Transitions

There are few transitions going on in our lives right now


First is a superficial one: the semi-permanent hardware knows as braces are no longer on my teeth! I have transitioned to a clear top & bottom retainer that I have to wear full time (except while eating) for about 3 months. It is very much like invisaline. After that the retainers will only need to be worn while I sleep. Honestly it is odd seeing my teeth again. They felt almost slimy-smooth at first and looked a little yellow. But I think that is more just because I am so used to seeing & feeling them with braces on. Even though I am supposed to brush after every meal before putting my retainers in, it is nice not to feel so much built-up food in my braces that brushing feels mandatory right away. Also it is pretty amazing being able to floss so easily!


Another superficial but noticeable-to-me change is that my phone is now potentially smarter than me. After talking about it for a while and Matt doing research, we are now Android users. This feels like a mixed blessing. It is useful being able to look things up when I am away from the house. It is obnoxious that every time I hear that little "ding" telling me I have a new email or text I feel compelled to check it. I have not been adding apps yet. I have not even adjusted my ring tones yet. I have much to learn but am trying not to get sucked-in too much. It is way too easy to spend way too much time on it. My regular computer is still much preferred for typing emails, doing internet searches, etc. But I do admit it is nice being able to check my email while watching the girls play at the park :)


A big thing going on is that I am having to mentally adjust to a new last name. I still have not fully adjusted to my little sister no longer being "Walburg", and she got married in October. Now I have to adjust to my friend Becky (who I have known almost as long as my little sister) no longer being "Smiley".  I am so happy for her. But it is weird the way female identities change due to marriage.


As we rev up for Beckys wedding I have lots of fun events like a "girls night out" dinner, a ladies tea, a rehearsal brunch and a flower-arranging party to look forward to. One of the fun events happened at my house last weekend: her shower! I decided it is nice to host a shower or party every once in a while because

1) it is easy to justify the very reasonable $15/hour for a housecleaner

2) there is yummy leftover food to snack on

3) there are pretty flowers decorating my house after 

4) with the added bonus this time that moving furniture around prompted me to set up baby's space in our bedroom: we now have a dresser full of newly-washed baby clothes, the pack & play set up, diapers stacked to the side, etc. I think the nesting has officially begun :)

And that is the last big transition: starting to prepare for baby! I had to watch a you-tube video to figure out how to attach the (borrowed) infant car seat into the (new-to-me) snap & go. We still have the infant car seat we used with the girls, but I never really liked the way the straps tightened & how it latched. It have a small stroller it latched into but I often had to really fight with it to detach it. So I figured the snap & go style will keep me from lugging around a car seat by hand while I also have two little girls walking by me plus multiple bags to keep track of. I will be watching another video n how to do the Moby Wrap and practicing on a doll. I did a similar wrap to wear Etta as a baby and I loved it. But it is not as simple to remember as something like swaddling - there is lots of fabric! Between the snap & go and the Moby I will hopefully save my back from strain. 

I was just realizing the other day that as much as I am looking forward to baby's arrival, there are a few things I can not honestly say I am excited about having re-enter my life. I have really liked being out of the poop clean-up stage. No poopy diapers, no poop accidents on the bathroom rug from little potty training girls who don't quite make it in time, no big blow-outs, etc. But poop clean-up will be re-entering my life in about a month. As will sleep deprivation. Enough said on that. Also making an appearance again will be all the useful but space-consuming and sometimes battery-sucking paraphernalia. Breast pump. Baby swing. Papasan chair. Etc.

So when I am not busy parenting, cleaning, cooking, etc my free time these days has been spent preparing. Preparing for the arrival of baby girl. Preparing for Becky's wedding & wedding-related events. Preparing for the rev-up for the start of the co-op school year.

The funny things Addie says

At 4 1/2 Miss Addie has lots of questions as she tries to figure out the world. She asks about death and we recently had a conversation about natural disasters (which I tried to keep non-scary while still honest but she had a few minutes of fear & being near-tears when she realized that bad things can happen which we have no power to prevent or predict). Here are a few of her funny statements lately.

