She's Good People

I tried the Lentil Sausage Soup that Ouiser recommended the other day. Unlike Ouiser, I did have leeks on hand, but the two recommended by the recipe was not enough to get 4 cups. I needed more like 4 leeks. But I made up the lacking 2 cups with the abundance of onion I had. The recipe recommends 3 large yellow onions to make 4 cups, but I got 4 cups with 2 onions. The celery and carrot estimates were right on, though. It was especially good with the recommended parmesan sprinkled on top, so make sure you don't skip that, if you try it.

The hooded towels are finished, in all their glorious hoodiness. I kind of wish they made these for adults, they look so comfortable to me. They'd have to be much, much bigger. In fact, these look to me like they will be huge when Baby Girl first arrives, but all the better to swaddle her in. In fact, the hood looked strangely small to me when I first cut it out, but now I think it just looks small in comparison to the size of the towel. Hopefully they'll keep a little of the wet off us. They were ridiculously easy, for anyone who's thinking of making some.

Also silly easy? Burp cloths. I didn't really make these, I guess, so much as embellish them, but either way, they have been fast, easy, and pleasing. I got some flannel on sale at JoAnn's. A quarter-yard made 2 burp cloths and cost about 60 cents each. The cloths themselves are the cheap, bird's-eye cloth diapers. The kind you don't dare use for actual cloth diapering, but that are supposed to make great rags, burp cloths, changing pads, etc. They're prefolds and I just topstictched the flannel onto the center panel of the diaper, so there are lots of absorbent layers in that middle part. I considered folding in the thinner sides and sewing the whole thing up as a more narrow rectangle, but decided that extra width may save some shirt sleeves during the spit-up process in case one's aim is a bit off. Anyway, I got through these before my back was getting to me, so I'll finish up a few more tomorrow for a nice, round dozen. Should be plenty, no?

Last, but so far from least, this sling arrived from Stardust Shoes yesterday!

Back in July I saw this beautiful baby sling that she had made and posted about. I asked her for any tips regarding a good pattern or how to make one size-appropriate for a 5'10" slinger, such as myself. Instead she offered to just make me one! I can't get over how generous she is. It's awesome, Stardust! I love it! And I love blogland so much, where women just do these things for one another, out of pure good-heartedness. She doesn't even know me. I'm blown away with the thoughtfulness and the time she took to make it.

(By the way, in purusing Stardust Shoe's blog tonight, I discovered she just recently created a tutorial for the very same burp cloths I made above! You can find it here. And there's another tutorial by her for appliqueing onesies. Remeber I tried that a little while ago? Looks like I used a similar method, though I still need more practice. She's also updated her cloth baby shoes tutorial, which I plan to reattempt someday soon.)

Next We May Tackle Around the Corner

The last three days have been blessedly improved regarding pregnancy pains. My personal theory is that maybe the baby moved and isn't putting so much pressure on my pelvis anymore. Or maybe all that rest finally is paying off? I don't know, but it's put me in a much better mood, and I've been able to get around the house more easily, so am getting more done.

Last night we brought Chewy to play with his friend, Josie, while we had dinner with a friend. They're so cute together. Our friend even filled up Josie's kiddy pool so the two could "swim," which really means "jump in an out, splashing each other as much as possible, then go try to jump on the humans and watch them scream and run away." It was a good time for all.

This is a work-in-progress: the hooded bath towels. Horrible lighting. I'll try to remember to take another when they're done, and in sunlight. I didn't really use a pattern; these go together so easily. But there is a very detailed pattern here, which I used to get an idea of how big the hood should be.

These are a couple of pictures for the nursery. The frames were from the shower Scarlet Lily threw me in Ithaca. The Husband spraypainted them to coordinate with the nursery and I made some matting changes and voila! The first is a pointilism I did in high school.
The second is a Kathleen Lolley print.

The Husband and I had the second childbirthing class on Saturday. My poor, poor ADHD Husband. It was so painful for him. The lecturer tended to go over things a little, uh, overly thoroughly, then immediately follow them up with videos repeating the exact same information she'd just covered. It was a wee redundant. But it's over and we did get a lot of good information out of it.

Saturday evening my coworkers through me a baby shower (yes, that's three and counting, but they've all been around a dozen people, give or take. Some of the Mexican families here have showers with over 50 people, so this seems more reasonable to me.). It was lovely and fun and so good to see all those women. And we got some great loot, of course.

I've managed to accompany the Husband and Chewy as far as the mailbox (about half a block away) for the last three nights in a row and intend to keep it up (so ambitious, I know!), so we're off for that "hike" now.

The Nerve

Okay this is addicting. Last week Blogger launched a slide show that displays all the pictures being uploaded. Apparently, they've had it going in their office forever, but just brought it public now. I love it! It's almost hypnotizing... Go try it. But only if you have an hour or so to spare.

I called the OB yesterday, just to be on the safe side, because of some new, weird, sharp pains I was having in multiple places. They asked me to come in, just to be on the safe side. Baby and I are fine. It turns out, she is most likely sitting on or standing on or kicking or punching or resting her little head on my bladder, and pinching a very painful nerve. Lucky me! But it's nothing to worry about. So, what I thought was a pulled muscle is not a pulled muscle. This is good news because it means I don't have to be so careful of not reinjuring it, so I can try to take a walk or something if it feels plausibly doable. On the other hand, it's bad news because that means it's not going to get any better and who am I kidding about taking a walk? I can hardly walk to the kitchen from the couch. But now I know I could if I really wanted to try. Psychologically it's good. So, I'm not on official bed rest, but I've been officially told, "I don't want you in pain." Well, guess what, I'm in pain 24/7, it's all about degrees at this point. So, essentially, I am on bed rest, but what else is new? Seven weeks and counting...

