Tuesday: productive

Today I felt productive. It's been a while since I've felt that way, so it was a good day. I got some stuff done at work and then I drove all around town picking stuff up and dropping stuff off. Now I'm tuckered out.

Hmm, I need some more content for today. How about some random pictures that I've been taking but have neglected to post?

Here are the wonky stars for Baby's quilt. I ended up changing the yellow star because one side seemed too stubby.

And what post would be complete without a picture of Flurry?? She has found a new chair to hang out on sometimes.

Monday: walk

I went on a walk with Betsy today. It was a beautiful day for a walk. It was also especially fun because she's due about three months after I am...it's amazing how many things are the same and how many things are different between the two pregnancies.

Sunday: apples, leaves, and appendages

I finished off all the apples today in applesauce. Some were getting a little soft, but they were all still good for applesauce.

We raked the front yard. It was nice because here you just rake the leaves into the street and the front yard isn't very big, so it was an easy raking job. However, I'm not sure the tree appreciated the wonderful job we did as leaves started cluttering up the lawn again as soon as we were done.

I had my hand on my stomach in just the right place to feel a good kick (or hit) this evening. The cool part of this was that I could tell it was a real appendage because I could feel a difference between appendage and no appendage. Usually it just feels like a bump with no discrete difference. I completely interrupted the conversation Ben and I were having and then we had a hard time remembering where we had left off.

Saturday: book review/give away

I was contacted a few weeks ago asking if I would be willing to do a book review. I thought, “Hey, why not? I like free books.” Soon after that, The Devil’s Puzzle by Clare O'Donohue arrived. In fact, two copies arrived so I am happy to be able to offer a give away! It’s the first one I’ve ever done. I’ll just randomly picking two people that reply to this post to get the book (although one person will be a slightly used copy).

(image from Amazon.com)

As a mystery, I'm not going to write too much about the story because I don't want to give the ending away. I was happy though that I wasn’t able to figure out “who-done-it” before the book was done. It was fun to have a quilting theme run through the book, but it wouldn’t detract from the book if you aren’t a quilter. I was a little sad that there wasn't a picture of the quilt block in the book; it seemed like since it was the name of the book it should have been there.

Overall I’d recommend the book, if you’re looking for something light and easy to read. It wasn’t a book that I couldn’t put down, but it was still interesting.

Disclaimer: I don’t have a cool official disclaimer like Denise, but I was under no obligation to write a blog post, review the book in a certain manner, or give away the book. I received no money for doing the review.

Friday: 27 week OB appt

Today was my 27 week OB appointment. A few different things happened today...

*I had my gestational diabetes test. I passed having to do the full test, but just barely. However, this is apparently a pass/fail thing, so I don't need to worry about what I'm eating.

*My belly was measured. It measured right around 27 weeks. I'm wondering if the measuring tape is a special scale or if 27cm =27 weeks. Anyway, I'm just the right size.

*I might be getting a bladder infection. I feel fine, but apparently my urine was high in nitrates. I'm supposed to drink a lot of water. And I got a prescription in case I need it.

*The kiddo was moving all around (probably due to the sugar drink I drank for the test) and had a heartbeat of 162.

Thursday:apple

The cortland apples that we picked less than 2 weeks ago seem to have gone bad. It was a sad day, since I was looking forward to it in my lunch this afternoon. They were so good in the orchard, but even after a week they weren't as good.

Hopefully the other kind will stay good enough for me to make applesauce this weekend.

Wednesday: hi

Hi. We went to a new (to us) restaurant with all the parents tonight. It was fun.

I'm tired. Good night.

Tuesday: ham and squash

Today was the chosen day for our yearly ham and squash meal. I don't know why we only do it once a year; it is delicious. And I seem to take a picture of it every year, so I did this year too.

The biggest difference with the meal this year is apparently I look a little bit like a butternut squash. At least I don't look like an acorn squash. :)

Sunday: picture

Jamie took this nice picture of me on Monday. I'll admit, I feel more awkward than I look. So I don't know if I'm playing it up or what. Oh well.

Saturday: Flurry

Today Flurry got a little spoiled. She often gets spoiled.

Beyond the normal spoilage, Ben got my lunch ready so that I wouldn't have to move so that Flurry, sitting next to me, wouldn't have to move.

