Iowa.
This post has nothing to do with Iowa, which I (sort of) affectionately refer to as "one of those vowel states," and it only has a tiny bit to do with a song called "Iowa" by Dar Williams, that was in my head Tuesday night as I raced (73 mph!) up to Orange County for Sarah's birth. The part where Dar sings about driving across the state 10 miles above the limit with no seatbelt, and she'd do it again. Although I wore my seatbelt and have a personal hang up about going any faster than 8 miles above the limit, as if it makes me less desirable to a cop or something. But, the do it again part is totally fitting. And come on, it's Dar's ultimate woman-help song. "I've never had a way with women, but the hills of Iowa make me wish that I did."
Sarah called me at 6 pm ish to tell me that her water dramatically broke. She said that I should be on standby while she called her midwife. Remember that I'm about an hour and a half away from her. At 6:45, she called again to tell me to eat dinner and put Ollie to bed (his usual bed time is 7/7:30). I was out the door by 8, and arrived at their house in record time at 9:15. I opened the door to see Scott and Sarah standing there while Sarah dealt with a contraction. This is all normal enough, but add into the mix that her parents were both standing there trying to corral their dog that they had brought over, a yipping little tiny thing called Bootsie. It stressed ME out, man, and I wasn't the one with the concracting uterus.
As soon as that contraction ended, we left the barking dog behind and headed towards the hospital, which was in Laguna Niguel or maybe Laguna Beach. I don't know which one. It was dark and rainy.
We got to the hospital room at 10:00 pm. The midwife, who otherwise was very great, decided to ask Sarah some pointless questions during a contraction, so I stepped up to Be The Doula, to (politely) (and quietly) remind the midwife that Sarah was having a contraction? And could we wait with the questions?
I had been having doubts over the last month or so about my purpose as their doula, if I was really necessary, and if I'd just get in the way. This was going to be Sarah's third birth, she was a fantastic doula at my birth, and also her husband was a proven birth partner. I figured a first-time birthing couple would be easier on my confidence. I had been imagining Scott and Sarah having these quiet late night conversations about them not wanting to hurt my feelings by uninviting me. After that moment with telling the midwife to hush, I realized that I had done at least one doula thing right, so as long as I didn't somehow stop the birth, I'd be okay.
The beautiful Bryn was born at 10:45 pm. Her mother roared her out with such powerful strength and beauty, and also an element of calmness and grace. Bryn pretty much slept through it, emerging so peacefully and beautifully into her new world. And if you have ever doubted how amazing Sarah is, let me add that Bryn was 11 lbs 2 oz.
Being with a birthing mother has changed me in a way that my own birth didn't -- and couldn't. It's a totally different ballgame to be the one on the periphery witnessing the miracle. I feel like this was a rite of passage into womankind, that this experience that was supposed to foster empowerment in someone else (Sarah) ended up doing the total opposite. Now I'm strong, inspired, and roar-y, all because a woman birthed a baby on the floor in front of me.
I left the hospital just before midnight. The storm chased the windshield the whole way home and I cried for having known such a moment.
12.19.2007
12.13.2007
700th Post, Wild Miles.
My 700th Post. And Wild Miles.
This is my 700th post, according to my blogger dashboard. Excellent. Let's all have a cupcake to celebrate.
In other news, I'm thinking about doing Wild Miles next April. It's a 180 mile adventure relay race. It's running, but I'm going to go out on a limb and call it an adventure race, because if you can't call running 13 miles off-road uphill in the middle of the desert at midnight an "adventure," then to hell with it.
Anyway, there are 30 legs, and you can have teams of 10. There's also an option to have a team of 5, and they have a special name for those teams, something along the lines of "insane," because 180 divided by 5 = a lot of miles per person. Sick.
Most of the legs are about 5 miles long, so any one person would generally do about 15 miles in the weekend, which is relatively easy when you space it out over 24 hours. I can't believe I just wrote that. And actually, I think there's a 30 hour option, too, which is good, because 180 miles in 24 hours divides up to be, at the slowest, an 8 minute mile. Repeatedly. 180 8 minute miles, one after the other. In the desert. Not so much. I'll proudly sign up for the 30 hour option.
Two years ago, I couldn't do it because it was the same weekend as the inaugural Hike For Discovery Grand Canyon hike, and last April I was, like, due or something*. (*=direct quote from Drop Dead Gorgeous, best movie in the world) (* = birthing: also an adventure sport). So next year, it's on!
Fabulous Coach Sharon has done Wild Miles quite a bit, and she said that by far the worst part isn't running in the desert all day and night (she always does the half marathon leg, too), but sitting in a van with your sweaty, sore, irritable teammates in between your runs.
So, who's in? Haha.
This is my 700th post, according to my blogger dashboard. Excellent. Let's all have a cupcake to celebrate.
In other news, I'm thinking about doing Wild Miles next April. It's a 180 mile adventure relay race. It's running, but I'm going to go out on a limb and call it an adventure race, because if you can't call running 13 miles off-road uphill in the middle of the desert at midnight an "adventure," then to hell with it.
Anyway, there are 30 legs, and you can have teams of 10. There's also an option to have a team of 5, and they have a special name for those teams, something along the lines of "insane," because 180 divided by 5 = a lot of miles per person. Sick.
Most of the legs are about 5 miles long, so any one person would generally do about 15 miles in the weekend, which is relatively easy when you space it out over 24 hours. I can't believe I just wrote that. And actually, I think there's a 30 hour option, too, which is good, because 180 miles in 24 hours divides up to be, at the slowest, an 8 minute mile. Repeatedly. 180 8 minute miles, one after the other. In the desert. Not so much. I'll proudly sign up for the 30 hour option.
Two years ago, I couldn't do it because it was the same weekend as the inaugural Hike For Discovery Grand Canyon hike, and last April I was, like, due or something*. (*=direct quote from Drop Dead Gorgeous, best movie in the world) (* = birthing: also an adventure sport). So next year, it's on!
Fabulous Coach Sharon has done Wild Miles quite a bit, and she said that by far the worst part isn't running in the desert all day and night (she always does the half marathon leg, too), but sitting in a van with your sweaty, sore, irritable teammates in between your runs.
So, who's in? Haha.
12.11.2007
Meals for the week.
Meals for the week.
Is there anything more egotistical than thinking any of you care about what we'll eat this week? Actually, there probably is, so I'll go ahead and tell you. I have recently begun cooking my own beans instead of using cans (boo BPA), so due to the (relatively minor) extra effort, I make giant batches. This week we're going to make garbanzo beans and black beans. We also have a giant butternut squash to use up, and pots full of cooked bulghur and green lentils in the fridge. Oh, and 18 lemons with the rind zested off to use in hummus. Not all 18, we should note. So, those factors are going to shape our menu for the week. I'm happy to say that most of the stuff didn't have packaging. This is a giant feat for me, because you know I have the Trader Joes lust, despite their ridiculous over packaging temptationness. I haven't stepped foot in that store in over a month. Oh mercy.
But here we go, brace yourselves for some quality blogging RIGHT HERE:
tonight
*soak garbanzo beans*
tuesday
-chickpea punjabi chhole (packaged - 89 cent sauce packet!)
-bulgur
-mujadara (lentils and rice)
*make hummus*
wednesday
-hummus (Veganomicon recipe) on top of poppyseed polenta (also Veganomicon), with zucchini and greens on top. Oooh, and we have avocados that are good and ripe now; those would be dreamy on top. Maybe more mujadara on the side.
*soak black beans*
thursday
-1/2 of a butternut squash, a sweet potato, greens and tofu, coated in maple syrup, coriander, salt, pepper, and garlic (slightly modified Veganomicon method of roasting winter squash) (I tried this the other day but misread "ginger" as "garlic," but am glad I did, so garlic it is). The best part of this is that it's all one pot. This makes up for having to saw apart the butternut squash. I'll set some aside for Ollie, too.
*cook black beans*
friday
-black bean & butternut squash chili from Vegan Planet, using the rest of the squash. we've made this before and it's fantastic.
-spinach.
sunday?
-black bean, sweet potato, and almond burgers from ExtraVeganZa.
-maybe I'll try my hand at making some rolls.
I probably spent like, $20 on this week's meals. That felt like an exaggeration at first, but it's probably not that far off. I heart bulks!
And here endeth the ridiculous post. Be warned, I might do this weekly. Ha, ha.
Is there anything more egotistical than thinking any of you care about what we'll eat this week? Actually, there probably is, so I'll go ahead and tell you. I have recently begun cooking my own beans instead of using cans (boo BPA), so due to the (relatively minor) extra effort, I make giant batches. This week we're going to make garbanzo beans and black beans. We also have a giant butternut squash to use up, and pots full of cooked bulghur and green lentils in the fridge. Oh, and 18 lemons with the rind zested off to use in hummus. Not all 18, we should note. So, those factors are going to shape our menu for the week. I'm happy to say that most of the stuff didn't have packaging. This is a giant feat for me, because you know I have the Trader Joes lust, despite their ridiculous over packaging temptationness. I haven't stepped foot in that store in over a month. Oh mercy.
But here we go, brace yourselves for some quality blogging RIGHT HERE:
tonight
*soak garbanzo beans*
tuesday
-chickpea punjabi chhole (packaged - 89 cent sauce packet!)
-bulgur
-mujadara (lentils and rice)
*make hummus*
wednesday
-hummus (Veganomicon recipe) on top of poppyseed polenta (also Veganomicon), with zucchini and greens on top. Oooh, and we have avocados that are good and ripe now; those would be dreamy on top. Maybe more mujadara on the side.
*soak black beans*
thursday
-1/2 of a butternut squash, a sweet potato, greens and tofu, coated in maple syrup, coriander, salt, pepper, and garlic (slightly modified Veganomicon method of roasting winter squash) (I tried this the other day but misread "ginger" as "garlic," but am glad I did, so garlic it is). The best part of this is that it's all one pot. This makes up for having to saw apart the butternut squash. I'll set some aside for Ollie, too.
*cook black beans*
friday
-black bean & butternut squash chili from Vegan Planet, using the rest of the squash. we've made this before and it's fantastic.
-spinach.
sunday?
-black bean, sweet potato, and almond burgers from ExtraVeganZa.
-maybe I'll try my hand at making some rolls.
I probably spent like, $20 on this week's meals. That felt like an exaggeration at first, but it's probably not that far off. I heart bulks!
And here endeth the ridiculous post. Be warned, I might do this weekly. Ha, ha.
12.10.2007
Winter!
Winter!
This weekend, we did our darndest to feel a little wintrous and seasonal around here. Here's the Weekend Roundup.
We went to Balboa Park's December Nights both nights, despite the rain and freezing, frigid 50 degree temperatures. And despite the massive crowds (I think everyone else in San Diego got giddy for wintery weather?), we managed to run into a ton of people we knew. SD is such a weird place sometimes - you have the most random run-ins with people. Such a big small town. Ollie was such a trooper even though he was bundled up beyond belief.
Saturday, we walked up to the North Park Toyland Parade, but it was nonexistent. They didn't even have the street closed down, so we assumed that they pansied out with the rain overnight. It's kind of like how we slow down to 30 mph on the freeway when it starts to sprinkle.
On the same walk, we perused two (very) different craft fairs. The first was in Our Saviors Lutheran Church (that's the grammar on the sign, suggesting that Jesus himself was actually Lutheran all along). It was an eco-friendly gift fair, with a lot of fair trade and political stuff. And! Not one, but two old ladies from our church were there. The second craft fair was in the Bar Pink Elephant on 30th, and was hosted by the swoon-worthy North Park Craft Mafia. !!. Don't you wish you were the witty genius who came up with that? They had skull baby bibs. And it was in a bar! Ollie, our favorite under-21 year old, stayed outside with dad. Unfortunately, Sparrow Baby was woefully unrepresented at both craft fairs. Next year!
We got a Christmas Tree. We had contemplated not getting one what with the almost-crawler and sudden drop in household income, but decided to get a small cheap one anyway.
We started making limoncello tonight, to bottle in pretty little glass stopper bottles for gifts. We got a killer deal on organic meyer lemons today from the handsome citrus farmer's not-so-handsome-but-slap-happy-instead brother, or something. He was like, hollering and wooting today as he announced, no, proclaimed his deals. We're using this recipe without the rosemary, because we liked how they gave us the procrastinator option. Also, the photography is pretty.
Not exactly seasonal, but we finally sold my old car this weekend. Actually, we didn't officially sell it yet, but we found a buyer. That's good enough for me. Farewell, sweet little car! I love you! And hate you!
This weekend, we did our darndest to feel a little wintrous and seasonal around here. Here's the Weekend Roundup.
12.07.2007
Boy!
Boy!
I love this picture. He looks so happy and sweet. But most of all, he looks so grown up. He's a little person! And this picture is almost a month old - just this last week we've been saying how much more kid-ish he looks and acts.
I love this picture. He looks so happy and sweet. But most of all, he looks so grown up. He's a little person! And this picture is almost a month old - just this last week we've been saying how much more kid-ish he looks and acts.
12.01.2007
Feed the world and your ego.
Feed the world and your ego at one handy website.
Prepare for addiction: FreeRice.com.
I have now donated 2,820 grains of rice and will not rest until I get a higher level than 43. I mean, until I feed more hungry people.
Prepare for addiction: FreeRice.com.
I have now donated 2,820 grains of rice and will not rest until I get a higher level than 43. I mean, until I feed more hungry people.
11.30.2007
NaBloPoMo NoMo
NaBloPoMo NoMo.
National Blog Posting Month officially comes to a close tonight. I'm going to see how long I can keep it up, because it was nice to write so much, if nothing else, to get back to why I started blogging in the first place - my own little searchable documentation. I would never have remembered when Ollie cut his first tooth had I not jotted it down here.
In that vein, yesterday homeboy started with the serious forward movement. He seems to do a little bit of tugging himself with his arms and dragging his legs, but other times he'll just step his knees forward, and then just flop his front end down, thus moving forward ungracefully. It's like he has both components, knees and hands, down. Just separately. Soon, he'll put it all together and we'll have a little crawler on our hands. Also, we'll be screwed. Our house is completely not child-proofed. Oliver has already shown a penchant for outlets and electrical cables, so we can't really be as nonchalant about this as I envisioned before we were parents. Also, our stove shoots flames.
National Blog Posting Month officially comes to a close tonight. I'm going to see how long I can keep it up, because it was nice to write so much, if nothing else, to get back to why I started blogging in the first place - my own little searchable documentation. I would never have remembered when Ollie cut his first tooth had I not jotted it down here.
In that vein, yesterday homeboy started with the serious forward movement. He seems to do a little bit of tugging himself with his arms and dragging his legs, but other times he'll just step his knees forward, and then just flop his front end down, thus moving forward ungracefully. It's like he has both components, knees and hands, down. Just separately. Soon, he'll put it all together and we'll have a little crawler on our hands. Also, we'll be screwed. Our house is completely not child-proofed. Oliver has already shown a penchant for outlets and electrical cables, so we can't really be as nonchalant about this as I envisioned before we were parents. Also, our stove shoots flames.
11.29.2007
Weekly poop.
Weekly poop.
Ollie finally pooped today after a week of no poop. This wouldn't be that significant, but not only did he wait a week, he waited EXACTLY a week. Like, down to the hour. Does this count as regular?
I only tracked this because a week ago at just after 6 pm, we had just sat down at the Thanksgiving dinner table when Ollie did his little pause/concentrate moment before letting loose.
The worst part is that tonight, right as we opened up his diaper, his grabby little hands, faster than a speeding bullet, were in there. In there with the poop. 7 days worth of poop. I tried to then pin down his hands so that he wouldn't spread it around (I almost wrote "smear" but that made me die a little on the inside), but that didn't help very much because he was flailing around everywhere. He was, like, giddy. I suppose I would be too, after breaking a 7 day fast.
Poop, everywhere.
Ollie finally pooped today after a week of no poop. This wouldn't be that significant, but not only did he wait a week, he waited EXACTLY a week. Like, down to the hour. Does this count as regular?
I only tracked this because a week ago at just after 6 pm, we had just sat down at the Thanksgiving dinner table when Ollie did his little pause/concentrate moment before letting loose.
