Merry Christmas!

I believe I've just given up on sending out Christmas cards this year. We did get our family picture taken- you can see it for yourself if you go to mysmilesbywire.com. Email is polkstina at hotmail. (Fill in the symbol "at" and the com part..I'm trying to protect myself from spammers) and use Mirabel for the password.)

We had a great Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve and Dave's on Christmas Day. We got to sing Christmas carols at both events (piano by my sister, Micaiah, and guitar by brother-in-law, Bob). Lots of good family time, reading the Christmas story, and some time outside in the snow (M was not so keen on the wind nor on having us wipe her snotty nose.)

M was so excited about all the people she fought sleep as much as she could, passing out at one point in the middle of crawling across the kitchen floor. She also loves eating tissue paper and wrapping paper- a struggle to find it before she does.

We hope that your celebrations were enjoyable and that you share our joy in welcoming our Savior and remembering his birth.

Breastfeeding question

So, this is a question about how you know if the breastfed child is getting enough milk once you start on solid foods and you are at work. I know at least some moms who read this have breastfed and worked.

Without getting into tons of nitty gritty details, I pump while away at work, and I know as they get older babies eat other foods (Mirabel does really well with that) but I don't know resources about how much milk she "should" be drinking daily. She takes everything I pump, but I wonder sometimes if she's getting enough. Any wisdom from the masses?

There's always room for one more....

So, we haven't posted in awhile, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We currently have two renters- Eric and Betsy. Eric has lived with us for just over three years and Betsy moved in this summer and also babysits Mirabel a couple days each week. Eric is getting married just before Christmas and his (soon-to-be) wife, Candace, is moving in after the wedding. So we've been busy with all sorts of preparations.

Eric and Betsy are swapping bedrooms this weekend, but that doesn't really impact us. We've been focused on clearing out extra stuff from the basement to create some storage space for Eric and Candace and tidying up the living space down there. They are going to have a "living room" downstairs, the bigger bedroom upstairs (not ours- but we have a 10x12 and 10x10, and they get the 10x12 now.) We're also clearing out a bit more space for their pantry stuff. And they are going to get the house one night a week, but that is just a schedule change.

Well, I'm off to clean, sort, and organize in the basement. We're getting a whole new pile of sell/giveaway/recycle stuff (we sold most of what we placed on Craigslist before...so now it's off to round two!)

Trick or Treat!

Here's a picture of us from Halloween (I was Dr. Crusher from Star Trek: the Next Generation, Dave was a construction worker, my friend Lisa was a woman from the 1950s, and our little sweet pea!)

Mirabel also had her 6 month appt today. She is long and lean...85th percentile for length but only the 5th for weight. But she's hitting her developmental milestones well and I'm not really worried about it. Breastfed babies are often behind the curve on weight gain. She's a little under the weather after getting her flu shots (and the 6 month series). Poor little thing.

Mountain Monkey

Have you ever gone on a trip and found out that someone (or something) just seemed to pop up all over the place? Well, that's what happened to us on our recent trip last weekend to Colorado. We took off from the airport (yes, we still managed to travel with carry-on luggage only, even with a kid!) and right from the start, mountain monkey inserted himself into all our photographs! I guess he saw that Hammy got to go along with us to Canada and he wanted his moment in the sun. Click here to see our pictures.

We had a lot of fun in Golden, Colorado. It's the last stop on the public transit bus from the airport. It's a very walkable little town, with excellent nature trails, fun restaurants and boutiques, and enough historical feel to satisfy me. We spent a good deal of time outside walking around (kudos to Dave for taking Mirabel in the baby carrier!). We hiked up a mountain and walked up and down the creek. The fall colors were gorgeous and we had unseasonably warm weather.

