Saturday, October 31, 2009
Day 1 Photos
Incredible as it may seem, these are the only photos I took the first day... the nurses took a few that involve a word that rhymes with 'tipple' so I'm NOT publishing those. Insert your own cute captions after every photo. I'm going back to snuggle.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Baby's Here!
Sawyer James was born today (10/29/09) at 10:46am, weighing in at 7lbs, 12 oz. Photos to come.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Pregnancy FAQ's
Q: Have you had the baby yet?
A: No.
Q: Aren't you ready to have the baby?
A: Sure, but I'd rather wait until it was ready.
Q: Are you sure you don't know if it's a boy or a girl?
A: Yes. We're sure.
Q: Do you know and you're just not telling us:
A: No. I'm a terrible liar. If I knew, you'd know.
Q: Why don't you want to know?
A: Because it's more fun this way & it's making my mom nuts: A bonus.
Q: Are you still on bedrest?
A: No. I've been able to do whatever I want for 2 weeks now.
Q: Are you back to work?
A: Nope. My arms don't reach the table.
Q: So what do you do all day?
A: Mostly resting, with some walking, lots of cooking and freezing meals, cleaning the house, some packing, and lots of organizing. I also spend quite a bit of time in a rocking chair humming lullaby's and crocheting booties (that's a total lie).
Q: Is the baby's room ready?
A: That depends on what you define as the baby's room. I've heard rumors that the Chicago baby's room is coming along nicely, but here in Plevna we've done our best to adapt the house to the newcomer.
Here you can see where the baby will sleep. It's a bassinet that we inherited from my family. It's on wheels = fun! I've covered it with bug screen secured with elastic to keep the scary spiders and curious cats out of it. There are decorative layers of lace and satin, but they don't work with the bug screen. The bassinet lives about 18" to the right of our bed, squeezed between a bedside table and my dresser. Perfect!!
The rest of the baby stuff lives in the space adjoining the kitchen and living room. Starting from the left we have a rolling caddy from WalMart with all the clothes, diapers, and blankets I could cram into it. The silver trash can serves as a diaper pail (for the washables- there's a cloth liner in it). On the table that formerly held up our grill is a tub with diapering supplies and a basket with the trifold cloth diapers, washable wipes, and diaper covers. A large snowsuit covers the basket for now because the cats keep trying to sleep on the diapers. On the far right is the dog crate, covered with plywood and a blanket that we're calling a changing table. I've kept the plastic cover on the changing pad because it's the #1 favorite place for cats to sleep right now. Actually, there's a cat sleeping on it in this photo- he's even adjusted it to the correct postural angle for him. Cleaver fellow.
A: No.
Q: Aren't you ready to have the baby?
A: Sure, but I'd rather wait until it was ready.
Q: Are you sure you don't know if it's a boy or a girl?
A: Yes. We're sure.
Q: Do you know and you're just not telling us:
A: No. I'm a terrible liar. If I knew, you'd know.
Q: Why don't you want to know?
A: Because it's more fun this way & it's making my mom nuts: A bonus.
Q: Are you still on bedrest?
A: No. I've been able to do whatever I want for 2 weeks now.
Q: Are you back to work?
A: Nope. My arms don't reach the table.
Q: So what do you do all day?
A: Mostly resting, with some walking, lots of cooking and freezing meals, cleaning the house, some packing, and lots of organizing. I also spend quite a bit of time in a rocking chair humming lullaby's and crocheting booties (that's a total lie).
Q: Is the baby's room ready?
A: That depends on what you define as the baby's room. I've heard rumors that the Chicago baby's room is coming along nicely, but here in Plevna we've done our best to adapt the house to the newcomer.
Here you can see where the baby will sleep. It's a bassinet that we inherited from my family. It's on wheels = fun! I've covered it with bug screen secured with elastic to keep the scary spiders and curious cats out of it. There are decorative layers of lace and satin, but they don't work with the bug screen. The bassinet lives about 18" to the right of our bed, squeezed between a bedside table and my dresser. Perfect!!
The rest of the baby stuff lives in the space adjoining the kitchen and living room. Starting from the left we have a rolling caddy from WalMart with all the clothes, diapers, and blankets I could cram into it. The silver trash can serves as a diaper pail (for the washables- there's a cloth liner in it). On the table that formerly held up our grill is a tub with diapering supplies and a basket with the trifold cloth diapers, washable wipes, and diaper covers. A large snowsuit covers the basket for now because the cats keep trying to sleep on the diapers. On the far right is the dog crate, covered with plywood and a blanket that we're calling a changing table. I've kept the plastic cover on the changing pad because it's the #1 favorite place for cats to sleep right now. Actually, there's a cat sleeping on it in this photo- he's even adjusted it to the correct postural angle for him. Cleaver fellow.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Why I Haven't Posted...
