A while back, I bought a cute fabric headband at Union Rose (you can see it here and here). I love it, because it keeps my hair out of my face but doesn't give me a headache like normal headbands. Today I used the headband as a pattern and made myself four more. I'm hoping they'll help me look more pulled together after the baby comes and I haven't washed my hair for days.

It's a really easy sewing project, so I thought I'd share the steps with you (and if you find my instructions confusing, there are plenty of other tutorials online--for instance, this one and this one).

1. You need a 10" piece of elastic (I used pretty fold-over elastic from Bolt) and enough fabric to give two 3.25" x 12.5" pieces. Cut two blunt-ended ovals, each measuring about 12.5 inches long, 3.25 inches wide in the middle, and 1.25 inches wide at the ends. I traced my existing headband and added 1/4" seam allowances to get my pattern.

2. Fold over and iron 1/4 inch of fabric on one end of each oval, and then sandwich the ovals right sides together with the elastic in between. One end of the elastic should be even with the non-ironed ends of the ovals, and the other end of the elastic should be floating freely somewhere in the middle of the fabric sandwich.

3. Pin together and stitch around (using 1/4 inch seam allowances), leaving the ironed-down edges open. I pinned the loose end of the elastic to the middle of the fabric so that it wouldn't accidentally get caught in the seams.

4. Remove pins and turn right side out. Flatten, pin around the edges, and iron.

5. Tuck the loose end of the elastic into the open end of the headband by about 1/2 inch, and pin in place.

6. Topstitch all the way around (I did this by moving my needle to the right and using the edge of my presser foot as a guide). Backstitch over the pinned elastic to make sure it's well secured.

Voila--you have a headband!

So the ultrasound this morning was interesting. We learned three things:

• My placenta has moved higher, and it's not blocking the cervix anymore. Yay!

• The baby is currently in a frank breech position (hey, that's a good name for a boy!). His butt is facing downward, and his legs are up by his head. That doesn't sound too comfortable, but I guess babies are flexible. I'm not sure if I need to actively start trying to turn him around (there are all sorts of unusual methods described online!), or if there's a pretty good chance he'll flip before birth. I won't do anything before talking to my doctor. Luckily, our next appointment is on Tuesday.

  Because of his funny position, we didn't get any good views of his face or profile (but we did get visual re-confirmation that he is a boy). Oh well, we'll see him soon enough.

• Mr. Frank Breech is huge for his age! He's supposed to weigh 3-4 lbs at 32 weeks, but based on the measurements the ultrasound tech made, he weighs about 5 lb, 5 oz (equivalent to 34.5 weeks gestation). Wow, baby, I haven't been eating that much! It's better than him being underweight, but he's big enough that it merits some attention, apparently. So we'll be discussing that with the doctor next week as well.

I spent a little time reading about both findings online. It sounds like these could be cause for a C-section or early birth via induction, both of which I'd like to avoid if possible. But I'm trying not to worry about it. My boss told me that when she was pregnant, there were multiple times when her doctor predicted she might need a C-section, but everything resolved before birth. I think this baby knows what he's doing.

Thirty-two weeks! This marks the start of the eighth month--whoa! If I think in terms of months, two months still sounds like a decent amount of time to get ready, but 8 weeks, not so much. Babies are normally born between 37 and 42 weeks gestation, which means that he could be here 5 weekends from now. Oh man...

Not much to report in the past few days. Our follow-up placenta ultrasound is tomorrow, and we're hoping for good news.

As predicted, the meal planning kind of fell by the wayside this week, so I only have one meal to tell you about--saffron-basmati rice with chicken in garam masala sauce (from Whole Grains Every Day) and sweet and sour okra. Patrick made this, and it seemed pretty easy to put together, and the end result was nice. The chicken was good, but the okra was my favorite part of the meal. Yum!

Although I didn't get much cooking done, I did get some crafting time in. Remember the ripple blanket I started back in November? Well, I'm still working on it--almost halfway done now. I had originally planned on crocheting a row a day, in which case I would have been done by now, but that's not how it worked out. I'm not going to stress out too much about finishing this before the baby gets here. It'll get done eventually. Patches likes sitting on my lap (and periodically attacking the yarn) while I work on it.

And I finished sewing that potato sack dress I mentioned in my last entry. Luckily, the addition of a waist tie and ruffles helped a lot. It was based on the maternity or not frock tutorial on Presser Foot, with a few changes based on the limitations of my cheapo sewing machine (I attached the elastic differently, and I pleated the ruffles instead of gathering them). I used Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley columbine fabric.

I love projects where you don't have to cut and pin pattern pieces--this dress is basically two rectangles sewn together and embellished. Very easy! And if the dress isn't flattering when I'm no longer pregnant, I can take it apart and reuse the fabric to make a skirt or a different dress.

Thanks to Patrick for taking these pictures, by the way. They turned out much better than my tripod self portraits. While we were both semi-dressed-up, we took a few family portraits too. And then we went to Por Que No and had fish tacos and strawberry-mango lemonade for dinner. Life is good :)

Thirty-one weeks! Actually we're at 31.5 at this point. Patrick was out of the house this weekend enjoying some pre-baby hang-out time with friends from college (they rented a condo downtown for the weekend and sampled beer at many locales), so my normal routine kind of fell by the wayside. I didn't do my weekly meal-planning either. What are we going to eat!?