Statetris

This is a geography-based form of Tetris. I did the easy version and just let the states fall, which took about 7 minutes. The computer made fun of me. I didn't realize I was being timed and judged! So I did it again in about 3 minutes using my down arrow key. There are varying levels of difficulty and other continents and countries. Ouiser, I want to know how Mr. Ouiser does!

Bed Rest Blues

You know those days when you're not what you would call "depressed," but your just kind of down and blue? Apparently, too much bed rest can do that to you pretty quickly. Or to me anyway. So haven't been able to bring myself to blog this past week. I've just felt so blah and grumpy and like I had nothing to blog about. Today I decided to start forcing myself out of it by doing a little sewing, a little baking, a little bloggind. I'm not feeling 100% better in this respect, but definitely improved.

After re-hurting my groin or pelvic muscles a week ago, I've been really trying to take it pretty easy, but without much improvement there. On the bright side, all this sitting around has improved the back pain, but pretty much every step is painful with the other affected muscles. I don't know what's going on. I doubt anything, but the Husband wants me to call the OB tomorrow just in case, so I will.

In the meantime, I got a few bibs done in the last week. They actually went together pretty quickly, but I didn't want to post them until I had them all done and the aforementioned blues were keeping me from wanting to set foot in my sewing room. They're a very slightly altered version of this pattern. I'm also in the process of making a couple bigger ones that wrap all the way around the neck and snap, instead of these little guys with the ties.

Ginger-carrot muffins made in an attempt to squash a brownie craving (the craving is officially not squashed, but it is put off at least):

They're pretty good; although, I wish the ginger flavor was a lot stronger. But the carrots and raisins (which I substituted as my grocery store didn't hace currants), are a classic combo.

And the promised picture of the baby clothes from that one yard sale I mentioned from last week.

Safety First

Apparently this is Safety Awareness Afternoon. Number 4, 716 on my to-do list: post a list of emergency numbers by the phone. Where better to look to make sure I don't forget any: my friendly neighborhood Internet! Here's what cyberspace had to offer for anyone interested in upping their safety quotient:

• Not only should you have e-numbers posted by your land line, but also in your cell phone's memory, according to these guys. I think the ICE (in case of emergency) number makes a lot of sense, except that it would be The Husband, who's already listed under his own name and the phone won't let me enter it again. Hmmm.....
• In addition to the basics (911, fire department, police, doctor, dentist), you could also list both in-town and out-of-town family/friends as emergency contacts.
• Less important than the above, consider including animal control, plumber, electrician, etc. People you don't want to be hunting around for in a mini-emergency.

Besides the phone list, I realized that we don't have a fire extinguisher. Maybe we have one in the garage...but I'll be getting one for the kitchen. And carbon monoxide detectors for the two bedrooms. I read somewhere recently that you should replace the batteries on your smoke detectors twice per year. Isn't that why you check the battery? To make sure it's still working? Do we need to throw out perfectly good batteries? Any thoughts on this?

And finally, I'll be asking The Husband to show me how to check the temperature on our water heater. Apparently, I can kill two birds with one stone (baby safety and energy savings) by making sure it is set no higher than 120 degrees.

There. Nothing over-the-top, but things that I think are true essentials. Any other suggestions?

Can't They Just Stay Small Forever?

I feel like a veteran garage-saler now. We have learned the true benefits of early-birding. Saturday morning we scored a huge lot of baby clothes. The downside: almost all 0-3 sizes, which we needed least, and which she'll likely outgrow fastest. The upside: all spotless, all appearing to have been worn somewhere between never and maybe twice, some still with tags, and some really expensive stuff. There is no way she will get through all these clothes. I'd have to change her clothes five times a day and probably still wouldn't get through it all before she outgrew it. And probably half a dozen fancy dresses...too bad we don't go to church; I don't know where the heck she's going to wear them. The Husband suggested, "Fancy dinners?" to which I replied, "Who brings a three-month-old to fancy dinners?" "Oh, yeah." I'll have to post a picture of the shear bulk, when I have a chance. Right now it's all on my sewing room floor being sorted. I never would have bought so much--I was going through it all very selectively until she said we could have the whole lot for $25. It was too good of a deal; neither of us even hesitated. We're figuring that worst case scenario, someday we'll resell it at our own garage sale and make back our money.

Then it happened again this morning. "Fifty cents each or whatever you can shove in this garbage bag for $20." Sweeeet! This was better in some ways because I avoided the 0-3 stuff and focused on the bigger sizes. However, this was not the same high-end and brand new stuff I'd scored at the previous sale. Some minor stains, more typical garage sale fare, but still some great stuff. And some with tags.

And my mom warned me there's another box on the way from her garage saling expeditions, so we'll be swimming in clothes. Just avoid the 0-3 sizes from now on, please, Mom. We are so much more than covered.

Other highlights of the weekend: The Husband finished painting the nursery. He's letting it dry and ventilate. Still needs to replace the ceiling fan, outlet plates, etc. I don't get to see it until it's all done. Later this week or next he'll move the dresser back in. Maybe I can talk him into building the crib and the glider soon. Then I can get some decorating done, which I'm looking forward to.

We attended our first baby class at the hospital today: CPR. Took less than an hour. Next Saturday we have our first of two six-hour birthing classes. Sounds like a long day. I'll have to be sure to bring snacks. And water. And a pillow. Or two.

