Trial by Fire

Thanks & Update

2011-04-09T11:02:00.004-05:00

First of all, thanks to everyone who filled out my survey! It was very helpful, and now I know how I'll set up the online registration for Bible study.

Now for a long-overdue update. Since I can't cover everything since the last time I blogged (when was the last time I really blogged???), I'm just going to give a snapshot of what's going on right now.

The biggest thing on my mind now is planning for next year. We've decided to homeschool Rachel for Kindergarten, and I've been putting a lot of energy into fine-tuning what that will look like. For the past 2 years, I've been "playing homeschool" for pre-school, so this isn't a totally new thing. But it does feel a little scary to be homeschooling "for real".

In the past, I've used the preschool curriculum from Sonlight. My honest opinion...I love their books, hate the schedule, and hate the price.

This year, I'm piecing together my own stuff. We'll see how this goes. So far, I'm planning for K:

1) Bible: Awana at church. My attempts to have Rachel memorize scripture have fallen flat and I figure it's better to have someone else handle this.

2) Math: Singapore Math 1. She's one chapter from finishing Singapore K Earlybird.

3) Handwriting: Copywork and dictation (she's already decent at writing uppercase and lowercase letters, thanks to Handwriting Without Tears.) At this point she's totally bored with formal handwriting, so I think more meaningful practice would be the way to go.

4) History: Story of the World. We've already very slowly started this. Here are some pictures of Rachel and Rebekah being archaeologists. (We did this before the snow melted, so this was our indoor alternative to digging in the dirt).

I'm still conflicted about this curriculum, though...wondering if it's too soon to introduce history and if we should start with geography instead. Sonlight does this for the K curriculum, but I'm really trying to avoid shelling out that much money, when I know I won't like the schedule. We'll see.

5) Spanish: We're doing both Spanish Champs and Muzzy. Liking both so far, except it's a little tricky in that Muzzy does Spanish from Spain, and Spanish Champs is Latin American. You can't have everything fit together perfectly, and at this level it probably doesn't matter much. They're learning a lot! (And so am I!)

6) Science: I'm so undecided here, probably because this is my field, and because my views don't really line up with those that predominate most of the homeschool world. For now, I'm sending her to Quarry Hill nature camp this summer.

7) Reading: Using read-alouds suggested by Story of the World, and many of the second-grade readers suggested by Sonlight, along with lots of supplementing from the Library.
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Now, in the last week or so it's dawned on me that I have a big problem, or opportunity depending on how you look at it. My problem/opportunity is that I have a lovely, beautiful, wonderful almost 3-year-old named Rebekah, who is very active, excited, full-of-life, and bouncing-off-the-walls. A future athlete for sure, completely different from her scholarly older sister.

Example: First day home from our trip to California this is what they ask:
Rebekah: Can I play outside?
Rachel: Can I do math?

I have no idea what to do with Rebekah, but I've got to figure out something because Rachel has trouble concentrating in the presence of such exuberance. For a few days, I toyed with sending her to preschool. This year, Rachel has done a preschool music enrichment class one day a week. We really liked that, but the problems are: 1) 20 minute drive, 2) Rebekah is not old enough for the enrichment class.
We could do a regular 2 or 3 day a week 3 y/o class, but with all the driving involved, it would really give me very little time to work with Rachel, plus 90 minutes in the car per time. Plus monthly tuition! No thank you.
I found out about another preschool much closer (5 minutes) from my house. I was all jazzed till I found out they have to be 3 by June 1st!! Rebekah's birthday is in August. So perhaps this is God's way of telling me I need to plan her homeschool education too, and make it work.

This site is full of great ideas: Preschoolers and Peace. Perhaps I could use that tuition money to invest in some great educational toys/games that Rebekah could do while Rachel does her stuff. We'll see.

The whole idea of scheduling is kind of foreign to me, but I think will need to be implemented for next year. Thus far we are pretty much "unschooling", in that I have a lot of curriculum lying around that they're free to use when they feel like it, along with lots of unstructured play time. I think having more schedules/routines would help them (and me) keep a little more sanity, keep the house a little more clean, and keep them from the amount of bickering that can result when they're bored/tired. I don't like to be too rigid though, because life with littles is just naturally full of interruptions. It's a delicate balance.

Finally, let's not forget handsome little Paul. He's 5 months old, mellow as ever. The girls love him and so do I. He pretty much tags along with whatever we're doing, and nurses or naps when he needs to. Here's this handsome little man:

This is a test...

2011-03-24T21:22:00.002-05:00

This is only a test :). I've recently acquired a volunteer "job" doing the registrations, etc for my Bible study. Being the geek that I am, I thought it might be cool to make it all online (currently all on paper), and so I'm testing out this form thingy to see if it would work.
The form below is purely for fun (and to test the form website out)...if you'd fill it out I'd be most grateful. Warning: any hilarious answers may be re-posted on this blog of for all to see.

Fill out my form!

Paul's Birth

2011-02-24T18:00:00.003-06:00

Well, given that my sweet son is almost 4 months old now, it's high time I wrote down his birth story.

For reference, here are Rachel's and Rebekah's birth stories.

For the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy, I struggled about the potential timing of Paul's birth, along with frequent contractions that never went anywhere. This was my first birth living far away from home. My in-laws were flying in November 3rd (which was around 39 weeks), and my doula was out of the country till a few days before that. So, I knew that an early baby would be highly inconvenient. Rachel had been an early baby (37 weeks 5 days). Likewise, my in-laws were leaving on November 17th, so a late baby would also have been highly inconvenient. Rebekah had been a late baby (41 weeks 2 days).

Thankfully, baby Paul decided to cooperate. The night before he was born (Nov 4), Dan and I went on a date (while my in-laws babysat, having just arrived the day before). We ate dinner and then wandered the tunnels and skyways of Mayo Clinic. I told Dan I was giving this baby an eviction notice.

We went home, and went to sleep. Then I had a very vivid dream that my water had broken. Then I woke up and found that it was TRUE!!! It was around 4am, Nov 5th. I tried to clean up, ran some laundry, called my doula, and leisurely packed. We arrived at the hospital around 7am. I was about 3-4 cm dilated. They hooked me up to the monitor (wireless telemetry) and hep-lock IV. I was so thrilled to be free of wires for the first time! (Mayo is much more lenient for VBACs than was Loma Linda). I walked laps around the nurses station for quite some time, trying to get strong contractions going. When my doula arrived, she joined me in my "marathon". Every few laps, I would stop so they could get a good reading on the fetal monitor. By 11am, I was tired, so my doula did some massage which put me to sleep. Around noon, the midwife talked to us about her concerns. Since my water had broken 8 hours earlier and I hadn't really begun labor, she was worried about possible infection. She wanted to get the ball rolling, with pitocin. Since pitocin had been forbidden with my previous VBAC, I was hesitant. However, she explained that the risk of uterine rupture comes from hard contractions, not from pitocin itself. And given that at the moment I was having few contractions at all, the risk was small. We agreed to go with pitocin, and it was absolutely the right choice.

It was about 2pm by the time the pitocin got going, and my contractions picked up almost immediately. After that, everything got hazy for me. I had fairly hard back labor, but I never got to the point of screaming for an epidural as I had for Rebekah. I imagine this had to do with my freedom of movement this time around. I mostly labored on the birth ball, and my doula (Lynn) and Dan did a fabulous job helping me through contractions. My nurse and midwife were also there for most of that time. I felt very supported!

They didn't really check my dilation very much (thankfully!), but I do know that after about 3 hours I was complete. Then came pushing. I was a bit nervous about this part, since I'd never done it without drugs before. It was rather exhausting by the end (it took 2 hours), but not as horribly painful as I'd envisioned it.

It turns out that Paul was posterior--and was born sunny-side up. The midwife knew the whole time I was pushing, but didn't want to tell me. She didn't want to disrupt me as I was "in my zone". That was probably a good thing. He cried immediately. I was nervous to do skin-to-skin right away. He was so slippery and I was so weak--I didn't want to drop him! So they cleaned him up and I was holding him within a few minutes. He was so alert and latched on right away!
He weighed 8 pounds even, my smallest baby.

This was the birth I always wanted to have. After the c-section w/ nursing problems for Rachel and the medicated VBAC with breathing/jaundice problems for Rebekah, I'm so thankful for an uncomplicated, unmedicated VBAC. So much of this birth's success has to do with having a midwife this time. I really think that midwives practicing in a hospital setting is an ideal setup. They view birth as a normal process and don't have a panic attack and tell me I'm stupid for attempting a VBAC. At the same time, if something really does go wrong, the doctors are right there for backup.

Next time...I plan on being with the Mayo midwives and having Lynn as my doula again!

New Look

2010-08-11T20:05:00.000-05:00

This blog needed a major overhaul. I'm not done with it yet, but it was severely outdated.

More posts to come.

In the meantime, I'm praying for my new friend Bethi and her little one's health.
See her blog.

Carseats, Carseats

2010-07-26T05:47:00.001-05:00

I'm actually blogging twice in one month. Woah!

I have a friend with whom I regularly trade babysitting. She is great--another (future) homeschooler and her two girls are about the same ages as mine. She's also expecting #3 a couple months after me. And did I mention she has an advanced degree in chemistry too? See, we have much in common.

Anyway, the last time she took my girls, I went crazy on the car. I washed it, got rid of the clutter (how many Sunday School crafts can accumulate, really?), vacuumed, and played musical carseats. I bought a high-backed booster for Rachel (one that just uses the seat belt). Then I graduated Rebekah into the high-backed booster with 5 point harness (previously Rachel's). Then I turned the convertible carseat around, and put it on the lowest setting for Paul.

For our first two babies, we had the bucket carrier type infant carseats, but have managed to get rid of both of them. Rachel's was a hand-me-down of questionable safety, so my mommy guilt led me to get rid of it for Rebekah. Rebekah's was new and went with a double stroller system. But I sold both of them when we moved, because both had been outgrown. So now, I am without an infant carrier carseat. And I'm seriously considering just skipping it this time, and going with the convertible from day 1. The infant seats only get 4 months of use at best...especially for my very big babies.

Am I nuts? Among my Bible Study and MOPS groups, I see rows of babies in those infant carseats everywhere I go. I know they're handy for moving sleeping babies around. They're handy for putting sleeping babies down. And here in Minnesota, they have these nifty zipper blanket things to protect babies in those carseats from the winter weather. But...it's only going to last for 4 months. I hate carrying those heavy things around. And how will I corral my big girls and carry a diaper bag and that huge carseat without doing myself in? I know that's what strollers are for...but I can use a stroller without the carseat. And better yet, I hope to be doing a lot of babywearing, which will leave both hands free (one hand for each big girl!)

Mommies out there...any thoughts? Can I pull this off for a November baby or will I drive myself batty?

Update

2010-07-22T18:28:00.001-05:00

Ok...so it's been 7 months. Here's the quick rundown for anyone not on Facebook

I'm pregnant. It's a boy. He's due 11/9/10. His in utero name was Zadok. His real name is Paul Raymond. He's named after Dan's Grandpa O. and my Grandfather. We're telling the name this time for the sake of our grandmothers. Everything going great with the pregnancy so far.
Ummm...I've gone from having two totally un-potty trained children to having one 100% and one 50% potty trained...in the matter of 3 or so short months. It has been incredible. I love it.
Not much else to tell. This summer I'm helping lead the newcomer's Bible study with Side By Side. I'm really enjoying it.

Pictures: we saw a deer in our backyard. Others are from the Minnesota "beach".

Lots and Lots of Snow

2009-12-17T19:05:00.000-06:00

Dan and Rachel playing in the backyard

Merry Christmas everyone!!

We're officially dealing with winter here...above are some pictures. We're dealing okay so far...though this whole shovel/snowblow the driveway thing is a lot of work! I'm starting to get used to winter driving, and have only had one close call where the car declined to go where I told it to :).

Other than that, I'm super excited because my sister Laurie is here! And in a week, the rest of my family (almost) will join us for Christmas :). Yay!

Football

2009-10-31T20:42:00.000-05:00

My humblest apologies to everyone, especially my dear sister, for emerging from months of blog-slumber to post on so unimportant a topic. I would like to remind this dear sister, though, that there are lots of pictures of my adorable children on Facebook to enjoy.
Although this may seem like an unimportant topic, it gives an important glimpse into the Minnesotan culture in which we now find ourselves.

I saw the above linked article on the FRONT PAGE of our local newspaper this morning. (I just began subscribing so I could finally cut coupons again). Yes, folks, this was the COVER STORY, on HALLOWEEN. Not included in the internet version is this following sidebar.

If you want to watch

The game:Minnesota Vikings vs Green Bay Packers at Green Bay's Lambeau Field
Game Time: 3:15 pm Sunday
What channel: Fox (cable channel 8 in Rochester and Austin)
Why it is important: Duh. It's Packers-Vikings with Farve sprinkled on top. Need we say more?
If you've lived in a cave until now: The Vikings and Packers are longtime rivals. Brett Favre built a Hall of Fame career with the Packers for 16 years and led them to one Super Bowl win. He retired two years ago, only to sign on with the New York Jets in 2008 and with the Vikings this year.

Well people, I guess I've lived in a cave until now. LOL. Actually not...prior to this article I had figured out that bit about Brett Farve and the Vikings/Packers fanaticism that infects this town. But certainly, prior to moving here I hadn't the darndest single clue about football. At all. I still don't understand how the game is played...but I digress.

It is madness. The last time the Vikings and Packers played each other, it was impossible to ignore, even without a newspaper. I took the girls to the mall that day and more than half the children there sported purple jerseys (for the Vikings). Maybe 2 or 3 sported green jerseys (for the Packers). And these are just the children!! All the retailers--Walmart, Target, Hy-Vee (local grocery store) have an aisle (Walmart's is the biggest) devoted to Vikings stuff--jerseys, bedding, hats, who knows what else. Walmart also has a smaller section devoted to the Packers.

It's at church too. Our pastor grew up in Wisconsin and is thus a die-hard Packers fan. A majority of the congregation, being Minnesotans, are die-hard Vikings fans. And somehow this gets worked into every sermon. A little jab here or a little comment there. Example: when preaching on trusting Christ through difficult circumstances he said something like this, with a straight face: "It's rough people. You could deal with wayward children, or your wife gets diagnosed with cancer, or your favorite quarterback could get traded to the rival team...". Once he put a powerpoint up of Brett Favre dressed in all these sissy outfits. Hmmmm, yeah.

In California, we had one pastor who was a football fan. On the rare occasion that he preached, he would sometimes throw in a football reference, then apologize to the 50% of us who didn't care about football. Maybe it's hard to care about football in SoCal this much because we don't have our own team? Who knows. I know that many people, Californians included, care about football way more than I do. It's just that in California you can peacefully "live in a cave" whereas here you cannot :).

Oh yeah, here's the kicker. I almost took a part time job babysitting a little girl after school. It didn't end up working out, but the initial meeting with her parents kept getting rearranged because of football. Inside I was horrified that she was placing a football game on TV above meeting the person who was to care for her child. But I'm sure that deep down she was horrified that I would even suggest meeting during a football game (like I had any clue there was a football game.) Ahh...culture shock :).

Now, I suppose, if I am to fit in here, I'd better figure out which team I root for. I am open to suggestions.

Minnesota Life

2009-06-17T13:22:00.000-05:00

Well folks, I haven't been much of a blogger these last months. Life has been crazy with packing, moving, etc. Also, Facebook has turned out to be an easier way to post quick updates so I've been on there a little more often than here.
My sweet Hubby has blogged about our adventure driving across the country. You can read about it here:
Day 1 and 2
Day 3 and 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9

We've now been here for 2 weeks. We're sufficiently unpacked, but still lacking in organization. Here's how all of us are faring:

Dan: has had 2 days of orientation for residency. Pretty intense. Will only get more intense when he actually starts seeing patients. His first rotation is oncology, and he'll have call. Starting out with a bang. And...he's already found a violinist and cellist to play chamber music with :).

Katie: I've managed to meet a good number of people--our neighbors, people at church and a group called Side By Side (for wives of medical students/trainees/attendings). Funny thing: the homeschool co-op is already after me, since I "randomly" met the "right people" at the right time. They need a science teacher for next year. So I will go for it! Why not, right? It's the perfect job. One day a week for less than half the year with free childcare. And in this co-op I'd have zero grading to do. As much as I loved my last co-op I'd have to say that grading was the most annoying part. Even this last year when I had an awesome grading-helper, there were still report cards, tests, etc. This time, it would just be doing cool demos.

