April Showers Bring May Flowers - May Thread for Sept. Mamas!

[JenInMpls]

Rabbit rabbit!!

Jen

[chrissy]

Happy May Mama's!!!

A few quick things I don't want to forget.

Meredith- congratulations on your perfect little boy! Boys are so much fun. I have so enjoyed being a mama to Noah so far.

Anna- thank you for the sweet May Day card! It was a wonderful surprise in my mailbox.

Savannah- beautiful picture!!

Sarah- congratulations on the house! I'm going to check out the picture and your website too!

Noah says the funniest things these days. This is what he told me last night when we were falling asleep: "Mommy, your mop mops (breasts) smell good." :) and while rubbing my back, "Mommy, your skin is so soft, like a little bunny." :)

Okay, better get to the laundry, and the dishes, and the vacuuming, and the .....

Happy Saturday!

And, check out the swap thread and let me know if you have any questions!

[JenInMpls]

Oh my gosh, Chrissy, that is SO sweet, the comments about your mop mops (tee hee) and your soft skin. I love how descriptive and uninhibited children are.

And I LOVE that children are so tactile. I've always had kids (aged 6-11, actually) who, when I have had long hair, insist on playing with it - mostly girls. But I've also got kids who will give me backrubs while I am reading to their class. Some teachers think that's inappropriate, but I'm not going to stop them if they're going to rub my shoulders! Sorry! My fourth graders play with their male teacher's hair/ponytail too!! :D Do you think it goes back to the primal grooming/socializing instinct?

Yeah, laundry, I've got that to do too. Need to wash all those prefolds that came through to us. Nice sunny day right now, so I could hang them on the line. Get a feeling for this fall ;)

HUNGRY!

j

[banana girl]

Happy happy day today!

Hi everyone! I hadn't realized that there was new thread started today, so I just posted a big whopper over in the April thread. DOH!

Anyway, the jist of it is that last night Jerome and I made a decision. We are going to hire the midwife we met last week and are now planning a Homebirth! The midwife even supplies a birthing tub as an option and I am totally psyched! I can't believe I am looking forward to giving birth! It's like knowing I've never sneezed, or something, and I am about to for the first time! It's not even about the baby.... which I AM excited about too.... it's about becoming a woman, in new way. I feel like I will be entering a new stage in my life and that giving birth will be the doorway, the threshold. Very exciting!

Chrissy, that's so beautiful what Noah said to you. What a treasure! Write that down somewhere so you can remember to mention it in front of his first girlfriend when he's... what, about 15 or so?... Tehee heee. Just kidding! Oh my, mop mops....

Jen, you naughty rabbit rabbiter! One of these months I am gonna sleep over night, in the mailroom so I can start the newest thread at 12 a.m. and be the first to say rabbit rabbit! (wasn't it steph who started that?)

Still no mail delivery! I hate coming in here on saturday's. The college is all closed down, but someone has to sort the stupid mail! It's so much worse when I end up waiting forever for it to arrive!!!!!! Grrrrrr!

Hey, at least I've got a People magazine to read.

Later
Anna Banana

P.S. Savannah, my memory is no sharper than anyone else's. When you are posting a reply, if you scroll down, and down and down under the Additional Options field, there is a Topic Review field. Meaning that, about a page worth's of posts (15 or so) are just waiting for you to look over them and be reminded about what others have posted about recently. But thanks for thinking I was so bright!
:sunshine

[Mom2baldie]

Hi everyone. Havent posted in a few days - Ive havent been feeling great, but think its just stress and lack of sleep.

I had my midwife appt. on Wed. and it went really well. We are still trying to figure out who the asst. will be and she suggested that it could be the doula I used with Paityns birth. That wont work though because of a few things that hapened with her afterward, but I though it was nice that she is trying to be really open about it. She said she works or is willing to work with all the midwives around here, so I just need to come up with some names and we will go from there. She told me to post on a local board for input on a few ladies in this area, but no one has responded yet. But it was a great appt. I really love my midwife, she is prob. the most respectful "care provider" I have ever had and I am so glad that I made the smart decision to go to her even though I have to drive almost 2 hours each way. I got to borrow another birth video and the book "How to raise a healthy child in spite of your Dr". I started reading it today.

I also took Paityn to the ped. on Friday because her fever never went away from last weekend (it hasnt gotten that high again though) and I wanted to see what was going on. She has an ear infection. This is a new ped. who has never seen Paityn before and I really liked her. They asked me to bring a vaccination record and we dont really have that since she isnt vaxed, so I was really nervous about her bringing that up. I ended up having too though, because she never did. She did admit that she would rather see kids vaxed but she was totally respectful of the fact that I havent and wont. She just said to write something up saying that I dont want them in the future so it can be in my file. Also, she said that she isnt pro-circ and told me about several hospitals in Houston (where she is from) dont even perform circs anymore. Anyways, this was just an awesome appt. also because I live in a small town outside the DFW metroplex and we dont have many choices as far as Drs go. There is pretty much one way of doing things around here and no one really strays from it. She said she is much more open to alternative lifestyles since she is from a much bigger city.

Anyways, I guess thats enough about us for awhile.

Oh one more thing... I think Riley felt the baby kick yesterday morning. He had his hand in exactly the right spot and said he felt something but he really didnt seem to interested in it either. I am feeling the baby so much more the past week. Its so fun!

[Cuddlemama]

Happy May! And Blessed Beltane to those who celebrate.

Today has been stupendous, magnificent and beautificious. Well, that's in the words of my 4 year old!

We woke with the dawn this morning and tiptoed out to collect our blessed dew. Emily washed her face in morning dew (well, mostly spring rain, but she's 4 and quite full of the fantasy), we tied her hair up in bright ribbons and sat under our newly blossomed pear tree singing blessings till the sun was full in the sky.

Then we gathered a bowl of wild violets and tiptoed back inside and tossed violets on Daddy and baby brother till they woke up to join us.

After a breakfast of the Barm Brack (sweet fruit bread mixed and baked without touching steel- steel is dangerous to the faeries, ya know) baked last night, we all dressed in our brightest colors (except Daddy, for whom TAN is a bright color, the spoilsport) and went about our day being happy.

Emily made an early morning run to hang May baskets on the doors of her best friends (who, thankfully, are our two neighbors on this side of the street so she goes from back yard to back yard), and then waited till her friends woke up to being a wild day full of frolic.

I spent the early afternoon napping with Nathaniel and supervising things from my place in bed.

Now I'm supervising the preparation of our evening feast. We're having balsamic and citrus marinated venison, oven roasted balsamic veggies, wild rice pilaf and fresh bread. For dessert there will be fruit tarts.

After dinner will be baths and bed for the littles after their symbolic "Jack Be Nimble" over our Beltane candle.

Poor D maintains his pout because our more adult "celebrations" have been vetoed by the midwife, so we'll probably just have a glass of sparkling juice and snuggle till we sleep.

Days like this give me hope for the future, which is very important during months and months of bedrest.

[Cuddlemama]

OHHH...and many thanks to Anna for the wonderful May Day card we recieved in the post today.

~L :love

[Mom2baldie]

Anna,

Thanks for the May Day card! I guess you timed it just right to get to Texas!
And I am very excited that you have chosen to have a homebirth! That is awesome.

Greenbeing,

Congrats on your BOY!


I went with a friend to a sono last week and we found out she is having a girl. For a second, the excitement of that moment made me think I wanted to find out as well, but luckily, the feeling passed and I am back to being content to wait until the birth. I think I missed my chance to even have an ultrasound anyway, since we didnt even mention it at my appt. last Wed.

[Mama2Girls+1]

Since I just joined, I thought I better jump right on in there!!

Saturday is going so so! I have so much laundry, and I miss my oldest dd, she stayed with grandma last night! :( But will be home later today, and then having some friends come over for dinner! YUM!!

So I do have a few questions..

1. Do midwifes deliver at hospitals? or do I have to stay with my obgyn?

I cant deliver at home or a birthcenter because I have had some problems with my last 2. And my doctor is afraid that it could happen again.

2. Anybody going to use a doula?

I found a wonderful women, she is just great! We get along like we have been best friends for life! We have even started doing yoga together! I feel so much more relaxed and alive!

3. Has anybody heard good things about the "Bradley Method"? or have used it?

I have seen clips on a baby story on TLC and I feel like its worth checking out. I want to go all natural, but I truly hate pain. And not sure if I can do it.!

Thanks

[Mom2baldie]

Michelle,

Yes there are midwives that will catch babies in hospitals. I think Blueviolet is from Oregon, maybe she could give you some suggestions of CNMs to call.

Im not going to use a doula this time, but I did hire one for my VBAC with Paityn because I had never labored before and after the cesarean with Riley I was a NERVOUS WRECK!!! I am glad that I had her because she was my ONLY support planning the VBAC and the only person I knew IRL that had had a VBAC. She was very helpful as far as emotional support during my labor. This time Im just going to have my midwife and hope she is enough.

Thats great that you found a doula that you clicked with! Im sure you will have a great experience with her!

I didnt really use the Bradley method, but I did read the book. My husband was not really involved in the pregnancy or birth so thats mainly why it worked out the way it did. The relaxation techniques really helped me, as well as the explaination of the different emotional signposts and descriptions of what your body is physiologically doing during labor..... It was one of the 1st books I read when pregnant with P and I probably learned the most from it.

I hate pain too, but I will get through it and so will you. The most important thing (I think) is to not to be too afraid of it because fear causes you to tense up, then your body has a harder time doing what it needs to do, causing more pain..... I practiced relaxation every night with my last pregnancy and I feel that it really payed off.

[msrog]

mama2girls... I had a doula friend assist at my first birth; what a blessing! I can't imagine doing it without one now. I also had my dh and sister (still pictures) and "videographer" =O) friend in the room.

We didn't use the Bradley method, but had taken a wonderful Christian birthing class from another doula friend. She explained the mechanics of labor and what's going on with your body (knowledge and understanding makes a HUGE difference!), replaced our fears with faith and hope, and gave us some great relaxation, deep breathing techniques. She showed hubby how to squat behind me (while I"m squatting too) and press out on my pelvic bones (that was AWESOME for relieving pain and opening up the passageway), as well as massage on my lower back, etc.

I am excited about having another wonderful, intervention-free natural birth with my twins!!! (In the hospital; in GA midwives aren't allowed to deliver twins at home).

Cuddlemama, your Saturday sounds wonderful. I've never heard of that celebration before, but it sounds like a memory your daughter will certainly cherish!

Anna, thanks for the compliment on the photo, and THANKS for the tip about reviewing past messages!! I feel empowered. hee hee

Mom2Baldie, I'm glad you're enjoying baby movements. That's certainly the high point of being pregnant for me. Now that I know how my twins are situated, it's been fun to visualize who's moving what part of their little body...

Crissy, your Noah sounds like a real charmer. Don't you love that dreamy time right before everyone falls asleep? What a sweet thing to say.

