I have so many little matters to tell you of, that I cannot wait any longer before I begin to put them down.
May 8th, 2009 by ECM
Derek won his first case today, so to celebrate, Tommy and I made him chocolate chip cookies! Tommy has become obsessed with cooking and baking–as soon as I tell him it’s time to eat, he says, “I help!” and pulls over the chair to stand on. (And he gets upset when the task is something like cutting up raw chicken and he can’t help…) He made waffles for Hannah on Wed, muffins for Addy and Gabe on Thurs, and cookies today. I think we’ll have pancakes for breakfast so he can help more tomorrow…
May 7th, 2009 by ECM
Nope, the baby’s not here, and we’re not going out to Maryland now. Don’t really want to talk about it today.
Last night’s farm share was the biggest we’ve had yet:
That’s five more heads of broccoli, carrots, spinach, romaine lettuce, asparagus, chives, and radishes.
And I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much asparagus in my life…Derek lined it up just for fun:
Too bad I hate asparagus. Even the smell of it cooking. Especially when I’m already cranky and uncomfortable. So we’re going to grill out this weekend, and Derek promises he will take care of it all and do it outside so I don’t have to smell it. I think we might have to give a bunch of it away, though.
Last week I kept thinking I was going to have the baby, so I didn’t plan too much in the way of using up our veggies…we still have three heads of broccoli and a bunch of scallions from last week! So since I’m now convinced the baby won’t be coming until we induce next Wed, I’m trying to organize more meals…chicken/broccoli stir-fry, rice loaf, broccoli-cheddar soup, etc…and Tommy and I already made Carrot-Applesauce Muffins this morning because we felt domestic at 6:30 am.
May 6th, 2009 by ECM
May 5th, 2009 by ECM
If three and a half hours of fresh air and exercise could induce labor, I’d be in the hospital by now. Tommy was up early, so we hit the mean sidewalks of Chicago at 6:45 and visited the grocery store, picked up bagels for breakfast, had a diaper change break back home, then walked over to Starbucks and explored the North Park neighborhood before hitting up the playground. Tommy bounced me on the wobbly bridge, but no contractions resulted.
For something a little more cheerful, here’s the latest video (finally uploaded) of Tommy trying to spell Muller (he’s still got some work to do):
May 4th, 2009 by ECM
Thanks for everybody who has checked in on me today…if I haven’t called or emailed you back, it’s because I have nothing real to report and it’s just been a bummer. So today is my duedate, and at 3:55 am I woke up from a vivid dream where my water had broken. I got up and went to the bathroom and thought that it really had, then I came back to bed and thought I was having contractions for the next hour. I was so excited, and finally at 5:20 I woke up Derek to suggest that we should call his parents since it was after 6 for them. He had missed out on everything (apparently he woke up enough to turn his alarm off when I talked to him at 3:55, but he’d slept through the subsequent hour of “I think this is another contraction” murmers) and asked me if I was sure. I realized that if my water had broken for real, it should have been leaking more like it did with Tommy. I wasn’t really leaking, but I wasn’t sure. Then I decided to wait for one more contraction before calling Mom and Dad Muller. It never came. So I think I just psyched myself out about the whole thing. Tommy did decide to get up at 6 am, though, so I didn’t really get to catch up on that missed sleep.
I’ve been crampy and uncomfortable all day, so it was encouraging to go in the the OB at 1 and have her say I was 3 cm dilated. Hey, I know it still doesn’t really mean that much, but I HAVE been making progress each week. And I was 3.5 cm after three hours hard labor with Tommy, so when it really does happen, I’ve got less to go than last time. She stripped my membranes again (I didn’t know you could do that twice), then I came home and drank more raspberry leaf tea, so I’m definitely crampy and contracty this afternoon. Of course, last Monday I cramped and contracted for 15 hours and it just settled down to nothing, so I’m not super-optimistic that this discomfort is doing anything. Hannah was here to watch Tommy during my check-up, and she was optimistic that she’ll be back by tonight…let’s hope she’s right!
Yesterday everybody came up to me at church and told me how sorry they were to see me there. It was really sweet! Our pastor came over and asked how I was, and I told him that honestly, I wished I was at the hospital rather than church. As a father of five, he was very understanding and prayed for us right there–even asking that I would have to get up and leave in the middle of his sermon to go to the hospital! Well, it was a good sermon, so I’m glad I heard the whole thing. I’d heard that Maggiano’s eggplant parmesan induces labor, so we went there for lunch and had a fun and productive Sunday. (Derek is really sick of the phrase “I hear that _____ induces labor”… of course, I’m only trying the pleasant-sounding things–walks, raspberry leaf tea, eggplant parmesan, pineapple, etc.) A few more errands, another load of laundry, and I feel like we’re (still) ready…
Looking ahead, I have an appointment scheduled with my normal OB-GYN for next Monday, and if I haven’t gone before then, we’ll go ahead and induce next Wednesday (the 13th) when he is going to be at the hospital. That will be almost a week and a half past the duedate, so I feel pretty comfortable having that date. And I know that I will no longer be pregnant in ten days!
May 2nd, 2009 by ECM
Now that these quilts have made their way to their new owners, I can share what I’ve been working on this winter and spring…
Here’s the baby quilt I made for Emily. The pattern is called “Cracker Box” and takes lots of tiny scraps, so I have to save up scraps from several quilts before I have enough to make one of these. Navy polka dots to match Baby Somerville’s room, of course!