Rachel: Is having a tough time transitioning, and it's coming out in her behavior. She's pretty volatile, though I'm sure it could be much worse. She is, however, making progress with potty training. Before we left, she refused to ever sit on the potty. Since I'd already promised her no more diapers, we've been in "perpetual pull-ups" for about 4 months. Now that we're here, every night before bed, she wants to go on the potty. And she actually pees there!! Hooray! The downside is, she sees it as the perfect excuse to stall bed time, and it takes about 3 hours to put her down. Not sure how to deal with this one, since I don't want to discourage her from potty training. Last night, after coming out of her room for the 5th time to go potty, I told her that this is the LAST time and that if she comes out again she wouldn't watch any movies today. That seemed to do the trick. Perhaps tonight I'll limit it to 3 potty trips.

Rebekah: Majorly teething. She cut her top two teeth during our cross country drive (no wonder she was so cranky!), and now it looks like there are two more upper teeth working their way out. Rebekah is pretty sleep-challenged. She will only go to sleep nursing, but will wake up if you transfer her. In California, this was pretty problematic, since I couldn't leave her on the bed (she'd just fall off). Here, Rebekah actually has her own room, and we bought a twin mattress that's on the floor. That's where I nurse her to sleep--and then leave her. What kind of a funny child is this, who never sleeps in a crib? Graduating directly from parents bed to a quasi-big girl bed at 10 months? Sigh. She still doesn't sleep through the night...but she's going 2-3 hours at a time now, which is vastly superior to waking up every 30 minutes-hour (her norm in California).

I guess that's all for now! Aside from these challenges and missing our friends and family in California, I love being here. Our house in fantastic, and everyone we've met has been super friendly. There are excellent parks, and our new church looks really great as well. Our neighborhood is green and beautiful, trees everywhere. There's a school just 3 houses away from us, with a playground. There have also been reports that I'm picking up a Minnesoota accent ;-). It makes sense...I'm 75% Minnesotan. (3 out of 4 grandparents grew up here).

Match Day

2009-03-19T12:33:00.000-05:00

Drumroll please....
Our M state is Minnesota!!!! Hubby matched to his first choice--the Clinical Investigator program at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. It will be 3 years of internal medicine residency, 2 years of research and then 3 years of hematology/oncology fellowship. Yes, that is 8 more years of training. Would you expect anything less from a perpetual student?

I am muy excited for the following reasons:
1) Rochester is a great place to live
2) Minnesota is my ancestral homeland. 3 out of 4 grandparents grew up there. I still have two relatives living there.
3) I'll be within 5 hours of Ellie, and the halfway meeting point is Wisconsin.
4) I'll be about 1.5 hours from Amy.
5) I'm hoping to have many future friends as part of this organization.
6) The fabulous cost of living!!

I'm sad because (but this hasn't quite hit me yet):
1) I'll be moving away from our families and friends here.
2) It will be cold in MN

For today, Dan has the day off and we will be celebrating! Woohoo!!

Black Monday

2009-03-16T12:34:00.000-05:00

We matched!!!!! That is all. I'll be back Thursday, March 19th with more details, as they are available.

Happy Birthday Hubby!

2009-02-19T23:05:00.000-06:00

In honor of my Hubby's 31st birthday today, I hijacked his blog to post his birthday present. Since he blogs about all his favorite composers on their birthdays, I decided to post about MY favorite composer on his birthday. You can read (and listen) all about it here.

a long-awaited update

2009-02-06T10:49:00.000-06:00

It's taking me forever to update these days. Going through the match, and all that goes along with it, is taking over my life. And I'm not the one going through the match. Here's an update: Hubby has finished all his interviews. Last week he found out he got a guaranteed spot at one of his top choices (a physician-scientist track position), so that means he won't match anywhere below that school on his rank list. So now we know that in 4 months we will be moving to a state in the central time zone that begins with the letter "M". On March 19th we'll find out which one. I'd better start collecting warm clothes and an ice scraper for the car :). (Keep in mind that it's February, and in the past week I've used the air conditioner several times and worn flip-flops most days. I'm such a weather wimp).

My brother Peter is awesome. He started a blog recently, and then he programmed a cool flower gadget that "dies" as you neglect to post on your blog. Note that I won't be putting this flower on my blog any time soon, because I'd just be inviting a dead flower. I'm going too insane to post every 5 days. However, when I've settled in the fine state of M_______, I may just put that flower on my blog, as the blog will become a more important means of communication.

I actually have some pictures and a video to post, but Rebekah is demanding my attention, so I'll sign off for now, and put those in a separate post. Happy friday!

True stories

2009-01-06T12:53:00.001-06:00

As I sit on the couch, baby on lap, Rachel is very very busy in her play kitchen. Working very hard. When I ask, "What are you cooking, Baby?", she exuberantly replies, "Cheerios!!", holding up her little box of play Cheerios (the only of her "name brand" play food that she recognizes). She proceeds to "feed" me some of her Cheerios. Next, she decides that it's my birthday and she's going throw me a party with all the fixin's. She puts a piece of play lettuce on a plate and brings it to me. "The salad is too hot. I will blow it. Okay, Mommy! It's your birthday! I will sing." And then she proceeds to sing me the birthday song, almost on key.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, Mommy's salad, Happy birthday to you!" She then blows out the imaginary candle on the piece of lettuce, and then adds some milk. "Here you go, Mommy!"
"Mmmmm," I reply, "That's the yummiest birthday food I've ever had!!"

How lucky am I, to have a spontaneous birthday party in January? (My birthday is in August :)). What a cute girl :).

Belated Pictures

2008-12-16T18:06:00.000-06:00

Lots has been going on, so I've been negligent in posting to my blog!

First, Rachel got a big girl bed. Her transition was a very smooth one...all in one day! (Now, if only potty training were so simple...)

Next, we had a fun Thanksgiving with both families...one on Wednesday, one on Thursday. Here are the annual family pictures.

Finally, here are some random cute pictures of the girls:

more snippets

2008-11-23T00:43:00.000-06:00

Rachel has a fever. This is the first time either of my children has ever had one. I didn't know what a warm forehead felt like until today
Rebekah has GERD (GastroEsophogeal Reflux Disease). This is a chronic thing, and she's been on medication for it for 2 months now. The doctor is hopeful she'll grow out of it. I hope so too, because it sure is a pain (I'm sure it is more painful for her than it is for me). The symptoms include her frequent spitting up (projectile vomiting is more like it), and pained cries as the acid burns her esphogus. I give her two different medications throughout the day. One of them needs to be given 30 minutes before she eats. This is very tricky to time when you are nursing on demand. I find that strict compliance is crucial for her to not have a flare-up. She also is supposed to be elevated (not on her back) at all times. This is also tricky. She vastly prefers to nurse lying down--and I prefer this too. Co-sleeping allows me to roll over and nurse her at night, and then she stays asleep after I nurse her. Now, however, I'm trying very hard to transfer her to her carseat and nurse sitting up. As I've tried to put her to bed tonight, I think she's woken up 5 times upon transfer. So, sleepy Mommy.
Goals for the near future: move Rachel to a big girl bed, potty train Rachel, move Rebekah out of our room, and then into Rachel's room (in that order). Goal #1 may happen tomorrow. The rest will probably take several months, but hopefully before we move in June.
Dan just finished his Preventative Medicine rotation. He is all inspired to eat more healthily, and thus I am too. We're trying to make healthy snacks more easily accessible. I've just been munching on: apple slices w/ peanut butter, raspberries, blueberries, raisins and mixed nuts. Yum :).

Rachel singing

2008-11-19T16:26:00.000-06:00

This video has been sitting around for a couple months now...Today I was able to get my hands on the laptop so I could upload it.
Featured in this video is the Thankful Heart Song from Veggie Tales (Madame Blueberry). Enjoy!

I promised Molly...

2008-11-15T22:49:00.000-06:00

...that I would update my blog. So here goes. This will be a post of random snippets.

--So Cal is on fire. Again. :(

--Dan starts his residency interviews on Monday morning. His first interview is at UCLA-Olive View. If it is still standing, that is...

--Other places that have given him interviews:
SoCal:
UCSD, Scripps (San Diego), Harbor-UCLA, Cedars-Saini, Loma Linda
Out of State:
U. of Utah, U. of Colorado, WashU (St. Louis, MO), and Mayo Clinic (Minnesota)

--If we end up moving out of state, I hope it will be to a place that doesn't catch on fire every year. To make up for the convenience of not breathing smoke on an annual basis, we will likely have to endure sub-freezing temperatures. Yikes. You can't have it all.

--I do have cute pictures and videos of my offspring. But they live on our Macintosh laptop, and my wonderful Hubby needs that computer for his residency stuff right now. My computer (a lovely PC given to me by my dear sister Molly) has no pictures or videos on it. Sorry. Go see Facebook if you want to see a cute video of Rachel jumping up and down while singing the Veggie Tales song.

--Speaking of Facebook, it's addicting. I have something like 160 friends (with more being added all the time). I send virtual plants back and forth in my Lil Green Patch. I keep up with my many cousins. I play Scrabble with an old high school friend. I check people's status updates. I post pictures. It's awesome, but a definite time sink.

--Rebekah's crying...I'll write more later. Hopefully I can get my hands on the other computer at some point.

Halloween 2008

2008-10-31T22:59:00.001-05:00

First of all, my apologies to everyone (i.e. Molly) for not updating more often ;-). My camera and computer (and husband) were in China for 2 weeks, and that sort of hampered my blogging efforts. (I love you Molly!)

Without further ado, here are pictures from Halloween. We had a really low-key, fun evening.

Dan and Rachel carved a pumpkin, while Rebekah watched.

Then Rachel got into her costume: a beautiful Chinese dress given to us by one of Dan's hosts from his trip. Rebekah has a matching "onesie".

Then Rachel and Daddy went Trick-or-treating. We live in a very "dead" neighborhood, in that not many folks around here are into Halloween. Perhaps it's the Adventist influence. Anyway, Rachel only visited one house--that of our next-door neighbor, and got some nerds.

I held down the fort while they were gone. We only had one set of trick-or-treaters the whole evening.

We also roasted the pumpkin seeds. Yummy!

It's now 9pm. Rebekah has already gone down for the night (and she officially sleeps through the night...woohoo!). Rachel has had her bath, and is currently parading around the living room singing Disney songs. When her hair dries, she'll go to bed too.

nicknames part II

2008-10-01T15:51:00.000-05:00

See part I here. (Rachel was about 4 months old at the time).

We are a little crazy in that we have lots of nicknames for everyone. Rachel's list of nicknames has evolved some since I last posted on this topic. And of course, Rebekah has earned some nicknames of her own. Without further ado, here are the nicknames in order of increasing usage.

Rachel:

Bug, Buggy, Ruggy, Ruggles, Ruggles-roogles, Baby, Precious girl, Petunia

Rebekah:

Beetle, Chomper, Sweet girl, Da-beka da-beka, Zebedee, Tortoise Baby, Zeb-da

Rachel Cuteness

2008-09-16T17:06:00.000-05:00

Rachel is incredibly cute. Here are some things she's been saying lately:

While talking on her toy cell phone:

1)“The phone is ringing. We have to talk. Hel-lo. Rachel play the piano today with Mommy Daddy Rebekah and Rachel? Okay. Bye bye.”

2)“The phone is ringing. It’s Daddy. Hi Daddy. Rachel play the piano today with Daddy? Okay. Bye bye.”

While folding her hands to pray:

1)“Dear Jesus, thank you so much to Boz and Gracie and Jandrew and Mommy and Daddy and Rebekah and Rachel and (__________**). Okay. Amen.”

**Note: the fill in the blank varies and can include: what she sees as she looks around the room, her grandparents, her cousins, her aunts/uncles, various friends and the Boss (i.e. Dan’s current and my former boss, whom several of you know :))

2) Just overheard: “Dear Jesus, thank you so much to Chris Tomlin and the trash can and bread and tuna sandwich. Okay. Amen.”

survival techniques

2008-09-05T16:10:00.000-05:00

This whole taking care of 2 kids at once thing is quite an adjustment. I'm finding it helpful to have "stations" all over the house where I can put Rebekah while I'm dealing with Rachel.

Here is one such "station":

Rebekah is seated in a Fisher Price Space Saver High Chair, which until 2 days ago was Rachel's booster chair (transformed of course). I wanted Rebekah to be able to "sit" at the table with us instead of being precariously on the floor or far away from us. I absolutely love that high chair--it can recline back to hold a newborn, then sit upright for an older baby, then the back and tray are removed for the booster chair.

As a replacement, we got Rachel a "real" booster chair that she can get into and out of herself.

Now I can keep track of both girls at meal times...and we can truly have dinner together as a family. (Well, I guess Rebekah can't really eat in the high chair yet...but you know what I mean :).

Labor Day Labor Meme

2008-09-01T13:36:00.000-05:00

Here's a meme from Rocks In My Dryer, in honor of "labor" day. Looks like fun, so here I go:

How long were your labors?

Kid #1: 18 hours total, 8.5 of them in the hospital.
Kid #2: 363 hours total, 11 of them in the hospital.

I now believe that I was never truly in labor with #1...but it was just the beginnings of what could have been many days of prodromal labor.

How did you know you were in labor?

Kid #1: Regular contractions between 5-10 minutes apart for most of the day. At 37w5d
Kid #2: Regular contractions between 5-10 minutes apart, which started and stopped for 2 weeks. Went to the hospital for a scheduled "induction" by Artificial Rupture of Membranes at 41w2d

Where did you deliver?

Hospital, both times

Drugs?

Kid #1: Not until the very end, right before the c-section. And I was prideful about it for 2 whole years, not realizing that it didn't hurt that bad because I wasn't really in active labor.

Kid #2: OH YES!!!! The blessed epidural arrived after 7 hours at the hospital (about 3 hours before giving birth).

And let me just say that I won't hesitate to get an epidural again. Long gone are my Bradley Method inspired ideals.

C-section?

Kid #1: Yup. An unnecesarian for "failure to progress" (aka failure to wait). Baby weighed 8 lbs 11 oz

Kid #2: Nope! A victorious VBAC!!! Baby weighed 9 lbs 3 oz.

Who delivered?

Kid #1: Private practice OB. She personally did all my prenatal care and was at the hospital for my labor--checking me every hour for 1 cm/hour progress.

Kid #2: Group practice OB at teaching hospital...first time I'd met her (different OB did prenatal care). She left me alone for most of the day.

---------------
Anyone else want to do the meme? Answer the questions on your blog and leave a comment below. Happy Labor day!!!!

The second time around--it sure is different

2008-08-27T22:32:00.001-05:00

Having baby #2 is so much different. I think I'm much more relaxed about newborn stuff. I'm not constantly stressed that I'm doing something wrong. I'm willing to let Rebekah cry a little without feeling guilty. Of course...the juggling of 2 kids at once is what is crazy and different and utterly overwhelming. I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet. My house is much messier than usual and I'm not in the groove of meal planning and cooking like I was during 2nd trimester of the pregnancy. Sometimes they are both crying at once and there's nothing I can do about it. Going out of the house is much much more of a challenge. Especially because it's so darn hot outside. Rebekah hates the carseat because it's so hot--she gets so awfully sweaty. Ugh.

Edit: with Rachel I didn't even leave the house for a month postpartum. this time I was out and about after a week and a half. Yay!!! That's the nice VBAC recovery at work :).

Aside: In my neck of the woods I get "reverse seasonal affective disorder". Summer makes me depressed. It's too hot to go out, so I'm stuck in my living room all day (or else deal with incredibly cranky children). All my friends are away on vacation, and all activities have ceased for the summer. Frustrating. Very shortly, everything will start up again and I'll suddenly have way too much to do. But at least the weather will be bearable again, and I can take the girls on a walk or to the park during daylight hours.

Speaking of all activities starting--preparations are underway for the start of homeschool co-op. This will be my 4th year teaching physical science there, and I'm going to have my largest and most challenging group of kids yet. 5 boys, 4 girls ranging from 7th to 10th grade. (I know I had 25 per class when I taught high school. But here I only have 1 hour per week. That changes the dynamic quite a bit.) Fortunately I get TWO aides :) Hooray! One will do grading, the other will take care of Rebekah. Rachel will go to the Pre-K class, which she loves.

