Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tomorrow
Argh. The hospital called this morning to say they were short-staffed and would need to reschedule....so we're going in tomorrow morning instead. Thank goodness for our flexible friends who will be babysitting! Save up your good thoughts for tomorrow, ok? Thanks!
Monday, March 14, 2011
37 weeks
Here's Sacha, rockin' the 37 week belly! Needless to say, she looks gorgeous. She has her external version tomorrow at 9:30 am, so hold a good thought for her and the baby, if you feel so inclined.
We've been enjoying our last days (and perhaps weeks) of our family of four. It's funny to look back on our adjustment to having two and how that seemed like such chaos. Things still seem chaotic now sometimes, but overall it just seems normal and we have our routines and such.
It's going to be very interesting to see how this transition goes! I imagine we'll be much less mobile for awhile, but I have every intention of getting back into the swing of things as far as adventuring goes. That goes for this summer especially, which I am waiting for rather impatiently. Sun, farmer's markets, splashing at the park, barbequing, time with friends, our family reunion, our trip to family camp, and so many more things. Let's hope we're sleeping enough by that point to enjoy it all!
We've been enjoying our last days (and perhaps weeks) of our family of four. It's funny to look back on our adjustment to having two and how that seemed like such chaos. Things still seem chaotic now sometimes, but overall it just seems normal and we have our routines and such.
It's going to be very interesting to see how this transition goes! I imagine we'll be much less mobile for awhile, but I have every intention of getting back into the swing of things as far as adventuring goes. That goes for this summer especially, which I am waiting for rather impatiently. Sun, farmer's markets, splashing at the park, barbequing, time with friends, our family reunion, our trip to family camp, and so many more things. Let's hope we're sleeping enough by that point to enjoy it all!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Massage and Music
I've tried two new things this week. First, on Wednesday I went to listen to Mister Ben, which I mentioned a few days ago. After listening to him, I signed up for my first Ukulele lesson. I tried learning guitar when I lived in Chicago. Actually, I took weekly lessons and practiced most every day. No success. I could barely play a few songs, and it really hurt my hands. Turns out guitar was not for me.
I had never considered learning the Ukulele before. For whatever reason (needing a project right now?) I thought - why not? He said that within 4 weeks, if I practiced at home, that I would be able to play simple children's songs. It has only been 4 days since my lesson. I am already able to play a number of songs.
Today, I learned to play, "Are you sleeping" with finger picking (as opposed to strumming). I'm having a ton of fun learning a new instrument. And it's a great thing to keep my mind off of the baby and the upcoming EV.
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Massage
My friends Sheila and Caroline came over on Saturday to hang out with us. Sheila mentioned that Mayan Massage can help with aligning the uterus, and might help me out with the transverse situation. I figured, as long as it's safe, I'm up for trying anything. She gave me the names of three different certified practitioners. It turns out that the North Portland Wellness Clinic (our favorite place for everything) has one of the few practitioners in the city!
Tiffany, the massage therapist, was amazing. After 15 minutes of massaging, she was able to show me how Drizzle was transverse. It was amazing, you could totally see how she was in a diagonal position. She also showed me some gentle exercises that I can do at home. The massage was so great that I went back for another one today!
I'm not expecting that the massage will turn the baby. On the other hand, if it does help so the EV is easier, that would be great. And it can't hurt! The baby was still transverse today, but you could see that she had moved slightly more towards the center than she was the day before!
I had never considered learning the Ukulele before. For whatever reason (needing a project right now?) I thought - why not? He said that within 4 weeks, if I practiced at home, that I would be able to play simple children's songs. It has only been 4 days since my lesson. I am already able to play a number of songs.
Today, I learned to play, "Are you sleeping" with finger picking (as opposed to strumming). I'm having a ton of fun learning a new instrument. And it's a great thing to keep my mind off of the baby and the upcoming EV.
--------------------------
Massage
My friends Sheila and Caroline came over on Saturday to hang out with us. Sheila mentioned that Mayan Massage can help with aligning the uterus, and might help me out with the transverse situation. I figured, as long as it's safe, I'm up for trying anything. She gave me the names of three different certified practitioners. It turns out that the North Portland Wellness Clinic (our favorite place for everything) has one of the few practitioners in the city!
Tiffany, the massage therapist, was amazing. After 15 minutes of massaging, she was able to show me how Drizzle was transverse. It was amazing, you could totally see how she was in a diagonal position. She also showed me some gentle exercises that I can do at home. The massage was so great that I went back for another one today!
I'm not expecting that the massage will turn the baby. On the other hand, if it does help so the EV is easier, that would be great. And it can't hurt! The baby was still transverse today, but you could see that she had moved slightly more towards the center than she was the day before!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Starting to save
When Mateo was about a year old, some friends gave us a great book on teaching finances to kids. It's called Raising Financially Fit Kids and it is chock full of ideas for kids from ages 5 to college. We've been waiting for Mateo to get old enough to start trying some of the book's ideas, and now that's he's almost four and a half, we just couldn't help ourselves from starting one thing: an allowance.