The worst part is that tonight, right as we opened up his diaper, his grabby little hands, faster than a speeding bullet, were in there. In there with the poop. 7 days worth of poop. I tried to then pin down his hands so that he wouldn't spread it around (I almost wrote "smear" but that made me die a little on the inside), but that didn't help very much because he was flailing around everywhere. He was, like, giddy. I suppose I would be too, after breaking a 7 day fast.
Poop, everywhere.
11.28.2007
Suck.
Suck.
So. Erik lost his job today. They had a round of layoffs, which was totally not surprising at all.
Not surprising doesn't mean not sucking, though.
I'm feeling kind of optimistic, which is strange for me considering how long he was out of work the last time. Well, I guess it's because he wasn't really out of work the whole time, he was just out of his field. And given the fact that his field isn't a very fancy pants high salary kind of gig, he really wasn't making any less in those in between times. I think that's helping me a bit. I know the bad side to him not doing what he loved was that he was uneasy and bored about it, but I think that nowadays there's a little bit more to life and he'd be more willing to just do something.
And a big part of me is really, really looking forward to having someone around during the day for a little while. Maybe we'll even catch up on cleaning the house. Maybe. Though if it were me, I'd hurry up and get a job so that I didn't have to organize the closets. Procrastination is a large motivator in my life.
Anyway, so I know I just spewed out two paragraphs of optimism, but we should leave on this note: this sucks.
So. Erik lost his job today. They had a round of layoffs, which was totally not surprising at all.
Not surprising doesn't mean not sucking, though.
I'm feeling kind of optimistic, which is strange for me considering how long he was out of work the last time. Well, I guess it's because he wasn't really out of work the whole time, he was just out of his field. And given the fact that his field isn't a very fancy pants high salary kind of gig, he really wasn't making any less in those in between times. I think that's helping me a bit. I know the bad side to him not doing what he loved was that he was uneasy and bored about it, but I think that nowadays there's a little bit more to life and he'd be more willing to just do something.
And a big part of me is really, really looking forward to having someone around during the day for a little while. Maybe we'll even catch up on cleaning the house. Maybe. Though if it were me, I'd hurry up and get a job so that I didn't have to organize the closets. Procrastination is a large motivator in my life.
Anyway, so I know I just spewed out two paragraphs of optimism, but we should leave on this note: this sucks.
11.27.2007
The Non-Toxic Baby Gourmet.
The Non-Toxic Baby Gourmet.
I've decided to drastically reduce the amount of plastic in my life. We've done really well with Oliver up to this point, and I have to say, a baby is a perfect excuse to be all snobby and anti-stuff without really upsetting anyone. Maybe people will just think I'm an overprotective first-time parent. But wait till I do this again with the second kid! Ha, haha!
Anyway, enter: baby food. Homemade baby food is all the rage these days, with every modern mama keeping Super Baby Food nicely tucked on her nightstand next to the What To Expect series (or, to quote Sarah, the "What To Freak Out About" series). Homemade is definitely best, there's no doubt about it (well, actually there is in a few instances: iron additives and super processed grains in commercial cereals sometimes being touted as necessary for new eaters).
But that's another post. What's weird to me is the amount of plastic involved with the accepted methods of feeding your baby homemade baby food. I've taken it upon myself to bed over as backwards as possible to not use any plastic with Ollie's baby food, and here's how I've been doing it so far, in a handy dandy bulleted list!
Plastic/Toxin-Free Baby Food
Here endeth my little diatribe.
I've decided to drastically reduce the amount of plastic in my life. We've done really well with Oliver up to this point, and I have to say, a baby is a perfect excuse to be all snobby and anti-stuff without really upsetting anyone. Maybe people will just think I'm an overprotective first-time parent. But wait till I do this again with the second kid! Ha, haha!
Anyway, enter: baby food. Homemade baby food is all the rage these days, with every modern mama keeping Super Baby Food nicely tucked on her nightstand next to the What To Expect series (or, to quote Sarah, the "What To Freak Out About" series). Homemade is definitely best, there's no doubt about it (well, actually there is in a few instances: iron additives and super processed grains in commercial cereals sometimes being touted as necessary for new eaters).
But that's another post. What's weird to me is the amount of plastic involved with the accepted methods of feeding your baby homemade baby food. I've taken it upon myself to bed over as backwards as possible to not use any plastic with Ollie's baby food, and here's how I've been doing it so far, in a handy dandy bulleted list!
Plastic/Toxin-Free Baby Food
Honestly, I just didn't see the need for all the plastic bags and plastic ice cube trays and plastic containers, and wanted to do something about it. I promise that they're not paying me or anything, but I managed to find almost everything I needed at Ikea. The unbleached cheesecloth is the Beyond Gourmet brand - the brown and blue packaging with the earth logo.Skip the spoons with the silicone/plastic-y coating on the end, and, of course, the plastic spoons. We started out just using our regular teaspoons, but they're just too big for the little dude. We finally found some wooden spoons with a small enough spoon bit ("bowl"), and they're super light. Use little wooden or stainless prep bowls as an unbreakable serving bowl. Buy glass spice jars to use as freezing/storage containers, and also serving containers for on-the-road. Baby food comes in glass jars anyway, so don't think of it as any more of a hassle to deal with glass in your diaper bag :-). We got some from Ikea. Remember that freezing changes your food's chemistry-ish-stuff, and that kind of scares me. I know not to heat food in plastic, but wouldn't freezing stuff be just as bad? Especially if you put things into the plastic while the food is hot. The doubt is enough for me to keep the plastic out of the freezer. After preparing your baby food (say no to teflon!), put it directly in the glass containers in individual serving sizes. Stainless also works if you can find little stainless prep bowls with lids, but chances are the lids will be soft-ish plastic. Which is still better than all-plastic. To freeze entire pieces of fruit/veggies, chop (and peel) and spread the pieces out on a plate to freeze (this means they'll freeze individually and not stick together). When they're frozen, just transfer them to a glass container with a lid. None of this multiple plastic bag business. With purees or ground up cereals, if you want to do something like the ice cube tray method featured in Super Baby Food, you could try the "Phantom Container" version, and scoop spoonfuls of your puree onto a tray or plate, then surround them with an upside down glass bowl until frozen. Then, transfer the little frozen mounds into one glass container with a lid. Or you could just use the spice jar method I mentioned above. Instead of those plastic mesh thingies that you can put a whole piece of fruit, ice, or frozen fruit and let the baby have at it (without risking them swallowing chunks), here's something we just tried tonight: Unbleached cheesecloth, rinsed and tied in a knot around a slice of peeled pear. Ollie sucked on it quite a bit and managed to get some good pear juice and seemed happy to gnaw. The edges of the cheesecloth that stuck out from the knot seemed like they might fray, so I kept a close eye on him. The downside is that this isn't reusable (well, it might be within reason), but, BUT! it's compostable! Everyone loves the compost! You can just put the entire thing, cotton and fruit, into the compost bin. I hope. Because I'm going to.
Here endeth my little diatribe.
11.26.2007
Sarah's Birth.
Sarah's Birth.
***note: if you are Sarah, please ignore most of this. Everything is under control! Just be happy and birth well, Ina May insists!***
A while ago, Sarah (who lives in Orange County) asked me to be her doula at the birth of her third child, due December 10th. I won't go into the sappy details on how honored this made me feel, and how excited and nervous and amazing I am at the prospect of witnessing my first birth-not-directly-involving me. (But I totally, totally, insanely am all of those things).
Sarah was out of town until this afternoon, at her parents' house in Sonoma. She was having daily mild and painless contractions since earlier in the week, but decided to stay up there for Thanksgiving, and come home normally, even if her contractions upped a bit. It's only an hour and a half flight to Orange County.
As some of you know, Sarah is my best friend in all the land, and was our doula. In fact, she was the only person at our birth other than Roberta the midwife and Karlee the amazing nurse with great taste in music and fabulous hair. In fact, Sarah, Roberta, and Karlee were the only people who knew we were in labor. Wait, I take that back. We had dinner plans with Tessa and Chris that night, and had to cancel. Hah. We really loved the idea of a sort of intimate birthing family. Sarah was incredible. in.cred.ible. She said all of the right things, in all of the right ways, at all of the right times. And also mopped up puke in all of the right ways.
When Sarah told her daughters, Grace and Natalie, all about my birth and what she did to help, she was hoping to impart on them excitement about being there for the birth of their future sibling, and maybe to begin to think about preparing them for loud noises and perhaps the odd "FUCKING POOP!" yell or something. Because Sarah spent most of my labor pushing against my back or pelvic area (which strangely seemed like it would hold all my innards in, lest I turn completely inside out), the girls really latched onto this idea of "pushing the baby out." They couldn't wait to help push their mama's baby out. Swoon!
The main issue with being at Sarah's birth is Oliver. He's exclusively nursing, because we don't count the daily half-spoonful of food that he usually lets fall out of his mouth anyway. And he's taken maybe 3 bottles his whole life, only one of them remotely well. The other times, he begrudgingly drank it, but fussed the whole time and had to be rocked to sleep while crying, which breaks my heart. I have a little hang up that I like him to fall asleep happy.
Tonight, we tried a bottle again, and it seemed fine. However, since he recently cut a tooth, the early part of the night has been really restless for him. He'll fall asleep just fine in our arms, perhaps even too easily, but go instantly from asleep and quiet to crying when we try to put him down. His crying started to get hysterical so I went in there tonight to nurse him and gradually try to lie him down. He's been asleep for over four hours now, which is good for him. I was hoping that he'd wake up so that Erik could maybe see if he could give him the rest of the bottle while he was lying down to quickly get him back to sleep.
I've never left the boy for more than 2 hours, and only once at bedtime (with Erik), which didn't go well at all. Say what you will about me needing my personal time or Erik and I needing dates, but whatever. Me leaving him would be infinitely more stressful and work than just taking him places or staying home. Totally not worth it, and besides, babysitters cost money. Going out takes on a whole new level of budgeting now. I'm sure I will change my tune when he's less dependent on nursing. Or when I find a good wet nurse. Hah.
But in the meantime, I've dusted off the pump and started building up a freezer stash. I've never had a stash before! Pumping is pretty much my personal hell, by the way. I'm also cutting it down to the wire here. Basically, if Sarah goes into real labor tonight or even tomorrow, there's no way I'll have enough milk built up for the trip to Orange County and however long her birth will be (12 hours? who knows. Grace was a multi-day affair, but with Natalie, she got to the birth center at like 9 centimeters, ready to go). I also have no idea how much Oliver eats all day/night. The night thing is because I'm usually half asleep, but we also don't measure anything or have any gauge for how much he eats at a nursing session. As someone in newborn breastfeeding support group once lamented, "boobs aren't clear." He also eats pretty inconsistently throughout the day, which is fine.
Another really sad kink in the plans is that my uncle suddenly passed away yesterday. My parents are leaving for England on Wednesday to be there for the funeral. He probably had a heart attack, because one minute he was complaining about chest pain, and the next minute he just fell over dead. He was my mom's little brother. I'm not going to ramble on too much about this, so I'll just say that logistically it means that my parents won't be able to babysit Oliver while Erik is at work.
This was a long and rambly way of saying that we're basically flying by the seat of our pants at this point, hoping that Oliver will magically be fed and happy. And if there's anything Ollie's good at, it's being fed and happy, so I probably shouldn't be too stressed, should I?
***note: if you are Sarah, please ignore most of this. Everything is under control! Just be happy and birth well, Ina May insists!***
A while ago, Sarah (who lives in Orange County) asked me to be her doula at the birth of her third child, due December 10th. I won't go into the sappy details on how honored this made me feel, and how excited and nervous and amazing I am at the prospect of witnessing my first birth-not-directly-involving me. (But I totally, totally, insanely am all of those things).
Sarah was out of town until this afternoon, at her parents' house in Sonoma. She was having daily mild and painless contractions since earlier in the week, but decided to stay up there for Thanksgiving, and come home normally, even if her contractions upped a bit. It's only an hour and a half flight to Orange County.
As some of you know, Sarah is my best friend in all the land, and was our doula. In fact, she was the only person at our birth other than Roberta the midwife and Karlee the amazing nurse with great taste in music and fabulous hair. In fact, Sarah, Roberta, and Karlee were the only people who knew we were in labor. Wait, I take that back. We had dinner plans with Tessa and Chris that night, and had to cancel. Hah. We really loved the idea of a sort of intimate birthing family. Sarah was incredible. in.cred.ible. She said all of the right things, in all of the right ways, at all of the right times. And also mopped up puke in all of the right ways.
When Sarah told her daughters, Grace and Natalie, all about my birth and what she did to help, she was hoping to impart on them excitement about being there for the birth of their future sibling, and maybe to begin to think about preparing them for loud noises and perhaps the odd "FUCKING POOP!" yell or something. Because Sarah spent most of my labor pushing against my back or pelvic area (which strangely seemed like it would hold all my innards in, lest I turn completely inside out), the girls really latched onto this idea of "pushing the baby out." They couldn't wait to help push their mama's baby out. Swoon!
The main issue with being at Sarah's birth is Oliver. He's exclusively nursing, because we don't count the daily half-spoonful of food that he usually lets fall out of his mouth anyway. And he's taken maybe 3 bottles his whole life, only one of them remotely well. The other times, he begrudgingly drank it, but fussed the whole time and had to be rocked to sleep while crying, which breaks my heart. I have a little hang up that I like him to fall asleep happy.
Tonight, we tried a bottle again, and it seemed fine. However, since he recently cut a tooth, the early part of the night has been really restless for him. He'll fall asleep just fine in our arms, perhaps even too easily, but go instantly from asleep and quiet to crying when we try to put him down. His crying started to get hysterical so I went in there tonight to nurse him and gradually try to lie him down. He's been asleep for over four hours now, which is good for him. I was hoping that he'd wake up so that Erik could maybe see if he could give him the rest of the bottle while he was lying down to quickly get him back to sleep.
I've never left the boy for more than 2 hours, and only once at bedtime (with Erik), which didn't go well at all. Say what you will about me needing my personal time or Erik and I needing dates, but whatever. Me leaving him would be infinitely more stressful and work than just taking him places or staying home. Totally not worth it, and besides, babysitters cost money. Going out takes on a whole new level of budgeting now. I'm sure I will change my tune when he's less dependent on nursing. Or when I find a good wet nurse. Hah.
But in the meantime, I've dusted off the pump and started building up a freezer stash. I've never had a stash before! Pumping is pretty much my personal hell, by the way. I'm also cutting it down to the wire here. Basically, if Sarah goes into real labor tonight or even tomorrow, there's no way I'll have enough milk built up for the trip to Orange County and however long her birth will be (12 hours? who knows. Grace was a multi-day affair, but with Natalie, she got to the birth center at like 9 centimeters, ready to go). I also have no idea how much Oliver eats all day/night. The night thing is because I'm usually half asleep, but we also don't measure anything or have any gauge for how much he eats at a nursing session. As someone in newborn breastfeeding support group once lamented, "boobs aren't clear." He also eats pretty inconsistently throughout the day, which is fine.
Another really sad kink in the plans is that my uncle suddenly passed away yesterday. My parents are leaving for England on Wednesday to be there for the funeral. He probably had a heart attack, because one minute he was complaining about chest pain, and the next minute he just fell over dead. He was my mom's little brother. I'm not going to ramble on too much about this, so I'll just say that logistically it means that my parents won't be able to babysit Oliver while Erik is at work.
This was a long and rambly way of saying that we're basically flying by the seat of our pants at this point, hoping that Oliver will magically be fed and happy. And if there's anything Ollie's good at, it's being fed and happy, so I probably shouldn't be too stressed, should I?
11.25.2007
Making up for the black friday boycott.
Making up for the black Friday boycott.
As usual, we didn't buy anything on Friday, except for our soy lattes, which probably makes me more of a yuppy asshole than anyone else, but still. But today we made up for it in a matter of a few hours. And we haven't even started working on our Christmas list yet. Actually, I think we might try to go all homemade this Christmas, but will still need to buy canisters or fabric or supplies.
First, we hit Ikea for a naptime stroll after church and lunch with the Tuttles. The nap idea was thwarted as we approached the kids' area and someone let out a blood curdling tantrum. To quote Erik: "stupid kids." Anyway, I managed to pick up some things I've been needing for a while. We got Ollie a little wooden bowl to eat from, and some glass spice jars with screw on lids that we'll use to freeze and store our baby food. We got a glass container with a lid to use for our grown-up leftovers. It was $5.99 though, so I think we might try to look around for cheaper ones to stock up.
