Musings of a crunchy, domestic goddess

Moved to WordPress

2007-01-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

So long, Blogger. Hello, WordPress.

Yep, I did it. I packed my bags and moved to WordPress. Like you all said, it was easy as pie. :)

Please note I'll no longer be posting on blogger. *Gasp* Did I just say that out loud? Change is difficult for me so this is pretty huge that I'm moving, er moved.

Please update your links, bookmarks, etc. to my new url: http://crunchydomesticgoddess.wordpress.com/

Click here to go see me. :)

Blogger limbo

2007-01-24T20:47:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to switch over to the new version of Blogger for the past couple months now, but every time I try I get this response:

Could not switch you to the new Blogger

Thanks for your interest in the new version of Blogger! Unfortunately, we cannot switch your Blogger account at this time, because one or more of your blogs cannot be moved.

Then the "help article" says:
Why can't I switch to the new version of Blogger?

While the new version of Blogger is no longer in beta, some users with certain types of blogs will not immediately be able to switch to it. We'll be adding support for these blogs as soon as possible, so everyone can join in the fun. But for now, if you have a very large blog (more than a couple thousand posts + comments), you'll need to hold off for a bit.

Some help that is. I don't have more than a couple thousand posts + comments (I only have 400 posts), so why am I stuck here in old blogger limbo??? *Grumble, grumble* *Whine, whine*

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Don't forget to come out of lurkdom below. I won't bite. ;)

Happy 2 months!

2007-01-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Happy 2 months birthday to my little man today. Has it really been two months already?? Time sure goes by a lot faster the second time around.
In honor of his two months birthday, I made a "memory book" on Snapfish using pictures I converted to black and white from the day of his birth. I plan to order one for me and one to give him when he's older.

And here are the kids a week ago. :)

Late night grocery shopping

2007-01-22T23:29:00.000-07:00

The nice thing about going grocery shopping at 10:30 at night is there's nobody there. Seriously. I got to Safeway at 10:15 tonight and there were maybe 3 other shoppers. By the time I left at 10:45, the place was empty.

The bad thing about going shopping that late at night is that I'd much rather be home watching a movie on the couch or asleep in bed. :oP Oh well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Speaking of things I gotta do - I'm getting together with a bunch of friends tomorrow night and I can't wait! I had another mommy's night out with some friends last week and, even though I had Julian in tow (and will again tomorrow), it was wonderful to get out of the house and talk with other adults! With the ridiculous amount of snow and cold temps we've had this winter, the cabin fever has been hitting me big time. So I'm especially looking forward to another fun night out tomorrow. :-)

Thanks to those of you who've already come out of lurkdom. For those of you still hiding in the shadows, don't forget to comment on the post below to let me know you're here. ;)

Come out and play

2007-01-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit wrapped up in this whole "having a new baby and caring for a 2 1/2 year old thing" lately, and as a result, totally missed "National Delurking Week" Jan. 8-12 (started by Paper Napkin).

So I've decided that I'm going to have my very own Unofficial Delurking Week this week - Jan. 22-26. (And I say feel free to designate your own delurking week too if you missed the official one.)

I know there are a lot of you who visit on a regular basis, but for one reason or another have not yet commented. This is your chance to say hello. :) Come out, come out, wherever you are.

P.S. I can't take credit for the buttons. I found them on the 'net.

The Sears doctors chime in on CIO and other parenting topics

2007-01-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ooh, just realized this is post #401 for me. Wow! That's a lot of posting over the past couple years!

I'm not a big fan of Dr. Phil, but was happy to learn he was having the Sears doctors (Dr. William Sears and sons, Dr. James Sears and Dr. Robert Sears) on a show on Friday called "Young Moms Ask the Experts." I didn't get a chance to watch the episode, but I did read about it on Dr. Phil's website and was happy with how it all unfolded.

The topics they covered ranged from PPD (postpartum depression) to discipline issues to bonding with your child to whether or not to let a baby CIO (cry it out) to SIDS to boosting children's immune systems to colic and more. In my opinion, there was a lot of helpful information provided.

As most of you know, we're a co-sleeping family and we don't believe in CIO for our kids. Here are some things they mentioned on these subjects that I feel are particularly noteworthy:

On whether or not to let a baby (in this case, a 4 1/2 month old) CIO (cry it out):

Dr. Phil turns to Dr. Bob Sears. “What about this?” he asks. “Do you let them cry or do you not?”

“No, I don't think you should let a baby cry it out,” says Dr. Sears, “and the most important thing is, Robert, who's getting up with the baby during the night, anyway? Wendy is. So what do you care what she does? Let her go in there. Wendy, I applaud you for listening to your instincts and your intuition and going to your baby.”

Dr. Phil asks Dr. William Sears if he agrees.

“If your baby could talk, Wendy and Robert, here's what he would say. 'Hey, Mom and Dad, this is not working. I'm in a dark, quiet room, alone, behind bars*. I need to get close to you. I need to be in your bed, in a co-sleeper next to your bed, in your room somewhere,’” he says.

Next, Dr. Phil asks the Sears doctors to address a myth. “The myth is that if you let the child scream it out, it really develops their lungs,” he says.

“Absolutely wrong,” says Dr. William Sears.

Something I thought was particularly interesting to note:
“When a baby screams for 10, 20 minutes, or a half-hour night after night, what actually happens to the baby's brain?" asks Dr. Bob Sears. "The blood pressure goes up. The pressure gets so high, new blood with oxygen can't flow into the brain. So the brain can be deprived of oxygen, you guys. And that's not all. It gets worse. The brain can be flooded with stress hormones, and we know that stress hormones can damage sensitive developing nerve tissue. So, night after night, weeks and weeks of crying can actually harm a baby's brain. That's why we encourage you both to respond to your maternal intuition. Robert, develop your fatherly intuition, so you can both really thrive as a family. Respond to your baby."

Like I said, I felt like there was a lot of good information provided in this episode, but I don't have the time to go into all of it. However, I am curious if anyone here (my readers) watched the episode? What are your thoughts?

Of course, I was happy to see the Searses suggest many of the things I believe in and choose to do with my children (which all really comes down to following my instincts). I think one of the most important things I've learned about parenting over the past 2 1/2 years is to follow my instincts whether it's regarding sleep/CIO, feeding, discipline, health care, etc. If I trust myself to know what's best for my child (whom I know better than anyone else), I usually feel good about my choices. :)

*For the record, the part about the baby being behind bars wasn't meant that all babies that sleep in cribs feel like that way. It was meant in the context of if a baby is crying and crying and no one is coming to them, then it could feel like a prison. The Searses believe in whatever gets the whole family the most sleep (whether it be in a crib, in a co-sleeper or in a family bed). I think the main point they were trying to get across was that parents should respond to their babies.

"Farm livin' is the life for me"

2007-01-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Accompanied by my sister, Ava, Julian and I, along with some friends, went to check out a preschool program at a farm located a few miles from our house yesterday. The woman who owns the farm met with us and gave us a tour while explaining some of the basics about the program and filling us in on the various animals we saw along the way.
Here's a blurb about the program from their website:

Every day is an adventure, designed to inspire wonder and growth and give your young child a sense of rural lifestyle. Even on cold days we will bundle up, climb in the wagon and tour the farm, feed animals, collect eggs, climb the giant treehouse, catch toads, follow bugs, or simply play together in the playhouse. Outdoor activities as well as indoor activities such as art projects, music, games and stories are all part of this program.

I really liked what I saw and heard and am seriously considering enrolling Ava in a one day (well, one morning really) a week spot starting in either the summer or the fall. I think it would be an amazing experience for her to spend a day on a working farm once a week.

While there yesterday we saw a mommy goat and her brand new baby that was smaller than a cat, a baby horse (who's mom died) that was rescued from another farm during the December blizzard, peacocks, sheep, dogs and cats and chickens. Ava even held a rooster all by herself! (Wish I would've had a camera with me.) She really seemed at home as she walked around the barn, petting animals, picking up hay to try to feed them, etc. We also peeked in on the "class" which was 8 kids and two "teachers." Ava seemed really comfortable and interested then as well. I'm quite sure she would've been fine with me dropping her off for the day. ;) She threw quite a fit when it was time to go home (ahhh, 2 1/2 year olds), but that's another story.

I'm also looking into other preschool programs (am just starting to learn about Waldorf and Montessori) and would welcome any insight those of you with preschool-aged children (now or in the past) can share. :) I'm really looking for something that's fun and play-based, but still educational to a degree. I'm not worried about her learning letters, numbers, colors, etc. at preschool because she knows most of that already and can learn at home. I really just want her to spend some time around other kids her age (because she is such a social creature) and have a good time.

Vegetarian recipes?

2007-01-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for relatively quick and easy to make vegetarian recipes. Anyone have any links or recipes to share? If you'd rather not leave a comment, you can always email them to me too at amygeekgrl@gmail.com. Thanks! :)

What a difference a day makes

2007-01-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

First off, thanks so much for all of the encouraging comments in the post below. You ladies are so sweet. :)

What a difference a day makes! We slept in on Friday (which was glorious in and of itself), then the TV was on significantly less throughout the day. Ava watched Laurie Berkner in the morning and "The Snowman" in the afternoon and that was it. Yay!

And this is what 5 p.m. looked like at our house:

Both kids were napping at the same time! This never happens because it's a cold day in hell when Ava takes a nap anymore. (She stopped napping months ago. Waaaaah. :( ) So while the napping was going on, I had some time to do this:

No, I didn't take a shower, do my hair or put on make-up, but I did make dinner without interruptions! :) Woohoo!

Just for kicks, here's another shot of the kids. :)

Feeling guilty

2007-01-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling guilty about the way I parented (or rather, didn't) today.

Julian was being particularly needy (I say "needy" in the most loving way - I mean the kid is only 7 weeks old, of course he's needy) and maybe going through a growth spurt (Is that possible?? He weighed in at 13 lbs., 14 oz. on Tuesday.) because he was nursing a LOT and just needing a lot of mommy time today. And because I didn't have my hands free and was pretty much tied to the Boppy or the bouncy exercise ball (which he loves to bounce on), I let Ava watch ~~a crapload~~ quite a bit of TV. And then when I told her she'd watched enough and we needed to find something else to do, she turned it back on and said she "needed" to watch something else. Ugh.

I don't mind her watching some TV, but since Julian was born, she's watching more than I would really like. Pre-Julian she'd watch Sesame Street on some mornings and that was usually it. That was cool with me because she was learning things and it was only an hour of TV time. Now she watches Sesame Street as well as Teletubbies and Barney, which is two-hours' worth total, and that's pretty much every week day. Some days she also watches a 30-minute DVD (Laurie Berkner or LeapFrog Letter Factory) too. *gulp*

I don't want her to turn into a TV junkie and her turning the TV back on today and saying she "needed" to watch something else scared me a bit. Maybe things will get better once Julian is a bit older and doesn't command so much of my time or once the weather warms up and she can play outside again. But it certainly is easy to flip the tube on, knowing she'll be occupied for the next 30 minutes or whatever, while I tend to Julian, throw in a load of laundry, wash some dishes, make lunch, or whatever.

And that's another thing, if I don't have time to spend with Ava, I really don't have time to take care of all the necessary household chores. Making dinner is a colossal effort most evenings. Tonight I had every intention of making a decent dinner, but then Julian couldn't be set down and wasn't happy in the Moby (*gasp*), so I had to wait until Jody got home and could hold him, and then Ava just wanted Mommy time so I had to hold her for a while. At 7 o'clock I finally made banana pancakes for dinner (with Miss Ava's help). Oy.

I should add we did have a couple nice outings this week. One day we went to the library (my first time taking both kids out by myself) and yesterday, since the weather was warmer, we went for a walk and then Ava played out in the snow in the backyard. It was good, for all of us I think, to get out of the house. :)

I need to wrap this up now because I have things I need to get to before bed. Just wanted to vent a bit. Tomorrow is another day. I can only strive to do better.

Say cheese ;)

2007-01-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

Julian flashed us his first smirk on Christmas day and has been smiling a bit more from each day forward. He's now (at 6 weeks) pretty much a pro at it and we get to see his smile and adorable dimple on a regular basis. This past week I was finally able to catch a few smiles with my camera.
He is a happy baby for the most part, as well as a great nurser and good sleeper (whatever that means).
I have my 6-week postpartum appointment with my midwife this week. Traditionally, she would weigh him, but since he's over 13 lbs. (which is all her scale goes up to), we can't get an accurate measurement. So I may swing by a maternity/breastfeeding boutique that has an infant scale so I can weigh the chubby bunny because I'm curious how much he's up to. When I held him with me on our scale a week or so ago, he was at least 13 lbs.
Life with two kids is interesting and challenging, yet also fun and rewarding. This past week was the first time I had to take care of both kids together by myself for the whole day. (I'm so thankful I had help from Jody and my parents for basically the first month plus of Julian's life.) It went pretty well, but it takes a lot of energy. I'm sure it will continue to get easier as we all adjust. (Right??) I do love watching Ava interact with Julian (when she's not smothering him with hugs) and, now that he's a bit older, watching him flash smiles back at her. They are pretty darn sweet and special little people. :)

She's crafty

2007-01-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

After Ava has expressed an interest in art and, thus, received a bunch of art supplies for Christmas, I've been inspired to start doing more crafty-type projects with her. It gives me a chance to spend some good quality time with her while Julian sleeps in the Moby Wrap. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that thing?? I'll have to devote another post to the Moby. hehe) It's also been handy to have several indoor things to do since we've been having soooo much snow this winter. We got another 7 inches last night!

Here are some of the things we've been up to lately (after getting suggestions from a friend, reading ideas online and thinking some of them up myself). :)

Playing in cornmeal. It's cheap, easy to sweep or vacuum up and provides a good deal of entertainment. :)

Ava with the indoor snowman we made:

Getting messy with her fingerpaints:

Stringing together pasta (which we painted) to make a necklace:

A paper plate snowman that Ava glued together. Do you sense a theme here?:

A drawing of our family. I drew the circles (though she does nice circles herself) and Ava did all the rest, including making eyes, noses, mouths, ears, hair and chins on some. I was really impressed!:

And when she's not doing crafts with mommy, she's coming up with her own art projects. Ah, the joys of having a 2 1/2 year old! ;)
She was pretending to sleep with a bunch of her dolls (one of which also got pen tattoos):

Yep, even in her belly button. The ink was literally everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE.

Yummy appetizers

2007-01-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

I made a couple of appetizers - broccoli tarts and artichoke spinach dip - to go along with the California Pizza Kitchen pizza and mini veggie eggrolls (both of the frozen variety) we had for New Year's Eve. Since it's been a long time since I shared any recipes and/or food pics, here ya go. :) Both things were delicious and I'd certainly make them again.

Broccoli Tarts
1 C. cooked broccoli
1/4 lb. Swiss cheese, shredded
3 green onions, minced
1 C. light cream
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt
1 stick soft butter
3 oz. soft cream cheese
1 C. flour

Chop broccoli. Mix the next 5 ingredients, then add broccoli.
Blend together the butter and cream cheese. Add flour and mix well.
Roll into balls the size of walnuts. Press into very lightly greased mini muffin tins to form shells. (I used regular sized muffin tins.) Fill shells to the top with broccoli mixture.
Bake at 400 degrees about 20 minutes until golden. Cool about 10 minutes, then turn out.
Serve hot.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen mini muffins or 1 dozen regular sized muffins.

Artichoke Spinach Dip
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, partially thawed
1/2 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1 can water chestnuts (optional - I added them to the recipe because I wanted something crunchy in the dip)
garlic salt/powder to taste

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the spinach and artichoke hearts. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Mix cream cheese and sour cream into the spinach mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese and garlic salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.
We had ours with cucumbers, baby carrots and Triscuits.

And, just for kicks, I thought I'd also share a pic of our backyard after we got those additional 5 or so inches of snow on 12/28. The trees were beautiful with all of that snow on them. Now that it's melted a bit on the trees and is only snowy in patches, it looks like they are growing cotton.

2006 in review and goals for the future

2006-12-30T14:02:00.000-07:00

As we approach New Year's Eve and the start of 2007, I can't help but reflect on the past year and the changes our family has seen and things we have done.

Of course, the biggest change in our lives occurred when I got pregnant back in February and then Julian joined our family in November. :)

I did a lot of soul-searching and research before deciding mid-pregnancy to switch from a traditional OB-attended hospital birth to a midwife-attended home birth. It's a decision that really changed my life in a lot of ways (those of you who read my birth story know why) and I'm so thankful that I made that choice. One of these days I hope to write more about home birth and why it was such an amazing experience for me.

We took three trips this past year - one to Oklahoma and Kansas to see my in-laws, one to California in May and the other to Michigan to see my family in August, and we had a visit from my parents in both June and December.

I made some good progress with my photography business, building up my portfolio and gaining experience.

The company Jody works for was acquired by Google, which was a positive move for the company and Jody personally.

And Ava celebrated her second birthday in June with a Sesame Street-themed party at a park.

At the end of 2005, I wrote a blog entry with my goals for 2006, which were:

* Become more aware about the food and drinks I ingest and feed to my family. - to include researching vegetarianism and veganism and learning about the impact of current farming and food production in this country on the animals and environment so that I can make informed dietary decisions
* Research voluntary simplicity
* Take a photography course and LEARN, LEARN, LEARN
* Continue portfolio building and practicing for my photography business
* Be mindful that all of my words and actions have consequences
* Focus on healing and acceptance (with regard to being an adult child of an alcoholic) - to include reading some of Claudia Black's books on the subject

I feel like I've accomplished most of those or at least worked on them to some degree. The one I feel I didn't do as much on as I would've liked is the first one. While we do try to eat organic whenever we can afford it, my choice to go vegetarian didn't last long. I don't know if complete vegetarianism will work best for our family, but I would like to see us decrease our meat consumption in the coming year.

So here are my new goals for 2007 (in no particular order):

* Continue to be aware of the foods we eat and decrease meat consumption
* Continue to declutter and organize our house a la FlyLady (working towards voluntary simplicity)
* Return to photography (semi-professionally) at some point - I'm currently taking a break since having Julian.
* Be mindful of my patience, as well as practicing gentle discipline and empathic parenting
* Continue to be mindful that all of my words and actions have consequences, especially with regard to my husband, Ava and my sister

I think that's all for now. Of course, I also have goals for things that need to be fixed around the house with the ultimate goal of finding a new home to move to in the next year or two, but I'm not including those things in my list.

I would like to add that my Christmas cards finally arrived on the 28th and were mailed out the same day. (I sent Jody out to the post office in the snow. How horrible am I?) I wasn't thrilled with how they turned out, but oh well! After all of that waiting, they were being sent no matter how they looked. :oP

Thankfully, we only got about 4 or 5 additional inches of snow on Thursday. The piles from the plowing (hooray, our street finally got plowed) are gigantic. Jody was able to work from home both Thursday and Friday, so that was nice. Ava and I did some crafts together on Friday. I'll post pics another time.

No special New Year's plans for us this year. We were invited to a party, but since Julian is still such a newbie and this is major flu and RSV season, have decided to stay at home. I'm still trying to come up with something fun we can do tomorrow night as a family. Any ideas?

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year! :) Cheers!

Another winter storm headed our way

2006-12-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

We may be getting another 5 to 8 inches (or more) of snow this week on top of what we already have from the last big storm. Eep! Our street still hasn't been plowed and, because of the storm causing delays, our trash hasn't been picked up in two weeks now. I just hope this next storm isn't as big as they think and we can escape with only a couple inches of the white stuff.

And as for the whereabouts of the Christmas cards I ordered back on 12/18 that were supposed to be delivered on 12/21 but weren't because of the blizzard...well, according to UPS.com, they were out on a truck scheduled for delivery today but I haven't seen them yet. (insert whine here) I just want to get the darn things in the mail before New Year's!

As for my thoughts regarding all of this snow -
We had our white Christmas, now I'm ready for it all to melt so I can take the kids out for walks to the park and stuff. ;) I guess I've been spoiled by our mild, relatively snow-free winters in the past. Call me jaded, but I'm having a bit of cabin-fever here. :oP

Dear Mr./Ms. Toy Manufacturer...

2006-12-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

Dear Mr./Ms. Toy Manufacturer:

As new toys (specifically those of the battery-operated nature) enter our home this holiday season, I can't help but wonder a simple little question. Why is it, dear toy manufacturer, that the default volume on said toys must be at decibels significantly louder than any reasonably sane parent would allow in their home? Kids don't know that after they press the on button, they must immediately turn the volume down. They don't care about the volume being too high or even notice. It's the parents - especially those who have younger children that are trying to nap - that must drop everything, frantically run over to the toy and press that little down arrow button repeatedly, trying to get the volume to a level that doesn't promote hearing loss. It can get rather exhausting.

Please consider redesigning your toys so that when they are turned on, they are at a reasonable volume that one may turn up if one so chooses - not at a volume that makes a parent want to throw the toy out the window. (Did I say that??)

Happy Holidays.

Sincerely,
A mom experiencing hearing loss in her right ear

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Yes, I may be exaggerating a bit, but c'mon - am I the only one who feels this way? Why are toys designed this way? Why can't they start out at a low volume? Seriously, it makes so much more sense. The manufacturer should want the parent to like the toy, not want to throw it into the trash compactor. ;)

All right. I'm spent. :oP

Hope your Christmases were merry and no one suffered undue hearing loss. Cheers!

Happy Holidays!

2006-12-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

May your holiday be filled with magical moments to treasure the whole year through!

From our family to yours, happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

Pictures of the season

2006-12-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few pictures of the family (mostly Ava this time) taken over the past week or so. Click to enlarge.
If you are a family member or close friend and would like to see more pics of our family, please email me - amygeekgrl@gmail.com - and I will send you links to our Snapfish albums.

Ava dressed up for our early Christmas celebration with my parents - 12/17/06:

Ava and Julian with Grandma and Grandpa S. - 12/17/06:

Our family - 12/17/06:

Ava and the gingerbread house she decorated with Grandma - 12/20/06:

Ava in a big snow pile - 12/21/06:

Riding in the sled with mommy, while daddy pulled us:

Riding in the sled down our snowy street:

Happy Holidays to all!! :-)

P.S. The Christmas cards I ordered a few days ago (using one of the family pictures the photographer took) are currently stranded in Iowa. According to the tracking info I have, it seems the flight they were supposed to be on to Denver was canceled due to the blizzard. Bummer! I hope they make it on another flight soon so I can get them in the mail. Better late than never, right? ;)

Happy Solstice

2006-12-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Winter Solstice today!

