Livin' la Vida Roko

14 month puddle jumper

2010-12-12T17:57:00.001-08:00

From today. Just put her down to sleep. Gave her her meds (antibiotics) and she threw up on my shoulder about 5 min later. Poor thing has a 102 fever right now, two ear infections, diaper rash and is teething. Gave her some Tylenol and let her get some rest

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Labor day weekend 2010

2010-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Katie took her first steps on Thursday night. A few more on Saturday. Went camping for a softball tournament in long beach washington and picked up 22 lbs of tuna at the docks on the way home for 1.89/lb

Sweet!

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Dear blog

2010-08-31T23:00:00.001-07:00

I think of you often. I find it so hard to keep up when most are on facebook though.

Things are good albeit busy. I'm working on becoming faculty, katies almost walking and ken is going crazy at sports and keeping us together.

Ps. I hate you app. You lost all my pictures I just spent so much time on. No wonder I don't post here as often. I hate work in vain.

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Dear blog

2010-07-27T18:16:00.001-07:00

I've been writing a grant. Sorry I've neglected you but get in line.

Here's a picture of Katie from tonight. She loves nectarines. She's almost 10 months and is a standing machine

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What's in the box??

2010-06-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Katie's in the box!

And she's crawling.

2010-06-10T18:55:00.001-07:00

8 months. Here are a few recent pics

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Katie's first beet

2010-06-10T18:49:00.001-07:00

...seeds. What started as a pacifying rattle quickly became a mouth full of small gravely seeds. Confusion for her. Panic for me. I think I pulled about 6 from the depths of her mouth.

Would you like some shiny nickels or this pointy pen?

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Zoo Day

2010-05-31T20:11:00.000-07:00

After the Rose Garden, we decided to head to the zoo -- a first for Ken and Katie. We went because we wanted to walk around but lacked the appropriate trail shoes. So off we went, only to be stopped by the $17 admission charge (each). Instead, we chose the family pass. For $79, we got free admission for all three of us for a year. Great choice for a possibly-screaming-at-any-time child. Especially since we just wanted to go in for a bit at 3:30 p.m.

Here are few from today:

The ocelot

Orangataun

Polar bears

Anemones

Lorikeets

The mongoose-viewing dome

The otters

All-in-all, I'd say she was a fan. I think we'll definitely be getting our money's worth.

Rose garden

2010-05-31T15:05:00.001-07:00

Katies first visit. Roses are delicious

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Fun and games

2010-05-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

Idea

Success

Resulting separation of church and state

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Shots

2010-05-20T09:19:00.001-07:00

Two for flu
No tears

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Before and after

2010-05-18T19:45:00.001-07:00

Spinach success

And then the spinach sneeze

The picture doesn't do it justice. She looks like she was attacked by mini paintballs.

Still she's happy and seemed to like spinach. Plus, she took her first steps (with help) tonight. Looks like she'll walk before crawl at this point.

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Chompers

2010-05-17T08:49:00.001-07:00

Katie has her two bottom teeth and it seems a top one is coming in based on the recent screaming, drooling, chewing and lip sucking.

She woke up screaming a couple times last night. Tylenol seems to work but I hope it pops through soon. She seems confused why she's hurting. Breaks my heart even though it is obviously super common.

She's also loving to stand and will use whatever chance she gets to stand with assistance.

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Fox in socks in mouth

2010-05-16T21:42:00.001-07:00

Exploring adirondack chairs and feet.

This is my phones wallpaper right now...

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Corn(in)hole(s)

2010-05-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

First time with corn. She is a fan, surprisingly.

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How carrots are good for the eyes

2010-05-12T19:39:00.001-07:00

According to Katie

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Tomatoes 2010

2010-04-26T21:53:00.001-07:00

I was out of town so ken got to pick all of the tomatoes. I'm happy to see spreadshhets are in full effect even when I'm away.

K=our tomatoes
B=brians
A=alysons
D=dennis
I=ingrids friend's

Ken picked 11 this year.

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6 month report card

2010-04-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

From ken to my mom:
Everything went well. She's healthy and the doctor did not have much in the way of concerns. She cried and cried though when she received her 6 shots! :(

She weighs 18.8lbs and is 27" tall...both of which are up near the 90th percentile for her age.

On the examination table, she rolled over and started to get her knees under her. She actually lifted her stomach off of the table....then she started crawling backward! Weird but apparently normal.

And in other news, Katie just got her first tooth

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Pedatrician - 6th months

2010-04-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

On the way in

Riding a kangaroo

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5 months plus

2010-03-16T19:54:00.001-07:00

She's awesome. Love that girl. She's eating solid food once a day. In order, her preference seems to be

1. Pears
2. Peas
3. Pumpkin
4. Carrots

I always wondered how people knew the preferences and thought it was made up but, no lie, you can tell by the look on her face, the speed to which she returns to the spoon and how long she'll eat said food. In todays taste test, peas were met with smiles while carrots were spit out. Apparently they do not always go together.

Here's peas

And here's carrots

Note the carrot chin-stache absent from peaville

Otherwise things are going well. She's getting stronger, smiles a ton and does raspberries often. Tummy time is getting comfortable too which signals a new stage coming, not that I'd know but it just feels different

Tummy time

Tonight

Looking forward to coming months: sitting up, visit by my folks, etc

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Another reason to support

2010-03-16T19:51:00.001-07:00

Jimmy Buffett island. This is from several weeks ago but I hadn't posted it yet. Guess where Katie sat when I was cleaning up said fun.

Busy

2010-03-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I'm swamped with work these days. Planning two health fairs for next week alone. Collecting data from 600+ people next Friday with focus groups and pre-surveys scheduled for earlier in the week. I don't check personal email during the day anymore and next week I'll be on autopilot for sure. If you need to get a hold of me, I'll surface on sat 3/13. Or you can contact ken who'll be holding down the home front.

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Name recognition

2010-03-02T08:38:00.001-08:00

I told you of her love for JBI. Here she is playing away when ken shot this video. It was also the first time of her responding to her name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhVer7647PI

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Jimmy Buffett Island

2010-02-24T18:58:00.001-08:00

I am the person I never thought I'd be. I despised the giant contraptions and was of the mindset that kids don't need all that to learn.

I still believe that but now I know that Jimmy Buffett islands aren't for the kids, they're for the parents. Sweet bliss of long-time complete child enrapturement. Cooking, check. Catching up on past due chores, check.

They are ginormous and unnecessary but I am a convert. An embarrassed convert but a convert nonetheless. How could I not be seeing how much she loves it while I get a 20 minute break.

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Katie's first flowers

2010-02-19T08:22:00.001-08:00

The crocuses and daffodils are up here. My folks are still buried in 10 ft of snow so I took these to cheer my mom up a bit.

She's a pretty happy baby. She smiles a lot, isn't very fussy and likes seeing new things. She also slept all night last night which makes me very thankful. 4:30 am wakeups stink.

We are scraping the house this weekend to prep it for painting. Yuck.

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Ground control to major Tom

2010-02-17T22:05:00.001-08:00

We have now found our feet

Also we got to go in a hike this weekend

And go down the slide

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Growing girl

2010-02-12T17:55:00.001-08:00

Katie was four months on the 9th. Took her for her 4 month visit today and she was 16 lbs and 26 inches (90th and 95th percentile, respectively).

She easily rolls to her side but not over yet. She has no problem with head control and she can lay on her belly for a while without crying. There is a lot of drool though. She still loves lights and watching people. She can easily track us around the room and can pick us out of a small crowd by smiling super big. No laughs yet but I hear they're coming soon.

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Golf and bags

2010-02-09T09:09:00.000-08:00

We played golf for the first time in a while this weekend. Katie came too, decked out in the stroller/golf bag combo

We have a standing rule in the house that if I get a hole in one, I get chickens. I almost gave ken a heart attack this weekend

It landed two feet from the hole.

Superbowl Sunday morning was spent cooking. Here's Katie entertaining herself with a paper bag. She is 4 months today.

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The elephant in the room

2010-01-29T19:23:00.001-08:00

Yes I am aware Katie can't use it for months. but when you see a purple rocking elephant, with crinkly ears and an umbrella at the resale shop, reason goes out the window

Ps. Yes that is a mouse in a hat riding too.

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Bumbo chair and football

2010-01-27T19:10:00.001-08:00

A chair that helps little ones sit up. She is a fan.

From haapy to sad... Here's our house just before the Vikings superbowl hopes were dashed

And some reading time with grandma

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Fussy 80%

2010-01-20T20:30:00.001-08:00

For those of you who think Katie is a quiet angel, her daycare report card said she was fussy 80% of the time today. Turns out she has diaper rash (which i thought was just wet skin, so I wiped it extra last night... oops). She also may be teething and is lacking sleep per their reports.

Good thing grandma comes tomorrow. Katie can use some extra love right now.

PS diaper rash is red shiny skin. Like non-bumpy poison ivy. I had no idea.

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Katie and Hyde

2010-01-17T14:38:00.001-08:00

We've been playing with her a lot. Here's from the other night. Bubbles to giggles in a few seconds.

Also went on a short hike this weekend. She was mesmerized by the tree canopy or sleeping.

Baby's First Bar

2010-01-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

We start dodgeball tomorrow night (both of us) and have one of our friends watching Katie in the stands (the organizers have given us the side with bleachers so we can keep Katie out of the fray each week).

In addition, we just learned that Katie will be able to join us at the bar afterwards. Hooray! We are excellent parents.

Daycare Transportation

2010-01-05T11:02:00.000-08:00

Day 2's trip to daycare involved breaking out the Chariot bike stroller. I took these pictures this morning:

Katie getting bundled up and strapped into the infant sling.

Strapped in and ready to go!

I asked Ken how it went and he said:

Trip went well. need to work out the kinks like remembering to take my keys and wallet...but all in all, it was a good drop off. Katie was quiet the whole way and smiled when I opened up the cover.

Infusing booze, part 100

2010-01-04T21:28:00.001-08:00

My friends make some killer glögg (ie red wine boozy deliciousness). The recipe calls for aquavit, which you can make yourself with this recipe I found in a magazine.

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Why to use your flexible spending accounts

2010-01-04T21:19:00.001-08:00

So we just learned that both my work (big place) and kens (10 people) have flexible spending accounts which allow you to pay up to $5000 for daycare annually using pretax dollars... ie you save about $1500 on something you're paying for already. You qualify for about 30 days after going back to work after maternity leave -- though all plans are different.

So chalk it up to free money; it may make the daycare process a little sweeter. Plus, even if you do or don't have kids, health purchases (like doctor office copays, drugstore aspirin, slings, cold medicine or chiropractic visits) can be deducted.

Pretty please look into it.

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Katie in Daycare, Day 1

2010-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

From Ken about a minute ago:

I just spoke with (name deleted). Katie is doing great. Just had her lunch, she had about a 2-hour nap and played with the kids (which apparently was a little overwhelming and only lasted about 10 minutes). All in all, things seem to be doing just fine Karen will have a sheet filled out with the day recap. She said Katie is very talkative and friendly and seems upbeat!

Sleep

2010-01-02T11:17:00.001-08:00

Katie's sleeping so much better now. Smiles and sleep... The rewards for spending 2 months caring for a 9 lb sack of potatoes.

Last night she went to bed at 9:45 and woke up at 6:15 this morning. Ken took the first two feedings so I ended up with 12 hours of sleep. It was glorious.

I go back to work on Monday so I've been squeezing in as much time with her as possible. We've been reading a lot (no indication that she cares except that she sits still and looks generally in their direction).

Ken takes her to the dog park a lot. We use taryn and paul's sweet rainshield all the time which protected her from a downpour yesterday. She likes looking at the drops hitting the window. She seems mesmerized.

She also has started holding her things - albeit poorly. She will hold rings, small toys, small stuffed animals,etc. She's also started putting all of these things in her mouth. We caught her making out with her stuffed duck yesterday, for example

So it seems our sack of potatoes is developing eyes.

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More Katie-Hughes exploration

2010-01-01T14:35:00.001-08:00

They were very interested in each other a few minutes ago. First time Katie has given any indication she has seen the cat. She smiled at both the cat and dog today. First time for either.

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Testing a new app

2010-01-01T14:29:00.001-08:00

And seeing if I can post from my phone...

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This blog is not dead

2009-12-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

It's just been hibernating for a while. Here's what we've been doing since we posted last:

Katie was born
Our daughter arrived October 9th after a long pregnancy (not longer than anyone elses, just long for me). I gained 50 pounds, a shoe size and lost feeling in my fingers from swelling-induced carpal tunnel. Needless to say, I was very happy when I went into labor that morning. The anesthesiologist, who announced his arrival as the "drink cart", made me very happy with an epidural. I can't sing its praises enough. Labor was a breeze. But, they broke my water and somewhere in the process, I developed an infection and a 103 fever. By the time the day was over, I had lost a fifth of my blood and had an emergency C section due to the fever causing high blood pressure. Katie arrived at 8 lbs, 11 ounces and was 21.5 inches long. They took her to the neonatal ICU overnight due to the fever. It was an exhausting night for everyone. We all went home, healthy but exhausted, a few days later.

Here I am at 9 months. I wasn't about to have anyone take my picture, so this is one in front of a mirror about a week before Katie arrived.