And this picture is from a few days ago when she decided to sit in the chair with me. I'm not sure she's ever done that before. It didn't last very long, but long enough to get a picture.

Friday: rain

Today I went for a walk with the added bonus of doing an errand. (For some reason, NY thinks it needs its license plates back.). When I left, it was beautiful, sunny day. When I stepped out of the store ten minutes later, I felt two raindrops. The sky didnt look like a rain sky, so I continued on my way, hurrying as much as I could.

A block from home it started to rain harder. I took refuge under a tree, and debated whether I should continue walking because under the tree would soon be wet or if I should wait. Then the sun came out and the rain let up slightly, so I continued.

There is a good chance this is a "you had to be there" story.

Thursday: rainbows

Apparently there was a beautiful double rainbow after a storm this evening.

(image copied from Dad and Pat's blog)

I didn't notice because I was watching the crazy person in front of me swerve slightly over the lane markers as he tried out his latest and greatest software release. At least, that is my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

wednesday: bug

I feel like I have a touch of a bug that my body is trying to fight. I've been just out of it enough to make me wonder.

I hope I'm not fighting a baby. that would make the next three months sad.

But for good news, the baby would probably live if it were born now. It really needs to incubate some more though, so we'll hope he isn't born yet.

Wednesday: want, feeling, and notice and a second want

I want to lay down on my stomach with both my legs stretched out.

I'm feeling like Im getting a fever (although this feeling will probably be gone by morning)

I noticed that a ton of people wore green shirts with black pants today.

I want the Internet to stop having outages.

Monday: pants

I like pants. I especially like it when pants have pockets. I really like pockets. But sometimes the pockets let everything fall out. What is the point of those pockets? I hate it when my cell phone falls out of my pocket and I have to go find it.

Sunday: I'm from New York

Ben and I have found that if we say "I just moved to the area from New York", people always think that we're coming from NYC.

If we say "I just moved from upstate New York," only half the people think we're from NYC.

The lesson here is to not have a major city named after a state.

PS, we have this problem with Holland too, but if we say Holland, MI no one gets mixed up so it isn't as bad.

Saturday 2: apples

I guess the internet just wanted to prove me wrong, as it started working well right after my last post.

Here are Ben and I. My shirt is having problems. I'm just starting to not be able to wear some of my larger shirts but try anyway. I should probably stop trying.

And Dad and Landon are picking some apples.

Afterwards we took a look at the restaurant but it was way too busy. So we came back to Holland to eat at their satellite restaurant, which was not busy. The food was very good. And we got some donuts!

Saturday: internet

I was going to tell you about apple picking today (complete with pictures) but instead I'll tell you about the internet.

Recorded internet message: "There is a service outage in your area. It should be fixed by 6:43 pm"

What they meant to say: "There is a service outage in your area. It will get worse at 6:43pm. Around 9:30pm it will sometimes be working enough for you to get a few things done if you're patient, but you won't be able to upload pictures."

Friday: hi

Hi.

I have nothing that I really want to share with the world today.

Sorry, I've been having a lot of days like that lately.

It makes for a boring blog.

Wednesday: groceries

Today I got groceries. The exciting part of this trip was how many random things didn't hop into my cart. only the cheese sticks somehow invaded the cart, and one could argue that they should have been there in the first place.

let's list the invaders that didn't make it into the cart...because I'm really proud that I kept them out.

Oreos. Oreos tried really hard to get in.
Eggo waffles
Donuts.
different kinds of donuts
chips
Carmel rice cakes
candy
chocolate
Granola bars that are made out of peanuts

Tuesday: problems

My current problems are not big problems.

But they feel like big problems.

I'm working on trusting that God will take care of all my problems, and that he will understand that even though I know they're not big problems they still stress me out.

One of my life goals is to not worry about problems but instead trust God. Just as I think I'm getting it I fail.

I'll try again tomorrow. Or tonight.

Monday: rain

I woke up to a beautiful rainy day today. It was one of the better parts of the day. Except for going out to eat with Ben. That was nice too.

The rest of the day...left a lot to be desired.

Sunday: Sunday morning

This morning we went to the first of four classes to join the church we've been going to. At one point I thought that I had something profound to say about this, but can't remember anymore. Oh, the interesting statistic is that the church is about 40% kids. That seems like a ton of kids to me, but we've seen evidence that it is very possible (i.e., a huge VBS, kids running around all over the place, etc). And with a kid on the way, it's nice to know that the instruction of children is a top priority.

