The Minnesota Westons

Free Christmas Card Templates

2011-12-21T09:56:00.000-06:00

I have been working on my design skills in Photoshop, and while experimenting I created these two simple Christmas Card templates that I am happy to offer free to my readers. These templates are in psd format and can be used by anyone with Adobe Photoshop CS5 or PSE.

To use the templates, users will need to be able to use clipping masks. The best tutorial I have found for beginning users is from The CoffeeShop Blog. Rita, the author also has a ton of other wonderful tutorials, Actions, templates and other digital design freebies. She is one of the first and best sources I have found when I first started using Photoshop, and wonderfully a lot of her stuff works or can be adapted for PSE users.

These templates are free for anyone for personal usage, but not for use in commercial ventures, be it selling these templates as your own, using them for photography clients, or using the images in these samples.

To download Template #1 click here then right click on the file and select "Extract All."


Image Credit: Carrie Weston Photography

To download Template #2 click here then right click on the file and select "Extract All."

Apples-- Week 2 and the Resistance of Overplanning

2011-10-26T16:17:00.000-05:00

Just a few scant weeks into the beginning of Mommie School/ Pre-Homeschooling Noah I came to a realization. I was waaay too overplanned for what I was wanting to do with him. Worked into my schedule were two week and one week themes, which made sense during the planning phase of summer. I wanted to have one theme per alphabet letter and follow a lot of the Tot School and other online curriculum for toddlers was guiding me to.

However, with only one child and the abundance of activities and games available out there, I was finding it hard to print it all, ready it all and to keep Noah's attention to simple do the number of good activities out there during our daily time down in the family room. So my choice was to either forget some activities or forget some themes: I opted for the latter.

Not that the information out there on Tot School and other sites is bad, but for us I really wanted to opt for a more relaxed plan for this special time. I want Noah to know that the time I spend teaching him is, from the beginning, a time for him to explore and have fun, and that I am willing to learn at his pace and in the way that suits us best. I want to be spending more time with him and less time planning and cutting and laminating (although I do love my laminator that the Hubs got me for my birthday a ridiculous amount.)

So we found ourselves with a second week of Apples in my revised plan, and we had a wonderful time outside playing in the apples at Minnetonka Orchards with a great group I am involved with from Meetup.com. It is a haul from up here in the north metro of the Twin Cities, but it was a wonderful getaway from our daily routine and Noah loved the trees, the train play-structure as well as the animals in the small farm area.

We rounded out our week's activities with one of the classic preschool apple activities- apple painting. Noah used the halved apples for stamping, but actually enjoyed using a brush to paint the apples themselves more than anything. Noah is still somewhat phobic when it comes to getting his hands sticky, so I like to allow him the freedom to use a brush or use his hands when it is time to get messy.

(This is also one of the last activities we did on our old breakfast table that we recently replaced. Chair recovering and table refinishing posts coming soon!) :)

Friday Photo Bliss-- Fire Safety Day

2011-09-30T15:44:00.001-05:00

Whew-- I haven't posted one of these in a long time, but I am so over the blogger guilt for not posting, when really I am writing this blog as a creative outlet and a way to share our life with family and friends we are far from. No blog boss is going to come along and chastise me for not posting.

Nevertheless, I am trying to get back into sharing these, because Noah really is too gorgeous not to share. ;) After the photos I've shared recently though it is beginning to look to you all like Noah is a silly, clumsy little boy who is constantly sticking things in his ears, when really he is pretty coordinated and a pretty good little dancer to boot.

Buddy, next week's photo will show what a suave, cool dude you are-- Mommie promises!

Fall Decorations- Halloween Bats and Silhouettes

2011-09-17T15:24:00.000-05:00

Confession time: I am one of those people. You know-- the type that gets their fall decorations and holiday goodies out way too soon. I listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and as soon as August ended, I opened up my Pinterest board full of fall digital freebies and got to work in our living room.

It has been a mission of mine to actually use the wonderful tutorials and freebies that I spend hours looking over and downloading from that very addictive site, and I have loved all of the inspiration that Pinterest has given me, as well as being a great way to find money saving ideas for decorating my home for the holidays. One of the first things I have done is decorate a pair of display shelves in the living room where I regularly rotate out seasonal decor.

I created the Frankenstein's Monster and Witch silhouettes using these printable and free spooky templates from BHG. I simply downloaded and printed the outlines, and used them as stencils on two Halloween-ey scrapbook papers that I picked up in the Dollar Spot at Target on clearance last year after the holiday. Using inexpensive frames I already had on hand (in fact one of these is usually up there with another image in it) I was able to further increase my savings and decrease the amount of seasonal decor. I have to store.

I am also adorning my living room with a flock (is that the right word?) of spooky black bats using this template from Country Living. These easy to make bats are created by borrowing a few pieces of my son's construction paper (or scrapbook paper) and folding, tracing and cutting. I then used some painter's tape to fasten the creepy things to the walls.

I admit, this is a bit early to begin decorating for Halloween, even for our holiday- happy family like ours, but due to a lot of schedule shuffling and a crazy work schedule for the Hubs, we are going to be in and out of town so much this autumn that I need to enjoy it while I can. And I am also adding more to the decorations that won't have to come down once November hits.

Back to crafting!

A is for Apple

2011-09-14T12:20:00.001-05:00

This week marks the first full week of my pre-homeschooling Noah. I have struggled with what to even call it, because obviously he is too young for traditional school, but he is to the point of loving more structured play and games.

We began last week with calendar, stories and games. I am keeping it simple and only working with Noah for as long as he is interested in the activities I have planned. I have been pleasantly surprised with how much he seems to look forward to these times, and with how he is always excited whenever I say, "Noah, should we go downstairs and play some games?"

"Okay!" (For some reason this is how he always answers when we ask him if he wants to do something. We're working on a more polite version, but this is so cute I'm not trying too hard.)

We are beginning with the classic preschool first theme of Apples, and doing apple crafts, counting apples and most of all-- eating apples. There have been several activities that just haven't happened, either because of Noah's 2 year old attention span, or because he happens to be teething and just wants a, "Cu-ddle," which is the main thing he needs at his age.

Typically we do an extremely simple calendar, where he puts the number on the calendar, we sing the days of the week, a few other songs and read a few stories. Then we play a few games which transitions into working in the rest of the room.

One of Noah's favorite activities is looking in his nature bowl. We put things that he has collected on recent walks in the bowl along with some magnifying glasses and a couple paint brush. You wouldn't believe how dirty those stones seem to be and how much cleaning they need. :) I will be occasionally adding water to this to add another sensory element and let him brush the rocks, twigs etc. and notice the changes in color and feel.

One word of caution-- be sure that the acorns, rocks etc. have no bugs or other things growing on them or you could have quite a mess. Sadly in a few short weeks we will not have to worry as much as temperatures drop and the world outside begins to hibernate. A nature table or bowl is a great way to avoid having anything hatch in your little one's room and confine the collecting to a reasonable amount. As a child I was always known for gathering a bit too many rocks and things from the outdoors. I soon had to keep my collection under the deck of my parent's home, where many of my former treasures remain to this day.

For out thematic elements we are using some of the thematic elements from Totally Tots as well as their simple verse and printables for this theme. Obviously, Noah is too young for verse memorization on a meaningful level, but I believe in introducing the Word of God at an early age and hiding it in his heart for as long as he can remember.

For the simple thematic art project pictured below I simply gave Noah a paper plate with an uppercase A printed on the back. Then I gave him glue, paper to rip, and as many other red art supplies as I could get my hands on and let him glue and create. Admittedly, I did guide him with the pipe cleaner stem and leaf, but I work really hard to let him enjoy the process of creation without putting my idea of what he should create.

State Fair

2011-09-13T22:51:00.000-05:00

Sadly, I am so backed up with work and home that I have been negelcting you, my few readers, lately. I have been so busy with doing the photo editing I have to do, that I haven't had much time for the posting the photos of things I simply have wanted to be doing.

I am going to endeavor to catch up over the next few days, but I feel in saying that that I am committing one of the blogging deadly sins. It seems like every time I read a blog that hasn't been updated recently the last post is filled with exhortations of how they pledge to keep up better with posting and how they have so much to write about in the next months.

In this case I will let my photos do the speaking for me on our trip to the State Fair in all of its Minnesota- wonderfulness.

"What are the piggie doing Noah?"

"Nurse!"

Yup, he still knows him some nursing when he sees it, and is still interested in breasts of any kind. I have only made it through the John Deere and Miracle of Birth Center photos so far, so there may be more coming, but even for that alone I am so thankful that we got to visit the Fair with Grandpa Jerry.

Color Inspiration-- Fragile Petals

2011-08-26T13:00:00.000-05:00

You know those blogs and people that inspire you? Those that don't just do fun crafts, but those that try to foster a spirit of creativity in their readers? Wish I was more like that. However, Patty Schaffer-- the wonderful blogger of Capture the Details, who I recently found through Pinterest is one of those women. I love her eye for color combinations in general, and when she began creating color swatches based on photos the "details" in life I was really hooked.

And, of course, I wanted to create one of my own. The photo I chose was from a recent landscape photography session I did. This vase was sitting on my client's wonderful long porch-- the kind with rocking chairs an a sweet little table perfect for curling up with tea and a book on a cool summer evening. (Sigh) I wanted to capture the beauty of the flowers, but I am also loving the way that the light green of the stems in the vase seems to be glowing within the darker glass.

These color explorations can be used in selecting colors in digital scrapbooking and design, choosing the right paint colors for your home, or fabric for quilting or other crafts. Coming soon will be a template so that you can create these yourself, and I am kind of hooked on making these. I am so excited to take these colors and put them into play in other ways!

5 In a Row-- Bunnies and Monkeys and Ducks, Oh My!

2011-08-22T23:41:00.000-05:00

Over the summer we have been taking it pretty easy-- busy summer schedule or swimming and park visits not included. However, summer is coming to a close and with it Noah and I will be moving into a time of more focused learning and reading.
I won't say that we are homeschooling per-se, but we are at least going to be using this year to pursue the possibility and see how it feels. A part of that is having a greater sense of a theme, and with it thematic books. However, I have been debating how I would like to present these books to Noah. We aren't in a formal classroom, and I don't think that he would flourish under falsely created school-like conditions. Instead I have been looking for a way to make sure that we are really getting to know the stories that we are pulling from our shelves and the library shelves and get to know the characters therein.

Imagine my delight to come across a recent post at The Imagination Tree detailing her weekly link party of 5 In a Row Books. As Anna Ranson on Imagination Tree states,

"The idea is that you choose 5 titles from among your usual books (or from the library) and read them every single day for at least a week....short picture books which feature strong rhythm and/ or repeated refrain so that the children can quickly memorise the words and join in with the story-telling. This empowers them to be able to "read" and re-tell stories from a young age, and also makes them very fluent in a range of text types and literature styles."

It is great to see other families interested in this and read of their experiences with reading the same books over and over for a week and seeing how their child responds. Now, reading at least 5 a day isn't a problem out here for Momma Weston. Often Noah will move between Jim and I having a book read 2 or three times in a row, and every night he knows he gets 4 books before bed, and catches me on it if I try to skimp.

Some nights when I am exhausted before we go in there to read I wish I had set it up from the beginning as 3 before bed, but most nights I am curious what he will choose and excited as he notices more and more detail in the illustrations. I won't be limiting myself at bedtime to read these selections every day, but it helps to have that built in time to focus on Noah and his burgeoning love of the written word.

Reading 5 a day is no issue, but it will be a challenge to be faithful and read each of these books every day, as Noah is lately scattered in his book choices, where he used to want to read the same books every day several times for months. (I'm a bit happy to have the variety.)

For our first week I am picking books from Noah's regular selections that he has been choosing lately and as we proceed into the month of September I will try to choose books more on theme.

Tonight was my second day of reading all 5, and this evening Noah had a minor meltdown at bedtime. His Da is working a show at the Convention Center right now, which means he
is up and away before Noah wakes, working the weekend and staying later in the evening, and Noah was enjoying some Da-snuggle time on the couch when it was time to go to bed and he wasn't very happy, but the meltdown showed just how much he needed the sleep.

But, I digress. I asked him what he wanted to read as his first book; usually something transportation themed wins out, but tonight he sniffed and told me, "Bunny-- flower." It took me a minute, but then I realized he had been speaking of Margaret Wise Brown's adorable book about a Mother Bunny whose son is threatening to run away. In one page her little one tells her that he will hide as a crocus in a hidden garden, and she tells him that if he does that, she will follow and be a gardener.

Yup, after a meltdown all that would soothe my usual rough and tumble boy is reading about a bunny that turns into a flower-- he even sniffs the pages of books when he sees flowers on them, which is about the most adorably, achingly cute thing ever!

Our Selections:

The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Curious George and the Bunny by H.A. Rey

5 Little Monkies Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

5 Little Ducks Went Out One Day by Pamela Paparone

Bill Grogan's Goat byMary Ann Hoberman

Free Printable Verse- Zephaniah 3:14-15

2011-08-18T16:31:00.000-05:00

Recently I have had a renewed longing to have the Word of God around me on a daily basis. Before I was a mom, I never had the issue of finding time to set apart for prayers during the day, and now that I am busy with a little one and everything else I find the old adage is true: I really am "too busy not to pray."

And to accomplish this I and working to have more verses up around my house that are encouraging reminders of the importance of the joyful spirit I am supposed to have.

One of my favorite verses of all time was one that I knew I needed up -- Zephaniah 3:14-15. At a very difficult time in my life this verse was very impactful and spoke to me as a young woman. This file contains the verse in the version you see here as well as aversion on white with turquoise accents-- just in case you were looking to save a bit of ink from your printer. :) It is in both jpeg and PDF formats for you to download for your personal use.

If you happen to download this image and print it out, I would love to see where you have it displayed, so feel free to leave your link in the comments below!

A Day on the Farm

2011-08-16T22:42:00.000-05:00

Noah and I took advantage of the lovely weather we've been having at the end of this summer to full advantage. We have had one of the hottest/coldest/wettest/ most humid summers I've seen and there has always been something interfering with us enjoying ourselves too much. In fact, even tonight it has been storming here in Fridley.

However, this morning was sunny and beautiful and mercifully in the low 80s for a trip to nearby Eidem Homestead-- a historical farm of the city of Brooklyn Park that was having a free event. In spite of some serious busyness we couldn't pass up the chance to see real animals.

After wandering and seeing the sheep, goats, cow, chickens and ducks, we met up with Sharon and her son Matthew, who are members of a Meetup group I am involved in. Our boys hadn't seen each other in quite some time, but in that way that little kids do, they were back to being friends in seconds. Matthew took Noah by the hand and led him to the farm's large sleigh and they spent quite some time figuring out how to best conquer the mountainous wooden seat. There was some unintentional apple eating from one of the apple trees on the property, and our stroller was almost eaten by a goat, but Noah was so brave with touching and feeding the animals and no fingers were eaten, so a wonderful morning was had by all.

Proof That I Eat Cereal The Right Way

2011-08-12T16:05:00.001-05:00

Yup. You read the title right. I eat cereal the correct way, but I have been mocked for it from childhood. Never one to do what everyone else was doing just because they were doing it, I decided pretty early on that I didn't like soggy cereal, but I did like to eat a leisurely speed.

So for the past 20-25 years or so I have been eating my cereal dry. I fill a nice glass with cold milk to have with my cereal and take a bite from my spoon, take a sip of milk and then have a delicious crispy bite of my Cocoa Krispies each time, while friends and family have laughed at me. Meanwhile, they suffer through soggy bowl after soggy bowl.

When I became a mom it was actually discussed if Noah would eat cereal like me or "like a normal person." (Incidentally, if I give him dry cereal and cup of milk he almost immediately dumps it in his bowl, but I think that is just toddlerhood.)

Imagine my delight to discover proof that I have been right all along. Meet The Obol. A bowl designed with two reservoirs that allows you to sweep each bite of cereal down to the milk and have a crispy bite each time! Love it! See everyone?

I know, I am bit irrationally pleased with myself, but when faced with proof that people had to invent something to do what I just naturally did as a child is more than a bit pleasing to me.

Family and friends, you might just see this in your stockings for Christmas so that every time you eat breakfast you have to remember my rightness. :)

Printable Budget Quick Sheet

2011-08-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

Are there ever small things that you never thought would annoy you, and then this little annoyance becomes a great big pet peeve?

In our home my current annoyance has been the way that bills seem to accumulate and are never where I need them when the time comes to pay. When bills enter our house, they typically go into a folder that hangs on a shelf in our kitchen until they head downstairs to the office to be filed. Some bills we no longer get paper notifications for, and usually get paid as we get the notice in our inboxes.

However, the phone is upstairs, my computer may be up or down, and it all results in bills that have been paid being in the same pile as bills waiting to be paid and much more paperwork than seems reasonable for a small family of three to have to deal with on a regular basis.

To combat this I made this quick little sheet to help me organize due dates, amounts etc. and not have to wonder if I can carry that stack of papers or if I am forgetting something. Now, when a bill comes into the house, I look at them each day, and write on this sheet the next due date, and when it is due. When I pay a particular bill, I write the actual date it was paid, the amount and confirmation number. This way I don't have to break out my computer or the filing system to know that we're keeping our budget buttoned up.

This is not a typical budget spreadsheet as it contains no way to add or subtract and no formulas. I have simply laminated the sheet using my lovely recent birthday gift, and we write in permanent marker as the bills arrive. Quick tip: If you run over permanent marker on many laminated or white board surfaces with a white board erasable marker, then the permanent marker will wipe right off.

You can simply print off one of these sheets for each month as well, if it is easier to do so that way and have a permanent record. Around every payday when we do bills and actually file the bills, I run the sheet downstairs to the office and enter in the info. into our actual budget.

Download the PDF here.

Download the jpg. here.

Download the psd. here.

I used this lovely airplane doodle from lil blue boo and the yellow background fabric is a PS Action from the Coffee Shop Blog. All the rest is mine and may be used for personal usage only.

Humid Trip to Minnehaha

2011-08-01T10:53:00.002-05:00

Minnehaha Falls in south Minneapolis is one of our favorite locations, and one of the first that we explored as a married couple when we arrived here, and despite frigid temps and not knowing the area, the falls are still one of our favorite places for a quick getaway while still in town. A museum, a restaurant which has killer fish sanwhiches that even I will eat, as well as the falls and the long secluded and leafy glen below-- the falls always seem to offer something different. Today it was dancers and a rushing torrent down the cliff after all of our recent rain.

We walked further down the creek in the Glen to the wading area carved out near the Deer Pen area, and Noah went for the biggest of the rocks-- of course. It is a wonderful placwe to wade and cool off, but you have to watch your kids carefully so that they don't go where the current is stronger and end up floating downstream. The weather was hot and humid, which explains for the Sprout's wilted expression in a few images. He was so happy to be there though, and it was our first trip where he could say waterfall. He kept exclaiming, "Wa-er-fal! Rocks!"

Have you found Pinterest?

2011-07-28T10:33:00.002-05:00

Warning: Pinterest can be extremely addicting and also cause you to run to your nearest craft store and begin 15 projects at once, as is witnessed in my own craft room.

Have you found Pintrest? It is filled with free printables, recipes and home ideas galore, and is an easy way to save information and images you find on the internet so that you can later find that new kitchen faucet that would be just perfect in your home.

My personal favorite is looking for digital freebies-- printables that can range from digital design elements to a new way to organize your child's daily chore list. I have pinned a wide variety of these to my Digital Freebies board and put some of them into use in my life. Aside from this, they have inspired me to create more digital goodies to share online.

First I thought I would share with you a few of my personal favorites:

Justice League Printables

Earth Vocabulary Flash Cards

Daily Schedule Organization Cards

High Res Old Air Mail Design Elements

And share a few of my own that I have previously shared on one of my other blogs:

Digital Easter Eggs Design Elements

Sharp as a Tack Photoshop Action

Digital Owls Design Elements

Of course, all of these are for personal use and cannot me resold in their current forms.

{Friday Photo Fun} A few days late.

2011-07-18T21:37:00.000-05:00

Photography by Noah

2011-07-08T14:54:00.000-05:00

My parents, who never spoil their only grandchild at all. *wink* were kind enough to get him his own little studry camera from Discovery Kids. It has rubbery blue sides and it has worked grat for us other than it going through batteries a bit quickly, and the no sound for video. It is so cute to see the videos that Noah has taken-- mostly unconsciously, but he is pretty proficient at taking photos, and scrunches up his face to the eye hole, even though the LCD would tell him what he is photographing.

I have heard that the camera has had some bad reviews, but for Noah for whom the camera is mostly just to keep him from trying to get mine, it has been great. He loves paging through the images and especially loves looking at his Da when he is at work. He also enjoys shouting, "Cam-a!" and running around and taking video of us without our knowledge, but we won't show that video here. :)

I'm not going to say that they are well taken at this point, or that they are great art or anything, but it does something wonderful for me to be able to see him emulate me taking photographs, and for him to be able to do something that he sees his mommy do so often.

{Friday Photo Fun}

2011-07-08T10:35:00.001-05:00

Taking my cue from Rita over at The CoffeeShop Blog and many other bloggers out there, I will be showing one image each Friday that inspires me, makes me laugh, or makes me think. It will be just a snapshot of our life out here in Minnesota, and hopefully an expression of who we are.

For my first selection: Noah and the Pom Pom.

Noah's Big Day

2011-07-07T15:45:00.002-05:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we travelled back home to MI for a substitute party for Noah, and we had a wonderful, delightful, family filled time. We were having so much fun, and had such a whirlwind trip with driving in Friday, the party Saturday, family time Sunday, and then driving back home Monday in order for Jim to be back to work the next day we didn't have much time for our typical favorite restaurant visits, driving past places we loved growing up in south-west Michigan, or *Gasp* taking very many photos.

But it was really nice to just get to be there during the party and not worry too much about posing family members, and trying to orchestrate the moment so that it looks good, and thus putting myself out of the moment.

If there is one thing that this year has taught me so far, it is of the need to really treasure your family, and to make sure that you take the time to just be with them and to simply be. I feel like this party was really a step in me letting go of trying to have too much control over things-- to make Noah's life perfect, when really there is nothing that we can do to perfectly plan everything. And in the few photos that I do have from the party, I don't see any less enjoyment because my party bags were full of leftovers that were only applicable to the Air Zoo venue, or that the cakes didn't have the little plane toppers we were planning on-- I just see Noah trying to boop my cousin's new baby on the nose and the delightful laugh on his face in the next image at the success of his mission.

