February 2010
18 posts
4 tags
About face.
Change of plans.
Forget our long to-do list.
Jackson and I both got some advice that made us think differently about what these next three months should look like.
Do we need to have some basics (crib, stroller, carseat) ready to go? Yes, of course.
However, every project in our house we’ve been talking about doing for the last two years doesn’t need to be finished. There’s...
January 2010
25 posts
4 tags
Hmmmm...hair.
Could someone please explain this to me?
I had read that pregnancy increases your nail and hair growing hormones (whatever those are), and for lots of women, their hair can totally change.
I was hoping beyond hoping for thick thick curly hair (I have fine, stick-straight hair that has never seen a curl one day in it’s life). So far, that still hasn’t happened.
But you know what...
3 tags
The tests are back.
After that horrible morning drinking a bottle of orange sugar water on an empty stomach to test for gestational diabetes, I got the results back this week- all clear! No signs of the potential for diabetes, though I am close to the anemic level, so I need to eat more iron (read: more burgers at Daily Planet/Bluebird/Bearded Frog).
Other than that, our midwife said that everything looks good!...
3 tags
L to the B to the S.
There are apparently different strategies and opinions in dealing with pregnancy weight gain. Some ladies have told me to just GO for it, as this is the only time in your life when you have an ‘excuse to be fat’ and you should just eat anything and everything that you want.
I totally disagree with that plan.
And that whole ‘eating for two’ reasoning? I think...
2 tags
Let's see....
Before Bundle arrives, we have a few things we’d like to get done.
-Clean and pull together a kick-ass Nursery -Rip up the carpet on the stairs to our second floor and put in wood -Install new lights throughout the house -Design and commission a new kitchen table from a cool VT furniture maker who uses reclaimed wood -Buy a new couch -Huge clean of our basement to get rid of everything...
3 tags
Registering Registering Registering.
Many thanks to our saint of a friend, who spent much of the morning helping us register for Bundle. With their four-month old daughter happy and healthy, she is a seasoned mom who breezed through the ‘suggested’ registry list, telling us what we need, what we really need, and what we definitely don’t need.
In short, exactly the person to register with (unfortunately for her, I...
3 tags
Sage advice from my former mentor!
A mentor and friend from an old job got back in touch and sent me her list of what you really need for the first few months of life with a baby. THANK YOU!!!
I’ve condensed it (but printed the whole thing and have read it twice already!!!) for here, but am happy to send along to anyone who’s also expecting and looking for the same tips I am.
Here it is, in her words of wisdom:
...
2 tags
3 tags
Deep freezers, dirty martinis and dancing shoes.
I just caught myself perusing Amazon for a deep freezer while daydreaming about a happy hour full of dirty martinis and then going out dancing.
This, I believe, is the schizophrenic insanity that greets you in pregnancy.
You’re caught straddling two worlds…the one you’ve always known, and the one you’re about to enter (and know nothing about).
We want to get a deep...
3 tags
I wonder...
What are the MOST important things to register for?
To any moms out there, what did you think you needed, and what did you actually use?
We want to be as simple and clutter-free as possible (slightly impossible, I realize), and don’t want to buy a million gadgets and extra stuff that you don’t really need for a baby. But what do we know??! Though my years and years of babysitting...
7 tags
The Nasty Neti that saved my life.
Wow. One of the major negatives of being pregnant? None of that soothing kick-your-ass-to-bed cold medications that clears everything up, puts you into a deep slumber and makes everything better.
Nope, no Nyquil or Theraflu for Bundle or me. Reports that cold products as mild as cough syrup can cause malformations and birth defects in the first trimester, can interfere with the development of...
2 tags
'Honeymoon'.
One year, four months, and seven days after our wedding day (careful….more than one of those photos was taken by a drunk friend, so beware that you don’t get dizzy looking through some of the photos), we are FINALLY going on a ‘moon’.
Now Jackson claims that we’ve been on ‘several’ honeymoons, but really there was just our minimoon in Quebec City for two...
2 tags
The importance of golf balls in your life.
I recently saw this, and perhaps because work/house/baby-prep/major life changes have felt crazy and overwhelming, it was a good reminder to me about what’s really important in life.
Here’s the story:
A professor stood before his Philosophy class with some items in front of him on a table.
When the class began, he did not speak, but instead picked up a very large, empty mayonnaise...
6 tags
What goes on, and what goes in.
