11: Progress, Procreation and Peter Pan.
I’m feeling (not unusually) scatterbrained today, so I’ll just mention a few things on my mind, all coincidentally starting with P.
Progress
I’ve come up with 39 items so far for my 101 in 1001 list, and I’ve decided that instead of waiting to start the countdown until I have all 101 things listed, I will start it today because a) there’s no time like the present, and b) starting it today, November 11, 2009, means that in 1001 days it will be August 8, 2012, also known as MY THIRD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. And that really made me feel like this thing is tangible. I can do 101 things by my third anniversary, no sweat. Right?
Oh, and I’m also contemplating starting a separate blog just for the 101 in 1001 stuff. I just need to decide whether I’d rather try to integrate it into this blog (potentially allowing it to take over for periods of time) or give it its own special home. Courtney, any advice as a person who maintains multiple blogs?
Procreation
We found out yesterday that my cousin Sarah had her baby! They decided to let the baby’s sex be a surprise, so it was SO exciting to get the call about the new little GIRL who joined our family last night. And it got me to thinking: I wonder what percent of the population prefers to be surprised by the sex of their baby, versus what percent decides to find out during the pregnancy? What would you do? I think I will probably want to find out…but I hear that a lot can change when you’re actually pregnant and thinking about the excitement of having a who-knows-which-sex.
Peter Pan
I’m still pretty immersed in my current reading kick, and since I just finished reading Crazy Love (which, by the way, rocked my world), I scoured my very small amount of books-that-aren’t-stuck-in-a-box-on-top-of-the-closet for one I haven’t read already. And I came across a book I had forgotten I even BOUGHT: Peter and the Shadow Thieves. If you’re into science fiction/fantasy at all (and/or if you love the story of Peter Pan), I think you’ll like this series. The first book is called Peter and the Starcatchers (and I’m kind of sick of finding links for this dang post), and I read it while I was in Romania in 2007. If it weren’t for the fact that I finished reading the SIX or SEVEN books I brought with me on that trip, I never would’ve walked into a Romanian bookstore to search their teeny tiny section of books printed in English, and I never would’ve discovered the genius that is Dave Barry as a children’s novelist.
So, needless to say, I’m pretty excited to start the second book tomorrow. It’s sure to be a nice break from the more serious, introspective and depressing sorts of books I seem to have been drawn to lately.
Anyway, there’s my post for today. Check out my 101 in 1001 list (right up there between “About Me” and “Features”) and let me know if anything needs to be more specific, measurable or if it sounds like something I already do pretty regularly or easily. These are supposed to be at least a little bit challenging! Oh, and weigh in:
Should I start a separate blog for the 101 project, or keep it all here?
Re: Progress: I’d say keep it all here. It revolves around many different aspects of your life, which is what your blog is supposed to be for. Besides, once you finish your list 1001 days from now (if not earlier), that dedicated blog will become defunct. I think a separate blog makes sense only if it involves a completely separate, yet ongoing aspect of your life– such as your jewelry blog, or a prayer/spirituality blog, or a baby diary
It’s hard enough keeping up with one blog, let alone multiple ones! I think that ultimately, the upkeep of it will simply detract from accomplishing those 101 things…
Re: Procreation: makes me think of Matt and Erin’s party. Now THAT was a unique and fun way to find out! We made up our minds long ago that we would find out the gender before birth, and we did. I liked the certainty of being able to refer to the little peanut in my belly by his actual name and not some vague “he/she” or even worse, “it”!
Off the top of my head, I vote for keep it here for simplicity.
Do you know if Dave Barry is the same guy that was a newspaper columnist (I think in Florida) and had a TV sitcom written about his life? I think it was called Dave’s World. We used to love it. Funny stuff.
As you probably know, we wanted to be surprised with all four of our pregnancies, but I seem to feel fine about knowing the sex of other people’s babies.
Love you!
Mom
Yeah, it’s the same Dave Barry! He actually co-wrote the Peter and… series with another guy, Ridley Pearson. The first one was very well-done, so I’m excited to start this next one!
Ridley Pearson is from St. Louis! My parents met him not too long ago and got his mysteries (he has those as well) autographed. He also has a book series called “Kingdom Keepers,” out and I hear they are great so I bought the first one, even though it’s a young adult book.
I would like to think I would find out the sex of the baby but I’m not sure. I’m not going to be one of those people to decorate the nursery in certain colors or anything but it might be nice to know just in case.
Off to read the 101 in 10001! I think adding a page to this blog would be sufficient so that you can update everything all in one place!? =)
We had a baby gender conundrum: I wanted to find out the gender of our future peanut, but my hubby did not. Eventually, he caved in, probably feeling guilty that I’M the one that has to actually give birth to this full blown (10 lb. ish) PERSON, gain tons of weight, stretch to ungodly proportions and forgo sexy saunters (not that I ever sexily saunter…) for waddling for a good 2-3 month period. Him? All he has to do is hold my hand and buy me Burger King when the need strikes.
Anyway, we go for our ultrasound on November 30 and that’s when we find out the gender! But, this is what we’re going to (try!) to do: have the doctor at the u/s write the gender – boy or girl – down on a piece of paper, fold it and put it in a sealed envelope for us. Then, a few weeks later, when we’re spending Christmas with my family down in North Carolina, we’ll open it in front of them Christmas morning. So not only will we be surprised – but my out-of-state family gets to be a part of this special moment as well. Neat, huh?
Only challenge will be if I can *actually* make it and NOT open the envelope. I’ve never really been one who’s good at that sort of thing.
Yeah, a friend of mine is pregnant and decided to find out the baby’s gender by having the nurse write it on a piece of paper which she took to a bakery; she gave the bakery the envelope and told them to make the cake either blue (for a boy) or pink (for a girl), but to frost it with white frosting either way. Then they held a party with a bunch of family and friends, and everyone put in their guesses, then they cut into the cake to find out what color it was!
Oh my gosh, LOVE that idea!! That may be something to consider doing, too!
LOL– Kerri, this reminds me of the anecdote I read about the couple who did something similar– only they had their doctor mail them the results. When it arrived in the mail, they went out to a romantic candlelight dinner at a restaurant, and opened the envelope with baited breath.
It was the doctor’s bill
I definitely wanted to know the sex of my babies. But they wouldn’t tell me with the first two. With the last we knew ahead of time that we were in for our THIRD boy, and I was glad that we found out because after two boys, I had my heart set on a little girl. I did feel a bit disappointed that he wasn’t a girl, but all disappointment was over long before he was born and I was ready and willing to welcome another son by the time the due date rolled around.
First time checking your space out, but my vote would be to keep the 101 things here. Seems like a good fit.
I like to delay gratification, so I think I would wait to find out the sex. My husband might get antsy, but I think we could make it through. Seems like it might be good motivation in those moments when motivation would be needed.
I like the sound of the book, I’m always on the hunt for new reading material. Books make me happy.