We were invited to join a Mamas for Obama walk by some people we met in the ice cream shop (we didn't go with them, though we were at the river that day), we saw the Coors factory (let me just say that the snow capped mountains on the label are NOT actually there), and we stayed in Pansy's Parlor (in Pansy's room). We ate at Woody's Woodfire Grill every day- not at all typical for us, but they had an all you can eat salad and pizza bar. It's hardest to get veggies and dairy on a trip, so we loaded up on that buffet and with breakfast at the B&B and snacks, we got through with two and a half meals a day. We also went to story hour at the library and saw a ton of bronze statues throughout the town. A few of them are in our pictures.

All in all a fun trip! We recommend going to Golden if you ever have the chance.

Come on, baby, do the locomotion

We went to our first ECFE class this morning. (Early Childhood Family Education). It meets at our local school- close enough that we can walk. We had a nice stroll outside on a beautiful fall day and we also got to learn some fingerplays and songs- things that help you interact with your baby and help them develop. We also met some nice parents. While we were at class, Mirabel fixed her eyes on her rattle and couldn't quite reach it. She pushed off her feet and did the classic "scootch" forward. Then she repeated several times when we were at home.

Must babyproof...must babyproof...we haven't much time, I'm afraid....Really we just have to pick up some things that we've been lazy about leaving on the floor in our living room. We've got the list of what to look for- I think that's what I'll focus on tomorrow afternoon.

In other news...I'm going on a road trip to Chicago Mon-Wed. I have a conference there on Tuesday, and my friend Lisa is coming along with me and will take care of Mirabel. I get to see one of my college friends and also stay with the family I babysat for through my four years at college. I'm looking forward to that (and the conference, too!)

We've moved to solids

Mirabel had her first taste of squash yesterday and I'm uploading a video of it. She made the funniest faces! But she ate all of the teaspoon or two we gave her. Her sitting up skills have increased exponentially over the past few weeks and she can do it for multiple seconds at a stretch, she has been watching our food intake intently for weeks, she's almost 6 months old, and she started waking up at night after months of sleeping through. Signs pointed to starting solid food. We're going with veggies first, then cereal, then fruit in an attempt to gear her taste buds toward less sweet things...we'll see if it works. She does have a mom with a monster sweet tooth (but I also love my veggies!)

Denied

I received a notice from my county district court today...notifying me that cases settled that were scheduled for trial next week, they have too many jurors and "YOU DO NOT NEED TO REPORT ON MONDAY OR ANYTIME DURING THAT WEEK." Followed by "Your service will not be rescheduled. No further action is needed from you. Thank you for your understanding."

Wasn't that nice of them to thank me? :) I'm looking forward to having the time at work as it was hard to figure how I could possibly get my work done as well as my jury duty. But I'm a little bummed to miss out on the juror experience. I think I would make a great juror.

I guess this means next week will be my first 5 days in the office stretch since April 21.

Girls Weekend!

My college friend, Lisa, and I packed up the car and Mirabel and headed up to the Wisconsin woods this past weekend. We had a great time just hanging out in the room and hitting the outdoors. We went on a little nature walk, drove to Spooner (highly recommended if you like poking around small towns with cute little shops), and took in some absolutely breathtaking fall colors. I've uploaded a few pictures of Spooner...a cute general store (I'm showing off my new lip gloss with my pouty lips), Look painted on the downward ramps at curb crossings, and note the "wobblin duck saloon" sign. I love girls weekend getaways. Dave had fun at home with a football party and he also was a champ and did some stuff around the house. I didn't even ask him to do it, I figured if I was having fun he could, too.

In other news, Mirabel has discovered how to string rolls together and she traverses our living room quite adeptly now. Yesterday she made it over to the tv stand and was kicking up at the VCR from the floor. We need to babyproof...I'm guessing it won't be long until she starts scooting around on her stomach and then it will be crawling and right now we are sorely un-babyproofed.

Goodbye summer, hello fall....

