Michael heard an interesting report on NPR about how babies may pick up language cues while in the womb:
Oh, and Michael has a new favorite song:
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Nesting: Christmas Edition
So our front room sat empty for a few months, but we've been able to furnish it over the last few weeks, just in time to make it cozy for the holidays. This has been very satisfying for someone who is 8-months pregnant and nesting (you should see how I act around baby clothes). It's still a work in progress - the furniture isn't laid out quite right, I'd like to get an area rug, and the chairs (not pictured) don't match anything and are too big. But I'm not going to worry about that stuff for awhile... I'm not going to worry about a lot of things for awhile. Except I may indulge in a little alarm at some spreading stretch marks.
Anyway, here are some results of my nesting instincts:
I really like how the fireplace turned out. I went with sparkly silver things for the mantle (and check out the cute baby socks in the middle! Those are from my friend Amy Jo, and they look so cute compared to the giant stockings. See? Baby clothes get me every time).
I was lucky enough to inherit the family piano that I grew up playing:
It arrived just before the first snowfall back in November. I don't think I realized quite how much it meant to me until it came here and I started playing again and years of my life growing up came flooding back to me. Years of listening to my older sisters playing (Nikki, once I tape-recorded you when you came home from college playing the piano for like an hour and I'd listen to that tape over and over for years after that), and years of playing myself, especially in high school when music, playing, and singing were like the biggest things in my life. My hands found the old familiar positions nestled in the keys and after a rocky first hour I was playing all the old songs that I played growing up, and all on the same instrument that was there for me in three different houses and what felt like three different lives. It's completely out of tune, but I really don't care, we'll tune it eventually, and for now I just have my old friend back. Michael has been really sweet about it, too, encouraging me to play and telling me that he likes it when I do, and even singing along sometimes (Michael has an awesome singing voice. There, I've said it and the secret is out and all of you should make him sing more because he is really good). Sometimes when I start playing and singing the baby joins in with some fun pokes and wiggles, too.
Are we all overwhelmed with nesting hormones yet? I'll keep going.
Last year or the year before I found this treasure online (the gold thing on the right):
Have you seen these? You light up the little candles on the bottom, and the heat rises and hits the propeller/fan thing, and it starts to spin and the little angels hit the bells and it makes this soft ting, ting, ting, ting sound. When I saw this, I realized that we had something like this when I was very little at Christmas, and I remember being amazed at how the heat made it turn and loving the little bell sound. I love bells at Christmas. It was all I could do to stop myself from buying this expensive thing at Costco that played Christmas songs on a silver bell system a few weeks ago. Instead I just walked in slow, pregnant-waddling circles around the area and listened to the bells for like 10 minutes.
Anyway, back to the chimes. When I saw them online I bought them instantly (and at a deal for like $10), and I love love love them. Probably less than half of my Christmas decorations actually made it out of their boxes this year, but this was a must.
Ok, what else? We have a little TV set up in the front room, and Dad you'll notice the little mice have emigrated to a safe place for Christmas:
Also we got a little couch and coffee table, which are off-center for the holidays while the tree takes up some room.
Oh and speaking of the tree, here you go:
So there's our last hurrah for a Christmas front room that is definitely not baby-safe. On Christmas Eve I'll have just 6 more weeks to go. Everyone keeps insisting that I'm "almost done" - whatever that means. I don't know what you're all talking about. But I should definitely have gotten work somewhere playing Mary for the holidays, huh? Michael and I walked into church on Sunday and pretty much every last seat was taken, and I just looked at him with my hand on my belly and said, "Well, there's no room at the inn."
(by the way, back in July I went horseback riding, and I was mildly worried about riding while pregnant. But then I thought, "Hey, I saw Mary in that Nativity video, and she was totally riding a donkey.")
Food for Christmas thought.
I'll try to do a post on the baby's room sometime before she comes. Merry Christmas everybody!
Anyway, here are some results of my nesting instincts:
I really like how the fireplace turned out. I went with sparkly silver things for the mantle (and check out the cute baby socks in the middle! Those are from my friend Amy Jo, and they look so cute compared to the giant stockings. See? Baby clothes get me every time).
