I told Ben that I couldn't believe another decade has passed.  "Really?" he asked, "I can.  We had a lot happen in the last ten years."  We thought of all the momentous things that happened to us in the aughts. 

• Most of our courtship and our marriage
• All of my undergrad education
• My first real job as a research assistant
  
• Completing a second degree
• My second real job as a nurse
  
• Most of Ben's college years
• Numerous jobs for Ben
• Moving five times in three cities
  
• Buying our first house
• Buying my first car
• Buying my first new car
• Travel too numerous to count
• Thousands of knit stitches
• Thousands of video games
• A movie-making phase
• A ballet revival phase
  
• Getting a cat
• Getting a dog
• Three computers for me, who knows how many for Ben?

Ok, proven wrong.  I guess it seems right that ten years have passed, given all the growth we've had. 

We're excited to start a new adventure this year.  For those who haven't heard yet, we're having a baby in May.  That's right, I'm 21 weeks pregnant.  Want to know why I was so quiet in the blogosphere in October and November?  That's called the first trimester and it BLOWS!  But those times are past, I feel pretty great these days.  The little kid has finally made itself known to me.  Just in the past week I started feeling movement.  Now I swear it's doing somersaults in there.  Tomorrow we have the big ultrasound to find out if our first will be a little boy or little girl.  I don't care which, I just want to know!  I'll be sure to let you all know too, and perhaps I'll fill in some details on how the pregnancy has been so far. 

Happy New Year and here's to ten more!

Snow falling quietly, kneading yeasty dough, sipping French hot
chocolate, and knitting green curls. I like today.

Because I hear you are all dying to know :-)  I'm in that weird poochy stage.  My clothes don't fit and my husband says I've looked pregnant for months.  But when I tell people the news and that I'm 21 weeks, they look down at my stomach and tell me I don't look pregnant at all.

I feel him moving all the time now.  Especially during a meal (blood sugar spike?) and when I change positions - sitting to standing and such.

My belly button is disappearing way too fast!  It's kind of freaking me out.

The most annoying pregnancy change?  My absurdly strong pulse.  I hear it when I'm trying to sleep at night.  I feel it in odd places like my scalp, my shoulders, and pretty much my entire abdomen.  I feel my heart pounding with extra stroke volume when I climb stairs.  I swear I can even feel my inferior vena cava flowing.  My hand veins are so engorged with extra blood that they are raised and fat.  L&D nurses must have the easiest patients for placing IVs. 

I'm going to post a couple things I wrote during the first trimester, just to catch up my journalling.

(Written October 2009)

If I get up before 8 am, I have to puke at least once.  Good luck trying to eat anything before 9 am.

The first thing I cooked in three weeks was bacon.  Nitrate and nitrite free bacon, courtesy of my dear dad.

My food aversion has manifest as "anything that you cooked."  If Ben makes it or I buy it ready made, I seem to do better.

Surprisingly, peanuts are my go-to snack for keeping fueled during the day.  And suddenly orange juice is delicious.  And pickles.  I had a Jimmy John's pickle and wanted to marry it.

(Written mid October 2009)

I've had a strange disconnect between having a baby and being pregnant.  I just feel pregnant, like it's a temporary disease that's giving me weird symptoms and will eventually go away.  I'm adament about not looking at baby products or baby advice or baby names.  After two weeks of excitement, I turned all my books and pamphlets from the OB facedown.  For some reason I don't want to see the work "pregnant" around the house.

I was watching some old Muppet videos on Youtube.  The thought came to me, that I frequently have thought, that I should be sure that when we eventually have kids, they watch some Muppets because Muppets are awesome.  Then I had an epiipheny - this wasn't some far off prediction.  There was a kid in my belly RIGHT NOW.  She/He will be the one that I encourage to watch Muppets.  Right there with me now in this room.  I kind of freaked out in a major way.

(Written at 12 weeks, early November 2009)

I am so so relieved to have had the ultrasound.  It's scary how I really have no perception that there is a little human inside of me, with bones and tissue and an APPENDIX, for crying out loud.  How alien.  I swore this was a molar or ectopic pregnancy.  How could it be so easy?  How can I feel so normal? 

(9 week pregnant self feel free to stab future self for saying this.  Does she REMEMBER sitting at home, not being able to do anything but nap under a quilt, not even browse the internet?  And how she threw up a single saltine, and on another morning just water???) 

But really.  From all the stories and "common symptoms" I read, I've had it fairly easy.  Way to go, genepool.  I knew these hips meant I would be a baby-making rockstar.

November 18, 2009 - I vacuumed a floor.

Here's a requisite pooch shot.  Thanks for the Bellaband tip, Ant.  I found a BeBand at Target by the same makers and I'm in my old jeans again.  This will help hold my scrubs up too!

I'll leave the hike pictures to Ben.

I'm so happy Burn Notice is back on the air.  It's like a fantastic, juicy cheeseburger and fries.  Utter junk yet so delicious.

I'm finally making some good progress on Ben's Norwegian hat. I'm moving my craft space into the basement.  My former room will be the new nursery.  We threw out the 1977 couches and got a new sectional.  I love it so much!  I set up my craft table behind it and it's become my favorite place.  I have my laptop, my knitting, a snack, and a good show playing on our franken-dvr.  

It's been a rough week at work.  We're ramping up to start two new hospital contracts.  Extra training sessions everywhere, staff shortages, and on top of that a lot of acute patients at our regular hospital.  I'm the only one from our morning shift who is home yet.  The others who started at 6 had to take over evening shift as well.  I only got to go home because I'm on call, so in the event that I get called back I won't be completely exhausted from working 17 hours.  I don't think things will calm down until at least mid-February.

I finished my first skein of handspun yarn using my wheel.  It's so much fun to spin!  I just used the book that came with my wheel to teach me how to spin and ply the yarn together.  I started to work on that beautiful blue roving in the background, you can see my first bobbin is already almost full.  I can't decide if I want to to ply the blue yarn, making it lofty and strong, or leave it single ply so I have more length to knit. 
(How awesome is it that my new craft space gets natural sunlight in through the little egress window?)

I'm so glad it's February.  Good stuff happens:
Superbowl parties (I hate football but love the food and friends)
Oscar parties
My birthday
Valentine's Day
And it's a short month, so it's over before you know it!

I'm now six months pregnant.  Egads.  I feel pretty good except the fitful sleeping, the constant belly poking by the kid, and tearing of my abdominal muscles.  Otherwise no health problems.  I continue to outgrow my clothes and struggle finding comfortable things to wear to work and church. 

I'm knitting like a fiend lately.  I have two projects going for myself, I finished Ben's hat, and I have my eyes on a sweater vest pattern for our little boy.  That's on top of my spinning that I'm still working on.  I'm resisting going to the yarn store as long as possible.

I was on call all weekend and it sucked.  I get so anxious.  I was sure that I would be called in twice, once for a patient in the ICU that the docs told me on Saturday they would want to dialyze on Sunday, and once for one of our regulars who hadn't been in for over a week and a half.  That was on top of our normal flow of emergencies, who often come in Sunday evenings.  It seemed like a sure thing so I was a bundle of nerves all weekend, watching my pager nervously.  Never called me.  Weird.  Instead of being glad that I didn't have to work I'm exhausted from worrying about it.  I really need to get this call mind-set in better control. 

Today was my day off.  Laundry, dishes, grocery shopping, and knitting.  Exciting stuff.  I guess I don't have much else to say.  Just checking in to say hi, I suppose.

My dear sister has optimistically invited me to choreograph some parts of the spring musical.  Optimistic because:
A. work is scheduling me for 4 shifts per week, and because we are short-staffed we often work overtime (like yesterday) and
B. my dancing skills have waned a bit since becoming pregnant.  Or should I say, all skills that involve movement have waned.  Including standing up from couches.  My co-worker saw me struggling to get comfortable in my chair during the 7th hour of Monday's hospital orientation.  "When are you due?" he whispered.  "End of May," I replied.  He ticked the months off his fingers, "Wow, you have a long way to go!"  Yes.  Yes I do.  Thank you for pointing that out for me. Now help me cross my legs.

So with her dear students in mind I summoned all my energy to get to the gym this morning.  Yes, after a 16 hour day with only a 30 minute lunch break, a fitful night's sleep while on call, and waking up with a scratchy throat I exercised.  Because I only blog when I can brag about my awesomeness. (For example, I haven't been sick since January 2009.  I hope this throat scratch blows over).

I like going to the gym because I can spend longer exercising and stretching than I do when I stay home.  The elliptical is also the only form of aerobics I can do without severe leg pain.  I still have bad aches in my gracilis every time I take a step.  But for some reason running on an elliptical is completely painless.  When I got home I stretched a little more.  Molly joined in.

I improvised a pie based on a key lime pie recipe.  My friends helped us eat it and they demanded that I write down the recipe to remember.  Sadly I don't have a picture because it was devoured too fast!

Dreamsicle Pie
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup clementine juice
juice of 1 lemon
juice of 2 limes
zest from all the clementines that you squeezed

Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl.  I think it would have stirred smoother if I had blended the sour cream and condensed milk before adding the juice.  Pour the filling into a pre-made graham cracker crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until you see tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface.  (Don't brown it!)  Remove and cool completely.  Let chill in the fridge, preferably overnight.  Slice and serve with whipped cream.

Thank you for all the birthday well wishes!  I had a wonderful day.  My dear sweet husband took me to all my favorite things and I had a great time visiting with friends tonight.  I took a few pictures to post later showing what we did to celebrate.

Get a load of my sweet lovin'.

Crap, yo. I bought some decoration for the nursery and it has
arrived. I guess i need to seriously start working on that room. I'm
7 month pregnant today. Time is running out! But today is my one day
off over two weeks and it's booked full with an OB visit, grocery
shopping, choreography rehearsal, and putting my aching feet up for an
hour tonight. I worked four 12 hour shifts in a row (3/4 going into
OT), then 6 hours call back right after on Sunday. Today i'm off but
I have four more in a row starting tomorrow. Looks like saturday will
be nursery work day!

• Last night I had to do an emergency.  Not bad, I got home by 12:45.  It meant I could sleep well knowing the call 2 person had to take the next emergency.  Free and clear.  I had a rude doctor and a mean patient.  Luckily I sucked up to both of them well enough.  The ICU nurse is the one who took it hard from them.  
• Ah, a glorious long weekend off.  No work until Tuesday!
• Monday I'm going to the dentist after at least 2 years off.  Hurrah for dental insurance!
• I bought some lilies and my house smells amazing!
• Ben bought me the chocolate chip bagels I've been craving for two weeks.  Don't get excited, it wasn't, like, a "pregnancy" craving.  I just really really wanted some.  That's a good way to start Saturday.
• I finished choreographing the opening dance number for Amanda's musical.  I hope the kids pick it up fast on Monday!
• Amanda and I have a fun day planned - Alice in Wonderland, then dinner out, then craft and watch Every Little Step at home.  
• Kick-puncher is still kicking and punching.  He has weird sleep cycles.  
• I want to buy a portable air conditioner/swamp cooler for this summer.  Our room is always unbearably hot.  I have a free trial of Amazon Prime that would give me free shipping.  Is it crazy to buy an AC in March?  How would I even know if it works well enough?
• Yesterday as I was cleaning up the clinic before going home I chatted with Ben on my cell.  I was scrubbing human blood off the floor while merrily talking to my husband, and was struck by how NOT morbid it felt.  
• I have a lot of spending money and don't know what to do with it.  I hoard it and then forget it, never taking the splurge.  Any ideas?

Ben makes fun of the many terms and steps involved in making yarn.   Here's how you do it:

Take your washed wool and brush it into roving or a bat using paddles.
Take your roving and draft it into a bobbin of yarn using a spindle.
Take your bobbin and wind it into a hank using a niddy noddy.
Take your hank and wind it into a ball using a swift and ball winder.
Take your ball and knit it into a hat using needles.

