hurray!

I'm pregnant! hurray! I don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet, but obviously will find out ASAP. I don't understand people who "want it to be a surprise." I feel like giving birth will be surprising and momentous on its own without needing any extras. Also, I hate waiting. I have a little belly already, but luckily most of my clothes are 2 sizes too big, so it's not obvious/uncomfortable yet.

I'm due Oct 27. I'm planning to take off from October-February, and then Jonathan will stay home from February-June. It's a big advantage of having basically the same job (shop teacher): we're programmatically interchangeable.

The only downside is that I'm having some complications, so I'm forbidden from traveling for 3 more weeks, which means no supernationals for me. I'm pretty bummed about that, as I usually find nationals both professionally exhilarating and the social highlight of my year. Also, I'm extremely worried the kids will all play superfast without me there to yell at them, but probably I overestimate myself. I will obviously be glued to the results page all weekend.

One of my students, Haby, wrote this extremely touching facebook wall post for me, which made me feel pretty fabulous:
"This upcoming Tuesday our chess team will be traveling to Nashville to compete against the nation
You have put time and effort to help us grow and so that we can become champions, and so this time we are playing for YOU !
Every point made by a 318 player is one more appreciation we have for you."

I haven't felt very nauseous, just insanely tired all the time. I get up and feel fine, then by the time I've showered and dressed, I'm ready to crawl back into bed. But compared to IVF, which made me feel like a Soviet psychiatric patient, pregnancy has been a walk in the park. I obviously miss sushi, wine, running, and one or two other things, but I guess it's good to relearn some self-control. I've also started eating organic food, using phlalate and paraben-free soap and shampoo, not eating canned food or using plastic containers, and (my favorite) never, ever touching receipts (last three = BPA). Jonathan has taken over all (literally all) of the housework, claiming my job is only to sleep, which is angelic of him. And I hear the second trimester is the most fun, so I'm looking forward to that.

In other news, I took some kids on a fun field trip to American Express headquarters to mentally prepare them all for lucrative careers in finance.

I've read some great books, the best of which was Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients. My father is a doctor (actually was; now he's a celebrated chess teacher) and he always used to say it's ridiculous how many people take cholesterol-lowering drugs, as they haven't been proven to affect any real outcomes, and I used to dismiss that, but now I see he is completely correct. He also told me a story about how he published an article about the side effects of a Pfizer drug, which resulted in Pzifer sending two goons to threaten him if he didn't retract the article and he had to call hospital security.

a few recent photos of IS 318 players:

Edeli

Lennin, William, Sean

Brian

Rashad

Brian and Vincente