I was lucky enough to inherit the family piano that I grew up playing:
It arrived just before the first snowfall back in November. I don't think I realized quite how much it meant to me until it came here and I started playing again and years of my life growing up came flooding back to me. Years of listening to my older sisters playing (Nikki, once I tape-recorded you when you came home from college playing the piano for like an hour and I'd listen to that tape over and over for years after that), and years of playing myself, especially in high school when music, playing, and singing were like the biggest things in my life. My hands found the old familiar positions nestled in the keys and after a rocky first hour I was playing all the old songs that I played growing up, and all on the same instrument that was there for me in three different houses and what felt like three different lives. It's completely out of tune, but I really don't care, we'll tune it eventually, and for now I just have my old friend back. Michael has been really sweet about it, too, encouraging me to play and telling me that he likes it when I do, and even singing along sometimes (Michael has an awesome singing voice. There, I've said it and the secret is out and all of you should make him sing more because he is really good). Sometimes when I start playing and singing the baby joins in with some fun pokes and wiggles, too.
Are we all overwhelmed with nesting hormones yet? I'll keep going.
Last year or the year before I found this treasure online (the gold thing on the right):
Have you seen these? You light up the little candles on the bottom, and the heat rises and hits the propeller/fan thing, and it starts to spin and the little angels hit the bells and it makes this soft ting, ting, ting, ting sound. When I saw this, I realized that we had something like this when I was very little at Christmas, and I remember being amazed at how the heat made it turn and loving the little bell sound. I love bells at Christmas. It was all I could do to stop myself from buying this expensive thing at Costco that played Christmas songs on a silver bell system a few weeks ago. Instead I just walked in slow, pregnant-waddling circles around the area and listened to the bells for like 10 minutes.
Anyway, back to the chimes. When I saw them online I bought them instantly (and at a deal for like $10), and I love love love them. Probably less than half of my Christmas decorations actually made it out of their boxes this year, but this was a must.
Ok, what else? We have a little TV set up in the front room, and Dad you'll notice the little mice have emigrated to a safe place for Christmas:
Also we got a little couch and coffee table, which are off-center for the holidays while the tree takes up some room.
Oh and speaking of the tree, here you go:
So there's our last hurrah for a Christmas front room that is definitely not baby-safe. On Christmas Eve I'll have just 6 more weeks to go. Everyone keeps insisting that I'm "almost done" - whatever that means. I don't know what you're all talking about. But I should definitely have gotten work somewhere playing Mary for the holidays, huh? Michael and I walked into church on Sunday and pretty much every last seat was taken, and I just looked at him with my hand on my belly and said, "Well, there's no room at the inn."
(by the way, back in July I went horseback riding, and I was mildly worried about riding while pregnant. But then I thought, "Hey, I saw Mary in that Nativity video, and she was totally riding a donkey.")
Food for Christmas thought.
I'll try to do a post on the baby's room sometime before she comes. Merry Christmas everybody!
Friday, December 11, 2009
32 weeks, or 2 months to go
I'm 8 months along now. Here's another picture for belly-documentation:
Though I still feel like I'll be pregnant forever, I'm starting to get the feeling that in a couple of months my responsibility list will get a lot bigger. I can't believe there's just 8 weeks left, but again, I don't really feel like it's ever going to end. People at work try to convince me that it WILL end, and then I whip up a google search for the lady that was pregnant for 46 years (Google: "pregnant for 46 years" unless you don't want to get so scared that your hair turns white). But we did some math and figured out that I'm 60 times more likely to get struck by lightning than to have that happen.
The baby loves to press her feet up into my right ribs, and often I have to push down on her in order to do things like sit normally or drive or breathe. We are both very excited for her to come, though I also feel very intimidated. Michael is elated and can barely wait another minute (much like the wait to find out the gender). Some things he won't wait for, like reading her Dr. Seuss stories which he does once or twice a week. We're still at a loss for what to name her. We've decided we'll go to the hospital with a few of our favorite names, and we'll pick one when we meet her. That way we'll have something to tell people when we call them, instead of just the weight and height. But until then we're welcoming any suggestions. My favorite suggestion so far has come from my niece: Glitter. Isn't that terrific? "This is my baby, Glitter." Sounds like a My Little Pony.
We're having a nice holiday season so far. It's much better than last year, when I was pretty much bedridden for the entire month with my kidney stone problems. The cold weather keeps giving me flashbacks to lying on the couch in a drugged haze for weeks next to the Christmas tree. I did get out of the house once, we rented a wheelchair and Michael pushed me around a mall, and as uncomfortable and awkward as it was, it was the only holiday thing I got to do. Michael had a hard time, too, taking care of me while working graveyards and having finals week in school, I don't know how he did it (maybe it was worse for him than for me?). At any rate, whatever trouble we're having this season, it's certainly better than last year so it's easy to find things to be grateful for. I hope you're all having a good (if not perfect) holiday season, too.
