Cosmos Out of Chaos

Littlest Lewis--The Birth Story

2010-04-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

The day started off normal with a nice workout at the gym and then a busy shopping trip/library visit that lasted about 3 hrs. When I got home I was famished and gulped down a HUGE protein drink and some fruit and then put Littler down for her nap around 2:30 or 2:45. Then I sat down to read Little some stories and this whole time I pretty much felt like the baby was dropping down as low as he could go, though there were no contractions with this (maybe one or two normal feeling BH-ish sort if anything?).

At 3:45pm yesterday (April 27), I felt my first contraction. I didn't think anything of it until a similar one came along less than 10 minutes later. Within half an hour, I had contractions coming less than 5 minutes apart on average. We started cleaning up the house and getting our final things together even though at this point I wasn't positive it was "real" labor. At 4:30 I told my friend I was having contractions and I'd let her know if they went anywhere (since she'd be watching the kids). I told her the contractions had "an element of pain to them". At 4:45 I told her I'd eat my big toe if it wasn't labor. At about 5:20, we dropped the kids off to her, and by 5:30 we were off on our way to the birth center. (My intuition was telling me at this point that I might not make it, but I brushed it aside as silly thinking and told myself I was probably much further than 45-60min from delivery.) This whole time the contractions were getting stronger. We charted them in Excel from about 4:30 to 5:15 and they averaged about 3 minutes apart during this time period. While I was running around cleaning up and packing things up from my list of things to prepare when labor started, I stopped for each contraction to lean on the closest thing that was at about waist height. I found that the weight and pressure with each contraction was more bearable when I kind of scooped my hips or dipped them until it was over. I also tried to concentrate on making sure I was relaxing my belly and my shoulders, which I think I've been pretty tense with in past labors, and I exhaled a bit loudly, kind of like pilates breathing or something.

Once we were in the car, it took me a couple contractions to really get the hang of the best way to relax and cope with each contraction, but it turned out to work best to concentrate on relaxing my whole bottom side, along with my shoulders and arms still, and I eventually stopped the breathing thing naturally because it didn't matter in this stage anymore. Partway through the drive to the birth center I was starting to have those "I don't know how much longer I can do this" transition thoughts, and again, I brushed them aside as silly because I was probably no more than 5 cm or something really depressingly unprogressed for how intense the contractions were. To my surprise (and not), at 6:08 I had a contraction with the urge to push and my water broke and I had to try not to push, but my body was just grunting and trying anyway. All the pressure of the contractions was in my bum now and it was less painful (as pushing contractions always are for me). Peter called our midwife to clarify some directions (she'd given us a rush hour shortcut) and told her my water had broken and I was having the urge to push. She called us right back after that to let me know to blow through the contractions so I wouldn't push. I was only partially successful, but I tried my best. I had no interest in giving birth in the car, as nice a story as it might make.

A few minutes later, after lots of maddening red lights, we arrived at the doors of the birth center. I had a contraction right then that I had to blow through and as soon as it was over I got out of the car and walked into the birth center. I walked straight back into my birthing room where the tub was filling for me and walked over right to the steps of the tub. I stooped over to pull off my pants so I could get in the water and got the urge right then to see where the baby was and push him out. I reached in and felt him not crowning but just inside the birth canal and then squeezed him out from a standing position in one push into my and the midwife's hands. My first thought after that was "I wonder if I can get in the water now?" Then Peter walked into the room with a shocked expression on his face, as he had just taken less than 2 minutes to park the car and grab a couple bags from the trunk. Apparently he heard a baby cry as he hopped out of the car and figured it was his mind playing tricks on him. Nope--that was the birth of your son that you just missed! But it was okay. Even if he'd been in the room he might have missed it. I almost feel like I did, it happened so fast. Littlest Lewis was born Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 6:21pm weighing 6lbs 15.6oz and measuring 20.5in, after 2hrs 36min of labor. (13 3/4 head circumference)

It turns out he was tongue tied, so the midwife clipped his frenulum, but he's still not the greatest nurser. He really doesn't like to open his mouth, or suck. This is nothing new to us (3 for 3), but it's still disappointing and difficult. This time we have a nipple shield already, so we did manage to get one good feeding in with that last night, but that's all we've managed so far, 20hrs after his birth.

All in all, a fast labor, an untraumatic birth (for me), a pretty good postpartum bottom-side (not as good as last time but much better than the first time), and another tricky nurser. Wish us luck that the nursing is figured out even faster this time!

Going to the Birth Center

2010-04-27T17:24:00.000-07:00

Wish us luck!

Prodromal Labor...?

2010-04-24T10:02:00.001-07:00

I seem to be experiencing prodromal labor again (like with pregnancy #2). Last night I was up for a few hours counting contractions and unable to really fall asleep all the way because they were strong enough to keep me up. I promise I did try! I even had to get out of bed for my body to do that "cleaning itself out" thing pregnant bodies like to do before they go into labor. I'll be honest and admit that I was pretty sure it would develop into the real thing and we'd have a baby by now. But then I got a minor migraine and things faded away to being less frequent and not quite as strong. I've still been having pretty constant contractions, but they're not painful. Anyway, it's progress, even if it doesn't tell us anything about WHEN this will happen. Now, it's time to go plant our tomatoes and take the kids to the pool, because we can't count on being able to do it next Saturday!

38w 4d--Still here!

2010-04-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the day that this little doofer would have been born if he were 10 days early like both of the other two. I honestly didn't expect him to be as early as them though, and it turns out I was right. (Not like I could ever actually know something like that, but whatever.) I guess you could say that small things are happening that tell me that I'll be having a baby soon, but nothing that screams "He's coming!!" (More frequent Braxton Hicks, a little bit of mucus plug--no bloody show (sorry if that's TMI for anyone), and a loooooow baby...) For now, I'm content to wait the however long until he's born. Ask me in 10 days, and maybe I'll be more impatient about it. I AM starting to get tired of going to my prenatal appointments though. Once a week is pretty annoying when there's nothing new to do or say. Just that darn weighing every time, which is a pregnant woman's torture.

On the bright side of things, right when I was about ready to cry uncle from the burning pain in my leg while running, baby shifted a bit, which seems (maybe?) to be the cause of the burning dropping to a background level. Running is enjoyable again! I was lucky that it was only torture for a couple weeks or so. I know you're not supposed to say things like this, but I'm really proud of myself! I know not everyone has circumstances that will even allow them to exercise the way I've been able to, and I'm VERY blessed to be able-bodied through pregnancy this way, but it also took a darn lot of hard work. Very hard. So excuse me while I pat myself on the back a little bit. (I'm simultaneously saying a prayer of gratitude.) I'm such a dork.

Anyway, that's pretty much the update. I'm all ready for this baby--clothes cleaned and put away, carseat installed, pack'n'play bassinet set up against our bed, at the same exact height! (even though we probably won't use it much at the beginning), bag packed for the girls when they're babysat during labor/birth, labor food ready to put in the cooler, list of things for me to grab quickly before leaving for the birth center. What else is there? We've even got the house in a pretty constant state of clean and mostly clean (including laundry being put away, which is my biggest challenge).

So, bring on the baby! Or not. The girls are in a pretty tough stage right now, which is why I'm so content to wait if that's what happens. It's kind of weird to think I'm about to add another one right when we're in the middle of one of our parenting crises (which seem to come every 3 months or so). Angels angels demons angels angels demons, etc.

Unless something interesting happens, the next post with words on here will probably be one telling you all that we are heading off to have a baby. But stay tuned for some more belly pics in between if nothing else is happening!

Pregnancy 2 vs Pregnancy 3

2010-04-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

For your (and my) comparing pleasure, here are pictures of me last pregnancy at 35 1/2 weeks, and this pregnancy, today at 36 1/2 weeks. The ankle showing in the picture from today is my swollen sprained ankle, at it's smallest since I sprained it 3 weeks ago.

Pregnancy 2 (Littler), at 35w 3d:

Pregnancy 3 (Littlest), at 36w 3d:

36 w 3 d

2010-04-06T10:31:00.001-07:00

Here's me, today at 36 weeks 3 days. You can see my beautifully swollen sprained ankle there at the bottom. And my cute Littler in the background. (Can I admit now that I'm really looking forward to having this baby and getting my body back?)

Time keeps on ticking...

2010-04-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today is 35w 6d. Might as well say 36 weeks, right? This baby feels like he is right under the surface of my stomach. The movements I feel with him are so much more detailed feeling, if that makes any sense, than with the other two pregnancies. I feel lots of little squirms, in addition to the big movements that are so common in late pregnancy. He spends a lot of time with his bum in my right rib, although recently he seems to have shifted a bit so that there's a knee or something else smaller than a bum in that rib instead. I predict that he'll be bigger than Little and Littler were, but we'll see. I guess it depends when he's born, too! As far as movement is concerned, he's also been dealing me some painful blows in my lower abdomen, and kicking things off my stomach a lot. Typical, but it never gets old!

In the last few weeks, I've gone from the status quo of middle pregnancy to feeling uncomfortable enough that I have to remind myself I don't actually want to go into labor before 37 weeks! I think the transition mostly happened 2 1/2 weeks ago when I sprained my ankle running. I was only able to exercise a couple times that week and had to spend so much time just sitting around. AND the ankle sprain put strains on other parts of my body, making the sciatica WAY worse. Anyway, once I started running again, it was much less enjoyable. For the past few months my right leg has been burning in a few spots while I run, which is reeeeeeally uncomfortable, but once I started running again (after barely more than a week break), it was so bad I could barely convince myself to keep running (and I actually did have to stop a few times momentarily to let it get some oxygen and stretch it a bit). With today's run though (the third entirely normal run I've done since the sprain), it's finally starting to fade a bit more into the background again. And don't worry--if it was affecting the way I feel the rest of the day, or hurting anytime but when I run, I would stop. But it's not. So I keep running. After I run, I feel so GOOD. And if I don't get in those three runs a week, I feel so blah. The stationary bike at the gym feels really good at this point though--it seems like a really good late pregnancy exercise, like swimming. As much as I would really love to, I have NOT returned to my dance class post-sprain because i don't think my ankle is ready for that sort of movement yet. It can handle walking and running, but the things that require more side to side strength or flexibility aren't really possible yet. It's still a little swollen, too.

Beyond all of that, we feel pretty ready for this baby now. We've got his bed set up right next to ours, his car seat ready in the car, his dresser set up waiting for whatever we get at our baby shower next week (isn't that so awesome that I get a shower??!), and the diaper bag stocked. I have yet to prepare anything for the actual birth, like a birth plan or packing my birth bag or getting food/drink for the labor and birth ready. I guess I have about a week to get on top of that (although, most likely a lot longer than that!). We'll see what the next 1-6 weeks bring us!

Wildflower Season Means...

2010-03-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

...flowers for our table! Yay! It really does a lot to brighten a room...

31w 4d

2010-03-04T15:35:00.001-08:00

I don't know why I torture myself like this, except that I know someday I (and my children) will appreciate seeing this, and if I don't put it here, it will disappear. This is at 31w 4d, after a morning run.

It's That Time of Year Again!

2010-03-04T14:00:00.000-08:00

The flowers are starting to bloom everywhere, and for me that means PICTURES!! Bear with me as I de-rust my photo skillzzzz.