Speaking of someone else taking care of Rebekah, and parenting being much different the second time around...I need to get Rebekah used to the bottle. Once Rachel got the hang of nursing, she never took one. Back then I didn't want to use any artificial nipples, pacifiers etc. No nothing. My motivation was to delay my fertility with ecological breastfeeding. That didn't work. AF returned 3 months postpartum in a semi-regular fashion. Grrrr...

Anyway, now that I know it doesn't matter, I'd like for my daughter to be fed while I'm teaching, if she's hungry. Any suggestions for successfully introducing the bottle without messing up breastfeeding? I'm also wondering if I should use formula or pumped milk since I'll only be leaving Rebekah for an hour or 2 at a time at most 2x per week. I never thought I'd be considering formula, but:
1) I hate pumping. I have the utmost admiration for you ladies who faithfully pump at work for months. You guys rock.
2) If I were working full (or even half)-time, pumping would make sense. However, there may be many times that Rebekah won't need to be fed. In those cases, I may mess up the whole supply-demand thing by pumping.
3) I've heard numerous reports of babies vastly preferring freshly pumped milk to previously frozen milk. If that is true of Rebekah, then I'd rather just nurse her immediately before class rather than pumping so someone else can bottle feed her 5 minutes later.

thoughts?

Rebekah's birth

2008-08-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

For comparison, you may want to re-read Rachel's birth story. With Rachel, we had a very detailed birth plan. We wanted skin-to-skin right away, no episiotomy, intermittent fetal monitoring, and a host of other things. Instead we got a c-section. More than one nurse laughed and said that everyone with a birth plan winds up with a c-section. That was their running joke. So, this time I was determined not to have a birth plan--even though we were living on the edge by going for a VBAC. My unwritten birth plan was this: "no med students please except my hubby. And if we get a healthy baby with a vaginal birth, I don't care what else you do to me." So here goes our story:

I have no idea where to begin...do I begin 3 weeks before the birth when I started having semi-regular contractions? And multiple false alarms, calls to my doula, calls to my mom? Perhaps. I seriously thought Rebekah would never come. Rachel arrived at 37 weeks 5 days. Rebekah arrived at 41 weeks 2 days. I was going insane waiting around.

At my 40 week + 2 days appointment (July 30), I was presented with three options. 1) Schedule a repeat c-section at 41 weeks 2) Induce or 3) wait till 42 weeks. She had me come in for an appointment (with a different doctor) at 41 weeks to choose one of the 3 options. At that time, I didn't think inducing would be an option--as pitocin is dangerous business for a VBAC.

At my 41 week appointment (monday the 4th), I was 2.5 cm dilated already, 70% effaced, -1 station... this different doc thought I was a really good candidate for vbac. She was sure that a gentle "induction" via AROM (artificial rupture of membranes) would do the trick without the need for pitocin. She had to find a doctor who was willing to do the "induction" (she didn't have any hospital time this week, or else she'd do it herself). Thankfully a doctor was found, and I was scheduled to show up Wednesday at 6am. She also stripped my membranes in hopes that I'd go into labor on my own.

I started having some stronger contractions--but nothing signaling that I should go to the hospital. We called Dan's mom anyway and she came out to our house. That way we wouldn't have to worry about Rachel being taken care of. Tuesday I hung out with my MIL and Rachel, and made sure they were both situated. I had semi-regular contractions, but nothing to write home about. That evening we took a long walk, and then I started experiencing painful contractions. I was certain the time had come. The contractions stuck around even when I was resting. I called my doula, Brenda, and she came over around 11pm. As soon as she showed up, the contractions slowed down again. So frustrating!

Brenda thought we should do everything possible to encourage labor and make progress before the scheduled induction. So she and I went walking around the condo complex--at midnight--for a couple hours. She also had me bounce on the birth ball for awhile. By then it was 2am and I was tired. So we both went to sleep, and woke up early for the 6am appointment.

Dan, Brenda and I showed up at the hospital promptly at 6am...and waited around quite awhile. Dr. C showed up at some point and said point blank, "I was post-call when I agreed to do this and I'm not really comfortable with it. We should consider a c-section right now, but I'll let you think about it." I replied..."I'd really just like to have my water broken and see if I can make progress before we go for a c-section". So ahead we went.

The actual AROM happened at 10:30am. At that point I thought I'd have 2 hours to make progress and then we'd know whether I was still in the game or not. I was 3.5 cm dilated at that point.

Other details: I had an IV put in, and continuous fetal monitoring (external monitor on the baby, internal monitor for my contractions). I was not allowed to leave the bed, not even to use the restroom. But I could try different positions on the bed, as long as they got strong continuous monitoring. If ever the monitoring got a little iffy, they'd come back and tell me to go back to my previous position. I was NPO (nothing by mouth), allowed only a couple ice chips here and there. (But I disobeyed this one. Though the course of the day I had a total of 3 bites of granola bar, and many sips of water. Shame on me!)

I started having 5-10 minute apart contractions, reasonably strong. I breathed through them, and was handling things okay. By 1pm, they were very strong (as strong as I'd ever experienced at the very end of Rachel's labor) and focused in my back. Dan and Brenda were awesome about helping me through each one. I did a lot of vocalizing. But my spirits were high: my thoughts were "I was made to do this. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am fulfilling my calling." Between these contractions I was pretty much normal.

Then came our first shock: around 1pm the nurse came in, checked me (4 cm) and announced "Dr. C will be back to check you at 4pm". WOW!!!! :) I couldn't believe she was going to give me so much time!! I was so hopeful :). (With Rachel, they checked me every hour on the hour, and expected 1cm dilation per hour or else...)

A little later, things started changing in my labor. It got really bad. To me, even though the contractions were coming 2-3 minutes apart, there was no "break". That is, I was in the intense unhappy mode constantly. The peaks of the contractions were the most painful thing I've ever experienced in my life. Dan and Brenda were both massaging me, then using counterpressure on my back during the height of each contraction. They used lots of verbal encouragement as well. I was pretty out-of-it. I was definitely not myself...a little bit like an out-of-body experience. At some point I lost it--saying "I can't do this anymore." I remember Dan and Brenda whispering to each other that I was probably in transition.

At 4pm, I got checked again. It was so very painful--and I hadn't progressed at all! Still only 4cm. I'll never forget the look of shock that came over both Dan and Brenda simultaneously. We all expected a 9 or 10. At that point, I was like, okay this is over. Let's just do the c-section and put me out of my misery. But again, shock of the century, Dr. C said "OK, you're at 4 cm now, so hopefully things will speed up. I'll be back to check you again in 3 to 4 hours." Again, normally the doctors expect 1 cm per hour and check every hour. She was so different. But... could I seriously take this for 3 more hours? Deep down I just wanted the c-section and was convinced it would happen anyway--so why not sooner rather than later?

Instead, I went hysterical, screaming and begging for an epidural. Brenda kept saying, "this is a change in what we'd planned...you can do just one more contraction. Just one more." I got more adamant...I just wanted to sleep! I'd only gotten 3 hours the night before, and every ounce of me wanted to crash. But I couldn't, because the horrible contractions kept waking me up. Finally Dan said we should just get the epidural. The nurse checked me again before calling the anesthesiologist... 4 to 5cm dilated - not speeding up much yet!

While we were waiting for the anesthesiologist, Brenda said that the baby was probably posterior, since I have was having so much terrible back labor with no progress in dilation. At this point, she wanted me to try some different positions in hopes to get the baby turned around. First I knelt on the bed and draped my arms over the back of the bed. During every contraction, they squeezed my hips as hard as they could. Next, they had me sit on the edge of the bed and lean over the birth ball. I also did some lunges. I was in agony...

Then, the angel of mercy appeared (aka anesthesiology resident). He tried to give me the schpeal about all the risks, but I was like "I just want an epidural, where do I sign?" Brenda had to leave for the procedure. I was shaking uncontrollably. Two nurses and Dan were doing all they could to keep me calm for each contraction so that they could insert the epidural properly. I felt a little stronger knowing that relief would come soon. "Please hurry!!!!" was my cry.

Finally everything was in place around 6pm. I was a very happy camper. When they asked "how are you?" my answer was "FABULOUS!!!" I tried to get some rest. I had never been so thankful in my life.

The next time they came to check me--around 8pm, we had our next shock. "9 cm!!" Dr. C announced. Then, while she was still checking me, I dilated all the way to 10!!! And +2 station! Wahoo! She said she'd be back shortly and I'd start pushing. I guess the baby really was posterior and Brenda's doula magic turned her around. I also think I really needed that epidural so I could relax and let my body do it's thing. I never thought I'd be saying that about an epidural, but there you go! Birth experiences have a way of changing your preconceived opinions :).

Next came a big flurry of activity. Dr. C and a bunch of nurses and who knows who else came in with equipment. Dr. C looked like she was dressed in a HazMat suit. Soon they were all gathered around me (Dan and Brenda were there too--each one holding one of my legs), watching the contraction monitor. With each contraction, they coached me to push. It was so fun!! They were like my cheerleaders and I felt like a star athlete. It was a little surreal, since I couldn't feel much. But I could push as hard as I could and imagine all that energy being focused towards the baby. After 45 minutes, she was out!! 9 pounds 3 ounces!!! Again, I was shocked. I was certain I was carrying a 7 pounder, as I weighed 20 pounds less than I did with Rachel. (Rachel was 8 lbs 11 oz--and they thought she was too big to fit through my pelvis. WRONG!!!)

They took Rebekah to the warming table right away, and then to the NICU observation as her breathing was grunty. I got to hold her for a minute before they took her down the hall. Dan went back and forth between me and Rebekah. Brenda stayed with me while they sewed me up (I had a second degree tear) and delivered the placenta. I was pretty much oblivious to what the doctor was doing (I couldn't feel it after all!!), and was just relieved and happy. I wasn't worried about Rebekah at all. The pediatrician reassured me that this was common and everything would be okay shortly. Rachel had had some grunty breathing as well when she was born.

An awesome nurse made me a juice/soda concoction to drink. It was so delightful. After 2 hours, Rebekah was released, and we were moved to the postpartum unit. By that point some of my feeling was back, so I could get out of bed, use the restroom and then sit in a wheelchair. (With Rachel I was still flat on my back at this point).

Once in the postpartum unit--Rebekah nursed and latched on right away!! I was so thrilled. Rachel refused to latch for several days, and instead screamed and arched her back.

We were scheduled to leave on Friday, but ended up having to stay because Rebekah was jaundiced. They wanted us to supplement her with either pumped milk or formula (in order to dilute the bilirubin out). Sadly, my pumping efforts produced very little. So, here we were again giving (gasp!) formula to our newborn. However, since we'd done it with Rachel, and Rachel went on to successfully nurse for 19 months, I wasn't really traumatized about it.

So, Friday night, Dan and I slept in the waiting room (my hospital time had expired), and every 3 hours I woke up, went to the newborn nursery to take Rebekah out of her bili-light, nurse her, and then finger-feed as much formula as she would take. By the morning, the doctor said her bilirubin level looked great, and we didn't even need to do home phototherapy (which we did do with Rachel). Hooray! We were on our way home. And no more formula for Rebekah! :)

At her follow up appointment, Rebekah had already re-gained her birth weight.

All in all, I feel so wonderful and victorious about the whole birth experience. In the world of birth, there is this constant tension between the "medical viewpoint" and the "natural/crunchy viewpoint". Through the whole pregnancy, I felt that I was labeled and discouraged by both parties. NOT by any of my friends, who have been wonderful and encouraging no matter which camp they fall in. Just labeled by books I've read or websites or even certain doctors. Many medical people would say that VBAC's are dangerous, with a risk of uterine rupture, and you should really just play it "safe" and have a c-section (never mind the other serious risks of having multiple repeat c-sections). The crunchy people would say that having so many interventions in the hospital is the slippery slope to another c-section, and if you really want a successful VBAC you'd better have none of that.

However, in order to be allowed to VBAC at my hospital, I've always known I'd have IV (no hep lock!!) and continuous fetal monitoring. And I wound up with true continuous fetal monitoring--no trips to the bathroom, only be in positions where they get a strong signal. So in order to successfully VBAC, I'd have to beat the odds of the naysayers on both sides. And I did!!
Not that I can really claim any credit. It was seriously just God's grace. He found me an awesome doula (friend of a friend) who helped me labor effectively despite being way more confined than I was for Rachel's labor. He sent me nurses and a doctor who allowed me space and time to labor on my timeline, not theirs. He even allowed for an epidural--which though not in my original plans turned out to be for the best in every way.

And all those lingering thoughts that I didn't write in Rachel's birth story--about something being wrong with me because I couldn't birth her properly--have completely vanished. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. For the future, every birth from now on will also be an attempted VBAC. I may have another c-section in the future...but I'm confident now that if I do ever have a c-section it will be because I need one (i.e. fetal distress or something like that), not because I didn't dilate fast enough to match some arbitrary average. :)

Now, to go enjoy my beautiful little girls :)

She's here!

2008-08-10T14:19:00.000-05:00

Rebekah Kathleen was born on Wed Aug 6th at 8:56 pm, weighing 9 lbs 3oz, 19.5 inches long. We had a successful VBAC!!! :)
We came home from the hospital yesterday. They kept Rebekah an extra night because of jaundice--no biggie. She's just fine now. Birth story to follow when I've gotten some rest.

Other conversations

2008-08-02T12:47:00.000-05:00

Dan: How are you feeling?

Katie: I'm pretty moody. And there's really no reason why I should be. Other than being 10 MONTHS PREGNANT. Ugh.

Dan (laughs): You need to write that on your blog.

Still Waiting...

2008-08-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

Instead of giving the maddening details of waiting for baby #2 (I'm trying to ignore everything, because ultimately it's just a false alarm), I thought I'd post about Rachel instead.
Inspired by Gavin's recent vocabulary list, which is similar to Rachel's at that age, I thought I'd post a sampling of her current vocabulary.
Of course, a list of every word she knows would be totally impractical at this point. However, I can give you a sampling of her "movie monologues." She goes on and on about movies she has seen.

Example: Did pooh fall in the mud? Rachel cry. Rachel better now. Did piglet come? Did Roo come too? Did Rabbit come?

Example #2: Bob a tomato. Larry a cucumber. Did Bob get a bandaid? Did Larry get a bandaid? He better now. Did Madame Blueberry cry? Did her house fall? It better now.

Example #3 (Pride and Prejudice, 1995 version): Mr. Darcy sad. Mr. Darcy cry. Lizzie said no. Did Mr. Darcy go swimming? Just like Rachel! Did the man fall in the water? Mr. Collins a goof! That's Jane! That's Mr. Wickam! That's Mrs. Bennett! She cry.

As you can see...everything she watches makes quite an impression. She's still very sensitive and cries for a lot of things. The "man fall in the water" for P & P is a reference to a very short scene during an early ball, where they show some random drunk guy dancing then falling in a water trough. Rachel runs to the kitchen for this scene and then comes back when it's over--not wanting to get scared. What a funny girl!!

Happy Birthday Rachel!

2008-07-23T16:08:00.000-05:00

...belated :). Rachel's birthday was on Saturday the 19th. Because the air conditioner was completely out of commission (but thankfully has since been fixed), we had to improvise.
On Friday, Nana, Poppa, Aunt Janet and Uncle Andrew came out to celebrate. We went to a gourmet pizza joint, and then across the street to Baskin-Robbins. We devoured a small ice cream cake right there in the store! (They gave us napkins and wax paper...but it was still a bit of a mess). I brought candles and matches in my purse, so we could sing to Rachel properly.
Rachel got some Sesame Street videos (from the 70's! Good stuff), and a cute tiger named Jandrew (named after Uncle Andrew and Aunt Janet). Rachel is already hooked.

On Saturday, Grandma, Grandpa, and Great-Grandma O. came out for dinner. We went to claim jumper, where Rachel got her piece of Mud Pie, and we all sang to her again. Then we went back home (it was cool enough by then), and hung out on our back patio. Rachel got a School Bus scooter toy and a play cell phone. Again, big hits :).

Conversations:

Me: Rachel, how old are you?
Rachel: Are you two?

Me: Did Nana and Poppa come to visit?
Rachel: For Happy Birthday Rachel!

Me: Rachel, was it your birthday?
Rachel: Did you have cake? Did you have presents? Did you blow candles?

(Notice how she phrases many things in the form of a question. What a cutie!)

