It all started when I read the ‘Smile and Wave’ part of this post over at Simple Mom — her take on how to handle others’ unsolicited advice and commentary during the last stages of pregnancy.

Like Tsh, I cannot imagine what makes some people think it’s appropriate to say the things they do, but I hear crap often enough and from total strangers, that it seems to be a cultural phenomenon. Since about 30 weeks, I can’t walk three feet anywhere in public without someone cracking wise.

“When are you due? Really!? You’re huge! Are you sure there’s just one in there?!”

“You look like you could go any minute!”

” My [wife, daughter, sister, cousin] is due before you and she’s not that big!”

“You’re not going to make it [to due date].”

And, my personal favorite, from my the director at my daughter’s preschool.

“There must be two of them in there! Do me a favor, just don’t drop it in here, OK?”

OK.

For awhile I had to psych myself up just to leave the house. Going about minding my own business with people from casual acquaintances down to to checkout clerks and complete strangers on the street feeling free to verbally weigh in. Sometimes I feel like I’ve grown two heads.

But I read Tsh’s post and realized I just needed to let it go. And, at the doctor’s office the other day, I had an epiphany:

Yeah, I’m huge. I am. It’s the way my body does this. So what? I was huge with my daughter, and, after she was born, then I wasn’t. People also said my daughter was going to be gigantic and she wasn’t. She was and is normal size. And healthy, which is really what counts.

In a week, I will be 39 years old. I am lucky enough to be 34 weeks’ pregnant with my second child. I have had no pregnancy complications. My blood pressure is normal. I do not have gestational diabetes. Despite my allegedly freakish appearance, my weight gain is well within my doctor’s recommended guidelines. My son is measuring about a week ahead in terms of size (according to somewhat unreliable ultrasound estimates) but still right smack dab in the middle of statistically normal.*

Everything looks fine and I am profoundly grateful. As for my size: It is what it is. When people tell me I’m huge, I’m just going to go along with it. “Yup. I’m huge. Huuugey huge huge. Hope this baby gets here before I start affecting the Earth’s gravitational pull! Don’t want to block out the sun!”

I am going to relax and enjoy it. Because really, so what? He’ll get here when he gets here at whatever size he is when that happens. Done this before and everything was fine.

When I hear something obnoxious, I am just going to take a long hit off the straw in my extra-large Smoothie King Strawberry X-Treme and ‘smile and wave.’

*My daughter was born weighing 6 pounds even, almost a pound less than the estimate given at the ultrasound the week before. So much for, ‘Oooh, this baby is going to be big!”

I thought I’d heard all I needed to know about problems with school lunches, but I was still surprised. Some new things I’ve learned:

• Most school lunches are no longer cooked at school. If you look at Mrs. Q’s pictures, the one thing—other than the food—that stands out is the abundance of packaging: individual paper containers, plastic wrap, plastic utensils. According to this blog, most school lunches are cooked off-site then transported, frozen, to individual schools, which re-heat them in large ovens. My memories of school lunches are that they were pretty foul, but at least the mystery meat and veggies were cooked at school. I mean, I know the lunch ladies didn’t form each individual hamburger patty from fresh ground beef, but they did have stoves and pots and pans for cooking. Remember those plastic trays?

95% of food delivered to school cafeterias is frozen, simply defrosted and served. Indeed, most school kitchens lack the equipment and skilled workers to even cook food at all.

Beyond the meals themselves, Congress must also address poor regulation and oversight of the food served to our children. Between 1998 and 2007, there were more than 470 outbreaks of food-borne illness in schools.

• Mrs. Q is careful to say that she loves her school and administrators and that the issues she has with lunch are not unique to her district or city, but something that most public schools face. She is also afraid that she’ll be found out, and lose her job. What is the main thing that she thinks will ultimately give her away? A teacher eating school lunch every day stands out like a sore thumb, apparently.

We have a few more years before the Kiddo goes to school, but I am really glad there is a strong Farm to School initiative in the district she will attend. Farm to School programs try to connect school systems with farmers in their area so that they can more easily obtain fresh produce for lunch instead of processed food. They also promote the use of gardens at each school that both provide fresh food, but also serve as learning labs for the kids. You can find out more and locate other local Farm to School efforts here.

We do not. Something I didn’t realize until I had ball of dough in hand. Actually, I am sure we have one somewhere, likely a box in the attic instead of a shelf in the kitchen. Ahem. I guess I am outing myself on how little I bake. It just goes to show you how excited I was that, ‘Hey, I made crust! From scratch!” Things seemed to turn out well, if a bit unorthodox.

The easy and tasty crust recipe is here, and I used this recipe as a basis for my filling.