Just like that- September hit the calendar and it turned cold up here in the northern tundra land of MN. I like a lot of things about fall- pretty colored leaves, fall harvest, Thanksgiving...but I'm not so excited about the colder weather. I swapped out Mirabel's clothes today to get the warmer things ready. And I have to admit a certain sadness to putting away some of the super cute clothing she's worn this summer since I know she won't get to wear it again. (I felt the same way about my favorite maternity clothes...since I went early I didn't feel ready to be done being pregnant and it was like I never got to say goodbye to my faves.) Oh, well, I guess that's part of life. A cycle that continues on. I like how God has a predictability but yet has differences. Like sunsets. They happen every day yet none of them are exactly the same. What a creative God we have!

Happy fall.

Looking for some DJ referrals

My little sister, Tirzah, is getting married in January 2009 and needs a DJ. I told her I'd post and see if my reading audience has any recommendations for DJs in the Twin Cities. They want someone who can create their own playlist. She said to me, "We'll give them our first song, my song with my dad, and a song with my close friends. No rap, no profanities, and just play things that people will dance to and have fun. And no schmaltzy pleas to get people on the dance floor. Just a nice, normal person."

So...have any recommendations? Heather, if I remember correctly, your brother was doing DJ stuff at some point, right? I don't remember your phone number. If you have a recommendation that is a phone number or email and don't want to list it online, you can send it to me at my full name at hotmail. (That's my address in code...don't want spammers to get ahold of it!!) Or contact me the other methods...or post a comment and let me know to get ahold of you!

Thanks for your help!

The Summons

So, I went to get the mail today (I've never gotten over the childhood glee of getting the mail). And I go through it...a credit card bill, some election literature, a piece of junk mail...and...MY NAME IN CAPS with a very official government document informing me I've been selected for jury duty. Now, I'm 31 years old, registered and voted in nearly every election since I turned 18, and win all kinds of drawings (everything from a Cabbage Patch Doll when I was eight to a mountain bike to gift cards at my work picnic). But despite this winning-ness, I've never been selected for a jury until now. The irony of it all...while I think it would be pretty interesting (as long as I'm not on some murder case or something that would really gross me out) they scheduled me for my first full-time week back at work. I don't think I have any option...so I guess the beginning of October will find me in a jury pool rather than at my workplace. I'll let you know if I get selected (if I'm able to, that is...I'm sure they will tell us rules of whatever we are or are not allowed to say outside of court).

Going for the Gold

It's been Olympic fever here. We hardly ever watch TV, but we've been tuning in pretty much every day since the games started. With all the furor over the young Chinese gymnasts at the Olympics, Mirabel told us she was old enough to go for the gold. She has been practicing on the double arching bars and is working really hard to stick her landings. We told her it would help her scores if she could stand on her own and she assured us she was working on it. Her practice was cut short by a round of spit-up, but we've been very impressed with her work ethic. Go for it, sweetie!

Wonderful Mirabel...

I'll chunk out my entries. Going back to work has gone pretty smoothly, but I'm so glad I'm easing in. Three days at work, four days at home makes the week easier to take than if I'd jumped right back to full time. Our little peanut is growing fast! I weighed her today by getting on the scale with and without her, and she's somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 lbs. Her 4 month checkup is coming up the end of this month, so we'll get the official measurements then. Mirabel is a really happy baby. I'm thrilled to be done with the crying that permeated weeks 4-6. She smiles, vocalizes, and has started to entertain herself. She is very interested in what is going on around her and studies patterns and people (including herself.) She found her thumb last week, though it's not a regular habit yet. She doesn't really nap consistently, but does usually sleep through the night. I guess I'd prefer that vs. napping and up lots of time during the night. We're looking forward to getting to know more and more about her as she grows and reveals her personality!

I took these pictures of Mirabel and Dave this past week and posted my favorite one here. (I uploaded the series online and will add more pics when I have time. Probably later this week.) Mirabel August Pics

Whirlwind week...

For those of you who haunt our blog (mom and Heather...at least...) we've been busy over the past week! Mirabel has been growing and discovering new things, we went up north to a cabin for a week with Dave's family, and upon returning home Mirabel and I traveled back to the 1860s at Fort Snelling for the past two days. I have one day to recover before starting back to work 3 days a week this Tuesday. So, I have pictures and things to say, but the details are going to have to wait just a bit. (How's that for tantalizing?) :) More soon.

