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September 27, 2007
it is another gorgeous day today. cloudless skies, 60 degree temps, sparkling blue lake michigan. When I gave up running during my pregnancy, I missed the lake front. I love the trees, the sparking water. I am very happy to be enjoying the fall on the lake.
I always say that spring is my favorite season as it is the end of winter (the season that sucks). But fall is better in some ways as the days are baseline warm with a cool breeze. The apples are in season.
On our walks, I pass by a bar that i use to spend a fair chunk of time my first year or so here drinking and dancing. This morning they had the gates open to the courtyard for cleaning. The glimpse brought back some memories of pink lemonade (very dangerous) nights. It amuses me to think about that self and how that self would never had imagined that i would be walking the same streches of sidewalk with my dog and baby.
In the warm months, a lot of restaurants have outdoor seating areas on the sidewalk. I noticed the other day that these restaurants have posted permits that cite how much they have paid the city for this privilege. I want some of this money as I have to deal with these areas being in my way. Though in a round about way, one could say that i am getting some of that money in reduced taxes.
In the past month, I have been reading a lot of blogs - random blogs from start to present. They are like a book, but only require one hand (very important while nursing). I've read the blog of a guy starting a tenture track position, but not that sure of his career choice. I've read a struggles of a women with infertilitiety, IVF, the loss of twins to early preelampsia, and the subsequent birth of a healthy daughter. Recently I've been reading askmoxie and children and sleep. Not that I expect Aiden to have any sort of schedule at this point, I like reading about what is coming ahead. Moxie is nice as she is down to earth and stresses do what works. My favorite segment:
"Therefore, in the first 12-14 weeks of parenthood you should take your lead from Malcolm X: By Any Means Necessary. If your baby only sleeps on your chest with his/her head wedged up into your neck*, do it if you can sleep that way. If your baby only sleeps in the swing or sling or Amby hammock thing or car seat or car or front carrier or laundry basket or between you in bed or holding onto the cat's tail or on the bathroom floor or in a tent in your backyard, do it. If you have to run the hairdryer, clothes dryer, white noise machine, "La Vida Loca" CD, or any other noise, more power to you. Whatever gets the maximum number of hours of sleep for the maximum number of people in your household, that's what you should do. And when anyone asks you how your baby's sleeping, just lie and say everything's great."
We are actually doing well. There are good nights. There are bad nights. But all in all i'm sleeping, aiden is sleeping (in his crib) and life is good.
Posted by christina at 3:01 PM | Comments (0)
September 26, 2007
rainbow rider
fall has arrived in chicago. it should be a gorgeous jog tomorrow - especially with for the dog.
the big news of today is that ben got to feed aiden a bottle of breastmilk. yay for all involved! The kid took to the bottle right away (and had no trouble going back to my breast later). He just likes the food. (Like me) I am happy that I am now able to leave for more than an hour at a time. well, i will be able to when i build up a supply of bottles. i'm doing well though.
Posted by christina at 8:59 PM | Comments (0)
September 22, 2007
jeremiah was a bullfrog / was a good friend of mine
Today we went on our annual apple picking outing. It was an absolutely perfect day.
Blue skies, fall temps, no traffic out to woodstock. We filled two half-busel bags - one with courtlands for applesauce, the other with a mix of galas, macintoshes, and a couple of honey crisps. We would have gotten a lot of honeycrips but their picking bag were twice as expensive, so we snuck a couple of them in our regular bag. So yummy. There is nothing like eating an apple right off of the tree. Aiden was a champ all the out and then took right to the sling and slept as i picked. The sling is awesome. It is awesome to be able to hold him and have both hands free!
So now we have lots of apples. Tomorrow will be applesauce day. yum!
i don't know/like and lullibyes so i sing Aiden Joy to the World by three dog night. He seems to love it.
Posted by christina at 4:04 PM | Comments (0)
September 20, 2007
slow dancing on the boulevard / in the quiet moments while the citys still dark
in this past week and a half, i've gotten back on the exercise wagon. It started with just a walk for me, aiden, and the puppy. We went 3.5 miles with none of us worse for the wear. The puppy's luxing petella seemed to hold up, though I don't want to push my luck, so she only joins us every other time. This works out as I've incorporated any shopping I need to do during my walks. Monday I wented to the new whole foods as part of my route. Yesterday I went to the Jewl. The bottom of the stroller makes a convinent cart. This has resulted in me not moving my car in a week. A nice up side to walking is a reduced carbon footprint.
The down side to the walking is that it is boring. I just can't walk the whole 3+ miles. I've begun to jog slowly. (Like i was a fast jogger before!) I am suppose to wait 2 more weeks, but I don't think my slow jog really counts as vigorous exercise. My stroller, though not a jogger stroller, does quite week on the running path.
All in all it is nice to get out and exercise. Aiden naps for the most part. The downside is that I really get nothing done the rest of the day. During what would pass as his afternoon nap, I nap. Then Ben gets home around four (it is awesome his teacher schedule), so then I do get to do the little things like work on birth announcements or my t-shirt quilt or dinner or dessert (currently, i am loving oatmeal raisin cookies. they have fiber and a fruit so the are good for you (ha ha)).
we had our first of what i know will be many calls to my mom about breaking the baby. this weekend it was a crusty eye which was heal by 24 hours of warm wash cloths & eye massage to heal a blocked tear duct. Really, we would go crazy if my mom wasn't available to assure me that we didn't break the baby...