The waiting game

2008-07-23T12:41:00.001-05:00

39 weeks 2 days. I never thought I'd make it this far. Rachel was born at 37 weeks 5 days. I've been having tons of contractions...but they never form a regular pattern, or stick around for more than a couple hours. As of my appointment this morning, I am 1 cm dilated, 70% effaced and -1 station. I've been at 1 cm for at least 2 weeks, so that part isn't real encouraging. The effacement and station, however, are. I never really effaced with Rachel...and even before the c-section Dan remembers that she was still "floating"--not engaged in the pelvis at all. So hooray!

My doc will let me go till 41 weeks--which turns out to be August 4th. I'm hoping and hoping that she comes soon (today?)...since everyone in the world seems to think that this is a great time to go on vacation. How can I blame them? I'd go on vacation too if I could. If Zeb doesn't come soon, my poor mom will miss her vacation to help me. Instead of a vacation...my perpetual student Hubby starts rotations (I guess that's a vacation from the lab) on August 5th. He'll probably have to do some rearranging. Sigh.

And here I am twiddling my thumbs, about to have my life turned upside down, just when it's really inconvenient for everyone else.

Molly's Wedding

2008-06-30T12:02:00.000-05:00

It was a great success! Many many thanks to Amy for knocking some sense into me--a Rachel chaser was most necessary. And many many MANY thanks to Grandma Diane for being the Rachel chaser. You saved my life!!!

Rachel was the most wild girl she has ever been. So much excitement and being the center of attention. (Sorry if she stole your thunder, Molly!) During the rehearsal and pre-wedding, she ran all over the church-sometimes screaming, sometimes laughing. Sometimes running right in front of the camera during a formal shot. My siblings took turns following her around during non-ceremony times. She kept saying "go see Jesus?" and then proceeding to run up the stairs of the altar to the tabernacle. I hope she didn't offend anyone with her "irreverent" behavior...but hey, at least she wants to be where Jesus is!

She managed to get down the aisle, but only because she walked with the maid of honor- her Aunt Janet. At the end of the aisle, she dumped her whole basket of flower petals. It was so cute! At that point, Rachel was about to run back up the aisle (just as the bride was about to emerge), so Nana ran up to catch Rachel and hand her off to Grandma. The rest of the ceremony was beautiful, and Rachel had fun hanging out with Grandma in the back.

After the ceremony, we went to my parents house to get Rachel a nap. She only got an hour, but it certainly helped. At the reception, Dan was the official Rachel chaser. But for much of the time, Rachel was a dancing machine and hung out with my sisters and cousins. Seriously, she tore up the dance floor and was the life of the party. I just sat and watched because dancing was giving me contractions. At about 10pm Rachel began to melt down so we went off to bed. What an exhausted girl!!

All in all, it was a most fun weekend--and thanks to many Rachel chasers, I hardly chased her at all! And I successfully avoided going into labor :). Today I am 36 weeks, so any time between now and July 28th Zebedee could arrive!

At one point I elbowed my younger sisters Janet and Laurie and said "hey guys, try not to get married when I'm pregnant." They promptly replied "don't get pregnant when we get married!" LOL. :)

Here are some pictures (please forgive how enormous I look!)

My belly makes a nice Rachel perch:
Rachel tearing up the dance floor with Aunt Janet and Aunt Laurie:
Molly was a beautiful bride!
Mommy and Rachel:

My brothers and the bride: Tommy, Peter, Molly and Andrew:
The 4 sisters: me, Janet, Molly and Laurie
Rachel bolted out onto the dance floor just as Molly and Chris were about to have their first dance:

Sadly, I never got a picture of me, Dan and Rachel. Dan was busy being the musician (and did a beautiful job!! Originally he wasn't going to play any of the Mass parts...but the cantor objected and gave him music at the last minute. You never would have known he was sight reading. It was beautiful!! Go Hubby!)

A crazy busy time

2008-06-19T16:52:00.001-05:00

Before I forget, here are some pictures of my sweet Rachel enjoying our new place :)

Other random snippets:

1) I never thought I would say this, but I forgive you, Verizon. All it took was one kind person to apologize for everything that happened, offer me a free month of internet access, and explain the difference between DSL and cable (which explained why we were having S-L-O-W-E-R than dialup internet access with Time Warner, though it should have been twice as fast). I'm such a fickle consumer, but glad to have a normal internet connection again.

2) I'm 34 1/2 weeks along in the pregnancy. Still nearly 20 pounds lighter than I was the day Rachel was born. It's hard to believe Zebedee could be here in as little as 2 weeks. I'm not ready--I have no idea what is about to hit. I'm so nervous about taking care of 2 little ones. And it also might help if I had the energy to, say, find the newborn clothes and organize them. I may also want to think about installing the carseat. At least I have a carseat to install.

3) Changing your address on everything is a real pain, but it's not so bad. In the grand scheme of things, at least we're renting so we avoided all kinds of hassle with "the market" and who knows what else. It was less than a week between the time we decided to move and signing the lease. I'm in no hurry to buy a place any time soon.

4) The next two weekends will be full of wedding-ish festivities--for Dan's friend and my sister Molly. I'm wondering how my sweet Rachel will do. She is Molly's flower girl. At 2:30pm (right in the middle of naptime). Followed by a full Catholic Mass (she's never sat through any sort of church service in her life. To her "go to church" means "play with the kids and eat fishy crackers"). Oh yeah, and did I mention I'm a bridesmaid? And that Dan is the pianist? Well, I'll probably just have to take her out and walk her in the stroller. Chris and Molly will be just as married whether or not I'm in the room for the whole thing :). (Any advice on keeping 2 year olds happy in church is most welcome).

5) It's really hard for Rachel to sit on my lap. Big belly is getting to be obnoxious.

6) It's stinkin hot here. Like 105.

7) Ouch. I just spent $70 to fill up HALF a tank of gas. It's $4.45/gallon at the rock-bottom cheapest place in town. The rest of them are $4.60 and up.

Finally back online!

2008-06-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

From the time of my last blog post until about 30 minutes ago, I've had no internet access at home. I did check email 2-3 times at Dan's lab. I was about to go into withdrawal. It's amazing how much I depend in the internet for pretty much everything--paying bills, keeping in touch with friends, bargain shopping. Crazy.

Why did this take so long, you ask? I blame Verizon. This is not the first time this company has incurred my wrath. I'll spare you the details...but suffice it to say that after 10+ phone calls, where everyone tells me a different date for DSL transfer, makes promises then breaks them, and is invariably rude with a "too bad so sad" attitude, I've said ENOUGH. I'm not even going to bother writing them a letter, it's not worth my time.

Instead, I immediately called Time Warner Cable. With 2 very pleasant phone calls (and it would have been 1 if I didn't need to consult with my husband first) they said they could have me online in a day and a half. The technician just left (and he did EVERYTHING), and here I am blogging...days before the DSL would have transferred.

Added bonuses: they waived my installation fee, and I'm paying a comparable amount as I was with Verizon, plus my download speed is twice as fast!

Time Warner is a smart company and have already built a loyal customer. When I got on the phone I said to them: "I'm really mad at Verizon right now. I pay xx amount per month with them. What can you do for me?" I'll remember that for the future :). If they know you're upset with the competition they may give you some perks.

Moving day has moved

2008-05-24T22:29:00.000-05:00

I come from a last minute kind of family. :) So when my Dad suggested today that he bring my siblings out tomorrow to help us move (instead of 2 weeks from now) I said Hooray! I was dreading the next two weeks of living in two places--this way we'll just be at our new place and can start getting settled. The regularly scheduled move date (June 7th) will take care of the boxes of "nonessential" stuff we'll leave behind tomorrow (why oh why do we have so many books?)

My internet access will probably be nil for the next week. For some reason, DSL takes 1 week to transfer. So don't be offended if I don't return emails--call my cell instead :).

Here are some pictures of the new place and of Rachel exploring during the chaotic packing process:

Rachel's surgery

2008-05-22T15:46:00.000-05:00

Rachel's eye surgery (to unplug her tear ducts) was this morning and went very well. She, of course, is very cranky now, but is getting better.

I'm sure many of you have heard now about Steven Curtis Chapman's youngest daughter, who was killed yesterday in a tragic accident. Dan and I have been longtime fans of both SCC's music and his adoption grant ministry, Shaohannah's Hope. Please keep the Chapmans in your prayers.

Though Rachel is having a rough day, I'm so thankful I have her and am holding her a little tighter.

More adventures

2008-05-20T19:14:00.000-05:00

Today we got the keys to our new place. Wahoo!!!!!

This afternoon, I decided to roast a chicken (in order to deplete our frozen foods). After about 15 minutes in the oven, I heard a loud crackling noise coming from inside. I opened the oven, and part the heating coil was white hot, sending sparks flying, and smoking. Not a good sign. I immediately turn off the oven, and turn off the circuit breaker. It calms down within a few minutes. I remove the chicken.

Thankfully, no one is hurt, and nothing got burned. But I think the days of that oven are over. The poor chicken (which would have been a lovely dinner) will now find its way to the dumpster, and we are going to Souplantation for dinner. At least I bought the chicken on sale ;-).

All the more reason to get the heck out of here asap!!

So much for the bread I was going to bake tonight!

Rachel's Mad Skills

2008-05-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

After many months of trying to capture my adorable daughter's skills on camera, she finally thought it would be fun to cooperate.
In the following video, Rachel recites: the days of the week, the first 5 books of the Bible, counts to ~30 (+/- a few), and spells her name. She's been doing these regularly for awhile now, improving over time.

Lest you think I'm pushing my not-yet-2-year-old daughter too hard, please know that she begs me to learn more every day. Currently, she is mastering the months of the year, and wants to hear Bible stories from Genesis (especially about Jacob and Rachel. Gee, I wonder why ;-)).

Enjoy!

Big Happenings

2008-05-16T17:01:00.000-05:00

Things are changing very quickly around here. My school year (for homeschool co-op) just ended, and Dan finished his PhD last month. Well, I'm not sure exactly what came over us, but we decided to move to a nicer place.

For a long time now, the plan has been to stay in this apartment as long as possible, because, well, the price is right. It makes my frugal side happy. But I have another side too--the mama bear side. We're probably going to be in the area until Rachel starts first grade. The older she gets, the more running around and playing she'll need. Now throw in the mix a little sister (who will be 4 when we leave), and hopefully another one somewhere along the line.

Do we really want to be living in this ghetto for that long? The playground equipment is broken/unsafe, the sandbox is filled with trash (such as ragged edged torn up soda cans). The bbq areas are littered with broken glass. The other kids are aggressive--especially one 4 year old terror who is always chasing after Rachel whenever we happen to be outside. Right now I can pick her up to protect her, but how much longer can this last? Let's not forget the constant chain-smoking neighbors who make it impossible to open our windows without suffocating. And our questionable laundry setup in our kitchen that makes me feel like a guilty sneak every time I wash a load. (But that's better than the common laundry room--filled with dirt and smoke, costing $1.50 per wash and $1.25 per dry...2 years ago. I haven't looked since then. How could I trek back and forth there multiple times a day with Rachel AND a pile of clothes AND detergent AND my pregnant belly? sigh).

These are just the minor things. For the 5 years we've lived here we've decided to move multiple times and then backed out. There was the domestic violence upstairs, the neighbors who played loud music all the time (and I mean it hurt our ears inside our apartment), the registered s_x offender, and the crazy beer-guzzling ex-convict guy who told everyone about the offender's presence. Then there was the poor mentally ill lady who would rant and rave racial slurs in the courtyard. Each and every one of them are gone now. We managed to survive all that, and be content with what we had. Not to mention that moving would have been financially impossible.

I guess the last straw is the 4 year old terror. My daughter(s) need to grow up where they can safely run and play. Dan's finishing his PhD has meant more of a raise than we expected. So, praise God, we're outta here!

We found a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo on the other side of town for rent. It is in a NICE quiet community. Beautiful grass, shady trees, no trash. We would have our own garage, real washer/dryer hookups, and a rather large private patio. Rachel could easily ride a tricycle around it. The owner called today to say it's ours! We'll meet early next week to sign the lease and put down the deposit. I am so excited!

If there are any downsides--

1)there would be a much smaller living room than we currently have. (The bedrooms are smaller too). But hey, with a garage we have so much more storage space, not to mention a WHOLE EXTRA BEDROOM AND BATHROOM!!! So we would just have to rearrange the location of certain things...perhaps downsizing our couches.

2) More expensive. Duh. You get what you pay for. I've been doing extensive calculations on Excel, and I think we will be just fine :). Plus, it's a great deal if you compare it to other current listings. Certainly the best deal of the several places we looked at.

3) We'll be moving while I'm enormously pregnant. I guess we'll rely on the generosity of friends and family to help us. I can still organize and pack boxes and let the men lift heavy things. Also, we'll have an overlapping month with both places--so a lot of stuff can be moved gradually. On the plus side--we'll have 3 bedrooms when Zebedee arrives! (And my mom comes to stay with us :))

Happy happy....soon I'll be able to do laundry, run the dishwasher, cook dinner and use the kitchen sink simultaneously. Oh happy day! (My appliances currently hook up to the kitchen sink, so I have to "schedule" washing diapers/making dinner/running dishwasher etc at different times! This would have been a real pain while having 2 kids in diapers!)

------------
Addendum: We've hired a doula :). She is a friend of a friend, very sweet, and full of ideas for helping labor progress despite being on a continuous fetal monitor and IV. Everything else I've read makes those two "interventions" sound so dismal, so I've been sort of discouraged. Anyway, I feel very hopeful now. And, I hereby publicly resolve not to sit on the couch anymore. It's the birth ball or stand or lie down. Must position baby properly!

Birth Ball

2008-05-10T14:00:00.001-05:00

Well, I've reached a point in my pregnancy where I need to get serious about preparing for birth.

So, I got out the birth ball, and will try to sit on it as much as possible (to encourage Zebedee to be in a good position). Rachel loves the birth ball--she rolls it around and says "birf bawl?" Of course, it is too big for her to sit on, though she tries. Conincidentally, Uncle Peter had already given her a green ball that is just the perfect size for her. So now, Rachel gets to be big like Mommy, with her very own "birf bawl".

A fun weekend--Part II

2008-05-06T20:50:00.001-05:00

Sunday, we spent the day with Dan's family. Grandma had lots of fun playing with the kiddos (here Rachel is with her cousin Heidi).

We babysat our nieces Megan and Heidi for the afternoon. Here is our car with 4 carseats. (The 4th one will be for Zebedee). At first I was nervous about having 3 girls at once...but it was actually very easy. Rachel and Megan (below) played very happily together while I put Heidi down for her nap.

Sunday evening we had a party to celebrate Dan's PhD. All Rachel's cousins were in attendance. Every family gathering, we try (emphasis on try) to take a picture of all the kiddos. Usually they are out of sorts and in no mood for photography. Above was the best photo out of many. Rachel and Heidi kept trying to escape the couch. Leah, however (same age as Rachel), thought that I was really funny and kept smiling/laughing for the camera.
Here is a picture of Zebedee. I'm 28 weeks along, and definitely smaller (in both size and weight) than I was last time. I'm hoping this means I'll have more success in pushing this one out rather than heading for the OR. We'll see :).

A great weekend--part 1

2008-05-06T00:20:00.000-05:00

We spent the entire weekend with both our families. So fun! On Friday, my sister Janet's a cappella group performed at UCLA's Spring Sing.
I wasn't expecting it to be such a huge production--probably 5000 people in the audience, and an appearance by Lionel Ritchie. I guess that's the difference between Tech and UCLA!! Anyway, it was a fun show, and Janet did a great job! (Rachel stayed with her Grandma...this was not a kid-friendly venue).

On Saturday, we took Rachel to the zoo with her Uncle Peter and Aunt Jena. She had sooo much fun!
Peter and Jena did most of the Rachel-holding so that she could see the animals. (I am too preggers, and Hubby pushed the stroller)
And, when Rachel got sick of the stroller, she held their hands.

Rachel's version of the day: "Zoo..Peto, Jena, ent, spashing, wato, bath." (Translation: I went to the zoo with Uncle Peter and Aunt Jena. We saw an elephant, and it was splashing water and giving itself a bath.")

Mommy: Rachel, what was your favorite animal?
Rachel: Goat.

(Rachel is a tactile learner, and the goat is the one animal she got to touch...so this makes sense :)).

The rest of the weekend will appear in Part II. Stay tuned!

Fun outings & Disney Movies

2008-04-30T17:02:00.001-05:00

Lately, I've been walking over to the med school campus so that Rachel can run around on the grass and get her energy out. She loves going to see the statues, and climbing stairs "SELF! SELF!" (Translation: Let go of me, Mom! I want to climb the stairs by myself!)

