© 2012 Jo. All rights reserved.

Blog of Eternal Stench.

Eternal is an exaggeration, it’s only been 3 months.  But still, it feels like forever when every scent either makes you dry heave, want to dry heave, or just wish someone would heave ho you out of the room and into a nice warm bed.

Some examples of smells that forced me to open the windows wide in the middle of winter: garlic, garlic breath, onions, poop from children and babies, sheets washed with unscented detergent, sheets washed with scented detergent, whole wheat pasta cooking, beloved coffee, and numerous others, the thought of which are actually making me feel nauseous.  It never ceases to amaze me how strong our sense of smell is.  It never ceases to amaze me how absolutely repulsive I find things that usually bring me a lot of joy:  Cabbage, chocolate, coffee, avocados, room temperature water, apples.  All of these are stink bombs in my book, stinky crappy things that make me feel sad and defeated.

So why am I nauseous?  Stomach flu?  No – that was a month and a half ago, after my 2 childgerm brought it home- what a violent, awful, confusing, contagious virus that is.  So gross.  No, there’s something much more long term going on:  I am pregnant with baby number 4, scheduled to arrive sometime in September.  And if I’ve learned ANYTHING about babies in the past 5 years, it’s that they love schedules and they love sticking to them, especially due dates.

Ultimately we’re excited.  Honestly we’re overwhelmed.  Ultimately we don’t care what the sex is.  Honestly, we don’t care what the sex is!

My Libra scales are in total balance about this one.  It would be great to have another girl, we know girls, we make sweet girls, and we wouldn’t have to have the circumcision talk.  On the other hand, it would be great to have a boy because it would be a different animal, and Nick and I feel like we aren’t being challenged enough, as parents and as human beings.  Also, having a boy would get every Italian grandmother in my neighborhood off my back, and every construction worker who works in or around my building a sense of relief.  (When they see me with 3 girls they look at me with pity and confusion, and ask me ‘where’s the boy’?) – it’s weird, we didn’t even think to try for a boy, we just wanted babies.  Healthy, happy babies.  And though they are sick every other week during the winter, and they whine a good percentage of the day, I would still categorize them as pretty healthy and almost happy.

So, as we navigate this labyrinth that is our adventure in life, I look forward to the day when the morning sickness subsides, the eternal stench lifts, and I’m able to enjoy food, this pregnancy, and the smell of my children’s poop again.

I don’t have any pictures of me being nauseous, so here’s a pic of Ida’s 3rd birthday cake, which happened just before I started feeling nauseous.  Her request:  I want a princess cake…NO!! A monster cake!! (I think she wanted to see the monster all cut up, and display her dominance by eating his face).

4 Comments

  1. Wow!!! Congratulations!! I will never complain about being a tired or overwhelmed mom again. You make it look easy and will continue, I am sure. Julian and i send our very best wishes. xo

  2. Sarah Engelman

    Congratulations!!! Very exciting news, since you guys create some of my favorite people. And, I’ve just told Marty I want a monster princess cake and show him your photo, so we’ll see what happens.
    Xoxo!

  3. MB

    OH MY GOSH this brought so much smile to my face it just about caused its own line! WHAT A CAKE (lol) and what great news!

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