Posted by christina at 12:47 PM | Comments (1)
September 16, 2007
bright blessed days / dark sacred nights
I'm too sexy for this song...
Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of when I met Ben on a porch on a random september evening. Yesterday was also my 10 year high school reinion.
Ben and I celebrated the former by spending the afternoon and evening laying around in our bed - him watching baseball and football, me napping and reading. We capped it off with a game of scrabble after grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum. Our bed has two inches of memory foam and therefore is very comfortable. It was the dog's favorite day ever - she loves to lay in our bed, but doesn't like to be away from the action. Yesterday she got to lay around in our bed and still be with us.
One might expect me to say I can't believe that it has been four years or ten years...but I can. I've accomplished a lot in the four years and even more in the ten years. Every year my life has been vastly different. No September goes by which I feel like my life even resembles the one before. At GT every year was different due to activities, friends, life.... Then in chicago every year involved a change either in the introduction of ben, some major step in our relationship or a major step in my graduate career. So I do feel each year that has gone by and feel like each one was lived.
I, as you might guess, did not go to my 10 year reunion. I was planning on it before the whole baby thing happened. My graduating class was smallish (150) and so I am interested in seeing how everyone ended up. When it comes down to it, though, I see the people that are really important to me every year. And they reminded me last night how awesome they are when they called and left a really sweet message about missing me. So i am excited to see them at Christmas for our annual get together. In the end, they are they people I truely care about and know that i really didn't miss anything but them yesterday.
Sid, me, Amanda, and Courtney. Missing is Tera who had Jack around this time last year so couldn't come.
Posted by christina at 3:03 PM | Comments (0)
September 11, 2007
they tried to send me rehab
Today was Aiden's two weeks check-up. He has gain 1.5 lbs in the past two week. Everyone was amazed. I wasn't exactly surprised as he eats A LOT. He is now 8 lbs. Today is his official due date. Had he spent the past two weeks in the womb he would probably be almost 8 lbs. Now he is beginning to fit into some of the newborn clothes. Of course, I always pick the outfits with doggies on them. I will be sad when he can't fit into the premie outfits. They are so cute.
Fall has arrived in Chicago. It didn't get above 67 today. A month ago I would have loved this, as i was carrying around a small heater and was never cold. Now I am back to being cold alllllll the time. I get into bed and spend 10 minutes complaining about freezing to death. Ben is sad as he misses me liking the air conditioning. Now I am back to hating it. I forgot how cold I am not pregnant.
Posted by christina at 4:58 PM | Comments (1)
September 10, 2007
blackbird singing in the dead of night
A new whole food opened up 5 blocks from us. It is about 2 blocks closer than the other whole food. it is quite a bit nicer. First, it was not busy today at 11. The other one is crazy at 11 on mondays. the parking is much better along with the elevator. the store is huge. We could definitely walk there. And I would have, except that i wanted to take the puppy and she can sit in the car, but cannot sit alone out front.
Papers take FOREVER to get through the review process. I submitted a paper (basically half of my thesis) in May. I logged in to change my e-mail address (as my NU one finally expired) half expecting that the paper would be out of review, but no, my memory of 6 months is right. Though, as i said as we were slow in submitting, that a later publication date is better for my CV. I'm trying to figure out my timing from here - when to go back to class in order to minimize a gap on my resume for another kid. I also think about getting a internship summer that is more applicable to my goals. I have lots of time now to look and bother people, so I have no excuse. I would like to stay in chicago, but the upside to ben being a teacher is that he is off this summer and we can go somewhere else (as long as we can take the dog and cat).
this is my current dream - we'll see. I'll be honest, I can't imagine making any sort of decisions with my hormones still settling and my sleep still interrupted.
Posted by christina at 12:21 PM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2007
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September 5, 2007
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September 4, 2007
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September 3, 2007
The first week has gone quite well. I wake up in natural sleep cycles during the night to feed (every 3 hours). I take an afternoon nap and I don't feel sleep deprived. i am tired by the end of the day.
Aiden is quite expressive, especially when he is pooping. Yesterday he peed on ben during a diaper change. it was awesome. we've been getting out everyday - for a walk, for brunch, to the store. It is nice. Thankfully the weather is awesome and will be perfect for walking.
Posted by christina at 9:50 AM | Comments (0)
September 1, 2007
my mom & aiden
It is strange to not be pregnant anymore. It is not strange to have Aiden here, but strange that he is not in my tummy. I felt it the most last night, my first time out without the baby in 9 months. It is strange to buckle the seatbeat and not think about the baby within.
Society scared me a lot about pregnancy and childbirth. I thought that I was going get all the bad pregnancy stuff, but i didn't. I started the pregnancy so afraid of the pain of child birth during our first OB visit i said that i wanted an epidural immediately. But my pregnancy was easy and I read so much I came to accept the pain of child birth as something i could handle. I am thankful to my high school friend Tera, who had a baby a year ago. Last Christmas we were talking and she said not to be believe all the scary things you hear about pregnancy and childbirth.
So I pass that message along - don't believe all the scary things about pregnancy and childbirth. But I do have a couple of things that I feel made my experience better (for what it worth).
1. Work out. I did 5 miles on the elliptical every morning taking the 4th morning off for 30 mins of weight training (and abs before 25 weeks). It helped with a lot of the pregnancy and i think that helped me avoid a lot of the annoying pregnancy side effects.
2. Take fish oil, helps with the annoying pregnancy side effects
Posted by christina at 9:36 AM | Comments (0)