Kickin' Around

Kent and I have found out, much to our glee, that the Barley likes music! We were listening to Viva la Vida last week and the Barley went wild for it. Kicked me right in the gut as if to say "Mom! Don't touch that!....I'm pondering death and all his friends." It was such a swift kick I could see it out of the corner of my eye. Promptly this led to "I wanna see I wanna see" from Kent who at that point hadn't seen or felt the Barley move yet. They had been playing a game of hide and seek for a couple weeks and Barley was the one in the kitchen cupboard refusing to come out full knowing that it had hit upon the world's best hiding spot and to leave now would be to forfeit glory in what would be called the greatest round of hide and seek the sentient world has ever known, and become fodder for the BBC and children's songs alike.
But, a little bit of food, some good music and the Barley can be coaxed... Hoof! We have been enjoying an active and lively little Barley all week.
Like mother like Barley.

Gimme gimme gimme!

So, for the first half of my pregnancy I figured that those notorious "cravings" women get didn't apply to me. For me the definition of a craving at that point was finding the only thing that didn't make me want to throw up and die...and eat it for the sake of the Barley.
Well, happy days are here again! And with gusto!
Not only is nausea a thing of the past but I am even surpassing my previous (notorious) hearty appetite with records heights I'm surprised at!
In particular I want sweeeets. No, I don't want, I pine and will do dangerous feats for sweets. This is almost as exciting as my new belly button! It used to be that when we went out with friends for dessert I would be the only one sitting there with a BLT.
But now, I would straight trip someone for their ice cream cone.
For those prudent and worry-prone readers out there, don't worry, I haven't thrown all caution to the wind (mom). I still eat all my fruits, vegetables, whole grains, blah, blah, blah... but my new rapacious appetite allows me to have my cake and eat that too.
And the best part of it all... It is 100% guilt free! I was never one to put too much stock in what people thought about my second and third helpings, or order salads because everyone else was... That's balls. They can be fabulous and hungry and also inevitably mad at the world if they want to, but it's always been pass the gravy for me!
And now eating is like doing someone a favor! I learned yesterday that the Barley can taste now, and what I eat, the Barley tastes in the amniotic fluid whether it is sweet, savory, or mediocre Thai. And I am bent on making The Barley's first culinary experiences ones to remember.

It's a.....?

So we had our 20 week ultrasound today...and the good news is it's a human! and it's healthy! But the bad news is we still don't know what kind of human it is. I'm not talking about character qualities either. We already know all about how the Barley is genuine, kind hearted, unwilling to tease others even when provoked, and has an exceptional knack for picking good friends and resisting unsavory influences. It's whether the Barley has literal balls or not that we haven't quite figured out yet.

Unfortunately for us the technician who helped us was less than talkative and even less charming. She took some fabulous pictures, and images of almost every inch of the Barley's body...except for the most crucial and interesting inches in the nether region!

There were other discoveries however. The pictures showed that Barley has a few small cysts in it's brain that they want to make sure clear up. (The midwife assured us that it is normal given their small size, they're not dangerous during this stage of pregnancy and that they should clear up.) They also want to make sure that my currently low lying placenta hikes up where it should in the next 4 weeks as well. Which means...we won't know for sure if it's a Barley Girl or a Barley Boy until I go in for tests next month!

As disappointing as that is, it was still such fun to see our little Barley grown up so much! It was wiggling and kicking the whole time and even gave us a thumbs up, just to say "No worries dad I'm doing fine, aren't I cute?"
And yes Barley, you are cute. However, I'm not gonna lie you could scare the the habit off a nun with the look you're giving us in your front shot. We have lovingly entitled that one "THE BARLEY IS WATCHING YOU". For those who are not pregnant or nursing and at least 5 feet tall you can check it out at the above link or visit kentwalter.com. He is posting all our pictures from today.

Look what I found!

