Attempting to stop the inevitable

We try not to let Harper watch the television for exactly the same reasons I wish I didn't watch television: I get sucked in immediately, I cannot pay attention to the televised show and reality at the same time, and the stupid advertisements. Well, of course whenever the tv screen is on (and we also have a computer plugged into the tv so we can watch netflix watch-instantly, and do email, etc from the couch) Harper cranes her neck and body to look at it. We can have her facing directly away from the tv and she throws her head back so she can see the screen upside-down. So, to counter-act this mesmerising effect we turn on the gas fireplace which is directly opposite the tv. Apparently because I would much rather have a child obsessed with fire than facebook.

On similar note here is the latest statshot from the onion:

Xmas Photos

We're fresh back from Kent, and thought we'd post some photos.  Well, OK, we got back a couple of days ago, but it took us this long to put the photos together, give us a break.  Anyway, we had a great time, and Harper was excellent, with the exception of about 45-60 minutes of pure screaming on the way to Arlington, and with the additional complication that she seems to be in a "parents only holding me" stage.  Hopefully that goes away, cuz she's so cute you just want to share!

Here are the photos:

http://www.s9s.net/photos/xmas2008

Cutest Tongue Ever

So... one of our baby books recommended a game to play with 1 & 2 month olds that Rick and I did often. The game is to stick your tongue out at the baby and then the baby will stick her tongue out back at you. It is a fun game. Well...we may have done it too much. These days, at almost four months, if Harper's paci or thumb isn't in her mouth, then her tongue is out. But it sure is cute.

Baby Time Share

What a fabulous weekend. Saturday Rick went out for a man's afternoon of Rock Band with man-friends. He had two (count that, two) coke-a-cola's and, if you don't know, that means a crazy caffeine afternoon. Similar to the bat's flying from the sky for the late Hunter S. Tompson.  

Harper and I went to a Christmas party at the yoga studio where I previously taught. This was the first time many of the yoga students and fellow yoga teachers had seen me or Harper and she was a big hit.  I was asked to come back and substitute teach. To this request I responded that I needed to actually be doing more than 10 minutes of yoga a day before I felt like teaching.

Sunday we had friends over for breakfast after a morning run (I am still really really slow, but

 starting to feel a little more like my old running self). 

Then Rick did the angelic job of baby-sitting Harper while I went to see Transporter 3. Best of the Transporter series.

 Jason Statham fighting shirtless. He has officially taken over as my martial arts crush. Vinh Diesel bye bye.  If we ever have a baby boy I want to name him "Turkish" after JS's character in Snatch.

Parent Poetry

Maybe this will be funny to people without children, maybe not.  Thank you Karen for sending this mass email from All and Sundry.

My three favorites (can you tell which baby trait I find least endearing?):

I can hardly believe
how much noise can come from
such a small creature.
I must hide you away for the good of mankind
lest the military discover
your powers.

If you stop that screaming
I will pay you
Eleventy jillion dollars.
Really
I promise
Here is a check.

Yelling from the backseat is bad
it makes Mama's head
feel like a balloon that is about to pop
Balloons are pretty to look at, aren't they?
but believe me
Mama's popped head-balloon is something
you would need lots of therapy
to forget you ever saw.
Someone would have to come take you home
and a nice man named Mr. Wolf would have to clean up Mama's car.
So please,
let's be quiet back there.

Our Little Marathon Runner

One of the stories from our Thanksgiving:

Grandma Susu volunteered to care for Harper two of the nights we were in Indiana. Harper's portable crib was positioned in the kitchen just outside Susu's room. Harper had been waking once during the night, and not to eat, but just for a social 5 minutes so my mom thought it was a little weird that she needed attention 3 times during the night. Each time when my mom went out to greet squawking Harper she was smiling and kicking her legs like mad. My mom said it seemed like she was running a marathon in her crib. Then in the morning when my mom went to pick Harper up to feed her she was completely wet from waist to feet. My mom then took a look under Harper's sleep sack and noticed that the diaper was hanging on by one fastener to Harper's toe.

We now always include a onsie in the nighttime outfit, also known as "diaper suspenders".

(In addition to her lowrider diapers you can notice her charming mullet hairdo)

MidWest Photos Uploaded

Take a look at the 60ish best photos from the Midwest Thanksgiving Trip. (Click here)

At Least One Photo

Okay, I managed to get one photo from Thanksgiving ready for the blog:

More To Come

We had a fabulous visit to Evanston and Northern Indiana to visit nearly 20 relatives. Harper was even a pleasure to fly with, and she slept through the night 3 times during our travel. Unfortunately she seems to like her portable crib in my grandmother's hallway better than her real crib in her own room. Go figure.

We would have had all the Thanksgiving travel photos online already, but I came down with a truly horrible intestinal bug. I am still on the BRAT diet, but am much better. Photos coming soon...

Really working for the first day today. Wish me luck.

More Pictures

So here are some more recent photos:

Graduation from infant massage class (Leslee, our nanny is to our left):

Harper is a gorgeous handmade little hat with her froggy pacifier, and in her new swing:

Harper, abuela Jane, and girlfriend Carly at breakfast:
'

Harper in the girliest of girlie dresses from my infancy:

Toots and the Mylicons

For those of you w/o infants Mylicon is an anti-gas medicine for little ones, and Harper is definitely on the Mylicon.  We have been switching her to an organic formula (I had to quit breastfeeding due to meds), and the switch is proving difficult on her system - thus causing painful belly gas. Rick heard her let out a 10 second "bottom burp". Wow, that is talent.

Harper's current nicknames:

1. Hat (for her initials H.A.T.)

2. Hattie McToddle (from grandma Susu)

3. Toots and the Mylicons (current nickname for above reasons)

4. Peanut (what we actually call her most of the time)

Shots

Rick held her during her shots. I paced the room. She only cried for a few minutes but it was a cry of pain and betrayal that I haven't heard before. 15 minutes later it was all forgotten.

11 lbs even.