OK, I'll go now. I, too, posted first on the April board earlier.
- Savannah

[JenInMpls]

Dear experienced cloth diapering mamas on board,

We've just inventoried (no kidding, that's what we really did) all of our diapers and discovered that for little sizes, we have close to 100 diapers, a number of doublers, but only 6 covers. We've got 3 dozen handmade formed diapers and 4 dozen prefolds. The covers we have are 2 biobottoms felted lambswool, a few Gerber plastic covers that we aren't in love with, and two others I'm not remembering right now. :) Perhaps those are the Nikkys (cotton)? Anyway, I think we'll need a few more covers, and I'm thinking I'm going to be partial to wool. Do any of you have educated opinions on this matter? Do you think we'll need more covers and if so, how many?

Leigh, your May Day sounds wonderful! I hope it's ok for the May Day parade here tomorrow, someone said that there is actually snow in the forecast!!!!? Blessings on your Beltane...

Melanie congrats on your boy! I'm glad the ultrasound went well.

Anna :banana I'm glad you made a decision that makes you so HAPPY.

Michelle I believe that you can do it! I believe that we can all do it. It is the remarkable task of a woman to bring a child into the world and I honestly think we are all born with the potential strength to do it when we are born into this world as girls. But most importantly, YOU must believe you can do it. I read a little about Bradley but my (female) partner and I could not find ourselves in any of the materials, Bradley being husband-coached childbirth and all. We are going to Hypnobirthing classes where they do not teach you how to be in a trance during your labor but rather teach you how to react to what happens in your body during labor and use your mind to convince your body to respond in a way that makes birthing easier. Birth companions (see, we found ourselves in that literature!) are also very involved but are not considered coaches. We are still mulling over possibly hiring a doula, and we will be attended by a midwife in a hospital-based birth center.

Happy weekend (hooray... rest...)

j

[Cuddlemama]

Jen...

Here's my semi-educated opinion on your diaper situation. I've been diapering without stop for 4.5 years now and anticipate another 3 or 4 in the future. I've not had a week without diaper laundry since Feb 2000, and usually do 3+ loads per week.

I'd recommend 36 diapers for any given stage of baby development. The biggest change in number is for covers. It doesn't sound like a huge amount, but the truth is that you can really only clean thoroughly about 2 dozen diapers at a time in a washing machine anyway. So, usually we wash when we have reached a couple dozen dirties and the extra dozen holds us through while laundry is being done.

You need MANY more covers for a newborn than a toddler. Newborn poopies escape all but the most absorbant fitted diapers, and end up getting on the covers.

I'd recommend 6-12 newborn/small covers. When you size up to mediums and larges you can probably get away with the 6. Especially if you're going with wool soakers.

I personally wouldn't do wool on a newborn just because of the fact that it would have to be washed and dried every time it got feces on it, which can be frequent with a fresh baby. As soon as the explosive poo stops being so frequent, wool is awesome. Sadly, Nate is allergic so we can't use it.

If I were you, I'd sell or trade a bunch of those diapers for some extra covers. If you're not opposed to synthetic materials, newborn Prowrap covers are awesome and can be purchased as seconds from the company VERY reasonably (at like $3 each as opposed to $9 retail). If you don't do synthetics, I suggest buying the Little Turtle Knits soaker and longies pattern and finding a local knitter who can work up a bunch of soakers for you. Otherwise, you'd best get on the list of some soaker WAHMoms soon, the waiting lists for some of the companies is MONTHS long...and they cost a FORTUNE.

~Leigh

[sistermama]

Chrissy - the other day, I was changing and Jack told me, "Cool nursies, mommy!" I bet he and Noah would have fun together.

Anna - have fun getting to know your midwife! I love mine and have really missed her since Jack's birth.

Leigh - what a beautiful day! Jack loves doing altar work with me, but I haven't celebrated anything bigger since Samhain last year. We host a huge "ancestor" dinner and we really look forward to it all year. Blessed Be!

Michelle - I will say that I find some of the Bradley concepts interesting, but I have never really gotten to far into it because I have issues with the "husband coached" aspect of it and it seems to me to involve a lot of counting to ten while pushing, which I abhor. But to be fair, most of what of seen of it is from Baby Story on TLC, so I could just be jumping to conclusions. I think this time I'm going to take a Hypnobirthing course.

Lynsey - I was wondering where you were. Is Paityn feeling any better?

Jen (and others new to cloth) - For some reason it took my FOREVER to figure this out, but so you know, you can just slid the prefold diapers right into covers like bummis and proraps, therefore not having to use pins. I don't know how I missed this, but I felt like a fool once I realized that was how they were meant to be used. I agree, those are nice for when they are little and very poopy, but I also do love the wool. It makes their little bottoms so soft and not crinkly feeling like with some covers.

My mom and I drove with Jack to my sister's about 2 hours away today. We were there for a couple of hours and then drove back and went to the mall. What was I thinking? I did way to much today and am now exhausted. Dh, of course, slept all day and got nothing done around here. Hphhhh. I want to go to the beach tomorrow, but am thinking I should probably just hang out at the house.

Jen - when are you starting your hypno class? I think ours is starting the first of August, so I will just finish it by the time I'm due.

[JenInMpls]

Leigh - I knit. Quite proficiently. And I had been to little turtle knits before, but now I think I ought to really invest in a few of their patterns (but SHEESH are they expensive). But if I am to knit my own soakers, they will be made of wool. Do you recommend them for older kids and just to buy proraps or the like for the newborn time?

A mom at our school recommended Bumpy covers. I've only bought one wool Bumpy so far on eBay. Anyone here have any experience with Bumpys?

I was given 15 Crickett's Diapers which are all cotton with lots of elastic and snaps - and the maker says they need a waterproof cover and she likes bummis. Do you all agree? It strikes me as a LOT of layers to put a cover on over that...

Thanks everyone!

j

[Caroline248]

I always thought on older walking kids the wools were too thick, not trim enough to be real mobile. And they looked weird under clothing, like the child has three diapers on. I have a few WAHM wraps, but not many. My favorite wraps are the Bummis. And I like the prowraps too, but know they seem to run a little big. Which is fine, but the larges I bought my daughter were never really worn as she grew into them right when she went out of diapers...

I am off to pick up our newest member to the family....a 9 week old Akita named Kuma. I will post pics tonight!!

caroline

[JenInMpls]

Good to see someone else up as early as I am... I woke up from an odd dream of being admitted to the Birth Center but not having contractions... eventually I told them I was going home because nothing would be happening until Friday. Odd! And since I woke up Sprout has been playing trampoline in my uterus, I keep feeling bonk! left side bonk! right side - repeat for a while and I pretty much admit defeat and get up, for a while at least...

It is cold but sunny, let's hope that holds for the May Day parade this afternoon. Last year it was cool and drizzly - unpleasant!

Oh well, I don't have much to say, just checking in since I was up, you know me!

j

[Mom2baldie]

Jen,

WOW! Man, I cant believe you have that many dipes! I dont even have that many after 2 kids. :) Yes, I think you need a few more covers at least. I love wool also and have bought several covers from many places this pregnancy: www.kiwipie.com , www.elbeebaby.com , www.woolybumbums.com ...
The good thing about using wool (I think) is that they dont have to be washed unless they get poop on them and if you are using well fitting fitted dipes, you might not have many explosions... I prob. wont even use a cover when Im just around the house, only fitteds or prefolds. Also, Ive ordered several Bummis Super Whisper Wraps and Prowraps. They are cheap, but very plain, as opposed to a cute embroidered or apliqued cover. Also, they are very easy to find as they are always in stock someplace. I know that naturalbabies.com has a flat shipping rate, just in case you want to order a few.

The diapering forum here at MDC is very helpful, although overwhelming. You may want to post there to get more opinions on covers...

[chrissy]

ooooh, diapering talk! i'm planning to use mostly wool from the get-go with this baby, although like lynsey's babe mine will also probably go coverless a lot at home.

knitting patterns: i have ltk's soaker and longies pattern and they are expensive, but cute. i just bought the fern and faerie pattern (www.fernandfaerie.com) and it was a good bit cheaper, only $10 and the pattern includes both soaker and longies. i have heard good things about it and can't wait to try it.

wool: i bought some superwash yarn that is a blend of acrylic and wool. it is machine washable and dryable. since it's not all wool though it won't have all the anti-bacterial properties of 100% wool covers, nor will it be as absorbant/waterproof. i still think it will be handy for the early blow-out days when there might be a lot of poo's on covers.

i agree that soakers under clothes aren't always the best choice for bigger kids but wool covers that aren't soakers (like bumpy, el bee baby, kiwi pie, sugarpeas...) are nearly as trim as other covers) and i love that they are so breathable.

ahhhh, the joys of diaper talk.

jen, wow you sure have been visited by the diaper fairy!! i agree with the others that you probably will want a few more covers in each size.

tons to do today. happy sunday everybody,
c

[CdnAloha]

Hey Jen, there is a yahoo mailing list with patterns and discussion about knitting wool soakers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wool_soaker_group/.

I joined thinking I would learn to knit some but found out a friend is very excited to make some for me. The patterns posted in the files seem pretty good - at least she says so. ;)

Good luck with it. There is a lot of talk on the sewing and crafts boards about knitting soakers, and they can look sooooo cute!

We had dh's birthday party last night. It was great fun. I was moody though and at one point thought I might just go out to a movie while the party was on and he could host it himself. :huh Luckily I kept it to myself and just got over it cause it was a really fun party.

The dulce de leche cheesecake squares were a bit hit, but it was an exceptionally warm evening and they got kind of melty. Of course the joy of a party is enjoying the leftovers for days after. :)

Happy May everyone!

P.S. I will be doing hypnobirthing too. I am supposed to talk the instructor this month. I hope we will get started soon. I have heard it is good to start about week 22. That is another yahoo group I subscribe to, the hypnobabies discussion group: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/HypnoBabies/.

[4under6]

Lots of catching up to do on the boards!

Welcome, Michelle!

Cuddlemama-
Your dinner sounded divine! My mouth watered just reading it!

Jen-
I sat down Friday and did diaper inventory, too!
So far I have 33 fitteds, 5 AIO's, 15 covers (some wool, a couple fleece, and some Bummis and Proraps), and 14 dyed prefolds just for backup.
Whew! I only want a couple more little tiny fitteds, and then I'm done with my newborn stash.

Anna-
Congrats on the decision you and Jerome made!

Chrissy-
I love what your son said! My 4 yr old son says the sweetest things like that sometimes, too.

Sorry I missed some of you!

Have a happy Sunday!

[JenInMpls]

2.5 hours of slow walking and standing doesn't feel all that great!!! And the bummer part was that the May Day parade was SO spaced out that we only got to see a few of the entries in it over 45 mins of watching!! I was disappointed. I told Jo next year I want a seat directly on the parade route.

