Friesencold

I just thought I’d put a few random things, including pictures, on my blog today.

This is me and my friend Jaime at Jaime’s baby shower this past Sunday. Jaime is due at the beginning of June with her second, a baby girl, who she is going to name Callie Mae. What a nice Southern name! (Jaime is from Georgia and she says y’all.)

Here is Bauer making a video and needing a haircut.

Here is Bauer first thing this morning drinking his carrot juice. Notice the haircut TJ gave him last night. Also notice the Richard Scarry book he is holding open on his lap. He still can’t get enough of trains and he wants to talk about where all three trains on that page are going, over and over and over. He wants to go to the park to see trains. He wants to know where the trains are going. He wants to know why there aren’t any trains if he happens not to see one. And when one does come, you should see his face light up as his hands start clapping and he literally starts jumping up and down. I thought the train phase might be about to pass or at least lessen a little, but it seems that in the last few weeks, it has really started up again in full force.

Here is Bauer showing me what he built today while I was fixing our lunch. He played by himself in the hallway and in his room for at least half an hour. First he built this tower and then he went in his room and put together his wooden train track from IKEA. It was actually pretty good, about as good as the ones I make for him.

In other news, it cost us $79.00 to fill up our van with gas yesterday. Can you believe that?

This morning, I had some errands to run with Bauer and one included going to the Chamber of Commerce to purchase a gift certificate for downtown Naperville that we’re giving as a gift. I noticed on the board of businesses by the elevator, as I was looking for where the Chamber was located, that there was a dentist office on the second floor. So after going to the Chamber, I decided to go back down one floor and check out the dentist office. We have been needing to find a new dentist because we were not satisfied with the first dentist we tried in Naperville. It was so strange to me that the dentist was the one who cleaned our teeth, instead of a dental hygienist. At first, I thought it was a good thing for the dentist to do it, but upon further reflection and talking with a friend whose sister is a dental hygienest, I realized that the dentists themselves probably aren’t as well trained for that part of the job and wouldn’t do as thorough of a job. That was the experience we had, at least, so we have been wanting to find a new dentist, plus we want to take Bauer to a dentist for the first time.

Just this morning, I had TJ pull up a list of dentists that are covered by our insurance and that are close to where to we live. I was planning to make some phone calls later today to ask about their pediatric services, as well as to find out if they have dental hygienists on staff for the teeth-cleaning part of the visit. Well, since I saw that a dentist office was located in the same building as the Chamber, and since I wasn’t really in a hurry (how nice), I decided to stop by in person and get a feel for the people and the place. I got off the elevator and looked again at the sign to see which office the dentist was in, and just as I was about to start walking way down to the end of the hall to that office, I noticed another dentist office right outside the elevator. It seemed nice enough and they had some fliers outside the door promoting their pediatric services, so I decided to go in and get more info. The lady who helped me was so nice and informative and I immediately felt like this would be a great place to come. As soon as I learned they took our insurance and had a specific dentist to do pediatric care, I was pretty much settled on it. She gave us a tour of their office and explained a little more about their two dentists and the services offered. She assured me a dental hygienist will be the one who does our cleanings. Then she took me over to the receptionist to see about making some appointments. The receptionist was extremely nice and friendly and helpful and seemed to have plenty of time to help me. The first lady also came back to check on Bauer one time and see if he wanted a toy from the toy chest, which of course he did. (He picked a miniature Slinky and has already managed to get it so twisted up that I can’t fix it….but we’re waiting on Dad to get home and try, as Bauer was pretty upset about the whole thing.)

Now we all 3 have appointments and oh yeah, I forgot to say the dentist himself came out and introduced himself to us. Unfortunately, Bauer can’t get in until mid-June because the lady dentist who does the pediatric care only works in this office one day a week right now (she works her other days in Chicago), but TJ and I will be going in for our check-ups in just a couple weeks. I am so happy at how easy that whole experience was, and how nice it was to do something like that in person as opposed to making several phone calls and still not even knowing if I would like the ambiance of the place or the demeanor of the staff. I was highly impressed with both things at this office, and they are so close to our house we can walk there in the warmer weather if it ever actually warms up and stays warm.

Today is mid-40s again, but the high is supposed to be 52. The next week or so the highs are supposed to be mid-60s, with rain over the weekend. This feels like the longest winter I have ever been through. To me, winter will be over when I can put away my hoodie and take Bauer to the park in short sleeves.

