200 days

If Babycue is born on the due date, we're 200 days from bringing Babycue into the world.

Week 11: Now bring us some figgy pudding

Congrats Babycue: you're a 1.5"-long fig. Good work!

Smileycue is still ill, but with less frequency than before.

Daddycue is still the responsible party.

"Do you know the sex of your child?"

No. We haven't learned it yet, and we'd like to wait until the birth to learn the sex.

But just because we haven't found out doesn't mean that we don't have preferences. I would like a boy. Smileycue would like a girl. This makes sense: I have a younger brother, Smileycue has a younger sister. I understand boys, she understands girls.

Recently, we stayed with friends, Jack and Errett. Jack has a knack for knowing the gender of unborn children. Jack asked a few questions and decided we will have a boy.

We'll try and be better about using gender-inclusive language on this blog when referring to Babycue. For now, know that we don't know.

props to Cold Stone

So Dan took me out for ice cream in Iowa City tonight. We were on our way home from a wedding reception in Muscatine, and stopped for dinner, then ice cream. We headed to Cold Stone, and asked if they knew the ingredients in their ice cream...and we were handed a training manual with a chart that listed every ice cream and topping in the place and the most common food allergens and checked by which had what. So my toppings were limited to gumballs, coconut, marshmallows, and gummi bears, but there were only about 4 flavors I couldn't have. And let me tell you, coffee ice cream with marshmallows gets a big smiley face from me!

And BTW, we don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl. Some of us seem to be less than capable of gender neutrality, and assume things before we know for sure.

I wanna get physical, physical

Smileycue had her first physical yesterday. Highlights:

• Smileycue received a clean bill of health.
  
• Smileycue can pee in a cup; however, she needs help remembering to pee in said cup in the morning. She also needs help remembering to bring the cup o' pee to the doctor.
  
• Despite using the strange belly sound machine (name?), we could not hear Babycue's heartbeat. Not a surprise, as Babycue (Fetuscue?) is only 10 weeks old.
  
• Babycue will be expensive, but insurance and a monthly payment plan will ease the pain in the wallet.
  

Fun facts:

• Babycue is the size of a kumquat this week. (The picture at right is what Smileycue's belly would look like if we were having octuplets...or if she ate a mess of kumquats.)
  
• Smileycue's uterus is the size of a baseball.
  
• Smileycue is not comfortable about talking about her uterus.
• Uterus is a strange, phonetic word.
  
• Phonetic, while strange, is not a phonetic word.
• I continue to talk to Babycue about all of this. He is my confidant.
• Yes, he.
  

Thanks for reading!

Backstories, vol. i

As we share the news with family, Smileycue and I are hearing interesting stories about our time in the womb. I knew that I was late (due date - August twentysomething, but born in September). I also knew that my mom began labor at Red Lobster the evening prior to my birth. (Insert astrology joke here.) What I did not know is that after suspecting conception, my mom visited Planned Parenthood to take a pregnancy test. When my mom told my dad, he wasn't surprised because he "tried extra hard that time." My parents waited until March to share the news with friends and family. As this blog attests, we could not demonstrate that same level of self-restraint in keeping the news to ourselves.

Smileycue was born to farmers. (Insert Supergirl/planet Krypton joke here.) A few days after Smileycue's birth, her mom was in hog shed pulling pigs with one hand and nursing Smileycue with the other.

We'll share future stories of the rearings of Smileycue and Q in future posts. Please post your stories and memories of Smileycue, Q, or your own experiences in the comments.

chocolate chip cookies, plus some soy information

It seems that in some circles bringing chocolate chip cookies to social functions and the workplace is a sign that you are expecting. I know it was that way in my former workplace, and one day a coworker brought cookies to be nice and all day long people were trying to figure out who was pregnant, until she finally told them she brought them to be nice. I brought banana chocolate chip cookies to a family gathering recently and an aunt accused me of trying to say something...I had bananas I needed to use up, and those are my favorite cookies. No announcement. I had told a college student we know that story, and when I saw her yesterday she asked when I would make chocolate chip cookies. I told her I wasn't going to, and as it turns out, chocolate chips are made with SOY!

Lately I have been craving milk. I need it. I drank three glasses before bed last night, and tonight I had two glasses of chocolate milk (no soy!!!), plus a glass after work. I might even get another one in a minute. This is funny because as a small child I was lactose intolerant, and it kind of went away after puberty until I went on the pill, when it kind of came back, and I'd say that is not a problem right now. Give me milk.

I have been doing some research about soy, because it is in everything, and often disguised with different names. Here are a couple of links to what I've found so far.

Lecithin Information Guide

Soy Allergy (Food Allergy Initiative)