• I seem to have reached the stage of pregnancy where strangers feel comfortable assuming I'm pregnant. I've had a couple people ask me when I'm due, but no belly touching yet. I've even had one person express surprise that I still have 2 months to go (I assume because my belly is so massive). I actually found that strangely gratifying, like I'm doing an extra good job of being pregnant or something. Silly, I know :)

• We had another OB checkup last week, and everything continues to go smoothly (yay!). The doctor palpated my belly and guessed that the baby is head down, with his back facing to my right. I had been thinking that he was sideways with his head on the right side, but her interpretation makes more sense. We'll know his position for sure on Friday--we're going in for a follow-up ultrasound to see if my placenta has moved off of my cervix into a more normal location. Cross your fingers!

  When the doctor had me lie down for the exam, she told me I was having a contraction (apparently a normal occurrence when pregnant ladies lie on their backs). I had no idea! Even when she pointed it out, I couldn't tell--it just felt like the baby's back was pushing on my belly, which is a pretty normal occurrence. I wonder how often I have contractions and mistakenly attribute them to the baby.

  It turns out that I don't have sciatica, but something similar--the baby is pressing on my femoral cutaneous nerve, not my sciatic nerve. The doctor said sciatica affects the back of the thigh, but for me it's the skin on the front of the thigh that goes numb. Actually, my condition has a much racier name than sciatica--tingling thigh syndrome! So I can't walk around talking like an old lady anymore, since the people who most often get this condition are women in tight jeans and high heels. Patrick and I have been referring to it as tight pants syndrome, but apparently that's something different. Anyway, the good news is that this should go away once the baby's born, so it's nothing to worry about.

• In general, I've been pretty comfortable during this pregnancy, apart from some normal aches and pains. A strange thing happened on Saturday though--I walked up to Cool Cottons, which is less than a mile from our house. By the time I got there, my lower abdomen was aching. Sitting down and standing still helped a little but didn't make it go away. The pain lasted all through my walk home, which made it pretty unpleasant. I considered calling a cab, but I just gritted my teeth and kept going (I know, probably not a prudent decision). I made it home, lay down on the couch and put on my relaxation CD, and within 10 minutes, I felt totally fine. My guess is that the baby settled on some nerve or internal organ while I was walking, and he just needed some help getting repositioned. I should have gotten on all fours at the fabric store and done a couple cat-cows to help him out. Pregnant ladies are allowed to do weird stuff like that, right?

• One of the less exciting baby-related tasks I've been putting off is choosing a pediatrician (also: writing a will). This past week, we met up with a pediatrician in Sellwood, and I think we've found our doctor. Phew! She's on board with our parenting approach and seems to know her stuff, plus she went to college and grad school in the Bay Area (I guess that's not really relevant to our child's care, but it's nice to have something in common that we can talk about). She's only been with this practice for a few months, so she's actively looking for new patients (the other doctors in the practice are busy enough that they don't do meet and greets, so we lucked out that we were able to talk to her).

  Sellwood is a little far from where we live (there aren't any pediatricians in our immediate neighborhood), but it's nice to have an excuse to go down there. When the baby's older, we can bike there via the Springwater Corridor! And bonus: There are multiple ice cream shops/bakeries near the pediatrician's office, so we can institute the important "you get a treat after your doctor's appointment" tradition. In fact, we have already instituted the tradition--we stopped at Lovecup for ice cream after meeting the pediatrician. Mmm, Tillamook mint chocolate chip. I hope the baby enjoyed it!

• We crossed another item off the to-do list last week--buying a glider for the dining room. I had been watching Craigslist for Dutailier gliders for months, but most of the listings were pretty far out in the suburbs or too expensive. I was also kind of hoping that a Monte Luca glider would magically pop up for cheap (yeah, right). There actually was one listing for a used Monte glider and ottoman a month or so ago, but the seller was asking $800, which, while reasonable (they're $1400 new), was still a lot of money. I hemmed and hawed about it long enough that it was gone by the time I contacted the seller. Oh well!

  Anyway, I finally got it together and responded to a listing for a Dutailier glider and ottoman out in SW Portland. The seller was asking $150 (they go for $600-$700 new), which is pretty standard. It looked good (apart from some pen scribbles on the wood and some dinginess to the cushions) so we brought it home. Based on what I've read online, Dutailiers are considered very comfortable, but not particularly stylish. I agree with that. I'm planning on covering the cushions in a more exciting fabric. If we had unlimited time, I'd also want to stain the wood a darker color, but with all those little spindles, I think it would be better to just leave it alone. I'm sure I won't even care what it looks like once the baby's here.

  

• I was originally planning on covering the cushions this weekend, but I ended up doing some maternity clothing sewing and fabric shopping instead. The maternity dress I'm working on now looks kind of like a potato sack, so I don't have high hopes for the finished product. But I'll persevere. I also bought some beautiful Anna Maria Horner voile at Bolt for a sundress, and I'm much more excited about that project. Hopefully the sun and warm weather will return by the time I finish it!

