My mom got here last night, we just bought the plastic liner for the birthing tub, and we're stocking up on food. Jonathan's working like crazy to get all his projects in line before he goes on paternity leave, and the cats are acting strange, they know something's up.
It's all coming together!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Mystery gift
Jonathan and I received a wonderful package in the mail consisting of two items in our registry, the stacking magnetic monkey and the squeaky stuffed mouse. We love them, and we know that Wiggle will too.
Only thing is, there was no name attached. I'm in the process of writing thank-you notes, and I want to give credit where credit is due. Does our mystery benefactor wish to come forward? If not, thank you very much, anonymous person!
Only thing is, there was no name attached. I'm in the process of writing thank-you notes, and I want to give credit where credit is due. Does our mystery benefactor wish to come forward? If not, thank you very much, anonymous person!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Our weekend, and my fears on having a handy child
This weekend was so productive! And social. And fun. And now I am totally, completely beat.
Saturday we attended a "babywearing" class at the local organic store. They brought in a guest speaker to show us the five different types of slings/pouches/structured backpacks/wraps, and she used the various infants and toddlers in the audience in her demonstrations. Holly is making us a mei tei, and we're thinking of getting a ring sling too for when Wiggle is first born. Here's some info with pictures: babywearing.
After that Jonathan and I headed to a private photographer's studio to take some pregnancy pictures. The woman is an amateur trying to become professional, and she has a little photography nook set up in her basement. She took about 200 shots, both of me and me with Jonathan, in all kinds of outfits. We're going to get a disk in about a week, and I'm sure we'll post some on the blog.
Later that evening, after a much-needed stop at Costco, it was time for Carl's surprise 30th birthday party! His wife, Anne, had planned it to the tee, and he was honestly shocked - about 60 people showed up in the park to wish him well, and it was a potluck picnic dinner with tons of food and then cake. The nicest thing was that at one point I was hanging out talking to some HUC graduate students when a woman I'd never met before came over and handed me a huge pack of Pampers newborn diapers: "You're having a baby!" she said. "We're not. He grew out of them." And then she took off! This is excellent, because Jonathan and I had just been discussing using a mix of disposables and cloth diapers in the first few weeks after Wiggle's born, so as not to totally overwhelm ourselves with laundry.
Elbie and Dave came over for more Firefly after the party ended, and when they left, Jonathan and I crashed hard. Then Sunday I taught my last day of Sunday school (Friday was my last day of teaching Adult Hebrew), and when I got home, it was time to set up the birthing tub! (picture a five-foot circular tub, three feet deep, in Jonathan's office). Everything's ready now except for the baby itself. And I'm getting ready to be done being pregnant... my feet are swelling like crazy, so I've been putting them up and availing Jonathan for massages.
And speaking of Jonathan - we have completely agreed on using the Montessori method in raising our children, especially in terms of the nursery setup (i.e. having a mattress on the ground instead of a crib). I had thought we agreed so easily because we both are Montessori advocates. Come to find out, that's only part of the reason for Jonathan!
On the phone with his mother last night, I mentioned that we weren't going to have a crib, and Liz said, "oh good!" Then she tells me this story: once when Jonathan was about two, Liz put him down for a nap and didn't hear anything from him. She figured okay, he was sleeping, plus he was a child who could always amuse himself. But when she walked into the nursery a couple of hours later, she saw that the sides of the crib were completely taken down... and that little two-year old Jonathan was happily burbling to himself with all the screws and bolts in his lap! When I mentioned this story to adult Jonathan later that night, when I got off the phone, he was like, "oh yeah... I knew about that, I just didn't want to scare you. Not having a crib will be good thing just in case the baby takes after me!"
Then he told me about the time when he was four and ruined the suspension on his tricycle: he loved Speed Racer, and so hammered nails into the tires so that it would have a good tread on ice. Unfortunately for him, he lived in southern CA in the time and there was no ice! He was very disappointed that his grand plan did nothing for winter, and only made his ride more bumpy.
What will I do if I have a handy child?! For the record, I was very boring and safe. I climbed a few trees and got hit in the head with a soccer ball while playing goalie. As an adult I live for IKEA instructions, and I had no idea how to use a hammer and nails until an embarrassingly old age. What will I do if Wiggle is gifted kinesthetically and good with tools?! These are parenting dilemmas, I tell you, utter dilemmas!
