7QT - What to do for Halloween at 39 weeks

I was driving home from work one day, getting pummeled by my unborn child, when I realized that I'm going to be 39 weeks pregnant on Halloween. (If I don't have the child early, but that's no fun.) So I started trying to think of non-lame ideas of what to be if I am, in fact, still pregnant and go somewhere that requires a costume besides "huge pregnant lady."

1. The TARDIS

I'm pretty sure the best part of this costume would be getting my husband to dress up as the Doctor. When he just kind of looked at me funny, I informed him that I have an entire person inside my body and he shook his head and went back to making dinner. I dunno, I think it's brilliant.

2. St. Gianna Beretta Molla

I mean, she did give her life for her last child. Also, All Hallows Eve is traditionally about the saints anyway. Plus, all I'd have to do is get a lab coat and a stethoscope, since she was a doctor. And she and her husband are eerily similar to my husband and I, as we discovered by reading their letters.

3. Prego tomato sauce

I don't hate this idea, but I'm not particularly excited about it either. I just prefer it to the zombie baby ripping its way out of the belly costumes. (I may be resorting to Google at this point since I only had two good ideas.) (I couldn't find a good picture, sorry.)

4. Things One and Two

Maybe not this exact method of execution, but it's a cute idea and I wouldn't mind doing it. Yes it's cheesy, but so are 99.9% of costumes anyway. Although it would be funnier if I dressed as the Cat in the Hat and then dressed my children as Thing One, Two, etc. But first I need more than one child.

5. The Death Star

This one just made me chuckle. (Mind you, I'm NOT of the "I'm pregnant so I can bare my belly ALL THE TIME AND NO ONE WILL CARE" school — more like "I'm still me, I didn't show my belly before and I'm not changing that now and don't you dare touch the belly because IT'S NOT YOURS TO TOUCH" school.) Maybe just a shirt patterned like the Death Star, and then Shane can dress up as Emperor Palpatine or Darth Vader or something.

6. Jack O'Lantern

Not really the most creative idea, but since all of my sisters and I were dressed up as a pumpkin for our first Halloweens, no reason not to start the tradition with this child too.

7. 8 Ball

I'm terrible at pool, but it's not a horrid idea. 

So, let's see...one "I want to do this!", a few "this could be interesting", and some "I NEED TO FILL OUT A SEVEN ITEM LIST MUST FIND MORE". I think I'll keep working on Shane about the Tardis. 

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For Father's Day - All You Wanted to Know

Joining Kendra at Catholic All Year for the Answer Me This! linkup. I didn't know it existed, but it will likely break up a bit of the whole "I'm pregnant for another 20 weeks" thing.

1. What's the best thing about your dad? 

My dad is delightfully goofy. He can be serious, but he can also be completely ridiculous.

Case in point: On my wedding day, Dad and I were waiting in the back after everyone else had already processed in. The doors are shut, and they're just waiting for me to signal them to open the doors and actually get on with the business of getting married. Apparently Dad wanted to forestall any weepies, so he had a plan.

My dad had the same wallet from when he started dating my mother in 1985. By the time I was 15, the wallet was completely falling apart. He often would use a rubber band to hold it together. So, two Christmases before I got married, I gave him a new wallet. He continued to use the old one...until...

If you guessed that he swapped it out right before the wedding, and then showed me right before we started walking, you'd be right. I was giggling and excited and almost started crying from laughter. (So much for forestalling the weepies.) And the first toy he bought for the upcoming baby was a little hardware set, similar to the kinds of toys I played with when I was little.

2. If you've got kids, what's the best thing about THEIR dad? (If you don't, feel free to substitute your grandfather or another father figure.) 

I have one, solitary child whose face we haven't seen. (That's what happens when you're 20 weeks pregnant. The only pictures we have are remarkably creepy.) And this child's father is unfailingly patient, and also incredibly silly. Shane will be excellent at being patient when the stinker needs patience, and will also be ridiculous with the child and play and interact with the child wonderfully. I can't wait for the baby to get here so I can see Shane with his child.