Winter Solstice also known as Yule, Christmas, and Saturnalia, occurs in mid December. It celebrates the birth of the new Solar year and the beginning of Winter.
The Winter Solstice is unique among days of the year — the time of the longest night and the shortest day.

More on celebrating winter solstice here.

By the way, we ended up with just about 2 feet of snow after the great blizzard of '06. Jody and I took Ava out to play in it for a bit today. Ava enjoyed throwing herself into snow piles, but wasn't too keen on riding on the sled except when Jody pulled both Ava and me together on it. It was a workout for daddy but fun for us. :)

Good news and a white Christmas? (pics)

2006-12-20T12:38:00.001-07:00

The good news is that my breast is doing much better today. I'm still treating it until it's completely healed, but it is feeling so much better already. I remembered last night that I have a rice heating pad, so I had Jody warm it up in the microwave for me and I used it a few times throughout the night. That helped a lot.

The other news is that we are in the middle of a huge blizzard expected to dump up to 2 feet of snow (or more) by tomorrow evening. We already have at least 6 inches I would say and it's only supposed to continue throughout the day today, tonight and into tomorrow. Jody's company let them leave early and he's on a bus headed for home as I type. My parents, who were planning on driving home to MI tomorrow, are likely staying at least an extra day. And my sister, who's last exam of the semester was scheduled for tomorrow, will probably have that postponed, as the majority of schools in the area are closed due to the weather.

Ava and my mom are decorating a gingerbread house right now, while Julian is sleeping on my dad's chest. I'm going to jump in the shower while I have the chance. :)

Hope everyone stays warm, and those affected by this blizzard stay safe.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..."

Update: At 6 p.m. we have at least a foot of snow and it's still coming down.
Another update: At nearly 9 p.m., we have about 2 feet of snow and it's still snowing! This is the most we've ever seen while living here (the past 6 years).

Pics (which don't really do it justice) - taken at 9:10 p.m. - click to enlarge

Our car (a Forester) tonight (after it had been completely cleared off at 2:30 p.m.):

View of the front door:

The aspen trees in the front yard:

The most dramatic pic - The table and chairs on our patio - You can really see how much we've gotten so far:

Plugged duct/mastitis :(

2006-12-19T17:12:00.000-07:00

It seems I have either a plugged duct (or ducts) and/or mastitis. :( My left breast started hurting last night, and, despite having both Ava and Julian nurse on that side, it wasn't any better this morning. I talked to my midwife today and she gave me a list of things to do to treat it - including WishGarden Mastitis Remedy - 4 droppersful every 2 hours, drinking Emer-gen-C - 3 times a day, and Echinacea tea (to boost my immune system) - 2 times per day, hot compress (with WishGarden Mastitis Poultice - optional) 4 times a day, as well as lots of rest. I took a nap this afternoon, but am still feeling crappy. (Thankfully, my parents are still in town to help out or I can't imagine I'd get any rest at all!) She said if it's not better by the morning, to call her. I'm hoping that since I caught it very early that I can nip it in the bud and not have to go to the doctor for antibiotics and have to deal with the risk of Julian or myself developing thrush after that. So we'll see what the morning brings. I'm trying to think positively.

I've heard that it's more common to develop these issues with second babies than it is with the first, because you get more lax about positioning and latch, etc. I feel very fortunate that I never had any issues in the 2 1/2 years of nursing Ava (pre-Julian), because, quite frankly - this sucks.

Anyway, I wanted to post about it and the treatment options in case it might help anyone else out there dealing with this. There's also lots of good info re: plugged ducts and mastitis on kellymom.com.

Multiplication

2006-12-17T15:18:00.000-07:00

These days I'm wishing I could clone myself - especially in the middle of the night when Ava wakes up upset and wants only mommy. It's happened a few times in the last few nights and, thankfully, I've been able to lie in bed with her while she falls back asleep, without Julian needing me (i.e. my boobs). However, I'm sure a time will come when I need to be in two places (i.e. with her AND with Julian) at the same time.

I'm sure having a clone would come in handy during the day too. The real me could spend time with the kids, while my clone tends to housework, making dinner, etc. In my spare time (ha!), I'll need to figure out how to swing that. ;)

20 days old pics and miscellaneous ramblings

2006-12-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Three new pics of the boy at 20 days old - taken 12/13/06.

We get our family pics on DVD back from the photographer on Sunday. She said she's very pleased with how they turned out. I can't wait to see them!

I decided to mail Julian's birth announcements out with our Christmas cards this year (saves stamps!). I finished designing the announcement last night and am quite happy with it. :) I'll probably share it here once I get them mailed out. I think I already mentioned this, but I'm waiting on our family pics before I design our Christmas cards, so they will be getting mailed out late this year. C'est la vie.

I can't believe Christmas is in 10 days. I managed to do a little Christmas shopping this week with Ava in tow. I was even able to sneak a few presents for her into the cart without her seeing. When I asked the checkout woman to please put them in a bag quickly so my daughter didn't see them, she acted all put out. Sheesh. I didn't think it was that unusual of a request and where's her Christmas spirit anyway? :oP

Grandparents are in the hizzy

2006-12-13T11:56:00.000-07:00

My parents from MI arrived on Sunday and are staying with us for the next several days.

Ava is eating up all the attention and enjoying all the books grandma and grandpa are reading to her, as well as the outings they've been going on - to the park, library, and museum (for arts and crafts) so far. I've been enjoying the help with house and yard work and appreciate that Ava is having lots of fun.

Julian and I have mostly been staying home, hanging out. I did venture out with just Ava yesterday to go to Vitamin Cottage to pick up a few groceries and get pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner.

We plan on celebrating an early Christmas while the 'rents are here, but still need to set up our Christmas tree.

Julian is three weeks old tomorrow. (He's currently sleeping soundly in the Moby Wrap on my chest.) Sometimes it feels like he's been here forever and other times it feels like just yesterday that he was born. Speaking of which, I have finally written my birth story. It's nearly 4 pages typed. I don't know that I will post it on my blog, but if anyone is interested in reading it, feel free to email me (or leave a comment w/ your email addy) and I can send it along. :)

Grandma and Grandpa enjoy holding their new (and only) grandson. My mom said he looks more like a three month old than a three week old. We often have to remind ourselves that he's still just a newborn and we can't expect him to hold his head up on his own (although he's getting pretty good at it already).

Now that this post has been pretty much all over the place, I'm going to go. I took some new pics of Julian today and I want to check them out. :)

Peace.

First outing and other stuff

2006-12-09T14:42:00.000-07:00

Julian had his first venture outside the house yesterday - which also happened to be my first venture out of the house postpartum. It was a gorgeous day, so we took a walk to the park as a family. :) He slept the whole time and was nice and cozy in the Moby Wrap, which I have to say is damn comfortable. I'm currently borrowing one from the "carrier library" of the AP group I belong to, but I'm going to be buying my own soon. I really like it. :)

Julian in the Moby with mommy:

Sliding fun!:

Julian and I had our 2-week postpartum check-up with my midwife on Thursday. All is going well with us. I was "officially" released from my 2-week recovery/take it easy time. Julian had another weight check and he's up to 11 lbs., 2 oz! And we thought Ava was big when she weighed 11 lbs., 6 oz. at her 1-month check-up. My midwife said she's pretty certain he will be off the scale (her scale only goes up to 13 lbs.) at our 6-week postpartum appointment in 4 weeks. I think she's probably right. He's already outgrown some of his 0-3 month outfits.

Julian at 2 weeks old:

Our family photoshoot was yesterday and it went quite well. I can't wait to see the pictures, but I'll have to wait about a week. Julian got a bit overwhelmed a couple times, but I think we got some good shots, especially since she took over 400 pictures. ;) Ava did really well too and even helped the photographer take a few pictures. :)

And, if you can stand it, here are a couple pictures from Dec. 4 of the fam:

Full of it

2006-12-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

I've learned something about Julian in these first two weeks of his life. He's full of it. What is "it," you ask? Pee. PEE! The boy has so much pee!!

I had heard people say before that boys pee more than girls, but I was skeptical. After all, they are ingesting roughly the same amount of milk and their bodies process it the same. (Right?) So how is it that they can have so much more pee??

I'm not going to claim that I remember how frequently I changed Ava's diapers as a newborn, but I don't remember her saturating diapers and leaking through to outfits sometimes several times a day (which Julian does). And I'm talking both cloth diapers and disposables (7th Generation), which we were using while the meconium stage passed and until his cord fell off, and are still using at night. The boy can soak a diaper like there's no tomorrow and still have pee leftover to spray after you take his diaper off (more on that below).

I didn't buy a whole lot of 0-3 month outfits/sleepers because I figured I would have a larger baby and one who would outgrow that size within a month or so (as Ava did). But now, due to the lack of clothes, Jody is having to do laundry about every other day. At least all of the boy's outfits will get some good use. ;)

Seriously though, has anyone who's had both a boy and a girl experienced the excessive pee factor with their boy? What do you attribute it to?

And don't even get me started on the crazy peeing during diaper changes. So far Julian's peed on me, Jody, my photography backdrop, the bed, himself (including on his hair today - what range!), as well as whatever he's lying on - changing pads, towels, etc. - during the diaper change. And I'm sure I'll have more things to add to the list as the days pass.

Having a boy this time around has certainly been a sometimes messy and WET experience thus far, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. :)

Edited to add: After posting this, I got up to change him and what do ya know? After his (soaked) diaper was removed, he peed - not once, but twice! Guess he didn't want to make a liar out of me.

10 days old (pics) and a bit of an update

2006-12-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

I know, I know - all I seem to do anymore is post pictures. :oP I'm trying to find the time to write some actual posts, but it just hasn't happened yet.

So in the meantime, I decided to get out of bed yesterday and take some pictures of my "little" boy (he weighed 10 lbs., 6 oz. at his one week check-up) before he loses all of his newborn characteristics. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to doing it until the sun was setting (doh!), so I only had 15 minutes of daylight to snap, snap, snap away.

Here are the best ones of the bunch. :)

Julian at 10 days old

Things are going well pretty here.

Julian is a cuddly little bundle, who nurses well and sleeps a lot.

I may have jinxed myself earlier by saying how well Ava was adapting. She is definitely in love with her baby brother, but she has had some meltdowns in the past week. I think it's been hard for her to share mom and dad. Some days are better than others. Yesterday was really hard, but today was much, much better. While daddy or Aunt Carrie have been good about getting her out of the house most days, I think it helped that she had a playdate with another child today.

I am feeling good. I had a couple of migraines last week and ended up taking my acupuncturist up on her offer to come out to the house to treat me and prescribe more Chinese herbs. So she was here on Saturday and did a bit of acupuncture and got me more herbs (that taste even worse than what I had prenatally). Blah. No more migraines though since she came to see me. I'm knocking wood that they are gone (at least for a while).
I have my 2 week check up with my midwife on Thursday, then I don't see her again until 6 weeks postpartum. After seeing her so much these past few weeks, I will probably go through withdrawal.

Jody is home from work this week again, which is wonderful. His help around the house and with the kiddos is priceless. I'm feeling very thankful for my husband.

The photographer is coming to our house on Friday to take some family pictures of us. I'm looking forward to that because (for a change) I will be able to just relax and be with my family while she worries about all the photography stuff. :)

Now for my random thought:
I can't believe it's already December! We haven't done anything to decorate for the holidays yet. That might have to wait until my parents get here next week. Oh, and Christmas shopping?? Hmmm, that might all be done via the Internet this year.

So that's us in a nutshell. Hope you all are doing well. :) I'm trying to read up on my regular posters when I can, but I don't usually have time to comment these days. (Sorry!) Hugs. :)

He does have eyes in there! (pics)

2006-11-29T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the "lil" boy sleeps a lot, but we catch glimpses of his blue-grey eyes every now and then:

Ava makes such a good mommy, nursing her baby with mama's Boppy pillow:

Just the kiddos:

Proud Aunt Carrie:

And one more of the kiddos (Julian was yawning sooo big!). I think this is my favorite so far.:

One of these days I will get out my good camera and take some pics, but for now the point and shoot will have to do.
Oh, and it looks like we'll be meeting up with the professional photographer (the one who was supposed to do our birth photos) early next week for some family and newborn pictures. Yay! :)

Three days old - update (with pics)

2006-11-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the congratulations and heart-felt comments regarding Julian's birth. You are all amazing and sure know how to make a mama feel special. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives (both "real" and online) that care about us. :)

Julian is three days old today and it already feels like he's been a part of our family forever. :)

My midwife stopped in today for our three-day check-up. Julian's weight was the same today as the day he was born - 9 lbs., 8 oz. (amazing that he hasn't lost any with all the pooping he's been doing - just ask Jody!) and, when remeasured, he came out to 22 inches again. He's just a big, long boy. :) She inked his foot and did a footprint on a pseudo-birth certificate for us that says "I Was Born At Home!" (we'll get the real one from the county), and in his baby book as well. We also elected to have the newborn screening tests done, so she drew blood out of his itty bitty heel for that.

My milk came in this morning and, I must say, it's nice to have cleavage again. ;) hehe. I think the lil guy is enjoying the good stuff too, and has been in a blissful "milk coma" pretty much all day. If he follows in his sister's footsteps, it won't be long before he starts packing on the serious poundage.

Speaking of the big sister, Ava has been amazing us at how well she's doing with this life-changing event. She's slipped into the big sister role with ease, and is so loving to Julian and is great with helping out. My sister has come over the past several days and taken Ava out for a few hours for some special time with Aunt Carrie and I think that's helped her a lot. (Thank you, Carrie!) She's had a few hard moments, but overall, she's doing remarkably well. We couldn't be prouder. :) As far as nursing goes, Ava has asked to nurse a few times over the past few days, but not nearly as often as I thought she might. And, who knows, she may ask to nurse more as we continue in this journey, but, for now, I am sticking with only nursing her before bedtime and then maybe once during the day - depending on if I feel like she really needs the mommy time or not. So far, it is going well which is such a relief! :)

I've been thinking a lot about what a different experience this has been for me - birthing Ava in the hospital and having complications (HELLP syndrome) myself that lead to a 5-day stay vs. birthing Julian at home and not having any complications. I really feel like I missed out on the first few days of Ava's life because I was bed-ridden on magnesium sulfate and so sick. Whereas I've felt comparatively great since Julian's birth and have been able to just enjoy the little guy. (Like noticing that he has a dimple in his right cheek when he does those dreamy lil sleep grins.) It's been like night and day and I'm so thankful that I stayed healthy throughout this pregnancy and birth.

I'll be posting with updates, etc., when I can, but they will definitely not be as frequent as P.J. (pre-Julian). I've got a few other pressing things in my life to attend to. :)

==================================
And now for a few pics from the past couple days. Click to enlarge.
He doesn't look so big next to his proud big sister (11/25/06):

She's so loving and sweet with him:

My midwife inking up Julian's foot (11/26/06):

Looks good:

Our beautiful boy:

Julian Emerson is here!

2006-11-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

We have sooooo very much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving day, namely the birth of our healthy, beautiful baby boy - Julian Emerson - who was born at 2:14 p.m. at our home, after a very fast and intense labor. (Congrats to Vivacious Vegan for guessing his name correctly!) We were very lucky that our midwife was already here (to draw my blood to make sure I was not showing signs of HELLP syndrome - something we never had time or the need to do - and check in on me). I started having contractions in the middle of the night, but nothing I couldn't breathe through until around 12:30 this afternoon. Then I went from having some really intense contractions (that I had to vocalize through) to having the urge to push to my water breaking all in a matter of minutes. It's amazing how fast it all happened!

Needless to say, because it all progressed so quickly, the professional photographer we hired to document the birth didn't make it. Hell, we didn't even have time to call her until I was already pushing. I think we may have her do some newborn and family pictures in a week or two instead.

In fact, my sister barely got here before he was born!

As for the "lil" (ha!) guy's birth stats, he weighed in at a hefty 9 lbs., 8 oz., was 22 inches long (though they will remeasure tomorrow because that seems awfully long), and had a 15 cm head! Big boy.

Julian is doing great and is nursing well. I am feeling pretty good myself and had only minor tearing (requiring 4 stitches).

It is certainly a Thanksgiving Day we will never forget and we will always be thankful for the little boy we received today. Jody, Ava and I are all in love with him. :) There were some unexpected bumps and turns along the way (thank God for my awesome midwife and her partner), but it all worked out perfectly in the end. What an amazing ride this has been. :)

Without further ado, here are some pictures of the new member of our family:

Daddy and Ava cutting the cord:

Scorpio vs. Sagittarius and Thanksgiving plans

2006-11-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently my little guy is holding out because he doesn't want to be a Scorpio. Today, according to some astrological charts I've seen, is the last day in the Scorpio Zodiac sign and tomorrow (11/23) starts Sagittarius. I guess I'm cool with that (what choice do I have, right??) because from what I've heard about Scorpios and some of the ones I've known (I dated a Scorpio) are such strong personalities. (Nothing personal against any Scorpios out there.)

It's kind of funny because Ava was born on the cusp too (that is, if baby boy follows suite and isn't born within the next 13 hours). Her birthday is June 22, which is the start of Cancer sign. My kids are just stubborn like their bull-headed (Taurus) mom. That shouldn't surprise me one bit.

So in this extra time baby boy has given us, we've decided to change the middle name we had picked out for him (not the first name though - that one is staying). Neither Jody nor I were really in love with the name we originally chosen so we started poking around the Internet (with my sister's very eager help), looking for something that appealed to us more. We found something that we are happy with now, and unless he decides to stay in another week, we will probably stick with it. ;) Then again, if he decides to stay in another week, we might just skip the whole "J.E." initials thing and just call him "Stubborn." :oP

=========================================

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I honestly thought I would have a baby in my arms by now. In fact, I was so convinced that I wouldn't be able to prepare a nice Thanksgiving meal (because I'd be in bed or on the couch with my wee one) that we decided to treat ourselves to a nearly full meal courtesy of Whole Foods. I did make a pumpkin pie last week (which I need to pull out of the freezer to thaw) and I bought a couple turkey breasts, but we ordered all of our side dishes from WF - Creamy Mashed Potatoes • Orange Mashed Yams • Green Beans Amandine • Traditional Herb Stuffing • Fresh Cranberry Sauce with Orange • Turkey Gravy. Jody is picking them up after work today and all we'll need to do tomorrow is reheat everything. It will be a nice treat for all of us, regardless of if the baby is here or not. And it will leave more time for us to just hang out and be together as a family (me, Jody, Ava and my sister) and, of course, obsess over when baby boy is going to be born.

=========================================

Jody said the hot topic in his office today is when will our baby get here. It seems that two women we know who were due in December have already had their babies. Gah. Anyway, I told Jody to start taking bets and agree to split the pool with the winner 50/50. Might as well make some money while we wait. LOL - j/k ;oP

Seriously though, Jody, Ava and I each had a little pep talk with the baby last night and told him how excited we are to meet him and he can come out whenever he's ready, so we've done our part. ;) It's all up to him now.

:) Happy Thanksgiving to you all. :)
And happy birthday to my Dad today!

P.S. My cold is mostly better and I got a really good night's sleep last night. That was lovely. :) My big complaint, aside from wanting to meet my son and having to wait, is that I'm seriously running out of maternity clothes that fit at this point! I have one pair of yoga pants that I practically live in and a few shirts, but I need to have this baby just so I can have some clothes to wear again. ;)

P.P.S. I was able to get a last-minute appointment in the acupuncture clinic tonight. Maybe that will get the ball rolling! **crossing fingers**

No real news to speak of

2006-11-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

Thank you for all the well wishes in my post below about being sick. I am doing a lot better. My energy level is still down and I'm dealing with phlegm and stuff, but my condition has greatly improved over what it was on Saturday. Such a relief!

This whole sickness experience has made me appreciate even more how amazing our bodies are. My body knew it was too sick to deal with birthing a baby and the lil guy has stayed in without a fuss. :) My midwife said today that she's only known of one ocassion where a mama was really sick and still went into labor, but generally speaking, the body knows how much it can handle and will put off labor until the mama is well enough. :)

So yes, I did see my midwife today and there's really not much to report. I'm still pregnant. ;) She did do an internal exam and there have been some changes to my cervix since my appointment last week, but not much. Basically, my cervix is soft (ripe) and I'm dilated to nearly 1 cm - but that's it. That doesn't mean I won't have the baby tomorrow, it's just where I am today. But all is going well. Other than the cold, I'm still feeling good (full of baby, but good). Everything is checking out just fine with both me and the baby too.

We did talk a bit about our options for the next two weeks (things that could get labor started and natural induction methods). If baby boy isn't born by Friday (11/24), I will see her again and she will sweep my membranes using a castor oil lubricant and I can use a belly balm (containing blue and black cohosh) a few times that evening. If he's not here by Monday (11/27), then we can try other things (castor oil cocktail - *gag*). Then we would move on to a biophysical profile (to check baby and the placenta) by mid-week, etc. But she doesn't think it will come to that and neither do I. I think things are going to start happening some time this week, it's just a question of when. ;)

My dad's birthday is Wednesday (11/22) and while it'd be cool for them to share a birthday, I'd really like the lil guy to have a day of his very own. Then, of course, Thanksgiving is Thursday and I'd hate for the midwives to have to spend the holiday here. And then there's the fact that my sister is really trying to get back to MI this week to spend some time with her boyfriend while she's on fall break from school, but yet patiently awaiting her nephew's birth so that she can help out with Ava while I'm in labor. All of this to say that it will happen when the time is right and it's totally out of our hands.

In the meantime, now that I'm feeling like I'm over the worst of this cold, I will resume activities to help get labor going - i.e. eating spicy foods (Jody bought some "Rooster sauce" tonight to put on our Vietnamese food), walking and (TMI) having sex. Although, I just found this online. Hmmm.

Well, after using the title "No real news to speak of," I sure did manage to type a whole lot. :oP All of it to say, no baby ... yet.

===================================
Lastly, for those of you who've been following the recent case of breastfeeding in the news, I thought you may be interested in this...
"Nursing mothers and their supporters will be gathering for a call to action nurse-in on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10 AM, local time, at Delta airport counters across the country to protest Delta's actions against Emily Gillette and her family and to demand rights for breastfeeding mothers and children."

Read more about nurse-in locations and an exclusive interview with Emily Gillette here.

Healthy thoughts, please?

2006-11-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, in front of my computer at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, because I am so congested I can't sleep. Yep, I got Jody and Ava's cold. :(

I'm drinking a virgin hot toddy (honey, lemon and hot water), hoping it will help with my sore throat and let me breathe a little more easily so I can catch some more winks. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

I had a feeling I might catch this cold from the rest of the fam', but, for obvious reasons, I was really hoping it would pass me by this one time. So now my desires regarding this birth have shifted. Instead of wanting the lil guy to come out ASAP, I'm hoping he will stay in just until mommy feels a little bit better, rested and healthy enough to have a good labor and birth. I feel confident it will all work out as it should. It's just this in-between sickliness and waiting part that puts a damper on the excitement of what's to come.