Though I still feel like I'll be pregnant forever, I'm starting to get the feeling that in a couple of months my responsibility list will get a lot bigger. I can't believe there's just 8 weeks left, but again, I don't really feel like it's ever going to end. People at work try to convince me that it WILL end, and then I whip up a google search for the lady that was pregnant for 46 years (Google: "pregnant for 46 years" unless you don't want to get so scared that your hair turns white). But we did some math and figured out that I'm 60 times more likely to get struck by lightning than to have that happen.
The baby loves to press her feet up into my right ribs, and often I have to push down on her in order to do things like sit normally or drive or breathe. We are both very excited for her to come, though I also feel very intimidated. Michael is elated and can barely wait another minute (much like the wait to find out the gender). Some things he won't wait for, like reading her Dr. Seuss stories which he does once or twice a week. We're still at a loss for what to name her. We've decided we'll go to the hospital with a few of our favorite names, and we'll pick one when we meet her. That way we'll have something to tell people when we call them, instead of just the weight and height. But until then we're welcoming any suggestions. My favorite suggestion so far has come from my niece: Glitter. Isn't that terrific? "This is my baby, Glitter." Sounds like a My Little Pony.
We're having a nice holiday season so far. It's much better than last year, when I was pretty much bedridden for the entire month with my kidney stone problems. The cold weather keeps giving me flashbacks to lying on the couch in a drugged haze for weeks next to the Christmas tree. I did get out of the house once, we rented a wheelchair and Michael pushed me around a mall, and as uncomfortable and awkward as it was, it was the only holiday thing I got to do. Michael had a hard time, too, taking care of me while working graveyards and having finals week in school, I don't know how he did it (maybe it was worse for him than for me?). At any rate, whatever trouble we're having this season, it's certainly better than last year so it's easy to find things to be grateful for. I hope you're all having a good (if not perfect) holiday season, too.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
My Baby Shower: long, long overdue
* Written 1/21/2011
My baby shower was way back on November 7, 2009. It took a little time to get the photos and by the time I did I was too ill with the pregnancy to think about blogging very much. And then Jane was born and it has just gotten later and later, so I promised myself that I would post about the shower before her first birthday. So I'm going to leave this post here at the top of my blog for a week or so, and then I'll file it back in November '09.
It's really a shame that I haven't written about it until now, because it was totally awesome. My family went to so much work to make it special for me because they were all so excited about my first child and because they love me a lot, and I really felt that from everything they did.
My mom hosted the shower, and everyone contributed totally yummy food. This was especially nice because I hardly ever had good food when I was pregnant and it was such a relief to not have to make it myself! There was a big beautiful fruit salad, and a strawberry-spinach salad (my favorite kind), rolls, two kinds of soup, and chocolate cupcakes.
My sister Jacque made this incredible fondant cake! The real kicker is that she had never heard of fondant before, this was her first time! I love fondant cakes, I think they are so beautiful (we actually had a fondant cake at our wedding). And the ribbons and bows on top, amazing!
My sister Erika did the invitations, and I got to pick out my favorite one online and she took care of the rest! The shower invitation was really cute, I'm sorry that I don't have a picture or a copy scanned to include here. Erika also made a delicious Thai soup for the shower! It was heavenly!
My sister Lauren planned the games for the shower. She had the classic "cut the yarn as long as you think Breanne's belly is," which may or may not have been flattering. =) And she passed around baby food jars and we all had to guess which food it was by smelling it (I was not very good at that one!). There was also a memory game where she showed us baby items on a tray for 20 seconds and then we had to write down everything we could remember. I got to keep the baby stuff at the end (and it all really came in handy)! The last game she did was a word matching game:
Each card had baby-related words on it, and if you matched two of the cards, then Lauren gave you a candy bar that was a funny spin of the word on the card! For instance, if you found both "Daddy" cards, you got a Big Hunk! I think "twins" was a Twix bar, and "preemies" got you a box of Runts. Half the fun was just trying to guess what candy bar it would be! I wish I could remember some of the other pairings.
My sister Nikki was absolutely amazing and worked so hard to put the finishing touches on everything!
She made all of the party favors, including sugar cookies frosted like alphabet blocks, pink chocolate suckers in the shape of teddy bears, and pretzels drizzled with white, brown, and pink chocolate.
Nikki also did all of the decorations at my mom's house, with balloons and streamers and all things baby-shower-ish. She had a black and pink theme going which I think was tres chic!
The most amazing thing was a gift from everyone that Nikki put together. It's a book of advice and warm wishes from all of my family, including people who couldn't be there that night like relatives in California, Michael's family, nieces and nephews, and she even emailed friends of mine on Facebook and got quotes from them to include in the book! The book also has photos of all of these people that I love and quotes from famous people (like Mr. Rogers and the Cookie Monster) on bringing up children and family. It was beautiful!