Here's Katie the day after she was born. I don't even recognize her (or remember her looking like this) -- the only reason I know she's the same girl is you can see the bump on the left side of her chin.

Nana holding Katie when she was just a few days old.

Katie at 1 week old

Maternity leave
My folks stayed for 2.5 weeks which was so helpful. At the end of their time here, I still could barely move from the surgery, so my mom stayed an extra 9 days. I had the baby blues, cried daily for two weeks and needed a step stool to get into/out of bed for about 4 weeks. It was harder than I thought. After my mom left, Ken took 2 weeks off which was nice as we figured out to handle this thing that was our daughter. We got into a routine and developed a game plan, which was nice. She woke every 3 hours to eat. It was exhausting. I missed work. I thought maternity leave would be a breeze but it's been a lot more work than I expected. I miss feeling accomplished at the end of the day. Some days, all I can show for myself is some drool marks, oily hair and maybe the dishwasher is half unloaded. Other days are much, much better. Either way, I've learned that planning is out the window. I'll do my best and be happy with that. I've become more flexible and realistic in my expectations.

Ken learning Katie's routine and that Portland's rain doesn't cause all of the "wet" days.

Me and Katie around 5 weeks. The numbness in my hands is gone and my feet have shrunk a half size. I'm losing weight but it isn't all gone yet. That will take a while.

Ken preparing to tie a leg of lamb for dinner -- or prepping Katie for her first bath.

Ken giving Katie her first bath at ~4 weeks

Hughes and Kinley discover Katie
The animals are getting adjusted to Katie. Kinley was very protective in the beginning and would go to my mom's room to lick her hand at night when he heard Katie cry since I was having trouble getting out of bed. It was very sweet. He has now realized Katie is not leaving. He's ok with this now, but it took a little bit. Early excitement went to sadness and then acceptance.

Watching her on the activity mat (~5 weeks)

Ken, Katie and Kinley around 9 weeks

Hughes discovered Katie for the first time around 8 weeks. He doesn't seem to mind her. He likes the nighttime feedings because it means someone will turn on the water briefly for him in the tub (Hughes' favorite). Here he is when he jumped on the couch for the first time to see her:

Katie's Snowshoeing
Ken, the gadget fiend, scouted craigslist for a Chariot (closed stroller of sorts that connects to the back of our bike). He got that -- and the cross country ski attachment. We took Katie snowshoeing for the first time around 7-8 weeks. She was bundled up where her arms and legs were perfectly outstretched. She cried when we put her in and then fell asleep immediately for the entire trip.

Here's Katie bundled up and placed in the infant sling of the Chariot.

Ken, Kinley and Katie head off trail in the Chariot on Mt Hood

Snowshoeing is a family affair. It was my first time walking 2+ miles since pregnancy. I can feel it in my hips, which ache.

Katie sound asleep on the trail. This picture was taken through the window of the Chariot. She was zonked.

Katie's Surgery
In early December, Katie went in for surgery for a bump she had on her chin since birth. They didn't know what it was and we knew we wanted it removed before she started dating, so they decided to take it off so they could biopsy it (rather than biopsy it when it was on her face and cause her undue pain). She needed general anesthesia. I cried. I spent 9 months + 2 months getting attached to this child, only to lose it due to an unnecessary surgery. Needless to say, she came through fine -- the bump was a hemangioma, a benign accumulation of blood vessels that was different than the doctors had seen before. I told them maybe they could get a case study paper out of it. The doctor chuckled. I would be very proud if my daughter had a publication before the age of 1. :)

View of Katie's bump on her chin before surgery (~8 weeks)

Scar from Katie's surgery (11 weeks). It's just below her chin.

Sleeping through the Night
It happened for the first time the night before Thanksgiving. We were very thankful. She now sleeps somewhere between 4-8 hours at a stretch each night. Sometimes she'll make it all the way through, sometimes not. Again, I've learned not to plan for it. She falls asleep to the "ocean sound" of a sound machine. I can't sing the praises of white noise enough.

Sleepy Katie. She has Ken's furrowed brow and my love for sleep (per Chuck)

Eating Rice Cereal
My folks came out for Christmas so we decided since she was already eating 5+ ounces every 3 hours that we could try rice cereal with her. We did it for the first time last week on December 22nd. She made a mess and we laughed. She's eaten it once a day since. We still laugh.

Here's the first rice cereal feeding. We took Rob & Jana's advice and got an adjustable "high" chair. Fits onto any chair and can recline so we can feed her now or when she's 2.

She's not so sure about rice cereal.

These are a Few of her Favorite Things
Katie loves looking at lights. Sunlight, contrast, etc. She loves playing under an activity mat where she can stare and bat at things. She just started reaching for things in the past two weeks (especially plastic rings -- though she gets surprised when she actually touches them). It's not an "I want this, I'm going to grab for it" thing. It's more of a "let me flail my arms and see what I can touch". She also loves sitting up and watching people/things. Also, she seems to enjoy when people read to her. This last part is just starting up.

Katie loved sitting in the plants and looking at the lights and contrast through the leaves. Here's one around 6 weeks, which is also the wallpaper of my phone (this was the turning point when I realized I was a mom because I had a picture of my kid as my phone's wallpaper).

Nana reading to Katie (10 weeks). She seems to love Goodnight Moon, Jamboree and Goodnight Gorilla best so far. Here's Goodnight Moon.

Katie (11 weeks) exploring under the activity mat. Those plastic linking rings are a huge hit since she can grab them which make her smile. I never thought I'd have this type of thing in our house -- let alone in our living room.

Katie loves sitting up and watching what is going on. Ken framed this picture of her at 11 weeks for my office. I love it.

Going back to Work and Daycare
Daycare, what a racket. We signed up in April before I was showing. Each would take your deposit and say they "may" have a space for you. Suffice it to say, no place did. And they don't call you to tell you that either. Starting in November, we started scrambling again. It turns out we found a place through our county's child services department -- all certified daycares have to be certified/registered with the state. We got a list for all within a 2 mile radius of our house. We found two places with openings and are going with the french immersion one since we liked their philosophy and how they deal with kids best. It's run out of someone's house. We also looked into nanny's but they were 2.5x the price and if they were sick/on vacation/etc, we'd be SOL and need to take time off of work. I go back to work next monday. I'm looking forward to it but still feel guilty. Hormones suck and are pretty powerful in creating a bond for your child. For example, I'll put her to sleep and then look at pictures on my phone in the next room minutes later because I miss her. Ridiculous. I try to be tough and not admit that I care so much for her, but I do. She's wonderful and I love her.

Heading into 2010
I'm optimistic. She's starting to do so much more and get a personality. It makes taking her places more fun. She's becoming more of our family. I like that a lot. I'm looking forward to gardening with her. And go camping. Ken can't wait to get her outside more. He's already done a google search for "baby and whitewater rafting". Um, yeah, there's a reason there aren't any hits for that. Growing up with both of them should be interesting.

Stay tuned for more updates. I'm hoping to be better about all this. Just need a blogger app for the iPhone and I'll be all set. (The iPhone has been the only thing keeping me in touch with the world in the last 3 months).

Happy holidays!

Out of sorts

2009-10-07T12:30:00.001-07:00

I feel in limbo. Can't do the physical projects that usually get me through the antsy times. I don't feel like talking much. Don't want to sit around either. Can't move a lot. It's a beautiful day yet I haven't been outside. My hands are numb and I can't bend down much which also limits gardening, another outlet of mine.

Had contractions for about 6 hours starting at 4:30 pm, ranging from 5 to 20 minutes apart. I thought last night was the night but then they stopped when I went to bed. Was disappointed when I woke up this morning. I know she'll come when it's the right time. Rationally, I'm totally ok with all of it. But irrationally, I'm ready to evict and get back to being myself. I don't like not feeling productive. Plus, I feel like henny penny and saying the sky is falling whenever I mention having a contraction -- and then nothing happens. This waiting is rivaling the early waiting when I was wondering if I was pregnant or not. Only this time, I can't do the projects I normally would.

Steel Uterus, part 2

2009-10-06T15:37:00.000-07:00

Went to a fetal monitoring appointment this morning. During the 20 minute appointment, I had two contractions. No, I had no idea they were contractions. I thought they were kicks. Other than that, things look good. Katie's kicking and her heartbeat is good. They did an ultrasound to check position and she is "definitely engaged", meaning her head is down and she's ready to go. They also measured the amniotic fluid around her... normal range is between 5-25 (she was a 9). They said if it was on the low end, they'd want to induce sooner than later. So, for now, things are looking fine and I just have to be patient. I have another appointment (both to see the doctor and for more fetal monitoring on Friday).

I'm having a hard time with the waiting, just like others have mentioned. It's hard. I'm uncomfortable and impatient. Two bad traits for me. I should be thankful that I'm not in pain though. Others have had much tougher pregnancies than me. My main complaint right now is that my hands go numb when I sleep so I wake up often with pain and numbness in my hands and arms. Very uncomfortable. Last night I woke up about 3-4 times with them feeling like they were on fire. I will be glad when the swelling subsides and that symptom goes away.

My folks come out on Thursday. i'm hoping Katie comes before then, but I'm not holding my breath. I get disappointed in the evenings when I don't feel any symptoms and I know I have another sleepless night ahead of me because of numb hands. It's possible that tonight could be different... I've had pains for most of the afternoon, but that could be due to the jalapeno & cheese tamale I had for lunch. I'm not holding my breath. But I kind of am.

Putting the D -day in SunDay

2009-10-02T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm due on Sunday. Could be any time between now and 2 weeks from now. I had my doctor's appointment today and I'm now 2.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She said the baby's head is "right there". Creepy. Labor is apparently considered to be started at 3 cm and 85% effacement. Super creepy. Super close.

I've had two questions asked that others may be wondering about, so I figured I'd post them along with my answers:

What is effacement?
Effaced is a ridiculous and previously unknown term to me that means the cervix is getting really soft, stetchy and thin (i.e. ready for a baby). apparently the cervix is normally pretty thick and hard, but with enough time in my pressure cooker of a pregnant body, it has become nice and tender like pot roast.

Are you getting the flu shot and/or H1N1 vaccine?
I got my flu shot last week and I plan on getting the H1N1 when it comes out. My doctor was pretty gung ho about it. And Ken got his flu shot too. I figure since I work with germ ridden kids and the general public in a hospital and public health fair setting, it would be stupid of me not to be prepared.

I figure, more immunity the better -- especially being immunosuppressed from pregnancy. I'm ready to strap katie to the front of me and go out in public but I worry about germs/viruses attacking her little immune system which is still being built up. bizarre. I didn't expect to feel this way (i.e. so protective) before --- especially since i'm going to be breast feeding and she'll have all of my IgG antibodies. I've been thinking about our immunology professor a lot and weighing what's rational/irrational. Still its weird that the protective instinct may be kicking in.

What are you doing this weekend?
Here's my conversation with Ken the other day about our weekend plans:
K: I have a kickball double header on sunday and am going to alyson's that morning to watch football.
L: that's my due date.
K: do you want to come along?
L: So are you saying my options are that I can do what you want to do or I can be alone on my due date?
K: When you put it like that, I sound like a d*^%
L: (no response)
K: Well, I don't have to go to Alyson's.

Classic.

No plans this weekend, just taking it easy. Ken has informed me that no births are to occur on Monday night (when vikings play green bay). My folks come on Thursday. Everything else is up in the air. I'm off from work starting monday (or at least working from home).

Nothing yet

2009-09-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

I've received a few emails asking if the baby has arrived yet. Not yet. My due date is this Sunday (10/4) but it could happen anytime from two weeks ago to two weeks from Sunday. A nice and vague month window.

Signs that it may come sooner:

I was 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced as of my last appointment (last friday). Apparently labor is considered to be started at 3 cm and 85% effacement.
The receptionist told me that it looks like the baby has dropped. (apparently she has a good eye for these things). The doctor also felt the head at the last appointment. Creepy.

Signs that it may come later:

I was late and I've heard that births go similar to their mom's. Along those lines, I didn't feel kicking until 10 weeks past when I should have. Plus, I haven't felt a single contraction -- braxton hicks or regular. So, it's possible she could be a sleeper like me.
It's entirely normal for first births to run late

So, stay tuned. For those of you on Facebook, Ken will be giving updates in real time. Blog posts will be a little slower but we'll get things posted ASAP.

Homebrewing Distractions

2009-09-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ken and I had to sit through 10 miserable hours of childbirth classes this past weekend. A great idea in theory, but 10 hours is excessive -- even (or especially) when it's split between two days. I learned the following things though:

1. I have way more time when I go into labor than I originally thought
2. I theoretically know what contractions are and am pretty sure I haven't felt any (real or "practice")
3. I really, really want the epidural.
4. I've had a pretty easy pregnancy
5. I'm glad Ken is my partner
6. I'm hoping Katie isn't born on a Sunday or Monday else I will have to share Ken with NFL. Or fantasy football. Or other football-watching spouses who may also be in the hospital that day.

When we got home on Saturday, we had Brian and Dennis over to help pick the hops we've been growing over the arbor and brew some beer using the freshly picked hops. Ingrid came to help as well as dig up some plants to divide and move to their yard. Win, win. Here's the crew harvesting (20min max).

