The Trivial Pursuit of Happiness

• Ya’ll, accupuncture works. I know, I’m a crazy hippie, but until Wednesday even I was suspicious of accupuncture. But after nearly three weeks of *ahem* dysfunctional bowels (mixed with lots and lots of bile from my angry gallbladder) I took the advice of my midwife and met with an acupuncturist in my neighborhood. It was actually very relaxing, and the acupuncturist was also pregnant so we talked about how silly people get around pregnant women, and the pregnancy-related things she can treat with her tiny little needles. I barely felt most of the needles, though there were a few that were sore, but she had warned me that she was focusing on my gallbladder pressure points so they may hurt. All in all, nothing that exciting, and I walked out wondering if I had just wasted a few weeks worth of thrifting money. And then? I went to a wine tasting at a fancy hotel, came home, slept, and woke up with fully formed poop. You have no idea how excited this makes me. I have gotten so used to the idea of being in the bathroom at least once an hour lately, that the very fact that I can go out somewhere and not worry about having to run to the bathroom with poop cramps is AWESOME. I have another appointment on Saturday, and I am really looking forward to it. Insane.

• The wine tasting was a lot of fun, even though the lead-up to it was stressful. We were sitting with the muckitymuck-higherups from Tom’s company, so we had to dress up, and um.. I’m very pregnant. And believe it or not, not feeling all that attractive. After running around town trying to find a shirt that I did not feel like a whale in, we realized that Tom has no idea how to tie a tie (the only one he has has been tied, on a hanger, since I met him, but recently was used to hold a fan together.) Thank god for youtube, though it took us forever to think of using it. The house was trashed, and we assumed we would have time to pick it up by the time Tom’s mom came over, but of course there was still food on the floor when she got here. *sigh*
  But, despite all of this, we had a blast. Food + good wine (which I sipped from other people’s glasses to avoid looking like a pregnant lush) in fancy ballrooms? What’s not to love? Dressing up with a hot husband is always nice, and spending time away from Ella made me so happy to see her when we got home. How did she get so big? She’s working on full sentences and can be reasoned with which is the first sign in a while that maybe she is human. And? She misses me when I am gone, and runs into my arms with enough force to knock me on my butt, planting kisses all over my face and saying “Mmmmmmmmmm” like you do when you drink hot cocoa for the first time all year. I think I’ll keep her.

• I have been nesting like MAD. As in, I cleaned under the couch cushions. Which, okay, maybe is something you do every day, but we’ve had our new couch for at least 2 months and I just discovered yesterday that there is a different pattern on the other side of the cushions. What? There was only pretzels and socks in the couch so I’m not feeling horribly guilty. The point is that I did it, as well as cleaned out the spare bedroom closet, sorted all of Ella’s baby clothes, color coordinated the books in the living room, made a couple more rattle babies, bought fabric for another quilt, printed out 3967 pictures for family, and have 3 huge garbage bags of clothes for Goodwill. Notice that laundry and dishes aren’t on the list, but pshaw. Who needs forks and bras? (Me!)

Now to go make some acorn squash and asparagus for lunch, since Tom can’t stand either of them and I am craving them. So what if I can’t manage to scrub the bathroom floors on a regular basis? True love is making the food they hate while they are at work, so that they don’t have to smell them.