Ultrasound

I had my first ultrasound on Thursday and Chris and Steph came with me and we saw a tiny heartbeat. It was really more like a sparkling of a dot inside my uterus, but the doc said it was good and strong. So I guess I can start believing I'm pregnant again. In case the morning sickness isn't enough proof. A book I'm reading calls it "Progesterone Poisoning" which seems more apt. I get it in waves. I haven't actually thrown up but sometimes it's been bad enough that brushing my teeth or even drinking water makes me gag a little. My tastebuds are totally different - everything tastes too salty, too sweet, too spicy. My ideal food at the moment is plain white bread with a little mayo and a very mild cheddar slice. For comparison, I got this food for lunch by accident a couple of months ago and told my coworkers it was edible but the most boring sandwich ever.

I'm so tired. I'm going to go nap some more hopefully - another symptom I've had is trouble sleeping.

My sister's visit

So much has been happening that I haven't had time to write about it. That's often the way of things I suppose. My sister flew in on Easter Sunday and we had fancy brunch at the Fairmont in San Jose - they report that the food was good but I missed out on most of it being vegetarian. Hopefully Steph and Chris got their money's worth. I had to work for a couple of days but then took off half of Wednesday, as well as Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately my dear sister had some hideous ailment that really curtailed her enjoyment of California. (Cold with cough, followed by sinus infection and potential strep.) The doctor instructed her to not go home on Saturday as planned, so she stayed the weekend and left this morning at the crack of dawn. Fortunately by Sunday she was feeling much better and so we went to Los Gatos and looked around and sat in the park and enjoyed the good weather. Before that we napped a lot (mostly Grant and I) and knitted and watched Frontier House (educational reality TV!). I feel bad she was sick but I'm glad she and Grant were here. He truly is one of the cutest babies ever. I even thought he was cute when I got him crying from his crib at 4am. I mean, that must mean he's off the charts.

My dirt was delivered last Thursday and since my sis finds shoveling cathartic, she managed to move most of it into the bed by Friday. (3 cubic yards! That's almost 6 tons!) I tried to take a picture of it but all my camera devices decided their batteries were empty and simultaneously died. I would have subjected you to pictures of my baby lettuces, but I guess that'll have to wait. (Spoiler: they look like leaves. Shocking!)

Gardening, the beginning

I can't remember if I've mentioned before, but I've been infected with the need to garden. Our backyard is one big patio except a little strip on the side (which I dug out today and mixed with compost). After briefly toying with the idea of jackhammering part of the patio, I decided a container box would be a better way to go. I made an exploratory trip to home depot, picked out the lumber I wanted and made a design.

On Saturday Chris went with me to the store to pick out everything we needed. I'm glad he came with me because that store makes my head spin a little. I just feel so dazed in there from overstimulation. Strange but true. Anyway, we got pieces to make the sprinkler system into an irrigation system, a few planting needs, and lots of lumber. Here's our SUV carrying it all:


In the sprinkler pipe section at home depot were these great parts:




When we got it home Chris got to use his circular saw for the first time...



As of this afternoon we were almost finished with the box. Here it is (without the supporting brace wires we're going to put in the middle to keep the box from bulging):


It's 14" high, and 6'x12'. It should hold lots of veggies! My next step is to find some place that will deliver dirt for it. The only thing I've planted so far is some garlic (bulb) and lettuce seeds in the side yard. It seems like magic that these insignificant tiny seeds will grow into something I can eat. Well, it hasn't happened yet.

So... yeah. Gardening was about all I did this weekend. We went to a cooking class on Friday night (Moroccan food) and that was interesting. Not much like a class but the food was excellent and I had fun anyway. Then on Saturday morning I was wide awake at 7:30 am so I got up, started some bread in the breadmaker, and went back to bed. When I woke up the second time I had fresh bread for breakfast. Pretty good deal!

Random photos

Photos from the garden project are up next, but first some other random photos.

First, when my mom was here a couple of weekends ago we went up to the Ferry Building and I thought this sign was really funny.


Next the poppies (and other flowers) in our front yard are blooming! They're so pretty and they get nicer every day as more and more bloom.