She's also been asking for movies a lot lately. While I try to limit her "TV time", sometimes I just give in. I've learned now that she is very sensitive to what she watches so I have to be careful. The other day she begged me to watch 101 Dalmations (cartoon Disney version). So I let her. I thought, why not? It's a cute story about dogs! I let her sit, while I tried to accomplish stuff.

About half an hour later I find her silently crying...just staring at the screen with big tears falling down her face and a huge lump in her throat.

Mommy: Rachel, honey, what's wrong?
Rachel: Puppies? Puppies? (now she's fully bawling)

She was so scared and traumatized that the puppies got stolen! I tried explaining to her that they find them in the end and they get to go home with their mommy and daddy, to no avail. She wanted me to turn the movie off she was so upset. I guess we'll save that movie till she's much older.

Another movie she watches is the Jungle Book. This one she can handle. She knows all the characters' names, and always asks me to sing songs from the movie. "Girl song? Gorilla song? Birds' song? Bear song?"

She also has trouble distinguishing the Jungle Book characters from reality. Every night we sing "He's got the Whole World in His Hands", and she requests that a long litany of people be included in the song. She'll say "Siah, Gegy?" So we sing, "he's got Josiah and Gregory in His hands...". Then we'll move on to the rest of her cousins, her little sister, her grandparents, great-grandparents, her aunts and uncles, her aunts' boyfriends, some of her second cousins, friends, and finally, the characters of the Jungle Book.

I guess there's no point in explaining that the Jungle Book is just pretend ;-).

Divide and Conquer

2008-04-29T01:45:00.000-05:00

It has come to my attention that I have a divided readership. Some people like my coupon and food posts. Others (like Molly and the rest of my family) are really only interested in Rachel cuteness.
In the interest of satisfying everyone, I've decided to start a new blog for my frugal adventures and for trying to survive Dan's perpetual student-hood. For all two of you who like the coupon, food, and philosophical SAHM posts, you can check it out here.

http://medicalspouse.blogspot.com

And for those who don't care about my philosophical ramblings and just want to see Rachel, stay tuned right here. There is much more Rachel cuteness to come :).

Mama Bear

2008-04-29T01:31:00.000-05:00

Are these pregnancy hormones just doing a number on me? I made a bunch of quasi-upset (or at least complaining) phone calls today.

1) No newspaper yesterday. Woe to those who deny me my coupons. Called the LA Times.
2) I found Rachel in the church nursery with soaking wet pants and a poop that had been there a very long time. She screamed when I changed her b/c in hurt her to wipe. No apologies. Called the director.
3) Got harassed by a very suspicious person in a parking lot. (Luckily I was not physically threatened.) Called the police.

Moral: if you mess with me or especially my kid(s), I will do something about it. And don't even think about being pushy in asking me for spare change while I'm attempting to put groceries and a toddler in my car. Especially when your sob story is highly suspicious and your "ID" was most likely stolen.

BBQ at Nana and Poppa's house

2008-04-28T00:28:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, Poppa made a delicious feast (and Chris contributed the best guacamole I've ever tasted, along with some scrumptious appetizers). Rachel was the center of attention for the afternoon... Except when she took a nap. Then everyone watched the Bourne Supremacy. Well, I watched half of it. When I'm preggo I need a little nap too :)
Rachel took a little while to warm up. She was especially shy as it was the first time she'd met Aunt Lolo's boyfriend Matt. But, by the end of the day she was giving him high-fives. I guess he has the stamp of approval now!
Rachel loved playing with a little tea set that Nana found. She went around giving everyone tastes of her "tea", and was thrilled when all her aunties and uncles played along.
Rachel with her aunties: Molly, Lolo and Janet.

And kudos to Poppa--Rachel devoured lots of his yummy BBQed chicken and beef. She loved Chris's guacamole too. What a good eater! She's not quite ready for Poppa's scones, though. But I don't mind because that meant more for me! ;-)

Since then, Rachel has been talking a lot about the BBQ. "Molly, Chris, Peto, Jena? Tio Taco? Poppa? Cook. Meat. Books? Nana. Matt? Zanet? Lolo? Nana-Poppa House?"

Aunt Molly's Visit

2008-04-25T23:52:00.001-05:00

Rachel's Aunt Molly came for a visit yesterday :). Yay! Much fun was had by all. Highlights include:

1) Rachel's showing off her knowledge of the classical composers
2) Molly teaching Rachel some cool yoga moves
3) Rachel and Molly looking at pictures and movies on the computer (Rachel's favorite pastime)

In the following video, you can see all three highlights in action. Enjoy!

Rachel shares her toys

2008-04-24T09:31:00.001-05:00

Here is a video of Rachel generously bringing her toys to my belly, to be shared with her little sister. Like a wise parent of two has recently said, we'll see how long this lasts when Zebedee steals the toys first! For now, I'll enjoy it while it lasts :).

The long awaited pictures :)

2008-04-19T09:49:00.000-05:00

Rachel is a very good "mommy" to her "baby", and loves to go on "walks" around the house with her stroller:

Last weekend, Nana came for a visit. Nana is very popular (she is the mother of 7 after all!) and has lots of phone calls. Rachel wanted to talk on the phone too, so she got out her own "phone". Very cute!

Rachel loves to be a big girl and sit at my desk :).

Rachel is already an awesome big sister! She gives Zebedee kisses, and she also shares her toys, piling them on my belly.

Okay, okay....

2008-04-18T23:42:00.000-05:00

...I get it, people. You, my adoring fans, want more pictures of Rachel and less ramblings about my grocery shopping exploits. [Never mind that my hits quadrupled when I started blogging about CVS, but that doesn't matter. This blog is primarily for my friends and family, not all those kindred coupon freaks out there.]

So, Molly, just for you I took some pictures of Rachel and my belly today. Unfortunately, we have some computer limitations at the moment. I use the dinosaur computer that doesn't have enough memory to keep all the photos. Dan uses the snazzy Macbook laptop, which holds all the photos. At the moment, we are both working on our blogs, which means the photos are inaccessible to me. So, to tide you over, you'll have to check out Dan's blog, where I'm sure you'll be able to view performances of Rachmaninoff on YouTube to your heart's content. And, I'm told there is a cute story about Rachel contained therein. As soon as I am able, I'll post those adorable photos I took just for you.

And, by the way, my sweet sister, where is YOUR blog? Sometimes I'm just dying to know the gory details of your wedding planning, and yet I'm forced to wait in suspense until you call me on your way home. Life just isn't fair ;-). (Love ya!!!)

Today's CVS run

2008-04-12T19:05:00.000-05:00

I think today went pretty well! The CVS clerks were (and always are in my experience) super friendly and helpful. As I walked in today, there was a clerk promoting the Extra Care Program. She was very pleased that I already had an Extra Care Card, and that I'm "serious about CVS." She replied, "That's what we like to hear!"

I did two transactions today. Normally, I don't like to do multiple transactions, but today it was necessary to have two separate receipts for two rebate deals.

I had 14 total ECB's going in...

Transaction #1:

Pepcid EZ Chew 25 ct (7.99), earned 5 ECBs
CVS Acetomenophin 24 ct (3.99), earned 3.99 ECBs
(3) Essence of Beauty Nail Brushes (1.99 each), earned 5 ECBs

$3/$15 CVS coupon (from in-store coupon printing kiosk)
$2 off pepcid (from recent newspaper insert)

Used 10 ECBs
out of pocket: 3.33 incl tax, but I'll get this back from the $5.50 rebate from the same newspaper insert.

NET: I earned $2.17, plus $13.99 ECBs!!!!

Transaction #2:

(2) Orajel Toddler Training Toothpaste ($3.79, B1G1 CVS weekly sale flier)
1 Pocket size Kleenex (filler, $0.99)

Used 4ECBs

Out of Pocket: $0.84, but I'll get this back from a $1.50 Orajel rebate, found here.

NET: I made $0.66

So, for all this stuff, I netted $2.83, plus made back my 14 ECBs. Hooray! Most successful CVS run yet :). Not only that, but all of this is stuff that I can really use, and in the case of the toddler toothpaste, really needed to get this week or else run out.

Congrats Hubby!!!

2008-04-12T18:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, my Hubby, officially became Dr. Dan :). He very successfully defended his thesis, and is now the proud holder of the title PhD. Hooray!!! Might I also add that I was there for his defense and I was quite impressed by how well he knew his stuff and answered some tough questions. :):):):)

One Dr down, one to go!! (MD to arrive in June of 2009, stay tuned...)

A Frugal (yummy) Meal

2008-04-07T13:56:00.000-05:00

This post is inspired by Amy.
I've also got food on the brain :).

I'm about to post two recipes that I made recently, one for lentil stew, and the other for a quick molasses bread. I didn't actually serve them together originally, but now that there are leftovers of both I'm eating them together for lunch as I write this, and I daresay they both go well together. They were both ridiculously easy, fast, and cheap to make. (at least fast for hands-on time ;-)) Enjoy!

Lentil Stew

1 pkg (about 3 cups) dry lentils, sorted and rinsed
about 7.5 cups broth (I combined chicken and beef...I had a bunch of homemade broth sitting in the freezer*)
1 ham hock
2 bay leaves
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped thinly
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Add extra water throughout as necessary (I may have added a cup extra). At end, remove ham hock and bay leaves. Serve with salt and pepper to taste.

**a note about broth: It is now my habit to save the ends of carrots and celery, as well as onion ends and peels that would be normally thrown away. I keep them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Every few weeks I cook a whole chicken for dinner, then save the carcass. The next day, I throw the carcass and the saved carrot, celery and onion parts into a large stock pot (w/strainer already inside...makes life easier). I then fill the pot w/ water, add some salt and pepper, and let simmer for ~3-4 hours until the meat falls off the bones. Then strain out the solids and throw away, saving the liquid in large tupperware containers. Chill overnight. The next day, I spoon off the hardened fat on top, pour through a sieve, then freeze in 2 cup portions. That way, whenever I need to make rice or use broth for some other recipe, it's easier to thaw (I usually take out of freezer a day or two before I'll need it and let thaw in the fridge). I guess that sounds like a lot of work...but it's really not if you're in the kitchen every day anyway. It just takes a little planning...but if you cook a lot all that store-bought broth can get expensive! Besides, this is much better for you, additive-free, etc :). Okay...back to recipes!

Quick Molasses Bread

2/3 cup sour cream
1 cup whole milk (these are approximate. I used 1 2/3 cup of milk + sour cream because I was using it up)
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup molasses

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease 9x5 loaf pan. Mix dry ingredients together. In separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together. Pour wet into dry ingredients, and stir till just moistened. Pour into loaf pan (will need a rubber spatula--it's pretty thick and sticky!). Bake for 50-60 min (until firm and toothpick comes out clean). Let cool 15 min in the pan before removing. Delicious when served warm w/ butter. Yum!

More Visits

2008-04-05T23:12:00.001-05:00

The day before Easter, my dad and 5 of my 6 siblings came out to visit Rachel. Highlights included Rachel's Easter Egg hunt, a trip to Gourmet Pizza Shop, and Rachel's first encounter with a real horse! (She still says "Petah. Forse. Big." Translation: Uncle Peter showed me a horse and it was BIG!)

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

My CVS Run

2008-03-31T18:07:00.000-05:00

So, I'm just learning the "CVS System", with inspiration from Money Saving Mom and my dear friend Ellie. I am nowhere near an expert...so I'm probably spending more than I could in theory. But on the other hand, I'm still saving way more money than my previous method of grocery shopping (i.e. almost no planning, go to only one store, and buy it when I need it without coupons).

So here's what I bought today:

2 Lady Speed Sticks (2.50 each, used $1 off from 3/30 SmartSource insert, and $1 off printable from CoolSavings). Earned 3 ECB's.

1 Palmolive Dish Liquid (0.99, used 0.25 coupon from 3/30S)
1 Fantastik 32 oz cleaner (2.99, used $1 off from 3/30S)
1 Scrubbing Bubbles 16oz (2.99, used 0.75 from 3/30S)
1 Shout 22oz stain remover (2.99, used $1 off from 3/30S)
1 Windex 26 oz (2.99, used $1 off from 3/30S)
1 Windex wipes (2.99)*

note: I had intended to buy Windex anti-bacterial spray using another $1 coupon from 3/30, but alas, they were out. I had to throw in another qualifying cleaning product in order to reach $15 to earn my 5 ECBs. Sigh
-----earned 5 ECB's for $15 of cleaning products

1 Softsoap Spa Body Wash (4.99, used $1.50 off from 3/30S), earned 4.99 ECBs

Total minus coupons: $18.48
Used $11.96 of previous ECB's

$6.52 out of pocket, Earning $12.99 ECB's

As an added bonus, I got a $3/15 coupon on the bottom of my register tape. Whee!

Craisin-Spice Muffins

2008-03-27T17:27:00.000-05:00

I made these muffins this afternoon. It was really fast, and they were really yummy :).

3 TBSP melted butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
pinch nutmeg
1/2 cup Craisins

1) Preheat oven to 400 F, grease 12-compartment muffin tin

2) Combine butter, egg and milk. In separate mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients (except for Craisins). Add wet to dry ingredients, stirring only enough to moisten. Batter should be thick and lumpy. Add craisins and stir slightly.

3) Spoon into muffin tin (2/3 full). Optional: sprinkle tops with cinnamon/sugar. Bake 20 minutes or till toothpick comes out clean.

4) Let rest 5 minutes before removing from tin.

Enjoy!

I've been inspired to bake a lot this week because I used up my grocery budget for March and I'm determined to stretch everything we have on hand & wait it out till April. Yay!

Updates, Visits, and Conversations

2008-03-16T00:58:00.000-05:00

1) Update: Zebedee is a GIRL!! Yay! I'd post the 3-D ultrasound pic but it's really dark and hard to see.

2) Visit: Uncle Peter and Aunt Jena came to visit Rachel last weekend. A great time was had by all. Rachel is normally scared of men, and there are precious few she will go to. After this visit, the current ordering is: Daddy, Poppa, and Uncle Peter in that order. If you are anyone else, and you are male, then just expect Rachel to not come within a 10 foot radius. Nothing personal. As time goes on, I'm sure she'll warm up to her other uncles/grandpa/etc.

Another visit: My cousin Dan stayed with us during his med school interview. Rachel frequently asks about him, saying "Dan? Home? Hat?" (Translation: Dan stayed with us, but now he's at home. He wore a really cool UCLA hat and he tried to get me to wear it but I was scared to get anywhere near him. Now I wish I'd at least tried it on.)

3) Conversations: (this occurs about 3x per day, every day. My answers can vary depending on the time of day)

Rachel: Daddy?
Me: Daddy is at work.
Rachel: Momma?
Me: I'm right here with Rachel!
Rachel: Nana?
Me: Nana is at work.
Rachel: Poppa?
Me: Poppa is at work.
Rachel: Gamma?
Me: Grandma is at home.
Rachel: Gampa?
Me: Grandpa is at work.
Rachel: Edo?
Me: Uncle Peter is at work.
Rachel: Enna?
Me: Aunt Jena is at work.
Rachel: AyeAye?
Me: Aunt Molly is at school.
Rachel: Iss?
Me: Uncle Chris is at work.
Rachel: Ett?
Me: Aunt Janet is at school.
Rachel: Lolo?
Me: Aunt Lolo is at school.
Rachel: Tommy?
Me: Uncle Tommy is at school.
Rachel: Andoo?
Me: Uncle Andrew is at school.
Rachel: Taco?
Me: Tio Taco is at work.

If it's at night, I'll say most people are at home, except for Janet, Laurie and Tommy, who live at school. I bet she is desperately trying to figure out the pattern...and why some of her aunts and uncles never seem to go home!

couponing success!!

2008-03-09T23:17:00.000-05:00

I've been trying my hand at serious budgeting, meal planning, bargain shopping and couponing for several weeks now. Today I had my first big success. It's a thrill!

We were practically out of cheerios. Rachel eats them for breakfast...I was dreading how much I'd have to spend on a box of cereal. Then the sale fliers and coupons come out. Hooray!

My trip to Vons:

5 boxes of Cheerios (14 oz each): Club Price 5/$15, with $10 off when you purchase $15 worth of GM products. Coupon for $1 off 3 cheerios, doubled.

Net: 5 boxes of cheerios, 0.60 each :).

