Visitors

Anne Marie and Grandma Callahan came for a visit, which was awesome.  They arrived the Tuesday before last and stayed until Saturday.  We were very much a posse of ladies out and about on the town.  We went for walks, got our hair cut, and got pedicures together.  Grandma was a hoot at the nail salon, and also a big hit with all the staff, who called her 'Grandma' and wanted her advice on how to live a long and healthy life. 

Peeps!  I have my webcam back on my computer, and have allowed Skype to start itself again, so I am probably pretty available for calling.  My only caution is that I breastfeed around the house, so if there's no one in camera view when I

answer, I'm probably hiding just out of sight. 

In the cute dress that Auntie Anne Marie brought

Also, Amelia had her first submersed bath, which was such a big hit that she fell asleep in the water.  She loves everything about it except getting out, which is when she starts screaming at the top of her tiny lungs.

Chilling in her nice, warm bath

Walking along Grandview Ave, overlooking the Illinois River

Out on the town!

First bath with Dad.  This is going to be a good daddy-daughter task.

After Anne Marie and Grandma left, Miladys arrived that evening.  She's a little bit like Anne Niblock, in that she's always busy cooking or cleaning, and doesn't know how to sit down and do nothing.  Thus, our house at the moment is cleaner than when we first moved in.

With her very loving Abuelita.

Very tired, and with a cold that I'll probably give to Amelia.

Too Many Pictures of Amelia's First Week

Amelia was sort of bundled up in all those hospital photos.  She is, however, more of a free range baby.  She just chills out in her diaper.

Tried swaddling last night, and she woke up half as many times for feedings.  No more than three hours went by at the longest (don't worry, not starving her!), but as a result, I am very well rested and she was very hungry all morning.

Not looking forward to when she stops sleeping so much.

Good news: I had been worried I wasn't going to be very interested in Amelia, but it turns out that when your body manufactures a tiny person and pushes that tiny person out, you don't really have a choice.  I'm so relieved!

I also think that she is amazing.  Even though she's only six and a half pounds, she has so much muscle tone that she can hold her head up and support her own body weight on her legs when held up.  Her umbilical cord stump fell off on only her third day (glad I don't have to tip-toe around that).  She's peed and pooed like a champ, helping me to not worry about how breastfeeding is going.  And although Ernesto thinks she cries a lot, she's really relatively chill, so far.

I just spoke to Anne Marie on the phone, and she informed me that I don't need to worry about you guys feeling overwhelmed by too many pictures.  I tried to pick a selection that were not all her lying around with the same expression on her face.

Funny Face

Funny Face

Tongue

                       

Those Huggies diapers she's wearing suck.

Chilling after work

                      
Anne Marie and Grandma Callahan are arriving in about...one hour or so.  So next week will be even more interesting! =-O

Labor!

Warning: I'm pretty graphic, if you care.  Also, you can see my boob in one of these photos.  Sorry, brothers.

Early Labor

Ernesto makes me frozen padsicles for postpartum
 while I'm in early labor. What a guy! I intended
 to do this myself, but was a bit overpowered
 by the contractions.

As I said before, it started with irregular contractions at 2am.  I tried not to pay attention and get some sleep, but that was largely unsuccessful.  I started timing them around 6am, and they were 5 minutes apart lasting 40 seconds.  When I stood up, their frequency increased to about every three minutes, lasting from 40 seconds to a minute.  I kind of doubted that it was really labor, though, and considered not asking Ernesto to stay home.  It's not like the contractions weren't hurting, they were.  It's just after so much time waiting for this to happen, even when the evidence is staring you in the face it's hard to believe.  Around noon, Ernesto started getting antsy and wanted to go to the hospital.  Meanwhile, my goal was to labor at home for as long as possible, and our doula hadn't even come yet, since she was having a hard time finding a babysitter.  She arrived finally at about 2pm with her shadow doula, and confirmed that I was still only in early labor.