And here's the resulting harvest. We have a lot leftover. The far bowl weighed 15 oz or so; we used it for the beer that night. The rest I'm freezing for later use. There are still a ton of hops left on the vine. I've told some local homebrewers they're welcome to them if they pick them. I'm too tired and big at this point.

The beer we made is a hoppy northwest red ale. It's apparently pretty forgiving. It's my first batch of all grain beer (rather than using malt extracts, etc). I've seen Brian do it in the past, so it wasn't completely new. But it was still my first attempt. Especially while trying to teach others. It's bubbling away now. Fingers crossed it turns out.

Week 37 comes to a close

2009-09-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Had my doctor's appt today. 203 lbs. Baby's heartbeat is 150-160 (normal) and her head is down. I'm 1.5 cm dilated (need 10 for delivery; was 1 cm last time they checked) and 75% effaced (softened uterus for delivery). My belly is measuring 38 cm (right on track) and Katie kicked when the doctor was taking the measurement. The baby could come today or 4 weeks from now. My uterus is a time bomb.

Things at home are pretty much finished. I have our bag ready to go -- or at least all of our stuff on the dresser with the backpack on the floor next to it. We have the carseat and such, just need to install it in the car. So big items are complete with little pieces here and there.

Regarding cravings, no more blueberries for me. I've been eating a lot of nectarines but my biggest craving is milk. I've purchased 6 gallons of milk this week alone and I'm on my 5th one. Wow.

Still working. Very slow in moving. Fingers on my right hand are still numb.

Week 36 comes to a close

2009-09-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

I hit week 37 in two days (sunday). That is the day I am officially considered "full term". (full term is anywhere from 37-42 weeks, so the baby's not imminent but you get the idea). Scary to know it's any day now, but nice also in that my stats have become ludicrous:

At my doctor's appt on Wednesday, I was 200.4 lbs. I never thought I would be over 200 lbs. So, it's nice to know these pounds will be going away soon. I started around 156 or so -- a solid 44 lb weight gain. Average is 25-35 lbs. The upside is that I have been thoroughly enjoying myself. I currently can't get enough milk and drink it by the quart. My blueberry craving has been replaced by a nectarine craving.
I had to get up from bed to go to the bathroom 4 times last night. I think that is the baby's way of preparing me to get up every 2 hours for feedings and such. Even moving 4 times at night is hard for me, let alone getting up.
I have carpal tunnel in my right hand from the pregnancy-induced swelling compressing the nerves to my middle and ring finger. Ken will massage my forearm for me, which helps, but the numbness is constant. it is very uncomfortable.
My cankles are laughing at my wrists. I have hobbit feet.

In the meantime, I've been working on the nursery. Here are some pictures:

Looking at the door to the room.

The glider

From the glider, looking into the closet abyss:

The closet. Please note that Ken and I have only purchased three onesies and a hat. Everything else was given to us by family and friends. Insane! I labeled it all by age and type of clothing: i.e. Dresses (0-3 months), Dresses (3-6 months), etc. Otherwise, it just looks like mountains and mountains of small clothes.

The closet, looking closer.

Looking at the crib from the glider. I made the paper mache lanterns for above the crib. Ken helped to hang them.

Old sideboard that we refinished and will be using as a changing table. I did the sanding, stripping, staining. Ken did the structural work.

Still need to hang some pictures and decorate the wall, but most of the big stuff is finished. I'm packing a bag for the hospital this weekend (just in case). My maternity leave is taken care of (12 weeks) and I'm already pre-registered for the hospital.

Now I'm just waiting for the time bomb that is my uterus to explode.

35 weeks

2009-09-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

I'm 35 weeks and 5 days today. 40 weeks is finito (give or take). I had my doctor's appointment today and things are coming along. Here are the latest stats:

Belly measurement is back down to 36.5 cm. (1 cm for every week, so I'm back to normal since I was 3 cm over last week). Ken was a little sad by this. He wanted another ultrasound.
I'm at 199.2 lbs. I'm almost breaking 200 which is unbelievable. (I started at 156). Yes, I feel ginormous. I'm not worrying about it though.
Baby's heart beat is 160 bpm (on the high side of normal). Apparently if this gets higher and stays that way, they induce early. So far, everything's fine though.
She did the first exam today and found that my cervix has already started to "soften" and that I'm already 1 cm dilated. It can stay that way for weeks, but it mean's I'm at least started along the process. Very strange.

Otherwise, I feel fine. It's still hard to get to sleep and it's hard to walk. My feet are giant sausages. We were going to go to the hog roast this weekend, but we decided to stay home and relax instead. I'm going to finish Katie's room (that's my goal) so stay tuned for pictures next week.

Hood to Coast 2009

2009-09-03T09:24:00.001-07:00

Ken and friends completed Hood to Coast this past weekend. 196 miles from Mt Hood to the ocean. It took them 28 hours to complete the race. All were friends from dodgeball and the league even sponsored their shirts.

Ken loves that race. He loves to organize it, run it and push himself as far as he can go. I, meanwhile, have no desire (or ability) to run that race. Now or ever. Instead, I go for moral support and to hang out in the beach house that we rent for the weekend. This year, there were 23 of us in the house. Quite full to say the least.

I went down the night before with two girlfriends and the dog. We took down all of the food for the house and did a grocery run in town to pick up beer for 23 people. (We estimated 6.5 beers a person which was surprisingly accurate. I think there were only 6 left or so -- fitting since I accidentally counted myself in the beer numbers).

Five others came down later Friday night in separate cars and a group of six went crabbing early the next morning while I slept in. I went crabbing last year but the giant belly makes it difficult to fall asleep and move. So when I get to sleep, I want to stay asleep. Apparently, I picked the wrong year to skip crabbing because the light rain and 3 lbs of raw chicken drumsticks resulted in their catch being 30 ginormous dungeness crabs. The outfit where they rented the boat steamed, cracked and cleaned the crabs for them, which our friends brought back and kindly shared with the rest of us. I drank a non-alcoholic beer and ate crabs on the porch. It was the highlight of my entire summer since that was our family's tradition at the beach growing up. They also brought back 4 dozen beautiful oysters that they grilled and served up to the running team. I skipped those but will happily partake next year.

When the runners arrived, they showered and ate. We spent most of the afternoon & evening grilling up burgers, brats and oysters while drinking beer, playing games and hanging out. It was a nice weekend. It's hard to imagine that next year at this time, we'll be taking an almost one-year-old. Surreal.

Katie's Lanterns

2009-08-27T12:22:00.001-07:00

I'm making chinese lanterns out of tissue paper for above Katie's crib. They're taking a lot more time than I thought and I don't even know if they'll work/look reasonable. I feel ridiculous spending so much time on them when I'm swamped in pretty much every other way imaginable, but I am continuing with my efforts anyway:

Materials: balloon, white tissue paper, glue, acrylic paint, water.
How to: blow up balloon and set inside a solo cup. Tear up tissue paper and use 1 part paint:2 parts glue:3 parts water to add a bunch of layers. Allow to dry.

Picture taken from my phone showing the 10 lanterns I made in different colors.

Close up of the lanterns. I popped one (on purpose) this morning and it looked pretty stable. I was very excited.

Belly pictures

2009-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

I hate belly pictures. They make me miserable. But my mom is afar and wants to see the explosion that has become her daughter, so here they are. As a side note, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and I am measuring 3 cm over my week, meaning I may have a ginormous baby inside me or a lot of fluid in there. If I'm still 3 cm over next week, they're giving me another ultrasound to find out. Maybe Katie is a giant blueberry after all.

And now for your afternoon enjoyment... I think the 2nd one really gives you the full profile shot.

Kickin' Katie - 6 weeks to go

2009-08-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

I'm at 34 weeks and weigh 194 lbs (40 lb weight gain thus far... and I still have 6 weeks to go). Average is 25-35 lbs, but everyone is different. The doctor's not worried about it so I'm not going to either. I'm feeling great but am having trouble moving around (getting to sleep is a lot harder now since there's so much weight and it's hard to shift around to get comfortable. But once I'm asleep, I'm golden. Walking is also hard so I've been limiting distance. Other than that, things are fine. She's kicking a lot now. Ken put his head next to my belly last night and started calling her name and she immediately kicked him in the nose. literally. It was pretty insane. One of the bigger kicks and it was completely in time with him calling her. Weird. We both looked at each other in amazement and fear of what's to come.

The nursery is coming along. My mom and her friends are having a shower in my absence next week - very sweet. They did the same thing when we got married. Ken and I went into a baby big box last weekend and we both had a meltdown. I'm under the impression we don't need much for an infant. Ken and my mom think we need to have lots of toys, equipment, etc for her. It's pretty funny. I'm like "all she needs is a spoon and an old pot" but then ken looks at me like I'm insane. Since I'm in the minority, I've been relenting, but it's hard. Plus, the decor I like is really simple (i.e. polka dots and nothing too "baby-y") whereas Ken's first choice was a 4 piece set that I hated most in the store and embodied everything I despise in kid stuff). We compromised on some simple/cute animal stuff and we both got to pick half the items with veto power over the other. It was a fairly effective strategy. Much like the great tomato draft of 2009.

My doctor's appt today went well. I'm not sure if we'll have another ultrasound before she's born (ken feels a little ripped off by this) but my measurements look good (i.e. my belly 35 cm at 34 weeks -- i.e. anything more than 3 cm over your week # and they schedule an ultrasound to see if the baby is ginormous). So I'm happy I'm not having a 10 pounder thus far.

I haven't had any contractions (I hear braxton hicks "practice" contractions are common for my stage), but I haven't felt anything. Either my uterus is still steel or my body's a little late in this whole pregnancy thing. I was 10 weeks late on the kicking, so it's possible I'll be late on this too. I'm not worried. I work at a hospital so whenever she comes, she comes. I know they won't let me go past 42 weeks, so it won't be more than 8 weeks. Awesome and crazy we're in the single digits now.

Kids and Kinley

2009-08-13T12:12:00.001-07:00

Rob and Jana came over last night to drop off the Bob stroller they're loaning us for Katie. They were just coming back from Astoria and had their three little ones with them who were very excited to get out of the car for a while.

They came inside to play, go to the bathroom, eat, stretch, etc.

Kinley was very excited to see all of these new people. Especially the little ones.

First, Jonathan and Ella sat down at the kitchen island to eat some berries. Ella loves berries as much as I hope Katie will. She was covered in strawberries at the wedding. It was priceless. Sadly for Kinley, they didn't drop any berries during their visit.

After they ate, they were excited to run around a bit. They loved our house's layout because they could run around in a complete circle. Kinley loved it too because he chased them around said circle. It was especially hilarious because they are the same height. Hughes was terrified though and went to hide upstairs as soon as he saw the little ones. Our house is now kid-tested, dog approved.

Jonathan quickly found Ken's hardhat for work and enjoyed trying it on. I think he liked knocking it off his head more than actually wearing it. He'd put it on, knock it off, hear it go "boom", laugh, pick it up and repeat. Kinley liked following him around.

Jackson also got to wear Ken's hardhat and even put on Ken's safety vest, which swam on him, much like my brother's boy scout hat from when we were kids. Here's a good head shot of Jackson wearing the garb. He wasn't too keen on getting his picture taken at first, but then he opened up.

Rob started packing up the car to leave and Ella stood at the door wondering what was going on. I thought this shot was priceless because this is how I see my future. A little blonde haired girl standing next to the dog at the front door, completely curious. If only Hughes were there, too.

It was so great to see Rob, Jana and the kids. Their kids make me not as scared for my own. I had a blast playing with them, holding them and swinging them from side to side. I love it when they want me to pick them up. It makes me feel special. I wonder how long that feeling will last when I have my own. :) Not to be outdone by our last encounter, Jonathan needed two diaper changes during his visit. Both were total stink bombs. Luckily mom and dad were there to save my day. We've learned that Kinley is very good at detecting stinky diapers. He followed Jonathan around and smelled his diaper until he was changed. I will use this strategy and will know to hide when Kinley starts following Katie. Lucky Ken.

Spicy Kicking

2009-08-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

I ate spicy shrimp & grits on Monday only to learn that spicy food makes Katie kick incessantly. It was fine when she was smaller and I wasn't feeling a lot of kicking, but this time, it was just painful.

So much kicking that my belly muscles ached for the next two days. It hurt to walk since walking makes my belly move. The bus hurt. Sleeping hurt. It's now Thursday and I'm finally feeling better. You could literally see her moving around in there.

No more spicy food for me for a while.

Camping Wedding with Kids

2009-08-10T09:39:00.001-07:00

Ken and I went to Taryn & Paul's wedding this weekend. It was one of my favorite weddings -- a camping wedding right on a river. They had it a lodge that had cabins for the parents/families and then everyone else camped on site. It was great. I loved how they arranged meals for everyone, had kegs and drinks available and everyone could meander about all weekend. From mountain biking to hiking to whitewater rafting, you could do what you want. They got married in a short, simple ceremony at 5 pm -- officiated by one of our friends.

A bunch of our friends from Tucson flew in for the wedding. San Francisco, New York, San Diego and Tucson were all represented. We organized the camping gear for 8 of us. Many thanks to our Portland friends for pitching in their gear.