Biscuits+jam ice cream is wonderful!

At the end of a hard day my impulse is to blog about it.  But I try to hold off, wondering the rant will really make me feel better.  I already released a lot to Ben, so what's the point of putting it here?  Feels like garnering pity.  Still, this is my journal.  I won't go into detail, but it was yet another crazy busy day of
trying to treat too many patients in too short of a time
constant push push push to get people in our chairs
many catheters and fistulas busting
working with a doctor who is difficult
getting lost in the hospital system while trying to give meds or get patients beds or lunches
starting the day off short-staffed
being assigned to charge nurse when I really shouldn't be charge yet
being on the phone 95% of the day
endless questions from the techs about when so and so will be picked up
wrestling with machine malfunctions

I come home from days like this feeling incredibly unappreciated and ready to quit.  We are still short-staffed with no end of in sight.  Too many hours with too many demands and too many promises broken.  Oh Rachel, we probably pushed you into the charge role too fast, let's back off and have you gain more experience [then they assign me charge every time I'm at our big hospital]. Oh Rachel, you shouldn't take care of isolation patients while you are pregnant [then I have to do a hepatitis B+ patient, among many others]. Oh Rachel, take it easy while you're pregnant, be sure to eat well and drink a lot [then I'm the only RN, meaning I CAN'T leave the room to take a break for the whole shift].  Maternity leave is looking more and more like a glorious summer vacation.

But those are curtains from Anthropologie.  Dearie me, I just can't rationalize paying $200 for curtains. Target and other stores were dead ends.  I'll just have to make my own.  After an hour staring at the fabric racks in Fancy Tiger I came up with these two:


The consensus so far is for the bird print.  I love the colors and the birds.  But when I hang the two in the room I feel like the teal damask does better over a large space.  It's also heavier fabric so it would function better than the bird print for drapes.  I'm still mulling it over.  Feel free to drop me your opinion.  My other other decoration for the room is this wall art from blik:

Saturday I had the loveliest of parties hosted by Miranda and Sarah.  They provided delicious and beautiful snacks and desserts, tangerine and turquoise decorations, and invited a variety of friends from all different points of my life.  It was wonderful to see all these special women from school and work over the years, and I'm so grateful to have their influence in my life.  My mom also drove all the way from Grand Junction to attend!  I trust that Miranda will soon post pictures on her site, or email some to me so I can post them.

I feel much better about welcoming a baby into our house.  We got a lot of cute and practical clothes, footie pajamas, and I might venture to say that we have enough onesies. Gasp! I also got a nice start to his library and toy collection. 

My parents helped immensely by shopping for a crib and changing table!  The baby now has a safe place sleep and I feel less anxiety about my lack of nesting so far.  We have a place to sleep, clothes to wear, and a good carseat courtesy of Ben's parents.  Throw in a pack of diapers and we could be set if needed.  Of course there are many many small things that make life easier.  I have a wishlist on amazon to keep track of all the little things we can pick up between now and the birth.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed at how much I need to do still.  Here's a list of things accomplished to make me feel better:

• Nursery room emptied
• Carpets cleaned
• New craft space established
• New couch in the basement
• Finished a handmade flannel blanket
• Toys
• Books
• Queen bed for me and Ben
• DVR and netflix queue for late nights and being stuck at home
• Saved up money to cover the hospital bill
• Got a portable AC to survive the hot summer 
• Registered and toured at the hospital

Things to do still:

• Arrange and fill-in the nursery with supplies
• Find a dresser (maybe?)
• Fix the bathroom sink and fan, and anything else that breaks between now and May
• Paperwork to HR for maternity leave (cannot complete for another month)
• Take a birthing class
• Finish the sweater vest I'm knitting
• Give the bathrooms a deep cleaning
• Pick a pediatrician

So that's not too bad, right?

Miranda posted pictures from the shower on her flickr site.  Here are some of my favorites!

Just thought I should write about a not-so-bad day at work, so people don't think I'm a slave to a horrible job.  There weren't any patients planned at our two smaller hospitals yesterday, so I got to be on call all day instead of starting after my shift.  I slept in until 9, then showered and donned my flannel pants, a t-shirt, and my pager.  I set to work on the craft space and got it completely organized.  I vacuumed the basement and did dishes.  I had a nice lunch at home and did some paper crafts. 

Just as I was wondering what to do with my afternoon the pager went off.  Apparently the doctors forgot to tell us about one patient who needed dialysis, and the nurse was wondering when he would be dialyzed.  I switched to scrubs and got to the hospital by 2 pm.  The patient was fairly stable and the doctors and nurses nice to work with.  I had some machine trouble shooting that delayed my start time, but I was able to leave the hospital at 9 pm.  Not bad at all!  I was able to get a decent shift in, with call-back pay, and now I was anxiety free for a good night's sleep, knowing that the call 2 nurse would have to get the next page, if there was one (there wasn't). 

Unfortunately, there were some signs that I'm not as tough as I used to be.  I can't leave a patient who is on treatment, so I couldn't go to the bathroom while I was there.  My stomach was cramping up badly and I was trying not to drink so I wouldn't make it harder for my bladder.  Halfway through the patient's treatment his blood started clotting the tubing.  I had been giving him saline flushes every 15 minutes but I could see a total blockage was coming anyway.  I rinsed back his blood, clamped him off the machine, and paused treatment to start a new tube set-up.  Normally I hate clotted systems for delaying the treatment but this was a blessing from on high!  I dashed to the bathroom for some much needed relief before re-connecting him. 

But what's really weird is that around 7 pm I started having cramps again.  After an hour I figured out that these were probably Braxton Hicks contractions and they. hurt. bad.  Remembering that dehydration can lead to cramps I started chugging my water.  Not much relief.  It actually hurt to stand up and walk around with them.  As soon as the patient was transported back to his room I dug out the granola bar I had brought, and gave myself another bathroom trip before finishing cleaning up the room.  They came about every 10 minutes and felt like really bad menstrual cramps, but just on the my right side and back and down my right leg.  I hobbled out to my car at 9 and per Ben's advice grabbed dinner at McDonald's on the way home.  I felt much much better as I started eating real (ha!) food and by 10 pm the cramps were totally gone.  I haven't had any pre-labor contractions yet so that was really weird.  I think I pushed myself a bit too hard at work and shouldn't have gone so long without eating.  My coworkers have been encouraging me to get a doctor's note so that I don't have to do call anymore.  I thought it was too soon but after last night I'm rethinking it.  Today I'm still cramp-free, but I'm having a harder time leaning over and climbing stairs.  I get winded really easily.  It looks like the third trimester is finally catching up to me.

Just got back from New York City!  My family took a weekend vacation and we had a fabulous time.  Shopping, shows, and lots and lots of food.  I love to visit NY and each trip is different because there is so much to do there.  Tomorrow I hope to do a proper recap of my trip with photos.  Coming home I'm always struck by the wonders of home comforts.  Here are some things that I appreciate about being home:

• Clean mountain air
• Soft 2 ply toilet paper
• Shopping without the crowds
• Mexican food
• My animals

But New York has plenty of awesomeness to make giving these up for a weekend completely worthwhile:

• Pizza.  Seriously, the pizza. 
• H&Ms and giant-sized Anthropologies
• Good live theater every night of the year
• Pinkberrys
• And a new edition to my food-love list - Le Pain Quotidien

I could do a whole list that's just food.  Looking at my photos, about half of them are what I ate :-)  Here's me and Ben in Rockefeller Plaza.  More to come soon.

Amanda beat me to blogging our trip, and did such a great job summarizing that I'm afraid I can't add much to it!  So here are some of my favorite photos with brief explanations.  See Amanda's blog and the flickr accounts for me, Ben, and Jenn for more travel bits. 


Beautiful produce and crafts at the Union Square Farmer's Market.  I got some art prints for the nursery from this artist. 

Second breakfast was at Le Pain Quotidien.  Loved their bread and spreads. 


Third breakfast was hot cocoa from Chocolate by the Bald Man.  Next time I'm in NY I'll have to stop here for dessert.  The waffles and fondue looked really good. 

The Tim Burton exhibit at MOMA was fun, but I think I enjoyed seeing the other classics even more.  And the benches.  I was a big fan of the benches. 


I'm glad we made it to a deli.  I had a rueben in the hospital cafeteria yesterday because I can't get this sandwich out of my head.  I love pastrami and cole slaw!  Ben attacked a true NY cheesecake and declared it delicious.


Bebe Neurwirth made this show for me.  No one can do isolations like that girl.

Ben and I skipped the second museum in favor of extra sleep the next day.  We leisurely got up and walked to Rockefeller Plaza.  They had Easter lilies and gorgeous azalea trees.

Mavi and Jeff met us at Jing Fong in Chinatown for dim sum lunch.  By the way, I have no idea why I look so grumpy in most of my pictures.  Maybe because my mouth was always full?  I seriously had a great time during the whole trip.  I apologize to my family if I looked like a grumpy toad the whole time. 


After dim sum we shopped around SoHo and got our second round of Pinkberry.  I picked up some beautiful yarn to add to my basket of beautiful yarns with no purpose yet.  Then we had a fancy-pants dinner at BLT Fish.  This restaurant tried their hardest to make me dislike them, but I wouldn't let them.  First, many of you know I hate seafood.  Yes, all seafood.  Yes, I have tried "this is the best though, it doesn't even taste fishy" many times as my fellow diners entice me to try again.  I still hate it.  So I ordered the only non-fish item on the menu, filet mignon.  Normally this is no biggie-except for the whole rare meats are bad when you're pregnant thing.  I had them cook it as much as possible without ruining it and they did a perfect job.  It was still delicious.  Everyone else seemed enchanted with their fish entrees.  Ben got to make up for all the fish-less meals he endures at home. 


After Lend Me a Tenor (which was really good and funny) we found dessert and snacks at Junior's across from the theater.  I realized that I had ordered pickles and ice cream, how cliche is that?


Here's mah swag, lots of fun things to take home, aside from my fun memories.  I love traveling with my family!  I hope it doesn't slow down once we have a kid.  (I foresee a fantastic trip to Disneyland in 5 years or so).

One of the great outcomes of being pregnant is that it brings out the craftiness in women. I have been slowly working on a knitted sweater vest and already finished two flannel blankets. But I have also received some wonderful handmade items by other women I love.

This is a cuddly soft teal and blue blanket knit by Betty. The amazing thing is she learned to knit just to make this! It's her first project and I'm super impressed. The model doll is named "Squints" and came from a friend at my shower.


Yesterday I opened a surprise package in the mail and found this beautiful quilt. Grandma Lois made this for the baby to play on. I think it will be perfect for spreading out with some toys. The fabrics have different fun textures too. The model is, of course, Link from Wind Waker Zelda. I couldn't resist getting him in NY.


Finally, check out this amazing amigurumi set of animals my mom crocheted. They are incredibly darling, but I think the Octopus is my favorite. I don't know how she finds time to do such things, but these will be treasured for sure.

(Photography by Ben, styled by Rachel and Ben. We used our cool photo studio set-up that Dad got us for Christmas to take these.)

Instead of counting up I'm counting down.  5 weeks until my due date.  The last few days I have felt very pregnant.  Achy in my back and joints, tight in my belly, moody, tired, everything you expect.  I think kickpuncher is going through another growth spurt.  I'm to the point where I'd be happy if he came.  Yes, it's early.  But I'm ready for him and done being pregnant.  I'm feeling very wistful for the olden days. 

