Happy 40th Birthday Sesame Street

Dear Sesame Street,

You have brought me many years of education and enjoyment. I remember the days when everyone thought Snufflepagus was a figment of Big Bird's imagination and being gravely disappointed when I missed the episode where he was revealed to be more than just an imaginary friend. I remember the sadness when Mr. Hooper died. I remember finally being old enough to understand the adult references in many of the sketches and the deep appreciation I felt when I realized what a high quality educational program the Children's Television Workshop had created. I remember the money spent on t-shirts, watches, keychains, and other paraphanelia from the now defunct "Sesame Street Store" and how nerdy I probably was for wearing said clothing in high school. (Don't judge me.) I remember the long philosophical conversations about my dislike of Elmo and the disdain I felt for his meteoric rise to fame in the Sesame universe. I remember getting my first checkbook before going to college and choosing the Sesame Street checks. (Again, don't judge.) I remember getting excited about communication journal articles and books that used Sesame Street as an example of the media's effect on children.

My love for you Sesame Street has not wavered over the years and, as you usher in your 4th decade of quality children's programming, I am excited to introduce your world to my children. Although, I'm not sure how successfully I can do that without cable...but that's beside that point. (That's what classic Sesame Street dvds are for.) So, happy birthday Sesame Street. Thank you for bringing me many years of laughs, teaching me that "cerrado" means closed in Spanish, that counting to 12 can be lyrical, and that sharing is caring. I am forever grateful.

Love, Becky

Don't Touch Me...I'm Pregnant

I've always been a bit of a germa-phobe. I never shared drinks with friends in high school and there was no way I would let anyone borrow my chapstick. (If I was too embarrassed to turn down a request, the tube immediately went in the trash can later.) Today, I have a strict edict in the office that no one stick their hand into a communal box, bowl or bag of treats. (My boss still refuses to comply with this request, so it's a good thing my diet keeps me from sharing most office snacks.)

Now with the heightened concerns about the H1N1 virus, I have become even more steadfast in my pursuit against germs. I carry my Purell around and use it liberally after touching menus at restaurants, opening doors (if I can't use the sleeve of my sweater to do so), pumping gas, visiting the grocery store, touching my computer, and even shaking hands at church. Yesterday I could actually feel my hand burning with germs after shaking hands with someone during the "friendship break." My senses are more aware of the coughs and sneezes around me and I actually get a little irritated when people come to work with the sniffles. Justin even knows to expect a dollop of hand sanitizer whenever we are out together and I occasionally quiz him on how often he washes his hands at the bank. It's getting a little ridiculous.

I think the main reason I'm being so anal about it is an attempt to quell the "mom guilt" that is starting to rise up when I read the news stories about the importance of pregnant women getting the H1N1 vaccine. See, I politely refuse to get it. I'm decidedly anti-flu shot in general, but this one raises red flags for me. Not that I begrudge anyone for getting vaccinated and doing what they think is right for themselves and their unborn child, I'm just not convinced that a small test group of pregnant women (under 120 people) is big enough to get me on the swine flu vaccination bandwagon. The media says "no side effects" have been reported, but how do they know when all the babies are still in utero? It's just too risky for me. It does worry me though and I hope I'm not being stupid.

In the meantime, I'm covering this little one (and myself) in prayer for God's protection and supernatural immunity. (I'll also keep on coating myself with a liberal application of hand sanitizer.) And don't be surprised if after Luke arrives I make you apply some to yourself before you come near him. I'll try to draw the line at masks and gloves...but you never know. :)

I've never been a tidy person. That's not something to be proud of, but it's a true statement about how I've spent much of my life. I'm "clutter blind" when it comes to messes. I can definitely go to bed at night with dishes in the sink. I can let the laundry pile up for weeks at a time. I'm definitely NOT Type A in the home management department. Well at least I wasn't...until now.

My family likes to tease me with a little term called "nesting," and I've resisted the label for as long as I possibly could. I finally had to accept that it is actually happening to me. You see, for the past few weeks I haven't been able to fight my own desires to organize drawers and closets. I make sure I can see the bottom of the laundry hamper at the end of every weekend. And those dishes? They haunt me at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's weird, spooky, and kind of off-putting. Who is this person? Don't get me wrong, it is definitely a much-needed change of behavior - especially since I will soon have a newborn who needs to live in a squalor-free environment. Justin is beside himself with joy and says if he'd known the "perfect wife" would emerge from pregnancy, we would have made it happen a lot sooner. :) Now...if only a compulsion for nightly home-cooked meals would just kick in. We're still waiting on that one.

Pregnant and Growing on a College Campus

I'm sure it's all in my head, but I kind of worry that people are going to judge me when they see me walking across campus. Pregnant bellies are not something one sees much among the undergrads here at Pacific. Not to say that I'd be confused with an undergrad, but it has happened before...