I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this dude.

Here we go again...

2010-02-28T23:14:00.001-08:00

Alright peeps. You're so lucky! I was reading through my blog of the weeks before and after Littler was born and I decided I need to have some sort of record of this whole late pregnancy/birth/postpartum thing.

So....today is 31w 1d. Not like you care, but I've gained about 17-18 pounds so far. This could be fun to know in the future, especially if I gain like 20 more in the next 9ish weeks... Luckily, I've still been able to run 3 times a week, along with Cardio Dance once a week (I LOVE that class!) and the gym once a week. I'm really determined to exercise for as long as I can in this pregnancy. Some days feel better than others, and some days I'm faster than others, but all in all, exercise is awesome! I have a written goal to run to at least 34 weeks, but of course I'll stop before that if something comes up. I'm sure in a few years I'll care about this, so, here's what it feels like to run: my breathing is rarely challenged because I can't move my body fast enough to get my heart rate above what I'm guessing is something around 150 bpm (thank goodness for updated exercise guidelines, btw!); I have a round ligament on my right side that really likes to spasm or something, every once in a while, and when that happens badly, I HAVE to walk, or even stop--luckily that's only happened really bad twice; my lower legs BURN when I run, especially for the first 15-20 minutes, but I think it's because that part is usually uphill, because hills really seem to exacerbate the problem; my pelvis is sometimes in pain while I'm running, but not bad enough to make me want to walk (I've used how I feel the rest of the day as a gauge to make sure I'm not overdoing it); despite all of these things, my overall running experience each time is positive--when I'm finished I'm sweaty and have lots of endorphins, which makes it all worth it!

Aside from exercise, on the days that I spend too much time standing or bending, I get reeeeeaally bad sciatica on my right side, which is somewhat crippling (seriously). I need to stop doing that, but I don't notice until it's been too long and then it's too late and the rest of the day is shot. Luckily, I wake up all better.

Littlest feels like a big doofer already. He's always up in my ribs and such and likes to kick me in two places at once.

Oh yeah, and I've been having way less Braxton Hicks with this pregnancy than with either of the other two. Who knows what that means. Maybe nothing. But maybe this one won't be as early as the other two? I'm okay with that. So far...

That all sounds kind of negative, but those are the only things that stand out right now. Really, overall I feel good! This pregnancy is going really well!

Half Marathon Pics

2009-08-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here we are before the race. Ready to go!

Our husbands and kids met us at about mile 8 and cheered us on. That was awesome!

Here we are at mile 13, right about to run into the finish. See how happy we look?

Tri for Fun #3

2009-08-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

I did my first triathlon ever this morning, more than 10 minutes faster than my ultimate goal! I'm so excited about it!

It started off with a 400 yard swim in a nice clean lake. Before the tri, I read as much as could about peoples' experiences on this course and discovered that it helps to start off to the left side of the big pack of people when you start the swim, so I did, and I was able to jump right out into the front group of swimmers. The swim was much better than I feared it would be--I was worried that people would be kicking me and splashing water in my face the whole time, but I barely touched any other people at all! Peter told me I was one of the first people to finish in my heat, which was exciting. My time for the 400 yard swim was 6:25.

I took a depressingly slow amount of time in the first transition area, and my friend who came in a minute and a half behind me in the swim headed off onto the bike ride right in front of me. She rode off in front of me never to be seen again, because she's a blasted fast sort of person. I was expecting the swim to bike transition to be easy, but instead I was pooped because I swam much faster than I normally do in the pool. My legs were so shaky and tired and my heart rate was really up! But I managed to get into a groove and completed the 11 mile bike route without any problems. I even managed to muster up a really loud cheer for my friend when we passed each other on an out and back section of the ride.

Once I got off my bike, all I had to do was take off my helmet, but I had no idea where I was supposed to be running, so I wasted a few seconds figuring that out, but not too many. The transition from bike to run felt AWFUL! I definitely did not train well enough for that part. I ran really slow for the first half of the run or so and was finally able to get in stride for a little while, but then I was really tired so I slowed down a little, but then I was at the END and saw my friends and family cheering for me so I sprinted past the poor woman several yards in front of me who didn't have friends and family there to cheer her on and help her push her little red button. My finish time was 1 hr 18 minutes and some odd seconds. And it was so much fun! I can't wait to sign up for another one and actually train right this time! (I don't think the stuff I did could really be considered training, aside from the running, which definitely did count.) (And in case you're wondering, my blasted fast sort of friend runs a lot faster than me too, and finished the race in 1 hr 10 min.)

I'll post pics soon, probably along side the pics from the half marathon that I have yet to post (but are finally edited!).

Regina Spektor

2009-07-30T16:13:00.000-07:00

I like Regina Spektor.

Fidelity

On the Radio

Eet

Better

Getting Faster...

2009-07-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

I guess that title is a little misleading because it's really more than just 'getting faster'. My exercise buddies and I have been planning on working on our speed now that we've conquered distance and today was our first official day of trying it out. Luckily, I felt like it went really well and had to document it! We started out small, running 2 miles, and did the two miles in just about 19 minutes even, giving us a mile pace of 9:30!! Woohoo for us! I know that in the world of running that is still not fast, but I feel like it's fast enough not to make fun of how slow I am anymore. Our goal is to work on speed a few times a week and just run without thinking about it the other few times. I'm not going to make a really specific target yet, but I'm running a 10K on October 2 and I'm hoping to set my goal time with a mile pace of 10 minutes or less. We'll see. 10K is a pretty long time to keep up a pace that is 2 minutes per mile (or more) faster than my average pace for the half marathon training.

Wish me luck!

Back at it

2009-07-20T15:04:00.001-07:00

Well, now that I've completely lost fitness after taking a three week vacation from exercise, I'm training for a little sprint triathlon, which will happen on August 15. I've always wanted to do a triathlon and FINALLY it's going to happen! I'm pretty excited! I'm hoping to do an Olympic distance tri in a couple years, too.

The distances for this sprint tri are 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike, and 5k run.

Wish me luck! Training has started off pretty nicely already, so I'm feeling good about it!

Half Marathon Results

2009-07-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

For the record, I finished my half marathon, running non-stop (with somewhere between 5-10 minutes of veeeeerrrrrrrrry slow jogging while I waited for my friends at the port-a-potty)! (Running with people was much more important to me than getting a time a few minutes faster!) I came in 945 out of 1400 and finished in 2 hrs 39 minutes flat. The first 11 miles passed by pretty easily, but then we could taste the finish and started running faster so the last two were pretty rough on me. I was fighting back sobs of pain and mental/emotional exhaustion at the end, but I DID IT! Yippee! But MAN my legs were hurting SO BAD at the end and for the first few hours after the race. Wow. That was intense.

Next stop: sprint triathlon in August!

Half Marathon in Two Weeks

2009-06-13T20:30:00.000-07:00

My race is coming up so quickly! Today we ran our longest run before the half-marathon (11.2 miles) and starting next week we'll be tapering a bit so our poor legs have some time to recover. While we were running today, I was talking to my training buddies (Brittney and Nicole) and we were all talking about how none of us ever would have thought ourselves capable of running such long distances. We were running for 2 hrs 18 minutes today (no stopping and no walking!! Well, there were a few stoplights but I jog in place at them so I don't creak when I start back up again...). That's a LONG time to be running (or, jogging--you can do the math if you like--we're not doing this for time)! And honestly, parts of my legs and feet hurt SO BADLY after about 5 miles, but it's really helpful to have a goal and a training schedule to keep me on track. My only goal is to finish the race without walking, so that's my goal for each training run, too.

On our shorter runs (5 miles), we've been focusing on running a bit faster, so our pace is about 30-45 seconds faster per mile on those days than it is for our long runs. Now, after our "halfie", we'll be focusing on speed and hills more, rather than distance, but our base distance will still be 5 miles. AND we'll probably be doing a sprint triathlon in August. Woohoo!

Hooray for getting fit!

A Rant

2009-05-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

First, a little background: we use WIC. Okay, now that that's out in the open, I'm going to vent.

I went to Safeway today to get some milk and eggs and other WIC stuff. The pertinent items for this story are 2 gallons of 1% milk, 1 gallon of 2% milk and a 1/2 gallon of whole milk. We always get it this way because Littler still drinks whole milk but the rest of us drink 1%, and when the rest is gone, we compromise at 2%. I had two WIC checks, this one:

And this one:

Unfortunately for me, the cashier decided that Check 1 was saying that the kind of milk I had to get was whole milk, because it says "pasteurized" and it doesn't specify that I can get any kind of milk like Check 2 does (nonfat, 1%, 2%, or whole). "No'" I told her, "both checks say pasteurized and nowhere on Check 1 does it specify whole milk." (Okay, I don't really talk that way, but I wish I could on the fly! That's the gist though.) She called the manager over to settle the situation. I happened to know that the manager was a reasonable woman who has cleared up some cashier WIC mistakes for me in the past, so I was relieved. The managercame over and proceeded to tell me exactly what the cashier had told me, and when I tried to explain their mistake, she wouldn't even listen to me! She told me to talk to my WIC office to figure out what I could get with each check. I told her that every time I check, they're wrong and I'm right and I pointed out the word 'pasteurized' on my disputed jugs of 1% milk but they didn't care. I told them all of this milk is pasteurized. As she was turning and walking away, I'm only somewhat ashamed to admit, I yelled at them. I was so upset at them that I was shaking and flustered. And I still get riled up now when I think about it. I know it doesn't make that much of a difference besides that the whole family will have to drink more fattening milk for the next two weeks. But still. They were WRONG and unreasonable and they treated me like I was the one who needed to get things sorted out. And in case you're wondering I, and everyone else I know who uses WIC, get non whole milk with that check ALL the time. This is the third uncomfortable WIC scenario at this Safeway in a row. I think I'm going to start using another.

Montebello Wildflowers

2009-05-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

pain l'ancienne

2009-04-29T16:37:00.001-07:00

Fresh bready goodness right out of my very own oven. Mmmmmmm...!

Go Me!

2009-04-17T09:09:00.001-07:00

This will probably get old, since I'll be running record distances for myself every week, but... I RAN 5 MILES STRAIGHT TODAY! Woohoo!!!!!

I'm Insane

2009-04-09T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well it's official! On Saturday June 27 I will be running a HALF MARATHON near Bend, Oregon. Wow. My good friend exercise buddy is having a family reunion in which many of them will be participating in the half marathon and has been semi-planning on doing it for quite a while. I figured, if my exercise buddy is going to train for this, I might as well do it with her, otherwise I'll end up doing nothing. So yesterday we made it real by registering for the race. Yikes! I'm nervous and excited! Over the next 12ish weeks we'll build ourselves from being able to run 4 miles to running a half marathon. Woohoo!

So Much To Do

2009-04-08T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to focus on too much extracurricular stuff at the same time. These are the things I've focused on in the last week:

*Making the perfect pizza (wow! We're really close with this one! And if you've ever eaten pizza we made WITHOUT a pizza stone you ain't seen nothin' yet!)
*Making brownies that are as good or better than the kind from a box (with chewy and moist being the goal as opposed to cakey)
*Running races
*Thinking about going back to school in Linguistics (but not actually actively doing anything about it--that will come later)
*Wildflower photography

Anyway, I feel kind of like I'm on a merry-go-round of possibilities and at one moment I'll be thinking about one thing and the next I'm on to something completely different. I think it makes Peter dizzy. As for me, I just end up feeling kinda stupid, since I almost never accomplish ANYTHING as a result of riding the merry-go-round. I need to get off every once in a while and actually DO it.