In house news, the plasterers started today, and they're basically done--no more holes in our walls and ceiling! The guy just has to come back on Wednesday to do a little sanding. I continue to be impressed by how quickly contractors work. Here's a picture I took of our stairwell wall hole while they were plastering it. Instead of installing new wood lath, they used metal mesh--much easier!

Now we just have to paint over all the new plaster work. Actually, that's not as straightforward as I make it sound--we don't have all of the paint that the previous owners used on the walls, so we'll need to match those colors. I'm guessing we might end up putting that off in favor of more pressing house work. But you never know--Patrick is way more motivated than I am about getting this kind of thing done. I'm so lucky to be married to him--I would do such a crappy job of taking care of this house on my own. I'm pretty good at keeping it tidy, but it would totally fall down around my ears over time. I'm just put off by the bigger home improvement stuff.

A quick round-up of last week's food:

1. Patrick made fancy pizzas topped with sauteed nettles (yay, spring!), fromage blanc, mozzarella, and farmers' market eggs. For future reference, he added the egg 5.25 minutes before he took the pizza out of the oven, and it turned out just right. He used the whole wheat dough recipe from Whole Grain Breads. He's getting good at pizza-making!

2. Black bean chili (from Morning Food) and corn muffins (another batch from Whole Grains Every Day). This chili wasn't super exciting, but doctored up with cheese and sour cream, it made a perfectly fine meal.

3. Brown-sugar rubbed pan-seared salmon (from Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook), roasted brown rice pilaf scented with leeks (another repeat from Whole Grains Every Day), and sauteed spinach. Healthy, easy to make, and tasty. Yay!

It took a little work, but we have obtained a dresser for the nursery!

Yesterday, we went to five consignment/vintage stores (Consigned Home Furnishings, Rerun, I Heart Retro, Shag, and Hawthorne Vintage). We didn't have any luck finding a dresser at those stores, but we did get a cute nightstand for me and a sweet mini credenza at Hawthorne Vintage. Both were priced reasonably, as far as I could tell. I love those little legs.

Just a note--for future Portland furniture shopping, I would skip Rerun and I Heart Retro. Rerun didn't have much furniture, and I Heart Retro's furniture seemed kind of run down (drawers didn't open smoothly, loose drawer pulls). But we didn't spend much time in there--maybe I missed some hidden gems.

Today, we visited Lounge Lizard and Look Modern, both of which had some good options. I love the furniture at Look Modern, but it is definitely more expensive than we're used to. They had a couple dressers for $500-$600, which I could almost justify paying (a new dresser from Land of Nod costs about that much), but the drawers were a little fussy, and it seemed kind of imprudent to have the nicest piece of furniture in the house be in our child's room. What if he drew on it with markers? I'd be sad. So we didn't buy the pretty dresser. Someday I would like to buy some furniture from Look Modern though.

Lounge Lizard had about four dressers that met our requirements, each in the $100-$150 range (much better!). We ended up getting a lime green changing table/dresser combo from the 80's (the woman who sold it to us was really nice and told us that she's a mom, and she'd checked to make sure it hadn't been recalled, so everything seems fine on that front). The drawers stick a little, but Patrick thinks he may be able to fix that, and if not, they work well enough. I'd definitely like to repaint it, if we have time.

Since we have most of our key nursery furniture now, I decided to spend some time thinking about the room layout. I started out using Google Sketchup, but it was too fancy for my purposes, so I went with graph paper and little scale representations of the furniture instead. Fun!

This one's my top choice. It puts the changing table by the door, keeps the crib away from the bookshelf, and still leaves a decent amount of space in the middle of the room for some sort of a rug for playing on. And there's room along the left-hand wall and in the closet for more storage in the future. The chair will prevent us from opening and closing the closet door a lot, but I think we'll just keep it open all the time, unless we want to make it look nice for company or something.

My plan right now is to move our IKEA Poang chair and ottoman into the nursery for seating, and then since I think we'll be spending more time downstairs than upstairs, we're going to set up a little nursery annex in our dining room with a glider (still need to get one of those), a rug, and maybe a second changing pad and diapering supplies on the mini credenza.

I realize all this careful planning will probably go out the window when the baby actually gets here, but it makes me feel better to have some sort of plan!

Wow, 30 weeks! Three-quarters of the way there. I'm definitely starting to feel a little unwieldy, but it's not too bad.

• I've been feeling fewer sharp kicks recently, which is consistent with what the pregnancy book says--the baby has less space to flail around in at this point. Now he's working on putting on some fat, rather than growing any longer, which sounds like a good plan to me.

• It's becoming harder to sit comfortably for long periods of time. I can sit on the couch for a little while if I cram two pillows behind my back, but that only works for so long. I think I need to start carrying around a little lumbar pillow for when we go out to restaurants (I've also found that a roll of paper towels works well, but Patrick doesn't want me carrying those around everywhere). We finally got around to buying an exercise ball for me earlier this week, and that has worked out pretty well as a couch alternative (it's also supposed to come in handy during labor, and the books say you can use it to soothe a gassy baby).

