thank yous and wishes.

First off, I want to hugely thank Grandma Jean for bringing so many pregnancy and birth items during her visit, and to both her and Grandpa Chris for the Moby Wrap and the donation which we have used some of toward a bouncer! Also, many thanks to GramZee for the maternity hoodie and new comfy shoes – both are being worn practically every day!

Now, to our baby needs, otherwise known as a baby registry. We believe that it is important to live sustainably, so we try to purchase secondhand. However, this is not always possible, so when acquiring new things we try to purchase environmentally friendly items and support independent sellers. Thus, we have NOT registered at any major chain stores (like Babies R Us, Target, and never, ever Wal-Mart), but instead have created a wishlist from many independent sellers and great webstores found on the internet. Here are some important notes regarding the items we hope to acquire (this is also on the wishlist):

1) We definitely want as little plastic as possible, but here is a cheat sheet for BPA free baby drinking and eating products: http://safemama.com/2007/11/22/bpa-free-bottle-and-sippy-cup-cheat-sheet/

2) We also hope to minimize the amount of plastic toys in kiddo's life.

3) We think second-hand items are great.

4) We know we can get lots of things we need (clothing, equipment, toys, etc.) secondhand, so if you don't want to scavenger your local baby second-hand stores, craigslist, or amazon (yep - they also sell second-hand items!), we are also taking monetary donations. Just let us know what you want the money to go toward and we will hunt it down! (Click HERE to donate with your credit/debit card or PayPal account.)

Really, for the most part these are merely suggestions to give you an idea of what kinds of fun things we think are neat for baby.

Motifs/designs/themes that we really, really love: DINOSAURS!!!, monkeys, robots, space, other science-y stuff, nature stuff (trees, bugs, etc.), owls, puppies and other cute animals ☺ Retro styles are also fun.

We recognize that our main needs are for:

- diapering supplies!!!!! (we will be doing cloth - I will do a separate post detailing our diapering needs)

- a soft structured baby carrier (Beco Butterfly II DUO in Rust with owls, please! I love it!)

- some baby health equipment (like the Nosefrida Nasal Aspirator, baby nail clippers, and an ear thermometer)

- baby feeding and drinking implements*, including storage for homemade baby foods (oh, yeah, and we will probably need a food processor for that…I’m sure we can pick up a steamer insert. Is that all we need for that?)

- pacifiers, bibs, teething toys

- baby wash cloths/reusable wipes, baby towels?

- breastfeeding stuff like comfort items (see the set from EarthMamaAngelBaby), nursing tops/bras (gift certificate?), bottles (wide neck, glass or BPA-free plastic) and milk storage in case I need to be away from baby

- baby legwarmers, t-shirts (long and short sleeved, sides snaps are great!), and clothing items to keep baby warm outside

- Pack ‘n Play with removable bassinette and changing table (many available second-hand)

*Cheat sheet for BPA free baby drinking and eating products

If there are other things that you think we should not live without, please recommend them to me or feel free to get them for us.

We will be getting or already have: bouncer, breast pump, infant car seat, tub. We can get lots of onesies for .99 or less (mostly short sleeved) and receiving blankets for $2 or less from second-hand stores. We will also be getting lots of hand-me-downs of clothes and shoes. We will eventually need a good jogger stroller, but since we will be baby wearing we may wait until later to get one (maybe next Spring? Pretty sure I won’t do much jogging until then anyway.) We will probably wait to get a high chair and swing until after we move. If you find any good deals on a travel/hook-on high chair (attaches to table) though, we could easily pack that up for later ☺

We also have a book list on the Amazon baby registry. We, of course, love books and have found so many already that we would love to have. Again, we have tried to prioritize, so please sort the list by priority to see what we really, really want and consider the rest fun suggestions. As high priorities, we are most interested in acquiring cloth and board baby books, as well as some parenting books on breastfeeding, baby foods, and baby yoga (you will see the specific books when you sort for high priority).