Height: 90%

Weight: 50%

Head Circumference: 50%

Tongue-Sticking-Outness: 110%

Cuteness: 120%

Alertness: 150%

Pacifier-Shooting-Accurateness: 160%

Rescued From Blue Lagoon

So, I should start this post by saying that the whole family is happy and healthy now, but we had a rough first seven weeks of Harper's life. I won't go into much detail unless individually you are interested, but I had the experience of post partum depression and needed to get some serious help. I would say I am back to 90% of my original fully-funtioning self due to fabulous family, friend, and medical support. And best of all I LOVE my beautiful baby girl. I feel as if through the experience of being cared for so well by Rick and everyone else who helped that I have learned the true meaning of love (I know, I know sappy, but absolutely heart felt).

The other up-side to this very sad event was that we found our fabulous nanny: Leslee. We were originally thinking we would only need her until I was back on my feet, but after crunching the numbers and knowing that I only want to work part-time it makes sense to keep Leslee on as a part-time in-home caregiver for the next year. I am thrilled that we found a good, cost-effective solution to our child care needs, and also hope that without the petri-dish of daycare we may get sick less this first year of our child's life.

Harper is officially two months old tomorrow, which is also Election Day! Then Wednesday she gets her first doctor's office shots. I am making Rick hold her while she gets pricked because I want nothing to do with the association of shots.

Oh, she is also giving us a 6 hour sleep stretch some nights. Yippie! Although she didn't seem to get the memo about the time change, so she went to bed at 6 PM last night. Which is even a little early for me.

My new wallpaper

So I realized today that I have a photo of our wedding day, and a photo of my dog (wearing the terrible, adorable leopard print jacket we bought her way back) and a photo of my wife as a little girl at my desk, and no photo of my daughter!  So here's my new wallpaper:

And here's a few more photos, for good measure.  I'll also send them out via email to the main requesters:

We could have named her Apple

So, Lisa Marie Presley named one of her twin daughters Harper. How do Rick and I have the same taste as someone who married Michael Jackson? And I want everyone to note for the record that all the name du jour Harpers happened after Rick and I named our Harper. (My childcare worker, Leslee, told me that a friend of hers who had a baby a month ago also named the daughter Harper).
Harper Count Watch: 4.

Two Harpers

First infant massage class today, and out of the 8 babies in class there are two Harpers. The other is a little boy.  What the ...

Best Birthday Present Ever

It was my 32nd b-day yesterday and due to help from fabulous Grandmother Dixie I got the best present ever: a full nights sleep.

Baby Inventions Rick and I think are long overdue:
1) an infant grill (mouthpiece) that when a parent presses a button magnetically pulls a pacifier into the infant's mouth.
2) A countdown clock you can attach to the infant's clothing that says how long til they are supposed to eat again.
3) A crib bumper that is solely made from breast and nipple shaped silicon that the infant can safely nuzzle up against and suck on.
4) A pack-n-play that vibrates/roles/whatever-movement-your-infant-finds-sleep-inducing.
5) A robot that will walk your infant around your house until it falls asleep and then magically set infant in crib w/o waking.

Sunday Morning at the McTodds

Here's a Sunday morning at the McTodds.

Baby wakes up happy, not going to sleep typically after 8-9ish morning feeding.  We try to let her just be happy and awake, and to interact with her.  As you can see she's pretty good with the arms and legs, the head not so much:

Then we make our way downstairs.  If Grama McTodd is here, we get pastries and The Sunday Times.  The dog is always close, of course:

Then this morning we went for a short walk, baby in stroller:

This will be followed by an afternoon of football on the couch, of course.  Nugget really likes football.

Cross it off the list

OK, here's a photo of the first thing on my "I judge other parents about these things and will never do them with my own child" list:

It's the 4 of us at Sonic after we drove Harper around to try to get her to sleep.  That's what I had said I wouldn't do, drive around the baby to get it to sleep.

Here's the other one we flip-flopped on already:

Here's the rest of the list I can think of right now, in order of their likelyhood of being flip-flopped:

1. Pacifiers - flip-flopped
2. Drive around baby to get it to sleep - flip-flopped
3. Own a minivan
4. Use the TV as a babysitter
5. Allow our child(ren) to have a handheld video game device permanently attached
6. Cellphone before the age of 10
7. Own a minivan with a TV in the back

I'll update the blog with photographic evidence as any of these fall.

Scary Nutcracker Dream

One of my dreams last night was truly horrifying. There was a weird nutcracker doll that turned into a sort-Chucky-animated-monster. It had a jaw that when animated would chew and chew and chew and could not be stopped. The doll would just crawl around and chew through furniture, walls, cars, and would eat any person that got in its path. The dream played-out like a horror movie, and when I half-awoke remembering this dream I realized it was inspired by my constant little breast-feeding companion.

She is a lovely and much-loved little suckling, but I will look forward to more interaction than eating, pooping, crying, sleeping, and the occasional moment of awake contentment. Actually I do look forward to "tubbies" each evening. Tubbies is our term for bath time. Harper loves her bath-time and looks genuinely happy if only for 5 minutes.

Refluxin'

So we have a little reflux issue. Harper is a very "windy" child. Air comes out both ends all the time, and this makes her little belly and esophagus very unhappy. So every 2ish hours during the day we:
*change a diaper
* burp before each feeding
* feed for 10 - 25 minutes
* burp for at least 5 minutes after the feeding
* keep Harper upright at least 10 more minutes.

Even in my sleep I do this routine; I have been dreaming almost exclusively about breastfeeding and burping. I heard Rick muttering "shh shh shhhh" in his sleep a few nights ago, so at least I am not alone.

Does it count as staying in your pajamas all day if the clothes you have worn for 24 hours aren't actually pajamas?

Gramma SuSu's Visit

So, this is a much overdue post about Gramma SuSu (mama McTodd's mom)'s visit.  She came a little over a week ago, and was able to stay for a full week.  It was excellent to have her around to help, and she was willing to do most anything.  Again, as I mentioned earliler in the posts, the only thing she couldn't be relied upon for, was bringing nugget back at the end of her "shift", as she relished the time with her granddaughter too highly.