Saturday we attended a "babywearing" class at the local organic store. They brought in a guest speaker to show us the five different types of slings/pouches/structured backpacks/wraps, and she used the various infants and toddlers in the audience in her demonstrations. Holly is making us a mei tei, and we're thinking of getting a ring sling too for when Wiggle is first born. Here's some info with pictures: babywearing.
After that Jonathan and I headed to a private photographer's studio to take some pregnancy pictures. The woman is an amateur trying to become professional, and she has a little photography nook set up in her basement. She took about 200 shots, both of me and me with Jonathan, in all kinds of outfits. We're going to get a disk in about a week, and I'm sure we'll post some on the blog.
Later that evening, after a much-needed stop at Costco, it was time for Carl's surprise 30th birthday party! His wife, Anne, had planned it to the tee, and he was honestly shocked - about 60 people showed up in the park to wish him well, and it was a potluck picnic dinner with tons of food and then cake. The nicest thing was that at one point I was hanging out talking to some HUC graduate students when a woman I'd never met before came over and handed me a huge pack of Pampers newborn diapers: "You're having a baby!" she said. "We're not. He grew out of them." And then she took off! This is excellent, because Jonathan and I had just been discussing using a mix of disposables and cloth diapers in the first few weeks after Wiggle's born, so as not to totally overwhelm ourselves with laundry.
Elbie and Dave came over for more Firefly after the party ended, and when they left, Jonathan and I crashed hard. Then Sunday I taught my last day of Sunday school (Friday was my last day of teaching Adult Hebrew), and when I got home, it was time to set up the birthing tub! (picture a five-foot circular tub, three feet deep, in Jonathan's office). Everything's ready now except for the baby itself. And I'm getting ready to be done being pregnant... my feet are swelling like crazy, so I've been putting them up and availing Jonathan for massages.
And speaking of Jonathan - we have completely agreed on using the Montessori method in raising our children, especially in terms of the nursery setup (i.e. having a mattress on the ground instead of a crib). I had thought we agreed so easily because we both are Montessori advocates. Come to find out, that's only part of the reason for Jonathan!
On the phone with his mother last night, I mentioned that we weren't going to have a crib, and Liz said, "oh good!" Then she tells me this story: once when Jonathan was about two, Liz put him down for a nap and didn't hear anything from him. She figured okay, he was sleeping, plus he was a child who could always amuse himself. But when she walked into the nursery a couple of hours later, she saw that the sides of the crib were completely taken down... and that little two-year old Jonathan was happily burbling to himself with all the screws and bolts in his lap! When I mentioned this story to adult Jonathan later that night, when I got off the phone, he was like, "oh yeah... I knew about that, I just didn't want to scare you. Not having a crib will be good thing just in case the baby takes after me!"
Then he told me about the time when he was four and ruined the suspension on his tricycle: he loved Speed Racer, and so hammered nails into the tires so that it would have a good tread on ice. Unfortunately for him, he lived in southern CA in the time and there was no ice! He was very disappointed that his grand plan did nothing for winter, and only made his ride more bumpy.
What will I do if I have a handy child?! For the record, I was very boring and safe. I climbed a few trees and got hit in the head with a soccer ball while playing goalie. As an adult I live for IKEA instructions, and I had no idea how to use a hammer and nails until an embarrassingly old age. What will I do if Wiggle is gifted kinesthetically and good with tools?! These are parenting dilemmas, I tell you, utter dilemmas!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Hunger site
I found out recently that at least two rabbinical students had never heard of this website. I was shocked. So here I am posting it:
The Hunger Site
You click on it once a day and sponsors donate one cup of food to the hungry. They also have the Breast Cancer Site, Child Health Site, Literacy Site, Rainforest Site, and Animal Rescue Site. All of it's totally legit, you can check out their sponsor list. I get daily emails reminding me to click.
It's all about the little ways of helping to save the world!
The Hunger Site
You click on it once a day and sponsors donate one cup of food to the hungry. They also have the Breast Cancer Site, Child Health Site, Literacy Site, Rainforest Site, and Animal Rescue Site. All of it's totally legit, you can check out their sponsor list. I get daily emails reminding me to click.