The weekend was great. Getting in and out of the tent was comical, but other than that, everything was fine. There were lots of kids at the wedding (10 kids under the age of 4) and 6 pregnant women. There were only 66 people at the wedding, so kids made up a huge portion of it. It was fun to see them all running around and it made everything not as scary for me.

My highlight was babysitting our friends' (Rob & Jana's) twins while they went on a hike. The twins are 20 months and they spent most of my babysitting time napping. When the little girl woke up, I asked if she'd like to get out of her pack and play (crib of sorts) and she raised her arms so I could pick her up. My heart melted a little bit. Then we went on a search for her socks. She was surprisingly helpful. She helped me locate them -- I asked her questions and she'd point to where they likely were, which was great, because I honestly had no idea where they were. We put her socks and shoes on and then her brother woke up. I sat her on the floor with a toy while I went to retrieve her brother. Jonathan was not as helpful. His socks were easily found but completely wet from stomping in puddles or something boy-related. I found some new dry socks, put them on him and was about to take both outside when a horrible stench came from Jonathan's diaper. I watched Jana change them before they left, so I felt OK putting down the towel, getting the new diaper and the wipes. I put him on the towel and got his pants and diaper off only to realize the smell was too much for me. I started gagging. My friend Kristen was in the other room taking a shower and heard the sniffles (not sure if they were mine or his) and asked if I needed help. Knowing I was beat, I immediately said yes. Jonathan started to cry. I gave him the plastic shovel to distract him. He wanted the plastic pail too, but I kept that in case I needed it more than him. More tears. Kristen saved the day and changed him. I was next to her, completely unhelpful. I did help by gagging as I threw the poopy diaper away, but beyond that, I was useless. Ditto for when we realized Ella also needed to be changed. Kristen is my hero. Once she handled the horrible duties of both, we took them outside in the grass and let them play with their buckets and shovels until mom and dad came back. I told the tales of Kristen's awesomeness. Ella was a sweetheart and I loved how she wanted to wear dresses yet still enjoyed sitting on your lap and spilling things down the front of herself. It made me much more excited for a little girl of my own. Ken had a good time with the kids too. He played soccer with the little boys and helped Ella eat her crackers. Both were priceless.

According to the pregnancy book Natascha gave me, I am officially 8 months pregnant as of yesterday. I am 32 weeks, so 8 weeks to go, though normal arrival is anytime between 38-42 weeks. I'm assuming the latter since first births tend to be late, I was late and I'm thinking Katie's a sleeper like me. But either way, it looks like we're now in the single digits. Stay tuned.

Nursery Prep

2009-08-03T12:49:00.001-07:00

Now that we've moved the office down to the basement, we've been working on getting Katie's room in order and taking care of other items on the to-do list before she arrives. This weekend, we:

installed the new computer in the basement
Hemmed and doctored curtains
picked up a new chair
installed a closet system
made curtain sheers from scratch
painted the garage exterior's first coat

I also learned why there's no good reason to make your own curtains unless you can't find what you want or are high on pregnancy hormones.

I expected it to be much easier/faster but making those curtains ended up taking most of the weekend. My back ached by the end and it was more expensive to buy the fabric than it would have been to buy pre-made curtains. Once I realized this, I bought pre-made curtain panels instead, hemmed them to fit and added a band of fun fabric on the bottom to doctor them up. The banding can be easily removed later if a different look is desired.

I made the sheers myself though (latter being $30 in fabric rather than $20 to buy premade in the store). I do love the softness of the sheers though -- better than any I found in stores. But still, they took quite a bit of time to make and were not any cheaper.

Here's a picture of the chair and curtains in Katie's room. I was trying to get more of the curtains in the picture, but I only had my phone on me and couldn't get the light correct without showing more chair than curtain.

Emotional Transitions

2009-07-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

I'm having a hard time leaving the job I have now (and love) for this new job opportunity. And it's not because of the baby. Strangely enough, I feel more guilty about having a baby than I do about having a new job. yikes. either way, something's up emotionally/hormonally because even after my advisor told me he's positioning me to take over the grant in two years (as the co-head of the grant!), I started to cry when I got back to my office because I'd be away from this job for the next year (and they're hiring someone else to replace me). Rationally speaking, I think I cried because I'm replaceable, but I'm not sure. Also rationally speaking, I know this job transition is the best thing for my future and it will challenge me to try new things and gain new skills. Still, irrationally, I'm having a tough time with the idea of it.

New Job

2009-07-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

Our grant was just funded and I now have a new job. No more postdoc for me.

I'll still be working at the same place with similar people, only now I'll have a lot more responsibility. This new position ties my old job to a new one. It is the intersection of clinical research and science education. I'll be coordinating a series of community heath fairs that bring clinical research about nutrition to rural Oregon communities. It's funded by two grants totalling $800K over the next 2 years. Our local science museum is helping with the exhibitry and then we'll be going to communities to educate the public about health issues, mainly nutrition. As an added bonus, people can be tested anonymously for various health markers (ht/wt/blood pressure/cholesterol/etc) and volunteer to have their data be part of a research study.

So it's all of my favorite things... research, collecting data, science education, organization, event planning, evaluation, exhibit design and writing things up. Plus, the science education and clinical research data will be used as pilot data for future grants (both science education and larger research grants). Be still my beating, nerdy heart.

Work starts this week.

Fruit count

2009-07-21T14:49:00.001-07:00

My work has a farmer's market on Tuesdays. Here's my in/out takes for the day...

6 peaches ($1/ea), now nicely bruised from rolling around in my bag with sharp objects.
6 pints of blueberries (2 pints for $5), I have already eaten 3 pints in the past two hours. 6 cups of blueberries are in my body at the moment. Antioxidants, check.
4 pints marionberries ($1/pint). They were having a sale on them and they are delicious and sweet. I bought the last four pints. A good thing since I would have bought more if they had them. They gave me another pint of blueberries as a thank you, bringing the blueberry count to 7 pints, just shy of a gallon.

Yes, I am feeling sick at the moment.

Nesting in a jar

2009-07-20T16:31:00.000-07:00

I'm having some irrational nesting tendencies lately where I need to do all sorts of projects. As in immediately. I know this is completely irrational but apparently I am not stronger than oxytocin. So, I'm running with it.

This weekend, I decided to start some more projects. I'm fully aware that we already have 6+ gallons of jam in 4 varieties (strawberry, strawberry-rhubarb, blueberry and cherry). But oxytocin told me that I have not processed any figs or plums yet.

And so this post begins.

On Saturday morning, I went to Beti's house to pick 5.25 lbs of figs from her tree. Later that evening, we went to Brian & Laura for dinner and I picked 5.8 lbs of plums from their tree.

Sunday morning was cooler, so I began to process everything:

*For the figs, I washed and halved them before throwing them on the grill with balsamic vinegar and salt for ~20 min. I let them cool while we ran some errands (we needed to get shelving in the closet immediately). When we got back, I ran them through the food processor until they were almost paste-like. Without sugar, they tasted almost like olives to me (in their vinegar-y salty brine). To some of the puree, I made a strong simple syrup and cooked the figs in that until they were soft and preserve-like. I then canned a couple jars of the mixture and made fig newtons with the rest.

*For the plums, I am fufilling my dream of making Japanese plum wine, a la Caroline who introduced it to me in NY when I first started dating Ken. I went online and found a recipe for it that seemed to produce good results. The recipe is below in case the site goes down. We have a local homebrew store, so I wrote down all the ingredients I need in order to make it (~$12 to make 1 gallon of wine). They close at 5:30 so Ken's picking everything up for me today since I'm on the bus these days and can't get there in time. I called into the store and they theoretically have everything waiting for him at the counter.

Ken goes out of town starting tomorrow and I will start my plum wine the minute he leaves (gives me time to clean up any plum puree that has an excellent chance of ending up everywhere). It takes a couple of months to fully ferment. Perfect timing since Katie arrives in October.

STU'S
FORMULA FOR PRIZE WINNING PLUM WINE

This recipe can be increased or decreased proportionately starting with a recipe for 3 gallons of wine.
15 lbs. ripe plums.
3 gallons hot water. About 140 degrees.
1 ½ tbs. Yeast nutrient.
1 ½ tsp. Peptic enzyme powder.
3 Campden tablets.
1 tbs. + 1 ½ tsp. Acid blend.
1 package Cote Des Blanc yeast.
7 ½ lbs. Sugar.

For cleaning and stabilizing

3 tsp. Spakolloid.
1 ½ tsp. Sorbistat stabilizer.

Tools needed

A wine hydrometer, a thermometer and a bucket or fermenter.

Crush fruit and remove stones. The fruit should be soft enough that you can squash it with your hand. Let the juice and fruit fall in a clean bucket that holds about 5 gallons.

Put all of the ingredients except the yeast, sorbistat, sugar, and sparkolloid in the bucket which we will now call the fermenter.

Add hot water and 5 lbs. of sugar and mix until you do not feel any sugar on the bottom of the fermenter. When cooled take a reading with a hydrometer. (I will put a hydrometer correction table for temperatures at the end of this recipe.) The hydrometer should read 1.090 degrees or around 23 brix if lower add a cup of sugar and mix and check again.

When cooled to room temp. (Probably over night) sprinkle yeast on top and mix lightly cover with plastic and use a large rubber band to hold plastic on and keep bugs out before fermenting starts.

Fermentation should start in one or two days. Put fermenter in the coolest place you can find. Stir down cap in morning and evening. After three days of fermenting take a hydrometer reading everyday. When the hydrometer reads 1.020 degrees carefully remove as much of cap as possible by hand and strain the rest through a coarse strainer into a carboy and fill to about 8 inches or more from the top put a baggie over top for two days then use a airtrap.

After three weeks siphon off lees (silt on bottom) into another container and fill as high as one inch from top. You can always top off with water if necessary but remember you are diluting your wine. Rack again in three months.

Use sparkolloid to clear after another two months. When clear you can sweeten to your taste, use sugar or sweet and low. If sugar is used add sorbistat to stabilize.
Hydrometer correction table

Temperature of liquid-------------------Correction
59----------------------------------------------none
68---------------------------------------------Add 0.009
77---------------------------------------------Add 0.02
86---------------------------------------------Add 0.034
95---------------------------------------------Add 0.05
104-------------------------------------------Add 0.068

Week 29 Update

2009-07-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Pregnancy wise, things are still going well. We had an ultrasound today and the baby is 3.5 lbs and in the 64th percentile for growth. No pictures because she was moving around so much and had her hands up over her face. Fibroid is the same size and isn't causing any complications, so that's good. She is kicking quite a bit. I feel them but they're not strong -- it is a good thing that my uterus is made of steel because the technician said "she's kicking the snot out of you". Ken could see one of the kicks from his chair next to me. I'm thankful they're not painful.

I've gained 25 lbs so far and my belly circumference is 41.5 inches. It is in the normal range but I feel ginormous and not very attractive sometimes, especially when it's hot and I have to wear the loosest (read: ugliest) clothing I can find in order to not overheat. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I feel cute with my big belly, which I find comical, but mostly it's the swollen feet and not being able to move easily that make things a bit of an adjustment. This long work stretch has especially hurt my feet and legs. I find it difficult to walk the dog around the block as my feet are aching by the end. I've had them up a lot this past weekend, so I'm hoping this next week will be better when I'm not on my feet as much. But that all said, I'm having a pretty easy go of things, so I can't complain. I'm still pretty mobile and can do just about anything.

My next doctor's appt is Friday, when I'll hear the results of my gestational diabetes blood test. Likely negative, at least that's what I'm hoping since I love berries and fruit. We've gone through 25 lbs of blueberries in the last two weeks! (though 10 lbs of those were frozen or dried -- the rest eaten fresh over cereal or milk.)

We're getting the basement office in order now, which is just about finished, and I'll work on the nursery this week while Ken's on his backpacking trip (from tomorrow to Sunday).

Work

2009-07-09T16:42:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of running a program for work that lasts 9 days. We're hosting 12 rural middle school teachers from around the state. I've had (and will continue to have) 13-14 hour days until next Thursday, Saturday included. I'm out of the house by 7 am, back at 9:30 pm. Sunday is off, but I'm staying at the dorms as the staff member in charge that night, starting around 6 pm. So if you don't hear much of me for the next week or so, this is why.

Berry Mania

2009-07-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

I went berry picking last Friday night with my friend, Mindy. She could be a migrant worker thanks to her ability to pick berries quickly. But I finally, for the first time, beat her picking quantity. I picked 13 lbs of berry wonderment (see bottom two trays). I think she had 12.5 lbs (top two trays). It was a fact that I will cherish.

We picked blueberries and raspberries at a farm about 10-15 miles from Portland until we were asked to leave. Seriously. They had to pull the tractor around to tell us they were closing. I froze one tray of blueberries and made a double batch of blueberry jam out of another 8 cups, but Ken and I ate the rest. Plus, we ate all of the raspberries.

It was a tasty berry weekend. Maybe that's why Katie started kicking.

Kick It!

2009-07-06T10:40:00.000-07:00

I felt my first kicks last night!!! 10 weeks late but at least they finally came! Plus, they were strong enough for Ken to feel too. He was very excited and felt about 3 in a few minute span.