In the meantime, I'm getting lots of Vitamin C - eating Clementine oranges (love those tiny, li'l things), drinking Emergen-C, making strawberry/OJ/yogurt smoothies - drinking lots of tea, and trying to stay rested. Other suggestions, as well as healthy thoughts, vibes, prayers welcome. Thanks, all. :) I'm off to try that sleepin' thing again.

Happy Due Date

2006-11-16T16:11:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say:

Happy Due Date to Me.
Happy Due Date to Me.
Happy Due Date to Meeeeeeeeeeee.
Happy Due Date to Me.

"Over the top!" - This pic of my disappearing feet was taken on Nov. 11, at 39 weeks.

Quick post - no baby

2006-11-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

I know there are quite a few of you regularly checking in, so this is just a quick post to say no baby. ;)
I did get a lot done today though and am feeling good. Ava and I baked oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies and a pumpkin pie (to freeze) for Thanksgiving. I did some laundry and cleaned a bathroom. And then my sister watched Ava for a bit so I could go get my haircut. :) I hadn't had it cut since July - eep! - and it was definitely in need. It's nothing fancy - a chin-length bob - but it feels good to have it "cleaned up" before baby boy gets here.
Oh, in other news, Ava has a cold now. Not good timing, but what can ya do? Hopefully she'll be well before the boy is born (and I won't catch it!).

Happy due date to me tomorrow. :-)

While I wait...

2006-11-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

Things I've found to do while waiting for baby:

1. Paint my toenails. It had the added bonus of being like a little workout with all of that stretching trying to work around my big belly. ;)

2. Cook, bake and then cook some more. I've never had so many frozen casseroles in my freezer in my life.

3. Clean. I keep wondering how many times I'm going to have to clean the bathrooms, sweep the kitchen and vacuum the livingroom before the birth.

4. Enlist Jody's help in cleaning out the closets. He managed to fill a large garbage bag full of his clothes to donate. Yay! That was long overdue!

5. Read positive, uplifting, amazing birth stories from women on the "Due Date Clubs" on Mothering.com.

6. Drive 20 miles to go out for a healthy dinner at Whole Foods. Yes, I know I said I have been doing lots of cooking, but that's all getting frozen and then I don't feel like cooking come dinner time. *shaking head*

7. Spend one-on-one time with my girl.

8. Relish the feelings of having a little one growing and moving inside of me.

9. Retail therapy. Jody got some new jeans (which were desperately needed) and baby boy got a few more "sleep 'n play" outfits.

10. Walk laps at the mall or go for walks.

11. Go to play groups.

12. Examine my belly for new stretchmarks. (Haven't gotten any with this pregnancy - knock wood!)

13. Do laundry.

14. Come up with new things to add to my list. ;)

The crazy thing is that I won't even be 40 weeks until Thursday (11/16) and I'm already antsy about having this baby. It could still be a few more weeks! This pregnancy has flown by until the past few days. Now it seems like each day takes forever! I need to just relax and let it happen when it happens, but it's easier said than done. **deep breaths**

By the way, Ava just said, "I want baby brother to sit in my lap." Apparently someone needs to tell her to have some patience too. ;)

We are getting close!

2006-11-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

Every time I head out to the grocery stores (Safeway or Vitamin Cottage) the past few weeks, I wonder if it's going to be my last trip before baby. And because I'm in major nesting mode, I end up stocking up on more and more things each trip. If I end up going to 42 weeks before having this child, our house is going to be seriously bursting with food!

Today I decided to pick up an organic cake and frosting mix (never tried one of those before) to make while I'm in labor so we have a birthday cake for baby boy. Ava immediately told me that she will have a piece of it. ;) I think it will be something fun for us to do together in the early stages of labor and will be a nice way to celebrate the little one's arrival. :) I wanted to get chocolate cake AND chocolate frosting, but settled on a marble cake mix with choco frosting, because I know not everyone (*ahem* - Jody) likes chocolate as much as Ava and me.

I also bought some things for our Thanksgiving dinner today, including stuffing mix, ingredients to make a pumpkin pie, and cool whip. I'm not exactly sure who's going to be making our Thanksgiving dinner because my sister may well be flying back to MI to spend it with her boyfriend (provided that baby boy has made his grand entrance) and my parents will probably not be in town yet - so I'm thinking Jody it is (with me yelling instructions from the bed or couch - hee, hee). I plan on making the pie this weekend and freezing it and may end up making some side dishes that can be frozen if I have time next week.

My estimated due date is Nov. 16 - less than a week away. After today is done, I feel like I am OK to have this baby. The photographer who's coming to photograph the birth had a wedding to shoot today, but after that her calendar can be easily freed up. So I think baby boy and I will have a talk tonight so that he knows that any time he's ready to come now, we are ready to meet him. :)

I went for another acupuncture appointment on Wednesday. All is going well and the supervisor of the clinic I go to was very encouraged by my recent lab results. She mixed up a special blend of Chinese herbs for me (in addition to my usual "pregnancy" herbs) to be cooked up while I'm in labor and drank right after the baby is born to help prevent hemorrhaging (which was an issue with Ava because my platelet levels were so low). She also said to call her if I do have any bleeding and she will come to my house with other herbs that will help my recovery. So nice of her! But anyway, the way everything with this pregnancy has been so different (for the better) from my pregnancy with Ava, I feel like while it's great that we have courses of action for "just in case" scenarios, everything is going to go so well with this birth that we won't need any of it. :)

My midwife STRONGLY recommends that I take it very easy for the first two weeks after the birth, which will help significantly with my recovery. (She suggests this with all of her clients, I'm no exception.) In fact, for the first three days after he's born, she wants me laying in bed with the baby, sleeping as much as possible (even though I may feel great). I have to admit, that part is rather appealing to me. Sure, I know I will have a baby pretty much attached to my breast the whole time, but just chillin' with the little guy will be nice. After day 3, I can venture downstairs, but still need to stay off my feet and am NOT to do any cooking, laundry, picking up toddlers, etc. I think after a week I can start spending a little time on my feet (no more than 10 minutes at a time), but still should not be cooking or doing household chores. (Do you see why I'm not fighting this? *wink, wink*) Although I am sure that I will start getting a little stir crazy and will want to be getting back into the swing of things, which she says is fine by the time I am 2 weeks postpartum. So we'll see how it goes. I think having the house well-stocked with food, organic fruits and veggies delivered to the house each Monday, as well as having our milk delivered, it should help Jody out a lot. Thankfully, he has two weeks paternity time off work to be here with us, and has some additional vacation time he may take later. After he goes back to work, my parents plan on coming from MI to help out with Ava for another week or so. I am sure all of this assistance will be very much welcome as we adjust to our new life.

So now, the waiting game begins. :)

By the way, the picture of the book above, "Welcome With Love," is a wonderful children's book about natural childbirth. In the book, Jack, his family and the midwife await the homebirth of his baby brother. There are beautiful pictures depicting the midwife preparing for the birth, mom in labor, the birth itself, the baby after he is born with the umbilical cord attached, and many lovely images of the family. Ava has greatly enjoyed reading this book in the last few months and I think it well prepares any child for the natural birth of a sibling, whether it be a homebirth or hospital birth.

Last big hurrah; midwife appt.; and my scary "duh" moment

2006-11-07T23:12:00.000-07:00

LAST BIG HURRAH

I went out with a bunch of mommy friends tonight for what will probably be my last big hurrah (i.e. night out alone) before baby boy arrives. It wasn't anything fancy - just a get-together at a local pizza place - but it was nice to be out alone, among other women. :)

Three of them brought me frozen meals for our family for after baby comes (yay!!), so I have more to add to my stash now.

I don't think I mentioned it, but we bought a deep freezer a couple weekends ago and I've been slowly filling it up. In fact, just this weekend I made a lasagna and chicken & bean enchiladas to freeze.

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NEARLY 39 WEEKS - MIDWIFE APPT.

I had my almost 39 week midwife appointment today (I'll be 39 wks on 11/9). All continues to go well. She said the baby is measuring right at 39 weeks and feels to be about 7 1/2 lbs at this point. Ava was 8 lbs, 4 oz., so I'm expecting this lil guy to be at least 8 lbs as well. She said his head is down very low, though she can't tell if he's engaged without doing an internal exam. We may do one at my next week appointment if he isn't born before then. Then I can get an idea if I'm dilated at all too. But I don't see a point in finding that out before I'm nearly 40 weeks since I know lots of women go weeks dilated at 2-3 cm (or more) before baby is born. So no need to get my hopes up that this is happening anytime soon.

I haven't had anything happen that makes me think labor is imminent at this point, just lots of toning (Braxton-Hicks) contractions. And I've been feeling a fair amount of pressure in my uterus when baby boy moves, but that's because he's running out of room. I told Jody last night that someone needs to post an eviction notice to him soon. ;) The fact that I can sometimes feel him above/over my ribs is a bit weird. Like how does the uterus go up that high?? My midwife said that by the time a baby is full-term, the uterus has expanded to 40 times it's original size. Amazing.

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MY SCARY "DUH" (AKA PREGNANT MOMMY BRAIN) MOMENT TODAY

After my midwife appointment today, Ava and I stopped at Walgreen's to pick up a stethescope for her (Ava). She's been fascinated by listening to baby brother's heartbeat (as well as her own, her baby doll's, and mine) at my midwife appointments for the past several months and I figured it's about time I pay the $10 and get her a real stethescope of her own.

We went out to the car and I put her in her carseat, then opened up the stethescope box to give it to her to play with. Well, the darn thing needed to be assembled, so I told her I'd do it real quick, shut her door and took it into the front seat with me. I put it together and gave it to her and we were on our way to the Post Office, a few miles away.

We were driving down a side street, when I looked in the rearview mirror to see Ava's carseat, but no Ava. Confused by what I was seeing, I turned around to see her trying to reach her baby off the seat and I realized - OH MY GOD, I NEVER BUCKLED HER INTO THE CARSEAT! Good lord. In the excitement of opening up and assembling the stethescope, I put her in her seat, but never fastened her in. GAH!!! I immediately pulled over and buckled her in, thanking my lucky stars that nothing had happened in the 2 miles or so we'd driven since Walgreen's.

That's something I've never done before and I hope I never do again. Scary.

The circumcision post

2006-11-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

It's amazing the number of things you never have to consider before becoming a parent - breastfeed or formula feed; cloth diapers or disposables; vaccinations; when to start solids; organic vs. conventional foods; public school, private school or homeschool; and, of course, if you are having a boy - whether or not to circumcise.

I hope to write about my feelings, opinions and choices regarding circumcision and my son, knowing full well that everyone who reads this blog will not agree with me. I think that anyone who has a son will have their list of reasons for why they decided for or against circumcision. I simply wish to share my reasons here (and some of the information I came across along the way) for deciding against it.

I hope that by including some links below to reputable sources, other parents who are trying to decide what is best for their son can make an informed decision - whether it be to circumcise or not.

I am not here to judge and it is my hope that any discussion that happens below in the comments remain civil and respectful, despite how strongly you may feel about this topic. I also ask that any "anonymous" posters please sign their posts with a name. Thank you.

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The short and sweet answer as to why Jody and I are not having our son circumcised is that we can't find a single reason to indicate that it is a necessary procedure.

I believe that the body we are born with, in its entirety, is that way for a reason. I think that each different part has a unique purpose for existing. If we didn't need a certain part, I believe that over time we would evolve so that it no longer existed.

In doing my research on circumcision, I came across a lot of interesting information. Some of it has to do with the origins of circumcision in the United States, some about the actual procedure, some about the effects of circumcision and about the current rates of circumcision in the U.S. I read a lot more than I will blog about here, but these are some things I thought were worth mentioning.

"Circumcision started in America during the masturbation hysteria of the Victorian Era, when a few American doctors circumcised boys to punish them for masturbating. Victorian doctors knew very well that circumcision denudes, desensitizes, and disables the penis. Nevertheless, they were soon claiming that circumcision cured epilepsy, convulsions, paralysis, elephantiasis, tuberculosis, eczema, bed-wetting, hip-joint disease, fecal incontinence, rectal prolapse, wet dreams, hernia, headaches, nervousness, hysteria, poor eyesight, idiocy, mental retardation, and insanity.

In fact, no procedure in the history of medicine has been claimed to cure and prevent more diseases than circumcision. As late as the 1970s, leading American medical textbooks still advocated routine circumcision as a way to prevent masturbation." -- Paul M. Fleiss, MD The Case Against Circumcision

Uh, I'm not a guy and no expert, but I am pretty sure that circumcision does NOT prevent masturbation.

"Today the reasons given for circumcision have been updated to play on contemporary fears and anxieties; but one day they, too, will be considered irrational. Now that such current excuses as the claim that this procedure prevents cancer and sexually transmitted diseases have been thoroughly discredited, circumcisers will undoubtedly invent new ones. But if circumcisers were really motivated by purely medical considerations, the procedure would have died out long ago, along with leeching, skull-drilling, and castration. The fact that it has not suggests that the compulsion to circumcise came first, the "reasons," later." -- Fleiss

The fact that new reasons to continue the circumcision practice are being invented is rather disturbing if you ask me.

One website I came across in my research shows step-by-step (graphic) pictures of an actual circumcision of a newborn boy. What Happens During Circumcision There is also a video there, but the pictures alone were more than enough for me. I don't think I could've stomached the video. I had never thought much about the actual procedure itself. I figured that the foreskin was clamped and removed without much effort and the baby was left to heal over the next week or whatever. I didn't think about the baby needing to be restrained, whether or not any type of anesthesia is used, the foreskin needing to be pried apart from the penis, the amount of bleeding involved, the raw exposed penis, etc. Not to mention the child crying in pain. :( It was not easy to look at.

There's a laundry list of "things" that are lost forever when a circumcision takes place. While all of these things in the list are noteworthy, I thought I would mention a few here that stood out to me:

"When a baby boy's natural and intact penis is "circumcised," this is what is lost forever:
** An estimated 240 feet of microscopic nerves, including branches of the dorsal nerve.
** Several feet of blood vessels, including the frenular artery and branches of the dorsal artery. The loss of this dense vascularity interrupts normal blood flow to the shaft and glans of the penis, obviously damaging its natural function and possibly stunting its complete and healthy development.
** The immunological defense system of the soft mucosa, which may produce antibacterial and antiviral proteins such as lysozyme, also found in mothers milk, and plasma cells, which secrete immunoglobulin antibodies.
** The essential "gliding" mechanism. If unfolded and spread out flat, the average adult foreskin measures about 15 square inches, the size of a postcard. This abundance of specialized, self-lubricating mobile skin gives the natural penis its unique hallmark ability to smoothly "glide" in and out within itself—permitting natural non-abrasive masturbation and intercourse, without drying out the vagina or requiring artificial lubricants." -- Gary L. Harryman - What is Lost to Circumcision

I know some parents may be concerned about whether or not an intact penis requires special care. Personally, having no experience with an uncircumcised penis in the past, I had no idea what the answer was before asking friends of mine who's sons were left intact. FYI:

"The natural penis requires no special care. A child's foreskin, like his eyelids, is self-cleansing. For the same reason it is inadvisable to lift the eyelids and wash the eyeballs, it is inadvisable to retract a child's foreskin and wash the glans. Immersion in plain water during the bath is all that is needed to keep the intact penis clean." -- Fleiss

Also worth noting that the foreskin should never be forced to retract before it is ready.

"As noted, the foreskin and glans develop as one tissue. Separation will evolve over time. It should not be forced. When will separation occur? Each child is different. Separation may occur before birth; this is rare. It may take a few days, weeks, months, or even years. This is normal. Although many foreskins will retract by age 5, there is no need for concern even after a longer period. Some boys do not attain full retractability of the foreskin until adolescence." -- Newborns: Care of the Uncircumcised Penis

Regarding the rate of circumcision in the world and U.S.:

"Circumcision is almost unheard of in Europe, South America, and non-Muslim Asia. In fact, only 10 to 15 percent of men throughout the world are circumcised, the vast majority of whom are Muslim. The neonatal circumcision rate in the western U.S. has now fallen to 34.2 percent." -- Fleiss

"The nationwide circumcision rate had been fluctuating in the low 60 percent range for some years, but a decline in the percentage of boys circumcised started in 2002 and continued into 2003. From 2002 to 2003 declines occured in all four census regions. Non-circumcision has been the norm in the Western Region for more than a decade." -- U.S. Circumcision Incidence

I think it's important to note that the circumcision rate is dropping in the United States because the old parental concern of not wanting a child to be teased because they look differently from the other boys will no longer be an issue if the ratio of circ'd boys to uncirc'd boys is approaching 50-50. I know in my own circle of friends, the ratio of circ'd boys to uncirc'd boys (babies and toddlers I mean) is probably more like 20 (circ'd) to 80 (uncirc'd) or even slightly higher in favor of the uncircumcised boys. Some parents I know (both in "real life" and on message boards) had their first son circumcised before they had done much research on the topic, and then, after learning more about the procedure, chose not to circumcise their second son.

(And now at the risk of sharing TMI...) Having never been with an uncircumcised man (yes, you can infer from that that Jody is circumcised), I was very interested to learn that not only is the pleasure of the male affected by circumcision, but also the pleasure of the female. (I mentioned a bit about this above as well.)

"One of the foreskin's functions is to facilitate smooth, gentle movement between the mucosal surfaces of the two partners during intercourse. The foreskin enables the penis to slip in and out of the vagina nonabrasively inside its own slick sheath of self-lubricating, movable skin. The female is thus stimulated by moving pressure rather than by friction only, as when the male's foreskin is missing." -- Fleiss

Like I said above, I couldn't find a reason to convince me that circumcision is necessary for our son. I don't feel the need to provide a list of all of the reasons against it. They are easy enough to find online. By reading through some of the links I provided below, you can read more information for yourself if you so desire.

I feel it is worth noting that I tried to find some pro-circumcision websites to include in my list (to keep it balanced), but 99% of the information I found "out there" is anti-circumcision. The one site (a members-only list serv "where circumcision is discussed and always supported") I did find turned out to be centered around pornography associated with circumcision so I removed it from my list. The fact that it is a porn site is not apparent from anything posted on the public side of it.

In conclusion, I don't feel that it is my right to make the decision to remove a part of my son's anatomy without his consent. I believe that circumcision is a personal choice - one that should be made by the person who owns the penis. By leaving my son intact, he can always decide when he gets older that he wants to have a circumcision. If I were to circumcise him as a baby, he wouldn't have the option of taking that back. I feel it is his body, his penis, and his choice.

Resources:

National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers

Circumcision Resource Center

The Case Against Circumcision - an eye-opening, very informative (IMO) article By Paul M. Fleiss, MD, MPH (interesting to note that Fleiss is Jewish)

My Son: The Little Jew with a Foreskin - By Stacey Greenberg

The Case Against Circumcision Discussion Forum on Mothering.com

What Happens During Circumcision? - Graphic photos/video of the circumcision process on a newborn

NEW AAP CIRCUMCISION POLICY RELEASED

Protect Your Uncircumcised Son: Expert Medical Advice for Parents

Circumcision Information and Resource Pages

Doctors Opposing Circumcision

What's in a name?

2006-11-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that the first and middle names we've chosen for baby boy have the initials "J.E."
My husband Jody (Eldon), his dad (Jerry Eldon) and his grandpa (Judd Elwood) all have the same initials as well, though each have different names (i.e. no juniors).

At first we weren't sure if we were going to carry on the tradition because we couldn't find a "J" name that we both really liked. As time went on, however, we found one that we both agree on, and, after we told it to Ava and she started calling the baby by it (though she calls him "baby brother" the majority of the time), it pretty much stuck. :)

Any guesses (both first and middle name)? We told some friends a while back that we were naming him "Jedi" and one of them has been calling him that ever since. ;) Maybe I will have a prize if anyone can successfully guess. :) Though I will not be revealing the name (or winner) until he is born.

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Just a heads-up that I will likely be writing about my thoughts/opinions regarding circumcision in the next few days. Since we are having a boy this time around, whether or not to circumcize is something we obviously had to consider (though we both pretty much already knew our son would remain intact). However, I wanted to do some research on it and the things I read and saw only strengthened my decision to leave my son's penis intact. So I'll be sharing some of that in the days ahead.

Too much c-a-n-d-y

2006-11-01T23:21:00.000-07:00

Thank God Jody took the majority of Ava's Halloween loot into work today or I swear I would have eaten it all. I had no self-control tonight and ate like 4 of the mini-candy bars we did keep and a little box of Nerds. Ugh. Like I need to be eating that stuff. Baby boy is kicking me for it now. :oP

Anyway, we had a lot of fun trick-or-treating at the Munchkin Masquerade. Ava finally got into the idea of begging for candy at the last three shops we went to and actually took the candy out of the bowls herself. Prior to that, Jody had to take the candy every time. (At least he picked the chocolate though. Ava went for the pink and purple wrappers.) ;) She never did say "trick-or-treat" though.

Ava got several compliments on her rocker costume (though several people thought she was supposed to be one of The Beatles - arg). One teenage girl gushed, "Oh my gosh, that is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life!" And then something about how she loves The Beatles, and told Ava to "rock on." It was pretty cute. :)

A guy at Jody's work threw up the horns and said "Rock 'n roll" to Ava and she did it right back without missing a beat. Yay Ava! LOL

We had very few trick-or-treaters at our house last night, which is why Jody ended up taking so much of Ava's candy into work today. We were just going to recycle it (along with the stuff we bought) to other trick-or-treaters. Why not, eh?

I took some more pics yesterday with my P&S but haven't had a chance to get them off the camera yet. I spent the majority of the day today cleaning the kitchen (i.e. nesting), doing laundry and making muffins with Ava's help (she's such a good muffin maker). Later in the day when I felt the uncontrollable desire to get out of the house, she and I went to the library where she picked up a few "new" books to borrow. We really need to do that more often.