I took a few photos, and here they are.  If you want hi-res versions, let me know and I'll send them to you, as I can't post them that way here, and these won't print well.

This week's sign of the Apocalypse

We've posted our first video on YouTube. That's right, you can look forward to trading out some of those boring, old-fashioned still lifes for mundane, nauseating home videos that only the cameraman thinks is interesting!
It's all thanks to a couple of our friends that told us about this Flip Video camera. Do a Google of it if you're interested. Basically it's the size of an iPod, and has a built in USB plug, and built in editing software that will also automatically upload to YouTube, MySpace, etc. Pretty darn easy.
So here's a video of nugget chilling on my lap:

Oh, by the way, the title is blatantly stolen from a little weekly section of Sports Illustrated.

Regression

Three cheers for Rick for keeping the blog active while I took a much needed rest from the computer. I never knew that trying to get 4 hours sleep in a 24 hour period could be so exhausting.

I thought that as a new parent I would gaze at my newborn and try to determine whether her face, movements, and personality most resembled Rick or me. Instead, I find myself gazing at Rick, and noticing behaviors in myself that are newborn-infant-like. Maybe it is the sleep deprivation, but here is a list of things Rick and I do that seem more like things Harper does, than things a normal adult would do:
* Slowly blinking our eyes while they don't quite focus on anything (usually with a slack-jawed mouth accompaning vacant stare)
* Yawn very very slowly
* Sometimes dribble out food out of our mouth while eating
* Sleep with our hands curled up in little fists by our faces

Maybe this is an evolutionary strategy to allow us to better understand Harper.

Anxiety Dreams that don't involve missing exams

I know, I know, I've been remiss.  I haven't posted in a couple of days, and I'm sure our adoring fans are getting annoyed.  Things are going really well.  Our complaints are minor.  Harper basically ate all day today.  Very few breaks.  Momma's tired.  Diana's mom has been wonderful.  The only shortcoming is when we go upstairs to nap, and tell her we'll be down in X number of minutes, leaving her to watch Harper.  If we oversleep, she can't quite be trusted to come and get us, as she loves snuggling with the baby (as do the rest of us!).

I had this crazy anxiety dream the other day.  I don't have a lot of these, at least that I can remember.  In this one I was a super hero.  There were a pair of super villians, and we were in their lair.  I don't remember everything, but it was sort of stainless-steely, glass, and towery.  I think I trash talked them, and then went to make my escape.  Unfortunately one of the super villians had the ability to slow time, only around me of course, and the other had the combined abilities of Mr. Fantastic (strectchy, impervious to things like bullets), the Hulk (big, powerful, tough, cool green color), and the voice and brain of Mr. Spock.  How am I supposed to compete with that?  The majority of the dream that I remember was Mr. Fantastic Spock Hulk coming after me, and me trying to fly away through the quicksand of slowed time.  It was pretty intense.

OK, now that you've drudged, or at least scrolled, through the text, here's today's photos:  I think I'll probably retake the feet one without the tag in the way.  For a sense of scale, that tag is probably 3/4" long.

You have to find the humor in this stuff, or you're done

Not that stuff, the humor in that is easy.  Last night I was changing Harper, and made a series of rookie mistakes.  Rookie mistake #1: while changing Harper, I didn't have the replacement diaper ready.  So she had a little poop in the first diaper, and I was scrounging around getting the 2nd diaper ready, when a lot more came.  I scrambled to kind of keep some of her clothes and the sheet clean.  Here comes rookie mistake #2: I was holding her bottom up trying to get the poop under control when she peed.  Now, when I say pee, don't think about some little dribble.  Think about a male tiger marking it's territory.  My god it went everywhere.  The sheet and clothing I had tried to keep clean, the sheets on our bed (which she wasn't even on).  Both my arms up to my upper arms.  Then, to top it off rookie mistake #3.  This is really more French bathroom accoutrements rookie mistake #1, than diaper changing mistake #3.  I wanted to get the clothing and sheets that had poop and pee on them somewhat clean before I put them in with the rest of the laundry, so I figured I would take advantage of the basically unused bidet.  For those of you who are also unfamiliar with how it works, I'm sure there's a wikipedia entry about it.  But for the purposes of our little tale here, there's a "bath" function, and a "shower" function. Therefore there's a knob that adjusts between the two.  I had the hot water flowing pretty good in a predominantly bath mode.  I leaned over the bidet to reach this knob, and gave it a good twist.  Apparently there's a lot more capacity for water flow in the bath mode than in the shower mode, because the little twist I gave the knob made a LOT of water come from the little tiny showerhead.  And yeah, it pretty much hit me right in the face.  The water then deflected off of my face and showered the rest of the bathroom.  Probably the most slapstick part of it is that I had to lean forward, more into the stream, to get to the knob to shut it off.

All I can say is that I find potty humor pretty damn funny in general, and I had been laughing about each of these individual incidents.  The combination of the three had me roaring.

In other, more tame news, our friend Ann De gruy (I think that's the correct punctuation), who is entitled to a little congratulations of her own, came over: 

And we got an excellent shipment of children's' books from Camy and Sara (Harper's Aunts).  Here's a photo of the proud papa reading Quick As A Cricket to an attentive Harper.  Thanks guys!

Visits and Football

No particular story behind this one.  I just think Diana and Harper are both pretty damned cute.

Here's 2 of my favorite pass times, watching football, and having Harper nap on my lap/belly/chest, oh, and Go Bears!:

Without question the main news of yesterday/today was the visit of Grandma Todd, whom some have dubbed DiDi.  Harper can't quite say that yet, so the jury is still out:

Today's Update

At some point I'll try to go back and post the summary up to this point, but things are a little busy, as you can imagine.

Tropical Storm Hanna turned out to not be a big deal for our particular locale, which was fine given the circumstances of the first day home with our first baby.  We got about 1.4" of sorely needed rain, and some pretty intense wind, but didn't lose power or anything.

