Jelly Bean.

S, my adorable lil niece, called me the other day to tell me she missed me. I almost cried. Again. Sigh.

Now, these last two posts may lead you to believe that I'm a total kid-person. Let me admit something. Children and I do NOT get along. Never have. To all my friends with kids -- I'm sorry, but it's true. I may have tolerated your kids, even found them entertaining/funny, but we never got along. It's not that I don't really like kids, but I just don't get them. And, kids, being infinitely wise in their own ways, must always be able to sense that truth. Anyway, bottom line, I'm not a kid-person. At all.

But with S, it's just different. Maybe it's just blood. Maybe being there since the actual beginning -- I helped deliver her! -- just makes all the difference. But even if that were true, that would only make sense on my end. But with S, there's a mutual love and understanding. It's simple. We just adore and love each other unconditionally. And more than that, we get each other...and thus, we have fun together. S is 4...but speaks to me like an adult. She's calm, sweet, honest and articulate. Mostly, though, she just melts my non-kid-person heart.

The night before she left, we had a long goodnight talk. She explained that she would miss me when she left the next day...and we discussed being able to talk on the phone, mail things to each other and video chat online. She told me she knew that I loved her and she loved me too. And JB too.

Who's JB? JB is Jelly Bean. That's what the hubs and I call the lil parasite, er, I mean baby that's growing. Jelly Bean who lives in my Jelly Belly. Silly, I know, but for us it was better than always saying "baby" or "it" or whatever.

So as S was bidding me goodnight/goodbye, she hugs me for the millionth time, then, as I stand, she kisses my belly, says, "goodnight Jelly Bean" and looks up at me with those impossibly darling little slits she has for eyes...and I melt.

Perhaps I'm turning into a kid-person after all.

Milestone.

First of all, I must preface this post with something. My bro and his family just left IC, after a really excellent, super-fun vacation, as S would say. And, I must admit, that as soon as I turned back into the house, I started bawling inconsolably (much like E, the 9 month old, did for a bulk of her trip here). I am still sniffling...and probably have the makings of a tomato face (as the hubs calls it)...as I write this post, so please excuse any unnecessary emotional rambling.

Now, back to milestones. I am, officially, into my 2nd trimester! Week 13! Woohoo! Now, most of you moms are probably chuckling at me as you read this, but man, to me, reaching this was a huge sigh of relief. It's like magic. The sea-bands have been put away for good, I can eat almost whatever I want again, and the Zofran is tucked away in the medicine cabinet instead of sitting on my nightstand. I still have some reflux, and I'm now having to get up pretty often to pee at night, and I do still have some gagging when I brush my teeth, but for the most part, I feel pretty darn good. Plus, there's just something about having made it past those first anxiety-filled 3 months. We're still cautious and nervous about things, but the hubs and I are just breathing a bit easier about everything now.

Of course, with this milestone comes another - "announcing" the growing lil one to the world. Some of you have already caught on, but I feel like I've been kinda cryptic too about the whole preggers thing. But, now with the belly starting to show, I figure it's pretty useless to hide it now. And, it would be sad for people to just think that I've gotten uncontrollably fat. :)

So there it is, world, our vow of silence and 3 months of puking seems to have finally come to an end. Woohoo! We are incredibly grateful, awed and blessed by this whole adventure that God is leading us on...and are thrilled to have you join along for the ride!

Loves.

I, like many, have several loves of my life. There are the biggies - God, the hubs, my family (all of them, but particularly my lil niece Sydney who is running my life this week), FOOD, and the city. Any city, really, as long as it's big, has lots of places to eat, has big buildings and is actually considered cosmopolitan. With that in mind, please understand the hugeness of this fact: I'm on vacation this week and am staying here in Iowa City.

I must add something here. I don't mind living in IC. In fact, there are things that I think are great about being here. But, my heart really does belong to the big city (particularly NYC, Chicago and Seoul). So why, then, would I choose to spend one of my few, very precious weeks of vacation in the midst of cornfields?

Simple. The other loves of my life. My dearest brother and his family, including my two lovely nieces, are visiting from Tucson for the week - especially since I've been so tired and traveling might have been a big pain for me. So we're spending the week showing off all the wonder that is Iowa. And, surprisingly, it's been pretty exhausting. Apple-picking, ped-mall-ing, playing outside (which is apparently quite a big deal for folks who live in a place where the sun is too hot for the lil ones to be outside for long), teaching a 4 year old how to bike, heading to farmer's markets and eating local food....and you know, this has actually been one of my favorite vacations ever.

Call me crazy...and maybe it's the hormones...but sometimes, as Sydney likes to belt out, there no place like "home sweet home" -- even when it's in Iowa.

**pics to come**

Welcome!

Ah, my first real foray into the world of blogging. Sure, there were some Xanga sites along the way, but as this time in my life marks some new beginnings, I figured this was a decent way to document them...and share them with the friends who I've been so bad at keeping in touch with.

So this blog will just be about...well, what it says it's about...the life of an emonster. Nothing less, nothing more. What is an emonster? I suppose one way of describing it is that an emonster is just a girl...one who is surviving an anesthesia residency, enjoying early married life to a fellow doctor-type, missing friends and family who are really much too far away, living in the cornfields of Iowa, and is currently constantly amazed at this life God has created in me.

Emonster is name that stuck after a chance moment in high school...when a very dear, awesome friend was trying to get my attention during a calculus class or something equally as stimulating.
"Esther!"
(no response -- I was obviously paying attention to the lecture since I was such a good student)
"Cookie monster!" -- I had a thing for cookie monster back in the day.
(still nothing)
"Monster!!"
(la di da)
"E-MONSTER!!" - now that got my attention. And has stuck ever since.

So, in honor of that dear friend, of the new little creature along the way...and of my new mac book pro (heh). I present the life of an emonster.