It was great to have many family and friends near enough to come to the shower. I'm not sure if we got a picture of everyone, but we got quite a few people:
And then it was time for presents! I got so many adorable outfits for Jane, most of which you have probably seen on her blog by now. I got lots of 3-month outfits which was great because she fit into those for SO LONG!
My baby shower was way back on November 7, 2009. It took a little time to get the photos and by the time I did I was too ill with the pregnancy to think about blogging very much. And then Jane was born and it has just gotten later and later, so I promised myself that I would post about the shower before her first birthday. So I'm going to leave this post here at the top of my blog for a week or so, and then I'll file it back in November '09.
It's really a shame that I haven't written about it until now, because it was totally awesome. My family went to so much work to make it special for me because they were all so excited about my first child and because they love me a lot, and I really felt that from everything they did.
My mom hosted the shower, and everyone contributed totally yummy food. This was especially nice because I hardly ever had good food when I was pregnant and it was such a relief to not have to make it myself! There was a big beautiful fruit salad, and a strawberry-spinach salad (my favorite kind), rolls, two kinds of soup, and chocolate cupcakes.
My sister Jacque made this incredible fondant cake! The real kicker is that she had never heard of fondant before, this was her first time! I love fondant cakes, I think they are so beautiful (we actually had a fondant cake at our wedding). And the ribbons and bows on top, amazing!
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| Jacque |
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| Erika |
My sister Lauren planned the games for the shower. She had the classic "cut the yarn as long as you think Breanne's belly is," which may or may not have been flattering. =) And she passed around baby food jars and we all had to guess which food it was by smelling it (I was not very good at that one!). There was also a memory game where she showed us baby items on a tray for 20 seconds and then we had to write down everything we could remember. I got to keep the baby stuff at the end (and it all really came in handy)! The last game she did was a word matching game:Each card had baby-related words on it, and if you matched two of the cards, then Lauren gave you a candy bar that was a funny spin of the word on the card! For instance, if you found both "Daddy" cards, you got a Big Hunk! I think "twins" was a Twix bar, and "preemies" got you a box of Runts. Half the fun was just trying to guess what candy bar it would be! I wish I could remember some of the other pairings.
She made all of the party favors, including sugar cookies frosted like alphabet blocks, pink chocolate suckers in the shape of teddy bears, and pretzels drizzled with white, brown, and pink chocolate.
Nikki also did all of the decorations at my mom's house, with balloons and streamers and all things baby-shower-ish. She had a black and pink theme going which I think was tres chic!
The most amazing thing was a gift from everyone that Nikki put together. It's a book of advice and warm wishes from all of my family, including people who couldn't be there that night like relatives in California, Michael's family, nieces and nephews, and she even emailed friends of mine on Facebook and got quotes from them to include in the book! The book also has photos of all of these people that I love and quotes from famous people (like Mr. Rogers and the Cookie Monster) on bringing up children and family. It was beautiful!
It was great to have many family and friends near enough to come to the shower. I'm not sure if we got a picture of everyone, but we got quite a few people:
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| On the left, Michael's grandma Bonnie (baby Jane's great-grandma) and on the right, Penny P, a very close family friend of Michael's |
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| Michael's mom, Carrie |
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| Carrie's sister Sherren on the left and on the right my good friend Adrienne from high school and college (she was pregnant herself!) |
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| Mom on the left and my good friend Jessie and her son Jonah. Jessie was also pregnant! |
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| My good friend from high school, Heather, on the right. |
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| Lots of us eating the yummy food! You can see my niece Cameron in the lower left, she was so helpful that day! Also, in the background you can see hanging flowers and paper cranes that Nikki decorated with. I took those home and put them in front of the window in Jane's room and they have been hanging there ever since! |
And then it was time for presents! I got so many adorable outfits for Jane, most of which you have probably seen on her blog by now. I got lots of 3-month outfits which was great because she fit into those for SO LONG!
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| Jane got so many frog-related items! Her mom loooves frogs. |
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| This was a hilarious "how-to" baby book reminding you of things like don't let the play with sharp objects |
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| This was a way cute "baby-gami" book, on different ways that you can wrap up the baby. |
All in all, it was pretty awesome. I left the shower with my friend Jessie, and the first thing she said in the car was, "That was probably the best shower I have ever been to." It's true! I was actually a little overwhelmed with how much was done for me, I didn't realize people would work so hard to make it special. Even my very good friend, Amy, who couldn't be there sent me an awesome package that was like a mini-shower in itself! Thanks to everyone who came and for the gifts and thanks for making me feel so loved!
p.s. - sorry if I forgot to mention something that someone did. Honestly I'd like to include everything so if I'm forgetting something please send me an email.
p.s. - sorry if I forgot to mention something that someone did. Honestly I'd like to include everything so if I'm forgetting something please send me an email.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
My Halloween Costume
The baby went as a speed bump, and I guess you could call me the road.