Ride home in the car was uneventful.  Harper seems to like the car seat just fine, which is good as she can join us in our road trippin ways, hopefully:

We got home and at least I didn't feel that dread of "oh my god how are we going to take care of this baby now?!"  Of course a lot of the pressure is off of me as the male, in that I don't need to provide nourishment for the baby.  We just need to keep in mind that off-the-shelf nourishment is just fine thank you.  It seems to be working pretty well for Harper as a supplement right now, that's for sure.

I put out a couple of balloons for the neighbors that wanted to be notified when the baby got home.  It was immensely satisfying to announce her to our friends and neighbors.  Here's the welcome home Harper (and welcome Hanna) photo:

The day pretty much consisted of feeding Harper, feeding ourselves, and sleeping.

We got another fair night's sleep, with some crying in the middle of the night.  It's still hard to know when she's gotten enough food, and when she just needs a quick break to burp or be changed.  We're getting it figured out.

Obviously she's fairly happy with what we've gotten done so far.  Here she was napping in the morning light this morning:

The Final Countdown

Here I am again, on the couch at an ungodly hour with my ginger ale, trying to cure the nausea, unable to sleep, alternating between reading a book, browsing the internet, and petting Osa. By tonight this will seem such a quiet, calm, relaxing time.

Unless I actually go into labor naturally in the next 10 hours we will arrive at Williamsburg Sentara hospital registration at 4 PM for check-in. Then by 5 PM I will have had an ultrasound to verify the baby is head down, and the cervidil will be administered. Followed by 2 hours of continual baby monitoring, some dinner, hopefully some sleep, unless the baby makes an appearance. Thursday morning around 5 AM will be when we determine if the medication did anything, and I get to decide how I want to proceed: pitocin, epidural, c-section - choices choices.

I am nervous, but know that we will have a baby, one way or another, by 7 PMish Thursday. Stay tuned.

So strange that tonight was the last night Rick and I had in our house with just the two of us and Osa. No regrets, but know that I will look back with glazed-over, sleep-deprived eyes remembering how quiet, relaxed, and well-rested we were. I am not at all certain we have savored this experience enough.

Chocolates!

So, we figured it was about time to have a post that wasn't about the baby. So here's a post about the hand-made chocolates I made yesterday for the annual Labor Day picnic. I got the idea, and I guess you could loosely call it a recipe, from A Chef's Kitchen here in Williamsburg (link). Basically the idea is pretty straightforward:
Start with a bunch of silicone cups:

Now, you'll need really killer chocolate. No, Hershey's just won't do. We used a dark Calebert (can't remember how it's spelled, and we ate it all so we can't look at the stamp on the chocolate), which we paid a nice $13.50 for 1.12 pounds, mixed with some of the last of our wedding milk chocolate, which if memory serves was also Calebert. You'll probably need to go to a gourmet shop, a chocolate shop, or if you have to, settle for whatever the best that's available at the grocery store. We used about a pound and got around 40 of the cups you see above. Chop the chocolate into several smaller blocks to aid melting, and place in a double-boiler. We made our own double-boiler with a couple of pots with about 1.5 inches of water in between:

Next, you'll need your fillings. We used some Macadamia nuts, some candied ginger, and fresh raspberries. The raspberries are AMAZING. They get cooked just a little bit by the hot chocolate, and it makes them quite magical. Place one filling in each of the cups:

Now use a metal tablespoon (or maybe a pastry bag?) to fill each one with the melted chocolate. Don't fill them too full, as if the chocolate overflows the sili-cups, they won't pop out well:
Now, place the entire sheetpan into the fridge. It took about 30-40 minutes for ours to firm up enough to be popped out of the sili-cups. You can tell when they're close to ready or ready when the chocolate on the surface is no longer shiny. It may take a couple more minutes after the tops are cooled for the rest of the chocolate to firm up, as the air isn't moving over the rest of the cup quite as well.
If you followed our advice and used the raspberries, or other fresh fruits, you'll definitely want to keep the chocolates in the fridge, as I wonder how long they'll stay fresh.
Ironically, while I spent several hours making these yesterday, Diana was out doing yardwork. Apparently raking woodchips doesn't make the baby come out :( Oops, that's "baby talk". Oh well, it's pretty much impossible to not mention SOMETHING about the baby in any conversation these days.

2 Steps Back

So I went from 1 cm dilated to totally closed cervix this week. Interesting.

We are scheduled for cervidil next Wednesday. Followed by the pitocin on Thursday if the cervidil doesn't do the trick. At least I have a known last-possible-date. So, the baby has one week before we evict.

Doctor says baby sounds fine. Doula says not to be frustrated. My brain says to just eat and sleep all day. Osa says I sould be chasing squirrels.

My Little Loiterer

Still here in one piece that should be two. I am amazed that I can actually feel a little less comfortable each day, but at least I am uncomfortable on my couch and in my bed. So far we have tried lots of walking, some swimming, yoga, sleeping all day, spicy food, and some various other methods.

My second favorite attempt was to laugh the baby out by seeing Tropic Thunder on Saturday. I laughed a lot, but the baby apparently loves being jiggled up-and-down while listening to huge explosions, automatic weapons, and Robert Downey Jr.'s jive.

Would REALLY Like To Meet The Baby

No baby yet. I am so ready. Packed. Tired. Mentally Prepared. Rick is ready. Heck, even Osa seems ready (based on her demonstrating how to nap all day).
My mantra: today is a good day to be born.

That said Rick, Meghan (29 weeks pregnant), and I had a very nice dinner of Chinese take-out at the marina last night. We were treated to a beautiful sunset as you can see.

If baby has not been born by next Wednesday then my OB will schedule an induction. It would be sitcom appropriate if I gave birth on Labor Day, but I doubt they will let me wait that long.

Strictly Adult Entertainment

For the past few months I have enjoyed only adult-themed entertainment (not pron, but decidedly R-rated material). Whether it is Netflix watch instantly 'Law and Order SVU' (can't get enough of dramatized sex crimes), Showtime's 'Dead Like Me', or the current book I am reading: Mary Roach's 'Stiff: The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers' (I do highly recommend this book, but only if you can find humor in the extremely grotesque).