There are SO many more foods that you can’t eat while pregnant. The big ones, like deli meats, sushi and alcohol are fairly commonly known.
However, these are some foods that have surprised me that are on the recommended chopping block:
-Many herbal teas -Certain coughdrops -Raw honey -Pineapple -Papaya -Sesame seeds -Feta cheese (even pasteurized, it’s still on the bad list, so...
3 tags
Lulu Love.
Once again, many many thanks to anyone who reads this and is willing to offer advice to these first-time naive parents-to-be.
One such piece of sage wisdom came from a mom-friend, who told me that Lulu Lemon stretchy yoga pants (expensive, but worth every penny) would get me through my pregnant workouts…and she was right! My love for the brand has increased tenfold….if only they...
2 tags
No heartburn, no hair??
In prenatal yoga last night, there was a lengthy discussion about the horrors of pregnant heartburn.
While I usually find myself horizontal after most meals (it feels like I need the space to actually digest), I haven’t endured this lovely symptom yet….fingers crossed that I won’t have to.
However, I learned something new in class, that about 20 women swore to, and we ended up...
3 tags
You mean someone's reading this?
It is so funny, and wildly flattering, when someone mentions that they have read this blog.
In my mind, this blog is still:
a) a journal to keep track of my thoughts b) a place where maybe a family member or two will head out of curiosity or because they can’t get me on the phone to see how things are going.
I got an email from a new friend who’s quickly becoming one of my all-time...
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Stages of my belly.
‘You’re looking really pregnant today!’ Remarked a coworker as I walked past.
Now coming from some people, that could be taken the wrong way (aka, fat). However, this was a friend who has a 7-month old daughter, and with whose wife I’ve chatted about pregnancy. So he knows his stuff, and as a precaution ducked his head around the corner and said,
‘You know that...
2 tags
Bye Bye Bebop.
Sad, sad news…the absolute BEST baby shop in Vermont is closing. I went there a few nights ago, hoping to say goodbye and stock up on baby everything because of their closing sale.
Instead, I spent most of the hour walking in circles, wondering how the hell anyone ever knows what to buy (with the exception of adorable little baby clothes, which aren’t all that practical to begin...
3 tags
Was 7th grade really that long ago?
I spent the morning at an area middle school, doing presentations for 7th graders about the work and mission of the nonprofit I work for.
I loved getting to talk with, be around, and observe over a hundred little pre-teens (who clearly all thought they were well on their way to adulthood, despite the squeaky adolescent boy voices, the pre-pubescent girls, and the general acknowledgement that the...
4 tags
Holy Batman (that's a much nicer version of what I...
3:31am last night.
I woke up shocked, bolted to a sitting position, and grabbed my right calf, assuming that I was too late to save it, as it felt like it was literally being sawed off (and Jackson says I have a tendency to exaggerate…where does he get that?).
As my senses slowly got a grip on reality, I realized that it was a charley horse/leg cramp, but unlike any I had ever experienced...
3 tags
Love.
Sorry Jackson, Georgia and Bundle….this one isn’t about you.
Just finished my prenatal class, and I’m just so in love…with the teacher, the class, the room full of pregnant ladies, and the environment created there.
Every class begins with us going around the room, and whether there’s 5 or 35 people in the class, we each introduce ourselves and talk about how far...
6 tags
What I've learned so far (25 weeks)
Keep up with the Mustela lotion, as it seems to be working well. No hereditary stretch marks in my family, but I want to keep it that way.
The sales at Gap Maternity are not to be missed, especially if you want to actually save your money for when the baby arrives, and not spend it all on pre-baby clothes.
Prenatal yoga is heaven sent. Especially when you find a good teacher, like I did at...
3 tags
'It's not pain, it's just a different sensation.'
As the incredibly natural and equally terrifying prospect of going into labor gets closer, I can’t help but laugh (and cry) thinking back to a baby shower I went to a few years ago.
It was for Jackson’s cousin, Rose, who was pregnant with her first child (now the beautiful little Eleanor who may or may not be the funniest and most strong-willed little bug I’ve ever met).
At...
2 tags
A snowy morning.
I woke up early today, unable to sleep and unable to lie still. There is so much happiness and announcements and huge changes happening in and around my life, that it’s sometimes too easy to forget what loss can feel like.
In the last few weeks I’ve felt, vicariously, the pain of losing someone…friends’ grandparents, friends and loved ones who have passed away. It feels...