Stinking animal!

Some animal decided it didn't like our blueberry bushes (newly planted this year, you recall). It chewed or tore through our fence (two sides...for entry and exit, I suppose) and completely dug up a bush, leaving the roots exposed after it tossed it aside. Who knows if it will survive the replanting. Another bush has most of its leaves chewed off...though that may have been a deer. What kind of animal terrorizes blueberry bushes? And why is the one bush that is outside of the fence the one doing best? I guess that hostas and day lilies are better protection than a fence. Clever marketers should pick up on this..."Aggressive hostas! Put these around your cherished garden plants to ward off intruders." Seriously, I'm not a big fan of any type of animal, but I can co-exist as long as they leave me alone. In this case, I feel like the animal needs to back away from my goods. And Steph, I'm sorry to see your garden woes...the corn didn't make out so well. It certainly makes one appreciate the small farmer who toils to bring food from seed to harvest.

Update: I've added pictures. The first one is the healthy bush...in front of the hosta and day lily. Next, the hole (my foot added for perspective.) Sad looking bush (this is the one with leaves chewed off, not the dug up and replanted). Finally, the garden as a whole...

Psst...you wanna buy a...

Dave and I have accumulated a lot of stuff. We are both frugal (meaning we don't spend much on accumulating it) but we are both savers (that is to say, we love to rescue usable things from going in the garbage). A dangerous proposition when you have two story, four bedroom house with full unfinished basement and large garage. The basement has been filled to the brim with things that we deem useful (even if not for us). We took advantage of my maternity leave to post a bunch of it on Craigslist. So far, we've gotten over $750 from selling our things. If you want to satisfy your curiosity with this remote sale, you can find out what's left by searching "roseville cleanup" in the Minneapolis/St. Paul section of craigslist.org. And if you want some of it real cheap, we won't hold you back. No, really....I know someone in the biz...we'll make you a good deal...real good... :)

How does your garden grow?

Ours is doing ok. Everything got a late start, just like the big farms, due to the colder spring. I planted 10 tomatoes, and 9 are growing. The tenth mysteriously disappeared- the WHOLE PLANT was just gone one day. I have no idea what happened to that. Last I knew, there were not a whole lot of natural tomato predators. My rhubarb plant is huge, and Dave put in several rows of lettuce and spinach and those are growing pretty big now. However, I'm wondering if some animal got in and rolled around, because several plants were upright yesterday but now are sort of on their side.


We also have several fruit trees- a cherry and two apple- and we just planted 5 blueberry bushes this year. The strawberry patch is growing great, but never a strawberry do we get to eat...the rascally animals always eat them first. Same with our raspberry bushes we planted which they have chewed down to the nubs three years running. Fortunately, our next door neighbors have some and share the picking rights. The cherry tree was disappointing this year- just a handful of cherries. The rest never showed up or else were eaten by the birds. And our apple trees just went in last year. There are about 5 apples on each tree, but we'll see if they actually make it to eating stage.


We also have about 5 containers of herbs, like basil, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, and chives. Yum! Problem with those is I usually forget to use them.


We're trying to plant a lot of food on our lot, especially things that are on the dirty dozen (those fruits and veggies that have the most pesticides in them). or are terribly expensive in stores but easy to grow, like the herbs. It's going to take a few years to get it all up and going, but hopefully we'll be in pretty good shape 5 years from now.


We want to get another cherry tree and maybe a pear...and I would like to get a fence for our raspberry and strawberry areas...after 4 years, I think I deserve more than one strawberry!!

Mirabel stats

We went in for M's 2 month appointment today- she's up to 24 inches long (at the 88th percentile), weighs 11 lbs, 11 oz (54th percentile), and got rave reviews from the doctor and nurse for her developmental milestones. Despite having an upper size head at birth, it’s only at the 39th percentile now, but she manages to do the most with the brains she’s got! She's a little charmer- I uploaded some new pictures.