It's all about the little ways of helping to save the world!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
38 and a half weeks
The belly is now HUGE.Sunday, September 14, 2008
We're fine
Not that we wouldn't be; but we're getting 50mph winds from Ike and about 800,000 people in this area don't have power and aren't expected to for 3 to 5 days. The power in our area is intermittent, but getting more stable as we speak. Huge pieces of the aluminum siding on our neighbor's house are being blown away and are landing in our yard, lots of trees are down, and traffic lights are out everywhere. All flights in and out of Cincinnati have been cancelled. Maura's coming to sleep over since she's powerless - it's taken her 30 minutes to go 2 miles.
Baby shower pictures
Yay for gifts!The rest of the baby shower pictures are here. Realize that not nearly everyone at the shower was in a picture. A few avoided their picture being taken at all costs, and Maura, the hostess, was the one behind the camera.
This is the monkey Jonathan and his friends won for Wiggle. He's so soft and fluffy!
And lastly, even though Wiggle isn't born yet, we still have adorable babies. Here's Daddy and Simcha.Saturday, September 13, 2008
Baby shower!
It was awesome. Maura did an an amazing job setting up - you'd never have known it was HUC, with streamers, balloons, party favors, and banners. I carpooled with Elbie, we got there and said hi to everyone, sixteen women from all parts of my life (rabbinical students, spouses of rabbinical students, grad students, someone from Rockdale, someone from the American Jewish Archives, and spouses of Jonathan's coworkers). There was Baby Bingo, cutting ribbon to guess how long it was around my belly, a "date of birth" betting pool, and TONS of good food. Then opening gifts - yay onesies and baby bathtubs and toys and cute clothing! I feel much more prepared now in terms of "stuff." Overall it lasted about an hour and a half. I had a great time, and the few people I've seen since said that they had fun too. Pictures to follow.
I also set up a surprise "guy baby shower" for Jonathan on Friday night which went really well. I had told him we had a mystery date planned, so he thought it was something romantic. Instead Dave and Carl picked him up at the house at 7pm and they all went to Dave and Buster's, and met a few more guys there. At the end they all pooled their tokens to get this great big monkey stuffed animal for Wiggle. Jonathan was all excited when he got home. :)
Right now I have a cold, so I spent most of the day sleeping. I even called in sick to Sunday school tomorrow, which I feel really badly about since it's only the second day. But between having trouble walking and getting up, plus not being able to breathe, it's probably good I'm taking it easy.
I also set up a surprise "guy baby shower" for Jonathan on Friday night which went really well. I had told him we had a mystery date planned, so he thought it was something romantic. Instead Dave and Carl picked him up at the house at 7pm and they all went to Dave and Buster's, and met a few more guys there. At the end they all pooled their tokens to get this great big monkey stuffed animal for Wiggle. Jonathan was all excited when he got home. :)
Right now I have a cold, so I spent most of the day sleeping. I even called in sick to Sunday school tomorrow, which I feel really badly about since it's only the second day. But between having trouble walking and getting up, plus not being able to breathe, it's probably good I'm taking it easy.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
3 weeks left!
Charmaine has very graciously informed me that I am woefully behind on picture posts of my belly. And here I was thinking I didn't want to overwhelm you all by putting up too many pictures of what to me, looks like the same thing! Tell you what though... my baby shower is tomorrow night, and so Friday I'll write a long entry and put up multiple shots.
For those who are counting, I'm now 37 and a half weeks. That makes me officially full-term, meaning that if I have the baby now, he won't be considered premature. Though I'm due at the end of the month, I have this feeling that Wiggly will be an October baby... first-time moms are notoriously late, and nothing in my body so far has told me that I'm getting close. Of course, watch me now go into labor next week!
Either way, I'll keep you updated. :)
For those who are counting, I'm now 37 and a half weeks. That makes me officially full-term, meaning that if I have the baby now, he won't be considered premature. Though I'm due at the end of the month, I have this feeling that Wiggly will be an October baby... first-time moms are notoriously late, and nothing in my body so far has told me that I'm getting close. Of course, watch me now go into labor next week!
Either way, I'll keep you updated. :)
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Daily life
I was intending to put up lots of pictures of Yellow Springs, but they didn't come out so well. Sorry folks. But here is myself, Jonathan, Myfanwy, and my cousin Ari.