We also got two giant canisters. We currently have a cannister deficit in this house, and most of our bulk stuff lives in the paper bags from the co-op, which probably isn't ideal for their shelf life. Also, I make a double batch of granola every few weeks, and it never fits in one of the large canisters we have, so I had to upgrade to the giant.
But the best purchase today was the Simple Shoes Green Piggie "weebit" soft-soled shoes for Ollie.
These are kind of like those Robeez shoes everyone has, but with less cow. There are other vegan ones out there made of things like PVC, which is kind of less-than-ideal. Also, they're like $40. But! The Green Piggie ones are made of hemp, organic cotton, and recycled/reclaimed bicycle tires for the grippy bits on the bottom. Hemp! Organic cotton! Hot damn! And they were $24 at Whole Foods. Unfortunately for normal vegans, my hunt for a picture online revealed that the little felt pig bit is wool. We use wool around here, because I prefer using that for baby waterproofing instead of plastics. I'm pretty sure I've beaten that horse around here. However, I like to use organic wool, and I doubt that little pig is organic. I'm not going to return them though, because I like them too much. That's how I roll. They're way too cute and their eco-quotient outweighs the slight non-organic wool guilt I feel.
Oliver looks ridiculously adorable in his little shoes. I can't handle the cuteness. He's a little man!
And here endeth the shopping confession. Someone just woke up.
As usual, we didn't buy anything on Friday, except for our soy lattes, which probably makes me more of a yuppy asshole than anyone else, but still. But today we made up for it in a matter of a few hours. And we haven't even started working on our Christmas list yet. Actually, I think we might try to go all homemade this Christmas, but will still need to buy canisters or fabric or supplies.
First, we hit Ikea for a naptime stroll after church and lunch with the Tuttles. The nap idea was thwarted as we approached the kids' area and someone let out a blood curdling tantrum. To quote Erik: "stupid kids." Anyway, I managed to pick up some things I've been needing for a while. We got Ollie a little wooden bowl to eat from, and some glass spice jars with screw on lids that we'll use to freeze and store our baby food. We got a glass container with a lid to use for our grown-up leftovers. It was $5.99 though, so I think we might try to look around for cheaper ones to stock up.
We also got two giant canisters. We currently have a cannister deficit in this house, and most of our bulk stuff lives in the paper bags from the co-op, which probably isn't ideal for their shelf life. Also, I make a double batch of granola every few weeks, and it never fits in one of the large canisters we have, so I had to upgrade to the giant.
But the best purchase today was the Simple Shoes Green Piggie "weebit" soft-soled shoes for Ollie.
These are kind of like those Robeez shoes everyone has, but with less cow. There are other vegan ones out there made of things like PVC, which is kind of less-than-ideal. Also, they're like $40. But! The Green Piggie ones are made of hemp, organic cotton, and recycled/reclaimed bicycle tires for the grippy bits on the bottom. Hemp! Organic cotton! Hot damn! And they were $24 at Whole Foods. Unfortunately for normal vegans, my hunt for a picture online revealed that the little felt pig bit is wool. We use wool around here, because I prefer using that for baby waterproofing instead of plastics. I'm pretty sure I've beaten that horse around here. However, I like to use organic wool, and I doubt that little pig is organic. I'm not going to return them though, because I like them too much. That's how I roll. They're way too cute and their eco-quotient outweighs the slight non-organic wool guilt I feel.
Oliver looks ridiculously adorable in his little shoes. I can't handle the cuteness. He's a little man!
And here endeth the shopping confession. Someone just woke up.
11.24.2007
Sheer Exacerbation.
Sheer Exacerbation.
This is a fairly old picture, but it cracks me up so much. Oliver doesn't often look like this, but we must have caught a transition moment between noises or expressions. That, or he's just had enough with us and our picture taking when all he really wants is a diaper.
This is a fairly old picture, but it cracks me up so much. Oliver doesn't often look like this, but we must have caught a transition moment between noises or expressions. That, or he's just had enough with us and our picture taking when all he really wants is a diaper.
11.23.2007
Cheap make-up post.
Cheap make-up post.
This post is to make up for missing Thanksgiving, even though I wrote far too much in that last post.
Thanksgiving was great, but our drive took a turn for the worst shortly after I finished typing that last post. We left the house really late, like 11pm. We like to drive at night with Ollie, because then he's usually asleep the whole time. But it just took us so much longer to get out of the house, because Ollie would not go to sleep. We ended up taking turns holding him on the rocking chair while the other person packed.
But the worst part? The fog. Holy fog! Coming through Oxnard, we had like 2 feet of visibility, and Erik was driving way too wrong. I was whispering my usual backseat driving so as not to wake the baby.
We ended up getting to Ventura at 3 am, and it was really cold.
This post is to make up for missing Thanksgiving, even though I wrote far too much in that last post.
Thanksgiving was great, but our drive took a turn for the worst shortly after I finished typing that last post. We left the house really late, like 11pm. We like to drive at night with Ollie, because then he's usually asleep the whole time. But it just took us so much longer to get out of the house, because Ollie would not go to sleep. We ended up taking turns holding him on the rocking chair while the other person packed.
But the worst part? The fog. Holy fog! Coming through Oxnard, we had like 2 feet of visibility, and Erik was driving way too wrong. I was whispering my usual backseat driving so as not to wake the baby.
We ended up getting to Ventura at 3 am, and it was really cold.
Vegan post.
Vegan post.
My prolific commenter and intimate stranger, "Anonymous" asked me recently to post about why I'm vegan (hah! I just wrote whey I'm vegan. groan). I'm all for the special requests, so here we go.
Long time TITBL devotees will remember me going vegan. It started out as a 30 day experiment, but after noticing how fun eating vegan was, how amazingly healthy and strong my body felt, and most of all, how easy it was, I never really looked back. 30 days turned into 3 and a half years, and veganism has seen me through a marathon and gestation and childbirth quite nicely.
Looking back, "Supersize Me" wasn't all that great of a movie, but seeing the "detox" diet that Morgan Spurlock's vegan girlfriend put together really inspired me. And kind of freaked me out a little. As in, why don't we eat like this all the time?
For me, a big part of the vegan diet is the reduced impact on the earth. Now listen here, dear, Omnivore's Dilemma readers, I won't tell you what I truly think of that book and it's aftermath, but I will point out that hey, if everyone had a plot of land to tend and were responsible for growing their own food, all of it, then every single person in the entire planet being vegan wouldn't be necessary. But do you grow and cultivate everything you eat? Or are part of a small cooperative commune that does? Okay, great. But, I don't (yet!), so let's review. I'm not on the internet right now, because I'm in the car. Note: I am not driving. But here are some rough estimates. Take a square of relatively normal soil. You can either grow produce or grains on it, or you can divide it up and grow some produce and grains to feed the animals you will keep to milk/de-egg/whatever/slaughter on the other portion of your land. You're going to be able to feed a lot more people with a more balanced diet with the pure-plant square. Look at it inside out for a second: this means that you need so much more land (and energy) to feed people animal-based diets. Not only do you have to feed the people, but you also have to feed the food first. And cows eat a lot, large critters that they are. Sometimes cattle grazing is the best use of poor soil, because not much will grow there, but we should face the fact that the majority of the land used for cattle isn't best described by "grazing."
And, since we don't live in an ideal world, the cows aren't going to eat grains and grass. They're going to eat other cows, chickens, and other miscellaneous processed meat product type animal pieces. And I don't want that junk in my milk.
I also realized early on in the veganism thing how skeevy dairy is to me. And I'm honestly saying this to explain myself, not at all to judge others. This is just my little hang up. Unless you're consuming non-organic, hormone-laden dairy and potted meat products, and then please note that I'm sitting here silently judging you. Okay. My point is that human beings are the only species who drinks milk past childhood, and the only species who drinks the milk of another species. That's the odd part, to me. It's some other animal's bodily fluids. Mmm!
My diet is pretty straightforward and it's easy to make sure I (and Ollie) get enough nutrition. We get plenty of protein from an abundance of whole grains and legumes/beans, and a rainbow of vegetables provides ideal nutritional content. While pregnant, we carefully monitored protein intake, following a partial version of the Brewer Medical Diet. Skipping, of course, the twice-weekly dose of liver. I don't think anyone in our Bradley class did the liver, in my defense. Every day, I got 80-100 grams of protein. And something like 8,000 grams of mashed potatoes and sauteed kale.
Each issue of "The Week" magazine has a little editor's note at the start. A few months ago, that note commented on ecological footprints and the widespread trend to use reusable grocery bags. I can't remember the details, but they extrapolated that people are walking to the store to try to reduce their carbon footprint. And then they said that you shouldn't! You shouldn't walk! You should drive! And the reason is that your meat diet that you'd have to eat to get the extra energy to walk to the store takes slightly more out of the earth than using fossil fuels in your car.
Not once did they even suggest skipping the meat; that you could walk to the store on a plant-based diet (carrying, of course, your organic canvas bags in a sweet little eco hat trick). They even spelled out that it was the cows that caused the bump in carbon footprint! But instead of skipping the cheeseburger, you should just shrug and regretfully just guzzle the extra gas. I was moderately outraged If a puny weakling like me can get enough energy to run an entire marathon at a reasonable clip or birth an also-entire baby (at a not-as-reasonable clip), then chances are most anyone can get themselves to the store on their high octane tofu.
There's also another component to my veganism: the Gandhi thing. I'm not naive enough to assume being vegan implies a completely cruelty-free, peace-based lifestyle, but I feel like it's a big, important step.
And finally, there's dark chocolate. Oh thank the baby jesus for dark chocolate.
And that's that. Aren't you glad you asked, oh dear Anonymous?
My prolific commenter and intimate stranger, "Anonymous" asked me recently to post about why I'm vegan (hah! I just wrote whey I'm vegan. groan). I'm all for the special requests, so here we go.
Long time TITBL devotees will remember me going vegan. It started out as a 30 day experiment, but after noticing how fun eating vegan was, how amazingly healthy and strong my body felt, and most of all, how easy it was, I never really looked back. 30 days turned into 3 and a half years, and veganism has seen me through a marathon and gestation and childbirth quite nicely.
Looking back, "Supersize Me" wasn't all that great of a movie, but seeing the "detox" diet that Morgan Spurlock's vegan girlfriend put together really inspired me. And kind of freaked me out a little. As in, why don't we eat like this all the time?
For me, a big part of the vegan diet is the reduced impact on the earth. Now listen here, dear, Omnivore's Dilemma readers, I won't tell you what I truly think of that book and it's aftermath, but I will point out that hey, if everyone had a plot of land to tend and were responsible for growing their own food, all of it, then every single person in the entire planet being vegan wouldn't be necessary. But do you grow and cultivate everything you eat? Or are part of a small cooperative commune that does? Okay, great. But, I don't (yet!), so let's review. I'm not on the internet right now, because I'm in the car. Note: I am not driving. But here are some rough estimates. Take a square of relatively normal soil. You can either grow produce or grains on it, or you can divide it up and grow some produce and grains to feed the animals you will keep to milk/de-egg/whatever/slaughter on the other portion of your land. You're going to be able to feed a lot more people with a more balanced diet with the pure-plant square. Look at it inside out for a second: this means that you need so much more land (and energy) to feed people animal-based diets. Not only do you have to feed the people, but you also have to feed the food first. And cows eat a lot, large critters that they are. Sometimes cattle grazing is the best use of poor soil, because not much will grow there, but we should face the fact that the majority of the land used for cattle isn't best described by "grazing."
And, since we don't live in an ideal world, the cows aren't going to eat grains and grass. They're going to eat other cows, chickens, and other miscellaneous processed meat product type animal pieces. And I don't want that junk in my milk.
I also realized early on in the veganism thing how skeevy dairy is to me. And I'm honestly saying this to explain myself, not at all to judge others. This is just my little hang up. Unless you're consuming non-organic, hormone-laden dairy and potted meat products, and then please note that I'm sitting here silently judging you. Okay. My point is that human beings are the only species who drinks milk past childhood, and the only species who drinks the milk of another species. That's the odd part, to me. It's some other animal's bodily fluids. Mmm!
My diet is pretty straightforward and it's easy to make sure I (and Ollie) get enough nutrition. We get plenty of protein from an abundance of whole grains and legumes/beans, and a rainbow of vegetables provides ideal nutritional content. While pregnant, we carefully monitored protein intake, following a partial version of the Brewer Medical Diet. Skipping, of course, the twice-weekly dose of liver. I don't think anyone in our Bradley class did the liver, in my defense. Every day, I got 80-100 grams of protein. And something like 8,000 grams of mashed potatoes and sauteed kale.
Each issue of "The Week" magazine has a little editor's note at the start. A few months ago, that note commented on ecological footprints and the widespread trend to use reusable grocery bags. I can't remember the details, but they extrapolated that people are walking to the store to try to reduce their carbon footprint. And then they said that you shouldn't! You shouldn't walk! You should drive! And the reason is that your meat diet that you'd have to eat to get the extra energy to walk to the store takes slightly more out of the earth than using fossil fuels in your car.
Not once did they even suggest skipping the meat; that you could walk to the store on a plant-based diet (carrying, of course, your organic canvas bags in a sweet little eco hat trick). They even spelled out that it was the cows that caused the bump in carbon footprint! But instead of skipping the cheeseburger, you should just shrug and regretfully just guzzle the extra gas. I was moderately outraged If a puny weakling like me can get enough energy to run an entire marathon at a reasonable clip or birth an also-entire baby (at a not-as-reasonable clip), then chances are most anyone can get themselves to the store on their high octane tofu.
There's also another component to my veganism: the Gandhi thing. I'm not naive enough to assume being vegan implies a completely cruelty-free, peace-based lifestyle, but I feel like it's a big, important step.
And finally, there's dark chocolate. Oh thank the baby jesus for dark chocolate.
And that's that. Aren't you glad you asked, oh dear Anonymous?
11.21.2007
NaBloPoMo thwarted by unsavvy in-laws!
NaBloPoMo thwarted by unsavvy in-laws!.
So, we're about to leave to drive up to Ventura to stay with Erik's parents. We like to drive late at night, because Oliver will then sleep the whole time*. *= in theory. This didn't happen last time, and we spent about 20 minutes pacing around a Hollywood gas station parking lot trying to shield my boob from innocent gas station customers. In the middle of the night.
Unfortunately, my in-laws DO NOT HAVE THE INTERNET. Did you know that people like that still exist? My daily posting will have to wait. I promise I will post twice on Friday from our favorite little cafe in downtown Ventura, but they'll be closed Thursday.
We just restocked sparrow baby, by the way, after an afternoon product photography session that ended when Lucca climbed on top of Ollie and got stuck. Did we help them? Yes, of course. After we took a picture. And that picture is forthcoming, I promise. But look! Eco-friendly baby toys! And pretty necklaces! We sold a bunch at a craft fair so we needed to get cracking on some more, just in time for some Black Friday shopping. No malls necessary :-).
Alright, off to pack. Happy Thanksgiving, my lovelies!
So, we're about to leave to drive up to Ventura to stay with Erik's parents. We like to drive late at night, because Oliver will then sleep the whole time*. *= in theory. This didn't happen last time, and we spent about 20 minutes pacing around a Hollywood gas station parking lot trying to shield my boob from innocent gas station customers. In the middle of the night.
Unfortunately, my in-laws DO NOT HAVE THE INTERNET. Did you know that people like that still exist? My daily posting will have to wait. I promise I will post twice on Friday from our favorite little cafe in downtown Ventura, but they'll be closed Thursday.
We just restocked sparrow baby, by the way, after an afternoon product photography session that ended when Lucca climbed on top of Ollie and got stuck. Did we help them? Yes, of course. After we took a picture. And that picture is forthcoming, I promise. But look! Eco-friendly baby toys! And pretty necklaces! We sold a bunch at a craft fair so we needed to get cracking on some more, just in time for some Black Friday shopping. No malls necessary :-).
Alright, off to pack. Happy Thanksgiving, my lovelies!
11.20.2007
Lullabies.
Lullabies.
Ever since Oliver was born, we've had the iPod playing where he slept at night. We turn it off when we go to bed, though, because I just couldn't deal with that. We started out just starting from various points in our 2-day's-worth-of-music birth play list, but we have an awful lot of random loud Sigur Ros, etc, on that play list. You'd think we would have taken the time by now to cultivate a similar play list without the random loud stuff, but no.