I miss:

• feeling chilly
• my flat stomach
• sleeping on my stomach
• sleeping through the night
• waking up feeling refreshed
• eating bacon
• eating hot dogs
• eating cold deli sandwiches
• eating undercooked eggs
• eating a meal without causing shortness of breath
• drinking caffeine guilt-free
• standing up without groaning
• bending down without groaning
• tying my shoes from a standing position
• clothes that fit
• changing the cat litter (HA!  That one's for you Ben)

Sadly I realize that most of these will not be resolved immediately upon delivery, or even the next couple years.  Here's hoping I have a marvelous, fun, exciting, joyful summer.

This week brought on a new pregnancy woe - SI joint pain.  It started Tuesday with a little pain.  By Wednesday I was limping, unable to lift anything at work, and struggling to get up out of chairs.  Thursday I missed work (after much ado, argh-I hate our management) because the pain was so bad.  I went to my midwife who diagnosed SI pain.  I got a prescription for Vicodin and a referral for PT, who can't see me until next week.  The outlook is bad, that this pain will come and go until the end of pregnancy, and return for all subsequent pregnancies.  I found an article here that describes what I have perfectly.  Basically the relaxin hormone is doing its thing to get ready for delivery, but it over-loosened the ligaments surrounding the sacral-iliac joint.

I tried a Vicodin and it didn't work any better than Tylenol, which is to say not at all.  I've had heat and ice on my back round the clock.  I had Jenni give me a massage and Ben bought me a supportive brace.  This morning my pain is still here but only 60-75% of what it was yesterday, so I'll go to work tonight.  I hope it's an easy night.  And I hope the weekend is relaxing and makes the pain go away.  And I hope I find time to try swimming at the rec center - I bought a swimsuit two weeks ago and haven't had time yet.

Last week I put my foot down and said I wasn't taking call anymore.  It was too difficult for me to have interrupted sleep and to respond to patient needs alone.  I'm so glad I ended it.  They worked out a schedule where I cover evening shifts during the week.  The hours are unpredictable but I get to sleep in every day and that makes a huge difference in my well-being.  I get up slowly and eat a decent breakfast, and even have time for a little leisure and errands.  Well, if this blasted SI pain wasn't holding me back.

Here are two things I've made for kickpuncher. 

This vest has been a slow work in progress since January.  It's hard to stop and start the pattern because I had to make many adjustments to the gauge.  Also the instructions are British, which are surprisingly different than American instructions and take a bit of time to decipher.  It's a cotton yarn I bought at Fancy Tiger. 

This little hat came together in just a few hours.  I bought three skeins of this sweet green cotton yarn in SoHo and it has been calling to me since I got home.  Yes, I have three other knitting works in progress, but WIPs be damned!  I wanted to make a soft, tiny hat for kickpuncher's spring debut.  It only took half a skein!  Babies are so tiny . . .

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

We went to Belmar Ponds to take some huge belly pictures. They turned out pretty nice, although I look really tired in them. Ben is a great photographer and I love that he’s enthusiastic about going on photo shoots with me. There’s more pictures in his flickr photo set, follow the link above.

The hip pain is as bad as ever.  Tylenol, massage, heat/cold packs, swimming, narcotics, and physical therapy have done nothing to help me work through the pain.  I haven't been to work in 7 days, the longest break I think I've had except for Christmas.  My doctor and PT said they supported me in stopping work altogether.  My manager accepted my offer to continue working but with drastically reduced hours.  I told them I could do 4-6 hour shifts, 3 times a week, with a day off in between each to rest.  I haven't gotten the new schedule yet but I hope they send it to me today.  I also hope that I can work at least that much.  Walking is very painful and so the hardest part is getting into the hospital and up to our unit to start the shift.  Once there I think I'll be ok.  This lovely back brace helps me a little bit.  It's not an SI-specific brace, but a basic maternity support belt.  I wish I had bought a month earlier for when I was in New York. 

So basically I sit at home and rest.  This means lots of TV and movies while I craft.  I'm almost done with the sweater vest.  I became obsessed with these dahlias and made four.  I'd make more but I'm out of hot glue :-( 

I also very slowly attempt to clean the house.  Today I have managed to wipe down the kitchen and dining room counters, sweep the kitchen, and started laundry.  Oaf.  It took several minutes for me to drag the laundry basket into the basement, but I made it! 

This weekend was fun because it was Amanda's school play!  My parents came to visit to see the show.  We had an awesome dinner at Virgilios, my favorite pizzeria.  Saturday morning Ben and I attended an "express" childbirth class from my OB's office.  Overall it was worthwhile, but we could have done fine with an extra-express course.  Also I think it might have just scared Ben more than helped him.  But it prompted some good discussion and we feel more prepared to tackle labor together as a team now. 

After class we went to the mountains to see the show.  The kids did such a good job!  I'm very impressed with how they pulled it all together in the last couple weeks.  Amanda is an amazing director and I can't wait to see what else she can get these naive mountain kids to do!  (The photo is from dress rehearsal last week)  I think it's funny how proud they were to have a "choreographer from Denver!"  I'm the big-time ;-)

After the show we all went back to our condo in Bailey for the night.  Mom cooked a delicious dinner and Jem went crazy smelling the strange house.  We woke up Sunday to beautiful views of endless evergreens.  This deer was in our driveway!  Mom made another great breakfast including nitrite-free bacon!  Oh heaven, I have missed bacon!  Late morning they started their drive back to GJ and Ben and I made the short drive home.  It was fun to have a little sleepover out of town. (credit Ben for the photo, more on his flickr account). 

So now you're all caught up with my life!  I'm 37 weeks now and technically "term."  Kickpuncher has given no indication that he wants to come out (no braxton-hicks contractions, no lightening), but I'm hoping it's sooner rather than later.

We had a leaky faucet in the bathroom and bought a replacement for it over a month ago.  Finally got around to installation and could not get the old drain out of the sink.  We called a plumber and the estimate I got today was $380.56.  Three hundred and eighty dollars???  That's absurd! Is there anyone out there who is handy with plumbing and good at working in tight spaces with no visibility?

Here is what a good day at daycare looks like:

Her daycare posted another video of her that you can watch here or below. 

Remember this post?  Where I pine over sweaters at Anthropologie?  Well this week the cast of Glee wore TWO of them.  Emma wore the left one and Quinn wore the right one.  

And now I can't find them on the Anthro website.  I think they never made it to the sale section.  Boo!  I have a gift card from Christmas that I haven't spent yet, what with my changing belly.  I read that women who have just given birth should be required to go out and buy two new outfits right away to make them feel pretty again.  I like this idea very much.  Any volunteers to drive me to Cherry Creek and hold my baby while I shop?

"Yup, I'm pregnant"
"In about a week."
"Yeah, pretty ready for him to come."
"Yes, it's a boy."
"Yeah, it's my first."
Yes, it IS pretty exciting."
"Yeah, I'm tall.  I guess I carry it well.  Believe me, I'm plenty big." 

It's not that I'm annoyed with having the same conversation over and over.  It's just a very boring conversation that I could self-direct.  But I'm polite and wait for the other person to prompt me with questions. 

I'm so. ready. for him to come.  My calendar has been exhausted.  Last week I had many fun things and errands on my to do list.  I got my car AC fixed, bought cloth diapers with Miranda, bought some new yarn, started a new baby sweater, made some Book of Mormon costumes for my mom's project, got a massage, went to a small nursing class reunion, had maid service (thank you, Mom!), added to the nursery, and got my house to the point where it doesn't feel like a disgusting pit of neglect.  I even cooked dinner a couple times and made angelfood cake with lemon curd!  So yeah, my pain is a lot better and I completely credit it to being able to rest away from work.  I only worked 8.5 hours last week.  I wouldn't mind a little more, but I'll take too little over too much. 

However, this week?  Completely blank.  Aside from an OB appointment and a couple evening activities that I might have to miss because of work anyway, I have nothing to look forward to.  Sure, there's little things here and there that I can do to fill my days.  I'm pretty skilled at killing time.  But seriously?  Let's just move on and get this baby in the world.

I've been debating whether to post anymore.  I've been pretty depressed about my situation lately.  The baby is officially due and aside from some painless pre-labor contractions, he is still settled in snugly for as long as possible. 

There haven't been many patients for the evening shift, so I've barely been working.  Only about 12 hours two weeks ago and 7 hours last week.  Today I'm officially only maternity leave with no baby to show for it.  My type of work doesn't allow me to pop in as available, so I guess I'm done until August.

People tell me to relax and enjoy the time off, but I've had too much of that.  I've watched a ton of TV and movies while resting and knitting.  I've sewed, shopped, re-organized, and cleaned.  I've had three massages.  I've taken Jem for walks and met Ben at his office for lunch.  The worst part is being home alone for so much time.

I also feel pressured to get the birth over.  Everyone is anxious about it, even my neighbor.  My friends are moving in two days so now they probably won't get to meet our baby.  My family is likely to visit this weekend and I'm worried I'll have no one to show them.  Of course, no one is actually mean about it, and all give me encouragement and understanding that he'll probably be late.  Meanwhile, I'm chewing through my maternity leave, cutting down on time I'll actually get to spend with the baby.  Every morning I wake up and see my giant belly and feel like a failure. 

Waiting waiting waiting.

The weekend was really nice.  Ben took me to Boulder to hang out.  Then yesterday he took me to the foothills to walk around and picnic.  Here's a shot of my big bad 40 week self.  But now that I'm back to the weekly grind, I don't know what I'll do to keep busy.  I already did the dishes, swept the floors, took Jem around the block, re-organized the baby clothes, emptied my google reader, and blogged, and it's only 10:30.  Waiting waiting waiting.

We rolled into Lutheran Hospital at 9 pm for a scheduled induction.  They have wifi here so you can watch the birth on live web streaming!!  Ha, like I'd ever do that.  No, my computer is here for comfort and entertainment.  We're doing a nice and gentle induction to nudge the little duder out.  I got some misoprostol to soften things up and an ambian to help me rest.  I thought I'd watch some hulu before knocking off but this ambian is already making me woozy.  Ben is helping me feel settled, then he'll head home in a little bit to have a good night's rest with the Jemmer.  Tomorrow morning (unless I need him back here during the night - highly unlikely) he'll take Jem to the boarders and rejoin me in our "birthing suite."  The general plan is repeat the miso as needed, then get pitocin going in my contractions are not up to snuff. 

This is my first time as a patient in a hospital.  Wheelchair rides are freaky.  So smooth and so low.  I got my first IV.  I've stuck so many many people and never been stuck myself!  Not too painful, but I adjusted her taping to my liking as soon as she left the room.  Here's a look at the latest gown and accessory fashions in maternity wards.

oh, hi.  It's just me, writing from the labor unit.  Can I say how awesome epidurals are?  I had some crazy contractions for 2 1/2 hours this morning and popped from a 1 to a 4 (finally!).  Then they got the epidural rocking and I've been trying to sleep since then without success.  I'm too excited!  Ben is doing great as my coach.  We just turned on a movie to help pass the afternoon.  I was a 5 on my last check, after my water spontaneously broke.  All this progress came from just two doses of misoprostol, the last one at 3:30 am.  My body finally kicked in to do the right thing.  They might augment with some pitocin later, but for now we're letting things ride.  Alright, that's enough stretching to reach the keyboard,  I better get back to resting.  The nurses are keen on me sleeping today, but that's just not going to happen. ;-)

This is Jack Danger Mason, born Friday May 28, 2010 at 3:52 pm. 

He weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce and was 21 1/2 inches long. 

He's a champion eater and napper and prefers to be wrapped up tight!

More pictures to come after we have a chance to upload them from the good camera, this is just an iPhone grab since you all have been asking for a look :-)

Ben put all our first days photos on his flickr account.  You can see them all here, but I'm putting my favorites here as well. 

