girl scout cookies and credit cards...

I spent some quality time with these two little companions today. It was mighty satisfying. Before you go judging me as an over-eating shopaholic (both of which might be true), let's assess the situation.

It is March 14th. I haven't been shopping since mid-January. That is two months of no malls, no shoe stores, no baby stores--nothing. This may not seem like a big thing to some of you, but for a woman who, up until she moved into her house last April, lived within walking distance of a 3-story mall--refraining from shopping is a colossal feat. Not that I would always buy--sometimes I just NEEDED to try on shoes, or smell the pretty candles before I decided I really didn't need another aroma to confuse my chakras...

So the "not-shopping rule" that is kind of inherent in the "not-getting-out-of-bed rule" has been kind of a drag. I have dreaded the only remedy--online shopping. For the past two months I have been perfecting my "online window shopping" skills, but have always stopped short of taking that plunge into the whole "add to my cart" world. I really like having an actual cart and throwing actual items into it. I have shopped online before, but I am always left feeling like I've just interacted with a used car salesman and I wait for days to see if the purchase was real or just some figment of the internet's imagination and maybe my money is floating around in cyber-space somewhere and whatever I ordered won't really materialize at all.

But today I could not resist. Perusing e-bay, I found a Red Sox onesie....I was powerless to stop myself. I didn't even bother with the stupid bidding--I went straight to "purchase now" and scooped it up. How could I not??? Even without Damon (damn you, Yankees!!!), they are still my team. I am giddy waiting for that thing to show up; I admit I spent a few minutes fantasizing about watching the games this summer with my little boy on my knee, spitting up on his Red Sox onesie as Manny rounds the bases. That is a shout-out to my grampy, if I ever heard one...

So that was a done deal. And the credit card wasn't even warm. It has been lying dormant for 60 days...we had a lovely reunion and I wasn't ready to tuck it back in the old wallet. So I clicked on my "favorites" button, where I have been stockpiling items for possible purchase should this day ever come.

I made one other purchase. From a shop on Ventura Blvd in Hollywood, California, I bought an obscenely expensive, ultra-hip (by my own fashion-challenged estimation) diaper bag. Yes, I bought a diaper bag that cost more than my cable and cell phone bills combined, but you know what?? I've been in bed for two months, so leave me alone.

Actually, its a very practical purchase--it has all the bells and whistles that a good diaper bag should have; it's washable; it has a changing pad, pockets for diapers and bottles, blah blah blah...and it's a baby blue and black argyle pattern...love it. Would buy it as a purse if I weren't going to need to stuff it full of baby goods. And really, if I am going to be carrying this thing around AS a purse for the next few years, do I really want it to have Winnie-the-Pooh on it (even though it's everything in me not to buy a winnie-the-pooh one, too. Shhhhh, don't tell)?

So that was the shopping spree from room 625. I still feel a little like I need to take a shower (see used-car salesman reference above), but I am getting over it.

Oh, and the girl scout cookies....thin mints. I don't think I need to say anymore. I take comfort in the fact that at 27w2d into this pregnancy, my weight gain isn't astronomical, it's actually on the reasonably low side and the hospital food has helped keep me from ballooning up. So if I indulge in a thin mint...or ten....I don't feel the need to apologize (although clearly I feel the need to explain--but that's just the culture we live in--God forbid a woman eat a cookie.)

So now my over-spending, over-eating, baby-incubating self is going to hold tight and wait for Thursday, when, I have been told by my doctor that they are going to "assess the situation" and consider sending me home. There is an ultrasound scheduled to take a peek at the cervix and see if it's decided, in all its dynamic-ness, to lengthen back up or if it is still playing "chicken" with the birth canal. If all is well on the screen and I haven't had more contractions by then, they might let me do my shopping and eating at home, in my own bed from Friday on out...

And a word on the little man (aside from how well dressed he's going to be and what a fabulous bag his diapers are going to be carted around in), we found his heartbeat this morning above the belly button line (a sort of pregnancy equator, if you will), so I think that he has finally lost some of his previous fascination with the cervix and might actually go exploring the higher ground for the next few weeks. Hopefully that will bode well for my cervical length, as he won't be jumping up and down on it for the next couple of days. It's nice to know he's cooperating...