This has been a weekend of overseas connections. I've managed to talk to both my dad and sister via webcam, and last night we got home from Shabbat dinner at Ari's late enough that we were able to stay up and call Becca in Korea. Then this arrived in the mail:
Glenna sent it, from Uganda! She even scanned a note that got printed out and mailed to us with the package. Osher likes the stuffed animal just as much as Wiggly will, I'm sure.
Here is Simcha recovering from his trip to the dentist. He had four teeth pulled. Poor Jonathan went to the dentist yesterday, so they commiserated in their time of trial through serious snuggling.
Today I babysat for Carl and Anne's daughters, 3 and 1, and LOVED it. Little kids are so awesome, you can practically see them learning. Tomorrow starts Sunday school, and it'll be good to get back into the classroom. I'm teaching 3rd grade again, same curriculum as last year, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I just have to make sure I have enough energy to teach. But I know myself - I'll get all pepped up for the time I'm at temple, then I'll come home and absolutely crash. At least for the next few weeks, I have a great excuse for naps!
This has been a weekend of overseas connections. I've managed to talk to both my dad and sister via webcam, and last night we got home from Shabbat dinner at Ari's late enough that we were able to stay up and call Becca in Korea. Then this arrived in the mail:
Glenna sent it, from Uganda! She even scanned a note that got printed out and mailed to us with the package. Osher likes the stuffed animal just as much as Wiggly will, I'm sure.
Here is Simcha recovering from his trip to the dentist. He had four teeth pulled. Poor Jonathan went to the dentist yesterday, so they commiserated in their time of trial through serious snuggling.Today I babysat for Carl and Anne's daughters, 3 and 1, and LOVED it. Little kids are so awesome, you can practically see them learning. Tomorrow starts Sunday school, and it'll be good to get back into the classroom. I'm teaching 3rd grade again, same curriculum as last year, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I just have to make sure I have enough energy to teach. But I know myself - I'll get all pepped up for the time I'm at temple, then I'll come home and absolutely crash. At least for the next few weeks, I have a great excuse for naps!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Yellow Springs!
I wasn't going to post this until I downloaded pictures.. but it seems like that will be awhile! So here is a picture-less post. Check back later for like 20 photos.
So Sunday afternoon Jonathan and I foraged out of our standard Cincinnati weekend fare and drove about an hour away to Yellow Springs, OH. It's like a little Berkeley, with greenery, tiny little shops selling organic and hemp products, a small indie theatre, and more. We had a blast wandering in and out of stores, window shopping, shopping shopping, and drinking yummy smoothies. My cousin Ari and his girlfriend were camping in a nearby national park and we all met up for dinner at a local pizza place. It's so funny, Ari and I haven't seen each other in person in nearly five years, but it was like no time had passed. I love those relationships.
The cats apparently were entertained while we were gone, because when we got home we found a symbol of their love and affection for us... i.e. a dead fly in one of Jonathan's shoes. Simcha's meow totally meant, "Look Dad, we went hunting! Aren't you proud?!" Today the little hunter is back at the vet, getting his heart checked out and having a dental cleaning. Wish him luck!
The Birth play was awesome last Friday as well - Birth on Labor Day, how much more appropriate can you get?
Oh, and for anyone who's interested, the organic/non-organic baby mattress debate was easily solved when we found out that the organic ones cost upwards of $600. Original Mattress Factory it is!
So Sunday afternoon Jonathan and I foraged out of our standard Cincinnati weekend fare and drove about an hour away to Yellow Springs, OH. It's like a little Berkeley, with greenery, tiny little shops selling organic and hemp products, a small indie theatre, and more. We had a blast wandering in and out of stores, window shopping, shopping shopping, and drinking yummy smoothies. My cousin Ari and his girlfriend were camping in a nearby national park and we all met up for dinner at a local pizza place. It's so funny, Ari and I haven't seen each other in person in nearly five years, but it was like no time had passed. I love those relationships.
The cats apparently were entertained while we were gone, because when we got home we found a symbol of their love and affection for us... i.e. a dead fly in one of Jonathan's shoes. Simcha's meow totally meant, "Look Dad, we went hunting! Aren't you proud?!" Today the little hunter is back at the vet, getting his heart checked out and having a dental cleaning. Wish him luck!
The Birth play was awesome last Friday as well - Birth on Labor Day, how much more appropriate can you get?
Oh, and for anyone who's interested, the organic/non-organic baby mattress debate was easily solved when we found out that the organic ones cost upwards of $600. Original Mattress Factory it is!
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