The book's take on allowances is one of our favorite parts. It basically says that an allowance is a way to practice managing money. It's not something that you pay for doing chores and it's not something that kids can just do whatever they want with. It's money that they get every week that they divide into three categories (save, spend, and share) and then use accordingly. The singular purpose is to educate them about using money responsibly. This struck a chord with us, so we decided to give it a try at some point. Mateo has been showing some interest in coins and money recently, so we thought we'd start up the allowance and see what happens.
This was our first week of doing it, and we started by deciding where Mateo wanted to share his money. He decided on his own that he wanted to help kitties at the Humane Society. We counted up the change he's been collecting, plus the third of his allowance that we had just give him, and then went to the Humane Society to donate it. He was SO proud of himself and so excited about the little thank you packet they gave him that it could hardly have been cuter.
We also went to the bank to get a bunch of $1 bills, for future allowance giving, and ended up opening a savings account for him. We started him off with $25 and he added the saving part of his allowance at the end. We figure we'll go periodically, maybe every time he saves up $10, to make deposits.
Overall, it was a very cool morning. We feel really good about getting this started in a fun way. When he gets a little older, we can try some of the other ideas in the 5 to 8 year old section, but for now, this is good. Here are some photos:
The book's take on allowances is one of our favorite parts. It basically says that an allowance is a way to practice managing money. It's not something that you pay for doing chores and it's not something that kids can just do whatever they want with. It's money that they get every week that they divide into three categories (save, spend, and share) and then use accordingly. The singular purpose is to educate them about using money responsibly. This struck a chord with us, so we decided to give it a try at some point. Mateo has been showing some interest in coins and money recently, so we thought we'd start up the allowance and see what happens.
This was our first week of doing it, and we started by deciding where Mateo wanted to share his money. He decided on his own that he wanted to help kitties at the Humane Society. We counted up the change he's been collecting, plus the third of his allowance that we had just give him, and then went to the Humane Society to donate it. He was SO proud of himself and so excited about the little thank you packet they gave him that it could hardly have been cuter.
We also went to the bank to get a bunch of $1 bills, for future allowance giving, and ended up opening a savings account for him. We started him off with $25 and he added the saving part of his allowance at the end. We figure we'll go periodically, maybe every time he saves up $10, to make deposits.
Overall, it was a very cool morning. We feel really good about getting this started in a fun way. When he gets a little older, we can try some of the other ideas in the 5 to 8 year old section, but for now, this is good. Here are some photos:
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| Sorting change... |
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| Future allowances all together! |
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| So proud of himself! |
 |
| Proud new savings account owner :) |
Friday, March 11, 2011
Volcano, Volcano - a new song by Mateo
Mommy has just started taking Ukulele lessons with Mister Ben. She was playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, when Mateo had an idea for a new song. The song uses the same melody, but has different words.
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Lava flowing into a river
Lava flowing into a river
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Mt. St. Helens is in the ring of fire.
Mt. St. Helens is in the ring of fire.
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
What do you call a mommy volcano
You call her a "magma magma" mommy
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Lava flowing into a river
Lava flowing into a river
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Mt. St. Helens is in the ring of fire.
Mt. St. Helens is in the ring of fire.
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
What do you call a mommy volcano
You call her a "magma magma" mommy
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Volcano, volcano spit out your eruption
Thursday, March 10, 2011
One version, to go
We just got back from Sacha's big ultrasound, which was to determine if the baby had turned from transverse to head down. Sacha has been giving it her all this past week - she's had acupuncture almost every day, she's done the various positions and exercises you're supposed to do, and she really felt like the baby had turned. She was feeling a lot more downward pressure.
Turns out, that was because the baby has lodged herself in one corner of Sacha's pelvis and is in nearly exactly the same position she was in last week, just a bit further down (hence, the pressure). Still transverse, although really she's diagonal, and not appearing to want to budge.
So, they scheduled an external version for next Tuesday morning. Hopefully that will get the baby to turn, which would be the best case, and then Sacha could get induced sometime around 39 or 40 weeks (the nurse practitioner was much more in favor of 40 weeks this time - she seems to change her mind a lot!). Worst case, the baby goes into distress (this is rare) and Sacha gets a c-section right there. Middle ground, baby turns and Sacha goes into labor right there and then has the baby at some later point. I guess maybe we should pack a hospital bag just in case?
