Happy in the Hood

I love my neighborhood! I live in one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse neighborhoods in New York City. I’m about a 20 minute subway ride from Manhattan, but without Manhattan prices and attitude.

On my way to a diner for breakfast today, I stopped at my local Starbux to give one of the employees a few maternity tops that my BFF gave me that didn’t fit (my ginormous boobs, you know). On the way out I stopped to coo at the adorable twin babies of a gay couple. YAY for my hood!

I thought of the conversation about families I had with my 10 year old niece last weekend. She’d been on vacation with her father when I told my mother about my pregnancy. She got back last weekend and I told her she was getting a cousin. She’s OVER THE MOON! But her first question to me was, “You got married?” I explained everything to her and then talked some more about different kinds of families. I told her that sometimes families have 2 mommies. She quickly chimed in with, “I have 2 mommies!” (She has a stepmother.) So I explained that sometimes 2 women live together and have a child, and sometimes 2 men have a baby. “How do 2 men have a baby?!?!?!” I explained that sometimes a woman helps them, or sometimes they adopt a baby. And sometimes, I said, a single woman like me does what I did or adopts a baby. I told her about a single woman in my neighborhood who adopted a delightful little girl from Guatemala. I said that the important thing was that the baby had lots of love, and this baby will have LOTS of love. Of course, she agreed with that, since I think she’s already madly in love with her little cousin. (She’s said she’ll help change diapers. Even poopy ones. Though she says she won’t like those.)

In other good news, the cortisone shot I had in one foot on Wednesday kicked in today. OMG! Relief!! I’ve had 3 cortisone shots in the other foot and never got this kind of relief. I wonder if it was the dr and technique. The others were done by podiatrists, this was done by an orthopedic foot surgeon under u/s guidance. The injection hurt like HELL, but with the u/s he was able to pinpoint the inflammation and really target it. I don’t know if this will last, but I feel like I’m finally in good hands with this dr. He reassured me by telling me that if I do wind up needing surgery to release the fascia after I deliver, that I will be able to walk on it right away, so I can take care of my little Notion.

Mel’s Show and Tell — Self-Nominating Pay it Forward Friday

WARNING: Swearing ahead.

A bit late for Show and Tell, but better late than never.

Sorry I’ve been so quiet. Nothing much going on, except the belly’s growing, and I’ve been feeling movement for sure for about 3 weeks now. It’s still very soft movements, and I need to have my hand on my belly to feel it. But it’s wonderful! So reassuring.

Now for my Show and Tell. Last Fall I had a Show and Tell post about the “consolation prizes” I gave myself after cancelled cycles. One “prize” was a cute little stuffed bunny with the word “fuck” stitched across its chest that I purchased from a cool Etsy seller. I wrote at the time that when I felt I no longer needed him, I wanted to pass him on. I would love to see him passed from blogger to blogger as needed. Relinquished when no longer needed. Maybe he’ll travel the world! I hope that whoever gets him goes on to have success in their family building efforts, and happily passes him on.


So, please tell me in the comments why you need the “fuck” bunny. Maybe it will just be obvious who should have him. Or maybe there will be several people who are deserving and I will have to choose randomly. So, dear readers, tell me why you need him.

Don’t forget to check what the rest of the class is showing.

P.S. Anatomy scan on Monday at 20 weeks!! Hopefully the babe will cooperate and we’ll know if my little Notion is a boy or a girl. I promise to post soon afterwards.

P.P.S. When I was TTC, u/s pics and baby pics on blogs didn’t really bother me, but belly shots could be hard to take. So I will not be posting any. If anyone really wants to see one, email me and I’ll email a belly shot to you.