Picking Apples with the Kappels

Jason and I made a trip back to STL the last weekend of September. Jason had to be there the week prior for work, so I decided to join him for the weekend. My most favorite day of the whole year is the day we go apple-picking at Eckerts Orchard. I was happy that we did not have to miss the 2009 apples. This year we went with our good friends Steve and Maria and their two adorable kids, Emma and Samuel. We picked Red and Golden Deliciouses. We had to give most of our apples up to Jason's parents before flying home, but I did wrap a few up in clothing and flew them back to San Antonio with us.

David Hasselhoff Update

Just wanted to give an update on the newest furry 4-legged member of our family. David Hasselhoff is a healthy little guy and now weighs over 5 lbs, and he has been a great addition to our home. I really enjoy having him around. Reasons we are glad we saved Hasselhoff from dire straits and brought him to live in our house:

1. He is so cute! Look at how handsome he is.
2. He is incredibly soft. You'll have to experience this for yourself, it's true.
3. He still has the cutest little squeak of a meow.
4. He purrs when he eats.
5. He does this funny thing where he carries his toys around from room to room, and up and down the stairs, even the long chase toys attached to a stick. For some reason he always puts the wire toy in the guest bathroom shower.
6. When I was trapped at home feeling like I was going to barf all day long, Hasselhoff kept me company and cheered me up with his cuteness. As I drifted in and out of consciousness dreading the moment I wake up and find I still feel like barfing, he was often curled up in a fluffy kitten ball next to me. He loves me because I saved his life, and follows me from room to room.

Now he does have a few bad habits, like pouncing on Tweed. They have to be separated at night. Tweed remains Queen of the Bed. He also is a terrible beggar when it comes to human food- he likes anything dairy, and eggs. He even antagonizes Angel and steals her dog food. And, he's messy in the litter box, I swear sometimes he's just playing in there.

Jason took this awesome photo with the new fancy camera, I think it was his first really good one. We have yet to capture Angel with the camera, she moves too quickly.

Turning the corner

I am finally starting to feel better. Nausea levels are down to a minimum. Food is not the enemy anymore. Still haven't gained an appetite, but hopefully that will come soon. I can't say I feel "good" yet, but I'm not miserable. I am happy to report that Jason did not file for divorce and cite "excessive complaining and crankiness." Although I would not have blamed him if he did.

A few things have perplexed me about pregnancy. The second I saw the 2 lines on the stick, our mailbox started getting flooded with baby catalogs and magazines. I had not yet told a close friend or family member the news, but somehow the commercial industry found out... did they dig through the trash? We bought the one pregnancy book that we thought would be most helpful (and got another one in the mail for free), and signed up for the babycenter.com emails, and I occasionally listen to the "pea in the podcast." But the amount of information that gets thrown in your face is overwhelming to say the least. If I read everything that got sent to me, that's all I'd be doing between now and April.

Pregnancy is the queen of Unsolicited Advice. No, strange lady, I will not be slathering Vaseline across my abdomen for the next 6 months. Can you imagine if you saw someone walking around with huge grease spots across her belly?

Once someone finds out you're pregnant, they won't talk to you about anything else. Now, this is not always the case, and I do like to talk about it to some extent, especially with friends who are going through the same thing. But, if the conversation heads in a different direction, there's no need to steer it back every 5 minutes.

Why is it that the only women who post information about breast-feeding on the internet are psycho-breast feeders? They are fans of breastfeeding until the child is well past baby-hood, and into childhood. They are advocates of "never putting an artificial nipple in your child's mouth" and endorse breast-feeding in public as much as possible. I haven't ever met PBFer in person, but I suspect they all live in California. Where are all the moderate and modest breast feeders? I know they're out there, I'm friends with them.

Melitch got hitched

Jason and I had the honor of attended the wedding of our friends Mitch and Melissa on September 12th. They had a beautiful backyard wedding, which was temporarily moved indoor because of the rain. The low-key evening backyard wedding is my new favorite kind of wedding, and this one was gorgeous. Best of all- the wedding was in San Antonio- no airplane ride this time! Jason acted as head-photographer for the evening, as he continues to practice and learn our new fancy camera.
You can see all the photos on: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seats/sets/72157622250015789/

Congratulations Mitch and Melissa!

A Seats Baby

This is the biggest-ever announcement of Seatsleaf- Jason and I are having a baby! We got to see this little person for the first time last Monday. The baby looks pretty cute- We could see him/ her much better on the screen at the doctor's office, the picture doesn't do it justice. Our baby is due at the beginning of April.

You may have noticed Seatsleaf has really gone down the drain lately. Well, that's because I have had a bad case of baby-related nausea, which sucks every ounce of motivation I have to do anything. I have been miserable for a month now.

Luckily the past week has gotten a little better, and instead of being nauseous all day, I'm nauseous in the afternoon and evening, and the mornings feel pretty good. Eating has become an extremely frustrating experience, as I don't feel like eating anything, and I've pretty much stopped making dinners for Jason. I don't have an inkling of ideation about would I should make for food, and what I should do with myself. In addition to nausea, I have this disgusting chemical taste in my mouth which makes most things taste foul. Plus, lots of indigestion and heartburn. I have super-smell and foul smells send me into gagging fits. I can't brush my teeth without gagging myself. So, I can honestly say that pregnancy has been the worst experience of my life this far, and I really think that if all women experienced this, human population would decrease drastically with each generation and we'd eventually become extinct, because I cannot fathom anyone willing doing it again and again.

On a lighter note- today is Jason's and my 5 year anniversary. Happy anniversary hubby!