I've been up since 4:30 the last few mornings, la-la. My brain is gone, but on the upside, the baby has gone back to sleep as long as I keep rocking him with my foot. And the house is wooonderfully quiet.
My news is this: last week I finished Paint By Numbers and this week I’ve finished two other stories!
go me go me go me
I’ve never done so much short fiction at once before. And I'm not through yet. I have several more undeveloped ideas and, shit, it’s gratifying to finish things. Usually I only complete a project once every year or two. Or six.
Other than that, it’s been a battle. Kids all sick: three sets of green-spouting nostrils. Steve's website very busy--we shot a new film and now I'm learning about video compressing. I’m speed-reading LJ about every 3 days.
Also I'm down on the floor doing towel slides and planks and 'splinted crunches'. A woman I know slightly asked me the other day if I was pregnant again.
‘No, just utter and complete lack of muscle tone,’ I said.
'I've made you feel shit, haven't I?'
Uh...yup.
Here's what I looked like 7 months ago:
Now the muscles are like guitar strings when you first put them on, before you tune the thing. All floppy. There is a two-inch wide gap between my rectus abdominals thanks to the stretch effect of these Giant Babies. So I have this little pouch at my belly button. It actually comes to a small point. I’m in a size 8
Also I went to have an IUD fitted for Obvious Reasons and the doctor couldn’t do it because she said my cervix is so scarred. Thanks, kids! Thank you! And thanks for trashing the house every time I turn my back and making me into the mother from Malcolm in the Middle. I'll find a way to get you back. Actually: I won’t have to. You’ve got my Genes. This will be revisited Upon You, mwoah-hah-ha-ha!!
But it's not just me having vanity issues. Steve has been referred to on a martial arts forum as 'like a caveman.' I can't stop laughing, because, well, it's true! You need a woolly mammoth bringing down quick, he's your man.
That’s all for now. I think this Finishing Things phenomenon has made me over-excitable.
Also, Inner Tension: it's the writerly equivalent of Dynamic Tension, and derives from the surely-beneficial effects of getting all highly-wrought, worked up and wrung out over a piece of fiction. There must be a way to transmute this into useful exercise, surely? Without actually leaving the keyboard?
I guess this is not a bikini-friendly solution.
I am tall enough that I never showed hugely, plus I never went full term with any of mine, therefore I'm really impressed by your belly in the photo. Is the blond Rhiannon?
It is strange when I look at this photo. It's all a blur. There was kind of a thunderous sound whenever I walked around. Fee, fie, fo, fum...
Oh! I saw one of your books at the doctor's office today! The Burning Stone? Ty wanted me to read it to him but as he is only 4 I pretended to read it and instead made up a story about an invisible dragon. Hope you don't mind.
But good luck with it all tightening up again, and worst come to the worst, this is the kind of thing that a tummy tuck *is* effective for.
Thanks for the encouragement tho.
Anyway, you know, I remember you as being a generally curvy sort of person. I can't carry extra fat--if I put on weight, I don't look curvy, just bloated.
I've had plenty of times in my life when I was unfit down to my own laziness, but for some reason now that I've been deprived of the opportunity to exercise, and DESTROYED by pregnancy, fitness is now precious to me.
Cream cakes are not really my thing, but I'd love about six beers on the trot! I haven't been properly drunk since all this started.
I doubt he was thinking about your genes or your progeny. He probably just saw the mad gleam in your eye and thought, 'Whoa, this one's gonna blow if she has one more kid to deal with!'
Or it could be that he has a big phone bill this month and your friend happened to come in that day....
Mine is 21 and he won't let me make funny noises on his belly any more. (Can't say I'm gutted that he's not in diapers, though.)
In return, I offer you adult conversation with Chris. We can also compare bellies and I will tell you all I know about tummy-tucks. After which, you won't want one.:)
I need to e-mail you soon. It is so manic here. Would LOVE to see you. Happiest of Xmases and beyond....
XXXXX