(From Ben)

I was scheduled to be induced Thursday night.  Amanda lovingly entertained me all day to keep my sanity.  We went to Cherry Creek Mall where she encouraged me to buy this gorgeous dress with the hope that it will fit by July.  (Darn that Glee, while looking for a pic of the dress I found Lea Michele in it)  We also got our nails done and had lunch at Cafe Rio.  Amanda quickly dropped by a clinic to get her shots for Thailand while we were out.  (She leaves today!  Bon Voyage!)  I had painless contractions randomly all day, from 3-15 minutes apart.  I hoped this might lead to natural labor but it did not. 

Ben and I were anxious but trying to play it cool that evening.  I can't remember what we had for dinner that night.  Chipotle maybe?  My favorite summer program So You Think You Can Dance premiered that night.  Another good distraction while I waited for 9 pm to come. 

At 8:40 we put my hospital bag and extra large pillow in the car and drove to Lutheran Hospital.  At the ER entrance they transferred me to a wheelchair (totally unnecessary, but kind of fun) and took me up to the L&D unit.  This was kind of a nice way to go.  They had all my paperwork ready and everyone was expecting me, and I was in no pain.  Just a smooth transfer to my room for the next couple days. 

I changed into a gown and they took my vitals and checked my cervix.  Still a 1, dagnabbit.  Now a "very loose" 1 cm.  Ben and I laughed that over the past three weeks I had progressed from "almost 1" to "a solid 1" to "a loose 1" to "a very loose 1."  They placed an IV in my right wrist (my first, ironically).  They explained the plan of action and assured me that one way or another I wouldn't need to leave the hospital without a baby, that this induction was going to work!  They put me on the monitors for 30 minutes and decided that I was not contracting too much for the misoprostol (a medication that softens the cervix to start labor).  I got an oral dose at 10 along with a small dose of Ambian so I could sleep.  Ben stayed with me through all this, then went home around 10:30. 

At 3:30 another cervix check showed no change so they gave me a second dose of misoprostol and I fell back into a groggy sleep.

At 5:00 I woke up with mild contractions.  I stayed quiet in bed but could not fall back asleep.  At 6:00 suddenly the contractions were very strong and more painful.  I put an episode of 30 Rock on my laptop to distract me but the pain was too much for Tina Fey.  I called my nurse and she drew me a jacuzzi bath.  The bath lessened the pain to a bearable amount and I labored there for about an hour.  Ben called to check in.  The plan was for him to take Jem to the dog boarders at 8 when they open.  Brian was our back-up to take the dog if Ben needed to hurry in sooner.  I told him I was laboring pretty bad, that I was even thinking of getting the epidural already.  But it was only another hour until he'd join me and the nurses said there was no hurry for him to come.  However, after we talked Brian called Ben and offered to take Jem anyway, so Ben was able to come to me by 7:20.  I was so glad!  The contractions were escalating fast!  I could barely breathe through them now.  It was crazy how strong the belly contracted shape and how hard it would become.  Ben jumped in with coaching my breathing and called my nurse to start the epidural process. 

The epidural was placed at 8:40, just in time if you ask me.  The contraction pain was scary bad but Ben kept me calm through it.  My Australian anesthesiologist was quick and kind.  My nurse rechecked my cervix and found I was 4 cm with bulging water sac! 

I tried to nap but didn't ever fall asleep.  Ben kept me company except when I sent him out to get food in the cafeteria for himself.  He was also in charge of sending out text updates to people and did a great job.  By midday I was 5 cm.  My nurse suggested we break my water and start pitocin to ease things along, if I wanted.  (I wanted.  I hoped to have the baby with my midwife who arranged the induction and was on that day until 5 pm).  I countered that we just break the water first and wait on the pitocin.  My nurse helped boost me in bed and the act of pulling myself up suddenly broke the water!  My nurse stared at it confused for a second before telling me what happened - she couldn't believe it just popped on its own like that.  The water had meconium in it so they watched my monitors closely.  Jack had some decelerations, indicating some cord compression.  They put in an intra-uterine monitor to track my contractions more accurately.  Within an hour he looked better, having "adjusted to his new environment." 

Ben put Singin' in the Rain on the DVD player for me while I tried to sleep some more.  The good thing about that movie is I've seen it so many times, I don't have to see the screen to know what it looks like!  While I watched all the routines in my head with my eyes closed the contractions kept doing their thing.  I was feeling kind of weak and asked the nurses if there was anything besides ice I could eat or drink.  Being a nurse, I knew there's always some room for negotiation and they ended up bringing me a popsicle.  Heaven! 

A little while after the movie ended I told my nurse that the contractions had changed quality.  I could feel them mounting by chest pressure and slight shortness of breath.  Then at the peak I could feel pressure lower, in the birth canal.  Another check revealed I was 9+ dilated!  It was about 2:30.  They let me labor a while longer.  The fetal heart rate monitor kept sliding off during the contractions so they talked about putting in a scalp monitor.  I wanted to hold off on that a little more.

At 3:00 I said they could put the scalp monitor in since I could tell they weren't really getting good data.  Also, they started up some pitocin because my contractions were kind of far apart for the final stage of labor.  The pitocin was set to the lowest dose and the nurse prepped the probe.  She was about to put it in but paused, looking quizzically at my nethers, and suggested I try a push with the next contraction.  "Huh, well let's just do that then.  Looks like he's on his way." 

My midwife and the nursery team assembled in the room and the delivery supply table was brought inside.  My midwife had been knocked over by her labrador the day before and fractured her pinky finger.  It was bandaged and braced making sterile gloving slightly comical, but I was totally fine with her doing the delivery.  Something for us to laugh about.  At 3:30 I started pushing with each contraction.  22 minutes and 9 contractions later Jack was born! 

When they held him up all bloody and screaming my first thought was "Holy smokes!  That thing is huge!"  Ben and I were both in shock.  Suddenly we were parents!?  They wiped Jack down and did the initial assessment in the warmer bassinet.  His Apgar was 7 and 9 - really good.  A short Chinese nurse bossed Ben around, telling him what to take pictures of.  I'm glad she did :-)  We declared Jack's name and word soon got around the unit about our interesting middle name choice.  Random nurses popped in to say congratulations and they loved the name. 

The afterbirth was really weird.  I was shaking violently but not cold.  I tried nursing for just a few minutes and Jack already seemed to know what to do.  Ben held him in the rocking chair while I got fixed up.  It took an hour of stitching to fix my tears.  They saved my placenta per my request so I could look at it before tossing it.  I think placentas are so cool.  Mine was perfectly round and intact.  They let me order lunch so I got a grilled cheese sandwich, sierra mist, and veggie sticks.  Ben helped me eat a little but it came right back up.  Ugh.  My blood pressure had dropped to the 80s systolic and apparently I lost all my color and had purple lips.  They let us stay in the L&D room for two hours, twice what it usually takes to recover after the epidural is turned off.

I held Jack in my arms while they wheeled me down the hall to the Mom/Baby unit.  Ben somehow managed to carry everything we brought except the lunch tray in one load.  Here we settled in for a scary, nerve wracking, exciting, happy two days.  I had some issues with heart palpitations and shortness of breath that seemed to have resolved.  Other than that it was a standard stay before we came home on Sunday. 

I loved my experience at Lutheran.  The nurses I had during the entire stay were excellent.  My midwife was wonderful.  I couldn't have asked for a better induction experience.

Today Jack is one week old and we've made some great strides!  He weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces today, which they said is great progress back to his birth weight.  Besides sleeping, eating, and pooping, we're encouraging other endeavors. 

Tummy time to strengthen his muscles and get him tired for night.

Introductions to dance critique to make him cultured.


Arts and crafts to improve dexterity.



And some light econometrics to give him a head start in school. 


But his favorite part of the day is still happy hour at the milk bar.

Jack is doing great.  I'm not so hot.  Well, strike that, I'm very hot.  Our house feels like we're in the middle of summer.  We have our new portable swamp cooler running the bedroom round the clock and we turn on the main floor wall AC unit midday.  The animals are sprawled out on the floors.  Jack doesn't need a hat or even a blanket most of the time. 

I thought I was on the fast track to healing last week but I seem to have hit a wall.  Yesterday and today have been awful.  I feel dizzy when I walk too long or get up too fast.  My right leg feels weak, where I had gracilis pain during the pregnancy.  It burns when I pee.  In fact, that whole area still hurts and often itches.  I've been feeling queasy and nothing sounds good to eat.  I get headaches often.  I have uncontrollable crying spells.  My boobs are too enthusiastic about supply and hurt when Jack cries or goes more than two hours without eating. 

Speaking of which, Jack, we need to get your sleep sorted out.  He seemed to be on a good schedule of eating at 9, 11, 3:30, and 6:30 throughout the night.  He roughly stuck to this all week.  Then last night he decided he needed to eat every two hours.  I was up at 8, 10, 12, 2:20, 4:30, 6:30, and 8.  Too much, buddy!  Each time he's up it takes me an hour to feed him, change him, get him back to sleep, and fall asleep myself.  So at most I had an hour of sleep off and on.  Ugh.  Today he's back on the 3+ hour schedule.  I've taken two naps today but still feel exhausted.  The heat isn't helping. 

Yeah, yeah.  Welcome to parenthood.  I get it.  Can't wait for this part to be over though so I can enjoy being a parent.

He was underwhelmed by his first outing to the Target toy section.  I have a feeling this will change.

Things are quiet and fine in the Mason house.  Some milestones:

• Three nights in a row with greater than 2 hour sleep stretches.  Yay, Jack!
• We went to Park Day with some other moms.  It was nice to be out in the open and visit with other people. 
• Jack's cord fell off this morning!  Besides looking nicer without the grody dead cord, this has two outcomes
• Jack can take a submerged bath!  (no pictures, sorry ;-) He seemed confused, like "hey this is nice and soothing, but wait!  I'm naked and I hate being naked!  But I'm warm . . ."  I cleaned up all the dried bits of milk and dead skin flakes, then gave him a nice coating of lotion.  I guess Colorado is a bit too dry for him because he's had some cracked spots.  
• I can really try the cloth diapers now.  They are too big for his tiny bum and wrap up to the navel.  Before his cord fell off I could see that they were irritating him.  We'll probably always do a combination of cloth and disposable, but I can finally give cloth a real try-out. 

• Jack took his first bottle this morning.  Nothing difficult about it.  I just pumped, put the lid on, handed it to Ben, and stuck it in Jack's mouth.  He slurped it down happily and fell into a milk-drunk nap for the last two hours.  I wanted to try out bottle feeding together before asking Ben to do it solo as a favor in the future.  Also, if we want to leave him with eager grandparents I wanted to be sure he would eat ok.  

And what about me?

• I'm down to 400 mg ibuprofen 2x a day (from 600 mg 3-4x a day).  
• My chest is much less swollen.  Maybe there's hope I'll ever fit in my old tops again.
• Ben went to work yesterday and I did NOT freak out about being home alone with the baby all day.
• But then I made him take me to Freddy's for hamburgers and fries.  Yum!
• Yesterday I shaved my legs!  Hello to breezy summer skirts!
• Our ward has been bringing us food this week and it has been so nice.  Our fridge is full of healthy food as well as desserts. 
• I still think boredom and loneliness will be my biggest problems this summer.  I might have to join a mom's group so I have more socialization to look forward to. 

More baby pictures!! (click on them to enlarge)

They had four of my favorite flavors! I chose chocolate Andes mint.
Yay for getting out of the house!

Ben is back to work this week, leaving me alone with Jack every day.  Yesterday we went to Fort Collins to visit Kristin.  She has a busy week with both her birthday and her due date!  It was great seeing her and Jenni for lunch.  But this meant a long drive with Jack and being away from the house for most of the day.  Despite him deciding he was hungry right when my food arrived, and then letting his poop leak out of his diaper onto my pants in the restaurant, we survived! 

