36 weeks - What is a crenshaw melon?

BHR is gaining about an ounce a day and weighs almost 6 lbs. This is like a crenshaw melon, although I don't know what a crenshaw melon is, I'm sure it's a nice melon. BHR is more than 18 1/2 inches long.

Bon Jovi in a chair

We finally got our new rocker finished! It's not exactly new, but it's an old rocker with a makeover, sorta' like Bon Jovi! Greg painted the chair and we had new cushions made for it. It's perfect and fits me perfectly. It even makes the little "creeky" rocker noise that rockers are supposed to make. Greg wants to fix that noise I'm sure, but now that he's a "new Jew" he's going to have to fix less stuff!

Life Savers, Tic Tacs and Strawberry Rhubarb Shmoo

Greg is off to become a Jew this morning. This process has taken him almost 2 years, but I'm sure it has felt much longer for him. He already has had his symbolic circumcision or his "hatafat dam brit", this morning he went before a panel of three rabbis, also known as "Bet Din", and then at 1:00 today he will be dunked, also called the "mikveh." I'm truly impressed with his dedication to the process, not just what has been required of him, but also his own desire to learn and explore something that I think I have probably taken for granted.

I was born Jewish, and while I attended Sunday school and Hebrew school and everything else, being Jewish has been different for me. Sunday school was never pleasant for me, I didn't have a ton of friends in my classes and never really felt like I fit in. In fact, I remember having one friend in Sunday school who was one year ahead of me. She wore a Raiders parka and had really high bangs.

In regular school I remember being one of three other Jewish students in the class and we would have to go up in front of the class twice a year and talk about Chanukah and Passover and explain to the non-Jewish kids what the holidays were about. I felt different, but I'm not sure I felt special.

After my Bat Mitzvah I remember feeling proud and accomplished, like I had made it. It felt good to be Jewish, but still different. Temple was never a place I wanted to go and I remember resenting Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur because they often fell around the same time as my birthday. It wasn't necessarily Judaism that I didn't like, but temple wasn't a comfortable place for me.

When my dad passed away in 1995 and had the falling out with the Rabbi, that was when I questioned Judiasm. I questioned the Rabbi and felt like he let me down. I don't regret saying what I said at my dad's kaddish and I would probably say it again ...I knew something was right, and I said it. I'm sure many people think that my timing was off, that I shouldn't have said what I said when I said it, but I wouldn't change a thing.

After that, being Jewish was not about going to temple, it was about something I did with my family, something that connected me with different people around me ... family traditions and lots of food. I really owe my mom for making sure Judaism never left my life. Getting me to temple was probably never easy, but she made sure we were there and she surrounded us with loving people and created a new family for us, she made sure we knew that being Jewish was important.

I remember going to temple and sitting in the way back. Sleeping through half of the service and waking up for some of the songs. (In fact, I still sing a lot of the songs on a weekly basis, mostly in the shower. I'm sure Greg has enjoyed them. I think it was my singing that made him want to convert, I have such a lovely singing voice and they are quite catchy tunes.) My mom would give us lifesavers and tic -tacs and we would bug her about when we would get to leave. We were allowed to leave the service and play in the hallway, but only during the sermon. For the longest time I didn't even know what a sermon was, I basically thought it was "break time."

When I went away to college Judaism came with me. I didn't attend temple until the firebombings in 1999, but I always felt connected. Maybe I didn't appreciate what it meant to be Jewish until then, or maybe I just was waiting for the Rabbi to retire before going back, or maybe I was just being lazy...it was probably a combination.

Being Jewish has never been about a belief in God for me ... I question God a lot and his/her existence, and I think that's a part of it. I think questioning is a big part of being Jewish for me. More importantly, Judaism is about culture and tradition and family.

Greg's curiosity and interest in Judaism has helped bring me back and given me a new perception about what it means to be Jewish. Our wedding was one of the happiest days of my life and having a Jewish ceremony was something that helped make it so memorable.

I always knew that I would raise my child Jewish. I never cared if my partner was Jewish or not, but he had to be willing to raise our kids the same way I was raised. Not everything we do or have done in my family has been the most "traditional" ... but Judaism is something that is with me.

I love incorporating our family traditions with knew ones. I can't wait to share latkes with BHR for Chanukah and Matza pancakes with him on Christmas. I love Passover ... eating Gaby's strawberry rhubarb shmooey stuff and reading my mom and Greg's new haggadah. I love that it's a living document. My mom wrote it and Greg and Lucas have both contributed over the years. It's nice to feel that being Jewish is special, that it's an honor ... I thank my mom and Greg for reminding me.

Now that Greg is a Super Jew he can make sure that BHR knows all of the history, I can sing him the songs, my mom can give him lifesavers and tic tacs and we can all eat latkes and matza brie and be thankful that we're Jewish and get to eat such tasty food.

Honeydews and Law School

BHR is now 35 weeks. He is 18 inches long and around 5 1/4 lbs which is about as much as a honeydew. Most of basic physical development is complete, so now he's just gaining weight, just like his mommy!