Thursday: squeak

Amanda: I'm going to bed. Good night.
Ben: Good night.
Amanda: Oh, I forgot to write a blog post. Guess it'll be a few more minutes.
Flurry: squeak! (What?!?)
Flurry: squeak! (It's time for water!)
Flurry: squeak! (You said you were going upstairs)
Ben: Flurry, chill out.
Flurry: mroww. (Fine, but I'd rather you go upstairs)

Wednesday: flaky

Our Internet is being super flaky. I'm not sure that this will post. I meant to send out some emails, but it was taking about ten minutes per email and it wasn't worth it.

Tuesday: embarrassing

So I've always been slightly prone to dizziness, especially when I'm standing still and not engaged in the conversation. Most of the time I can hide it.

but once in a while that just doesn't work, like today. I was with a team doing a big external audit. I realized once we were standing around that I also hadn't eaten breakfast...I had been expecting that some food was at the meeting but it was late. I hid it for a while by just crouching down. but then it was time to go and I wasn't going anywhere. I got the chair that was just vacated and within 30 seconds was mostly fine. Within a few minutes I was feeling well enough to walk again. But it was still embarrassing because it was with people I didn't know very well and they got worried.

At least I had a good excuse for once. I can blame a lot of things on being pregnant and people seem to understand. :)

Monday: two people

Two people have now commented on my pregnancy without any prompting or foreknowledge that I am pregnant. three cheers for looking pregnant.

Sunday: recap

So here's a quick recap of what's been happening...

Thursday I had a baby shower. It was a lot of fun and I got to see some family that I haven't seen in a while. (Sorry Pat...we only had one group picture)







Then an old friend of Ben and his wife were over for the weekend. It was fun to hear them reminisce about old times. We also played a ton of games, which was a lot of fun. (But I neglected to take any pictures.)

Saturday: people

There's been a lot of things going on and people around so I've been too lazy/busy/tired to write. Hopefully more tomorrow. :)

Wednesday/Thursday: natural disasters

the area in which we lived in NewYork is currently undergoing severe flooding. As in, 4 ft higher than the record flood.

I'm sad. I'm sad because I wish I could see it. But I more sad because I know that this is going to impact the lives of my friends. I've heard about feet of water in basements and cars underwater and our church was flooded. I saw pictures of some of the major shopping areas with the buildings half under water. The area there grew up by the rivers, and so there are a lot of buildings that will have lots of damage.

Tuesday: stars

So the "theme" of the nursery is going to be stars and planets. (Although I'm trying not to get too carried away with having a theme. Which is rather easy in this case because there aren't a ton of starry things and even fewer planet things.)

I was planning on taking a short break from quilting, but found myself contemplating the next quilt right away anyway. Oh well. So here is the cloth that I got today.

It will look something like this when finished, but the red will be brown and the stars will be colorful.

(November Stars created by Delaware Quilts)

Monday: water

Flurry found a new water source.

Saturday: registering take 2

Today Ben and I adventured out to Babies R Us to continue registering. (As a side note, one of the reasons the store won over Amazon was that it gave us a good excuse to get Indian food. There aren't any Indian restaurants close by.)

It felt like this trip went a lot better than the one to Target. I don't think we were really more prepared, but maybe we stopped questioning ourselves so much and just scanned the stuff. We hope it is the right stuff...we did the best we could. I guess that's all we can tell ourselves. We're afraid that someone will get something as a shower gift and then it won't be useful, but if we questioned ourselves on everything we would get no where.

Afterwards we were exhausted and took a nap. Which means it's after midnight and I'm not really tired.

As a side note, I'll be going back to Target within a week or two to add a few things to that list so that it isn't so small.

Friday: baby update

I saw the OB again today and got fun information!

My due date didn't actually change (sad), although all the measurements are still about a week ahead. I think all this means is a lot of hand waving is going on.

Baby Hilldore's abdomen cavity is in the 98%...i.e., he's chubby.

His head is in the 88%.

Everything else was pretty normal.

I have an anterior placenta, which apparently means I don't feel him move as much. But I think I'm feeling him move quite a bit. So I've decided that he's strong. Because if he is going to be chubby, he may as well be strong.