So, I guess she's really in there. Maybe she just likes to sleep in like me, which is why it took so long.

Cherry Experimentation

2009-07-06T09:34:00.000-07:00

I processed 5 pounds of cherries last week in my quest for the perfect Old Fashioned after Katie is born. I have dreamed of having Oregon cherries to complement my drink but I had never attempted to can cherries before. My motivating factor was a coworker who attempted it with success last year, combined with the fact that my parents are coming to help take care of Katie in October -- and my father makes a mean Old Fashioned.

I read in the Oregonian last week (June 30th Food Day) that pouring boiling simple syrup over raw cherries and sticking the jar in the fridge can preserve them for up to 3 months. But Katie's born in just around 3 months, so I needed a more drastic preservation method to be sure that I won't have cherries-gone-bad come October. That would make me sad. All that work and no cherries.

So I decided to look into pressure canning the cherries, which prolongs their shelf life by years. According to several reports, canning cherries can really change the texture, rending them soft mushy blobs. I also read that brandied cherries are excellent. I couldn't decide which to make. Thus, I created a mini experiment to test the effects of pressure canning and brandy on cherry texture for our delicious drink-to-be.

The Syrup
Most recipes for preserving cherries say to submerge the cherries in hot water or a hot simple syrup when processing. I chose a simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water, boiled. I made 8 cups and added 2 cinnamon sticks, zest of a lemon and 5 drops of calcium chloride (latter for added firmness). According to some food science articles I looked up, adding a 0.04% solution of calcium chloride improves firmness in processed cherries. Since I happen to have a calcium chloride solution in my kitchen for cheesemaking (bottle doesn't say the concentration; just to add 1/4 teaspoon per 2 gallons of milk), I figured I'd add a few drops. Note: I didn't have enough cherries to control for calcium chloride concentration else I would have. Also note: I feel ridiculous for having calcium chloride on hand.

The Cherries
I used Bing cherries from the farmer's market at ~$2 lb. I only used firm cherries, which I pitted and stemmed. I left the stems on two of the jars because my father insists that Old Fashioned cherries have stems. Luckily, I had enough cherries to control for stems vs no stems in pressure canning.

The Experimental Groups
I tested for:
a. pressure canning (used a standard 10 lbs pressure x 10 min, which translates to roughly 240 degrees F -- enough to kill all sorts of buggies)
b. brandy (used 1 part brandy, actually an unsweetened Tuaca base, to 3 parts simple syrup described above)

My groups were (only one pint jar per group due to limited cherries):
1. Stemmed cherries in syrup, put in fridge (control)
2. Stemmed cherries in syrup + brandy, fridge
3. Stemmed cherries in syrup + brandy, pressure canned
4. Cherries with stems in syrup, pressure canned
5. Cherries with stems in syrup and brandy, pressure canned

The Results
I opened jars 1, 2, 3 and 4 this weekend to check for taste and texture. We had 6 tasters.

The cherries in the fridge had a much better texture than the canned cherries. All tasters preferred the texture of the refrigerated "preserved" cherries, which tasted "like fresh cherries" according to one taster. Great for making cherry garnishes in advance for a party, but I was sad since this isn't a preserving option for me for October. The pressure canned cherries were pretty soft but passable (especially for a drink).

The brandied cherries were excellent. Not too strong but gave a nice flavor that complemented the cherries. They were good in both cases but the brandied pressure canned cherries were a really nice distraction from the texture. (Keep in mind that the fridge cherries were by far the winner, but for my drink in October, the brandied pressure canned cherries are the winner).

Stems don't seem to make a difference when pressure canning. All stems stayed on fine and didn't change the texture of the cherries.

The Outcome
I have one jar of pressure canned cherries with stems leftover from this experiment and I canned 3 more jars this weekend (all with brandy) for October. I am looking forward to my Old Fashioned. I even have homemade bitters to use in the drink. It will be a homemade Old Fashioned, that's for sure. Well, minus the booze. I've been saving a bottle of Bulleit bourbon just for the occasion.

Camping

2009-06-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

Heading into the woods this weekend for my first camping-while-pregnant experience. Ken got me an aweseome, super-cush dreamtime thermarest for my birthday... a 3 inch thick air mattress of sorts. I am excited to use it and hope that it's comfortable. I've been spoiled from our awesome new bed lately. I am also going to miss the beer. It's been a long time since I've camped without it. If a beer camps in the woods and there's nobody to drink it, does it really exist?

My uterus is a steel fortress

2009-06-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ken and I went to my doctor's appointment this morning. The nurse took my weight, blood pressure and urine tests (all fine), making small talk by asking if I was feeling the baby kick. When I said no, she looked at me in disbelief. "Really? You haven't felt anything?"

Ken: "Is that abnormal?"
Nurse: "Well, most people start feeling the baby kick at 17 weeks and you're at 25 weeks. We'll have the doctor look at it".

We sit for an hour from the start of our appointment time, waiting for the doctor to come in. I understand that doctors get backed up, but for the first appointment of the morning (and having to be at work), it was especially frustrating watching the minutes tick by. Thank you iPhone for allowing me to play mah-jong while I waited.

When the doctor arrived, she was also surprised that I hadn't felt any movement. She did the doppler and heard the heartbeat (150 bpm). She asked if we could stay so she could do an ultrasound. I asked if it was safe since we've had so many (this was our 4th). She said as long as the energy settings are low (which these are), it's perfectly fine. And so I was slathered with ultrasound goo and probed.

Not much movement at first, which gave some concern since it could be a sign of developmental problems. But then Katie apparently woke up because we could see what she characterized as "giant kicks and punches", none of which I felt. The doctor was amazed I couldn't feel it. She said if I still don't feel movement in a couple of weeks, we can be more concerned since they use kick counts as some sort of pregnancy yardstick. I have another ultrasound in a few weeks, followed by my 28 week appointment. I'm sure we'll know more by then.

But for now, I feel my superpower is having a uterus of steel. I feel strangely proud of this feat.

P.S. Mom, the doctor said I should stop riding my bike for commuting purposes (just in case I fall or get into an accident). Bummer. I will abide since I don't trust my steel uterus that much. I'll miss the exercise and fresh air. Plus, riding the bus doubles my commute time. Boo.

Dirty Drawers Floors

2009-06-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

After the strawberry jam incident, you'd think I would have had enough. But I still had several pounds of berries on the counter to process last weekend, so after Ken went to bed on Saturday night, I stayed up and plowed through them.

I washed and hulled them all, dividing them into:

1. Large intact barries - for cutting and drying
2. Medium intact berries - for fresh eating (washed but unhulled)
3. Small intact berries - for freezing in a single layer and then bagging
4. Perfectly ripe, but not for long - for popsicles and sorbet
5. Bruised but fine - for jam

I sat down for most of this, but I was still exhausted by the end. After they were all safely stored in the freezer, fridge or dehydrator, I went to bed. The next morning, I got to work on the processed berries. I made:

1. strawberry rhubarb jam -- 14 pints of it.
2. strawberry popsicles
3. strawberry sorbet
4. Pulled the dried strawberries from the dehydrator for later use
5. Bagged the frozen strawberries for later syrup
6. simple syrup (pressure canned for future lemonade applications)

I finished around 1, sat down and ate brunch. Apparently I still had some energy afterwards because I got back up and made:

7. 10 lbs of gnocchi (froze individual pieces on cookie sheets and then bagged when frozen solid for later boiling)
8. Chocolate chip cookies (froze as pre-formed balls on cookie sheets and bagged for later cookie cravings).

By the time I finished this, it was 5 or so and I was still in my pajamas, exhausted and sticky from gnocchi dough/jam/cookies. I also had a line of flour running across my belly from where it now touches the counter when I work. I had a pile of pots in the sink and was working through them, exhausted. It was at this point when Ken asked if I wanted to have people over. I told him I wanted to get through the dishes first and then we could talk about it. He then asked if he should send a text message out to people, which is when I must have snapped at him because he went to the basement for 20 minutes or so before going out to hide in the garage.

I went on with the dishes, ignoring my lack of patience and social grace due to exhaustion. I had been working for 8 hours and felt somewhat excused. It was at this point of rationalizing that I heard running water downstairs. I yelled to Ken in the garage to see if he'd turned on some water. He said no. I went to the basement to investigate, only to find water rushing onto the basement floor at a record pace.

I yelled to Ken as I ran downstairs to turn off the water main.

Nothing.

Water is still streaming onto the floor, now reaching the drywall I just installed.

Ken passes me and went for the washing machine. Apparently, the water was coming from the output of the washing machine, which had somehow come undone from the wall and was draining onto our basement floor. 60% of our floor was now covered in water, including the area rug, the new moldings I just installed, parts of the gear room and soaking any cardboard boxes that were on the floor, etc.

I am still in my pajamas and slippers, covered in ick, now mopping up dirty, soapy water from our washing machine. I began having flashbacks of the basement hell from a few months ago. Meanwhile, Ken got out the shop vac and we exchanged jobs (since holding a vacuum cleaner hose is easier than manual mopping). It took us 30 minutes, a 30 gallon pot and two additional shop vac empties to rid the floor of water.

Ken saw my look of despair and finished up for me while I finished the remaining dishes in the kitchen (after turning the water main back on). I then took a shower and put on other PJs. I was beat. I think I sat on the couch, barely moving for the rest of the night (about 2 hours) before crashing.

The rug has since dried and the jam is now safely stored in the basement. Yet I still think of the basement, covered in water. It brings panic to my heart. My one bit of solace is thanks to my mom, who talked us out of putting laminate wood floors in the basement. We've had water on the floors twice, so that would have been a disaster for us. The painted concrete has held up very well so far. The drywall seems unharmed and everything seems back to normal. The only cardboard boxes damaged were empty anyway. I try to keep water-resistant things on the ground floor -- apparently for good reason.

I am hoping that the basement saga will end soon. I recently remembered that I forgot to cut holes in the soffits for access to the outside water lines. I remembered when I tried to turn on the hose in the front of the house. Fitting that in order to do so, I had to pull out a drywall saw and cut into the ceiling. I still have another to go, as well as some access panels for vent shut offs. Then it's creating the access panels to cover the holes. Likely to be done next week. Ken installed an ethernet/cable jack in the basement so we can move the office down, but we need help in order to do so because the furniture is too heavy.

Once the furniture's downstairs, then we can work on Katie's room. Now if only the basement would stop causing me headaches.

Merit Badges

2009-06-19T10:29:00.000-07:00

I just came across these on a crafting website and absolutely adore them.

I can only imagine ones with different brain regions. Can you imagine getting your "limbic system" merit badge instead of an "A". I think I would have been more motivated in grad school.

Pork for Jam

2009-06-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I bought some fresh pork belly from our local butcher to make bacon. I got it home, put it in the fridge to deal with the next day since we were having company that night. Then something came up the next day so I figured I'd cure it the next day. Or the next. Or the next. It went rancid before I could cure it and my heart sank. I wasted food and money. I was really, really sad about it. I didn't tell anyone but Ken, it made me that upset.

I vowed to take on only projects that I could tackle (if they involved perishables, at least). Yesterday, I went strawberry picking on Sauvie Island. I picked 12 lbs of berries and when I went to pay for them, I saw that they had a jamming flat reduced for quick sale. My inner struggle. Get the hurting berries or leave them. It was the pork incident all over again.

For $6.50, I purchased the additional flat of berries and went to a barbecue at a friends house while they sat in the back of my car. By 9:15 p.m, I was on my way home. By 9:30, I was sitting in a chair pulled up to the sink, hulling and washing berries. Come hell or high water, these berries wouldn't rot on me. By 10:00, I was almost finished processing the 15 cups of strawberries that would make up my jam. By 10:03, I realized I didn't have enough sugar. I called Ken, who was on his way home from kickball and work to pick some up. (You have to love a husband who knows you well enough to know that when you ask for sugar, you mean a 25 lb sack of it -- he called to confirm that's how much I wanted, which it was. He didn't ask why I wanted it either. He just picked it up for me. Another reason why he's my best. Sidenote: he was also very understanding about the pork incident.)

Back to the stove, it was now 10:10 on a work night. I had my pot of boiling water going for the jars and I'd just finished processing the strawberries and adding the lime juice when Ken walked in with the dog and a 25 lb sack of sugar over his shoulder. I am stirring a 26 gallon sized pot of red goo.

His only response: "You're doing this now? Is this because you're motivated to make jam or because you're still feeling guilty about the pork?"

Yes. Talk about hitting my reasons out of the ballpark.

Ken said he needed to walk away from the canning madness. I mumbled something that may have sounded like "ok" but I can't be sure. I was in jam-land. I added the sugar, cooked it all down, ladled the jam into the jars and processed it in the boiling water. Thankfully, it was a cool night (a welcome change from normal jamming weather) so I was only a sticky mess rather than a sweaty, sticky mess. By the time I pulled the last of the jars from the water and cleaned up, it was around 11:30 pm. I had 24 pints (around 3 gallons) of perfectly-set, jewel-colored strawberry jam. I left it on the counter overnight so I could admire my work the next morning.

Upon seeing my work this morning, I was proud of what I accomplished but I am still thinking about the pork. I am also thinking about the other 12 lbs of strawberries still sitting on my counter.