Our First Park Visit

2011-06-13T22:43:00.002-05:00

For our inaugural visit in our summer mission to visit all of the parks in the Three Rivers Parks District, Noah and I will be visiting the North Mississippi Regional Park and the Carl Kroening Interpretive Center tomorrow- June 14th at 10 am.

We have been to the center, which is situated right along the west side of the Mississippi, on previous outings when Noah was a bit smaller, but we haven't had the chance yet to play in their splash pool as of yet, and I am really hoping that the weather will behave itself.

We will be joined by the adventurous Jess B. and her lovely ladies, but she doesn't bite, so if anyone is looking for something to do, come on out and help us fulfill our goal!

We will be meeting in the Interpretive Center first because: it might rain and this way we can get right to the fun, and B- I have a feeling that even for a nature center my little boy who told me "Swim," in the bathtub tonight, putting his face underwater and holding his breath will have a hard time being taken away from a pool tomorrow until he is absolutely exhausted. Which sounds just lovely to me.

Holiday Dissapointment

2011-06-13T01:43:00.001-05:00

This is the year that I will remember as the year that holidays stunk to high heaven. I am not sure what has happened, but we seem incapable of having a calm holiday, here at home with everyone simply enjoying being around each other. And I am just not sure what to do with all of this holiday disappointment.

I guess I should revise that-- this is the season that holidays have stunk to high heaven.

I suppose it started with the passing of my grandmother. This year Noah's birthday was on Easter, something that won't happen again until 2038, and unfortunately her passing mid-April meant that the plans for both of these special days had to be scrapped. We so wanted to take the opportunity to use the holiday weekend to head home, book a really cool venue and do the obsessive parent party thing, and to get to celebrate Easter with Grandmas, Grandpas and all of the assorted extended family.

Instead we found ourselves driving 12 hours one way to Arbyrd, MO and back, which was a sad, beautiful, wonderful and terrifying trip (we ended up holed up in a hotel just south of St. Louis the night of their recent tornadoes as we raced back trying to get home so that we wouldn't have to travel Easter morning.)

Then came Mother's Day, where I got to celebrate a bit the night before, but got to spend the actual day driving Jim to the airport and dealing with a crabby toddler. That day ended with me weeping about my happy holiday after Noah threw a block that hit me in the head. Yeah, happy Mother's Day to me.

Then, Memorial Day was relatively okay. We drove home to MI for a whirlwind weekend trip since the only family we had seen since Christmas was at the funeral, and we wanted to have some family fun. We got to have a great do-over party for Noah, but once again we managed to bring the tornadoes with us despite oddly chilly weather (we have literally been in three different towns this spring as they have had tornadoes or similar storms touch down) and spent the actual holiday driving home to MN and marvelling at the uncharacteristically nice weather.

Now comes Father's Day. Poor Jim will not only be working a show at the convention center that day, but also be doing tear down that night, which means that he will get done at about 10 pm that day. I would choose another day that week to celebrate, but Monday is another show's set up, and right now he is in Chicago for some company meetings.

We have high hopes for Independence Day though. We are all going to be in town, we have a three day weekend, and Jim scored Twins tickets for that weekend from work, so everything is lined up for a relaxing time. Then, shortly after that is my birthday, where my folks will be visiting and hopefully I will even get to have a DATE with my hubby for my birthday! Wonders never cease.

However, I can't seem to feel excited about those possibilities. I am all set for the eventuality that something will go wrong and we will spend the next holidays fulfilling jury duty, or something just as festive. I suppose it is my faulty, for I always put a lot into holidays and the feelings of holidays-- we were even married on Thanksgiving weekend- one of my favorites. I jokingly told Jim that I am done with holiday planning from here on out, which is usually one of my favorite things to do.

So what do I do with all of this holiday disappointment? Do I never plan another special day for my family? Do I take it as a sign that I am not meant to celebrate-- which I dearly love? Or do I take it as a challenge and plan the most elaborate 4th of July weekend ever? What was your worst holiday disaster ever?

(I think I can remember one from my childhood involving chicken pox and the words, "I hate Christmas" coming out of my mouth-- so maybe this trend isn't as recent as I have been thinking it is.)

Our Summer Mission

2011-06-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

In my last post, I detailed just some of the easy sources I have found for recreation and events in the Twin Cities area that are good for those of us with small kids. Since then I have been toying around with an idea for a summer goal for Noah and I to motivate ourselves and get out into all of the wonderful fun that our home here in Minnesota has to off.

So we have decided--- to visit all of the Three Rivers Parks District Parks and nature centers over the course of this summer. With 21 parks on their list, we should be pretty busy this summer, but there is so much great to see that we have already visited, and that we are planning on seeing for the first time.

I was inspired, in part, but my own mother. When my brother and I were just to the phase of childhood where you are bored by everything, she whipped out our local park map, put some blue Kool-Aid and some sandwiches in a cooler and took us out to canoe in the Portage Creek, or attend an outdoor concert. I don't remember all of the places that she took us, but to this day when I see that blue sugary drink, I think of those times spent with her sitting in the shade of a local park.

Noah and I will be continuing this tradition between now and Labor Day, and visiting one or more parks per trip. Some I am sure that there will be plenty to do, like the Gale Woods Farm, which is sure to entertain with the baby animals and space to run, but others like the Glen Lake Golf and Practice Center may be a bit more of a challenge to entertain a 2 year old. He does love golf balls though, it might be more of a challenge to stop him from running into the driving range.

I will be posting our adventures here and on Facebook and if you, reader, would like to join us for any of our trips, I'll pour you some Kool-Aid as well and be happy to have you along!

{Budget Family Fun} FREE Admission to the MInnesota History Center

2011-05-14T19:21:00.001-05:00

Where: Minnesota History Center- St. Paul MN

What: On Tuesday nights from 5-8 pm the Minnesota History Center is offering FREE admission for everyone.

More Info:

"An interactive museum with both permanent and changing exhibits, the Minnesota History Center hosts concerts, lectures, family days and other special events throughout the year. The building is also home to the Minnesota Historical Society library and archives, a research destination for schoolchildren, family historians and academics." ~MHC Website.

Outdoor Fun With the Little One

2011-05-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

I have been recently surprised by something: a couple people have asked me how I find things to do in the Twin Cities- specifically how do I find places to go to explore the natural world around our home here in Fridley.

This has kind of shocked me; I am used to being the newbie here, and often find myself at a loss as to locations of cities and attractions people are talking about, even after three years here in Minnesota. However, I think that we transplants to the are have a surprising advantage over native Minnesotans or long time residents. We are forced to work to get to know our new home, and we often find ourselves simply driving around and looking at the abundant parks, museums, cities, libraries and other amenities that are perfect for families in the Twin Cities.

It seems that many local residents don't realize just how good they have it. The sheer number of bike paths and parks is a striking contrast to our former home in MI-- even before the current budget and housing issues there. When you are from an area, you often forget or overlook a lot of the fun things to do, simply because you have visited them in the past, or don't have the incentive to learn new places and people. It is only now that we have moved away that we have come to appreciate several of the museums back home and have visited them on vacations.

So-- my astonishment aside from being a source for things to do in the Twin Cities caused me to take a few minutes to write down where I really do look for events and activities, and I was surprised at the number of things that I do when I am antsy to get out of the house.

Facebook Pages:

Eastman Nature Center-- This Nature Center is a part of the Elm Creek Park Reserve in Dayton, MN and has a wonderful nature center (currently closing to build a new facility) and has great family programming and miles of trails. Their Facebook page is often updated with new activities and photos quite often, and it seems that there is always something going on up there in summer and winter.

The National Eagle Center, which is about an hour south of the Twin Cities in Wabasha, is also near the home of Red Wing pottery. I have never been that far south along the river, but a day trip is soon in the works. Their Facebook page has abundant photos, links to live webcams of bald eagle nests and flooding along the Mississippi and although there is a charge to get into the center, the prices appear reasonable.

A lot of the stuff I find otherwise is through the Three Rivers Parks District website, which I have used to find a lot of my locations for photo sessions when my clients live in areas that I'm not familiar with. There is a wonderful clickable map, a page that lists activities by a wide variety of criteria and there are events geared for kids as young as 2-5, photos and maps of trails and features in each of the parks.Some I am really excited to visit this summer are the Gale Woods Farm, as well as another visit to Norenburg Gardens on the shores of Lake Minnetonka.

In a couple weeks I am also having a session at the nature center down in St. Louis Park-- Westwood Hills. I've never been there either, and I found it by visiting the city's website and looking at their map of parks and my knowledge of the general area where my client's live. This is one area where I have had something forcing me to venture out of my comfort zone here in the north metro, where otherwise I might never have visited some really lovely places.

Other places we've been and like is the Minnesota Valley Wildlife Refuge's Bloomington Visitor's Center and trails, which is a nice contrast to the Mall of America down there in Bloomington, and was first visited driving around a sleeping baby while waiting to pick up the Hubby from the airport.

State Parks: Us Minnesota Westons make it a policy that every year we try to visit a Minnesota State Park on National Get Outdoors Day on June 11th when all 72 Minnesota State Parks and Recreation Areas have FREE admission. Yup-- free. We typically head to Ft. Snelling State Park to see the recreationists and hear the cannon fire.

Other places we love include Minnehaha Falls, Hidden Falls Regional Park, and we've driven the all the way from our house to Minnehaha on East River Road, which takes you to some really great scenery and makes me want a river-going boat. :)

As Noah grows and matures, so many new adventures have opened up for us, and I am so excited to see what we will discover next. I'm so happy to get to share these adventures with anyone who reads here!

Why Did the Turkey Cross the Road?

2011-04-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

That is the question we Westons found ourselves asking this evening. Jim and Noah were playing in Noah's room and Jim randomly looked out of the window to spot of all things- a turkey foraging for food!

I grew up in a small community-- meaning I had to travel about 20 or more minutes to get to a Target. Now to live here in the real land of suburbia with Target headquarters about that same 20 minutes away, at times I forget just how wild and empty a lot of Minnesota and points westward are.

It may seem odd to forget the wildness around me with the reminder of the barren wasteland of a Minnesota winter so near in my memory, but with the nearness of the Northstar Commuter Rail, the skyline of Minneapolis visible from our side yard and the fact that Jim daily commutes into the shiny edifices of downtown, I needed a reminder.

The turkey must have known that the neighbor's Great Dane was safely hidden away because it calmly foraged for a while, pausing only a few times to look up at the three odd faces peering at him through the nearby window, and then calmly loped his way into our yard and across the street to the bike path and a wooded area.

We do occasionally get a random tumbleweed rolling down the street- even when we lived downtown, and I often wonder where they came from, and if they crossed the Mississippi on their way-- and by what bridge. We also have our fair share of deer, raccoons, bobcats, bear and other random animals that mistakenly stray a bit too far into our secure little world and remind us that we really don't have it all under control, and that wildness is just a window's-worth away.

I am not overly concerned about the animals-- in fact I love the idea that things here aren't quite as civil and Nordic as everyone would like to pretend, I like the random turkeys, and although I will be carrying something heavy to fend off the bears and bobcats while we play outside this spring, I am ticked by these little reminders that God sends our way, even in the gangly form of a turkey.

2011-04-03T09:21:00.000-05:00

Noah and Jim fell asleep last night on the big bed in our room. They do this periodically and usually on weekend nights. Tonight they were watching Star Wars: Clone Wars together after Jim declared that, "it was time" that Noah be introduced to that part of the Star Wars Universe.

I should be upset when this happens. Noah typically hasn't had a diaper change right before bed, and he is almost always in his clothes instead of cute and comfy jammies. And definitely no nap when they do this. But as I listen to their progressively quieter comments and exclamations from Noah at the wonder of whatever Da is showing him, I just can't quite pull myself in there from the Mommie time they are giving me.

Then I typically hear any talk stop as the sound of the movie continues, and I wander in there to see if they really have conked out again. I go in there, and the sight of the two of them cuddled together, their hair and faces looking so similar when relaxed in sleep, that I just want to wake them up just to kiss them, but instead I slowly turn down the noise of the TV turn it off and cover them up. Then, I take one more look, and turn out the light.

What Are We Reading?

2011-03-26T23:57:00.000-05:00

The Little One's second birthday is coming up, and as he gets older, he is able to understand and get excited about more and more complex stories. I was delighted to find a basically new copy of Llama Llama, Red Pajama while I was out thrifting the other day and even happier that it is now one of Noah's favorite books.

Noah love the rhyme scheme and the funny voices that I make- and I personally love that it is a book that talks about the young central figure feeling nervous after going to bed and wondering, "What if Mama Llama's...GONE?" And the mom's response that, "Mama Llama's always near, even when she's not right here."

I'm hoping that eventually this will sink in to Noah's brain and help ease the tears that seem to happen every night when he wakes up (which is pretty much every night.) I can't hope that I'll be just as lucky when I am looking for the others in the series, but I am so glad that I found out that this book has actually been worth the hype.

Noah's "Mama Llama" is doing some exciting reading as well. With the surprising success of last year's garden, we are hoping to expand even further this year and hopefully produce enough to sell and donate some of our excess, and to preserve a lot of the rest so that we can eat off of what we have grown periodically during the winter months.

At a recent trip to the library I picked up, Guide to Minnesota Vegetable Gardening, and also a couple books on preserving what we grow.

I'm really want to learn more about preserving without canning. I think I am intimidated by the idea of boiling everything and canning, especially with Noah underfoot, and I also know that a lot of the nutrients are boiled away. We are planning on getting a deep freeze, but one accidental nudge of the power cord or outage and there goes everything.

So, we are hoping to rely on our dehydrator, Jim's smoker (well, that is more for fish and meat) as well as our WONDERFUL vacuum sealer we got for Christmas. We felt like we learned a lot last year, and yet this year again I am feeling like I have so much to learn. I'm hoping to learn from others that are more experienced with this aspect of gardening (hint, hint) so please, send me all the info., advice and input you can. I need it!

Noah's Day

2011-03-23T10:04:00.000-05:00

If you know me at all- you know I like to blog and to create in general. You also probably know that I am a proud Mommie of my Noah and think that he is the coolest little guy I've ver met, and for good reason. However, I also know that not all of you want to read about every little thing he does, and every little project I do with him-- many of you are not parents out there or educators.

So, to prevent you from gritting your teeth every time you see a new post from me thinking that you are about to be force-fed another description of how I introduced the color yellow to Noah and how he got it right away, I have made a new blog just for that very purpose. You'll still see some brags about the Little Man here- you didn't think I was going cold turkey did you? But the more instructional, project oriented posts are going to be over there.

In part, the blog is to brag about my little man, and in part it is to hold me accountable for doing more than simply turning on the TV, since he would really like it if I would let him watch nothing but Busy Town Mysteries all day long. It is important to me that he develop a love of learning and be ready for school when the time comes, and we are working as a family to lay the foundations of this early on.

It is still mostly in the works, but I am excited about good things to come from it. And now you can sigh in relief that you don't have to read about how I made Noah a makeshift rice table.

Minnesota Music~

2011-03-15T13:49:00.001-05:00

What are we listening to around here?

Dreamland-- this dreamy CD of favorite songs for little one's was put together and sung by a co-worker of Jim's ex-sister-in-law. Or something like that. Whatever the relationship, this music is a favorite of mine and Jim's to play for our little man, and isn't pandering to children with too cheesy tunes. Instead it offers semi-contemporary choices like "The House at Pooh Corner," "Baby Mine," "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and "Rainbow Connection. Created during the time Tristiana Ward, the singer, waited for the birth of her own son, you can feel the emotion involved in each song, which is what plays so well for us.

MacPhail's Sing Play Learn.

Sing, Play, Learn with MacPhail-- full of cheesy tunes and lyrics that get us up on our feet and dancing with Noah, we love this free CD from the MacPhail Center for Music's programs. It is free when you attend one of their informational events in a local library. And while we will probably never dole out the cash to have Noah take one of the classes, it is nice to have the music at home to enjoy. My only criticism of this CD is that it is pretty apparent it has been made by some really white Norwegians in a few of the songs as they try to sing diverse songs. However, the silliness is still good for a dance or two to use up some of that pent up winter energy.

~Recipes~ Peppery Chicken Soup

2011-03-15T13:20:00.001-05:00

Yum--

I love making soup. I don't really know why, but it has always been one of the things that I like the make most of all. Noah has inherited my love of the stuff and says hopefully, "houp?" when he sees me making something on the stove and makes a stirring motion. My kid will someday be a gourmet chef, of just make good stuff for his own little ones. Recently I made a new winner, which I thought I would share.

For this recipe we used leftover chicken breasts we had from a previous dinner, as well as leftover Velveeta cheese, which normally I don't like to use, but we had it on hand from pizza burgers-- a recipe my mom used to cook. Yum! All of my amounts are approximate, as I cook to taste, rather than by rote.

2 Chicken Breasts
3 TB butter/Margarine
6 oz Velveeta
4 Pequillo peppers (these are sweet red peppers you can find in a jar at Costco and most grocery stores)
1 small bunch Spinach leaves
4 oz Kielbasa or other sausage
6 cups whole milk
Pepper
Chili Powder
Paprika
Cumin
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Onion Salt (or fresh onion)
1/4 cup white rice

Chop chicken breasts, peppers, sausage and spinach and set aside.

Melt butter in a skillet. Add flour to butter and cook for approximately 5 minutes, until the color of the butter reaches a rich golden brown. Add a bit of milk and whisk. Slowly add the rest of the milk and reduce heat to a simmer.

Cube the Velveeta (I simply pinched off pieces and put it in the pan) and whisk regularly for a good melt. Be sure to not heat the pan too hot and scald the milk or burn the bottom. As the soup begins to thicken, add first the rice, then the chicken, sausage, peppers and spinach. *

Season to taste. Be careful while seasoning that you don't over-salt with the sausage as well as the spices.

Serve with tortilla chips and a nice glass of white wine.

* The next time I think I will cook the spinach slightly and drain the excess water from the spinach, or use frozen instead of fresh. The water in the spinach caused me some problems while cooking.

All I want for Christmas is to take Noah to Cross Country Ski (or something like that)

2011-03-04T23:44:00.000-06:00

Sometimes out here in MN I joke that we live in a real life version of a Richard Scarry book- with travellers on bikes, Tall Bikes, unicycles, motorized bikes, recumbent bikes, walking through skyways, segways, Rollerblades, boats on the Mississippi, skateboards, trains, snowshoes, skis, cars, buses and the light rail- amidst a bunch of other modes of transportation that I am forgetting.

I bet you didn't know that we are often ranked as the number 1 or number 2 cities for biking in the United States, did you? You probably thought things like the frigid cold temperatures would keep people indoors, but really it just makes people modify their rides a bit, and certainly their clothing.

And that is precisely what I have been looking to do, with little success. This winter I have been looking into ways to get Noah and I outside when even without the frigid temperatures the sheer depth of the snow would make playing really hard on the kid. For some reason I am really attracted to the idea of getting back into cross country skiing, which I haven't done in years upon years.

However, before I shell out the money on a nice set of used skis, I have to think about what am I going to do with Noah while we do this. I can't wear him in a sling, I can't have him perched up near my shoulders in the baby backpack, and the stroller would just sink.

So I decided to look into a way to convert our stroller to be a sort of bobsled or dogsled. You can find commercial versions of this online, but the cheapest version runs about $250. Ouch.

I was happy to find a tutorial that shows how to make a homemade version, which can be welded to a stroller frame, and another from here in MN that doesn't require any damage to the wheels. I'm not sure if we'll be able to get it done by this winter-- things are crazy busy right now and blessedly the long winter is coming to an end, but during the spring, thrift store skis are in abundance and we can be outside for longer working on projects without risking frostbite, so I'm adding one to the Honey-Do list.

Wednesday = Fun Day

2011-03-03T21:40:00.002-06:00

Around here, with my classes falling typically on a Tuesday, we have designated Wednesday as Mommie-Noah fun day, with no work being done by Mommie and lots of games being played and trips taken. This week I asked him if he wanted to "Go?" in the car or stay home, and he quietly said to me, "Home."

Here is a glimpse of our fun fay:

Noah was a bit sniffly, but in a good mood for most of the day.

Someone tried to call me about a work matter, but Noah fielded the call and told them I was busy in a meeting with Elmo.

Then we did a fun activity that featured our letter of the month-- B for Bubbles!

He did enjoy it more than this photo lets on, but his face here was really cute to me for some reason. Noah tries to blow the bubbles, but sometimes accidentally sucks up the soap through the straw rather than blowing, so Mommie is often in charge of making the bubbles and Noah the popping. There is something still satisfying even as an adult in seeing how big of a pile of bubbles I can get going, especially with the challenge of Noah working against my efforts.

It also has the added benefit of helping him get clean after a snack or after painting. And aren't these great smocks-- they are so cheap too that I don't feel bad spending the money on them, rather than using some of Jim's old shirts that he has worn through the elbows, or pulled all of the buttons from.

We also did another Letter B activity-- we did a lot of sorting and pouring out of our Box of Balls and Blocks into Buckets, one of which was Blue.

And of course, Books!

Look-- its a choo!

Noah loves to find the Da in his Richard Scarry book. I loved this book as a child, and it is interesting to me how the stories that I loved aren't necessarily his favorite, but he still loves the book.

My Night Job

2011-02-28T19:21:00.000-06:00

As much as I love being a mommy, and as fulfilled as I feel when Noah learns something new-- like recently he learned to say "N," and "O," and identify them, and now every time he sees those first two letters of his name, he calls them out excitedly.

My classes are small, as is the compensation, but I really love the chance to share what I love and to converse with adults and utilize talents other than tickling toes and cooking dinner. It is also great exposure and networking for my portrait work.

I also really love the opportunity to create my own curriculum. It is amazing the freedom that you can have when you can tailor your classes to the interests of your students, rather than having to only discuss the state-mandated idea of what students should learn.

This past class of Beginning Digital Photography I had students who were going on vacations and wanted to be able to take better photos, moms wanting to take photos of their children and an eBay seller who wanted to capture images of her products without that annoying flash spot.