I worked at the library and I don't think I looked quite pregnant enough because most of the patrons that came up to me saw the sign and then looked confused and then just got right to their questions. I'm sure the mental debate went something like, "Bump? Is she pregnant? Or is she just making fun of being fat? I better not ask, just ask your question."
But my co-workers thought it was funny.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
October Updates
I am 25 weeks along now and over the last month my belly has started to poke out noticeably. It's a strange change, I've never looked pregnant before and it's surprising to see it happening to me. Here's an obligatory belly-documentation photo:
The only thing that makes me hesitate to use that photo is that I look too perky. I still have morning sickness, which should have stopped about 2-3 months ago depending on your point of view, so smiling is not often one of my facial expressions. But I don't want to scowl at you all out from the internet, so that is the picture we are going with (journalistic accuracy be damned). Morning sickness aside, other fun things are happening, like the baby kicking so that Michael can feel it, which makes him smile really big. And as long as we're talking pregnancy, some of my favorite pregnancy foods right now are: strawberries with Nutella, cheerios, and cheese bread from Little Caesar's (mmmm). Fresh fruit and protein are often what I'm craving; food evils include anything heavy in onions, cooked tomatoes, and peppers.
I got vaccinated for h1n1 on Monday with my sister, just after they got the shots in, and about 24 hours before they ran out completely. So that was lucky, though exhausting as we waited in line for about an hour and a half through a parking garage. But working at the public library has had me paranoid because we get so many sick people ("We need books and movies for the week while we get over the flu"), and I've been eyeing sniffly patrons suspiciously and wishing that they would go away. Now I think I can feel a little more sympathetic.
The world is slowly but spectacularly changing around us. My backyard has suddenly gone from green to gold:
But the tree out front can't make up its mind whether it wants to start turning yellow yet (even though all his friends on the street have already done it. I think he's trying to be cool):
This weekend takes on a somber tone as Saturday marks 1 year from the day I miscarried. As wonderful and delightful as this new pregnancy has been, we still think about how we might have a 4 month old right now. Even though we're in the midst of wonderful things like looking at fun pink baby clothes and feeling the baby kick, Saturday is at least a day to remember very significant events from last year, and to think about how much our lives have changed.
Happily, on Sunday we can go back to "pregnancy as usual"
The only thing that makes me hesitate to use that photo is that I look too perky. I still have morning sickness, which should have stopped about 2-3 months ago depending on your point of view, so smiling is not often one of my facial expressions. But I don't want to scowl at you all out from the internet, so that is the picture we are going with (journalistic accuracy be damned). Morning sickness aside, other fun things are happening, like the baby kicking so that Michael can feel it, which makes him smile really big. And as long as we're talking pregnancy, some of my favorite pregnancy foods right now are: strawberries with Nutella, cheerios, and cheese bread from Little Caesar's (mmmm). Fresh fruit and protein are often what I'm craving; food evils include anything heavy in onions, cooked tomatoes, and peppers.
I got vaccinated for h1n1 on Monday with my sister, just after they got the shots in, and about 24 hours before they ran out completely. So that was lucky, though exhausting as we waited in line for about an hour and a half through a parking garage. But working at the public library has had me paranoid because we get so many sick people ("We need books and movies for the week while we get over the flu"), and I've been eyeing sniffly patrons suspiciously and wishing that they would go away. Now I think I can feel a little more sympathetic.
The world is slowly but spectacularly changing around us. My backyard has suddenly gone from green to gold:
But the tree out front can't make up its mind whether it wants to start turning yellow yet (even though all his friends on the street have already done it. I think he's trying to be cool):
This weekend takes on a somber tone as Saturday marks 1 year from the day I miscarried. As wonderful and delightful as this new pregnancy has been, we still think about how we might have a 4 month old right now. Even though we're in the midst of wonderful things like looking at fun pink baby clothes and feeling the baby kick, Saturday is at least a day to remember very significant events from last year, and to think about how much our lives have changed.
Happily, on Sunday we can go back to "pregnancy as usual"
Thursday, October 1, 2009
The Name Game
Well, we've been living in this house for 2 months now, and I finally found my plates yesterday. My favorite plates. The plates that we use all the time, every day, for every meal. The plates that I saved the BEST, most easiest-to-get-to spot in the cupboard for. I found them after 2 months of looking. 2 months of getting frustrated and walking down to the basement with a sharp object and cutting through boxes at random, even though I PACKED these boxes, even though they have labels on them that I WROTE and are RIGHT.