Ham? How is ham a theme?

So when Dave and I were dating, we planned a New Year's Party. Dave had a list of possible themes written out, and in reviewing them I said, "Ham? How is ham a theme?" Well, it turns out I'd started looking at the food list....but we did pick ham as the theme of our recent Canadian vacation. If you look at our photo album, I've uploaded our vacation pics and you can see our little friend Hammy in nearly every shot. Play along...it's like "Where's Waldo?"

Our trip went well- Mirabel was a good traveler and we got to take in Canada Day on July 1 (like our July 4), explore the Canadian Mint, Assiniboine Park, taste some delicious gelato, walk through the Forks shopping/gathering area, see some living historians (including a little 2 month old baby), eat a delicious meal at a cafe run by Christians living in community (see http://www.twelvetribes.org/) and stop in Grand Forks, North Dakota on the way home. If that's not living on the edge, I don't know what is. :) Seriously, we enjoyed some yummy co-op food and I got to sit in a hot tub for the first time in over a year.

We're glad to be home but it was fun to get away for a little while. I think I actually get to relax more here, though- when you travel, the baby is yours 100%, but when you are at home there are visitors and events where others hold the babe for awhile. Now it's off to catch up on laundry and the immense clutter that seems to be taking over the house.

I love a good deal...

Ah, summertime. One of its joys is the garage sale. I love driving down the road, seeing a sign (or stuff laid out along the yard) and having the time to pull over and check it out. Since I'm home for the summer, I've been able to indulge much more than usual and with a new baby in the house, it's the perfect time to search for baby bargains. I've purchased a bunch of stuff for cents on the dollar. Now I'm just searching for transitional shorts (its really hot here right now and I can't fit into my summer wardrobe just yet....but I don't want to put out a lot of money for things I'll wear one season.) Wish me luck!

Happy Father's Day!

Dave is a great dad- the thing I most appreciate is him taking Mirabel in the middle of the night for those multi-hour wakeful times. He also changes diapers, incorporates her in regular life (see mowing photo- we have an electric mower so not a noise issue), wrestles with her, and teaches her judo (they are up to lesson 57). :) He cuddles, sings, and is infinitely patient. Organized, loving, focused, knowledgeable. What a dad! Happy Father's Day, sweetheart!

What's in a name?

Several people have asked us about Mirabel's name. We started looking for baby names probably 1-2 years before we started trying to have a kid, knowing it would take us a long time. We searched through name books and online sites, and after MUCH effort, had narrowed the list down to 4 names for each gender by the time I went into labor. (This effort involved ranking, spreadsheets, analysis of historical name trends, the approximate percentage popularity and how many people in a school of 2000 would have a name based on its specific popularity ranking- yes, we're both detail oriented.) Dave had wanted to get the names down to one; I thought having a few to choose from would be nice; since I went into labor early, I got my wish.

We wanted a name that was unique but pronounceable when you see it, has a good meaning, and that sounded pretty for a girl and strong for a boy. We named her the day after she was born and picked from our list of Clarissa, Greta, Mirabel, and Rosa. We both liked all four names (unlike our boys name list) so it was more an issue of picking the one that seemed to work best for her. We ultimately selected Mirabel, which means "wonderful" or "marvelous" and is derived from Latin. (The French/Spanish meaning is "beautiful view" which is nice, too.) Her middle name is Grace, so her name means "wonderful grace" which we mean to reference the wonderful grace of God in calling us to him through Jesus.

We plan to call her Mirabel (no nicknames for general use, though I have several pet names started, including "Baby Bell," "Mirabella-boo," and "Sweet Pea.") I'm sure she won't let me use those forever, but for now she has no choice. :)

We have sleep-through!