It was cool, though, to just run into people I know. A colleague, a mom from our school, and the awesome flaming queen enrollment director from the Waldorf school in Minneapolis :D

I found out this morning that there is a really cool store near us called Peapods (http://www.peapods.com) that not only carries exactly the toys and things I love being a Waldorf teacher, but also carries bummis AND has a registry, too. Forget target - we're registering there! OK, well, maybe I won't completely forget target... that zealous dad wants to clean off our registry for us. So we figured we'd register for things like outlet covers, long-sleeve footie onesies (my mom calls these "newbie suits". Do they have a proper name? Creepers, maybe?), maybe some Avent accoutrements... but we'll definitely put some super whisper wraps on a peapods registry.

chrissy - let me know how the fern and faerie patterns knit up. Did you know that Brown Sheep Co. makes a superwash worsted that is 100% wool?

So, I'm getting the feeling that covers in general are for safety's sake when you go out and you don't want a 'blow-out' getting all over everything. We'll take our chances with the wool, since we have them.

Yawn,

jen

ps: the diapering forum and the trading post totally intimidate me because they are so HUGE and there are so many options.

pps: does one dye or tie-dye prefolds so that stains don't show as much? Can you still wash them in hot after dyeing them?

[chrissy]

Jen, I've never heard of that. It sounds great though. It's machine washable and dryable??? I'll have to try some.

[Caroline248]

I posted pics in the yahoo group...my face and all!!!! Oh, and DH....

Caroline

[Cuddlemama]

Good morning, all!

I'm going to sleep!

Man, it's been a long day already around here. My 4 year old went to bed at 5pm last night, after a busy day with 2 park playdates, and woke up starving at 3am this morning because she missed dinner. She's been up and running since then, and my 2 year old joined her at 4:30.

Dave got up at 6am, but had to call in to the office for a conference call so I have still been trying to control the chaos from my place on the sofa all morning.

The conference call was good news, though! Despite working from home for the past 2 months, and probably working from home till the end of August, Dave received a promotion and a fairly decent little raise!!! What can I say? He's a super-overachiever. He manages to do in each day household related work that I was never able to do, and still work a full time engineering job from home well enough to recieve commendation and a promotion. He's the kind of hubby that can make a SAHMom like me feel a bit lazy.

Ok, I'd better get the sleep while I can.

Blessings,

~Leigh

[greenbeing]

Happy Monday! (you know Jen, ever since you put the words to the Bangles song up, they seem to find me on Mondays-how do I make it stop? :LOL

Leigh-hope you get some rest. Also, thanks for the info about cloth dipes. Being new at this, it can get overwhelming! Like Jen said, those dping boards can be intimidating, but I'm trying...

I received an AIO and 2 covers in the mail Friday. So cute! But boy, do I have some more shopping to do.

Caroline-thanks for showing us your pics! You guys are beautiful!

Off to work-only 4 1/2 weeks left!!!!!

[sistermama]

Caroline - what cute pics! How did you find a dress that you look so great being pregs and all?

Jen - Somehow the sun manages to take out the nastiest stains. Do you have room to hang your dipes outside? I always left mine white, cause I loved how they gleamed after a day outside. I never thought I would wax poetic about something meant to be pooped in!

Leigh - where is Endwell? I go up to Scotia outside of Albany about 6-8 times/year to see my grandma and other family. In fact, we are leaving on Wednesday.

We ended up taking Jack to the lake near us yesterday and he had such a blast. Its the first time he's played in a lake, as opposed to a pool, and he really loved being able to walk around in the water, etc. He has no fear, which is a good thing, but also scary when he will just keep walking out until his head is underwater. My goal is to have him swimming by the end of the summer.

We went and bought a bunch of stuff for the house at Home Depot yesterday. And dh and I fought all day too, so that was blahhh and left me still in a gray mood today. Jack's been really bratty the past couple days too, and I hope he is better behaved at my grandma's. The worst feeling though, when your child is being bratty, is that you know it usually relates to you somehow. Being too tired, not proactive enough, not wanting to get up off the couch to make him stop doing something as opposed to just telling him, etc. I'm really going to have to turn the energy up the next couple of days.

I did at the beginning of last week make myself get back on a health kick - lots more veggies, vitamins and extra B every day, better sleep, etc and that has really helped already. I was eating WAY to many jalapeno poppers - my drug of choice this preg!

[JenInMpls]

The only cure for the Bangles' "Manic Monday" is for it to become Tuesday :LOL

Oh, btw, forgive me for saying I only had 5 covers. Did I say that? I had forgotten about the freakin' BOXLOAD that was waiting to be washed. Mostly a brand I've never heard of but hey, now we've got 2-3 DOZEN covers of various sizes and designs. Jo is going to build me a nice shelf unit to put next to our dresser-turned-changing table to try to store all of these wonders... in the meantime, the rest of them will be stored in this massive 40-gallon Rubbermaid container that is currently living in the middle of our living room floor! HELP! So much stuff! Such a small house! Aieeeee!

Sarah - I have room to hang 3 dozen dipes on the line at a time, and they get wonderful afternoon sun, but I did find out on Saturday that I need to go buy more clothespins!!! :D

Leigh congrats to your husband!!

Chrissy - re superwash yarn - yep - the label recommends hanging to dry but I've dried my socks many times, and they shrink only very minimally and can be returned to their previous size with a tug or two.

mw appt today after school. My henna art on my belly has hung on long enough for my mw to get a peek! I wonder what she'll think.

I think Sprout had the hiccups last night while I was trying to fall asleep. It was a fairly-well-spaced, repetitive jumping feeling in the same spot.

Happy Manic Mondays,

Craving Kool-Aid (????!!!!),

j

ps: Meredith: don't 4.5 weeks sound so very short, yet (for me anyway) May seems so LONG?! maybe it's because this year I've got so much cleaning out to do before I go. Thank goodness, I guess, that I've only got two shelves instead of a classroom. When's your last day of school?

[wardermom]

The ultrasound on Saturday went really well. Everything looks good. She had a hard time getting a good look at the heart because the baby was laying on her stomach. It looks like a girl, though the legs were together so it's not 100% accurate. She didn't see any "outdoor plumbing" as she put it.

Sistermama-we went to the beach yesterday too. It was nice. The kids got all wet and sandy, but they had fun-the van looks like we brought a bunch of the beach home with us.

I love cloth diapering. I've been doing it for 10 1/2 years. I love it more and more as time goes by. I love changing diapers. I love washing diapers, I love folding diapers and putting them on the change table. (There are so many diapers piled on the change table, I change diapers on the bed or the floor.) There will be even more when I get out the little baby fitteds. Where am I going to put them all?! Mika is potty training-I've done EC with her, so she's kept up her awareness from birth about going to the potty. She goes sometimes at diaper changing times, and sometimes she'll come to me and tell me she has to go.

Gotta take Kelly to the dentist this morning. That should be...fun. I'm so afraid she'll freak out. She's very hard to deal with sometimes. :angry

Better go feed my crew. I'm hungry.

Oh, does anyone know of anything that will help restless leg syndrome?-at least, that's what I think it is.My legs really but me in the evenings and when I'm trying to go to sleep.

[Caroline248]

Melanie...for restless leg, this is what I do, and it works somewhat...Leg stretches before I lay down, light exercise. Hot shower or bath before bed...basically get your legs warm and keep them that way. With my last pregnancy, it was bad, I wrapped my legs in receiving blankets to keep them warm. If it gets really bad, get up and walk around, or take another shower. There where times when I would be showering at 3 in the morning I couldn't take it anymore!! I know how anoying that is....I am sorry :(

Hope those help...

Caroline

[banana girl]

It is so nice to come in to work and hear everyone's happy updates about their weekends. Hearing about meaning ful time spent with children makes me long for the next spring when i will have my little one to share it with!

Wardermom, Congratulations on a happy ultrasound! Glad to hear your little one is doing well. Hey, what's happening with your legs? Mine ache at night, but restless.. I don't quite follow.

Cool-aid, Jen???? Hummm... whatever floats your boat!

sistemama sounds like you had fun with Jack, I'm getting so excited to be a mommy too! Sorry to hear you butted heads with the hubby, projects will do that. Jerome and I worked on a major furniture rearrangement project this weekend and found ourselves getting awfully snapish... It sucks doesn't it!

Leigh I am so glad you got to spend some quality time out of bed, bonding with your family. It sounds so refeshing... Peace to you and your family

Everybody else... Whoa! there are just way to many posts to catch up with! all this diaper talk makes me nervous, but thanks for ther helpful info. Soon I will start shopping, am waiting to see exactly what my sister is hooking me up with. Welcome to the newest mamas, i'm glad to see you are jumping right in! I am looking forward to getting to know you better.

Happy sunshiney smiles to all
Anna Banana

[CdnAloha]

Just joined the Yahoo group and took a look at all the pictures. Everyone looks so beautiful! I will post one when I have them...for now maybe I'll look for cute ones of our cats and post them. They are our original babies after all. :)

This weekend at the party I wore a dress that was quite fitted, so it showed off the little belly I have, but something I have noticed is that around my belly button I have a wide depression. Does anyone else have that? Or have your buttons all started to stick out? I'm not sure that will happen to me. My belly button is pretty deep and it seems to just be stretching out the sides. Kind of funny looking, but I've heard outies can chafe and hurt during pg, so maybe I'm lucky.

Happy Monday!
Julia

[CdnAloha]

Hey Anna, what do you do for your achey legs? I get that too. I will try the warming. Usually I prop them up on a pillow but that doesn't always work. Figure I will schedule a massage soon to see if that helps.

[badomama]

Hi everyone!

I've only caught up on the first two pages of May, but I'm glad to hear how positive everyone sounds! Congrats all!

Diaper talk: I don't have any experience whatsoever, but I spent a day reading the diapering forum and decided to go with Bumpys day and nights (or at least register for them). A few people said velcro wears out, which I have also experienced with shoes, so I decided to go for a hook and eyelet closing system. Bumpys also have nice leg gussets (sp?), and experienced users had nothing bad to say about them. I also decided to go with the unbleached chinese prefolds although they require a lot of pretreatment washing. Hope that was a good decision!

Salt Lake City is incredibly beautiful right now. If it weren't for the fact that I could only stand to live in about a 4 square mile section of the city, I would never want to leave.

Welcome Michelle! I am going to take the Bradley class because dh is psyched about being really involved, and I like the basic idea of being aware of your signposts, etc. The books are pretty out of date though, and some of the suggested roles for the "birthing coach" might get my dh in trouble if he tried them with me. However, if you mentally update the book or ideas as you read them, it seems to me like a generally powerful way to go.

I read an issue of Mothering for the first time last week. It's quite impressive! It is the only mag I can really stand on the subject so far. Anybody know of any other good mags out there?

Stay well!

Steph

[wardermom]

Anna-I don't know for sure if it's restless leg or not, but my leg will all of a sudden feel weird, and do a little jerky movement. It is so annoying. I've had it with all my pregnancies, and at other times it will happen for a while and then go away for a long time.

I agree that standing up and walking helps. If it happens during the evening when I'm trying to relax and watch tv, I get up and walk around. It has also been happening when I'm trying to fall asleep, but I've just tried putting up with it. Maybe I should try the heat. I've noticed it seems worse when I've been on my feet a lot that day.