But the kitchen got packed for me, and though it's a wonderful service and gift that I really am grateful for - being pregnant and sick as I was, it's hard to find things later. But I found them. And now they're in the hallowed spot in the cupboard. And the house felt just a little bit more like home last night.
Of course it probably helped that we had a cold front move through, and the cold air outside makes this house seem so cozy and inviting. There's nothing like a old warm house with big windows to look out at fall from.
Anyway, since we found out we are having a little girl, the first and most natural question that comes to everyone's mind is: what are you going to name her?
I have been asked what feels like a million times. I have no idea. Well, I have some ideas, but nothing seems right. Michael is ready to drop everything and commit to a couple of names right here and now. And paint them in big letters on the wall in her room. And take out an ad in the paper about it. And maybe involve a skywriter.
But like I said, nothing seems to fit quite right to me. There are names that I like, but I just can't imagine my child with that name. Or I like that name for a baby, but what about when she's 30 and wants to be taken seriously? And my biggest fear is that we'll pick a name (Myrtle), and then we'll meet her and be like, "What! You're not a Myrtle! Now we have to pick a whole new name for you."
We're open to suggestions.
But the kitchen got packed for me, and though it's a wonderful service and gift that I really am grateful for - being pregnant and sick as I was, it's hard to find things later. But I found them. And now they're in the hallowed spot in the cupboard. And the house felt just a little bit more like home last night.
Of course it probably helped that we had a cold front move through, and the cold air outside makes this house seem so cozy and inviting. There's nothing like a old warm house with big windows to look out at fall from.
Anyway, since we found out we are having a little girl, the first and most natural question that comes to everyone's mind is: what are you going to name her?
I have been asked what feels like a million times. I have no idea. Well, I have some ideas, but nothing seems right. Michael is ready to drop everything and commit to a couple of names right here and now. And paint them in big letters on the wall in her room. And take out an ad in the paper about it. And maybe involve a skywriter.
But like I said, nothing seems to fit quite right to me. There are names that I like, but I just can't imagine my child with that name. Or I like that name for a baby, but what about when she's 30 and wants to be taken seriously? And my biggest fear is that we'll pick a name (Myrtle), and then we'll meet her and be like, "What! You're not a Myrtle! Now we have to pick a whole new name for you."
We're open to suggestions.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
It's a girl!
We saw the doctor this morning and he waited until the end of our appointment to tell us boy or girl. Michael told the doctor sarcastically as he was leaving, "Hey thanks for waiting until the VERY end to tell us what it was." The doctor laughed like - mwah haha.
Anyway, we'll now start narrowing down names. We have a few ideas, but for right now we affectionately call her Myrtle. Just kidding. She's very healthy, everything looked good and he didn't see any problems. Hurrah!
They gave us an ultrasound video to take home, and it's below. The whole video was 15 minutes long, so I've tried to edit out parts where he took measurements or just stopped the ultrasound for a moment. The doctor kept pausing it to explain things to us, so if it looks like your video has frozen, it probably hasn't. The cutest and clearest stuff (little hands and foots - so cute) is after the 5 minute mark, so you can just skip to that if you want. I don't think anyone will watch the whole 7 minutes except people who are REALLY excited. (And if you are I have to say - I can relate)
I apologize ahead of time to my kid for having her hoo-hoo exposed to all of the internet. I will save up for therapy.
My favorite part of all is just how much she moves around in there - like - it's aliiiive! We were talking about how much she was moving around and Michael was like, "Yep, that's my kid." - uh oh. Last night she kicked me really hard a couple times - she's only 21 weeks for pete's sake and I thought my belly-button might invert or something. So I was telling that to the doctor, saying "Is that normal? Or do I have like super-baby?" And the doctor just said, "Yes. You have super-baby."
lol
Anyway, we'll now start narrowing down names. We have a few ideas, but for right now we affectionately call her Myrtle. Just kidding. She's very healthy, everything looked good and he didn't see any problems. Hurrah!
They gave us an ultrasound video to take home, and it's below. The whole video was 15 minutes long, so I've tried to edit out parts where he took measurements or just stopped the ultrasound for a moment. The doctor kept pausing it to explain things to us, so if it looks like your video has frozen, it probably hasn't. The cutest and clearest stuff (little hands and foots - so cute) is after the 5 minute mark, so you can just skip to that if you want. I don't think anyone will watch the whole 7 minutes except people who are REALLY excited. (And if you are I have to say - I can relate)
I apologize ahead of time to my kid for having her hoo-hoo exposed to all of the internet. I will save up for therapy.