My upcoming class is rather intimidating because it is on the topic of Photoshop, which is something that I love to use, but is so dense and full of tools, brushes and adjustment layers that I am going to really have to work to pack in the information without overwhelming my students.

I am also excited in the next couple of months to begin to hold classes centered around specific topics in photography, such as Portrait and Landscape Photography, and I am even more excited to branch out and use yet another skill of mine, and to call upon, :gasp: my actual college education and to conduct a class on blogging.

I am not going to head back to the workforce quite yet- I wold hate to lose this precious time with Noah, and we are looking to have another little one around the house sometime in the future, but it is so great to have the chance to put on some pants other than my Mommy-pants.

The Cure for Baby Fever Warning: TMI Alert

2011-02-23T16:20:00.001-06:00

My son is so sweet, in fact after viewing a photo of him in his puppy costume my brother told me that all of his female co-workers had baby fever.

Today though he did something that would make even a woman holding her ultrasound photos and looking at newborn baby girl dresses at Peapods wonder if she was really ready for this:

The setting, my dear son, who is nearing the beginning of potty training had just hone poopy in his diaper. (Why is it that we think that poopy sounds less icky than poop? I went round and round of what of the many words available to call it.)

I thought, What a great chance to set him on the potty and use TP to clean him up and let him have the experience of being a big boy. I took off his diaper and set him on his potty chair, which I mentioned in a previous post. Now, my son has a hair trigger gag reflex and apparently the smell of what he had just done in his diaper was more than enough to set him off. He has gagged before from just pee diapers, but no- he wasn't just gagging this time.

He proceeded to vomit violently all over himself, his potty, the big potty, the floor and me. (and of course this happened while Jim is conveniently out of town.) Yup-- I was then sitting on the bathroom floor with a poopy (I hadn't cleaned him up yet when this happened) snotty, vomit covered toddler. Being a mom is sooo glamorous.

I stuck the poor guy in the tub, whipped his remaining clothes off and wiped him down. I would say I learned a good lesson from this- but what do I do now? He still has to potty train, which will eventually involve him wiping himself, so do I give him a nose plug for when we reach that point in the training, maybe a fan to keep things fresh? A candle? Strong air freshener?

PottyTraining (Dum, Dum, Dum!)

2011-02-17T14:47:00.000-06:00

Noah has been interested in the potty for quite some time now. Elmo's Potty Time was a frequently requested DVD until we had to take it back to the library and it was never seen or heard from again- mysteriously. ;)

We bought him a little IKEA potty, but his interest in it has been limited to pretending to rinse it out and dump it, and getting a piece of TP, putting it in his little potty and then in the big potty, where it is time to FLUSH and FLUSH and FLUSH!

He even peed once, a little, on the potty, but because he is so young we really haven't made toilet training a big deal. We have gotten him boxer briefs that he sometimes wears with his diaper just to get used to the concept (and he looks dang cute in boxers) However, since Noah's main interest is in the big potty and the little one, I think, is more of a toy, we decided to get him a potty insert so that he can sit on it. Yesterday we picked up this one at Target the other day and have had it in the bathroom and had him sit on it a few times.

When Da got home from work last night I asked Noah, "Do you want to show Da your new Potty?" And he rather sweetly walked over to Jim to take hold of him and push him into the bathroom to see the new contraption, which he proudly picked up from where it was sitting on the seat of our toilet.

Then, today Noah had already had a BM in his diaper (sorry people for whom this is too much information) without my knowing it-- which is a good thing since he tends to be realllly constipated and everyone within eyesight and earshot know when he is trying to go-- and opened the lid to the toilet, picked up his new potty seat and placed it on the toilet.

"Do you want to sit on the potty with your diaper off?"

"Pease," he said in his little gruff baby voice, signing with both hands. I took off his diaper and while I wished he had told me before he had gone, I couldn't be prouder that he is making these steps of knowing what the potty is for, connecting it to his body's activities and wanting to use the toilet for himself.

He was also happy to get to use toilet paper instead of the dreaded chilly-wet wipes. When he is being cleaned, sometimes I will soothe him with, "I know this is no fun. When you are ready and go poopy on the potty we can use toilet paper and be all done with this." I ask him if he would like to go on the potty and he nods seriously. I think today he knew that I would have to put him on the changing table on his back and strip and clean him, and the potty sounded like a far better option in his little toddler logic. I couldn't agree more. Keep up your hatred of wipes, Big Boy!

Furious, Fast February

2011-02-17T14:13:00.000-06:00

I previously claimed that I was going to be posting here much more frequently, and that I would post photos, stories and little anecdotes of our lives in Minnesota. However, so far, February of 2011 has been moving so fast anf furiously that I have barely had the opportunity to pause and spend time with my guys, let alone post here.

The first day of the month found me teaching the first of my current session of Beginning Digital Photography through Fridley's Community Education. It has been wonderful to meet with my small class of just four students, and to share some of what I love. It has also reinforced that I know all of my technical information about photography, and not just so that I can use it, but so that I can express it.

There have been a few questions from my students that have come close to being unanswerable other than by someone currently employed as a product designer for Canon, but mostly my students have wanted to know things like how to get that fuzzy look behind their heads in portraits, and why the flash just went off when they don't want it to.

It is hard to believe how fast this first session has gone, and I am brimming with ideas of ways to improve for the next group of students, but before next semester can begin I have my BIG intimidating as a teacher class to hold-- Beginning Photoshop. (dun dum dun!) There is so much to cover and such dense matierial and it is difficult to guage the experience level of my students before meeting them for the first session.

Aside from teaching, we had a rather rushed but wonderful trip to Missouri to visit my Grandma and Aunt Susie, and it was great to reconnect, and let them both meet Jim and Noah. We're hoping to head down there for another visit in the not to distant future and hopefully to allow Noah to have a bit more than a day with his Great Grandma.

She is doing pretty well, and has an amazing attitude about everything, considering the health issues that she has been facing, and the frustrations that can come with having words you want to say, but just not quite being able to get them out. At times I think about how similar Noah must feel when he wants to tell me something, but just can't quite say it. He and Grandma are two peas in a pod right now, and it was amazing to see them together.

Jim mentioned to me the other day what an honor is must be for her to have met Noah and to see my dad as a Bopp to him. Jim said, "It is like if we get to see Noah become a Grandpa." That really struck me, because I have thought about Noah someday being a daddy, but the idea of him becoming a Grandpa is just so far away and such an amazing idea.

Aside from teaching and my travel, Jim has a business trip coming up, I've been dealing with editors reluctant to pay for my time, and getting ready for a new monthly playdate I am holding here in our house. Speaking of which, big things are afoot in that arena, but that will have to wait for a later date.

Blessings!

Busy, Busy

2011-01-24T13:52:00.002-06:00

I am currently working with anticipation toward a landmark event for me. Come Febraury I will be beginning the first of the Community Education classes I am teaching here in our little suburb of Fridley. I was just informed that I have just four students for my "Beginning Digital Photography" course, which will be plenty for me.

I worked my way through college as a Preschool and Early Fives teacher (one of the many hats I wore at that time) and I loved teaching my little ones. I loves seeing their little minds light up as they understood something for the first time and to see their progress throughout the year. I was often rewarded for my efforts with a stick figure drawing of myself- or a handmade ornament at Christmastime. I doubt that my photography students will give me such earnest affirmations, and it is just a four week course, but I am very excited about the prospect of teaching again.

(Cross posted from my photography website)

Best Independent Bookstores in the Twin Cities?

2010-12-18T23:05:00.001-06:00

One of our favorite ways to wile away the long Minnesota winter is to snuggle down, looking at a few good books. Typically this means heading over to Half Price Books, or looking in the sale sections of Barnes and Noble or Borders.

I recently saw this article about the "best" bookstores in the Twin Cities and I am excited to try out some of these stores I've never visited. However, I am curious to see if they really are the best, or if they are just famously independent. One notable store missing from the list is our favorite unique downtown bookstore-- James and Mary Laurie Booksellers on the Nicollet Mall downtown near Target. Jim introduced me to this store a while ago, and the tall shelves are crammed full of books, prints and music. On one visit, we were serenaded by the sounds of 1950s Sci-Fi movie soundtracks.

Visitors can peruse map drawers full of botanical prints and posters from the WW2 era, as well as venture down crooked stairs to the basement where turn upon turn reveals more books. The selection is a bit more pricey than we typically buy-- not too many used paperbacks or children's books there, and our collection of rare books consist of just one modest volume, but that one book is treasured and displayed.

Just what an independent bookstore should be, it will be interesting to see if any of these other locations can measure up, and to see more of what our Cities have to offer.

Back from Hiatus...

2010-12-15T15:53:00.000-06:00

And what a break it has been! About a year ago I took a look at this blog and thought just how absurd it was that I had left off at the place in the story where I was pregnant and miserably huge, and thought that someone might think that something dreadful had happened to me or to Noah, when in reality I just popped into Noah's room for a bit of a blankie reapplication and a hug as he naps away a yucky cold.

When labor hit, a couple weeks early I was going into motherhood thinking that I had it all figured out, especially as someone who had worked in childcare, who had been a nanny and teacher, I thought that I was ready for the challenges and emotions that would arise. However, as I stared at my newborn little son, I was stuck with how profoundly beautiful the sight of him was that mere words couldn't describe what I was feeling. That and a case of the "baby blues" dropped me into a writer's block that took me quite a while to come out of.

For once in my life, I simply didn't have the words.

Which threw me for a loop. Would I ever be able to write again? Could I possibly have the time, focus and extra me, beyond my all-consuming "Mommy-ness" to let my creative self free again? Or was that being sucked from my body along with the milk and energy my little Marathon-nurser so readily consumed?

Only recently have I been able to think about delving into creativity once again, and quite honestly I have been focusing on the visual part of communication that I love so dearly, and have been having some small success with my portrait and product photography, which is something that I have always done as a component to my writing, especially in journalism, but only in the past year has it really been my focus.

I can't say that I will post as often, or with as much enthusiastic abundance as I did before. In fact, as I re-read some of the thoughts of that former Carrie- BN (Before Noah) it sounds so foreign to me. The me that is here now is a woman with a better sense of who she is, and of her own limitations. My marriage has matured, my sense of self has matured, and Noah has matured to a wonderful and energetic toddler of 19 months. I'm excited to write more of our adventures out here in the frigid North Country and to give y'all a bit more of an idea of what is going on with us than a status on facebook can give, and to show you, friends and family a bit more of our life.

Stay tuned!

Week 37-- Still Waiting

2009-04-20T13:54:00.002-05:00

Well, on Friday we had our 37 week appointment and no baby yet. Ho hum. I guess I am feeling tired today of being pregnant and I just want him out-- I want to meet him and count his toes and see if he really does have as much hair as I am imagining. I have been really feeling good up until now, other than the typical pregnancy symptoms of swollen feet, sore back, heartburn and fatigue.

Today I have begun to really feel the impatience and the stress of simply not knowing when he will be arriving. Do I buy extra groceries in anticipation of Noah arriving soon and needing to feed me, Jim and my parents? Do I really clean out the hall closet the way I want to to fit the stroller in it and risk going into labor while everything is halfway done and strewn across the floors? Is this sudden emotional shift an indication of impending labor? (Probably not-- more likely just one of those pregnant things.)

At my appointment everything was fine. My blood pressure is still good, and Noah's heart rate seemed fine and we only heard about 2 missed beats. After he is born, if it isn't gone totally they may do an EKG, but it looks unlikely that we'll have to do even that. I am still about 3cm dilated-- about the extent that I can do without being in active labor, but I am now more effaced, which is definitely a good thing. I would love it if my cervix could be totally thinned out by the time I am admitted to the hospital, and I would only have to dilate whatever is left at that time. Noah was also quite low- no surprise, but it makes me even more impatient to know how close he is to the door.

I suppose the one negative would be that I am Strep B positive-- about 35% of women are, and that means when I arrive at the hospital I will have to have an IV, and another every 4 hours if I do not deliver at that time. However, when I am not getting the IV, I will be able to walk around with just a saline lock on my hand. This doesn't mean anything bad for the baby, and only about 1 in 200 of babies whose mom's tested positive even get strep at birth, but they are so fragile at that phase that they don't want to take the chance of any baby being infected. This also doesn't mean that I am sick-- I am just a carrier. Not too pleased about that, but among complications I could have, this one is pretty innocuous.

36 Weeks-- Noah is Trying to Escape!

2009-04-14T10:48:00.003-05:00

When last we left the saga of Noah and his life inside of me, I was cleared to fly to MI for our shower with friends and family back home. Noah had dropped low and against my cervix, but I had not begun to dilate or efface at all, so no worried about flying home and seeing everyone.

Fast forward 2 weeks to my 36 week appointment-- the first of my now weekly appointments and the beginning of regular cervical checks. I told my OB that I was excited to see if I was dilated at all, because Noah has seemed determined to wiggle his way out of me, and it felt as if he were opening my cervix, whether or not he is realistically capable of doing so. I was also experiencing some Braxton Hicks contractions (practice contractions) with a lot of tightening and a little bit of pain. These contractions usually do not dilate you, but doctors do want you to monitor them, just in case they come too frequently because they can signal real labor. Dr. Ambur told me at this appointment that now as many as is possible is a good thing, in contrast to the previous tactics of trying to stop them as quickly as possible.

After our regular chatting and questions at our appointment-- yes I am having some foot swelling, yes my blood pressure is still good, yay- my iron levels are considered normal again, we finally moved on to checking me for Strep B (I won't say anything more about that test) and checking my cervix.

I can't say who in the room was more shocked, Jim, me or Dr. Ambur, when she said, "Well, you are dilated to three cm." Three? I think Noah was the only one who wasn't in the least shocked, since he has been determinedly pushing the top of his head against my cervix and I like to think he enjoys the new toy and task that he is mastering as he strengthens his muscles and feels the changes on the top of his head.

In retrospect, I think that Jim was the most shocked. I have the opportunity to feel all of Noah's motions from the inside and knew that it felt like he was opening the gate to this world, but Jim has only what I tell him to rely upon. I tend to leave certain pains and sensations out, simply because I know that they are normal and will only worry him that Noah is coming early. Now the worry about Noah being pre-term is gone since we have reached 36 weeks and everything seems to be happening in quick succession. Dr. Ambur advised us that I could go into labor or my water could break at any time, or that I could walk around this dilated until after my due date.

Going from 0-3 cm isn't unheard of in a 2 week period-- many women start at 0 when they begin their eight hour labor, but it certainly got our attention and made us aware of the things that we still have to do to get our home ready for our little man, and for visiting family. On our way back through the skyways we stopped at the downtown Target and got toiletries and a back massager and several other items we had been putting off getting for our labor bag, and then went home to clean and get our guest room ready.*

Since last Friday I have still been feeling the same Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions and the same pushing by my son, so I am eager to see where I will be at my next appointment-- if I make it that long. We haven't done any of the "Old Wives Tales" to begin labor-- I am not that impatient and we still have so much to do to be ready--- if you can ever feel really ready for something like this. We even went on a mile and a half walk on Saturday and ate lots of spicy foods this weekend, which didn't set me off.

So if Noah needs to bake for a while longer, I am content to have him in there, and if he and the BH keep dilating me more, then I say go right ahead. Any little bit that happens before I have to be in real labor is less that I have to be in horrible pain for, will make it less likely that I have to be induced later on and will make labor shorter overall.

* I later told Jim that I didn't think that Noah was going to come over Easter weekend and that he would probably stay put for a while longer, and he had the best comeback-- "Yeah? Well you didn't think that we would be able to conceive either." That managed to freak me out a bit and showed me that while I may think our baby still wants to be a May baby, he may very well arrive any time now.

A Night of Questions

2009-04-09T12:53:00.002-05:00

My night at GEMS usually consists of a lot of energy, a lot of trying to relax the girls to get done what we need to do, after they have had a long day at school, and at least 2 questions about Noah and comments about how big he is (which really mean comments on how big his MOMMY is.)

However, last night I had more questions than I think I ever have, probably because Miss Jessica was in the room, and her craft for the night involved making cupcakes, loaded with sugar. So yummy and cute.

I always struggle with how much to tell them when they ask-- I am not their parents, and I am not an official educator in a formal school setting. And they are only in second and third grade. However, they are intelligent girls whose minds can be quite curious about the watermelon growing under my shirt. Last night it all began simply enough:

K: "Where is Noah's head?"
Me: I pointed out where- placing my hand below my belly button. "He's right here."
K: "He's upside down?!"
Me: "Yes, a lot of babies are upside down. You might have been. You should ask your mom."
C: "Does Noah have blood?"
Me: "Yes, why do you ask?"
C: "If he is upside down, wouldn't all of the blood rush to his head?"
Me: "Umm, well, he is water, so it doesn't all rush to his head."
C: "He's in water??"
Me: Yes, it keeps him safe so he doesn't get bonked." (This is when I began to worry that I had said too much.)
J: "How does he breathe?"
Me: "Well, he doesn't need to yet. When he becomes an outside baby, then he will breathe."
Miss Jessica: "Yes, the first time he cries, then he will need to breathe." (I send her a thankful look for backing me up.)
A: "Does he throw up?"
Me: "Umm, no, not yet."
A: "My mom says that when I was a baby, I would eat and eat, and then I would throw up, so I always had to have a bib on."

Thankfully, at this point the conversation was steered toward throwing up, rather than Noah's current existence, which I always fear will come down to a discussion of just how the little guy ended up living inside of me, which is certainly NOT on the curriculum list sent to us by the lovely GEMS headquarters in GR.

Jim's Deacon Nomination

2009-04-09T12:41:00.003-05:00

Okay- I have to brag a bit about my husband. This brag may or may not meet with his approval, but I don't see him anywhere around here, do you? No? Good.

Last week while I was napping Jim went to get the mail and woke me up, excited to get something from the deacons at Faith. It was a letter informing him that he had been nominated by someone to be a deacon at Faith for the next term. We were both so honored to read the letter and to think about the characteristics that are laid out in the Bible that someone saw in him, to make him worthy of being nominated.

This is an even greater honor, since we only began attending Faith less than a year ago and became members this past December. As far as his becoming a Deacon, this newness may hinder him in the actual election (depending upon how Faith conducts the process of choosing their Consistory.) Not too many people know him closely, although for those of you who have met Jim, you know once you have met him, he will know you for life, and make you laugh in the process. I am continually amazed at how he can see someone in a Sears in Coon Rapids and remember his name from meeting him during coffee time at church, and remember his job and at least one other fact about him. I really do believe that Jim would make a great Deacon-- his personality predisposes him to the duties of a deacon, and our experience church planting back in MI and his work experience all make him a well-qualified candidate.

The next step is that someone will call him and tell him more about the process and what would be involved if he was a Deacon. We'll see what they say, and I will definitely be giving an update about the man I am honored to call my life partner.

My Second Shower

2009-04-09T12:27:00.002-05:00

I am such a blessed woman. really, I am fully aware of how lucky I am. I was blessed to have not one, but two showers, the most recent of which was in Minnesota and was put on by one of the women from our small group out here at our church- Sara. There was a time where I thought I probably wouldn't have even one shower for Noah, and so to have 2-- and to be also given random toy samples from the showroom at Jim's work when the packaging got wet is beyond anything I would have expected.

This second shower was filled with women from our small group, as well as other GEMS teachers and a couple women who I had never met before, which seems to be a recurring thing at my showers. I was so blessed with all of the wonderful baby items that Noah got, and to talk to other women about their labor experiences. Sara was also such a gracious host. When I arrived I was greeted by balloons and a large diaper cake, which tragically Noah will treat without the lisghtest regard for the beauty of it. Sara was even so sweet as to offer me punch, snacks, cheesecake (she made it from scratch) and whenever I needed it, and even before I asked. I don't think that I had to get up at all to get anything.

It feels so wonderful to be surrounded by women of God who have gone where I am going before me. When I fist found out that I was expecting Noah, we had just begun to attend Faith a few months before, and while everyone was super hospitable and we felt like we were int he place that God wanted for us, it did not feel like the home that it feels now. Now we cannot wait for Noah to join in on Sunday mornings during the Children's message, for him to sing in front of church at Christmas, and for him to be friends with the other boys and girls who are so abundant in our church.

Preliminary Shower Post

2009-03-30T08:45:00.002-05:00

I have so many thoughts and feelings running through my mind after our whirlwind vacation and shower in MI. I know that I do not have the time right now to write an adequate post to describe it all while I am still processing much of what happened, but I wanted to write something of my initial feelings and responses to the weekend.

I was so honored by how many people attended the shower and I loved getting to see so many of my friends who I have only been able to see in passing during rushed holiday visits and hurried stops at church events. I was also doubly honored by the people who attended or sent something who I have never met before-- from the friends of my Grandmother and Aunt Susie in Missouri who made us a blanket and an afghan, to my brother's mother-in-law, who not only attended my shower, but brought us a roast and oven-baked potatoes for everyone to eat.

The idea of all of the work that my dad, Melissa and Melinda put into making the experience a special one is so honoring. Even a few days before the shower I realized that I didn't know even the details of what time the shower began. I was able to simply show up and enjoy seeing all of our visitors.

Thankfully, everyone was kind and gave us small gifts so that we-- with a duffel bag borrowed from Jim's mom-- were able to bring most things back to MN, aside from a few fragile and oversized items, and some that just wouldn't fit (my parents will be bringing us a carload when they come out for Noah's birth). We are now surrounded by so much baby stuff. Noah will be one of the best-dressed babies around-- and one of the warmest. I think that everyone knew that in Minnesota our little boy would need plenty of blankets to snuggle down in and be kept cozy and warm. Currently everything is still in semi-organized piles on the couch, as we decide how we are going to store our abundance in our apartment until we get a house.

I am so thankful that I got to see everyone, but it seemed like just mere minutes and everything was over. And now I am on to the point in my pregnancy where everything all seems so close to being over. Since Christmas the idea of travelling so far while so pregnant has been looming-- would I even make it this far, and how would I handle the long car/plane ride? How would people who haven't seen me in so long react to suddenly seeing me so big? Now all of that worry and stress is over. The plane rides and car trips were taxing, but not nearly as bad as 11 hours of driving each way would have been, and all of the worry over would I even make it has been answered with a resounding yes.