• And hey, I have a new pregnancy side effect this week--sciatica! If I stand up for more than 20 minutes or so, the upper part of my right leg goes numb. But it goes away when I sit down. I'm just glad it's manifesting as numbness instead of shooting pain. It kind of puts a damper on making complicated dinners (or washing the dishes from complicated dinners), but it's not so bad. Plus I get to walk around the house talking like an old lady and complaining that my sciatica is flaring up again.

  Also, I think I might have had my first practice surge (Braxton-Hicks contraction, for those of you not up on the hypnobirthing lingo) this morning. It didn't hurt at all; my belly just felt extra firm for a few minutes, and then it went back to normal. Pretty cool!

• I wasn't feeling super excited about our name list last weekend. I'm just having a hard time finding a boy's name that I'm excited about (when it comes to girls' names, I have much stronger preferences!). Like every other parent out there, I want a name that is unique, but also one that won't be so unusual that it will be a burden to our son. I shouldn't worry so much; it'll be fine. Anyway, I spent some more time with our various baby name books (this one is my favorite; it has more information than is available on the website) and our full list of names and added some more names to the in-the-running list. So now the list is up to 30 names, but I'm sure Patrick will veto some of those. We're also working on narrowing down our girl name list, though we're a little less motivated on that front. But it seems wise to have a girl's name in reserve, just in case the ultrasound was wrong :)

• I've been feeling anxious about not being prepared enough given how far along I am. We are pretty well prepared in some respects (educating ourselves about how to take care of a baby), but we're kind of lagging in the "buying stuff" department. Part of it is that we want to buy as much as we can used and/or locally, and that takes more effort than ordering everything off of Amazon. I think most of my anxiety stems from the fact that we haven't made much progress on the nursery, which is a silly thing to worry about because (as Patrick helpfully reminds me) the baby won't care if his room is finished when he gets here. Still, there are definitely a few more basics that we need to buy--like a dresser/changing table (we're working on that one this weekend).

  I thought it might help motivate me if I post a before picture of the nursery. Here's what it looks like right now (the first picture is the room, the second picture is the closet, which is actually pretty big!). I'm not a big fan of the brown color, so I'm excited to paint it! So far, we have been cramming all baby-related stuff in there willy-nilly, along with guest room sheets, laundry drying rack, out-of-season clothes--you name it! Everything is extra disorderly because we had to move stuff when the electricians were here. Anyway, stay tuned for a dramatic nursery transformation sometime in the next 10 weeks. Well, maybe not dramatic, but there will be a transformation of some sort. There has to be!

  
  
  

  I actually made a good amount of progress on sewing the Roman shade for the nursery last weekend, but we won't be able to hang it up until we've painted, which we can't do until the plaster man does his thing and fills all the holes from the electrical work. We've got two plaster guys coming to give quotes early next week, so that should get the ball rolling.

This past week, we made some fun plans for my 30th birthday in early May. Since I'll be 36 weeks pregnant at the time, we didn't want to travel too far away, so we decided to take a quick overnight trip to Hood River. I'm excited! We're going to stay at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, which is supposed to have awesome breakfasts, and on the way there/back, we'll get to see the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway and Multnomah Falls (can you believe we've lived in Portland for one and a half years, and I haven't seen Multnomah Falls?!). I'm looking forward to it!

Patrick continues to do lots of work on our garden, which I appreciate, since I haven't given it much thought this year. I wanted to share a cool project that he did. He made cloches out of used bike wheels (which he got for free from Seven Corners). He removed the spokes, cut the rims in half, and then covered them with plastic sheeting (using wire to attach the plastic to the rims). He used some of the spokes to secure the rims to our raised beds. Our baby radishes and spinach seem to like them, as does our cat. Perfect for warming up on a cool day!

We've had some pretty good meals this week.

1. Sole with chanterelles, cherried and chickpea'd couscous (both recipes from How to Eat), and roasted broccoli. I was happy with this meal--it wasn't too hard to prepare, and it was tasty and pretty healthy. I was worried at first because the sole was full of bones, but most of them stayed attached to the backbone, so we ended up with perfect fish skeletons at the end of the meal. Plus it was cheap and locally caught. Yay, sole!

2. Red split lentils with cabbage and whole wheat naan (recipe from Whole Grain Breads). The lentils were pretty good, though not remarkable. The naan was hearty, but not bad. Definitely not as delicious as the naan at Indian restaurants, but that was to be expected.

3. Braised pork chops and creamy cabbage (from All About Braising) with roasted sweet potato wedges. The pork chops turned out fine, but I probably wouldn't make this recipe again. I think my main problem with it were the caraway seeds. I'm just not a big fan of them. But if you like caraway, definitely give this recipe a try!

4. For lunches this week, I made the tart and tangy baked beans recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook. I was expecting them to be like normal baked beans, but that's not really how they turned out. They're more like beans with some baked apples and tomatoes thrown in. Not exciting. On top of that, the recipe made 10 servings instead of 6, so we've got plenty of disappointing beans waiting in the freezer to be eaten later. Oh well, it's food!

5. I was craving rice pudding last weekend, but since I'm still trying to eat more whole grains and less refined sugar, I tried the coconut-black rice pudding recipe from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way. It sure is purple! It was more hearty and less sweet than normal rice pudding, but definitely not bad. Patrick and I both ate it happily.