Hello lovers

2009-06-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

I dropped off some black maternity pants to be hemmed after work yesterday and then went shoe shopping. I'm normally not much of a shopper but I only have one pair of plain black flats for work -- and they need socks in order to wear them. Since it's summer and socks are starting to cut into my cankles, I figured it was time for some new ones.

I found some nice black ones on sale at Macy's, which was having a promotion that if you bought any two pair (even if on sale or clearance), both pair got an additional 20% off. So I got another pair that I've been lusting after since Easter. I love them because they're so bright and outside of what I usually wear. They're so comfortable and are the most vibrant lime green I've ever seen (the picture doesn't do the color justice -- they are even brighter than what you see below). I don't know if they're stylish or if I look like an old lady. But I don't care. I love them and am wearing them now. They brighten my mood whenever I look down and see them.

Katie in 3D

2009-06-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Ken and I went in for an ultrasound today due to some potential complications they found a few weeks ago. Short version: both issues may not be issues anymore. The placenta's now 5 cm away from the cervix (instead of partially covering it) and the fibroid hasn't grown and is on the posterior uterine wall -- away from the baby (who's hanging out in the anterior portion). Either of these issues would necessitate a C-section down the road. I'm glad to hear things are ok.

But truthfully, I was most thankful that the ultrasound just happened to be today since I've been sick all weekend. I was worried that something may have happened to Katie due to fever, etc. I was nervous for the appt.

Everything is looking great. She's still a "she" and is growing right on schedule. They estimate her weight at 1 lb, 8 oz. Her kidneys are fine, heartbeat looks good, etc. She wasn't moving much and likes to keep her hand near her face (which is pretty common apparently). Still, they were able to take the following pictures. We were pretty excited to see that some of them were in 3D!

Here's Katie at 24 weeks:

Her heartbeat

Her grizzly-like feet

Side view of her arm covering her face

What the same picture looks like in 3D. You can see her arm in front of her face with the umbilical cord to the left (near the nose/mouth/eyes)

The ultrasound tech tried to digitally "remove" the arm and umbilical cord to get a better view. It created some weird shadows....

Kind of like if she were a pirate. Arrrrgh! Batten ye timbers, mateys.

Face shot

Same face shot, but in 3D. Ken and I were surprised by the "dark hair" which are actually just shadows. Surprised us both at first since I didn't have hair until I was 3 and Ken is blonde as can be.

And lastly, the distorted view that Ken and I think is creepily hilarious.

Don't worry, Katie has the back of her skull. But in this picture, I think it looks like she has horns. Ken thinks she looks like the kitten on fire from the Family Guy episode where Stewie kills Mr. Rogers (see the 0:41 second mark). Either way, we were laughing in the ultrasound and thought some of you may find the humor in it too.

Next ultrasound appointment is in 5 weeks. An unexpected bonus of complications, I suppose.

You give me Fever

2009-06-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

I've been out of commission for the past couple of days. I got really queasy last Wednesday morning which morphed into sweats, dizziness, chills and aches as the day progressed. I left work and went immediately to bed. Did not pass couch. Did not collect $200. I woke up 6 hours later to a fever just shy of 101. I ate and drank something before going back to bed for the night.

The next morning, my fever had broke so I went to work for a meeting but called it quits half way through the day. Spent the rest of the day sleeping on the couch and went to bed early after vomiting my dinner. I called in sick the next day after that. I could barely move. More sofa city. Threw up that night too. Saturday was better and I could move, albeit slowly. Sunday hurt a lot and I was exhausted. I am finally feeling better today.

I learned:

I can't lay down in all positions anymore. I have my left side or my right side. Sometimes on my back, but not for long. Any of these positions hurt after a while.
Laying down for 3-5 days really, really hurts my abdominal muscles (they call them round ligaments -- which stretch as the uterus grows). My sides were really hurting these past few days. 1000 situps -- only inverse result. I needed help to pull myself up.
Hurting abdominal muscles puts strain on my lower back. So by Sunday, my lower back and abdominal muscles were killing.
Having a fever and vomiting and sore muscles made me feel that I was having pregnancy complications. Not knowing what is going on (and if anything is wrong in there) is frightening.
Being exhausted and not being able to move/do the things that I want makes me really, really sad. I miss the pregnancy of 2 weeks ago when I could do anything.
Ken is awesome and took control of everything while I was out of commission. I feel lucky to have him as my partner.
I am glad we got most of the baby stuff already. If I feel like I did this weekend, I am not going to want to move/do anything.
The third trimester is going to suck.

iPhone and Crib

2009-06-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

It was a happy day yesterday. Two big purchases that change things:

1. An iPhone. Apple is coming out with a new one so they dropped the price of their old one to <$100. My old phone (which they don't make anymore) started dropping calls and losing reception, so it was a great time to upgrade. Now I can keep track of appointments, check email (work and home), etc. on the go. iPhones are awesome. I've been coveting Ken's for a while now. I'm particularly fond of the GPS maps feature since I frequently get lost in new places.

2. Crib. I've been searching craigslist for a couple of weeks and just found a crib in a darker wood about 10 blocks from our house. We picked it up last night after our stop at the apple store (see crib picture below; we didn't get the bedding). We had to disassemble the crib to get it in the door. It is now in pieces in Katie's room. Having a crib in the house (even disassembled) makes upcoming baby feel a little more real. Earlier in my pregnancy, I was not so excited about getting things ready or decorating. That has changed where I'm now looking forward to it. I'm still not ready to embroider baby books or anything, but I am ready to start on some fun craft projects to hang over the crib. I'm planning to make some bigger paper lanterns out of the brightly colored tissue paper leftover from our wedding -- almost five years ago. I'm hoping to make the room fun without being too "baby-ey".

Summer Crafting - Paper Mache Lights

2009-06-04T10:59:00.000-07:00

This how-to on paper mache lights came across the blogosphere today. I think they're pretty awesome. Easy and cheap to make, they definitely seem like something fun to add to the summer patio.

See the link for full instructions on how to make them for around $3.

In-Laws Arrive Today!

2009-06-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Look forward to seeing them. Kinley is going to get lots of attention.

What's my hurry

2009-06-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

I have been uninterested in wanting to decorate or get ready for the baby. Just not on my priority list. Painting windows and installing moulding seemed more fun. But then the heat wave must have kicked some hormones into overdrive because I started freaking out the past two weeks. I've been looking at google reader incessantly in an effort to find all of the bigger items needed to get things ready for the baby.

For example, we got a car seat/stroller combo on craigslist last night. We'll be getting the Bob stroller from Rob and Jana for all of our off-roading needs, but since we needed a carseat, we decided to get the one that can be easily moved between applications (i.e. car, stroller, house without disturbing the baby). We got the one recommended by three friends who just had kids. I'm excited to have both strollers because the people who sold us this last night were selling it in order to get the Bob for their outdoor excursions with their now older and bigger baby.

On the way home, Ken asked "so what's the rush all of a sudden? the baby's 4 months away." He's right. He also accurately pointed out that this all seemed to come on recently. I listed off the following irrational reasons that have no bearing on us "needing" to get a stroller yesterday:

I was hot and miserable this past weekend and I'm trying to get it all finished before it's really hot this summer and I don't want to move
My legs/feet were sore this weekend so what if I'm not able to walk well in my third trimester
But Jessica B. said to get as much finished before the 3rd trimester so you can relax
What if I'm on bed rest for the last month like our neighbor -- and she was in great shape and very active.
What if the baby comes 6 weeks early like Rachel's friend's did.
I don't want to leave it all until the last minute and then rush around. Does it matter when we get it?
But on craigslist you have to act when you see it (we got it at a fraction of the price for a new one)

None of these reasons are particularly compelling, but in all they add up to my recent flurry of activity. And yes, I feel insane and embarrassed for having a stroller in my house 4 months in advance.

Beating the Summer Heat

2009-06-01T14:41:00.001-07:00

I wilted this weekend. In 85 degree weather. It was sad.

I have come to the realization that this summer won't be like the others. Already, I can't stand for long periods of time without my feet swelling to cankle-like proportions. I need to sit often and with my feet up. I had to sit down to chop cabbage yesterday. Weird.

But, something's got to give. Right now I LOVE fruit. I also love popsicles. So I called a local kitchen store and ordered the following. I'm going to pick them up tomorrow after work. I can't wait.

Grilled Pizza

2009-05-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet made this awesome and fast summer meal, I recommend marching out and grabbing some dough tonight (or make it yourself).

Ingredients:
Ball of pizza dough
Cheese
Toppings (if you want)
salt

Instructions:
1. Heat grill on high.
2. Grab a handful of dough for personal pizza. No need for flour, oil or a rolling pin. Just stretch it out with your hands.
3. Throw on hot grill. No oil needed. Reduce heat to medium. Let it sit 3 minutes or so
4. Flip and add cheese/toppings/salt. Cover. Let sit another three minutes until cheese is melty and dough is cooked through.
5. Pull from grill and eat, sinking back in your chair in heavenly delight that you made dinner in six minutes without heating up the kitchen on a hot summer night.

I'm sure you can imagine the endless possibilities for toppings, but just keeping it simple has been amazing. I haven't even bothered with tomato sauce. So far, my combinations included:

mozzarella cheese, truffle salt & balsamic vinegar
mozzarella cheese, fresh garlic-infused oil & salt.

I can only imagine the deliciousness when fresh tomato and basil season hits. This would also be a great meal for a small crowd since adults (and kids) LOVE stretching their own dough and making their own pizzas.

For the Love of Craigslist and Google Reader

2009-05-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

I know that we'll need some baby items in the next few months. I've been previously putting it off because massive amounts of stuff seems counter-intuitive to what a baby needs in its most basic sense. That, combined with the fact that registering at a baby big-box to pay full price for a new what-sa-whooz-it that I'll only use for a few months makes me insane.

No, thank you. So instead, I've just put things off. Not a good strategy either.

I have some hand-me-downs coming my way (thanks Rob & Jana and Natascha!) and discovered the joys of second-hand maternity shops, where you can get anything for mom or baby at a fraction of the cost. I got some advice from parents on items that are actually helpful to have and started looking on craigslist for them. But it's pretty time-consuming to do the same searches day after day.

Then I discovered the RSS feed option on craigslist that links directly to your Google Reader account. I put in all of my search terms for the 5 or so items I'm looking for. Then, whenever those terms come up, I get an updated list on my Google Reader acct on which items are available without having to search Craigslist postings.

This was the method by which we were able to get our first piece of baby furniture last night at a fraction of the retail cost. I was very excited. What is it? A pack and play. Yes, this what-sa-whooz-it is a baby ~~dumping ground~~ play area, bassinet and changing table. Basically, it allows me to put the baby down without it rolling down the basement stairs or getting licked by the dog, it gives me a place to change the baby without hauling us all up a flight of stairs and it serves as a place where the baby can sleep right next to us until we figure things out (or are travelling -- since it packs up to the size of a tent).

Best of all, I just picked one and went with it. Mostly based on location of the seller than on style of the piece. Even better since there are less decorating or "color scheme" decisions for me to make, which I find overwhelming.

More pieces to come, but I love this easy way of letting deals come to me. Next on the list: crib, car seat and changing table for upstairs.

22 week update

2009-05-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Had my 22 week appointment today. All my tests are looking good. They heard the heartbeat (145 bpm) and even heard her kicking (sounds like belching on a doppler). I couldn't feel anything when we heard the "kicking" though. Should be anytime now.

I'm in the normal weight gain range (16 lbs so far) but gained 7 of the lbs in the last four weeks alone, which is a steeper curve than I've had in the past. Still normal, but it's something to keep an eye on, especially if this rate continues (which it won't or I'll be a whale come October). It's likely due to me not being able to get enough fruit. It is my favorite thing and all I want to eat right now (along with glasses of milk). Mangos, cantaloupes, bananas, watermelons, strawberries, even prunes. Yum. I ate an entire cantaloupe in one sitting this week.

I have another ultrasound scheduled for mid-June for them to check out a couple things that are normal but may cause complicatons down the road. One is placenta previa -- the baby's placenta is covering the opening to the cervix, which means C-section if it doesn't resolve itself. Mine's mild, so they think it will be fine. Another is a golf-ball sized fibroid in my uterine wall. It's not cancerous and is surprisingly common in 50-80% of all women. I had no idea it was even there. Some grow with pregnancy hormones, some shrink with hormones and some stay the same. So they're going to check which type mine is. I wonder if mine grows with cantaloupe. If so, we may be in trouble. Again, it probably won't cause any problems but since it can cause some serious complications, they're keeping an eye on it.

In all, thing are going well. My belly is noticeably bigger. I'm still feeling good although have had trouble sleeping the past two nights due to the warmer weather combined with the snoring of a certain loved one. I get tired a lot faster than I used to. And I'm getting winded by things that never used to bother me before. Like standing. It's difficult, apparently.

So for now, everything is going as scheduled. I'm trying to get as much done now as possible since my third trimester will be in the hot summer and I won't likely won't ~~be able~~ want to move. Plus, you never know what will happen -- our active neighbor was confined to bed rest for the last month since the baby kicked a tear in the placenta. And one of Rachel's coworkers gave birth 6 weeks early. So you never know. I just want to have my ducks in a row so I don't have to worry about it and can just focus on eating cantaloupe (with my feet up) instead.

