On The Mend

I've been sick for two weeks now, and only in the last day or two have I begun to feel human again. Usually I tend to bounce back pretty quick from illness, but I guess this compromised immune system during pregnancy thing is no joke. The doctor basically said, "Yep, you have a cough. As long as you don't have a fever I'm not too worried. Too bad there's not much you can take for it when you are pregnant. Bye."

The lack of sleep took the biggest toll on me - the days started running together at some point - but now I'm able to sleep the through the night with minimal coughing. I still wake up with some pretty intense congestion, but it usually clears up by midday. There certainly seems to be an end in sight, which I'm grateful for.

Now that I'm back, it seems like shockingly the world has continued to turn while I was sick. We totally missed our 20-week belly pictures - which is too bad because I feel like my belly is growing daily these days - but we'll pick up this week. Christmas was a (wonderful) blur.

Speaking of Christmas, it was really lovely. On Christmas Eve jb and I went to my family's home and my mom did her own version of the Italian seven fishes tradition. She made bacalao (a traditional Mexican christmas fish dish), ceviche (with TVP, rather than fish), crab-stuffed mushrooms, scallops, shrimp scampi, a smoked oyster roll (well actually, Nick made this :)), and clam dip. jb made a chocolate-chip-pecan pie for dessert (but was too embarassed to admit she made it, so I got all the glory).

After dinner we exchanged gifts. My family was insanely generous with us. I felt a little bad since we had a very tight budget for christmas this year - but felt so loved and cared for. The gifts we received were very thoughtful and kind. I got a glider chair for when the baby comes, the coziest slippers ever, a beautiful orchid, and a big box of vitamin water (which I drink at lightning speed these days). Jb got chocolate covered pretzels (her favorite) and two books she's been coveting for some time now: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian and Home Depot 1-2-3 Home Improvement along with a Home Depot gift card - which is very timely since the ceiling in our back room seems to be caving in. We also got joint gifts which include a DATE (gift certificates to our favorite date restaurant and the nearby movie theater), a king size extra-warm down comforter (so we don't have to huddle in the middle of the bed under the full size one we currently have), and our absolute favorite gift: the cutest outfit for the monkey ever. We plan to bring it to the birth center with us as the official "go-home" outfit. The picture is a little grainy - but you get the idea. (the pants are backwards - the monkey face goes on the bum - but that's the best part!)
On Christmas Day we again went to my family's house and jb's family joined us for dinner, dessert and games. There was a ton of food at dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roast with potatoes and carrots - but I think the biggest hits were the dishes that jb made (sweet potato casserole and creamed corn - from a recipe in her new cookbook!). After dinner we played Taboo - which is always a blast, but this time was more fun that usual thanks to my dad's colorful addition. The poor man got "bromance" and "thong" (which he thought was "throng" and gave very misleading clues for) as two of his words.

I'm so so so grateful that jb and I both have our families nearby these days.