No, it's not because I had a baby. It's because we've started researching Christmas presents and I've gotten distracted with something SO incredibly funny that I keep almost inducing labor every time I see it or think about it, or Stephan mentions it, or even hints about it.
He says it's not that funny.
Well it is to me. Enjoy!
He says it's not that funny.
Well it is to me. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Public Opinion
As it turns out, being pregnant is about the same as being a celebrity- everyone feels obligated to have an opinion about it! Well, let's just make that formal, shall we?
Feel free to post a comment (not anonymous please) with your specific guesses!!
Feel free to post a comment (not anonymous please) with your specific guesses!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
I Interrupt this Nostalgia...
To bring you another amazing recipe. Need cake? Need cake NOW?
Have cake:
(Thank you Melanie for finding this when I needed it most!)
Ingredients
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons oil
dash vanilla extract or lemon extract (or whatever flavor you would like)
1 large coffee mug or small bowl
Directions
Add the dry ingredients to the cup and stir together.
Stir in the egg, water, oil and extract of choice.
Microwave for 3 minutes (1000 watts).
The cake should rise to the top of the mug.
Allow to cool a little and turn out onto a plate.
This would actually serve 2-4 easily, but if you want to indulge and eat it all, I won't tell.
Have cake:
(Thank you Melanie for finding this when I needed it most!)
Ingredients
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
3 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons oil
dash vanilla extract or lemon extract (or whatever flavor you would like)
1 large coffee mug or small bowl
Directions
Add the dry ingredients to the cup and stir together.
Stir in the egg, water, oil and extract of choice.
Microwave for 3 minutes (1000 watts).
The cake should rise to the top of the mug.
Allow to cool a little and turn out onto a plate.
This would actually serve 2-4 easily, but if you want to indulge and eat it all, I won't tell.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Being Reflective
Last night was the annual Plevna Fire Department Pancake and Sausage Supper. Stephan was quick to point out to me that this is the last year we'll be participating in it. You know, because I needed something else to be emotional about. Which got me thinking about how hard it was for me to move here, 40 miles south of nowhere, kind of on a whim, almost 3 years ago. Want to stroll with me?
I started the blog the day we arrived, January 29th, 2007. At that point I was just trying to keep as many people updated as possible without being on the phone all day long. Those first few days were very exciting and very busy!
We were introduced to Plevna, Montana almost right away, even though I couldn't imagine living somewhere so tiny... it's where we ended up settling. Stephan's first job as a nurse started out overwhelming for him, but, as many of you know, he soon settled into a nice routine and fell in love with the career, his patients, the town, and all his coworkers. With Stephan settling in, I started feeling more and more like we were on safari somewhere strange, instead of tucking in to a cozy town. Less than a month into the move I still had a sense of humor about everything, but that was about to come to an abrupt end....
[to be continued after this enormous wave of pregnancy-fueled emotion subsides]
I started the blog the day we arrived, January 29th, 2007. At that point I was just trying to keep as many people updated as possible without being on the phone all day long. Those first few days were very exciting and very busy!
We were introduced to Plevna, Montana almost right away, even though I couldn't imagine living somewhere so tiny... it's where we ended up settling. Stephan's first job as a nurse started out overwhelming for him, but, as many of you know, he soon settled into a nice routine and fell in love with the career, his patients, the town, and all his coworkers. With Stephan settling in, I started feeling more and more like we were on safari somewhere strange, instead of tucking in to a cozy town. Less than a month into the move I still had a sense of humor about everything, but that was about to come to an abrupt end....
[to be continued after this enormous wave of pregnancy-fueled emotion subsides]
Thursday, October 8, 2009
I'm Just Sayin'...
Things that come with instruction manuals:
~ Strollers
~ Car Seats
~ Changing Tables
~ Diaper Bags
~ Bottles
~ Pillows
~ Cameras
~ Breast Pumps
~ Nursing Bras
~ Diapers
Things that don't come with instruction manuals:
~ Babies
~ Husbands
~ Strollers
~ Car Seats
~ Changing Tables
~ Diaper Bags
~ Bottles
~ Pillows
~ Cameras
~ Breast Pumps
~ Nursing Bras
~ Diapers
Things that don't come with instruction manuals:
~ Babies
~ Husbands
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Overheard: 4:36am
Me: I think we've never planned so much for something we've been so unprepared for.
Friday, October 2, 2009
NOT a Mommy Blog
But I do admit that I should never read Dooce before trying to type my own blog. I think it has the same effect as listening to someone with a thick accent for a few hours: after a while you just start speaking mush.
Yes, if you've noticed, I'm posting this at 4am Montana time. I think it's God's way of getting me ready to ignore man's laws of time and schedule in order to respond to the demands of the chicken that's right now practicing judo-karate moves in my belly. And, yes, we've been calling it a chicken.