Bargain Hunting

OB appointment today: we're both happy and healthy...and I talked the doc into another ultrasound. She still thinks the bun is a she. So the acupuncturist knows nothing. Unless two ultrasounds turn out to be wrong, which is possible and does happen. Especially in the case of a girl: the absence of anatomy is a lot harder to be sure of than the presence of anatomy. But anyway, I feel reassured.

And Mom, you should be proud. I am learning the art of yard sale-ing from you. Today I hit one where they told me I could take whatever baby clothes I could fit in a plastic grocery bag for $1. Most of the clothes were pretty worn, but there were some gems and my bag was fairly full. Tomorrow, the husband and I have plans for three more garage sales. We'll see if my luck holds.

Right now the poor dear has decided he might prefer to stay up all night tonight painting the nursery (he is a night owl), get up for the garage sales, then sleep all day. I think he's crazy, but as long as my nursery gets painted this weekend, he can accomplish it however he prefers.

Christmas in September

The realtor agreed to pay for the paint to repaint the nursery, so that's $25 saved. And I'm spared the decision of a paint color. We just took a paint chip to the store last night and had them match the same white that the rest of the house is. I packed up everything in the room yesterday and the Husband moved out all the furniture and boxes last night. So today I'm going to try to tape up the room, get the outlet covers, etc. off. Whatever else I can think of that might be helpful. I was going to scrape off those wallpaper flowers, but then I read that pregnant women shouldn't do that in case there's lead in the paint, so I guess I'll leave that for the Husband, too. If all goes well, he's scheduled to paint Saturday.

I had a talk with the lead speech therapist I work with this morning. We decided that, even though I'm scheduled to work a few half-days per week for the rest of this month, I won't actually go in to work unless they call me the night before and tell me they need me. The back pain is just too unpredictable. I feel like my body's done with the work thing. Yesterday, I felt pretty good so I accompanied the Husband to the paint store, only to have significant pain set in after about five minutes of walking around. And I wasn't carrying anything, not even a purse. Some of that may be because I haven't exercised in a week and a half due to illness. I've been meaning to walk the dog, just a short walk, the last two nights, but have been so busy with other things that both nights I forgot until I was in bed. I'll try again tonight. It may be that I just need to build up the walking tolerance again. Or it could be that we're done with that, too, in which case I'll give the elliptical machine and swimming another go.


Because I found myself trying to ship a bunch of Christmas presents that wouldn't wrap or pack nicely this year, I solved the problem by whipping up a few gift bags from some fabric I had stashed. They were extremely easy and quick to make, though I did cut some corners: not pressing out my seams, e.g. (gasp!). *Note the tags made from old holiday cards posted about last year.



I also received some waterproof fabric I ordered for making a wet bag (for dirty diapers when out and about).

And these Baby Legs I ordered showed up! Very cute.

Mish Mash

There's a little bit of everything going on in this post.

First, a little story. When we were getting ready to welcome Chewy as the newest bundle of fur into our lives, I read lots of puppy training books because I'd never raised a puppy before. I was especially interested in making sure we did crate training correctly because I had seen other people who used it with great success, their dogs retreating to their crates for some privacy and relaxation, their own little "den," whenever they wanted to. These dogs actually like their crates.

When we started crate training, it was frustrating for a while because, although Chewy never fought us when it was time to go in his crate (he's too sweet for that), we had to really lure him in there. Then we had the bright idea to give him treats (not just verbal and tactile praise) every time he went in his crate--and not the cheap-o training treats; we gave him the good stuff: freeze-dried meat, etc. It worked! And he's been consistently going into his crate with the command, "Go to bed!" ever since (except for the occasional confusion of which bed to go to, when he guesses wrong and heads to his bed in our bedroom or the cushion in the living room--and we never call those "bed" by the way; that's his own generalization).

But we've reached a new milestone. This morning I saw him crawl into his crate all on his own while I was innocently fixing myself a glass of water. He's napping in there. Incredible. We did it.

Now for a random rant. Have you seen the new commercials for those "cereal straw" things? I just saw one this morning. Look here to see what I'm talking about. I don't have an inherent problem with the existence of these things, though I hope they'll never make it into my kitchen. But I do have a problem with them being marketed as "cereal." This is a cookie! No? How is this different from those fancy cookies they sell for stirring in your coffee? I think those are maybe solid chocolate in the middle, so not technically a "straw," but these are chocolate-lined. Chocolate has no place in cereal. If there's chocolate, you're having dessert. Or, at best, a snack. Let's face it, the second ingredient in these "cereal straws" is still sugar. I'm just so tired of marketing these days.

Am on the mend from the virus that plagued us last week; although, my sinuses are still driving me crazy with that stuffed-up-but-I-can-still-breathe feeling, accompanied by random periods of suddenly not being able to breathe as my whole head is trying to wring itself out like a sponge. The Husband still isn't 100% either, but we're getting there.

He was a saint this weekend, hanging shelves (which is his most-loathed around-the-house chore), agreeing to paint the nursery next weekend (yay!), planning to build a small bookcase for the wee one. It's a good thing he didn't want to relax or anything, after finishing grad school. What? I gave him two weeks.

Speaking of painting, here's a question I need answering: if you're planning to paint the walls some shade of white, but obviously not white white, and the decor in the room (i.e., the baby bedding) will be a celery green, do you go for one of those whites with a similar green undertone (i.e., match it), or do you go for a shade of white that contrasts (e.g., with blue, pink, or yellow undertones)? It may not even matter. When we moved into this house, the realtor said she would pay for the paint if we wanted to repaint that room. In which case, we'd match the color to the rest of the house. We'll call her today and she if she'll hold to that; we never got it in writing, unfortunately. But I won't be surprised if they don't agree to that and we have to buy our own paint, in which case I'll get whatever color I darn well choose. Except that I know nothing about paint color design and how to get the effect I want. All I know is that the last renters obviously had a little girl in this room, too, because it's yellow with pink wallpaper flowers stuck to it. Not bad, except that the flowers are peeling off and the paint is chipped and I'm not at all sure about this particular shade of yellow...so it's going.