Wildflower Season

2009-03-26T22:31:00.001-07:00

We went out for a few minutes today to make a dent in the number of wildflowers we need to get pictures of before they all go away. Here are a few to whet your appetite:

I Ran

2009-03-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

Okay--don't get confused from the title. I actually run a few times a week, between other workouts like going to the gym and Cardio Dance and Cardio Hip Hop and other interesting things. BUT, recently my workout buddy and I have been trying to up the distance in our runs (and the speed, both a little at a time), and on Friday we accomplished something very big. We think it's big anyway. We ran The Dish! Well...this is the part where I admit that we walked partway up a hill that lasts for more than a mile. But we ran from home all the way to The Dish and went around the path and out the other side and ran all the way home, too, totaling 5.5 miles for the run/walk. We walked less than a mile of it, and that place is HILL-Y! So, we basically think we're the bomb. But the fun doesn't end there. No sirree. We will keep doing it until we don't have to walk any of it AND we'll do it faster eventually too.

Man we're good.

A computing model of pressure distribution from tight underwear

2009-02-26T19:32:00.000-08:00

I can't help but find it humorous that this article even exists. It just gives me the funnies. :o)

A computing model of pressure distribution from tight underwear

Even More Pics

2009-02-24T14:18:00.001-08:00

I only had 45 minutes, so I wandered out to the community garden and poached some flower views. Someday I hope to have a flower garden of my own when we own a home. Until then, I'll satisfy myself with oohing and aahing over other people's...

More Pics

2009-02-20T13:46:00.001-08:00

Well, our trip to Costa Rica interrupted my creative flow (only to be replaced in the meantime by a different flow of tropical pictures), so I've been quite delinquent in my goal of taking a picture every day. Plus the weather has been rainy, which for me means no picture opportunities... BUT, if you want to see my/our best pics from our trip, go to pandalewis.smugmug.com and browse around. My personal best can mostly be found in the Flowers section. Aside from those, I managed to get out on the first nice day earlier this week and got a few good pics, so here they are:

Cauliflower Soup

2009-02-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

Tonight I made a delicious cauliflower soup with yummy whole wheat bread so I thought I would write down the soup recipe so it doesn't get lost in the past.

Feeds 4-6 adults

1 head cauliflower
2 carrots
2 tomatoes
a few tablespoons dried onions
a few teaspoons dill weed
8-12 oz of cream (or milk or evaporated milk, etc)
1 bouillon cube

Chop and boil the veggies, dried onions, bouillon cube and dill in a few cups of water until they are soft. Take them off the heat and puree in food processor. Put back in pot and add cream and salt and cayenne pepper to taste.

Tastes great with buttered whole wheat bread fresh out of the oven! Mmmmmmmmmm!

Funny Commercial Spoof

2009-02-17T15:19:00.000-08:00

I thought this was hilarious so I figured I'd share.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/10333/saturday-night-live-mom-jeans#s-p2-st-i3

Valentine Thingy

2009-02-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

My sisters-in-law and mother-in-law have blog-bullied me into doing this thing, so after you read it, YOU have to do it too!!

♥ How long have you been together?
Dating, 9 1/2 years, married for 4.
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
A few years.
♥ Who asked who out?
It just kinda happened gradually. We couldn't tell ya.
♥ How old are each of you?
I'm 27, he's 26.
♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most?
We try to see as many as we can as often as we can. It's hard to say.
♥ Do you have any children together?
Two toddler daughters.
♥ What about pets?
He just brought home two pet salamanders tonight!
♥ Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?
Hmmmm.... probably our differences in communication styles. I think in our relationship all bickerings come from misunderstandings.
♥ Did you ever go to the same school?
Same college--University of Arizona.
♥ Are you from the same home town?
Pretty much, though I was born elsewhere.
♥ Who is the smartest?
It depends what the subject is, although as I'm getting older and more domestic my brain seems to be atrophying and he's starting to outdo me at times, even in my own subjects. In general though, we feel like we're on pretty even ground.
♥ Who is the most sensitive?
He is.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We don't eat out much, but when we do we rarely eat at the same place twice, although strangely, there's a place here called Hobee's that we've been to more than any other place in town even though it's not our #1 (it IS really good though!).
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
Costa Rica, on the Osa Peninsula. We just got back 2 1/2 weeks ago!
♥ Who has the craziest exes?
Neither of us have any, unless you count his 5th grade "girlfriend".
♥ Who has the worst temper?
Hmmm... we're not really temper sort of people.
♥ Who does the cooking?
We both do. If he's in a busy time, I do, but aside from that we love cooking together and are really into cooking yummy food. But I guess since I do all of the baking you could say I win. :o)
♥ Who is more social?
We're both kinda reserved in public, but he's better at pretending, and we're both really social with people we know well. Our lives really revolve around relationships with other people and we're often the ones to instigate things with friends/family.
♥ Who is the neat freak?
Me. I am becoming a bit insane about neatness, but we still need to conquer the surface clutter.
♥ Who is the more stubborn?
I win! I am so dang stubborn. I know this is not a good thing.
♥ Who hogs the bed?
Depends who's sleeping more deeply at any given moment.
♥ Who wakes up earlier?
Me. We take turns getting up when the kids get up, but on his sleeping in days, he really sleeps in, whereas I sleep only a little bit longer.
♥ Where was your first date?
No clue.
♥ Who has the bigger family?
Me, though we both have large ones.
♥ Do you get flowers often?
Nope, and I'm finally coming to grips with it.
♥ Who is more jealous?
I dunno. It doesn't really factor in.
♥ How long did it take to get serious?
Not nearly long enough! We "knew" we were going to get married as soon as we started dating! It seems so silly now... But I'm glad we did!
♥ Who eats more?
We eat about the same.
♥ Who does/ did the laundry?
Me.
♥ Who’s better with the computer?
Um...neither? But maybe as time goes on I'm getting outdated.
♥ Who drives when you are together?
We used to fight over who got to drive--now we fight over who gets to NOT drive.

Huddart Park

2008-12-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Banana slug:

A Little Behind

2008-12-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

I got behind, so I took lots today to make up for it. Boring subject, but I did the best I could...

Grass

2008-12-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

So, I've decided that I'm going to officially post color and non-color (not always exactly B&W) for every picture, just for curiousity's sake. Oh yeah, and also, it's not likely that this will last for long because I'm already going crazy every day trying to find a picture and one of these days (maybe tomorrow even) I'm just going to come up dry. But I'll keep trying. I at least want to take the camera outside every day. As a bonus, I'm getting lots more pictures of the kids, too.

Anyway, here is today's picture, color and black and white:

Everything Looks Fancier Without Color

2008-12-15T16:32:00.000-08:00

Which do you prefer?

My New Goal

2008-12-14T10:23:00.000-08:00

I have a new goal to work on my hobby of photography and photo editing by taking one picture a day that I'll add to my "portfolio". I don't have a portfolio right now, but this will be a fun and good way to improve and use my mind and enrich my life, so I think it'll be fun! Part of this goal is the fun of looking at ordinary things around me and creating a beautiful image from where you wouldn't normally expect to find one. The picture above is the first, taken yesterday on a new tree that was planted right outside our house.

First Thanksgiving (w/o family)

2008-11-29T14:29:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving without extended family this year, and it was really nice. We actually ate after the kids were in bed and celebrated with our friends, who were also home without family this year. We all made a few things which combined made an excellent traditional meal. Here are pictures of our centerpiece, which we made from plants we collected with the kids before bed, and the table, set before eating. I guess we were too into the food to remember to get a picture with loaded plates...

QUEEN for a Day

2008-11-17T13:10:00.000-08:00

My birthday was last week, and Peter really played his part well! I woke up to the smell of yummy breakfast which was delivered to my bed a little while after he delivered a tray with reading material and a note ordering me not to get out of bed. He had also written on a piece of paper explaining to me that for my birthday, I was QUEEN for the entire day, and he was my slave. He cooked, cleaned, and watched the kids while I got to do whatever I wanted AND order him around. He even brought the phone cradle up to our bed so I could page him with the paging button whenever I needed something. So, for my birthday, I:

*took a relaxing bath
*got a haircut
*went shopping with a friend
*read
*took 2 short naps
*played the piano
*got bored and ordered my slave to let us all be normal until we put the kids to bed (I missed them!)
*went to dinner at a really yummy restaurant that was more expensive than anywhere we've ever been, and was totally worth it (just this once... what does that phrase mean anyway?? It sounds so weird.)
*went to the movies and then left because our movie was sold out

I guess we'll try to go to a movie some other time. We haven't been to a movie in the theater for about 2 1/2 years. We came home from that movie and watched a Netflix movie, but I fell asleep during that, and the wonderful day was over. Lucky for me, my birthday celebrations carried over to the next day, and I got to go shopping with friends the next morning, and then we had cake later that night. So much fun!

I was actually feeling really guilty for leaving that next morning because Peter had worked so hard the day before, but it turned out that even though Little had gone to bed at 6:30pm on my birthday, she didn't wake up until past noon the next day, AFTER I came home. AND, Littler played by herself for an hour while Daddy slept on the couch, and then took a nap so he slept even more, and it was pretty much entirely a non-issue.

THANKS to my wonderful husband for the A++++++++++ birthday!

FOOD

2008-11-17T12:32:00.001-08:00

Over the last couple of years, we've been changing the food our family eats and buys, by tending more toward the naturally occurring and organic foods. I really don't think we're too extreme about it, but we definitely try to have as few ingredients as possible in our food. For example, it's been several months since we've purchased bread or tortillas (aside from loaves of "artisan" breads for fun to eat with cheese--and often we'll make that kind of bread, too--it's just fun to buy it pre-made, so it's like our family's version of eating out). We prefer to make our bread because it's cheaper and yummier and healthier, too. We make our own salad dressing with various vinegars and oils, we pressure cook our own beans, and we've even dabbled in cheese a little bit (and plan to really broaden our cheese knowledge soon).

This article really stresses to me PART of WHY we decided to do this in the first place. Health, safety, money, taste are probably most of the reasons.

Someday, we'd really like to be eating all of our food from the most basic ingredients. The cool thing, you don't have to sacrifice taste! It's great! In fact, when you've been eating more natural foods, a lot of the other foods that are artificially flavored and synthesized really end up tasting pretty gross. (Not all, unfortunately for all of us...)

For Me, To Remember

2008-11-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us/politics/05campaign.html?scp=5&sq="november%204"&st=cse

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/title/?em

High Fructose Corn Syrup = Bad For You!!

2008-10-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

While thumbing through my new FamilyFun magazine today, I was appalled to come across this ad. Basically, the Corn Refiner's Association has decided that they aren't making enough money now that many people are aware of the health risks and detriments of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and has decided to go on an 18 month long ad campaign letting the American public know the "facts" about HFCS. They say that HFCS is "nutritionally the same as table sugar and honey" and spout off a bunch of other mistruths on their website, conveniently leaving out a lot of important information (such as the fact that fructose [like high fructose corn syrup] is converted into fat after reaching the liver instead of being broken down before like glucose [table sugar is half glucose and half fructose]).

