Rough game that was, last night. I don't know - as disappointing as it all is, I don't have the heart to throw the Dawgs under the bus. I have read many fair-weather status updates on Facebook...We'll have our ups and downs, but the team needs the support of its fans through the good times and the bad.

I...hate...being...pregnant! I thought maybe I'd have a more enjoyable pregnancy this time around, to the point where maybe I would love it and never want it to end! There are, believe it or not, women like that out there. Not me...I hated it last time, and I hate it this time. In between pregnancies, I completely forgot how much I hated it and just wanted to be pregnant again! The ability of the mind to repress negative experiences is, of course, why women have multiple children.

I was doing much better at the time that I wrote my last pregnancy blog last week. I don't know what happened, but more familiar (and some unfamiliar) symptoms are starting to creep up on me. I hope they go away, but most of them lingered throughout my pregnancy with Liam.

I am still, for the most part, not inducing the gag reflex when I brush my teeth, but my toothpaste aversion came back in full force over the last week. I also have this weird aversion to any kind of capsule. Maybe it has more to do with the aversion to anything liquid that will help the capsule go down, as none of them are flavored. At any rate, I sit there feeling pre-emptively sick to my stomach in the evening knowing that brushing my teeth and taking my vitamins and Singulair are standing between me and bed.

One unfamiliar symptom is this HORRENDOUS taste in my mouth I get after eating or drinking anything. Again, I think it is the taste that many pregnant women describe as "metallic," as it's kind of close, but not quite spot-on. We'll go with "metallic," though, for simplicity's sake. Normally when I eat something with a bad aftertaste, I just brush my teeth. Well...now the question is, which aftertaste is worse - the metallic one, or toothpaste? I go to bed every night with the horrible taste of toothpaste lingering. I could wash it down with water, but water isn't my friend, either.

The water aversion has worsened to the point where I find anything where the water is discernible to be disgusting. Gatorade is a good example - it has a mild flavor, but definitely water-based. I can handle milk and juice and Smoothies, none of which are particularly hydrating, but better than nothing, I suppose. I do grin and bear it and try to down at least a little water every day, but it's pretty difficult.

The cravings are subsiding, and the aversions are increasing, as I keep overdoing it on my cravings! Maybe it's a good thing - I don't have to fund cravings quite as much, which sure do get you in the money-spending mode in preparation for when baby comes.

Last time, I was all about tomato sauce. This time, I find tomato sauce to be way too thick and heavy, but boy if I couldn't drink a bowl of salsa at any given moment! I've had salsa the last three days, and it has been AMAZING. Unfortunately the kind in the jar is just not as good as the kind in restaurants. I had some tomatillo and salsa on Thursday at Barberito's, then salsa on Friday at Frontera, and 4 containers (the little to-go ones) of tomatillo from Moe's yesterday. I might have to drop in today just for an order of chips and salsa.

I'm of course loving my smoothies. Smoothie King is better, but Planet Smoothie will do since it is closer (and on the way home from church). Anything I can dip in mayo - usually I heat up a hot dog and put a glob of mayo on a plate and dip the hot dog plain. I LOVED mac and cheese last time, but I can't will myself to eat it this time around. This is a fairly new thing, though, as I did tack $5 onto my lunch order at Panera one day a couple weeks ago just to have some of their white mac and cheese. Once again dairy is always an option - I love a tall glass of cold milk, pudding, and ice cream. I'm much more centered around fruit, though, with my nightly grapefruits (must be ruby-red and smothered in honey rather than sugar). I can eat raspberries like popcorn. I did stop at Taco Bell in Ellijay last Wednesday at 10am just for an order of 3 soft tacos with hot sauce.

And that's about it! That's about the extent of all that I find tolerable in this world.

My chicken aversion started the day I hit 11 weeks last time. I remember it vividly. It was at John and Shelley's rehearsal dinner, and we were eating what I would otherwise find to be an absolutely marvelous chicken dish. It was deliciously seasoned, but unfortunately under that seasoning was the underlying chicken, and it made me want to hurl (sorry, Shelley!). I had maybe 2 servings of chicken (probably against my will) for the remainder of my pregnancy. This time, I am ok with chicken (so far - I hit 11 weeks yesterday), but red meat is pretty awful. I learned exactly why you have to have it completely well-done, but there is no sense in eating steak if you can't have it walking off the plate. Still, I can see that meat-delivery van with the big filet mignon, medium rare, with a perfect bite cut out of it, and I have no desire for it. Last time that made me salivate. I can eat super-salty meat, though, like the flank steak at Zapata. That's wonderful (especially since it follows their amazing salsa!).

All this talk of food is making me...hmmm...absolutely not one bit hungry! I think it's time, though, to force down a hot dog and mayo...just for the baby's sake.