I will try to post pictures soon, and share how all of our abundance looks here where Noah will live, and give more detailed thanks to everyone later as well, but right now I am so distracted by the mountains of onesies tottering precariously on our couch.

Blessings!

Things I Still Miss From MI

2009-03-26T10:08:00.002-05:00

This weekend we are travelling to MI to see friends- the last time I am allowed to travel by plane before D-Day. So I thought that I would write about the things that I still miss from MI, and hope we can do a few of while we are back.

1. Friends and family that we have known for years. Everyone out here at our new church is great, but there is just something that comes from knowing the same people for years and years. Job changes, relationship changes, happy and sad life events are not something that can happen in a few short months, and I am looking forward to knowing people here as we do back home. And our families, well, they have to accept us, no matter what, and nothing else is like that.

2. Campus Kitchen-- I miss General Tso's chicken. Cheap and good, and Jim misses it so much more than I do. I miss going to the ponds at WMU and feeding spicy rice to the ducks, being able to eat well for $5 for the 2 of us. I miss Rasa Ria-- the Malaysian restaurant with the square egg rolls and stuffed tofu. I'm sure we will find "our Campus Kitchen" and other places out here, especially because of our large SE Asian community, but it again takes time to discover new places that meet our requirements.

3. I miss saying, "The Mall," and having everyone know exactly where I am talking about. Here it most likely means The Mall of America (MOA) but it could mean the Nicollett Mall downtown, or any number of other suburban malls surrounding the metro. There was something so easy about that. The same goes for Targets-- I recently counted and we have at least 10 that I have visited more than once-- no surprise with the headquarters being here.

4. I miss being close to the Great Lakes. Duluth is the closest and it is 1 1/2 hours away. It was so nice to just decide after work in the summer to head out to Lake Michigan for the sunset, and to enjoy festivals and fireworks.

5. I miss East Campus. Where Jim proposed, and where I have enjoyed looking out over the city many a time.

6. The roads. Getting from point A to point B-- so simple. Only 2 highways! So few names for towns-- no 70 or so suburbs and 30 or so neighborhoods like in Minneapolis. The roads really are in such good condition too. There is really nothing to be done with the cold around here; potholes are an inevitability that is really hard on the car.

7. My parents house on the island. I miss boating- kayaks, speedboats, rowboats, canoes, sailboats. I miss sitting in back of the house in summer with a fire going. I miss eating cheese souffles, and 4th of July watching fireworks all around the lake. I miss my parents and my brother's companionship.

8. I miss the Taylor's basement. Well, the whole house really. Where Jim and I met, where I have learned so much in small group, Veritas, work meetings, making soap, wedding and baby showers, and just getting together with friends.

9. On a related note, I miss small group. So funny and quirky-- Thanksgiving in February, white elephant gift exchanges, and Super Mario DDR. One of, if not THE longest running small group from The River.

10. Popping in to visit kids I once taught at school. Either at a party, or a concert, or on a random day, it is always wonderful to see how they have grown and succeed.

11. Lunch after church at Panera, QDoba, or Saladays.

12. QDoba!

13. Water Street Coffee Joint.

14. Visiting my dad at the fire station. (Not really possible now that he is retired, but it was always nice to hear what was going on, and to go up in the Ladder truck.)

15. Driving around campus and rejoicing that we are done with WMU and its horrible parking.

16. Attending shows at Miller Auditorium. I could count regularly on someone from the group of my parents friends deciding not to go to a show and me being offered a ticket. Or covering a show for the paper.

17. Getting to cover cool events for the paper.

18. The Edison Task Force. I never thought I would miss getting sweaty, stinky and covered in paint, but I miss hanging out at John's house and painting.

19. Driving up to Traverse City. North Peak Brewing Company, Scalawags fish sandwiches, and just relaxing on the pier or in the park.

20. Going to the UP.

I know that we are not meant to come back or anything, but every time we visit, there are so many memories, both good and bad, that flood my mind. I hope that our son will get to experience some of these things. I hope that he will still feel some connection to MI, even though he will be a born Minnesotan. That he will know that mom and dad are both irrevocably tied to this state and the people that we miss. Love to you all and see some of you soon!

Labor Music

2009-03-23T09:48:00.002-05:00

I am trying to put together a list of music to listen to wile laboring. I think when I am to the point of pushing, I may just want peace and quiet, but for at least a few hours, I think it will be nice and help the time pass. We will probably also do some of our favorite movies to help time pass since that is such a vital part of our relationship and how we began to be friends and eventually date.

When I was teaching- especially during summer program when I would have my K-5th graders all day and we were hot and tired, and I would be stressed, I started the practice of putting in an upbeat song and grabbing some of the kids to dance, just to relieve the stress of the day. Hopefully it will have a similar effect on me during this time of stress.

So far my musical choices are,

Nichole Nordeman
Caedmon's Call
The Sundays
Ladysmith Black Mambazo (some "Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes" is in order.)
Eva Cassidy
Bob Marley
some classical
"Streams" this very calm Irish CD I have

Anyone have any further thoughts on musical choices that will induce Noah to dance his way out of me?

I will probably get more response to this from Facebook than here, but I love the feature of writing in one location and automatically having the note imported there. I always forgot to mention something or post something in one location or another before I did it this way.

Noah's Irregular Heartbeat

2009-03-16T09:49:00.004-05:00

Let me first of all say, for friends and family near and far, that Noah is fine. He is happily growing away and making is mom gain at least a pound and a half a week-- which is welcome after her earlier lack of weight gain. However, we did have a little scare, that I am even reluctant to call a scare in retrospect, although at the time, my new mother's heart was aflutter with nerves, which is very similar to what my little baby Noah's heart was up to about three weeks ago at my regular prenatal appointment. Everything was decidedly routine until it came time to listen to Noah's heart.

Dr. Ambur found it easily-- he has been laying head down and butt out for the past several weeks, but after she found it, both she and I heard something unusual. "I think I need to go get a new Doppler. It might be the battery that is making it sound strange." Noah's heart, although good and strong sounded odd to me even still when Dr. Ambur came back with the new Doppler and listened with a much more serious face than usually when she heard his heart.

She told us that she heard an irregularity in it, which is exactly what I heard when I listened. Every fourth beat or so Noah's heart would beat an extra beat-- "bum, bum bum, bah bum," it would go. I immediately began to fear that something was terribly wrong wit my sweet little baby, but Dr. Ambur told us that it was likely something far more common called a PAC-- "Premature Atrial Contraction," which is found commonly in fetuses in the third trimester.

Typically babies with PACs outgrow them in the womb, or shortly after birth. Dr. Ambur advised that we wait and listen in a week, at an appointment between my regular bi-weekly appointments. The addition of a new appointment told me more than anything that if this wasn't PACs it could be something serious, but I told myself to not worry and to relax over the next week to encourage Noah to have a regular heartbeat (one possible cause of PACs is stress.)

I spent the next 7 days thinking calming thoughts to my baby, avoiding sugar and caffeine and researching everything I could find about PACs and irregular heartbeats in pre-born babies. I found out good things about their commonness-- about 15% of babies have PACs. I heard from women in the May What to Expect When You Are Expecting (WTEWYE) message board-- their experience ranged from experiencing just what I was and waiting to see if their baby was okay, to having gone through it in past pregnancies. Some babies simply outgrew it, and others had fetal EKGs and other heart monitoring tests just shortly after birth. One woman's doctor even had her baby placed in the NICU for 3 days shortly after birth simply as a precaution.

I also asked my good friend and wonderful doctor Sara if she knew anything about PAC, and said that although she didn't she would ask a friend of hers who was a pediatric cardiologist what she knew. The answers I got were very soothing, and I really appreciated getting an answer from someone who, I am sure, is often deluged by more medical questions than she would like.

Finally, the next week arrived and my next appointment. Jim and I waited nervously-- he kept insisting that it would totally be gone, or at least much improved, and thankfully-- he was right. This time Noah's heart still had some irregular beats, but it was every 12 or so, rather than every 4 beats. This improvement seemed to confirm that he really was outgrowing it, and Dr. Ambur was content to wait until the next week when my regular appointment was scheduled to hear how he was doing. If it wasn't gone at that point we would proceed with an ultrasound of Noah's heart and possible other monitoring and tests.

Once again we waited through the week until Friday arrived. I dropped Jim off at work (we are still sharing a vehicle) and began to drive home until time for my appointment. Driving down University, I came to its intersection with Broadway, and saw that the light was red. I moved my foot off the gas and was abut to brake when the light turned green, so I simply proceeded on in my path. As I got to the intersection I saw on my left a large semi barrelling at me, as I slammed on my brakes, he made a left turn to drive in front of me.

Immediately my little one began to punch and kick as never before. I was unsure if he was responding to my adrenaline or if it was from being squished by the seat belt, but he definitely had strong opinions about the idiot driver who I now was forced to follow most of the way toward home. I had read of placental abruption in cases of car accidents and knew that it is generally advised that if a pregnant woman is in a car accident she goes to the hospital right away, but I had not been in an actual car accident, so I contented myself with laying down and doing kick counts and then asking about it at my appointment.

I asked Dr. Ambur about seat belt placement and was surprised when she said, "Well, we can throw you up on the fetal monitor for a while, and it will give us a nice long chance to see is heartbeat." I was secretly delighted. I got to hear my little boy's heart for 20 minutes, not just for the few seconds that Dr. Ambur could manage to wrangle him to lay still for the Doppler? The fetal monitor is commonly used in non-stress tests for overdue or at-risk pregnancies. Once I was all set up on the couch, I knew that his heart was SO MUCH improved. I do not think that I heard any irregularities, and his heart reacted just as it should when he would kick or punch, or squirm. It would speed up, and then gradually slow as he stilled.

"The primary goal of the test is to measure the heart rate of the fetus in response to its own movements. Healthy babies will respond with an increased heart rate during times of movement, and the heart rate will decrease at rest. The concept behind a non-stress test is that adequate oxygen is required for fetal activity and heart rate to be within normal ranges. When oxygen levels are low, the fetus may not respond normally."

For those of you who don't know-- a fetal monitor has 2 straps that go around the pregnant woman's abdomen- one to hear the heart, and one to monitor for contractions. There is also a Jeapordy-esque toggle to hold that I was directed to push each time I felt the baby move, which was quite often. I now wish I had one at home, so that I could listen to him all of the time. I never thought that I would be thankful for a semi almost hitting me, but without it we would have had a much shorter time to listen to our boy's heart.

Surprisingly, it sounds as if most women don't share my affection for this procedure. When I told Dr. Ambur that I really appreciated getting to hear him for so long, she told me that most moms can't wait to be done with the monitor. Maybe if I was overdue (a common reason to conduct a stress test) I would feel differently. If I were a week overdue I think everything would annoy me, but for now I am content that my little boy is growing well, and that his heart is healthy (although I am still a worry-wort at times) and that he will stay put for the remaining 6 weeks as he should.

After we all listened to the regular bump, bump, bump till we were satisfied of its normalcy we were told the blessed news that Dr. Ambur tought that it would be advisable that we could go back to regular 2 week appointments, at least for a few more weeks until I am down to weekly appointments and srreenings for dialation and effacement. Eekk!

Tick-Tock, Tick Tock

2009-03-10T09:34:00.003-05:00

I feel like this giant clock is in my life-- this ticking time bomb that is set to explode, and I am anticipating it in many ways, and also dreading it in others. The worst part-- I can never forget that this explosion is imminent, because the bomb is inside of me and protruding out of the front of me at every move. However, I wouldn't wish it away for the world, because if I were, I would be wishing away one of the greatest blessings in my life. My almost-born son.

As of today, I officially have 8 weeks and 4 days left till his due date on May 8. Crazy. Typically, modern obstetrics recommends induction or a caesarean at 41 weeks, so the greatest amount of time that I have is a little more than 9 weeks. In some ways this seems like forever and I long to feel my little ones soft and fuzzy head, to see if he is a blonde as I was when I was a child, or if he has his father's dark and curly hair (I hope.) I want to hold his little hand and see his father's soft brown eyes light up as he looks at the son that fulfills a decade-long wish to be a father. I long to turn my parents into the grandparents they are eagerly anticipating becoming-- to prove right my mother's predicitions that Noah really will be the cutest baby ever. I also wouldn't mind sleeping on my stomach and drinking coffee with impunity again.

However, our calendar for these last two months have already become filled with meetings, agendas and all sorts of tasks that a good part of me fears we won't be able to complete in time. First time parenting jitters are running rampant, I will freely admit. My rational mind knows that these new-parent fears are often far from the reality that I have learned over years of working with children in so many different capacities.

We need to baby proof our home-- Ahhh-- there are so many dangers! The reality-- when Noah comes home to live with us, most of his days will be taken up with sleeping, eating and pooping. Considering he won't be able to roll over for much of our remaining stay in our current home, it isn't so vital that the stove guard be installed in the kitchen from day one.
We need to buy a house before Noah comes along-- we want our baby to be raised with a yard! The reality-- Noah could care less if we are in an apartment or house for a few months after his birth. As long as he is warm and dry and his mommy and daddy who love him are there, that is all he cares about. This worry is also conveniently forgetting about the thousands of babies and small children in urban areas that live quite comfortably in apartment homes for their entire childhood. There is one real dilemma that I haven't answered though-- is it better to move at 8 months pregnant, or with a small infant?
We still have so much to buy-- our registry list is huge and empty! The reality--We have many of the things that our baby will need already. My parents gifted us with the money for our crib and nursing chair, and Jim's dad gave us the money for our stroller and car seat. Many of the things on our list are non-essentials, or at least not vital for the first month after Noah is born, but will make life A LOT easier for us in the long run. Babies did fine for centuries without a Boppy-- no matter what the good people at Boppy try to tell you. I have also been blessed with the offer of my parents to throw us a shower in MI where I can see friends and family for more than 2 minutes during a holiday visit, as well as by Sara from our small group offering to throw a shower for us out here. I don't imagine that a great many people will come, since we have been in the church for less than a year, but just that they care about us enough to have a shower at all is wondrous.
We are totally not ready for birth! Why did I ever decide to do natural birth?! The reality-- Tonight is the second of five classes that are proving very helpful in teaching breathing and other coping techniques. I have already been surprised by the effectiveness of the breathing techniques we have been learning on my Braxton Hicks contractions. Women have been giving birth without medicine for thousands of years. Our bodies do amazing (albeit painful-- thanks Eve) things during the process of labor it is up to me to allow and assist my body in doing what it needs to do to bring Noah into the outside world.
Our lives will totally change! We'll never be able to go anywhere or do anything beyond 7 p.m. again! I'll never get any sleep, and my body will not be my own for at least a year! The reality-- As the commercial says, yes, "having a baby changes everything." But is the change for the better-- undoubtedly. To have a son that is mine, me combined with Jim, is an honor that I do not take lightly. We imagined, and I worried, that this might never happen for us. For us to decide to start trying, and to reach success so quickly, and just before the economic downturn that would have likely caused us to decide to wait, can't be a coincidence by any means. It is important for some reason for us to have this child, in this time, and we have only to guard and instruct this precious gift that God is entrusting to us, and to help Noah grow into who he is meant to be.

Our Prep for Labor and Childbirth Class

2009-03-05T10:29:00.003-06:00

This past Tuesday Jim and I began our "Preparation for Childbirth" classes up at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, where we will not be giving birth, but is part of the same hospital system as where Noah will be entering the world. My OB said that this should be fine and would save us driving into S. Minneapolis for the class every week.

It was great to finally get down to making an actual plan for the birth of our child, and to meet with other expectant families who are making the same decisions and going through the same fears and frustrations.

Some highlights were:

Separating into male and female groups to discuss pros and cons of pregnancy. The girls had a quite a few more cons than the guys did, and later they said that they had thought of some of what we had put up, but were worried that they would get in trouble for mentioning things like "constipation." Oddly enough the #1 pro for the guys was the tax break and #2 was the child itself! Men. We women did list the tax benefits, but under the baby, and making your parents grandparents and several other things.
Practicing breathing techniques. This was really helpful for me, and relaxed me almost to the point of sleeping (one guy did actually fall asleep, which I'm not sure his wife appreciated) Hopefully this will prove useful when it comes to the time where I really need it.
Discussing other coping techniques for the pain. I think I will get a birthing ball, and I have already known that I want to stand in the shower for quite some time before and possibly after we go to the hospital.

One of the things that wasn't a highlight was the men's uncomfortable joking. I think that this is really hard on them to actually confront the reality of their wives and girlfriends going through so much pain that they can do nothing for, and so they have resorted to joking to relieve their tension. I'm sure that as the weeks go by, they will get more accustomed to it all, and hopefully relax.

One guy that I really feel for is actually there with his sister to be the birthing coach. The poor kid looks like he is about 18 and is SO uncomfortable during one exercise where the partners had to give the ladies a hand rub, and then the women had to give the coaches a back rub how they would like to get one during labor. They didn't even attempt that one. They did do the breathing, but sat next to each other, rather than her between his legs, as the rest of us were.

It is strange, but for Jim and I, our weeknights are getting busier, even before the baby comes. Tuesday is this class, Wednesday is GEMS, and on Thursday nights is a men's Bible Study that Jim is thinking of attending, and I think will be even more vital once he steps firmly into the daddy role.

Green Pasta

2009-03-05T10:06:00.002-06:00

It is hard to believe that the year of GEMS is almost over. Shortly I will be giving birth, and shortly the girls will be enjoying spring and then summer break. Our spring is filled with fun events, the first of which is the Bake Sale during the Cadet's Pinewood Derby this Saturday.

Last night all of the GEMS were making different treats for the bake sale, and I decided to make Spinach Fettuccine with the girls for something different, and something for people to buy who might be trying to eat healthier, but still want to support the GEMS. I was really surprised that the girls weren't totally disgusted by the cooked spinach, which is a vital component of the pasta. Several even told me that they liked to eat is raw as a salad, but not usually cooked. I'm not sure if this is a MN/MI thing, but I don't think I have had 2nd and 3rd graders before who would feel like that about spinach.

The girls really seemed to enjoy getting to add all of the ingredients, and especially looking at the slurry of spinach, eggs, oil and water that was created using the blender. They were also amazed at how "Play Dough" like the whole process was, and had fun rolling, cutting and hanging the individual strands to dry. I hope that people will be interested in the pasta after all of their hard work. I may augment some of the pasta with some I will make because they had a ton of fun decorating labels for each of the bags. Aside from that though, they really did work hard making a quality product, and also worked hard to keep things clean for their customers.

The girls are so great, and we are finally seeing some real togetherness between the girls from Faith and Calvin Christian Schools and the girls from New Life Church, in part because Kate (my wonderful co-teacher who unfortunately can't be there every week because she also is on the worship team) and I have worked to play name games or some other game with the girls most weeks.

Last night, as usual, I got more questions about Noah and what it feels like to have him be awake and asleep in there, and at one point someone began singing, "That's Elmo's World," (don't ask me why) and they soon switched it to "That's Noah's World" and Cassandra pointed to my belly and said, "That is Noah's world in there, in your belly." I have to agree, it is rather round and planet-like as of late. I can't wait to see how they will really react when they see him outside of me, after hearing about him and seeing him grow over the months. I'll probably have to be careful that he doesn't end up going home with one of the girls!

I'm still unsure how much I am going to be able to do next year. Noah will be about 4 months old when next year's GEMS start up, and although Jim is more than willing to hang out with his little guy while I am away, I'm not sure A: How much I will want to be away, and B: how pumping will go, and IF I will be able to be away for even that length of time. We have talked about having childcare for workers next year, and I might end up doing that so I can have him with me and still be of service, because I don't want to totally drop off from volunteering simply by having a child.

A Quick Update

2009-02-26T08:23:00.003-06:00

I used to get bulk emails about home decoration and photography and the latest sales, now I get emails entitled, "100 foods that can harm your baby while pregnant." I recently got this pip of an email, which is helpful explaining the fire that is often scorching my throat, but is not the most sterling example of prose ever penned by the good people at whattoexpect.com. I especially love the part about my, "now gigantic uterus, which has taken over (my) abdominal cavity." I suppose it is true-- if any other organ in our bodies grew as exponentially as a woman's womb does during pregnancy, something would be seriously wrong.

"Many of the early pregnancy symptoms you thought you'd put behind you are coming back to haunt you: like the need to pee all the time (because your baby's head is now pressing on your bladder), along with the tender breasts (as they gear up for milk production), the fatigue, and the heartburn. And no one — not even a regular at the corner greasy spoon — does heartburn like a third-trimester pregnant woman (except, of course, a pregnant woman who's a regular at the corner greasy spoon).

During pregnancy, the muscle at the top of the stomach that usually prevents digestive acids from splashing up into the esophagus relaxes (like all those other muscles in your digestive tract), allowing digestive juices to back up. That's the burning sensation you feel when heartburn strikes. Add to that your now gigantic uterus, which has taken over your abdominal cavity, forcing your stomach to practically reach your throat, and you've got good reason to be feeling the burn."

Lovely, huh? They make pregnancy sound so delightful and such a beautiful experience.

I think I must be getting really big, because the other night at GEMS at church, these 2 little girls that I had never met before came up to me and the older-- who was about 4 patted my belly, to which I replied, "Oh, can you tell there is a baby in there?" And she patted it again and her younger companion leaned in and called out, "Hello!" into the general region of Noah. My GEMS girls, who are all 2nd and 3rd graders all love to say hi to my little boy. They all forget about greeting me and say, "Hi Noah James," and one asked me the other day if Noah would move if she patted me. I told her that yes, sometimes he does, but that he was sleeping right then because I had been on my feet all night. They are so sweetly excited about Noah, even though I knew they wished he was a girl at first.

"Did you know, that when you are just born (she meant conceived) that you are the size of a bug?!" one of my girl's excitedly told the others last night. At times it takes a little skill on my part to avoid telling them more than their parents would like, or to quench the conversation where one girl who may know a bit more than the others will "educate" the others about something that their parents may not be ready for them to know. :)

I Guess I Need to Eat More Nails

2009-02-14T14:10:00.002-06:00

My doctor called me on Friday-- officially a week after my last appointment (one of the detriments to the practice having two offices doctors work out of) to tell me that I am "just a very, very little anemic."