3. What's the best advice your dad ever gave you? 

Don't stick with just the jobs that you fit every qualification for — also apply for jobs where you might only have some of the skills. Job listings are for the absolute ideal candidate, and they'll oftentimes hire someone who is a fit for the company over someone who has every single qualification but doesn't mesh well. (My dad owns a business.)

4. What's something you have in common with your dad?

We're both incredibly nerdy. Slightly different types of nerdy — I'm more on the fantasy-web-coding-traditional Catholic side of it, and he's on the sci fi-hardware-MacGuyvering-Matthew Kelly-Dynamic Catholic end. It still makes for fun conversations though.

5. What's the manliest thing you know how to do?

Um...I may have used Google to help me figure this out. I've...mowed the lawn? Checked the oil levels in my car? Refilled radiator fluid and antifreeze? Played video games? I don't know. Since Dad had all girls, we were just taught to do everything and to manage on our own. I think my favorite "manly" thing to do is grilling. I love to grill. Chicken? Pork? Steak? Bratwurst? Hot dogs? Hamburgers? I don't care, I'll grill it and then eat it. Yum.

6. Who is your favorite fictional dad?

Oh gosh. I have to pick? Um...I'm going to go with Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove. He's funny, down to earth, not an idiot (unlike the stereotype nowadays in the media everywhere), and he loves his kids and his wife. My favorite character in that movie is his wife, Chicha (such a sassy lady!), but Pacha is a close second. The relationship between Pacha and Chicha is so wonderful, and very solid. It's one of the most positive family situations I've ever seen in a Disney movie. 

You can find other people's answers over at Catholic All Year! 

7QT - A Pregnancy Update

Sorry I've been absent, but life is such that I'd rather not be boring, and the vivid dreams stopped for some reason.

So here are seven facts about my pregnancy to date! (Yay!)

—1—

I am currently one day shy of the 20 week mark. Twenty. Weeks. Halfway. It's kinda crazy feeling. 

—2—

I am hungry all the time. I feel like a teenage boy. This is a recent development — as in, I became a ravenous adolescent male as of four days ago. ALL THE FOOD MUST GO INTO MY MOUTH EVERY TEN SECONDS. Seriously, I'm hungry half an hour after dinner. So, the child is growing?

—3—

We had the 18 week ultrasound...about two weeks ago. So, you know...at 18 weeks. Yes, we know what sex (and gender) the child is. No, we aren't telling. The poor thing won't die because it doesn't have all pink or all blue items. 

Yes, the child spent most of the ultrasound wiggling. Also like this - feet up, hands behind head, not a care in the world. Adorable little stinker. 

—4—

I'm kinda starting to nest. Only instead of this coming out in any PRACTICAL format, like setting up a nursery (can't yet, we have no room or things) or cleaning the apartment (which should be done) or packing months before we move (I've heard stories) I'm making lists. Of things we will need when the baby comes. That we have no room for until after we move.

And watching kittens and begging my husband for one. Poor guy, the answer is always, "When we live somewhere that lets us have a cat." And somehow my head immediately goes "OMIGOSH YES" until the next day when I've forgotten the whole thing and go through the ridiculous rigmarole again. Sorry honey!

—5—

The child likes to kick me when I'm driving, or having fun, or sleeping, or in a meeting. Not anytime when Shane can feel the kicks (and oftentimes it's into the ribs or spine anyway), but when it's a nuisance. Stinker. 

—6—

Like I said, the vivid dreams stopped for some reason. Although that's probably good, because otherwise after seeing Jurassic World I would have been writing about ten thousand dreams about dinosaurs eating people. (Good movie, by the way.) 

—7—

My doctor keeps telling me that I have a boring pregnancy. Yay for healthy babies! 

Go to This Ain't the Lyceum for more quick takes this week.