Total early labor time: 14 hours

Active Labor

After making me do lunges up and down stairs, I finally moved in to active labor around 4pm.  I got this fantastic inflatable pool to use to labor in.  I love water, so it made sense to me I might really benefit from the pool.  So we get it filled with water when it starts leaking.  I got in anyways, while everyone else was trying to find the leak.  I only spent two contractions in there before I hopped out.  I was shaking and trembling uncontrollably, which made my doula worry about me being in transition.  A hot shower, however, did help.  Around 6:30, I said I didn't think I could take it anymore, and I would like to go to the hospital (and possibly ask for an epidural).

Total active labor: 3 hoursish?

The disappointing labor pool.

Before getting in.  This is one of the few pictures of us with my belly!
  This robe reminds me of what The Dude might wear.
Also, by a miracle, I didn't have any stretch marks!!  Thank you, good genes.

Transition...? and Delivery

Who knows when transition actually occurred.  We left the house at 7.  My water broke in the back of my car (thank you, doula, for putting an absorbent chuck beneath me), and we arrived at the hospital at 7:30.

As they were wheeling me up to labor and delivery, I started feeling the urge to push.  So imagine my surprise when they check me and tell me I'm only 5cm!  I was sooooo sad, and immediately asked for an epidural.  If I was only halfway, I didn't think I could take it.  They told me that sometimes people at 5cm want to push, but that I would tear my cervix.  So I felt terrible when I couldn't stop pushing.  With the epidural I had asked for, the fetal monitors on my belly, and the IV line to fluids I was hooked up to, I saw everything I had hoped for about this birth slipping away.  I wouldn't have minded an epidural, but I had really wanted to try without it.  But I'm worried I'm further hurting my labor because I still can't stop pushing.

My unbeLIEVable doulas, Malory and Krystal.
I don't know how anyone goes natural without a doula.

Anyways.  I've been in the hospital itself for about 5 minutes.  The nurse is lackadaisically charting my intake while I'm on all fours still pushing (trying not to!).  Obviously, I'm very inexperienced with the sensations of labor and giving birth, but I swear I felt the baby moving down, but thought I must be wrong, since I was only 5cm 5 minutes ago.  Finally, during a contraction, I put my hand down to check myself, and felt the baby's head RIGHT THERE.  I told my doula, I think I can feel the baby with my hand.  She, awesomely, asked me if I wanted to ask the nurse to check me again.  I said yes, the nurse checked me, and flew out of the room to call my OB (he lived five minutes away, luckily), since the baby could already be felt.  People quickly flooded in (I didn't know that surgical techs attended births). Needless to say, I didn't get the epidural, nor did I want one at that point.  It looked like my OB wasn't going to make it, especially when he apparently couldn't swipe in to the after-hours door, but he made it up with about 10 minutes to spare.  I honestly didn't care at all at this point, though it was nice to see him.  He let me push at my own pace, in whatever position I wanted (which ended up being on my side with my legs supported), and just sat at the end of the bed letting things unfold.

I didn't push voluntarily at all.  I vomited the baby out my butt.  It just came.  Twenty to thirty minutes after arriving at the hospital, Amelia finished sliding out. (Five centimeters my ass!)  All the sensations involved in this are so crazy that I feel like they'll be burned into my memory forever.  I never want to have a baby again, but that was amazing.

Just being in the hospital was weird, too.  Food=awesome.  But being so wired from birth that I couldn't sleep combined with super frequent vitals sucks.  Also, other than tearing, no one ever talks about what your whole crotch feels like afterwards (I had a minor tear on the inside of my vagina. Dr. Ma said it was practically first degree, but he stitched it anyways just to be on the safe side, he said).  Everyone says, oh, natural birth is so wonderful, I was able to get up and go to the kitchen and have dinner with my family.  What?!  A bloody dinner that you can barely waddle to, yes.  Oh, also, I have identified the smells of childbirth, and they are blood and witch hazel.

My whole team.  Elated it's over (and just beginning)

Coming up next: How we've been doing at home, what Amelia's like.

