Anticipating Labor

What makes me think blogging is going to be any more appealing with a newborn in the house? I don't know what is pressing me to do this today, on the seventh day since my "due date." I guess I just need yet another nesting project, and may as well take the chance to officially announce my pregnancy before I have to post pictures of our new little guy.

I think the reason for the long blogging hiatus is that I've had too much to say. My journal has suffered a similar loss. There's been an overgrowth of thoughts and ideas, projects and changes in my life this year, and instead of getting a few of them down somewhere, I've opted out completely. The problem is that many of them will now disintegrate into the depths of my lonely mind unless I start somewhere! So here's to a comeback.

I am a little surprised every morning I wake up without being in labor, as I've been anticipating and looking forward to the experience. Last week, however, we had an unexpected development in the waiting game, which could explain the postponement of labor onset. Samuel contracted pneumonia! Sher said it could be because he's at the tail end of a growth spurt, thereby becoming low on iron, which can make one more prone to bacterial infection. Apparently, children can become deficient fairly quickly because of how fast they grow, so we really have to watch them. She says you can generally see if it's happening by the pallor of their skin. More on that later maybe.

He woke up Friday breathing about 60 times a minute, worrying me more than any of his other symptoms, which had been gradually worsening over the two preceding days. The horrible thing is that despite my disbelief, our thermometer was only registering him as having a temperature in the 99-100.4 range. Well, when we took him into the doctor on Friday, the nurse found his fever to be 103.9! Time for me to change the battery I guess (yikes)! So after a very unpleasant series of probing and testing, they discovered the pneumonia. We put him on an antibiotic, hoping baby would wait a couple more days to emerge so Sammy would be ready to welcome him with us. We'll be sure to give him lots of yogurt, kefir, and acidophilus to buoy him back up. :)

Sammy having a treatment to help clear his lungs

while hearing a version of the oft-requested "dump truck story."

In this one, the dump truck is being used in the copper mines

to help make pennies. Sammy got to keep the penny,

and clasped it tightly in his hand until we left.

Now that he is himself again, I am ready. I am genuinely excited for the labor and birth, and feel the last couple weeks have been a sacred time. My experience with Samuel left me feeling a little bittersweet about childbirth, but during this pregnancy I have come to terms with my anxieties, and I feel ready. Even though one can never quite predict how things will go, it's much easier to prepare the second time! Among other things, I've been preparing by being more connected with myself - recognizing and properly reacting to emotional charge, sensing tension in a way I never have before, linking spirit to body, breathing through distress, and just being more patient and positive about everything. Wonderfully, these things are helping me in many more ways than simply readying for childbirth.

I have enjoyed being pregnant a great deal. I feel like it's practically slipped right through my fingers! We don't really comprehend the scope and grandeur of the change that is upon us, but we're really looking forward to the adventure of having two little brothers around to keep us laughing and running.

I don't have many pictures of me in my late pregnancy.

Here are a couple I found from July.

Much more to come.

Some of Sam

Here are a couple clips of Sammy's escapades in our cloudburst a couple weeks ago. (Mama's boy.) I knew it was time to come inside when he could no longer pick himself up from his final puddle plunge (i.e. 1:25).

shivering and soaking, but satisfied

recent stacking fetish

(he's getting those big legos for Christmas... sssshhh!)

first attempts

maybe we'll try again next year?

are boys hardwired to know just where the screwdriver goes?

lastly, here's a little dance.
our favorite is the little head wag when he starts a new song:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Problem Solved! For now...

For original problem post, click here.

Jack O'Lanterns in California

Can you guess whose is whose?

I grew up carving pumpkins in Utah, not knowing that the cold weather keeps them thriving through the weeks. Here is what happened within six days of carving in California. Apparently most Californians carve their Jack O'Lanterns on the eve of Halloween. I did feel bad that we had to throw these out because they really are much scarier, don't you think?

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Cloth Diapering!

Lately I've started to have a pit in my stomach thinking about the H E A P of trash that Samuel has created on the Earth already. We've thought about cloth diapering before but my recent musings on the unnecessary and abiding waste we've contributed to the world in only 14 months tipped the scale. The other advantages that persuaded me were the obvious benefits for our baby and our pocket book! So I did a lot of research and price-comparing online and found the right gear for us:

My unbleached flannel wipes, to be washed right along with the dipes.

One of my Snappis, for fastening the diapers (no pins!)

My 24 unbleached premium prefold diapers ($2 each!)

My wonderful Thirsties diaper covers

My diaper sprayer (for the more unpleasant ones)
Purchased on eBay

My clothesline dryer (64 feet of line)

My happy boy and supportive husband
(was this his idea to begin with?)

If you clicked on the links, you saw that I ordered my cloth products from the Utah-based company, clothdiaper.com. I didn't know it was based in UT when I first found the site, but was glad to support a local company, even from California! The customer service is excellent, the prices consistently beat those of their competitors (even including shipping!), and we are loving their products.

I don't know why I didn't do this sooner, as it's really going to save us money! It's not nearly as hard or as gross as I imagined it to be. Last night was the first night Sammy slept in cloth, and when we changed him around 6:45 AM this morning, the cloth diaper was completely soaked! We couldn't believe it, and were amazed to think how much those disposables really do hold! We changed him well before we normally would have (sometimes more like 9:00 AM), so I bet the disposables will hold at least double what we found in the diaper. (Amazing... we'll be sure to have some around for airplane flights or other instances when we want to go longer without a change.) Anyway, thanks to our awesome waterproof diaper covers, there was not a leak to be seen, though Samuel was clearly more aware of the wet feeling, which may not be such a bad thing. They say cloth-diapered babies potty-train quicker because they can feel the wet better. We'll see. The downside was that after the rousing early diaper change, he didn't want to go back to sleep as he normally does, so I may need to get some doublers or something to absorb more of the night-time wet.

Anyone else cloth diaper? If so, what do you like?

If you don't cloth diaper and you've been thinking about trying it out, go for it! Get the right stuff and it's a cinch (there are a lot of options out there...). Good Luck!

Keenan's Big Concert

Last year, Keenan won the USC Concerto Competition, and his big performance is coming up this Thursday! Here's for all those who didn't get a postcard announcement:

**Thanks to our good friend "Piano Man" for designing these beautiful announcements!