1 Lady Speed Stick Deoderant (the kind I normally use)! On sale for $2. Used $1 coupon, doubled.

Net: FREE!!!

2 lbs of beef back ribs (to make my own beef stock): $2.

Total: $5.03... Regular Price would have been $27.83. 82% Savings!!!!

Yipee!!!!

We also went to Trader Joe's and Stater Bros to get groceries for the week and actually stayed within budget!!!! Last night I planned exactly what we'd get for my menu this week--also paying attention to sales and coupons. As an experiment, I got out some old receipts, so I knew the exact cost of every item. I then removed some less-necessary items so I could stay within budget, and it worked! As an example, I opted to get the ribs on sale to make 4 quarts of my own beef broth instead of buying the expensive organic boxed stuff. (The cheapo broth is full of MSG and other things and I think it tastes yucky.)

I am so happy!

Visits with Family

2008-02-23T19:25:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, Rachel's Nana, Papa, Uncle Andrew and Uncle Tommy met us at the Rainforest Cafe for a fun lunch. It made quite an impression on Rachel, as she talked about it for days afterwards. At the time though, I think she was a little scared of the gorilla that was right above our table. Here are some pictures right outside the restaurant.

A week or so later, Rachel and I drove to Monterey with my 3 sisters, Molly, Janet and Laurie. It was quite an adventure. Rachel still talks about "Aye-Aye, Ett, and Lolo" wondering where they are. (Rachel used to call Molly "Anna", but that morphed into "Aye-Aye" on this trip).
In Monterey, we met up with my Hubby who was already there for a med student research conference. The highlight of our trip was visiting Dennis the Menace park, where Rachel wore herself out playing on all the big girl jungle gyms

(We all squeezed into one hotel room with 2 double beds--one for the sisters, and one for me, Dan and Rachel.)

Much fun!!

Most recently, my genius 15 year old brother Andrew (the one with the broken collarbone in the picture above) built a real working clock out of legos. For fun. Here is his website describing what he did. I am amazed and predict great things are in store for him. (I am fighting off the temptation to try to figure out where he would wind up should he become a Techer in the class of 2014. They are all fine houses...they are all fine houses...)

sorry to disappoint....

2008-02-08T16:50:00.000-06:00

I've had a busy couple weeks...a visit from Nana and Papa at the Rain Forest Cafe and a road trip to Monterey with my 3 sisters. There are pictures from both, but I haven't had time to post them yet (sorry Molly!) because this week has been both hard and discouraging.

I read this and felt a lot better.

Animal Sounds, Part II

2008-01-29T12:21:00.000-06:00

In this video, taken by Rachel's Aunt Molly (aka "Anna"), Rachel demonstrates her superior reading skills using the classic work, Moo Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton.

Enjoy!

An Amazing Story

2008-01-15T21:51:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to take time to share an amazing story--not mine--that I've been following this last week (discovered via Amy's blog).

Nathan, Tricia, and Gwyneth live in NC. Tricia has Cystic Fibrosis and was almost going to have a double lung transplant when she and Nathan discovered that they were pregnant. In face of all the risks, they chose to proceed with the pregnancy (and I applaud them for it!) Because of CF complications, baby Gwyneth was delivered last Tuesday at 24 weeks and is in the NICU. Nathan goes back and forth between visiting his wife and daughter and blogs regularly (see link above). They have amazing faith in God and I'm praying for great outcomes for all of them. They are an inspiration. If you think of it, please pray for them.

I think I'm so interested in their story because of my dad's being a lung donor for our friend with CF several years ago.

A side note: this story has spread all over the blogosphere. I just found my good friend from small group's blog because she had also been following this story and commented. (Neither of us knew of the other's blog before). What a small world!

Animal sounds

2008-01-04T23:33:00.000-06:00

Rachel is so good with her animal sounds! In the following video, Rachel puts on a stunning performance. In the beginning, you see her sitting in her favorite bucket, where she likes to sit and read books. What a funny girl!

ps.from the previous entry, all is well.

So weird...

2008-01-03T22:48:00.000-06:00

Okay, so it's 8:40pm. Dan is gone at worship team practice. Rachel's been asleep for a good 20 minutes. I'm surfing the net.

Then the doorbell rings. Who could it be at this hour, I wonder? I look through the peephole. It's a woman with glasses, bundled in a white jacket, and wearing a scarf around her neck. I ask "who is it?" several times. She responds "hello?" and knocks again. She appears to be my upstairs neighbor.

Against my better judgment, I open the door a crack.

Neighbor: Is your husband a doctor?
Me: Not yet...
(I think: perhaps someone needs medical attention)

Neighbor: So he hasn't finished his intern year?
Me: No, actually he's a medical student.
Neighbor: Oh. So how long till he's a doctor?
Me: A couple years.
Neighbor: So what does he want to specialize in?
Me: He hasn't decided...um, do you need help?
Neighbor: Oh no...I was just wondering since I see him walking around in a white coat. Sorry to be nosy. Have a good night.

As she turns her back, I see a lit cigarette in her hand.

Ummmmm....okay??? That was really weird and scary. She has never come to my door before. Perhaps she has a mental illness. That was the case with a previous neighbor...except that neighbor never came to my door. She would just stand in the courtyard and ranting and raving and hurling racial slurs at every race you could imagine, including her own.

This neighbor, thus far, though I don't know her well, seems to be sane. Perhaps she really did need help, then decided not to divulge her reasons when she found out that my husband couldn't help her. I'll hope that's what this is all about, and that she'll be able to find the help she needs elsewhere.

I hate being home alone at night. I was going to take a shower, but now I'm afraid to. Ugh.

edit: Just re-reading my post makes me feel bad in a way. If I lived in Prince Edward Island like Anne of Green Gables, I would be friends with all my neighbors and there to help in a heartbeat, welcoming visitors at any hour. But friends, I'm sad to say that this is 2008 and I live in a predominantly low-income apartment complex in the "ghetto". I'm sure this is not the worst ghetto there is in SoCal (by far), but hey...I was raised not to talk to strangers and to lock your car doors at all times etc etc. I'm on defense all the time. Sigh.

Announcements

2007-12-31T00:22:00.000-06:00

1) To my sweet sister Molly: I am so sorry I have delayed in posting more cute pictures of your niece. I hope you will accept my humblest apologies for my lack of energy ;-).

2) My lack of energy may be due in part to this:

3) "Zebedee" is due to arrive in late July 2008. I am 10 weeks along today.

4) For those who weren't around for my first pregnancy and are wondering at our odd choice of names, please rest assured that Zebedee is a gender-neutral in utero name (Rachel's was Zubby, aka Zerubbabel); and that we will give Zebedee a sensible gender-specific name upon birth, but we're not telling what that name might be.

5) Our in-utero names derive from obnoxious Bible names beginning with the letter Z.

6) I feel sick, sick, sick. Yuck. Darn morning (afternoon, and evening) sickness.

7) Bless all you hard working folks at Del Taco. You keep me alive. Thank you for inventing that fine delicacy known as the Macho Combo Burrito.

8) I don't cook. I haven't in weeks. I have no energy to. Bless my wonderful hubby for getting me food from Del Taco, Subway and KFC when the cravings hit.

9) My SIL is pregnant too...and we are a week apart. She also craves KFC--so I am not weird. Really I'm not.

10) My belly is already huge. I guess Rachel stretched me out.

11) I bought a maternity bridesmaids dress for Molly's wedding. She's getting married June 28...and I will be VERY VERY VERY pregnant at that point.
(this pic was taken several weeks ago btw)

12) Okay, okay...sorry for the boring stuff. I know you all just want pictures of Rachel. So here they are.

Rachel was wearing her hat, but it was nearly impossible to get her to keep it on her head.

One of Rachel's favorite games is stealing my glasses and putting them on herself. Usually I respond by tickling her. At Dan's family's Christmas gathering, Rachel tried to steal my glasses during the "reflective" carol singing time. She cackled in anticipation of my tickling her--and everyone else laughed at her cuteness.

Rachel has a new cousin named Leah who was just adopted from China. They are 2 weeks apart in age :), though Leah has a bit of catching up to do. I'm sure it will happen quickly now that she's in a loving family! I'm excited that Rachel has a cousin just her age!
(Rachel's and Leah's names were chosen completely independently of each other, by the way. I'm sure they will get along much better than the Biblical Rachel and Leah did ;-))

Christmas w/ my family. My "twin" Alicia got to join us! Yay :)!

Survival skills: I feel so pukey and have no energy, and Rachel is suddenly boycotting her naps. However she loves looking at "ickas" (translation: pictures) on the computer, so I let her, while I rest. Conveniently, because of her constant study of the pictures, she's learned every single one of her aunt's, uncle's and cousin's names just in time for Christmas. With 7 aunts, 7 uncles, and 7 cousins this was quite an accomplishment. Good job, Rachel!

Rachel loves the phone

2007-12-04T23:35:00.001-06:00

My non-lurking sister has been begging me to post some more Rachel cuteness, so here I go. Here's a video, taken when my family was over for a visit. Papa called Rachel on the cell phone (for real), even though they were in the same room. He then sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" for her, and Rachel got to hear it in double time :). Enjoy.

Conversations

2007-11-23T22:26:00.001-06:00

Me: Rachel, do you love Daddy?
Rachel: Mom-my!
Me: Do you love Mommy?
Rachel: Dada!
Me: Do you love Papa?
Rachel: Nana!
Me: Do you love Nana?
Rachel: PA-PA!
Me: Do you love Grandma?
Rachel: A-pa!
Me: Do you love Grandpa?
Rachel: A-ma!

Apparently, she understands who is married to whom and wants to make sure that no one is left out :). How cute!

More adventures in discipline

2007-11-22T09:34:00.000-06:00

I am working on organizing some stuff in my room.

Rachel comes in with purple smeared on her face.

Me: Uh-oh, Rachel. Were you eating your crayons?
Rachel (looking remorseful): Yeeaaah.
Me: You know we can't put crayons in our mouth. Crayons are for paper. Mommy has to take away your crayons now.
Rachel (goes and puts herself in her time-out corner).
Me (tries to hold in laughter): Rachel, will you do better next time? Crayons are for paper, not your mouth. Okay?
Rachel (smiles and walks away happily, knowing she has "atoned for her sin".)

I am astonished...I wasn't planning on giving her a time-out, just taking the crayons away. Yet, she knew she was in trouble, and the logical result was that she needed to have a time out. What a cute girl!!! (I hope this lasts ;-))

A side note: Rachel LOVES the book Olivia, because Olivia gets a time-out for painting on the wall. Rachel can relate to this kind of stuff. Every time we read it, I remind Rachel that we draw on paper.

Halloween

2007-11-09T15:35:00.000-06:00

Here is my adorable daughter in her pumpkin costume:

Our Halloween:
I had every good intention of taking Rachel to our church's carnival, "Halloween Happenin'". They always have a neat preschool zone with fun stuff--a graffiti board, bounce house, games, and who knows what else. However, by the time Dan got home and we'd had dinner, I realized that the carnival was almost going to be over once I got there. So I got lazy.

Instead, we spent our Halloween within the confines of our humble apartment complex, and my true frugal and anti-sugar nature began to expose itself. First, judging from previous years' trick-or-treaters (maybe 2-4 max), I figured that one bag of 3 Musketeers should suffice. Wrong.

So, when the first group of kids came by, they each got 2 candies. Rachel was the one who put them in the bags. Then she and I went outside to play in the sand/playground, and watch the costumed kids as they made their way around the courtyard. She got candy from exactly 2 neighbors (who noted her adorable pumpkin garb and couldn't help but give her some.) When we made our way back into the house, I said to Rachel, "can you put your candy there, please?" (pointing to the bowl of 3 Musketeers). She obediently complied. I know, I'm such a devious manipulative mom.

So then, the kids started coming in large numbers. I reduced my candy giving to one per child. Rachel began pointing up to that bowl with a longing look. "Eeeehhhh? Eeeehhh?" Translation: why am I giving out candies to all these kids but I don't get any? Then the guilt set in. I said to Dan, "let's just let her try a 3 Musketeers...after all, don't you think she'll feel left out?" This decision was made when there were 3 bars left in the bowl. No sooner had I felt my conscience was cleared than the doorbell rang. Outside were: not one, not two, but THREE costumed children requesting candy. How could I refuse? (Especially when the sugar would affect someone else's child?) So there went all the candy, including Rachel's stash. All gone.

What to do now? I picked up my sweet, upset, daughter.

Me: are you sad because you want candy like all those other kids?
Rachel: Yeeeaaaaah.
Me: look, the bowl is empty. It's all gone. Do you want a different candy?
Rachel: Yeeeaaaah.
Me: Would you like this yummy chocolate chip from the cupboard so you can be just like the other kids?
Rachel: Yeeeeaaaaah.
Me: Okay, here you go honey.

Rachel was delighted to eat her two tiny semi-sweet chocolate chips. Chocolate-stained drool spilled down her shirt. She was wonderfully happy. Added bonus: she didn't feel sick to her stomach from overdosing on nasty chemically manufactured junk. :)

However, if she's onto my schemes at such a young age, I may need to alter my approach to Halloween in future years.

Haircuts

2007-11-07T17:45:00.000-06:00

In this family, we are really cheap...ahem...I mean FRUGAL. Thus, there is only one of us who will pay for a haircut (namely me), and I only get one every 2 years.

Since we've been married, I have cut Dan's hair every few months. Badly. In the beginning I'd be close to tears with nervousness and frustration, but Dan insisted that he didn't want to go to a barber. After all, he'd never been to one in his entire life. During his childhood and bachelor days, his dad always cut his hair. I've gotten better, but still I'm not that great. Dan thinks I do okay. So as long as my husband is happy, I'm happy.

Now, I have the added task of cutting my daughter's hair. This causes a small amount of anxiety. After all, if "it looks like a little kid cut it" on my husband, and he holds still, what am I going to do for my wild flailing toddler?

Well, I finally took the plunge. Rachel was beginning to look like a mop, and she refused to keep a barette in her hair. When she started eating her barettes, I decided that enough is enough.

Here is Rachel's mop head:

Here she is post haircut:

My method: I put her in her high chair and distracted her with food. I held the "offending hair" between 2 fingers and snipped once. I was terrified of having a pair of scissors so close to her eyes. Later I snipped a bit more on the sides. It's kind of uneven. Hopefully she won't be scarred for life. We girls tend to care what we look like way more than the boys do.

Any hints on how to cut a toddler's hair, decently, without gouging their eyes out? And while we're at it, any hints on cutting my husbands hair? I joke about it, but honestly I'm pretty insecure.

Blast to the Past

2007-11-04T18:03:00.000-06:00

I really liked today's PhD Comics.

While the entire comic strip doesn't remind me of my days at Tech, the first panel sure does. Except, in my case I would have said "the frosh in Ruddock were totally busy building OPI, so can I PLEEEEEEAAAAASE have an extension?"
Or I might have said that I was talking to every incoming frosh during Rotation, or that I was up all night during Picks....
The wonderful and amazing thing is that I was granted an extension almost every time I asked for one. I guess the grad student TA's were really nice. The professor "TA's" were a bit more intimidating, especially one, who has since won the Nobel Prize in Physics. I don't think he liked me because I slept through every recitation. I never had the guts to ask him for an extension. To his credit, he was Dan's absolute favorite TA, and he wrote Dan a letter of recommendation. Dan was in the afternoon section and thus much more awake (not to mention much better at physics ;-))

To this day, Dan and I like to quote Dr. Politzer's wise words concerning physics: "It's just an approximation..."

sigh

2007-10-28T00:18:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to announce that the second law of thermodynamics is still fully operational...

Yesterday, I went crazy cleaning the house: I mopped the kitchen floor, vacuumed the living room, and bleached everything in the bathroom. I was so proud. Today, Rachel spilled her sippy cup and dropped her food all over the kitchen floor, and tracked mud into the living room. And just to make sure that each "clean" room had its fair share, a particularly nasty poopy diaper got smeared on the toilet as I was trying to rinse it out.

Oh well.

My hubby wants to blog...

2007-10-24T23:09:00.000-05:00

...so here it is. He will be writing about his crazy academic life as a perpetual student.
Just reading his post made me tired :). I'm glad he likes what he does so much, but that sort of thing would definitely not be for me...praise God that I got out (alive) with my masters!

weekend

2007-10-17T13:23:00.001-05:00

So, this weekend I flew to the Bay Area for Cheryl's wedding--alone with Rachel. My mommy met me there and was a huge help!! Here are some pictures:
Here's me and Amy with our toddlers. Rachel is no longer in her pretty dress because she had a huge poop that went up the back. Never a dull moment when traveling with a toddler ;).