Also, since I'm wearing maternity pants it is harder to gauge how I'm growing. I can't say "oh, I can't button my pants anymore." So I measured myself, and my waist is at 37". This way I can tell a little better that I'm growing.

Thursday: broke vs broken

A few mornings ago I heard the following:

"We're not broke. Something something something. We are doing perfectly fine and all our procedures are adequate for what we are doing."

I thought, "hold on. I thought they were going to talk about money, not their well-being. I think I would have used broken instead of broke. I wonder if broke as an adjective can come from 'to break' or 'I broke it'. I also wonder if it is just a common vernacular that has it mean money-less."

(I hope you understood that. It turns out it is kind of hard to explain.)

Anyway, I looked it up. When used as an adjective, it can only mean lacking in money. Which I do find that a little odd, since it is the same word as 'I broke it' and verbs and adjectives are often the same.

Aren't you glad you know that now?!?

Wednesday: water

Tonight I was getting ready for my shower and Flurry was on the side of the tub in the front. I kept giving her water from my hand because it was taking a while to get the right temperature. It finally was right and so I went around to the back to get in. Flurry did the same thing, but between the shower curtain and the plastic protecters. I didn't realize this until I bumped her into the tub with my knee. By this time there was a little bit of water in the bottom and so I wondered now she would react...she does love water.

She scrambled out so quickly that the whole event was over in a blink of an eye. I laughed at her...the whole event seemed like a good lesson.

Tuesday: counting

Today this child is 23 weeks old. Or something. Apparently at 23 weeks you get told your age by what size you are, not what age you are. Wouldn't that be cool as an adult? You could age backwards.

Anyway, that's not the point.

The point is that I'm annoyed with how months are counted in pregnancy. At 23 weeks, I start my 6th month and can tell everyone that I'm six months pregnant. Being six months pregnant lasts from 5m1d to 5m28d. When my baby is a real six months old, it will be when he is 6m1d to 6m30d. It seems like this latter way is how it should work. What especially annoys me is that they are measured differently. Sure, one seems like a better option, but either would be fine. BUT THEY SHOULD BE THE SAME. I always feel like I'm lying when I say how far along I am in months, so I try to go with weeks.

In more other news, I'm about halfway through knowing about the baby. I managed to skip week 20 because he jumped to week 21, so I'll celebrate today (by doing nothing special).

Sunday: hi

Hi.

Not much to say tonight. Oh well. Can you believe that the summer is almost done?

Saturday: evil genius

Today I played the game "Evil Genius" more than I should have.

I expected my minion to do the chores, since I was busy taking over the world.

Flurry just looked at me and yawned.

Friday: registering

Ben and I went to Target tonight to start registering. Not to necessarily scan everything we wanted there, but at least get started.

I think it would have been hilarious to watch us; we had almost no clue what we were doing.

"Let's choose a crib! I read that the slat have to be no more than so far apart and no drop sides."
"They all have those features."
"And they all turn into toddler beds."
"Well, I think that one is ugly."
"I don't like this one."
"That still leaves three to choose from."

"Let's get a mattress! The firmer the better."
" Extra firm or ultra firm?"
"uh.."
(We were able to figure that one out...one had more coils.)

"Let's get spoons!"
...
...
"There's too many."
Luckily, a nice lady took pity on us and recommended some.

"Let's get this shark towel."
"It doesn't look like a shark."
"I know. It actually looks like a monster and I think that'll be cuter."

"Let's get a pack-n-play!"
"This one has too much extra stuff."
"This one has a hood...that looks annoying to deal with."
"You can leave the second level in when packing this one up."
"Score."
(This was probably the easiest thing to choose.)

"Let's get him an electronic!"
"Only if you can justify why it should be on the registry."
"A large TV? He will need a large TV."
( We couldn't find one absurdly large enough.)
"Legos? How about Lego Pirates, the video game."
"ok."

Thursday: emails

Last night I sent an email to a few old co-workers to let them know that I was pregnant. Word spread and a bunch of people ended up emailing me back. It was a nice feeling.

Wednesday: a funny

Oh, I guess you'll need to click on the picture. I came across this while doing some training for work.

Tuesday: quote

(I couldn't find the quote but I'll credit it to him anyway.)