So, BHR could be born anytime, but I have to say this ... the impossible has happened. I am finally in a law school class that I don't want to miss! The professor doesn't take roll and he doesn't really care that much if you are there and I actually want to be there! Who would have thought that it would ever happen? After two years ... two LONG years, I have finally found a class that is enjoyable. The class is Family Law. No, it's not just divorces and custody battles and it's not just depressing stuff. I've only had one class, so I can't say that I really know exactly what it's all about, but I know I like it so far and that's a huge step.

What does this mean for BHR and I? Well, it means that I'm hoping BHR can hold on at least one more week, because next week we are discussing same-sex marriage and frankly that's one of the reasons I came to law school, so I'm hoping I dont' have to miss it ... if BHR did decide to come a bit early, I think I'd be okay with that too:)

It's almost Fall, let's watch TV!

Finally, after a week of 185 degrees I am finally comfortable. Maybe it's because school starts today or maybe its because Mother Nature is gearing up for the Fall TV lineup, either way I'm not complaining because Fall is coming!

Fall typically reminds me of school supplies, television shows and crunchy leaves. Since I'm trying to pretend that school isn't actually happening, I think I'll make a list of all of my favorite television shows. These are in no particular order ...

1. The Cosby Show - (I used to love watching this show with my mom and Lucas. Every Thursday we would watch the Cosby Show, Family Ties and CHeers together. We would pile into mom's bed or room and all watch and eat dinner together with our tv trays. Lucas had a Duke's of Hazzard tray and mine was Strawberry Shortcake. Mom still has them.)
2. Family Ties
3. The Facts of Life - (this was not the best show ever, but I loved it! I wanted to be just like Joe, although I never really wanted a motorcycle.)
4. The A-Team
5. Cheers
6. 21 Jump Street - (But only the Johnny Depp episodes because Booker was just lame!)
7. Seinfeld
8. Friends - (I got to see the show taped live once ... I'm pretty sure I cried when they introduced the cast members.)
9. Buffy The Vampire Slayer - (when Greg and I first moved in together, I asked him to record to the show for me because I had class or something. All he had to do was press record, but instead he decided that he would leave the tv on and since he didn't want to listen to the show, he put it on mute. This was before TiVo. So, he recorded the entire show on mute and when I went to watch it there was no sound ... we almost broke up that night. I like to think that I was the better person for forgiving him, but really he was the better person for not leaving me after learning of my crazy obsession with a fake tv show about vampires)
10. Felicity - (Greg hates this show! He hates that they all whisper and I have to say that is pretty weird)
11. Arrested Development - (Seriously one of the funniest shows ever on television. I wish it were still on.)
12. Scrubs - the musical episode is genius!
    
13. Sex and the City - (minus the last season because the Russian dancer was gross and the show got depressing)
14. The Office - (I watch the US version, not because I don't think the UK version is good or probably even better than the US version, but mostly because I can't understand a word that Ricky Gervais says and then I get embarrassed and Greg makes fun of me.)
15. 30 Rock - (Doesn't everyone relate to Liz Lemon ... the episode where she goes to some new NYC club opening and she feels uncomfortable so she tries to chat with some people and she says "So... do you guys watch Heroes? I like the Japanese guy" and they all look at her like she's crazy.)
16. Alias - (I still haven't seen the final season, but the show is still quite entertaining! I love Sydney Bristow. She secretly made me want to become some sort of spy or FBI person ... I think it could work as long as they don't expect me to travel or shoot anyone or use weapons. Otherwise I think I'd be awesome!)
17. Veronica Mars - (Another show that was cancelled well before it's time. Who doesn't love a sassy, teenage super sleuth who quotes The Big Lebowski and has a dog named "back-up"? Even Greg watched this show with me)
18. Gilmore Girls - (Another show that Greg wishes I never discovered. He says it's because they have this weird "lalalala" song that they play between scenes, but really I think he likes it.)

Hair Washing and Finger Joints

I haven't had too much to say these days ... mostly just trying to get by. School officially starts today and I'm just not there yet. I'm not ready. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready because to be honest, if you couldn't tell, I don't really enjoy law school.

I am going on early maternity leave this week. My last day of work will be on Thursday. I'm excited! I've been working for EdVoice for almost 3 years, it's going to be strange not driving here next week, but I'm seriously not complaining because I'm really tired!

BHR is taking a lot out of me lately... This morning was hair washing day, probably one of my least favorite things to do during the week. I got so tired blow-drying my hair this morning, I had to take a break! Hopefully the early break from work will help the energy level, but I'm not counting on it.

Recently I discovered a new pain ... last week I woke up in the middle of the night and my fingers were super sore! I have come to learn that my joints are getting looser and my fingers are a little more swollen and my knuckles hurt. Apparently this is normal and it will hopefully go away once BHR arrives or shortly thereafter, but honestly I definitely wasn't expecting pregnancy to hurt my finger joints!

Gross picture of gross looking food!

I was reading my usual gossip columns and I came across this picture of a new "hot spot" restaurant that serves eggs or something ... I decided this was one of the grossest looking meals I have ever seen and think that this restaurant should probably do a much better job at advertising how tasty their food is ... that looks like a bunch of stuff that my cat just threw up! Blech!

The brocoli stuff might be tasty, but it's sitting next to a pile of weird colored, already chewed eggs ... not good in my book.