Diapers and Knitting

I plan on giving cloth diapers a try.  I like the one size diapers, but even snapped down to their smallest size, they seem a bit too big for newborns.  So I've bought a few one size pocket diapers to give a try after this baby has grown out of newborn size.  While affordable in the long haul, cloth diapers cost a lot up front ($15-$20 per diaper).  Since I don't know if this is something I'm going to want to do, I've bought six super affordable ones from China on ebay.  The cloth diapering community calls them "China Cheapies."  Some people say they fall apart in the first wash, others say they can't tell the difference between them and the expensive ones.  Sounds like it's a bit of a crap shoot.  If I end up liking these, I'll invest in broadening our cloth diapering selection.  There are so many different kinds out there.  The only ones I have are pocket diapers, but it sounds like in the world of cloth diapering there's a kind of diaper for every situation.  So here are my lovelies that arrived today!!  The colors are kind of hard to see in my tungsten-y light, but it's bright yellow, soft yellow, bright green, mint green, bright orange, and cream.

Also, I realized how ridiculous it is that I haven't knit anything for this baby yet.  So with one week 'til my due date, I've begun a blanket!  The question is, how far from finished will I be when I deliver??

Fourth of July

Exhibit A

NEW COUCHES.  I think that this might be the first brand new item of furniture I've ever owned as an adult.  Yes, they look pretty boring, but I really like the fabric up close.

Exhibit B

We went to one of many fireworks displays.  This one was in a park right next to Peoria's little zoo and botanical gardens. We watched the Peoria Municipal Band perform, though there were many other performances, too. The fireworks were long, but without variety.  I've decided to spare you fireworks pictures.  They all look the same.

Exhibit C

The little subdivision that I live in had a bicycle parade (like two blocks long).  It finished right in front of my house, with a neighbor grilling for the neighborhood. It concluded with the firetrucks that led the parade turning the fire house on for all the kids immediately in front of my house, to the delight of the kids.  As all the water poured endlessly out into the street, right in front of my house, I wanted to ask them to just turn the house a little to the left and hit my lawn as well.  :-P  I didn't go out and talk to people at all during this, because I was too shy.  Ernesto would have dragged me out to talk to people, but he's out of town this weekend.

Pregnancy Report

People, I am 38 weeks and 4 days pregnant.  Freak out, and also hope that I don't go into labor while Ernesto is away.  That would SUCK.  My belly is measuring like I'm 33 weeks pregnant, which I think is great (no stretch marks yet!!), but the baby is still measuring healthy. I'm not swollen, and I'm actually sleeping better than I was earlier in the pregnancy. I'm one lucky woman, so far. Also, I'm 1cm dilated and 50% effaced!  I've been like that for two weeks now, though, so I don't think it means much for my delivery time.

Also, I posted pictures of Ernesto in his sailing class on Facebook. Go check them out.  He went every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for 3 hours for a month.  I got the classes for him as a present, and I still feel like the best gift-giver ever.

Growth Chart Ruler

My project today was making a growth chart ruler for the wall.  It was fast, easy, and satisfying.  I like that we'll be able to take it with us from house to house.

Lucky Last Night

Last night, Ernesto and I were very lucky.  We had a dryer fire, and it didn't burn down the house.  We were using the vent tubing that was already there when we bought the house, 'cause it was already so neatly attached to the exterior, and I was too lazy to switch it out.  BUT it was that vinyl-y type of tubing.  Rather than worrying about fire hazard, I instead thought, "Wow, this is so much more flexible and easy to maneuver than aluminum."  Doh!  When I went downstairs last night, all of that conveniently flexible, vinyl-y tubing had burnt, leaving only red-hot wire running through it.

The entire basement was filled with the noxious smoke of whatever that plastic, vinyl-like material was.  This really concerned Ernesto, who worried about us being poisoned by it.  So even though there was a rollicking thunderstorm going on (our power also went out), we opened up all our windows in the house in an attempt to achieve reasonable ventilation.  Sleeping last night was very humid.