Kristin lent me a book called Babywise.  I haven't read any parenting books yet but I think it was time.  Jack's feedings are chaotic and unpredictable.  I basically feed on demand.  I'm always anxious about when he next need me and feel incompetent about how to care for him all day.  Last night I got only 4 hours of sleep, split up throughout the night.  This book has a simple flexible plan that they recommend.  Apparently I was doing a lot wrong.  I'm going to try to enforce their "feed - waketime - naptime" routine and stop nursing him to sleep, except at night.  I haven't done any "naptimes" yet, just letting him sleep when it happens.  Today I put him down twice and he cried mightily.  But in less than 5 minutes he fell asleep.  Huh.  It worked.  With any luck we can both work out a routine that works for him, so I can feel more in control and less anxious. 

I slept a whopping 6 hours last night!  (split into two 3 hours chunks)  So far Jack is doing pretty good with our routine and I'm feeling a lot better than I did the last couple days.  But I won't throw any confetti yet.

I went to a free lactation support group this morning, followed by a "Survival for New Moms" group.  They meet weekly for just $5, you get to have a lesson, talk to the nurses, and meet other new moms.  Today we learned infant massage.  I learned some tummy swooping moves that are supposed to be good for digestion.  While practicing Jack let out some good poop, so I guess they work!  I'll have to try them the next time he gets fussy from gas.  I talked with a couple other girls about our boys and cloth diapering (it seems to be the hot topic among mothers these days).  Jack was the youngest baby by 3 weeks. Not sure if I'll go regularly, but it's a nice option to have around.  They were a nice group and I signed up for their e-mail list. 

By the way, I need to pat myself on the back for going to this group.  This required getting up at SEVEN AM to get myself showered and dressed and Jack ready to go out the door by 9:20.  And I wore MASCARA and EARRINGS.  Like a normal adult woman.  Alright, alright, I admit it.  I wore my maternity stretch jeans.  They are just too comfy! At least I wore real pants and a button-up shirt instead of sweat pants and a T shirt.  Also, I had to talk to STRANGERS in a casual, friendly-type way.  Pat pat pat pat.

During the lactation support portion (which is free!) they weighed Jack and looked at his latch.  He's still hurting me, we think he's just squishing down his mouth too hard while sucking.  We weighed before and after feedings and determined he ate about 3.5 ounces, a good amount for his size.  His weight was 9 pounds 8 ounces - finally got back to his birth weight and then some!

(This second picture shows how he was fascinated by the fluorescent lights during the group.)

I'm trying to do little things to feel normal again. During his morning nap yesterday I baked cookies. This recipe that Miranda pointed me to makes the BEST cookies. I can't stop eating them.  I even cooked dinner once this week.  It was a nice change to have freshly prepared, home-cooked food. 

I have a wild garden this year.  I haven't done a single thing to it, not even watered.  This lone iris is blooming.  My clematis is ready to burst.  Most of my herbs came back - mint, sage, thyme, lemon balm, and lavender.

Jealous of my mother's birdfeeder, I had her get one for me last November.  Despite it being "squirrel proof, squirrels had been emptying it fast all winter.  You can see one hanging off the fence in this snowy picture. 
I found a spot outside that's a little harder for the squirrels to get to and in return I have beautiful red finches in my window all day.  The birds are camera shy, so I only got this blurry picture.  Molly is VERY interested in the backyard lately. That squirrel is pissed that I let her out there.  He's barking at her from the roof now. 

Dude, you can order Qdoba nachos with the chips on the side, so they
don't get soggy. We're getting a fathe'rs day lunch before going to a
family-hosted baby shower.

Ben and Jack, at 3 weeks and 2 days old, on Father's Day. This is also the first time Jack has smiled in response to our voices and faces (instead of just after eating or burping). What a moment to catch! I had a hard time picking my favorite photo, so check out the others on Ben's photostream.

After 20 minutes of fussing I couldn't figure out what he needed.  So I let him fall asleep on my shoulder.  I guess that's what he needed.  :-)

Last weekend Ben's aunts hosted a lovely baby shower as a chance for the family to meet Jack.  They had great snacks, including M&Ms with his name printed on them!  My parents and grandmother came all the way out to attend the shower.  We got some great things to round out our nursery, including a diaper bag, baby monitors, nightlights, and an exersaucer. I posted all my pictures on flickr, but here are some of my favorite of him being passed around.

I never posted a follow-up to the nursery decorating, did I?  Here are some photos from the other day.

I received this Poang rocking chair from Ikea and I just love to nurse here!  I set up a little station with water, books, burp cloths, and boppy.  I use it at night instead of nursing the bed because it's more comfortable to sit in the chair.  The book shelf is more supplies than books at this point, with a few toys thrown in the mix.  You can see I chose the teal damask print fabric for curtains.  I'm happy with my choice.  Miranda is working on turning the bird print fabric that I also bought into a quilt! 

On the left is another angle of the crib wall.  You can see the wall decal from Blik that is the main decoration.  Also, my finished sweater vest is pinned on the wall, waiting for him to grow into it.

On the right is the changing area.  I framed the fox prints that I found in NYC and put those above the table.  We have a cloth diaper service right now, and those are piled in the green basket.  The robot painting was done by my brother Andrew.

While taking these pictures Jack napped in his crib for the first time!  He has a preference for sleeping in his basket, so I'm slowly getting him used to being the crib.  We'll probably move him out of our room to sleep in the nursery in a couple weeks.

I went to visit April with her daughter Ella this week.  We couldn't believe how small and big they look!  Ella was born at 34 weeks, 2 days before Jack, who was born at 41 weeks.  Also, her family are all shorties while I come from a family of monster men on both sides.  I love this photo!

My mom came to visit for a couple days this week and it was heaven!  She just took care of Jack for me and kept me entertained for two days.  We went shopping and got some cute outfits for Jack.  She taught me how to do a kitchen sink bath.  He's still not a fan of being wet and naked.  I caught up on some sleep while she cared for him in the afternoon and mornings.  I could have her come every week!

And I'm trying to savor every minute of it. I love you, little dude.

I'll stop with the anniversaries soon, but one month is a milestone!  I'm so impressed with how fast Jack is growing.  He smiles and sighs.  He holds his head up when he is upright.  He seems to be a double sneezer, like my brother.  What else will we discover?

Look what I got in the mail today!

Hee hee hee.  I LOVE it. 

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Look at my baby’s chubbiness! I can’t stand it!

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

Today has been a really good day so far. 

1. Jack slept for 5.5 hours in a row last night!  Then I got 1 more, then Ben took him downstairs giving me an extra 1.5.  The total is almost a normal night's sleep.
2. I wore my pre-pregnancy pants today!  Only took 5 weeks to get back into them - hurrah for nursing-weight loss.  They are slightly snug, but no worse than my "fat" days used to be.  
3. We bought a stroller for Jack - but paid less than the link and got it in green and gray.  Ben was resistant but finally agreed to let me get one.  Jack is a little young for the style.  He can't quite hold his head up for the ride.  But it's not much worse than how he sits in his car seat and he'll quickly grow into it.  I didn't like any stroller options with a bigger recline and don't want to buy TWO nice strollers to accommodate different growth stages. 
4. We met friends at Fatburger for lunch.  Mmmmm.
5. Jack slept the whole time we shopped.  Then he was happy and quiet (not crying) for a good chunk of time this afternoon.  
6. Ben picked up groceries for the fourth and pizza for dinner.  Yeah, we're super healthy these days ;-)
7. The forecast for tomorrow is in the 70s!  Even if we get rained out of our picnic plans, I look forward to the break from heat. 

Now if only Jack can repeat his sleep stretch tonight I'll be the happiest mom on the block.

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

We didn't do a whole lot to celebrate the 4th this year.  We met some friends in the park for a picnic.  Delicious!  The rain chased us away after an hour.  We retreated to Brian's house for Rock Band.

Yes, I already posted two Jack things today.  Do I do anything else?  (Yes, today I made carnitas and cupcakes and did laundry).  But look!  Look at the cuteness!  (This is mostly a video for Grandmas.  Others may tire after the first 30 seconds.)

Pardon my dorkiness. I find my voice super obnoxious here, but Jack seems to respond when I talk this way. Whenever you hear "mmmmm" I'm sticking my tongue out at him.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13164502&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Stick out your tongue! from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I call this second video: The Master Class
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13164556&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Stick out your tongue take 2 from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I caught Ben reading the classic Pat the Bunny to Jack.  But his interpretation is more authoritarian than most. 

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13191730&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Now YOU pat the bunny. from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

The cupcakes I alluded to were for my friend April's baby shower.  She has three boys and just welcomed a girl, Ella, the same week Jack was born!  Sarah hosted the party and as expected, it was spectacular.  Everyone should have a friend with Sarah's capabilities.  Her husband Steve posted some pictures on the blog.  The cupcakes I made were mini versions of the cupcakes I had at my graduation.  I also put my Cricut to use to make a name banner.  Ella got some super cute clothes!  Jack is great, but I wish I could put him in something with ruffles on the bum.  If they are black ruffles with flames up the legs, does that work for a guy?

Jack can handle tummy time for a couple minutes now before having a melt down. Exercise is so HARD!  (Right after I cut the shot he completed the hiccup-cough-sneeze combo with a long fart.  He is an artist.)

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13360689&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Tolerating Tummy Time from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Hot. Blech.  I really hate summer.  Tomorrow I hope to run away to my parents' house for a few days.  I'm getting burned out by being home alone with Jack day in and day out.  Sure, I had fun shopping with my sister this weekend.  Tonight I might escape for a few hours to play trivia.  But I'm building a serious case of the doldrums.  For every cute video or picture I post, there's at least an hour of fussing or crying which I didn't think was particularly photo worthy.  

Third nap of the day.  Finally.  He's having a hard day.  Aw crap, looks like he's woken himself up again.  I better go pacify.

I'm in Grand Junction visiting the grands for a few days.  Jack is having a great time.  We went swimming and shopping and there has been much adoration.  Last weekend I noticed that Jack finally discovered the mobile on his swing at home.  We got him one that attaches to the crib and has crisp, simple pictures.  He is FASCINATED.  He is happy to spend over an hour cooing and kicking at the pictures.  Here's some video.  Again, sorry, but this is fairly boring for non-baby lovers.  But I wanted his dad back home in Lakewood to see a how cool mobiles are. 

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13555536&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
Mobiles are Cool from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I needed a change of scenery.  I packed up Jack and forty times his weight in burp rags and onesies, and took off over the mountains to mooch off my folks for a couple days. 

Stopping to nurse on Vail Summit.  How beautiful!

Caught Grandpa Will at work.  Got to help with dictation, mostly by staring at the power cord in the corner.

His first time swimming with Grandma Susan.  We swam three times during the trip.  Each time he was fairly sleepy and this was the most reaction we got.  Maybe when we come back in August if we catch him after a nap he'll give it some smiles. 

I had hands-free time to relax.

We took Jack shopping downtown and found some fabulous legwarmers, sunglasses, and of course the infamous mobile.

Grandpa Rick even came by to get some Jack time.  The lure of Jack is powerful.

Not pictured: the giant box of apricots that we turned into jam.

I'll go outside, but I don't want to sense it.

Last weekend we had dinner at a strange restaurant called White Fence Farm.  We came up with several ways to describe it.  "Cracker Barrel on Crack."  "The American Casa Bonita." "A cross between Las Vegas and a Wyoming gas station."  The best part was the cute goats they had in the petting pen.  I ventured as close as I dared with Jack to get these pictures.  Don't bite my baby!

The next day we took the whole family (minus cat) to Fort Collins for a BBQ dinner with Kristin's family.  I finally met her darling girl, Coral. 

(I love how she has Yoda-proportions in the second photo because her legs are tucked up)

When Jack woke up I delayed eating to get some side by side photos.  Jack was not pleased with the delay.

