Baby, just run
I have been a freaking basketcase of stress lately, and it turns out that I’m not the only one.
Minutes after some back-and-forth texting with Best Friend — she’s mega-stressed, too — I came across this post on Working Girl. She’s over-the-top stressed, too!
The post was great, because I could totally relate, but I was especially intrigued by the comments. Almost every reader commented that they found exercise to be the best cure for the corporate blues.
I mulled that over while I chewed my cheesey lasagne — of course, I was carbo-loading while reading about exercise. You see, exercise and me have never been besties.
I had a good streak, about three years ago, when I was hitting up a special gym program four times a week. I was doing cardio, weights, you name it — and I was really getting into good shape. Then we moved away, and I’m not within walking distance of another gym. Boo!
Editor’s note: There is the small matter that I could take the bus to the gym, but that will not be happening. The bus is evil, and I take it enough already for work.
Anyway, moving away put an abrupt end to my workout regime. There is the occassional round of tennis with Darling Husband, plus walks with Little Dog, but nothing substantial.
So when I read that exercise — especially running — helps combat stress, I was very intrigued. Could I really take up running? Would it help to lower my stress levels? Some of the commenters said they hated it at first, but now they absolutely need to run in order to unwind.
So if, just say, I tried running and liked it, it could have the following benefits:
- Reduce stress — and not jump out the window at work
- Get in shape — always a good idea
- Lose weight — and eventually be a cute preggo “basketball girl!”
Hmmm …
Sweet shower
Had a great time at C‘s baby shower this afternoon. We played some really cute games — including Nursery Rhyme Trivia, in which I totally kicked ass — and I got to ooh and ahh over baby outfits and blankies and hooded bath towels.
Baby showers for baby-obsessed trying-to-conceive-ers like me are like doughnut shops to dieters … sooo sweet, and they make you want one — like now!
Apparently parents-to-be love the mall
It’s official … again: everyone in the world is pregnant but me.
Let me back up: I had a very surreal experience this morning. Darling Husband and I were just at the mall, picking up a baby shower gift for C‘s soon-to-arrive little one.
We hit the baby section of the department store, picked up what we wanted, and headed off to find a cash register. Then …
We were positively surrounded by approximately nine million pregnant women and their husbands.
ME: Oh my God. There are a million pregnant girls here.
DARLING HUSBAND: Yeah, well, it’s the baby section.
ME: No, we’re out of that section. This is just the kids’ section.
DARLING HUSBAND: Uh-huh.
ME: And they’re all with their husbands. That could be us in six months!
DARLING HUSBAND: Yup.
ME (hissing): There’s more! Over there — by the mens’ stuff!
We paid and headed back upstairs, walking through the ride-on lawn tractor section — for Darling Husband — and the doll aisle — for me. Then we made it to the linen section, where we saw another three pregnant women and their husbands.
ME: It’s official. I have never seen this many pregnant women in my life. The universe is trying to tell me something.
DARLING HUSBAND: Maybe it is.
ME: Maybe it’s a sign that this is the month it’s going to happen?
DARLING HUSBAND: Could be.
It was at that moment that I heard the loudspeaker announcement: there was 20% off on carseats.
Apparently the universe wasn’t trying to tell me something, by putting me in the middle of a crowd of pregnant women — that was just the all-powerful Sears.
My Husband Rocks
Dear Darling Husband,
Yesterday you e-mailed me a funny Jon Gosselin video, and I replied that I just told our general manager I was going to jump out the window.
You didn’t reply, but (rightfully) got the picture that my workday was going, uh, horribly.
Hours later, out of nowhere, you showed up at my office with a tea and a chocolate-dip doughnut. Just like the other time you did it, I was completely shocked.
And THEN, you pulled out a pack of honey-roasted peanuts AND a little bag of gummy bears AND a bag of Sour Patch Kids. You weren’t sure what to get, so you got every treat you could think of.
You stayed and talked with me for a while, sitting on the windowseat in my office, while I sipped my tea. When you left, I felt a million times better, and was able to get through the rest of the day. Thank you for being so sweet!
Love, your wife
xoxo
P.S. My general manager is probably grateful to you, too, as there would have been a halt in production if I really had jumped out the window.
Tiny blankets for tiny babies
I am doing this. And I think you should, too.
An exert from the site:
Hospitals all across the country are in need of small, very small, baby blankets. In cases of fetal demise, babies are so tiny, even the smallest nursery blanket is much too big to wrap around their tiny bodies.
I know how parents feel when they are presented with their tiny baby, for the first and last time. Having to deal with a large blanket that doesn’t fit, is a distraction. And, unnecessary.
If you can sew or crotchet/knit, would you please help me to supply blankets for these mothers? Our current donations are going to the Medical Center of Arlington, in Arlington, Texas. A special mailbox will be set up soon.
They would like 48 small (12″) and 48 medium (24″) to start with, in small pink, baby blue, white, and yellow prints. Use your best judgement, we don’t want the prints of the blankets to detract from very small babies.
I can’t even imagine what it feels like to come home from the hospital without your baby. I’m teary-eyed at my desk now, just thinking of it. But I am sure that getting to keep a special little blanket that held your baby, even for a minute, is a comfort.
I know I always have plenty of cozy flannel in my craft closet, so I’m sure you do, too. If you’re reading this post and you have any sewing/knitting/crocheting ability, please make a blanket or two.
*** UPDATED 11/09/09 ***
Finished blankets can be shipped to this address:
Meryntha Haro
1301 East Debbie Lane, Ste 102
#162
Mansfield, TX 76063
1301 East Debbie Lane, Ste 102
#162
Mansfield, TX 76063
As featured on …
Heather's Handmade Life 