For the first time since who knows when, we got more than 6 straight hours of sleep. Miss Mirabel went down around 11 last night and awoke at 5:30 this morning, fed and then slept until 8:30 (along with her dad). Who knows when it will happen again, but it's amazing how rested I feel. :)

Life in the Past Lane

Mirabel and I joined other Living History Society of Minnesota members for a picnic and croquet outing yesterday. She was cute as can be in her 1860s garb. She did have a marvelous bonnet made by the Widow Brown which she wore for nearly all of the day, but by the time we got around to taking photos, the bonnet had come off in an attempt to get her to go to sleep. Alas, that was fruitless (she slept approximately 3-4 hours from 4:45am to 9pm yesterday- yikes!) But she did sleep like a log last night.

We'll get a better close up of her at a future event, but here's what we have for now. My favorite question from the public- “Is that a real baby?”

Up North, Eh?

The Pestels are heading north of the border next month...Dave and I honeymooned in Winnipeg and we're going back for a week to celebrate our 5th anniversary. Mirabel will be coming, too. We found a B&B that takes kids and lets us use their laundry facilities, both requirements with a small child that manages to get a lot of clothes and cloth diapers dirty each day. The B&B is a little further out of the city than we were last time, but it's near a bus line (and the University of Manitoba), has walking paths and lots of old tree-lined streets, and should be a relaxing place. We had such a good time when we were there before- it's as if everyone is so cold for most of the year that when summer finally does come they are all outside having fun, festivals, and generally enjoying the warmth.

We are just barely ahead of the passport requirement- Mirabel's birth certificate will be enough (along with us and our passports). Mirabel went to Mexico in-utero and now to Canada...this kid is going to be a world traveler before she knows it!

Mirabel is doing a little better on the crying front- yesterday we had a great day. She ate, actually entertained herself for about 15 minutes looking at one of those black/white contrast things that help develop eyesight, and slept for regular intervals. Unfortunately, that led to an hour of frantic monkey from 11-midnight, but then she fell asleep after feeding and did pretty well overall. I'm really glad that I am able to take three months off. I don't think I'd be ready to go back to work next week with my sleep-deprived self!

It's my party and I'll cry if want to....

Crying seems to be Mirabel's theme of late. We can't figure out why, but most of her waking time seems to be spent screaming. It has nothing to do with diapers, feeding, or temp as best we can tell. We're taking refuge in a factoid Dave's sister shared (crying peaks at 3-5 weeks) and that we are trying to figure out what we can do with her. Being near a warm body seems to help, but that impedes our ability to get anything else done!

Here's a link to some pictures I uploaded to Snapfish. I'm new at this, and blogspot doesn't allow mass photo uploading. You can use my Snapfish account to view(polkstina@hotmail.com for the username and seepics as the password).

**NOTE** Please only view the pictures, don't order anything as any information you put in will be viewable by everyone else. If you want the pictures, email me and I'll send them to you directly.

Happy Graduation to Me...

I finished up my MBA this semester, graduating on May 1. Although, I actually skipped graduation. May 1 was my official due date, and I didn't plan to attend the ceremony (thinking it wasn't good to plan on attending something where I'd either be VERY pregnant or else just have had a kid.) I borrowed a set of graduation gear from one of my classmates that graduated last semester just in case I was able to go, so I can at least have pictures. (Check out the weird hood- and funky sleeve hood thingies!) I ended up staying at home with Mirabel on graduation night, but I'm truly finished just the same!

My graduation gift to myself is to read the Harry Potter books. I haven't done so before now, and have wanted to the whole time I've been in school. However, I know myself well enough to know that my homework would have suffered, so I didn't allow myself to even start the books. So far, I've read the first three books in the past three days. Now I'm getting ready to start book 4, but I've had to put a bit of stop on it while I catch up on laundry. :)

Living Green Expo

We took our little earth baby to the Living Green Expo this weekend. It's a major event held annually at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, conveniently within a couple miles of our house. There are exhibitors of different "green" products, including food, farmers, cloth diapers, cloth bag totes, energy, green building/remodeling and the list goes on. They also have some seminars, though we had to cut back on our normal sun-up to sun-down exposure due to Mirabel. She was a fussy monkey last night from 3-5am so we are home now and taking a little nap soon. We got a ton of cool free stuff and coupons and purchased a new style of cloth diaper and some eco-friendly cleaners. We'll see how well they work.