What you are looking at is the 20 week mark! Half way, ladies and gentleman!...gestationally speaking.
People have been clamoring for the "belly photo." Mostly, I think, so they can tell me how large I look. I am starting to learn, however, that during pregnancy this is usually intended as a compliment. Nonetheless, it is a compliment that takes getting used to. "Yes, thank you ma'am, no I am just 20 weeks......yes I am large for my fetus's age."
However, I am pleased to announce that along with being given the gift of pregnancy, which is the most fun I have ever had being uncomfortable, I have also been given a rare and once in a lifetime opportunity! To see the bottom of my bellybutton! I have a smallish sort of button the bottom of which has never before been documented... until now! it is growing more shallow by the hour, and its progress fascinates me!
It is a visible countdown much like those turkey timers that go POP when it's done cooking. Keep roasting, little Barley!

Proper Education

Today marks the first day of "The Police... a week long countdown to a sublime musical journey". This Saturday Kent and I (and the Barley) are going to see The Police at the Gorge. A countdown marked with daily Police trivia, non-stop music and of course a paper chain.
Growing up if there was an event of any real magnitude, there was ALWAYS a paper chain to count it down.
This is a practice I would like to hand down to the Barley. That, and commemorating important days in music/rock history as soon as The Barley is capable of abstract thought.
The following is a list of some of the holidays to be instituted (and corresponding discussion topics) heralded by the paper chain.

-November 17th, Jeff Buckley's birthday
Discussion topics: Evils of liquor overdose, the unique qualities of a telecaster, short career-big influence in today's music.
Celebration style: Listen to Live at Sine, have a who can sing higher contest.

-February 7th, The Beatles land in America
Discussion topics: George, John, Paul and Ringo's separate influences, the bands evolution from head bops to beards, Helter Skelter- first heavy metal song?
Celebration style: Listen to Abbey Road, Eat Yorkshire pudding, play "name that singing Beatle".

-April 5th, The Clash releases first Album
Discussion topics: The birth of punk rock, The changing London social scene, why a drug-free band is a smart band.
Celebration style: Listen to London calling, make our own shirts (Like Joe Strummer), play Rockbands The Clash set list.

-August 10th The Police became a trio
Discussion topics: Pioneering reggae in mainstream rock, why teamwork is important, and why solo songwriting hurts feelings and breaks up rock legends
Celebration style: Make our own Police cover music video using cordless electrics and everyday objects for drums. (another topic of discussion, why drummers can't help but look stupid in 80's music videos)

The list continues with celebrations for Sigur Ros, Django Reinhardt, BB King, and Brian Eno.
Here's to a well-rounded Barley! Cheers!

Captivity makes me Peevish...

However, seeing as I am 4 months pregnant and feeling 4 strokes under par basically always, I often find myself at home in my favorite Sherlock Holmes-ish chair drinking things like cran-bluberry juice instead of what I really want, reading about what size the baby is in reference to fruits and household objects, and eating toast.
Some people might be silly enough to think I have it 'made'. However these same people clearly don't know me very well, or have never known the tedium that is unemployment.
I am not saying that I myself am unemployed, I just told you, I drink juice, eat toast, and split cells all day. You can make a fine living I am told creating humans. However, I do have a career to fall back on as an artist. Small bits of paper on mostly white canvas is my specialty. Also, committing to design projects for people who you never hear from again. I do this particularly well.
Kent thinks a blog will help curb the adverse effects of my captivity and as an added bonus make me a less private person. We will see.

To start, I am carrying a person in my uterus called "The Barley". Many wonder at this, but I have a knack for creating nicknames (from scratch) that stick, whether you want them to or not.
Someday when my child is graduating from college it will turn to me with sageness and ask me why I have called him/her a hardy cereal for all these years. And I will reply with my typical sageness "that it is because I first fell in love with you when you were just the size of a Barley". We'll embrace and it will be caught on video.
But anyone else who asks will get the answer that it was the size of a Barley when it started stripping away my health and forced me into blogging.

Also a note! If you intend to peek in on my writing on a regular basis you will notice a couple of things that I would rather tell you about first so that I can have a sort of "I told you so" satisfaction. I have decent grammar, but not flawless and don't intend to make it flawless for fear of losing it's "conversational quality". If you are looking for brilliant writing without error go to kentwalter.com. Also I use "quotes" and (these guys) incessantly, and many of these ... dot dot dots.