My mother-in-law came for a visit today. We met her sister for lunch and then went swimsuit shopping for next month’s beach trip. Yeah, I let my husband talk me into getting huge and misshapen with a beach trip on the calendar. Most of my maternity clothes I bought second-hand at Once Upon a Child, because it’s just so cheap and I won’t be wearing it long anyway. I had no idea how hard it is to find maternity clothes elsewhere, much less a swimsuit. After 5 stores with no maternity sections at all, I decided to just try on a really big suit. So at the last store, I went into the dressing room with 4 suits in sizes 16-18. As if pregnancy isn’t hard enough. That was really painful, especially after seeing my mother-in-law in the suit she bought. Not only was it a 10 (my pre-pregnancy size), but she looked really good in it. She could probably have even gotten into an 8. Then I end up paying as much for a size 16 to wear for a week as I spent a couple years ago on the bikini I hope to someday wear again.
Does she know? June 2, 2008
We’ve been telling Norrie ever since we got pregnant again that she’s going to be a big sister. We’ve taken her to the ultrasounds, showed her her baby brother on the screen, etc., but she’s only 19 months old, so we didn’t really think she understood. A couple weeks ago, she started coming over to me, pulling my shirt up, and rubbing my belly. Ok, so she’s noticed I’m ENORMOUS. Not so surprising. Then a couple of days ago I was getting ready to take a shower and pulled off my shirt. She yelled, “Baby!”, broke away from Kelly and came running into the bathroom. She pointed to my belly, said, “Baby”, again, and started rubbing. Ever since, several times a day, she comes to me, pulls up my shirt, massages and strokes my belly, and babbles. The only real word she says the whole time is “baby”, and she says it several times. Her sibling bonding sessions last anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour. It’s kind of hard to believe that a 19 month old can really understand that there’s a baby in her mother’s belly, but we’re starting to think she does somehow. Either way, the toddler belly massages feel really good.
Norrie also has her own baby now. A few weeks ago another family at Tot Shabbat handed Norrie a baby doll to play with, and she really seemed to like it. Ever since I’d been thinking about getting her one, but I wanted the perfect one. I was thinking about getting her one of those that talks or cries and responds to stimuli, but I was still trying to decide which one was the most real-seeming. So we were in Wal-Mart near the toy section Friday, and I decided to walk up the doll aisle. There was this pretty simple doll, all fabric with a plastic face, that had the words “Love Bug” on her outfit. Because I call Norrie my little lovebug, I picked up the doll to look at it, and as soon as I got it off the shelf, Norrie grabbed it out of my hands and hugged it to her chest even though it was tied to its box. Not at all what I’d had in mind, but how could I take a doll from a baby who’s hugging it like that? She held onto the doll and hugged her the entire time I finished shopping. When we got to the register she cried when the doll was parted with her for scanning. When we got to the car, I cut the doll out of its box, and Norrie hugged her the whole way home. It was so sweet. She’s been carrying it around ever since. She hugs her, she lays her down and strokes her face, she carries her around the house all day.
Best Electric Bill Ever! May 30, 2008
I got our Duke Power bill today, and it’s the lowest one EVER. We’ve been trying to save energy, partly because we’re working on being more environmentally friendly and partly because gas prices are killing us. We’ve switched most of our light bulbs to compact floresents, and most of the ones that are still incandescent don’t get used much. Then we turned off the ac and started opening windows. We won’t be able to do that forever, but over the past month, we’ve only turned it on once for a few hours. 6 months ago, our average electric bill was $160 a month. This month it was $78. I got the bill today and couldn’t believe it. Now I’m wondering what else we can do to cut our energy use. I might get a power strip for the entertainment center so nothing’s drawing energy when it’s all turned off, but that’s about the only place we can use one. The only other things that stay plugged in when we’re not using them are the stove, refrigerator, washer and dryer.
This month I used my some of my precious scrimpings to buy books for the kids. Most of them were for Norrie, but I got baby-on-the-way a baby book and a book called The Always Prayer Shawl. I’d seen it on Reading Rainbow a long time ago, but it seemed more like a book for a boy than Norrie. I know lots of women wear them now, but I always felt funny putting one on. The characters in the book were all men too. I feel like I need to start getting him things and getting Norrie’s new room set up, so he’ll have a nursery waiting. I keep telling myself I have plenty of time, but when I was pregnant with Norrie we already had a nursery partly set up with a full bookshelf by now. I feel a little guilty that all of baby-on-they-way’s possessions right now fit in one box and are all hand-me-downs. Apparently I’m alone in this, because when I told Kelly I was planning to spend our gas card rebate on Chanukah presents for the children, he said, “You mean Norrie, right? The baby will only be 3 months old. He doesn’t need presents.” Norrie was only 2 months old on her first Chanukah, but we gave her presents. Not many, but she still got stuff. If you can’t tell, this is my new parenting fear. When I was pregnant with Norrie I worried that I wouldn’t know what to do with her, now I worry that one of our kids is going to get short-changed. Oh, and that Norrie won’t be potty-trained by the time her brother is born. Of course, we haven’t been working on that as hard as we should.