Survived his first flight with nary a whimper.

Here are some of the best shots I got from our trip to Salt Lake for Andy's wedding.  Click on any picture to see a larger version.  I'm splitting it into two posts to make posting pictures easier for me ;-)  There are many many more on my flickr account here.

We stayed at a Marriott downtown with the Waterhouse clan. Sadie has taken swimming lessons and was showing us her new skills.

Friday night we attended the rehearsal dinner at Bucca di Beppo.  We met Jenn's family and joined up with some of the Cook family (my mom's side).




Saturday morning was the ceremony in Cottonwood Canyon.

We're back in Denver after a long vacation at my parents home.  Many came to visit, we swam almost every day, and I made over a dozen batches of gelato.  Great trip, yes?  I'm uploading all my photos (minus a nudie shot of Jack) to flickr.  It's so hard to skim down to my favorites for this post but I'll try!

I brought some Fancy Tiger fabric to make bibs for Jack.  Only succeeded in making one.  It'll be an ongoing project.

Grandpa snoozing with the baby.

Miranda and Zaley came to play!  Z wanted to hold Jack.  She did so with mixed results.  I love Jack's face here, he's like "Whoa, going down!"

Natasha reclaims her rightful property - Amanda's lap.

So sleepy :-)

Brian helps Zaley reach another level on the mini-trampoline.

Lovely timing.

Grandma and Jack.  I love bold, clean lines for baby clothes! This one reminds me of the ninja turtles.

Toss her in!

Even me and Jack!

Baby toes get pruney too.

He has a swimsuit, but going naked is easier.

Yarn shopping on Main Street for the moms, a Giant Frog for Zaley.

When I got my mom a yarn winder and swift as a gift, you know I was scheming to use it myself.

Don't you love fast knit baby clothes in bulky yarns?  Don't you love the glam rock style this evokes?

Cat is still jealous . . .

We all get lunch when we go out.


Grandma Betty so happy to be back in Colorado.

Jack's looking a tad gangsta in the other sweater I knit this trip.  Maybe it will fit better next year.

Whoa.  There are NO pictures of me making gelato.  How did that happen?  I made the gelato to stock pile for Andy's reception next weekend.  Mom has a DeLonghi gelato maker and it's all kinds of rad.  Here's a list of what I made:

• Nutella with hazelnuts
• milk chocolate
• dark chocolate
• chili chocolate
• mint chip (still my favorite)
• apricot vanilla x2
• raspberry
• vanilla bean x2
• cantaloupe
• lemon
• cherry vanilla

So so good. 

Like I said above, many people came to visit while I was there.  It went something like this:

• Me (+ Jack) and Amanda came
• Miranda and Zaley came
• Nate, Ben and Brian came
• Ben left
• Amanda, Brian, and Nate left
• Miranda and Zaley left
• Amanda came
• Amanda left
• Ben and Betty came
• Ben and Rachel (+Jack) left

A little confusing, yes?

The last Saturday Ben and I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.  Of course I loved it.  How could I not?  Edgar Wright + Michael Cera + Jason Schwartzman mixed with a funny script, crazy production style, and video game flavor.  I can't wait to see it again, and then buy to watch at home over and over.

We took the scenic route home to avoid traffic.  Eh, I don't recommend doing that.  Happily we did all our laundry before leaving, so the post-trip mess isn't as bad as it could be.  Today I'm working on bills, organizing my return to work, stocking our kitchen, and of course keeping Jack happy :-)  It's raining outside and the animals are hiding in the basement.  A very quiet day back in Denver.

A little Jack update for you.  He's 11 weeks old already!  He coos almost non-stop when he's awake and is still trying hard to laugh, but hasn't figured it out yet.  He still fits size 3-6 month clothes, thank goodness!  But most of his socks are too small.  He still naps for most of the day, staying awake for 45-90 minutes at a time on average.

He got a fancy new bouncer chair that he loves so far.  The bounces are reactions to his kicks.  Although he doesn't understand that, he can get is going nicely.  There's a nice wooden toy rack that attaches to the front.  I was thrilled to see that he immediately started reaching for it! 

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=14191867&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0
Jack's Chair from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Jem HATES water. But this was such a nice warm pool! Maybe she'll change her mind?

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=14191916&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=1&color=&fullscreen=1&autoplay=0&loop=0
Jem swims in air from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I went back to work today - and what a day it was!  It was supposed to be a day of class/orientation to catch me up from missing the summer and be sure I knew my stuff.  Last night, the recorded message of our daily schedule told me that instead I would go to one of our hospitals and work with a nurse there, getting familiar with some of the new policies, then go to our main hospital to go over missed material from mid-day on.  I was called at 4:45 am to ask if I could go straight to the main hospital instead.  One of our morning staff got called in and was already in the ICU since 3 am.  Sure, no prob.  When I got there at 6 am, lo, our third person had called in sick.  So it was just me and one other nurse to run a room full of patients at our craziest facility!  So much for easing into it! 

Somehow, when I put my familiar, bleach-stained scrubs on my muscle memory took over and I was a nurse again.  I strung machines and assessed my patients.  Right away I stuck needles in a guy who had infiltrated his fistula yesterday during a stick - and mine worked!  I gave medications, I troubleshooted poor access flows, I managed fluid volume with saline and meds.  It was kind of amazing.  All these things I hadn't thought about in months came flooding back. 

It was a crazy day and we didn't get a third person in the room until 9.  I ran out as soon as possible to pump.  Pumping is the worst part of returning to work.  I really dreaded it.  It wasn't so bad.  I managed to get three sessions in.  I spilled about 6 ounces :-(  but it wasn't too messy and I tried not to cry.  (Ha! crying over spilt milk.)  I was on my feet for all but 60 minutes today.  Boy am I glad to have tomorrow off.  And hurrah!  They gave us a teleconference number so I can call-in instead of attending a staff meeting in person.  I MUCH prefer to attend with Jack in my lap. 

Speaking of Jack, he's been asleep since 5 pm so I haven't been able to hold him yet.  It sounds like he had a very nice day with his Dad.  He doesn't want to go back to work tomorrow :-)  I'm so so happy with our Jack-watching arrangement.  I can't wait for him to wake up so I can feed him and cuddle with him.

Jack turned three months old on Saturday.  I worked a long day and didn't get around to posting until now.  What's to say?  He's a chunk of a guy and we love him to bits!  I think we lucked out an awesome baby.  We tried to take some photos Saturday night while he was asleep, but we woke him up with our whispering and camera clicking.

Here are some videos I took today for your enjoyment.


Pat a cake with free toes from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.



In the Kitchen on a Bouncer from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I'm obsessed with acquiring one of these hats for Jack.  A crafter in Grand Junction sells them at Kairos and online at Etsy.  I can't wait for Jack to be old enough to wear capes and funny hats.  Heck, I'll settle for cold weather so I can bundle him in knitwear from head to toe!

Today was a mellow day off.  We went to the lactation support group for a weight check.  He's 15 pounds 5 ounces, which is 85th percentile.  Down a little bit but still nothing to sneeze at.  I made a listless trip to Target while he slept in the carseat/shopping cart.  I was looking for more clothes by The Little Seed but it seems that Denver has sold out already!  Too bad.  I became a fan after seeing how well the colors stayed bright after washing.  Most baby clothes fade very fast.  Also, I found out the company was started by Punky Brewster!  Gotta love it.

At home we played, he napped, I knit and watched Pushing Daisies.  Then I made chicken teriyaki for dinner.  Ben came home, we ate and put Jack back to bed.  I sent Ben out for ice cream so we can have dessert while we watch Burn Notice.  I hope we can finish an episode before Jack wakes up again.

It's Labor Day and I worked from 6 am to 9 pm.  I hope I don't get called in again tonight.

Dang yo, it's actually cold!  And I'm feeling it because I'm not pregnant - woo!  I love a day where I can put on my flannel pants and sweat shirt, and dress my kiddo in footie pajamas.  A kid who has learned to turn on his side and squirm all over, so blankets don't keep him warm because he'll end up 180 degrees from where you put him down, sucking on one corner of the blanket, and kicking the crib with fury because it makes a loud noise.  Yeah, that's what I found 20 minutes after he was supposed to be down for a nap.  So now we're taking pictures.

I did NOT get called in again last night, let the angels sing.  I didn't mind working late, with overtime and holiday AND callback pay stacked, I think earned September's mortgage payment in one day! But enough was enough and I'm grateful for a relatively full night's sleep. 

Enough work talk.  More pictures!  Saturday we went to the Botanic Gardens and then lunch at Steve's Snappin' Dogs.  Both were a pleasure.





Find more pictures from the gardens on Ben's flickr site here. 

We went to Cafe Rio for dinner and Sweet Action for dessert (Earl Grey for Ben, Raspberry Chip for me and Brian.)  Brian jokingly offered Jack some ice cream and got a delightful response.  Poor kid is so teased!  [Let the record show that I'm firmly against giving Jack anything but breastmilk at this point.  Please don't feed my baby other things.]


Yes please! from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Sunday I put Jack in the sweater vest I knit before he was born.   Good thing I tried - I almost missed the window of fit time!

More pictures here. 

These smiles didn't last.  During church he dissolved into a puddle of crankiness that kept me out of the whole meeting and made me bolt for the car as soon as the closing prayer amen-ed.  I think he was reacting to being dragged all over Denver the day before.  Oh well, it was worth it.  Sunday his Grandparents Mason came for a short visit, along with Ben's aunt Jean.  They marveled at how fast he's growing.  I couldn't agree more.

Can I share with you my favorite thing about work? The floor of our
HD unit uses Star Wars characters to ID their med carts. Whenever I
pass by this pouty picture of Han Solo I feel warm fuzzies.

My folks came out for the weekend and we ate it up!  No, seriously.  There was a lot of food.  Damascus Middle Eastern, Goodtimes, Walnut Pizzeria, Sweet Action, Yianni's Greek, Blue Sky Cafe, and Cafe Rio.  Between the eating we did some shopping - Amanda got some drama costumes, mom and I loaded up on craft projects, hit the Apple store, and I got a new luscious leather purse.  It makes me feel like a grown-up!

The highlight of the trip was seeing the Tutankhamun exhibit at the Denver Art Museum.  Ben and I have been listening to a lecture series about Egypt's history.  It's been a fascinating story to hear while we drive.  We were excited to see all the artifacts we had been reading about. 

Most of my pictures are my parents playing with their grandson.  Enjoy!

Ben and I were both off of work today.  Aside from a TON of errands and the five poopy diapers this morning (he usually only poops every other day - so thanks for the plums, Ida!), we had lots of time to give Jack love and attention.

Galloping - an easy game for me to play and a nice alternative to the wretched tummy time. 

Galloping Jack from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Rocket - Ben makes better sound effects than me.  His rides also last longer than mine.

Rocket Jack from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Jumper - Still too young to enjoy the jumper.  He used it just to do some freestyle standing, which was mildly entertaining for him.  (The sheepskin serves as an impromptu floor pad because carpet tacks poke through on the threshold.)

Standing in his Jumper from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Wrist Rattles - Grandma Betty sent over rattles that attach to his arms and legs.  He immediately wanted it in his mouth, but couldn't quite figure out the physics that it would require.

Wrist Rattle Jack from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Sock rattles - Not wanting to overwhelm him, we did hands and feet separately.  This was close to his bedtime, so his play was not very enthusiastic, but he got a good handle on reaching for these bugs.

Sock Rattles Jack from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

(If you are counting outfit changes due to various fluids today, the answer is SIX for Jack plus two for me and Ben each)

PS: Ben wants the world to know that we got an awesome new modem called a Deugaster or something, and it gets 25 megabitso thingies speed.  Apparently this is hella fast and he immediately called his boyfriends to brag.  They were duly impressed.