So, sure, I eat HFCS sometimes, like most people, although it's not a regular part of our diet. But I definitely DON'T fall for the idea that HFCS is "natural" as the Corn Refiner's Association asserts in their commercials. That's just a bunch of bull honkey.

Handy Dandy Tax Graphs

2008-10-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

[from mandamommy and trogonpete]

Here is a fantastic unbiased [facts are unbiased], nonpartisan evaluation of Obama's and McCain's income tax policies [we won't get into child tax credits and other stuff].

We've noticed that there are a lot of people who don't know that there is complete objective, verifiable information about the two major candidate's tax policies online [and other policies as well]. The figures shown on the link display this information in instructive ways. Here's what we took from it:

[The current tax code is already progressive [the bottom bracket pays ~10% and the top bracket pays ~35%]. What is displayed in the linked page is the change in the amount of income after taxes if the candidate's plan replaced the current code.]

1. From the first graph there's a big philosophical distinction between the two plans. McCain is for cutting taxes; more so if you're rich. Obama's for cutting taxes especially if you're poor, except if you're rich, in which case your taxes will rise [above $600,000 post-tax salary]. If you think the economic stimulation provided by a wealthier upper class is more important than society's obligation to assist the poor, then McCain's plan is the plan for you. You might be tempted to make further generalizations about income redistribution and other issues but the other figures crush a lot of the old cliches.

2. The second graph shows the total number of people [represented by the height of each bar] getting each tax change. McCain's plan gives a tax break of 1% or higher to 39% of the population, and Obama's gives 1% or higher to 90% of the population. Additionally, the area of each box represents the product of the number of people in that bracket times the tax change for that bracket. So a bigger box on the negative side of the scale means more people are getting more money. Since Obama's total area is significantly more "negative" than McCain's, the conclusion would be that Obama's plan provides a greater overall tax relief to the whole population than McCain's.

3. The third graph shows the total amount of money generated for the government for each tax bracket. This time the area of the box shows the total change in revenue for each bracket, positive or negative. So a bigger box on the positive side means the government gets more money. McCain's plan--since it calls for no tax increases--results in a net loss for the government compared to the current tax code. Obama's plan will generate a large amount of extra revenue. The amount of money given back to the poorest brackets in Obama's plan is miniscule compared to the extra revenue generated by taxing the very wealthy [compare the size of the boxes on the positive side to the boxes on the negative side]. So Obama's plan is not income redistribution; it is revenue generation.

In short, Obama's income tax plan calls for very little income redistribution and a large revenue increase by selectively taxing the wealthiest 1% of Americans--people who make significantly more than half a million dollars a year after tax. Obama's plan also calls for significant tax relief for the poorest Americans. McCain calls for reducing taxes for everybody, but especially for the wealthy. We believe that the cumulative benefit to the 99% of Americans who will see no change or an increase in tax relief from Obama's plan outweighs the extra "burden" on the wealthy. Furthermore, McCain's tax plan reduces government revenue which will increase the national debt--a debt our children will bear through higher taxes and decreased government expenditure on programs such as social security and education.

From one of McCain's many ads:

Obama will "raise taxes on the middle class... I'm John McCain and I approve this message."

Many people are believing this, but it's just plain not true.

We haven't been able to find an Obama fib about McCain's tax plan, but if any of you can find one, by all means share it.

Uh-Oh

2008-09-22T23:30:00.001-07:00

Remember this game? And this one? I've kind of lost my touch, but it's still in there somewhere, I can feel it!

WARNING: Don't read until after Thanksgiving!

2008-09-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm reeeeeally picky about women's voices, and I'm even pickier about what versions of O Holy Night I enjoy listening to because to me it's a song that should be sung with light pure voices and is often sung operatically instead (blecccchhhhhhh!), with heavy vibrato. So, I'm always on the lookout for good versions of the song, and while I was browsing through Christmas music on youtube and Amazon today (I know, I know...), I came across this:

Celtic Woman/Chloe Agnew - O Holy Night

Oh my goodness! I LOVE it! These voices are exactly the kind I love! They sing so beautifully!

This one is for Eloise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKrx-4Awe70&feature=related
(Look into Celtic Woman in general... Warning: The video looks a little cheesy sometimes.)

Here are a few other great Christmas songs I came across today, to give you a little head start for the upcoming holiday season:

Michael Buble - The Christmas Song Who am I kidding? Anything Michael Buble! (White Christmas, I'll Be Home for Christmas, Let it Snow...)

The Carpenters - There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays Okay, anything Carpenters too.

Harry Connick Jr. - Christmas Waltz (no recording--can anyone find one?)

And of course, all the classics by Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, etc.

Coventry Carol

Josh Groban - What Child is This?

Are you sick of this yet?

2008-09-21T23:55:00.000-07:00

You probably think I'm lame for always posting these, but I don't listen to the radio so it's amazing I ever find them at all...

Here's another song I'm loving right now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nTSU-mFWGs

Actually, I'm liking the singer in general.

What He Said

2008-09-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

TrueWilderness.blogspot.com

Palo Alto Moonlight Run

2008-09-14T22:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I did it! I ran a 5k race without walking! It was very tiring, but I think it was worse than it normally would have been since it was night time. That's just not nearly as nice a time to run as the morning!

Anyway, I convinced Peter to come with me and he was going to take a picture of me at the finish line but somehow he didn't see me and I didn't see him, so all we got was a couple of post race pictures.

The course was almost entirely flat, but it was dark, aside from the nearly full moon, so lots of people had headlamps and flashlights (I brought a little flashlight). It was also veeeeeeeeery crowded. The 5k run alone had 840 people in it, and since I was pretty slow, I started off pretty close to the back, which means that my time really would have been a few minutes better because it took a really long time to be able to start running, with so many people starting a race at the same time.

In case you have a morbid curiosity of just how slow I really am, I ran it in 33:43 and my mile pace was an average of 10:51, coming in 535 place overall and 46th for my division (out of 83). So, basically, I'm just a normal average slow person--I beat my first goal, but wasn't thinking about the numbers of people slowing me down when I made the goal, and I feel pretty confident that I would have been at about a 10 minute mile pace if it hadn't been so crowded. I feel like once I was running, I was going faster than my normal slow pace. (To further embarrass myself, I'll mention that I paced myself on two different sets of elementary aged girls running with their parents. I managed to pass them both with 1 mile to go when they stopped for water and I never saw them again, but I also started slowing down once I didn't have such good pacers anymore.)

Anyway, I'm definitely no runner, but I'm still proud that I ran a 5K! Maybe someday I'll be able to do a 10K (though if I do, I better run habitually first).

Some of my current song faves

2008-09-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's all about the dancing baby! What have I been doing all my life? I could have been DANCING!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3xx72NGrUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PNSg2NTRNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g (Don't listen to this one if you're sensitive to drug and gun references...)

Running

2008-09-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a 5K race that happens to be this Friday night, despite the fact that I never run and even when I do, I'm really slow. So, once the week of the race rolled around Monday morning, I decided I better figure out if I'm gonna cut it and I went for a run with Littler after dropping Little off at her first day of co-op preschool. It was a hilly run and I ran 2.65 miles without walking any of it! The best part was that it felt GOOD! From the first moment I started running it felt good, and that has NEVER happened to me before! I was really stoked, so the next morning I went to the gym with a friend and ran 5K on the treadmill. Wow! That felt good too, but it also gave me huge blisters on my feet and made my muscles reeeeeeally sore (they're much better today, although not fully recovered), so I decided that I'll take it easy until the race. The race is a moonlight run, so it will be dark aside from the light of the moon, meaning it will be at the end of the day, after dinner, etc. On the treadmill I ran it in about 33:30 (slow, I know...) and my ultimate hope is to finish under 30 minutes, but my first goal is to beat 35 minutes. We'll see how that works out, but wish me luck and hope that running will feel as good Friday night as it did Monday and Tuesday!

They Call This News?

2008-07-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Look at this (really, you need to):

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=591496

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

Who Am I Anyway?

2008-07-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

Every time I read posts I've written from a while back, I don't even recognize myself! Who was that lady writing things about my life (quite precisely, as my memory would tell you). It's so odd...

But, I just had a lot of fun reading posts from when Littler was born and right before and looking at pictures of when she was a baby (because I couldn't remember how long she was when she was born, or even *gasp* what she looked like back then!). This is why we need to get our video camera fixed so we can watch the video of the birth...

Can You Hear the Wolf's Cry?

2008-07-24T15:02:00.000-07:00

One night last summer when we were in Alaska, we were lying in bed asleep or falling asleep (depending on who we're talking about) and we heard some wolves howling some completely indeterminate (by me) distance away. As we were lying there, both Peter and I were entranced by the sound of it--it was such a poignant, deep, enthralling feeling to lie in bed and listen to a sound we'd never heard before and may never hear again, knowing that such a magnificent animal was close enough for us to hear but not see. To this day, when I think back on those moments, my heart still quickens and I still feel tingles in my body at the memory of it. It even brings tears to my eyes. I don't know why it has this effect. All I know is that now I yearn to hear it again. Something tells me that if I ever do, I will only be disappointed because the magic of that experience is not likely to be duplicated. This is a poem I wrote a few days ago after talking to Peter about this experience again. (I am not a poet by any stretch of the imagination, but this poem just kind of jumped into my head and I feel like it captures the way I feel about that night, so I thought I'd better put it in "my jernul". It's actually really embarrassing to me to have this here, but I'm putting it here anyway because this is where it belongs.) Here it is:

Can you hear the wolf’s cry?
Stretch. Turn. Listen.
There!
Do you hear it?
Feel the chilling music in your bones.
Let it take you back.
A time you don’t remember.
But somehow it’s familiar.
Feel the music of the pack.
In your chest. In your arms. In your fingertips.
Can you hear the wolf’s cry?

Taking the Plunge

2008-06-18T21:19:00.000-07:00

Well, after living in our apartment for two years now with no washer and dryer, not to mention the year and half before that in our apartment in Tucson with no washer and dryer, we have decided to get a washer and dryer. The funny thing is that the main reason is not for the convenience of washing my clothes at home instead of carting 4 or 5 very heavy laundry bags to another building every 10 days or so in our bike trailer/stroller (although I have to admit that not having to do this does excite me possibly more than you can imagine). What got me started in this direction was thinking about the ways we save money (next post, possibly tonight). I realized that there was one major area in our lives where we have not only chosen the more expensive route, but also the less environmentally friendly route as well: disposable diapers! Now, if you believe the diaper companies' spin doctors [read: Proctor & Gamble], then you probably think that disposable vs. cloth diapers is an equally balanced bad for the environment situation. Not so! I think this page puts it pretty well: Diaper Dilemma (Part 2): The Environment

But, as I was saying, it was the cost of disposable diapers that got me on this track. I realized in one grand epiphany that we have already spent more money on diapers for our two kids than it would cost us to buy a washer and dryer and use cloth diapers. Mentioning this to Peter, along with the fact that this trend would continue without buying those things, was all I needed to have the go ahead on his part to spring for the duo. We, of course, looked at Craigslist first and managed to find a cheap Energy Star (required by Stanford Housing) washer and a normal dryer right here in our very own neighborhood! So, I bought them, just now. Being the nice person that I am, I'm letting her keep it until they move, so we'll pick it up when we get back from our trip to Utah (which we leave for in a little over a week, so, no skin off my back...).