Ooh, and last night we finally made it to Dove Vivi for the first time. We'd heard good things about the corn pizza, and it did not disappoint. Yum! After dinner, we went to the Laurelhurst and saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was fun. An excellent Portland date night :)

I wanted to leave you with a few recent pictures from our garden. I'm sure I posted an almost identical tulip picture last year, but I just can't help it--it's so exciting to see flowers blooming! I've also thrown in a picture of a surprise anemone growing under our grapes, plus a very sneaky kitty hiding in some long grass in the front yard. I love hanging out with Patches. She's always entertaining :)

Twenty-nine weeks! This belly means business.

• I wasn't sure if I should mention this, because it might move me from the "slightly unorthodox pregnant lady" category to the "crazy new age pregnant lady" category, but what the heck. So in one of our hypnobirthing classes, the teacher mentioned the concept of placenta encapsulation--dehydrating the placenta after birth and making it into pills, which are then taken daily for the first few months following birth. The assertion is that they can prevent postpartum depression, improve milk production, and prevent anemia, since the placenta is full of hormones and iron. Not surprisingly, there's a local midwife who offers this service (which is good, because if I had a food dehydrator and had to use it to dry my placenta, I don't think I'd want to make dried apricots and fruit leather in it later on, you know?).

  There's not really much scientific evidence on the subject, apart from a study conducted in 1954. On the one hand, most non-human mammals eat their placentas after birth, so maybe it's not a bad idea, but most humans don't consume their placentas, and they do just fine. I'd be more inclined to try it if it weren't so hard to get the placenta from the hospital after birth. Apparently the hospital we'll be birthing at holds all placentas for 10 days, and then you have to request your placenta in writing (and make sure that they store it properly so that it doesn't go bad while they're holding it). Otherwise it goes into a big bin with all the other placentas and gets incinerated (poor placenta--after nourishing a baby for 9 months, you'd think it would get a little more respect!). Word has it that a doula once stole her client's placenta from the hospital so that it could be encapsulated promptly, and it caused a rift among the nurses--those who believe the placenta belongs to the woman it came out of vs. those who believe hospital procedure must be followed. I thought that was pretty funny :)

  So yeah, it sounds like it would be a hassle to liberate my placenta from the hospital, and there's no guarantee that the pills would actually have any benefit. I probably won't do it. But it is an intriguing concept...

  By the way, I find it pretty amusing that I just devoted three paragraphs to talking about placentas. This kind of thing was totally off my radar before I got pregnant. See, pregnancy is expanding my horizons :)

• We're still not making much progress in narrowing down our list of baby names. We've got our top 10 list (five from me, five from Patrick), but we've kind of lost momentum in narrowing it down further. We'll get there! And actually, after seeing a recent episode of The Office, we're down to only nine names, since one of my top 5 was also on Dwight's list of acceptable baby names (Ebenezer, Jebediah, Honus, Jedediah, and Worf). Nope, it wasn't Worf...it was Honus! When I first came across it (probably in a baby name book), I thought it was kind of neat--old-timey, but not trendy, and the baby's nickname could be Dutch! I associated the name Honus with baseball, not Pennsylvania Dutch beet farmers. Shows what I know! I was already on the fence about it, since it's pretty unusual, and now that it's associated with Dwight Schrute in my mind, I'm feeling like we should spare our kid and give him a slightly more normal name. No offense to any Honuses out there!

On to this week's food...

1. Quinoa and gruyere with sauteed mushrooms (from Super Natural Cooking). I wasn't expecting much from this recipe, but it turned out surprisingly well, especially given how easy it was to make. Not very fancy, but if you're looking for healthy comfort food, this would be a good recipe to try.

2. Healthy pancakes (from Morning Food) with blueberries and pecans added during cooking, shirred eggs, and buttered toast fingers. The pancakes were indeed healthy, perhaps a little too healthy. The flavor was good, but the texture was a bit on the leaden side. The eggs were a fun change from our normal egg preparation methods--a good recipe to try if you have a couple teaspoons of heavy cream leftover from another recipe. I love food in ramekins!

3. Pot-roasted brisket with rhubarb and honey (from All About Braising), spicy sweet potato wedges, and sauteed kale. I tried the brisket recipe because we have a bunch of rhubarb in the freezer from last spring, and I was looking for recipes that used rhubarb without a lot of added sugar. This one fit the bill. It required a decent amount of work to prepare, but it did turn out pretty tender. I'm not thrilled with the flavor, but that could just be because I'm not wild about beef. Now the sweet potatoes--those are definitely worth a remake.

The recipe made a lot of brisket, so based on a suggestion in the recipe notes, I turned part of it into sandwiches for lunch--on multigrain ciabatta spread with plain chevre and grainy mustard, topped with arugula. They sound more exciting that they actually were, but again, that could be because of my lukewarm feelings about beef. Oh, and those pickles are the icicle pickles I made last August. I like sweet pickles, but these were a little too sweet, even for me. They also weren't quite as crisp as I would have liked. Not bad though.

