Author: rachelvb
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Belly progress: Weeks 19-23
Work, potato vine, TuneYards/Sylvan Esso concert, breakfast, Tula giving me the stink eye about how much her life is going to change.
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Spring cleaning
In the mornings, after I’ve just woken up, my belly is hard and pulsing. The baby likes the right side and curls there until I get up and gravity centers us again. The pulsing feels like a wound, when all the blood rushes to one place in your body and you’d swear your heart was…
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Chandelier
Not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed when I heard the new Sia song for the first time. I’ve been a fan of hers since Zero 7 and a lot of her early albums are moody, well-written and quietly blow you away. She’s got a voice, a really powerful voice, a voice you wouldn’t…
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Van Blankenwedding
So my brother’s hitched! This year our families got a wedding and a baby (baby to come), but I’d say we’re growing up, yeah? The wedding was May 3 in Los Angeles at Yamashiro restaurant, a small ceremony at the beautiful Japanese-inspired palace built by two German brothers, go figure, overlooking the Hollywood hills and…
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How many weeks does it take for your feet to come back?
Pat felt the baby for the first time last night. The past week, the kicks have been getting stronger. I’ve been feeling them more frequently. Over the weekend, we lay in bed and I put his fingers on my belly to see if he could feel it. No dice. But last night Baby O was…
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155 beats per minute
A dead cat lay on the sidewalk this morning, dangerously close to the street, not that it matters anymore. It’s body almost sunning itself and I would have believed that if it weren’t for the gaping, red mouth pulled unnaturally open, broken. Was it hit last night? This morning? The neighborhood on the other side…
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We dream about things unfinished, trying to tie ends in our minds, ends that always fray
A couple nights ago, I dreamed of an old friend. We were with her family: mom, dad, one sister, one brother (although her family is much larger, not all of them could fit in my mind). We were at her childhood home, an old farm-style house with photos puzzling the hallway, an old TV set…
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Monday Journal entry
April 28, 2014 (I almost wrote 2019 … whoa … slow down) Boys share a cigarette on the street corner. One straddles his bike while a smoke points northwest from his ear, a small contrail against his hair, mimicking passing planes. Days grow warm. Summer’s heavy foot will soon walk across the valley. I need…
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Tonto Natural Bridge, Payson, AZ
A few weekends ago, the baby and I went on our own adventure to the Tonto Natural Bridge near Payson, AZ. About an hour and a half, two hours north or Phoenix. I climbed through the entire thing, although, that may be the last time I do a “bouldering” adventure with my belly. The rocks…
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Bees and pet peeves
The bees are dying. A big black one upturned on a sewer grate, the kind imagined from Africa where wild things still grow excessively large. Over the weekend, Pat tried to save one from a swimming pool, but after he set the creature on dry land, it stung him anyway and died. Maybe he was…