Slip Slidin' Away

This is a belated topic, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway, because many of you have been so kind to ask how we are doing in Seattle following the rain storm earlier this week. (And for those of you who HAVEN'T asked, I assume you didn't know about it, otherwise you would have also been wracked with concern -- so let me enlighten you.) On Saturday, it snowed quite a bit. Beautiful, gorgeous, huge wet flakes. It reminded me of Michigan, which was comforting and lovely. On Sunday, it warmed up and started raining. And kept raining, and kept raining, and kept raining. So by Monday (yep, still raining), we had snow melting off the mountains and water pouring from the sky. Which led to flooding and mudslides. Yippee, welcome to Seattle! DH's boss ran to his desk to assure him this was an unusual occurrence, appropriately afraid we would immediately pack up and head back to St. Louis. I wonder really how uncommon, though, as there is a weather term for it: the "Pineapple Express," because the system comes from Hawaii. (Are we anywhere near Hawaii? Apparently I have absolutely no clue where I live.)

Fortunately, the immediate area around our home was not affected by the rain. The biggest inconvenience to me was having a hyperactive dog who couldn't get a proper walk. The biggest inconvenience to DH was driving through the flooded valley on Monday to get home from work. I told him not to go through the mini-lakes that had formed -- don't be a hero, I don't like sports enough to raise our son alone. But of course he didn't listen, and ended up in a situation where waves were actually going over the top of his car. He was shaking for about two hours after he got home. Or wait, was that me shaking him? Either way, we emerged unscathed and dry, thanks for asking.

Random thoughts/updates:

Does anyone watch Mike & Juliette's morning show? Today they talked about women delivering huge babies and brought in enormous turkeys to show everyone what a 20 lb newborn would look like. That was frightening on many levels. Luckily, Bean in no way resembled a turkey in the last ultrasound.

Evey ate my cell phone on Tuesday. (See previous post re: our dog/mountain goat and the kitchen counter.) Has anyone seen the Family Guy episode where Peter accidentally swallows his cell phone, and you can hear "hold" music coming from his stomach? DH and I had a good laugh imagining the phone ringing inside the pooch. I got a new cell phone with a local number, but if you need to reach the dog... try my old cell number. (Thanks to DH for that observation, he's so witty.) :)

One of the hardest questions for me to answer is "How are you feeling?" I don't know why that question leaves me tongue-tied, but it does. "Well, I'm having trouble maneuvering through doorways with a 20-lb basketball protruding from my midsection, I can't keep a thought in my head or object in my hand for more than five seconds, and I am in trauma counseling after seeing a gigantic turkey on TV that I might have to deliver in three months." Or, "I'm doing great. Generally the waddling is kept to a minimum, and there are tons of bone-chilling symptoms in 'The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy' that I don't have yet." (None of which are fit to mention in polite company or pseudo-anonymous blogs. But you preggos and former preggos know what they are.) Somewhere in between those two answers is where I am. I don't feel glorious and radiant, like dancing through the streets and brightening the world with my pregnancy glow. But I don't feel entirely crappy yet, either. Just taking it one day at a time, one kick at a time.

I added a new poll to the right so you can help us choose a name for Bean. Don't worry, no youtube.com presidential debates associated with this vote. Although that snowman guy was really cool.