"I'm doing 20 miles of good poo-poo"

"Is that something Jesus told you?" (asking about eating healthy & why we try not to blacken our food before consuming it)

"I would like this house when you die. And your clothes and shoes."

"I love Lion more than you. I love you. But I love Lion more."

"I don't like your body mommy" followed by "I don't like your attitude" (basically this is her saying she does not want to follow directions and listen to me)

"when you die, do I get to tell Aunt Becky? I will tell her where you are buried."

"And I was like, no!" (This cracked Matt & I up because of the word "like". It sounded so teenager!)

All by myself

For a little while longer at least.

Matt & the girls headed out yesterday morning at 9am for the annual father/daughter/grandpa hiking/camping trip. This was Etta's first year going. So last year I was not all by myself because it was Etta & I at home. Next summer I will not be all by myself because baby will be with me. But this year I got 24+ hours of only me at the house. That is not to say I did not see or interact with others. The time has gone by quite quickly.

After they left I got ready and took a short bus ride to the nearest movie theater. I have heard of women who are pregnant during the summer and escape to the air-conditioned comfort of the movie theater. I can not claim that heat drove me there. I just felt like going and watching The Hunger Games (my 2nd time watching it in theater, I can not remember another movie I have done that with but possibly in high school). I was literally all by myself during the showing. No other people were in the theater with me. A little odd-feeling, but I am complaning. I ate popcorn (a "kids size") all by myself without needing to share :)

I grabbed some take-out for lunch, came home on the bus and relaxed for a few hours. Then I walked to a friends house by Greenlake so we could carpool to bookclub together. Bookclub is always hours of good food, good friends and good laughs. It was bed-time when I got home.

This morning I slept in a bit. Spent time on the computer. Had breakfast. Walked Greenlake. Took a shower. Ate lunch (again no needing to share).

Don't get me wrong, I love our family and have no desire to be single & without kids. But a little time to myself is always nice. I night of sleep to myself is an incredibly rare treat. That said, I will be excited to see them when they walk through the door with stories of their adventure!

The score

Bizarre or unexpected weather: 2
Leah: 0

On Wednesday the girls and I had a frustrating outing to the Greenlake wading pool after naps. So on Thursday I wanted to take advantage of the nice weather and get some sun and water time in, but do it in the morning when we have more time and better attitudes. Thursday morning the sun was beating through our front windows as I got the girls in swimsuits and slathered them in sunblock. We packed up snacks, sun hats and all our beach gear and headed to Golden Gardens. I was actually worried that I would get too hot sitting in the sun on the beach. I re-assessed that thought the farther into Ballard I drove. The fog was thick and discouraging. When we got to Golden Gardens and opened the car doors I realized that the swimsuits the girls were wearing were most definitely not weather appropriate. I was frustrated and disappointed that I did all the hustling to get them out the door only to hit a cold foggy patch of weather. I rummaged around in the back of the car where I keep spare outfit changes for the girls (since the only clothes I had intentionally packed for the day were sundresses and would not have been warm enough). Thankfully I had not been on top of it enough to switch out the spare outfits in the back for summer layers. So I had long sleeve shirts and pants for the girls to wear. They played on the equipment for a while then decided they wanted to dig in the sand. While I was getting the sand toys from the car I realized the fog was lifting and sun was showing. So although I did not need to worry about sunburns, we did end up using the sun hats as the weather warmed.

That was day one of my plans for our morning and the weather being at odds. I think I need to find a website with neighborhood-specific cameras to show me the weather or something.

