Additions

Just a few things that I have been meaning to write about, but have either not had the time to do it or felt that there were more important things to write about!

Pregnancy Update:

Last Tuesday I took the boys and met with Kip, one of the three midwives at the Greenhouse Birth Center. We finally decided that the home birth midwife we interviewed didn't feel right and our other option locally for a home birth is the birth center. They will do home births if requested as long as there are no other mothers in labor when you go into labor. Their policy is such that they have two midwives at every birth and they can do multiple births simultaneously at the birth center, but not at individual homes. An average birth month for them is about 8 births and due in March, including myself, there are 14 women!  There is a good chance I will be making the trek to the birth center; however, they have great birthing tubs and the prospect of a water birth excites me. The other bonus is that I have been so involved with the birth center in the last year I already know all the midwives quite well and I love them all. I feel very comfortable there. I  am a board member! Some home birthing women would never settle for this situation, but both Matt and I feel very certain that this is the right decision for us.

The meeting with Kip was wonderful! We went over the usual health/birth history info while the boys played in the toy room (and Arlo played everywhere). We had easy, comfortable conversation, except for when I had to stop Arlo from getting into something, writing on something or eating something he shouldn't! I heard the heart beat and it was in the 130's/140's, very normal, healthy and strong.

I'll go back in 2 weeks for my 16 week check up and this time I am not bringing the kids!

Knitting Update:

While I was in my 6 week stint of ick, I didn't do any knitting and it has taken me a couple weeks of feeling good and catching up with everything else to reach a point where I feel like I can sit down and knit. But I finally made it to that point and I have been knitting!

I finished this sweater for my friend Stacy and her new baby, Carter. It only took me 8 weeks! Now I just need to mail it and I hope that doesn't take me another 8 weeks...

I started my next project, Ginger's baby's sweater, last night. I am finally knitting with actual Debbie Bliss yarn; something I have wanted to do for years, but could never really afford. It is such a pretty color and so nice to knit with.

Chicken Update:

We finally have eggs! But our silly chickens laid the eggs in a mud puddle outside! I conferred with my friend Ann and she suggested putting a wooden egg in one of the nesting boxes to encourage them to lay in the appropriate place. We'll see...so far no more eggs, but the weather has been dark and gloomy and cold and wet. 

First Day

Today is a day of firsts...Sam's first day of school, Arlo's first day without a big brother around all day, and my first day with Sam gone all day. WOW! I simply can not believe this day has come.

This is the "All About Me" poster Sam and I had to make for school. It was his first homework assignment. I love the "hot dog train" and the trail-a-bike drawing he asked me to make. 
Sam and I worked on a quilt together for his nap time at school. He requested the quilt when we first learned that he would be taking a nap. The process started with us looking in my fabric stash. He found the red bug fabric ( I bought 8 years ago to make Matt boxers, never did...good thing) and then we found the red cotton (bought about 5 years ago and made Pat a table cloth). From there he told me he wanted his name on the front and we went to the fabric store. He chose the batik green and yellow fabric for the bug body and the shiny wing fabric. Over a week of nap times he would play in the sewing room while I sewed. He loved watching it all come together. Then he and I looked at fonts on the computer. He chose the "varsity" style because he said it looks like a baseball shirt!  We printed his name out and then cut out the letters in the fabric.  At his orientation last week we learned that the kids needed pillows as well and Sam requested a matching pillow...so, you see I used some scraps and it all looks pretty nice. He is very happy with it.

Last Week

SAM: 

• had a toothache 
• went to the dentist
• had the tooth pulled
  
• now has a "tooth hole"
• put the tooth next to his bed for the tooth fairy (who came tonight, shhhh)
• went school shopping and acquired new Spiderman shoes and lunchbox
• went to preschool orientation and met his new teachers

ARLO:

• added "bee" and "hello" to his list of words which includes so many words his mama can't even list them
• caused his mother to say "OH, ARLO!" approximately 500 times
• fell asleep in a pile of blankets next to the bonfire we had last night
• intentionally farted in his mama's face while getting a diaper change

MATT:

• did 5 loads of laundry over the weekend to help his lovely wife catch up
• harvested all the buckwheat in the garden using a borrowed scythe 
• built an amazing bonfire for his family and some close friends
• taught another week of his class which is challenging him in good ways
• harvested and ate approximately one dozen pears from his pear tree

AMANDA:

• finally had enough energy to keep up with her three very busy boys...
• but didn't have quite enough energy to post a long list of recent photos....soon to come....

Big Boy...

Sam opted to take a shower tonight over a bath with Arlo. I asked him to please wash his hair and use soap. He spent about 10 minutes in there, turned the shower off, stepped out, dried himself off (dropped his towel on the floor), walked out of the bathroom and said, " Whew, my just had a really good shower!"

He had washed his hair and even dried it. 

Then he crawled into my bed and began telling me about all the rocks he collected today.

