Merry Christmas, Baby!

Merry Christmas, Baby,
You still don't have a name - I'm sorry! I promise we'll have that settled by the time you arrive (just don't come too early), but for now you're still "little guy." Anyway...as you will learn, this is my absolute favorite time of year, and it has been even more special having you around. Your dad and I keep talking about how Christmas is just going to get more and more fun from here on out.

You are almost always on the move, and everyone can see you moving through my clothes. Sometimes, I'll curl up behind your dad at night and press my belly into his back so he can feel your break dancing too. Your dad plays music for you every night too. We're working our way through the alphabet - we've covered Alison Krauss and Allen Toussaint through Dire Straits and Dr. John. Next up - Elton John and Eric Clapton. 

It's starting to feel very real, this whole becoming a family of three thing. We can't wait to meet you, and we spend an inordinate amount of time asking each other, "What do you think he'll be like?" We generally settle on awesome. Only ten weeks or so until we get to confirm it. Ten weeks until our lives are changed forever. And we can't wait.

Love, 
Me

23 Weeks

Wicket's kicks, punches, and general acrobatics have removed any doubt that I am in fact going to have a baby. I am still trying to stay fuzzy on the fact that this little guy is going to have to exit my body somehow. Neither of the options seem appealing, so I'm going to put off thinking about that for as long as possible. 

I don't want to good mouth it, but so far, so good. From what I hear, this second trimester is the real highpoint of pregnancy, so I'm sure things will get less pleasant the further along we go, but for right now, I'm kind of enjoying this pregnancy thing. I'm definitely enjoying never having to suck my stomach in...

Interested in the minutae of my daily life and how I'm feeling right at this moment? You're in luck! I have seen this on other blogs, so I can't claim to have invented this particular variety of navel gazing, but here we go...

Feeling sick, but just with a cold. No pregnancy-related ailments to complain about!
Wanting my husband back. Tom's been gone for over a week for work, and he doesn't come back until Monday... Man, I miss that guy!
Wearing a lot of yoga pants and not a lot of make-up. What with this cold and the aforementioned absence of the husband, I've been letting things slide over here appearance-wise.
Eating Fudgcicles for days. I melt them a little bit, push them off the stick, and stir in some almond butter. What? Is that weird?
Drinking tea and more tea.
Reading reviews of baby gear in an attempt to decide which car seat, crib, and bouncer is most likely to keep Baby Cusi alive and happy.
Listening to Serial. Damn that crew from This American Life, they have created another podcast that I can't get enough of. I am so hooked on this.
Watching a lot of garbage TV. Again - sick and husband-less. Bravo is my constant companion.
Loving feeling the little guy kick, somersault, and generally dance around in there.
Not loving how it's dark at 5pm. Although, it has helped me feel better about getting ready for bed at eight o'clock.

Forcing Fall

I know it's incredibly unoriginal, but - brace yourselves - I love fall. Shocking, right? To me, it feels like even more of a fresh start than the first of the year. I am sure that goes back to school days - freshly covered books, unblemished notebooks, new classes, and all of that.

If not for the appearance of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and the racks of Halloween costumes, it would be easy to miss fall around here because it doesn't look much like those back-to-school autumns that send the leaf-peepers flocking to New England. Still, if you squint (and ignore the thermometer), it's beginning to feel downright autumnal around here.

I've been ready for fall for a while now. Despite the fact that we still needed round-the-clock air conditioning at the time, I bought these as soon as we flipped the calendar to September.

{Fear not, I removed those hideous stickers immediately after taking this picture.}

A couple of weekends ago, the temperature finally dipped below 80, and I convinced my incredibly accommodating husband that spending two hours each way in the car to go to an apple orchard was a great way to spend a Saturday. 

To be honest, the cider donuts are the real draw. These things are well worth the year-long wait...

 

Despite my how much I miss the first fire of the season, the crispness, and the actual legitimate need for boots and sweaters, there is so much that I love about Southern California in the fall. The tourists clear out, the Santa Anas swing through, and citrus returns to the farmers market, but the absolute best thing about fall in Southern California is the beach - the beautifully empty beach.

So, point is, whatever it looks like, fall is the best. Now we begin the wonderful slide into the holidays...hurrah!
  

Happy Halloween!

I'm popping in for a belly bump update (Halloween edition) before the trick-or-treaters start rolling in...

{21 Weeks}

 

 

It's been quite a while since I was all that into Halloween, but it is the first official holiday of the season, and I do love a good pumpkin carving sesh.

{Carving pumpkins with Mom, just like the old days}

Boom!

Unrelated, I cannot get enough of this dog. She is pretty much perfection on four legs, so I bought her me this festive canine bandana as a special holiday treat.

 

Happy Halloween, witches!

19 Weeks

And this is why I try to do these pictures when Tom is otherwise occupied....

You'd think I'd  have been on alert after that one, but...slow learner, apparently. And now you get to see some outakes that should never see the light of day, but Tom was so pleased with his photobombing skills, that he insisted I share. I had no idea he was there...

 

Until he busted up laughing and revealed himself... Weirdo.

Music, Lately

"Lately" is kind of generous, but we've been to some fun concerts in the past few months, and I want a record to prove to Baby Boy Shackmano that we were cool, fun people before he came along. I mean, I assume that we will continue to be cool, fun people after he's here, but just in case...

Billy Joel at the Hollywood Bowl - I'm not sure that attendance at a Billy Joel concert really supports my claim that we are fun, cool people, but whatever.

 

Wynonna at The Annenberg - again, perhaps not the hippest artist, but free, outdoor concerts are always a good time. Also - I can't lie, The Judds' Greatest Hits album is my jam.

Jay-Z and Beyonce's On The Run tour - ok, I should get some points for this one. Thanks to the fact that Jay-Z's musical director is a Korg artist, Tom was able to get us passes to the On the Run show at the Rose Bowl. This was a spectacle like I have never seen before. 

I never get that worked up about going to shows, but this was pretty awesome. We had all-access wristbands, so we hung out backstage (and on stage!) beforehand, and then watched the show from the floor and side stage. If I weren't afraid of The Beygency, I might have tried to find Queen B's wig room... Forgive the amount of pictures I'm about to drop in here - I was really excited about this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 No Doubt - thanks again to Tom's connections, we got to go to the "friends and family" dress rehearsal for No Doubt's performance at the Global Citizen Festival in New York. The dress rehearsal was at The Forum, and because Tom is the coolest, we also had Forum Club passes where we got to enjoy snacks that included a cake with pictures of the band members on it.

{You will have to take my word for it that that is Gwen Stefani. You should also know that she seems to be aging backwards. Don't Speak!}

Jamestown Revival at Way Over Yonder - if you have not already had the pleasure, go buy this album now. So good. Perfect music for a fall Saturday on the pier in Santa Monica...

 

I shall leave you with this barely discernible photo of Gwynth Paltrow, GOOP herself, on stage with Holly Williams who was opening for Jason Isbell at The Roxy.

LA is weird.