The washer and dryer aren't so much what the plunge is all about though. It's the switch to cloth diapers. When I first came up with the idea this morning, I was a little intimidated. But with a little memory and internet searching, I found that there are really some easy, no hassle, non finger staining ways to do the whole cloth diaper thing, and now I'm actually pretty excited about it! Cloth diapers are so much cuter, for one thing! I mean, who wouldn't think this is cuter? It's probably not the one we'll be doing, but doesn't it look nice and easy?

And really, I am SUPER excited about having a washer and dryer in our apartment! Really really. Really.

Yep, that's me

2008-06-13T15:09:00.001-07:00

You Are Snow White!

Pure and trusting. You are a gentle soul who can get along with just about anyone. Everyone you meet instantly falls in love with you. How can they resist? You have a pure, lovable nature that's irresistable. Just don't trust everyone who comes across your path.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

MEME

2008-06-05T22:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know you're just dying to know all of this info. (It beats coming back to the same post over and over right?)

45 Things About Me

Do you like blue cheese? Eh...kinda. Not by itself.

Do you own a gun? I'll let you find out when you try to break into my house...

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? Don't go to Sonic. We rarely eat out and it's not on the top of my list of places to visit when there are so many great ethnic and other non-chain places to visit!

Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes.

What do you think of hot dogs? I tried no to like them. It didn't work. I like them despite myself (but only heated and in a warm bun with onions and mustard)

Favorite Christmas movie? It’s a Wonderful Life

What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Juice. I can't drink water in the morning unless I've exercised.

Can you do push ups? Not the "real" kind. I've always had poor upper body strength.

What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? my engagement ring

Favorite hobby? reading, sewing, music playing, dancing and wishing I were a dancer

Do you have A.D.D.? nope

What’s one trait you hate about yourself? too critical

Middle name? Kaye

Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment: I have a headache, I want to dance, Wow Peter sure likes the mandolin I got him for Father's Day!

Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Nothing. We only ride our bikes to the store, so I shop much less frequently now.

Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Water, apple juice, grape juice

Current worry? That this headache is really a migraine creeping up on me.

Current hate right now? Um...don't have one? Nothing comes to mind...

Favorite place to be? anywhere where my favorite friends and family are

How did you bring in the New Year? Fondue with parents-in-law, and YUMMY apple cider (the real thing!)

Where would you like to go? Europe

Do you own slippers? Yes, but it's hard to walk up and down stairs in them so I don't wear them very often--only if I'm reeeeeeally chilled.

What song makes you happy? Michael Buble Feeling Good

What year would you go back in time to? I have no desire to go back in time. That's too freaky.

Can you whistle? Yes.

Favorite color? straight green (I recently realized this to be true)

Would you be a pirate? No. That's too edgy for me.

What songs do you sing in the shower? Whatever is in my head, IF I'm in the right mood (the kind where I also want to dance)

Favorite girl’s name. Elise

Favorite boy’s name? Elias

What’s in your pocket right now? A piece of paper

Last thing that made you laugh? The enrichment play/musical I went to tonight. Good stuff.

Last thing that made you cry? I don't know. I don't cry very often these days. My life is too blissful.

Worst injury you’ve ever had? Getting hit in the head with a soccer ball during a game and getting stitches (right by my eye) I know, that's not even very bad.

Do you love where you live? YES! It's the best! Everyone should move here!

How many TVs do you have in your house? One.

How many dogs do you have? None.

What is your favorite book(s)? It depends on my mood. Passage; Animal, Vegetable Miracle; To Kill a Mockingbird; lots of others

What is your favorite candy? Um... Snickers?

Favorite Sports Team(s)? You know, I recently discovered that I don't really care for watching sports anymore. I'd much rather PLAY them.

Your favorite meal? Pizza (sad but true), or, a really yummy carne asada burrito, or a chicken shawerma wrap

What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping for the last few minutes before having to wake up and feed the baby

What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up? I wonder how long I can keep sleeping before I reeeeally need to get out of bed?

Do you have any odd habits? Sure. Every once in a while I snort like a pig.

How many siblings do you have? 276...er...um... 13 I think

THE END

Another Good Song

2008-05-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Okay, I discovered another great song that I love, despite myself.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w

What do you think? (honestly--even if you hate it) This song came out in 2006. That surprised me.

A Day of Celebration!

2008-05-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day for me! Today is the day...drumroll please............. I have officially met/gone lower than Peter's weight! Woohoo!! That was goal number two (which incidentally, only happens to be three pounds lower than goal number 1). Goal number three is about 5 pounds away. This is a slow process for me (though steady, thank goodness), so it will probably be a few months, but, that goal was my original bottom goal. I've now changed my official goal to ten pounds below that, but regardless, I'm pretty happy with the way things are right now! I'm within the healthy weight for my height, and I haven't been there since I was 19 or so. Yippee!! What should I get to celebrate? I was originally going to get some pants, but I'm thinking a dress might be best... (I'm thinking going out to eat might not be the most fitting celebration...)

A Few More Great Dinners!

2008-04-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

Monday night:

Rotini pasta with chopped agretti, cilantro, olive oil, spices and some cheddar cheese grated on top, with a side of spigariello lightly sauteed in olive oil. Mmmmmmm...

Tuesday night:

Frittata with turnip greens, cilantro, and cheddar, eaten with homemade 1/2 whole wheat biscuits.

Wednesday night:

Soup! Chicken breast boiled in water and shredded, about 1/2 cup rice, 1/2 a purple cabbage, 3 baby turnips, 5 baby carrots (real ones, not the little shaved things from the store), 2 leeks, all chopped and simmered with the water and chicken after the chicken was cooked and the rice was mostly cooked. Can't forget the spices! Salt, pepper, cayenne, garlic. Topped off with about 12 ounces of 2% evaporated milk. Most of the veggies became creamy, with just a few soft chunks to accompany the shredded chicken. This was really yummy! And to accompany the soup, we had some homemade 1/2 whole wheat apple strudel muffins. Yum yum!

I think we're starting to get better at knowing how to use our veggies...

A Must Read

2008-04-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

If you are a regular reader of my blog, PLEASE read this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?pagewanted=1

Please read the whole thing!

I challenge everyone who reads this to act on it. And let me know how it's going!

Michael Buble

2008-04-16T22:00:00.001-07:00

Just in case any of you have not yet discovered Michael Buble and will appreciate knowing about him (although I always seem to be the last person to know about things...), here is yet another song that I LOVE, and want to dance to like crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PDXjJQfTsU

Isn't his voice just awesome??

Barbara Kingsolver = My Heroine

2008-04-16T21:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so, per my post below, I'm writing a post about 'how Barbara Kingsolver is my new heroine', and I'm combining it with 'our new wine crate garden'. The previous post about our dinner can be read as on offshoot of this post as well.

Have you read the book Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver? If you haven't, you should. That book has literally inspired me to change the way I live my life in regards to food and food making and food buying habits. She has the perfect blend of wry humor and wit and intelligence and plain old FACTS, and vignettes of different facets of her experiment for her family of four to eat only local food for an entire year. While reading that book, I wanted to dig my fingers into the soil and plant and harvest things, and I wanted to cook and eat and can lots of fruits and vegetables, and I wanted to own chickens, and make cheese, and stop eating animals that not only spent their lives crammed together, but who also had lower levels of important vitamins and other nutrients, and whose eggs had higher levels of the bad kind of cholesterol than their pasture fed cage free counterparts. (Make no mistake, I have no intention of ever becoming vegetarian voluntarily.)

Long before I was finished reading the book, Peter and I had decided it would be extraordinarily clever of us to find some wooden wine crates for free from a wine or liquor store to use as square foot gardening boxes. So we did. And you know what? It really was extraordinarily clever of us! It's working like a charm! We have no dirt of our own, and no sunlight in our back patio, pretty much ever, so, on our front porch we currently have 7 wooden wine crates filled with little growing plants, with plans to find 5 or 6 more. In these boxes, we have squash, peas, spinach, lima beans, and lettuce, accompanied by a couple of potted strawberry plants.

A little over a week ago, we were notified that a garden plot was waiting for us that we had been on a waiting list for. So for the last week we've been going over to our garden weeding, turning the soil, transplanting the thinned out plants from our wine crates (it's worth a try, right?) and some other plants, and finally, today, planting new seeds! We transplanted a potted tomato plant and strawberry plant, and several squash plants. And today we planted: green onions, yellow onions, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, corn, zucchini, cantaloupe, honeydew and one other kind of melon, spinach, and basil!

I have to tell you, the satisfaction I feel from seeing little plants poke out of the ground from tiny seeds we planted and watered is pretty profound. I am profoundly satisfied with my gardens! And hopefully, if we have thumbs anywhere near the color green, we'll be eating our own organically homegrown vegetables in our meals, right around the time our Two Small Farms first 9 week period is over.

Now we can sit back and wait for the fruits of our labor, and while we're waiting, we'll munch on a little bit of that homemade cheese.

Ahhhhhh.

Our Dinner Tonight

2008-04-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

So, recently we signed up for a CSA called Two Small Farms, which delivers fresh veggies to a pickup site nearby (closer than our easy walking distance library). It is a big box of veggies. So big, that in order not to waste any (and to benefit the budget), we are splitting the box with some friends of ours. We've had a fun time incorporating vegetables (some that we've never even heard of before) into our meals in semi-creative ways. Some of the things we've had since we got our first box a week and a half ago are:

*(Potato) & cardoon gratin
*(Potato), carrot, parsnip soup
*Spinach/(tomato) pizza
*Arugula/(tomato) pizza
*Mushroom/radish green/Wensleydale cheese omelette

and the one that takes the cake so far is tonight's dinner:

*salad greens (none of it was lettuce...) with grated radish, grated carrot, boiled eggs, sliced lunchmeats, Wensleydale cheese, (tomato), (black beans), and HOMEMADE mozzarella cheese. Yum! This was served with a side of applesauce.

The fruits/veggies/veggie-like things in parentheses did not come from Two Small Farms.

There were other things we got that were incorporated in smaller ways, like celery for ants on a log, etc.

Using all the vegetables is a challenge and is definitely changing the way we eat for the better. For one thing, it's hard to see yourself spending money on something that goes to waste, so we feel like we HAVE to use it all. We already wasted some mustard greens that we didn't know how to use (because they are spicy and bitter and needed more thought beforehand), but we aim to do a better job in the future. Now we need to find a way to use our agretti and our fennel, preferably before Friday, when we get the next box!

Being a Mom

2008-04-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Being a mom is really really REEEAAAALLY hard work. Being a mom is how you really learn what unconditional love is--especially being a mom of a two year old (I don't know how I'm going to survive the teen years...). Being a mom is working full time and being underappreciated, yet somehow continuing on hour after hour after hour, day after day after day. Being a mom is stopping writing a blog so you can bring up Monk-e-mail on the computer for your two year old.

Love this song!