[banana girl]

What a weird weekend I had.
We were very productive and got alot done twords organizing the new office room and guest space, but it was alot of work. i think i kinda over did it. Those nesting hormones are pretty crazy, they drive me to do so much anal retentive stuff. Very out of character. But it's a good thing to be organized, right?
Had very intense talk with my older sister, the all natural granola, chiropractor mama that has been my "example" of natural birth, etc. I was telling her we had met a mid-wife and were considering the homebirth option. She kept being all vague and non-commital about reacting to me, and it freaked me out. My sister is VERY opinionated and strong willed and i couldn't figure out what was going on.... So, i called her on it! She got all defensive and said that she didn't want to "influence" me too much. That it seemed like her opinion wasn't wanted.... So, we had to sort that out. It ended up being a really good and powerful discussion but at times I was trembling and all upset. Very intense.... sister's...

Then it dumped snow on sunday morning. big whopping huge flakes swirling down. it was pretty, but it had me all worried about the flowers and little plants in my garden at school. Everything melted by noon and it was ahot spring afternoon. Very weird.

Well it's lunch time, and i am Hungry, later
xoxoxox
Anna Banana

[austinmomma]

Sorry, everyone! Sarah so kindly pointed out that I should be over here on the May thread (duh) so I'll just paste what I wrote this morning...

I hope you all had a great weekend... Greenbeing, congrats on the boy and on the decision!

Nothing more from our neighbor. We kept all of our cats in the house this weekend (they're still inside) but I noticed him chasing off two other cats on Saturday.

About the car and knitting, I know my projects are at opposite ends of the spectrum but both of them are reallly fun! And I'm much better at knitting than I am at the car. Jen, the Stitch 'n Bitch book has a bikini pattern, too, though I don't plan on making it this summer. I'm using one of the purse patterns from the book to do my Mother's Day gift. I'll have to look for the book with "Urban" in the title.

My husband came over and painted the front of the house. It rained here in Austin Saturday so we had to put it off until yesterday. I painted all of the trim and the doors. Big mistake! I'm so sore this morning. I almost called in sick but, since I have a desk job (yawn), I thought I'd be o.k. I'm so glad not to be coming back here after the baby is born. It isn't the worst job I've ever had but some of the women have been here for 20 + years. And those women, in particular, NEVER think outside of the box. If anyone ever presents a way of doing something more efficiently, their response is, "I don't think so, this is the way we've always done it".

Anyway, I hope everyone is feeling well. I can't wait to hear about all of your weekends!

Love,
Kim

[msrog]

All of you certainly had a more interesting weekend than we did... It was weird weather (not as weird as Anna's!), with rain and sun off and on. Ick.

We just lazed around the house. We moved the computer desk out of the living room, to make room for baby equipment. And I did some cleaning. Hubby and I went to a homeschool curriculum fair and ate lunch together. Church on Sunday, but it was just a cute performance from the elementary choir; so no "meat" to the message.

Julia, can't wait to see your pics when you get them posted at Yahoo. And yes, I've been looking at my funny belly button, too. Huge depression where a little innie used to be! I don't remember if mine did that last time or not, but I'm pretty sure my belly button was never quite the same... (Those girls who get belly tattoos before babies are CRAZY, haha.) I wonder what a tattoo looks like when stretch marks appear on top of it??? Anyway, my belly button did pop out at the end of my pregnancy before, but I don't remember it chafing... or did I stick a BandAid over it? Egads, I don't remember anything, do I?!? =O)

This diaper talk confuses me, too. I want to cover my ears and yell, "watermelon, watermelon, watermelon, I can't hear you!!" haha. I'd be interested in trying cloth diapering, but the diaper fairy would just have to hand me a complete set of what I'd need, and stay with me to show me how to use it all. Soakers? Bummies? Types of fasteners? AIO? Wool or not? Egads. My head is spinning. haha

For now, I'll stick with the disposables a friend gave me, the Diaper Genie I had from last pregnancy, and keep using the cloth diapers as wonderful burp cloths (and cleaning rags once they're ratty!)

Love ya,
Savannah

[CdnAloha]

When I was first trying to figure out what I need for cloth diapers I found this article. It helped calm the initial panic.

http://www.mothering.com/experts/sanders-archive.shtml#to-begin

[CdnAloha]

Meant to add that the cloth diapering thing was very intimidating for me, but I found a local wahm with a great website AND she ran a workshop at the local community centre, so we could learn about cloth diapers and what she sells. DH found it particularly helpful.

Yay, the work day is over! Hungry, hungry must get home to eat more. ;)
Cheers,
Julia

[banana girl]

Hey Savannah, i'm totally with you, lets chant together... Watermelon, watermelon, watermelon.... te he heee

Seriously though, there was a very helpful article in Mothering Magazine within the last 6 months to year that really helped clarify the whole cloth diaper thing. I know there's a way to search the article archives, here at mothering.com but haven't really used that function much. I have been deliberately waiting to do more research untill after I see the diaper "stash" my sister is sending me in a few weeks. So, when the time comes, I'll try to share some links if I manage to successfully use mothering.com as a source of info. (Or if anyone gets really motivated to help us diapering dummies out... feel free)

I just spent the last hour and a half out in the sunshine. My ceramics class was pretty pointless for me to attend. i had nothing to work on and the instructor assigned cleaning chores to everyone but me. I'm exempt, due to pregnancy and the fact that I am only auditing the class.
So, i headed out into the lovely spring sunshine and sat and talked to a good friend of mine. Dan is grumpy old geeser who i worked with when i was a student only. He coordinates the student workers in the landscaping dept. He's a conservative, grumpy, ciggarette smoking, brandy drinking golfer and the sweetest dearest man you'll ever know. I haven't had good chance to talk to him for awhile and it was a real pleasure to just sit in the sunshine by him while he pruned back dead growth and weeded. I helped a little, but the belly didn't like me bending over that far... oh well.

anyone have some suggestions for horrible indigestion? I have the most sour horrible burps lately. The bile comes up and coats my throat.. yuck! I have not noticed that certain foods are causing it, but I have been eating alot of salmon lately.... anyway, it's yucky!

I have had photo's in hand that I am dying to post on the Yahoo site for about a week now, but I need to scan them in and haven't figured out that part yet. Here at the college, technology galore is available, but I just haven't made the time for it. I have some lovely tummy photos that i can't wait to share!

My boss left early today, so i will be heavily lurking the rest of the afternoon! Hurray! I love it when he goes away and i can slack off to my hearts content... haha haa (insert wicked laugh here)

Love to all
Anna Banana

[banana girl]

Thanks Julia!

We cross posted, here I was hoping someone would help out us "diaper dummies" and you did just that! Awesome.

anna banana

[4under6]

Oh! I get Restless Leg Symdrome every once in awhile! Maybe every few months or so.....drives me insane!
Basically, I just can't seem to keep my legs still when I'm laying down in bed, and they feel all twitchy. It's very frustrating.

Hopefully I won't get that any time soon. I had an episode a few weeks ago.

[Caroline248]

Why do I bother going to those mainstream boards??? I was looking through and saw a thread on Natural Childbirth, so I stop for a peek. Ugh...yuck!!! Someone was asking about homebirthing and midwives. This woman posts how she thinks you should only go natural if you are in a hospital because then they can help you progress faster with drugs and "stuff"......huh????? So if you birth at home, you should smoke pot or something?? Because last time I checked, I am NOT set up for an epidural here at my house.....

[chrissy]

cloth diapering does seem so confusing at first. i remember researching it when i was pregnant with noah and i just could not seem to wrap my mind around all the different terms.

i'll give some easy to-the-point lessons for all you cd'ing newbies (and to the other old hands, please feel free to correct me if i screw up!).

Lesson one: Diapers (not covers)

Common Types of Diapers
~Prefolds~ you might think this means pre-folded, but it doesn't. it means it's a rectangle of cloth that is thicker through the center. you can pin it, snappi it (a funky but cool diaper-closing contraption) or just fold it and lay it in a cover (if it's the right kind of cover- more on this in later lessons.)

~Contours or Shaped Diapers~ sometimes shaped like an hourglass, or a long squished pear, these are diapers that don't have snaps or aplix (aka velcro) but also aren't meant to be used with pins or snappi's. you just lay 'em in a cover (again, more on this later) and go. Gotta say, I personally wouldn't use these on a young baby because you're bound to get a lot of gooey pooey on the cover and elsewhere.

~Fitted Diapers~ You will think these are ridiculously expensive. Then you will become intrigued by them, try one out, and get addicted. It's a werid thing, the diaper addiction. Anway, these are diapers that close with either snaps or some kind of velcro-like stuff. They are so easy. They do still require a cover though. Not sure what else to say about these. They come in lots of fabrics. Popular ones these days include: hemp, organic cotton, and sherpa.

********Regular Fitted Diaper~ if it doesn't say it's quick-dry, then it is regular and has an internal soaker (or thick, absorbant layer). so, the diaper is all one piece. it is is usually thicker through the center. it will take longer to dry than a quick-dry diaper.

*********Quick-dry fitted diapers~ quick-dry diapers have a separate piece of fabric that is the soaker. the body of the diaper may have 2 layers of fabric, then the soaker will look kind of like a maxi-pad and will have maybe 3-4 more layers. in a quick-dry diaper, the soaker will either snap in or lay in the diaper. it will dry more quickly, hence the name.

Questions, comments, anyone?

:nut

[JenInMpls]

~Contours or Shaped Diapers~ sometimes shaped like an hourglass, or a long squished pear, these are diapers that don't have snaps or aplix (aka velcro) but also aren't meant to be used with pins or snappi's. you just lay 'em in a cover (again, more on this later) and go. Gotta say, I personally wouldn't use these on a young baby because you're bound to get a lot of gooey pooey on the cover and elsewhere.

Oh... crap. (Literally.) Those 3 dozen newborn diapers we got are contours. I thought they looked small and insecure. At least we have 4 dozen prefolds.

Oh, and as of today's count... 2 dozen small covers, 2 dozen medium and 2 dozen large. I think we're "covered"!! Although the ones that have the layer of polyurethane right next to the diaper don't look like they would be as comfortable for baby as covers that are cotton - PU - cotton like Bummis or bumpys.

Fitteds made of sherpa? I thought a sherpa was a guide in climbing the Himalayas...?

Chrissy thanks for your primer and I look forward to your next installations of diapering 101!

The mw appt today was good except that Jo got trapped at work because of a virus running rampant. (Jo says: everyone should run windows update! Do all of the critical updates!!) Got lots of questions answered and was pleased to hear her say things I wanted to hear (that we can refuse antibiotics in the eyes since I've had a gonorrhea/chlamydia screen that came back negative, for instance). My belly measured 22.5 cm which is exactly on and the heartbeat was 132. I must admit I'm not minding having a perfectly average child at this point! :D

Anna I've suggested it before and I'll suggest it again: slippery elm, whether you get Thayer's Slippery Elm lozenges or bulk slippery elm powder and eat it with honey. It is the most soothing thing for a sour/acidy stomach and I wish in hindsight that i hadn't ruined it for myself by taking it during my first trimester. I have this completely aversion to so many things that I ate and used in my first tri - slippery elm, frozen toaster waffles and even all of the rosemary-mint products by Aveda since I associate the smell with morning showers when I felt nasty. BUT I hope that it might help you out because it doesn't even taste bad... I've just got the bad associations.