4. Earlier this week, my lunches consisted of non-photogenic crockpot white bean chicken chili topped with avocado and Monterey jack cheese, with a side of jalapeno corn muffins (recipe from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way, substituted nonfat yogurt for the sour cream). Maybe I'm just sick of protein or I have an unfair bias against boneless skinless chicken breasts, but the chili just didn't do it for me. Patrick liked it just fine though. We both liked the corn muffins. They're made with whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour, but they're not heavy at all. Definitely worth making again.

5. And to satisfy my need for sweet things while avoiding white sugar, I did some more baking from Smart Cookies--another slab of apricot-almond granola bars and a batch of peanut and raisin cookies. Considering that these cookies don't contain any sweetener or white flour, they're not bad. The dried fruit, cornmeal, and peanut butter add some sweetness. But I'd still rather eat a brownie...

In other news, it has been warm and sunny the past few days, which has been wonderful! Our front yard is in bloom (tulips should be opening any day now!), and Patches has developed a sudden affinity for sidewalk dirt baths (I'm not sure why she feels the need to roll around in the dirt, but she looks cute doing it!).

Our electrical work is done, the sun is out--I'm definitely feeling more relaxed and happy this week. Another big contributor to this improvement in mood is that my family got some great news this week. I hadn't mentioned this before because it's not my story to tell (and it's a little more personal than I normally get here), but it definitely deserves a mention, considering how much space I devote to baby minutiae and baked goods. The short version is that my sister has a brain stem tumor (which still makes no sense to me--she's 20 years old!), which we've known about since November. She had a biopsy last week to figure out what type of tumor it is, and the preliminary prognosis was not encouraging. BUT! They got the pathology results back on Tuesday, and it turns out that it's a much more treatable type of tumor than the doctors originally thought. The expectation is that after 5-6 months of radiation/chemo, her life should be back to normal, which is such a relief compared to what they were originally projecting. I know Lianna is going to kick this tumor's ass!

Twenty-eight weeks! We've made it to the third trimester. Good job, baby! Here's a bonus family portrait to celebrate (we tried to get Patches in there too, but she wasn't interested).

We had our last hypnobirthing class this week. We spent most of it talking about labor and birth logistics (like how to apply what we've learned when we're actually in labor), and we watched a few more birth videos. I'm glad we took the class; I've enjoyed it. Now we just have to keep practicing regularly!

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I'm loving my pregnant belly! It's just neat that my body is set up to protect and support a baby. Early in the pregnancy, I was worried about whether I'd need some sort of support for the belly (like a girdle), but it seems to be doing just fine on its own. The human body is pretty impressive! I'm enjoying tracking the progress of my belly button too--it's pretty much flat at this point. I had expected it to just pop out at some point, but that doesn't seem to be what's happening. I guess it still has three months to do something dramatic.

I went in for my glucose screening on Thursday. The Glucola wasn't as bad as I'd expected. It just tasted like flat 7-Up, maybe a little sweeter. My doctor's office called yesterday, and I passed the glucose test (yay!), but I have low iron levels. I wasn't too surprised about that, since I haven't been eating a ton of red meat or leafy greens (with the exception of my weekly green smoothie from Sip). So I'm supposed to start taking an iron supplement in addition to my prenatal vitamins. Fair enough. I'll take low iron over gestational diabetes any day!

Good glucose results aside, it has been a rough week for a couple of reasons, one of which is that we're in the middle of having some major electrical work done on our house. It's just tough having our daily routines (and typical peace and quiet) interrupted. The good news is that the electricians should be able to finish up on Monday. I thought it would take weeks to get all this work done, but it has only taken four days. Pretty awesome! And even better, our house's electrical system is in way better shape than it was before. The temporary disruption has definitely been worth it.

The impetus for this work was to get rid of the old knob and tube wiring in our house (to reduce our insurance costs and make it possible to insulate our walls in the future), but we figured while we're having holes cut in our walls, we might as well make other improvements to the electrical system. We had the electricians update all of our light fixtures with wall switches (instead of pull chains) and upgrade the lighting in our closets, stairwell, and entryway. We're getting a second light fixture in the kitchen (better lighting for food pictures!), and--the thing I'm most excited about--our old and noisy bathroom fan has been replaced by a new model that is super quiet, with a timer and a built-in heater. Very luxurious for those cold winter mornings :)

We're getting a couple new light fixtures from Schoolhouse Electric (yay for cool Portland companies!). I'm excited to see those go up, but that has to wait until we can get a plaster dude in to patch up the multitude of holes left by the plumbing and electrical work. It's like a giant mouse has gone through our house and nibbled holes all over our ceilings and walls. It's kind of cool to see the inner workings of our house, but I'll be glad to have things looking a little cleaner and not have plaster dust all over everything.

Once this round of work is wrapped up, that should be the end of our big house upgrades for a while. The goal was to get as many big items as possible taken care of before the baby comes. Patrick has orchestrated all of our house repairs so far, and I'm so grateful to him for doing that.

Since our kitchen was taken over by electricians for a good portion of the week, there's not much to tell about food. We had a major cooking flop early in the week--cabbage rolls that were fiddly to prepare and then turned out to be totally undercooked and full of raw meat after an hour in the oven. Ugh. Thank goodness for boxed mac and cheese. We did better the next night. Patrick made lemony broccoli and chickpea rigatoni, using whole wheat penne. It seemed pretty easy to make, and it was tasty. Thanks to Alison for mentioning this recipe!