K, that is all. I need sleep. |o)

Edited 11/02/06 to add some pics:
The stoic trick-or-treaters:

Making their way down the strip:

Checking out some candy:

It's getting cold out here! Ready to go back inside:

Trying out a Snickers bar. (Don't let that face fool you - she loves her "chock-lit.":

Final voting on the "National Breastfeeding Symbol"

2006-11-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

Well, my friend's husband's logo didn't make it into the final three, but it's now time to vote on a final winner over at Mothering.com.
Vote here for your favorite :)

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T10:06:00.000-07:00

This isn't my belly, but I found it online and thought it was cute. :)

The weather has been just lovely here the past few days, but of course, it's cooled off considerably today (like to the 30s) - just in time for trick-or-treating. :oP At least there's no snow.
I have a midwife appointment this afternoon. Then Ava and I are heading over to Jody's work to pick him up and do the trick-or-treating thing at a "Munchkin Masquerade," which, unfortunately, is outside. Don't know how long we'll brave the cold. We'll see how long the rockstar lasts. ;)

Hope everyone has a happy (and safe) Halloween! :)

Nursing a toddler (a 2-year-old) while pregnant

2006-10-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

I said a long time ago that I wanted to write about my experiences nursing a toddler - not only for my own record, but in hopes that it might provide some insight to someone else out there. I figure I need to tackle this topic soon (and actually started this entry a couple weeks ago), while I still have time to reflect on it and blog about it before baby boy gets here, so here goes...

I always knew that I would nurse my children, but I never thought about the length of time I would do it. The American Academy of Pediatrics has their recommendations, as does the World Health Organization. Both seem to agree that breastfeeding should continue "as long as mutually desired by mother and child." I figured I would play it by ear with Ava, allowing her to self-wean if possible, but not commit to anything one way or the other.

She celebrated her second birthday in June 2006 and nursing continued. By this time, Ava was only nursing a few times a day and had night-weaned as of 22 months. I'm not sure if the drop in nursing came as a result of her age or as a result of my milk drying up with my pregnancy. I had become pregnant with our second child in February 2006, and my milk dried up somewhere around 15 weeks pregnant.

While nursing a toddler was not something that bothered me, nursing a toddler while pregnant (with all the lovely pregnancy hormones coursing through my system) and without any milk coming out was less than appealing to me. I kept at it despite the fact that it wasn't always easy, partially because I felt like it was easier to grin and bear it rather than wean. I know that may not have been the best way to respond and others chose different paths (which I can totally understand), but that's how I handled it.

There was a time, several weeks ago, when I was seriously contemplating weaning Ava before baby boy is born. I was having such a hard time and feeling very overwhelmed with nursing (even though it wasn't that often) and life in general. But after talking with several other moms who are either nursing now while pregnant or have nursed while pregnant, and reading the chapter about nursing while pregnant and tandem nursing in "Mothering Your Nursing Toddler," I was reassured that all of the feelings I was having were completely normal. Such a relief! That didn't make nursing any easier, but it did reassure me that there was nothing wrong with me for feeling the way I did.

Here we are now - me at 37+ weeks pregnant and Ava at 28 months old. She is still nursing 1 to 2 times per day - which consists of always before bedtime (though she doesn't nurse to sleep) and sometimes once in the middle of the day. I managed to cut out the morning nursing session fairly easily by way of distraction. When she does nurse now, I place restrictions on it and it's only for 2 to 3 minutes at most, which is really all I can handle. There have been times when nursing is just too much for me at the time and I tell her that mommy is feeling frustrated, etc. She understands and has been fine with me placing restrictions, so it works for us.

I'm hoping that by continuing to nurse her, it will make her transition from being an only child to an older sister a bit easier, since we will still have that special connecting time together each day. I know that moms who wean are still able to connect with their older child, but maybe by sharing something as sacred to her as mommy's milk with baby brother, it will help calm her uneasiness with the changes of having to share mommy with someone else. Time will tell.

I never expected nursing while pregnant to be as difficult as it has been. Hormones can do crazy things to a person. I can totally understand why women wean while they are pregnant and I wouldn't have been too upset if Ava had decided to wean on her own. Of course, that didn't happen. ;)

I'm still not making any promises as to how long nursing will continue. We will take it day by day, even after baby boy comes. No matter what happens, I feel good about the nursing relationship Ava and I have had and know that we both have shared some precious memories together over the years.

I welcome any tales from mamas who have nursed while pregnant or tandem nursed. It's always nice to know I'm not alone. Thank you. :)

By the way, I did some searches for nursing a toddler and found this info on LLL's site with "Toddler Tips", as well as info about nursing while pregnant. Also found this with "Toddler Nursing Testimonials."

"Rockin' out roll" (with pics)

2006-10-28T14:01:00.000-06:00

A topic other than pregnancy today, aren't you excited? ;)

Jody, Ava, my sis and I went to the city's kiddie Halloween parade this morning. This was our first year to attend and there was a much bigger turnout than I expected. Kids, kids - everywhere! The weather was perfect for it though - sunny and not too hot and not too cold.

Two high school bands marched in it as well as hundreds of kids and parents. And many other kids, parents, grandparents, etc. stood by to watch the parade. After the parade (which spanned three blocks), several of the downtown merchants gave out candy to all the trick-or-treaters.

We decided to dress Ava as a rockstar this year after how much she enjoyed "Rockstar Supernova" on TV when we'd watch it and how much she enjoys "rockin' out" with da-da when he plays "Guitar Hero" on the Playstation. :) We taught her to do the rock 'n roll hand gesture and along with it she says, "Rockin' out roll!" despite the fact we tell her it's "rock 'n roll." ;)

She happens to be a big fan of The Beatles, so I was quite happy to find her shirt at Target (in the toddler boys' section) last week. I made her guitar out of cardboard last night as a last-minute costume addition. After I finished it, she walked around the house strumming it and singing a song she made up that went like this, "rock n roll, rock n roll, rock n roll, etc." ;) We gave her some punky blue hair today as well, but I don't think it showed up very well in the pics.

Anyway, here are a few pics from today. :) Happy early Halloween!

Watching the parade before we jumped in it ourselves:

Riding high in the parade with Aunt Carrie and Da-da:

Our little rockstar:

The family (and yes, I am wearing butterfly wings):

My belly cast

2006-10-26T15:01:00.000-06:00

Warning: artistic boobage ahead.

My friend, who does belly casts professionally, came over this morning to do a belly cast for me. I'm 37 weeks today and it seemed like a good time for me to do it since who knows if baby boy is going to decide to come early or not (wishful thinking).

Anyway, it went well and I think the cast turned out beautifully. She's taking it home to smooth it out and put a primer on it and get it ready to hang. Then I can put it on the wall or paint it or whatever I decide to do. I need to look online for inspiration. I know there are a lot of cool things that can be done with them. Actually, with a quick search, I just found some cool ideas here and here. I love the one with the baby's footprints on the cast. So sweet!

My sis took some pics of the event. :)

Here I am getting covered in plaster:

Holding the belly cast after it dried and came off:

Just the cast:

36 week maternity pictures

2006-10-23T21:52:00.000-06:00

I/we attempted to do some maternity pictures this weekend. It was NOT easy. First of all, I don't really have the room in my livingroom to fit us all into the picture (using my 50 mm lens) well. Secondly, it was a PITA going back and forth setting the timer each time. Thirdly, I decided maybe it would be easier to just have Jody take over the camera for some pics of me alone and me and Ava together. But unfortunately, he just doesn't have much experience using my camera, so most of the pictures came out blurry, but he did get some keepers. :)

Without further ~~complaining~~ ado, here they are:

We had our home visit with the midwives tonight which went well. I can't believe we are at the end of this pregnancy. I'll probably write more about it all another day.

On Thursday, a friend of mine is coming over to do a belly casting for me. I never wanted one with Ava, but I've seen some cool things done with them since then (Ninotchka's inspired me) and I think it would be nice to have. So I'm excited about that. :)

As Ava would say (courtesy of Aunt Carrie's teaching) - Peace out everybody. ;)

Things overheard during this pregnancy

2006-10-22T10:59:00.000-06:00

Bodily Functions
Said by me:
"I keep getting hiccups in my butt." (After I kept feeling baby's hiccups down low - basically in my butt.)

Terms of Endearment
Said by Ava to me:
"What are you doing, belly-butt?" (Her latest petname for me. Nice, eh? :oP)

And lastly, just a funny overheard yesterday morning while we were all still in bed...

Ava (while holding out her hand in front of my face): "Eat it, eat it."
Me: "What is it??"
Ava: "A crumb."
Me: "Where did it come from?"
Ava (matter of factly): "My eye."

Birth photographer

2006-10-20T14:40:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention that last Friday I found a photographer to come and photograph baby boy's birth! I'm very excited about her and feel she will be perfect for what I'm looking for.

She's had two homebirths of her own (her youngest child is 6 months younger than Ava), has been doing photography for 20 years and has experience photographing other births. She said one of the highest compliments she can be paid (while shooting weddings, etc.) is being told "we didn't even know you were there," which I think will be perfect for a birth. She shoots with available light whenever possible (so there won't be an annoying flash going off all the time), has long lenses so she can stand back and still capture everything, and does beautiful work. :) And, she's agreed to give me a high resolution CD of the images (after she edits them) so I will be able to have my own prints made, make the images into a slideshow, or whatever I wish. I'm VERY happy about that. :)

I think she will do a wonderful job of capturing the emotion and overall documenting the event. Yay!! My only concern is knowing when the right time in my labor is to call her and have her come over. I guess it'd be better to call her too early than too late!

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Our big plans for the weekend include cleaning the house for our midwife home visit on Monday. And maybe we'll try to sneak something fun in as well. :) Oh, and I really want to try to get some maternity pictures taken of myself, as well as with Jody and Ava, so I'll be working on that too.

Vote for an International Breastfeeding Symbol

2006-10-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

From Mothering.com:

The image of a baby bottle announcing the location of a "parents lounge" in an airport got us thinking: Is there an international symbol for breastfeeding? Similar to the familiar icons we've all seen indicating a handicapped parking spot or the women's restroom, this image would be a recognizable symbol indicating that a place is breastfeeding friendly. Ideally, the space would be private, quiet, with a comfortable chair and an electrical outlet for pumping.

We called around and spoke to lactivists and breastfeeding organizations all over the world. We heard of a symbol in Canada and one in Singapore, but there doesn't seem to be one international symbol for breastfeeding.

So we put out a call. We received an overwhelming response, over 500 entries from both the design and breastfeeding communities. While the images are currently copyrighted by the artists, we plan to make the winning image available worldwide (copyright-free, as a public domain image) with recommendations that it be used in workplaces, airports, malls, restaurants, conferences/expos, libraries, parks, or any public place.We've already heard from an airport and a university interested in using the winning symbol.

Vote for your favorite breastfeeding symbol here.

By the way, my friend's husband entered the contest and his design made it into the finals! His is #4 in case ya want to show him some love. ;)

Free Hugs Campaign - inspirational video

2006-10-18T21:23:00.000-06:00

This video on YouTube is definitely worth watching. It's short and inspirational (and brought a tear to my eye). :)

Free Hugs Campaign

About the video:

Sometimes, a hug is all we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man who's sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their life.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe-inspiring.

In the spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, if you can reach just one person...

The final countdown

2006-10-16T14:31:00.000-06:00

Tick, tick, tick, tick. My due date is exactly 1 month from today!

Physically, I'm feeling ready for baby boy to be born, but mentally, I'm not quite there yet. And there are still a lot of things I'd like to get done around the house before he makes his grand entrance. Guess I should get my butt off the 'puter. ;)

Weekend recap, pics and pumpkins

2006-10-15T20:38:00.000-06:00

I recently bought a new basket/hamper for storing the oodles of babies and stuffed animals Ava has in our livingroom. She decided on Saturday that it would be a good place for her to play as well and asked dada to put her in it with her animals. :) She then asked for him to close the lid on her too. Silly girlie.

Later in the day on Saturday, after running some errands, we went to a pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkin. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and it started raining on us after we'd only been there for about 15 minutes. We did pick out a good pumpkin though and I managed to snap a few pics before the rain kicked in.

On Saturday night, Aunt Carrie came over to watch Ava so Jody and I could have a night (well, a few hours) out alone. We went out to dinner and had a nice time being together and enjoyed being able to talk without interruptions from the peanut gallery. ;)

Sunday has been pretty uneventful, though productive. Jody and Ava went out to run some errands while I worked on a photo order. Jody carved our pumpkin (and then I added ears to it). We bagged some more leaves. (Will they ever be done falling??) And I made two casseroles of lasagna for dinner so I had extra to freeze. I'm trying to freeze a bit of extras from meals here and there so we have some food stashed, especially for those first few days after the birth. The problem is we don't have an extra freezer so there's just not much room for them. The nice thing is I can count on a handful of meals to be donated from members of our AP group (through the 'meals for new families program') and we also will have a food allowance (courtesy of J's work) where we can expense up to a certain amount of take-out meals after a new baby. Sweeeeet. :) Not to mention the fact that my mom will be coming to help out after the birth and, I'm sure, will be more than happy to cook for us. So I think we'll be all right, even without a big freezer.

Take this and call me in the morning

2006-10-14T12:47:00.000-06:00

I got my first batch of Chinese herbs from the acupuncture clinic this week. The instructor told me she didn't see a crucial need for me to take them (because I'm appearing quite healthy - yay!), but it certainly wouldn't hurt if I did. So she gave me the option to try them if I wanted. She put in some herbs for keeping my blood pressure down and boosting my liver function, and said she has another herb to add the next time around that's for my uterus (I think?), but it may start causing contractions so she wanted to wait until I'm at least 36 weeks. My instructions were to cook them up in 4 cups of water, then divide into 6 parts - drinking 1/6 in the morning and at night for 3 days.

They honestly didn't smell that bad while still in the brown paper bag - sort of "new agey," but not nasty. HOWEVER, when I finally got around to cooking them up this morning - LOOK OUT! - oh my, did they ever stink (as did my whole house)! The smell sort of resembled dirt and pot (but not in a good way).

I was disappointed by how much liquid was left after boiling them for 45 minutes too. I figured a lot more would burn off, thus leaving me less to drink. But no. There was still quite a bit remaining that I was supposed to ~~gag down~~ consume.

I decided to get it over with and take the first swig (while Jody stood by with the camera to capture my reaction - before and after). As you can see by the look on my face, it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be (though I think I look like I was going to cry or bust out laughing). I didn't run to the toilet and hurl and I didn't spit it back into the glass. ;) I mean, it was not a good-tasting drink by any means, but it wasn't *that* foul. I think the smell was worse than the taste. So I successfully drank down my first 1/2 cup of Chinese herbal tea today and have lived to tell the tale. :)

Added 10/15/06 8:37 p.m.: Just found this interesting info about wolfberries (which are the red berries in the pic) on Wikipedia: "Wolfberries and Lycium bark have long played important roles in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), where they are believed to enhance immune system function, improve eyesight, protect the liver, boost sperm production, and improve circulation, among other effects. In TCM terms, wolfberries are sweet in taste and neutral in nature; they act on the liver, lung, and kidney channels and enrich yin. They can be eaten raw, consumed as juice or wine, brewed into a tea, or prepared as a tincture."

A bit overwhelmed and out of sorts

2006-10-12T21:12:00.000-06:00

I haven't blogged the past few days because I've been feeling a bit out of sorts. I've been having a lot of apprehension about the thought of having two kids in a short amount of time and wondering how in the world I'm going to have enough of myself to go around. How will I be able to take care of everybody and still care for myself?

I know mothers have been doing it for centuries and I will get through it, but I still have anxiety about it all. I worry that Ava will feel neglected after being the center of my world for the past two-plus years. I worry that baby boy won't get the attention that Ava got while she was a baby. I worry that nobody will get any sleep and that I will be a walking zombie for months on end.

And, rationally, I know all of these fears are perfectly normal. I know that Ava won't get the amount of attention that she's used to. I know that baby boy won't get the same attention that Ava got as a baby. And I know that sleep will certainly suffer for a while. But I know that we will all live through it, even though there will be hard times.

I also know that Ava and baby boy will have the attention and affection of each other throughout the years and that they will share a special bond unlike the bond they share with me or Jody - and that makes me smile. :)

Part of all of this worry comes from the fact that I have had the role of primary caregiver at night for all of Ava's life. When she wakes up at night even now, mommy is who she wants. Even though she night-weaned 6 months or so ago, she still wants only mommy to rub her back or cuddle her back to sleep. (Don't get me wrong. Jody is a great daddy and helps out a lot, but in the middle of the night, only mommy will do.) I don't know that I will be able to continue with this role once baby boy is here since I feel like he will have the greater need for me (nursing) in the middle of the night. I anticipate this meaning a lot of tears for a few nights while Ava adjusts to daddy having to comfort her back to sleep and that is hard for me, but I know we will all get through it.

I know that I need to accept help when it is offered or even *gasp* ask for it. Today was actually a good example of me realizing I needed a break and asking for help. Because I've felt a bit overwhelmed the past few days, I decided to call my sister and see if she could take Ava out to the park for a while so I could have some time just to myself. She was more than happy to help out and I got some practice some relaxation, watch "LOST" (which Jody taped for me last night since I was out at an acupuncture appointment) and get dinner started. It was wonderful and very much needed. :)

I'm also realizing that there's no way to predict how the first few weeks/months after baby boy joins us are going to go, so there's no sense wasting time worrying about it now. I have to remember to live for today, and that's it. Much easier for me to say than to put into practice, but maybe if I make it my mantra, I can do it.

Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble as I attempted to sort out my thoughts. ;)

A pic post - Veggies, a belly and a silly girl

2006-10-09T22:02:00.000-06:00

The trip to the farm this Saturday was a lot of fun. We, along with about 10 other families from our AP group, rode a hayride around to various spots on the farm where we got to pick a variety of vegetables. I thought we came home with quite a bit ourselves, but one of the other families with us weighed their produce once they got home and they had 125 lbs. worth! The couple gave us all sorts of suggestions for freezing and otherwise storing them so I'm sure most of that will get consumed in their house over the winter. :) (Oh, how I wish I had a chest freezer.)

The day was sunny and quite warm at about 80 degrees (though it cooled off considerably Sunday, and today was only in the 40s and rainy). Unfortunately, I didn't have my batteries in my camera the right way (doh!) so I didn't get any pics of the lil miss picking veggies or eating them (tomatoes and carrots) along the way. She had a lot of fun though, as did Jody and I. :)

After the veggie-harvesting hayride, we went on a little "train" ride and Ava spent some time bouncing in one of those big bouncy castle things, as well as feeding some animals in a petting zoo.

As for all of our veggies, I made a recipe for Chicken Pumpkin Stew for dinner Sunday night (which used some of the pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes), after I spent much of the day washing, peeling and cutting carrots to be frozen, and washing potatoes to be stored. My fingernails actually turned orange from all the carrots. Sheesh.

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I finally took some new belly pics today (at 34 1/2 weeks).
Here they are:

For comparison, here are the belly pics I took at 28 weeks. I really need to do some more shots like those (with the backdrop and all), but I will probably wait until 36 weeks.
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And lastly, here is Ava (on 10/4/06) "sleeping" under daddy's "covers" (i.e. under his shirt - which he is still wearing!). LOL - What a goof, er... a couple of goofs actually. ;)

A whole lotta random stuff (about babies, bowels, nesting, a gripe, and the farm)

2006-10-06T20:30:00.000-06:00

I had my 34-week midwife appointment yesterday. Everything is going well. I'm not thrilled with my weight-gain thus far (39 lbs!!), but my midwife isn't concerned at all. I actually gained about 50-55 lbs. with Ava's pregnancy (I hit 200 lbs. Eep!) but started that pregnancy out weighing 20 lbs. more than I started this one, so that makes me feel a little better. Plus I feel a whole lot healthier this time around and have been eating pretty healthy (other than indulging my sweet tooth now and then), so that's reassuring.
We heard the baby's heartbeat with the stethescope again, and, my midwife, Jody and Ava could all hear the heartbeat just by putting their ear up against my belly. That was pretty cool. I was wishing I could bend myself in half so I could hear it that way as well.
Our next midwife appointment is in two weeks and is actually the "home visit," where my midwife and the midwife she works with come out to our house to a.) make sure they can find it, b.) go over some logistics about the birth (like where are we setting up the birthing pool and make sure we have all of our birthing supplies) and c.) make sure everyone (who will be present at the birth) has an idea of what their role will be during the labor and birth. After that visit, it (baby boy's birth) could really happen at any time. It's overwhelming and very exciting to think about.

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Two more aquaintances/friends recently had healthy baby boys at planned homebirths. I'm anxiously awaiting their birth stories as inspiration for what lies ahead for me. :)

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Caution - TMI about bowel movements ahead.
Last night, out of the blue, I was hit with some sort of flu-bug. I had horrible diarrhea and felt like I was going to puke (though thankfully never did). In the meantime, my belly was all crampy and it was like one continuous Braxton-Hicks contraction. It was miserable. I started worrying about baby boy and thoughts of preterm labor went through my head. I decided that if it all kept up I'd definitely give my midwife a call, but thankfully the whole miserable experience only lasted about 2 1/2 hours and I was feeling ok by the time I went to bed. It was handy that my sis was already over (to watch "The Office" with me), because Jody was out and she kept Ava entertained while I was indisposed.

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I've been busy with a lot of nesting lately and have got the "kids' room" pretty well cleaned up and organized. I say "kids' room" in quotes because it's really just a room that houses their dresser, closet, some toys and books and a glider and ottoman. We got rid of the crib long ago after it was determined that it was something Ava was never going to use. And I recently sold off the crib bedding as well.
I think we are going to use that room to put the birthing pool for the birth so I want it to be especially nice and relaxing for me to labor in. I plan to buy some cheap frames and put up some more pictures on the walls. Now I just need to figure out which pictures.

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Why is it that so many clothes, blankets, etc. for little boys have to have sports stuff on them? I ended up buying a gender neutral receiving blanket for baby boy today rather than get a blue one with a soccer ball on it. I don't have anything against sports (I even enjoy a good hockey game), but I don't feel the need to bombard my son with sports images from the moment he is born. :oP So I got him a yellow blanket with an aligator, palm tree, bird and butterfly on it. I know for that matter I could just use the pink ones we have from Ava, but I guess I can't let go of gender stereotypes completely.

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Tomorrow we, along with a bunch of other families from our AP group, have a date at the farm to go on a hayride and pick vegetables, as well as visit the petting zoo. We went last year around this time too and had a great time. I think Ava will enjoy it even more this year. :) Last year we came home with a ton of veggies including 7 pie pumpkins. I don't know that we'll go as crazy w/ the veggie picking this year, but it still should be a lot of fun. :)

Hope you all have a nice weekend. :)

"What Baby Needs" - book recommendation

2006-10-04T16:56:00.000-06:00

I took some time away from the fam last night for an ANO (Amy's Night Out). Of course, I found myself at Borders looking for a book to buy for Ava, but I also spent a good hour of "me time" finishing up my copy of "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth." What an excellent, uplifting book!