The next day, I visited my Grandmother, and some aunts, uncles and cousins.
Here's a 4-generational picture. All 4 of us have the same mitochondrial DNA!! Crazy.

It's sort of funny...last year I flew to Minnesota for my great-aunt Audrey's funeral...and I wound up with the equivalent photos. One of me, Amy, Leo and Rachel (who were much younger then), and the 4-generational picture. Now I travel to the Bay area for Cheryl's wedding and wind up seeing exactly the same people. Weird :).

Anyway, it was a fun trip!!

studies may show...

2007-10-15T10:48:00.000-05:00

Studies may show that child care workers are much more depressed than scientists, but for me it was just the opposite.
I started a new job last week--working at church childcare two days a week (where I worked in 2004-2005 immediately after ditching the lab). Then, childcare/preschool was a much needed haven away from an incredibly stressful job situation. Today, childcare is a much needed blessing--a way to help make ends meet, where Rachel can safely get out of the house and explore. So now I'm officially a part-time working mama. 1 day a week for Homeschool co-op, 2 for childcare.

Meme

2007-10-06T10:49:00.000-05:00

Taken from Alicia.

Comment below and I'll pick 7 of your interests. You then explain them on your blog/journal.

Here are mine

1) THE GUITAR: I've been playing for almost 10 years. Chewie was my first teacher and he worked for food. After that I was part of several worship teams and learned lots from other guitar players, especially Sam, Ellie, Robert, Tim, and Diane. I can play many kiddie-church songs by heart. Actually, that's about all I can play. :) Now Rachel loves it when I take the guitar out. She likes to strum the guitar, and steal the pick, running away with it while I chase her.

2) TEACHING: My career of choice. In college, one of my plans was to get my single subject credential and teach chemistry. Of course, this never happened, and I went the grad school route instead. But I did get to teach high school chemistry for a little less than a year! Now, I've got what I consider to be the ideal "mom" teaching job--the Homeschool Co-op. The perfect way to keep in the teaching profession, one day a week with free childcare!! I have grand schemes for someday going back to school, getting a credential and MEd, and then again teaching high school. We'll see if it happens. Oh yeah, I'm also "homeschooling" Rachel. Our current project is learning to speak English :).

3) THE COLOR BLUE: So, this is my favorite color for sure, but I'm not exactly sure why. My bridesmaids dresses were blue, my bathroom towels and carpet are blue, my Ergo is blue. Perhaps because I've got a melancholy sort of depressive personality? And feeling blue can translate into feeling depressed? Or perhaps it's because the sky is blue, and I love learning about earth science and astronomy? Hmmmm...it is a mystery. But I really do like the color blue.

4) HORMONES: A long-standing interest of mine, ever since I was diagnosed with PCOS many years ago. I've seriously considered becoming an endocrinologist or OB/GYN because of it. Now the PCOS is pretty well under control (perhaps pregnancy/childbirth/lactation is a cure?) However, I'm pretty sure that hormones cause me to turn into a monster every month or so. Just ask Dan ;-).

5) PSALMS: Probably my favorite book of the Bible. It's got messages of hope(Ps 103), a clear explanation of General and Special Revelation (Ps 19, thus showing me that studying science is a cool way to learn more about God), some depressed/despairing passages (Ps 6, reminding me that God is still God even when I'm down), prophecies pointing to Christ (Ps 22), one reminding me that I am precious to God (Ps 139), and those showing that God is big, strong & powerful (Ps 8, Ps 18). It's got it all. :)

6) LOVE: I love my husband and daughter, my family and friends. But there is a love better than that. John 3:16, John 15:13, I John 4:7.

7) FAMILY: I live with my husband and daughter. In terms of my extended family, I've got a big one. Currently living, I have (on my side of the family):
3 grandparents
2 parents
3 sisters
3 brothers
1 sister-in-law
1 almost-brother-in-law
5 aunts
7 uncles
33 first cousins
13 cousins-in-law (I think I counted that right)
28 first cousins once removed (children of my cousins)
7 first cousins once removed (my parents' cousins)
6 second cousins (that I have met)
4 second cousins once removed (that I have met)

Dan's family is similarly big. Thanks to him, I have:
3 sisters-in-law
3 brothers-in-law
2 parents-in-law
1 grandma
2 nephews
5 nieces
countless aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. (on par with the size of my family)

Rachel Pictures

2007-10-05T16:16:00.000-05:00

Here are some (relatively) recent pictures of Rachel.

These two are from our camping trip to Mammoth this summer...

This one is from our annual "cousins reunion" at the beach. Rachel is wearing sunglasses belonging to her third cousin, Sydney. By third cousin, I mean that Rachel's great-grandmother and Sydney's late great-grandfather were half-brother and sister. I realize that it is a bit unusal to have yearly-get-togethers with such distant blood relatives, but what can I say? I know some of them (my second cousins) better than many of my first cousins. Though it is always amusing to try to figure out what we are to one another...some of them are like aunts and uncles when in reality they're first cousins once removed. But that's too complicated so we just use first names. Anyways....

Here's Rachel with her all-important Blankie. She's quite attached. Thankfully, though, Blankie makes bedtime a very smooth process these days.

Here are some messy high chair shots. Rachel squints when she sees a camera coming (guess that flash is too bright!)

Here's Rachel showing off her stickers. She gets one every time she's a good helper. Current count: 25.

Here's Rachel creating entropy. VHS cassettes are just so much fun to open, ya know?

Some other random pics:

This one's for Amy

2007-09-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

I'm just thrilled that someone else likes my taco soup and chicken bake. Here is my other "favorite recipe". It's sort of like 2 recipes, so bear with me. (This recipe was inspired by my mom and some random blog I used to read but don't anymore)

CHICKEN ROLLUPS: (Rachel calls it TACO, and she loves it!)

1 (16 oz) can refried beans
2-3 TBSP salsa
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped*
8 tortillas
1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Extra salsa and sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix salsa, beans, and chicken in bowl. Spoon several tablespoons into each tortilla, roll, and place seam-down in 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top, return to oven until cheese is melted. Serve with generous amounts of salsa and sour cream.

The cool thing about this recipe is that it works with any kind of leftover chicken, and it's FAST. Here's my method for generating that leftover chicken:

*Whenever boneless skinless chicken breasts go on sale, I buy a big family pack. Then, I trim the excess fat, place chicken in 9x13 baking dish, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle on three things (1) garlic powder, (2) Lawry's seasoned salt, and (3) parmesan cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes. Place each chicken breast in individual freezer baggy. Keep them in freezer, until ready to defrost and use at later date :).

What do you guys think?

2007-09-29T01:35:00.001-05:00

Along the lines of my previous post...I've been pondering some other creative ideas for income generation, and I'd like your input on one of them.

Some background: I love having this blog. Its primary purpose is to keep in touch with my friends (many of whom are listed on the sidebar.) More recently, it has become the means for my family to keep tabs on their adorable granddaughter/niece. Out of curiosity, I put a statcounter on this blog, so I have a general idea about who is reading my ramblings. My readers fall into 3 categories:

1) My family and friends mentioned above.
2) Other regular readers who link to my blog via my friends' blogs. I have no idea who you are, but I assume you are friends of friends, or people I used to know in real life. You are welcome to comment any time and make yourself known! Or you can just lurk, I don't mind :).
3) Completely random people who find my blog via google searches, and generally never come back.

Just to clarify, the statcounter doesn't give me any personal info. Just a city and the link they came from. What the statcounter does tell me, however, is that I have a fair amount of traffic going through this blog.

So, I'm sitting here with an ethical dilemma and I need your help. Should I put ads on my blog? On the one hand, I don't really like advertising. It annoys me at best. (If it's pushy, it makes me angry.) On the other hand, I don't really mind google ads (like the ones on gmail, which would be the kind living on this blog.) They just sit on the side, are all text-based, and I basically ignore them.
Then there's the other question...would putting ads on my blog make my friends feel like I'm using them for monetary gain? I notice that none of you have ads on your blogs. Please know that if ads do show up here, I'm not trying to make any money off my readers who fall into categories 1 and 2. Only the random people in category 3.

It comes down to this...I'm married to a perpetual student who has prospects for a decent income, in about 10 years. I don't want to work full time (and even if I went back to my career of choice, teaching at a Christian school, childcare costs would make it a monetarily worthless endeavor). So I'm trying to be creative with this blogging hobby, which I spend time on regardless. I don't think I'm going to profit hugely from having ads on the blog...but hey, every little bit helps!

So what do you guys think? Please vote and help me make up my mind!

Identity Crisis

2007-09-29T00:32:00.000-05:00

A while back, one of Amy's posts sent me into a quasi-identity crisis. My question: am I really a SAHM or a WAHM? (For the uninformed, SAHM=stay-at-home-mom, WAHM=work-at-home-mom). The distinction is really quite blurry. I mean, the term "SAHM" sort of implies that you don't work outside the home for money. But what does that matter? Every mom works really hard. Period. Anyway, I suppose I considered myself a SAHM because I quit my previous employment as a high school chemistry teacher just before Rachel was born.

Technically, though, I'm really a WAHM...and this year it's much more true than last year. And perhaps I'm not even that, because I work "outside the home". I teach Jr. High physical science at a homeschool co-op. The total time away from Rachel is 1.5 hours per week (much less than her time in childcare due to Bible study and Church!) However, the time spent in preparation is HUGE. Especially this year, because I'm writing some of my own curriculum. The money made is not huge. That's okay--I love what I'm doing and I get free childcare. It's part of my plan to return to teaching high school someday.

Then there are my other income generators. I sell our old books and random stuff we don't use on ebay, half.com, and amazon.com. It doesn't generate much, but I do spend some time on it. Every little bit helps. As an added bonus, it reduces clutter (but as you'll see from the recent picture of my messy desk, it hasn't been too successful yet!)

Now, I have a third job. I decided to forgo the MOM's group this year and instead work in childcare for it. I may be crazy, but I thought about it a lot and had many reasons to go for it (plus Dan's blessing). Every little bit helps!

Okey dokey...thanks for listening everyone. I feel that my crisis has been resolved. I don't need to be put in a box or have a label slapped on myself! Begin soapbox: This whole "war" between moms who work and moms who stay at home is ridiculous. If you're a mom, you work. A lot. You change lots of diapers, wipe lots of snotty noses, fix lots of snacks, wake up in the middle of the night, etc, etc. You also probably do something to contribute to the family finances. It might mean that you clean all the toilets and mop the floor yourself saving money on a cleaning lady. Perhaps you stay home to save on childcare costs. Maybe you clip coupons and shop sales. A penny saved is a penny earned! For others, it might mean working full-time in a career for which you've trained. Then there's everything in between: working full-time on a home-based business, working part time either inside or outside the home, staying home for a season then returning to work. There are so many creative solutions for raising kids and making money/having a career--you've just gotta do what works for your family and not worry when someone else's plan is different. So, we mommies should all pat ourselves on the back for working hard. Then we should go read Proverbs 31 for inspiration. That woman worked pretty hard too :). end soapbox.

Adventures in Discipline

2007-09-25T01:20:00.000-05:00

The fun times in parenting have begun.

Rachel loves her books. She comes to me at least a hundred times a day with book in hand, asking "ook? ook? app? app?" (translation: Mommy can you please read me a book on your lap?) However, she knows that there are limitations on her books. For example, she is forbidden to eat her books. Books are for reading, not for eating! She's heard this many times. If she approaches me with a book in her mouth, I will say, "No, I'm sorry, Rachel, but you can't put books in your mouth. Now Mommy is not going to read you this book. Let's go find you a toy that you CAN put in your mouth"

A couple times she's cried over this (but really...a few minutes later I always read her a different book, so it's not the end of the world.) In the last couple days, though, a new culprit has entered the picture. Defiance.

Last time she was caught with a book in her mouth and received the above speech, she looked me in the eye, immediately picked up another book, and put it straight in her mouth, watching for my response. Big trouble! My response: immediately take book away, pick Rachel up, and put her in time-out (where she sits on the floor, facing the couch, with me standing behind her to prevent escape). In a firm voice, I say "No, Rachel. Now you are in time out because you disobeyed Mommy. We don't eat books." Rachel looked up at me and cried big tears--her "I'm in trouble" cry.

Dan and I looked at each other trying to keep from laughing. I hope we're not horrible parents for laughing at our child's distress! I think we were just delighted that she respects us, or at least her time-outs, enough to have remorse. A minute later she was sandwiched between us, with us reassuring her that Mommy and Daddy still love her--but that she has to obey us.

Rachel loves her Papa

2007-09-23T18:36:00.000-05:00

Rachel loves to talk to her Papa (my Dad) on the phone :). If she's lucky, he'll sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" with her. Then she'll say "Papa! Papa!", and do the hand motions for the song. She loves talking to her Nana too.

chaos

2007-09-19T21:12:00.000-05:00

My desk needs help. And so does the rest of my apartment. Rachel generates a lot of entropy, but I think I generate more :).

kitchen mania

2007-09-15T17:39:00.000-05:00

Today, I had an hour to myself when both Rachel and Dan were asleep. I was really, really hungry. Instead of munching on flatbread and hummus or string cheese like I usually do, I decided to invest in the rest of this week. It will be pretty crazy with 2 Bible study groups, homeschool co-op and MOM's group starting.

Here is what I made:

1) TACO SOUP

1 med onion
1 pound ground beef
1 16 oz can black beans
1 16 oz can white beans
1 16 oz can corn
1 32 oz can diced tomatoes
1 "box" (2 lb) beef broth
1/2 TBSP chili powder
grated cheddar cheese
tortilla chips

Chop onion, saute with beef. When beef is brown, drain fat. Place beef/onion in crock pot along with beans, corn, tomatoes, broth and chili powder (don't bother to drain liquid from cans). Cook as long as is necessitated by your situation. (I've done it on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours w/ great results). Serve topped with cheddar cheese and tortilla chips. Enjoy! Serves a whole lot of people. 16 maybe? I don't know, but it will certainly last me and Dan the week in generous amounts.

Since I was on a roll, I kept going. I also made:

2) CHICKEN/RICE BAKE
1 can cream of mushroom soup (10 oz)
1 1/3 cup water
3/4 cup uncooked rice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
thyme, rosemary to taste
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Add cream of mushroom soup, water, rice and spices in 9x13 oven baking dish. Stir until soup unclumps. Place chicken breasts on top. Bake, covered w/ foil, @ 375 degrees F for 45 minutes. Add cheese to top. Return to oven uncovered for 1-2 min to melt cheese.

Miss Rachel woke up as soon as the latter was in the oven. As soon as it came out of the oven, Rachel devoured a whole helping most eagerly. Rachel's Daddy slept on the couch throughout this whole cooking and eating ordeal. It took much effort to wake him (poor guy was running around non stop all night in the hospital).

some comic relief

2007-09-08T18:46:00.001-05:00

Lest any one of my dear readers be under the false impression that my husband is a "serious, good-boy type", let me put that notion to rest in this post. In the following video and photos, I am sure you will be convinced that my husband is, in fact, crazy.

Some background: Our Macintosh laptop has a program called "Photobooth". The video captures that program in use. The photos are the results. Enjoy!

Needless to say, Photobooth provides endless hours of entertainment...and if you can catch someone off guard, that's even better! I must confess, dear readers, that my husband has also caught me making funny faces at the computer and laughing at myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately), he didn't have a video camera handy. If you're lucky, I'll post some ridiculous contorted picture of myself some other time :).

growing up fast

2007-09-05T15:58:00.000-05:00

Rachel isn't a baby anymore! She walks everywhere, gets into everything, expresses herself verbally. Last week, she weighed 23 pounds 8 oz, which is about 75th percentile (for the first time she's not in the 90's!).

She says LOTS of words...most recent additions are diaper (DI-buh), high chair (HI-chuh), YEAH!!, Heidi (HI-duh), out (ott), stop (bop). Of course, there are her old favorites: up, hot, duck, doggy (da-da). She also says Mama, Dada, Nana, Papa, Grandma (A-ma), Grandpa (An-pa). I'm sure I'm missing a lot.

She also thinks her Daddy is very funny :). She would be right. See video below. (Sorry it's not YouTube...I'm working on it!)