For lunches this week, we had otsu again. Tasty, but I'm feeling a little pasta-ed out at this point.

Patrick's birthday was this week (yay!), and to celebrate, I baked the lemon buttermilk rhubarb Bundt cake from Rustic Fruit Desserts, using some of our frozen rhubarb from last spring. Definitely on the tangy side, but the glaze balances it out nicely (even though much of the glaze slid right off the top and pooled underneath the cake). I love how majestic Bundt cakes look right after glazing. Sadly for this particular cake, I have no picture of it in its uncut glory; this one will have to suffice.

Having a whole Bundt cake sitting around when you're trying to avoid delicious baked goods is dangerous, but luckily we were able to send some home with friends, and then I sliced and froze most of the rest of it, to make it a little less tempting.

Speaking of delicious baked goods, we went to Besaw's for brunch today, and Patrick had a jelly roll, which was pretty much a cinnamon roll, but with jam in the middle instead of cinnamon-sugar, frosted generously with cream cheese icing. I can confirm, it was tasty. My eggs benedict (with spinach and oven-roasted tomatoes) were yummy too. The service was fast and friendly, and we only had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. Definitely a good place for breakfast if you're in NW Portland.

Twenty-seven weeks! We've got about three months left until the baby is due, which seems like a long time to wait, but I guess it takes a while to grow a human being from scratch. It's a good thing I'm enjoying being pregnant!

• I've noticed recently that it's harder for me to get comfortable and stay comfortable when I'm sitting down. My back tends to start hurting. It doesn't help that our couch pillows are old and have lost their oomph. I guess it just gives me extra incentive to get up and walk around, rather than sitting on the couch so much. Luckily, I'm still sleeping just fine--yay, Snoogle!

• Feeling the baby kick still entertains us. Every so often, he flails hard enough that we can see and feel a tiny appendage (foot? elbow? Who knows...) protruding a little from my belly. He seems to like having his head nestled on my right side--sometimes I can feel it pushing against my belly. It's nice being reminded that there really is a little person in there.

• I still haven't had any food cravings, as far as I can tell. I have been eating a lot of citrus though--grapefruit and oranges are so tasty! I guess I do have cravings for junk food, since it's not allowed right now, but I think that's a pretty standard response; I don't think it's pregnancy-related.

• We spent most of our hypnobirthing class this week discussing birth preferences and talking about what to expect when we go to the hospital. It's helpful that the teacher is a nurse at the hospital we'll be delivering at, so she has the inside scoop. I had been a little nervous about what the hospital would be like, so this helped demystify it a little.

  This class was also focused on releasing our fears (so that we can be more relaxed during birth). In advance of the class, Patrick and I listed out our baby/birth-related fears and then talked about them with each other. We had a decent amount of overlap. I think it's pretty standard stuff--financial concerns, preserving our relationship with each other after the baby comes, making sure that we have the kind of birth experience that we want. It was good to talk about it. And then in class, we did a fear-release session, where we pictured unpleasant memories from our past and then replaced them with a mental picture of the two of us, smiling and confident and eager to meet our baby. It made me kind of emotional, but in a good way. Even though we do have some fears, they don't occupy my mind most of the time. We are, more often than not, happy and confident and excited about having a baby. Life is good :) It doesn't hurt that the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming outside right now. It's easier to be joyful and eager in the springtime, I think.

In kitty news, I'm happy to report that Patches recovered really quickly from her hospital visit last weekend. Less than a day after returning home, she was back to her normal, hungry self. It's such a relief to have her back. We still don't know what caused her to get so sick, but hopefully it was a one-time occurrence. Poor kitty does have some fur to grow back though; they shaved her belly and front leg at the hospital. I think she's a little embarrassed about the missing fur.

So in addition to the healthy baked goods I just posted about, we've done pretty well eating healthily this week. We've definitely added more meat back into our diet, just because it makes me worry less about whether I'm getting enough protein. I'd like to cut back again once the baby is born though.

1. Kamut, broccoli, and sausage medley (from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way). I cooked the kamut ahead of time, so it didn't take Patrick too long to put this meal together at dinner time. Not a bad meal, though it might benefit from a little more sauciness to pull everything together--maybe mix in some pesto next time?

2. Popcorn-crusted catfish and cornmeal spoonbread (both from Whole Grains) and pickled coleslaw. A very beige meal. The catfish was fine, and the spoonbread tasted good (mmm, butter), but the texture was a little too light and insubstantial for me. I prefer a nice creamy polenta instead. The coleslaw was too vinegary for my tastes, but we learned in class that eating acidic foods might help prevent group B strep, so at least I felt good about eating it.

3. Cannellini bean and sausage gratin. This tasted good but reinforced my ambivalence about Italian sausage (I'm just not wild about the flavor). If I make it again, I'd probably try using a different type of sausage. Or no sausage at all!

4. Our hypnobirthing class this week included a potluck dinner, so we brought Tracy's favorite lentil salad (with a few slivered sun-dried tomatoes and about 10 oz of steamed spinach added for good measure). Always a good choice.