Savannah and Anna, you and your watermelonwatermelonwatermelon, now I'm all hungry for good, sweet, high summer watermelon! Grr! I have a chunk in the fridge but I'm afraid that it isn't going to be nice and sweet. We'll see...

Steph, I haven't found another magazine about parenting that's as good as Mothering. I've checked out a lot of them. Lilipoh is good and interesting for general life stuff, ... there's another one I can't remember - is it organic family living? - but I haven't read it yet. Check out the mag section in a co-op, perhaps. Well, and of course how could one forget HipMama!!!

Oh, and can I just share with all of you how psyched I am that Steph and I will be living 3 BLOCKS APART?! :bgbounce

Damn pregnancy hormones, I got all upset tonight for at least an hour for having chipped my favorite crystal vase... *sigh* at least Jo did the dishes.

OK, longwinded me, I'll stop now and throw in a load of :laundry since I have no clean underwear for tomorrow and going commando just doesn't suit me!!

xo, j

[hjohnson]

Jen I am envious of your diaper stash. I have a friend that is done with CDing since her last kiddo is potty trained so she is going to hand over her stash to me. Whatever I don't want to keep I can either sell, swap, or donate to the orphanges. I am excited to see what she has in her stash. I know that there are 36 infant prefolds.

"lil' bit" keeps bouncing on the bottom of my uterus. It is not fun! It also feels like he is sticking a foot out as well. He must be stretching.

[Mom2baldie]

Jen,

Awww...thats so sweet about the hiccups! My babe hasnt had them yet - that I have been able to feel. I cant wait though. I always thought it was so cute with R and P!


Melanie,

Congrats on your sono and possible girl! Are you hoping for a girl or just whichever? I wanted a girl at first because I thought it would be so nice for Paityn to have a sis so close in age, but now I feel like Im having a boy so thats fine by me.

Julia,

My belly has that same depression also. It looks really weird when I have a fitting shirt on. My belly button has never poked out, but it does become completely even though. Its cute either way! A friend of mine would put a band aid over her belly button cause it poked out so much. :)

[Mom2baldie]

Steph,

I wanted to suggest the Compleat Mother as another choice of reading material. I think that it might be considered radical compared to Mothering, but I quite like it. I think they only have 4 issues a year though... Most articles are about homebirth, breastfeeding, circumcision...... Just a thought! :)

Also, I think the Bumpys and prefolds are a good idea. I use unbleached also. They seem to last longer (for me) and be more absorbant. If you want to cut down on the number of pre-washings, you can boil them first!

Savannah,

I have a tattoo under my navel and it still looks the same through 3 pregnancies! I do have a few stretch marks on one side of my belly though, so sometimes I feel that I have too much going on visually down there. :innocent Im just hoping I wont get more this time....

Caroline,

I know what you mean about the mainstream boards!!! When I was pregnant last time I always went to the AOL due in March 04 board and it drove me NUTS!! Everyone was already planning their cesareans - at 2 months prego!!! I would get SO mad at the ignorance of some of the women on that board. This time the only pregnancy board I have read is here at MDC. I seriously dont think I could handle going anywhere else. I have too little tolerance for other ways of life apparently. Which one are you talking about?

[Mom2baldie]

Sarah,

Paityn is feeling a lot better. Thanks for asking. ;) Ive been doing the garlic-mullein drops in her ears, so I guess its working... She has been her old self again.

Jen,

Sounds like you had a good appt. today. My baby is just ave. as well - 19 cms for 19 weeks of pregnancy. Strange to me because P always measured at least 2 weeks ahead.

BTW, Ive heard sherpa dipes are EXTREMELY soft. I dont have any but Id like to buy one just to see for myself.

[JenInMpls]

Doesn't like it when I am lying down. Going to sleep it does gymnastics and when I wake up it starts jumping around like my uterus is a mosh pit. So I got up at 6:15 with the sun and now I'm thinking of going back to bed for a couple of hours (having eaten and all) since I don't have to be at school until noon.

I know nothing brilliant except that it looks to be a glorious day here in the Twin Cities; sunny and 65. Of course the lack of rain is causing the fire danger to rise and rise and rise. Seems like you just can't win no matter what the weather.

:zzz

j

[greenbeing]

Steph, I second the Compleat Mother. I read it a lot before I got pregnant, but I can't find it anywhere around here. Maybe I should just subscribe.

Jen, our last day is the 3rd. We have a couple of half days coming up, Memorial Day, and a handful of field trips. When you look at the whole month it does seem looong, but one week at a time, one day at a time...
I'm glad your appt. went well. Dh and I go today to my mw today. I love seeing her!

Thanks Chrissy for the diaper lesson :)

Speaking of belly buttons, I saw the inside of mine yesterday!!! I know, real exciting, eh? But usually it's an inny, and I'm thinking it may just even out or pop out.

[CdnAloha]

Aaahhh Jen, remembering the toaster waffles! You sure did love those for a time. I was just a lurker then, but it was amusing to read about. Look how far we have all come!

I think I just started experiencing a bit of heartburn/indigestion. So far it is mild and seems to be if I wait too long to eat.

Just found out I got a small raise today! Yay!!!!! Let's celebrate - Dairy Queen treats for all! Mmmmmm! Might have to share cause it's not that big a raise. ;)

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Julia

[wardermom]

Lynsey-I am hoping for a girl. A boy would be welcome and wonderful too of course. The kids have been arguing about which it is. That has happened the last maybe 3 pregnancies. There's really no point in arguing about it, they can't change anything that way. Oh well! They were really hoping for twins, but nope, only one beautiful baby.

I agree that Compleat Mother is good. I'm just looking over at the bookshelf that has half a row filled with Compleat Mothers. That has been my magazine of choice over the last few years. (Truthfully, I've only looked at one issue of Mothering-my midwife loaned it to me a few years ago. Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.) :blush

[banana girl]

some of my first posts here were around the time of Jen's massive waffle addiction.... I even went out and got some too. They sure were yummy!

Good morning everyone!
I'm having a lovely day today, I will only be at work a few more hours. I'm using half of a personal day. Might go shoe shopping for awhile this afternoon. MUST work on office/guest room project! We're getting the King Bed this weekend.... not a minute too soon! I'm so sick of being elbowed in the spine at night! hooray for more room!

julia congrats on the raise! More $ is More $ and it is good to be recognized isn't it!

Chrissy thanks for the diaper lesson, I am hoping that having some in front of me will help clarify the situation! Can you believe I still haven't spent more than about 30 dollars on baby stuff!!!! I can't believe i've held out this long. we have a budget established that I could spend from today, but I am trying to follow my sisters advice and wait till the baby is actually here. She says that we will get so dang much stuff from family that there is no reason to buy a thing till we have the kid in front of us! Then we'll know better what we actually need and will get the "thrill" of buying gender specific stuff. I just don't want to find myself unprepared....

Well, work calls, gotta motor!
Love to all
Anna Banana
:banana

[msrog]

3under3 -- You're my gnome buddy, and I was hoping to see your picture at Yahoo. It doesn't look like you've joined there... Could you send me a photo or at least give me an idea of your size preferences? I got something really cute in the mail that won't fit me, and I wonder if I can add it to your package....

Savannah

[msrog]

Chrissy, thanks so much for that lesson, and the link (I can't remember who posted that). I started a Word document so I'm ready for the next lessons... Which reminded me, when my computer crashed last month it wiped out the nice Word doc I had going of the list of twin things I'll need. Grrr. I'll go back to twinsmagazine.com's forum and find it again.

Julie, congrats! Raises are so nice. I'm wondering if I might get a nice Baby Bonus from my job... They give full-time workers $3000 per family (!!!) when a baby is born! And half of that if you work 15-30 hours. Unfortunately, I only work 10-12 hours a week, but the boss likes me and maybe since I'm having TWO babies, he'll go ahead and be generous...? Can't wait to find out! Even $100 would be helpful, haha!

OMG what a morning... Just now I'm having fun reading the forums and all of a sudden I remembered I had an egg frying on the stove!!! MMMM, very rubbery, yum. Not. Even more funny is that when I went into Nicolas' room this morning before breakfast, I found a 4-inch thick pile of FEATHERS on the floor beside his bunk bed, and feathers scattered nearly over the entire room. Right in the middle of the pile were the sad looking remains of a pillow I loved as a child. I knew it wasn't the dog, since there were also feathers IN the bunkbed... So ds spent the last couple of hours cleaning up feathers, and they were floating around the room so I tied a gauze-ish apron over his face. I can't wait to show you the picture DH took. Nicolas looks like a Muslim woman, tarred and feathered. hhahahahahahahahahahha

Well, gotta run for now. Ciao!

[chumani]

Hello ladies!!

Sorry I have been missing lately! I haven't been online much the last week. I am beginning to feel much better though. The placental tear is clotting well and is beginning to be reabsorbed. And as soon as all these darn contractions/dilation/effacement stop I will be able to get up more!! Can't wait!

My midwife is coming to do a prenatal this afternoon. It is pretty awesome as my sister is my midwife!! She is a cpm and has been at all my births, my first birth was her sixth to observe and with each birth she had advanced in her training until now she is my primary midwife. She has been over a lot helping while my dh is at work but today she will be "official".

I love the compleat mother! I have a lot of back issues as well as the last 7 years of Mothering.

Have a great day everyone!!
Sarah

[Caroline248]

Lynsey, it was pregnancy weekly...It seems to be my entertainment latley!! I actually go there because on your home page os says how far along you are, how much you have left, what percentage of the pregnany you are...all that stuff. Since I can't remember my due date and never know how far along I am, it helps!!

Sarah, I was thinking of you...how did the visit go? I am glad it seems to be getting better, hang in there...

Anna, we got a king bed last year, the BEST thing we ever did. Of course, we often have one or two kids in the bed with us, so we needed it!!


I don't know if I told you all, I started passing out this weekend. Just twice, but got really dizzy many times. So I was told to up my protein, my water...all that stuff. Well, it happened again this morning, and I realized that all three times I passed out completly was after I had orange juice or watermelon. My midwife thinks I have some issue with proccessing sugar that is fairly common with pregnant woman. Off course, it could also be the onset of gestational diabetes, but I have NO risk factors, so that is unlikely. Long story short, I am off ALL sugar for today, then I can add some tomorrow as long as I eat it with some complex carbs, apparently that helps break down natural sugar. What sucks is all I have been eating lately is fruit, yogurt, and cereal. All are off limits!!

Anyway, I am doing well, just annoyed at this diet restriction, I was never good at watching what I eat.....


Hope all is well...

Caroline

[sistermama]

Hi Mamas,
I'm feeling totally crazy today, because Jack and I are leaving for NY tomorrow morning, so I've been packing and running around like a nut all afternoon. Now I'm feeling grumpy and not very chatty. Hope you all have a good week and weekend. Until Monday!!!