Yesterday was an even more extreme example. On Friday mornings there is a "garden tots" program at a botanical gardens up in Shoreline. I have wanted to go with the girls but our Friday mornings so far have had swim practice or we have been out of town so we have not had the chance. But yesterday morning our schedule was free and I was excited to go. There is a per family charge and a theme (yesterday was ladybugs) and they do a nature walk and a craft or activity, etc. It sounded like a great way to be out in nature learning about something fun. As we drove away from our house a few raindrops hit the window. But I figured we had a ways north to go and the weather there might be nicer. As we drove a little more the rain started to increase and I wondered if I would regret not having raincoats. Both girls were wearing long sleeves and knee length skirts plus sneakers and socks. I figured a summer rain would not be too bad with those outfits and their sun hats I packed had brims so could keep random raindrops off their face. And then I saw the lightning bolt. And heard the thunder. It was not a single isolated incident. The lightning and thunder got pretty extreme. We were driving right through the storm and I could barely count to three between the flash and the boom. The rain poured against our car for a few intense minutes. I thought the storm was pretty cool because they do not happen often at all here. But the longer the storm lasted the less the girls liked it. The started covering their ears from the thunder. I should have turned the car around but at that point we were getting close to the botanical garden and I was curious if they had an indoor area where the class would be held. We had driven so far we might as well just go and hope the weather improved. When we got there the gates were closed and there was a hand-written sign saying that the garden tots program was cancelled due to the lightening. Probably not a good idea to have young children by tall trees during a lightening storm.

So we had to think of a plan B. We ended up heading towards home but going to the mall. They played with the train table at Barnes & Noble. We read a "Cat in the Hat knows a lot about that" book about the weather which told us that the car was a safe place to be during a thunderstorm. Then we went inside the mall to check out the new toddler play structure. We ran into a friend from co-op there who is due today with baby #2. Then we had lunch at Panera. So it ended up being fun and they were nice rainy-day activities. I just did not expect we would need that back-up plan. The thunder continued on-and-off all afternoon (even though the sun came out) and the girls really were not fond of it.

One thing I can do to help prepare for weather quirks like the above is have my trunk better stocked. I have been inspired by this but have not followed through on my grandiose OCD thoughts yet :)

32.5 weeks

So I figured a pregnancy update was probably due. Due, get it?!

On Wed I had my 32 week appointment. I was measuring at 34. At my 28 week appointment I was measuring at 29. So baby is growing big. Now my group of midwives is pretty dang laid-back about these things. I feel like with Drs they would start to talk about doing an ultrasound or they would adjust the due date or guess at babys size. My midwives have never really mentioned the due date except for at the first appointment or two when they were figuring out how far along I was. At the Wednesday appointment I asked the midwife about the measurement because a little worry or paranoia crept in. She said whether a woman is 110 lbs or 210 lbs pre-pregnancy they find that the measurement truly does reflect the size of the baby (not how much I am eating/how much weight I am gaining). So it could be that baby had a big growth spurt and things will even out. Or it could be that this is a big baby. She said that generally boy babies are slightly bigger than girls (but I am having a girl). She also said that generally if a woman has more than one pregnancy each successive baby generally weighs more.

So baby might be big, but they have no reason to be concerned. My blood pressure is consistently good. Babies heart rate is good. Any blood work, etc has come back good. My platelet level is slightly low, but that was true during my pregnancy with Etta as well. They will retest at my 36 week appointment. But it is just borderline low so it is something to be aware of but does not need any sort of action.

I know my baby bump looks big. Especially from a side profile - those pictures are not flattering. If you stuck a basketball under your shirt you would get a feel for how I am carrying this little girl. She sticks out, and there is very little up-down. So the good thing about that is that she is not bothering my ribs or causing acid reflux or anything. It is getting a little harder to find short and shirt combinations that cover the bump without exposing belly skin. But that is a superficial concern. I feel good really. The only time my back is slightly sore is when I first wake up in the morning, and once I move around it is fine. Getting up and down if I have been sitting on the floor is trickier these days. But for how big she is I actually don't feel bulky or cumbersome most days. I am sleeping well and it is very rare for me to have a weird dream of any sort. It is harder for me to sleep in because the sun comes up and the birds sing and being half-awake means I toss and turn and my back gets less comfortable. But most days I am able to take a 20 minute or so nap in the afternoon and that makes the "early" mornings liveable. If course I would love to be able to sleep in. But that has always been the case :)