Well...off to bed!

Super Nana!

We are doing well at home- everything is topsy turvy and I don't think there is a room in the house that doesn't have some impact from Mirabel (except maybe our renter Eric's bedroom) but we're loving it. My mom (Nana) is kindly staying with us to help out, doing everything from cleaning, cooking, and laundry to holding Mirabel for three hours during the night when she is fussy but not hungry (allowing Dave and me some much needed sleep!) We've taken a couple of excursions to date, including a rummage sale (where we bought a bundle-me for $1.50- who would think you need one with an April baby? It SNOWED yesterday!) and a trip to check out Tirzah's wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. (Any tips from nursing moms out there about how to order a dress now for a January wedding? I think I'll be down to regular size by then, but not sure about the bust measurements.)

Auntie Micaiah (a hairstylist) took a funny shot of Mirabel with a faux-hawk and in the outfit M purchased.

Mirabel has a sweet disposition, doesn't fuss much except when hungry or if she has a dirty diaper, does really well with being passed among a bunch of people, and is the cutest little thing (I know, all parents are biased.) We'll try to figure out how to link to an online photo gallery, but for now, I'll include a few of our favorite pics.

It's a girl!

We had a beautiful baby girl on April 22 (Earth Day!) and we've named her Mirabel Grace. Vital stats: 8 lbs 4.8 oz, 20 inches long, lots of black hair on her 14 inch circumference head, and a good set of lungs. She was a trooper through the whole labor and impressed the socks off the hospital staff- her heart rate never spiked and we never needed interventions. With the awesome support of David and my sister Micaiah, I was able to go through the whole labor and delivery without drugs. Mirabel is a pretty little girl who has done a great job of sleeping, eating, and creating dirty diapers thus far. We expect her skills will only increase with time, but for right now, we've decided she's definitely a keeper. :)

8 1/2 months

Here's the 8 month shot...this was the week of uncomfortable pregnancy. Now I'm back to "normal" which means I pretty much run around and do whatever I want. I took my first fall on Friday...trying to carry a paper box of stuff home in case I went into labor over the weekend and dragging my briefcase behind me. I stepped on an unlevel piece of sidewalk and fell down (fortunately not on my stomach, and hurting nothing but my pride). The gentleman who was there to witness it all was very nice and carried my box two blocks to the bus. I did aqua aerobics, finished my 1860s baby dress at the sewing bee, did some shopping and laundry, and got my very last homework stuff done- hooray! Now if I can just make it through at least a few more days at work I should be able to get everything done that I "need" to do- like the board reports- and this kid can come whenever it wants.

My sweet husband scrubbed the grout and resealed the tile throughout the house- he does a fantastic job of maintaining the place. He gets frustrated that it takes so much effort that doesn't really show, but when the house doesn't fall down around us, I think it's well worth it. :)

Pregnancy Laziness and Busy Beaver-ness

So I've found that there are some elements of pregnancy in which I've become extremely lazy...for example, makeup went out the window months ago (the extra 5 minutes is more worthwhile, plus who wants phthalates messing up the baby's reproductive system). Lately, I've decided it's just too much work to put in my one contact (yes, I only wear one) so I've been heading out the door in glasses each day.

Then again, I've been a little machine in getting things done- exercising 3-4 times per week, cleaning the basement and sorting office papers. No, it's not nesting- I think the baby could come and survive a cluttered basement. Dave has been asking me for a looong time to get these projects done and I'm trying to do it before baby, knowing the chances of it happening afterward are slim. I've also been working hard to get things up to speed at work before going on maternity leave. I've got 2-4 weeks left (although the baby could come anytime now). As long as I can make it through April 21, I think I'll have everything done at work that I "need" to get done.