Back to my story...I was looking for a good book to get for Ava about becoming a big sister. The first book I picked up talked about bottles and feeding the baby milk and showed the baby sleeping in it's crib, etc. It was obviously not the book for our family. The next one I saw was by Mr. Rogers and it was a lot better-suited for us (even had an actual picture of a mommy nursing a baby), but still not quite what I was looking for.

Then I saw a book by Dr. Sears called "What Baby Needs" and I had a good feeling this was the book for us. The book starts out with a message to parents about the transition a child goes through becoming an older brother or sister and makes a lot of good suggestions for involving the child. Then the book itself shows the mommy breastfeeding, and later the daddy giving the baby a bottle of mommy's milk, as well as baby sleeping in a cosleeper next to mom/dad's bed, and the baby being worn by both mom and dad in a sling. "What Baby Needs is a warm look at how life in the family changes to accommodate the needs of a newborn, and the care an infant requires. The focus is on things like what the older child can do that the baby can't, and how to make friends with the baby." I didn't buy it last night, but am going to order it on Amazon (and save a few bucks). There's also a companion book called "Baby on the Way" which I wish I would've known about earlier, but oh well.

So there are my two Attachment Parenting(AP)-friendly book recommendations for families with a new baby on the way. :)

A blast from the past - Ava's birth story

2006-10-03T10:25:00.000-06:00

A few of you have asked to read Ava's birth story (back from June 2004), so here it is. I must warn you that it's VERY, VERY long and somewhat graphic.

Ava’s birth story – recorded July 1, 2004

The entire weekend, June 19-20, 2004, I wasn't feeling very well. I felt kind of achy, like maybe I was coming down with the flu. I was tired too and tried to sleep as much as I could.

On Sunday night (or actually early Monday morning) around 1:30 a.m., I started having surges (HypnoBirthing-speak for contractions). Jody was sleeping in the basement that night, as he'd come down with a cold and didn't want to get me sick or keep me awake with his coughing. I started roughly timing the surges and they were about 5 minutes apart and definitely tolerable. I stayed in bed for a while, trying to sleep, but not being able to. I kept timing my surges for a while and they stayed pretty consistent at about 5 min. apart. I finally decided I should get up and finish packing my bags, as I definitely wasn't ready to go to the hospital should the need arise. I also decided to take a shower, which felt nice.

Around 4 a.m., I went to the basement and woke up Jody. My surges were still coming at about 5 min. apart, sometimes closer together. I told him I thought we should go to the hospital and he seemed surprised and definitely excited. We decided to hang out at home a while longer. We ate some food (I had part of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich) and I sat on the birthing ball. We decided we'd try to wait until the main entrance to the hospital opened at 6 a.m. (Monday, June 21) so that we could go in that door and bypass the emergency room entrance. In this time, my surges got closer together and then stalled. I sat on the birthing ball in hopes of getting them going again. They did start up again and, while they weren't really consistent, we decided to go to the hospital and get checked out anyway. The worst that could happen is they send us home. So Jody packed up the car and we drove the 5 min. or so to the hospital. I'm glad it was a short trip, because it wasn't a very comfortable ride.

Some time after 6 a.m., we went up to the Birthplace and I told them I thought I was in labor. They put me in triage and started me on a contraction monitor and a heartbeat monitor for baby. My surges kept coming, but weren't very regular. Some were stronger than others but nothing was more than I could handle. The nurse tried to check me to see if I was dilated but because of the position of Ava's head, she couldn't reach the opening of my cervix. And it was quite painful to me for her try to get to it.

The triage nurse encouraged us to walk the halls in hopes of getting me to progress. We walked around for about 30 min., then came back to triage and ordered breakfast.
Around 9 a.m., I called my sister Carrie and let her know where we were and told her I'd let her know if they admitted me. By this time, the surges were few and far between and I was pretty sure we'd be sent home soon.

After my blood pressure starting running high, the nurse called my doctor who instructed her to draw blood because of my history with swelling in my feet. Not long after, the news came they wanted to admit me. I thought this was really odd considering my surges had pretty much stopped, but I was excited at the fact that we were getting to stay and hopefully we'd soon have a baby.
After we got settled in our room, a nurse came in and told me my doctor wanted to induce labor. Induce? I couldn't believe it, but no wonder they wanted to admit me. There went my plans for a natural birth. We talked a little bit about our options for induction. Pitocin seemed to be what they were leaning towards even though it was the thing I least wanted. I asked if we could have some time to discuss it and she said yes, reluctantly.

I was dumbfounded as to what was happening. How could I have a natural birth if I was hooked up to an IV on Pit? I told Jody I wanted to talk to Susan, my HypnoBirthing instructor, to see what she thought and hopefully get some words of encouragement. So Jody made the call and talked to her first. She mentioned to him that based on what he described regarding my condition, that it sounded like I was on my way to developing HELLP Syndrome. This was the first time Jody had heard of the syndrome it would turn out that I did in fact have. (HELLP syndrome: A syndrome featuring a combination of "H" for hemolysis - breakage of red blood cells, "EL" for elevated liver enzymes, and "LP" for low platelet count - an essential blood clotting element.) I talked to Susan as well and she reassured me that even if I was on Pit, I was still in control. She encouraged me to listen to my HypnoBirthing cds and perhaps do some fear release work with Jody.

It took 4 tries for them to get an IV started on me and the only person who was successful was the anesthesiologist. The Pitocin drip was started around 1 p.m. I was reassured that they would increase it very gradually and I tried to remain confident that I could still labor pain med-free. I was told I'd have to stay in bed on my left side, except to go to the bathroom so I planned to make frequent potty breaks.

It didn't take long for the news to come that they would have to start me on another drug, called magnesium sulfate, in order to prevent seizures. And that once I was on that drug, I could no longer get out of bed as it messes with your muscle control. That news hit me really hard. Not only was I on Pit, I was now completely confined to my bed and I would have to have a catheter! (In severe pre-eclampsia [HELLP is a form of pre-eclampsia], magnesium sulfate is used for short periods of time - 24 to 48 hours - until the baby or babies can be delivered, which is the only "cure" for pre-eclampsia.) While on magnesium sulfate, they also have to monitor the amount of urine that the body produces to make sure the kidneys aren't failing. Side effects from the mag sulfate are: Flushing, Nausea, Vomiting, Palpitations, Headache, General muscle weakness, Lethargy and Constipation. It also burns a lot when the initial dose goes into the IV. The side effects I experienced were flushing and muscle weakness. I also think the drug messed with my memory and caused time distortion - or maybe that was just from labor itself or from sleep deprivation as I went a total of three days with hardly any sleep at all.

The insertion of the catheter was like no pain I'd ever experienced. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but it was worse than just about anything imaginable. As soon as the nurse started to put it in, I started bawling my eyes out. I couldn't help it. I cried uncontrollably the entire time she was putting it in. Once it was in, I was fine, but oh my gosh, I never want to have another one for as long as I live.

I remember breathing through the surges the best I could. It helped to have Jody or my sister hold my hand and stroke my arm (which is a HypnoBirthing technique for relaxation). It didn't take long for the surges to start getting very intense and I began to question whether giving birth without pain meds was going to be possible. Jody kept telling me I could do it and reminding me of the reasons we wanted to do it that way, but he wasn't the one feeling what I was feeling. I decided to ask the nurse what my options were for pain meds. She mentioned there were a few they could do through the IV that could take the edge off or there was the epidural. However, due to my falling platelet levels, she wasn't sure an epidural would even be an option. I asked her to check into it just in case. In the meantime, I tried a few of the drugs in the IV. They made the beginning of the surge slightly more tolerable, but then all of a sudden I'd be in the middle of a very strong surge from out of nowhere. That wasn't any good at all.

The anesthesiologist showed up in my room later in the day and explained that because my platelets were too low, I could not have an epidural. In a way, I'm very glad this decision was made for me. I knew that I truly did not want an epidural and, even though I was feeling a lot of pain, I would and could get through this.

I don't know when the back labor started, but I do know it was very intense. Thankfully, my nurse started applying counter-pressure with each surge and showed Jody and Carrie how to do it as well. The counter-pressure helped a lot. It got frustrating for me though when a surge would start and they didn't apply the pressure right away, but they quickly caught on that this was something I needed and paid closer attention.

At 5 p.m. the nurse told Jody that it would probably be around 2 a.m. that I'd be fully dilated and then after that we'd have another hour or two of pushing. It scared Jody that it would be that much longer since he knew I was in a lot of pain. However, by 9 p.m., I was at 5 cm and by 10:30 p.m., I was at 7 cm. By 11:15 p.m., I was at 9 cm and the nurse said I could start pushing with surges if I wanted to and they started setting up the bed for the birth. It felt really good to be doing something (pushing) after spending the last several hours just lying there, trying to make it through each surge. The pushing really felt good to me. I no longer was feeling pain like I had been with the back labor and the intense surges.

For the last hour or so, before the serious pushing began, my labor nurse massaged and applied hot washcloths to my perineum (as I had asked for in my birth preferences) to help prevent tearing. At some point however, my doctor told me she knew I didn't want an episiotomy, but she was sure I was going to tear if I didn't get one. So I told her to go ahead with it, and I ended up with a third degree episiotomy.

I'm not sure how many pushes it took for little Ava to be born (it was about 45 min. of pushing), but she entered the world and was "caught" by her daddy at 12:06 a.m. Tuesday, June 22. Jody also cut her umbilical cord. Ava was born in perfect health and scored 8/8 on her APGAR.

We had asked that Ava be placed directly on my chest (skin to skin) right after birth; however, they put a sheet down on me. It was there briefly until Jody asked them to remove it. We also asked that she not be cleaned off until we had some time to bond with her, as we didn't want her first sensations in this world to be an abrasive cloth wiping her off. We wanted her to feel us first. One of the first things they did after putting her on my chest was start wiping her off, but both Jody and I immediately told them to stop. We held her together as a family of 3 until I started feeling light-headed and they reclined my bed so that my head was lower than my feet. I, apparently, had a lot of blood loss with the birth, and had to be given a shot of heparin to stop the bleeding.

I stayed in the hospital until Friday, June 25. I had to remain on the mag sulfate until around 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 23. By Thursday, I felt well enough to get out of bed and take a shower and by Friday I felt strong enough to go home, yet I was still very weak and any activity quickly drained me. My doctor told me it would be about another week before my energy would start coming back and that I should start taking iron supplements to build my red blood cell count back up.

While this certainly wasn't the birthing experience I expected, planned for or wanted, I feel absolutely blessed that everything turned out as well as it did given the circumstances, and that little Ava was/is such a healthy baby. Jody and I are truly blessed to have such a wonderful child.

It's the little things

2006-10-01T21:48:00.000-06:00

Tonight I am thankful that our upstairs toilet is working again. After two days of it being on the fritz and requiring manually filling the tank in order to get the darn thing to flush, it is so nice to have it fully functional again, especially for a woman who's 33 1/2 weeks pregnant and peeing several times a night. ;)

Hooray for hubbies who get the honey-dos done - at least the important ones. ;)

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We had a nice weekend around here. On Friday, Ava and I had a picnic lunch with my sister at a park, then watched a birth video together. I made a new (to me) crockpot recipe for Chicken Taco Soup for dinner that night. It was pretty tasty and easy.

On Saturday, we went to a baby/kids' stuff sale in the morning and I got a few fall clothes for Ava and a couple more clothes (bigger sizes) and lots of socks for baby boy. That evening we met up with friends for a fall festival and had a nice time listening to live music and just hanging out. Ava had a blast running all over the place and laughing at her friend Creed's antics. :)

Today Jody and Ava hung out together a lot while I worked on a photoshoot from last weekend. They went to a pond, fed ducks and geese and walked around. I managed to sneak in a relaxing bath while they were gone and listened to my Hypnobirthing cd - something I really need to do more often since this birth is right around the corner!

The kiddo is in bed now and Jody and I are going to try to catch up on the Smallville episode we missed this week. (I taped it while watching My Name Is Earl and The Office.) So nighty-night. :)

Saddened

2006-09-28T11:23:00.000-06:00

I'm so saddened and sickened by the recent high school shooting in Bailey, CO, about an hour and a half from where we live. I don't understand what possesses people to do these things.

After one girl was killed and other girls were reportedly sexually assaulted by the gunman, I can't help but think about the safety of my own daughter. We do everything we can as parents to keep our children safe, but ultimately, it's not always under our control. :( Such a scary thought.

Obviously a hostage situation in a school is an extreme case, but here are some tips on "What You Can Do to Protect Your Child" in other situations.

My heart goes out to the parents of all of the children involved, especially the girl who was killed.

Let's see how much money I can spend cough, cough

2006-09-27T22:52:00.003-06:00

After my pseudo-complaining about the cost of hiring a midwife (or moreso that insurance won't cover the cost), I'm actually considering hiring a photographer as well to document my birth. Am I nuts or what?! (Uh, don't answer that. Seriously.)

The way I see it, having a baby - this baby - will happen once in my lifetime. And this may very well be the last baby that we have. (Maybe. Nothing is carved in stone yet.) I would love to take pictures of my own birth, but, as hard as I try, I can't be in two places at once. ;) I really, really want good pictures from this birth - not just snapshots, but a photojournalist-style documentation of the events as they unfold. So I've justified to myself the expense of hiring someone to take photos, even if it means dipping into savings.

Now I'm trying to find a photographer who has done birth photography in the past and that I would feel comfortable with being in labor in front of. I don't think this will be an easy task, especially considering we only have about 7 weeks left!

I thought about hiring a doula who specializes in photography, but since I'm having a homebirth and will have two midwives here to support me already, I can't really justify the expense of a doula too. Not to discount their value, because I think doulas are awesome and, if I was planning a hospital birth, I wouldn't hesitate for one second from hiring one! But since I'll be birthing in the comfort of my home, I figure the money would be better spent going to an actual photographer.

So that's what I've been up to - trying to find ways to spend the money we don't have.

Oh, and I went for acupuncture tonight and they decided I don't need to start on the Chinese herbs yet, because I'm apparently doing so well. Yay! :)

For all the aspiring photographers out there

2006-09-27T17:50:00.000-06:00

This looks like fun. :)

Breastfeeding Outlook has launched two new photo contests to celebrate families!

Parents nationwide are invited to enter one or both of these contests:
-Everyday Families
-Breastfeeding

Multiple entries are welcome. Digital and print entries are welcome. Prizes will be awarded for:
-Best Picture
-Funniest Picture
-Best Breastfeeding Picture

In addition, each contest participant will receive $2 for each photo accepted by Breastfeeding Outlook (up to $50), and a prize of $100 will be awarded for "Most Pictures" to the participant with the most photos accepted.

All entries are due by November 15, 2006. Awards will be announced by December 31, 2006.

To view the photo contest flyer, click here.

I am going to do my best to submit some pictures, but I don't know how much time I will have between now and the middle of November! ;)

Latest happenings in baby world

2006-09-25T11:17:00.000-06:00

There's not too terribly much to report on the baby boy front, but I thought I'd post a lil update anyway since I'm quickly approaching the end of this pregnancy. Where did it all go??

I'm 32 weeks and still feeling good, though getting a bit more uncomfortable because of my growing belly. Friends have told me my belly looks small for being due in two months, but it feels huge to me.

My midwife sent me for a liver panel (labwork) a few weeks ago to make sure my liver is functioning properly, since liver function is something that breaks down with HELLP syndrome. Everything checked out good with it. I think I'm going to do another one at 36 weeks.

Also in the preventative vein, I went for more acupuncture, but this time to the acupuncture college clinic in town, where they also prescribe Chinese herbs. The supervisor of the OB/GYN clinic used to be a midwife and is very knowledgable about treating pregnant women. I met with her on Wednesday and she definitely wants to see me start on the herbs soonish. She said they are going to taste just awful and make my house smell nasty (I have to cook them up every three days and drink some twice a day), but she thinks they are the best thing I can do (even better than acupuncture) right now. So I'm going back this week to get my first batch of herbs **gulp**, as well as more acupuncture. I'm sure I'll be reporting back. She also noted that my tongue was a little red, which in Chinese medicine means I have too much heat (though not in the traditional Western sense of heat). But it's not a good thing for a pregnant woman to have so she's hoping that will lessen with treatment. I don't really understand what it means myself other than my body might be working a bit harder than it needs to.

At my last midwife appointment on Thursday, everything was good. My blood pressure is remaining normal, I've not had any swelling (like I did big time with Ava), baby's heartbeat is good, he's still head down, etc. We scheduled my next appointment for 34 weeks and also tentatively scheduled my 36 week appointment which will be "the home visit" and take place at my house rather than my midwife's. It's a chance for my midwife and the midwife who will be assisting her at my birth (there are generally 2 midwives at every birth) to make sure they can find my house, talk more about what will be set up where in the house (like the birthing tub), what everyone's roles will be (Jody's and Carrie's - who will be here to help out with Ava), and just answer any questions we have about the birth. It's exciting and scary to think that it's coming up sooooooo soon!

In the meantime, I need to order my "birth kit" which contains a lot of the medical-type supplies needed for the birth and after, as well as get all of the rest of the supplies (towels, bowls, old sheets/plastic cover for the mattress, etc.) that we will need.

So that's where we currently stand. Unfortunately, we still owe the midwife over $1,000 and have to be paid up by 36 weeks, so we're trying to figure out where that money is going to come from. Eep. It's kind of hard to think that if we went the hospital-route, everything would be covered by insurance, but because we've chosen the homebirth-route, we have to pay over $2,000 out of pocket. BUT, BUT, BUT...I really feel like it will be soooooooo worth it to experience the kind of peaceful birth that I desire in our own familiar surroundings. And there's a good chance we can get the insurance company to reimburse us for some of the money after it's all said and done. We just can't hold our breath waiting for that.

The lil one continues to be an active lil guy, especially in the middle of the night when I'm trying to sleep. ;) Funny how that works.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far. So much for being a "lil update." LOL ;) And thanks for all the continued support and positive pregnancy/homebirth vibes. :)

By the way, plaques like the one pictured above can be personalized and purchased here.

She's got the cutest li'l BabyLegs

2006-09-22T13:24:00.000-06:00

You just knew I would have to take pics of Ava in her new "BabyLegs" from Urban Baby Runway didn't you? Apparently Ava knew as well, because as soon as I put them on her she said, "You need to take my picture, mama." LOL She's a photographer's daughter, that's for sure.

Anyway, besides being cute as can be, they are coming in very handy (er, leggy?) at keeping her legs warm during this whole potty learning thing. :) And they aren't just for girls either. There are some cute patterns for boys as well. I am pretty sure baby boy will be getting a pair or two this winter.

Don't forget "The Office"

2006-09-21T17:02:00.000-06:00

The season premier is tonight! :)
And watch this for a Jim/Pam recap. It's sure to bring on the goosebumps.
Pam & Jim Moments

Updated at 10:42 p.m. to say it was a pretty good episode. :) I like where they left things with Pam, Roy and Jim. Should make for an interesting season.

The Biggest Bed in the World

2006-09-21T16:30:00.000-06:00

This is rather timely considering my last post. My midwife mentioned at my last appointment that she had recently ordered this book - "The Biggest Bed in the World" - and today when we went for my 32 week visit, she had it in and let us take it home for Ava to borrow. :)

It's a super cute book about a co-sleeping family that keeps growing, and so does their need for a bigger bed. The daddy can't seem to get a good night's sleep with all the kids in the bed and ends up building the world's biggest bed so the whole family can have enough room. The problem with the world's biggest bed is it ends up also being the world's heaviest bed and breaks right out of the house, slides down a hill and lands in the ocean! Eventually, daddy makes bunk beds for all the kids so that he and mommy can have their bed to themselves again, but guess what! He misses all the kids and still can't sleep. So in the end, they all (even the pets) end up sharing a bed again and everyone is happy. :)

It's a book any co-sleeping family can relate to. Sometimes it's hard to find a way for everyone to get comfortable, especially with a foot in your face in the middle of the night, but when it comes down to it, most of us wouldn't trade it for anything. :)

Will post more about my appt. and how everything is going w/ me and baby boy later. The short of it is - all is still going well.

Potty, undies, bed - oh my!

2006-09-20T09:42:00.000-06:00

This past weekend was a big one for Ava. We got her her own bed (off Craigslist) and her first big girl underwear! She hasn't really started wearing the undies yet, but, in typical girl fashion, had to try on each and every pair when we first got them home. ;) She has, however, continued to use the potty regularly (when having naked time), and (TMI) I've only had to change one poopy diaper in the past 10 days or so because all of the rest has gone into the potty! Yay!!!

Now that the weather is cooling off, I don't feel as good about her running around with a naked bottom AND legs (though that's the only way she seems to feel the urge to go to the bathroom so far). So I found these legwarmer-type things for kids called "Baby Legs" - which you can also buy from fellow blogger, Mama C-ta over at Urban Baby Runway. I ordered two pair for Ava and can't wait for them to get here. In addition to keeping her lil leggies warm, they are so darn cute! :)

So Sunday night was Ava's first in her new bed (which is positioned right next to my and Jody's bed). She slept in it about 5 hours before waking up upset and climbing into bed with us. Not a bad start. The next night it went even better. She woke up a couple times and wanted to touch me (my hair, my face, whatever she could reach), and one time had to "see baby brother" which just means touch my belly, and then went right back to sleep, staying the whole night in her bed. (Woot!) And last night, she didn't wake up at all! (Hooray!) I'm glad that the transition has been such an easy one. It's not that I minded cosleeping in the same bed as her, but we all (me, Jody and Ava) couldn't sleep together there comfortably, and with baby boy on the way, I just didn't see how that would work for us. So I feel like we have the best of both worlds now. Jody and I can sleep together comfortably. Ava is still in the same room with us and baby boy can sleep either in bed with us or in the cosleeper (which I think will just barely fit next to the bed on the other side). Wall to wall beds! (Snapped that pic of her while she still slept this morning.)

Seriously though, I wish some bed manufacturer would start making a "family bed" that's about 2 feet wider than a king. I am not sure how great sales would be, but I know a bunch of folks who would be interested. ;) I'm sure they could get an endorsement from Dr. Sears too and then they'd sell like hotcakes, no?

She's going to love me when she's older, huh? Pics of her in her new undies and sitting on the potty outside all in the same post. I'll throw in this cute headshot just for good measure. ;)

Most Women Unaware of Key Nutrient Needed for Babies’ Development During Pregnancy

2006-09-18T22:26:00.000-06:00

Sorry for another article post today, but this information is definitely worth sharing, especially considering the number of pregnant women who read my blog. :) I hope to write a "real" entry again soon, but have just been busy (and tired) lately.