[JenInMpls]

yes, yes, me and my waffle addiction... :hide: thank heavens that has passed.

Dropped a chunk of change at A Pea in the Pod today to buy underwear... but I found exactly what I wanted including 4 stretchy bras. Yay!

Caroline eek! I hope you're doing better soon! Jo reads pregnancy daily to keep track of where I am too.

Chumani Sarah keep on healing, sending you good vibes. Hope your appt went well!

Sister Sarah good luck travelling!

Tired... I guess I'll just go to bed. I'm getting sucked into Law and Order sitting here in the den.

OH - our bathroom is on the verge of being finished... it's going to cost us an arm and a leg, but at least it will be done. New tile, baseboards, and while I'm gone this summer Jo's going to repaint. I will be so happy...

night

j

[fourlittlebirds]

Hi all -- I had the evil sasser virus, so haven't been able to get online for the last few days. Boy you all are talkative! I still haven't caught up!

Someone asked about twitchy legs -- I *think* that is remedied with magnesium. Do a search here at MDC, it's been talked about a lot!

[Caroline248]

Sarah, have a good and safe trip!!

Jen, yeah on the bathroom...the baby's room here is still in the "construction" phase (I prefer to call it DESTRUCTION, but DH takes offense at that). Post pictures on yahoo when it is all done.


Linda, welcome back! I am logging off here and running some scans, I think something is up with my comp too!

Savannah, do you know where "The Italian Oven" is? My sister and brother both worked there forever, and my sis said she would go with me there to meet you for lunch. Do you work outside the house? It would be so great if we could really meet up, then I wouldn't be do jealous of Jen and Steph...

Everyone, have a great sunny day!!!

Caroline

[Caroline248]

I'm getting sucked into Law and Order sitting here in the den.


j



Oh, Jen, Law and Order was so predictable last night....a HUGE waste of my 50 minutes!!! And all those pictures of the mohter around the girls house...creepy!!

Caroline

[chrissy]

some pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/share/welcome?i=EeAM27hozbMWzog&sm=1&sl=0

[CdnAloha]

Chrissy, those pictures are great. Noah is a cuty! Did you knit those soaker shorts yourself? (I can't remember who knits here.) Very well done.

Sarah, hope your NY trip with Jack is great. Looking forward to hearing about it - are you going to the city, for tourist stuff/fun or family and friend visits? Either way I'm sure it will be great once you are on your way. :)

Caroline, the fainting spells don't sound good! I am hypoglycemic and have to watch my sugar intake i.e. it has to be around protein and complex carbs are about the only way to go if they are on their own. It's not that hard once you get used to it. Good luck.

My allergies are bugging me a lot and asthma seems to be a nightly thing. Trouble is I get up and read till I feel better and then I don't feel rested it the morning. I'll be glad when spring is over and we are really into summer. Maybe mid-to late June? I hope sooner!

Cheers,
Julia

[JenInMpls]

sorry for one-handed sideways typing -

sprout hasn't been as kicky this AM so I am enjoying a nice lie-in since I don't have to be to school until later - 5th grade is at circus rehearsal -

chrissy those soakers are GREAT, is that the little turtle pattern? what kind of yarn did you use and what kind of needles does it require (circular and dp's, I'm assuming)?

well jo is nearly dressed and needs to take her computer to work, so i'll say bye til either this afternoon (if I go hang at dunn bros until personnel committee mtg) or this evening after I get home from visiting my pal after work.

:D

j

[banana girl]

I was awoken at 3:00 a.m. by the gyrations of my happy little future gymnast, last night. It was crazy! I could not believe how active our little bundle was being. It got me thinking about how strange it is to have something inside of my body, not controlled by me...that is so very active! The sensation of movement within my body that I am not the source of.... very intense.

Had a lovely afternnon off yesterday. Jerome and I got takeout and sat on a blanket in the yard to eat. A lovely little picnic. We got talking about how much less one on one time we will have together in the future. It was a very nice moment together, expressing our enjoyment of each other.

Hungry monkey.. hungry monkey... WHOO wHoooo whoo!!!

Later
Anna Banana

[adventuregirl]

Hi Ladies! I have missed you all! My computer got a worm, so I have been unable to get online since Monday. I'm just checking in and subscribing. I caught up on the April thread, but don't have time to read this whole thing right now, so I'll post again when I can!

Glad to see there is so much chatting going on, great news, and beautiful pics!

[fourlittlebirds]

Caroline, I had dizzy spells with my last pregnancy. Mine were definitely related to low blood sugar.

Chrissy, I love your soakers! Those are the first I've seen with the little legs. Those are really neat! Have you ever tried felting them? I *have* to learn to knit.

[Caroline248]

Linda, I have had dizzy spells from low blood sugar with all of them, the difference is this AFTER I have sugar.....

Julia, that sounds like what they are telling me. No fuits by themselves..eat them with toast or something.....but cake is okay(!) GO figure....

Caroline

[wardermom]

Just got back from the pediatric dental specialist. (The dentist Kelly saw on Monday, sent us there.) It's looking like they want to put her under general anesthetic to fix her teeth. Is it any wonder I have a headache? I hate this, I'd much rather do it under local, like is usually done. They figure that since she is nervous (but handling herself really well I must say.), and there being so much work to do, it's best this way. Does anyone have experience with a child being under general anesthetic and/ or having a lot of dental work done?

[JenInMpls]

Beware Linda - if you want to felt something, you have to knit it 3 times as big!!! The soakers would fit you before you felted them :LOL

Jo says again: if you have a PC, run Windows Update now!! That Sasser worm is giving her the hugest headache at work right now. Spare yourselves.

Anna :banana you are SO funny, you hungry monkey you. I am in awe of how in love you and Jerome must be, you are so sweet and tender with each other. All of our sweet and tender moments dissolve into silliness.

We may have found a doula. More to come.

A very chubby baby was just carried by on daddy's hip. CUTE stuff.

I had a baby dream last night that I had TWINS. But they weren't identical by any stretch of the imagination - Tristan was very scrawny and weak and Sam was very robust. I also had dreams last night about there being controlled burns done along a highway, that we lived in a house along this highway, and that the controlled burns got out of control and started burning down all of the woods and houses near ours. We were constantly watching and worrying about sparks jumping to our house. I was repeatedly picking up Sydney and Eddie and carrying them with me outside. We've been having wild and shrub fires around here lately, maybe I internalized the news somehow.

I guess my 20 minutes have to be done, so I'll wind up. Take care,

jen

[chumani]

Melanie- how old is your little one? My oldest dd was four when we discovered she had a bacteria that was going root to root destroying her baby molars. We went ahead and had the work done under general anesthetic. She had 6 pulpotomies and 8 caps. I was so worried but everything turned out well. With that amount of work we were looking at 6-8 visits. She was up and about the next day as if nothing had happened. Good luck with your decision!!

dizzy spells- I had those a lot with my first pg. No fun! Especially with a panicky dh :)

My appt was nice, babe is growing really fast, measuring 24 weeks! I will be 23 weeks on Friday. We heard heart tones with the fetascope again. I don't mind doppler, we have used it sometimes. It is fun to get in the practice with the 'scope though.

Have a wonderful wednesday everyone!!
Sarahb

[banana girl]

Hello everyone! I'm sorry to hear about all this computer trouble. I even called the tech dept and asked if i needed to run any updates.. looks like my work computer is all up to date...Wheew! I can't imagine the withdrawl I would go through not chatting with you guys!

Chumani I am so glad to hear that things are going well for you! Keep taking such good care of you and that baby! I think of you often and send you happy thoughts of growth and safety..

Jen, thank you for the sweet compliment. what can I say... we're such newlyweds!!!! Seriously though, Jerome is such a wonderfull friend to me, i can't even begin to express how thankfull I am that chance brought us together.
Sounds like you have been having some pretty detailed dreams lately... names and everything huh? Craziness!

wardermom, I'm sorry to hear Kelly needs so much dental work done... that's no fun! Sounds pretty intense.. I hope you are able to make a decision that gives you some peace.

Hey adventuregirl! we missed you, I was just starting to wonder where you were at.... good luck reading all 4 pages of catchup! that's about a page per day so far, we are awfully chatty aren't we!

Julia I'm sorry to hear your allergies are bothering you, I wonder if that's what's going on with me too. The trees are all in bloom here in Madison and I've been awfully sniffly lately, headachey too. Oh well, i figured it was just the next fun pregnancy event! Whoo hoo!!!!

Chrissy, thanks for sharing those fun pictures, what a lovely family!

Sistermama Sarah, good fortune on your travels.. can't wait to hear about your trip. Be safe, we'll miss you!

Hugs and happy thoughts to everyone else!

Listening To the Universe
Anna Banana

[chrissy]

hi guys!

sorry to just post those pictures and run this morning, but i knew if i didn't do it then i would forget all about it. thanks for all the compliments on noah and the soakers!:love noah sure is a cutie, though he is wearing me out these days. he's throwing LOTS of tantrums and it is wearing my patience thin.

linda, they're not felted, just lanolized. it would be nice to be able to felt them and make them super-waterproof but i don't know how to figure out how big they'd have to be to start with. and like jen said, it probably would be too big for me to have the patience to do. :) you really do have to learn to knit. i taught myself this fall with books and the internet and some help from the ladies at the local yarn shop and i love it. it is so soothing and so nice to make something for my babies with my own hands. and when you make little things you get pretty quick gratification too!

jen, i did use the little turtle knit pattern for the soakers. i used the longies pattern and just turned it into shorts. yep, they require circulars and dpn's. for the newborn soaker i used superwash yarn so it will be easier to wash. speaking of which, where do you find that brown sheep superwash that is 100% wool- anywhere online? for noah's shorts i used cascade 220, which is soooooo soft and i dyed it with kool aid. that was my first time dying and it was really easy and fun.

caroline, fainting sounds really scary! that is interesting that you noticed it is always following simple carbs. bummer about having to give up yogurt and fruit though!

jen, tristan and sam, huh? both cute names! are they on your list? i've been having lots of crazy, vivid dreams too. yay for the doula!

melanie, hugs to you as you deal with all this. i don't have any experience with pediatric dentistry (if that's even a word) but i'm freaked out about general anesthesia too. noah will have to have a pacemaker at some point before he is 16 and it freaks me out to think about him being put under. i know it will all be okay though, and your sweet girl will too. as i think more about it, i would probably lean towards doing the general if that is what the dentist is recomending. dental work really freaks me out and i'd probably rather be under if it were me.

sheryl, i was wondering where you were! glad you're back!

sarah, we will miss you! have a great trip!

sarahb, hurray for your baby growing so well!

julia, we've been dealing with allergies here too and they are no fun! with asthma, they must be horrid. i've seen people walking around my town wearing face masks. i'm not that sensitive thankfully!

anna, awwwwwww, dancing gymnast baby, take-out picnic with sweet husband, what a happy few days!

phew, i'm longwinded today.
:love

[fourlittlebirds]

Melanie, my oldest had to have some work done (a couple pulpotomies) when he was 5, and he did great with just the local. I think the dentist and whoever assists the dentist make a big difference. No wait, I know it makes a big difference, because he also had some more minor work done with different people and it was very hard for him. So my advice would be to look around and take it slow. There is some great advice on the dental forum here -- I don't know if smilemomma is still around (she's a dentist) but I loved her approach to dealing with children. A dentist like that is worth her weight in gold.

