One thing that kind of sucks about being a new mom is not knowing when or if something is seriously wrong with my child. Alice has a bad cold, probably caused by RSV (respiratory synocyctialthinggummy virus). She caught said virus probably from another baby her age who ended up in the hospital with pneumonia brought on by the RSV (in other babies’ mom’s defense, other baby was not showing symptoms yet when Alice was exposed). I was concerned, to say the least, when I found this out, both for the other baby and her mom, who is a friend of mine, and for Alice, who I really didn’t want to get pneumonia. So when on Wednesday afternoon, my daughter started sounding like she had tiny maracas rattling around in her chest, I assumed the worst. She obviously was getting pneumonia. Never mind that she was happier than she’d been all week, energetic, and in no way struggling to breathe. A quick trip to the after hours pediatrics place later, I had learned something. She was fine. Still sick of course, and with some junk in her chest (hence the maracas), but overall fine and likely to be all better in a week or two. I guess I can just consider it another brick in the wall of my mommy knowledge. Now if Hubby and I could just feel better…
obviously, I suck at blogging. The last time I posted anything was like what? December or January? Yep, January 7th, and here we are in October. And here I am with an almost four month baby girl. So what do you say I start over and see how it goes…
First of all, Yay for being in the second trimester!!!
I had my second midwife appointment today. It is such a different experience from going to the OB. Like I said the OB I went to was very nice and I had a very pleasant time, but the practice is a very popular one (probably for those very reasons), and therefore very crowded. There was a lot of sitting around and waiting involved. With the Midwife today, immediately upon walking into the building, the nice lady at the desk handed me my chart and I went and peed in a cup, tested it myself and recorded the results and my weight. I saw the Midwife pretty much immediately after that. I like how I have some part in my care and that my chart is completely accessible to me. She checked my fundal height (perfect) and then listened to the baby’s heartbeat with a doppler. The baby was moving all over the place. She would find the heartbeat on one side and then it would disappear and she’d find it again 10 seconds later all the way on the other side. It was pretty funny seeing her chase the baby back and forth across my uterus with the doppler. Active little peanut.
We moved into a new place over Christmas. We used to live in a small (500 sq ft), one bedroom apartment with no washer/dryer hookups. The new place is directly next door, which made for a very easy move and is quite a bit larger with another bedroom and (wonder of wonders) a laundry room. Definitely more baby-freindly. We’re all moved in and enjoying the extra space.
I started a project for baby that I’ll post about soon.
So…I’m pregnant! God willing, come early July, we’ll have a real live little baby. We’re pretty excited. It’s still very surreal. Until I actually saw the baby (via ultrasound of course) at eight weeks, I don’t think I really believed it. I’ll be twelve weeks on Monday. The baby will only be ten weeks though 
I’ve had one traditional OB visit and one visit at a Birthing Center with a CNM. My next visit with the Midwife is January 7th. The OB we went to was very nice as were all of the nurses and other staff, but the atmosphere and the type of birth that we want, I think we have a better chance of getting at the Birthing Center.
One thing that has taken me by suprise about pregnancy is all of the decisions we’ve had to (and will have to) make, and how difficult they can be. The nausea, fatigue, sesitivity to smells (all very mild so far) and breast tenderness (not so mild 
) I expected, how stressful all of these decisions can be, I did not. Where will I give birth, and with who? Where can I find a good pediatrician? Delayed vaccinations? Cloth diapers? And so many more. And everyone seems to have a (very strong) opinion. So fun. Or not. Oh well, God is giving us this baby and I guess I’ll have to trust that He’ll give us the wisdom to take care of it too.
My family, Hubby’s family and most especially Hubby have been so wonderful and supportive though. I am very, very blessed in that respect. This will be the first grandchild on both sides, so my Mom and MIL are about to explode with excitement. My Mom bought me some very nice maternity clothes last weekend as an early Christmas present, which was very good, since my normal pants are getting pretty uncomfortable at this point. I’m starting to get a definite little bump that I can’t suck in no batter how hard I try I haven’t told at work yet, so I’m just trying to wear baggy shirts. I’m waiting until after Christmas and New Year’s and my next Midwife appt. to tell. I’ll be fourteen weeks and in the second trimester by then, so I figured it would be a good time. Plus I’ll be out of the office for most of the next two weeks, so I won’t have to work on hiding it so much.