My favorite part of all is just how much she moves around in there - like - it's aliiiive! We were talking about how much she was moving around and Michael was like, "Yep, that's my kid." - uh oh. Last night she kicked me really hard a couple times - she's only 21 weeks for pete's sake and I thought my belly-button might invert or something. So I was telling that to the doctor, saying "Is that normal? Or do I have like super-baby?" And the doctor just said, "Yes. You have super-baby."
lol
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Check it out
STILL NO UPDATE ON BABY GENDER
Just for those of you who are dying to know. We'll find out tomorrow.
But I had a couple of things to share today.
First, I just found out that an entire class of third graders just voted on what I'm going to have... 3rd graders that I've never met! I just got this email from my mom:
"Well, my class just voted, and 19 think you are having a boy, 6 a girl, and two abstained. - Mom"
My response: what do 3rd graders know, anyway?
Mom agrees.
Second: I've been trying to go off of my anti-nausea pills for 2 weeks, to no avail. I'm still horribly sick without them, and even taking them I still throw up now and then. So yesterday I gave in and called my doctor to renew my prescription (since I had just taken my last one). They phoned in a new prescription to my pharmacy and wonderful Michael picked it up for me. I noticed some interesting things on the bag when he brought it home.
First, what we paid:
Then this line:
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HAHA. Doesn't that amaze you? My anti-nausea pills retail for about $20 a pill! (there were 60) But I know that my health insurance company doesn't pay nearly that much per pill - probably less than 10%. Also - if my health insurance didn't cover it, I know that Walgreen's has a pharmacy club you can subscribe to for $20 a year, and that takes the price of each pill down to about $2. So the total prescription would have cost me $180.
So in reality, my health insurance company saved me at most about $190. But that's still a lot of money! I'll take $0.16 a pill any day.
Just for those of you who are dying to know. We'll find out tomorrow.
But I had a couple of things to share today.
First, I just found out that an entire class of third graders just voted on what I'm going to have... 3rd graders that I've never met! I just got this email from my mom:
"Well, my class just voted, and 19 think you are having a boy, 6 a girl, and two abstained. - Mom"
My response: what do 3rd graders know, anyway?
Mom agrees.
Second: I've been trying to go off of my anti-nausea pills for 2 weeks, to no avail. I'm still horribly sick without them, and even taking them I still throw up now and then. So yesterday I gave in and called my doctor to renew my prescription (since I had just taken my last one). They phoned in a new prescription to my pharmacy and wonderful Michael picked it up for me. I noticed some interesting things on the bag when he brought it home.
First, what we paid:
Then this line:
.jpg)
HAHA. Doesn't that amaze you? My anti-nausea pills retail for about $20 a pill! (there were 60) But I know that my health insurance company doesn't pay nearly that much per pill - probably less than 10%. Also - if my health insurance didn't cover it, I know that Walgreen's has a pharmacy club you can subscribe to for $20 a year, and that takes the price of each pill down to about $2. So the total prescription would have cost me $180.
So in reality, my health insurance company saved me at most about $190. But that's still a lot of money! I'll take $0.16 a pill any day.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Hump day
Today I'm 20 weeks along, which is halfway through my pregnancy. I celebrated by throwing up spectacularly this morning. Seriously, it could have been choreographed to "Stars and Stripes Forever." And my pregnant sister called right during the performance! And she could hear me! Wonderful. We just found out last week that she is pregnant and only 2 months behind me! It was a big surprise, and my baby will have someone to play with at family gatherings, so that is really cool.
We have the ultrasound next week to find out the gender. I tried to fool myself yesterday into thinking that I should enjoy this next week because it'll be the last time that I can think of my baby in a generic non-gender "my baby" terms, but it's not working. I have half a mind to walk into my doctor's office and demand to know this minute. Mostly so I can just get decorating already. Ok, that's a lie, I have no money to decorate. But I can start planning.
We have also been living in a new house for the last month and a half, I know I haven't said anything about it so far. It's been more challenging than anything else. It's a cute little house with pretty wooden floors all across the upstairs, and nice big windows. It's a rambler, so I don't have to go up or down stairs to get to the kitchen from my bedroom. There's still a lot to put away, but we can function at least. Michael surprises me everyday by fixing something or taking care of something else. It's so nice but sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with him and that is frustrating that I can't do as much. But he gets a lot done. The only problem we really seem to run into is saving up enough to get things from the hardware store that we need to fix things around the house. I think it will just come together slowly over time. Hopefully a lot will be done by next February.