Great. Anemia isn't a horrible thing in pregnancy, as long as is it counteracted by taking a quality iron supplement and eating iron-rich food, such as spinach and liver. Yum. Basically, as my blood level has increased to help strengthen the baby, my body was not able to produce enough iron, so the baby stole it from me and left me depleted. According to all of the books, 20% of women become anemic during pregnancy and it can cause weakness and paleness. I have been experiencing a little bit of both, but I thought that was normal Minnesota-winter and late pregnancy feelings.

Accoring to the lovely people at BabyCenter.com:

"Unfortunately, most women start pregnancy without sufficient stores of iron to meet their body's increased demands particularly in the second and third trimesters. If you get to the point that you no longer have enough iron to make the hemoglobin you need, you become anemic.
Your risk is even higher if you have morning sickness severe enough to cause frequent vomiting, if you've had two or more pregnancies close together, if you're pregnant with more than one baby, if you have an iron-poor diet, or if your pre-pregnancy menstrual flow was heavy."

The latter of those is probably the likeliest cause of my issue, and I may have also contributed to my body not absorbing the 150% or so of iron in my regular prenantal vitamin by my inclination toward taking my vitamin with milk, rather than water or light fruit juice. I have typically heard that it is bad to take medication with foods and beverages rich in Vitamin C is bad because it can prevent absorbtion into the body, but it seems that this is the opposite.

I am now pill-popping like a GNC customer. I now take 1--my regular prenatal vitamin, 2-- a B6 supplement to counteract any lingering traces of nausea, 3-- A Fish oil supplement for baby's brain and nervous system and 4-- my new iron supplement's green color looks like a small corroded penny, or a rivet from the Statue of Liberty.

A Wonderful Surprise

2009-02-11T09:01:00.002-06:00

The past few weeks have been extremely hectic for us, which may seem odd considering I am currently writing from home, but am otherwise unemployed, however, the blessings that I have received during this time have made up for all of the running around, and planning, budgeting and running around that have been going on.

We were so blessed to receive a package recently from my parents, which at the top had a wonderful card and the admonition to open the contents of the package when we were together. We opened the first blue-wrapped package and immediately oohed over an achingly adorable outfit for our son. It was only then that we noticed that Noah's outfit had something sticking out of the pocket. A check! Our baby was coming with money. How thoughtful of the little guy. And how thoughtful of my parents. I set the check aside and felt the extreme softness of his new outfit against my cheek and moved to the next package.

Jim asked to open the next one, and he opened the next entirely adorable outfit and we awwed again, all before we noticed that there was once again something in the pocket-- another check! We had simply assumed that the one was the entirety of the monetary portion of the gift. But no, for each of Noah's 4 new uber-cute outfits in different sizes, there was a check enclosed in his pocket! Being as hormonal as I am lately (probably even without being hormonal I would have done the same) I began to cry. At times it is hard to be so far from family and close friends with children who we can look to for guidance on what to buy, what questions to ask my OB, how to not get overwhelmed with impending parenthood, and it has been so nice very time our families have shown us such care and love.

The outfits are so cute. All but one came with its own fancy hanger, and one of the outfits in particular I'm intending to keep nice for next year's Christmas. My mom thoughtfully picked out outfits in various sizes, so that he will be able to wear these clothes for almost a whole year. My favorite one has an extremely soft white top, that if used regularly will be destroyed by a baby who will have just begun eating baby food, but used just at the holidays it should be perfect for photos and cuddling by friends and family.

As for the monetary gifts, we think we will be getting our chosen nursing chair, which bounces softly, and our favorite crib and some other incidentals. It is so odd that I am finally coming up near the end of this pregnancy.

I have one appointment three weeks from my appointment on Friday, and then I will begin having appointments every 2 weeks, which has seemed like a milestone from the beginning of my pregnancy. All of the thought and planning now needs to be matched with action in these last few months, and as most new parents feel at this time, the sheer amount of things to ready has me nervous. I am so thankful to have a family that has been so supportive of us in this time of great change, and I can only look forward to other greater changes that are soon to take place.

Thanks again mom and dad!

27 Week Appointment

2009-02-08T09:41:00.002-06:00

Last month I did this for my doctor's appointment and people on facebook seemed to really enjoy the format that I chose, so I thought that I would stick with it this month.

On Friday I was at just 27 weeks and had my regular prenatal checkup, but I also got to experience the joy of my:

Glucose Screening Test: If it has been a while for you since babies or you just don't know all of this information, basically what happens is you drink what I have read called "boiled down 7 Up" with extra sugar added. Then after an hour of allowing your body to process the sugar in the drink, blood is taken to see how your body is doing at controlling the amount of sugar in your bloodstream. After my normal peeing in a cup, blood pressure and weight I got to drink the much-hyped beverage, and while it was gross, it did not make me "almost throw up" as many of the other preggos on my May mommies message board attested to. I was able to go through my regular appointment with no problem, and only felt the slightest bit sugar-buzzed as I sat for the remainder of the hour in the waiting room. I was also surprised because many of the May Mommies have said that they had to wait a day to find out the results, and they were able to tell me after just a scant minute's wait that I had passed with no issues.

If I had failed, it wouldn't mean necessarily that I was destined to have GD or need a special diet-- many women I know have failed the one hour, and then have to endure the annoyingly long 3 hour test where blood is taken for each of the hours to give your OB a better idea of how you process sugar. Most of these women pass this secondary test with no problems. I am happy that I didn't have to count the minutes for three hours in my OB's office, and that I believe this means good things for my non-pregnant ability to process sugar. This is simply my assumption, but it seems that if you are more likely to be diabetic during pregnancy and you are not, it means that you are most certainly not nearing diabetes in a non-knocked up state.

Weight: I am pleased as punch to report that I have gained 6 pounds since my last appointment! I am now up a total of 2 pounds since my first appointment at 6 weeks, but what is really important is that finally now in the third trimester I am gaining even some of the weight that I am "supposed to." I have never been told to eat more by my doctor or chastised for not gaining more, but personally I have felt that there might have been something wrong if my body has been changing as much as it has been without any additional weight.

Jim was so pleased that he told my doctor that it was all due to the Belgian Waffle Maker we received as a Christmas present from my parents. I think it may partially be the butter and syrup of this, but in general I feel more hungry and have incorporated additional snacking into my day, and am now going through an even more mammoth amount of milk than I did before. (Like the gallon in our fridge was purchased Friday at 4:30, I used 2 cups in Alfredo sauce I made, Jim drank a glass or two, we were gone nearly all day on Saturday and now there is about 2 glasses worth of milk left in it. and we managed to down a carton of light chocolate soy milk in there too.)

Fundal Height: 28 cm. Still right where I should be. My OB says that as far as she can tell from feeling the baby-- which is wonderful that she can do now because he is so large-- and from feeling me that I am right on track. Baby should be around 2 pounds and approximately 14 inches.

He has approximately doubled in weight from the last appointment and is now entering the portion of pregnancy where he will be growing by leaps and bounds-- which is what he is apparently doing in there. I have been trying to capture the wild movements of my abdomen on camera, but whenever I get up to grab our P&S he seems to halt his movements as if he knew just what I was up to. It is also funny to be lying on my side and to be able to feel him touching the "floor" or whatever I am laying on" as well as touching the other far side of my womb. Jim laughs because he purposely will put his face up to the movement and talk to Noah in hopes that he will be kicked or hit by his son. When hearing that his son had kicked Jim, Jim's friend Slicker (not particularly a baby fan) said, "I think I might like this kid after all."

Fetal Heart Rate: Dr. Ambur doesn't use the feature on the doppler which gives an actual number, but it sounds right on with last month's number of 130 bpm. Yay!

General Health: I have been really surprised that I have not had any horrible colds this winter thus far, despite working with my 2nd and 3rd grade GEMS every week. Could it possibly be because of the- gasp-- flu shot I tried to avoid, but eventually gave in on? Jim has actually been sicker than me-- poor guy, and during a week that would have been very inconvenient to miss at work.

My back has been the most annoying symptom as of late-- with spasms from sitting in the car, sewing too long, or simply being upright too long. I am hopefully getting a lovely belly support band soon, which is something I swore never to get, but am now convinced is the most wonderful invention ever made for the pregnant woman. I can really feel where I have filled in upwards under my bust, and the pressure up there also hurts my ribs at times and forces me to adjust how I am sitting. On the whole, I would take the annoyance of a sore back instead of the heartbreak and possible complications of Gestational diabetes any day, and so I consider myself fortunate.

I have also begun to think about labor as an impending reality, and am still convinced that no epidural will be the best for me and my child, and I hope that this is something that I can follow through on in the heat of the moment. My mother did it twice, and countless other women have done it over the years, and thankfully soon we will have our hospital tour and begin labor and delivery classes that will assuage some of my fears and equip me for labor when it arrives.

I have always had debilitating cramps and pain associated with "my womanly cycle" and one of the few positive symptoms of pregnancy has been the cessation of this pain. If I was not pregnant I would have had to suffer through this pain for days an additional 6 times (because of my long cycles) and with nothing to show for it except for having annoyed my husband with my PMS symptoms. Now I am looking at enduring something that will be the culmination of these un-experienced cycles of pain, all coming together in one or two days. There is one big difference between this pain and the former though-- at the end of it I will have a wonderful child, my son, to hold in my arms. For that, for him, I can endure this pain. For the idea of him I have endured all of this former pain-- with merely the hope of children at some point in the future. It is so wonderful to have that idea and that hope of him finally here to redeem the pain of all of those times.

Stillwater, MN

2009-01-26T09:22:00.006-06:00

This past weekend was one of those weekends where we came to Sunday evening after a day of cleaning, cooking, eating and travelling and I felt confused as how the entirety of Saturday and Sunday had passed without us seeming to notice it. I guess in some ways that is a mark of a weekend well spent, we were having such an enjoyable time that we didn't even notice the time passing. Saturday was the busiest of these days (Sunday was spent at church and doing some fast and furious loads of laundry and dishes.)

It began early in the morning. Jim had been invited to spend a good chunk of the day out at the Hudson, WI Rod, Gun and Archery Club. One of his coworkers lives over the border in WI and knows of this club. It is perhaps the nicest gun club I have ever been inside of. I think it is because of the rich hunting and fishing history of the area-- the club was established in 1924 and had a wonderful lodge. I took the opportunity to explore the border areas of the state that we haven't taken full advantage of, despite their reputation as quaint and removed from the hectic nature of the Twin Cities.

Hudson is the last city on the border of WI and MN and typically when we are driving through it we are either beginning our long road trip back to MI or are almost home after a long drive, so we tend to zip passed the city, which lies on the shores of the St. Croix River. It is somewhat funny that we have just discovered this area since it is the same river and general area that we will be enjoying in February for the Winter Picnic I recently blogged about. However we found it, I am happy that we did, because I find myself longing for places with a small town feel that are not simply a suburb of The Cities, but independent communities. Hudson is a wonderful small town that hosts events such as the 20th Annual Hot Air Affair where they launch hot air balloons in the dead of winter. While it would be lovely to watch, I certainly don't envy those who will be flying the balloons in the frigid air.

They also have The Octagon House Museum, which I am so excited to see, but is only open during the warmer months of the year. In my college years, I think that we actually discussed this building during an Art and Architecture lecture, and to just happen to come across it was a delight, even though I could only see it from the outside. In Hudson, I also tried to get some pictures from the Lakefront Park .(which is somewhat a misnomer because it is really on the river, although the river here widens to technically be a lake) Jim was wearing long underwear for the day because he was going to be outside for part of it, but I was dressed only in my typical coat and shoes, and not ready for the frigid sub-zero early morning air and only got a few shots of the I 94 and Stillwater Lift Bridge.

The said Stillwater Lift Bridge is a curious structure, which makes even I who drive over The Mississippi River sometimes 8 times a day hesitate. The bridge has a reputation for getting stuck in the UP position and delaying traffic, sometimes for as much as 3 hours and many miles on HWY 36 for those who live in WI, but work in MN. They are discussing eventually altering the bridge and using it only for foot and bike traffic over the river, and replacing it with a modern alternative. The bridge was built in 1931 and has been essentially unaltered since then, and the fact that I had to drive over a structure that was so reputed to malfunction made me nervous.

However, I wanted to explore the city, made famous as the "Birthplace of Minnesota" and once held the first seat of territorial government and now sells antique books and home decor. Really, it is an absolutely perfect example of a quaint small town, and I can't believe it has taken us this long to discover it. We were bemoaning (or really I was feeling sad about) our lack of a Traverse City experience that we had when we lived in MI, except for Duluth, which is really a large city and difficult to navigate, and lo and behold, we have another city that is probably more quaint than TC just 40 minutes from our home on the other side of the Twin Cities.

Unfortunately, it was still early when I arrived at Stillwater, and many of the businesses were keeping "Winter Hours" during this time where many of the tourists and day-trippers were kept at bay by the cold temperatures. However, I made note of several places I wanted to visit, and several options for food once Jim was done in WI. I am already anticipating a summer of visits (probably briefer than I am used to due to diaper changes and feedings) of trips to the Warden's House Museum-- memorializing the Minnesota Territorial Prison, which housed criminals such as the Younger Brothers, who were members of Jesse James' gang.

When I eventually picked up Jim (after a day of shopping and some photography while soaking in the humidity of the Tropical Room at the McNeely Conservatory) we decided to eat at "Shane's on Main" a restaurant offering hot sandwiches, and a view of the lift bridge from the back room. The staff were very friendly and offered us better seats if we were cold sitting by the windows and jokes about the bridge and their view of it frozen in mid-air at times. We were able to both eat soup and homemade sandwiches for under $20, and several more restaurants were similarly priced. (We'll see if this holds true in tourist season.)

Also visited were the now open Midtown Antiques Mall, St. Croix Antiquarian Booksellers and several other home decor. stores. While compiling this list I am also making plans to visit the Antique Radio Company where they sell and repair antique radios, the Chef's Gallery, The Stillwater Farm Store and The River Market Community Co-op for some fresh produce. Wow, that is quite a list, and I haven't even discussed the local state parks that we are now so excited to visit and the riverfront that was too chilly to explore much. That should probably be left until it actually is warm enough to explore, and till we find out how we survive the Winter Picnic.

The Generosity of Family

2009-01-23T10:04:00.011-06:00

"Jim is going to need to help you go get the box from the office. It weighs 27 pounds." My father left us this message regarding a package that my Aunt Susie and Grandma had recently informed us was on its way. I had expected some baby onesies, or a bit of fabric, but I was instead shocked as we walked through the dark and cold to the community office and Jim hefted an imposing box onto his shoulder.

"What could be in there?" I wondered out loud as we quickly hurried back home to open it. I was happy that I was able to get my aunt on the phone to talk with her while we walked (one of the few places we get a good signal is outside) and managed to keep her on the phone while we opened the package. What I found were yards upon yards of fabric. Fleece, flannel and cotton. Iron on material for applique-ing, backing for the pillows I'm planning on making, along with several baby blankets (Which I may turn into baby clothes because of the cute pre-applied applique of elephants, snails etc. There was even a Carter's musical elephant which Jim has taken to placing against my belly to soothe the baby in utero. This, and the mounted Star Wars poster that were included in the box for Jim's birthday were two of his favorite items.

I feel so blessed to have family that have read my blog and thought about what they already have that would be a blessing to us. My grandma is an avid sewer who already sent us a Care Bear baby quilt, after the show I loved which also became one of my nicknames. A few weeks ago I was feeling worried over the vast amounts of things we need to purchase for the baby, and while admittedly we do not have any of the big purchases made yet, because of this present I am feeling so relieved about the status of Baby Weston's layette and through a recent visit to a "Once Upon A Child" in one of the fancier communities around us, I am feeling better about some of the other purchases that are weighing on our budget.

Anyways, I have already taken to my sewing machine to make some pieces of clothing we have been talking about whenever we visit a Hancock Fabrics or a Jo Anne's. We always pause by the animal print fabric and laugh at the idea of our son in cow pants or tiger pants, and lo and behold, we received some fleece that was the perfect material for some 6 month pants. For these I used one of the patterns I got at Jo Anne's for 99cents and I learned so much just by using the pattern instead of approximating a match using other clothing pieces. I may have to make myself a matching pair, they look so cozy!

Another fabric that we both delighted in was a yellow fabric covered with playful monkeys, which Jim requested I use soon, and laughed with delight upon seeing the end result when I obliged. He thinks they are the best thing I've ever sewn. I was a bit less pleased because I used a smaller pair of pants than the pattern I had to approximate the size and the rise came out smaller than I was intending. I think they will still be alright as newborn pants, even if they are a little long at that time. But they are soooo cute!

Making things is getting a lot easier for me as I have gotten back in the sewing groove, but my back is not as agreeable as my spirit is to making baby items, so I simply try to do a little bit every day, and have taken over our dining room table with all of my sewing mess. Our main issue is becoming storage for all of our baby blessings. We used a shelf from another area of the house and have placed it in what will probably be its final location in our bedroom and used some IKEA soft red storage boxes and a couple baskets from around the house for his stuff until we invest in our new Malm dressers, which will hold his clothes as well as ours. I've gathered a lot of our "kid stuff," and placed them all on the shelves, although some he won't be able to use for a while and may go back in a box temporarily.

We've also hung his name up above in some letters I've painted from the craft store. Using the IKEA catalog and the internet I tried to match the colors in the fabrics we're going to use after we get the crib, and I think I did pretty well. In the picture you can see the elephant that my Aunt and Grandma sent us resting and waiting for his future owner. additionally we have some shelves to hand that were formerly in our old towel-bar lacking bathroom that aren't needed there any more, but we are waiting to see how the crib feels in various locations before we put any more holes in the walls.

Because I know you, Aunt Susie, at least read this, I will definitely keep you updated on all of my creations from your generosity. And we say thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to show you a live model for the things that I have been making!

al-Shabaab and the Minneapolis Connection

2009-01-21T09:00:00.005-06:00

The inauguration is over, the pageantry concluded and I am sure that very few Americans took note of one small reference to threats to the inaugural ceremony. However, one specific threat caught my interest, particularly as a Minnesota resident. Fox, as well as other networks mentioned one threat that had been investigated by the Secret Service:

“Authorities monitored a rush of intelligence leads Tuesday at the largest security operation in presidential inauguration history, including a possible threat from an East Africa radical Islamic terrorist group.Law enforcement and intelligence officials received information that people associated with a Somalia-based group, al-Shabaab, might try to travel to the U.S. with plans to disrupt the inauguration, according to a joint FBI/Homeland Security bulletin issued Monday night.”

Probably for many of you, al-Shabaab is simply another in a long list of Islamic terrorist organizations that are operating on the other side of the world, however, this is one organization with ties that hit a bit closer to home for many Minneapolis and greater Minnesota residents.
For a wide variety of reasons, Minnesota is home to the United States largest Somali population. Many of these immigrants have fled their homelands as refugees from the unrest (perhaps best referenced by the book and film, “Black Hawk Down”) In fact, on Lake Street in Minneapolis, near the West Bank of the University of Minnesota and the tragedy of the 35W Bridge collapse over 120 Somali owned and operated business can be found. Unfortunately, also in this area is a high rise apartment complex locally nicknamed “The Crack Stacks” for the poverty of the Somalian residents of the building. Many of those that have fled from Somalia are former doctors and lawyers who are now reduced to filling jobs of manual labor and live lives of poverty.

Even more recently the Somalian community has been rocked by the dissappearance of many of its teenage and young adult males, estimated at as many as 2 dozen “missing boys” have been lured back to the very country their parents have fled, by members of al-Shabaab to execute terrorist attacks in Africa. Said of one bombing:
“It’s believed that one of the suicide bombers was 26-year old Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Minneapolis, home to a substantial Somali émigré population. Ahmed moved to Minnesota in 1996 and graduated high school there before becoming one of over a dozen young Somali men to disappear from the area in recent months. All are believed to have returned to Somalia to join the fighting, possibly as suicide bombers. FBI officials will not confirm whether an investigation is under way.”

While the FBI is officially remaining non-commital on the issue, according to local news on Thanksgiving weekend several Somali visitors were prevented from returning to Somalia at the Minneapolis- St. Paul Airport, although they were not officially arrested. However, FBI officials returned the remains of one of the “missing boys” to his parents. Reports one site: "The FBI wouldn’t even confirm if a teenager whose remains the agency returned to his family last month was one of five suicide bombers who attacked government and foreign installations in Somalia, killing 24. Yet almost everyone in the community believes that 19-year-old Shirwa Ahmed, a University of Minnesota student, was indeed a culprit in those attacks."

The same site also reports: “Special agent E. K. Wilson of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) office in Minneapolis wouldn’t confirm or deny the fate of the “missing boys,” as they are known in the community. He would only say that his agency is aware that an unspecified number of Somali youths have traveled from throughout the United States, including Minneapolis, to “potentially fight in Somalia.””

My husband mentioned that during the day of the inauguration there were several helicopters patrolling the air above downtown Minneapolis, and I am certainly not claiming that this was somehow associated with the perceived threat. However, it did make me wonder what sort of actions were taking place to asses this threat, and how much of this investigation was taking place in my new home.

I am so sad for the families of these teenagers, especially because of all of the unanswered questions associated with the disappearance of their children. They fled Somalia in the hopes of providing a better future for their children here in the United States, and because of the actions of a few men have gone back to Somalia and are choosing in some cases to die there. I have in no way exhausted this topic, and I urge you to look at some of the links I have provided. Much of what has been written is opinion-based, and there is conflict even among the Somali population of whether or not as many boys have gone missing as has been reported and where the actual destinations of some of these teenagers has been.

I confess...

2009-01-19T09:24:00.003-06:00

...that our Christmas tree is sitting undecorated on our balcony. It actually doesn't look too bad from the road. :) Makes me look forward to gardening on our balcony this spring.

The first winter we spent out here, we were confused by the number of people that appeared to be celebrating Christmas into February and March by leaving their lights out on their houses, wreaths on doors and garages, and inflatable holiday characters in yards. Finally, we asked someone why this was, and they told us that it simply is too cold, and the ice too dangerous so people tend to leave up their decorations for a lot longer than in other places.

This made sense, although I am still questioning why people had their lights turned on for all of this time, but I guess that is just one of those mysteries I will never know. Last year our tree was down fairly quickly-- we weren't entirely on the up and up with our complex about our having a live tree in our apartment. I ended up taking to it with some gardening shears and the handsaw that Lisa gave me for Christmas the year we lived together in Winchell Way, after another Christmas tree issue.