2008-03-31T15:11:00.000-07:00

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

Worst Blogger on the Web?

2008-03-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

I realize that I am probably one of the most inconsistent bloggers on the web, but if you check my blog, please don't stop! I actually like having the four or five people who visit me somewhat regularly. And, after my most recent blog drought, I think I'm going to try to post at least once a week...

I made a pillowcase dress for Little a few weeks ago, and I even took really cute pictures of it. The the pictures got loaded onto the laptop, and since then I've been too lazy to go and retrieve them, which is why you haven't seen it yet.

And, really, I have lots of things I should be blogging about, such as:

*my adventures in no recipe baking
*my adventures in weight loss
*DANCING!
*bike riding
*how Barbara Kingsolver is my new heroine
*why I want everyone to recycle
*our new wine crate garden

Aren't those topics just tantalizing?

Check this out!

2008-02-27T15:44:00.000-08:00

My Etsy shop, Frills and Frolic!

I also want to make some bags/purses, and maybe some little girl dresses, and some headbands to list there. Maybe one of each of those, at first, to see if anyone wants to buy them. But, it's so fun to be crafty!

Couples Meme

2008-02-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Couples

How long have you been together? Married: 3 years, Dating & Married: 8 1/2 years, Friends: 11 years

How long did you date? 5 years (or 3 if you take out the mission years)

How old is he? 1.25 years younger than me.

Who eats more? It depends on the meal, the food, the day, and who has eaten more recently.

Who said "I love you" first? He did.

Who is taller? He is, by an inch or so.

Who is smarter? Neither of us is humble enough to admit that the other might be smarter, but he knows much more trivia (more facts)...

Who does the laundry? Both, usually together.

Who does the dishes? I do about 75-90% of them.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Currently, him.

Who pays the bills? Me, all the way. He has no idea how much money we have.

Who mows the lawn? I'm not sure we'll ever have a lawn. We're not really lawn people. But if we had one, it would be him.

Who cooks dinner? We both do. If he gets home past 5 or so, then I do it by myself, otherwise we share the responsibility. I'm sure that will change after grad school...

Who is more stubborn? Me, all the way. No contest.

Who kissed who first? Both. It was a total failure.

Who asked who out? Neither, it just kinda happened.

Who proposed? Neither--the conversation in which we decided to date determined that we would also marry. Not really the usual way to go about things, and I don't recommend it, but it ended up working out for us.

Who is more sensitive? Outwardly, he is, because I come from an emotionally retarded family (sorry family, if you read this, but I know you agree...)

Who has more friends? He does, because of all those mission companions

Who has more siblings? Me! I have 13 (6 adopted)! He has a piddly 5.

A Meme

2008-02-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not that I know of...
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I don't remember...probably from a movie, since I'm lame like that, but I always try to hide it...
3.DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Some versions of it, sometimes. My most commonly used one is pretty messy, since I'm always hurrying as I write
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? turkey breast or roast beef
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? yep, two little girls
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? If I were ever able to get myself to open up and talk, I think I would be
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I used to A LOT, but I'm not sure if I still do. I'll have to ask someone.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yep
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Depends on the circumstances. It feels risky, so, maybe not.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Um...I like lots of them, depending on my mood and the day. Life, Cheerios, Rice Crispies, granola, Chex, etc etc
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Yes. I'm not sure how I measure up now, because I used to be a lot stronger. I'm actually pretty prideful about it.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? vanilla or fudge marble
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? their teeth
15. RED OR PINK? pink (pale)
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? my emotional retardation
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? all of my family--my sisters and sisters-in-law in particular
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? sure, if anyone actually reads it
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? no shoes, light brownish tan fine corduroy pants
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Cheesecake (Yum!)
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The only sounds I hear are all related to the computer
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? probably some pale color, like a pale pink or a pale yellow
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? Peter with Uno (Shaklee) deodorant, riparian habitat (cottonwoods lining a stream), gasoline, tennis balls, new shoes, rubber cement, GOOD food
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My friend Brittney
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? It wasn't technically sent to me... but I like the person whose blog it was on who asked me to do it :o)
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? basketball, swimming, gymnastics, ice skating
27. HAIR COLOR? brown
28. EYE COLOR? hazelly bluish gray
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? sometimes, esp. when I go swimming (so, not much recently)
30. FAVORITE FOOD? too many to write them down. It depends on my mood.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I LOVE happy endings and I HATE scary movies!
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Munich (with our Clearplay)
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? green
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Spring.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? ice cream or something citrus-y, or both, like lime sherbet
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? probably nobody
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Katie (no internet right now)
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Bread Baker's Apprentice, Sauces, Collapse, Howard's End, Parenting With Love and Logic, Freakonomics, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley--I kid you not. Soon to start Dandelion Wine.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? no mousepad
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Did not watch TV
42. FAVORITE SOUND? My kids laughing, a creek nearby, birds chirping, THUNDER and rain
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? Either the southern tip of Florida, or Prudhoe Bay, AK (I'm pretty sure Prudhoe Bay, Alaska)
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Not really.
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Greenville, TX
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? friends, family
48. WHAT TIME IS IT NOW? 8:49pm

Martie's 30 Day Challenge, Feb 1

2008-02-02T13:23:00.000-08:00

To see what I'm talking about, read this.

My points for yesterday are pretty abysmal. They will be even worse today though...

personal challenge number: 20
rooms completed: 2 of 6
today's extra focus goal accomplished? yes. Way more items than 40! (I counted 1 point for every fork and spoon...)
focus area for tomorrow: none--it's Peter's birthday and I'm taking the day off

I intend to really get rolling starting on Monday.

Awesome Fabric Project #2

2008-02-01T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics of my latest project with the awesome fabric pieces I picked up for free. (Plus some bias tape, which I had never used before. That stuff is awesome! Who knew! I'm never going back...)

The Dress

The Dress in use

Awesome Fabric Project #1

2008-01-27T16:53:00.000-08:00

Here's my first completed project with some of a large amount of awesome designer fabrics I picked up, thanks to the heads up from someone in my ward. I've reeeeeaally been wanting a cool bag, and this fabric was begging for me to make it into one, so, here it is!

Epiphany!

2008-01-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

I just realized that light blue jeans are not really in style anymore. Why did it take me so long to realize this?

I've Changed My Title

2007-12-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

But the web address is the same as before. Now there's a way to get around the fact that someone used that name already! (Nevermind that they don't ever use it...)

Christmas HOOPLA

2007-12-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas
2. Please refer to it as a 'hoopla' and not the dreaded 'm'-word
3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere.
4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible.

1. I used to be a Christmas fanatic. Now I just really love Christmas.
2. I used to wear a different pair of Christmas socks for every day in December, and I still had some left over that I didn't get to wear.
3. The only time I wear ear rings is at Christmas time, because they are Christmas-y ones!
4. I LOVE LOVE LOVE to buy/make other people presents.
5. I have never had a White Christmas.
6. Every December we make snowflakes all the time leading up to Christmas and make sure the house has them hanging all over the place.
7. This year we are spending Christmas at Martie's house.
8. I love Christmas carols. Playing them, singing them, listening to them. I'm not into the Jingle Bells ones so much.
9. I made our stockings 2 years ago out of fleece (hard to sew!), and this year will be Chub's first year with a stocking!
10. This will be my second Christmas ever not spent with my family (MY parents and siblings) and it's with the same people I was with last time it happened!
11. For Christmas, I like to eat Eloise's pan dulce.
12. I made a real gingerbread house this year, out of real home baked gingerbread. (It's harder than it looks.)

I tag: trogonpete. Ha ha! (or Ho Ho Ho!)

Online Radio

2007-12-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine told me about this online radio website. It's got lots of variety. I'm listening to choral Christmas music right now, to get me in the right mood for the gingerbread I'm about to make. Check it out!

http://www.pandora.com/

Hip Hip Hooray!

2007-11-13T13:19:00.001-08:00

Or, Hooray for smaller Hips. I have reached pre(this)pregnancy weight! Now, on to losing even more. I started making sure the cardio I was doing lasted for over 20 minutes at a time and it has really made a difference. Same for eating less. And not having much sugar (though the last three days have been awful). One of these days I should throw my scale away...

What stinks about ebay...

2007-11-07T22:05:00.001-08:00

is when you buy something from a seller who has what looks like a good feedback score and it turns out when you look three weeks after purchasing an item and not hearing from the seller or receiving the item that what's really going on is that they sell so much stinkin' stuff that the hundreds of negative and neutral feedback comments they have barely make a dent in their score.

All for an $8.50 camera cable.

Poo.

New Family Blog

2007-11-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

We've got a new family blog:

palewis.blogspot.com

This blog is now my personal blog, so if you're looking for pictures, etc, check the other one!

Exercise

2007-11-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I actually want to have a waist again. And I really don't want to wait the 9-10 months that it took after Chub was born, and that only gave me a partial one anyway, so, I've come up with a plan. I've already been going to the gym Monday-Thursday morning and doing yoga on Friday mornings, plus I added in a run on Saturday morning this past weekend as well, which I'd like to keep doing. Unfortunately, due to time constraints related to having children and a husband who actually does need to leave the house sometimes, on the days I go to the gym I'm only able to do 20-30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise on a combination of stationary bikes, ellipticals, stairmasters, and treadmills, with some abs and weights for a few minutes afterwards. I also walk there and back, which is about a half mile each way. So, until we can afford to buy a double jogger (I REALLY want this one, but this one will do), I've decided on a "crunch plan":

*For every piece of candy I eat (which isn't very frequent, but it's post-Halloween right now...), 50 crunches.
*For every dessert I eat, 100 crunches
*For every meal with potato or white rice, 100 crunches
*For every time I eat white bread, 100 crunches

This helps me eat better, and helps offset at least a little when I make poor eating choices.

Think it'll work?

A Happy Hello

2007-11-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

I've been working out at the gym with a friend for the last three weeks, which has been really awesome! Usually when I get home everyone is either still asleep, or Daddy and Chub (and maybe Shrimpy) are downstairs eating breakfast or reading. But today, as soon as I opened the door, Chub turned around from the recliner and said "Mommy!", giving me a huge grin. I walked into the living room to see Chub sitting in the recliner by herself, with her Pooh bear, her dolly Atigun and her stuffed eagle, Kenai. Daddy was nowhere in the vicinity. So I went upstairs to find Daddy still asleep in bed, along with Shrimpy. So how, you ask, did Chubby end up waiting for me downstairs? Well, when she woke up, Daddy got out of bed and opened her door and promptly fell back asleep, so Chubby grabbed her toys and took them downstairs and sat and rocked on the recliner with her toys for company until I got home. Now, this may not seem like a big thing to you, but Chub is ALWAYS on the same level of the house as us, and does not usually just sit still in a chair for fun. It was such a cute sight to come home to!

Our Earthquake

2007-11-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

We had an earthquake on Tuesday. It was pretty scary, but only because of the idea of earthquakes, not because this one was particularly bad, because it wasn't. It was a 5.6, and twenty miles away or so. We could hear it coming before we felt it, which was really strange. All in all, it was very different from the way I expected it to feel. And I've gotta say, feeling the earth move under you like that sure makes you feel powerless and insignificant! After it happened, I didn't want to let Chub out of my sight. So, it probably seems like I'm totally blowing the whole thing out of proportion, but, we almost didn't even apply to Stanford because I was afraid of living in the Bay area with its earthquakes... And here we are, earthquakes and all. Hopefully this will be the worst of it!