Fears

2007-08-08T01:59:00.000-05:00

Rachel is very auditorily sensitive. She notices all kinds of sounds--horns honking outside, helicopters flying overhead, our upstairs neighbor flushing her toilet, washer changing cycles, etc. She's also very sensitive about music--even sometimes afraid.

She is terrified of the recorder. Maybe it's the high pitch? Maybe it's the mournful tune that Dan first played for her? I don't know. But the slightest sound out of the recorder and Rachel cries a terrified cry, and is basically inconsolably traumatized for awhile. I thought that would be her only musical fear....but I was wrong.

For my birthday, my parents gave me one of those musical cards. It plays the Ride of the Valkyries...they figured I would get a kick out of it. I did.

Yesterday, Dan let Rachel play with it. She wasn't so sure at first. Then she opened and closed it a few times. Once she'd heard enough of the Ride, she let out the same terrified shriek, and giant tears rolled down her face. I couldn't calm her down.

Well, genetically she's 100% Techer, so how can I blame her if she has emotional reactions to the Ride?

Never fear about her musical future, though :). She loves the piano, guitar, violin, and mommy's & daddy's singing.

an experiment

2007-08-04T14:39:00.000-05:00

I've been taking a lot of short videos with our digital camera. In one of them, I caught Rachel saying "Hot, hot, hot!" as she passed by the oven. In this experimental blog entry, I will attempt to share that video with you, if I can get Photobucket to cooperate :).

More Rachel tidbits

2007-08-03T11:40:00.000-05:00

--Rachel recently graduated out of her baby bathtub. She LOVES taking big-girl baths...now she can actually move and explore. She is fascinated by water droplets on the wall and the bathmat that has "buttons" she can "push". As soon as I pull the plug, though, Rachel gets a terror-stricken look and wants out asap. After all, she doesn't want to go bye-bye down the drain like all that water.

--For the past couple weeks Dan and I have been meticulous about putting Rachel's books away. A couple days ago, Rachel started putting them away herself with no prompting. For this, Rachel earned a sticker that she got to choose. She is very proud of her stickers (her current count is 3). They are displayed at her eye level so she can remember to be a good helper :).

--We recently started taking Rachel to the park. She LOVES it. Yesterday she started chasing a 7 or 8 year old kid (no joke), and the kid started running away. (Attack of the killer toddler!) Rachel is very social and loves seeing all the other kids. She laughs every time we put her in the baby swing.

--Yesterday, Rachel decided that walking wasn't good enough. She wanted to RUN. Unfortunately, her balance and coordination can't handle much speed yet...so she had a lot of grand take-offs followed by grand crash landings. Thankfully, she hasn't really injured herself...but the close calls have been too many to count. She must have a guardian angel or something...

--Every time she walks past the stove, she says "HOT! HOT! HOT!"

Happy Birthday, Rachel! (belated :))

2007-07-30T18:00:00.000-05:00

Rachel turned 1 on July 19th! It seems like she's turned into a little girl overnight.

-She's walking now (took her first steps ON her birthday :))

-Carseat is facing forwards

-Have introduced cow's milk (but she doesn't like it much)

-She eats a lot more solid food and is less interested in nursing (unless she's really tired and/or upset)

-Baby foods are out the window

-She's very busy, with playing and exploring. She loves following me around the house

-She follows simple directions (i.e. please give this to Daddy).

-She does hand motions to songs (itsy-bitsy spider, twinkle-twinkle, and B-I-B-L-E)

-Falls asleep on her own (we do our routine: pray w/ Daddy, brush teeth, change diaper, nurse, sing songs; then I leave her in her crib with no crying or fussing. YAAAAAAAYYYYY!)

-says some words: mom, dad, Nana, up, hot, and duck. (contrary to my previous inflated view of her vocabulary, these words are enunciated clearly--perhaps overly clearly, and used in the appropriate context)

-loves to "help" me. Her favorite job is taking the clean laundry out of the dryer, which she thinks is great fun. (This bodes well for my future, I think :))

-She loves to read books. She'll read them on her own, or if we read together, it's done *her* way (where she turns the pages back and forth and points, while I name the object in question.) She is too impatient to read a book straight through.

-most recently: interest in personal grooming. Brushes her own teeth and "brushes" her hair (but mommy needs to do "finishing touches" on both counts.) I also let her brush my hair and my teeth.

Here are some pictures :) (I'm LONG overdue for posting pictures!!!)

Rachel's b-day outfit (I just figured out how to get a hair clip on her!)

A recent visit from Lisa, Daniel and baby Sarah. Rachel did a good job sharing her toys.

Rachel's hair is getting redder!

Rachel with her cousins! (One more on the way...who will be adoped from China in the fall, and who is 2 weeks younger than Rachel).

Rachel squints in anticipation of the flash whenever she sees a camera pointed at her.

I'm a plant killer

2007-07-25T13:26:00.000-05:00

I kill plants. I don't mean to intentionally, but every plant I've ever had has withered in a matter of weeks or less. So when I saw this article I had to laugh. If I ever have another plant I'll need to invest in this system as well!

A little comic relief in the midst of tears.

I love that we have the internet to keep in touch...but really really I wish that all my friends still lived close-by (Romans 12:15).

I'm so glad...

2007-07-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

...I took my masters!!!

See a sad glimpse of my former life.

It's now been 2 years since I officially graduated, and almost 3 since I stopped doing work! Yeehaah! :)

We're sick...

2007-06-30T05:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry if this is TMI...

All three of us are sick :(. It began with a stomach bug that Rachel picked up in the nursery at VBS (I began the week teaching guitar there, then bowed out of the rest). She threw up--and I'm not talking piddly little baby spit up. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. For the following 2 days, it was coming out the other end. Last night, I was up all night changing her diaper seemingly every 10 minutes.

Today I was not a happy camper. I was not a nice person to anyone, in particular my poor exhausted hubby and my poor baby. Rachel refused to nap unless she was nursing the whole time. I finally got her to sleep at 9pm. At 10pm, some jerk had the nerve to honk the horn REALLY LOUD right outside her window, multiple times for several seconds each. Poor terrified Rachel woke up again. I was so, so very angry, that every ounce of my being wanted to open the window and yell at that guy, and I'll confess that a few colorful words came to mind (and to mouth). I managed to restrain myself and only give him a nasty glare out the window, while holding a screaming baby.

I managed to nurse her back to sleep. But now, neither I nor my hubby could sleep. (Me because I was so stinkin' mad, and him because he was trying to calm me down.) By midnight, my sweet hubby was barfing, and by 3am so was I :(. Now here I am blogging when I should be getting some sleep.

Today, I am so very glad that I have a Savior...because I am just a dirty rotten sinner with a huge anger management problem. And a huge tummy problem too.

Inspired

2007-06-16T20:11:00.001-05:00

So, I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be married to an MD/PhD. I mean, I have lots of time, so what else would I be thinking about? All my activities have ended for the summer, and Dan's on general surgery (the hardest part of med school).

I've been realizing that 4 years ago I went into marriage with a lot of expectations. Growing up my dad worked 8-5, Monday through Friday. He went to lots of our games and concerts and made sure they were videotaped. He did 100% of our family's grocery shopping. He took us to scouts, baseball games, and even "mommy and me" preschool! So, I guess my expectations of what a husband/dad should do were along those lines. Yet, I always knew in the back of my mind that Dan's job would be different and that his "family time" would be limited. Perhaps, emotionally, coming to terms with that reality is a much longer process than "knowing what would happen in the back of my mind."

Even if Dan is happy and motivated (see previous post), the long hours take their toll. Despite this, I am determined to make our home, our life and our family flourish. To make the time that he is home quality even if it can't be quantity.

A couple days ago I came across this obituary

So often, I feel, Christian books on marriage look at a husband's long hours as a sign of weakness--perhaps that he doesn't care about his family or that he is trying to escape something. Let me just say right here that nothing could be further than the truth with regards to Dan. The long hours are just a reality, a necessary part of doing his job.

So when I read Ruth Bell Graham's obituary, I was filled with so much joy! Now here was a devoted Christian woman who finished well, whose family flourished (despite some bumps along the way), and whose husband was gone a lot. He was gone a lot for a good reason--and look at what an impact Billy Graham has had on the world because of it!

I pray that I may do even half as well as she did. I pray that I would take on the task of childrearing, oftentimes solo, with as much joy and contentment as she did. And I pray that our family and marriage would flourish as a result.

And just to note: my sweet husband had a day off today. He spent it babysitting Rachel while I went to a baby shower. When I came home, Rachel had been fed, changed, and put to bed. Furthermore, all the dishes were done and all laundry folded and put away. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven :).

sad...

2007-06-13T23:16:00.000-05:00

Dan's being in the MD/PhD program puts us in a weird place. This year, nearly everyone who started the PhD program with us in 2001 graduated (that is the ones who didn't drop out along the way, like I did ;-)). Also, this year everyone who started the MD program with Dan in 2003 also graduated. Lots of our friends are moving away.

I'm particularly sad about a couple who'd become very good friends of ours, E & M. E just finished his MD. M was a fellow teacher at the school where I taught last year. They'd been in our small group Bible study for the last 2 years. And back when House was less junky and more interesting, we watched it with them a lot. I just got off the phone with M, and it's hard to believe that in two days they'll have moved away :(.

To top it off, Dan is on call (i.e. not here), and Rachel won't nurse or go to sleep. It seems I suddenly have nothing left milk-wise. I nursed her a couple times earlier today successfully. Now, however, she's latched on about 20 times, only to latch off again for lack of milk. And she really needs to sleep...she only napped for a few minutes in the car today. At least she's not screaming.

Could she possibly be weaning herself at not-quite-11 months? Last week she very abruptly started refusing everything but table food. Her resistance to baby food is especially violent. That's fine with me. Who wants to buy overpriced mush in a jar? She's started eagerly eating yogurt, grated cheese, egg rolls, rice, all kinds of bread and toast, pieces of chicken... I'll have to work on the vegetable department though. She'll also drink apple juice and/or water from a sippy cup.

It seems that my ideas about they way things should be always get thwarted. I've always been of the child-led weaning camp, but I thought that would happen at age 2 or perhaps later. Or maybe I'm just having a bad milk day.

Amazing Mommy feat of the day...

2007-06-11T14:47:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure how this happened, but today I successfully transferred one 23 lb. sleeping baby and $70 of groceries from the car to the apartment. In one trip. That was 45 minutes ago. Rachel is still asleep in her crib. Groceries are safely stowed in fridge.

Logistically, I took sleeping Rachel out of her carseat, put her in the wrap/sling, and covered her eyes with a burp cloth (the sun is BRIGHT here). Somehow, she stayed asleep through this ordeal. I then, with one hand (my other hand was occupied in supporting Rachel's head while I bent forward multiple times) unfolded the stroller, placed lots of heavy grocery bags in the stroller, and closed/locked the car. I then one-handedly pushed the stroller from parking area to apartment, unlocked door, pushed in stroller, locked door behind me. Next, I got Rachel out of the sling (I was sure this would wake her, since it involves removing her legs one at a time from three layers of fabric.) Not sure how it happened, but she went right into the crib, fast asleep. She must have been REALLY REALLY tired.

Another note, I must have had 5-6 random people comment to me this morning as Rachel was in the sling "that baby is almost as big as you!" or "doesn't that thing hurt your back?" Nope, I love that sling. It doesn't hurt my back at all. It is wonderful. And I only use it in the baby facing forward position because I haven't figured out the other ones...though I'd really like to use the hip and/or back-carry positions.

Wedding Albums

2007-06-05T17:25:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know that Dan and I just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. That being the case, I should not be posting a blog entry with this title. Oh, but I am. Sad but true.

Today is the first day of my married life that I actually have a physical wedding photo album that I can show people. Prior to today, I had a stack of 200 5x7's sitting in a pile, and those same photos in an online account. I had more than 1000 photos (every click the photographer made) burned on a DVD, a few CD's that friends had sent me and piles of prints from disposable cameras placed at every table. Overwhelming, yes.

The real hold-up has actually been our photographer. As part of our package, we were to receive a fancy leather-bound album with mats. I had chosen the pictures and layout for this album sometime in 2004. Or was it 2005? It's all a blur now. He also owed us 5x7 sleeves for a proofbook (where that stack of 200 5x7's was supposed to live). However, somewhere along the way, he disappeared off the face of planet earth.

I've made several attempts to track him down. I've tracked down a bunch of his photographer friends who don't know where he is either (supposedly). I've thought about filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and even for a split second, suing him in a small claims court.

After much soul searching and realizing that this has gone on long enough, Dan and I have "forgiven his debt" so to speak. I'm just glad that we have the DVD of all the .jpg's he took...the equivalent of the negatives. That's the most important thing. He took fantastically beautiful pictures.

Now that I've come to terms with the lack of an expensive album and proof-sleeves, I've set out to make my own albums, finally! Today an album holding 200 5x7's arrived from ebay, so I finally have my proofbook!

My next task is to organize an array of professional and casual photos into a Creative Memories style album. I'm not generally a fan of the pyramid-scheme nature of this company. However, since several family friends are consultants, I have quite a supply of stuff they've given to me as graduation, wedding and baby shower gifts. And I really enjoy making albums. So I'll be obsessively busy for the next couple weeks...but I'll finally have taken care of these wedding photos! Hooray!

thoughts on motivation

2007-06-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

I'm often asked, "do your husband's long work hours bother you?" My answer is, "well no, and yes." Let me explain...

Right now Dan is in the middle of his surgery rotation. For the past 6 weeks he's been doing subspecialty surgery--a week of anesthesia, a week of urology, etc. The hours haven't been bad, generally 7am to 5pm with weekends off. However, it's been really hard for me. The reason? Hubby often came home grumpy and unmotivated. There generally wasn't much for him to do except shadow, the attendings weren't very interested in teaching (and some were, forgive me, downright JERKS), he had lots of studying to do but not a good idea of what he should study. So, he was generally stressed out and unhappy, which in turn made me generally stressed out and unhappy.

This week, he started general surgery (which he'll be doing for the next 6 weeks). Hallelujah! The hours are generally "horrible", meaning on a typical day he works from 4am to 7pm. Once a week he's on call which means he works from 4am on day 1 until the afternoon or evening of the following day. No weekends off. He does get one day off in seven, but he doesn't know when that day will be in advance. Have no fear, though, because my Hubby is now HAPPY about his work! Reason: he is a vital, necessary, needed part of the surgical team. The attendings and residents care about teaching and are always "pimping" the students (this odd term means to question the students constantly in order to teach them). He knows what he needs to study. At the end of the day, he's worked his tail off and has made a difference in the outcome of his patient's health. He is motivated.

So precious little time I have with him is GOOD. We are both happy, and not stressed out.

Perhaps the next time someone asks me that question, I'll reply, "It's not about the hours. It's about motivation."

How cute!

2007-05-06T22:25:00.000-05:00

Rachel is such a big girl (9.5 months old)! She speed-crawls, pulls herself up on the furniture, cruises. She even talks!! I kid you not. She may only be understandable to myself and to Dan, but she has a vocabulary that has meaning. She says her words while pointing to the object in question. In fact she's always pointing to things and wanting to know what they are.

Her vocabulary: animals ("ah-ma", in reference to her crib mobile), fan ("aaahhhhn"), piano ("ah-no"), baby, bye-bye, hi, Mama, Dada, Nana (much to my Mom's delight).

Her baby dedication was today...and she put on quite a performance. She was grabbing the microphone and the pastor's glasses the whole time he was praying for her. Afterwards, we had a nice gathering from both sides of our family. Now, Rachel is quite contentedly playing by herself. It seems like whenever she is around a lot of people, when they leave she needs some downtime to work on her own independent "projects". Must be an introvert at heart like her parents :).

good job Rachel!!!

2007-04-15T16:07:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we tried giving Rachel Cheerios. I discovered that Rachel has an excellent pincer grasp! Not only that, but she thoroughly enjoyed her cheerios, and developed a method to ensure maximum crunch by holding the cheerio over her only tooth :).

Yesterday, she also figured out how to drink from a straw-style sippy cup, and drank a whole cup of apple juice!! Good job, Rachel.

My infection seems to have cleared up, but I'm still quite sore. I'm nursing her normally now (pumping worked for exactly 2 days before I had a nervous breakdown and abandoned the idea).

Congrats Molly!!

2007-04-12T22:11:00.000-05:00

Today my sister Molly and her boyfriend Chris got engaged!!!! Yay!!!!!!

:):):):):):):)