Rick is at a loss. He refuses to watch anymore SVU with me as the rape and pedophilia turn his stomach. And I am convinced he thinks I am already scarring our child. I am also convinced that this is a not-well-disguised attempt to maintain my adult identity and not succumb to constant reading of 'Ferdinand' and 'The Little Engine That Could.' Excellent books, but they don't really pack the punch of 'Dexter' or 'The L Word', my latest tv addiction.

How This Recession Has Changed My Habits

Yesterday after a $ grocery trip I started to think about the ways Rick and I have been consciously and subconsciously saving money both due to the arrival of our baby and our country's continuing financial distress. Said grocery trip was actually a little less than we usually spend per week, but I would love to spend even less, while still eating well. I am nervous this post will come off sounding like "o poor me and my loss of bourgeois luxuries", but I agree with my good friend Dredmon:

"Who, outside of the Rockefeller's, thinks back to their grandparents and waxes about their wasteful ways? I don't remember hearing stories of how Mamamaw and Papapaw rushed down to the superstore every weekend to buy disposable products they could quickly use up and throw away during World War II rationing. Would the "Greatest Generation" look fondly upon our need to get a new cell phone every 10 months?"

The constant news stories of people making-due (or not making-due) with less has made me examine the small things. So, here is my list of small changes we have made:

* How I Drive: Rick has always driven with fuel-economy in mind. In the past I have pretended I drive with fuel economy in mind. Well, now I do. I drive slower, I accelerate slowly, I look down the road further, and coast whenever it makes sense. We are getting 50mpg consistently from our diesel car, and 34mpg from our gas.
* Air conditioning: I am using our ceiling fans religiously. Virginia weather almost requires air-conditioning for most people, and Rick and I set our home temp at 79 degrees, and I keep the ceiling fans on in whatever room I am in.
* Energy Audit: We had an energy audit done on our house last week. We are still awaiting the results and recommendations, but we look forward to hearing how we can improve our home's efficiency.
* Groceries: I have stopped buying bagged lettuce (ah, this is where you say "oh, call the whambulance you whiny richie rich"), but I have bought silly bagged lettuce and spinach for years, even though I own a nice salad spinner. Mysteriously I have started receiving 'Good Housekeeping' magazine. I blame either my OB's or our new pediatrician's office. If I get a magazine I tend to read it. The latest issue had a one page spread on "What Convenience Costs"
> head of romaine lettuce: $.25 per serving
> bagged cut romaine (not even organic): $.97 per serving.
And the list went on, biggest savings they report is on regular raw rice, vs. quick-cook or microwave rice bags. ($.19 per serving vs. $1.10 per serving).
* Library: We almost exclusively use our library for reading material (except magazines).

Rick and I live a life of luxury. Hell, I got a mani-pedi a few weeks ago and my haircut at the Colonial Williamsburg Spa last weekend. But, I can't help but think there are more and better ways to save our money while not even noticing a difference. Anyone have any good tips?

How To Feel Even Larger While Pregnant

This morning I brought my breakfast out to the patio. The temperature was a comfortable 80 degrees, the air was clear, and I had a new magazine to read. I then went to sit down on our patio chair and managed to rip through the seat. Granted these chairs are 10-year-old hand-me-downs, but come-on. I am not that large even with only 15 days left till my due date.

9 cm's left

Progress Has Been Made:
* Had our final doula planning meeting to go over all labor information.
* Baby names for either sex have settled.
* I am 1 cm dilated! (Doesn't mean anything in terms of imminent labor, but at least is a step in the right direction).
* 4 more days of work remaining.
* Chinese food I was craving has been eaten.
* Baby bath tub purchased.

Just have an infant care class this Thursday and I think the pre-baby lists will be complete. I just want 1 week of swimming, walking, watching movies on the couch and then I will officially be ready.

23 - 27 days left - my take

Of course, with The Day in eminence, I have similar, but slightly different thoughts. Quite typical for males, apparently, I start thinking about my paycheck, and associate some of my feelings of self-worth to it's size. Do I make enough that I can send my child(ren) to a private grade school? Prep shool? Private college? Can I pay for braces, that convertible that they really want when they turn 16? (not buying that even if I'm a multi-millionaire by then, in case you're wondering).
But then similar to D, I at least try to think about the importance of spending time with the little one(s), and hope that's more valuable than spending money on them.
To quote Jurassic 5: The most you can spend on any child is time.
I'll try to think about that, and less about my salary and future expenses. Maybe that'll make the little knot in my stomach go away.

23 - 37 days left

We are down to the final few weeks. Somewhere between 23 and 37 days left; although I think I will induce if I am 1 week late. That said, if all the comments I get from strangers are correct I should be delivering any day now. Why would anyone think it appropriate to say "Whoa, you gonna have a big baby" to a pregnant woman?

My last day of work is next Friday and I am anticipating stopping work with both joy and dread. I realized yesterday that I haven't had a significant period of non-work since I was 16 years old. I think my first semester of college was without a job, but other than that I have been steadily earning money since I had a drivers license. Quite a bit of my self-worth is wrapped-up in working. Not necessarily in the amount of my paycheck, but in the act of supporting myself: being "useful". I guess I define useful as bringing in some money to the household. I need to start rethinking my "job" for the next 4 months and realize I will be a caregiver, and that while poorly paid the pay-off will be creating another well-rounded adult.

I give myself an infinite-mirror headache when I think that someday the little one in my uterus may someday have exactly the same thoughts about another little one, and so-on-and-so-forth.

Romper Womb

"Romper womb" is my new favorite pregnancy term. Thanks to Meghan for giving me this descriptive phrase. My little one is playing "kick the ribs" almost hourly, but this is a good thing as it means the head is down and feet are up. A nice position for 35 weeks.