Picture Perfect

Click on the picture (or on the link in the post below) to see many more.

pictures. that's right.

I will type out more words later... for now, please enjoy THE PICTURES that you have been waiting for!

thanks for your patience!

Canada Bound

It appears the long wait is over. The final tally was Canada: 2, United States: 0. The mounties have done it! Both Canadian universities I applied to -- Simon Fraser and University of British Columbia -- have accepted me and offered gobs of cash to attend. The three US universities told me to get lost. With this not so subtle rejection by the country that raised me it seems that our new baby-to-be will enjoy their first few years on Canadian soil.

Erin and I are looking for an apartment on campus so that during any breaks in my schedule I can be home. I have a guaranteed income for two years as I complete the Masters in History. However, if I show excellent progress on my dissertation project (which I've already begun) I can enter into the PhD program after one year. I will then have an additional four years of guaranteed income. The offer is about as good as the one I had at Duke, plus I'll be researching a topic I genuinely love.

While we're very sad that we have to leave Seattle and the amazing family we've created here, we're also very enthusiastic about this next step in our adventure. With free health care and amazing social services for infants and new mothers, Canada is certainly a wonderful opportunity. Considering that the US is falling off a cliff economically at the moment, fleeing up north will probably become more and more popular as time goes on. So we'll check things out for you and will be very available for any future refugees that hope to experience the beautiful vistas and community oriented culture of our northern neighbors.

Have a nice afternoon, eh.

shoes on the bed, shoes on the couch.

It seems like much of my daily experience of this pregnancy revolves around clothing. I love the elastic waists of my maternity pants, but I hate constantly pulling them up every time I move. My favorite hoodie no longer zipping up over the growing belly makes me a sad mommy-to-be. Also, our CNM recommended that I always wear my comfiest, squishiest shoes to ease the stress in my hips, even when I simply walk from bed to the bathroom. This is not a bad thing – I love an excuse to constantly wear my favorite shoes (even when on the furniture – woohoo!) It is not without its problems, though. These shoes were already on their way out. They are not the nicest to wear to work, and I am sad to think that they will become too worn to continue to wear. Thus begins my mommy-to-be wishlist! Yep it starts with these pretty new shoes.

In other gestational news, the sitosito (teeny tiny) is kicking, squirming, swimming, twirling, and bubbling. At least that is what it feels like. We felt the first kicks externally last Sunday while we were both laid out sick in bed, so that made an otherwise yucky day a smidgen neater. Now it is a regular thing – kind of ticklish, very reassuring. Often makes me smile.

Thanks also to all those who were interested in the happenings of our last CNM visit – it was uneventful. All seems good. Couldn’t hear the heartbeat, but could hear it moving around. Our next appointment is on March 2nd, but we have an ultrasound today. That means you might get some more pictures soon… lucky you.

thanks for the reminder.

Sometimes I might need a little push to get more stuff posted here. Recently, I was reminded that it would be kind if I posted about our last CNM visit. Here goes:

I can't be bothered to look back at our other posts right now and see if I have previously mentioned this or not, but we are seeing a Certified Nurse Midwife (Sally Avenson, if you want to look her up). We chose her because I lean toward doing an out of hospital birth but I also recognize that many first time births end up heading to the hospital. She has hospital privileges at a couple of good hospitals in the area, so she would be able to still deliver for us if we went to one of those. As a CNM she can also prescribe me anything I may need. So far I feel I am in very good hands. She has a home office so it is very casual and comfy with dogs around. No tables or stirrups. It is a nice environment for our visits. She has also been very helpful with filling us in on what our medical coupons (Medicaid coverage - let's just refer to them as MCs from now on) will get us.

Our second visit with her went just fine. Everything is good, normal. She took more blood for the rest of our genetic testing. My right ovary was larger at my ultrasound, so they think that was the egg-releasing culprit for the pregnancy. I found out that my MCs will provide us with an infant car seat, a breast pump, and a belly/back support belt. I had a pap done (haven't had one in over 2 years) and saw my BIG cervix that is acting all protective of my uterus. All of my levels (iron and such) are good and normal (had a lot of blood taken at my ultrasound). We heard the heartbeat again and I felt the top of my uterus, which is coming closer and closer to my belly button. I think those were most of the significant things.