After a while of quickly running back into the room and skipping stuff, we decided to play Official Lullabies for him. We've had the Innocence Mission's "Now The Day Is Over" since before he was born. The Innocence Mission is one of our favorite bands, so this was a no-brainer. We listened to this album for hours each night for the last 7 months.
I actually wasn't sick of it. However, I realized that Ollie is spending more time listening to Karen Perris singing than his mom, and didn't want him to stop me one day and say, "mama, you're bad. Can we listen to the Innocence Mission instead, pleeeeeease?" which I suppose could feasibly happen regardless of what we play for him at night.
A few weeks ago, we tried "Quiet is the New Loud" by Kings of Convenience, which is another old favorite. I remember vividly that we listened to this CD on our honeymoon. I know, that's a really old post. I think you might even have to scroll down to 11/18/03 because individual post links were crappier back then. And the pictures are buried somewhere, so enjoy the pretty grey boxes. And oh look! Innocence Mission was also on our honeymoon play list! Anyway, Kings of Convenience worked great for a while, but we very quickly tired of it.
Enter: Enya. We have 38 Enya songs on the iPod (where did they come from? WHERE?!), and it seems to be working out. The only downside is the drastic volume changes, so we have to have the colume set just right. We need the music to act as a nice noise cover but not be startle-y or too loud, whether it be really quiet preludes to some songs or the giant boomy songs like Book of Days.
I don't know how much longer I can take with Enya. I mean, come on. However, it's really nice to have 38 songs to cycle through every night. I don't even think we have that much Radiohead or Iron & Wine on there. I'm going to have to investigate to see if we have any actual favorite musicians with that many songs.
And with that, I really need to go to bed so I can turn off this damn music.
Ever since Oliver was born, we've had the iPod playing where he slept at night. We turn it off when we go to bed, though, because I just couldn't deal with that. We started out just starting from various points in our 2-day's-worth-of-music birth play list, but we have an awful lot of random loud Sigur Ros, etc, on that play list. You'd think we would have taken the time by now to cultivate a similar play list without the random loud stuff, but no.
After a while of quickly running back into the room and skipping stuff, we decided to play Official Lullabies for him. We've had the Innocence Mission's "Now The Day Is Over" since before he was born. The Innocence Mission is one of our favorite bands, so this was a no-brainer. We listened to this album for hours each night for the last 7 months.
I actually wasn't sick of it. However, I realized that Ollie is spending more time listening to Karen Perris singing than his mom, and didn't want him to stop me one day and say, "mama, you're bad. Can we listen to the Innocence Mission instead, pleeeeeease?" which I suppose could feasibly happen regardless of what we play for him at night.
A few weeks ago, we tried "Quiet is the New Loud" by Kings of Convenience, which is another old favorite. I remember vividly that we listened to this CD on our honeymoon. I know, that's a really old post. I think you might even have to scroll down to 11/18/03 because individual post links were crappier back then. And the pictures are buried somewhere, so enjoy the pretty grey boxes. And oh look! Innocence Mission was also on our honeymoon play list! Anyway, Kings of Convenience worked great for a while, but we very quickly tired of it.
Enter: Enya. We have 38 Enya songs on the iPod (where did they come from? WHERE?!), and it seems to be working out. The only downside is the drastic volume changes, so we have to have the colume set just right. We need the music to act as a nice noise cover but not be startle-y or too loud, whether it be really quiet preludes to some songs or the giant boomy songs like Book of Days.
I don't know how much longer I can take with Enya. I mean, come on. However, it's really nice to have 38 songs to cycle through every night. I don't even think we have that much Radiohead or Iron & Wine on there. I'm going to have to investigate to see if we have any actual favorite musicians with that many songs.
And with that, I really need to go to bed so I can turn off this damn music.
11.19.2007
ExtaVeganZa.
ExtraVeganZa.
I know I mentioned this book a little while ago, but I need to revisit and make you all buy it too. Holy goodness, it's probably my favorite cookbook now. And! It's not an organic farm in Phoenix. It's Phoenix Organic Farm in Victoria, BC. Canada! I knew it! And they have a bed & breakfast!
.
So far, the only recipe in there I've tried which didn't work out was my Super Salty Yeasty bread, but I think there might have been a typo in my freebie advance copy, calling for two tablespoons of yeast instead of a more likely two teaspoon? Maybe? Another culprit might be that I used mostly whole wheat flour with only a 1/4 cup or so of spelt, when the recipe (and almost all other flour recipes in the book) called for entirely whole spelt flour.
Last night, I made their lemon poppyseed zucchini loaf, which is amazing. No sugar! No soy! oh, and vegan. !. It is absolutely delicious and still totally sweet and naughty loaf-tasting. Perfect consistency. I didn't really have enough poppyseeds because I used them all on the Pear Cardamom Muffins from the same book last weekend, but poppyseeds just get stuck in my teeth so I don't really mind the lack. Mmm, lemony zucchini-y deliciousness. Extra! Vegan! Za! That's how I say it, FYI.
I know I mentioned this book a little while ago, but I need to revisit and make you all buy it too. Holy goodness, it's probably my favorite cookbook now. And! It's not an organic farm in Phoenix. It's Phoenix Organic Farm in Victoria, BC. Canada! I knew it! And they have a bed & breakfast!
.So far, the only recipe in there I've tried which didn't work out was my Super Salty Yeasty bread, but I think there might have been a typo in my freebie advance copy, calling for two tablespoons of yeast instead of a more likely two teaspoon? Maybe? Another culprit might be that I used mostly whole wheat flour with only a 1/4 cup or so of spelt, when the recipe (and almost all other flour recipes in the book) called for entirely whole spelt flour.
Last night, I made their lemon poppyseed zucchini loaf, which is amazing. No sugar! No soy! oh, and vegan. !. It is absolutely delicious and still totally sweet and naughty loaf-tasting. Perfect consistency. I didn't really have enough poppyseeds because I used them all on the Pear Cardamom Muffins from the same book last weekend, but poppyseeds just get stuck in my teeth so I don't really mind the lack. Mmm, lemony zucchini-y deliciousness. Extra! Vegan! Za! That's how I say it, FYI.
11.18.2007
Newborny afternoon.
Newborny afternoon.
Recently, I've found myself mourning the loss of cuddly sweet lazy newborn days. We spent a lot of time on the couch lounging around in Oliver's first weeks, just sort of alternating between sleeping with him nuzzling our necks or nursing. Various copies of The Week were strewn about the living room, and of course the laptop played a prominent roll.
At about 4 or 5 months old, Ollie stopped sleeping upright on us, in "tummy-to-tummy" pose. He'll fall asleep in cradle hold while being walked and rocked around or nursed (preferably both, if he could have his way), but just gets too excited if he's up with his head to my shoulders, chest, or neck. He also kicks his feet and pushes up with his usual bounce, which really isn't conducive to sleeping.
This afternoon after Natalie's craft fair, I nursed him to sleep on the living room couch while the sky darkened around us. I laid down on the couch as best as I could, and just sort of dozed off with him, all bundled up in his favorite blanket. It was so dreamy. Then, he stirred a little and woke me up, but stayed asleep. I then had the bright (read: stupid) idea of trying to lift him upright so he would nuzzle against my collar area and lay on my tummy, just like those newborn days. He didn't appreciate the scene change. Lying on the couch with him was newborn snuggle enough, of course. I just got carried away.
Natalie's craft fair was so awesome (even though I'm secretly-on-the-internet wondering if I'm one of her secret-on-the-internet gripes about the craft fair process... ) But! I even tried kombucha, which is some bizarre but tasty hippie concoction. It's bacteria! grown from a mushroom! brewed in a dark cabinet! not appetizing at all! But the potential health benefits far outweighed the skeevy so I sucked it down. It just tasted like ginger. The health claims reminded me of how in the early Hike For Discovery days, Coach Sharon, Scott from Chicago, and I used to poke (well-intentioned) fun at Gookinaid's founder, the bionic Bill Gookin, because he would recommend Gookinaid as the cure for any ailment under the sun. Granted, it did kind of work, even on my morning sickness (after Bill's recommendation, complete with an explanatory Gookinaid And Morning Sickness handout and some free samples) (I don't know what I'll do when I run out of samples and actually have to pay for it). To quote Scott, "It cures everything! From hangovers to syphilis!" This statement is not approved by the FDA. Or Gookinaid.
I should tell Bill about kombucha. Maybe he'd make a handout.
And, to tie this all back to the Newborny subject, you all should know that I survived on Gookinaid free samples (the not-my-first-choice fruit punch flavor) and mashed potatoes during labor and the immediate post-partum recovery. Labor was like a hyperbole of my pregnancy food aversions (=everything except mashed potatoes). I may sit around and try to force my 7 month old to snuggle like a newborn, but I certainly hope I never again see a meal of just Gookinaid and mashed potatoes.
Recently, I've found myself mourning the loss of cuddly sweet lazy newborn days. We spent a lot of time on the couch lounging around in Oliver's first weeks, just sort of alternating between sleeping with him nuzzling our necks or nursing. Various copies of The Week were strewn about the living room, and of course the laptop played a prominent roll.
At about 4 or 5 months old, Ollie stopped sleeping upright on us, in "tummy-to-tummy" pose. He'll fall asleep in cradle hold while being walked and rocked around or nursed (preferably both, if he could have his way), but just gets too excited if he's up with his head to my shoulders, chest, or neck. He also kicks his feet and pushes up with his usual bounce, which really isn't conducive to sleeping.
This afternoon after Natalie's craft fair, I nursed him to sleep on the living room couch while the sky darkened around us. I laid down on the couch as best as I could, and just sort of dozed off with him, all bundled up in his favorite blanket. It was so dreamy. Then, he stirred a little and woke me up, but stayed asleep. I then had the bright (read: stupid) idea of trying to lift him upright so he would nuzzle against my collar area and lay on my tummy, just like those newborn days. He didn't appreciate the scene change. Lying on the couch with him was newborn snuggle enough, of course. I just got carried away.
Natalie's craft fair was so awesome (even though I'm secretly-on-the-internet wondering if I'm one of her secret-on-the-internet gripes about the craft fair process... ) But! I even tried kombucha, which is some bizarre but tasty hippie concoction. It's bacteria! grown from a mushroom! brewed in a dark cabinet! not appetizing at all! But the potential health benefits far outweighed the skeevy so I sucked it down. It just tasted like ginger. The health claims reminded me of how in the early Hike For Discovery days, Coach Sharon, Scott from Chicago, and I used to poke (well-intentioned) fun at Gookinaid's founder, the bionic Bill Gookin, because he would recommend Gookinaid as the cure for any ailment under the sun. Granted, it did kind of work, even on my morning sickness (after Bill's recommendation, complete with an explanatory Gookinaid And Morning Sickness handout and some free samples) (I don't know what I'll do when I run out of samples and actually have to pay for it). To quote Scott, "It cures everything! From hangovers to syphilis!" This statement is not approved by the FDA. Or Gookinaid.
I should tell Bill about kombucha. Maybe he'd make a handout.
And, to tie this all back to the Newborny subject, you all should know that I survived on Gookinaid free samples (the not-my-first-choice fruit punch flavor) and mashed potatoes during labor and the immediate post-partum recovery. Labor was like a hyperbole of my pregnancy food aversions (=everything except mashed potatoes). I may sit around and try to force my 7 month old to snuggle like a newborn, but I certainly hope I never again see a meal of just Gookinaid and mashed potatoes.
11.17.2007
The tooth has arrived.
The tooth has arrived.
I'm really busy right now, trying to motivate myself to write before a deadline first thing in the morning, and I'm also surrounded by 800 partially finished craft projects. I need to at least finish a christmas stocking and a little stuffed corduroy leaf rattle toy I made. No, it's not as cute as it sounds.
But the big news today is that Ollie FINALLY cut a tooth this afternoon. The bottom left front one, I think. He'll let me put my finger in his mouth, but gets all tight lipped when I want to get a look. I feel like he's been teething since he was 2 months old. All day today, he'd been especially happy, so as we hit the road to go to Buffy and Alan's Thanksgiving Dinner tonight, I looked at him and told him it was okay to cry if the tooth sucked. So, he did. A lot. It was probably one of the worst car rides ever. Poor little dude. He did great at the party, but only after the dogs stopped ruthlessly and viciously licking his toes. It was so cute, but I can imagine being such a little guy and not really knowing what strange fury creatures are lapping at your feet.
Welcome, little tooth!
I'm really busy right now, trying to motivate myself to write before a deadline first thing in the morning, and I'm also surrounded by 800 partially finished craft projects. I need to at least finish a christmas stocking and a little stuffed corduroy leaf rattle toy I made. No, it's not as cute as it sounds.
But the big news today is that Ollie FINALLY cut a tooth this afternoon. The bottom left front one, I think. He'll let me put my finger in his mouth, but gets all tight lipped when I want to get a look. I feel like he's been teething since he was 2 months old. All day today, he'd been especially happy, so as we hit the road to go to Buffy and Alan's Thanksgiving Dinner tonight, I looked at him and told him it was okay to cry if the tooth sucked. So, he did. A lot. It was probably one of the worst car rides ever. Poor little dude. He did great at the party, but only after the dogs stopped ruthlessly and viciously licking his toes. It was so cute, but I can imagine being such a little guy and not really knowing what strange fury creatures are lapping at your feet.
Welcome, little tooth!
11.16.2007
The Lean and Look.
The Lean and Look.
I call this pose the Lean and Look. Ollie does some variation of this position approximately 99.9% of the time he's being held while awake.
(Successfully handling the L&L is his buddy Sage's dad, Chris. Chris of Tessa and Chris fame.)
Now, a little more about the L&L. I have to say, it's completely adorable. Obviously, he leans, and by "lean," I really mean "attempts a blind swan dive out of my arms and into the unknown." This would be much more annoying if he weren't cute. He kind of cranes his neck, opens his mouth a little, and his eyes somehow get even wider than their usual baseline wideness. And, if you move in the way of whatever he is leaning or looking at, he will flick his little body over to the other side to see it. Holding him is really a full-contact sport, because the Lean and Look rarely lasts long before it becomes the Lean/Look/Grab. See figure 2:
Sometimes you're duped into thinking you can hold a cup of coffee or, in one recent ill-conceived attempt at tidying up the house, a pair of scissors. He's a grabby little beast, and is FAST. We had about a 2 hour period when he was first able to perch on my hip where I could hold him with one hand. Now, I need about 7 more hands. Then I'd be a real octopus, unlike Oliver's little octopus finger puppet that only has 6 legs. Because that's a sexopus. Go on, say it out loud.
I call this pose the Lean and Look. Ollie does some variation of this position approximately 99.9% of the time he's being held while awake.
(Successfully handling the L&L is his buddy Sage's dad, Chris. Chris of Tessa and Chris fame.)
Now, a little more about the L&L. I have to say, it's completely adorable. Obviously, he leans, and by "lean," I really mean "attempts a blind swan dive out of my arms and into the unknown." This would be much more annoying if he weren't cute. He kind of cranes his neck, opens his mouth a little, and his eyes somehow get even wider than their usual baseline wideness. And, if you move in the way of whatever he is leaning or looking at, he will flick his little body over to the other side to see it. Holding him is really a full-contact sport, because the Lean and Look rarely lasts long before it becomes the Lean/Look/Grab. See figure 2:
Sometimes you're duped into thinking you can hold a cup of coffee or, in one recent ill-conceived attempt at tidying up the house, a pair of scissors. He's a grabby little beast, and is FAST. We had about a 2 hour period when he was first able to perch on my hip where I could hold him with one hand. Now, I need about 7 more hands. Then I'd be a real octopus, unlike Oliver's little octopus finger puppet that only has 6 legs. Because that's a sexopus. Go on, say it out loud.
11.15.2007
Some call it miscellany. I call it bullets!
Some call it miscellany. I call it bullets!
It's time for a good old late-night bulleted list.
I really, really, really need to update my links. I just randomly clicked a bunch of them, and unfortunately hardly any of them work any more. Hosers! Start blogging again! I know you're out there!
Tonight, I sold not one, but TWO necklaces from the Etsy shop. To two different people! To quote Nelwyn: "OMG! We're in business!" To her defense, I started it with an email consisting entirely of OMG!s.
The Urban Housewife is hosting a craft bazaar at her house on Sunday. She lives just up the street! This is exciting. First of all, she's really creative and has creative friends. Second of all, a neighbor! Woot!