Our current home is much more amenable to live trees, but sent everyone a note regarding watering of trees, which was an issue since we were gone for over a week, and advising us to dispose of our trees by throwing them over our balconies rather than carting them down the hall, shedding needles. "Please look beforehand for animals and people underneath your balcony." This warning was well advised, but still somewhat humorous coming from the apartment office.

We typically keep the tree up till New Years, but a combination of Jim's horrible work schedule, my being pregnant and unable to throw and cart a tree to the dumpster and the -35 wind chill turned us into the Minnesotans I had been derisive of just one winter ago. Well, the weather has finally broken (it is now a sweltering 22 degrees) and we have had an actual weekend to enjoy being together and Jim being out in daylight, so this issue should be resolved soon. I'm just thankful we don't have to throw the tree from the 3rd floor and avoid hitting cars in the parking lot from a stray gust of wind.

My Photo at the Science Muesum of Minnesota

2009-01-14T10:45:00.003-06:00

A few days ago I noticed something on my flickr feed that has previously escaped my notice. I was contacted by someone from the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul about using one of my photos in their upcoming exhibit, "Water."

According to the letter I received when I responded to the message,

"The Water exhibit celebrates one of the most basic necessities of human survival. Innovative presentation techniques converge with a variety of interactive activities to let visitors examine the scientific, cultural and environmental aspects of water. Visitors will explore the ways that our societies strain the planet's finite resources and have the opportunity to experience the power of water firsthand."

Running from January 30- April 26, my photo would be used as a part of the program created in collaboration with the American Museum of Natural History, and run in a slide-show all day for each day that the exhibit runs. There is no pay for this, but it is an honor to be asked among about 39 other photographers and Jim and I will be given a pair of tickets to enter the museum and see the exhibit and I would receive recognition through a photo credit running alongside my work. While not as much of an issue in water-plentiful MN, the scarcity of water is already impacting other areas of the United States and, in a much more dramatic sense, other areas of the world, and I am happy to be a part of making this exhibit more impactful to visitors.

According to Jim Imholte at SMM, "we’d like to add a projection of water in its various states through images taken by photographers in Minnesota." I think that this will have an impact upon MN visitors to the museum, as it will make the issue more relatable to them and allow them to think about the issue as it pertains to their own water resources here which are vital for agriculture, life and tourism of the state.

The photo that they selected was from the visit that Jim and I made to the Obon Festival at Como Park back in later August, when I was newly pregnant and exhausted, but didn't know the reason why yet. Aside from the satisfaction garnered from participating in such a worthwhile exhibit, I also feel a great deal of personal satisfaction for having my work recognized. I feel like I missed so many opportunities during this past fall. Pregnancy, in some ways, has been hard on me, although I'm thankful that my suffering has been limited to exhaustion, round ligament pain and morning sickness. I feel like I am only just now gaining back the time that I have missed, and really getting our home organized the way that I have wanted it to be, had I the energy the whole time that we have lived here.

I am also very much aware that my life will change in dramatic ways once I have firmly entered the realm of mommy-hood and the days where I can spend my time attending festivals, and going on walks simply to take photos will be limited. I know that I am good at things, like writing, being a wife, cooking, photography, making our apartment a home, but I never have felt like I am great at very many things. It feels very vindicating to have one of the few photos I took and one of the very few that I posted during my first trimester of pregnancy considered for something such as this. It feels like an acknowledgement that I do have talent in this realm, and that I do have a voice that people will want to hear.

Ahhh-- It Feels So Good

2009-01-14T10:32:00.002-06:00

Sometimes it is the small changes that feel so good in life. Somehow, the change the changes that I just made to the template of this blog make it feel fresh and new to me again, and after over a year of posting here, that is a very good thing.

I love the left-handed profile setting and the new simplistic color scheme. Just what I needed. And the changes have also added much needed space to the text portion of this blog, and make my posts seem not so quite outrageously long.

Baby Sites I Love

2009-01-14T08:54:00.004-06:00

I know that I am no expert when it comes to making a home for an infant. Our little one isn't even going to have his own room for a while since he'll be sleeping in the same room as us (in his own crib or nearby bassinet) because statistically this is the best place for newborns to sleep to avoid SIDS and because Jim slept in his parent's room when he was a baby and felt like it was important. However, I know that through thought and planning I can make my little one's first years a wonderful and nurturing experience for him and for his parents.

Thus, in searching for room decor and for our little one's layette, I have looked for baby-oriented websites that cater to this mindset.

One site I love is Ohdeedoh. They offer nursery tours in a wide variety of budgets and tastes, and get the parent's perspective on why they chose the pieces they did and how their life philosophy connects to the space in which they have created to raise their child. From a nursery that takes up just half of mom and dad's walk-in closet, to nurseries in loft apartments and carriage houses, there is a great deal of variety, and individual pieces and stores are often linked to-- and instructions on alterations to store bought pieces are given. It has also let me see our hoped-for Hensvik crib in action, albeit in a girl's nursery.

Found through Ohdeedoh, the Flickr group, "Go to Your Room," and the connected baby group offer real life nurseries that aren't primped and styled for magazines, but have practical insights into decorating for a baby or youngster. Some of the people in the group are just advertising their own creations that they sell on etsy and in other locations, but are easy enough to skip over and focus on the practical inspirations and dramatic before and after photos.

Another site I love came courtesy of my lovely sister-in-law. She made us a pair of delightful baby pants for Christmas and told me upon my receiving a sewing machine about the site Make Baby Stuff. While the sites downloadable patterns are kind of sad, their innovation with making pants out of old adult t-shirts and practical discussions of freezer paper patterns and appliqued onesies is a great thing.

IKEA--Duh. If you have read my blog at all, then you will know of my love for the clean lines, inexpensive prices and joyful attitude toward childhood that I have found in this mammoth store. When I look at the sample nurseries available on their website it makes me happy, and it delights me to see a girl's nursery that has been designed as something other than a pink, green and brown Princess overkill. From my childcare days I have vowed that I would resist this sterotyping, after seeing 3 and 4 year old girls whose only ambition is to be a princess when they grow up. For items that we will purchase new, the bright colors will also allow us to have a gender neutral palette that isn't "Classic Pooh" or simple yellow and green.

BRIO- In a world of plastic toys, it is nice to see a manufacturer that is still making classic wooden toys, many of which were first launched in the 1960s and are still sold, with small alterations, today. They are perhaps best known for their wooden train sets and train tables, but they may also be known for the Toddler Wobbler, Puck and the Daschund pull-along. Their high contrast, but non-frantic color scheme is also good developmentally for young children. My only sadness is that the infant toys are not currently sold in the United States, but I know how quickly time will pass until our son is ready to use the toddler and preschool level toys. While the toys are a bit more expensive than others, the quality is so great, and through back channels we are able to order items at a deep discount.

For instructions on how to make super cute applique onesies, like it or not, Martha Stewart has some great advice. She featured a wonderful etsy seller, Bella Blu, who manufactures onesies and offers construcitive advice on how to make some of your own. This weekend I'm intending to head out and get the necessary items to create some of my own. Because of the patterns available, so far I have made plenty of pants for The Bean, but no shirts. I'm intending on buying a pattern for baby shirts as well as some pre-made onesies that I can work on up at the Coon Rapids JoAnn's Fabrics, which seems to have the best selection of baby fabric as well as a great selection of pre-made appliques and iron-on onesies. I already have some iron on backings, but I bought the wrong type and ended up having to pin my design to the pair of pants I was making.

Winter Picnic

2009-01-13T16:07:00.003-06:00

What's a little -10 windchill when there are hot dogs to be roasted? Recently I received an email from our church small group leader, who also happens to be the small group coordinator for Faith. In July we attended the Independence Day Picnic at Interstate State Park on the border of Wisconsin and Minnesota. This email announces a picnic with just as extreme weather as the painfully humid day of the last picnic, only this one announced an event that is just about as far away in temperatures as Minnesota can get.

Winter Picnic XV is a uniquely Minnesotan event where hearty Scandinavians and wanna-be's like us get together and have a picnic at the St. Croix River Boom Site. Hot dogs (or something else for those of us that are pregnant and told to avoid nitrates) hot cocoa and s'mores are served and a fire is laid along the edge of the river. From the photos in the invitation, it looks like a chilly and fun time will be had by all.

I'm really excited because we have had plenty of opportunity to explore places like Ft. Snelling State Park, Interstate State Park, have gone pretty far into Wisconsin and enjoyed the remote beauty of places like Asheville, we have also visited pretty much every park along the Mississippi in the Twin Cities area, but we haven't done much along the St. Croix (which partially forms the border between WI and MN.) The Boom Site, near Stillwater is also on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated as part of the St. Croix National Scenic Waterway. Sadly, it sounds as if it has become a somewhat forgotten site, and I would love to explore a landmark like this that hasn't been overrun by visitors and garbage, although it sounds like the place might be in trouble due to neglect.

It will be strange to consider packing both snowshoes and our orange Kelsyus beach chairs for the same event, but it should be an exciting and frigid time of fun. Long underwear is definitely in order, and I may try to manhandle my bulging belly into a pair of snow pants, although zipping them has been abandoned before it is even attempted. Thanks to my yearly Christmas Stocking, I also have quite the storehouse of pocket hand-warmers that should come in handy.

My Baby Making Story (Clothes that is.)

2009-01-11T10:06:00.004-06:00

For Christmas this year Jim very kindly went on a hunt for something that I have been wanting and looking at pretty much every time we went to a Sears, Target or similar store. A sewing machine. At Target they are right next to the clothing steamers, which Jim has been wanting in lieu of ironing his work clothes with our bulky and old ironing board. (His mom happened to have 2 of these and was eager to give him one so we returned the one that I got him for the holiday and considered the refund savings.)

I was so excited to see that I could now being making baby clothing for our upcoming bundle of joy. Baby clothes are so expensive and worn for such a brief amount of time that it is hard to rationalize spending $10 on a pair of pants that would only last for 2 months. I have a friend from high school who recently welcomed her first son into the world and at less than 2 months, he is already moved out of many of his 0-3 month clothing. I think I am having a shower back in MI where I will get some clothing, but he will probably get mostly newborn clothes, and while I don't know if he will grow as quickly as the aforementioned baby boy, I know that he will need more clothing to supplement the gifts he has already and will receive soon.

I am hoping to find clean used clothing at garage sales, but because of our weather out here in MN, the sales will not likely being until after our son is born, and I do not want to count on my feeling like leaving the house to go hunt through boxes placed on someone's driveway for baby clothing with a 1 month old in tow.

I have visited several used clothing stores in the area, and I was surprised at how expensive clothing is at these stores! I am used to Goodwill and other places offering clothing for 50 cents a piece, but at the best of the used stores, I found infant pants to be $2.99 or $3.99 per pair! If I wanted to pay those sort of rates, I would simply hunt for sales and go to the nearby outlet malls, rather than wear something used from someone we don't know. I did purchase one pair of Children's Place pants to use as a template for my creations that are soft and blue and lined so they should be warm enough to handle the cool springs around here.

I may receive some used clothing from other women at church, but I do not want to lean on the hope of this either. We are relatively new to the church-- since the beginning of last summer-- and the vast majority of women at Faith have given birth to girls. One day while I was working nursery I was pretty much told that I HAD to have a boy to begin to even out the ratio because one woman had given birth to twin boys, and another adopted a boy, but otherwise every child under 1 was a female.

So the easy solution to all of this is to make many of the baby clothing that our little one is going to use, at least for the first months of life. We visited a nearby fabric store and picked up some "practice" material for about a dollar a yard, a fleece remnant for $2.99 a yard that I have already made 2 pairs of pants from and have barely made a dent in, and a plaid quilted fabric that I have made a pair of really cute shorts (patterned after some shorts my mom sent us) and I intend to make overalls out of as well.

It took me a couple tries to get a workable pair of pants. My sis-in-law Jess told me about a great site http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/, where there were pants patterns and other ideas for handmade baby items. However, the baby pants pattern didn't print out in a correct proportion, so I went with creating my own pattern off of pants we already had. I do intend to try out their pattern to make yoga pants out of old t-shirts because it looks too easy and cheap to pass by.

Right now everything is a plain, basic gray fleece that isn't the plaid pattern, so I purchased extremely small remnants and will be making patches using Photoshop and some of my photos of things like geese, and other boy baby appropriate items, iron on fusible webbing and then sewing around the outside. Of course, I'm sure I'll visit the fabric store again to get some other color and patterned materials, as well as to make pillows for the living room and curtains. Other future ideas include, a baby hat (how cute are babies in hats, and how necessary if we want to have fun this summer) a nursing modesty blanket, Boppy cover, a wet bag for diapers, a sling to carry him in, and of course, the thing that scares me most-- cloth diapers. We're still planning on using cloth, and that is one thing that I do have a pattern of, but it is much more complex than my simple pants patterns. We'll see.

(Pictures are to come soon Jessica, I know you asked me about them, but I need to finish one or two things before then. )

Blessings!

Feeling His Son

2009-01-06T10:24:00.003-06:00

I was so excited shortly after we returned to MN that finally, after weeks of feeling him move, Jim was able to share in the same experience with me. People have given us tips, from flashlights placed on my tummy to a cold drink making the baby wake up-- no thank you, but the real problem was that although the movements were quite apparent to me, they are normally strongest in the morning when Jim is at work.

Finally, we were laying in bed and baby started to dance and didn't stop when I moved Jim's hand over. "Did you feel that?" I asked as usual.

"Well, I felt that," he said as another kick poked at my tummy, "was that one?" When I told him yes, yet another kick was felt by us both and made Jim jump a little. Now it really sunk in that he was feeling his son, his baby for the first time. "Wow-- that is him! I can feel my son!"

Jim has asked me to describe what it feels like to me to be able to feel him in me, not just kicking, but simply moving around and getting cozy. I've also been asked by several other people and I think I have said that it is like if you swallowed a fish or a frog and it is now growing and living in you and nudging your insides, but I don't feel like that is actually right. I feel like at times I can feel him being happy or interested (especially when I eat or music is playing) or when he is annoyed (when the seatbelt is cutting in or I am putting on my shoes or Jim is hugging me and it squishes my belly.) It is still hard to believe that I am carrying around a whole person in me, and an increasingly BIG person.

I feel like I am trying to get to know someone simply by the way that they text message or IM on the computer. So much is lost from not using complete sentences, seeing facial expressions or if they are punching the keys with anger or excitement. Smileys can never make up for real emotions shared in person. And I cannot wait to get to have an in person conversation with my little man, even if only one of us will have the ability to talk for a while.

22 Week Appt. and Fundal Height

2009-01-06T09:29:00.003-06:00

In a brilliant display of Pregnant Brain, I actually forgot about my monthly OB appt. (I thought it was this Friday instead of last) as Jim and I relaxed at home on one of the last days of holiday vacation-- me feeling yucky and he fulfilling his obsession with "Godfather" on X Box and sat in his new gaming chair. We also managed to short out the power in our bedroom and master bath that day, which took until Sunday to get repaired. Not the best beginning of a New Year I've ever had.

I felt so silly later when I ended up getting violently ill and could have gone to the doctor that very day, but thankfully my doctor's office was good enough to arrange an appt. with me yesterday with the NP, who I happen to love and who I haven't seen since my first prenatal appt. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of not leaving enough time to get to my appointment. Typically, Jim insists on coming to my appointments, which I love, but this time because of the rearrangement and the late time of day he couldn't make it. So, I hadn't left the extra time that I normally do for him to meet me in the parking structure and walk to the office. So I found myself with about 2 minutes to hustle from our parking near Loring Park to the office on the Nicollet Mall near Barnes and Noble and the US Bank Tower.

I was already running late, chugging a water bottle in preparation for the regular urine sample when I made a wrong turn and ended up going past the downtown YMCA instead of though Target's skyway-- a mistake that necessitated me running through Macy's menswear department and around in a loop instead of directly to my destination. I'm sure that there have been many funny sights in the skyways, but I don't want to think about the addition that I made-- a maternity coat flying, slightly sweaty, waddling pregnant woman trying to scurry as fast as possible through the Ralph Lauren racks. I saw at least one store clerk simply get out of my way instead of offering his usual, commission-driven offer of assistance.

Finally I made it and was blessed to find that they were running even later than I was on that particular day. I never thought I'd be thankful for their usual slowness. I was able to sit for a few minutes before they called me back to begin the usual round of testing:

Blood Pressure-- good- I think it was 114/60 which amuses me since I was running to the appt. but usually have the ability to bring my BP back down fairly well.

Weight--Pretty much exactly the same as last time, which is frustrating with all of the holiday eating I enjoyed and made myself do. I am fairly sure I would have gained some if not for the nasty flu or whatever that was that I recently had. I am a little concerned that I haven't gained any overall, but they talked to me about it and said that since our baby was in the 51% of size at the 20 week ultrasound and everything else seems good they are not worried. I just want to make sure that he is getting enough nutrients and growing properly, and now I am getting worried about a sudden spurt of growth later on that will give me stretch marks and be harder to get rid of once the baby arrives.

I always thought that I would balloon up right away when pregnant, and so this is still shocking and bit strange to me. (We're hoping that our recent trip to Sam's and the mountains of food we now have should put a little more meat on my bones and on baby's bones.) As far as my growth is concerned, I recently found a piece of paper from '06 that for some reason I had written down my dimensions on, and at that time I had a waist of 32 inches or so and now am carrying around more than 45. All with a net gain of 2 lbs.

Sample- Protein in urine, possible infection. Yippe. Have to wait for a call today. Yay. Very common in pregnancy, but not any more desirable than if I wasn't pregnant.

Fundal Height- (height of uterus) 23 cm. Roughly I should be the same # of cm as I am weeks along, so I'm good, and now from Deann's explanation I can find the top of it myself a lot easier. It is a good distance above my belly button, which is now just a slight indent, but hasn't "Popped" yet. It is another good sign that I am still on track for baby size even though I'm not gaining.

Fetal Heart Rate- 130 bpm. Deann tracked the actual rate, while Dr. Ambur typically just listens to see if it seems normal and can tell from experience if something is wrong, so I'm not sure, but this seemed slightly slower than at other times, but could have been the machine, or could have been the fact that our little man was running away as fast as possible from the Doppler as he could. I think he was remembering the annoyance of the ultrasound wand that wouldn't let him sleep because he kicked the Doppler a couple of times and moved from the centered just under my belly button to lower on the right to as low as possible in the middle, which seems to be one of his new favorite spots and quite an accomplishment since he's almost a foot long now. Lately he has been kicking me in the bladder and cervix, which makes Mommy feel like he is trying to gain entry into the world WAY too soon. Hopefully the annoyance of these sensations will be abated if I really do have a bladder infection and I can get back to sleeping in peace. I think Jim is getting a bit worried about his son being a very busy boy once he is out into the world, and we may have to enter him into sports and other physical activities to channel this energy somewhere. I am trying to look at it like he is simply curious about the world around him and wants to touch it all, even though he can't from inside of his Mommy-house. (Although what Jim thinks is a real possibility.)

Wheezing- Dr. Ambur was going to give me a prescription for an inhaler at my last appt. because of some asthma-like wheezing I've been having when I run, or get in the cold too much or simply get near something I'm allergic to, but had to run out for an emergency delivery last time, so she forgot. I finally got it this time and am excited to have it filled so that I can see if it really will make a difference.

Flu Shot- Got it. Normally I don't because I know of the power of acquired immunity and can normally fight off flu with the help of decongestants and cough drops. However, now I'm leery of taking anything for a cold so I decided just this once to get it. I'm still divided on if it will do any good, or if my immunity hold-over from years of working with little kids will be what really gets me through this winter.

That was about it that was covered at the appointment, at our next one we will probably set up the appointment for the stress-test for gestational diabetes, which I guess is a joy, but could give some good information.

Real Love from a Real Man

2009-01-03T13:09:00.006-06:00

(Warning-- this might be a little, well, a lot gross to some of you.)

Real love is from a man who makes his wife breakfast and lunch because he wants her and their child to eat well and grow big and strong. My real love is a man who brings his wife a blanket covered in dorky dinosaurs when she beings to feel really ill. My real man is a man who comforts his wife as she is violently ill, and cannot even make it to the bathroom, only into the kitchen sink. A real man tells his wife to go lay down and that he will clean up the mess that she has made and gets her a cup of water and kisses her hair, even when it smells like vomit. Real love is a man who will head out to the store to buy Cherry 7 Up because that is what his wife has had since childhood when she has the stomach flu, and Sociables crackers because that is the only thing that sounds like it will help her stomach. Real love is a man who can still say "I love you" when his wife doesn't look or behave like she did before they conceived a child. Real love is a man who doesn't mind spending the last days of his vacation caring for his sick, pregnant wife instead of out enjoying his last few days of freedom. A real man steps up to the plate for his responsibilities as a man and a father, even before his child makes its way out into the world.

A real man just offered to bring me a bite to eat and some more Cherry 7 Up while I sat here writing this.

A Thanksgiving Post

2009-01-01T21:56:00.003-06:00

I know, it has already been a month since Thanksgiving and I have already posted about this, but we have so much to be thankful for at Christmas this year, that I must label this post as being thankful yet again.

As I have mentioned, we decided to stay in the Twin Cities for Thanksgiving so that we could have more time off to visit friends and family at Christmas, and actually enjoy being "back home" instead of simply being caught up in the rush of last minute holiday preparations and events-- which we still managed to do somewhat. Our first major blessing came in the way of the weather for our drives, both to MI and back to MN. We were so worried and hearing about storms across the country-- including co-workers of Jim's who were stuck in Chicago and had to drive back to The Cities because all of their flights had been cancelled because of the ice storm. Indeed, we saw ample evidence of the ice as we circumvented Chicago, but drove the whole 2 day trip (we have begun to take 2 days because it is so much less stressful and is easier on my preggo back) in between two severe storms. We arrived on Saturday and that night the snow began.

Unfortunately we had to miss church at The River and various other plans were cancelled on Sunday, but it turned out to be exactly what we needed as we finished up most of our Christmas shopping and got to spend some time with my parents.