Mmmmm...donuts

Even with a master's degree in communication and a keen eye for marketing gimmicks and media agenda-setting, I find that I am easily influenced by imagery. Particularly, images involving food. A few weeks ago I saw a story on Time.com about how exercise alone can't make you thin. The accompanying photo (above) immediately compelled me to go to the campus grocery store for a donut that looked exactly the same. I convinced myself that I wouldn't get one if they didn't have that exact kind (their selection is usually limited, so I figured the odds were against me). They had one. I bought it. I enjoyed it. The end. Today, weeks later, I saw a link to the same article on Time.com, and even though I knew what I would find, I still clicked on it just to torture myself. I found that my will power is sufficiently built up now after being forced to watch Justin eat a creme-filled chocolate donut on Saturday morning, so I am now impervious to the donut picture's charms. In Justin's defense, he made up for the donut affront by giving me several massages during our "preparing for childbirth" class the same day. Of course, I then took him to watch Pro Bull Riding that night as an anniversary gift, so the equity of the situation slipped through my fingers pretty fast.

Remember that time...

In honor of last night's fall premiere, I decided to relive the best day ever. Back in April we were on the set of The Office. No big deal. :)


I'm in the hallway! No big deal.


Is that the guy who use to be a JCrew Model?




Parkor!

Pumpkin Update

Justin's pumpkin hasn't gotten much love lately. The sprinkler system quit working and he hasn't taken the time to fix it, so the garden is suffering a little bit. Hopefully the pumpkin will make it until October so I can carve a face into it!

And here's me embracing the 29 week bump/pumpkin-to-be

The Family that Pricks Together Sticks Together

Nine years ago Justin was diagnosed with Type 1/juvenile diabetes. 8 days ago I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (after suffering through 3 mind numbing hours at the Kaiser lab - saved only by the fact that they played High School Musical in the waiting room). We now have matching glucose meters and test strips. I decorated mine with pink puffy paint so we wouldn't get them mixed up. There is one major difference between our conditions - mine will go away in 11 weeks (and doesn't require medication), his unfortunately, will not (and does). In the meantime, I get to live in his world for little while and experience the joys of 4 finger pricks a day.

The gestational diabetes diagnosis came as somewhat of a surprise. I mean, I have done everything right during pregnancy. I lost 10 pounds in the beginning (which I'm proud to say I still haven't completely gained back) by eating healthier and exercising more regularly, I drink at least 12 glasses of water a day, I avoid most sweets (in fact my only "craving" has been turkey sandwiches with swiss cheese, which I satisfy daily at lunch), I spend at least 40 minutes a day walking to and from work, I go on longer walks or swim in the evenings, the list goes on. They say GD happens because of normal pregnancy hormones and was not caused by any fault of my own, but it's still slightly embarrassing.

At any rate, I am now paying even stricter attention to my diet, having weekly phone appointments with a dietician, being even more conscientious of my exercise schedule, and bonding with Justin over our shared condition. (And annoying the crud out of him because I'm being so anal about it.) So far my blood sugar levels are staying in the normal range. Take that gestational diabetes!

I really love when fruit and vegetables have faces. It just makes me really happy. I think it all started years ago with the singing vegetable stand on Sesame Street. My enjoyment actually extends to most inanimate objects that are made to look human, but produce really does it for me. It's not something I go around thinking about everyday or anything, but occasionally it pops into my head. For example, today I had to go to the dietician at Kaiser (more on that later), and she had a cornucopia of little stuffed vegetable magnets with faces. A cute little carrot was smiling at me alongside an eggplant and a giant ear of corn. I shared my joy with her (in a non-creepy way of course). She responded that most people find vegetables with faces off-putting. Then she asked me if I worked with small children...

People of Walmart

I'm jumping on the bandwagon with this post. I first learned about this website from my friend Kate's blog. I didn't actually pay it a visit until I read a story on cnn.com about it. Peopleofwalmart.com is a website where users post pictures of the crazy people/things they have seen at their local Walmart. According to the CNN article, the creators of the site are not trying to be mean-spirited. In fact, they only post pictures of people that deserve it. For example, large people wearing really tiny clothes, those who choose to sport mullet haircuts, or other oddities. All of this wouldn't have prompted me to blog until I went to the website and discovered the above photo, which was taken in Yuba City, CA. My hometown. Nice.

Watch Our Pumpkin Grow

Justin loves his garden. He has experimented with several different "crops" over the years, but decided to keep it simple this year with some corn, sunflowers, and one "giant" pumpkin. When I told Justin several weeks ago that we needed to take weekly photos of my growing stomach (because that's just what people do nowadays) he responded with, "are we really going to be those people?" I'm not really sure who "those" people are, but I am pretty sure that yes, I am one of them. He won the battle for awhile because, frankly there wasn't much of a need for documentation until recently. Then the day came that he requested we start taking pictures to document the growth of HIS giant pumpkin. I, of course, balked at the inconsistency of his thinking that photos of one pumpkin are more acceptable than photos our other, CLEARLY more important "pumpkin," and won the war. We are, however, compromising.

Justin's Pumpkin


Our "Pumpkin"

Maru in the Box

According to Entertainment Weekly, cats like Maru and Nora the piano playing cat are more popular on the Internet than certain Hollywood starlets. What can I say? People love cats. This is my favorite Maru video. Even Justin giggles like a school girl when he watches it.