We toured the hospital maternity ward. Very nice: Mini-fridge, stone-tiled shower with shower wand, super fancy hospital bed, birthing ball, and gliding/rocking chair. Rick gets a chair that folds out into a single bed. Vail had an even better setup, but it is hard to beat a ski-slope view in a high-income county.

Stupid question I asked my OB this morning that I am sure she will repeat to her co-workers this afternoon:

Me: "So if my water breaks while I am swimming in the pool will I know?"
Dr.K: "Um no, except you will leak for a while after you get out of the pool. And we will completely ignore the public health implications of this happening."

Humorous Spam Mail

Twice in the last week I have received spam email to my gmail account that actually made me laugh. Both emails were for Canadian Rx's, and both had excellent subject lines:
#1: "Griddle riddle cakes"
#2: "Stackin the grizzles"

Whomever this shaddy drug distribution company is using for spam mail has an excellent sense of humor, and also makes me think that "griddle" and "grizzle" may just be naturally funny words. Just like "moist" is a automatically cringe inducing word.

Childcare Woes

Rick and I have started to look into childcare options. We put this off wayyy too long. I naively assumed that since I don't need childcare until January I didn't need to get started on the search until now. I was very wrong. We will be on at least two waiting lists. I was told not to expect a call from the William and Mary Childcare Center for at least a year (probably 18 months). We will be on another waiting list for the YMCA which may only take 6 months to get to the top of.

We are on another waiting list, but Rick and I toured the place yesterday and we majorly underwhelmed. Not scared, but not excited about sending our infant there. And we were going to try another place, but then read the Virginia Department of Social Services inspection reports which are handily available online and we got very scared. This is only a small example of what we have read about at infant day-care centers (not one we are looking at):

Standard #: 22VAC15-30-430-F Complaint related: Yes Description: On April 30, 2008, a three year old child was left unattended on the center play area for approximately twenty minutes.

Standard #: 22VAC15-51-50-A Complaint related: No Description: Licensing representative reviewed the criminal background check of staff member #1. The background check in the record was a copy with ink signatures in the section designated for state police use. After consultation with the CCRE/State Police, it was noted that there was no record of a background check being processed for this individual.

Not to mention that infant day care costs anywhere from $8000 - $10000 a year! I would gladly pay higher taxes to make sure women can get back to work, or take at least 6 months paid leave. What about all of you without children?

Where Is My Brain?

So, I totally forgot today was our wedding anniversary. That was one of the reasons we got married around the 4th of July. That and the awesome fireworks we get every year. This year, I forget the anniversary, and I have a head-cold and might not be able to go out for the festivities tomorrow night. Argh!

I am very glad Rick remembers these things.

A Cry For High Speed Trains

Returned from a very nice trip to Atlanta: art museum, botanical garden, well-spent time with family, fun with old friends (and a new baby). It was an excellent trip.

We got to see my my Dad's, Chuck, and Sharon's new home that they had only lived in 2 weeks. They have managed to unpack almost exactly the same amount Rick and I have managed in a year. I can't wait to see our baby in the little tie-dye outfit!

We love and miss our friend Terry. Terry, you get that adult tricycle. I love the idea of you doing your realty business by cargo-bike (or "adult tricycle", which still makes me think of "adult diapers" for some reason).

Dave and Mandy have a beautiful new home that is completely eclipsed by their beautiful new baby.

And then, after all that vacation it gets bookend-ed with airline travel. I hesitate to write this as it is all our own fault. We didn't give ourselves enough time to get to the airport. I wanted to sleep past 6:30 AM, and thought that if everything went perfectly we could manage to make our flight if we awoke at 6:45. Well, after a wrong turn on the way to the airport, AND a line for the ticketing kiosks, AND a long security line, AND a TSA agent who wouldn't escort us to the front (she latest escorted a mother and son through the line which made me want to scream!!!!), well, after all that we made it to our gate with 5 minutes to spare. Except they close the flight at 10 minutes before the departure time. Rick and I were running to the gate (I am 32 weeks pregnant. I shouldn't be running. Again, my own damn fault.) When the gate agent told us we were out of luck I started crying. Audibly. Publicly. Shamelessly. And she could have cared less.

So we made stand-by on the next flight 4 hours later. By that time my crying-mottled face had recovered, and so had our sense of humor. Things we learned:
1) Use google maps for directions to airport. No matter how sure you are or things it is best to have real directions.
2) Always leave extra time to get to the airport. Always. And especially when/if we ever fly with small children.
3) Don't fly with small children.
4) Travel with someone who has the magical ability to be sane when you are crazy and if they feel crazy, wait until you feel sane. Rick is my perfect travel companion.

Wow, here it comes

It's funny what things hit you, and what things don't. Looking at the crib, or the huge pile of baby-oriented goodies we have in our living room, I don't really get overwhelmed by the idea of having a new addition to our family. But this did:
PASSENGER INFORMATION
---------------------
Passenger 1: Helen McSpadden (AAA Adult)
Passenger 2: Richard Todd (AAA Adult)
Passenger 3: Unknown Todd (Infant)

That's our tickets for hopefully going to the IN/IL area at the end of September. For some reason, seeing that (Infant) there, is kinda freaking me out! I guess part of it is the association to travel, and how I worry that this whole baby thing might hamper that in the future.

Off To Hotlanta

Today we depart for a long weekend in Atlanta. Rick and I are really looking forward to seeing my Dad and some long-time friends.

Here's hoping it isn't too much hotter than Virginia, AND hoping that the stinking Carolina wildland fire isn't sending its smoke to Georgia. Yesterday we woke-up to thick grey air outside. Could have been a camp fire in our backyard, but no, North Carolina is blazing and sending smoke to Williamsburg. I thought we left all that behind when we moved east. At least I know Rick isn't going to get a call and need to run out in the middle of the night to do some "extreme gardening" (how sad that I am selfishly happy he isn't a volunteer firefighter anymore).

Peaches

I've realized that for all the wonderful properties a ripe, summer-time peach possesses, it's ability to travel in my messenger bag on my ride to work is not one of them. I think after this, the 3rd time, it has finally sunk in.