On the sewing front, I have all the cloth wipes stitched up and most of them washed. Just need to tie up and clip some loose threads on the last batch and figure out a storage system. Then my plan is to finish up the bibs and get started on the hooded towels. I took advantage of some Labor Day sales yesterday and got some terrycloth for those. Still need to whip up some burp cloths, too. Sounds like a lot (to me at least) when I start listing things, but really those are all quick, easy projects, so I don't think it's as much work as it sounds like. I hope. I'll keep telling myself that anyway.

I didn't work all last week because I was sick. I worked Sunday for a couple hours. Today they don't need me, so I'm home again. I'm thinking this is all just as well as my body has been making it perfectly clear to me that I should have made August my last month at work rather than September. You just never know. As the Husband and I were just discussing, so many women make it all the way up to the end. And not just in desk jobs. Also standing at the grocery check out all day. If I had tried a stunt like that I'm sure I would've ended up on bed rest. So we've been feeling very lucky to be in a financial and professional position where I can stop working this soon.

And I'm finding ways to be productive even while sitting on the couch, heating and icing the back. I spent hours last night trying to be a good Maid of Honor for Scarlet Lily, researching videographers for her in her area. I'd forgotten what a pain in the ass planning a wedding can be. For us, at least, it was definitely all worth it in the end, but, man, that legwork can be excruciating. But she has a nice long list of several plausible options now, and I hope one will work out. Know anyone in the Rochester area with a video camera and some film skills who wants to make a few bucks?

By the way, I hit the jackpot at a yard sale last weekend: tons of baby girl clothes. So I stocked up on the older (mostly six and nine months) sizes that we don't have much of, and scored a ziploc full of baby hats. I love the baby hats. Can't get enough. I told the Husband he's going to have to reign me in because she'll never get to wear them all before she grows out of them. I won't even remember all the ones we have now when I'm trying to dress her! Plus, she could be like my nephew, J, who hated hats for the first, I think, year of his life (maybe more?); although, he'll wear them now (that he's over 18 months). But the best baby hats are the ones with ears. Oh, how they kill me. Seriously, how can you resist this? You'd have to be made of stone.

The last bit of news from last weekend: Bob got a new collar.

New Look

Wait, don't leave! It's still me. Maybe harder to recognize, as I've been fooling around with my template. It's been over a year. It seemed like time to shake things up a bit. I made the title banner myself. It's nothing impressive, but the first time I've tried to make one from scratch so I'm pretty satisfied.

I caught the Husband's plague and have been home from work all week so far. Not sure tomorrow's looking much more promising. Between that and all the pregnancy aches and pains life continues to consist of many seated activities, like blog design. Also, giving Chewy a haircut. His mohawk was all matted. The last time he got shaved at Petco they fluffed up his mohawk so much that we think it caused the fur to get matted. Like 'froing out really coarse hair on a person, then rubbing their head in the carpet (as Chewy likes to do for back massages--in fact, as he's doing right now!). Disaster. So I gave him a haircut with scissors. The mohawk is gone. I think I did a pretty good job blending it in, if I do say so myself. The mats on the back of his head were so bad he has total bald spots, but the fur on top of his head is so long that it flops over and mostly covers it. I've often said that the fur on top looks like a bad toupee. Now it's serving as a pretty good toupee!


I cut out about 17,000 cloth wipes for diapering. Really, about 80. Excessive, I have no doubt. I was only making 60 measuring 8" x 8", which already seemed more than plenty, but then the Husband thought they might be too big...and I had all these scraps...and it was so easy to just fold my template in half and cut out some 8" x 4" pieces. Most of them are cut from old t-shirts in a scrap pile. Some old, dingy, used-to-be-white washcloths also got thrown in the mix. The selection was rounded out by some favorite pajama pants of mine that got bleach-stained long ago and since took up residence in my sewing room, just waiting for such a scrap project. So I have a combination of jersey knit, terry cloth, and flannel wipes, which encompasses most of the options I found for sale on-line. Hopefully they'll work out. The only "problem" I've run into is that the edges are rippling on me when I topstitch them. No matter which stitch I used, and believe me, I think I've tried at least a dozen. This happened both with the knit, which I double-layered, and the terry cloth, which is a single layer. I haven't done the flannel yet. But I decided that the rippling really probably won't matter. These are for the purpose of wiping a baby's butt, after all. Perfection is so not necessary.
Speaking of less-than-perfection, here's the latest Cooking Light recipe I've tried. I do recommend trying it, but I also recommend keeping in mind that my black bean "patties" turned out more like black bean blobs. Maybe you'll have better luck. It was actually really good; even the Husband liked it and said he'd eat it again! And it was a vegetarian dish; most recent sign that the apocalypse is upon us. No wait, here's the latest sign: he's happily eaten two dishes with spinach in them that I've cooked recently. And he was aware of the spinach. And he complained that the new lady who makes the wraps at the hospital cafeteria where he sometimes gets lunch doesn't put in enough spinach. It doesn't taste as good without the extra spinach. You know, know that I'm actually typing this, I'm thinking the question I should be asking is: WHO IS THIS STRANGE MAN AND WHAT HAS HE DONE WITH MY HUSBAND?