Weekend in Review

2009-05-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

I love long weekends. Especially ones that are sunny and not too warm. I go manic, which usually results in lots of projects. This one was no exception. Here's a recap of what we did this weekend:

Friday

I worked from home today since it takes me 1.5 hours round trip to commute by bike. All of my work for Friday was on the computer so it worked out well. I finished around 3 and then cleaned our bedroom -- about 2 cats worth of hair that had accumulated under our bed from over the winter. Gross.
Urethaning the porch screen doors -- Ken has always wanted wooden screen doors for our porches. When our front aluminum porch door busted (albeit two years ago), we pulled the trigger and ordered two unfinished douglas fir screen doors with storm panel inserts. I stained them last week and did the first coat of spar urethane this morning. I did the first coat on the other side around 5:30. Yes, I wore an organic vapor respirator.
Laundry (the homemade laundry detergent works! I also started making my own dishwashing detergent, which also works! The latter was out of necessity since we ran out one day and we had a ton of dishes to do. A mix of two ingredients -- washing soda and borax in equal parts - and behold clean dishes and no trips to the store. We haven't purchased more store-bought since)
Went to dinner with some friends at a new butcher shop/restaurant that opened tonight down the street. I bought 9 lbs of pork belly for making bacon/pancetta while we waited for a table. I like having a butcher shop nearby, although this one is a little expensive for everyday use.

Saturday

Dirt piles moved. We planted potatoes and asparagus this spring - both of which require trenches. I dug both ~~graves~~ beds about a month ago, planted the veggies using fresh compost and had a lot of clay piled up on the side from where I dug. Earlier this week, I consolidated the two compost piles and incorporated the clay between layers in an effort to improve the soil for future use. It was a lot of moving but I finished the last of it this morning. Finishing moving the piles allowed room for me to lay down mulch....
Yard of mulch installed. Ken picked up a yard of mulch at Mt Scott Fuel and I laid most of it while he worked on the doors. Before I laid the mulch in some areas...
Moved plants into the new back bed. I scavenged our front shade bed for some "friends" to divide and move to the new (mostly empty) back bed. It now has a peony, two types of blueberries, swiss chard, beets, golden sage, a variegated lungwort, toad lilies, lady's mantle, two fuschias, daylilies, some grasses and a heuchera. I'm pretty proud of it. Once it was all down, I mulched the bed and watered well.
Second coat of urethane on the porch doors. (Ken did this)
Friend's barbecue at 4:30.

Sunday

Ken began the long process of installing the porch doors. He started with the front door and installed new trim, hung the door, drilled and installed the latches, etc. It took most of the day but looks awesome.
Meanwhile, I installed moulding in the basement to cover the areas where the drywall meets the floor. Ken and I shared the compound miter saw in the front yard. I was very proud of myself for mitering the corners, getting the cuts right and even using the angle scribe and jigsaw appropriately to cut around tough corners and notches. The floor moulding is now complete, meaning the office can now go down to the basement and we can start on the nursery.
Window framing - While I had the saw out, I decided to fix the window that fell out in the snow this winter. I removed the 2x4 and packing tape holding everything in place, removed the glass and stripped it of paint/packing tape residue, cut some moulding for the inside frame and painted the window sill and frame to match the rest of the basement windows.
At this point it was 7:30 and we were completely exhausted. We went for sushi and then went for bed. I miss eating fish and drinking beer.... especially after a long workday.

Monday

So tired. My one cup of coffee a day just isn't cutting it. I am much slower today than yesterday. It took me a while to get started. I began by planting some more watermelons, cantaloupes, honeydew, pumpkins and delicata squash in our two back beds. I figure since I'm gettting bigger everyday, I won't be able to weed easily for too much longer and planting some large-leaf vining veggies that take over the garden will help out with that. Ken won't have much trouble harvesting the giant fruits and I'm hoping they'll keep the weeds down as they cover most of our garden. Plus, the pumpkins and winter squash can be harvested and kept for a while (meaning I won't have to do much processing when I'm 8 months pregnant).
Installed the window moulding. The basement window moulding that I painted yesterday is now up. I am excited.
Painting the garden windows - I love windows with the old wavy glass. Last year, I found some wooden windows on the side of the road with the old glass. I loaded them into the car and put them in the garage until I figured out a use for them. I decided to hang them on the fence around the garden as a way to bounce some light around. I painted them a dark bluish purple that we had leftover from our house's previous owners (to the groans of Ken -- "purple???"). Did 2 coats on each side. I have touch ups left to do and then they're ready to hang. Ken says he'll wait to make judgment on the color until he sees them in place.
Glazing the basement windows -- now that the windows are clean, I stripped the frames of putty (not much) and re-inserted the glass using glazing points, putty and mineral spirits (yes, I wore gloves). Now both basement windows have properly glazed windows that can't be removed with a piece of tape. It will take 7-14 days for the putty to cure.
Fixed the umbrella -- one of the support pieces snapped in the wind about 2 years ago. I promised myself I'd fix it but never got to it last year. So I got some mending plates and wood glue and went to work. After Ken heard cursing, he came to help me with the second half of it. Sadly, the drill was getting too heavy for me to hold by the end of the day. He finished installing the last of the screws and attached the clamps while it dries overnight.
Grilled out and I was in bed before dark. I tried my hardest to make it until dark, but it was pointless. I went to bed at 9:08. Staying up those last 8 minutes was hard.

Tuesday

I am happily back at work. I don't think I have the energy for another long weekend like that. But I'm very happy for what we accomplished.
Tonight Ken is removing the porch screen doors so I can paint the new trim to match the rest of the house. (I found a quart of matching paint in the seconds department of Rodda Paint for $1! I was excited).
Ken is subbing for a friend's softball team
In addition to the porch trim, I also plan to finish touch ups on the garden windows, put up the umbrella and paint the mending plates black to match the rest of the umbrella wood.

Teaching teens genetics and phenotypes at the expense of our unborn child

2009-05-15T15:05:00.001-07:00

Our teacher friend, Alyson, collaborated with the science teacher next door on what kids look like based on traits of the parents. Alyson asked for pictures of Ken and I and put the teens to work. They use software that was lent to them by the FBI. Here are the pictures we submitted and the result of what they think Katie will look like.

The pictures we submitted:

Larger view of the result:

Kind of fun, kind of terrifying to see it on paper. I think she looks like Kristen Herman mixed with a Slater (family friends of ours). For all the happy pictures that went in, she kind of looks sad. Maybe that's because she fears for the humiliation that will come with years of posting all sorts of photos of her on the blog. Smart girl, after all.

Thankful for Food Poisoning

2009-05-12T12:02:00.001-07:00

I got food poisoning last night from some leftover Indian food I had for lunch. It tasted fine but apparently my body didn't agree. I was at Ken's softball game at 7 when my stomach pains started (4 hours after eating). I thought it was the baby kicking for the first time. As the pains got stronger, I started fearing for the rest of my pregnancy because I don't know if I could take the daily pain of such "kicks". For better or worse, I learned two ways that it was my body revolting from what I ate. I have never been so happy for food poisoning.

Parents Visit Recap

2009-05-12T11:33:00.002-07:00

My parents left yesterday - bound for California, Zion National Park, Vegas, Denver, etc. They plan to get back to Pennsylvania on Friday. We had a great trip. Lots of chatting and catching up, mainly over plants or while sitting outside. Some of my highlights include:

Their arrival & hats
Friday. It was great to see them pull up. My mom soon pulled out three very sweet hats that she knitted herself. One yellow, one yellow/white stripes, one white. They are in increasing sizes -- the largest fit me, the smallest fits a newborn. Very sweet.

Maternity shopping
Saturday. My mom took me to do one of the things I hate the most. But we had fun. We went to a very sweet little resale shop on 26th & Clinton called Piccolina. They have maternity & baby clothes. It made shopping so much less scary.

Indian Night
The joys of many containers of Indian food and the family all around the table enjoying it.

The Big Reveal
On Monday morning, we found out we're having a girl. My folks were on their way to Seattle, Vancouver Island and Vancouver BC. When they found out it was a girl, they stopped at the Space Needle in Seattle and toasted with champagne. They sent me the following picture. The joys of being new grandparents-to-be:

Mask Night
Thursday. My folks came to our dodgeball game after spending the day in wine country. Our team had made luchador masks for the evening from our team t-shirts. (If anyone wants the pattern, I can get it for you from my friend. It took our entire team 5 hours to make them one night using two sewing machines and lots of beer). Anyway, it was great having my folks there to see us all. (Note: Ken's in black, I'm #3 under the flag)

Work Visit, New Clothes & Plant Night
My folks took a ride on the new Portland Aerial Tram and visited me at work. They said I was blushing as I showed them my office, etc. After they left, they stopped by Piccolina on the way home (my mom was dying to go back since she found out it was going to be a girl). When I got home, she had purchased several very sweet outfits in varying sizes (onesie, a blanket/sleeping bag-zipper thing that I would like to wear for cold nights, a couple of sweet outfits and an adorable pair of shoes that are probably my favorite of the bunch). Everything is so little. After the "fashion show", my mom and I went around the yard and dug up lots of "friends" for her to take home to her yard. I think she has 20 gallons of perennials in the back of the car. Now we'll be able to look at the same plants when we look out of our windows.

Golf Day
My mom, dad, brother, Ken and I went to Edgefield to play 20 holes of golf on Saturday (par 3 course with lots of beer). It was a beautiful day. We got to relax while mom and Ken competed against each other to be the first to get par. Mom was the first, though Ken is quick to point out he was the first to get birdie (albeit after Mom's par). I almost got a hole-in-one which would have allowed me to have chickens (per Ken's and my standard bet). As a result, Ken almost had a heart attack on the course.

Mother's Day
Brunch of dutch babies and bacon. More plant "friends" for my mom. Watched Ken's kickball game. My folks packed for their next day departure. Then we grilled out and had homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert. A simple, but delicious mother's day.

Departure Day
Not really a highlight, but they're happy to be heading back to their house with lots of wine and "friends". They'll be back for 2 weeks in October, just after the baby is born. Due date is Oct 4th, they're arriving on the 8th. I can't believe that we'll have a kid in less than five months.

Ultrasound - 18 weeks

2009-05-06T10:52:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures from our 18 week ultrasound on Monday. Enjoy.

Overall view

Head

Heartbeat (was 153 bpm that day). I love the waveform.

Showing us her "girl parts". Apparently, she has 6 million eggs already formed at this point. They're called "oogonia" at this point; they'll develop further as she gets older. But it's crazy to me that they're already there.

Little feet. This picture reminds me of Kristen and how she always takes pictures of her feet up with a beer when she's on vacation.

There are more pictures but these are the ones that look unique to me. My blood tests still look good -- I'm very nervous for gestational diabetes which would limit my berry intake this summer and make me very sad. But, so far, so good. I've gained 9 lbs so far (average range is 10-13 lbs). My pants no longer button. I've found Emily's belly band has saved me. (Belly band is basically a wide elastic band that goes around your abdomen and allows you to wear your normal pants unbuttoned/unzipped in public without getting arrested). It's surprisingly comfortable and I think I will wear it to future Thanksgivings (for my mashed potato and stuffing baby).

Baby Ken

2009-05-04T12:50:00.001-07:00

Ken's mom just sent me his baby pictures. So between mine and his, you'll get an idea of what sort of wrinkly, sweet, mischievous baby we'll have:

It's a GIRL!

2009-05-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

We just found out. Everything looks great so far. Heartbeat is 153. She's a squirmer.

Weekend in Preview

2009-05-01T11:02:00.000-07:00

My parents arrive today!

Looking forward to seeing them. They're driving cross country and will get in sometime between 3-5 pm. Andrew's meeting us for dinner and drinks at our place. Grilling and hanging out on the porch. I'm happy it's supposed to be sunny.

Haven't fully determined plans yet, but possibilities for the weekend include:

Going to the Belgian Beer fest at Lucky Lab
Going to Edgefield to play golf (and drink beer)
I would love to take my dad to the Rebuilding Center
I would love to take my mom to Portland Nursery
I think my mom wants to go maternity clothes shopping at some point
I know they want to see where my brother lives, works, etc.

They're in town for the next 10 days or so -- minus their weekday excursions to Vancouver BC, Seattle and Oregon wine country.

I can hardly wait to get off of work.

Pregnant Women are Smug

2009-04-29T11:21:00.001-07:00

I had a pregnancy epiphany yesterday, thanks largely to this video which is floating around facebook.

I could totally relate to what they were saying. Those things have bothered me in the past when said by other women and I had already started the "as long as it's healthy" response to "what gender do you prefer?" I just didn't know how to respond otherwise. I suspect most first-time pregnant women don't.

So, here are my (most unsmug) answers to those pregnancy questions:

Are you finding out the sex?
Yes. I wouldn't be able to stand it otherwise. It's like having the results to a long experiment you've been working on and not looking at them sitting on the printer.