Instead of finishing off some applique'd Christmas stockings for the craft fair, I spent the evening obsessing over the packaging of the two necklaces I'd sold. But they did look quite nice and surprisingly professional. ...Before I wrote the addresses on the outside with a sharpie.
Last night, during Ollie's nightly post-bath (well, a lot of times the bath just doesn't happen) naked time (which is mostly so that we can get all of his nooks and crannies dry), he lifted up on his feet, and moved a knee forward! and got back on his knees! Then got too caught up in all the excitement and plopped his face into the blanket and flapped around like a face-down fish out of water. But still! That has to be an important pre-crawl thing.
Right now we're dealing with his total disinterest in food. It's important to note that breastmilk is not included in this category. He enjoys the boob just fine. But real food is dead to him. Unless he can smear it around and try to grind it into the tabletop grain.
I'm tired. Why am I still up?
It's time for a good old late-night bulleted list.
11.14.2007
Freaks and Geeks.
Freaks and Geeks.
Maybe someone else out there got as excited as me in last night's episode of Bones when none other than SAM WEIR from Freaks and Geeks showed up as some sort of counselor for Bones and Booth. And! He's attractive! In an awkward, post-geek way. I actually lifted my arms in the air like it was some sort of personal victory to have all my worlds collide like that. Bones! Freaks and Geeks! Plot devices to exacerbate the sexual tension between Booth and Bones!
But wait! There's more! I continued to watch television, since it had served me so well that hour and I was idly making a necklace and a toy in my sweatshop. I honestly can't remember the name of this show, but it has William Shatner and James Spader. Boston Legal? It's a Practice spin-off. Anyway, I don't really know the details of the plot, but at one point I suddenly looked up to see COACH FREDRICKS defending himself in a racism case. Two classic Coach Fredricks episodes: the one with the sex ed (oh dude, when Sam goes into his office and you just see them cracking up over and over again), and the one where he dates Bill's mom. (Now that was a Serious Issue Tackled By A Comedy Successfully. I wish I could say the same for the episode where Neil finds solace in ventriloquism.)
Within an hour, two F&G shout outs! I almost want to watch the whole season start-to-finish again. I'd even include the ventriloquism episode.
Maybe someone else out there got as excited as me in last night's episode of Bones when none other than SAM WEIR from Freaks and Geeks showed up as some sort of counselor for Bones and Booth. And! He's attractive! In an awkward, post-geek way. I actually lifted my arms in the air like it was some sort of personal victory to have all my worlds collide like that. Bones! Freaks and Geeks! Plot devices to exacerbate the sexual tension between Booth and Bones!
But wait! There's more! I continued to watch television, since it had served me so well that hour and I was idly making a necklace and a toy in my sweatshop. I honestly can't remember the name of this show, but it has William Shatner and James Spader. Boston Legal? It's a Practice spin-off. Anyway, I don't really know the details of the plot, but at one point I suddenly looked up to see COACH FREDRICKS defending himself in a racism case. Two classic Coach Fredricks episodes: the one with the sex ed (oh dude, when Sam goes into his office and you just see them cracking up over and over again), and the one where he dates Bill's mom. (Now that was a Serious Issue Tackled By A Comedy Successfully. I wish I could say the same for the episode where Neil finds solace in ventriloquism.)
Within an hour, two F&G shout outs! I almost want to watch the whole season start-to-finish again. I'd even include the ventriloquism episode.
11.13.2007
Accomplishedish.
Accomplishedish.
Today, I walked a whopping 2.5 miles to get to playgroup in the blistering November heat (no really, it was actually an unseasonably hot day) (and honestly, we shouldn't say things like "unseasonably" in San Diego unless there's sea level snow, because anything is possible at any time). I pushed 21 lbs of Ollie in the joggling stroller along with what seamed like 800 lbs of blankets, diapers, toys, and water in the diaper bag. I felt so bad ass when I got there, like, Hah! I don't need fossil fuels! I'll brave the uneven sidewalks! I'll walk in a car-obsessed city! Hah! I was pretty bad ass.
Until two other moms showed up, having walked the same distance wearing flip flops. Hah! Ha ha. I think they also might have been drinking coffee, when I was calculatedly hydrating for the Long Walk in the Heat.
Important side note: Every time I say "Hah!" I think of what is one of my favorite episodes of This American Life, the live clip show about TV. They have the guy who's the PC on those Mac commercials, and he tells a story that involves lots of awkward "Hah!"ing. And I also think of ex-coworker and ex-work-boyfriend Joel who said Hah! whenever he thwarted anyone's offensive driving. But today's usage was definitely more the "they should pay you in flights!" "hah!"ing. Please tell me you've heard that episode. It's life-changing.
Tomorrow, I think I'll just drive around. Hah.
Today, I walked a whopping 2.5 miles to get to playgroup in the blistering November heat (no really, it was actually an unseasonably hot day) (and honestly, we shouldn't say things like "unseasonably" in San Diego unless there's sea level snow, because anything is possible at any time). I pushed 21 lbs of Ollie in the joggling stroller along with what seamed like 800 lbs of blankets, diapers, toys, and water in the diaper bag. I felt so bad ass when I got there, like, Hah! I don't need fossil fuels! I'll brave the uneven sidewalks! I'll walk in a car-obsessed city! Hah! I was pretty bad ass.
Until two other moms showed up, having walked the same distance wearing flip flops. Hah! Ha ha. I think they also might have been drinking coffee, when I was calculatedly hydrating for the Long Walk in the Heat.
Important side note: Every time I say "Hah!" I think of what is one of my favorite episodes of This American Life, the live clip show about TV. They have the guy who's the PC on those Mac commercials, and he tells a story that involves lots of awkward "Hah!"ing. And I also think of ex-coworker and ex-work-boyfriend Joel who said Hah! whenever he thwarted anyone's offensive driving. But today's usage was definitely more the "they should pay you in flights!" "hah!"ing. Please tell me you've heard that episode. It's life-changing.
Tomorrow, I think I'll just drive around. Hah.
11.12.2007
7 Months.
7 Months.
Oliver is 7 months old today. Seven! I can't believe he is now closer to a 1 year old than a newborn. We had a pediatrician appointment today, and it went relatively well. I was able to talk really candidly with the doctor about vaccinations, which was a huge help. I don't think she really argues with people about their decisions, but she engaged me in conversation about it, probably because I was so obviously a conflicted mess about the issue. I think she's so used to people having their minds made up, which is surprising to me, because it's been (and continues to be) such a tough decision for us. We basically decided to wait some more.
Ollie had the slowest growth of his entire life, gaining a mere pound in two months. I remember when homeboy was packing on a pound a week! He's now 21 lbs, 3 oz. So close to being triple his birth weight!
He's also now moving backward pretty seriously. You can't turn away from him for a minute lest he end up beneath the couch. And his cheeks, they continue to be out of control. I'm guessing that entire new pound is in his cheeks.
His recent lack of cuddliness (probably one of the hardest parenting things I've experienced so far) seems to be transforming a bit. He'll now clunk his head down on my chest or shoulder randomly, and stay there for a little snuggle. We do get plenty of sweet time together, but it usually involves him eating or sleeping. Heh. He's also started resting his head sideways while he's on his tummy, which is painfully cute. I can't believe he's waited 7 months to find a comfortable resting position, because his head is indeed quite large. Heeeead! Pants! Now!
His favorite books these days continue to be the "Sheep in a _____" series (we have ...Shop and ...Jeep), "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?," and "Who Lives Here? What Do They Say?," which is the most random soft book ever. It has a "seal," and that's in quotes because it looks absolutely nothing like a seal. The sheep, I mean, "sheep" at the end also looks more like a teddy bear than a sheep. But still, he absolutely adores the book. And, while I'm insulting his taste in literature, a note about the Sheep in a ____ books. I would never have thought to pick these up on my own. They're pastel colored, which I'm so over. And, the drawings of the sheep are kind of ugly. However, the sing-songy, rhyme-y lyrics use a lot of funny sounds, which makes him giggle. Beep Beep! Sheep in a Jeep! I think he has the same love for the Sheep books as he does for the alphabet song. Grown ups are so silly with all those dorky consonants. They really should just stick with bahbahbah, blahblahblah, and the odd mamama like all the cool kids.
One of my favorite parts of his little personality is that if someone else is holding him, and he starts to cry until I take him, he'll almost always turn back towards whoever was holding him, stop crying instantly and give them a giant, beaming, gummy smile. He doesn't hold grudges, I guess. Maybe I should take some notes from him. Sure, the obvious answer to this is that he just wants to feel a little more secure being held by mama, and then he's fine interacting and smiling at whoever, wherever. But a little part of me thinks that he feels some compassion, and knows that smiling back at the person will cheer them up instead of leaving them wondering what they did to make him cry. And that tiny little suggestion of my kind little boy makes me all weepy and sappy.
I'm so, so blessed to know this child.
Oliver is 7 months old today. Seven! I can't believe he is now closer to a 1 year old than a newborn. We had a pediatrician appointment today, and it went relatively well. I was able to talk really candidly with the doctor about vaccinations, which was a huge help. I don't think she really argues with people about their decisions, but she engaged me in conversation about it, probably because I was so obviously a conflicted mess about the issue. I think she's so used to people having their minds made up, which is surprising to me, because it's been (and continues to be) such a tough decision for us. We basically decided to wait some more.
Ollie had the slowest growth of his entire life, gaining a mere pound in two months. I remember when homeboy was packing on a pound a week! He's now 21 lbs, 3 oz. So close to being triple his birth weight!
He's also now moving backward pretty seriously. You can't turn away from him for a minute lest he end up beneath the couch. And his cheeks, they continue to be out of control. I'm guessing that entire new pound is in his cheeks.
His recent lack of cuddliness (probably one of the hardest parenting things I've experienced so far) seems to be transforming a bit. He'll now clunk his head down on my chest or shoulder randomly, and stay there for a little snuggle. We do get plenty of sweet time together, but it usually involves him eating or sleeping. Heh. He's also started resting his head sideways while he's on his tummy, which is painfully cute. I can't believe he's waited 7 months to find a comfortable resting position, because his head is indeed quite large. Heeeead! Pants! Now!
His favorite books these days continue to be the "Sheep in a _____" series (we have ...Shop and ...Jeep), "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?," and "Who Lives Here? What Do They Say?," which is the most random soft book ever. It has a "seal," and that's in quotes because it looks absolutely nothing like a seal. The sheep, I mean, "sheep" at the end also looks more like a teddy bear than a sheep. But still, he absolutely adores the book. And, while I'm insulting his taste in literature, a note about the Sheep in a ____ books. I would never have thought to pick these up on my own. They're pastel colored, which I'm so over. And, the drawings of the sheep are kind of ugly. However, the sing-songy, rhyme-y lyrics use a lot of funny sounds, which makes him giggle. Beep Beep! Sheep in a Jeep! I think he has the same love for the Sheep books as he does for the alphabet song. Grown ups are so silly with all those dorky consonants. They really should just stick with bahbahbah, blahblahblah, and the odd mamama like all the cool kids.
One of my favorite parts of his little personality is that if someone else is holding him, and he starts to cry until I take him, he'll almost always turn back towards whoever was holding him, stop crying instantly and give them a giant, beaming, gummy smile. He doesn't hold grudges, I guess. Maybe I should take some notes from him. Sure, the obvious answer to this is that he just wants to feel a little more secure being held by mama, and then he's fine interacting and smiling at whoever, wherever. But a little part of me thinks that he feels some compassion, and knows that smiling back at the person will cheer them up instead of leaving them wondering what they did to make him cry. And that tiny little suggestion of my kind little boy makes me all weepy and sappy.
I'm so, so blessed to know this child.
11.11.2007
Brunch.
Brunch.
Yesterday, we had Ollie's best friends Lucca and Sage over for brunch. Since none of the babies are really old enough to have pancakes or tofu scramble, we invited their parents too. It was such fun. None of us had met Lucca's dad yet, so that was nice. Especially since I only see Lucca's mom pretty much every day.
It was also my second brunch-hosting experience in recent weeks, and the first to involve a vegan scramble. In fact, it was the first time I've ever made one. I sort of used a recipe, but not really. It involved onions, potatoes, crumbled tofu, crumbled fauxsage (fake sausage/pronounced fossage in my world) cayenne, turmeric, pepper, Braggs, and some fresh cilantro from our favorite organic farm. It was impressive! I'm pretty sure most everyone else just tolerated it, because the only people who get excited about vegan breakfast items are the vegans who are usually so deprived of such breakfast items. Everyone else was all, "yeah, these aren't eggs."
I also made some Pear Cardamom muffins with poppy seeds. It felt very middle eastern, like I should have some delicate tea with them in a sweet little tea set in a little street cafe in a dusty town square. But maybe cardamom + poppy seeds isn't middle eastern at all; I'm really not sure where I got that vision. Blame the movies. Anyway, those were spectacular. Cardamom is a strange taste, though. Those are from a publisher's promotional copy of ExtraVeganZa (it took me weeks to figure out that title, FYI), which is a cookbook produced by an organic farm in Phoenix, originally intended to help their CSA customers use their weekly produce. It's been a really great cookbook, especially because it was given to me for free! I like free stuff.
And we rounded off the main food items with some Pumpkin Pie Pancakes from Vegan Planet. The cookbook isn't anything special, but it has so many solid, fool-proof staple recipes. We've had the pumpkin pie pancakes almost every weekend this whole fall.
I will never be one of those foodie bloggers, because I can never get around to taking pictures of my food. And if I do, they sit on the camera for weeks, and by the time I upload them, it's another week or two before they're on Flickr, and then I've forgotten what the food is. What are those food-colored circles? Are those pancakes? Maybe? Or that pourable, no-roll tortilla experiment? (Note: you just can't make pourable no-roll tortillas. Don't even bother, unless you like tortilla-flavored pancakes that fall apart).
Yesterday, we had Ollie's best friends Lucca and Sage over for brunch. Since none of the babies are really old enough to have pancakes or tofu scramble, we invited their parents too. It was such fun. None of us had met Lucca's dad yet, so that was nice. Especially since I only see Lucca's mom pretty much every day.
It was also my second brunch-hosting experience in recent weeks, and the first to involve a vegan scramble. In fact, it was the first time I've ever made one. I sort of used a recipe, but not really. It involved onions, potatoes, crumbled tofu, crumbled fauxsage (fake sausage/pronounced fossage in my world) cayenne, turmeric, pepper, Braggs, and some fresh cilantro from our favorite organic farm. It was impressive! I'm pretty sure most everyone else just tolerated it, because the only people who get excited about vegan breakfast items are the vegans who are usually so deprived of such breakfast items. Everyone else was all, "yeah, these aren't eggs."
I also made some Pear Cardamom muffins with poppy seeds. It felt very middle eastern, like I should have some delicate tea with them in a sweet little tea set in a little street cafe in a dusty town square. But maybe cardamom + poppy seeds isn't middle eastern at all; I'm really not sure where I got that vision. Blame the movies. Anyway, those were spectacular. Cardamom is a strange taste, though. Those are from a publisher's promotional copy of ExtraVeganZa (it took me weeks to figure out that title, FYI), which is a cookbook produced by an organic farm in Phoenix, originally intended to help their CSA customers use their weekly produce. It's been a really great cookbook, especially because it was given to me for free! I like free stuff.
And we rounded off the main food items with some Pumpkin Pie Pancakes from Vegan Planet. The cookbook isn't anything special, but it has so many solid, fool-proof staple recipes. We've had the pumpkin pie pancakes almost every weekend this whole fall.
I will never be one of those foodie bloggers, because I can never get around to taking pictures of my food. And if I do, they sit on the camera for weeks, and by the time I upload them, it's another week or two before they're on Flickr, and then I've forgotten what the food is. What are those food-colored circles? Are those pancakes? Maybe? Or that pourable, no-roll tortilla experiment? (Note: you just can't make pourable no-roll tortillas. Don't even bother, unless you like tortilla-flavored pancakes that fall apart).
11.10.2007
Obsess List.
Obsess List.
Since it's late, and my mind is everywhere, I'm just going to list out some things I'm currently obsessing over, to varying degrees. Fun times!
Making a (yes, one) soft block. Maybe one day we'll make enough to sell, but first I have to get through the prototype.
Organic fabric.
