Today is the first day in a while that I did not run to my bed the second Will went down for a nap. Lately, the only way I can function is to sleep while he sleeps. Of course this means that the usual things that I like to do while he's sleeping get put off (blogging, showers, cleaning, etc.). I end up taking my showers while Will is happily (hopefully) playing in his exersaucer immediately after he wakes up and has eaten. This is usually the only time he'll put up with being confined in his own house while he's awake.

I guess I'll continue with a little summary of what's been going on with me, besides the obvious, and then I'll move on to the obvious (little babe growing inside me). On Sunday night we ended our Bach Society season with a wonderful concert at the Cathedral Basilica. Some highlights include a magnificent mass by Steven Mager that was commissioned just for us and premiered Sunday night. The small orchestra was so good and I am now convinced that Steven is a genius. The other highlight (for me) was that I had a small (one verse) solo in our very last piece, a spiritual arrangement of "This Little Light of Mine". I've spent the better part of the last 2 1/2 weeks very nervous about it due to how the nausea has affected my singing, and I was so relieved when I felt pretty good Sunday night and the solo went very well. This is encouraging also because in 2 weeks I am auditioning for the soprano Young Artist award for the Bach Society and I believe I left a good impression on Dennis (our director). Carol has been encouraging me to do this for about a year now I finally feel like I'm ready. We'll see what happens.

As far as the pregnancy goes, things seem to be progressing fine. I had an OB visit on Monday and got a chance to talk to our new doctor (Dr. Turner) about a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and the benefits of trying for one. I changed OB's because Dr. Boedeker told me that they wouldn't let me go into labor next time and had I decided some months after Will was born that I wanted to try for a VBAC. I was already aware of the risks (less than 5% chance of rupturing at the c-section incision) and the main benefit (if you plan on having 3 or 4 kids, multiple c-sections can be hard on a woman's body). Dr. Turner is someone who supports VBACs and emphasized to me how she wants to let women labor but asks for her patients to trust her in the end if something else ends up needing to happen. I have no problem with this and I learned a lot just talking with her. We did talk about women who have planned c-sections and how they report a much easier time of recovery due to the fact that they did not have to labor for extended hours (in my case 30) and in her words: "They know when it's going to happen, so they get a good night's rest the night before, they come in and the procedure is done in 15 minutes. They go directly to their rooms start nursing and having a good 'ole time with their babies because they have lots of energy." Hearing this senario definately made me hesitate, but I was encouraged when she said that I should definately try for it and that I could change my mind at any time.

As for the nausea, it's definately still there but much better lately. There was about a week when I felt so ill all the time and a few days when I couldn't even get out of bed I felt so sick (luckily this was during a weekend and Rodney took care of Will). I am 8 1/2 weeks along and the nausea should be gone in a month. A month is a long time to feel sick, so I'm trying not to think about it. In Rodney's words I just need to take it one day at a time. He's right.

Last night I gave William his first pasta dinner in which he fed himself. I made ravioli for myself and decided to share it with him so I stripped him to his diaper, put on a bib and served him up some. Of course, everyone's got a photo of themselves covered with pasta, so here's Will's official "pasta pic":

It's not the best of the 3 or 4 I took, but I love his smile in this one.

I also got a video this morning of several "tricks" that he's been doing lately: this cuddle thing he does with random objects, making a kissing sound, and waving. He's also been pointing to things and making a clicking sound with his tongue (I try to get him to do this on the video without sucess). Maybe we'll catch those on another video.

Thanks to everyone who left well-wishes on comments on my last post. I appreciate all of your "congrats."