8/21/09 - All About Baby

Boy or Girl? Which is it going to be?

Boy

 

 7

Girl

 

 0

I found out at my midwife appointment today that I’m officially dilated 2 centimeters and 80% effaced.  I’m still not due for three weeks, but things are moving along!   We scheduled the home visit for next week.

 

Eva and Amanda are really eager to see the baby, and Eva has begun asking me almost every morning, “is the baby coming out today?”   She likes to watch any episode of Veggie Tales or another show that involves a big sister helping with the baby, and tells me how she’s going to change the baby’s diaper.   Amanda amuses herself by pretending to feed my belly with a toy bottle or a baby spoon.  “Here you go, baby!” she offers.  I have no idea where she came up with that, but it’s really cute! 

 

I’ve been busy stocking up for the baby’s arrival, fully aware that a September birth will probably mean that the weather will be turning bad just around the time I’m beginning to fully recover.   I’ve shopped for most of Eva’s fall clothes (5T now – can you believe it?), and brought out of storage as many 2T fall clothes as I can fit in the closet for Amanda, though it will be awhile before we can put the summer clothes away.   A friend of my mother’s gave me all her baby boy clothes (sizes 6 months and up), so we’re pretty much set whether we have a boy or a girl (although if it’s a boy, we’ll have to go get some more 0 to 3-month clothes). 

 

We bought a freezer for the garage to fill with frozen meals, and a large bookshelf that we use as a pantry for stocking up on non-perishable food.   I finally went out and bought newborn diapers and wipes, and all the little odds and ends that go with having a newborn in the house.  Last weekend we ordered our birth kit, and went to the feed store to pick up the recommended feeding trough to use as a birth tub (our tub just isn’t deep enough).   We plan to pad it with pillows and a comforter, and use a plastic liner, so it will be nice and comfortable.   At this point, I figure we’re fully prepared for a hurricane or an early birth – whichever comes first! 

Job Hunt

After several months of being micro-managed and undermined by his boss, constantly stuck into no-win situations, Dave has finally decided that it’s time to resign.  He put in his resignation at the beginning of the month.  His boss asked him to stay until August 28^th so she could find a replacement and he could find another job.  Dave has had several interviews so far, but nothing concrete yet.  Thankfully, we’re debt free (apart from the house) and have an emergency fund set aside, so we’re better prepared than the last time this happened. 

 

It’s sort of Déjà vu all over again, considering the fact that Dave’s last job ended only 3 weeks before Amanda was born.  Thankfully in that instance, as well as this time, I had pre-paid a midwife and planned a home birth, so the loss of our health insurance just before delivery was not an issue.  Although I will say, that’s one more reason why I would prefer being able to buy insurance directly (like auto insurance) instead of having it tied to an employer (skip the benefit package – just put the difference in the paycheck and let us shop around for benefits that fit our own personal needs and preferences, and take it with us when we leave the job).

8th Anniversary

It’s hard to believe, but as of August 11^th, Dave and I have been married for 8 years already!   We had a gift certificate for a lovely seafood restaurant off of the Columbia River, so Dave and I left the girls with friends and enjoyed a quiet evening to ourselves.  Hilariously, the power went out about halfway through our meal, and they ended up finally having to close the restaurant.  At least we got our food and were able to enjoy dessert by candlelight before they closed (apparently several other patrons didn’t get their orders because the kitchen runs on electric).

Heat Wave

We had two separate heat waves this month, the first reaching temps of up to 105.  Very unusual weather for northern Oregon!   Thankfully, I managed to keep our house around 77 degrees.  Thank GOD for air conditioning!   Being 8 months pregnant in that kind of heat is absolutely miserable!   The girls got good use out of our slip-n-slide, running in and out of the sprinklers to escape the oppressive heat. 

 

We tried to find some cool indoor fun as well, and the library was a good choice, as always.  They had their weekly summer program this year again, with everything from puppets to dancing dogs and the “reptile man”.   Amanda was old enough this year to enjoy it (albeit with a shorter attention span), and Eva was mesmerized, especially whenever there were animals involved.

 

Family Reunion

My Dad had his 60^th birthday at the end of July, so we drove down for the weekend to celebrate.   It was on the tail end of a heat wave and my parents don’t have air conditioning, so I did my best to stay cool by sitting in front of one of the many fans, or dipping my feet in a bucket of cold water. 

 

My brother Tim and his family are on furlough from China, so they’re staying in the guest house on my parents’ property.   Eva and Amanda haven’t seen their cousins in almost a year, so they had a lot of fun getting reacquainted.  Asaph is now 8, Jirah is 6, Haddie is 4 and Boaz is a year old. 

 

We decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity to take an extended family photo, and then got the funny idea of making a “Stone Family Hillbillies” spoof portrait in front of the dilapidated trailer that’s left on the property.  What better way to commemorate the recession of 2009? 

 

The kids really enjoyed seeing all the animals, especially the new baby bunnies that had just been born that week.  Eva found an egg in the hen house, and fed the chickens and turkeys with pieces of squash from the garden. 

 

Amanda's 10th Month

Planting the garden, farmer's market, Oregon Zoo, playing in the backyard