When did he become such a big boy?

11 Weeks

Today marks 11 weeks in the pregnancy. I am beginning to feel better more regularly and the bad days have become less than full days. I might feel really cruddy for part of a day, but I haven't had a whole nasty day in a while. I am still puking from time to time (like after our fancy anniversary dinner!), mostly I feel pretty good. As long I get to bed before 9 p.m. and take the Zofran regularly, I do alright.

Friends keep saying to me that "girls steal their mother's beauty"...and I think they say this to cheer me up!! Though I am looking pretty grim these days and am definitely ready for the "glow" to set in! The hormones are doing a number on my skin this time, with pretty bad acne on my chest, back and neck. The photos below were taken yesterday. I think you can tell I am beginning to show already and I have finally opened my box of maternity clothes....ugh.

We met with a midwife on Saturday and she seemed very nice and competent, but there was something about our personalities that didn't feel right. Matt felt pretty uncomfortable around her and after a few days to mull over the meeting, I also felt like it wasn't a good fit. We did here the heartbeat and the placenta and of course, I cried!  We're going to keep looking into our other options for home births and keep plugging along through this first trimester. 

I've been Tagged!

Dreaming It Up tagged me...and, honey, of course I'll play!!

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

Oh, gosh....Matt and I hadn't quite met so in the late summer of 1998 I was dating a fun guy named Pat and we had lots of fun together as friends....the dating thing never worked out (obviously). I was living in Bozeman, MT, going to school, working for a little hippy shop called the Caravan, that no longer exists. I lived in a townhouse with 4 other guys!! They were my adopted big brothers and I loved living with them. In about a month from now I would meet Matt...

2. What are 5 things on my "to-do" list, not in any particular order?

a. Finish eating my oatmeal!

b. Get dressed.

c. Take the trash out to the curb.

d. Feed the chickens.

e. Clean up the breakfast dishes.

3. Snacks I enjoy:

This is a good on for a pregnant woman!  I love chocolate, of course. Those baked snap pea things they market as kids snacks, but I can eat the whole bag. Nice ripe fruit...especially peaches right now. Cheese and crackers....

4.Places I've Lived:

I'll keep it to the states: Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Kansas, Washington State, and Michigan!

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay any family debts, including our mortgage. Put cedar shingles on the outside of our house! Set aside college funds for the kids...I'd do whatever I wanted!

6. What are some jobs you've had?

Dishwasher, caterer, waitress, retail in an imports shop, sporting goods store, hippy stores of all kinds, landscaping, grounds maintenance, collection agent, internet researcher, teacher, and mother!

7. People I want to know more about:

Anyone who reads this and has a blog....you've been tagged and I'd like to know more about you. If I don't know your blog, leave the link in a comment!

Confessions of a Tired Mama: Playing Catch-Up

As all of you who read regularly already know, the last 6 weeks have been pretty rough around here. Between my all-day-morning-sickness; Matt's incredible work load (major grant writing and prep for teaching his new class); Sam's bee mishap; Arlo's sinus and ear infections; and Matt's wicked sinus infection, we've been neglecting the homestead just a little bit! I just finally downloaded photos from both cameras which date back to mid-June!! So, I'll play catch-up today with a hodgepodge of photos....enjoy!

These are of Sam's new room, which we finally moved him into last weekend. Arlo has his own room now and everything (clothes, toys, shoes) is organized. I love it! Sam has seemed to finally adjust to sleeping in a room alone and the last two nights has slept all night in his own bed. Arlo didn't need any adjustment...he's been sleeping just fine!

In late June our good friend David E. took Sam to his first minor league baseball game here in Lansing. They saw the Lansing Lugnuts play and Sam had a great time, ate hot dogs, and even made a friend.

On the garden-front: it has been very dry around here and we haven't been watering. Things are looking pretty sad. However, we had a great month from mid-June to mid-July. We harvested a bunch of lettuces, garlic scapes, and the buckwheat really had a good start. It is about 2 feet tall right now! Pretty impressive! The pollinators love it and it is all abuzz when I walk by in the mornings on my way to the chickens (which, by the way, are not laying eggs yet, though close, we think). Powdery Mildew got to our pumpkins and we'll have 4 medium sized pumpkins to harvest...and soon! One is almost completely orange already! These photos are from late-June.

Matt took the boys for a bike ride in mid-July and Sam was able to try out his new Trail-A-Bike. A friend spotted the deal of a century at a local thrift shop and we scored big time!! Sam has a great time riding it. Matt found a great lamp and table left along side the river trail and masterfully attached it to the bike trailer! Sam was very impressed and the lamp now lives in his room.

And certainly last, but not least, here is Arlo's latest (and greatest) art project. I am convinced he's a genius...after all that is the letter "A" for "Arlo"...or is it "Anarchy"?!  All the recent Sesame Street must be paying off!