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Most Women Unaware of Key Nutrient Needed for Babies’ Development During Pregnancy

Newswise — Most women are aware of only two of the “Big 3” nutrients considered essential during pregnancy and breastfeeding, according to a Kelton Research survey(1) sponsored by the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C.- based national advocacy organization. The majority of women surveyed know the importance of including folic acid and calcium with vitamin D in their diet, but half of them do not know about the need for DHA Omega-3, a critical nutrient for the development and health of a baby’s brain, heart and eyes.

A growing body of scientific evidence continues to demonstrate that DHA Omega-3 is an important building block of perinatal nutrition(2). Often overlooked by mothers and health care providers alike, it is possibly the most important nutrient expectant mothers don’t know about. If taken during pregnancy, it may help lower the risks of pre-term birth and even post-partum depression. DHA Omega-3 is also important for ongoing health throughout life.

What to Expect When They’re Expecting? Apparently Not DHA

The vast majority of America’s recent moms and moms-to-be say it is common medical knowledge that folic acid and calcium with vitamin D are two of the most important nutrients for pregnant women. Seventy-nine percent were able to identify leafy vegetables as a source of folic acid and 97 percent named dairy products as sources of calcium. However, more than two-thirds of women (68 percent) say their doctor has never told them anything about DHA, and more than seven out of ten (72 percent) have absolutely no idea how to get DHA into their diet.

The Big 3 for Baby and Me

“Folic acid, calcium with vitamin D and DHA Omega-3 — together, they make up the Big 3 essential nutrients that are important before, during and after pregnancy. Fortunately, by paying attention to what they eat, women can easily obtain these nutrients through a balanced diet, fortified foods and supplements,” said Phyllis Greenberger, M.S.W., president and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research.

In addition to eating a balance of foods during pregnancy and breastfeeding, women should include the following nutrients in their diets:

• Folic acid: 400 mcg/day to make healthy cells and prevent certain birth defects. The recommendation for folic acid can be met by consuming enriched cereals and grains, by taking a multivitamin, or folic acid supplements.

• Calcium with vitamin D: 1,000 mg of calcium with 200 IU of vitamin D per day for strong bones and teeth. Calcium is readily available in dairy products and fortified foods.

• DHA Omega-3: 300 mg/day for a healthy pregnancy and ongoing health. DHA is found in cold-water oily fish, such as mackerel, herring and salmon. However, pregnant women and women considering pregnancy should not eat certain types of fish because of contaminants which have been shown to harm an unborn infant's nervous system, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An algal-based source of DHA has been added as an ingredient to some eggs, soymilk, nutrition bars and other foods, providing a safe and healthy alternative. Women should check nutrition labels and ask their grocers and health care providers what foods contain algal-based sources of DHA. Algal-based DHA is also available as a supplement.

Other Survey Findings:

• Wishful thinking: If they could choose to add DHA to a food, more than a third (39 percent) chose cereal or cereal bars, followed by milk (36 percent), orange juice (34 percent) and pasta (25 percent). A hopeful 19 percent wished that DHA could be added to chocolate.

• Eating more, but enjoying it less: Forty-two percent eat more food than usual during pregnancy, and 33 percent are unable to eat foods they normally like.

• The fish factor: Just 17 percent of women are aware that fish is a source of DHA. When informed that pregnant women are advised to minimize or avoid fish because it may contain mercury, 88 percent of respondents said they would be interested in purchasing a product that would help them get DHA without having to eat fish.

• Less educated are at a disadvantage: Awareness of DHA is higher (42 percent) among women who have college degrees, but dips to just 34 percent with those who have a high school diploma or less.

• A little knowledge goes a long way: Once advised of DHA’s benefits — including how it helps brain, heart and eye development in infants and lowers the risk of pre-term birth and the baby blues — more than nine out of ten say they would include DHA in their diet while pregnant (92 percent).

To learn more about what foods to eat and what foods to avoid before, during and after pregnancy, please visit http://www.womenshealthresearch.org.

About the Society for Women’s Health Research
The Society for Women’s Health Research is the nation’s only nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve the health of all women through research, education and advocacy. Founded in 1990, the Society brought to national attention the need for the appropriate inclusion of women in major medical research studies and the need for more information about conditions affecting women disproportionately, predominately, or differently than men. The Society advocates increased funding for research on women’s health; encourages the study of sex differences that may affect the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease; promotes the inclusion of women in medical research studies; and informs women, providers, policy makers and media about contemporary women’s health issues. Visit the Society’s Web site at www.womenshealthresearch.org for more information.

The Society’s public and media outreach on the “Big 3” nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy is supported by funding from Martek Biosciences Corporation, which develops, manufactures and sells products from microalgae. For more information, visit www.martek.com.

(1) The public opinion survey on nutrients women need before, during and after pregnancy was conducted Aug. 23-31, 2006, by Kelton Research of Los Angeles, Calif., on behalf of the Society for Women’s Health Research via telephone among a national representative sample of 500 women, 18 years of age or older, who have one or more children age 3 and under, are pregnant, or are nursing. The margin of error for the survey is +/-4.4 percentage points.

(2) Jensen CL, et al. Effect of Maternal Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) Supplementation on Neuropsychological and Visual Status of Former Breast-fed Infants at Five Years of Age (abstr.). Pediatric Research, 2004. 49:181A.

Never a recall on breastmilk

2006-09-16T21:42:00.000-06:00

Huge Recall Of Similac Baby Formula

I know not everyone can breastfeed, but the fact that breastmilk will never be recalled is just another reason why I feel good about my choice to do so. That's one less thing this mama (who's already lost too many brain cells) has to worry about. ;)

Looooong week

2006-09-15T09:44:00.000-06:00

What a long, long, LONG week.

Jody has been out of town (working at the "Googleplex" in CA) all week - left at 4 a.m. Monday morning and won't be home until tonight. In the past this hasn't been too much of an issue. Sure, I'd prefer he's at home with us, but I've managed without him OK. This week, however, I think due to the fact that I'm getting towards the end of my pregnancy and am more tired, it was really hard being a single parent.

Caring for a toddler, coupled with the fact that I'm trying to work on a newsletter for our API group and prepare for an upcoming photoshoot for a 1-year-old, has been very draining. On Wednesday, I finally accepted that I just can't do everything. So the dishes were getting washed every other day, the basket of clean clothes sat for 3 days before being folded and put away, and Ava and I didn't pick up any of her toys Wednesday night. I think that deciding that world wasn't going to end if I didn't do everything I wanted to helped me relax a bit on Thursday, not get so overwhelmed and have a much less tiresome day.

It's funny because I actually had these crazy notions that I'd be able to get so much done while Jody was out of the house for a week. I even had an idea that I'd do some painting in the livingroom or bedroom or cut down a bunch of branches in the front yard! ROFLMAO. I'm lucky if I can do a load of laundry and wash the dishes. Seriously, what was I thinking? I really just needed to listen to my body and take it easy instead of trying to be Super-mom.

My sister has been over to watch Ava a couple times and that has been a help (thank you, Carrie), but it just doesn't replace having two parents.

My hat is off (way off) to all the single parents out there. :) Give yourselves a pat on the back.

And Jody, I really appreciate all that you do to help out with housework and taking care of Ava. We can't wait to have you home again (and not just to do the dishes). ;)

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In other news, Ava and I attended our local API chapter meeting this week where we had a wonderful speaker talk about "raising our children using the philosophies of Love and Logic, REAL Parenting, Parent as Coach (Diana Haskins), Non-Violent Communication (Marshall Rosenberg), How to Talk so Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk (Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish), Happiest Toddler on the Block (Harvey Karp), and Parenting from the Inside Out (Dan Siegel and Mary Hartzell)." She has taught Love and Logic classes for the past 10 years and, a couple years ago, "developed REAL Parenting - classes that focus primarily on how parents can develop and maintain their relationship with their children, teaching specific, concrete skills that can be used to connect and stay connected with their children. The primary themes of REAL Parenting classes are respect and empathy."

I hope to write a bit (at a later time) about some of the information I gleaned from the talk and handouts she had available. It's pretty interesting stuff and will be useful in raising our lil punkin, er punkins. :)

Mortality

2006-09-14T11:33:00.001-06:00

My friend's father was hit by a car on his way to get a newspaper in Indiana Wednesday morning. He suffered multiple injuries and passed away this (Thursday) morning. :(

Thankfully, my friend was able to fly out from CO yesterday evening with her 4-month-old daughter (her almost 2-year-old son and husband stayed behind while he finished up some work) and I so hope she was able to talk to him/say goodbye before he died.

This whole mortality thing is hitting me pretty hard. We think that our parents will be around forever, and when something so sudden and unexpected happens, it certainly can rock our core. It also makes me think about my own mortality and who would take care of my child(ren) in the event that something happened to me and Jody. I know we should have a living will (or something like that), but we have yet to take care of it. Another item for the "things to do" list.

Don't forget to share your love with your family and friends, and give them an extra hug today if you can.

Reflecting on my girl

2006-09-12T10:25:00.000-06:00

With the birth of baby boy just 10 weeks (or so) away, I've been thinking about Ava a lot lately, specifically how fast she seems to be growing up. So I thought I'd take some time to reflect on my girl and where she's at in this journey called life (and print it out for her baby book too).

Ava is 26 months old (2 years and 2 months for those of you mathematically-challenged) and fiercely independent. She loves to do or try to do things on her own, but has learned to ask for help when she needs it instead of just getting frustrated (though that still happens on occasion too). ;)

Her vocabulary is amazing. Some of the noteworthy things she's been saying lately are:
--"What you saying, mama/dada?" - when she doesn't hear or understand what we're telling her.
--"Why?" - Said for the first time a few days ago. I'm hoping I won't hear that one again for a little while longer since I know it will soon become a favorite word. ;)
--"I love you, mommy/dada/baby brother." (Said unsolicited) - Melts my heart every time.
--"I need _______." Insert pretty much anything in here, from "...to eat," "...chocolate" - she's her mother's daughter, "...to watch my favorite songs" - referring to the Laurie Berkner music DVD grandma bought her, "...to go outside," etc. The girl has "needs," not just wants. ;)
--She sometimes calls us *her* mama or *her* dada, like "What are you eating, my dada?" "What are you doing, my mama?"
--"I missed you, mommy/dada." - After she's been away from us for a little while. Sometimes she says it to me after she's napped even. So sweet. :)
--"Dangit." - Her favorite expletive at present. Hey, it could be worse, right? ;)
--She's started using pronouns (he, she, me, you, her, him) on a regular basis.
--She also knows "Mommy's name is Amy." "Daddy is Jody." and "Mommy is a woman." "Daddy is a man." "Ava is a little girl."
--And she says some pretty cute things. Like the other day when we were driving around and she saw a doggy out of the car window, she said, "Get in my arms, doggy. I want to hold you." :)
--She's also pretty wise. First, some background info: Whenever Ava gets particularly frustrated, we've encouraged her to go hit a pillow rather than throw toys, hit, etc. So the other night Jody was trying to do something and expressed some frustration and she said, "What happened, my dada?" And I told her that daddy was frustrated. And she said, "You need to go hit the pillow." Dada went and hit the pillow and felt much better. :)

We seem to be in the initial stages of potty learning. She woke up with a dry diaper two weekends ago so I encouraged her to sit on the potty. She sat on it until a little pee came out, then stood up excitedly and stopped peeing, saying "Yay, Ava!" So after we made a big deal out of that (and I was quite sure her bladder was still full), I asked if she wanted to try sitting on the potty again, which she did and promptly filled up with the remaining pee. Again, we praised her a lot. Since then she's also pooped (on about 10 separate occasions) and peed several other times on the potty. After the first poop, she praised herself by saying "Yay Ava," and then asked me "What happened to my butt?" Hehe. So I explained that the poop came out, etc. Anyway, I'm hoping to give her more opportunities to sit on the potty (i.e. let her run around with a naked butt during the day) and if it happens and she stays interested, great! We'll continue to praise her like crazy. :) If not, we'll try again when she's ready. I admit the idea of having her out of diapers by the time baby brother comes is wonderful, but I'm not going to push her if she's not ready. So far though, whenever she's having naked time, she knows when she has to go potty and runs over and goes all on her own!

She's definitely a caretaker and loves her many babies (all of whom she lovingly calls "Baby Trajan" after our friend's baby of the same name). She can be very attentive to our needs, and always asks "What happened, mama/dada?" when she knows something is bothering us. She has also started rubbing my back lately when it is sore, then asks, "Is it all better now?" :)

She has a great imagination and it's such fun just to observe her playing. She has even pretended a clothes hanger was a mommy and the pants part of it that hung on it was the baby.

Ava loves to read - both on her own, flipping through the pages alone or having someone read to her. She will often pull out all of her books in a particular room and sit on the floor with them surrounding her as she "reads." She's always asking daddy for "one more book" at bedtime.

Waking up beside Ava in the morning is a wonderful way to start my day. She rolls over, puts her arm around my neck and says "Hi, mommy. I love you." Then we generally cuddle, give hugs and kisses, and talk for 10-15 minutes before getting up to start our day. I'm going to miss that special time with her in a few more months (although, who knows, maybe it will still work out like that). We are in the process of trying to find an inexpensive twin bed to put next to ours so that Ava can sleep there and we can have room for baby brother in the big bed. We had a lead on a great one last weekend, but the lady sold it out from under us. **grumble, grumble**

My nursing relationship with Ava continues. It has it's ups and downs (as you can imagine nursing while pregnant), but so far the positives have outweighed the negatives. I will write more about nursing while pregnant (the good and the bad) another time. I'm thankful I've been able to give Ava this gift of mama's milk for this long (even though my milk dried up earlier in my pregnancy). I know she and I have both received tremendous benefits from it.

The picture above was taken at Aunt Carrie's house a couple weeks ago after Ava discovered Aunt Carrie's dress-up garb. LOL

Sept. 11, 1906

2006-09-11T13:34:00.000-06:00

In addition to today marking the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, it is also the anniversary of another very significant (though perhaps lesser known) day in the history of the world. Sept. 11, 2006, marks 100 years to the day that Mahatma Gandhi launched the modern nonviolent resistance movement, called “satyagraha.”

"Basic Principles

Satyagraha can take different forms in different situations -- indeed, many nonviolent practitioners believe, with Gandhi, that there is no situation, however extreme, in which it cannot work. There are certain basic principles, or enabling conditions, that most activists and scholars agree make up the core of Satyagraha:

* Means determine ends: we can never use destructive means like violence to bring about constructive ends like democracy and peace.

* Evil is the enemy, not the person committing it. In Christian terms, 'hate the sin, but not the sinner.' The clearest sign that 'truth power' is at work is when your opponent ends up becoming your ally, even your friend. Indeed, activists often discover that the more they can bring themselves to accept the person opposing them, the more effectively they can reach common ground.

* Our actions have far more consequence than the immediate, visible results. In fact, it is perfectly possible that our efforts may 'fail' to deliver the immediate result we want but succeed in doing more than we may have dreamed of."

Learn more here and/or here.

"The events that began September 11th, 2001, present us with a choice and a challenge: to respond with more destruction and hate, or to resolve to take our inspiration from that same date in 1906, when a different weapon to fight for good was conceived, and turned history in a new direction."

On this day, I wish you all PEACE.

Food for thought

2006-09-09T22:29:00.000-06:00

This thought-provoking article about the state of the food system, Slow Food Nation, is definitely worth a read. In it, "...experts discuss the politics of food, and how it may be poisoning our bodies and our planet."

By now it is generally conceded that the food we eat could actually be making us sick, but we still haven't acknowledged the full consequences -- environmental, political, cultural, social and ethical -- of our national diet.

If you are concerned with your health, the health of your family (especially with regard to school cafeteria food), the environment or animal rights, I urge you to take some time to read and seriously consider this article. It's an eye-opener.

Just not feeling it

2006-09-06T18:39:00.000-06:00

I'm just not feeling the desire to blog the past few days. Not sure why exactly (could be things going on in my personal life, could be I'm feeling more introverted these days, could be cuz I've been busy nesting, or it could be a combo of things), but I'm sure it will pass.
Anyway, I just wanted to pop on briefly to say "I ain't writin' today." :oP

Groovy Granola Bars!! (recipe)

2006-09-04T15:00:00.000-06:00

A friend gave me this recipe that she found on the 'net for granola bars. I made them today and they are awesome! Ava likes them, I like them, Jody likes them. :) They are delicious! I have a feeling I'll be making them often (especially now that I have a bunch of buckwheat and rice flour in my fridge.) ;)

Granola Bars sans Allergies

*Egg Substitute:

1 Rounded Tbsp of Flax Seed Meal (or grind flax seeds in food proc.)

scant 1/3 c Boiling Water

Dry Ingredients:

2 ½ C. Rolled Oats

¼ C. Flax Seeds

¼ C. Buckwheat Flour

¼ C. Rice Flour (white or brown)

½ C. Oat Flour (can grind rolled oats in food processor if you can not find in stores)

2 T. Wheat Germ

1 t. Ground Cinnamon

¼ t. Ground Nutmeg (optional)

¼ t. Ground Ginger (optional)

¼ t. Ground Cloves (optional)

¼ t. Salt

Wet Ingredients:

¼ C. + 2 T. honey

½ C. Agave nectar (you can use white refined sugar in the same amount)

½ C. Canola, vegetable or light olive oil

2 T. Blackstrap molasses

1 T. Vanilla

*1 egg (or use egg substitute at the beginning of the recipe)

Optional: May add ¾ C. of dried fruit and/or ¼ - ½ C. nuts if not allergic.
(I used ½ C. of dried cranberries and ½ C. of chopped almonds.)

Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

- Thoroughly grease either 3 bread pans or one 9"x13" large cake pan (I use glass, you may need to adjust temperature up a little if you use metal).

- Prepare Egg Substitute: Boil water. Place flaxseed meal in pyrex measuring cup, and add boiling water until the mixture measures 1/3 c. Whip with fork or small whisk and set aside. (Can sub one egg if not allergic.)

- In a *large* bowl (this stuff can be messy), mix together the dry ingredients.

- Add wet ingredients and egg substitute (or egg). Mix thoroughly with wooden spoon, fork or hands.

- Divide into three bread pans or place in one large cake pan, and press the bar mixture as flat as possible with rubber spatula or oiled hands.

- Bake 25 minutes for bread pans or 35 minutes for large cake pan (should start to look lightly browned on edges). Cool for 5-10 minutes and cut into 12-14 bars before they are totally cooled to room temperature.

Fall is here

2006-09-02T12:26:00.000-06:00

It's Sept. 2 (how did it get to be September already???) and I think fall has officially arrived to CO (though the aspen have not changed color yet). It's currently 54 degrees and cloudy, with an expected high of 71 (though I'm not seeing how we'll reach it).

We plan to go to a neighboring city's "hometown fair" today for a bit, then have dinner over at my sister's house tonight. Tomorrow, Carrie is going to watch Ava so Jody and I can go to a movie (Little Miss Sunshine). I can't even remember the last movie we saw in the theater, though after looking at ticket prices today ($9 each!), I don't imagine we'd go very often even if we had someone to watch Ava. Sheesh, that's expensive.

Sometime during the weekend I need to finish proofing my photo session from last weekend and get that ready to present to my client. I also want to do some more kids' clothes organizing. Time to bring out the fall stuff and see what still fits this year.

So, all in all, a rather relaxing weekend planned.

My cold is doing a bit better each day, and although Jody's caught it too, he's not doing bad either. I appreciate the get well wishes. :)

For those of you who have a three-day (Labor Day) weekend, enjoy! :)

P.S. I didn't take the picture, but it's a peak that's visible from our house.

Sick and tired

2006-08-31T21:27:00.000-06:00

I have a full-blown cold and feel like total crap. I must have gone through at least 75 tissues (and sneezed well over 100 times - seriously - usually I do 4 or 5 sneezes at a time) today. (I so need to get my hands on one of those contraptions in the pic!) My nose is sore and red. My throat hurts. I took a short nap today, but I'm still tired.

Ava has a cold too (she got it first), but thankfully seems to be on the mend.

Jody is out playing D&D with his friends tonight (don't get me started), but my sister is over hanging out and entertaining Ava.

I am taking Ava's homeopathic cold remedy and am hoping this won't last too much longer (though I just started feeling sick last night). I also plan to try a cold remedy that my midwife recommended (involving fresh grated ginger and fresh grated garlic mixed honey and hot water with fresh lemon juice) tomorrow, now that my sis was kind enough to go buy some ginger and more garlic for me tonight. It sounds soothing.

I guess the good news in all of this is that there's a 3-day weekend on the horizon and Jody can play nurse if he needs to.

Sorry for being such a whiney baby, but that's how I feel. **Sigh**

Poor baby

2006-08-30T10:23:00.000-06:00

We were all sitting in the livingroom, watching a documentary about giraffes on PBS the other night. Ava was enjoying it, especially when they showed baby giraffes.

It got to a part where they were filming a female giraffe giving birth to a baby at a zoo in Colorado Springs. I didn't think anything of Ava watching it since she and I have watched videos of human babies being born in the past and they didn't phase her in the least. In fact, she usually wants to see more. I just wanted to be sure she understood what was happening and told her, "the mommy giraffe is going to have a baby." She got excited. I turned my attention away from her and back to the TV and watched as the baby giraffe emerged from it's mother's birth path and fell about 4 feet into a heap on the sandy ground. At that point, Ava said (in her most concerned, high-pitched voice), "BABY???" and burst into tears. :( I picked her up to comfort her and Jody and I reassured her that the baby was OK. We watched together as the mommy giraffe soon began to lick the baby and it sprung to life and started trying to stand up and walk. She calmed down once she knew baby was OK, but she sure was hysterical for a minute or so. :(

I felt so bad. She obviously thought something was wrong with the poor little thing after it fell to the ground and didn't begin to move right away, but I had no idea she would respond the way that she did.

We've talked about it since then and she's not scarred for life (as far as I can tell!), but it makes me want to cry when I think about how sad she sounded.

How I love a good deal

2006-08-29T16:17:00.000-06:00

Today was the last day of a HUGE "Just Between Friends" consignment sale at the fairgrounds and neary everything was selling for 50% off. Ava and I spent two hours there (whew!) and I came away with an enormous bag of clothes.

For baby boy (who definitely racked up the most loot), I got:
15 (cuu-uuute!) outfits and/or sleepers/sleep sacks ranging in size from 0/3 to 9 months - Carter's, Osh Kosh, Old Navy, The Children's Place, etc.
6 pair of socks

For Ava, I got:
2 winter sleepers - Carter's and Baby Gap
1 sweater - The Children's Place
1 pair of jeans
Unfortunately the 2T and 3T girls clothes were majorly picked over, so there wasn't much to be had for the lil miss.