We found some really great deals on some short-sleeve shirts for Bauer recently. I love the Genuine Kids clothes at Target although I rarely buy them for regular price because I think they are too expensive for kids’ clothes. There were a few shirts I had noticed at regular price a while back that I loved and wanted to buy, but I decided not to. We instead bought a few things at The Children’s Place Outlet and also at Once Upon a Child (a great children’s consignment store). I was happy with our purchases, but even happier to walk into Target one day recently and see the very shirts I had wanted to buy for Bauer on the clearance rack. They were 50% off. I bought him 2 short-sleeve shirts – the collared kind – as well as a pair of Genuine Kids shorts. I think he is pretty much set with shorts and shirts for the summer, but he will be needing a new pair of shoes and some short socks very soon. His cool little Puma socks which he got last spring have holes in just about all of them. We’ve even had to start throwing some of them away, which is sad because I just love those little socks. I would have loved for them to be hand-me-downs.

Speaking of the little one on the way, I had my most recent doctor’s appointment yesterday morning and the doctor said all my measurements are great. I only gained 0.8 lbs (as in less than 1 lb) since my last visit, but the visit previous to that, I had gained 7 lbs. The doctor said overall my weight gain is great and that the average is about 4 lbs a month, so I’m right on track. I told him it was the same way when I was pregnant with Bauer, where I would go for a couple appointments and not really gain anything and then all of a sudden I’d have this large jump in weight. I measured at 23″ and being at 23 weeks, the doctor said this was great too, since normally the measurement should correspond to your number of weeks. The baby’s heartbeat was good at 150 and my blood pressure was good at 110 over 70, I think. It was a quick appointment and I’m thankful everything has been going so well so far.

Last, but not least, TJ surprised me recently with a copy of Alexander McCall Smith’s newest book in the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. The book is called The Miracle at Speedy Motors and it is such a fun and light read from my favorite author. I can’t wait for the HBO series based on this book series that is supposed to come out in the fall of 2009. We don’t even get HBO, but I think we will have to subscribe.

We’ve been away now for almost a week but are headed back home tomorrow. It’s been a fun week and a nice change of scenery. First we were in Clemson, SC, visiting my sister and her husband before they move to Boston. While in Clemson, we got to eat at a few of our favorite places there and spend some time with a few of our favorite people. My favorite place to eat in Clemson is a place called Pot Belly Deli and it is nothing at all like the Pot Belly Sandwich Works which we have in Naperville. Although I do like both places, Pot Belly Deli wins. It was so crowded when we went there on Saturday – the line was out the door the entire time we were eating – but it was worth the effort to get to eat the fresh veggie sandwich and have the Greek pasta salad. TJ got his usual Cape Codder sandwich, which is turkey and dressing and cranberry sauce on a sandwich. And of course, he got his sweet tea.

We got to have ice cream from the Clemson homemade ice cream place on campus and Bauer got to run around on Bowman Field. We went to a going-away cookout that Holly and Dwight had at their house on Saturday evening. We also celebrated my mom’s birthday a little late with a vanilla cake with buttercream icing from Publix. Heaven.

Sugar heaven, I guess. After that weekend of eating out and eating sweets, I have been a little more mindful these last couple of days of not eating as much sugar and have felt much healthier because of it. I read in a book my dad has that when you eat no added sugar (as in table sugar or sugar added to processed foods) in a 12 hour period, the white blood cells in your body can each kills 14 bad bacteria during that period of time. When you eat 6 teaspoons or approximately 24 grams (1 can of Coke has 10 teaspoons, just for comparison), the amount of bacteria that can be killed is reduced by 25% to 10 bacteria in a 12 hour period. The number decreases the more sugar you eat, down to only 1 bacteria killed in a 12 hour period when you take in 24 teaspoons of sugar (approximately 96 grams). This 96 grams isn’t hard to attain when a grande mocha frappacino from Starbucks….one of my favorite drinks from there….has 47 grams of sugar in it. Of course, it would be 47. The point is that your immune system becomes compromised when the white blood cells aren’t allowed to do their work. I knew sugar was not really a good thing, but I really didn’t know why. Just knowing this one little thing about how my body works gives me greater incentive to be more aware of how much “bad” sugar I am eating. I’m not fixing to cut out all sugar or anything like that…but I do intend to try to find some healthier all-natural dessert options to make at home, such as the bars I already make for Bauer, which have no added sugar in them. I’ll have my little Dove chocolates from time to time and other treats, but I will also remember that my body needs my help to keep my immune system up and running strong.

My mom had driven to Clemson for the weekend to spend time with us, so on Monday Bauer and I rode back with her to NC where my parents and grandparents live. TJ spent one extra day with some friends in Greenville, SC, before heading back to Naperville on Tuesday. But Bauer and I have been enjoying time with my mom and dad, MaryMa and Granddaddy Lambert, and Aunt Kathryn and Uncle Eldon. Bauer has loved getting to sit on Granddaddy’s backhoe and tractors, and he even got a ride today on the big riding lawnmower. We ate supper at MaryMa’s house tonight and then got to spend some time with my aunt and uncle. Bauer loved their cat called Charcoal.