Pincushion

On Thursday, after my OB appointment, I'm innocently sitting in Starbucks eating my bran muffin and milk when the guy next to me decides to strike up conversation. "Do you like the zucchini walnut muffin?" he wants to know. I've never had it. "Did you read this latest article about the mortgage crisis?" he wants to know. No, sorry. "Do you listen to things other than music in your CD player?" Sorry, what? "Did you know that mangosteen is really good for you?" Did I just walk into a conversation with Jonathan Lipnicki?
(Ray: D'you know that the human head weighs 8 pounds?

Jerry Maguire: Did you know that Troy Aikman, in only six years, has passed for 16,303 yards?

Ray: D'you know that bees and dogs can smell fear?

Jerry Maguire: Did you know that the career record for hits is 4,256 by Pete Rose who is NOT in the Hall of Fame?

Ray: D'you know that my next door neighbor has three rabbits?

Jerry Maguire: I... I can't compete with that!)

He gave me a CD. To listen to on my CD player. About Mangosteen. Which is apparently one of those superfruits like blueberries and pomegranate. I have not listened to it.

Also on Thursday, walking innocently out of a store after an errand, I pulled a groin muscle. If it's not one thing it's another, I swear. I hobbled to the car, thinking it was just cramping up, like it often does. But no. I got home and couldn't walk the rest of the night. Pregnancy can be ridiculous. I stayed off it Friday and have taken it easy all weekend. It seems to be fine now. I'll head back to the gym tomorrow for a test drive. A nice side-effect has been that my back hasn't done better in months. Sitting on my arse seems to agree with it.

Part of "taking it easy" this weekend has also included the Husband and I finally celebrating our fourth anniversary, which actually occurred a month ago. We went out to dinner Friday night: Chinese. Inexpensive, but a favorite. We went to brunch Saturday morning and spent the day together. We were supposed to go to a fancy dinner Saturday night to top it all off, but at the last minute I didn't feel up to it and we ordered in pizza instead. The Husband was just as happy to see that change of plans because he's been sick as a dog all weekend. So we bought this beautiful little mini-cake for the "fancy" part of our celebration instead. It's as good as it looks, by which I mean delicious.

The other big event involved a first experience with acupuncture for both of us. I tend to be a big fan of your classic massage. Relaxing, calming, peaceful, all-around feel-good experience. But the Husband has an innate tendency to be "different" and doesn't really like massage, but says he's always wanted to try acupuncture. Because my OB had recommended acupuncture when the pre-natal massage I had didn't seem to do any good, it seemed like a good idea for both of us for part of our anniversary weekend.

The Husband went first, and remember that he was sick. My appointment was directly after his, so I didn't get a chance to talk to him, but the acupuncturist said he slept through the whole thing. So we talked about what problems I was having and I got on the table. He felt my wrists and asked, as though he already knew the answer, "You're having a boy, right?" Uh, no. I hope. Or I have a lot of pink stuff that's sure to come up in therapy when he's 30. "They tell me it's a girl..." "Really? Because I'm getting a really strong 'boy.'" Huh. I would ignore this except that the husband and I have been making comments to each other with increasing frequency as the due date approaches along the lines of, "That ultrasound turned out to be really early. I sure hope she was right about the sex." "Ha, ha, yeah, that would suck if it turned out to be a boy and we have all this pink stuff." "Yeah. And we haven't even tried to think of a boy name. But she said she was 95% sure." "Yeah. You still think it's a girl, right?" "Yeah...it's gotta be." Several variations of that conversation have been popular around here lately. So his certainty that it was a boy kind of sent up some mild alarms in my head. I'll be asking my OB at the next appointment if she'd be willing to send me for another ultrasound. It would be cool to see, wouldn't cost me anything, and would give me peace of mind. So we'll see.

Anyway, back to the acupuncture. So, he stuck a bunch of needles in my hands and wrists and knees and feet and ankles. It took about 2-5 minutes, I swear, that's all. I felt this massive amount of heat travel from my head down my body and with it came the most intense nausea I've had since I had the flu in June. I tried to ignore it at first, hoping it was my imagination or at least temporary. "Crap, I'm going to puke in his office," I thought. "That'll be embarrassing." So I told him, "I'm feeling a little nauseated and clammy." Because at this point I was drenched in a cold sweat. With the nausea. I felt awful. He explained that this was probably because he had inserted the needles at places that encouraged "things" to move around the torso area. So he removed two of the needles that were doing that. Within a couple more minutes the nausea and clamminess improved (although I was still drenched in my own sweat) and things were okay for maybe 10 minutes. Then came wave two. "Uh, I'm starting to feel nauseated again..." He looked shocked. He put two more needles in my ankles and said I should feel some immediate relief. I didn't. But after a few minutes I did. That wave had been worse than the first and his reaction made it clear he had no idea why my body was reacting this way. I was so close to asking him to stop the whole thing. It was bizarre. I made it through maybe 10 more minutes and could feel a third wave rearing its head when he decided it was time to take the needles out anyway. Thank God. My hour-long session was only 45 minutes.

He told me afterwards that my face had totally drained of all color with each wave of nausea, which has been a screamingly obvious sign of nausea on me since I was a child. Afterwards, the Husband kept remarking on how awful I looked for a good hour, even after I felt fine again. The acupuncturist felt sure that the reaction was due to some kind of "blood deficiency" which he decided was probably a lack of animal proteins. This is very plausible as I really don't like to eat meat (not a vegetarian, just don't like it) and am always struggling to make sure I eat enough protein. He also told me to eat more easily digestible leafy greens, like cooked spinach and kale.

It was interesting. It was awful, but interesting. The speed at which the nausea came on (and the intense sweating) and dissipated was remarkable. I don't know if I gained any positive effects from it, but it sure as hell did something. The Husband, on the other hand, looked significantly better after his session, but whether that was due to the acupuncture, the nap, or the Sudafed kicking in, we can't be sure. The Husband thinks I should give it another chance when not pregnant, but dude, that hell will take some convincing to purposely relive.

