Non Sequitur Friday

I'm happy that it's finally May. I can now say that my daughter will be born next month! Hurray! I have about 7 weeks to go but once week 37 hits, I will be doing everything possible to get her out. Each pregnancy has been harder than the previous as my body adapts and attempts to reject the alien invasion. So yes, bring on the pineapple juice, the spicy food, the exercise, and all the tried and true remedies to pop the baby out of the oven. H thinks that my belly will pop and then the doctor will tape it back together. He doesn't want to see that so he doesn't want to come to the hospital. Because I am so uncomfortable, tired and irritable that I want this baby out but at the same time I have NO idea how I will cope with three little kids. It will definitely be better once H goes to kindergarten in the fall but till then, I anticipate a lot of pain. How can a sleep deprived woman take care of three kids when her husband is traveling to Asia for work for weeks at a time? We will see. I may throw in the towel and end up going to my parents' house in Chicago for the summer.

Stewart's work is having a company picnic today. Except that you can only go to the picnic if you made a donation to the company's Japan relief fund. Something about that just doesn't sit right with me but I can't pinpoint exactly what. Maybe it's the coerced aspect of the giving or the fact that the company would not allow employees who truly cannot afford to give anything (like maybe Stewart's co-worker with five kids who has lost $200K in equity in his house) to come to the picnic. His new company is very strange indeed, they don't give paternity leave but told him he would have to take disability and get 50% pay if he took any time off when the baby is born. So no, I don't anticipate him hanging out with me at the hospital.

I'm trying to get in as much as I can for the boys before their sister arrives. I know once the baby is here it will be difficult for us to travel. So recently even with my horrendous varicose veins and back pain, we made a trip to the Oakland Zoo. The Oakland Zoo is amazingly good. I say this because the last zoo to which I can compare it is amazingly bad. There was also a severe bee problem at the LA Zoo the last time we went and I ended up getting multiple stings. It was so bad there was a sign once you entered that said, "no refunds will be given because of bees." Seriously, if you know there is a problem, put a notice on your website so people can make an informed decision before driving all the way out there! There is also a joke about the LA Zoo the punchline of which is something like all the animals are out of town. I remember the hippo exhibit at the LA Zoo, there was one sad hippo in a very small enclosure. I felt sorry for that hippo. The Oakland Zoo had many more animals actually in sight, although the lions were hiding since it was midday and they were taking their naps. Some other good things about the Oakland Zoo:

• Parking at both the top and bottom of the zoo; the top of the zoo has rides outside the entrance so if you don't want your kids to see them you can park at the bottom, which conveniently leads right into the children's play area
• Membership is affordable; my friend had gotten a special where she and her kids got membership for @$60 for a year
• No obnoxious merchandising; I don't think I even noticed a souvenir stand and the boys certainly didn't
• Accessible petting zoo; open for most of the hours the zoo is open

So those are my Random Mommy thoughts this Friday. I hope everyone has a great Mother's Day weekend. I will be attending an all day Korean School art and writing competition tomorrow so you can imagine how much fun I will be having. Tiger moms, unite!