Author: althea

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She’s getting to be such a little person

Jan. 25: This little baby is at 38 weeks!  I had an appointment with my midwife today, and the good news is that there’s not much to report:)  Baby flipped earlier this week, so she’s lying along my left side now.  The flipping process wasn’t fun on my part.  It took her about half a day to get re-situated in her new position.  She’s still head-down, though, so that’s what matters!
I’ve gained 25-30 pounds since June, and I’m definitely feeling pretty heavy these days.  My blood pressure is still low (110/64), so that makes my care providers happy.  My tummy only grew by a half-centimeter this week.   It now measures 35 1/2 cm from bottom to top.  I’m carrying this baby much lower than I did with Andrew.   Oh, and I got the good news at my appointment today that my Strep B test was negative, so I don’t have to have antibiotics administered during labor. A good thing!
We met with Laura, our doula, on Tuesday, so she’s ready to come over to help support me and Bryan when I labor at home and then when we move on to the hospital.  I’m excited to birth and meet this little one!

How your baby’s growing:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she’s over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you’ll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering
what color your baby’s eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she’s born with brown eyes, they’ll likely stay brown. If she’s born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she’s 9 months old.
That’s because a child’s irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she’s born, but they won’t get “lighter” or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

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Baking bread update

Jan. 24: I’ve been having fun spending time in the kitchen this week.  I love to cook or bake, but normally, I just have no time for it!  So this week, I’ve had fun doing all sorts of things that require one to be able to check in on the kitchen over the course of the day.
I’m on my third loaf of bread for the week, I made yogurt, and yesterday I made a lemon-strawberry pie in honor of national pie day.
I imagine that once “little sister” comes I won’t be cooking quite as much, but right now it sure is fun.

The bread I’ve been working on this week is just a white sandwich loaf.  I hope to move on to French and whole-wheat and sour dough and rolls once I get the sandwich loaf down pat.  For those who are interested, here’s the recipe that I’ve been working with.  The loaf I made yesterday was wonderful.  Reminded me of Mom’s bread:

From James Beard:

Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups 110-115 degree water (I found that I’m having much more success when I measure the water temperature instead of guessing!)
1 heaping teaspoon salt
around 4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

Warm the bowl you’ll use for rising by filling it with hot water.  In my house, I don’t have a good, warm place for the dough to rise, so I’ve also been turning the oven on warm for about two minutes, then opening the door a crack while the dough is mixed.

Combine all the ingredients in Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook and mix for about five minutes.  I  start by adding about 3 1/2 cups of flour and add more until I get the consistency I’m looking for.  It shouldn’t be sticking to the sides too much and should form a nice smooth, elastic ball.

Oil the bowl, put your ball of dough in, and turn it around several times so the surface is slightly oiled.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, cover with a towel, and put in a warm, draft-free place (in my case, the oven) to rise.  Andrew likes to blow it a kiss at this point and to tell it to have a good nap.

I a couple or a few hours later, the dough should be doubled in size.  Punch it down, give it a couple kneads, re-form it into a ball, and let it re-rise for another couple hours, until doubled in bulk.  James Beard says that this second rising makes the dough finer in texture and better in flavor.

After the second rising, punch the dough down, and take it out of the bowl.  Lightly flour the counter, and shape the dough into a square about 1 inch thick.  Cover with a towel, and let it rest for five minutes.  Meanwhile grease your bread pan well with butter.  Fold the dough into thirds, and fold and pinch the seam together.  Fold the ends and roll and pinch them in as well so you end up with a well-shaped loaf.  Pop this in to the bread pan, seam-side down.  Press down so the loaf fits well.

Cover the loaf with plastic wrap, put in a warm place to rise – for me it’s been around an hour and a half.  When the bread has risen just over the edge of the pan, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bake the bread for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for about 30 minutes.  You can turn out the bread and knock on the bottom to see if it’s done.  It should have a hollow sound.  Cool the bread on a wire rack and devour with butter and honey or jam.

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Gingerbread displays and remembering Mom

dadscastle.JPGJan. 23: Andrew and I went over to Dad’s house this morning so I could photograph some of Dad’s Christmas displays.  This year, he created an enormous gingerbread castle as a surprise Christmas present for Maretta.  Pictures from Dad’s displays are in the gallery.

As we started to walk up to the house, Andrew asked me, “Who will be there?”  I told him that Grandpa would be there.  He said, “And Grandma too?”  At that point, a weird flip-flopping thing happened in my heart.  Andrew easily points out his Grandma in pictures, and he knows that I miss her, but other than that, he hasn’t ever brought her up.
It made me feel both good and sad that he remembered that this is where she is supposed to be too.  So I told him that, no, Grandma isn’t here.  “She’s sick,” Andrew said.  Yes, I told him, Grandma was sick.  And now we miss her.  And then I reminded him about the books Grandma liked to read him like Quick as a Cricket and There’s a Train Going By My Window.  Then we went inside and he played with his toys like normal.  Sometimes the reality of our reality just throws me for a loop!

