Helena has such a small head that we needed to get wrap around sunglasses so that they would stay on. These are held in place with a neoprene band (that is currently adjusted to the smallest possible size) and she seems to like them or at least not mind them amazingly enough.
I entered a contest at Babies and Kids for a cute onesie and I won!
We got our choice of designs from The Trendy Tadpole and this seemed like a good choice for Helena to wear to school in the fall. We figure our students will get a kick out of it when they see it.
I guess every once and a while you can win. Thanks to Tiff at Babies and Kids and thanks to the Trendy Tadpole!
Late this week a package showed up on our doorstep unexpectedly. Inside was this gorgeous sweater from Betsy. Betsy was in one of my knitting groups back in Santa Barbara and we had sorta lost touch but she's been keeping up with my blog. Even more fun is the fact that when she finished the sweater and brought it to show to the knitting group, they ran into my old spinning/knitting group at the coffee shop where they met.
So THANK YOU BETSY!!!!
I'd send a more personal note but I don't have your email address any more. I think the blog has a contact me link (probably under the about me link) so send me a note sometime and let me know how you are doing.
If you've ever nursed a newborn that is.
This is by Mama is who does parenting cartoons based on her own life.
I will post new photos of Helena soon. You won't believe how much she's changed. In the meantime here is an ad promoting breastfeeding that gave me a chuckle.
Since I didn't show you anything I'd been knitting, here she is ready for the ride home in an EZBSJ and zeebee.
She was born Tuesday, February 24th at 6:37pm. She was 6lbs. 11oz. and 18.5 inches long.
We're home and doing well but I'm exhausted so I won't be on email much. I'll try to call folks as I have the energy. You can see more photos on Marius' facebook page if you have an account. I will post more as I can.
The doctors have been suggesting that Helena might make a rather early appearance because I was progressing so fast. So mom flew out and I warned my replacement at school.
At my appointment today they found that I've basically stopped doing anything so it doesn't look like Helena will be super early. Babies come when they are supposed to.
Yesterday was Darwin's 200th birthday. I joined the Axis of Evo group over on flickr because I love the idea. Colin had these temporary tattoos made up and I've now completely entertained my OB, my pilates instructor and several others who have gotten glimpses of my stomach. 2009 is a big year for Darwin anniversaries as this November will be the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.
Helena was head up or some other sort of breech for pretty much the entire pregnancy. I went to the doctor today and found out that she has flipped finally. She was running out of time so this is great news since I'd like to avoid a c-section.
I'm almost done with a baby surprise jacket and matching zeebee hat. Has anyone else noticed how well they go together? Okay, if you read the comments, apparently everyone has. I've known the schmee since 2004/2005 (right?) and only got off my butt to knit this hat now so I'm a bit behind the curve. I'll post photos this weekend.
Folks have been wondering what the nursery will look like and it's been changing constantly I must admit. However, a couple of purchases have developed into a general color scheme. This print is the final nail in the coffin though and the sunflower wall some of you have heard about (that came with the house and is just a little dated) will be repainted with one of the lighter colors from the print (almost certainly one of the greens). Don't worry, we will be using no-VOC paint.
To give you a sense of the rest of it here are some images of what else will be going in the room:
This is the bedding but it will be in this color:
Nevermind that my friend, Jo, gave me her old (yet extremely nice) sewing machine. I've been afraid to touch it without lessons for fear of breaking the lovely thing. This just seems very fun and the folks at Spool even have a pattern for it. I am just that pathetic. Of course, I suspect getting it all to balance wonderfully is quite the accomplishment.
Do you think I'll have time to learn how to sew after the baby arrives?
Yeah, I didn't think so either.
I've done all the usual things during this pregnancy including signing up for email updates about how big the baby is etc., etc.. Many of these come with links to reviews of products in which a pregnant woman might be interested. Most of the time it's useless crap, every once and a while the reviews are actually useful and then there are these:
When your vajingo needs a helping hand, the V2 Supporter lends one in all the right places. This stretchy cotton band is fully adjustable to give you a lift where you need it most, taking care of painful swelling and pressure. It's true the contraption looks strikingly like a lace-trimmed jock strap—but if it provides you with a pain-free cha-cha, we're betting you don't give a rat's patootie.
Now if you go to the product link, you will see that this is a potentially useful item (although I am exceptionally grateful to have not known this prior to the ad; apparently vaginal varicose veins are not common in first pregnancies (a sufficient reason to stop at one as far as I'm concerned). However, the person who wrote this review apparently has a really hard time with the phrase vaginal varicose veins and instead feels that throwing half a dozen (okay, it's only three but still!) euphemisms in is more appealing to the readers. Personally I'm frightened that someone who has to resort to such language has actually had sex, and even more concerned that this sex likely resulted in the creation of a human being that this person was responsible for raising. If you can't write the word vagina, you probably shouldn't be using yours for pleasure or reproduction.
This past weekend we had a not-a-shower for my friend Janet (on the right in the white shirt). She's just over ten weeks ahead of me in the whole baby making process and since this is their second, she claimed she didn't need a real shower. She and her husband said that the only thing they needed were diapers so people just brought tons of those as gifts. We did a basic potluck with S. African style pancakes (something like a cross between a crepe and those massive Ethiopian pancakes) and fillings. It was co-ed and we didn't do baby games like guessing what candy bar someone had mashed into a disposable diaper and everyone had a great time.
It was also the first time I got to see my friend Leo (on the left) since she recently found out that she is now expecting as well and is due about ten weeks after I am. Both Janet and Leo work at the college and it didn't occur to them that if they hired a bunch of female faculty in their 30's we would all start getting pregnant. At least the hr folks are getting really good at dealing with maternity leave.
I know I'm wearing essentially a bag shaped dress so we also took a photo from the side with Janet's husband Curt pulling my dress tight so you can see that there really is a belly under there. The butt sticking out in back is also a hint that there is WAY more up front than my poor spine is used to handling.
So here we all are at about 3.5, 5.5 and 7.5 months.
So I hit five months this week. It's amazing how fast time is passing. Helena is kicking up a storm and no one is embarrassed to ask when I'm due because it's obvious that I'm pregnant at this point.
In fact, that's the oddest bit about it all. None of this process has gone the way I expected. So many women romanticize their pregnancies, even after the fact, that I did assume certain things would happen that just haven't. Granted I also assumed I'd have terrible morning sickness and managed to skip that as well fortunately.
However, these days the thing that impacts me the most is body dismorphia. I'll catch a glimpse of my profile as I walk past a mirror or a window and just think, "What the hell?" I do not recognize myself anymore when I catch glimpses out of the corner of my eye. I know I look pregnant but the reality is a very different thing. I've never fantasized about being pregnant or how I would look so this is all of a bit of a shock to the system even if I knew it would happen intellectually.
It has got me back to knitting finally though. I'll post photos as I finish things. Not everything is for Helena though. It seems that my world is full of pregnant women these days so I have many babies for whom to knit over the next several months.
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