Popcorn and flip-flops May 26, 2008
Our daughter is in constant motion. She literally runs circles through the house from the time she gets up until the time she goes to sleep. It seems our unborn son isn’t going to be any different. Almost any time I pay attention, and sometimes when I’m not, I can feel him moving. For weeks now there’s been an almost constant sensation of popcorn popping in my belly alternating with the feeling of my insides turning over. Last night I looked down and I can actually see my belly moving through my shirt. If you’ve never watched a pregnant woman’s belly moving around, it’s pretty weird. It reminds me of some horror movie in the moment before some alien or monster comes tearing through from someone’s insides. I’ll be 24 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I can’t remember how far I was with Norrie before I could see her moving through my clothes. I’ve got my 24 week checkup on Wednesday, and I’m not looking forward to the weigh-in. I gained way too much weight with Norrie, and I was hoping that after this pregnancy I might get comfortably back into my old clothes. I did pretty well for the first 20 weeks, gaining only 6 pounds. I had to go back at 22 weeks for tests, and they weighed me again. I actually gained as much weight in those 2 weeks as I’d gained during the first 20. Yet another reason I’m ready to quit after this baby. I, like most women, probably, have always had to really watch my weight to keep it in check, and pregnancy doesn’t allow you to do much if it starts getting out of hand.
I cast on late Saturday night for Sweaterbabe’s Cables and Lace Kimono using Elann’s Superwash Bamboo in green tea. (Which, by the way, is exactly the same color in real life as it is on my computer screen. That never happens.)
I thought since it opens up in the front, it might be a good sweater for a nursing mom and also a good fall sweater since Baby’s due in September. For months now I’ve been knitting on needles between US sizes 3-6, and this takes 8s. I can’t believe how quickly it’s knitting up! I started after midnight on Saturday night and only knitted the swatch and a couple of rows, didn’t pick it up until after lunch on Sunday, and I’m already to the bust increases on the back. This is a good thing considering how ridiculously long my Ravelry queue is getting. I’ve also got yarn for 4 projects waiting in my closet. That’s pretty unusual for me. Usually I have the yarn I’m working with and yarn for my next project out. Anything more is just oddballs.
Chatterbox May 24, 2008
Norrie is picking up words like crazy. Yesterday when I was slicing off some cheese to go with her breakfast, she looked up from her plate and said, “cheese”. She repeated the word “challah” at dinner last night. She’s learned to grab her nose and the noses of others and say “noooose” in a very mischievous sounding baby voice. She’s been singing a lot too. She even has 3 or 4 songs I can recognize. They’re not real songs, they’re mostly baby babble with a real word or two mixed in, but she sings the same baby babble words to the same tunes. She woke up at 6 this morning, but neither of us was ready yet, so I brought her back to bed with us. She laid between us for an hour and a half babbling constantly.
I’ve almost finished Beverly’s bris gown.
Only the collar is left. (That picture was taken prior to the sleeves being added.) I really hope it fits. It makes me nervous making something without a pattern for a child who can’t try it on. Not to mention he could come out being 6 pounds and 18 inches long or 12 pounds and 22 inches long. Both his parents are pretty tall, large built people, but Kelly and I are fairly small and we had a huge baby. At least at birth anyway. I have enough yarn leftover from the third skein to probably make a matching kippah and booties. I wish now that I hadn’t gone ahead and wound all 4 skeins at once so I could have returned the last one. I don’t know what I’ll do with a single skein of this yarn, but I love playing with my swift and ball winder so much I wound them all up as soon as I got home.
Anyone else getting tired of waiting? May 7, 2008
The North Carolina and Indiana primaries were both yesterday, and I’d heard that if either Obama or Clinton took both, the other would be pressured to quit. I went and and cast my vote for Obama, while holding a kicking, squirming, intermittently screaming toddler. I was pretty sure they were going to tell me she was disruptive and I had to go, but when I turned my ballot in, the lady just smiled and said, “I remember those days.” We were glued to the television last night hoping that Obama would take both states, and this thing would be settled. But alas, no such luck. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to see someone win the presidency so very much. I know the election is supposed to be historic because he’s black and she’s a woman, but I couldn’t care less about that. It’s historic for me, because this is the first time there’s ever in my life been a candidate that has actually said things that make sense. Take the gas tax commercials. I guess they air those everywhere? Hillary says she wants a gas tax holiday and she’ll make the gas companies pay for it. If that happens, I think the gas companies will just raise their prices to cover it, and then when the holiday is over, gas will be higher than ever. It sounds to me like an excuse to make a candidate popular without solving anything. Then Obama says investigate price gouging, research alternative fuels, end dependence on foreign oil, and I think that might really work. I think he could really change things for the better, and he’s the only one of the three I feel that way about. I actually wonder if she’s still in the running just because she’s part of the old boys’ club. I don’t think she’d beat McCain anyway, but Obama could. Apparently Rush Limbaugh agrees with me there, too. I’d like to see this whole thing over, anyway. I think it’s divisive.
5 days left until Sunday… April 23, 2008
and we are all so very hungry! Since cleaning out the house on Friday, the 3 of us have gone through 2 boxes of matzah, a canister of matzah meal, two dozen eggs, and somewhere between 2-3 oz of horseradish (not the kind cut with beets). I miss bread! I even bought Kelly some meat the other day, so maybe he wouldn’t be so hungry at least. He’s still complaining about matzah, though. I don’t mind the matzah, I just miss all the wonderful things that come from wheat, oats, barley, spelt & rye. I want a bagel so very much. I’m already trying to pick what I want for dinner Sunday… pizza, an eggplant parm sandwich, that yummy breaded eggplant dish from the Chinese place near Kelly’s office, Indian food with one of those bread baskets…
This afternoon I’ll be giving my second knitting lesson, which I’m looking forward to. I’ve wanted to teach someone to knit for a really long time now.
And there are 5 days left until the gender predicting ultrasound (and the unnerving weigh in). Giving Baby a gender makes him/her seem so much more like a real person. At least it did the first time. I’ve already felt some movement in there.