Just three more nights of class (including tonight) before graduation. Everything is wrapping up...we'll see if that nesting instinct kicks in anytime soon.

An Exciting Adventure

My college friend Lisa and I always have "adventures." Interesting things seem to follow us. Saturday was particularly eventful. First, Lisa almost left behind her wallet at Paint your Plate, our girls day outing. Then I actually lost my wallet...in retrospect, an 8 month pregnant person should not stuff a wallet in an unzipped coat pocket. I didn't realize it until later, lost time from the girls' tea, and was delighted to learn that Steve, a good Samaritan, had found it in the street, located me in the phone book, and safeguarded the thing until I picked it up. Then off to the coop for some shopping...only Lisa rear-ended me on the way. Oops. I stopped instead of pushing a yellow light since she didn't know where I was going and she didn't see that I stopped. All that is messed up on my car is the bumper, but her car is worse off. I will say to my credit, that I'm really growing as a person. I wasn't even mad about the car (it's just a car) and we were able to laugh about it....along with a few tears, since she is less than $500 from paying her car off. Also, if you have American Family insurance and hit another person with it, that saves you $100 off your deductible. Who knew there was a family and friends discount with a car accident? Here's hoping the rest of the week is a little less eventful...

Pregnancy Pics

Here are some pregnancy photos...I guess I have gotten a lot bigger! Only about 6 weeks to go!

Green Living and Baby

David and I have been moving more toward a “green” lifestyle for many years. (In fact, my siblings call us hippies.) This doesn’t come from alarmist global warming (though we do think the earth is being harmed by humans). It's really borne out of the responsibility we feel to be good stewards of the resources God has given us. That means being good stewards of the earth (reduce, reuse, recycle) and good stewards of our bodies and other resources (like finances and the house). Some of the actions we’ve taken include composting, buying organic fruits/vegetables off the dirty dozen and whenever feasible, purchasing organic milk and sustainably farmed organic meat (and eating less meat in general), driving a Prius, biking around town for errands, and having renters live with us in our 4 bedroom house.

Another wacky idea we have relates to our baby. We’ve purchased some big items (crib/dresser) used and gladly taken hand-me-downs for others like clothing or exersaucers. We don’t think that babies need that much anyway. So, the whole concept of registering for a bunch of new items, particularly when many of them are plastic, didn’t appeal to us. This isn’t a plea for gifts- but since many people have asked us what we need we thought we’d explain our reasoning here.

We chose to do the bulk of our registry at Peapods, a local, family-owned store in St. Paul that specializes in natural toys and baby care. They have a ton of really great wooden toys that help kids develop imagination as well as things like cloth diapers, baby slings, and organic cotton bedding and clothing. We also set up small registry lists at Babies ‘R Us and Target- but mostly for consumables and natural baby care products.

Our wacky idea is for people to give us used baby gear with lots of life left as shower presents- like the 0-6 month outfits that get worn a few times before baby grows out of them. We’ll post a list of wanted items, whether that is hand-me-downs of your own, Craigslist purchases, or garage sale finds.

Our blog

So...we figured that we should create a blog with having a kid and all. We wanted to find a name that didn't incorporate our last name (already pretty easy to find us on the web) and I thought of the Rich Mullins song "Land of My Sojourn." Of course, others had already thought of that phrase, along with several other angles, so I couldn't get that exact title.

The song has a verse:
Nobody tells you when you get born here
how much you'll come to love it and how you'll never belong here.
So I'll call you my country, but I'll be lonely for my home...
I wish that I could take you there with me.

And that describes how I feel about living on earth...after enduring some rough times, I have come to love being here. At the same time, our real home is in heaven with God- and there is an element of us that will never belong here. And we wish that we could take all of our friends and family with us to heaven- but that's a choice each individual person makes for themself (in terms of how they respond to God's invitation for fellowship.)

So, our blog is called sojournersdk...join us for periodic updates on our sojourn through this world.