SJN's Top 15 things to do in the first two months (i.e. top places to breastfeed)

1. Travel in six states starting day of life #5 (NY, PA, IN, TX, CA, UT).

2. Road trip with Grandma and Grandpa.

3. Meet three great grandparents.

4. Participate in an American wedding.

5. Beat up cousin Miles.

6. Drink milk for every meal.
7. Get dirt under my nails.

8. Visit extended family.

9. Watch the stars while sleeping in a tent in Yosemite.

10. Live in the now – by sleeping and eating whenever I feel like it.

11. Climb in Pinnacles and to the top of a fire tower.
12. Attend a medical conference (boring).

13. Dip toes in the Pacific Ocean.

14. Experience every emotion in less than five minutes.

15. See a Galapagos Tortoise.

Collecting Rock

Who knew that this blog would be so aptly named? We were accused of starting it to announce and then chronicle the life of our posterity. The blog was, however, conceived before the little rock, and certainly before she was named, since that didn't happen until 15 minutes before leaving the hospital.



I was sitting in the hospital thinking about writing in a journal about two things: the intense experiece that we had all just been through (I guess in my mind, I was mostly thinking of the intense experience I had just been through.) or how beautiful and amazed I was at the little, bright-eyed girl that lay on my bed beside me. I was trying to figure out which was best or more appropriate to write about first. In reality, even though they still are somewhat apart in my head, the trauma of the first and the beauty of the second intensifiy each other and can't really be separated.

Reconstruction

To continue to break up the year into periods, this is the period where someone (who could it have been?) had the crazy idea that while Dan was in India for 9 weeks, and I was pregnant and working full time, we would remodel the kitchen and turn the carriage barn (I have to admit, I think it's fun that we have a carriage barn) into a functional building and garage. I wasn't maybe as helpful as I would have been if my belly wasn't sticking out over my toes, but it did entail a lot of running around, decisions (one of my strong points), painting, scraping, caulking, moving stuff, etc. Not a leisurely pregnancy, but as a result, the little girl can already stand on a ladder and paint a straight edge at the tender age of 3 months. It was definitely worth it. We also now have lovely countertop space and a super-duper kitchen. I could go on, but at the cost of sounding house-wifey, and I have to dismiss in my head that the food actually could taste better with brighter surroundings. Of course, the changes were at a cost in our 1850's house. In attempt to add warmth to our house in our freakin' cold winters, we decided to put insulation in the walls - crazy. That meant that the lathe and horse-hair plaster walls had to be ripped out and distributed in an even one inch thick layer of dust particles over every exposed surface in the house. Only then did we start to replace the existing wall contents. The bowler hats, silk umbrellas, pool sticks, framed pictures of stern ladies with 2 cents stamps on the back, old lamps, broken china, cocoa cans with cocoa still in them, bottles that said poison, etc all were replaced with boring, pink panther insulation. I have to admit, I kept expecting a bony hand to suddenly reach out and grab us. I have since stopped reading E. A. Poe at bedtime.
The backyard was transformed, seamingly effortlessly, into a large mud puddle with a paucity of the color green, so Dan took the opportunity to do a little landscaping and built rock walls for garden beds with rocks from a nearby farmer's field. I think that I had pictured a variety of plants and vegetables when the winter is over, but Dan has now planted over 800 tulip and daffodil bulbs that have pretty much filled all of the garden beds. Just an illustration of the poor communication in our marraige, I guess, but is sure to have spectacular results come spring.

don't be fooled by this picture. i had little to do with the rocks with that belly. we had lots of help with everything.

Alas

Alas, I realize that I am close to reviewing the year in all it's excitement with a string of pictures again. So, what do I start with when writing in installments about the year now that the year is getting close to the end? How my job about drove me to the ground at the beginning of the year as I was pregnant and tired - very tired - and I finally hit a wall of indignation and realized that I do have choices in the matter? I don't have to keep accomodating every situation but have to realize and stand up for what I think the priorities are for myself and my family (even if the only choice to really change things for myself is to quit - and even if, through my job, I can help others). Although may seem like a stupid and simple realization to some, it was somehow liberating for me, even if the situation didn't end up changing and doesn't look much better now, at the end of the year. What would Dan have to say here? Certainly effected him as well.

I'll leave it at that and say that this can cover part of the first quarter. First installment of the catching up in 2008.

Pulse

In the beginning, there are many things that make you aware of the fact that you are pregnant. Most of them are not pleasant. One of the most remarkable, though, was being so aware of my pulse. I would almost bet, if I hadn't always been there myself to discredit the fact, that I had just sprinted up the stairs. Sometimes, I feel like I remember few facts from medical school, but I have always remembered the amazing fact that your blood volume increases by more than 50% during pregnancy. Of course, the fact that there are a million processes, more often than not, creating a healthy, normal new baby is probably more amazing, but at first, that being doesn't seem real as a separate entity. The only part that I could first grasp was the state of being pregnant, not that there was a real baby involved. In the beginning, I thought for sure that people, at least Dan, would stare at me as I stood there or laid in bed with my whole body pulsing. It felt so strong, I was sure that it was visible, palpable. I found myself looking at my hands and my skin just to watch it pulse. To my surprise, no one could ever see it, myself included.

2007 Retropective Images

Who, not me, would have thought CNY and a house?

Welcome to India ......

and China...

Not China