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He’s a bird-watcher!

birdwatching.JPGJan. 23: I had a nice list of things to do during Andrew’s nap this afternoon.  But I was so sleepy when I put him down that I decided I should just rest on the sofa.  And since I can’t really nap, my version of resting is reading blogs and posting new things to my website.  One thing I wanted to share was how cute Andrew is when he decides he wants to go bird watching.  He made a pair of binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and string, and now one of his favorite games is to stalk around the house saying, “There!  In that tree!  What is it?”  Then Bryan or I offer a suggested bird name, and he uses his binos to spot it.  Our yard is rather bereft of songbirds (due perhaps to our excellent owl and hawk population), but when we stopped by Dad’s house this morning, we saw a chickadee in a bush a few feet away.
Andrew stopped and looked at it amazedly.  It sang it’s “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” song a couple times, and Andrew said in a hushed tone, “Mommy, it’s a chickadee!”  How did I get lucky enough to have a little guy who loves animals as much as I do?  We watched my bird song video…an admittedly somewhat boring loop of backyard birds and their songs.  Andrew was just fascinated.  Pictures of the last few days are in the gallery.

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Birthing plans

hospitaltour.JPGJan. 22: We took a tour of Meriter’s birthing center on Sunday afternoon.  It was actually a sibling tour, so Andrew got to hold some warm blankets, learn how to make the bed move up and down, and see where the snacks were kept down the hall.  I think that at this point, we’re close enough to the baby’s arrival that he’ll remember the hospital when he comes back next time.  It’s kind of awe-inspiring to imagine him coming to the hospital to meet his new sibling.  I feel a little nervous…like it’s a blind date.  Most of me is entirely sure that he’ll adore his sister, but isn’t it a bit weird to imagine saying, “Hey Andrew, come over here and meet our new family member. She’s here for keeps!”

The best thing I learned is that Meriter has wireless internet access, so that means that I’ll get to post photos and updates after the baby is born.  With Andrew, I couldn’t send out an email until we got home, so there was a 3-day delay.  I don’t promise to send out anything hours after the birth, but it’s nice to know that I can send an update whenever I want.
Michael is my Andrew-care-taker-in-waiting for the next ten days.  After that, Bryan’s mom is coming up from Texas and staying with us to help out for two weeks.  So I feel pretty good about my Andrew-coverage for the birth and hospital stay.  You can usually stay for two days after a normal delivery, so that’s probably what we’ll do.
Here’s a link to some information for visitors to Meriter.  The Birthing Center is on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors, and you take the North elevator to get there.
My “due date” is February 8, so I’ve probably still got some time, but the big event is coming.  And I think that’s a good thing:)

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Is there anything more wonderful than baby clothes?

babyclothes.JPGJan. 22: I am surrounded by a couch laden with little baby clothes.  My neighbor, Kathy, has a four-month-old daughter and a three-year-old daughter, and she just brought me a huge basket full of clothes for tiny babies.  I think that “little sister’s” wardrobe size just doubled.  We had received so many hand-me-downs from Vicki when Andrew was little, I was a little worried that baby sister wouldn’t have quite enough clothes.  That fear has now been banished.

I’ve been reveling in the little clothes.  Folding them, stacking them, fondling them.  Such sweet tiny outfits!  What little socks and tiny hats.  Such adorable little sleepers and dresses and gowns.  I think I could hold them all afternoon.
Basking in the loveliness of baby clothes makes me miss my mom.  If she were here, I would have called her right when I put Andrew down for his nap.  Whether she was working or at home, I would have said, “As soon as you can, drop everything and come over to my house.  We have some baby clothes to admire!”  I may have even tried to hold off looking at them until she came over (probably not).
Then we would look at each one, hold it up, admire the gussets and the embroidery and the well-thought-out features.  We would have come up with possible outfits, and Mom would have offered sage advice about various baby things.  If she were here, I could have even gotten annoyed at her for a moment if I wanted to.  That would be nice.

There are a couple pieces of clothing in the pile that are from some clothing lines that were around when Andrew was a baby.  I remember looking at them with Mom and wondering if we should buy something from those lines in case someone had a baby girl someday. Maybe Maretta…or one of my friends…  It sort of makes me happy and sad to look at those little outfits and remember some of those happy times. If there was one thing that made Mom ecstatic, it was shopping for clothes for kids.  She often said that the only reason she had kids was so she could dress them.  She was mostly kidding:)
With all these new clothes, I feel a little like it is Christmas Eve.
I have so much anticipation about this little person.  It’s a sweet moment to be in.  I’m not dealing with post-labor exhaustion.  The baby hasn’t outgrown anything yet.  It’s all just something sweet and wonderful to be thinking about.  So I’ll pile the clothes around me and dream baby dreams until Andrew wakes up from his nap.  It’s just me, Spooky, and the clothes:)

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More Andrew cuteness

overalls.JPGJan. 21: When I posted yesterday, I neglected to include several of Andrew’s recent cute mannerisms that I know will change shortly, so I wanted to record here for posterity.
He likes singing songs or saying things by changing the first letter.  For example, he gets a great kick out of singing, “Dinkle, dinkle dittle dar.”  Also, in a new interest in anatomy, he laughs hysterically as he says, “Not a teenis!”