It has really been a nice and relaxing time for all of us, and I have loved for Bauer to be reminded of who our family is and how much they love him. We are looking forward to being back home with TJ tomorrow and to officially start to enjoy spring in Naperville. Finally.

Today it is rainy and cold, as in 39 degrees. This morning we cleaned. This was a big deal because I do not like to clean. That is one reason I am so glad we have a small house. I like to be organized and keep things straight, but when it comes to cleaning (as in bathrooms and floors), I just don’t do it till I have to. I recently tried to make myself a little cleaning schedule for the bathroom, but I couldn’t even stick to an every other Monday routine. I mean, if it gets really dirty, I will clean it and if we have people coming over, I will quick-clean it.

But earlier this week, I decided that on this Saturday morning we would clean, meaning both TJ and I would participate. I would obviously do the bathroom and I asked TJ to do the floors. He swept, vacuumed, and swiffered the entire house, which is all hardwood. It looks great, and I must say the bathroom is sparkly clean too.

Bauer helped by using a cloth to dust off the window ledges and some bookshelves, and I also saw him in his room wiping the moisture (from the rainy day outside) off the windows with his cloth.

After our cleaning was over – it only took about an hour and a half – we went to Costco, our first real trip there besides last weekend when we joined. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of joining Costco since to me, those kind of stores represent part of what is wrong with America (buying too much stuff we don’t need just because it’s cheap and then storing it in our homes that are too big just because we have too much stuff). But TJ has been needing new tires for his car and even with the $50 membership fee to Costco, he is still going to get the tires cheaper than anywhere else he looked.

So this morning, we braved the cold weather and the crowds to take a look around the store we are now members of. I had a few things in mind to look for today, just to check some prices and see if it would be worth buying in larger quantity. One thing was the Nature Valley granola bars, you know the green box. The only size Costco had was a box of 48, which is 96 bars. Couldn’t do it. Even if it is cheaper and even if we will eventually (like in a year) eat that many of those granola bars, I really don’t want to see a box that big for that long in my cupboard. I mean, really. Next I thought to look at cereal, but the selection was severely limited for my taste and part of the fun of cereal is picking a different kind each time you go to the store. Oh yeah, and also getting the boxes that have fun stuff for the kids, like the die cast metal car that Bauer recently scored from a box we bought. Another thing I checked out at Costco was the produce, and although the 13-lb box of navel oranges looked delicious and inviting, I really don’t have that kind of space in my fridge. But boy, you should have seen the carts of most people in the store!

It was fun to watch, and fun to get a couple free samples. I think Bauer had 5 toothpicks of diced pears, and we did even go down that aisle and looked at the jars of fruit. I decided I really didn’t want huge jars of peaches and pears in my fridge when it would take a week or more to get through them. I like little things. I like how my grandmother uses these tiny little bottles of detergent, not the ultra-concentrated ones that are new, but the small ones of the regular stuff that they must make for old people who don’t like heavy things.

TJ didn’t buy the tires today because they go on sale on Monday, so now he will save even more money. But that means we left the store without buying a thing today. I bet that is rare since people go there to stock up.

Anyway…now I’m home, Bauer’s asleep, TJ has gone to work, and it’s still cold and rainy. I just went through a lot of old pictures on our computer so I can make a new photobook of Bauer’s life from age 6 months through 1 year. We have a book that is from his birth to 6 months, and the one I made recently which was our first year in Naperville (or Bauer’s life from Age 1-Age 2). But there was a 6 month gap in there and I want to get it done. It was fun looking at all the old photos and remembering our life and the people in Orlando.

I sure do miss Orlando on a day like today.

Said Tom the technician at my ultrasound today.

Boy, oh boy, it’s a boy.

Just what TJ and I were hoping for.

I don’t even mind that the Chinese Lunar Calendar was wrong. Tom said it’s only 77% accurate, so we’re in the minority with this one since it predicted I was having a girl.

The baby’s heart rate at my last 2 doctor’s visits was 150+, which means the theory of a heart rate > 140 being a girl is also out the window.

The only main difference I have noticed between this pregnancy and my first one is that with this one, I don’t have the dark line known as linea nigra that sometimes forms along the center of the belly. With Bauer I had it, but now I don’t, so that is also something that made me think I might be having a girl this time.

In addition, two of my good friends from playgroup have either just had or are about to have a girl.

So everything pointed to girl, but in my heart of hearts, I was thinking (and hoping) that I was going to beat the odds for some reason. I even dreamed twice recently that I was having a boy.

Tom said all of the measurements looked good, and that is good news too!