For the Ladies

2007-10-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Check out these awesome articles written by my smart and insightful sister in law:

http://women.ldsblogs.com/

Really, truly, you won't be disappointed. Read them!

Wow!

2007-10-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Check out this cool blog (more particularly the cool things to make):

http://heatherbailey.typepad.com/

I really want to make some of those cute little booties!

Chub Loves to Play

2007-10-17T16:36:00.001-07:00

Shrimpy is 6 weeks old!

2007-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

The Answers

2007-10-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I was trying to give people some time to answer, BUT, enough is enough. It's been a whole week people!

1) maintain a house that is always clean and comfortable

YES! It is so satisfying (and comfortable) to look around and see a lack of mess--order, cleanliness, a shining kitchen floor, etc. I'm doing pretty well, but when most things are great, there is almost always at least one messy spot in the house.

2) travel to New Guinea

No. That's Peter's dream, but I'm going with him. I'm always too concerned about safety (or should I say unreasonably paranoid?) for wild places to be my dreams. I feel safer dreaming of places like New Zealand, all of Europe, etc.

3) do the Ironman triathlon

No, but I do think it would be fun to do a shorter one sometime. My first goal in this area is to do a relay triathlon and do the swimming portion. Who knows when that will even happen though.

4) learn to play the piano well enough to play in church

YES! Not that I necessarily aspire to play in church, but I want to at least be good enough that I could (without freaking out about it).

5) go back to school and get a graduate degree in linguistics

No. I love linguistics, and I will if the chance comes up, probably, but it's not a goal anymore. I don't like the pressure of assignments, papers, and all of those scary things that graduate students have to do.

6) own a small hobby farm

YES! I want horses, goats, chickens, etc so much! And land for them to roam on. And lots of garden space with lots of fruits and veggies.

7) learn how to cook a perfect souffle

No. I LOVE to cook, but there is no particular dream or goal associated with it. We had a souffle enrichment activity, and it didn't look too hard though. I think I'll try it soon.

8) be the Relief Society President

Um...NO! This was your free NOT. Who does, anyway?

9) be in a community orchestra

YES! I've only ever played in bands, and I really want not only to play again someday, but to experience playing in an orchestra and play some great music, like Beethoven, Dvorak, etc. Bands don't have that, unless someone rewrote it for them.

10) swim on a Masters swim team

YES! I've always wanted to do this. Swimming is my sport. I love it. I love water. I love being in shape, and competing in swimming is tons of fun!

So, there you are. Of my 2 participants, Little Mama beat Real by 1.

I know I have more than two readers!

Clearplay

2007-10-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

We used to be subscribers to CleanFlicks, and when they closed because they lost their lawsuit, we were pretty durn bummed. But recently, a friend of mine told us about Clearplay, which is pretty much exactly the same thing, except instead of renting an already edited DVD, you rent or buy a normal one, and download the edits from their website with a little USB thingy and plug it into a special DVD player you buy from them, and voila! You have a nice edited movie. You also have to pay a low monthly membership fee for access to the movies. We're trying to decide right now if we want to spend that much money just to be able to watch lots and lots of really good movies that will no longer be inappropriate.

Apparently, Clearplay faced a lawsuit similar to the one CleanFlicks had to deal with, since certain filmmakers consider the editing of their movies to be akin to removing measures from a symphony, or covering up the naughty parts of the Venus de Milo. Fortunately, Congress decided that we have a right to filter the content of movies in our own homes, so as long as we're not purchasing something that has already been altered, it's okay. That's why CleanFlicks went down the tubes...

A Quiz for YOU!

2007-10-08T15:29:00.000-07:00

Per my husband's request, here is a little quiz for you. I don't necessarily expect you to get the answers right, since I'm not sure myself what I'm going to put yet, but here goes.

Out of this list of ten things, which FIVE are some of my personal (somewhat passionate) life goals? (I even gave you a free "NOT")

1) maintain a house that is always clean and comfortable
2) travel to New Guinea
3) do the Ironman triathlon
4) learn to play the piano well enough to play in church
5) go back to school and get a graduate degree in linguistics
6) own a small hobby farm
7) learn how to cook a perfect souffle
8) be the Relief Society President
9) be in a community orchestra
10) swim on a Masters swim team

Now that I've finished, I think if anyone guesses all five, they were just lucky. And if anyone guesses the "NOT", then we need to spend some one on one time together...

Feel free to do one of your own, or have a go on Peter's blog.
Good luck!

Fall Fever!

2007-10-06T11:10:00.000-07:00

I have a very bad case of Fall Fever. And watch out--it's contagious! All I can think about is making goodies (pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and muffins, ginger snaps, decorating sugar cookies), Halloween costumes, parties, crafts, getting together with family and friends, and other generally fun and exciting things. And of course, that leads me to Christmas and winter, and I'm pretty much ready to listen to Christmas carols now.

I'm ready to break out the apple cider and hot chocolate, my sweaters and slippers, and oh boy do I wish I had a fireplace right now!

Mmmmmmmmmm! I love this time of year!

It's All About Me!

2007-10-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I never got around to posting my last pregnancy photo. I had Peter take this picture the day before The Shrimp was born, when I thought there was a good chance it was the last day I would be pregnant. So, this is 38w3d:

These next two photos show my really awesome new mommy toy, The Ultimate Baby Wrap. This is the best baby carrier ever! Basically, it combines things like the Snugli and Baby Bjorn and other slings into one, and it is super comfortable and easy to use! I LOVE it. Unfortunately, I'm wearing a shirt the same color as the carrier, so it's hard to see all of the details, but you can see the basic idea. (Especially if you click on that link...)

More Pics of The Shrimp

2007-10-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

These pics were taken at 3 weeks 2 days old:

Super Chub!

2007-10-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Little Chub is such an awesome toddler! She seems to be pretty well adjusted to having The Shrimp around now, and she especially loves playing with all of Shrimpy's things, as you can see in the picture above. You can also see another of her favorite things to do, which is to spread everything all around the floor...

Little Chub also now lets me put her hair up, which is VERY exciting to both Peter and me, because now no one can tell she has an extreme mullet! In the pictures above and below, she actually has what I call a "triceratops" hairdo (there's a ponytail in the back too...), which was just a joke, but I kept the top two in all day, even though they look silly sticking straight up. We usually keep her hair in cute back of the head pigtails, which you can kind of see in the top picture.

Some of Chub's other accomplishments are speaking in little sentences (our favorite is 'That's a whale!'), learning to count, and popping out with vocabulary we had no idea she knew, such as 'woodpecker'. The first time we realized that she knew how to count to ten, we counted up to five slowly, and then she said six, we said seven, she said eight, we said nine, and she said ten. We were amazed! We're also starting to work on her letters, and she loves to get out crayons and paper and have us write letters and words. She also sits with her Daddy to read and makes him drag her finger along the words as he's reading. So far I have no idea what she knows because she usually keeps it hidden until she can completely surprise us with something.

One other very cute thing Little Chub does happens at bedtime. Her Daddy almost always puts her to bed, and she always goes to bed with dolly, pillow, and her special quilt her Aunt Margaret made for her. Daddy puts her blanket on her, then goes and turns off the light. As he's walking to turn it off, Chub is holding the blanket at her chin with a little twinkle in her eye. He turns off the light, and then goes over to kiss her goodnight, and EVERY time, she pulls the blanket over her head and makes Daddy find her. She's done this with me a few times at naptime, but she stopped doing it because it's just not the same with Mommy! Little Chub and her Daddy have built a very special relationship since The Shrimp was born and it is very cute!

Old Pics of The Shrimp

2007-10-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

These are from the first two weeks...

9.8.07

9.9.07

9.14.07

9.19.07

Ta-Dah!

2007-09-18T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Shrimp, 3 days old

The Shrimp has been breastfeeding shield-free for a few days now. Yippee! We'll find out on Thursday how much weight she's gained, but we know she was only 1 oz below birth weight at 1 week old. Her cheeks are starting to fill out, which is super cute, and Peter HAS been taking lots of pictures, so we'll put them up soon.

How We're Doing

2007-09-14T10:37:00.001-07:00

Lest you all sit at home biting your fingernails with worry that things are not going well over here, I thought I'd let you know that things are going GREAT! They could be better, a little, but all in all it's great. My midwife gave me a nipple shield to use with The Shrimp, since she has such a tiny mouth, and now, even though we still use that for almost every feeding, and for the whole time, most of the time, she is at the breast for every feeding which makes me very happy. Now if I could consistently get her to stay awake while she's eating, we could transition off of this thing! (It's a miracle, by the way. I think it really would have helped with Little Chub.)

Aside from that, Shrimp's bilirubin level went down, so we don't have to take her back to the pediatrician anymore, and thank goodness for that because we think she already caught a cold there. She only had 5 heel pricks and 1 shot total in her first week of life. Welcome to the world Shrimpy! It actually got harder and harder to watch them prick her and squeeze blood drops from her heel. I would have thought it would have gotten easier, but by the last time, I was pretty much crawling in my skin. Shrimp has almost no jaundice left, and she's really cute.

Little Chub is doing great. She sometimes gets a little jealous of The Shrimp and tries to throw her off of my lap, so I try to make special time to read stories with her on my lap, because that's her favorite thing in the whole world. She is trying to learn how to be soft ("sof") and gentle ("jettow"). She is having a blast playing with her Aunt Chicki who is here visiting with us. She also has really big feet all of a sudden. They grew through 2 sizes in a matter of weeks, and now I have to go to the store and buy her more, when I just bought her two new pairs about 4 weeks ago. And one of them was actually not on clearance. Go figure. At least now The Shrimp will inherit a really nice barely worn pair of shoes in a year and a half or so.

Little Chub also is a little bit jealous of the fact that The Shrimp gets to nurse. I let her try every time she wants to (we even tried tandem nursing once), but she has no idea how to do it anymore. I wish she did. I feel sad that she was weaned so early. The big change in Little Chub's life is the hardest part for me in the transition to having two kids. Sometimes she's sad now and there's nothing I can do about it, and it makes me feel like I've abandoned her. But we're trying to get into a rhythm, and eventually, Little Chub will get used to having her little sister ("sissi").

As for me, I wouldn't mind if every postpartum period was just like this one, because I'm not sure if it's possible for it to be any better! I had to force myself to sit around for the first few days, on the command of my midwife. I feel great! The only physical complaint was those durned afterpains. And those are a distant memory for me now.

Hooray for having babies! I even had them both, all by myself while they both needed me...for about 30 minutes...

The real fun begins next Wednesday.

My Birth Story...

2007-09-09T22:08:00.001-07:00

Is two posts down.

Breastfeeding The Shrimp

2007-09-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

Sorry Real, and everyone else, for the lack of a birth story so far. Hopefully this issue will be resolved and we can move on to more exciting things.

