Yep, I'm knocked up

...and after reading Chris' post about Colfax' reputation as a hotbed of UFO activity, I'm just hoping it's a human in there!

Okay, so I know this is a random photo to post with this headline (CORRIE!) but I've been meaning to get this one of Gideon in all of his saddled finery on the site since October or November (obviously, since the farm's looking pretty green in it!), and I also wanted to announce the presence of a three-inch person twirling around in my womb, so it seemed like a perfect combination - right?

The last three months have been some serious madness! I started getting nauseated right after Thanksgiving, something I originally attributed to consuming slightly too many crantinis and Lynda's killer appertizers over the holiday, but soon came to realize that there was more to it than that! I must tell you it borders on tragic to open the fridge to see all of the beautiful leftovers and want to throw up in the sink. VERY SAD INDEED. I'm finally on the other side of this phase, which is great. I do, however, still take a nap every day and fall asleep at 8:30 or 9 every night, sometimes on the dinner table. Jay (really!) wants to name the baby Thelonious, but I told him he'd have to settle for calling the fetus Thelonious (better than Chris' choice: Corky). So, sorry Cor, but it looks like the 3-incher is now Thelonious.

Jay and I have already gotten to listen to the locomotive-steady heartbeat (crazy!), and I've chosen a really cool birthing center and midwife in Menomonie. So far now that I'm not as nauseated, I can report that the fetus loves Life cereal, Kathie's hot fudge sauce, and anything hot and doughy. The fetus thus far hates red meat, and the smell of it cooking. The fetus is learning to change his/her mind about leafy greens.

I'm a little nervous about my motherhood debut, I have to admit. I guess as long as Courtney Love and Joan Crawford are in the running, I won't be the worst mother in the world. It's all so surreal! More to come on this later.

As you might be able to imagine, I haven't been riding much - actually less due to my weak stomach lately and more due to the horrible footing outside right now. We've had a veritable January heatwave here - 30s during the day, which melts the snow enough to make a puddle to freeze at night. Thus, we've got a layer of apparently fluffy white snow with a thick sheet of ice hiding perniciously beneath it. I'm a bit paranoid at this time to have 1200 lb of horse fall on me, I must say. I have still been walking in the mornings, though keeping more to the roads lately.

Thanks for your calls and emails - we're excited to add another to the brood, and as I say, now Ellis can karmically make up for all of the sibling brutalization I performed on Becca during our childhood by beating up on baby number two. Brilliant!

Love and miniature, partially-formed people to all,

Charis