Luckily, we didn't have very many other flammable items near that duct work.  What was there, though, was the cover of the car seat Dad and Lyuda gave us.  I'm very impressed with Graco's fabric.  It didn't ignite at all.  It just melted where the coils fell onto it.  As part of Ernesto protecting us from noxious fumes, he put the car seat cover outside.  This morning, it had at least five caterpillars on it, as well as many spiders.  I was thinking I could sew a new cover over the batting of the first one, but unfortunately when it melted, the batting hardened into its new shape.  I don't see much in the way of replacement covers available online (for a reasonable price), so I'm considering just getting a new car seat. :(

Caterpillars enjoyed the car seat cover

Melty, hard damage

In other news, you guys have to admire my Best Ever Craigslist Find.  It's a couch from Restoration Hardware.  Ten years old, but in *great* condition.  Some stains.  We're putting it in the family room that we're crafting to be kid-friendly, so we can have terrible things happen to it and not cry.  How much did we get this gem for?  FIFTY BUCKS!  Damn.

Ernesto and I went to a community garage sale.  Pushy ladies made me feel pressured to buy things, so by the time we were done, I had bought four little baby outfits.

Also, Miladys sent us a little outfit for the baby for Mother's Day.  It's very soft, and also has a matching blanket.  Thanks, Miladys!

DIY Nursery Art and Bump

I made a little DIY nursery art this afternoon.  It's small.  5"x8".  What I had in mind was a little plaque that was on Anne Marie's bedroom wall growing up.  It had a little series of bears with plain black bow ties, and in the middle was one whose bow tie was a plaid, and it read, "Be yourself. An original is better than a copy."  But I thought that was a little too long, so I did this instead.  To complement it, I'll probably make something similar to this, but with only the fish, not the text:

Baby bump photo!  31 weeks 2 days.  Somehow the massiveness of this belly doesn't come across well in photos....

Our house stays much colder than whatever the temperature is outside.  It sucked this winter, but I think we're going to reap the benefits in the summer.  Right now it's 82 outside, and 69 inside.  Yesss.

Lots of Pregnancy Talk + Changing Table

I've graduated to appointments every other week now at the OB/GYN!  Movin' on up.  My belly's measuring a little small.  At 30 weeks I was 28.5cm.  Still within normal limits, but on the smaller side.

I'm very happy right now, because for more than 24 hours I've had some pains that you would think are Braxton Hicks but are really painful.  Their sporadic timing means I'm not too worried.  The amount that they hurt, though, means I am worried about what actual labor is going to be like.  Between how I've been reacting to this, as well as to my back pain and crazy gas (which is to say I've been a WUSS), Ernesto thinks I'm going to walk up to the registration desk at the hospital and say, "Hello, I'd like an epidural."  But the reason that I'm happy right now is that it's been at least an hour since I had one, so maybe they're gone! (for now)

Something that isn't baby-related and happening in my life right now...hmmm...nope, I've got nothing.  In more baby-related stuff, I've started taking some things from my Pinterest baby board, To Raise, and putting together a registry of things I actually plan to buy on Amazon.  The whole process is making me feel less stressed, as I realize that what we need isn't really that much.  And a lot of those things aren't even essential.  The little baby sun protector hat?  Just don't take the baby outside!  Solved.  No bath tub?  Put it in the sink (although our sink is usually pretttttty dirty).  You guys should check it out and provide feedback on things that are on there.  For instance, I've got a diaper cream listed, but maybe some of you mommy-daddy types have a recommendation for a type you think is better.

Oh, also, apparently every baby shampoo + body wash is going to kill babies, which is a surprise to me.  So I've given up and just put some Johnson & Johnson product on there.  Hopefully the baby will survive it.  :-P

On to the crux of this post!  Four or five months ago, I bought this bad boy of a dresser to use as a changing table.  It was a sad mish mash of three or four different shades of white, and also sported some stains and chips in the wood.  So it's sat in our garage until the weather was warm enough to "refinish" it (just a light sanding), and paint it one shade of cream.  Here it is in the nursery, looking very nice if I do say so myself.  It's solid wood, really nicely constructed, and I picked it up for like $40.  I love a good Craigslist find!

Curtains up!

