Thoughts on Ironing

It's not that I hate to iron. It's that I can count the number of times I saw my mom do it while I was growing up, so it really did not seem like an important area to excel in. We were more of a "toss it in the dryer with a wet towel" type of family. I will iron my own wrinkly clothes, but I do not generally iron Noel's because he tends to decide which shirt he wants to wear at 10:58 when we are supposed to leave the house at 11. I tend to pre-iron my clothes knowing that I will want to wear them in the near future.

One thing I do not iron is my scrubs. Actually I did once because the armpit area was soo wrinkly it was uncomfortable. The other day I grabbed one of my favorite tops out of the clean laundry bag. I could tell it was on the wrinkly side, so I did the ol' brush down the front with water and it looked semi-decent to me afterward. Note: this was after a week long vacation where I had done the laundry for Noel so he could have clean work jackets while I was gone. The dear man left it all in the bag (which means next time I will not do it for him, I really hate wrinkled sheets). He took out what he needed, which left my scrub top in a sad state. Later at work I heard two of my Filipina coworkers giggling behind me, "planchadora" was all I caught, which made me laugh because "planchar" is Spanish for "to iron." I tried to explain that I was just back from vacation and hubby hadn't put away the laundry for a week. Although I guess I am to blame as I did have other scrub top options available.

My top only made it til dinner when a piece of potato skydived back into my bowl and splattered my white wrinkly scrub top with little red fleckles. It just wasn't salvagable as red in the hospital generally means blood. At least I got a free small yet oversized hospital scrub top out of it, great for when I actually get a baby belly. Belly pictures forthcoming, I'm sick and avoiding the camera...

"Panchito"

I am "finally" pregnant! It feels like a "finally" statement because we have been talking about it for so long, but in reality I knew I was by the 88th day off birth control (Saturday). Woo hooo!!! I actually did do little celebratory dance in the shower before I told Noel.  I am thrilled and refer to our embryo as "our little alien" as that big black dot of an eye and neck/body really do make it look like an alien. Noel refers to the embryo as "Panchito" and refuses to pick a less terrible name. I am trying to think of the name as a way to say "our little revolutionary." But seriously, "Pancho"???!!!  Noel is still in shock and is very worried about being a good dad and how we will afford a baby. Seriously, they aren't that expensive (are they??!!). Kind of like having a new car with the upkeep and whatnot, at least milk is free compared to gas ;)

Speaking of 88th day, dating a pregnancy from the first day of your last period is crazy, it adds about two weeks to your pregnancy. I mean take the first day of your last period, add a week and then add 9 months and that is your expected due date. But what if you don't ovulate on day 14 (like 80% of the female population). For me, who did not ovulate until day 32 (yes 32, not 14 like most people or up to 22 like the occasional other, but 32 due to, I feel, the weirdness of stopping the pill). So while the nurse practitioner at Planned Parenthood (Noel wanted "confirmation", like two positive home test weren't enough, so off I went to PP, the quickest place to get tested) said I was 8 weeks and 2 days, I am more like 6 weeks and 2 days (who do you think will be going wayyy over their estimated due date???).

As for pregnancy symptoms:
- nausea...nope
- sore breasts .... oh yes, ouch
- super sensitive to odors .... see next blog
- headaches ...none
- weight gain ... way too early for that, but I did buy a scale
- weird craving ... "Noel, were you cooking with gouda tonight? (sniffing clothes) "No, definately not"... next day I buy gouda cheese, all other cheeses smell funny

The Dreaded Pansa

My hubby is getting a panza, a little belly, and it bugs me. He joking calls me his flaca vacita, skinny little cow, which I do not take to heart as I am not fat. But my formerly flat stomached man is approaching 30 and I am afraid is on his way to getting the dreaded panza. 

Ever since I first started interacting with Latinos I have noticed that males over 30 years are afflicted with a terrible condition. THE DREADED PANSA. Not that it seems to bother them. But by the time they turn 30 they have a belly, not necessarily big, but enough to stick out over the waist line. Noel grabs his little panza, saying "Where did this come from? I eat healthy!" to which I respond "Chelas (Honduran for beer), it's a panza de chela," and launch into telling him about how many calories a beer has, how many calories a day the body needs, and that a panza is what happens when you drink beer and go straight to bed. I am sure the fact that we eat late at night plays a role as well, but I can't help it as I am always hungry when I get home from work at 12:30 at night and when I eat he does too. But primarily I blame the panza on chelas.

Me: "If you drink 3 beers before bed that is roughly 600 calories, which is at least 1/3rd of the caloriesyou need for the whole day. To gain one pound you have to consume 3500 too many calories (blah blah blah)"
Noel: "Ehhh (nonchalant grunt with shrug), no me importa, no me molesta la panza (takes drink of beer)."
But I know it bugs him, as he grabs it weekly while looking in the mirror. Unfortunately, there is no energy left for working out when you work 6 days a week. Thank goodness he walks alot at work! Clearly my years of nursing training and daily on the job patient education on how to eat a heart healthy diet to minimize risk factors do not apply to him. No way I am an expert or anything. In one ear, out the other.

Does anyone else have this experience with their Latino? Does the dreaded Latino panza just show up at age 30? If so Noel has two more years of full ability to see his toes. The one exception I know of in Noel's family is his brother, who turned 30 last year. But he is incredibly superficial about looks, does not have a girlfriend, does not drink and doesn't like to cook, so his panza inducing factors are pretty well minimized.

Spanish words for belly: panza, panozona, timbon, timburiaco/a, barriga 
How to use them:
"Jose es muy timbon" ---- Jose is big bellied
"Amanda es timburiaca" ---- Amanda has a little belly
"Que panza tiene Manuel" ---- What a belly Manuel has!
"A los 6 mese Elena tiene barriga pequena" ----- At 6 months Elena has a little pregnant belly

My husband's huge family

 

The Dona of Noel's dad's side

When I am old I will wear purple...

 

So if your dad's mom had 9 kids and your mom's mom had 5 and each of them had between 3 and 6 kids how many cousins do you have?

That is how my relationship with Noel started out. Everywhere we went; dancing, eating, visiting, he would introduce me to his primos (cousins). I thought he was taking the translation non-literally, in that "we are all Honduran" sense of cousins. But noooo. They are ALL related, albeit with some second cousins. In the beginning I thought he was related to every Honduran in Seattle. Not quite, but most of them are from Tegucigalpa (capitol of Honduras) or Urrutias (his little home village).

I tried to map out a family tree on my first trip to meet the family, but an 8x10 paper was incredibly inadequate. Now when I meet any primo I ask "Which side are you a cousin from?" and "Who's son are you," as I primarily know the women's names.

Ironically, in such a large family Noel has just one blood brother. And one first cousin who he calls brother as they shared a house and bed for 10 years. Their sense of family is amazing, and humbling, as Noel calls his brothers every night, just to make sure they are okay.  To quote him "Who needs friends when you have family? Family will always stick up for you and you trust them. You never know what friends will do." Followed occassionally by choice words about how my friends are not good enough becauase they are not family. Oh hubby I am sooo sorry I don't have gazillions of primos to pick my friends from. I have one sister, she is great, but in this culture I am sure she doesn't want to know about allll parts of my life.

Oh, wait! Noel does have 1 friend. He has known him for his entire life, grew up in the little village, did all of school together and he lives in Seattle as well. One friend in 28 years! But 50+ primos to make up the difference.