Within the next couple weeks I think we might start doing some furniture rearranging to get her space in our room set up. Not because I think she will come early, but just because I think we will be moving some chairs out of our room anyways for a social event so instead of putting them back we will put them in a semi-permanent new location after the event. Then it would be good for me to start collecting all the bags and boxes of various baby clothes, diapers, blankies, etc and putting them in one spot. There are a few random items I have put on an Amazon wish-list, but really we have a huge amount of baby clothes and gear so I am not expecting that I will need to purchase much beyond more diapers at some point.

Matt and I have had a few conversations about her name and agree on a few general ideas about what kind of name we want, but we don't feel close to actually having a name. And even if we did, we would not tell the name :)

This feels like a busy summer with lots of both big and small stuff going on. This coming week I am scheduled to have my braces removed! Next Sunday I am hosting a bridal shower for my really good life-long friend Becky (lovingly known to the girls as "Aunt Becky"). Her wedding is Aug 19 and both girls are flower girls and I am the matron of honor. So that has been my current focus more then baby. There is the shower to prepare for, then some sort of bachelorette or girl time to plan, and I am working on some sort of art projects/games/decorations for the kid tables at the wedding reception. Once she is officially married I might officially kick into "oh-my-goodness, baby-is-coming-really-soon mode". But then again once it is mid-August and her big joyful event has passed, it will be time for me to get serious about the new co-op school year. I am class chair for Addie's class which means monthly board meetings as well as my planning the agenda and imparting lots of information for the class meetings. So that will take time and mental energy as well.

The girls love giving my baby bump kisses and hugs, which is really sweet! Etta will slather my tummy with lotion if given half a chance. Baby is getting bigger which means it is easier for them to feel her because her space is more limited so you are more likely to feel a hard lump that is a baby body-part. Sometimes they will push around at my tummy a bit and talk to her in an attempt to get her to move around for them to see and feel. She does move and I can feel it, but there has not been pain associated with the movements (like from her kicking me in the ribs or lodging in an awkward position).  When I was pregnant with both Addie and Etta I would feel them get hiccups occasionally. I can not remember how far along I was when those started happening, but this little lady has not had any yet to my knowledge.

So that is what is going on: I look big, she is growing big it seems, but the pregnancy is going well.

Lots of pictures!

We were in Vancouver over the weekend celebrating my little sister Diane's 30th birthday! 

This is kind of a big deal if you think of it in the reverse. 

Us 4 girls are all 30 or older. 

Which means the next big birthday milestone for us is (gulp!) 40!

There are tons of fun pictures to share so I will do lots of pictures but few words

 I think my dad must have been pinching kids and making them cry so pictures would get done sooner :)

There was a slip & slide, a sprinkler, a small kiddy pool and a larger kid pool. 

Addie had ample opportunities to show off her mermaid tendencies.

 It was in the 80s.

 It was a wonderful change to the tepid temperatures we had in Seattle leading up to that weekend. 

But pregnant Leah appreciates shade and cold water on the feet :)

 Homemade ice cream is fun to make...

 and really yummy to eat!

Etta has since been telling me that she wants to go back to their house so we can make ice cream.

She is usually not a big ice cream fan because it is cold. 

But this was a nice soft-serve like texture that she really liked,

We decided to empty out the little pool, refill it with bubble water & give the kids one more chance to play in the water while also getting clean. It was a little tight on space but still fun!

A picture where all the kids are looking somewhat the same direction and there are no tears? 

It took a full day of fun in the sun, water play, ice cream, strawberry shortcake, and outdoor bathtime, but I think they were worn out enough that they could sit still and smile!

New picture!

Those of you who read this over a feedreader should visit the actual site real quick. The super-outdated main picture of the girls has been replaced by a more current one thanks to my incredibly helpful husband!