We have the ultrasound next week to find out the gender. I tried to fool myself yesterday into thinking that I should enjoy this next week because it'll be the last time that I can think of my baby in a generic non-gender "my baby" terms, but it's not working. I have half a mind to walk into my doctor's office and demand to know this minute. Mostly so I can just get decorating already. Ok, that's a lie, I have no money to decorate. But I can start planning.
We have also been living in a new house for the last month and a half, I know I haven't said anything about it so far. It's been more challenging than anything else. It's a cute little house with pretty wooden floors all across the upstairs, and nice big windows. It's a rambler, so I don't have to go up or down stairs to get to the kitchen from my bedroom. There's still a lot to put away, but we can function at least. Michael surprises me everyday by fixing something or taking care of something else. It's so nice but sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with him and that is frustrating that I can't do as much. But he gets a lot done. The only problem we really seem to run into is saving up enough to get things from the hardware store that we need to fix things around the house. I think it will just come together slowly over time. Hopefully a lot will be done by next February.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Cyoot widdle iddle-kinnnns
We had to make an unscheduled stop at the doctor's office today. I just had an appointment last week and wasn't supposed to have another one until the end of September when we find out the gender. But I've been having a lot of abdominal pain, right over my uterus, and it was finally to the point where it was worrying me. The doctor checked the ligaments on either side of my uterus, which are supposed to be sore as the baby gets bigger, and they are. But when he pressed right on my uterus, right in the middle, there's a lot of pain and tenderness there, which he said wasn't really usual. So he did an ultrasound and we saw a little wiggly baby, moving around, waving at us (I don't care what Michael says, the baby was waving), heart beating nicely, placenta looks ok, uterus looks ok. So the things that could have been big worries are all doing okay. But he's still a little concerned. We're going to try medication for a bladder infection and see if that helps, and hopefully nothing gets worse over the next few weeks. Oh, and I'm supposed to take it "easier." Easily said when you haven't just moved.
Michael asked if the doctor could tell the gender, and to my surprise the doctor totally tried to find out, but he said our baby's foot was right in the way. He said that his daughter is about as far along as I am (17 weeks), and they could see that she had a boy already. But I think it's funny like our baby's first act of rebellion. I don't mind waiting until next month, but Michael's going to get a hernia soon if he doesn't find out.
But it is crazy to see that it's not just a little blob anymore with a flickering heartbeat inside. It has a little face and a little tummy, little arms and little legs. Cutest thing ever.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Family Vacation Highlights 1
Our family vacation (/reunion) was with all of my siblings, all of their children, my dad and his wife and my aunt Lynne. We all went to southern Utah for a week, about 30 miles east of Cedar City and we did a TON of stuff. Some things that perhaps pregnant people shouldn't do... well nevermind. It was exhausting. But lots of good memories.
I have to post this video clip of my niece. We had a talent night for all the little kids, and she sang a few songs. Just try to tell me it's not the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole life:
Here are some of my favorite photos:
My nephew Austin fell asleep at the end of our trip through Zion Park. Looks like how I was feeling by that point, too.
My neice Cameron on our horseback riding trek. This is one of the only non-blurry photos I have from this ride.
Apparently if your horse stops to pee, you fall to the back of the line. But it gave me a chance to take this photo that captures ALMOST everyone in our family who came horseback riding. Yes, that's ALL my family, no strangers in that photo.
Some of us went to Strawberry Point, something that my sister Jacque and I found by basically asking ourselves, "what's up this road?" It was my favorite part of the trip, but I'll post about it later.
Michael refused to shave on this whole vacation. I refused to kiss him. Obviously, that tactic didn't work. This is him on top of Strawberry Point.
Aaand Bryce Canyon.
I have to post this video clip of my niece. We had a talent night for all the little kids, and she sang a few songs. Just try to tell me it's not the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole life:
Here are some of my favorite photos:
My nephew Austin fell asleep at the end of our trip through Zion Park. Looks like how I was feeling by that point, too.
My neice Cameron on our horseback riding trek. This is one of the only non-blurry photos I have from this ride.
Apparently if your horse stops to pee, you fall to the back of the line. But it gave me a chance to take this photo that captures ALMOST everyone in our family who came horseback riding. Yes, that's ALL my family, no strangers in that photo.
Some of us went to Strawberry Point, something that my sister Jacque and I found by basically asking ourselves, "what's up this road?" It was my favorite part of the trip, but I'll post about it later.
Michael refused to shave on this whole vacation. I refused to kiss him. Obviously, that tactic didn't work. This is him on top of Strawberry Point. 
Aaand Bryce Canyon.
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