The Little Man

My little man was born at home in April.  About halfway through my pregnancy, I decided I did not want to spend the remainder of my pregnancy arguing with my caregivers, especially in the hospital while I was giving birth.  So sometime in the fall I hired the most wonderful midwives.  Tuesday and Jennifer were fantastic, as was the whole experience of having this guy.

While it was technically longer, my labor was effectively four hours long rather than the four days it took my little girl to decide to come out.  Having the baby at home was so much more relaxing.  I realized this several days before he was born, when I thought about how, if I were giving birth in the hospital, my OB would be pressuring me to have my labor induced.  Instead, there was no pressure and I was nice and calm right up until the labor got hard.  The midwives say I was calm through the whole labor, but that was just on the outside.  Giving birth without drugs is not easy!

My little boy has been the sweetest, easiest baby I could have imagined.  He eats well, sleeps as well as a baby can be expected to sleep, and is very quiet and patient.  Unfortunately, I don't think Izzy is going to have quite as easy a time with him because he is very attached to me.  The little dude only gets upset when he realizes I am not available for him.  I am dreading going back to work not because I don't like my job, but because I know it is going to be so hard for all of us.  The governor's recent decision to make all employees work 9 1/2 hour days will not help.  But for now, I an cerishing my time home with the children.

Obviously I do not blog well when I am pregnant - I was too tired between work, a toddler, and the pregnancy. I am amazed by women who handle all that and more. Anyway, since I have been doing nothing but holding the most cooperative baby ever for the last six weeks, I figure i have no excuse, just not much to say. I have numbed my mind by watching three TV series in their entirety and countless movies. Now I am ready to do something with my mind. Fortunately, Izzy bought me a iPad for my birthday and I love, love, love it! I swore I would never like reading books from a screen, but I have already loaded five books including Charlotte Mason's entire home school series. I can also still numb my mind with movies and blog, though I must say I don't much care for typing on the touch screen. More details about the children later.

Broken

Last weekend I was working on bumper pads for the baby's crib.  Phoebe, who has become immensely clingy, was sitting on my lap while I cut the fabric.  This little girl has taken it well to heart that one is not to break things.  As I was cutting she kept telling me, "You're breaking it!"  She was really distressed.  I finally stopped working and explained to her that sometimes we break things on purpose so that we can make them into something better.  I was taking the piece of fabric and making something for Baby Brother to use. 

After I said that to her, I realized what a good metaphor that was for how God works.  Not that He necessarily always does the breaking of things, though sometimes he does, but He certainly takes broken things and makes better things out of them. 

Little did I know that this would also be a prophetic reminder for me this week.  I'm just waiting to see how things are going to get better...

Seven Quick Takes - The Maternity Clothing Rant

I promise I will come up with something more substantial to write about soon-ish.  In the meantime, here is what is on my mind today:

1.

I am really not that big yet.  However, most of my normal clothes do not fit me anymore.  I am in that not-fun time during which I am too small for maternity clothes, and yet I am too big for my normal clothes.  I am taking picking up a few things that will also fit me right after the baby comes, but I am having a hard time because I don't want to buy work clothes since I will fit back into my regular clothes by the time I have to dress up every day.  This means that my work wardrobe is shrinking daily.  I will be out of clothes that fit soon. 

2.

Why are 80% of maternity clothes black no matter what season it is?  While I don't mind as much now that I will be big in the winter, it drove me crazy when I was pregnant in the summer and dressed like a crow every day.  It is boring and gloomy.  And I can't find a non-black pencil skirt.  I already have a black pencil skirt.  I loved it last time, I just don't want to wear black every day. 

3.

I will say, that having lots of black winter-looking clothes will help me not have to buy quite as much this go-around.

4.

How on earth can they justify charging so much money for these clothes, cute and non-cute alike?  I can't bring myself to spend $50 on a T-shirt or $250 on a work dress when I am skinny.  There is NO WAY I will spend that much for something I won't wear for more than five months. 

5. 

The above complaint reminds me why I hate all of my maternity clothes.  Since I won't pay for what I really like, I am left to work with whatever I can find on (real) clearance at less expensive stores. And whatever my mom buys me.  I just spent my morning internet shopping.  Most of what passes as clearance for maternity clothes approaches what I will pay for my normal clothes.

6. 

Those of us who are prengant and do not have skinny legs and small breasts, are mostly doomed to looking huge.  (Unless you are willing to pay ungodly amounts of money for your clothes.)  I am curvy and I have big muscles.  The small part of me is in the middle, the part that most maternity clothes balloon around.  Unless the tops and dresses are fitted around my belly, I end up looking fat rather than pregnant.  I remember this from last time.  I won't show pictures.  If I had skinny legs and didn't need to wear a bra, it would be easier to find maternity clothes that make me feel pretty.  Because there are a lot of pretty maternity clothes and some of them are affordable.  They just don't flatter me. 

7. 

I understand that pregnant women who work seem to be in the minority.  It is clear from the volume of cute casual clothes (things that go with jeans and corduroy) and the fact that it is very difficult to find professional pants and skirts that are not black polyester.  Is everyone really okay with spending months only wearing black polyester to work? 


