Ashley's Blog

It's Saturday night and I took a two hour nap this afternoon trying to sleep off morning sickness so now I'm wide awake and Nate is asleep. He worked some really late nights this past week and then we were out to dinner with his work people until almosst midnight last night. Not too bad for me because these days I have a very strict regimine of napping, sleeping and resting. Nate's worn out though.
It's pouring rain here right now and I love that. I think that I probably like the first few months of the year the best in Sothern California because that's when it rains. Nate and I bought a CD of rain and thunder and used to play it most nights as we went to sleep. I remember a few times also playing it while it was actually raining that way we felt like it was thundering too. But that just got confusing. "Was that real thunder or the CD?" So we stopped.
I'm 7 weeks pregnant on Mon. and counting down the days hoping that morning sickness will wane in a month or two. I was thinking that we should find out the gender of the baby, but not tell anyone that way we don't get flooded with pink or blue things. Maybe I'll just tell everyone to just stick to greens and browns and neutrals regardless of gender. I have a sinking feeling that wouldn't really work though. So much to ponder.

Sunday Afternoon

Last night we made our own sushi for the first time. I can't eat raw fish these days, but have been craving sushi so we got some imitation crab and made california rolls that were actually quite good. Nate also wanted to make a fresh fruit danish similar to the ones from Porto's (which if you haven't tried we strongly recommend.) The danishes turned our to be more like orange flavored custard cups and we agreed that we did not want to eat them again. So Nate got the great idea to take them to our sunday school class as our donation to the snack table. He was happy to report that by the end of class all the custard cups had been taken and we didn't see any half eaten ones in the trash. I've decided that I don't like anything made with orange zest as am ain ingredient and I think it all started with some orange chicken from my childhood.
Tomorrow is Nate's birthday. He'll be 25. It will be low key this year - hanging out with family and eating some pie. Several months ago we bought some tickets to see Wynton Marsalis at the Disney Center on Feb. 1 and that's kind of a late birthday/ early Valentines Day thing that we'll be doing.
I've been really starting to feel the early pregnancy nausea lately. It usually hits early afternoon and lasts the rest of the day. I have found that so far it feels as if I've been in the back seat of a crowded car with hot stale air during a winding drive up the side of a mountain. Bleh. But we're happy that things are progressing and Nate reminds me daily, "A sick mommy means a healthy baby." It helps get me through.
Our friend Beckah is coming today to visit today and we're very excited. We haven't seen her since we bought our puppies so we're really looking forward to catching up.

Murray Baby Stats

Due Date: September 17, 2008
Current Size: Grain of Rice
Gender: Unknown (Nate thinks it's a boy)
Hometown: Ashley's Uterus
Habitat: A dark world punctuated by sounds of digestion
Favorite Foods: Cucumbers and Ice Cream
Hobbies: Listening to dad play the upright bass, sleeping, growing a head
Thing Most Looked Forward to After Birth: Being read to, being the final member of dad's jazz trio, long walks on the beach

"That's One Doodle That Can't Be Un-did, Homeskillet"