I had a ton of “in progress” pictures of Hannah and I working on Mariel’s wedding quilt all winter, but unfortunately most of them got lost when my computer crashed last month. Mariel will just have to imagine us plugging away on it on cold Monday afternoons…Here’s one in-progress shot of Hannah showing off the quilt layers ready to be quilted together:
And here we are, proudly showing off the finished product!
For those who wonder, the pattern is “yellow brick road” and the fabrics–picked out by Mariel last fall–are Amy Butler’s “midwest modern” collection. I loved working on this for the past six or so months because I would never have picked out these fabrics myself (I tend to go for civil war reprints), but they are perfect for Mariel and so much fun to work with! They cheered me up on the dreariest Chicago days. =)
This is definitely my favorite hobby. Quilting is relaxing and fun for me, it’s a creative outlet because I always try to make each quilt a little different, and because so much of the process is repetitive, I have a lot of time to pray for the recipient as I work. I can also tell you what tv-series-on-dvd Derek and I were watching for most of my quilts (lots of A-Team during the early stages of Mariel’s quilt, Mission: Impossible for Emily’s, and Jeeves and Wooster for some of last year’s productions).
And for the record, both of my college roommates are now provided with homemade quilts. As much as I would love to make a queen-sized quilt for every dear friend who gets married, I have a feeling that I’ll have even less time for hobbies with two kids, so I’ve made the decision to limit this particular gifting tradition to roomies. Baby quilts are more manageable…so everybody else should just have babies (after getting married, of course)!
May 1st, 2009 by ECM
So this week I was kindof bumming (okay, really bumming to the point of tears) when we passed the make-it-to-Mariel’s-wedding deadline without a baby. Not only did I reallyreallyreally want to be there on Mariel and Derek’s big day, but I wanted to see all the dear Hillsdale friends who will be there, I wanted the Dr. Sundahl Historic Tour, and I wanted the baby to be here! So it was such a blessing to get an unexpected Jane Austen-themed care package in the mail from my favorite DC roommates:
Miniatures and Morals has intrigued me (and sat on my amazon wishlist) for some time, I LOVE collections of Austen’s witty sayings, and the selected letters has beautiful illustrations. I had heard of the Jane Austen action figure some time ago, but it is so much funnier in real life! Her weapon of choice: Character Study! I laughed outloud when I read the box. Jane is now sitting on my desk, looking over my computer as I prep for class or blog:
THANK YOU, Regina and Margee, for a delightful care package. You girls really cheered me up while providing me with excellent middle-of-the-night-nursing-session reading! Now the baby just has to come so I can get going on it…
Apr 30th, 2009 by ECM
This week was pretty much all normal stuff that I actually buy at the grocery store–carrots, lettuce, potatoes, and broccoli–plus a couple fun new things–collard greens and scallions. Last week we didn’t get a box because the cold weather has pushed back the season, so I caught up on using up all of our old stuff and am excitedly planning this week’s menu. Up for tonight–a Martha Stewart recipe for Pasta, Prosciutto, and Potato Pie! So last week I got a great recipe for pasties from a UP-er…any southerners have good collard greens dishes we should try?
Apr 29th, 2009 by ECM
Recently my friend Dana told me that she’s been trying to foster Reagan’s independence by giving her little choices during the day. She’s been reading about how kids between the ages of 2 and 3 are capable of making small decisions and even dressing themselves (not our kiddos yet, though…maybe when they get closer to 3…). I had to laugh when I heard that because I am still totally treating him like he can’t do anything himself! So I decided to take two areas where it doesn’t really matter and let Tommy make some decisions. This past week, I’ve been giving him a couple healthy options for breakfast (though I can usually predict which one he’ll choose). Lunch and dinner are still what I decide to serve him, but there are many ways that he can have a good breakfast. I’m also letting him help me pick out his clothes for the day. I decide whether we’re going to look in his shorts or pants drawer and if he’s wearing short-sleeved or long-sleeved shirts. But otherwise, he’s had a lot of fun picking out his clothes! Of course the overalls go on if they are ever an option, and he’s really big on wearing his Navy shirts from Uncle John. This morning I tried to explain to him that we can’t see the USNA letters if he wears it with overalls, but he still wanted to. So here’s what he picked out for himself today… (He spent the next half hour telling me what he hadn’t picked out–“not dinosaur shirt, not red shirt, not bow tie…”)
Rachelle asked me this weekend if I’m having any weird nesting impulses…I am, and they’re getting worse every time I have a false alarm (like contractions again last night that woke me up for two hours before disappearing). The main thing is laundry–I have this huge fear that I’m going to leave dirty laundry in the hamper when we go to the hospital. Don’t know why this matters so much to me, but every time I’ve had contractions, I’ve hurried to collect as much as I can and thrown a load in the washer, even if it’s 2 am. As if our moms can’t do laundry, too… I also feel stressed about having enough food in the house–I’m stocking up every time I go out. We’ve had to work hard to eat down everything I’ve bought, and our moms are capable of grocery shopping, too. =) But somehow an empty hamper and a full fridge make me feel ready to go!
Actually, we’re down to half a gallon of milk, so maybe Tommy and I should make an Aldi run before Derek comes home…who knows! Maybe tonight will be the night…