Today was spent conducting massive amounts of research into cloth diapering. I think I finally understand the details now and have definitely decided to give it a whirl. Once I got the logistics down, it actually sounds no more difficult than disposables. And sooooo much cheaper. So, I've ordered some supplies and will be sure to let you know of the success when the time comes. If it doesn't work out, I'll either try a diaper service or some eco-friendly disposables. Or try one of those for the first few months and revisit the cloth diapering when things are more under control and some of the initial baby-shock has worn off. We'll see...

So no sewing progress since the last post. I'll try again this week. Lots of ideas in the brain, as always, but the execution is lacking.

Tea Party

I'm back from my trip to Ithaca...and the flight was smooth as buttah! Everyone's prayers to the airline gods apparently paid off, so thank you.

Scarlet Lily and our mothers threw me a beautiful, fun baby shower on Saturday. It was a yummy tea party, with a little ceramic tea set to decorate for the little bean.

That party was followed by a second bash later that night: the engagement party for Scarlet and her fiance, which was also fabulous.

So I've pretty much spent the day catching up on laundry and writing thank you notes for all the unbelievable gifts we received. You people are too, too generous.

Because I've been receiving special requests for more Chewy pics I took these.

Didn't realize until I took these how badly in need of a haircut he is!

Purse Handles

I had hoped to post about a couple WIPs I have in the pipeline before leaving for NY today, but it didn't work out that way. I'll try to finish them up next week and tell you all about them.

The Husband had his MBA graduation on Saturday; just a short ceremony and a dinner. He downplayed it so much that I forgot the camera, which I was sorry about. But some friends took pictures, so maybe we'll get to see some of those soon. I got him this briefcase as a graduation gift. He has a laptop carrier/backpack that he loves and is a good backpack, but it seemed like he also needed something more professional looking for when he's meeting clients for the first time or going on interviews, etc. He said he liked it, but..."it has purse handles." What?!?! Do any of you think they look like purse handles? It probably won't matter because I have a feeling it will be less trouble for him to just get over it rather than look for one he likes without "purse handles." I don't know, it looks pretty darn unisex to me. He's notoriously particular, so I'm not surprised.

Okay, I have a plane to catch. Heading to Ithaca for Scarlet Lily's engagement party and the baby shower she's hosting for me! Also wedding dress shopping...very excited. Everyone in blogland: keep your fingers crossed and send positive energy for smooth flights that are reasonably on time with minimal back/abdominal/groin pain. The last thing the baby and I need are a repeat of the fiasco from my last trip to NY.

Perspective

The last 24 hours or so have brought a new level of intensity and duration of back pain, along with it's new friends, upper abdominal pain and groin pain. And the three decided to party all night with the result that I think I got about two hours of sleep, collectively. So I was very grumpy this morning getting ready for work, even though I knew I'd only be there a few hours, as I've been doing half-days for a month or so due to this back pain.

A little background about my work: all the therapy services in the hospital (speech, physical, occupational) are required to bill patients/insurance companies on a per unit basis, rather than per hour. That means, if I evaluate someone's swallowing, I bill them a certain number of unity. If I do swallowing therapy, that's a different number. If I do a modified barium swallow (swallowing x-ray) that's another number of units. Etc.

The hospital keeps tabs on us by tracking our "productive hours." We're supposed to bill a certain number of units per hour that we're clocked in as working, and thus getting paid. Usually it's no problem to hit that goal. Most of us are overly productive on most days. But some days just don't go the way you plan and some patients are more time-consuming and complicated than others. This, incidentally, is the same reason you run into problems with your PCP spending maybe 15 minutes with you, if you're lucky. Because they have to jam-pack in so many patients in order to make a profit, so the healthier ones get a drive-by because more time will be spent on the sicker, more complicated patients. They have to bill by units, rather than hours. Unlike lawyers and accountants, for instance, who, much more sensibly, are billed for their time. But enough criticism of health care. That is so beyond the scope of this blog.

Anyway, today was the first time I've ever worked for several hours and not been able to see one single patient! That's okay, it happens. But one patient whom I tried to see today stuck with me. It was the last one I was attempting before I gave up and went home. I was doing the chart review on her and got as far as reading that she had had an emergent c-section with lots of complications, including death of the fetus. She's 37. I stopped there. I cannot think of anything more inappropriate than me, 7 months pregnant, walking into this poor woman's room to address her swallowing. She apparently has some cognitive issues, too--I don't know if she had some sort of anoxic brain injury or what, but she's been combative. I'm sure there's at least some amount of psychological trauma involved. Either way, it was weird. I felt stunned. You know that horrible things happen; of course, I'm more acutely aware of fetal deaths because I'm pregnant. I think it was the close call of me almost going to treat this patient and how potentially painful just the sight of me would have undoubtedly been to this patient, and how traumatic that would have been for both of us.

My point in this long, rambling story is that it made me appreciate how healthy and lucky I am to have had such a relatively easy, problem-free pregnancy (and life) so far. The pain is a nuisance, for sure. But it's a small amount of suffering to bear compared to some.