I’m hoping to post on here a little more often, since I have something to talk about that is changing and growing every day. This may become more of a pregnancy/baby blog, but since I believe I have exactly zero readership (besides Hubby [Hi Hubby], I don’t think anyone will mind.
So, it’s been a long time since I posted anything on here. Part of the reason is that I still, after exhaustive search, cannot find the camera cord. We actually went out and bought a new one. It doesn’t work. I really wanted to be able to post some pictures on here, but it is not fated to be right now I guess. The other reason is that we’ve had some big stuff going on in our lives, and that has kind of taken up a lot of my thinking time, and will probably continue to do so indefinitley. I’d like to get some of those thoughts on here, but I’m not quite ready to share yet I don’t think.
Two of the knitting projects I wanted to share photos of are two versions of the Mason-Dixon Knitting baby kimonos. This is such a fun, simple project, and it really is impossibly cute. I already gave one away to a friend who had a baby last week. The other one is waiting to be seamed (I’ve been procrastinating), and is destined for a baby scheduled to arrive next month. I did one in red Peaches & Cream dishcloth cotton and the other in a sage green cotton. I like the color on both, but the red was a little cuter in my opinion.
My sister is calling.
I can’t find the camera cord. This is faintly annoying. I want to post pictures of my aforementioned project, our hike and other sundries, but … oh well. I’ll confess I haven’t really looked that hard.
I have some beef barley stew simmering on the stove. It smells really good. Hubby is going to be a little late tonight so it has time for a good long simmer. I always start wanting to cook autumney (not a word) things like casseroles and soups and stews at this time of year, even though in Florida it’s a bit premature. We’re still in the 80′s during the day, and that’s a bit of a cool down. It’s been a kind of cloudy, drizzly day today, though, so some nice comfy stew will be lovely.
Work has been slow lately. I work for a govermenty type job, and the “economic downturn” has resulted in a similar downturn in things to do, as well as raises for the year. Oh fun. I find myself fantasizing about all the things I would do if I was at home. Organize this, clean that, bake the other thing. Because I totally do all those things in my time at home now. Ha ha. One day when I’m home full time (God willing), I hope I’ll be able to look at it like I look at my job now, and actually get some things done. One day, one day.
So glad it’s the weekend. I think the hubby and I are going hiking tomorrow (if walking through our extremely flat Florida terrain can be termed hiking), which should be fun. Living in the city, it feels like we don’t get out into nature enough. I’d like to make more of an effort to do so, simply because Creation speaks so loudly of it’s Creator. It’s easy to think about God when surrounded by nature. Plus it’ll be time for us to spend together, which I always enjoy. It’s great being married to your best friend I’m going to try to remember to take pictures, something I’m horrible at doing (remembering not taking, necessarily).
I have some pictures to post on my camera, of a project I just finished, but it’s Friday and I’m feeling lazy, so it’ll have to wait. I don’t feel like hunting out the camera cable right now. Laters.
v.
homed, hom·ing, homes
v.
intr.
- To go or return to one’s residence or base of operations.
- To be guided to a target automatically, as by means of radio waves.
- To move or lead toward a goal: The investigators were homing in on the truth.
(from dictionary.com)
So…Hi there. I think the reasons for writing a blog of this kind are probably ultimately selfish. At least on my part. I have things to say, things I think about, things I need to write out to get straight in my head. But, for some reason, a journal doesn’t seem to cut it. It’s nice to think that someone out there might, might read my thoughts. Maybe those thoughts might make them think about some things too.
I called this blog “Homing” because it speaks of both returning to a safe place and moving forward towards something. As a wife and someday mother, I want my focus to constantly be turning back to the home I make for my family. As a Christian, my focus should also constantly be “straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phillipians 3:13 ESV). Trying to achieve that balance is what I want to write about. So there’s my thesis statement . Time to make dinner.