Surry

Surry is the county/city/and nuclear power plant across the James River from our home. Rick and I live in the immediate death zone of the power plant. It is somehow comforting that we aren't in the slow, painful radiation poisoning range if something goes wrong. Sunday we headed over to the city of Surry for a real greasy, diner-ish breakfast. I haven't had eggs, hashbrowns, tabasco, and OJ in wayyy too long, and we had heard that the Surry House had a good old-fashioned breakfast.

It is only 10 miles away as the crow flies or the ferry flows (otherwise it is a 60 - 70 mile trip), so we drove our car to the Surry ferry and took the 15 minute ride across the James river. I had never been on a ferry where your car rides along with you so it was a little adventure. One piece of advice: Don't wear a skirt on the ferry and then not expect the breeze to blow your skirt up to your shoulders while you are site seeing on the deck.

Back In The Saddle

I had never heard this story until a older friend told me:
Before over-the-counter pregnancy tests were available rabbits (as in bunnies) were used to determine if you were pregnant. You would still pee in a cup, then your urine would be injected into a rabbit. In the very beginning of this test's use the rabbit would then be killed and its ovaries examined. If they displayed certain characteristics the woman was pregnant. So... you would be told the hopefully happy news with "the rabbit died". Later technicians were able to determine these ovarian changes w/o killing the bunny.
For more... http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/rabbit.asp

Okay, it has been too long. And I have forgotten about 5 things I wanted to blog about, but I am back.

Rick uploaded the new prego photo of me. Oh my. That really is what my belly looks like, but I have started to plateau my weight gain (thank goodness). I also have started swimming laps at our community pool 2 times a week. I feel so weightless in the water, but then I am forced to use the little pool ladders to get out. I have never used those silly ladders before but it is actually impossible for me to push myself (and baby) out of the water. Ugh.

School is going well. Did you know your kidneys are the same size as your heart which is approximately the same size as your closed fist?

Realizations

I have decided to try and find a doula. What the heck is a doula you may ask, especially if you haven't been involved in a baby's birth in the last 5 or so years. Well, I am interviewing one on Wednesday and hope to have a better idea, but basically what I want is someone to mother me while I am laboring.

I am conflicted about paying for this service. Am I buying a best girl-friend? Am I buying a mother for a day (hopefully less than a day)? And why am I not wanting my own mother, stepmother, mother-in-law there? Heck, this child will have 5 grandmothers; seems like I have a good pool of available maternal options. Not to mention the 6 sisters/sister-in-laws. Well, I don't know, or rather I know I didn't want other family members there. Mostly because then I will feel compelled to worry about how they are coping. Initially I saw this as something Rick and I could do-on-our-own-god-damnit. And here I am at 153 pounds thinking that I am not sure I can do this, and I am certain I don't want Rick shouldered with the responsibility of dealing with me when I completely loose it. Hence, our doula search.

Summer classes start today! Man I loved having the last two weeks off and have almost no motivation to study.

Prognostication By Dry Scalp and In Bruges

I continue to have vivid and fascinating dreams I believe are brought on by my ever increasing hormone levels. Saturday night I was walking down a path through a dense wood. In the dream (and also in reality) my scalp was itchy and I started scratching a la Ally Sheedy in Breakfast Club. The dry scalp flakes were shaped like alphabet soup letters and I could read them and they told me something I can't remember now. Was a very pleasant dream except it does make me want to buy some Selson Blue.

Rick and I went to dinner and movie with a friend last night and saw In Bruges which I totally recommend if you would be interested in the love child of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The Limey, and Killing Zoe. Violent, and funny with lovely cinematography. I do really love the actor Brendan Gleeson who I recognized from The General but hadn't realized how many movies I have seen with him until I read his imdb page.

On a less happy note my OB gave me a weight-gain warning at my appointment this morning. Apparently gaining 9 pounds in 5 weeks isn't a recommended practice during pregnancy. It did make me choose an apple instead of a half bar of Scharffenberger's Milk Chocolate which I have eaten every day for the last 2 weeks. Hmm.

Volcanoes

While on my morning dog walk I said "good morning" to a elderly gentleman with a 5 foot walking stick. He wasn't Gandolf; which I knew because he didn't have a beard and was wearing a Life Is Good baseball cap and a golf course polo shirt. He said "good morning" in return and then said "I'd like to tell you about something I have been reading up on." Hmm, Osa wasn't barking at him, so I stayed on my side of the road and he on his and he proceeded to tell me all about the volcanoes underneath Yellowstone National Park. How they formed not from tectonic plate grinding but from a "hot spot" which he described as a weakness in the Earth's mantle and crust. He then told me that the same weakness travels from Yellowstone to New Orleans, then to Charlottesville, then to Bermuda, a volcanic island.

I told him about the large caldera just north of Los Alamos, and the hot springs I frequented when I lived there.

We ended our conversation with him saying "The Earth is not solid."

Indiana Just In Time For the Primary

This Saturday I am heading out for a week in Northern Indiana. Just in time for the absolute craziness that will be the Indiana Democratic primary. Here's to hoping one of the candidates will make a stop in Goshen.

While trying to plan for an airplane flight at 6 months pregnant I am also finishing up my finals , and completing another large work deliverable. I miss working out. I miss sleep. I miss being in a good mood when Rick gets home. Here's to hoping a week of pampering by my family cures what ails me. You hear that family? Pampering ALL week. Uh Huh.

Congrats To Cousin Edward and Susannah And the Canary Project

Rick's cousin, Edward, and his wife Susannah were awarded fellowships at Harvard for the 2008 - 2009 academic year. Congratulations! They specifically won for their work on the Canary Project. It is definitely worth your time, energy, and possibly a financial donation to take a look at their website.

"The Canary Project produces visual media, events, and artwork that builds public understanding of human-induced climate change and energize commitment to solutions."