On a much lighter note and completely different topic, I tried another cornbread recipe (we're still working our way through that damn chili!). The Husband implored me to try a "normal" cornbread recipe this time, and we both found this one to be pretty good. If anyone feels inspired to try it out though, definitely follow the other readers' suggestions regarding halfing the sugar. I did, and still find it on the sweet side. A little too sweet for me, but I know some people like it that way. I also subbed buttermilk for the water. And it's a tad on the dry side, but I couldn't bring myself to follow the other readers' suggestion to increase the butter from 1 stick to 1.5. Ouiser, you're a big user of the applesauce for oil sub; can you sub applesauce for butter? I'm thinking not... Anyway, the cornbread was pretty good. I would make it again, reducing the sugar to a half cup and trying to find someway to make it just a tad more moist.

Now, excuse me while I return to my regularly scheduled plan of sitting on my butt, reading, playing Nintendo, and watching Dr. Phil. Never mind that I have newly purchased 75% off decor fabric screaming to be made into curtains. Never mind that I have lumber sitting in the garage begging to be installed in the laundry room. Never mind that I have nothing to eat for dinner tonight because I can't stay on my feet long enough to make it through a grocery trip, never mind the actual cooking, without making my back situation worse again. Never mind that the bathroom is in such need of a good scrub down that I've started using the guest bathroom instead. Why do they wait until the third trimester, just when you're good an uncomfortable and needing to rest, to really let that nesting instinct kick in. This is just poor planning and foresight.

On the other hand, the Husband should soon be able to help with at least some of that, as tonight is his last night of class! He will officially graduate with his MBA this weekend and I will have a spouse again. I made him celebratory chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies (but pointedly not chocolate chip peanut butter cookies, which he dislikes) last night to share during their final today.

Maybe I should try to take up knitting again. This would be my third or fourth attempt at learning to like it. I find knitting frustrating in much the same way I remember finding ballet when I was very small: I want to get right to the good stuff. I wanted to be en pointe in my first year. "Enough of this stretching crap, let's twirl!" I remember thinking. Likewise, enough little practice squares to measure the gauge. Enough scarves. I want to make these! And these! (Both courtesy of SuperBuzzy, found here.) By the way, I find it really funny that I'm now coveting (along with hoards of other crafters, I know) patterns for nordic products written in Japanese.

The Knit Motherload

We received this very generous package from a friend of my mom's today (well, shipped by my mom [Thanks, Mom!], but given by her friend):

I especially love the five different sizes of booties. Plenty to grow into! And the sweater is so sweet.

Less impressive is my own first attempt at booties, of the sewn variety, from yesterday:
The pattern for these booties is free and can be found here. However, problems abound. Problems with me, I suspect, not the pattern. First, the soles are just regular woven cotton, so the pattern suggests you double up the layers, if desired, which I did desire and attempted. But try as I might, I could not get four layers of fabric to line up perfectly with the recommended zigzag stitch when sewing the soles to the uppers. Meaning little frayed edges are sticking out, especially on the bear pair. Second, the elastic didn't stay tacked on one of the (left) pink booties, but of course it chose to come untacked after the last stitching was complete, so I have to take apart the whole booty to get to the elastic again and start over. That pair is a heavier decorator fabric, so they hold the booty shape better.

I'm not sure how comfortable these actually are for babies though, so I can't decide whether to keep at it or give up. On the one hand, socks are so cheap and so much easier. On the other hand, these shouldn't be hard and I love the infinite color/pattern choice afforded by making them myself! There's another free pattern by Stardust Shoes here. The only reason I didn't start with hers is because it requires bonded fleece for the sole, which I didn't have on hand. But they look sturdier and might be worth a try. I'll share the results if I decide to give it a go.

Onesies Coming Out My Earsies

Today's pictures feature some of the worst lighting ever. Sorry.
This was a nice chili and cornbread dinner the Husband and I had last night. The chili is a Cincinnati Chili, according to Cooking Light. I didn't know what that meant before I made it, but apparently it means it's served over pasta. That seems like an overkill of carbs when already served with cornbread, but maybe we'll try it when we're out of cornbread. The cornbread included molasses among the ingredients, which was a nice tough with the spices in the chili.
I speant a few hours today churning out a ton of onesies. Some for my baby girl-on-the-way, some for the Husband's cousin's baby boy-on-the-way. I think I have easily over a dozen onesies at this point. And that's just in the 0-3 month range. This kid will not be wanting for clothes.
I'm off to meet the Husband for dinner at a friend's house. Four days until he's done his MBA!

Optimus Prime's Got Nothin' on True Love

I've been trying for three days to get a decent post up, but I've been so buried in copy editing that by the time I stop for the night I'm exhausted and haven't had the energy to blog. But I'll do my best.

Chewy is, happily, on the mend. Still taking antibiotics and laxatives for a few more days, but seems just about 100% again. It's the strangest thing...he takes the pills straight. And chews and swallows. Like they were treats. We don't have to hide them in dog food, or cheese, or peanut butter, or anything.

Last night we set out with some friends for what should have been one of the best movie nights of all time: The Princess Bride was scheduled to play on the big screen at the Fox Theater. But we got there and found that they had cancelled it due to the AC being out from the previous night's monsoon. AC? We don't need no stinkin' AC! This is Tucson! Our blood is the consistency of water. Just leave the doors open, we'll be fine. Nothing, nothing else we could have done that night would have been any kind of worthy substitute for that opportunity. Sadly, the only substitute available was Transformers. Definitely. Not. Worthy. As if I have to say so. But I will grant that I was at least entertained for most of it. Not as bored as I expected. Could have been worse. But save your money. Unless you're really into the Transformers. It's not that it was poorly made; it is what it is. I just had no interest in the subject matter.

In Christmas-in-July spirit I finished this Advent calendar. Trying to dig myself out from the pile of projects. It's slow going, but very satisfying.

Neither Snow, nor Rain, nor Heat, nor Gloom of Dark Magic...