And for myself, I got:
3 pair of maternity pants (though I'm not sure if one of them fits)
2 maternity long-sleeved shirts

How much did I spend on this plethora of clothes you ask?
$150? No way!
$100? Surely, you jest.
$60? Nope.

I got it all for $54!! :-) Not too shabby if you ask me.

I just finished gathering up all of the clothes we now have for baby boy (so I can wash and organize them) and I think he is quite set in the 0/3 month department. If he grows anything like his big sister did, he probably won't even get to wear all of his 0/3 month clothes before he moves into the next size! Ava graduated to some 3/6 month outfits at only a month old.

Anyway, I'm feeling good about what we've got for the little man now. I still need to get some cloth diapers in smaller sizes (because the small FuzziBunz we had for Ava were all borrowed), but I'm hoping some friends will have hand-me-downs for me before November.

I guess you could say I'm getting some of my nesting done early this time around. :)

The weekend wrap-up

2006-08-28T21:22:00.000-06:00

Can you top my exciting Friday night? Jody, Ava and I went to Kmart so Jody and I could buy ourselves some new underwear! You know it's time to splurge and get yourself some new skivvies when you start to wear holes (gah!) in the old ones. I've always been pretty practical when it comes to undies (i.e. I can't justify spending beaucoup bucks on Victoria's Secret panties) and cotton bikinis have suited me just fine in the past (heck, I can even wear them under my belly while pregnant), so I picked up a multi-pack of Fruit of the Loom colored bikinis. Woohoo. Jody got himself a couple packages of Hanes boxers and now we are both good to go for another few years. ;)

On Saturday, I got out of the house alone for a few hours to scout out some parks for the maternity photoshoot I had scheduled for Sunday. I did a little bit of hiking and spent some time in nature by myself and it was quite relaxing. After that I picked up a new (well, new to me) pair of jeans at a consignment shop, then stopped by a friend's house and hung out for a bit. Later that afternoon, after Ava decided she didn't want to nap because daddy was home from work, we all took a drive in the car (which lulled her to sleep in no time) and Jody and I got some good quality conversation in. That was nice.
My sister Carrie joined us in the evening and Jody and I snuck out of the house (while she watched Ava) for about an hour to grab some food. We're hoping to plan a little date night in the near future so we can go see a movie ("Little Miss Sunshine" or "Superman").

On Sunday, I had the photoshoot first thing in the morning (hooray - it didn't get rained out!). It went quite well and I'm happy with many of the shots from it. I was worried I didn't get many good ones with the couple's 2-year-old son because he wasn't very interested in being in the pictures, but a number of them turned out quite cute. :) It was the first photoshoot I'd done in about three months (other than Ava's 2 year pics and my impromptu maternity pics), and it felt really good to do it. So now I'm working on proofing those this week.
Carrie came over for dinner with us and I got my Big Brother fix.

So that's it. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Contain your excitement, would you? ;oP

Down on the farm

2006-08-25T15:39:00.000-06:00

Ava, my sister Carrie, and I took a short drive (about 6 miles from our house) to a local farm for "farmfest" this morning. We saw chickens, llamas, pigs, cows, horses, ponies, rabbits, goats and sheep and had the opportunity to feed and pet several of them. It was a lot of fun. Ava enjoyed swinging on a tire swing and a horse swing made from a tire, as well as climbing on hay bales, playing in a huge sandbox, riding a tricycle and more.

I had no idea this farm existed so I'm glad that someone let me know about it (via a parenting message board), especially since it's so close to home. I'm sure we'll go back another time, maybe on a weekend so daddy can come too.

Here are a few pics from our day:

Having fun on the tire swing:

Not too sure about that huge horsey (though she did pet it's nose a couple times):

Crawling on a plank with her friend Gabriel:

Feeding ponies with Aunt Carrie:

Giddey-up horsey:

Ava got up from her nap talking non-stop about all of the different animals she saw on the farm today before exclaiming, "I love ALL the animals!" :) I guess you could say she had a good time.

28 week maternity pics

2006-08-24T10:38:00.000-06:00

Since I have a maternity photoshoot for an acquaintance scheduled for this weekend, I thought I better take out my trusted camera and get some good practicing in yesterday while Ava napped. Seeing how I have a baby belly myself and a desire to document my pregnancy as well, I figured I'd try my hand at some self-portraits. Eeep! It was a lot harder than I thought. First of all, it's NOT easy to get the focus right when you are using a timer and have nobody to stand in for you. Secondly, it's a lot of work going back and forth from the camera to the backdrop (in a house without A/C) in between each picture. I took probably 40 pictures and have about 8 that I'm sort of happy with, and 2 that I will share here. :)

Here I am - one day shy of 28 weeks:

I saw my midwife on Tuesday and everything is going well. I got to hear baby boy's heartbeat through the stethescope which was really amazing since it was just pure heartbeat and not all the ambient noise you hear when you listen with a doppler. She felt him a lot (and could feel limbs, his butt, his back) and he is head down, though his head is off to the side. She gently reminded him where the exit is. ;)
My blood pressure is great and no protein in my urine.
She got my records from Ava's birth so we went over those a bit and talked about what signs they saw that lead up to them admitting me, inducing and deciding I had HELLP syndrome. From what she could tell, I either had a very mild case of HELLP or they caught it VERY early. Either way, it's reassuring, though it makes me wonder if there really was the urgency to induce as quickly as they did. Ah well, it's water under the bridge and there's no undoing it now. The good news is that I'm not showing any indication that I may develop HELLP this time around. :) *Knock wood*

I had my second acupuncture appointment today and it went well. I began to feel relaxed as soon as she started putting the needles in. I think someone on my blog inquired as to if I've noticed any difference since starting the acupuncture and I've read that it usually takes 4-6 visits to see a difference. My heartburn has lessened a lot though lately but I don't know if that's from the acupuncture or the changes I've made to my diet (like not drinking liquids with meals and avoiding some trigger foods) or it could be a combination. Obviously, with her treating my internal organs (liver and kidneys primarily), I'm not going to notice any difference. But she is also doing some work on some upper back pain I've been having, so we'll see if that gets better.

I need to set aside time to do more relaxation work to help me prepare for the birth. In fact, since the kiddo is napping, I think I'll go do that now.

Oh, one last pregnancy-related thing...the great book I'm currently reading - Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. It's a wonderful, inspirational read. I HIGHLY recommend it to all pregnant women or those who plan on having children someday.

"Drawing upon her thirty-plus years of experience, Ina May Gaskin, the nation’s leading midwife, shares the benefits and joys of natural childbirth by showing women how to trust in the ancient wisdom of their bodies for a healthy and fulfilling birthing experience. Based on the female-centered Midwifery Model of Care, Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth gives expectant mothers comprehensive information on everything from the all-important mind-body connection to how to give birth without technological intervention.

Filled with inspiring birth stories and practical advice, this invaluable resource includes:
• Reducing the pain of labor without drugs--and the miraculous roles touch and massage play
• What really happens during labor
• Orgasmic birth--making birth pleasurable
• Episiotomy--is it really necessary?
• Common methods of inducing labor--and which to avoid at all costs
• Tips for maximizing your chances of an unmedicated labor and birth
• How to avoid postpartum bleeding--and depression
• The risks of anesthesia and cesareans--what your doctor
doesn’t necessarily tell you
• The best ways to work with doctors and/or birth care providers
• How to create a safe, comfortable environment for
birth in any setting, including a hospital
• And much more

Ina May’s Guide to Natural Childbirth takes the fear out of childbirth by restoring women’s faith in their own natural power to give birth with more ease, less pain, and less medical intervention."

Two random tales

2006-08-23T14:07:00.000-06:00

Did you ever have a day when you thought you'd have been better off staying in bed?
I began to wonder that very thought today after I first cut the heel of my foot on the front door while getting ready to go run errands. Then, as I walked out to the car, I stepped half on the walkway and half on the grass and half-twisted my ankle. Thankfully I caught myself before it twisted all the way.
It was at that point that I said to Ava, "mommy needs to sit down right here in the driveway." And I pulled out my cell phone and called Jody and contemplated whether or not I should attempt to drive after my less than graceful exit from the house. He suggested I knock on wood or a tree or something before I attempted anything else, so I did. He also reminded me that my joints are getting more loose as my pregnancy progresses. Oh yeah. How quickly we forget. I had a nasty fall while 38 weeks pregnant with Ava - slipped off a curb in the rain and went down hard on my knee. I still have nerve damage from that incident.
Anyway, I decided to go ahead with it since I really needed to get to the bank, Post Office, put gas in the car and go grocery shopping. Thankfully, it was all uneventful after that and I got done what I needed to do. :)

======================================

Have you ever wondered what happens when you set the leg of a couch down on a ketchup packet? ;)
A few weeks ago, Ava came across some ketchup packets (I assume because we got takeout one night) and was playing with them in the livingroom. I wasn't really concerned because I didn't figure she could open them, and I was right. However, I still should have been concerned.
You see, the tv remote had gone missing, so Jody and I were searching the room trying to track it down. He picked up one side of the couch so that I could look under it. No remote. But when he set it down, guess what was right underneath the leg??? The ketchup packet, of course!
We didn't even notice it had exploded until a few minutes later when I saw some ketchup on the carpet. Oh no! But it got worse. We soon discovered ketchup on the carpet, couch, loveseat, rocking chair, fan, window, curtains, and wall - higher up than Jody could reach while standing on the back of the loveseat! It went EVERYWHERE!
Of course we laughed about it, but I'm still scratching my head wondering how we're going to get those last drops of ketchup off the wall way up there. ??!!

Our trip to MI (with lots of pics)

2006-08-21T16:46:00.000-06:00

We had a very nice trip to MI and managed to fit quite a bit into a week and still have time to relax. The many pics below (taken with my lousy point & shoot camera since I didn't want to risk damaging my nice one) show some of the highlights from the trip.

One thing we didn't get any pics of though was our floating trip down the Au Sable River. My parents, Jody, Ava and I had four floaty lounge-chair type things that we tied together and floated down the river. Ava sat on daddy's lap for most of the float, then came over to join me and baby brother for the end of it. It was a lot of fun, though got a bit chilly at the end when the wind started picking up.

I also feel bad because I didn't get any good pics of Ava playing with her grandparents, mostly because when she was occupied with them, I was off doing something else. She had a lot of fun with them though - helping water flowers, picking vegetables in the garden, going for wagon rides around the neighborhood and reading books.

Jody got to golf a couple times with my dad, which was fun for him because he never golfs, but also made him realize how much practicing he'd need to do to be any good. ;)

It was nice to spend some time with my parents and not feel rushed to go do this, that or the other thing, which is usually how our visits go because there's always some big function planned. They seem really happy and settled in their place in Oscoda.

On our last day in MI, we travelled back down state (since we were flying out of Detroit Airport) and stopped by my aunt, uncle and cousins' house for lunch, then briefly saw my brother at his house before getting to the airport to catch our flight home. The flight was delayed about an hour and a half - first, waiting on the flight attendants, then, after they loaded us on the plane, waiting for the pilot (doh!). But we had a safe, uneventful flight home. :)

Click the pic to view it larger
A perfect day (though a little windy) at Lake Huron - 8/13/06:

Going swimming in the big lake - 8/13/06:

Practicing her golf swing with daddy (though after the way he golfed this week, it should've been grandma or grandpa helping her!) - 8/13/06:

We had s'more at a campfire in grandma and grandpa's backyard (grandma and Aunt Carrie in the pic too) - 8/13/06:

At Foote Dam (with grandpa) - 8/14/06:

Chasing the fishies (minnows) down at "Three Pipes" on the Au Sable River - 8/15/06:

Looking for more fishies - 8/15/06:

Being a little fishy herself - 8/15/06:

Swimming with daddy - 8/15/06:

On the beach at Negwegon State Park (a beautiful secluded beach on the way to Alpena) - 8/17/06:

Rock thrower - 8/17/06:

In her own little world, exploring the beach - 8/17/06:

Walking on the beach with mommy - 8/17/06:

Stopping to check out the view (while Ava slept in the car) - 8/17/06:

Picking blueberries (she ate most of what she picked, right off the bushes) - 8/18/06:

Ava showing off a freshly-picked blueberry - 8/18/06:

Taking a break from picking to smile with grandma - 8/18/06:

Modeling the new tutu grandma and mommy made - 8/18/06:

Our family (in front of grandma and grandpa's house) before the drive down state to the airport - 8/19/06:

Time to say good-bye to grandma and grandpa before we fly home to CO (at the airport in Detroit) - 8/19/06:

It's good to be home (I confess I missed my bed and body pillow), though we're not settled back into our groove yet. Ava and I went to a grape jelly canning "party" this morning at a friend's house. I'd never canned anything myself before so it was cool to see how it's all done and I'm excited to taste the jar of jelly we brought home. :)

I can't believe that I'll be 28 weeks along this week!! I'm really getting close to the end and I don't feel ready at all. I have both a midwife appointment and acupuncturist appointment this week. I'm also going to look into seeing a chiropractor a time or two before baby boy comes to make sure I'm well-aligned. I've never been before, but I know it certainly can't hurt.

In other news, my sister is all moved into her apartment just a few miles from our house. :) We've seen her more times in the past few days than we have in the last year I think! She goes for her school (3rd year law) orientation tomorrow.

Well, the kiddo is going down for a nap, and I have things to do, so that's all for now.

We're home!

2006-08-20T09:44:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to say we are home safe and sound. We had a very nice time in MI and I will be posting more about our trip and some pics later. :)
Have lots of unpacking, laundry, cleaning and grocery shopping (cuz our fridge is EMP-TY!) to do today. TTFN.

Off to the Great Lakes state :)

2006-08-10T22:06:00.000-06:00

We're heading out bright and ridiculously early Saturday (the 12th) morning to catch our 8 a.m. flight to Michigan, where we'll be until the 19th, spending time primarily with my folks and sis (for a few days) up in Oscoda.

The weather looks to be sunny and in the 80s for the week (yay!), except for one day of possible rain. I can deal with that. :)

After flying into Detroit Metro Airport (cuz it was the cheapest [and I use the term loosely] flights we could get of the airports available to us in MI), Mom is picking us up for the four hour drive up to Oscoda. It's going to be a loooong day of traveling. Thankfully we'll have the rest of the week to rest and relax before the trip back home.

My parents live within a couple blocks of the Au Sable River (right pic) and Huron National Forest and within a couple miles of Lake Huron (left pic). We're looking forward to doing lots of swimming, some nature walks, canoeing, campfires, seeing the sights and just plain relaxing.

For those of you who don't know, I spent the first 22 years of my life in Michigan (in the Detroit area), before moving to Oklahoma for a year and a half, and eventually to Colorado - where I've lived for the past nearly six years now. So while I'm going back to my home state, it won't really feel like going "home" since my parents sold the house I grew up in and moved four hours up north to Oscoda a few years ago.

Some interesting trivia about Oscoda (and surrounding areas)...
I asked my mom to check into natural or health food stores around there because I know we'll want to pick up some things for the week. Well, there are no health food stores in Oscoda and they only have one grocery store chain (the other recently closed down), that apparently doesn't carry any (or very little) organic food. There's a Wal-mart Supercenter about 20 miles from there that you'd think would carry *some* organic foods, but mom checked it out and they don't. Gah! Thankfully, I was able to track down one health food store - Marbie's Nutrition - about 20 miles from Oscoda, so it looks like we'll be paying ol' Marbie a visit. ;) Though it's probably worth putting in a call to Marbie first to make sure they carry what I need. Anyway, I know health food stores exist in other parts of Michigan. Hell, they even have Trader Joe's. We don't have Trader Joe's here! But still, the longer I'm away, the more I realize Michigan is such a DIFFERENT world than Colorado.

I know we'll have a good time with the fam, and, even though I'm whining about it, we won't die if we eat conventional food for a week. ;) There are just a few things that I'd like to have on-hand, specifically for Ava. So we'll do what we have to do. :)

I hope to check in once or twice while we're there, but I'll be on *gasp* dial-up so I'm not holding my breath for too much Internet time, which is good anyway since I hope to be enjoying the great outdoors. :) "See" y'all in a week, with some pics and fun stories from the trip.

================================
Just for the record, I'm 26 weeks pregnant today - only 98 days left to go according to my baby-gaga ticker. Wow!! :) Baby boy has been active as all getout lately. I swear my whole stomach lurches at times.
I talked to my midwife's back-up a couple times this evening (because my midwife is out of town) about the abdominal discomfort I was having yesterday and today and the lightheadedness and it all sounds normal. She suggests I take a calcium/magnesium supplement to help with the round ligament pain, drink more water (is that possible??), and make sure my blood sugar isn't dropping (i.e. eat) for the lightheadedness. She was very friendly and helpful and, while I wasn't too concerned about what was going on, I feel much better after having talked to her.

Give me a break

2006-08-10T14:06:00.000-06:00

I just read that the Transportation Safety Administration is, as of today, prohibiting all liquids from carry-on luggage.

"The TSA issued the directive early Thursday following the arrests in the United Kingdom of several people suspected of plotting to blow up aircraft flying from the UK to the United States. The TSA has raised the national alert level to orange, indicating its belief that some sort of threat against U.S. aviation still exists.
The directive states that liquids or gels – including beverages, shampoo, suntan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel and similar items – will not be allowed through screening checkpoints. Concessionaires on the concourses can still sell such items, but have been instructed to tell passengers that the items cannot be taken aboard a plane."

This is particularly maddening to me sine we are flying on Saturday. So are they going to deny me, a pregnant woman who needs to drink at least 64 oz. of water a day, water on the plane? And what about babies that aren't breastfed? Are they going to deny them formula*? I understand the need for security, but sometimes I think things are taken a bit too damn far.

Jody seems to think I could take an empty water bottle through security and fill it up from a drinking fountain once we are through. That is, provided they don't confiscate my bottle. Who knows what the protocol is for empty containers. Oy.

Anyway, I'm just sitting here saying to myself - "what the hell?"

===============================
I don't think we are going to Jody's work picnic at the reservoir today. I was having some abdominal discomfort yesterday and have been feeling a bit woozy today (I have a call into my midwife), and Ava had a fever last night, so I think we'd better just stay home and rest up for our trip (and the long wait through security). ;oP

===============================
**EDITED**: Perhaps I need to edit this post to include that there's definitely more to this than just my being inconvenienced. OBVIOUSLY, I want everyone to be safe, but I think the way the government instigates these new procedures and protocols reactionarily (is that a word?) isn't really the best way to handle things. It's hard to take the threat levels and increased precautions seriously when the government/media is constantly trying to cram FUD (Fear - Uncertainty - Doubt) down our throats. It only takes one time of watching the evening news or a look through the news headlines to see how much FUD is out there. So sure I'm pissed that I can't take my own water through security, but (as with most of the things I post about), there is a LARGER issue here.

*After hearing something on the news about breast milk and formula being allowed, I found this on the Department of Homeland Security's website:
"The only exceptions are baby formula, breast milk, or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines."

On pins and needles

2006-08-08T17:41:00.000-06:00

OK, so I wasn't really on pins and needles, but I needed a catchy title. ;)

I went for my first acupuncture appointment on Monday. I read up a bit on acupuncture beforehand so I had an idea what to expect, but the doctor (an MD who practices in natural medicine and acupuncture) did a wonderful job of explaining things to me as well.

After we talked a bit about what I was there to see her for - liver support to prevent a recurrence of HELLP syndrome, heartburn (which I've been having a lot of lately), and stress, she had me lie on the table with supports under my back and legs (since I am pregnant) so I was sitting more in a V than flat on my back. She felt my pulses in my wrists and explained that in Chinese medicine they listen to a lot more than just how many beats per minute. She also explained that what acupuncture does is balance the Qi ("Chee") or energy force in the body. She said that because I was pregnant, she would avoid using some of the common acu-points because we do NOT want to move Qi down through my pelvis at this time. She said if I was at term and baby wasn't coming, then that's when they use the acupuncture to move the Qi through the pelvis, but certainly not at this point in my pregnancy. That was interesting to know.

Then she wiped with alcohol the spots on my body where the needles (which are sterile and disposable and very, very thin) would go in, and began inserting them. She put a couple in my feet, one in each ankle and knee (on the sides), one in my chest (for the heartburn - which she said is "rebellious Qi going in the wrong direction"), a couple in my neck and about four in each ear. The ears contain a spot for each part of the body, so in my ears she treated my nervous system, liver, kidneys and lungs.

It was pretty cool. I felt a slight pinch with a couple of the needles going in (which is what she said to expect), but didn't even feel most of them being inserted. By the way, the depth of the insertions varies from 6 to 12 millimeters into the muscle tissue, so they aren't going in far AT ALL. And once they were in, I could no longer feel them (which is to be expected - there should be no pain involved) and really just felt relaxed.

She left me alone with the needles in for 20 minutes, and said although there's nothing specific I needed to do to help with the treatment, if I wanted to do some meditation or visualization involving boosting my immune system, I could. Mostly I just closed my eyes and practiced my relaxation breathing (for Hypnobirthing), while focusing on having a healthy body. Baby boy was moving around a lot for the first 10 minutes or so, but then he settled down. I could see how it'd be really easy to just fall asleep while the needles are in because it is quite relaxing.

After the 20 minutes were up, she came back in and asked me how I was feeling. Then removed each of the needles.

She said she'd like to see me every week, though I may only go every other week since Jody has to take time off from work to watch Ava while I go.

Anyway, it was an interesting and good experience. Let me know if any of you have any questions. I do recommend that anyone who is wanting to go while pregnant make sure their acupuncturist has treated pregnant women in the past so they avoid the acu-points that move Qi through the pelvis. Don't want any of these babies coming before they are fully cooked. ;)

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In other news, the case of the missing funds has been solved. Hooray! I know I should balance my ledger every month, but (eep!) I haven't been. So I pulled out our bank statements for the past two months and found about six items I'd never deducted from the ledger. A-ha! The lightbulb goes on! Sucks that we are out that money, but I'm glad that I know why now.
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Yesterday afternoon, since Jody had the day off, he, Ava and I drove up to "Ned" (Nederland) in the mountains. It was beautiful up there. We went to the park that we always go to when visiting Ned and Ava had a grand old time on the playground, looking at the fish pond and checking out the dam and reservoir. It was a fun afternoon and nice to get out into nature.