For some non-clothing related quick takes, visit Jen's blog. 

Seven Quick Takes: Update Edition

1. 

A few months ago I mentioned that I was looking for a natural way to color my ever-increasing volume of gray hair.  After posting, I brewed extra-strong sage tea and did my best to spray it on my gray hair.  And it started to work! As long as I remembered to do it every day.  Unfortunately, I do not remember to do much of anything every day.  Most days I successfully use deodorant and brush my teeth, but otherwise not so much.  Needless to say, sage tea is not a viable remedy for my gray hair. 

2.

As a result, I have turned back to henna, but I found a new brand!  This one seems to be much less processed than the brand I formerly used and consists exclusively of powdered henna and indigo leaves.  I used it last weekend, and am much happier about the way the color turned out than with other brands of henna.  It is much more natural looking and makes my hair a lot less brassy looking in the sun (so far). 

I didn't leave it on quite long enough, so I expect that the color will fade in the 4-6 weeks promised by the company.  Since I dont' like to put extensive effort into maintaining my appearance, I usually expect things to last longer than that.  Since I will need to leave it in longer next time and I don't think that it will turn my hair ugly colors, I might use a lighter shade when I buy my next box.  If I had a picture, i would post it.  

3.  

 The potty training battle was nearly over!  After sweet, stubborn, smart little Bee started CHANGING HER OWN DIAPER in the middle of the night, I took a few days off work, brought her to my mom's house, and started boot camp.  That didn't work great, but somehow a week later, she started cooperating.  She now almost always uses the toilet (the big toilet, not the baby toilet) unless she is playing in the yard and too busy to tell us she needs to go.  Since the weather has changed for the worse, we might be done with potty training very soon. 

4. 

However, in the last week Bee has gotten lazy and now she often wets her pants a little before she gets around to making her way to the toilet.  Izzy is not happy with the set back. 

5. 

I finally got Bee to happily wear her brown dress.  Here she is right before her second birthday party looking very pretty in her dress and "hat." 

6. 

Yesterday I pulled out most of the plants that were in my summer garden.  Last year I waited until they were beyond dead and it was probably February before I got around to cleaning everything out.  I am trying to be better this year.  I also have a few fall vegetables growing.  If the weather stays the way it is and doesn't freeze before Thanksgiving, I should have broccoli, beets, lettuce, arugula, and the ever-present chard. 

7. 

Meanwhile, I have to figure out what to do with the remains of my summer crops.  I spent several evenings this week canning pears I bought last weekend, but I feel obligated to find something to do with all the produce Izzy stripped of the plants before I tore them out.  They consist of lemon cucumbers, unripe bell peppers, a million habaneros, quite a few tomatoes, but not quite enough to make it worth canning them.  I am taking suggestions.


For more quick takes, visit Jen's blog.  

Why the Second Time is Better

During my first pregnancy, my husband was my monitor.  I was not allowed soft cheeses (my favorites), cured meat of any kind, fish, and only a few sips of alcohol in nine months.  He was crazy paranoid that everything was going to hurt the baby and I could barely sneak any of these items without his coming over to regulate. 

The second time around, I am happy to say he has either forgotten or become significantly less paranoid.  I have eaten swordfish (not a great idea, but okay one time), had all variety of unpasteurized cheese and other products as well as bacon, ham, and even hot dogs at Izzy's initiation.  To top it off, tonight he made me a margarita!  I crave tequila when I am pregnant, so that is a treat.

If you are someone who has problems with pregnant women having alcohol, I'm sorry.  But women all around the world drink more alcohol than I ever intend to while pregnant and their babies turn out fine.  I only started having a little again now that I am in my second trimester, and I doubt I've finished even a whole drink a week.  I can tell that my ability to metabolize it is decreased, and drink accordingly. 

My point is that I have been thinking about all of the things I was nervous about last time from eating bacon while pregnant to giving Bee a bottle too early, and I suspect that just like my eating habits, several things will go differently during this child's early life.  Being completely ignorant about everything related to pregnancy and babies was exhausting and nerve-wracking.  So far, this child's existence has been so much easier. 

Perhaps the volume of gray hair on my head won't quadruple with this child.  That would be nice...

Changes

Back in July, I fooled people and made it appear like I was going to blog regularly.  Then several things happened. 

1.  I got pregnant.  If you couldn't already tell by the pregnancy ticker on top, I am having another baby.  In my world, this means that I spent the last three months asleep.  My waking hours were consumed with making fairly regular appearances at work and trying to be consciously present for my little girl. 

Sorry blog world, there was not energy for you.  I thought of you often and even composed several posts that I was never able to be upright long enough to write down.  Perhaps this will change now that I feel better. 

2.  I took a second job.  I don't get paid much. In fact, I have yet to be paid anything, but in August, my husband and I became pastors of our church.  I am excited for this new and interesting challenge, but it means that I work six days a week and devote much of my non-gainfully employed, little girl free time to being with or  doing things for our little community. 

This is what I have been doing.  I am sorry I have been neglecting anyone who read this before, it may happen again.