Here are some photos I've had knocking around.

The three of us together!


Kristin, Jenni, and Coral came to visit.  We put them down for tummy time together. 

It did not go well.


But we got some nice group photos afterward.  (Thank you Ben!)

I think I also talked about these sweaters I knit while in GJ. Here they are finished. It's too warm to wear them yet.

I made a knit hat from the "Aviatrix" pattern.  I used some soft, stretchy yarn from my stash, and didn't know its weight or brand.  Even though I made the 0-3 month size and small needles, it knit up huge!  It must be bulkier weight than I guessed.  The hat fits me perfectly. 

I remade the hat in cashmerino aran for Jack in a manly orangey red.  Smaller yarn weight and small needles, so it fits!  These photos are from before I blocked it.  I still need to get a button.  I'll have to post more photos when it's cool enough for me to force the finished hat on his head.

Finally, I have a sweater started for myself.  I ordered some great yarn from Knit Picks and already knit through the first skein.  This photo is from the start - it's about 4 inches longer than shown here. 

I also have my lacy rainbow shawl kicking around, and the argyle sweater for Jack.  It's probably too big for him this winter, so I slowed down my work on it.  Plus I have 6 skeins of blue heather yarn I spun on my wheel that needs to be knit into a cardigan.  So much to do!  Good thing the good TV shows are back on air for me to knit along.

We got the go ahead to start feeding Jack solid foods at his last check-up.  (BTW, he's 80% for weight at 16 pounds, 11 ounces.  He's off the charts for height at 28 1/4 inches.  That matches the 99% for a SIX month old.)

Despite our spoon being too big, he seemed to enjoy it.  Unsure at first of what to do with this sludgy, tasteless stuff we were putting in his mouth, he looked very confused.  But soon he figured out it was fun to play with in his mouth and having me repeatedly put a spoon to his mouth was SUPER fun.  He started grabbing my hand and pulling it in.  I think he ate just 2 teaspoons of rice cereal.  Oh well, that's not the point.  We'll get a smaller spoon and keep practicing for fun. 

Curious:

Hesitant:

Determined:

Surprise:

Confusion:

Epiphany:

Approval:

And there's a few more posted on flickr.  To congratulate him on this momentous step forward, Ben handed his shiny new TI-83 to Jack.  Ben had to get one for his math class and Jack has been lusting after its buttons.


Smug:
Sniff, my little boy is growing up too fast!  First rice cereal and now graphing linear equations!

What is it about post-partum and feeling like a frumpy house-frau?  I have to wear blue and black, bleach and blood stained baggy clothes to work.  When I'm home I either wear baggy comfortable clothes, or a mish-mash of things bought over the past 15 years that don't fit very well, are out of style, or are plain unflattering but purchased because they were such a steal.  This needs to stop.  In the words of Twist, "Stop feeling like a fat, ugly failure."

After two weeks of tenuous consideration I marched into Old Navy today and tried on 9 pairs of skinny jeans.  I hated this trend three years ago.  But seeing that it is still around, and all my bootcut pants hide my legs (my one good body feature I have left), and reading online that bootcuts are becoming the new "mom jeans" I took the plunge.  For $16 each it isn't a big risk.  I bought two pairs and I'm wearing them around the house today with tags on to see if they will really work.

High on my triumph, I went to Ulta to find new foundation.  For years I've used a drugstore powder.  It's time to upgrade.  I was in the store for only 90 seconds, but accosted by 4 glowing, beautifully made-up women offering me help.  I started sweating and felt like hiding my unmade face and tangled hair, quickly becoming overwhelmed by the many expensive foundation options.  I retreated to the car, vowing to return with my sister for moral support, and a nicer outfit and base face. If skinny jeans took me 2 weeks and 9 pairs, I better do my research before returning to Ulta.  One step at a time.

Let's not even talk about my hair problems.

Instead, here's a cute picture of my baby!  Distraction!  I'm going to knit and watch 30 Rock!

"Sesame Street is black magic." - Ben.

I got called in to work 7 hours yesterday.   Not bad for a Sunday.  I didn't get called out again in the evening - woohoo!  More good news is that on our new schedule I don't have any weekend call, only a couple regular shifts on Saturday. 

Today is my day off and I'm spending it making Jack happy.  We played lots of games, read books, and later are going to take a walk with Jem.  We went down to Littleton to have lunch with Ben for the last time.  I don't think I've explained on the blog about his work changes yet.  Basically, he's been getting very tired of his job and feeling stuck there.  During his days with Jack he realized how easily he could do school online during naps.  He found a great program at Regis to get his Computer Science degree through online classes.  I'm so excited for him to go back to school and get his degree.  Regis was really good to me and I know he'll have great classes there.  For now, he is taking three pre-reqs through Red Rocks online.  He got accepted at Regis and will start classes through them starting in January.  At first we thought he would continue to work until then, but we decided that life would be happier if he quit sooner.  Tomorrow is his last day.  I think we'll do fine on just my salary.  It will really pay off when he can launch himself into a new part of his career in a year or two (he's still figuring out how long it will take).  In the mean time, I think he's going to have a blast taking classes in a field he loves. 

And for no reason, here's a video of me and Jack!

Near and Far from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Jack likes to see himself on the computer screen. This is another boring baby video. I'm whispering "near" and "far" to Jack, so no, there's nothing wrong with your sound. You can't hear anything but Ben's computer fan buzzing.

I LOVE it when it rains in the morning.  We made cookies!  Jack started at the very beginning of learning to help - holding a spatula.

I added a bunch of videos to my vimeo account.  They are all FTG quality (For The Grands), meaning that some of my audience might not want to endure all of them.  Here's a sampling embedded for ya.

Grammar talk from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.


First cereal meal from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Whoops, was that a week ago that I last posted?  Time flies!  This week was my sister's birthday, my brother's birthday, and Miranda's birthday, who came to visit Denver with her family.  I took off yesterday and today so we could hit all our favorite places.  I got some fabric from Fancy Tiger today to make another tunic.  It took great willpower not to walk out with another skein of Twinkle bulky yarn.  I love them so. 

Tomorrow is my Saturday at work.  Fingers crossed that it will be a short day!  Jack had a grumpy mood all of today and his sleep schedule is pretty messed up.  I'd like to spend some happy time with him, and see my friends and sister a little more.  

This photo is from the same day as the last one.  Another adorable expression to start your weekend.

It's feast or famine at my job.  Saturday was a half day, but Monday I worked 15 hours.  It was a stressful morning - they had me alone at one of our hospitals with a full day of work, including a blood transfusion in the morning and I haven't given blood at this hospital before, so it was a whole new set of documentation and procedure to figure out.  During the first 45 minutes of my day I found out we had two additional patients, and I hadn't even had a chance to do water checks yet!  I called my coordinator who lovingly swooped in and helped me.  Then the day changed and it looked like I would go home around 1, and just be on call.  But THEN I had to switch hospitals for another treatment.  My patient took, literally, hours to be arrive.  Once we started I had problem after problem.  I finally got permission to end the treatment for the night, and it was 9:30 pm.  On the drive home there were strong winds.  The cars on C-470 were swerving around, trying not to blow into each other.  Bed was heaven. 

On my day off today I stayed in pajamas until lunch.  Ben spent a good chunk of the morning on math homework.  I played with Jack and did my usual day off fare - laundry, grocery shopping, knitting, TV shows (there are so many good ones this fall!).  I made meatloaf and potatoes with broccoli and cauliflower for dinner.  Brian came over to share some Halloween cupcakes.  It sounds like Halloween trivia last night was a blast, I'm sorry I had to miss it.  We had more wind today, so I kept Jack cozy in lots of layers.  He's been rubbing his eyes all day.  I can't tell if he's super sleepy or if he's having a mild allergic reaction.  If it's allergies, then to what? Wool hat? Knit romper? Sweet potatoes? Cat hair? These are all new things that he got into today.  Oh well.  He didn't seem distressed about it.

This weekend I'm looking forward to Amanda's Home Speech Meet.  Brian and I get to be judges.  We're all doing a sleepover at the condo Friday night.  Jem and Natasha, plus baby and three adults!  It should be lots of fun. 

I kind of hope to get home in time to attend the ward "fall festival" aka Halloween party Saturday night.  We have costumes but no place to show them off.  Sunday we might go walking around the Highlands neighborhood.  Brian might have people over at night. Who knows, maybe we'll just answer the door in costume.

(What did I say about feast or famine? I only got 7 hours of work today.  But I'm on call all day and night so I might pick up a few more)

Boy do I love TV.  I never thought there would be so many shows that I enjoy watching.  If you are looking for a new show,  here's my list- in order of enjoyment.

Can't wait for a new one each week:
1. The Good Guys
2. (tie) 30 Rock, Community
3. How I Met Your Mother

Look forward to, but knit while watching:
4. Bones
5. Glee
6. Castle
7. American Dad

Pure knitting background noise:
8. The Big Bang Theory
9. The Office
10. Better With You
11. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
12. Modern Family
13. Family Guy
14. Running Wilde

Can't wait for the season to start up again:
-Burn Notice
-Doctor Who

After my aviator hat Martha asked what else I was knitting.  What else?!  With my little dude to keep bundled warm as an excuse, I'm going a little crazy lately.  Here's a shot of my ravelry page for you non-members:

(Yes Amanda, those German rolls I have tabbed are for Friday night - if I don't get called in to work.)

There are four more rows of completed/hibernating projects below these two rows, and I have four projects queued and two more in my head.  Here are some more photos of Jack in the new tri-peak hat.  First it was too small, then it was too big.  I'm leaving it large.   Maybe in another couple months it will fit.
Ben thinks he looks like a stoner in this hat.  He provided subtitles.  For the above: Dude, is that a Jack-in-the-Box taco?
For this one: Oh duuuuuuude, I'm so wasteeeeeeeed.

PS Speaking of munchies . . . Amanda, we went to Edward's Meats and got some promising German sausages.  Ben drooled over the elk meat cooler.  They had AMAZING stuff.  Dad, if we have time you should check it out on your next visit.  And bring a chest to take home.

Ben's dream come true, he made a manbaby of himself:

I'm so sorry for that.

We are so stoked about the latest improvement to our home.  I would have liked to put in new flooring first.  But with Jack's mobility around the corner, our first priority was ditching the tacky, old metal rod railing and putting in a real banister.  Ben found a local handyman for the job.  Clay and his son Luke have been working hard to make our stairs safer and more beautiful!  Later Ben and I will stain and finish it. 

Ben is so nerdy proud of the railing.  He called me up from the basement "Come look at this!  It's so great!"  What did he want me to look at?  That wooden plank they had just laid down where the carpet is peeled.  Uh, cool?  Ben has been pausing and admiring the stairs all day.  :-)

I feel so awkward when people are working in my home.  Should I help them hold nails?  Make them cookies?  Put on music for them?  Leave?  I chose to hole-up a floor away from them for most of the day.

This improvement has me itching for more!  Blinds in the front window?  Yes, please.  New carpeting/wood floors?  Oh, yes!  If only we had a couple more savings accounts to dip into.  For now, I'm happy :-)

(PS: I'm really happy.  Honestly.  Jack is darling.  My job is great.  Ben quitting his job has made him happier than I've seen in years.  Life is good.)

Jack has been trying solid foods this month.  First he had rice cereal.  Since then we have given him apples, sweet potatoes, carrots, and pears (with 6 or 7 days between foods, of course).  He watches us intently when we eat.  So while I was eating an apple, I thought why not let him suck on it a little?  Let him feel like a big boy, eh?  It was pretty funny. 

