

Every day at work, walking on a (fairly wide) sidewalk, I always walk all the way to the right side of the walkway. People walking in groups or just walking in the middle generally don't want to give way. Men and women alike. Mind you, on one side of the sidewalk is bushes and on the other is sand. People unapologetically bump into me as we pass, or will only move more to their half of the sidewalk if I literally stop walking and stand still (even then they sometimes still bump into me). And when they do bump into me, about 50% of the time I'll get nasty looks, as if because I'm in uniform and at work, by default I should be the one to jump into the bushes to get out of their way.

Today at work on our trolley a man sat in the reserved-for-escort seat, and his 12ish-year-old son sat across the aisle from him directly behind the driver. Both chairs are designed to seat two people. When I asked them to sit together so that I could sit in my reserved-for-escort seat, both of them looked at me blankly at first and then grumbled. They were seated and I was standing during this short exchange, which put the Bella Belly more or less at eye-level. This was after I had seated myself on the ground of the trolley riding between one stop and the next to test if either one of them would move on their own.

I have joked that women want equal rights which apparently includes the death of the expectation that men will give up seats for us, open doors for us, blahblah. In general, I feel that chivalry like this is nice but more like a "bonus." It's just that sometimes it's amazing how completely self-centered and inconsiderate people can be, and knowingly so. Sad truth.

Isabella's first Punahou Carnival (sort of)!

This weekend is Punahou Carnival! Even though I don't want to send Isabella to Punahou (as if we could anyway), I do want her to experience Carnival every year, so this year I am going TWICE! Given my gastric limitations, I have to space out all the food I miss all year long and catch up on at Carnival.

Last night I went with Grace and Jess, and we met up with Christina and her mom for a little bit. This is literally what we did, in order, from when we got there, about 8:00, till closing at 11:00: Walk from the car up in Manoa, met with Christina, went to the bathroom (pregnant bladder, you know), bought and ate Taco Salad, bought and ate deep fried Oreos, got our faces painted, bathroom again, hand-dipped ice cream on the go, teriburgers, games. Grace got us addicted to game after game, first the Chip 2 Plates in 1 Throw game (we didn't win), then the Pop 3 in the Square dart game (we won a lot after we figured out how to cheat). But the night was mostly focused on food. Tonight I'm bringing tupperware for the Portuguese bean soup (thanks for the idea, Sari)!

Isabella seemed to love all the food I was crowding her with - and by that I mean it was worth fighting the crowds, allll the walking I was doing (on my feet all day at work, then walking all night - I EARNED all that junk food!), and the excruciating walk back UP to the car (parking above campus - what was I thinking?!), not to mention the gastric punishment I would suffer all night as the acid and reflux attacked despite downing Gaviscon and "sleeping" sitting up.

Funny, as we were weaving our way through the crowds I kept forgetting that the usual, turn-sideways-to-fit-through-a-narrow-gap-between-people strategy wouldn't really work for me - whoops I just got wider, not narrower! And Jess is so little I made her walk in front of me most of the time to "practice" not losing a child in the crowd! Haha, she wouldn't let me hold her hand though.

I will admit though, watching all the parents of young kids and babies - this is going to be my last stress-free Carnival...