What sex are you hoping it will be?
I'm completely fine with either. I have a feeling it will be a boy due to all the testosterone in the house at that time. However, I don't know as much about boys and they don't wear fun dresses as often as girls, so I guess I'm hoping for a girl. But, if it's a girly girl princess, I don't know what I'm going to do because I have a hard time relating to that. I guess most girls go through that stage as some point regardless of how they turn out, so it's no big deal (I know I had a princess stage, Rapunzel to be exact). Ken wants a boy because he wants to play sports with him. I want to garden with her. We both know that girls can play sports and boys can garden, so we come back full circle in that we're fine with either. But I have an easier time explaining the girl's name, so then I want a girl.

Do you already have names picked out and are you telling?
Strangely enough, we've had names picked out since we were married. Way before kids were a glimmer in our eyes. I wanted to name a girl after my paternal grandmother (Katherine) and both of our moms' middle names are Marie. So if it's a girl, it would be Katherine Marie (going by Katie for short... or Kate if she preferred). As for boys, the only part I cared about was that the middle name be Standish (after my dad, brother and dad's family). I didn't want the first name to be Standish or Stan. That's when Ken asked if I'd ever be game for the name Ty. He wanted to name his son after Ty Cobb. We had just gotten married and kids weren't in the picture, so I said sure. When we found out I was pregnant, he asked "so are you still cool with the name?" How could I say no? So there you have it: Katie Marie or Ty Standish.

Do you have any fears?
I painted, drywalled and stripped floors during early pregnancy (with respirator), but I still fear for the health/froglike looks of our baby.

Are you giving birth in a hospital and/or are you doing it naturally?
Hospital and drugs, please.

Have you started the nursery?
We moved some stuff out of the room and refinished the basement floor in preparation, but that's about it. No maternity clothes shopping yet, no designing what the room will look like, no signature colors. I don't even want to think about it yet. Maybe next month. I am thankful to Rob and Jana for lending us their stroller and other goodies. And to Natascha and Emily for their maternity and baby hand-me-downs. I am excited to have a few less things to think about. If only daycare was that easy.

Are you putting your baby in daycare?
Yes. Likely 5 days a week (gasp!). I looked into going 0.75 time, but working the extra day paid for the entire week of childcare. It just wasn't worth it. I'm going to try to work from home some days, but I don't know how effective that will be. So I'm bracing myself (and our budget) for 5 days of childcare. We have looked at one place which was great but we probably won't get in. (We're on their wait list). Another place couldn't see us until July 22nd. And then it would be doubtful for us to get a spot. So, I'm freaking out in that sense because I have nowhere to take the baby when my maternity leave is over (3 months, around Jan 1). It will work out, but right now it's a little overwhelming. We're going to be looking at some more places.

I think those are the most burning questions I can think of . If you have any others, I'd be happy to answer them. I'm going to do my best to be honest and forthcoming about it all. Hopefully, I'll be one less smug pregnant woman.

(Not so) Dry Well

2009-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

A few years back, Ken woke up one morning to find our basement flooded caused by a backed up dry well in the backyard. He cleaned it out and we've been fine ever since.

Except for Monday night when we had a ton of rain and Ken saw some water coming in through the basement. He ran outside to see the gutter leaders backed up and spilling water next to the foudation. Ken unhooked the leaders from the drywell and came back in to clean up the water. We caught it just in time. (i.e. before it flooded our entire basement -- we are very psyched the painted concrete floor is ok with water -- unlike the laminate flooring we were thinking of putting in). Insert sigh of relief here.

Ken dug a giant hole in the backyard yesterday and is installing a trap with cleanout tonight -- so we don't have this problem again in another 4 years. A pain, but worth it.

Baby Betting Pool

2009-04-28T10:26:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine is putting a baby betting pool together. If you're interested in entering the official pool, shoot me an email and I'll put you in touch with the organizer. I'm not much of a betting-for-money-type person -- I much prefer bragging rights. So if you'd like to play on the side, feel free to post your entries in the comments below.

Lisa is one week away from finding out the gender of Lil' Roko. What better reason to start betting on something? The pool will run like this:

Guessing:
1. Gender
2. Date
3. Weight
4. Length
5. Time

Scoring:
-10 for the correct gender
+2 for every day off
+1 for every oz off weight
+1 for every in off length
the lowest score wins. Entry fee is $5. Third place gets $5, 2nd $10 and 1st takes the rest.

In the event of a tie, we will use time as the tie breaker.

Closing time is Noon, Sunday, May 3rd; all entries and fees must be collected by this time. Cash only, no coupons, or other offers valid. This agreement shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of Portland, OR. If you are unsatisfied with the outcome in any way, shut the f*ck up and take it like a man.

My new 780 lb bed

2009-04-27T14:17:00.001-07:00

After the tomato sale, Ken and I headed to the rock store. Ken wanted gravel to level out the driveway. I wanted basalt boulders to line a new garden bed I was creating. Ken helped me pick out the basalt boulders that would line the bed before heading to the gravel section.

I needed 78 linear feet of the rock. We moved the big guys out of the way to get the smaller guys (lengths between 10-18"). Ken weighed them and loaded them into the car while I climbed the rock pile in search for good ones. It took us about 30 minutes to find the 780 lbs of basalt boulders we needed make up the length. When we were finished, Ken went to pay for them ($0.05/lb) while I headed home to unload them.

The next day, I was nervously ready to start creating the bed. I used a hose to mark the edges of the bed and dug the borders. I installed the bender board to prevent grass/weeds creeping through the rocks and then carefully arranged each stone so that if fit with its neighbors. I started around 10 and finished work at 6 pm. By the end of the day, I had double dug the entire bed, laid all 780 lbs of the rock border, spread gravel around the perimeter, weeded a neighboring bed and watered the grass that I trampled in my rock-laying frenzy.

By 6:30, I could barely move. Ken came home around 8, massaged my sore muscles and put me to bed. I'm still sore this morning but so proud of what I accomplished. I'll plant the bed this week or weekend since it's ready to go. I figure the rock border was my last big project before I can't bend over for a while. I'm really, really proud of it.

The Great Tomato Draft of 2009

2009-04-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ken and I went to a plant sale this weekend to pick up our tomato starts for the season. We've grown around 15 types a year in the past but decided to limit it to 10 plants this year.

We downloaded the list of available varieties. I had at least 10 I wanted. Ken wanted some too. So we each marked our favorites. If we marked the same one, they automatically made it into our top 10. There were only 2 that made the first cut, so we decided to do the rest in draft order. Here are our results:

1. (both selected) Black From Tula
2. (both selected) Mr. Stripey
3. (Ken #1 pick) Mexican Midget (due to name alone)
4. (Lisa #1 pick) Polish Linguisa
5. (Ken #2) Cherokee Purple
6. (Lisa #2) Shady Lady
7. (Ken #3) Gold Nugget
8. (Lisa #3) San Marzano
9. (Ken #4) Sweet Million
10. (Lisa #4) Red Brandywine

We divided the list into two and each took a section to divide and conquer. Ken was polite and patient but apparently I would stab an old lady in the side for a tomato start since I ended up with all 10 of the tomato plants in my basket before Ken could get #2. He was not happy. I see his point of view in retrospect and should have let him get his 5. I just saw mass lines and tomatoes flying off the shelves so I grabbed everything I could.

Ken ended up getting a white pumpkin and some mustard greens to ease his tomato woes. I got some honey, a blueberry and an alpine strawberry (again, sharp elbows). We'll plant them all this coming weekend. Ken can have first pick of locations for his new "friends" since I'm feeling guilty. Although technically, they were my "friends" first (kidding, kidding).

Here's a complete list of the tomato descriptions:

Projects to Distract Me

2009-04-22T16:29:00.000-07:00

Ken was out of town yesterday for work, so it seemed a great time to get busy on some projects to take my mind off of things.

The three I wanted to accomplish:
1. Sand the drywall (the last of it in the basement!)
2. Paint the second coat of the soon-to-be office wall
3. Make laundry detergent.

I'm happy to say that all were accomplished. I even found two awesome old windows when I was walking Kinley that I grabbed. I'll refinish them at some point -- maybe put in some leaded glass or build them into a cabinet.

The laundry detergent was the easiest and most fun. There are plenty of recipes online -- most use borax, washing soda and bar soap (all available in the laundry aisle of the grocery store). From what I've read, it lasts a while, works great and costs $0.02/load rather than $0.30/load for storebought. There are recipes for liquid or powdered versions, so you can make whatever suits your needs. Looks pretty easy. I tried a small batch first.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap... Read More
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder

~2 gallon size bucket~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

And the result?

It worked! I thought grating hard soap would be a pain, but it was super simple. Other tasks including boiling water, stirring and measuring out two 1/2 cup ingredients, so it was really, really simple and made the whole house smell amazing.

My brother came to visit just as I was about to add the soap and I got the "what are you doing?" look, but he quickly got into it too. It's too simple and fun not to enjoy. Kids would love to see this being made... soap, bubbles and stirring. Fun.

We put the warm mixture into a glass pickle jar and only used the original 6 cups of water. So it's super concentrated and solidified into a gelatinous mass within 2 hours (probably why they add more water). But all it needs is diluting, so I'm not going to worry about it. I can just use less of it in the wash (or I can dilute it -- I haven't decided which path to take yet)....

So, so far, highly recommended. I gave Andrew a jar of it and he's going to test it out tonight since he has to do laundry.

16 week blahs

2009-04-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm 16 weeks pregnant. 4 more weeks until halfway. According to the websites, it's about the size of an avocado right now. The calm before the growing storm, from what I've read.

It's an odd feeling. I'm no longer queasy (that stopped at 14 weeks) yet I don't feel any kicking or movement either (that starts in another week or two). So in short, I don't feel pregnant right now. I just feel chubby and unattractive. My belly has started showing a little bit -- just enough for my pants to be tight and to be in that weird "is she fat or pregnant" stage. Plus, I don't have the energy that I used to... I need to take frequent breaks during gardening that I didn't use to need. I'm also a lot slower on my bike. Pathetically slow and passed by senior citizens, but at least I'm riding.

I know this is sacrilege to say, but pregnancy just isn't my favorite thing. I'm really looking forward to the outcome, but the second trimester hasn't been all lavender and cookies like I thought it would be. And the first trimester definitely wasn't either. So far, pregnancy's just been hard. Mentally hard especially, watching my body go away while I can't eat and drink some of my favorite things. Going to happy hour with friends and not getting to partake. Avoiding the delicious creamy scallops at sushi and cultured milk blue cheese that I love so much. Forgoing evening activities because I'm exhausted and in bed by 10 pm. This is not the life I'm used to living. Worst part is, I know I could partake in all of these things. A strong drink, some sushi, a hunk of unpasteurized stinky cheese and a late night would probably all be fine. The baby would probably have a wonderful time (just like I would), but I'm trying my best to follow the guidelines. It's only for 9 months, after all. But it's hard. Harder than I thought.

Plus, I'm not much of a girly girl. I've never been much for shopping and I'm not very stylish. I'm not that over-the-moon pregnant woman with grace and glowing skin. I don't daydream of baby outfits and decorating the nursery. I feel guilty that I'd rather refinish some old piece of furniture covered in lead paint and drink a beer than scrapbook my baby's ultrasound pictures with glitter hearts and bunny stickers.

I have a wonderful, supportive husband, family and friends but I still feel alone in my thoughts. It could just be the hormones, but I just don't feel like myself and I'm having a hard time with pregnancy right now. I'm not a wreck, suicidal or depressed (don't worry), but just don't let anyone tell you that pregnancy is a walk in the park. It's a mental mind ___.

Lisa, version 3.5

2009-04-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Lisa Tape Age 3.mp3 -

Lisa, version 0.1

2009-04-20T13:58:00.001-07:00

We've been asking our parents for details and photos about ourselves from when we were babies. I'm asking in hopes of getting an idea about:

how big our kid may be
how long labor has taken for the moms (10-13 hours, gulp)
what the baby's temperment may be
what it might look like
etc, etc.

My parents just scanned this and sent it out. I'm posting it because I find it hilarious and horrifying at the same time. My favorite parts are:

"Friends and people can't believe how pleasant and happy Lisa is. Lisa at 9 months still hasn't gone through a shy period - Lisa will go to anyone. Particulary men."
that I didn't need a haircut until I was pretty much 3.

Losing my Marbles

2009-04-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful weekend and I spent most of it gardening. I find it very relaxing and planted a bunch of seeds this weekend.... squash, peas, 2 kinds of basil, lettuce, borage, chives, eggplant, some seed potatoes and my favorite of the year... pumpkins. I figure my little one will be born in early October -- just around when the pumpkins will be ready for harvesting. So it will be fun to watch them grow in tandem.

I also spent a good deal of time weeding this weekend. Especially for Italian Arum, which have taken over our backyard when we re-leveled it. Like dandelions, the only way to get rid of them is to dig them up, root and all. I've been digging them up for years now. One plus though is that we live in an old house and I tend to find "artifacts" in the backyard when I'm digging. I've found lots of trash but also some great medicine bottles, plastic army men and my absolute favorite -- glass marbles. I love finding marbles and it makes my whole day when I find one. I've been saving them (though I can't remember the safe place where I put them all), but I digress. I bring this up because I found another one yesterday. I bright blue glass one just after I planted the pumpkins. Could this be a sign? I guess we'll know in two weeks.