Some sort of bite on my ankle. This is probably my number one obsession at this very moment.
New haircut. I got bangs cut, which is way different for me. I do like them, but they're taking some serious getting-used-to time. I almost don't recognize me. I asked my stylist to make them like Cat Power, but she didn't know who Cat Power was. We settled with Feist. They don't look like Feist's bangs, however. For better or for worst.
Minor stirring on the baby monitor. And it sounds like it's real stirring now. And that means this post is over.
Since it's late, and my mind is everywhere, I'm just going to list out some things I'm currently obsessing over, to varying degrees. Fun times!
11.09.2007
Yoga mamas.
Yoga Mamas.
Wee Ollie and I have playgroups available to us almost every day. Most of these are natural family/attachment parenting playgroups. Every day! I know, it's insane. It's like AA. You can always find a playgroup when you need it. However, I have another independent playgroup that started kind of organically out of prenatal yoga classes at Ginseng Yoga in South Park/Golden Hill. One day, 39-weeks-pregnant-Eve asked everyone in the class if they have mom's groups already, and there was an awkward silence. Then I said "um, we could start one" all sheepishly. But we did!
I have a special fondness for this playgroup. We had planned to meet for coffee before our babies were born, and when only two of us (Claudia and me) showed up, things didn't look that promising for the future of the Yoga Mamas Playgroup. Well, it turns out that three mamas were actually giving birth right then and there. It's going to be pretty great to watch these babies grow into little people, knowing exactly what I was doing and drinking (Krakatoa decaf latte) (oh baby jesus, I'm so glad I don't have to drink decaf anymore) (sorry Nelwyn, who still drinks decaf) when everyone was born. And then, a Yoga Mamas playgroup was the first thing Oliver and I did on our own, even though Erik was still off work for paternity leave.
Naturally, because all types of people take prenatal yoga, it's not like the AP playgroups where you can pretty much guarantee that everyone has the same values and parenting styles as you. Granted, several of us hit it off instantly, as we noticed that we rolled the same way, which is really nice. But we have a fairly wide array. This is enriching and challenging at the same time. It's really hard to hear certain things discussed, but then I have to remind myself that they probably think it's really hard to watch me put Ollie on my back in the wrap every so often. They're all like, "OMG would you just get a stroller?"
There's something so powerful and binding about the transition into motherhood - marking those final weeks of pregnancy, birth, and the early stages of life with a newborn - that really sets aside differences and other obstacles. We gave birth together (ish). That's huge! When I think about the adults in my life who knew my parents when I was in the womb, I get all weepy and warm and fuzzy. They were there! They witnessed how much my parents loved me before I was even born.
One day, I can't wait to hang out with Teenage Lucca or Zac and watch them get all embarrassed as I tousle their hair and tell all their friends stories about their infancy or how their mama always asked Arati for an easy, I mean, "mellow" yoga class. Now that makes me weepy and warm and fuzzy (Teenage Lucca, not mellow yoga) (mellow yoga makes me bored, I mean "meditative.") (I really need to make this post stop, like, now.)
Wee Ollie and I have playgroups available to us almost every day. Most of these are natural family/attachment parenting playgroups. Every day! I know, it's insane. It's like AA. You can always find a playgroup when you need it. However, I have another independent playgroup that started kind of organically out of prenatal yoga classes at Ginseng Yoga in South Park/Golden Hill. One day, 39-weeks-pregnant-Eve asked everyone in the class if they have mom's groups already, and there was an awkward silence. Then I said "um, we could start one" all sheepishly. But we did!
I have a special fondness for this playgroup. We had planned to meet for coffee before our babies were born, and when only two of us (Claudia and me) showed up, things didn't look that promising for the future of the Yoga Mamas Playgroup. Well, it turns out that three mamas were actually giving birth right then and there. It's going to be pretty great to watch these babies grow into little people, knowing exactly what I was doing and drinking (Krakatoa decaf latte) (oh baby jesus, I'm so glad I don't have to drink decaf anymore) (sorry Nelwyn, who still drinks decaf) when everyone was born. And then, a Yoga Mamas playgroup was the first thing Oliver and I did on our own, even though Erik was still off work for paternity leave.
Naturally, because all types of people take prenatal yoga, it's not like the AP playgroups where you can pretty much guarantee that everyone has the same values and parenting styles as you. Granted, several of us hit it off instantly, as we noticed that we rolled the same way, which is really nice. But we have a fairly wide array. This is enriching and challenging at the same time. It's really hard to hear certain things discussed, but then I have to remind myself that they probably think it's really hard to watch me put Ollie on my back in the wrap every so often. They're all like, "OMG would you just get a stroller?"
There's something so powerful and binding about the transition into motherhood - marking those final weeks of pregnancy, birth, and the early stages of life with a newborn - that really sets aside differences and other obstacles. We gave birth together (ish). That's huge! When I think about the adults in my life who knew my parents when I was in the womb, I get all weepy and warm and fuzzy. They were there! They witnessed how much my parents loved me before I was even born.
One day, I can't wait to hang out with Teenage Lucca or Zac and watch them get all embarrassed as I tousle their hair and tell all their friends stories about their infancy or how their mama always asked Arati for an easy, I mean, "mellow" yoga class. Now that makes me weepy and warm and fuzzy (Teenage Lucca, not mellow yoga) (mellow yoga makes me bored, I mean "meditative.") (I really need to make this post stop, like, now.)
11.08.2007
Mmmmaaaa mmaaaa.
Mmmmaaaa mmmaaaa.
Oliver has been doing a lot of babababa and blahblahblah babbling for the last month or so, but for most of the day today, he was just sort of making his mouth move without the words coming out. He looks kind of like an old man chewing when he does this. Without teeth.
He's done this before, but he usually breaks out into the b consonant after a little while of gumming silence. But, BUT! Today! He started with the Ms! Ms and aaahs! Mama! Over and over again. Mamamamamama.
Of course, he was looking at everything BUT me when he said this. Blocks = mama. Clutching toy = mama. Changing table = mama. Kitchen floor = mama.
But still. Mama!
And here he is my happy little guy still grinning even when contending with (a) the sun in his eyes, and (b) the Berkeley carillon tower growing out of his skull:
Oliver has been doing a lot of babababa and blahblahblah babbling for the last month or so, but for most of the day today, he was just sort of making his mouth move without the words coming out. He looks kind of like an old man chewing when he does this. Without teeth.
He's done this before, but he usually breaks out into the b consonant after a little while of gumming silence. But, BUT! Today! He started with the Ms! Ms and aaahs! Mama! Over and over again. Mamamamamama.
Of course, he was looking at everything BUT me when he said this. Blocks = mama. Clutching toy = mama. Changing table = mama. Kitchen floor = mama.
But still. Mama!
And here he is my happy little guy still grinning even when contending with (a) the sun in his eyes, and (b) the Berkeley carillon tower growing out of his skull:
11.07.2007
Cosleeping and our house layout.
Cosleeping and our house layout.
We're thinking about rearranging some of our living spaces. Let me tell you what it's like now, how we use the space, and what I'm planning, and then let me know what you think.
First of all, note that we don't have a TV in our living room. It just wouldn't fit or look right. Our TV has always been the back room of our house, which is larger than the other rooms and earlier this year, became our bedroom (we have made a habit of moving the rooms around way too much, but think we're fairly settled now). Oliver sleeps in our bed, which means we really can't be in there oh, anytime after 7:30 or 8. Which means we don't watch TV. Not that big of a deal, but Erik likes his Pushing Daisies and we both love a good NOVA or netflix'd Freaks and Geeks. Recently, we've been watching this tiny little 15 inch (if that) TV in the guest room, which is totally not ergonomically set up for that.
We also have a low-energy thermostat-y electric space heater in our room (brand new!). Our bedtime routine involves a bath for Ollie, and then he plays a little while drying off in his room. Then he gets in pajamas and we bring him into our room. We'd rather just use that little space heater and not heat the rest of the house at all, unless we're using the fireplace (and then we'd totally have bedtime in front of the fire. swoon!)
I think we've decided that we need to move our normal TV into the guest room and rearrange it a little so we can relax on the bed and watch TV or read or do crafts (yay!) after Ollie conks out. But I've recently been thinking about rearranging the nursery and our bedroom a bit to make the space more usable for this cosleeping phase of our life.
I want to disassemble the changing table in his room, and just keep it as bookshelves (it's from Ikea, and is basically just a bookshelves/cabinet unit with a changing table attachment on top). I want to move all of his diaper stuff and the changing pad to the large dresser in our room. So, he'd have more cabinet space (for toys?) in his room, and all diapering would happen in our bedroom. Also, the nighttime dry-off and get in jammies would also happen in our bedroom (with the heater). (Our house gets cold, relatively. We're warm blooded so cal folks).
I was also thinking about moving the rocking chair into our room in the corner, and getting another wool rug. We could keep some nighttime-ish books for Ollie in the bookshelves in our room, and have a little bedtime story corner. (However, right now, reading books to Ollie is a full contact sport. There is nothing remotely peaceful and bedtime-ish about it). Anyway, I'm just envisioning everything after his bath happening in our warm bedroom.
This would also free up a lot of space in his room. Sure, we have a crib in there (the plan is to have him sleep the first part of the night in there eventually, when he's a bit older and it's not as cold at night), but we would have a corner for some play areas, and some room for toy storage, which we have none of right now. His room would be more of a play room than a nursery, I guess, and our room would have all the nursery bits. Woe! He's getting so grown up! His own play room!
I'm a little sad about taking that amazing green chair out of the nursery. It's right next to the painted tree in his room right now, and just looks so dreamy.
If this made ANY sense at all, please feel free to give me your tuppence on the matter. Why thank you.
We're thinking about rearranging some of our living spaces. Let me tell you what it's like now, how we use the space, and what I'm planning, and then let me know what you think.
First of all, note that we don't have a TV in our living room. It just wouldn't fit or look right. Our TV has always been the back room of our house, which is larger than the other rooms and earlier this year, became our bedroom (we have made a habit of moving the rooms around way too much, but think we're fairly settled now). Oliver sleeps in our bed, which means we really can't be in there oh, anytime after 7:30 or 8. Which means we don't watch TV. Not that big of a deal, but Erik likes his Pushing Daisies and we both love a good NOVA or netflix'd Freaks and Geeks. Recently, we've been watching this tiny little 15 inch (if that) TV in the guest room, which is totally not ergonomically set up for that.
We also have a low-energy thermostat-y electric space heater in our room (brand new!). Our bedtime routine involves a bath for Ollie, and then he plays a little while drying off in his room. Then he gets in pajamas and we bring him into our room. We'd rather just use that little space heater and not heat the rest of the house at all, unless we're using the fireplace (and then we'd totally have bedtime in front of the fire. swoon!)
I think we've decided that we need to move our normal TV into the guest room and rearrange it a little so we can relax on the bed and watch TV or read or do crafts (yay!) after Ollie conks out. But I've recently been thinking about rearranging the nursery and our bedroom a bit to make the space more usable for this cosleeping phase of our life.
I want to disassemble the changing table in his room, and just keep it as bookshelves (it's from Ikea, and is basically just a bookshelves/cabinet unit with a changing table attachment on top). I want to move all of his diaper stuff and the changing pad to the large dresser in our room. So, he'd have more cabinet space (for toys?) in his room, and all diapering would happen in our bedroom. Also, the nighttime dry-off and get in jammies would also happen in our bedroom (with the heater). (Our house gets cold, relatively. We're warm blooded so cal folks).
I was also thinking about moving the rocking chair into our room in the corner, and getting another wool rug. We could keep some nighttime-ish books for Ollie in the bookshelves in our room, and have a little bedtime story corner. (However, right now, reading books to Ollie is a full contact sport. There is nothing remotely peaceful and bedtime-ish about it). Anyway, I'm just envisioning everything after his bath happening in our warm bedroom.
This would also free up a lot of space in his room. Sure, we have a crib in there (the plan is to have him sleep the first part of the night in there eventually, when he's a bit older and it's not as cold at night), but we would have a corner for some play areas, and some room for toy storage, which we have none of right now. His room would be more of a play room than a nursery, I guess, and our room would have all the nursery bits. Woe! He's getting so grown up! His own play room!
I'm a little sad about taking that amazing green chair out of the nursery. It's right next to the painted tree in his room right now, and just looks so dreamy.
If this made ANY sense at all, please feel free to give me your tuppence on the matter. Why thank you.
11.06.2007
11.05.2007
Sparrow Baby.
Sparrow Baby.
Launch: http://sparrowbaby.etsy.com
Sparrow Baby is the work of my awesome friend Nelwyn and myself. We were slightly turned off by the (very few) nursing necklaces out there, because they looked so... nursing necklace-y. But, our babies were still grabbing entire fistfuls of flesh while they ate, so we still needed something to occupy their idle little fingers. So, we decided to make our own, but so that they would look like normal pretty necklaces.
In fact, you don't even have to be a mother to wear one, because then it'd just be a pretty necklace. Sweet!
Each bead is individually and securely knotted for safety. Most of our necklaces are made without any metal parts, using either adjustable closures or a loop closure with a bead accent. Everything is prettily packaged, perfect for baby shower gifts.
Soon, we'll be adding organic baby items, such as wool changing pads and blankets, and we are able to do custom necklaces. Stay tuned! Tell your friends! And buy stuff!
p.s., I heart Etsy.
Launch: http://sparrowbaby.etsy.com
Sparrow Baby is the work of my awesome friend Nelwyn and myself. We were slightly turned off by the (very few) nursing necklaces out there, because they looked so... nursing necklace-y. But, our babies were still grabbing entire fistfuls of flesh while they ate, so we still needed something to occupy their idle little fingers. So, we decided to make our own, but so that they would look like normal pretty necklaces.
In fact, you don't even have to be a mother to wear one, because then it'd just be a pretty necklace. Sweet!
Each bead is individually and securely knotted for safety. Most of our necklaces are made without any metal parts, using either adjustable closures or a loop closure with a bead accent. Everything is prettily packaged, perfect for baby shower gifts.
Soon, we'll be adding organic baby items, such as wool changing pads and blankets, and we are able to do custom necklaces. Stay tuned! Tell your friends! And buy stuff!
p.s., I heart Etsy.
11.04.2007
Poor guy.
Poor guy.
I keep trying to type something here, but Oliver keeps waking up crying. It's so sad. And I need to get some sleep, because I'm guessing with the time change, homeboy will be up way too early for mama.
He seems so upset and sad. I don't know if I can attribute this to teething. I suppose it also could be gas. He has really stepped up the farting lately. He's taken it to the next level, complete with a lingering scent (granted, like baby poop, so it's not as offensive as a lingering adult fart scent). That's my boy!
Aaaand, I think he's awake again.
I keep trying to type something here, but Oliver keeps waking up crying. It's so sad. And I need to get some sleep, because I'm guessing with the time change, homeboy will be up way too early for mama.
He seems so upset and sad. I don't know if I can attribute this to teething. I suppose it also could be gas. He has really stepped up the farting lately. He's taken it to the next level, complete with a lingering scent (granted, like baby poop, so it's not as offensive as a lingering adult fart scent). That's my boy!
Aaaand, I think he's awake again.
11.03.2007
Bronx Beat.
Bronx Beat.
One of my favorite things lately is the Bronx Beat skit on SNL. I haven't *loved* a recurring SNL skit in a long, long time, but holy goodness, those girls are awesome.
I find myself quoting them randomly, usually the "look at his face! he's adorable!" lines. I'm usually pretty good at the accents, but not so with the Bronx accent. I slaughter it. I just end up sounding like Bugs Bunny. A bored undersexed emotionally unstable hairsprayed Bugs Bunny.
One of my favorite things lately is the Bronx Beat skit on SNL. I haven't *loved* a recurring SNL skit in a long, long time, but holy goodness, those girls are awesome.
I find myself quoting them randomly, usually the "look at his face! he's adorable!" lines. I'm usually pretty good at the accents, but not so with the Bronx accent. I slaughter it. I just end up sounding like Bugs Bunny. A bored undersexed emotionally unstable hairsprayed Bugs Bunny.
11.02.2007
Picture this.
Picture this.
A mother sits sleepily in an idyllic park on an idyllic autumnal day, and eyes the baby swings, the kind with the leg holes. Four leg holes. Enough room for two kids. Too much room for one baby, destined to flop around as he swings.