The other day, Andrew came in the room and said quietly, “Daddy, I’d like to talk to you.” (while motioning for Bryan to come over to him…exactly like Bryan does with Andrew).  I could just overhear Andrew telling Bryan, “I feel nervous.”
What a sweet, sincere little person Andrew is!

I wanted to run the vacuum cleaner this morning, and Andrew asked me in a slightly panic-y tone of voice to please not vacuum because it scares him.  I showed him how much the vacuum helped me, and I understood that he didn’t like the loud noise.  I encouraged him to blow on his little horn so he would be making a lot of noise too.  So Andrew went into his room, went behind the rocking chair, and peeked wide-eyed around at me vacuuming the hall rug while he tooted determinedly on his little horn.

Andrew has been having a hard time falling asleep for naps. Today between his pre-nap books, we had a little talk about things that can help in falling asleep.  I told him about how cold and snowy it was outside and yet how warm and cozy his bed is.  And I told him how nice it can be to take a deep breath and snuggle down into your blankets.
When he crawled into his bed after the book, I noticed that he was breathing really funny and had to smile when I realized that he was just taking his versions of the deep breaths that I’d suggested.

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Thoughts on switching jobs

gwc.JPGJan. 21: Andrew and I are enjoying our first day of my new job as stay-at-home mom.  Well, were I still at work, I would have had today off, so may tomorrow will be more like the first official day that I won’t be reporting in to the Gathering Waters office like normal.  I had a really nice last few weeks at work.  Mike Carlson took over all my policy work, and I think he’s going to do a great job.  Liz is going to be taking on some of the more administrative parts of my job.  I sense is that they’ll all miss me and that it won’t be the same without me (so that makes me feel needed), but that they’ll get along alright without me (and that makes me feel like it’s OK to go).
By working part time the first three weeks in January, I was able to get all the loose ends of my work wrapped up.  My co-workers threw me a really fun going away party last Wednesday.  Activities included toenail painting, eating yummy food, watching a cool slide show about reasons they will and won’t miss me at work, reading a flow chart that describes how to get two children out of the house and into a car in summer or winter, and generally being silly.  I just simply love my co-workers.  So it’s a good thing that I’ll still see them lots in my new life.  We’ve got lunches planned:)
Last Thursday (my last day), we had a board meeting and a fancy Stewardship Fund celebration reception in Milwaukee.  I liked having the opportunity to say goodbye to our board members.  And it was fun to have my last work event be a party!  Some pictures of my going away party and the Stewardship event are in the gallery.

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Support at the end

Jan. 21: I got a really sad phone call last week from one of my co-workers.  Her dear friend has been dealing with breast cancer for a couple years, and Karen just received news that Cindy only has weeks left to live.  Although I only know Cindy slightly, my heart just aches for her family.  To know that another group of loving, supportive people are in the process of switching gears from treatment to maintenance to saying goodbye.  The worst part is that Cindy has two young kids.  That makes me so sad and scared.  It makes me cry to see again the strange twists that life can take.  No matter how much we all try to do the right things in our lives, sometimes things just don’t work out how we would like them to.  I keep trying to live life the best ways that I know how, but I think that the last year has encouraged me to hang on to the current moment more than ever before.
Oh, and I so want to be around to see my babies grow up.  Everyone should have that.  The alternative is just far too sad…for everyone.

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So much cuteness

tubby.JPGJan. 20: I feel like I have a whole book full of stories I want to share about Andrew.  He’s been doing such cute things!  This morning, for example, he slept late (7:20) and crawled into bed.  He was so sunshiny and loving.  The sun was out, so as I attempted to open my eyes, he had his nose touching mine, and he smiled as he blinked along with me.  Then he crawled over my (enormous) bulk to cuddle with Daddy.  He turned on my CD (James Galway) and told me when he was hearing the flute or the harp.
Bryan and I finished painting and decorating the bathroom last night, and I had put wall stickers up.  Andrew was pretty impressed to patter into the bathroom and see frogs and butterflies and caterpillars and other garden critters all over.
The little guy has needed a hair cut for quite some time, and after breakfast this morning, my little lion cub sat in front on his favorite show (Fantasia’s “Horses” aka the Pastoral Symphony).  Mommy Lion trimmed his curls while the little lion cub watched his show while sitting on the coffee table.  I’d done past hair cuts in the bathtub or longer ago in his high chair.  The video-watching scenario worked well.  I just hope I didn’t cut too much.  After I get it wet and can see how it curls up, I’ll know for sure.

Pictures from the last several weeks are in the gallery.