Tomorrow Ava and I have an API meeting to attend in the morning. And on Thursday, Jody's work (Google) is having a family picnic at a local reservoir (or lake to those of you who don't live in CO). That should be fun. :)

Calling all scrapbookers and stampers - helpin' out another mama

2006-08-07T11:53:00.000-06:00

To make a long story short, my sister-in-law Debbie has fallen on some very hard times (both financially and emotionally lately). Her husband filed for divorce and then pursued an ugly custody battle in which he ended up winning custody of their two boys. I don't know a lot of the details, but it sounded to me like an unfair/unjust trial. It all went down in Tulsa County, OK, where a fathers' advocacy group has a stronghold on the judicial system - bulldogging the courts and spoonfeeding the dads information to manipulate the system. Her ex-husband is also asking for child support from her (when she was formerly a SAHM and he knows she doesn't have the money).

In order to handle the financial burden of court costs, plus the loss of an income for herself and her older daughter, AND make money for child support, Debbie is doing everything she can to get her online stamping and scrapbooking business (Stampin' Up!) going full force. She's also attending school in the fall to complete her family life education degree.

If you are a scrapbooker or stamper or into crafts, please give Debbie's Stampin' Up website a look (click on the "Online Catalog" to see the products she has available). If you know others who are into scrapbooking, please feel free to forward her site onto them or post a link to her site on your blog. Every little bit helps. :)

Even though Debbie has been dealing with Rheumatoid Arthritis for most of her life, has undergone several operations, and has been in an electric wheelchair for the past several years, she is a very independent and determined woman. I am quite confident that she can accomplish anything she puts her mind to - whether that be making this business a success or regaining custody of her sons one day.

Thanks for reading and thank you to those of you who can help out in whatever way that may be. :) I appreciate it and I know Debbie does too!

Don't ya just hate it when...

2006-08-06T13:53:00.000-06:00

You can't get your checkbook to balance and you are off by a LARGE amount and not in your favor (of course!)???
Since Jody wiped out my computer last week, he didn't have time to reinstall ALL of the programs that I use regularly, just the majority of them. As a result, I haven't had Xcel on my computer for a week or so, and I hadn't updated our checkbook ledger for a little while before that.
So, here I sit, trying to play catch up and get it all to balance now and I'm off by what started off as over $300, though now I've got it whittled down to $226, but I can't figure out anything else to subtract! Arg! It's so frustrating.
I am usually quite good about staying on top of these things. If I'm off a bit, it's never by much and I usually can figure it out, which is why this is making me want to tear my hair out. Blah. Maybe if I let it sit for a while and come back to it, it will jump out at me. :)

Anyway, we're having a pretty lazy weekend around here, which has been nice for all. The Lupus Foundation never came to pick up our bags and bags of donations on Friday, so we took them to a local charity in town yesterday. Honestly, that's what I had hoped to do before the LF called to schedule the pick up anyway (though I was excited to have someone coming to get them rather than us having to cart them somewhere), so I'm glad it all worked out the way it did. We also dropped off some cardboard at the recycling center. It might sound cheesy, but it always warms my heart to go there and see so many other people recycling their things as well. Call me a sentimental (i.e. hormonal) sap, but I got teary-eyed thinking about it yesterday. ;)
After that, we went to the Super Target across town (since they closed "our" Target down while they build a Super Target in it's place) to pick up dog food and a few other things.

We were actually supposed to go camping this weekend with two other families, but we backed out a couple weeks ago thinking it would be too much for us to do right after Jody's trip and the week before we go to MI. I'm glad we decided that then, because one of my friends got sick (the one who's cabin we were all supposed to stay at), so they didn't end up going anyway.

Jody has the day off tomorrow and I have my first acupuncture appointment. I'm SOOOOO looking forward to it. I've never been before, but I know people who have and who swear it helps them a lot. My midwife suggested acupuncture (and possibly Chinese herbs) as a preventative measure to treat my liver proactively so that I don't develop HELLP syndrome again with this pregnancy. I'm highly in favor of anything I can do now to minimize my chances because I'd hate to have to go through that again. Anyway, since I found an acupuncturist who's also an M.D. AND accepts insurance (hooray for a $10 copay), I plan to go semi-regularly and have her work on some other issues (physical and emotional) of mine as well as the HELLP issue. I'm sure I will be blogging about it to say how it all goes.

Just me and my girl

2006-08-03T17:49:00.000-06:00

I started out this week a little apprehensive because Jody would be out of town (at Siggraph in Boston) for the whole week and I would be taking on the single parent role. I had several things planned for Ava and I to do during the week, but I still worried about naps (since she hadn't been napping on a regular basis for the past few weeks). I know she still needs a nap because she gets quite cranky and out of sorts if she doesn't get one. And I know *I* still need her to nap because I get quite cranky and out of sorts if she doesn't get one too! ;) Seriously though, I look forward to that two hours or so every day when I have some time to myself - to read, blog, work on decluttering the house (a project that I will blog about another day), make dinner, clean up the house, or take a nap if I need one. It's valuable time that mommy needs to unwind. :)

I'm happy to say that my apprehensiveness was quite unfounded because Ava and I (although we definitely missed Jody) have had a great week together AND...she's napped every day! :)

On Monday, we went grocery shopping and made banana muffins together. I used whole wheat flour this time instead of white flour and they were even more tasty.

On Tuesday, we went to a play group (open gym at Kangaroo Kingdom) in the morning. Then in the evening, I dropped Ava off with my friend's husband Dax and son Creed (who's 7 months older than Ava) and I got to go out to dinner with my friends. :) Dax took the kids for a ride in the Burley (bike trailer) up to a pond where they fed the fish and turtles and played and then, a couple hours later, brought them all back to the restaurant where we were still sitting outside on the patio gabbing. It was a pleasant surprise to see them pull up. Ava and Creed looked so cute just hanging out in the Burley together. Ava's helmet (which was borrowed) kept falling over her eyes, so she was holding it up to peek out at us. My friend Brandy took pics and is going to send them to me, but I don't have them yet. Anyway, I'm so thankful that Dax was able to watch the kids. I felt good about leaving Ava with someone I totally trust and was able to have a nice evening out. And Ava had so much fun with them. She keeps talking about feeding the turtles and, when I asked her about riding in the Burley, she said, "I told Creed - 'this is fun.'" My little girl is growing up.

On Wednesday, we met friends at the Rec Center pool for swimming. Ava had a great time and I enjoyed soaking in the water for a while since my back was killing me the night before. I'm glad to see her getting more and more comfortable in the water since we've been swimming a few times this summer. I'd still like her to go to swimming classes (maybe this winter so she and Jody have something fun to do while I stay home w/ baby boy) so she can learn to stay afloat if she ever fell in and all of that. There have been too many stories on the news about little kids drowning in lakes, ponds, pools, etc. :( It definitely makes you worry about your own child's safety. After all the swimming fun, we both took a long nap yesterday evening. It was very much needed.

Today we went for a walk (which just about did me in. Even though it wasn't that far and wasn't *that* hot, I needed to lie down for a bit after we got home - blah), did some playing in the yard, cleaned up the house a bit, did laundry, went to the grocery store, and I finished getting together about five bags of clothes, household items, and other things to donate to the Lupus Foundation tomorrow when they come to pick it up. It was funny because I'd been in the process of gathering things up to get rid of (i.e. donate) and trying to figure out where to drop them all off and with what charity when the LF called last week and asked if we had anything. So since their timing was right on, I said YES and they are getting a ton of stuff from us. :)

Jody gets home late tonight then has to go into work tomorrow so we won't actually see him until tomorrow night. I will be glad to have my hubby home and I know Ava will be thrilled to see daddy. She's talked to him every night on the phone and has told me she misses him (and his coworker Tommy, who's also out there - hehe). She keeps saying "Daddy's still at Boston?"

I feel like this week together with just Ava has been especially good for us, because in a few short months, our lives will change dramatically with the addition of another family member. Ava will no longer get mommy's undivided attention whenever she wants it and I will miss that special time with my girl. So this week has made me really appreciate what a wonderful child she is and how much I love her. And now that I'm about in tears, I will wrap this entry up.

The pic above is from Ava's birthday - June 22, 2006.

World Breastfeeding Week : Aug. 1-7

2006-08-02T23:15:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post (for now)...
I don't know how I nearly overlooked it, but this week - Aug. 1-7 - is World Breastfeeding Week.

Thanks to Mama C-ta for bringing WBW to my attention with this post about "Vogue magazine proudly showing model Angela Lindvall even more proudly (and quite fashionably) breastfeeding her 14 month old son." Props to Vogue!! :)

Also, how cool is this? The Celebrity Baby Blog Breastfeeding Gallery - "We present to you these beautiful images of our readers breastfeeding their children. We hope that if you are a breastfeeding mother, it will empower you, if you are someone who has not been exposed to breastfeeding that you will be inspired, and that if you are someone who doesn't understand breastfeeding that you will open your mind." I haven't submitted any pics myself yet, but I very well may if I can find the time to dig some up or maybe I'll take some new ones. :)

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Inspired by others

2006-08-02T16:24:00.000-06:00

Two of my regular blog reads (Dawn and Leigh - a new one to me) have recently written about positive changes they've made in their and their families' lives.

On Dawn's blog, she mentioned natural dish soaps and laundry soaps. I'd been wanting to switch from Joy dish soap to something more natural for a while now (especially after learning about the link between petroleum-based cleaning products and cancer [and more here]), but figured it would be too expensive or something and I never researched it. (I know, shame on me.) Dawn's post inspired me to check out prices on Seventh Generation dish soap (a vegetable-based product) and it's not that much more than what I was paying for Joy, so I got some this week and have been very happy with it so far. I feel better knowing the dishes, cups and utensils we eat and drink off of haven't been washed with chemicals and petroleum. When I stopped to think about it, it didn't make much sense to me that here I was, buying organic and free-range *to better our health) whenever possible, yet the things I was cooking with and we were eating off of could have chemical residue on them. I'm happy that it's a small change, with a good impact, that won't break the bank.

Also, I learned something interesting from Seventh Generation's web site (which is also printed on the dish soap bottle itself): "If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 25 oz. bottle of petroleum based dishwashing liquid with our vegetable based product, we could save 118,700 barrels of oil, enough to heat and cool 6,800 U.S. homes for a year!" Amazing! Every little bit really does help make a difference. :)

And on Leigh's blog, she gave recipes for a variety of natural, inexpensive cleaning products, including one for making your own laundry soap, which I'd like to try in the near future. I've made glass, all-purpose and wood cleaners in the past, but never laundry soap. I'd like to try it, because for one reason, laundry soap is expensive. For two, I've been buying All Free and Clear which I'm sure isn't environmentally-friendly. And for three, I think I have soap build-up on my cloth diapers which is making them stink. Pee-eww. I'm a little daunted by the fact that the recipe makes 4 1/2 gallons of soap, but I think if I picked up some of those frosting tubs from the bakery at the grocery store, I'd have a good place to store it. Now I just need to figure out where to buy Fels Naptha soap and get motivated enough to just do it.

I commend both Dawn and Leigh for making positive changes for the health of their families and the earth. It's inspiring to read about others interested in doing what they can to make a difference. :)

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On an unrelated note, I've been extremely busy this week, which has been nice, but is why I haven't been blogging. I'm hoping to play catch up a bit tomorrow and fill you in on what we've been up to.

Hot and my darn computer

2006-07-30T19:13:00.001-06:00

It was another scorcher in CO this weekend. We beat the heat yesterday by going to the public kiddie pool. It was a bit more crowded this weekend than the last time we went, but still fun and refreshing. Ava had a great time and befriended a couple kids around her age - begging potato chips off the little boy's mom (*gasp* - guess there's a first time for her to eat everything - wait a minute, my mommy memory fails me! she has had chips before, just not often) and playing catch with a floaty fishy with a little girl. Good times. :)

I'd been getting by wearing one of my old "regular" 2 piece bathing suits to the pool, but decided yesterday that it was starting to get a little too snug. So today I found a cute maternity tankini at a consignment shop. It fits much more nicely and I feel more comfortable wearing it out in public. Ava and I are going to a play group this week at the pool at the rec center and we'll be up in MI visiting the fam and doing lots of swimming there in a couple weeks, so I will get some good use out of it. :)

And now onto my ~~damn~~ darn computer. It's been locking up periodically over the past few weeks, seemingly going in phases. It will be very tempermental for a few days, then fine for a week, then it will start all over again. Well, yesterday it locked up and wouldn't boot back up last night. So Jody's been messing with it today, trying to get it to stay on long enough for him to do all the scandisk-maintenancey stuff it needs, but it still kept locking up. So now he's wiping the hard drive (well, backing it up first) and going to try reinstalling Windows. (I'm on his laptop in the meantime.) Hopefully it will all work, because if it doesn't, I'm going to be without a computer for the week since the laptop will no longer be accessible to me. Arg. Cross your fingers it works, k? ;)

Anyway, with all of these computer shenanigans, Jody has been talking seriously about just buying me a Macbook (laptop). I haven't been a Mac person in the past and don't consider myself one now, but the idea of having a laptop is very appealing to me and I know many "artist-types" love their Macs, so maybe a change would be good for me. After all, that's what J's laptop is, so I have some experience with them. He thinks it would be much better for me to use with my photography and all and maybe he's right. I just tend to resist change (when it's being suggested upon me). So we'll see what happens.

Now that it's cooled off to about 90 degrees outside, I'm going to think about making dinner. Heating up the house just seems like such a crappy idea. Maybe I can find a good way to barbecue tofu (which I think is on the menu tonight since I don't have any chicken thawed). Hmmm.

UPDATE (7/31/06 6:08 p.m.) - The wiping and reinstalling on my computer last night seem to have helped because it hasn't locked up since. **major knocking on wood** Thank you, Jody. :o* Hopefully it will last me the week. :) I think getting a Macbook is still in my future, just have to figure out how we can afford it. ;)

Planning for a homebirth

2006-07-27T11:19:00.000-06:00

By now you may have gathered that instead of choosing to have an OB-attended hospital birth this time around, we are planning to have a midwife-attended homebirth. There are a number of varied factors that have led me down such a different path with this baby and I'd like to share some of them here.

I have to first admit that I've been a little reticent to post about this, not because I'm not excited about it, but because homebirth in our culture is not seen as a safe or wise choice (though in reality it is as safe or safer than hospital births in most cases - there are a number of studies that indicate as such). I am open to questions about why I've made this decision or things specific to homebirths, but I don't wish to be attacked for my choice. I have no desire to get into a debate over which is better - hospital or home. Rest assured I've done a lot of soul searching and research to come to the conclusion that planning a homebirth is right for me. In the event that a condition arises during my pregnancy or labor that indicates that a homebirth is no longer a safe, responsible choice, I have no qualms about going back to my OB (whom I like and respect) or being transferred to a hospital (which is literally less than five minutes from our house) if necessary.
OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's dive in, shall we? :)

First of all, I believe that - in the majority of cases - birth is a normal, natural and healthy process. I believe in a woman's (and my own) ability to give birth naturally, normally, without intervention, as women have been doing for thousands of years.

I am drawn to the midwifery model of care because it feels normal and natural. I like that a typical midwife prenatal visit lasts 60 minutes (as opposed to the typical 6 minute OB prenatal visit) and does not feel rushed. I like that I am getting to know the woman who will be there for my labor and birth and that she will gain my trust so that I feel comfortable with her while laboring and birthing. I like that my midwife is interested in my nutrition and in suggesting preventative measures (such as acupuncture) to help ensure that I have a healthy birth.

My midwife in particular has a 15 year background as an EMT (emergency medical technician). I feel her experience in that capacity has helped her develop critical thinking skills and the ability to think quickly on her feet. After all, how can you be an EMT without that ability? So I feel very comfortable that if a situation should arise that is beyond her comfort level, she will know what steps to take (i.e. a hospital transfer). Because of my history of complications with Ava, this was very important for us. Both Jody and I feel very confident in her experience and abilities.

I love the idea of birthing at my own home, where I am comfortable and able to relax without worrying about who's going to be walking in the door next (nurse shift changes, etc.), where Ava can play or sleep or do whatever she needs to (in a safe environment) and still be in close proximity to me and Jody. (My sister will be her primary caregiver while I am in labor.) And when the baby is born, Ava can chose whether or not she wants to be present. (Yes, we will be preparing her with regard to what to expect when mommy is in labor, etc. We actually watched a birth video - "Giving Birth: Challenges and Choices" by Suzanne Arms - this week.) I'd like her to be there, but I'm not going to force her. If she is meant to be there, she will be. After seeing her interest in watching the birth video though, I am pretty certain she'll want to see baby brother join us.

I also love the idea of being able to sleep in my own bed after the birth. That was one of the hardest things for me in the hospital, not being able to sleep. I eventually had to ask for sleeping pills because it'd been something like three days since I'd slept for more than a few minutes at a time, and having hallucinations while trying to care for a newborn is no fun. Having my own bed will be heavenly. And I'm sure Jody would agree as well after sleeping on a flimsy mattress on the cold, hard hospital floor for 5 days after Ava's birth.

Another compelling reason for me to have a homebirth is I'd like to labor and possibly birth in water and my midwife has a birthing pool that we can set up right in our house.

Because of all of this and more, I feel planning for a homebirth makes sense for us.
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The following information was taken from The Homebirth Choice by Jill Cohen and Marti Dorsey and further illustrates why I've decided a homebirth is the right choice for me and my family. I cut and pasted some things that I feel are particularly important to me.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF MIDWIFERY:
"Midwife means "with woman." Traditionally, women have attended and assisted other women during labor and birth. As modern medicine emerged in the West, birth fell into the realm of the medical. Since women were barred from attending medical schools, men became the birth practitioners. Having never had a baby themselves, they were unable to approach women and childbirth with the inner knowledge and experience of a woman. Childbirth became viewed as pathological rather than natural; unnecessary, and often dangerous or unproven, medical techniques and interventions became commonplace.

During the 1960s and 1970s, along with the women's movement and renewed interest in homebirth, the midwifery movement rekindled. It has been growing steadily ever since. Midwives are becoming more and more involved with birthing families and have been instrumental in redefining birth as a natural event in women's lives.

Midwifery empowers women and their families with the experience of birth."

PRENATAL CARE:
"Prenatal visits may take place at the midwife's home or clinic or at the family's home. Prenatal visits are a time for the midwife to get to know the family and friends, neighbors, or other children who plan to be present at the birth.

Prenatal care for the pregnant woman includes discussion of nutrition, exercise and overall physical and emotional well-being, as well as overseeing the healthy development of the fetus.

Midwives include the family during prenatal care, inviting them to ask questions and to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Intimate involvement of the family throughout the pregnancy allows for early bonding of the newly emerging family unit.

The midwife and family will often discuss the mechanics of birth. The more people know what's going to happen, the more comfortable they may be while awaiting the birth."

LABOR:
"In the safety and security of her own home, the mom is likely to be less inhibited about trying different labor positions and locations. She can sit on the toilet or go for a walk outside. She can eat or drink whatever she wants. She writes her own script. When it's time to deliver, she can often try whatever position she wants: on her side, squatting, sitting or kneeling."

BIRTH:
"Homebirth allows for full participation of family members. Under the guidance and assistance of the midwife, the opportunity is available for husbands or partners to "catch" their child as it is born. These moments can be very powerful and transformational in the lives of the new parents.

At homebirths, babies are usually immediately placed on the mom's stomach or breast, providing security, warmth and immediate bonding between mom and baby. This contact provides security for both mom and baby.

In the rare case when the baby has difficulty breathing on its own, midwives are fully trained in infant CPR. Usually, putting the baby right to the breast and having mom talk to her baby will encourage it to take those first breaths.

Putting the baby immediately to the breast helps reduce any bleeding the mom may have. The sucking action stimulates the uterus and causes it to contract. This closes off blood vessels and reduces bleeding.

Some members of the medical community have recently acknowledged that having a homebirth decreases the mother's and baby's chances of contracting an infection. The mother is used to the bacteria in her own environment and has built up immunities to it. This is passed on to the baby through the colostrum. Even when women are segregated in maternity wards, infections are much more commonplace after hospital births than homebirths."

Coming back "home"

2006-07-26T21:45:00.000-06:00

My little sister is coming back "home" to Colorado to complete her last year of law school at CU! We, of course, are thrilled to have her rejoin us here out west. I know Ava will love having Aunt Carrie close by and I will appreciate the help of having family nearby after baby boy is born (and of course her company and wit as well).

She moved back to MI two years ago to start her law degree, but has been able to transfer to CU as a "visiting student" for her last year.

She'll be moving back in less than a month now. Yay Carrie!! :)

Finally - Ava's 2 year pics :)

2006-07-24T20:32:00.000-06:00

I finally got a chance to take Ava's two year pictures this weekend - only a month after her actual birthday (so I'm not too terribly far behind, right?). ;) The weather cooperated, and, even though I wasn't thrilled about taking pics at noon with the sun beating down on us, I'm still pretty pleased with how they turned out. We went to a nearby college campus that has some beautiful scenery and Jody assisted me while I snapped away.

Here are some of my favorites:
(click the pic to view it larger)

Thanks for looking. :)

Beware the "skeeters" AND the DEET!

2006-07-23T13:02:00.000-06:00

I started writing this blog entry over a month ago, but never got it finished. So since the summer is quickly getting away from us, I figured it'd be good to at least get what I have written out there in case it might be of use to somebody.

With the threat of West Nile Virus, everyone seems concerned about mosquito bites these days. Many advocate the use of insect repellents containing DEET, but before you spray you and your family down, you might want to read up on DEET, how to use it safely, and/or alternative insect repellents that don't contain DEET at all. After all, your skin is your largest organ. Do you really want to cover it in chemicals when there are other options available?

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Fact Sheet on Using DEET
Includes info on how to use DEET safely (which is kind of scary if you ask me) like:
- Do not apply over cuts, wounds, or irritated skin.
- Use just enough repellent to cover exposed skin and/or clothing.
- After returning indoors, wash treated skin with soap and water. (I don't remember ever doing this as a kid. Ack.)
- Wash treated clothing before wearing it again.
- Use of this product may cause skin reactions in rare cases.
And also includes info on what to do in the event of a reaction to DEET.

Least Toxic Alternatives to DEET - includes info on plant oils and citronella, as well as names of "natural" repellents and their websites

The insect repellent I bought this year is All Terrain Herbal Armor - DEET-free lotion. It seems to work quite well, though definitely has a strong odor of citronella, but I don't think it smells any worse than OFF!, etc.

I think the bottom line is that, as with all products that go onto your skin, you should know what's in it and what the potential risks are before you use it. Sometimes the risks outweigh the benefits and sometimes vice versa. The trick is to know the facts ahead of time and make informed decisions. :)