Note: they are also looking to sublet an apartment and a studio in NYC for the academic year. If you are interested this is the information I have (and I can give you Edward's email address if you email me):

* The apartment is a nice one-bedroom in the center of Manhattan (47^th between 9^th and 10^th). It will be furnished.

* We are also looking for somebody interested in office/studio space. We will retain a desk and storage in the studio, which is in the amazing Can Factory (see http://www.xoprojects.com/places_oac_1.html), but there is ample room for an artist or others looking for desk and work space.

Tourists

Rick and I naively thought we left really silly tourists behind in Vail. We did leave the Texas tourists who vacation at 9000ft, start drinking at lunch on the ski slopes, then have their very unsurprising heart attack and are sped down the mountain by ski patrol. We also left behind all the round-abouts (aka rotaries) and the tourist-induced near-misses and car accidents they cause. We now have a new variety that vacation at Colonial Williamsburg. I haven't quite nailed the stereotype yet, but Rick has experienced very un-Colorado tourist behavior.

Setup: Rick has meetings at various locations around the historic area, and rides his bike within the couple square mile area to these meetings. He wears suit pants and tie most days, and just ads a bike helmet for his intra-office commutes.

Behavior: He gets photographed by tourists on his short bike rides. Really. He was photographed twice on a 1 mile ride last week. These are tourists surrounded by an amazing recreation of Declaration of Independence American and they are taking pictures of Rick on his bicycle wearing a tie.

Rambo and Sad Dog

I had never seen Rambo: First Blood until yesterday. What a movie. I loved almost every second of it, and the final scene, regardless of the mention of fictional spitting, is moving, and made me tear-up a bit. I know. I know. But I am pregnant. Certainly made me even more aware of my bias when I see young men in uniform, and we have a lot of them in my area. Was very interesting that the movie simultaneously asked me to question the government training men into killers, and yet also made me fiercely cheer-on the PTSDing John Rambo. Hell, I even felt patriotic, which says something in these times. Does anyone remember David Caruso in this: Deputy Mitch. Might be his first portrayal of a cop. And as always Brian Dennehy makes an awesome antagonist.

Also I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the first Rambo and the first Predator movies. Arnie and Stallone are so similar, and yet could you imagine either of these movies made with the other one in the starring role. Yikes: John Rambo would have been named Johann Schmidt. The movie would have been Schmidt: First Blut.

On a sadder note my dog seems to be sick, or depressed, or something. She was limping around yesterday. And today she followed me from room to room, ALL day. Now she is hiding under Rick's desk. Not sure what is up, and we may need a vet appointment if this continues another day. We have been doing some status reduction training with her in preparation for the baby. She has had her doggie bed moved out bedroom, to the hallway, and a week ago it was placed all the way downstairs. I wonder if her symptoms are at all attention getting, or whether there really is something wrong.

Sucessful 20 Weeks

Had the 20 week ultrasound yesterday and all looks well from what the doctor could see. All pieces that should be there are there, and it the correct number. No extra pieces were seen. Yay! Go little Clementine! Here I must admit that my inside-head voice has nicknamed the fetus "my little parasite". This thought is thunk with much kindness.

The 20 week appointment is a good milestone to hit. I actually look pregnant in clothing instead of just chunky. And I feel the "quickening", such a strange term, aka fluttering and flipping in my belly.

So we don't know gender. The sonographer wrote it down and I can always call and ask if I suddenly get the desire. But for now we don't know. During the ultrasound Rick and I kept our eyes open. I thought I saw a penis, Rick thought he saw a vagina. I wonder how Freud would rate the ultrasound as a psych projection tool?

I also came to the appointment with my list of questions for the doctor. One of which was about any additional protective equipment I could use for my A&P class this summer. My doctor responded with "You mean equipment to protect you from a substance that produces 400 gram tumors on 200 gram mice?" Hmm... so I re-thought my summer schedule. And now instead of one A&P class/lab, I am now enrolled in two silly general education classes. Send me happy thoughts that I won't lose my mind taking Medical Terminology and Speech. Anyone think I can get out of speech with a short talk on how I have presented at technical conferences, and was a technical trainer within my last company? Fingers crossed.

New CPR Standards and Other Health Care News

You may have already heard but I wanted to again proselytize the new American Heart Association CPR standard for bystander CPR. The new standard is for hands-only CPR for adults who experienced cardiac compromise. This is a great change for several reasons:
1) Works just as well for adults in cardiac compromise (this is the best reason).
2) Easier to remember. No longer do you need to remember 30:1 or 20:2 chest compression to breath ratios.
3) Protects good Samaritans from communicable diseases. No longer do you need to put your mouth over someone else's mouth. You don't know where that mouth has been. Stay away. Hepatitis is very scary and very prevalent.

Now, after I said that I also want to give a few caveats:
1) Go to a community CPR training class.You can learn two person CPR, CPR for children and infants, and become more comfortable with the whole idea. To find a class near you click here and use the "Find A Class" tool.
2) If you are alone and witness someone having a cardiac event, call 911 first. If there is someone else, one of you call 911, the other start chest compressions.
3) Hands-only is for adults. An adult is anyone showing signs of puberty. Children are not just little adults. They are more likely to have experienced respiratory failure, which means mouth-to-mouth is the most important. Children's lungs are smaller than adults, thus you need to push less air. But they breath more times per minute. This is why the class is good. It gets more complicated for children, and I would imagine the situation would be even more stressful.
4) Hands-only is only for cardiac events. If you pull someone from water you want to do both chest and mouth-to-mouth. The chest compressions can act as a Heimlich maneuver, the mouth-to-mouth will get air to the lungs.
5) Get an AED if one is available! CPR will never bring someone back on its own no matter what you have seen in stupid movies. If the heart does not have its own electrical impulse then CPR cannot create one. You need an AED to do that.

Ah... now I feel better.
I had to order a surprising amount of personal protective gear this morning for my summer class. I am taking Anatomy and Physiology I this summer, and the lab uses formaldehyde, which is nasty to fetuses. So, I ordered an awesome face mask (seen here), and some basic nitryl disposable gloves. I will look so rad!