As my wise brother once said, "Change is hard."

Monday: baby advice requested

Well, now that we know we're having a boy (and the first baby shower is coming up soon), I'm looking for advice. I know there is a lot of advice out in the mysterious interwebs, but I'm curious as to what my friends (or random readers) think. So I'll happily read any advice that you have, although I will admit that I might not follow all the advice.

To get you started:

1. Registries

1a. We will be registering at Target. Babies R Us is about 45 minutes away from us. Would Babies R Us or Amazon be a better choice?

1b. What is something that you thought you needed but you really didn't end up using?

1c. What is something that you wish had been on the list?

1d. There are so many options...which items do we need to research ahead of time and which can we go to the store and pick our favorite?

1e. What specific things (with a brand) have worked well for you and that you would recommend?

2. Diapers

2a. We're considering cloth diapers. Any thoughts?

2b. How much extra work/time do cloth diapers actually take?

2c. Which brand of diapers (cloth or disposable) seem to work well or poorly for you?

3. Daycare

3a. What questions do you think we should ask prospective daycare providers (beyond the basics)?

4. Other

4a. What tricks did you learn that worked well?

4b. What other advice do you have that hasn't been covered in a previous question?

Sunday nights: they still hate me

Sunday nights still hate me. All Sunday nights.

I don't know what I do differently on Sundays that I don't do on Saturdays. I couldn't think of anything that I consistently do differently.

Saturday: random things

Lots of random things today...

Here is a picture of Flurry in one of her favorite places. Sometimes she just hangs out there, even if we aren't in the bathroom.




Ben felt the baby move today. He said it felt really faint (and it was one of the stronger kicks) but he was able to identify when the baby kicked without me saying anything.

Here I am at 21 weeks.




We went to a party with people from Ben's work tonight. I knew one person, so that was nice. Actually, I kind of knew two because I was an intern with one at JCI right after high school. we were doing the normal, "I don't think we've met when we looked at each other and realized that we did know each other."

Also I realized that I don't know what the word Ebenezer means, even though it is in hymn that I like (it was also the name of a church that we passed). It means "stone of help.".

I wish it wouldn't feel so wasteful to get new sheets more often. They're so soft.

Thursday: donuts

Today we're not going to talk about how many donuts I had today, because it was more than I should have had.

But they were all delicious.

Tuesday/Wednesday: It's a...

...day we've all been waiting for: ultrasound day! Yay! The baby seems healthy, at least according to the initial looks. I'll find out in about two weeks if that isn't the case.

The baby on the side: head on the right. The baby was rather wiggly. It started in one direction and by the end had turned itself 180 degrees. We also saw its mouth open and close a few times.



We saw all the different parts, including a foot, arms, legs, heart, head, etc. As the tech was going through the different layers of the skull it looked kind of like a horror film, but the outermost layer always looked ok.






After doing the measurements they also moved the due date up a week to Dec 27. It's a little bit sad that it is closer to Christmas, but at the same time it would be nice to meet the baby earlier.

Well, on to the news that I know you've been anxiously waiting for...how my MRI scan went this morning. Imagine you're at a new age concert with a synthesizer and a wooden block...that's what it sounded like. Except you could see only white. I had the scan because of my weird, super short but super painful headaches that I was having in March and April. I haven't had them since then, but since it wasn't the first round of them the doctor decided to get the MRI done just in case. It was longer than I expected...20 to 30 minutes...and by the end I was getting sore from just being still for so long. I'll find out in a few days if there's something wrong, but I doubt it.

Ok, back to the baby. It's a boy. I had convinced myself that it was a girl so I was rather surprised, but not at all sad. I keep saying to myself, "It's a boy!!"

Tuesday: sleepy

Well, I had a special post all figured out in my head but then I got too tired to write it. So tomorrow you'll get an two for the price of one post, because I knew what I was writing about for tomorrow too.

did I just mess up my tenses? I'll blame it on being sleepy.

Monday: emails

Today I was hoping to receive several (3-4) email in my inbox when I got home. They were all "business" related...nothing fun, but still interesting and pertaining to things we're trying to do right now.

I only got one. I was a bit disappointed and proceeded to check my email every five minutes for the next half hour, even though it was after 5pm and no one was going to get back to me any longer.