Painted Nursery

Last week, much to my back's dismay, I painted the nursery.  The color is called Aqua Glo, and it is pretty bright.  As many of you know, really capturing a paint color can be hard, so to truly appreciate this you need to come visit!

I did have the curtains up, but Ernesto is insisting on using the little drywall anchors, so we're stalled for a moment.  So those will be up and looking amazing soon.

In other news, our shower has started leaking down into the half bath's ceiling again, only much faster than last time, which is AWESOME.  Until we get it fixed, we're taking baths, which Ernesto cannot stand.

Also in other news, Ernesto and I got to share the joy of food poisoning.  We're kind of a pathetic pair right now.  We'll be enjoying chicken soup for dinner and going to bed early early early.

Nursery Craftery

Ernesto and I have some serious disagreements on nursery style.  First, I wanted all neutrals.  Lots of beige-y creams and shades of white.  Ernesto said we would have a depressed, unstimulated baby.  He wanted BRIGHT colors and stripes and shapes.  So I compromised and said we could go for a selection of bright colors, without all the stripes and shapes everywhere.  BUT, he also wants elaborate murals on the walls.  An ocean scene, a safari scene, etc. I am unwilling to go as far as the mural.  So I was frozen for quite some time, reluctant to take action because we hadn't reached an agreement.  I finally decided to break the impasse by saying we can add murals later if we still want them.  :-P  Hopefully not, though.

So, first off I made this mobile for above the crib.  The blue paint on it is what will go on the walls, and the magenta is what I used on the curtains.  The yellow is destined for whatever crib I find on Craigslist.  Is that a lot of colors? Yes. I might need to buy some stiffer wire for this project.  I just used what I had lying around, and it's a little...limp.  The string it's hanging from is just a placeholder so I could take a picture of it.  What do you think I should use?  Twine?  Tiny chain with s-hooks?

This isn't our nursery, but an example of the color that's going on the wall, Valspar's Aqua Glo.  It can appear a lot darker/lighter depending on the lighting.  I'm waiting on a warm day when it's not raining to paint.

And here we have the awesome curtains I made.  I already have some white curtains from Ikea that I could have used, but they're fairly translucent.  So for slightly superior light-blocking ability (and affordability), I got two drop cloths from Lowe's.  They're more of a natural, un-dyed fiber color, which is fine by me.  I saw this tutorial on making these curtains, but the girl bought her stencil online, and it costs more than $50, which totally ruins my attempt at saving some money.  So I made the stencil myself.  Hobby Lobby has some great clear acetate for stencil-making, and in precisely the dimensions I needed (!!). With my coupon, the pack of 6 stencil sheets cost less than $2.  Oh, yes.  After going through the process of making the stencil, I would never recommend you do it yourself.  Cutting out the design with an x-acto knife was rather painstaking, and I don't normally mind a little bit of tedious work.  If the design had been simpler or with straighter, more geometric lines, I would do it again.  But screw ikat.  That is nothing but tiny, difficult little wiggles to maneuver around, which of course were all too small to really appear after actually using the stencil.  This color is supposed to be magenta, but sadly looks more red.  I'm hoping for it to balance out all the blue on the walls.

Oh, I also need a large, tall work table in my life.  I think I spend half of my life bent over large projects on the floor.  It's not so bad when the floor is carpeted, but because of the paint I was working on the cold, linoleum floor in our basement, so that was uncomfortable.  The back pain I have in a regular day (thanks, pregnancy) sort of quadrupled the unpleasantness of all the bending-on-knees.  Maybe post-pregnancy I'll be able to return to bending over projects on the floor without complaint. :-P  Also, do you spy that couch in the background?  It's one of my most proud Craigslist finds, which I will share with pride later.

Unrelated to any craftery, here is my birthday present from Dad!  Thanks, Dad!  It's a lovely, well-reviewed, 16" Greenworks electric mower.  I really hate the loud noise of mowing and trying to pull endlessly on that thing to start it (yes, I know to prime it).  I considered the manual push mowers, but the lazy person inside me said, "Ehhhhh...."  This is corded, because I don't quite trust batteries that cost that much, yet.  So, now I can't wait until our lawn needs to be mowed!  Look at that mower, isn't it beautiful?  So green....