A mother eyes the fluffy, padded duck costume lying in the dirt next to the diaper bag, after a two-days-late playgroup photo op.
A mother drains her camera battery while a small, unwitting duck clad in plush, stuffed yellow polyester, clutches a wooden rattle, squeals deliriously and sways back and forth.
A mother sits sleepily in an idyllic park on an idyllic autumnal day, and eyes the baby swings, the kind with the leg holes. Four leg holes. Enough room for two kids. Too much room for one baby, destined to flop around as he swings.
A mother eyes the fluffy, padded duck costume lying in the dirt next to the diaper bag, after a two-days-late playgroup photo op.
A mother drains her camera battery while a small, unwitting duck clad in plush, stuffed yellow polyester, clutches a wooden rattle, squeals deliriously and sways back and forth.
11.01.2007
Sitting Duck.
Sitting Duck.
Ollie in one of two Halloween costumes this week. The other was Linus, complete with a blue blanket and "WELCOME GREAT PUMPKIN" sign. Granted, it wasn't as cute as the giant fluffy duck suit. Ahh, polyester.
Quack. Eventually he just got used to it. I guess that's the good(ish) thing about being 6 months old. You really don't have a baseline for what experiences are normal, and what experiences are just your parents being cruel. I think Oliver just rolled his little eyes and thought that fluffy duck costumes were just another thing he's going to have to tolerate in this awful world. That could almost sound depressing, but come on. Duck costumes! It could be worse!
with his little buddy, Sage, totally not impressed with each other:
he fell sideways, really slowly on account of all the extra padding. And we just let him fall, partly because he had his padded duck head gear on, and partly because he was going so slow. And also, he was landing on that bunny anyway. And also also, it was hilarious to see this fluffy duck tilt so gradually off to the side. Ollie thought it was funny, too, thankfully.
In other news, it's November again, so it looks like I'm going to try to do the blog-every-day-thing. We'll see how I do. Last year I failed, but it wasn't that sad of a failure. I think I managed to blog most days. It's after midnight, but I'm going to postdate this post to say Thursday 11/1, because it doesn't count as a new day until I sleep.
Ollie in one of two Halloween costumes this week. The other was Linus, complete with a blue blanket and "WELCOME GREAT PUMPKIN" sign. Granted, it wasn't as cute as the giant fluffy duck suit. Ahh, polyester.
Quack. Eventually he just got used to it. I guess that's the good(ish) thing about being 6 months old. You really don't have a baseline for what experiences are normal, and what experiences are just your parents being cruel. I think Oliver just rolled his little eyes and thought that fluffy duck costumes were just another thing he's going to have to tolerate in this awful world. That could almost sound depressing, but come on. Duck costumes! It could be worse!
with his little buddy, Sage, totally not impressed with each other:
he fell sideways, really slowly on account of all the extra padding. And we just let him fall, partly because he had his padded duck head gear on, and partly because he was going so slow. And also, he was landing on that bunny anyway. And also also, it was hilarious to see this fluffy duck tilt so gradually off to the side. Ollie thought it was funny, too, thankfully.
In other news, it's November again, so it looks like I'm going to try to do the blog-every-day-thing. We'll see how I do. Last year I failed, but it wasn't that sad of a failure. I think I managed to blog most days. It's after midnight, but I'm going to postdate this post to say Thursday 11/1, because it doesn't count as a new day until I sleep.
10.30.2007
Little man.
Little Man.
I really need to post more often, so I don't have to deal with giant transitional posts after my long pauses. But you know me and giant transitions: it's all about the bulleted lists.
Ollie is 6.5 months now. I do say the point five out loud, FYI. I'm one of those mothers. Don't worry. I will stop with the month numbering at 1, I swear. I reserve the right to change my mind, also.
We finally started feeding him "solid" food last week. It's actually almost liquid. We gave him a little mashed up organic avocado from the guy at the North Park Farmer's Market who looks like a movie star. If Robert Redford owned an organic farm in one of his movies, he should model it after this guy. Anyway, the avocado was really good, and Oliver seemed to like his mashed up and diluted version. We then took a 4 day break from any solids for him, because we ate the rest of the avocado. Parents of the year, we are. We tried avocado again two nights ago.
Last night, I got all industrious and made some pears for him. By "made," I mean, peeled, chopped, simmered, and blended. We used the stick blender, because I didn't want to put the hot stuff in the only blender we have, which is plastic. I actually liked this method better, because the stick blender is so easy to wash, and the pears are then already in their glass storage container.
Ollie liked the pears tonight, for maybe 10 minutes, then was done. It was actually really nice to see him turn his head away, like he was now associating the feeding process with getting food, not just being allowed to suck on the spoon. Well, it was nice after I got past the tiny feeling of insult. I slaved over those pears! We'll try some more tomorrow, I think.
He's mobile. Not really crawling, but he lifts up on his knees or feet and scoots backwards. Then he flaps his legs and arms frantically, usually squealing or giggling. He doesn't stay in one place for more than a minute.
Homeboy has been cloth diapered exclusively his whole life. This makes mama so proud. Especially since we've had several trips where his diapers and diapering supplies have had their own suitcase. I need to write more about cloth diapering, because it's been an amazing experience. We are currently using all organic, all natural-fiber diapers. Only the best for my little man to poop in, is all I'm sayin'.
He is almost always happy. We are so blessed.
Alright, enough with the bullets. Let's do a little prose interlude and then we'll have some pictures. Okay?
I'm currently watching the NOVA program on marathon runners, and I think I've now been bit by the marathon bug again. I think I want to ask Tessa to train and run Rock and Roll with me next spring. Tessa has a baby about 6 weeks younger than Oliver. We ran the last marathon together. Well, we also ran with Tessa's husband Chris, but something tells me he won't ever do it again ever, ever. This way, we can run our long runs during the week and just strap the babies into the jogging strollers. I'm excited at the prospect of having the jogging stroller as my own little mobile aid station. Think of all the gels I can store in there! And it has cup holders! But then we need to have Oliver sit through hours of running in there. But how awesome will it be to have to sit on the side of the marathon to take a nursing break? Now that would be a picture to send in to Mothering. The same old "here's my baby wearing his dolly in a sling!" picture is a bit tired. Not that I'm not going to take that same picture when I get Ollie his own sling for his dolly.
We've made some significant progress on the house lately. I really can't be arsed to describe it all in detail right now, but one day. We remodeled the back room. Erik put in some EcoTimber floor himself! Well, with the help of our friend. We also got the house painted, and finally dug up the dead grass. We now have a nice mixture of native plants and weeds. The weeds are impossible right now. And unless we cave and use herbicide, it's just going to be a long battle of pulling them over and over again until they finally give up.
Alright, on with the pictures. Tonight, I'm all about the coherence. Clearly.
playing piano with grandpa.
hmmm, how can I get this seat buckle in my mouth? there must be a way.
le sigh. he's so cute.
he already knows his way around OSX.
at Shakespeare's pub
and that's enough.
I really need to post more often, so I don't have to deal with giant transitional posts after my long pauses. But you know me and giant transitions: it's all about the bulleted lists.
Alright, enough with the bullets. Let's do a little prose interlude and then we'll have some pictures. Okay?
I'm currently watching the NOVA program on marathon runners, and I think I've now been bit by the marathon bug again. I think I want to ask Tessa to train and run Rock and Roll with me next spring. Tessa has a baby about 6 weeks younger than Oliver. We ran the last marathon together. Well, we also ran with Tessa's husband Chris, but something tells me he won't ever do it again ever, ever. This way, we can run our long runs during the week and just strap the babies into the jogging strollers. I'm excited at the prospect of having the jogging stroller as my own little mobile aid station. Think of all the gels I can store in there! And it has cup holders! But then we need to have Oliver sit through hours of running in there. But how awesome will it be to have to sit on the side of the marathon to take a nursing break? Now that would be a picture to send in to Mothering. The same old "here's my baby wearing his dolly in a sling!" picture is a bit tired. Not that I'm not going to take that same picture when I get Ollie his own sling for his dolly.
We've made some significant progress on the house lately. I really can't be arsed to describe it all in detail right now, but one day. We remodeled the back room. Erik put in some EcoTimber floor himself! Well, with the help of our friend. We also got the house painted, and finally dug up the dead grass. We now have a nice mixture of native plants and weeds. The weeds are impossible right now. And unless we cave and use herbicide, it's just going to be a long battle of pulling them over and over again until they finally give up.
Alright, on with the pictures. Tonight, I'm all about the coherence. Clearly.
playing piano with grandpa.
hmmm, how can I get this seat buckle in my mouth? there must be a way.
le sigh. he's so cute.
he already knows his way around OSX.
at Shakespeare's pub
and that's enough.
9.13.2007
Scratch.
Scratch.
For the last month or so, I've been on a baking kick, which very recently morphed into a make-things-from-scratch kick. It's partly financially driven, but mostly just Against Packaging And Random Ingredients driven.
Tuesday night, I made some tortillas, which were much easier to make than I imagined. I used this recipe here. Go on, read the whole blog too.
Last night, I made my own rice milk, using the Garden of Vegan recipe. Rice milk generally calls for cooked rice, which if you're me, is a giant pain in the ass. So I used the manna from heaven that is Trader Joes Frozen Rice (microwaves in 3 minutes!). This means that it's really not that much cheaper than buying a carton. It turned out delicious, and I couldn't stop myself from eating the mushy rice leftover after straining. I think in the future, I'll make it without maple syrup or vanilla (just rice and water) first, strain out the ricemeal stuff, and feed that to Oliver (update on my lovely 20 lb vegan 5 month old soon). Then, of course, I'll add the maple syrup to the milk for mama.
But move over rice milk. Tonight, I made almond milk. Way easier! Way cheaper! I'm going to post the recipe I used, because I changed all the quantities and an entire ingredient completely.
For the last month or so, I've been on a baking kick, which very recently morphed into a make-things-from-scratch kick. It's partly financially driven, but mostly just Against Packaging And Random Ingredients driven.
Tuesday night, I made some tortillas, which were much easier to make than I imagined. I used this recipe here. Go on, read the whole blog too.
Last night, I made my own rice milk, using the Garden of Vegan recipe. Rice milk generally calls for cooked rice, which if you're me, is a giant pain in the ass. So I used the manna from heaven that is Trader Joes Frozen Rice (microwaves in 3 minutes!). This means that it's really not that much cheaper than buying a carton. It turned out delicious, and I couldn't stop myself from eating the mushy rice leftover after straining. I think in the future, I'll make it without maple syrup or vanilla (just rice and water) first, strain out the ricemeal stuff, and feed that to Oliver (update on my lovely 20 lb vegan 5 month old soon). Then, of course, I'll add the maple syrup to the milk for mama.
But move over rice milk. Tonight, I made almond milk. Way easier! Way cheaper! I'm going to post the recipe I used, because I changed all the quantities and an entire ingredient completely.
Almond MilkNow that I have these delicious milks to choose from, I'm going to make some more cupcakes or muffins. Maybe even scones! The possibilities! Hold me back! WTF has happened to me!
1 cup raw almonds (you'll grind them up into meal)
4 cups water, pref. filtered
2 tablespoons + maple syrup
step 1: blend almonds into an even meal
step 2: add water and maple syrup. blend some more.
step 3: pour through a mesh strainer or whatever else you might use to strain. Don't spill 25% of it like I did.
step 4: keep in fridge. but be sure to drink a small glass of fresh, warm, frothy almond milk goodness first.
9.06.2007
His Cutlass is too Glittery!
His Cutlass is too Glittery!
Today, at the North Park Farmer's Market, we saw the Best. Children's. Book. Ever. It's one of the Usborne Touchy Feely "That's Not My _____!" Books, and I love them most because they really don't waste any time. The story starts on the cover, with the first example of what's not my ____.
I present to you: That's Not My Pirate!
There's even a she-pirate with a too-silky shirt. And I hate it when my eye patches are too bumpy.
Ollie cried when we were reading it because Erik and I were laughing so hard. I'll probably still buy it, because I'm that kind of mother.
Today, at the North Park Farmer's Market, we saw the Best. Children's. Book. Ever. It's one of the Usborne Touchy Feely "That's Not My _____!" Books, and I love them most because they really don't waste any time. The story starts on the cover, with the first example of what's not my ____.
I present to you: That's Not My Pirate!
There's even a she-pirate with a too-silky shirt. And I hate it when my eye patches are too bumpy.
Ollie cried when we were reading it because Erik and I were laughing so hard. I'll probably still buy it, because I'm that kind of mother.
9.03.2007
Ollie and F. Scott Alike.
Me and F. Scott Alike.
We love, as in make-babies-with-it-love, Caffe Forte. Caffe Forte is in North Park on University and Hermann (3139 University Ave, San Diego 92104. 92104, baby!). Ollie and I go there quite often. Mainly because they don't charge extra for soy, and give you $1 off if you bring in your special Caffe Forte mug. $1 off! Ultimately, this makes my soy vanilla latte about half the cost of the same drink everywhere else. Also, they have vegan baked goods. Vegan! Baked! Goods! And they also sell t-shirts that say "If I wasn't dead, I'd be at Caffe Forte --F. Scott Fitzgerald."
Let's review:
Free soy! They once ran an ad in The Reader with a soy bean breaking his hands free from chains, saying "Free soy!"
Today we had a vegan strawberry muffin and a little vegan chocolate bundt cake. Chocolate! They're also always sugar-free, if you roll like that.
Today I might have been called their best customer. While some people would instantly be embarassed about the amount of time/dollars they seem to be spending there, I was beamingly proud.
They love Ollie.
The workers have excellent iPod playlists.
Sometimes you just have to trust F. Scott.
Even though it will mean less of a chance I'll get the sweet corner bench seat, I'm going to make it my business to inform the vegan community of this hidden mecca. I'm not sure how to do that. Ramble off a bunch of keywords? vegan pastries coffee shop muffins hot vegan sex cafe soymilk. That might work.
Ollie and dad at Caffe Forte, notably not in the corner seat, but charming nonetheless.
Come on out to Caffe Forte, y'all. Just don't steal my seat.
We love, as in make-babies-with-it-love, Caffe Forte. Caffe Forte is in North Park on University and Hermann (3139 University Ave, San Diego 92104. 92104, baby!). Ollie and I go there quite often. Mainly because they don't charge extra for soy, and give you $1 off if you bring in your special Caffe Forte mug. $1 off! Ultimately, this makes my soy vanilla latte about half the cost of the same drink everywhere else. Also, they have vegan baked goods. Vegan! Baked! Goods! And they also sell t-shirts that say "If I wasn't dead, I'd be at Caffe Forte --F. Scott Fitzgerald."
Let's review:
Even though it will mean less of a chance I'll get the sweet corner bench seat, I'm going to make it my business to inform the vegan community of this hidden mecca. I'm not sure how to do that. Ramble off a bunch of keywords? vegan pastries coffee shop muffins hot vegan sex cafe soymilk. That might work.
Ollie and dad at Caffe Forte, notably not in the corner seat, but charming nonetheless.
Come on out to Caffe Forte, y'all. Just don't steal my seat.
9.01.2007
Cupcake.
Cupcake
Doesn't it look like the chocolate ribbons are all soft and melty? That's because they are. Our house is currently heated to precisely the chocolate melting point.
This week, I baked something almost every night, despite the heat and veganness. A while back, Jackie gave me the Best Titled Cookbook Ever, "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World," and I finally got around to breaking it in. Note: they have a blog!
We kind of have a remarkable pantry, considering I really don't cook or bake anything elaborate all that often. Dude, let me tell you. It is so nice to have a stocked pantry, and to look through recipes for something you like, not for something you have.
That said, we didn't have corn starch, so I couldn't make the golden cupcakes from the book. Chocolate it was! We also didn't have powdered sugar, so I made some vegan cream cheese frosting using maple sugar instead. Holy god, they are the best things I've ever baked. Ever. Including the blissfully ignorant days of eggs and butter. I have three left, remarkably, so hurry on over and get one.
The next night I made chocolate-orange-hazelnut cookies (too cakey and floppy, but still cookies, and that's all that matters) from either "Garden of Vegan" or "How it all Vegan," and some gingerbread from the same cookbook (ack! do not use blackstrap molasses!). Then the next night I made applesauce muffins, but used some random Harry and David pear butter we had open in the fridge. Those are perfect.