It was so wonderful over the next few days to have weekdays free of work, and for Jim to see daylight, and for me to see my woman friends that I have missed greatly. It has been difficult at times to be pregnant so far from a support netowork that has taken years to develop, and it was great to simply BE around women that know me and have seen so much of my life and journey up until now. I got to have coffee and snacks with Melissa and with Val, who was visiting from Alaska. Of course, talk ranged from babies to how cold it is in both of our new homes, and we caught up on how big both of Melissa's kids are getting. Jim and I were also able to have dinner and talk with Melissa and Paul, which is something we had just started to do as couples before we were offered the promotion out here.

We were also blessed to spend a lot of time with Jim's mom while we were back. She is such an amazing cook and taught us how to roll Filippino egg rolls and make the filling. We joked that she could roll cigars with how fast and tight she creates them. We are going to try our own soon, and although I am sure that ours won't be the same, it is going to be so soothing to have Connie's egg rolls here in MN. They have sustained us through 2 trips home from MI, and are actually perfect car food with how self-contained they are.

Speaking of cars, a few days before the holiday, my parents decided to surprise Jim with his biggest gift-- a present that he has said, "If I had gotten just this and that was all, I would have still said that Christmas was amazing." They decided to gift him (Well both of us) with a remote starter for our car, so that when the wind is howling and the official temperature is -20 or so, before work he can start our car warming up from our dining room. This has already been such a blessing, and is something that Jim uses even if we have only run into a store for 10 minutes and the car is still warm. It also proved very useful in the Mall of America parking garage today when we were looking for our car. Another great feature we use on a daily basis is the remote lock. This will become even more important once we are laden with a car seat and diaper bag for our little one, so it will serve a purpose even in the warmer months.

Even aside from this gift we were abundantly blessed by our family for the Christmas holiday. Gifts included a video game chair, a sewing machine from Honey for me (I'm learning to make baby clothes) a handmade pipe from Andy for Jim, a monopod and new strap for my camera, computer software and a webcam so my family can keep abreast of the changes in my baby bump and say hi to their grandchild by using Skype, baby pants made by Jess (my sister in law) which are so cute and are helping me learn to make baby pants, a wok and tools for Jim, and a clothing steamer. I had actually bought him one, so that he could steam instead of lugging out our ancient ironing board and iron every morning, but then his mom already had one that she could give him. We decided to simply return the one I'd bought and save the money or judiciously use it for baby stuff.

We were also blessed financially, which helps to defray the eekish cost of 2 nights in hotels and the cost of gas to and from MI. My grandma sent us money that we used on a trip to IKEA today. We decided to buy new silverware we have been longing after; we were embarrassed when our small group visited that we ran out of nice utensils. At $7.99 for a 20 piece set, we decided to get 2 and when our turn to host group rolls around again we may get another. We also got some baby storage because "Junior" as Jim has taken to calling him in a way that reminds me of my cousin Eric, has begun to gather a small collection of clothes. It is kind of funny that he has 2 pairs of shoes, a baseball cap, books, washcloths and a BRIO train set, but no place to sleep yet, but all of that will come in time.

Looking at cribs and bedding and curtains made me even more longing for a house, but that is going to have to wait too. Jim and I were convicted by the wisdom of some conversations when we were back home that we need to become even more diligent with our savings if we want to buy a house out here. It is too easy to rationalize small purchases when a house seems far away because housing costs are so crazy out here, but it is increasingly important to us to have a yard for our little one, and we recently discovered that costs are going down (thank you crappy economy I guess) and once we save a down payment we might actually be saving money when we buy a house. There are homes that are now-- gasp!--just less than $100k out here that aren't condemned or filled with toxic mold, or in a location that would make my former law-enforcement officer father abduct me and carry me back to MI.

Our purchasing pursuit is also assisted by the fact that just before the holidays Jim recieved a very good review and even a raise. (He may make me delete that because he hates to tell this stuff online, but I just have to share a bit of my pride in him for all of his hard work.) It feels so great to have everything that he has done and all of the extra work he has taken on be recognized and acknowledged in a time where the economy is struggling so badly. His work also gave everyone a gift card to the MOA that we spent today on a membvership at "Underwater Adventures," the world's largest underground shark tank. We can visit for a year for free and touch sharks and watch them swim overhead. Our little one will get to come for free and will be about 7 months olf before our membership expires. This also gets us half odd anyone else that wants to visit. However, that is a topic for another post.

Blessings to you all!

Our Resgistry Story

2008-12-17T10:17:00.006-06:00

Warning: This post is only for you if you seriously care about our future nursery plans. It has ended up being a good way for me to compare things that are on our official registry and their cheaper counterparts that I really want as well as a gripe against BRU. So read on if you dare!

After we found out that we are having a boy we were so excited that we decided to go to Babies R' Us to do some registering. I know that it is common to wait until a little bit later to do registering, but we wanted to do it before Christmas because I think my brother and possibly my mom will want to get us some "Baby Crap," (as my brother Andy calls it) for Christmas in lieu of presents strictly for us. Also, we need to begin looking for things and budgeting for our little bundle of joy's arrival, which should be accompanied by the arrival of some bills.

When we got there, they were ready and waiting with an eager look in their eyes. First Time parents! The look said. Easy marks. We can get them to buy whatever we tell them that they "need." We were given a scanning gun a large booklet and a list with hundreds of items that we needed to register for. Thankfully both Jim and I were wise to the fact that a retail outlet might have a conflict of interest when it came to advising new parents on necessary baby items. We also knew that this was just a preliminary trip, and as we looked at parent reviews and made other decisions we could easily alter our list online.

After we were done with what ended up being over an hour worth of scanning we came back and received, "Forget Me Not," cards cutely displaying babies and commonly forgotten items that we could scan right then and there. After our list was printed, we also got a sheet of "Missing Items" that the computer was sure we needed to put on our list, posthaste. But really, a play yard? A-- we don't have a yard. B-- the baby can't move very fast. In fact, he will be pretty stationary for perhaps even the next year (including gestation and early life) and then it will be snowing again. :( They even indicated that we needed play yard sheets. Whatever happened to an old quilt that grandma made or a sheet that isn't used on a bed anymore?

There are a few items that I am giving in and joining the crowd and registering for-- such as The Boppy. It is basically a moon-shaped pillow, but it is specifically shaped to cradle the sitting baby, help with tummy time and curve around mom's abdomen as she breast feeds. And it has washable slipcovers that are really cute. I know, I really caved. However, if someone wanted to make me a Boppy- either by cannibalizing a regular pillow or by making one, I'm sure it would cost less than the $29.99 Boppy and I'd be just as happy. We also indulged in something called a Weeblock which covers a little baby boy like a cup and prevents accidents while being changed. One even says, "Tinkle, Tinkle, Little Star." Necessary item-- of course not, but awfully funny and there is a serious lack of cute boy items in babyland.

Another thing that we noticed was the price disparity of items at BRU. Why would we pay $400 for a crib? Some of those don't even convert to a toddler bed or twin bed later on. We didn't even pay that much for our bed, which will be in use for many more years than the crib will be. How we wish IKEA had a registry, where the Hensvik is $139 and can turn into a toddler bed later on. Other deals--

Crib mattress-- $49.99-$59.99 instead of $100
Crib sheets-- $8.99 for a set of 2 instead of the same price for 1 (and on sale.)
Changing Table Pad- $8.99 for an inflatable one that can be easily taken on trips instead of $22 for a foam one that is said to scar the dresser we're thinking of setting it on.
Changing Table Pad Cover-- the Gullunge cover is $5.99 for 2 instead of $12.99 at cheapest for 1
Crib Bedding-- $14.99 for a crib duvet cover and pillowcase instead of $179.00 for a 4 piece set which includes a bumper pad, which you are not supposed to use because it increases the incidence of SIDS. Yes, we still have to buy the duvet to go inside (14.99), but at these prices we can afford to get a couple spares and change out the room when we want to. Like I also like the Barnsling Dans set, and it matches a lot of the cute stuffed animals that we like.

We also like the baby bath, Lattsam changing table baskets, and the Sniglar changing table, but I am undecided if it will be strong enough for our rambunctious baby boy. Since we are planning on having our little boy sleep in the same room with us for a while, what we may do is buy an extra dresser that matches the ones we are planning on buying in the near future for us and using the top of one for a changing table until our little boy gets his own room and needs a separate table. Mmm-- 2 or 3 Malm dressers all lined up. However, if we do that we may need more storage and I'm unsure what putting shelves into our wall will do to our deposit. We can always put some baby stuff in here and keep the crib in our room.

This whole post is proving very useful for me to really look at what we need and what we want and what we will actually need. It is tempting to turn the office (which I am currently in) into a deluxe baby room, but we really need the office space and the guest room and the truth is, a newborn baby just doesn't need an entire room of his or her own. What, is he going to have friends over to play video games? As long as he has a place to sleep, poop and eat, he should be a happy little boy. But they do make baby rooms look so cute online with all of the storage and matching switch plate covers and curtains.

Baby It's Cold Inside

2008-12-17T07:58:00.005-06:00

Our new apartment has been a blessing in many ways-- it is so much more spacious than our last place, it is in a beautiful location where we overlook a nature center, but also have a Sam's Club, Bachman's Wal-Mart within walking distance (if it wasn't 2 degrees and I wasn't pregnant) and a mall, Target, restaurants and several grocery stores within a 5 minute drive. There is even a Little Caesar's nearby, which is a rarity up here. There is a pool and workout room one building over, and it is only 5 minutes more drive than our last place to Jim's work.

One further way it has been a blessing has been for our utilities. We were afraid that with the increased space, and a few more utilities we were responsible for, that it would be a lot more expensive for us. However, our location in the building (almost on top of the boiler room-- kind of kitty- corner) and next to the 2nd floor laundry room, we have access to a great deal of free heat. If you feel our wall that we share with the laundry and someone has the dryer's going, you can feel ambient heat coming through, and for some reason our hall closet floor is always warm-- we think because of duct work or hot water pipes. we'll take whatever we can get.

However, just recently with the wind chill in the -30s and lower lately, especially at night, things have gotten colder and we are finally feeling the need to use at least some our heat, some of the time. I also recently noticed a phenomenon from our last place that I was hoping we could avoid-- the snow and ice are following us indoors. Pictured is Honey trying to close the second door of our apartment last year in February (Don't you love the outfit), which had been left ajar and let in some of the bitterly cold air. eventually we resorted to using the hair dryer to thaw out the doors enough to close them, but it was still like a fridge over on that side of the apartment.

This year it hasn't been as bad so far, probably because of the way our doors close in this home, and because we haven't hit the really cold portion of the winter yet, but we have had some ice build up, even on the side of our French doors that don't open, which is really strange. Our windows have had some of this as well. We're debating getting some of those clear plastic protectors (never thought I'd use those) and insulate the windows that way, but we don't want to cause damage that will impact our deposit. However, we also don't want the window frames to suffer damage from the water seeping in and expanding and contracting as things melt.

What we really want is to be in a house of our own where we are free to insulate and repair and do whatever we want, but that is still a ways away. House prices here are going down, a house in Kalamazoo that would go for $50,000 now only costs about $120,000 here! The good thing is that it is a great time to be thinking of buying and looking and saving because the market is so poor and the Fed. just lowered rates. Also, Honey got word that he is getting a raise next year, which is such a welcome blessing.

Baby Boy Dancing During Church

2008-12-14T16:11:00.003-06:00

I have a theory, and it is probably one of the those first time pregnancy fantasies and sound totally irrational to anyone who is not going through the same feelings and sensations that I am. I really know that it probably has no foundation in reality.

This morning during church I was fretting that the baby had been really still during that morning's service, and when I had been updating our newly-formed baby registry online that he hadn't been hitting me, spinning, mowing the lawn, swimming, or doing baby yoga as he usually does when I am sitting at that time of day at the computer and typing. However, this morning was different from typical weekday because Honey was at home and I didn't have on the radio like I normally would.

During church I was distracted from my unreasonable worry (I know perfectly well that it is entirely normal for me to not feel the baby for days after feeling him) by the baptism of two little babies. Faith does something that I really enjoy when babies are added to our bunch-- during offering they play a slideshow of the lives of the new little ones. Suddenly, as the music began playing I felt a small punch, just below my belly button. As the song progressed our little baby boy hit and kicked regularly and generally seemed to really be enjoying himself.

The odd thing was that after the song concluded he stopped moving and was silent until the end of the service. This was rather striking and made me wonder-- could he really love music and be doing some sort of baby dancing inside of me when he hears a song that he likes? I know this is all a fantasy, and that according to my logic he might just as well hate music and be punching me to let me know of his disdain for the stuff, but I prefer my way.

He was moving after church as we were eating lunch, and just now as I have been sitting at my computer once again, but that could be due to the root beer (no caff.) that I am drinking, rather than the Christmas music playing on the radio.

I forgot Jim's First Christmas Choice

2008-12-12T18:51:00.002-06:00

Out of everything I found-- all of the stuff I thought of that my Jimmy would want, I completely forgot the thing that he has been looking at every time we are in Target. He would LOVE to have a waffle iron-- one of those that rotates while it cooks-- like the have in hotels with Continental breakfasts.

Whoops!

My Very Late Christmas List

2008-12-12T11:01:00.005-06:00

I have removed this post becasue leaving it up is self-indulgent and we were so blessed by things that people have given us for the holidays this year that were far beyond what we could have ever expected.

I hope that you had a wonderful and blessed anniversary of the birth of our Savior.

Blessings!

We're Having a Boy!

2008-12-11T13:17:00.004-06:00

At least, as far as we can tell we are having a boy. The ultrasound tech said this morning that she is 99.9% sure, since they don't allow them to say that they are totally sure. She told us she's been peeking every time that we had been down there during the ultrasound and each time she had seen the vital parts. We arrived bright and early this morning and were so happy to get in 4 days early to see our little one. At the first glimpse of the baby we were both so nervous. The tech began to eaxplain the head measurements, facial measurements, etc. but the whole time I was thinking-- "the baby is so still-- I want to see the little heart beating!" Finally the tech moved and we caught a glimpse of the little beating heart- or rather now the BIG beating heart. Now all 4 chambers were visible and beating at about 146 bpm.

Everything else looked fine, and DeeAnn said that she thought that the doctor wouldn't be calling us because there was nothing of concern in the scan. The last time she told me that everything was fine, and I didn't hear from Dr. Ambur. It was all over so quickly. We counted fingers, looked at a little button nose, saw the kidneys, bladder, diaphram, stomach, leg and arm bones, spine and all sorts of vital parts that make up a human.

Then she told us we were having a boy. I feel so blessed because I had wanted a boy. Initially I wanted a girl who I could put in sweet little clothes, but then my heart began to change as I think I suspected that it was a boy I was carrying. Jim wanted a sweet little "Daddy's Girl," but I think the idea of a son is also wonderful to him. I think he was just in shock getting to be there and see our little one. He didn't get to come the last time I had an ultrasound (not really much to see anyways) and he doesn't get to feel our Little Boy yet the way that I do, or have symptoms the way that I do, so I think this really made him feel connected.

He has said in the past that he wanted a girl because a boy will look up to him so much as a role model, and I think that is intimidating. However, I have done everything that I can to convince him that he will be a wonderful father to a littleboy, simply because of the love that he has to give to this baby already. And now they can play with all sorts of fun Star Wars toys together and other fun boy stuff.

I also know that I love boys from nannying a boy and working with preschool and school aged boys so I feel no worry about mothering a boy. I will miss the cute pink stuff though.

Change in Our Ultrasound Date and A Stroller Question

2008-12-10T12:20:00.003-06:00

Due to something important going on at Jim's work on the date that we were originally going to have our "Big Ultrasound" where we find out that everything is proceeding as planned and hopefully find out the sex of the baby-- instead it is happening TOMORROW!

December 11 at 8:15 in the morning we will be bright-eyed and big-bellied waiting at the doctor's office and will get to see our little one. Any last minute bets on the sex of The Bean? I'm still not sure how we'll go about the telling of everyone, and maybe we will wait until we are back in MI if we decide to be really mean about it, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait that long.

I think that the moving up of the ultrasound has made things a lot more real to me. I have always held up this date as a very important one in the course of other pregnancies I've known of friends and relatives, and this combined with the fact that the baby is turning into quite the little swimmer in there (those kick turns are quite the feeling) it is really becoming real. Just the fact that it IS a boy or a girl already is shocking. I have been looking at the ultrasound pics of women on my "May '09" mom's board at Whattoexpect.com and it is amazing to see the detail and the every finger and arm and little leg. And now its our turn in less than 24 hours. Wow. I still kind of wish we could get a 4d ultrasound, where you can really see what the baby looks like down to whose nose he or she has, but that is typically an extra expense that the insurance won't cover. Some doctors do 4D just as a rule for this ultrasound, but I don't think that will be us.

Because it is getting so much more real, Jim and I made another trip out to Babies 'R Us to look at strollers and other items we may want. We really like one in particular, which is a convertible stroller/jogging stroller combo that has a single front wheel which can be locked or move depending upon what you are using it for. From my nannying days, I know that I really prefer the single front wheel, even just for walking on sidewalks and trails, so it really makes sense to us to get one with this feature. We also like the ease of the car seat to attach to the stroller and seat apparatus, how snug the baby would be on rainy days with the car seat hood up, and the stroller hood up (a lot of them let in a lot of air and possibly rain) We enjoy the adjustable handle to the stroller-- for mom and dad, that it has a cup holder (another nannying bit of knowledge) the handle of the car seat, how easy it is to fold down and even the colors.

The car seat looks snug as a bug, but when you get to the stroller, that is where we have our one dislike. Jim is really the one who this bothers the most I think. The backrest of the stroller is not very cozy looking at all. It would be more like the baby would be resting against a hammock than a mattress. So my question is this to you experienced parents out there-- how important is this? If we like everything else about the travel system, do you think the baby will somehow hate the feeling of riding in the stroller? And can't we just get an extra pad to make the experience more pleasurable?

I just don't want to have a 1 year old someday who screams every time I say we need to go on a walk because it is so uncomfortable.

Update on Previous Posts

2008-12-04T10:59:00.003-06:00

Okay, I was re-reading a couple of my previous posts and realized that I needed to update you on a couple things:

1-- Jim did win the award for the most orders written in Las Vegas! It is a small monetary award that we are intending to use on something really celebratory. We thought of buying a small deep freeze now that we are members of, and practically right next to a Sam's Club, but what may win out is going to some sort of holiday play in the Hennepin Theater District in downtown Minneapolis. We talked about a small "Babymoon" vacation for us, but we kind of want something that will last. We have also discussed getting the boxed set of MASH, but we'd still have to shell out a chunk of our own change, which we are trying to save right now. I just think that it is cool that he won. He found out on the day that he got a really good yearly performance review. In a year where everyone is tightening budgets and removing staff that are under-performing, all of these things mean a lot to us.

2-- I have definitely felt the baby move now. I didn't think that I would this soon, but I feel him or her swimming or punching pretty much every day. It is the oddest feeling, and one that I have tried to get Jim to feel, but it just isn't strong enough or regular enough yet. Soon enough it will be really apparent. The baby seems to move more when I am at the computer typing in the mornings. I don't know if this means that the baby likes or dislikes my writing, or if it is trying to tell me that when I sit up I squish its soft watery home and it wants more space, or maybe it is just that the baby is moving more often, but sitting up puts it in the proper position for me to feel.

Thanksgiving in MN

2008-12-04T10:00:00.008-06:00

This Thanksgiving was our first major holiday since we moved to MN that we have not made the journey back to Michigan to be with friends and family. We have stayed for holidays like Independence Day, Memorial Day and such, but for Easter and Christmas last year we made the trip back to see people. However, this year it simply didn't make financial or time sense for us to make 2 trips of this length in the car within a month. Also, with the baby on its way sitting for long periods of time in the car makes me uncomfortable. I am already dreading the inevitability of having to pee horribly somewhere between Eau Claire and The Wisconsin Dells and having no where to go. Would I still get charged with indecent exposure if I explained to the officer that I was going to the bathroom beside the car because I am pregnant?

This Thanksgiving dawned cold and snowless in The Twin Cities-- different from typical MI weather at this time of year. Jim was thankful even for just having nowhere to go-- it has been a loooong time since he has had a 4 day break with absolutely nothing planned other than to eat and spend time relaxing. I don't think we've ever had this amount of time free since we've been married. We started the day with turning on Macy's Parade in NY and fired up the oven, which is actually brand new since we moved into our new apartment. We had purchased a 10 pound turkey and all of the trimmings and had been diligently defrosting it-- I had visions of a frozen bird going in the oven on Thanksgiving morning and taking till 10 p.m. to thaw.

Honey cleaned the bird and took out the bad of giblets (raw meat still eeks me out-- I had hoped to get over that in my second trimester) and soon the turkey was smelling wonderful. We both really got a kick out of basting the bird with our dollar store baster. It was such a pleasure to get to cook a really large meal again. I have usually tried to cook something nice for birthdays and special occasions, but after being so nauseated for so long I am finally getting back my appetite and endurance for cooking.

In addition to the turkey we had sweet broccoli salad (with bacon) green bean casserole, rolls, stuffing, cranberry sauce, baked sweet potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, homemade pumpkin and chocolate pecan pies, and the sparkling juices we had at our wedding. I never thought that I would be so thankful that we were unsure how the church would feel about us serving champagne in the church, but now I have been able to have our wedding beverage on both our anniversary weekend and Thanksgiving, even though I'm abstaining from alcohol.

I am so blessed to have a husband that enjoys cooking and works to be good at it. any time that I was too tired to do something he immediately took over. I don't think I did anything for the green bean casserole, and he cooked the bacon for the broccoli salad-- I had made the sauce the day before and we assembled it together. He cooked and carved the bird wonderfully and when we sat down to the beautiful abundance at the table I have to admit I had some hormonal tears in my eyes.
I am also thankful for the cookbook my mother gave for for a wedding gift. It is the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Guide, and it has a lot of useful information on cooking techniques, and not just recipes, and answered a lot of our first-time turkey roasting questions, so we didn't have to bug the people at the Butterball Hotline.

I was so worried about my pies-- I think I read one to many horror stories about people's first Thanksgiving mishaps. The worst that I did was forget to put pie weights in the crust for the chocolate pecan pie, but we caught it only halfway through the baking process, so we were able to fix it somewhat.