Here are a few things I’m into lately:

1) SIGG water bottles. I was recently in Whole Foods and saw a big display of aluminum water bottles of all different sizes and designs. I noticed the company is called SIGG, so I came home and did a little looking around online and decided to order the bottles for me, TJ, and Bauer. I had been getting tired of all the random sizes and shapes of plastic disposable water bottles in our fridge door, and even though we do reuse them a lot before discarding them, there still comes the time when you have to spend the $6-8 to buy a whole new batch of them. And then you have to store them somewhere and it was just not working for me. I thought it would be so cool (and so simple) to have one bottle each for me, TJ, and Bauer. Mine is blue, of course, TJ’s is silver, and Bauer’s is blue with astronauts and a green pop-top lid. Mine and TJ’s are 20 oz (Bauer’s is only 13) and ours have screw-on lids, which feel rugged and utilitarian. I am very happy with my recent purchase, and even happier that I was able to locate a coupon code online to use on the SIGG website.

2) Homemade pita chips. I often see the bags of Stacy’s Pita Chips in stores and I love them, but they are pretty expensive and you don’t get very many in the bag. The 7 servings is more like 2 or 3. So I had the idea recently to make my own pita chips. I went online to AllRecipes and found an easy recipe. I reduced the quantities of each ingredients so that I can easily make 2 or 3 small pitas into a couple servings of chips. I love ‘em, TJ loves ‘em, and Bauer loves ‘em. They are perfect with soup, or chili, or a salad.

3) MyPublisher photo books. This really isn’t a new thing for me, but I recently made a new book that I’m so proud of. It is a book of pictures from our first year in Naperville (October 06-October 07). MyPublisher is one of those online sites that lets you use the digital photos you have stored on your computer and easily put them into one of a number of different templates, type in descriptions for the pictures, and finally place your order online. A couple days later, my hard back book of photos arrived and I can’t wait to show my family and friends. It was a lot of fun to work on this project and to remember all the things we have done since living in Naperville. I am already looking forward to working on Year 2. The most time-consuming part is going through all our photos and deciding which ones to pull from for the book.

4) Pregnancy picture. Today marks the halfway point in my pregnancy, or 20 weeks, and it’s the first time we have taken a single picture of my pregnant belly. Too bad we don’t have Publix nearby so that we could take pictures on the scale like we did each week when I was pregnant with Bauer. But it probably wouldn’t be fun to do the exact same thing anyway. Here is a picture of me on our front porch, just 2 days before I know if it’s a boy or girl!

I forgot to say I felt the baby move for the first time 2 nights ago. That was fun. And thinking of names is fun, too. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to focus on either boy or girl names, and not both. I got my ultrasound moved up a week, so we should find out next Wednesday!

I guess I jinxed Bauer the other day when I wrote about how rarely he gets sick because 2 days ago, his nose started running. And yesterday was a downpour, both from his nose and his eyes, along with lots of sneezing. It was pretty awful, but he drank carrot juice and ate mostly fruit the entire day, and now today he is 10 times better. The sneezing has subsided and his nose has stopped running constantly. Now it’s more the he-needs-to-blow-his-nose-but-doesn’t-know-how stage of the cold. Which means, for the next 3-4 days, although Bauer will be feeling fine and won’t mind if he has some drizzle leaking from his nostrils every now and then, I WILL mind and I will be forced to roll up the edges of Kleenex as I try to get his nose all cleaned out. Fun, fun.

Thankfully the only bad day was yesterday, so I guess in a way, him getting sick proved my point to me yet again that his little immune system is pretty good at fighting back when a sickness strikes. Not sure where he picked up that little germfest since he didn’t have preschool this week, nor did we go to playgroup (thankfully, now, though since hopefully we spared some of the other kids from being exposed before we knew he was about to get sick). Maybe on a shopping cart the 1 in 10 times that I decided not to bother with wiping down the handle and sides that he touches when he sits in the cart. I always try to think back to where he could have gotten the germs from, but it’s to no avail since I’ll never know, and even if I did know, I can’t really control things even though I like to think I can.

When we’ve gone to Jewel lately, and I pay with cash in the self-checkout lane, Bauer always wants to collect the change that comes out at the end. I hoist him up onto the belt so he can reach the change holder and he takes the money out. He has said 2 or 3 different times that we’ve done this, that he wants to give the money to the man, meaning the Salvation Army man that was out in front of Jewel at Christmas. I love it that Bauer remembers giving change to the man with the bell and that Bauer wants to do it again. I have had to tell him that the man is only there at Christmas and that he can put his money in his blue piggy bank when we get home. He’s fine with that too.

The other morning, just after Bauer woke up, he was sitting on my lap on the couch, facing me. I started to say to him, “Bauer you are so cute,” but before I could say the word cute, he said the word happy instead. I thought that was precious. Bauer knows he is a happy boy, and that makes me so happy too. I thank God often for Bauer’s happiness and I just hope we can nurture him emotionally so that he can continue to have courage to be happy in a world where bad things happen and where you can’t be in control. I guess that is probably called joy, but for now I’ll call it happy.