He did just have surgery -- he dislocated his thumb in such a way that it had to be operated on to correct it. We opted for general anesthetic because he was already so traumatized by the injury and by the emergency room "care" up to that point.

But if the general could be at all avoided, I would. My younger son (now 5) has some decay, but the x-rays didn't show that it was affecting his adult teeth underneath, and he's not in pain, so we've decided to forego any work at all and just work on preventing further decay. (The dentist of course recommended having the work done, but supported our decision not to.)

Interestingly, my daughter doesn't have any decay at all -- I now suspect that the older kids' decay had a lot to do with living in a house where there was almost certainly lead in the paint and ground (a correlation has been found between level of lead in blood and incidence of cavities.) Where we live now that's not the case, and this is where my daughter was gestated and born. Coincidence?

Jen and Chrissy, I really like the idea of wool covers, but I have to say that I'm intimidated by the cleaning and lanolizing process. I wash and dry everything on hot -- it seems that especially with poop and urine-covered items that's necessary. But you can't do that with wool covers, right, that's why I was interested in the idea of felting (because you wouldn't have to worry about shrinking.) Now that I think about it, though, I have some wool socks that I wash and dry and hot and I swear they haven't shrunk a bit. They are a special "no-itch" brand -- maybe whatever they did to make it non-itchy also makes it impervious to shrinking? Not sure I wanna know, ha ha, probably some awful chemical process. I have to wonder though.

[Caroline248]

Linda, I just saw that our kids will be about hte same age...my oldest just turned 9 though..that is cool!!

Caroline

[JenInMpls]

Chrissy - Lamb's Pride Superwash: you can see all of the colors (http://brownsheep.com/lps.html) on that link. If you go to the "Retailers" link it will tell you whether there is someone near you who carries it. Oh - and Tristan is top on our list, I don't know where Sam came from.

Linda - we've washed our SmartWool socks on hot by accident a few times, and they've been ok. I don't know what they do to their wool but I don't think it's chemical; perhaps they pre-shrink it. We love them too. Lanolinizing is super easy, you just wash your load of woolies with Eucalan and then don't rinse them. Voila, lanolinized!

time for bed... I spent the evening at my friend's house and tomorrow someone from Minneapolis Public works is coming to see why our water meter isn't working.

nighty night,

jen and the little internal dancer

[chrissy]

is anybody else loving their pregnant body like i am????

last night somebody told me i looked so cute and i said, "i know." :LOL luckily i caught it and said, "i mean thank you." what a goofball!!

[CdnAloha]

Caroline, it's interesting what you are being told Quote: "No fuits by themselves..eat them with toast or something.....but cake is okay(!) GO figure...."

I found it took a long time to identify what is okay and in what combinations. I will tell you what really helped me, if you are feeling you ate something bad and are reacting, drink lots of water. It seems to flush out your system and things get balanced quicker. Make sure to stay hydrated - as you probably are with the pregnancy, but for some reason it helps with blood sugar too.

Funny that cake is okay?! Woo-hoo! Maybe it's the eggs in the cake and the milk or butter in the icing? I know I'm stretching here. :) Oh yeah, another thing is fat helps you process simple carbs. So if you are eating a fruit bread - very high in sugar, put butter on it and it should help. Crazy eh?

PM me if you want to know more suggestions or ideas. Like I said it takes a while to figure out what works for you.

I'm learning lots from all of you talking about knitting and making and washing wool soakers. Maybe I will finally learn to knit some. I want to make some just like Chrissy's. :)

I just signed up with a swim training group that will run in summer. We will be swimming at an outdoor pool. Yay! It is for triathlon and masters training which I did before I got pg. I told the coach I will be slow, but she said to come on along. I love to swim, and I know it will be sooooo nice in the hot summer. Just a few/six weeks till it starts.

Have a happy day!

[CdnAloha]

Jen, in my attempt to catch up quickly I scanned through about Tristan and Sam and doing controlled burns and envisioned babies doing skids in race cars! Not at all what you were talking up, but it was a funny idea.

I haven't had any baby dreams yet, but I look forward to them. Until then I love hearing your stories. :)

[wardermom]

Chumani-Kelly is 7. She'll be 8 at the end of June-just when they would be able to schedule her work. Nice birthday present. It's nice to hear that you had a positive experience with your daughter when she needed dental work done under general anesthesia. It makes me feel a little better.

Anna-I'm not feeling very peaceful about this decision yet. Dh says to go ahead and book it, but I'm putting it off. I guess I really should call the office soon.

Chrissy-Thanks for your encouraging words about it all turning out okay.I appreciate that.I'm sorry that Noah will have to go through surgery some time,
but I know he'll be okay too.

blueviolet-It's nice to hear that your child did fine using a local. That's how I had it done as a child, and I'd prefer that. She'd have to go back several times in order to have it all done though. I agree that a good dentist is very important in the way everything goes. I will look at the dental forum, I didn't know there was one.

[banana girl]

Good Morning Everyone!

Just wanted to quick say hi! Life is crazy hectic right now, with Jerome finishing his last week of classes. I can't wait for all this to be over, so i can have my husband back again!

It's a gloomy dark day today, looks like rain...

well I gotta go, work calls and I don't really have anything special to say.

"No time for love, Dr Jones!"
anna banana

[austinmomma]

Chrissy,
I have to say that I'm lovin' my pregnant body, too! I almost wish this stage of my pregnancy would last longer but I can't wait for the baby to get here.

Jen,
Thanks for the wool link... I went to two fabric stores last week and could only find an acrylic/wool blend. I went ahead and made my mom's Mother's Day gift with it and it looks like crap. Acrylic is yucky! I'm going to do it again in wool since it just looks better. I also ordered some of the mint cream color to do Mina Rose's blanket. I found a pattern for a blanket that has a little hoodie attached - really cute.

Good baby vibes to everyone else... must go to get to the huge pile of work on my desk. I'll check in later.

Love,
Kim

[wardermom]

I have made a blanket for all my kids when pregnant with them. I usually do them in acrylic, but Mika's I did in wool. She is the only one who developed a fondness for her blankie (despite being held and carried more than the others).I haven't done one for this baby yet. I should get going on it soon.

[austinmomma]

Melanie,
So I guess you're proof that there is something to be said for wool! :)

Kim

[fourlittlebirds]

"I will tell you what really helped me, if you are feeling you ate something bad and are reacting, drink lots of water. It seems to flush out your system and things get balanced quicker."

Absolutely! Whenever I start feeling a little sick (pregnancy-related), I know that I'm not drinking enough water. More water *always* helps.

"Funny that cake is okay?! Woo-hoo! Maybe it's the eggs in the cake and the milk or butter in the icing? I know I'm stretching here. Oh yeah, another thing is fat helps you process simple carbs."

You know, it does sound crazy, but I have really found this to be true. There are certain combinations of simple sugars and fats that I tolerate very well -- for instance, yesterday I had some hot chocolate made with an organic cocoa and sugar mix with whole milk, with a cheese quesadilla (made with whole wheat tortilla.) I felt wonderful afterwards and settled down for a very nice nap. Likewise, I do fine with chocolate. And ice cream.

[fourlittlebirds]

last night somebody told me i looked so cute and i said, "i know." :LOL

That's what I like to hear! :thumb

[4under6]

Suffering from a terribly nasty head cold!

Savannah-

I haven't posted pics on Yahoo yet. I have to have hubby take some of me first! But as far as my size goes, I am about a 20/22 pre-pregnancy. Plus sized mama!

I can't wait to start getting your package together!

[JenInMpls]

Just lil ol me and my lil ol cat here to say that it's nice in the Twin Cities today, but sheesh, 3/4 hour awake feels like 3 when you have a dumb hormonal crying jag during it. Behold my sob story (or skip it if you like!):

4 AM, Jo wakes up hot. It was hot in our room... I guess. She stumbles around... shutting the storm window and then shutting the inside window very loudly. This wakes me out of a drowsy falling-back-to-sleep state. She crawls back into bed, tosses, turns, whimpers, and gets back up, goes downstairs, into the porch, gets a box fan, comes back up, removes the cat from the window sitter, removes the window sitter from the window ledge, re-opens the window, re-opens the storm and puts the box fan in the window and puts it on low, blowing right on me. Then she crawls back into bed and asks,

"Is that better?"

I really wanted to yell "why the f* are you asking me, I wasn't even hot!", but being awake for 1/2 hour of fidgeting and noise has woken up both my metabolism and the baby, so Sprout is kicking me to eat and I started to cry instead. About 45 minutes and a glass of milk later, Sprout seemed satisfied and I feel back asleep. Jo was not so lucky, she didn't fall back asleep for a while. Bad for us, as there was a Childbirth Collective meeting this evening I was hoping we could attend before interviewing a few doulas, I just know she's going to be completely tired and not want to go, in which case there are 2 options: one, interview doulas without attending the little informative meeting (a completely possibility) or go to the one in June, not interview doulas til I come back from camp in July and be pretty much out of luck. Not as much of a possibility.

I feel bad when I have these huge crying sprees, given all of the things that I've read about how children in utero suffer from moms who are stressed and anxious, but I don't seem to be able to control them.

Kim: acrylic... yeah, I'm not in love with acrylic. I accidentally bought yarn for my baby sweater that was 60 wool / 40 acrylic and I was surprised because it felt so soft... I think the rainbow thread running through it is acrylic and the main color is wool. To find nice wool yarn you usually have to go to a dedicated yarn store.

Sprout kicks greetings.

yawn,

jen

[austinmomma]

Oh, Jen, you poor thing! You know, one of my friends told me that she had trouble getting to sleep at night when she first quit smoking... didn't you say Jo is trying to quit? Oh, I also found a local retailer through the link you posted. :) Good luck getting some sleep tonight!

[banana girl]

Oh Jen, don't be so hard on yourself..... repeat after me. Hormones are good! Hormones are good! I am making lots of good hormones for my baby, I rock! Hip hip hooray for Jen and her healthy homones!!!

good luck with the doula situation, it might be worth a little inconvenience and tiredness to get the ball rolling with finding a doula. The stress of not feeling prepared may be much more frustrating than the temporary stress of being tired. However, my sympathy on sleeplessness, I hear you. i was up with Jerome at 4:30. He had to get up early to finish some schoolwork, I got up with him, to ensure he actually got up and got to work, instead of simply pressing snooze for 2 more hours!!!!

chrissy, i have to admit, just between you me and the whole world..... I am adorable pregnant! I know it, I flaunt it. te hee heee. "Glow" is my middle name these days. I'm obviously pregnant but still young and dang sexy!

Love to all, must go find food... food... food. (drool, slurp...... burp)
Anna Banana
:banana

[adventuregirl]

Holy Moly, I finally caught up with this thread! And now I feel like I can hardly respond to anyone because I missed so much! Also, because I have been sitting here for um, 2 hours I think! And my back is hurting, my eyes have been burning all day and I think I'm going to lay down.