I also spoke with Sally a bit about having some feelings of depression. I seem to experience them much more easily when I do not get enough sleep, and, of course, if there are any situational occurrences. Luckily I am only in the midst of applying for a new job during a shitty economy and also trying to complete a grad school application. Sally recommended that we start some counseling now, because then we will have it set up in case I also experience postpartum depression (if I am experiencing some now, there may be a good chance I will experience it later too). Apparently my MCs will cover it, but it is tricky to find a counselor that will take Medicaid clients. However she said that there is a service through WIC that can help me. I have my second appointment with WIC next week, so I will check on getting set up with that.

Our next appointment with Sally is Feb 2nd. We will be setting up another ultrasound for sometime after that. Yeah, that's the one where we can find our the sex. I lean toward not finding out, but there is great debate about it in the house. Weigh in via comments, if you like.

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our apologies for the busted name suggester widget. while we are looking for a new alternative, here is where we were at with name suggestions...feel free to continue suggesting!

Suebee: For a boy: Mathias. For a girl: Ramona
Suebee: For a boy: Wayne. For a girl: Odessa
jaimezee: olive, ruby, hazle, caliope, ezra, elliot
jaimezee: esme, adiam, maja (pronounced maya)
jaimezee: asa
jaimezee: tuesdae....esther....finnley
jaimezee: atticus
Quinn: Quinn!
Tiffany: SABINE! But you know I love Seven too. And Sagan. And Amelie.
Dani: Gabriella... Gaby for short
Kevin: Damien!!!
erinzee: seven
Martin: Sagan
Eric: Amelie

Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk

This one's for my dad.



Isn't it great to know that our child will only know about this buffoon from the innumerable internet jokes about him? Laugh or you will cry.

Live from the Womb

Corey just wrote to ask if we were planning on having a live ultrasound webcam feature added to our website. Well it looks like such a thing may be possible. Everything USB is offering a new USB Ultrasound Probe that can take you inside the womb from the comfort of your own home, regardless of what state you live in. However, it's their description that really makes the sale:

If you ever wanted to be just like Tom Cruise and have your own ultrasound machine just perfect for looking at your unborn, possibly alien, baby you are in luck. Soon you may not have to drop $40,000 to indulge your insanity love for your child, you can just buy your own USB powered ultrasound probe.

Unfortunately, the device is still awaiting FDA approval and -- at the low, low price of $3,700 -- it's a little out of our price range at the moment (but it would sure make a great stocking stuffer). Personally, I'd be a little surprised if the FDA went for it. Wouldn't there be just a little concern about sending high frequency sound waves careening through the fragile brain of your developing infant every time aunt Martha in Wichita wanted to see them kick? Not a great idea.

Instead, pretend that this is our live streaming ultrasound. I keep telling Erin that drinking coffee right now is a bad idea, but what are you going to do?

What a picture is worth

I am sitting here staring at this photograph and I can hardly believe that what is pictured in it is actually inside of me. While it has made its presence known in some (sometimes inconvenient) ways, for the most part it just does not seem like it is there. I cannot feel it moving. I am not quite showing. My fatigue symptoms disappeared a week ago (I only experienced about 5 weeks of that, thank goodness – it was rough).

As far as an update, the nugget moves, grows, and has a heartbeat that apparently is quite normal. Based on the ultrasound, as of Friday 12/12 the ultrasound tech determined our little nugget was 2 inches long and that we were 12 weeks instead of the 11 weeks 5 days previously estimated (creepy...12 on 12/12...) I think this makes the due date June 26 instead of June 28.

Our next appointment with our nurse midwife is January 5th. We probably won’t have another ultrasound until February (at 20 weeks).

And now...to celebrate our love...

*Mario Kart Love Song by Sam Hart