Which brings me to last night. Ah, last night. I made Chai Latte cupcakes from the cupcake dictatorship book. MAKE THESE NOW. The book suggests putting powdered sugar on top with a little cinnamon and cocoa, but I opted for a cinnamon icing instead, piped thinly on top. Mmmm. As I was licking the icing-piper bag thing clean, a drop of icing landed on my bare foot. I wiped if off with my finger and licked it, if that tells you how good that icing is.
The most important part of this story is that I cleaned the kitchen myself every time. Normally, with baking, crafts, decorating, home improvement, or actually anything vaguely resembling a project, I get bored with it just in time for clean-up, and the scraps, mess, and resultant tornado of supplies and mid-project snack plates lie dormant for days, hopefully until someone else gets too annoyed with the mess and deals with it himself. Maybe it's because I needed my mixing bowls and measuring spoons for the next night's continuation of the baking fiasco, or maybe I'm actually turning over a new leaf.
Who knows. I also put about 5 cookie's worth of batter in the fridge, waiting to make them "later." I'd put money on the fact that Erik will find it weeks from now on one of his trash-day-fridge-purges. (If you don't have a husband who does this, get one!). But I think since I've cleaned up the dishes every night, I definitely deserve a cupcake right now.
I spent forever trying to come up with a segue for posting this picture, but I gave up and am just going to unabashedly whore out my child.
Doesn't it look like the chocolate ribbons are all soft and melty? That's because they are. Our house is currently heated to precisely the chocolate melting point.
This week, I baked something almost every night, despite the heat and veganness. A while back, Jackie gave me the Best Titled Cookbook Ever, "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World," and I finally got around to breaking it in. Note: they have a blog!
We kind of have a remarkable pantry, considering I really don't cook or bake anything elaborate all that often. Dude, let me tell you. It is so nice to have a stocked pantry, and to look through recipes for something you like, not for something you have.
That said, we didn't have corn starch, so I couldn't make the golden cupcakes from the book. Chocolate it was! We also didn't have powdered sugar, so I made some vegan cream cheese frosting using maple sugar instead. Holy god, they are the best things I've ever baked. Ever. Including the blissfully ignorant days of eggs and butter. I have three left, remarkably, so hurry on over and get one.
The next night I made chocolate-orange-hazelnut cookies (too cakey and floppy, but still cookies, and that's all that matters) from either "Garden of Vegan" or "How it all Vegan," and some gingerbread from the same cookbook (ack! do not use blackstrap molasses!). Then the next night I made applesauce muffins, but used some random Harry and David pear butter we had open in the fridge. Those are perfect.
Which brings me to last night. Ah, last night. I made Chai Latte cupcakes from the cupcake dictatorship book. MAKE THESE NOW. The book suggests putting powdered sugar on top with a little cinnamon and cocoa, but I opted for a cinnamon icing instead, piped thinly on top. Mmmm. As I was licking the icing-piper bag thing clean, a drop of icing landed on my bare foot. I wiped if off with my finger and licked it, if that tells you how good that icing is.
The most important part of this story is that I cleaned the kitchen myself every time. Normally, with baking, crafts, decorating, home improvement, or actually anything vaguely resembling a project, I get bored with it just in time for clean-up, and the scraps, mess, and resultant tornado of supplies and mid-project snack plates lie dormant for days, hopefully until someone else gets too annoyed with the mess and deals with it himself. Maybe it's because I needed my mixing bowls and measuring spoons for the next night's continuation of the baking fiasco, or maybe I'm actually turning over a new leaf.
Who knows. I also put about 5 cookie's worth of batter in the fridge, waiting to make them "later." I'd put money on the fact that Erik will find it weeks from now on one of his trash-day-fridge-purges. (If you don't have a husband who does this, get one!). But I think since I've cleaned up the dishes every night, I definitely deserve a cupcake right now.
I spent forever trying to come up with a segue for posting this picture, but I gave up and am just going to unabashedly whore out my child.
8.28.2007
Whatevs.
Whatevs.
Hey look, I can still type.
Obviously, it's been a while since my last post. I was just doling out advice on how to blog after a long break (clearly, I have the credentials for that), and figured I may as well cough it up. I'm back!
And my advice was to not linger on the "I'm back"-ness. So that's it.
Ollie is like, 4.5 months old right now. He's fat and happy, very happy. If you have about 5 straight free hours, go ahead and check Flickr for a very detailed pictoral account of his life. click me for Flickr.
This picture is over a month old, but I can't stand how cute it is. I just want to wake him up right now and kiss him. But I, uh, won't.
Things are amazing around here. I quit my job, which can definitely explain the lack of idle internet time in my life. I recently started freelance writing (hire me!), which so far pays really crappily but makes me feel important when I tell people what I do, so that's enough for me. I'm easy.
That's all for now. My next post I'll just act as if I hadn't disappeared for uh, my child's entire lifetime so far.
xoxo.
Hey look, I can still type.
Obviously, it's been a while since my last post. I was just doling out advice on how to blog after a long break (clearly, I have the credentials for that), and figured I may as well cough it up. I'm back!
And my advice was to not linger on the "I'm back"-ness. So that's it.
Ollie is like, 4.5 months old right now. He's fat and happy, very happy. If you have about 5 straight free hours, go ahead and check Flickr for a very detailed pictoral account of his life. click me for Flickr.
This picture is over a month old, but I can't stand how cute it is. I just want to wake him up right now and kiss him. But I, uh, won't.
Things are amazing around here. I quit my job, which can definitely explain the lack of idle internet time in my life. I recently started freelance writing (hire me!), which so far pays really crappily but makes me feel important when I tell people what I do, so that's enough for me. I'm easy.
That's all for now. My next post I'll just act as if I hadn't disappeared for uh, my child's entire lifetime so far.
xoxo.
4.22.2007
Oliver.
Oliver.
Oliver William arrived Thursday, April 12th just before 2 am. He's the sweetest thing I've ever laid eyes on, and I can't even begin to explain what it feels like to love something this much. My heart explodes on a daily basis.
The birth was tough. It's probably the hardest thing I'll ever do. Oliver was sunny side up, which equals excruciating back labor. Erik and Sarah (our doula, and I vow to never, ever give birth without her there) couldn't push hard enough against my back to even phase the pain. We made it through without any drugs, thanks to the 101 degree water and doing everything in my power to relax despite wanting to stiffen up and cry. Loud noises helped, too.
Because the baby was so low down in the birth canal, but his head was backwards, he wasn't pushing on the cervix the right way to get it dilated. It's a pretty exact science, this birthing stuff. But, the dude was almost out. This meant that I started having pushing contractions at 5 cm dilated. Technically, you're not supposed to get those until you're 10 cm. One of the more difficult things in life, I tell you, is to not push when you're having a pushing contraction. Take my word for it - don't let it happen to you. Eventually, the midwife tucked away the last little bit of cervix manually (nobody has any boundaries when babies are involved), and we could push. And push. And push and push.
Pushing lasted for hours. Eventually, the contractions started spacing out enough for me to doze off or pass out between them, and according to everyone else, they were only lasting 45 seconds. The midwife suggested I get out of the tub to see if a change in scenery would help move things along again. Sure enough, it did. After about 5 or so pushes on dry land, the baby came out completely in one push, which startled everyone. We didn't get the fancy water birth we envisioned, but if we hadn't got out when we did, I'd probably still be in that tub, pushing aimlessly.
We're all doing well, and I'm recovering slowly. We had some issues with the wound where the placenta had attached to the uterus - it was opening up again, but increased rest seems to have mended that.
And Oliver is amazing.
Oliver William arrived Thursday, April 12th just before 2 am. He's the sweetest thing I've ever laid eyes on, and I can't even begin to explain what it feels like to love something this much. My heart explodes on a daily basis.
The birth was tough. It's probably the hardest thing I'll ever do. Oliver was sunny side up, which equals excruciating back labor. Erik and Sarah (our doula, and I vow to never, ever give birth without her there) couldn't push hard enough against my back to even phase the pain. We made it through without any drugs, thanks to the 101 degree water and doing everything in my power to relax despite wanting to stiffen up and cry. Loud noises helped, too.
Because the baby was so low down in the birth canal, but his head was backwards, he wasn't pushing on the cervix the right way to get it dilated. It's a pretty exact science, this birthing stuff. But, the dude was almost out. This meant that I started having pushing contractions at 5 cm dilated. Technically, you're not supposed to get those until you're 10 cm. One of the more difficult things in life, I tell you, is to not push when you're having a pushing contraction. Take my word for it - don't let it happen to you. Eventually, the midwife tucked away the last little bit of cervix manually (nobody has any boundaries when babies are involved), and we could push. And push. And push and push.
Pushing lasted for hours. Eventually, the contractions started spacing out enough for me to doze off or pass out between them, and according to everyone else, they were only lasting 45 seconds. The midwife suggested I get out of the tub to see if a change in scenery would help move things along again. Sure enough, it did. After about 5 or so pushes on dry land, the baby came out completely in one push, which startled everyone. We didn't get the fancy water birth we envisioned, but if we hadn't got out when we did, I'd probably still be in that tub, pushing aimlessly.
We're all doing well, and I'm recovering slowly. We had some issues with the wound where the placenta had attached to the uterus - it was opening up again, but increased rest seems to have mended that.
And Oliver is amazing.
2.19.2007
House post: Nursery In-Progress
House post: Nursery In-Progress
This weekend, we scooped out what used to be our bedroom, and painted little clouds and a tree on the walls for the nursery. Seriously, it is so dreamy, you will have a baby just looking at it.
Click for the set:
Above is the tree without leaves. As you will read in my flickr note, I was very tempted to leave the tree like this, because I completely depend on Plain, Drab Colors. However, there was no need for that, and also, the tree looked kind of spooky and dead. So, I left the house while Erik added leaves (read: blobs). We used Blickrylics acrylic paints in a nice mix of burnt sienna and raw umber, then pure green oxide for the leaves. And, of course, pure white for the clouds. We used little circle sponges for the clouds and the leaves - the same one. We had bought yellow with the intention of having different shades of green, and even yellow accents in the clouds, but holy god. That would have a) taken too long, and b) probably looked nothing like we'd planned, and c) would unsimplify the look too much. Erik also wanted to shade the tree trunk with lighter and darker lines depending on how the light hits it from the windows. It didn't happen yet, and I already put away the paints due to my Frantic Nesting yesterday.
I'm 33 weeks now (the belly, it is gigantic), and things are going as swimmingly as possible for a third trimester. After next week's appointment with the midwives, we'll start going in for weekly appointments. I've never felt so important! This also means that we shouldn't show up for said weekly appointments without a) a pediatrician lined up, and b) a carseat which we do not own yet installed into the car.
Which leads me to the Frantic Nesting phase that I mentioned earlier. The reality that we're having a BABY is kicking in, strangely. I'm starting to panic about having the nursery set up. I just tried to set up some of the cabinets we bought for the baby's room, and ended up just laughing at all the parts, and lining them up in a nicely arranged manner on the floor for someone else to deal with. Yesterday, after the painting was finished, I cleaned every square inch of baseboard and trim, and then washed the wood floors, something we hardly ever do. Mostly out of laziness, but rationalizingly out of the fact that we really don't need to clean them that often. Also, today I made a spreadsheet of Environmentally Friendly Things To Buy Before The Baby Comes That You Really Can't Put On A Baby Registry. I'm panicking about where the baby will sleep, and the great lengths we've gone to to make sure that the baby's crib/nursery is free of anything scary and chemical (i.e., organic bedding, using wool pads instead of waterproof/plastic things, untreated pure wool rugs in the nursery, etc) (sorry, sheep), but then realizing that half+ of the time, the baby will probably be in our bed, which is currently clothed in all sorts of pesticides. Making one decision about organic home products is like a huge, expensive slippery slope. Also, at one point I considered myself a Vegan Who Avoided Wool But Not Militantly. Yeah, not so much anymore. Wool is pretty much the only things remotely "waterproof" without the prefix "poly-" infront of it. So wool it is.
And if you question my ethics I will smother you with my overpriced wool puddle pad.
This weekend, we scooped out what used to be our bedroom, and painted little clouds and a tree on the walls for the nursery. Seriously, it is so dreamy, you will have a baby just looking at it.
Click for the set:
Above is the tree without leaves. As you will read in my flickr note, I was very tempted to leave the tree like this, because I completely depend on Plain, Drab Colors. However, there was no need for that, and also, the tree looked kind of spooky and dead. So, I left the house while Erik added leaves (read: blobs). We used Blickrylics acrylic paints in a nice mix of burnt sienna and raw umber, then pure green oxide for the leaves. And, of course, pure white for the clouds. We used little circle sponges for the clouds and the leaves - the same one. We had bought yellow with the intention of having different shades of green, and even yellow accents in the clouds, but holy god. That would have a) taken too long, and b) probably looked nothing like we'd planned, and c) would unsimplify the look too much. Erik also wanted to shade the tree trunk with lighter and darker lines depending on how the light hits it from the windows. It didn't happen yet, and I already put away the paints due to my Frantic Nesting yesterday.
I'm 33 weeks now (the belly, it is gigantic), and things are going as swimmingly as possible for a third trimester. After next week's appointment with the midwives, we'll start going in for weekly appointments. I've never felt so important! This also means that we shouldn't show up for said weekly appointments without a) a pediatrician lined up, and b) a carseat which we do not own yet installed into the car.
Which leads me to the Frantic Nesting phase that I mentioned earlier. The reality that we're having a BABY is kicking in, strangely. I'm starting to panic about having the nursery set up. I just tried to set up some of the cabinets we bought for the baby's room, and ended up just laughing at all the parts, and lining them up in a nicely arranged manner on the floor for someone else to deal with. Yesterday, after the painting was finished, I cleaned every square inch of baseboard and trim, and then washed the wood floors, something we hardly ever do. Mostly out of laziness, but rationalizingly out of the fact that we really don't need to clean them that often. Also, today I made a spreadsheet of Environmentally Friendly Things To Buy Before The Baby Comes That You Really Can't Put On A Baby Registry. I'm panicking about where the baby will sleep, and the great lengths we've gone to to make sure that the baby's crib/nursery is free of anything scary and chemical (i.e., organic bedding, using wool pads instead of waterproof/plastic things, untreated pure wool rugs in the nursery, etc) (sorry, sheep), but then realizing that half+ of the time, the baby will probably be in our bed, which is currently clothed in all sorts of pesticides. Making one decision about organic home products is like a huge, expensive slippery slope. Also, at one point I considered myself a Vegan Who Avoided Wool But Not Militantly. Yeah, not so much anymore. Wool is pretty much the only things remotely "waterproof" without the prefix "poly-" infront of it. So wool it is.
And if you question my ethics I will smother you with my overpriced wool puddle pad.
2.13.2007
I know, I know.
I know, I know.
Let's do this the easy way:
Hi. Hi! Here I am!
Still pregnant. Very much so. I'm now 32 weeks large. The clock is ticking. Since I'm due Easter Sunday, the fact that Ash Wednesday (the Official Countdown To Easter) is next week, that means that THE BABY WILL BE HERE IN 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS.
Sleeping has lost all of its luster for me. Especially morning snoozing, my favorite sleep ever. If I wake up in the middle of the night, or even at 5 am, I'm automatically awake for at least 2 hours after that. I do lots of thinking. And, of course, grumbling and whining.
Our house is upside down right now, as we remodel the back room. Hold me. We have two rooms empty right now (future master bedroom and future nursery), which means the other rooms are significantly more full than my current comfort level allows.
And when I say "master" bedroom, don't think for a minute that it's going to be luxurious or have a bathroom. Because we only have one bathroom, and it's still pink. Very pink.
I went on the Hardest Business Trip Ever last week. To Maui. In February. I know, I know. Pity my awful job. At one point, we moved a meeting out to some beach loungers. Torture.
My dear ex-work-girlfriend Jackie is A REAL ACTOR. She's going to be in the Vagina Monologues! If you know Jackie, you should go with us to see her. This totally secures her a spot in the Coolest People I Know category.
This weekend, my parents bought us an organic crib mattress with no scary poly-something waterproofing, and I almost cried I was so happy and be-swooned. The crib mattress is currently in our living room. It is so small; I can't imagine something being small enough to sleep on it. Erik and I hug and get sappy every time we walk by it. We're so freaking screwed when the baby wants to only eat cookies and whipped cream for dinner.
That, my lovelies, is all.
Let's do this the easy way:
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