A quck update though, I got the job, and am looking forward to it. I let them know about my pregnancy and they barely batted an eye and congratulated me. I am starting in 2 weeks for set up and camp begins June 1st.

We finally got the hot tub working for real this past weekend (after all the building, wiring, cleaning and water chemistrystuff we had to do), and have been soaking at least daily since, it is wonderful! Especially for my back that seems to get unhappy by the end of each day.

Anna, a way belated thanks for the May Day card! That was so sweet!

OK, better go take care of myself. Wonderful wishes to all! I'll be back tomorrow, yes I will!

[Lazuli]

Well, I've made it up to page 4 now....I'm close to being caught up! I'm still here and all is well! :) My husband is off this week (he gets 'professional development' weeks when he's supposed to work on stuff) and so I've not been online much. I like these weeks! We've been working on getting the house cleaned. *sigh* Things are such a mess and I feel so overwhelmed and just don't know where to start. It is most frustrating.

My mom is sending out baby shower invitations today. I hope it all goes well. I haven't seen my family since Christmas and I really hope people aren't really annoying. Things are going to be so busy for us this month! Next weekend is an anime convention that we're going to. I can't wait, there's going to be a Japanese band playing which should be nifty! I hope I don't spend too much money.... We alo leave next Sunday for two weeks away. My husband is teaching a class in Dayton for a week and then we're going to spend the weekend with my mom as he's in Columbus the next week. Then back home for a week before going back to Ohio for the baby shower. Eep! Oh, and I see the doctor between getting back and leaving again.

I'm glad everyone is doing well! I saw the doctor last week and everything is just fine. I wasn't able to hear the heartbeat but she did. :) And Vaysh has started moving around. It's a very weird feeling. Not a whole lot of movement, but definite movement which is good. I was getting worried! I was soooo miserable yesterday. It was in the high 80's and I wasn't dealing with it well at all. It's a good thing we're finally getting our air conditioner replaced. (It went out er...two years ago.)

I'm writing a book here, I should stop. :D I think we're going out to Panera for breakfast, yummy! I want to go to the outlet mall in Indiana...I keep trying to get my husband to take me. There's a Hanna Andersson outlet there and I really want to get a couple of things. I keep having these dreams that Vaysh is here and we don't have any diapers. *laughs*

Have a good day everyone and I'll try to get caught up later today. :)

Lazuli

[JenInMpls]

Thumpity thumpity tappity tap, that's Sprout doin' a little dance in my belly... guess it means GOOD MORNING! either that or "gee, mama, I liked the oatmeal with the extra butter you accidentally put on it this morning!".

I'm getting into taking-care-of-myself-first mode, FINALLY: I cancelled my kindergarten classes this morning (should be at them as we speak!) because I have a chiro appt at 12:30 and just couldn't take the thought of driving 40 mins out to school, 30 mins back after teaching for 1/2 hour, 30 mins back to school and then teaching 45 minutes this afternoon in time to drive 40 mins back home. An extra hour in the car just for 1/2 hour of teaching that I don't get paid for anyway...? Nope. So I'm having yet another lazy morning. A girl could get used to this!

Went to the Childbirth Collective meeting on "why hire a doula?" last night - you were right, Anna, it was worth it to go even though I was tired. Jo came home at 6:20 and hadn't eaten a single thing all day so she stayed home. I met a few doulas who interested me, a couple who turned me right off, and left with a lot of information. Now it's time to start interviewing, I guess.

Well, I should go do something other than sit on the computer and hold Sydney all morning (although I'm sure Sydney would argue that that's a perfectly wonderful thing to do all morning), so I will say bye for now...

jen

[JenInMpls]

Clean out your PM box, darling!!!

:D

jen

[Mom2baldie]

Chumani,

Thats great that things are starting to look up for you! Wonderful! I bet you cant wait to get up and start doing more...

[hjohnson]

Lazuli I should send you some money. I love Hanna Andersson clothing. There is an outlet in Colorado but we aren't going to be out there until November.

[Mom2baldie]

Chrissy,

I love those soakers! Thanks for sending the pics! I wish I could knit...

Also, I ALWAYS LOVE my body when pregnant. I think I am sooo cute! Normally I am very thin and I just love my pregnant curves. I am def. going to try to get maternity portraits taken this time. Last time I had my husband take pics like ones I saw on the internet and I love to look back at them.

Melanie,

Im sure this doesnt help you at all, but when I was a teenager I was put under general anesth. to have my 4 wisdom teeth removed and I did fine. I dont know what Id do if I was in your situation, but I can imagine how stressful it would be for you.

[Lazuli]

*sigh* Looks like I won't be persuading my husband to take me to Indiana today. :( It's chilly and rainy and the mall is one of those outdoor ones. He also wants to go on a day when it's sunny and warm so we can go sit on the beach for awhile. :( Oh well!

And now....I have pictures! :D

The kitty / lizard quilt top I made. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/floppy_hat/222106.html#cutid1)
The two outfits I've bought. :D (http://www.livejournal.com/users/floppy_hat/222303.html#cutid1)

My husband has finally come upstairs so maybe I can convince him to take a picture of my belly! We'll see......

Lazuli

[banana girl]

Having the lovliest day today! I got to sleep in really super duper late this morning, slept nearly 12 hours! I can't believe i went back to sleep for that long after the early morning bowl of cereal! feeling very rested and energetic.

today at the the college, the annual spring fest / final week picnic is happening.... Free picnic food, a band playing, prizes.... and free henna tattooing! So... i got two designs done on my tummy. the congi (spelling?) for birth/life and a funky little design that looks kinda like a fancy eyeball. It made me think of the idea of an inner eye, or enlightenment.... anyway it looks pretty cool! And I'm running around in a tank top today, totally flaunting the tummy! so fun! got lots of comments and questions about when the baby is due.... must admit I love all the attention!!!!

And then on top of all this fun, my boss leaves early today AND one of my best friends wants to take me out for dinner! Looks like it is gonna be a great day!

Love to all
Anna Banana

[Mom2baldie]

Jen,

Thats really cool that they had a childirth collective where you are. Sounds like it would be fun to go to something like that. I loved having a doula when I was preg. with Paityn. It was so nice to talk to her on the phone and hang out with her... She was the ONLY person IRL that I knew at that time that had had a VBAC.

Anna,

Thats neat about the henna tattoo!!! Take a pic to show us!
They dont have stuff like that around here to go to. :(

Lazuli,

Glad to hear you had a good Drs appt! I like the clothes you have for your babe. Ive only bought one outfit so far (for a boy), maybe I should take a pic of it to send out. Its really cute. Cant wait til after baby is here so I can go shopping a little more.

[chrissy]

Lazuli! WOW! That quilt is gorgeous! I loooooooooove the colors and prints. I am so so so jealous that you can do that. The little outifts are pretty dang cute too! I hope you get your dh to take a belly shot.

Jen, cool that you got some leads on doulas. That does sound like a really neat thing. Do you they have meetings and stuff?

Anna, what an awesome day! Definitely get some pictures of the henna'ed belly. I wonder if I could find somebody around here who knows how to do it well.

Lynsey, thanks for the soaker compliments. You should learn to knit. It isn't hard to learn and it is so fun and relaxing. And you get to make cute wooly things for your baby (or bigger babies).

Sheryl, woo hoo on getting the job. I really think being a camp counselor might be my dream job.

Glad to hear a lot of you guys are loving your bellies too! There is just something about it, you know?

I had an appointment with my midwife today. All is well, and just as it should be. I can't believe I'm just about halfway to meeting this baby in real life!

Have a great evening everybody!

[wardermom]

Lynsey-I remember my Mom having her wisdom teeth removed under general at the hospital when I was a child. I remember her being tired and sick when she was recovering at home.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that one of my wisdom teeth broke (don't know when.) Maybe someday I should have something done about mine.

I think part of my worry about general anesthetic comes from my experience at 14. I had an operation under general (to have a piece of a sewing pin removed from my heel.) I had problems with a rapid heart beat after it for a couple of days. The nurses were really worried about me, but sent me home-it was day surgery. I actually think it was caused by anxiety, because during my pregnancy with Kaiya I had major panic attacks-featuring a racing heart. I don't know why it started, but once it did it was a vicious circle because I didn't know what was happening and thought I had a heart problem. At the time of the operation they thought it was a reaction to the general. I don't know. Just because I experienced "problems" doesn't mean Kelly will.

[fourlittlebirds]

Lazuli, isn't baby clothes shopping fun? Your outfits are so cute!

Anna, I always loved the college spring fests. Not in college anymore, or close to one that does that, but this summer I will be going to the Oregon Country Fair for the first time when I'm pregnant! I can't wait to show off my belly!

[msrog]

Gals, Stop talking so much!!!! I can't keep up!!! =O)

We're in Arizona now, just finished the surprise party for my dh's dad's 57th birthday. We still can't believe he didn't have a clue; he's usually very good at figuring stuff out. Lots of family, crazy wild kids, I'm exhausted.

Caroline, Italian Oven is my favorite place! Very near my house, also. Let me know what day. Wed. and Fri. are prob. best for me, but I can't remember when you said you'd be down. So your sister still lives in Fayette county??

OK, gotta go crash.

[JenInMpls]

I wish there were an icon for chowing down. After I made it home from errands (getting the last few items for Sarah's treasure trove, ha ha ha!!! You're gonna LOVE it, Sarah!) I fell asleep for 2 hours. My belly hurt. Just plain hurt! Right around the navel, it felt like it was stinging underneath. Growth spurt? Stretching? I woke up feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself but super hungry. We went out and ate STEAK. Filet Mignon. Sorry to all of the dedicated vegetarians, but it was very satisfying. Not cheap at all, but it totally hit the spot. And by the time we got home my belly no longer hurt. I don't understand...

And I had the yummiest drink at the restaurant: cranberry juice, lemonade and sparking water. Holy tart!

Sprout has been bustin' a move for about 45 minutes now while I've been reading, journaling and listening to Crap From the Past (he didn't play my request! AGAIN! sigh) so I'm hoping sleepy time comes around soon for both of us.

Anna: if you take good care of those belly mehendis they will last a long time. Mine only rubbed off today because I wore a pair of pants with a waistband right against the belly button. Stayed on 3 weeks!

night night,

j

[4under6]

Jen-

Mmmmm, yummy! Where did you have steak? Always looking for a good steak.
Sounds like you are getting some round ligament pain. Owie! I have a bad cold and I get the worst round ligament pain when I cough.
At my husband's school carnival this week, they had a mehndi artist, and I really wanted it done on my hand, but at work we can't have any visable tattoos. Dang.

Anna-
Glad you had a great day yesterday!

Everyone else-
Have a fabulous weekend!

Danielle

[Mom2baldie]

Chrissy,

Yay for a good midwife appt! I love seeing my midwife. Shes so nice, I look forward to my appts every month even though we dont really do anything but talk.

Melanie,

Yeah, after my wisdom teet