Pregnancy

I don't post often about pregnancy.  I feel like I have such a tenuous hold on this state of being.  It's almost like a dream, I'm afraid if I mention it too often, celebrate it too much, or even think about it too frequently it will slip from my grasp...

This was especially true when I was pregnant with Colin.  This time it's slightly different. maybe because it's not been very long.  In some ways, it all feels like one long pregnancy: like I've been pregnant since October of 2010 until now.  The big difference now is Colin, of course.  His miraculous, amazing, wonderful presences giving me hope, and joy everyday.

As for the specifics, as of my latest appointment, baby is doing great! Growing and kicking and moving.  My doctor is a little worried about my lack of weight gain and I have been asked to increase my calories and my protein intake.  My doctor specifically mentioned eating more red meat.  I had to laugh a little bit because I'm pretty sure that's the opposite advice I've been given my entire life regarding a healthy diet!

Today, I am nearly 22 weeks pregnant with our second baby.  I'm finally feeling great and magically, as it always seems to, the discomfort of the last few months, and those to come, seems distant and unlikely and not all that bad.  (Hormones are a funny thing).

Keeping growing baby.  We can't wait to meet you!

Colin's First Haircut

It was a long time coming.

I cancelled more than once.  I wasn't ready to cut off my litte guys hair!

Colin was born with a bunch of dark newborn hair.

By about two months he was going bald...

And a few months later new hair started growing!

Little guys hair just kept growing, and over time it got lighter.

It also got a mind of it's own.  Colin's hair, like his daddy's, doesn't do what it's told, at least not what it's told by me!

Despite my occasionaly frustration with Colin's persistant rooster tail, I didn't really want to cut his hair.  But things were getting a bit out of control.  He went through a short stage of having a pretty awesome mullet but then it was in his eyes all of the time.

Colin's emo hair glory just prior to his haircut (with grandma).

So finally I relented and we headed to get his first hair cut.

Colin was a bit skeptical, but with the exception of the shears he did a great job!  And the best part is he doesn't have hair in his eyes all of the time!

Creativity!

Between pregnancy, new motherhood, pregnancy, work, and being sick, it feels like it's been forever since I've had time for many personal creative pursuits.  Not to say motherhood doesn't open up a whole new world of creative thinking!

But over the last few weeks, I've taken on a few new creative projects.  First, a friend of mine was having a shower for her second baby who is due in a few weeks.  Since we met when we were both learning to feed our firstborn, I thought breastfeeding survival kits would be a great gift!

I was really happy with how the project came out.  Very rarely does my execution match my creative vision.  Also, I was happy to take on a project I knew I could successfully complete in my limited time.

Although I rarely wrap particularly pretty gifts, I did my best to match my little bag bows:

Inspired, when Alyssa called to tackle a new project, I signed on for that one too!  So we picked a night to set about destroying our kitchen being creative as we have done so many times before.

This time, we tackled a recipe for solid perfume that Alyssa had found.

It was a relatively simple project.  Alyssa grated the beeswax.

My biggest contribution was the creation of an effective and easy to use double boiler.  This was slightly more complicated than it seems at first.  Because the finished concoction cools rather quickly, we needed something shallow and easy to pour from.  A bowl was too deep, many of the other options had ledges, but I was happy with how it worked out and it wasn't too tedious to clean between scents.

Another challenging aspect was finding appropriate containers.  We didn't find exactly what we were after, but these worked okay.

In the end, I'm very hapy with the results.  We only used a few ingredients, didn't make too much of a mess and compared to our attempt at cutting wine bottles using string and fire, it was very very successful!

Not nearly so violent as this picture would make you believe.

Non-montessori Montessori

We are very fortunate that so far we've been able to work out our work schedules in our family so that Colin spends his days and nights with mommy and daddy.  While we expect to need some help in the coming months, it likely won't be close to half time or enough to justfy finding a school or day care for him.

Sometimes I wonder (read: worry) that there are things Colin misses out on not attending day care.  Gavin and I have spent lots of time discussing this.  We attend lap sit story time and make sure we schedule time for Colin to play with other kids his age.  We try to come up with new things for him to see, touch and do every week.

I was impressed with some of the activities I've heard about some of Colin's Montessori attending peers are doing.  I've spent some time googling similiar activities to try at home and I've done a few of them.  It's actually one of my goals for 2014!  But with being sick in December and the holidays, it's off to a slow start.

Today, we decided to take the infant container off of Colin's horse Tahoe.  Colin loves Tahoe, but has become increasingly irritate with the bumper which prevents him from throwing himself sideways across the saddle (no idea why this is such an important task).  He watched intently as daddy unscrewed the seat.  Daddy stashed the seat nearby incase we decided this was a horrible idea and we needed to put it back on.  A few minutes later, Colin picked it up and unsurprisngly grabbed the screw. I stood up to take it from him and was amazed to find him intently focusing on putting the screw back in the hole it had come out of.  He finally did it and proudly showed me his work.  I clapped and helped him take it out and try again.  I watched him learn that only the small end would fit in the hole and that after he put it in, it stuck out of the bottom.  For somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes (an eternity in toddler time) he worked hard on his task.

This moment made me realize that all of the activities and learning situations I create are great, but so is the everyday learning Colin will do watching as mommy and daddy do everyday things.  It also humbled me a bit.  My first instinct was to take the screw away from Colin before he ate it, stuck it in his eye, or damaged something.  If I had, we would have missed an awesome learning moment.

As I often am, I was reminded of the Laurie Berkner song:

Parenting is getting harder.  But I'm doing my very best and I hope if I can slow down and pay attention, I'll have more moments like today!

What a decade!

I approached my 30th birthday with ambivalence.  The party I had made Gavin promise to throw years and years ago (a champagne tasting) was obviously out.  I'd also spent the last month or so fighting the flu.  Plus, in the light of Colin's first birthday and his first aware Christmas, a grown up birthday just can't compete.

I had a beautiful day.  I slept in, ate Indian food, received some beautiful and thoughtful gifts, ate cake, and had a romantic and simple date with Gavin.  I also had some time to reflect on what a fantastic decade it's been.

It wasn't so long ago that thirty seemed so old!!  I couldn't imagine being thirty.

But today I am 30.  And even better, I'm absolutely ready to be thirty.  When I reflect on the last ten years, I'm amazed at how much I've grown.  I'm also amazed at what I've accomplished.  I finished my education.  I passed my professional licensing exams.  I found a career I adore and I've done well in it.  I've built four bridges, one sports complex, countless roads, sewers, walls, and improvements.  I met my husband.  We traveled around the world, from Poland, to Australia, to London to Monte Carlo.  We bought a beautiful home and everyday we slowly learn how to take care of it and make it ours.  I bought two turtles who continue to hang around despite my initial thought that they'd last the semester.  I adopted my (evil) cat. We adopted Penny and then Dora and Lucky.  We moved from pet parent to human parent after a trying journey and now adore the time we spend with Colin.  And soon we will be four!  I've made some amazing friends and some incredible memories.  Along the way, I've also made my share of mistakes.  I've learned from every one of them.  Some of them have taken longer to bounce back from than others, and some left scars, but every single one of them helped make me who I am today.

I'm proud of what I accomplished during my twenties.  In no particular order, 10 memories from the last ten years:

? (2003)

First Internship (2004)

Disneyland (2005)

An early date with Gavin (2006)

Graduation (2006)

Celebrating with Gavin (2007)

Our House! (2008)

A birthday Celebration in the Bahamas! (2009)

Wedding Day! (2010)

Colin! (2012)

Today (basically)

I can't wait to see what this decade holds!