Gumming an apple from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun weekend!  I have super garlic breath from all the garlic knots we ate.  Jack is loving his new Swedish clothes.  I have more pictures of the grandparents with J.D. to put up tomorrow.  Right now I'm finishing off the Lovely Confections cupcakes.  Amanda, see you tomorrow to start putting on a musical!

My folks came to visit this weekend.  Nothing fancy, lots of food and shopping and fun like always :-)  We went to Flatirons Crossing mall.  I haven't been up that way in a while.  So crowded!  The holiday shopping is moving earlier and earlier I suppose.  I haven't even started my Christmas shopping.  I'm in the generating ideas stage. 

We had lunch in the food court, then picked up Ben and went to Edwards Meats.  As expected, Dad went a little crazy there.  He found an interesting addition to their Thanksgiving table in Utah.  Mom just carried Jack around the store, then went back to car to play with him while Dad finished ogling the meat. 

Next we went downtown to Tattered Cover.  No pictures of Amanda smiling, but believe me, she was.  A quick stop for cupcakes, then Jack totally lost it and started bawling.  A whole day out is a lot for him!  We went back to my place for Virigilio's take out.  Delish. 

Sunday morning was a quiet breakfast, again at my place when Jack failed to wake-up early enough.  He tried on some new duds (adorable overalls!) and his new booster seat.  Mostly fun for clanking toys against at this point.  Mom and Dad had good roads going home, Amanda and I sewed up Macbeth cloaks, and Jack caught up on his sleep.  A great weekend (but I'm glad I have today off too!)

More photos are on flickr.  Yes, they are mostly people adoring or dressing up Jack.  Such is life with a baby.

Brrr! Winter is coming, I can really feel it now. Here are some ways we are celebrating our favorite time of year.

Hearty elk stew!  Ben has gotten to know our neighbors fairly well (I only know the two men we share walls with).  He made friendly with a hunter and got four bundles of freshly killed wild elk.  Look at that blood!  Chunky potatoes and a branch of sage from my garden rounded it out. 

Jack got some warm things to keep him snuggly in the snow.  This snow suit has room to grow, but he liked wearing it now. (On the right, he's trying to suck his fingers)
I can't express how happy these knit rompers from Hanna Andersson make me.  He has another one in plain red and white he hasn't worn yet.  Cozy Scandinavian-ness with blue baby eyes - bliss!


While in Bailey Jack met Natasha.  She loves being scratched so much she'll even let a baby do it.  Jack has become very interested in our pets lately.  (PS to Mom, those are the monster PJs from the Parmelies.  Kirsty is the one who introduced me to the Scandinavian store.)

Just a nice shadow on a crisp November day.

Knitting knitting knitting.  I made this hat in one day.  I wanted something big and poofy.  

Annual First-Snow waffles.  You need Lars Pearl Sugar to make these authentic Belgian Waffles.  No syrup required.

Marshmallows with 4 vanilla beans.  I feel it is my duty to give a bag of homemade marshmallows to Dad every winter.  
Also, a fragrant rosemary tree perfuming my kitchen.  I only wish I was better at keeping these alive longer.  I always over or under water them.  

Earlier this fall I had an idea.  But I was shy.  Ben was not, and he shared my idea with the dude for me.  About a month later:

The fourth flavor on the left, that's mine!

And indeed, it is delicious.  Others agree! I was happy to see about half of the bin already gone to other people who love honey and cornbread too.  Sweet Action is the best.

Many of you have asked how Jack gets on with Jem Dog and Molly Cat.  Over the past couple weeks Jack has gotten very excited about touching them.  He lights up whenever he sees them.  Today we gave Jack some treats to give Jem.  Here's a video I shot after giving two treats.  For context, it's close to his bedtime so he's whiny, and Jem actually ate the first two treats straight out of his hand. Still, pretty cute and shows how much he loves the animals.

Jack gives Jem treats from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Last night I finished Mary Roach's latest, Packing for Mars: the Curious Science of Life in the Void on my kindle.  I'm so sad it's over!  Her books at fascinating and hilarious, and I think this was her best yet.  Go read it now so we can talk about space poop.

I may have been up for 28 hours . . .
I may have had to work a 13 hour day, then an 8 hour night . . .
I may have lost my voice from working while recovering from a cold . . .
I may have spiked a fever this morning . . .
I may not be recovering from the cold yet . . .
I may have passed the cold to Jack . . .
I may have slept all morning while Ben's parents cooked the turkey . . .
I may have to go out tonight on another call . . .

. . . but, dammit,  I'm not going to bed without having my fill of cheese log and wheat thins.  It's Thanksgiving after all. 

PS: I may have an awesome husband at my beck and call all day, and kind in-laws who made the entire Thanksgiving dinner in my house AND did the dishes.  Thanksgiving indeed.

Already??  What a big kiddo.  We're STILL on the cusp of teething and sprouting hair.  I think crawling is farther away, but he is a much stronger sitter than he was a month ago.  He figured out how to sleep on his stomach and has been doing that all month.  He got his first cold and first stomach flu.  Reviews: they suck.  But having to put up with more crying and comfort needs just shows me what an awesome baby he is.  He's so self-sufficient and well behaved, we are so lucky.  He outgrew his infant car seat and upgraded to a convertible booster type.   He started disliking solids.  Maybe we aren't offering them often enough.  

My parents pointed out that he's quite the observer.  Now I notice that other babies don't look around constantly like he does.  Everywhere we go, he's turning his head left, right, left, right taking in the full panorama.  He prefers quietly watching others to doing things himself. 

Anyone asking about toy ideas for him for Christmas?  My response = none.  He has many already, and his favorite thing to play with is burp rags anyway.  This guys needs clothes.  He currently wears 9 month size, and is closing in on 12 months.  Sleepers with snaps and feet are a favorite in this house.

Blame our colds for these pics, which I didn't edit as nicely as I usually do and are taken on an unmade bed.  At least I moved the laundry to the floor.  Oh, and watch out for Ol' Whiskers McGrouch, who did not like me interrupting her nap space. 

 



 

Happy December to all!  Ben bought me a "happy holidays" gift - a woot shirt that made me laugh out loud.  Here's a link to the image.  He also taught Jack how to high five.  No kidding!  He drops his toy and softly brings his hand to yours.  It's a start!  I'm working on "so big!" next. 

I have a couple days off.  We're going to see Amanda's kids do Macbeth and go to the holiday craft fair Friday evening.  I'm hopeful that the food trucks they mention include the little orange rocket, which I discovered parked outside my hospital one day.  What else to do with my time off??  caramels? needle felted ornaments? gift shopping? peanut butter bars? or my default - tv shows and knitting?

UPDATE:  I made these.  They are tasty tasty yum.  I'm still thinking about making these.

It's the time of year when we celebrate, er, possibly offend the Jewish community by getting eight pairs of socks.  Ben has received eight pairs of socks for eight days every Hanakkuh since 1990 when Hanakkuh Harry appeared on SNL.  When I came into the family I happily joined in the ritual.  Seriously, socks are awesome.  This was Jack's first time getting socks and getting to open presents.  Good practice for Christmas.  I had to miss it because of work, but Ben taped it for all of us!

First Hanukkah Socks from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

I nominate this for cutest Jack video yet.

Flips! from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

And here we test Jem's patience with babies.  She's looks pretty miserable.


A future in rodeo from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Spent all my days off at Camp Bailey this week, helping Amanda audition and cast her spring musical.  I'm stoked!  If I don't get worked into the ground this weekend, I'll post some more photos and info.  For now, here's Jack after eating macaroni and beef with veggies. 

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }

I’m in love with the photos Ben took last night of the eclipse. He stayed up all night, taking a series of photos. Amazingly, the clouds parted just right so he could get clear pictures. More on his flickr page.

So I finished Jack's orange sweater - for a SECOND time:

I completed unwound the sweater I knit this fall and re-used the yarn on the same pattern with minor alterations.  It fits MUCH better.  I re-knit it over a few days time.  Now it's something I'll actually dress him in.

So the question in this post title refers to this other sweater I finished:

It looks better in action, as in the shot on the right where Jack is sitting in a cart seat for the first time (that was about a month ago).  I've worn and washed the sweater several times. 

On the one hand - yay!  I knit a whole sweater!  Yippee me!  I like the color and the yarn from knitpicks is really nice. 

On the other hand - not a flattering top at all.  It was supposed to look like this:
Short puffy sleeves, waist flattering, with a high neckline!  What happened on my pattern?  I knit it a size too small according to my gauge, and it's still boxy and over-sized.  No matter how I style it, I feel frumpy.  Ben consoles me, saying it looks home-made, but in a good way!  Hmmm.

I feel as though I could make some major improvements.  Make the smallest size, add the collar last to pull it in, shorten the sleeves and take out the puffs, and add more waist shaping and length.  But that would mean tearing it to pieces and starting over from scratch.  While making this sweater, I already restarted 3 times after knitting about 8 inches of length.  So it's not inconceivable to tear it out again.  But . . . so disheartening.

Oy, what a weird holiday.  I was scheduled to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The Masons came to celebrate.  I was overstaffed on Eve and only had one patient to do in the AM on the 25th.  This would have given me a large boost of jolliness except A. I don't get paid when I don't work and B. I have another. freaking. cold.  Seriously!  I had two colds over the course of three years.  Then I get sick on both Thanksgiving and Christmas?!  Life is so unfair!! 

Anyway, we opened presents when I got home.  Jack was spoiled as expected, but Ben and I were fairly spoiled too.  Our family is too nice to us.  Jack has also been enjoying the lavish attention showered on him by the grands.  Here's some photos from the last couple days.  Huh, after uploading them I see that they are ALL of Jack.  Sorry.

 Eating yogurt on Christmas Eve.

 Jack standing atop a mountain of presents on Christmas Eve.

 Barleigh, Nanners, and Jack.

 The dissolve technique for present opening.

 Concentrating hard.





Huh, I expected to be in this picture.  I think Nanners was operating the camera though.

Last night we went to Christmas dinner at Aunt Berit's house.  Fantastic food, funny relatives, and Jack only cried from getting overwhelmed twice!  It was a nice way to get the Christmas mood, after a weird morning of work as usual.  Even if I got bogged out on Theraflu lemon drink. :-)

A Christmas Eve bath!

Splish splash from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Ben, like most men, is terrible at finding things. I have been enjoying back posts of Hyperbole and a Half over the holiday.  There was one in particular that was JUST LIKE US and I filed it away for future sharing.  It came into use faster than I expected.

When Ben announced he was going to water Brian's lemon tree and check on Zoe the cat, I asked if he had the key.  Not yet, he said.  I watched him look in the tiny basket by the door.  I watched him look in the basket on the bureau.  Then he looked at me and shrugged "I can't find it."  I shrugged.  He stared at me.  I let out a major sigh, put my laptop on the couch, and dug the keys out the basket on the bureau in, like, 4 seconds.  But before I let him have them I picked up my computer and retrieved this comic:

He called me snarky and snatched the keys off the couch.  I chased him to the door and demanded he also see this part:


He said I was being super snarky and left.  I settled back on the couch with my smugness, sure that I had taught Ben an important life lesson about looking harder for things. 

Later this morning, Ben im'ed a link to me and demanded instant viewing of said link:

Touche.


PS Ben will probably berate me for the style I chose to post H and H's comic.
PPS Why am I bald?

I can't believe it either.  He's such a happy guy.

He makes this face a lot:

And this one:

He got a Sophie giraffe for Christmas and it's a winner.

There's that face again.

And again!  He can cry and laugh at the same time -look close and you'll see tears here.  Not sure why.  He was enjoying his first hummus, baba ganoush, and taboulih meal and all of the sudden was DONE.  But I can usually make him laugh through his tears.

Still making friends with the animal.  He is completely charmed by Jem.

I tried to take some photos on his tummy.

But he immediately flipped and continued towards the edge of the bed.  

Stinker ;-)