Harry Potter should have arrived on my doorstep Saturday, according to an email I got from Amazon several weeks ago. I made big plans to drop everything the minute he arrived and head for a coffee shop to read all day. I even went to the gym early, started the laundry early, was as productive as possible, knowing that any minute the package would be delivered and the rest of the day would be lost to the world of magic.

When it got to be 8:30 at night and it still hadn't come, I gave up. My UPS tracking number said it was out for delivery, but obviously it wasn't coming. The next day, when UPS said it was delivered, the Husband got on the phone with Amazon who told him that UPS had delivered all their packages to the USPS. We grabbed the Pooch and headed to the mailbox.

The mailboxes in our neighborhood are clustered in big blocks of boxes that require keys to open them from the resident's (sidewalk) side, while the mail deliverer inserts them into the boxes from his (street) side. There is apparently a slight mismatch between what fits on the carrier's side vs the opening we see when we open our mailbox doors to pick up the mail. Or else he used an expanding charm to make it fit.

We literally tore the box off the book while it was still in the mailbox in order to squeeze the book out. I was so frustrated when the book wouldn't come out. It was Sunday! Everyone else was well into their HPs, if not finished already! I was living in fear of overhearing a spoiler. The Husband, doubting Thomas that he is, said it was "against the laws of physics," that there was no way it was coming out of the mailbox. I think the magic of hope made it somehow shrink it's dimensions just enough to slip out once we had enough cardboard out of the way to turn it diagonally. And then it was mine.

I just finished tonight and felt so drained. I didn't want to talk to the Husband or anybody. I just wanted to sit and process and mourn the end. I was quite pleased with the whole thing, but it was just so intense. It has exhausted me. I was pleased to have been right about some of the theories that were important to me. And to have been right in some ways that I did not expect, but were better than I had guessed. I'll read it again in the near future, I think, now that the tension has abated some. I think I'd enjoy it more the second time, knowing in advance how it all turns out.

It was good, actually, that I had the book to while away the hours the last few days as the Pooch has been much under the weather. Sunday morning he was just not himself. He lazed around all day, more than expected. Then we realized he wasn't eating or drinking. Wouldn't even take treats or ice cubes. Seemed to have struggle or pain with urinating. We worried. We went to bed. The next morning was the same, so he went to the vet Monday. The Husband took him because he's too big for me to lift into the car while pregnant.

They mentioned Valley Fever, they mentioned urinary tract infections, they said he had a fever and had lost weight. They gave us antibiotics and said to feed him broth. We did. He threw both up. He went back to the vet. They took x-rays. No obstruction, but they saw he was a bit backed up. They gave us laxatives. So he's been on a steady diet of broth, with increasing proportions of dry food, along with the meds since then. No action from the back end yet, though he seems to be peeing just fine now. They drew blood. Results should be back tomorrow. But he's looking much more himself, so I think he'll be fine, whatever it is.

In the meantime, while waiting for Harry, I made a couple of soft books from panels my mom picked up at a yard sale.

And we've been enjoying dropping temps with the arrival of monsoon season.

Though some of us don't seem to have noticed one way or the other.

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones

This is what I did on Sunday. The to-be-nursery has more recently been the guest bedroom. It currently has two large, hulking bookcases in it, which seemed like at least one too many for a baby's needs. Especially once we get the crib and glider in there. So I packed up all my old Greek and Latin texts, all my speech-language pathology stuff, most of the husband's computer books, and more. This freed up one whole bookcase, which will eventually be broken down and garaged, and half of the other, so there's plenty of room for baby books.

I didn't feel like I was pushing it too much physically, but there's a good chance I was wrong. For the last couple of weeks I've been having increasing back pain. Not lower, which I would have expected, but upper right. Obviously due to the increasingly imbalanced weight, the loosening of the abdominal muscles, shifting upwards of the ribs. Getting through eight-hour days at work has been rough. I've been in pretty significant pain by the time I'm heading home (and "significant" for me, with this kind of pain, is noteworthy as I have a fairly high pain tolerance for this stuff). Can't take ibuprofen when you're pregnant and Tylenol does nothing for me. Anyway, Sunday night the pain was so bad it woke me up in the middle of the night and kept me up for hours. I'm not sure what that's indicative of exactly, but my years of interactions with orthopedists has taught me that it definitely falls under the classification of "not good." So Monday morning, instead of waiting for the pain to gradually build throughout the day, I got start off with it right from the get go! Yay.

But I heated and iced like crazy last night, with the husband's gracious assistance, and today was much better. Hubby also hooked me up with a prenatal massage tonight, which I'm hoping will also help. I've laid off the gym the last couple days. Doing some physical therapy exercises that my mother-in-law, a very experienced PT though unfortunately out-of-state, and a PT at work, also very experienced though unfortunately mostly in geriatric acute care, assigned me. I think it's only a muscular problem. I don't think there's anything skeletal going on, but I can't be sure as I do have a history of herniated and bulging discs. But that was several years ago. The massage therapist tonight said my scoliosis could be partly to blame. She was able to feel extra tightness on my right intercostals (muscles between your ribs that help you breathe) and left IT band (running from your hip to your knee), which support my mother-in-law's theory that it may have something to do with my ribs. That would also explain the day that it hurt to breathe. Not fun at all.

But it was better today, so we may just have to stick with this heat/ice/occasional massage regimen. I'd like to eke out at least one more month of work, if possible. Anyway, enough anatomy/injury talk.

Chewy is one year old! Can hardly believe it. We need to have a little doggie party for him. Or at least a doggie cake. Or an extra bone. Something.

This also alerted me that my one-year blog-day passed me right by without acknowledgement. Oh well. Can't keep up with every milestone.