We wished that we had someone to come for our dinner, and that we even knew of students that weren't able to visit home for the holiday who we could gladly feed. Later we found out that friends of ours from our New Members class at church had to cancel their holiday plans because he was sick and works retail so couldn't drive 8 hours on Thanksgiving. Oh well, I suppose it would have been nice, but I think it was also great for us to have one holiday alone before we add another member to our family.

Wow, once again I only intended this to be a short, chatty post, but remembering the deliciousness of one of my favorite holidays and pregnancy made me delight in remembering each morsel of food in detail.

16 Week Pregnancy Update

2008-11-25T11:57:00.003-06:00

Last Friday I hit the milestone of 16 weeks. On this Friday I will officially be 4 months pregnant, because I have to finish out this week fully. All of this math and when the first trimester is over and the second begins is confusing even to us preg-ites.

I visited a website that gives weekly updates on the size of the baby and this week is an onion-- an average baby size of 5.1 inches. That is a pretty big onion, but I am happy that our baby is growing to a more realistic person size, instead of being a peanut, or an apple seed any more. Our baby now has hair, eyebrows and unique fingerprints. Our little one can swim and kick-- and I may have felt the baby, but I can't be sure with all of the weird goings on inside of me right now.

I am somewhat over my morning sickness, although strong smells and standing leaning over can make me nausous. Also, if I have a frog in my throat and try to clear it, if I keep coughing this can trigger my reflexes to try to rid everything from my body that I have ever eaten. My other common issues are round ligament pain, muscle spasms, tiredness, dizzyness and a weird metallic taste in my mouth that apparently is common, but I never heard of as a pregnancy symptom.

My appetite is beginning to come back, but I still feel soooooo hungry and then halfway through what I was intending to eat I am stuffed. I trust that the holidays will help put on a little weight, and for once I do not have to worry about eating all of the treats that I want to-- aside from the sugar.

Some days I think, "I'm huge!" and at other times I wonder if people in the mall of elsewhere can tell that I am pregnant at all. Possibly they haven't because I have been blessed to not have strangers come up to me and rub my stomach so far.

These are all pretty common complaints for the May mom's group I am involved in online. Thankfully I am not working a full-time job like many of them so I can fill my days updating you on my mission to grow a human. I was surprised and excited to learn that in my online group there is another mom who is due about a week after me from the next Twin Cities suburb over who is half-filipino! Her mom came over after she and the woman's dad were pen pals. It is wonderful because we thought that there was no one in the state from the Philippines, nevermind in a suburb we would consider living in. I am researching filipino Christmas traditions this year so that hopefully they can be brought into our lives when the baby is here, so that he or she will have a greater appreciation of that aspect of his/her heritage.

Ummm-- what else can I update you on? Oh-- we have begun the search for baby stuff. we've found a fe things that we like, but haven't made a registry or anything. Part of the issue is that the sheets, highchair and the crib we like is at IKEA. However, IKEA doesn't do registries that we have found. But they have such cute stuff! They have a lot of great crib sheets that are priced really well, and toys and feeding tools for when the baby is a little older. Oh well, we have plenty of time for that.

We don't even know the sex of the baby yet! However, we hope to find out on December 15 when we have "The Big Ultrasound." This is the one where they look for genetic abnormalities, development problems and if the baby is a Ma'am or a Mister. Before I was pregnant I never wanted to know-- and now I am so excited! And it is more considerate from Grandmas and grandpas who want to get a cute little outfit for their new family member. Also shockingly, just 4 weeks after that ultrasound, the baby is considered to have an 85% chance of survival if it were delivered. It is crazy that the medical world can have this baby live if I gave birth in January! However, this baby is staying put until it is completely done baking in my oven.

That is all I can think of now, but I will have to take some picks of the downtown skyscraper that my OB/GYN's office is located in, and Jim and I on our walk to there through downtown skyways. It is really kind of a hoot coming from a small town like Portage.

Our 1st Anniversary

2008-11-25T11:28:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was the first anniversary of The Weston's wedding. It is amazing to me-- it seems as if it were just yesterday at times, and at other times our wedding seems like years and years ago. Our anniversary is also the close anniversary to us being out here in the Twin Cities for a year.

One year ago yesterday I had: Never been married, never had a positive pregnancy test, never seen an ultrasound of a life inside of me, never heard a heartbeat coming from my abdomen, never lived outside of Michigan, never filed joint taxes, never moved away from family and friends, never had to plan a life for two-- and now 3 of us.

I am still so thankful for how everything worked out for us to be able to move here together, and I am so thankful for the wonderful first year that we have had. It hasn't been without its ups and downs. Money is tight now that I am not working and won't be for a while-- especially our housing budget, it is difficult and at times lonely not being around friends and family who we've known our whole lives, it is difficult to have to share a car now that we live in Fridley and farther from downtown (sometimes I get a little stir crazy) and the weather will soon be back to its stereotypical Minnesota winter weather.

However, I cannot imagine what life would have been like if we had been too afraid to make this step. If Jim had told his company "No," instead of us stepping out in faith to move here, and the faith that this was God's way of having us get married in His timing. I think that I mentioned that shortly after we moved out here, Jim's company reorganized his old team, a move which could have resulted in Jim losing his job, and if not that, it would have meant that he would have been out of town 2 or 3 weeks out of the month.

It is wonderful to see how he has been blessed with his job-- a job that he excels at, and one that he enjoys most of the time. I hate when he has to travel for work (like he just did to Las Vegas for several days) but I am honored at the trust and enthusiasm his company has for his abilities. He may even win an award for the biggest order at the last show he worked.

It is also wonderful to see how Jim has taken to the role of expectant father. He really wants to be the sort of man who instills love in his child-- even before his future baby has the ability to hear. He talks to my growing belly all of the time and tells the baby we love it, and prays for our future child and for my safety and comfort during this sometimes trying time. Nearly every morning he gets up for work early enough to prepare me breakfast so that I will not feel nauseous and throw up. Some mornings it is cereal or toast with butter, or bacon, but this morning and many others it is french toast-- since eggs make me feel ill sometimes, but he wants me to get the protein of eggs.

I have joined a group of expectant May mommies online and I am amazed at some of their sad stories. Some of them have husbands who have asked them to end their pregnancies, who have been uninterested in the process, or who are resentful that they do not get dinner prepared for them every night. I am blessed to have a man who will pray over me and tell me that I am "working so hard, all so that we can be a family."

In return I am sometimes cranky for no apparent reason, weepy, nauseous, bloated, crampy, sleepy and frequently have to pee at the most inconvenient of times. I take up the whole couch, I sleep cuddling pillows instead of him now and don't look like the woman he married. And yet we are really, really happy. I wish that those of you who read this could see us more often. I know that Jim's dad reads this (when there is something new on here) and I just hope that I am the sort of daughter in law who a father is happy to have his son saddled with. I'm trying my best to take care of him!

Love to you all! And we will see you soon enough! We are planning on leaving for MI on Dec. 19th and will be there till several days after the holidays. Last year we had to drive home on Christmas and we vowed to never again have to do that.

Photos

2008-11-08T19:42:00.005-06:00

The much disputed first pregnancy test-- now in retrospect it is a positive, but could you see a line?

The next day with the help of a digital pregnancy test after the same lukewarm result and we were both firmly convinced.

After we took the digital test out of its cartridge Jim looked at the remaining strip and said, "Now that is a line." I agree honey. I don't trust dollar store tests, except as an indicator you need a better test.

2008-11-08T19:19:00.003-06:00

I am sorry that this is so short. I think that Honey was so excited to actually hear the heartbeat that he pressed the stop button after only a few seconds. This was the first time the doctor and PA student tried to hear the heartbeat. Here I am 10 weeks along, and many people do not get to hear the heartbeat that early, either because of the position of the baby or the placenta or the baby is just too small.The PA student couldn't find it (more than a little frustrating) but my doctor literally set the reciever on my abdomen and heard that sweet sound.

This time at 14 weeks the beat was much stronger, but we forgot to record the sound.

We're Having a Baby

2008-11-08T18:46:00.003-06:00

I'm sure that by now most of you have heard our news. On May 8, 2009 Jim and I are expecting our first child. We are so excited, and mildly surprised, as we were sure that there would be problems for us in this realm. I know that what you, Jim's dad and Aunt Susie and Grandma and anyone else want to see are pictures of my stomach, so I will being with one.

Here I am at 14 weeks. We had our third prenatal apprt. yesterday and during the appointment we got to hear the baby's heartbeat with a doppler. It is still surprising somehow that it is still there-- but there it was, beating at about 145 bpm. In 6 weeks, on december 15 we get to see the baby on an ultrasound again and will likely get to find out the sex of the baby.

I am feeling better than I was with morning sickness and fatigue, although I still tire very easily and this morning I threw up. I am so blessed to have such a supportive husband in my life. Nearly every morning-- unless I get up first Jim makes me toast and serves me in bed, and some days I even get french toast. Yum. He has been trying to fatten me up because between our first appt. and the last one I had lost 5 pounds and he wants to insure the baby will be nice and healthy. By this last appointment I had only gained .4 of a pound, although I don't look it, and thankfully the doctors say this is normal in the first trimester.

I will be updating a video soon and probably a photo post, but we will have to see how long I last.

I'm sorry it has been so long for me to update this blog. I will try to do better becuase I realize for many of you Michiganders and those in Missouri and California, this is your only way to stay updated on us.

Blessings!

My First Etsy Purchase

2008-08-18T10:48:00.004-05:00

I have been selling on etsy for a while, but through circumstance and budget haven;t bought anything on the site, until a few days ago. I decided that it was silly of me to have not bought anything from my fellow artisans and crafters. I wanted to purchase something and give someone else their first sale. I searched around on the "Pounce" option for buying and some of the selections were great, and some were obviously someone who just had one thing to sell, and when no one jumped on it simply forgot about etsy.

Finally I found the seller, Illustrationsoflove, who is an illustrator and fiber artist. I knew I had the right person when I saw her theme. She has a large Ball jar that throughout this year she is filling with scraps of paper upon which she has written something she is thankful for. Each day she draws a slip from the jar and creates a small illustration of that thing and posts it on etsy.

I purchased a small illustration that not only is cute and simple, but features my name! You can find it by going to her etsy page and looking under sold items, or I will post a picture when I have received it and have hung it on the walls of our home.

Sudden Storm

2008-08-13T11:45:00.005-05:00

Last night after Jim came home from work we decided to run down to this little Chinese restaurant that we like along the Hiawatha near Minnehaha Falls and had dinner. Of course, I brought along my camera, and despite clouds looming nearby and a few rumbles of thunder we decided to make a quick stop at the falls to see how low the water was and to allow me a chance to practice with my Neutral Density filter.

We joked about the safety of carrying a metal tripod while a storm is rumbling in the distance, but trusted that it was beyond us and that we would soon be deep inside the valley below the falls.

We quickly set up the camera (Jim is such a willing assistant, and I think it gives him something to do instead of just standing around and waiting for me) because a few drops of rain fell on our heads. I took these pictures from under the trees to avoid getting wet, but still managed to get wet. I am so happy with how these photos turned out. (I have a few more that I will upload later) It was so easy using the ND filter with a tripod and can't believe that I got any good photos before without using it. At the time it made sense because boulders and rocks don't make a stable tripod stand. I guess I have a steady-er hand than I thought and the good sense to brace my camera on rocks and trees.

I want to head back another time and get more photos from the bridge beyond the falls that I posted a picture of Jim and me on once in the winter. It was a good thing that we elected to stop taking any more photos and put away the equipment because shortly after this last shot was taken, the sky suddenly opened up in a brief, but fierce shower.

We ran up the stairs on the opposite side of the valley, and even made a wrong turn and ended up on a viewing platform that dead-ended. As we got to the top the rain poured even harder and we rushed into the car wet, chilled and exhausted. Thankfully we were both wearing two shirts and so were able to strip off the outside layer and be moderately dry on the top, but our pants were soaked. After a brief stop on Jim's work parking garage for a few city shots we hurried home to cuddle under the covers and watch the Olympics.

My Pasta Maker

2008-08-08T19:45:00.007-05:00

I have a new love-- aside from writing and photography and camping and biking and home decorating and reading and film and travel and all of the other things that I have used to occupy my time-- I am now in love with my pasta machine.

I am attributing this love at least in part to my time as a preschool teacher who played with play-dough and still loved the feeling of squishing it and molding and cutting it. We were originally going to purchase the Kitchen Aid version that would attach to our stand mixer. However, the set of three attachments retails for $129 on amazon and is seldom seen in stores. Also, the rollers must be switched out from the receptacle on the mixer to be used, whereas with the table versions a crank merely has to be moved. What we ended up purchasing was a mixer very similar to the one pictured here, however, our machine cost less than this. We actually feel pretty fortunate because we think that the one on Amazon was made by the exact manufacturer, but sold under another name.

For my initial trial I decided to do a simple lemon basil recipe that was in the booklet that came with the pasta maker. I wanted to make one that seemed to be foolproof and that one had just a few ingredients. My fear was that somehow I wouldn't be able to successfully make anything close to resembling noodles, which I realize is a ridiculous fear considering the relative simplicity of making pasta compared to driving a car or editing a photo in Photoshop.

Pressing and cutting the noodles was fairly easy. The only even remotely complex parts were catching the dough in such a way that it didn't fold and insuring that the crank didn't fall out while in use or as I was moving the pasta.

Drying the pasta was another task. Some stores sell racks of rods to dry pasta on, and Jim and I will probably purchase some dowel rods which we will cut and sand, but for my first try I decided to put them on a cooking spoon over a pot and flour canister. I also laid a few out flat on a plate, but eventually found that it was easiest to place some butter knives between the pages of one of my favorite cookbooks-- which is also one of the biggest and hang them there. The only issue with this was that as the pasta dried it left creases in the bends that were easily broken. However, once the strands were in hot water these evened out.

For dinner tonight we ate the pasta and I made a butter and cream sauce with mushrooms and parm. and we had a Cornish game hen with juniper berries, bay leaves and peppercorn. Yum.

Honey is excited to try the process out himself and tomorrow we are planning to make spinach noodles and whole wheat pasta. We are also going to try using the rollers and a tool that I once devoted to crinkle soap slices as I cut them to make the edges of bow-tie pasta and ravioli. we are also hoping to find a good recipe for won ton and egg roll wrappers that we can roll out.

We are not going to only eat organic, and we are not going crazy with health food (I just used half a stick of butter and a cup of cream in a sauce) but we are trying to get more connected to what we are eating and purchase more staples and fresh ingredients and use those for cooking. This will lead to less preservatives and more frugality. We still have a love for pre-made and frozen Cordon Blu chicken breasts, and a good frozen pizza, but this is a simple way to eat food because it is really what we want, not because it is the sauce on sale.

My next culinary purchases will hopefully be a food mill and the tools that I need to do some canning when fall arrives. We just got a large stock pot from the free section that we can use for this, but I need the jars and the tongs to grab the jars. We would like to find a good farmer's market, but that can be hard in the city. There are a couple that operate downtown in places like the Nicollet Mall, but that is a main thoroughfare for city buses, and Jim is worried about the smoke when he has seen it on his lunch breaks. Hopefully at the State Fair we will find some good farmers who sell there wares, or at least some ideas for small stores that have what we want and don't charge you $5 for a squash.

Comprehensive Communications

2008-08-07T11:28:00.003-05:00

I recently posted about my new freelancing work in stock photography and selling my creative photographs on Etsy.com. This is all part of our plans as a couple for our future. Our ideal is that after we have children I will be able to stay at home, being a mom and writing and doing stock photography as much as is reasonably possible. Right now I am not making enough to warrant staying home before children, but we are working so that at some point in the future I can make the transition reasonably easily.

Initially after becoming a mommy I will need a break from working just to focus on the wonderful changes in my life and to learn my new little one's personality, but eventually I would like to go back to working, even if only 15 or so hours a week. (And no, as far as I know, I am not pregnant right now)

I am currently looking for work outside the home, but am also expanding my freelancing from articles into the business world. This is more in line with my education. My major focused on writing in the business world-- specifically marketing and fund-raising. It is my hope to take my experience in teaching and childcare and bring this over to my professional life. One of the biggest complaints of the parents we served were the lack of communication (often merely their perception) but this is something that there are simple tactics to remedy, but that many childcare directors do not have the time or knowledge to fix.

I recently bought the URL-- http://www.comprehensivecommunications.info/ and I am currently developing the website. It is still very much under construction and it has been hard lately to find the time to work on it, but I am slowly making progress. Hopefully soon I will be writing website copy, parent handbooks and daily communications for small childcare centers. I would also love to work with small non-profit organizations. I hope that I can use my skills to help organizations that I feel passionate about their cause in addition to simply looking to help support our family. So check it out (I seem to be writing that a great deal lately.) Blessings!

Etsy

2008-08-07T10:51:00.006-05:00

For quite some time I have been writing online for sites like Suite101, and have made some, but not a ton of money from this writing. It has been a good way to keep my name out there and to begin to write about things that interest me, things that I am interested in learning more about and things that I want to advocate. As I have learned more about photography and increased my skills with visual communication I have looked for ways to incorporate this into my freelancing life. I am not a professional photographer in the traditional sense, but I have been fortunate enough to use my photographs with things I have written for Kalamazoo Weekly and to enhance my online articles. I've also recently begun submitting my photos to stock photography websites like bigstockphoto.com and shutterfarm.com. I've included one of my recent stock shots that isn't the most exciting, but can be very useful.

I have wanted to explore more of the purely creative side of photography, so I recently began selling my photography on Etsy.com. This has been challenging and at times, frustrating, but it has been wonderful to be the sole gatekeeper for an online project as I am here for what I blog, and to determine my own success or failure. So far I have not devoted the time that it deserves and I need to devote more time to advertising and marketing myself if I want to be successful at it, but have been occupied with other things.

I hope that those of you who read this blog will explore my etsy store and give me your input via comment or email and tell me what you think. What can I do better, how can I market myself so that people will come upon my store. Also note that it is still in development and I am planning on adding more photos and perhaps cards that incorporate my photography and would be at a lesser price. I'd appreciate anyone's help!

Thanks!

P.S. My Featured Photo (on the right side of this page) right now is one of my favorite etsy shots that I took on Jim and my recent trip to St. cloud to practice with my new telephoto lens that Honey gave to me for my birthday.

It Has Been Far Too Long

2008-08-07T09:42:00.003-05:00

It has been far too long since I last posted. I'm sorry Michigan family members and friends. I know that not all of you can access photos posted on facebook and flickr. I realized that I never posted about my birthday, or our recent trip to Michigan, our day trip to St. Cloud or our recent trip to Wisconsin or my new website. I guess life and stress have just caught up with me. I will try to address general things now and then get to specific events and photos soon.

Jim is doing really well with his position-- in July he met last year's sales numbers within the first week and is on track to do really well this month too. Later on in the year he is probably going to have to go to Las Vegas for a show for work and is probably one of the few people for whom this is not exciting. He has said to me, "Now I will not be able to say with pride that I have never been to Vegas." Jim isn't interested in gambling and if he was going to go just for the entertainment he would like me to be there with him.

I finally made the decision to resign from my nannying position. I do not have anything lined up at the moment, but the stress and negativity in that household were affecting me emotionally and having negative consequences for my health, which are already disappearing. Jim has already noticed that I am much more filled with joy and peace then I was before this decision was made. I will really miss Liam, but the family and I differed on several important child-rearing issues and ultimately it came down to my wanting to work in a position where I am really needed and fulfilling my purpose. I will not discuss everything having to do with this family on as public a format as this out of respect for Liam. Occasionally I have read friends' and acquaintance's blogs where I have thought-- "Ooh-- that is really juicy, but sharing that may come back and bite them in the butt later."

We are looking for a larger place-- preferably a townhouse for while we are looking for a house. We thought that we had a place to rent lined up, but recently got a phone call from the office saying that because the previous tenant had been there for so long the pipes need to be updated to meet current code restrictions, which means that it wouldn't be ready until after our lease is up here. Our current building is nice-- it is so convenient to town and there are sari shops, a couple non-profits and other businesses on the first floor and restaurants within walking distance and target and grocery stores within biking-distance. However, we think that part of the reason we have been so anxious for a home (aside from that once we have a house we are planning on trying to get pregnant, which we are both eager for) is that this place is limited on space and being up so high is somewhat disconnecting from the neighborhood and from nature.

Jim's old place before we got married was so wonderful-- two bedrooms, laundry room, built in cabinets and shelves with mirrors in the dining room, attic and convenient outside access. We fondly remember sitting in the living room in the fall and carving pumpkins with the screen door open and the rain falling outside. Or hearing the birds in the trees outside as we ate dinner-- everything combined to make it feel like a small house. To then move here to a one-bedroom apartment high up in the air and to add my possessions to the mix has made for some confined feelings. That is not to say that our living space is horrible. we have been able to decorate inexpensively and comfortably. Thankfully our taste in furniture and thrifty natures are in sync. Things like our new TV, our couch and other post-matrimonial purchases has made our home as cozy as this space can be.

We are trying to ride our bikes more, and to go on more long walks, but the humidity of late has made that really difficult. I didn't think it was possible, but MN has even more humidity than MI. The weather gauge on one station regularly classifies the weather as, tropical. The Cities are also an island of heat because of all of the blacktop, so we have tried to get out of town more often.

One thing we are anticipating eagerly is the MN State Fair, which is a BIG DEAL out here. I don't even know of a Michigan State Fair, so we are excited for such an uniquely MN and agri-centered event. The Twin Cities are very urban and have so much culture and modernity, but as we have explored more we have seen how the cities are an island almost separate from the rest of the state. Occasionally we see reports of cattle or horses being stolen, and increasingly reports of people releasing their horses to wander because they are unable to care for them in the current economy.

I will try to update soon with photos and individual posts about trips and events.

Blessings!

WOW

2008-07-06T15:23:00.002-05:00

Jim and I were recently out and about at Minnehaha Falls and decided to drive into the park a different way than we usually do. We were surprised to seer this sign at one of the nearby gas stations and I just had to grab a photo of it. This has only been cropped and resized, and I did a little bit with the color saturation, but otherwise I have left it alone. I guess the sign says it all, or maybe they just ran out of the correct numbers. How many fours could a gas station need really?