Anyway, that's the status of things right now. I know it's only three weeks and a few days until Sacha's due date, but it feels like forever from here....and that's from me, who's not pregnant! Poor Sacha is feeling pretty down about the whole thing. However, she went out tonight to her college alumnae book club and I hope that will provide some needed distraction. At the very least, we know we won't be waiting two weeks post-due-date for a baby like we were last time, which is something to be happy about regardless!
Turns out, that was because the baby has lodged herself in one corner of Sacha's pelvis and is in nearly exactly the same position she was in last week, just a bit further down (hence, the pressure). Still transverse, although really she's diagonal, and not appearing to want to budge.
So, they scheduled an external version for next Tuesday morning. Hopefully that will get the baby to turn, which would be the best case, and then Sacha could get induced sometime around 39 or 40 weeks (the nurse practitioner was much more in favor of 40 weeks this time - she seems to change her mind a lot!). Worst case, the baby goes into distress (this is rare) and Sacha gets a c-section right there. Middle ground, baby turns and Sacha goes into labor right there and then has the baby at some later point. I guess maybe we should pack a hospital bag just in case?
Anyway, that's the status of things right now. I know it's only three weeks and a few days until Sacha's due date, but it feels like forever from here....and that's from me, who's not pregnant! Poor Sacha is feeling pretty down about the whole thing. However, she went out tonight to her college alumnae book club and I hope that will provide some needed distraction. At the very least, we know we won't be waiting two weeks post-due-date for a baby like we were last time, which is something to be happy about regardless!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Kidisms
Two funny things Mateo's said recently that I want to remember:
1. In a conversation about what Drizzle might look like, we speculated that she could look like a mini-Tali or a mini-Mateo. Then Mateo said, "or, she could look like a miniVAN!" and laughed uproariously, as did we.
2. Tonight was date night and Mateo overheard that we were going to Powell's, which is a huge independent Portland bookstore. Hearing this, he said very seriously, "there are only kids' books at Powell's, Mommy. You have to go somewhere else for grown-up books. Maybe you could get some kids' books though." Or something like that. It was hilarious to think about, because he's been into Powell's several times and walked through the rooms and rooms and aisles and aisles to get to the kids' section, and yet, to him, it's all full of kids' books from floor to ceiling. Actually, it's a great childhood fantasy to have, so we did nothing to deprive him of it.
In other news, we had a lovely family day today. We even went to the local garden shop and picked out some starts for our containers. We have lettuce, arugula, radish seeds, pea seeds, kale, spinach, and even chard starting out. We're very excited. Now that our new house thing is a phone call away from being over, we put our planters back up on our steps (having taken them off after freshly painting the stairs) and are getting ready for lots of spring and summer veggies....
...and, a spring baby! Little Drizzle appears to have turned head down, thank goodness. Sacha's been to acupuncture nearly every day and we've been doing the moxa thing outside every night, which is no fun for either of us, but it seems to have worked. We'll hopefully get confirmation at her OB appointment tomorrow. Then, we just need to wait and see if she goes into labor on her own or gets induced on the 26th. It's nice for both of us to know that there's an end date in sight!
It's supposed to rain all week and it's making me feel like hibernating. Good thing I'm about to head off to my comfy bed. I have to enjoy it for all it's worth between now and the 26th!
1. In a conversation about what Drizzle might look like, we speculated that she could look like a mini-Tali or a mini-Mateo. Then Mateo said, "or, she could look like a miniVAN!" and laughed uproariously, as did we.
2. Tonight was date night and Mateo overheard that we were going to Powell's, which is a huge independent Portland bookstore. Hearing this, he said very seriously, "there are only kids' books at Powell's, Mommy. You have to go somewhere else for grown-up books. Maybe you could get some kids' books though." Or something like that. It was hilarious to think about, because he's been into Powell's several times and walked through the rooms and rooms and aisles and aisles to get to the kids' section, and yet, to him, it's all full of kids' books from floor to ceiling. Actually, it's a great childhood fantasy to have, so we did nothing to deprive him of it.
In other news, we had a lovely family day today. We even went to the local garden shop and picked out some starts for our containers. We have lettuce, arugula, radish seeds, pea seeds, kale, spinach, and even chard starting out. We're very excited. Now that our new house thing is a phone call away from being over, we put our planters back up on our steps (having taken them off after freshly painting the stairs) and are getting ready for lots of spring and summer veggies....
...and, a spring baby! Little Drizzle appears to have turned head down, thank goodness. Sacha's been to acupuncture nearly every day and we've been doing the moxa thing outside every night, which is no fun for either of us, but it seems to have worked. We'll hopefully get confirmation at her OB appointment tomorrow. Then, we just need to wait and see if she goes into labor on her own or gets induced on the 26th. It's nice for both of us to know that there's an end date in sight!
It's supposed to rain all week and it's making me feel like hibernating. Good thing I'm about to head off to my comfy bed. I have to enjoy it for all it's worth between now and the 26th!
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