Finally, people at my work have a weekly bike ride they go on Thursdays during lunch and I've gone a couple of times. Just over a week ago I was totally cruising and heard a loud pop and hiss and pulled right over because I knew I'd run something over. Turns out it was this HUGE nail. I'm surprised it was even able to pierce the tire because it's big enough that it's not that pointy. It went in one side and right out the other. Crazy. I kept it because I was so amazed. Fortunately half the ride is engineers and they all had patch kits and I was rolling again in no time.

Am I pregnant, part 2

To continue the lists from yesterday:

Not pregnant:
Continued spotting
Slight cramps (could be soreness from dance class)

Pregnant:
Increased sensitivity to smells
Positive pregnancy test (!)

So, uh, maybe I'm being paranoid but I don't really believe it even though pregnancy tests are known for being seldom false positive. Maybe I was pregnant but I'm just now miscarrying? Maybe my hormone levels are still high from my January miscarriage? Maybe I'm about to miscarry, hence the spotting?

Jen pointed out today that pessimism is a way of avoiding disappointment. I'll start believing it when I have an ultrasound. Or stop spotting for awhile or something.

Am I pregnant?

So, we got to start trying again this month and my period is due on Wednesday. Now I'm trying to figure out if I'm pregnant based on my previous experience and symptoms in my head. For example:

Pregnant:
I'm a bit nauseous (easily imagined)
Hungry all the time (could just be me)
Very very slight boob soreness (could be bra poking me)
Slight early spotting (implantation bleeding?)

Not pregnant:
Not very significant boob soreness (unlike last time)
Spotting (could be period coming)
Pimples (like pre-menstrual)

I want to be. Heaven knows why. I'm going to test on Wednesday if I haven't gotten my period by then.

Cafe Gratitude

I went on a death march with Julia yesterday. We were looking for a couple of geocaches and had to hike up and down some ridiculous cliffs to get them. I'm glad I could convince her to walk back to the car on streets rather than retracing our steps. I hope I don't get poison oak. We watched the movie Stardust last night - it's pretty good. I recommend it.

Today I went up to San Francisco to eat at one of the restaurants named by the New Yorks Times as one of the vegetarian restaurants in the bay area that one should eat at. It was called Cafe Gratitude and as always with a veggie restaurant it took me just forever to order because there were so many more options than I'm used to. This one is even beyond vegi though - it's actually raw vegan. So no animal products at all and they don't cook anything. Except the black beans apparently. Anyway, I think this is the type of squirrel food grandparents worry you're going to be eating when you tell them you're going to a vegetarian restaurant. It all looks like lettuce and nuts and seeds. I think too that this place made me understand what some people mean when they say they feel unsatisfied after a vegetarian meal. I wanted a big ol' piece of bread. Or french fries. Or cheese. So you can probably tell I wasn't totally overwhelmed by the food. The drink I got was awesome though - homemade ginger ale with agave syrup and lemon. Yum!!!!

Anyway, one of the interesting things about this place was that all the meals have names like I Am Bliss and I Am Cheerful. So when you order you say "I am effervescent, honoring, abundant, and awakening." (That was my meal today - the ginger ale, nachos, entree sampler, and key lime pie.) And when they bring your meal they'll say "You are succulent." Or "Who is sensational?" if they don't remember who ordered what. It's weirdly gimmicky but affirming. I guess that's their point.

When Chris and I got home it was like we'd been hit with hammers. I guess all those nuts take a lot of energy to process so we took a nice long nap and now I can't believe it's as late as it is.

In other news, I'm starting to price out how much it's going to cost to make a container for my vegetable garden in the backyard. I'm trying to decide between using pine (very cheap! but won't last long... but does it matter since we won't be living here indefinitely) and redwood (expensive, longer lasting, but to justify the cost we'd have to figure out a way to take it with us). Any opinions out there in internet world?

Oh, and if any of you come visit me we'll go to Greens or Saturn Cafe and I won't make you go to Cafe Gratitude. I know you were worried. We can just stop by there for drinks or something.