Almost almost spring

I just started my new seeds in their little peat...cylinders... !!  I started peppermint, creeping thyme, cilantro, basil, oregano, and tomatoes.  When it's warmer I'm going to directly sow zucchini, butternut squash, and some forget-me-nots.  What's that you say?  You recall that my lawn is almost entirely shaded, yet I'm attempting to grow full sun vegetables?  Yesss.  I'm trying to put them towards the sunniest patches, and just crossing my fingers.  I'm delaying any significant landscaping update, so a humorously futile attempt at a vegetable or two will sustain me until then.

In the meantime, these seeds have been sown for about half an hour, yet I just caught myself looking over to see if any have sprouted.

A Peek at my Place

Here is a small look at my new turf here in Peoria.

First off, here's the house just after I've finished shoveling.  I probably won't provide pictures of the front in summer, since the landscaping is ugly and the yard really needs a pick-me-up.  Due to the many mature trees, we're dealing with some extreme shade.  So I'm trying to trouble-shoot how to get the healthiest lawn in shade.  So far what I'm going to do is: aerate, dethatch, overseed with a shade-friendly species, cut at a height of at least 3", leave trimmings on the ground, and water deeply when I do.  I'm not going to dethatch until the fall, though, 'cause I hear it stirs up weed seeds.  There's also a little bare patch of mud from where work was done on some water pipes before we moved in.

Second, here's a view of the back of the house that I took through the kitchen window.  The kitchen window is sort of triptych style and fairly large, so there's a lot of light coming in, in addition to coming in from the sunlights.  We don't really have a backyard, just a narrow patio and then the land extends sharply down into a little gully.  So I have a nice view from the kitchen window, and no neighbors in the backyard.

Third, I made a headboard!  It didn't turn out exactly as I wanted (I wanted deeper pintucks), but I'm satisfied.  In May, I'm hoping we'll get a couch.  Oooooh.

18 Week Ultrasound

This thing is more than a bean!  The ultrasound was taken at 18.5 weeks, and I'm 21 weeks now, so this is a little out of date.  Apparently everything is in good working order. 

Ernesto likes to think that this following image is proof that we're having a boy, and not just its thigh.  He is already an overproud dad. :-P

 It's sitting with its little legs propped up in this position.

 A cute little foot.

First Bump Peek

A few people have requested belly photos.  If a friend or family of mine isn't posting their belly pictures on Facebook for me to stalk, I get very frustrated.  So it would be hypocritical of me not to comply.  :)  I'm hoping that by venting all my pregnancy oversharing here, it'll help keep things reasonable on Facebook.

In a day or two I'll post the three ultrasound pictures I have, for those who are curious.

This bump may not look like much to you, but it certainly feels like a lot to me!

Christmas 2010!

New Items!!

Nevermind about the kitchen utensils holder and sugar pot. I found two adorable ones for really good prices at Winterfair!!

I like a lot from this girl's store. Like (warning: nipples!!) this or this or this or this or this

Shirt. I've had my eye on this one for a couple of years now.

Fun tiles. Snail, Partrige in a Pear Tree, Briar Rabbit, Eve and Serpent

Earrings

Headband

Umbrella

Love these Lovely socks in Blush, Pebble, or Mist Grey. I'm a Small.

More socks, socks (in natural, olive, or burgundy), and socks

Old items:

Cute framed photo of you/someone in your family. Not posed.

Earrings/necklaces - Check Etsy!

knitting needle holder

for straights

circulars

or dpns

Something fun for my walls a la:

Boba Fett

or this

or this

A recipe box

or jewelry box

or anything from this man, though the boxes are small

Double pointed knitting needles

Socks

Some books in Spanish:

Matilda

BFG

Twilight

A cute makeup bag

Salt and pepper grinders

CLOTHES. Will you dare...please?

Dress

Dress

Shirt

The perfume Boss by Hugo Boss, if you can find it.