If you've been pregnant (or lived with someone who has been) you might identify with the following story. If not, I'm giving you a glimpse of the chemical imbalance partly to blame for me being awake and eating raspberry popsicles at 4am:
About 12 hours ago I was very hungry and knew I needed protein. So I propped myself up in the kitchen to make tuna salad (only the second time in 9 months I've eaten canned tuna). Into the bowl went the tuna. Into the fridge went my arm to pull out the mayonnaise. Just to be responsible about it, I checked the expiration date. 3/11/09. I called my dad, a man who believes in coasting to a stop 1/2 a mile away from a red light to save just that much more money on gas: "How expired does mayonnaise have to be to seriously be bad?" The answer depended on how badly I needed the mayonnaise. Very helpful. But 6 months expired was too much. And that did it. There were tears. The mayonnaise was expired. No mayonnaise. No tuna salad. How was I supposed to be take care of an entire human being if I couldn't even make tuna salad? What kind of parent keeps mayonnaise 6 months past its expiration date? How on earth was I going to cope?
In the process of banging my head against the refrigerator door in agony (yes, agony. it's my story) I remembered the sandwich Stephan brought home a week ago that came with little packets of mayonnaise. The tears dried up. The salad was made. All was right with the world.
Moral of the story: seems parenting might be more about teamwork than I first believed.
Real moral of the story: WOW- I should really stay out of the kitchen.
Yes, if you've noticed, I'm posting this at 4am Montana time. I think it's God's way of getting me ready to ignore man's laws of time and schedule in order to respond to the demands of the chicken that's right now practicing judo-karate moves in my belly. And, yes, we've been calling it a chicken.
If you've been pregnant (or lived with someone who has been) you might identify with the following story. If not, I'm giving you a glimpse of the chemical imbalance partly to blame for me being awake and eating raspberry popsicles at 4am:
About 12 hours ago I was very hungry and knew I needed protein. So I propped myself up in the kitchen to make tuna salad (only the second time in 9 months I've eaten canned tuna). Into the bowl went the tuna. Into the fridge went my arm to pull out the mayonnaise. Just to be responsible about it, I checked the expiration date. 3/11/09. I called my dad, a man who believes in coasting to a stop 1/2 a mile away from a red light to save just that much more money on gas: "How expired does mayonnaise have to be to seriously be bad?" The answer depended on how badly I needed the mayonnaise. Very helpful. But 6 months expired was too much. And that did it. There were tears. The mayonnaise was expired. No mayonnaise. No tuna salad. How was I supposed to be take care of an entire human being if I couldn't even make tuna salad? What kind of parent keeps mayonnaise 6 months past its expiration date? How on earth was I going to cope?
In the process of banging my head against the refrigerator door in agony (yes, agony. it's my story) I remembered the sandwich Stephan brought home a week ago that came with little packets of mayonnaise. The tears dried up. The salad was made. All was right with the world.
Moral of the story: seems parenting might be more about teamwork than I first believed.
Real moral of the story: WOW- I should really stay out of the kitchen.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
New Post
Hi.
I know it's been a while. I don't even have a good excuse, since I sit in front of the laptop about 12 hours a day now watching internet TV. But nothing's been going on, so I couldn't think of anything to write about. At the moment I'm on bed rest because I've been having contractions for 3+ weeks and it's too early for the baby to come yet. And, as Stephan has defined for me, bed rest doesn't include things like cleaning the kitchen, moving bookshelves to dust behind them, or baking mass quantities of breads and muffins to "get ready" for when the baby comes. Bed Rest involves mainly just sitting in bed, exploring all the things that Hulu, Netflix, and MTV.com have to offer. I've also crocheted 8 hats and 2 scarves, started learning French, and read two very good books.
So, I'm here, in bed. And I will be in bed until October 8th when both Stephan and the doctor feel it's safe to have the baby (that would be 4 weeks early since the due date isn't until November 4th), at which time I'll be taking long walks on the beach, hikes through the mountains, and swims in the ocean... or as close as I can get to doing those things in Plevna, Montana.
I know it's been a while. I don't even have a good excuse, since I sit in front of the laptop about 12 hours a day now watching internet TV. But nothing's been going on, so I couldn't think of anything to write about. At the moment I'm on bed rest because I've been having contractions for 3+ weeks and it's too early for the baby to come yet. And, as Stephan has defined for me, bed rest doesn't include things like cleaning the kitchen, moving bookshelves to dust behind them, or baking mass quantities of breads and muffins to "get ready" for when the baby comes. Bed Rest involves mainly just sitting in bed, exploring all the things that Hulu, Netflix, and MTV.com have to offer. I've also crocheted 8 hats and 2 scarves, started learning French, and read two very good books.
So, I'm here, in bed. And I will be in bed until October 8th when both Stephan and the doctor feel it's safe to have the baby (that would be 4 weeks early since the due date isn't until November 4th), at which time I'll be taking long walks on the beach, hikes through the mountains, and swims in the ocean... or as close as I can get to doing those things in Plevna, Montana.
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