A few minutes after Shrimp was born, we got to nurse for the first time. It was great! She latched right on and has a powerful suck! I was so excited after the nightmarish first several weeks of my breastfeeding relationship with Little Chub. My midwife reminded us that in the first 24 hours or so, newborns are often more interested in sleeping than anything else, so it was okay if she didn't nurse quite as often as would be the norm after that. Still, she woke up every few hours (not quite as often as 2-3), and she latched on pretty well still. I noticed that there were a few minor things we would need to work on to alleviate some soreness for me, but aside from that, things were great. Day number 2 came around--Thursday. Shrimp's latch was the same as the day before, but I had to aggressively wake her up a lot of the time. Still, once she latched on, it was mostly perfect. Day 3--Friday. The Shrimp is nearly impossible to wake up. But, I still manage to do it, and she eats. My excitement about her nursing abilities compared to Little Chub's and the fact that she was tormented at the pediatrician's and very much needed to nurse after the visit kept me from really realizing that things were going downhill (already had, really). Incidentally, we went across the hall from the pediatrician to the lab where they stuck her heel and took a million drops of blood for the bilirubin test. Also incidentally, my milk was starting to come in that morning, and continued to do so all day, until Friday night, I was engorged. I hadn't realized with Little Chub when it was coming in, probably because of so many stinking sore areas I had, until I was engorged, so as the milk was fully coming in this time, I was optimistically (still! and I didn't really think I was an optimist...) thinking The Shrimp was eating enough to keep us from a repeat performance of engorgement. Unfortunately, The Shrimp was unable to latch on-to my engorgedness, so I had to pump some off the top. By the time I had one side ready for her, she had given up. She refused to try to latch on, and I was getting frustrated. We decided that with all that we learned last time, we might as well feed her what we had pumped, so we bottle fed her the pumped breastmilk. It was breastmilk, but I was not happy about it. She became much more alert after drinking 2 ounces of breastmilk, and even woke up twice in the night to eat (each time after about 3 hours). I had to pump some off the top each time, but after that, with some hard work, we managed to get a successful latch. Now we were thinking that if we could manage to un-engorge me that everything would be a-okay. Sadly, one breast will not un-engorge, with any amount of pumping. The other one is HUGE, but the engorged one in comparison is like Alaska compared to Rhode Island or something (yes, that's an exaggeration...). The Shrimp has been sleeping ALL day, so we've stuffed a bottle into her sleeping mouth to feed her (after trying in vain to breastfeed repeatedly). Then we got a call telling us that her bilirubin is high. They wanted us to go to the ER tomorrow to repeat the bilirubin test, and make sure she's okay. We get to go to a lab instead. We're trying to stuff her full of milk before then, and we're putting her by windows all the time.

So, here I sit, with edema that makes me look worse than when I was pregnant, and causes me to weigh only 3 pounds less than when The Shrimp was born, with a boob the size of Alaska (but as hard as the Grand Canyon), and with a baby who won't wake up (unless it's nighttime and I'm trying to have her NOT sleep on the bed), and therefore, cannot eat without a bottle. It's kind of depressing.

The Shrimp's Birth Story

2007-09-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, September 4th:

I was taking a nap while Little Chub took hers, and I noticed that I was having crampy feelings come and go, but not necessarily in a pattern. I took Little Chub outside to play after she woke up, and this continued. When Peter got home from work and joined us in the courtyard, I told him, "I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be early labor. But then, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't either..." He was surprised that I thought it could turn into the real thing though. The crampy feeling continued to come and go through dinner. After dinner, Peter left to go tutor, so I went for a walk around the apartments with Little Chub. After the walk, I sat down to read, and felt some undeniable contractions, but they were mild, like the ones I had felt every once in a while at night during the previous week and a half. Even though they were mild, I was pretty certain by the time Peter came home (around 8:15pm) that this would develop into true active labor eventually.

We started timing the contractions after we put Little Chub to bed, around 9pm. At this point they were anywhere from 6 to 11 minutes apart--not really predictable. I was reading (Slaughterhouse-Five) during the contractions, as they still weren't all that strong. Peter called our friends that would be watching Little Chub to let them know there was a possibility we'd be calling them in the middle of the night, and I went around the house collecting the bags I'd packed already and getting together everything else we wanted with us. We had dessert, and shortly after eating I felt my mysterious abdominal pain come on, around 10:30pm. At this point, I was freaking out (internally) because my worst fear of this labor was that this pain would happen at the same time, and I wasn't sure I could handle that. I decided to go up to bed to put myself into my weird position that alleviates a small fraction of the abdominal pain, to wait things out there, and see if I could eventually fall asleep. While the abdominal pain was happening, the contractions almost disappeared. I could still feel one every half hour or so, but barely.

Wednesday, September 5:

After a little over two hours, the abdominal pain was gone and I fell asleep for a few minutes to be woken up by a contraction slightly stronger than the strongest I had felt before the abdominal pain came. It was now about 1am. I was excited! Peter had come to bed earlier and we had both decided that as much as it stunk to have the abdominal pain, it would still be nice if labor were really happening, and we were hoping it would resume after the pain went away. I waited a few more minutes, through two more contractions that felt like they were getting a little bit stronger, then woke Peter up to tell him that it definitely seemed like labor was here for real, and asked him what time it was. We timed three more, and they were about 6-7 minutes apart, so we decided to get out of bed and time the contractions (charting them in Excel) and get ready to leave for the birth center, so we could make sure not to leave anything important behind. I was really tired, so I laid down on the floor with a couple of pillows, which was really comfortable, but it felt like I was keeping labor from progressing, so I got up and moved around, collecting even more last minute things to take to the birth center. The contractions started to become strong enough now that my preferred method of dealing with them was to lean against the couch or anything nearby until it was over, but I could still handle them in any position, and I was completely normal inbetween them.

Around 2:30am, we called our midwife and Peter explained to her where I was at in labor. She let us decide if we wanted to come in yet or not, and since the birth center was in San Francisco, about 45 minutes away, we decided to go sooner rather than later, to avoid driving during very strong contractions. So, we called our friends (Brittney and Chris), and dropped Little Chub off. She went back down to sleep like a champ! And we were on our way to have a baby!

The contractions in the car were quite painful, but breathing slowly and trying to relax as completely as possible really helped. Peter drove with one hand and held my hand with the other, and made sure I completely relaxed for each contraction. I also had our dumb cell phone jingle in my head, and my brain slowed down a small part of the melody and repeated it really slowly for each contraction. It was weird, but it really seemed to help. I also found myself chanting in my head, "Open up for the baby," over and over again, which also helped a lot.

When we got to the birth center, shortly after 4am, I'm not sure the midwife was convinced I was really in labor because I think she thought I was acting too normal, but she took a pee sample and checked the baby's heartbeat through three contractions. As soon as we arrived, the contractions spaced out a little bit. They had been about 4 1/2 minutes apart for the whole drive over. So, the midwife checked me to make sure things were really happening enough to call it labor, and we found out I was 5 centimeters and completely effaced. She said that we didn't know where I started from, but usually this point was what took the longest, and things were usually much quicker after 5 centimeters and full effacement. I was happy because with the contractions I was already having, I was hoping to be at least 5 centimeters along.

We walked over to our birth room, and at about the same time the contractions really started to get serious. The midwife told me to make sure to relax my shoulders while I was standing and leaning against things, and I didn't think I could relax any more than I was already in that position, so I laid down (on my right side) on a comfy little pad they had laid out on the floor for me in case I didn't feel like climbing onto the tall bed, with my head on Peter's lap. All along he had been rubbing my back or stroking my hair or doing anything he could to help me through contractions. It turned out that what I wanted the most was for him to not actively do anything, but just to make sure he had some physical contact with me during a contraction, like to rest his hand on the small of my back. The contractions on the floor were a turning point in the labor--I was no longer able to come fully back to reality and my normal self between contractions, and didn't move between them. I kept my eyes closed. Peter reminded me often to breathe and to relax. With each contraction, I relaxed, breathed, and closed my eyes, trying to feel with each contraction when the peak was and when it was tapering down, and really concentrating on the "shape" of the contractions. After each contraction, and sometimes during, I was shocked by how incredibly painful and intense they were. My mind knew that labor was strong and knew it would be painful, but somehow, as is true for most people, I was able to forget over a year and a half just how strong and intense contractions really are. In all honesty with myself, though, I think these contractions were stronger than the ones I had with Little Chub.

Shortly after lying down on the pad, I was already feeling pressure in my butt with each contraction, which was really surprising to me. After a few of those, I decided to get up and go to the bathroom. They were starting to fill the tub now too, and I was eager to get in there, which was a good sign that I needed it. I hadn't really felt like it when she had mentioned before that she didn't want to get it ready just yet to make sure not to slow the labor down. I had three or four close together contractions while I was sitting on the toilet, and another one leaning against the edge of the tub right after coming out of the bathroom. The midwife rubbed my back during this contraction, while Peter was changing into his swimsuit in the bathroom. Then they helped me into the tub, which, just like last time, felt like a bit of heaven to enter into. Ahhhhhhhh. How nice. But then another contraction came and I felt the same as before, except that I really really love water, and being in a warm tub, and a very slight edge was taken off of the contractions. For each contraction in the tub I was leaning against the edge of the tub with my back and butt in the air. At one point I commented that the shower water that was still filling the tub was going up my butt.

I changed angles a few times, and after a few contractions in the tub, I felt my body make a little push and I grunted involuntarily. At the same time, Peter could feel the baby move down, through my lower back where his hand was rested. That urge was a surprise, and I told the midwife so after Peter called her back into the room. She reminded me of the desire I had expressed to her not to push the baby out too fast and told me to breathe through the contractions instead of pushing. I asked her if she thought my body might be cueing me to push a little before it was ready, and she told me what that would feel like, with pain still pretty intense, like the way contractions were before pushing started. I felt like that was the case, and so made sure not to push yet. Once the pushing urge started, I started to groan as low as I could for each contraction, and often decided to just keep groaning inbetween them a little bit too because it felt kind of nice to groan! Before this, I had been silent for every contraction, not for any particular reason, but because that's what felt natural to me. I had a few more pushing but not pushing contractions, and before I knew it, I felt like the baby was near the end of the birth canal, and the midwife was instructing me on how I could help guide the baby out myself with my hands, which I feel was very intuitive of her because it really helped me a lot knowing where I was in that process and actually feeling the baby's head coming out. Finally, once I had this feeling of the baby being near the end of the birth canal, I started pushing with each contraction, but not too fast. I could feel her head coming most of the way out in the next contraction but then recede again, so in the next one, I pushed it most of the way out, and in the next one, out came her head and then the rest of the body, and I felt the whole thing! It was so amazingly cool to feel her coming out, both with my hands and in the birth canal. Peter was sitting on the edge of the tub while I leaned against him and talking to me excitedly about how we were so close to having a baby, and the midwife and I caught the baby and pulled her up to my stomach. Her cord was very short, so we couldn't pull her up any higher, not even to my chest, so we decided to clamp and cut the cord a little sooner than we otherwise would have so we could pull her up to my chest and blanket her. She was born at 6:03am, and the placenta was delivered five minutes later. The Shrimp entered the world after 5 hours of active labor, covered in a thick coat of vernix, 6 lbs 3 oz, 18 inches, and ready to eat!

The Shrimp

2007-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

You've seen these already, but they need to be here, so here they are again!

Weight: 6lbs 3 oz

Length: 18in