And Patrick baked two loaves of Otis Cafe brown bread, using our newly cultivated sourdough starter. It smelled so good when it was baking, and it tastes good too! Patrick had some problems with his first attempt at starter (it got taken over by leuconostoc bacteria), but his second attempt (using pineapple juice and more frequent stirring, as suggested on the linked page) behaved like it was supposed to. Go little starter!

5. For my lunch this week, I made a batch of chunky lentil soup from Super Natural Cooking, but I added some chicken sausage and sliced mushrooms, and I used cubed sweet potato instead of butternut squash. I was worried that with all my changes, it might turn out badly, but I was pretty happy with the results. It was thick, so I served it over brown rice. I topped it with a little ricotta salata that we had on hand. Not bad!

Okay, that's enough computer time. I'm going to go take a walk and enjoy the beautiful spring weather while it lasts!

As I mentioned earlier, I'm trying to cut out white sugar and white flour as much as possible while I'm pregnant, which has led me to look for recipes for healthy baked goods that taste reasonably good. Here are two recipes that I've been happy with so far.

Healthy Banana-Date Muffins

This is based very heavily on this recipe, but I made enough tweaks that I thought it would be easier to rewrite the recipe here than to list out my changes. These muffins are nice and moist. I like having one with a glass of milk for a morning snack.

1 1/2 cups (240g) whole wheat flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup (60g) wheat bran
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup (75g) chopped dates
1/2 cup (70g) coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1/4 cup (60ml) whole milk
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup (75g) mild molasses
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed (about 3/4 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line two muffin tins with paper liners (recipe makes 16 muffins total; you can do this in two batches if you only have one muffin tin).

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, wheat bran, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in dates and walnuts to coat with flour mixture. Make a well in the middle of the mixture.

3. Microwave the milk and butter on medium power until the butter is melted. Whisk in the buttermilk, molasses, and vanilla extract.

4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then slowly pour in the milk mixture, whisking as you do. Whisk in the mashed bananas. Pour this mixture into the well in the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean (mine took 18 minutes). Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

Makes 16 muffins

Chewy Apricot-Almond Granola Bars

This recipe is based closely on a recipe from Jane Kinderlehrer's Smart Cookies, which has a whole chapter devoted to cookie recipes for pregnant ladies. I've tried a few other recipes from this chapter, but they turned out kind of weirdly textured. But I like these granola bars. They're very hearty, but they taste good (I mean, a brownie would taste better, but I'll take what I can get right now!). I like them crumbled over cottage cheese or milk, to add a little more protein.

1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp + 1 tsp mild molasses
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tbsp dry milk powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup dried apricots, slivered
2 tbsp raisins

1. Toast the oats, sunflower seeds, and almonds on a cookie sheet in a 350F oven for 7-10 minutes, until dry and crisp.

2. In a saucepan over low heat, combine the egg, molasses, and peanut butter, and heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. [The original recipe has you heat just until combined, but I cooked the mixture a little longer because I was nervous about the raw egg]

3. Stir together the peanut butter mixture, oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and remaining ingredients.

4. Lightly oil an 8-inch square pan (or line with foil), and press the mixture into the pan. Chill for a couple hours until firm, and then cut into squares/bars. [I stored my bars in the fridge after cutting, but I'm not sure if that's strictly necessary.]

Thanks for your kind words about yesterday's post! Patches is back home, and she seems to be feeling like her normal self again. They still don't know what caused her problems yesterday, but she ate some food this morning and has kept it down, so they let her come home around 2pm. Her tummy is all shaved, so she looks a little scraggly, but she seems fine otherwise and is back to meowing for food and asking to go outside (sorry, kitty, not quite yet!). I'm hoping she just ate something bad yesterday, and now it's out of her system.

We're happy to have her back with us :) Also, pet insurance doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore. We'll have to look into that...

Our poor kitty is staying overnight at the pet hospital tonight. When we got home from running errands this afternoon, she had thrown up outside, and then she came in and proceeded to throw up four more times in the span of two hours, which is not normal. So we took her to DoveLewis, since her normal vet was closed for the day.

They took x-rays to see if she had anything unusual in her intestines (string, etc.), but those came out inconclusive. So then they did an ultrasound, which showed no blockages. So at least she doesn't need surgery. But we still don't know what's wrong with her. They're keeping her overnight to try to control the vomiting and keep her from becoming dehydrated. They're also going to run some blood tests to try to figure out what's going on.

Poor kitty :( When we said goodnight, she was all doped up and wrapped in a towel. I cried in front of the vet's assistant, which made me feel kind of silly, since she's just going to spend the night there; not have surgery or anything. I just want her to be back to normal.

(Incidentally, I was really happy with the efficiency and friendliness of everybody at DoveLewis. I think Patches is in good hands)

Twenty-six weeks! Assuming all is going according to plan in there, the baby weighs about 2 pounds, and he can open his eyes. Good job, baby!

Hypnobirthing classes continue to go well. We've been practicing every day. I think it is getting easier for me to go into a relaxed state, though I tend to get a little too relaxed and drift off into sleep if I practice right after lunch. It's easier for me to stay awake when Patrick's reading to me, versus when I'm listening to the relaxation CD. We spent most of our class last night learning about comfort measures (like massage and relaxation cues) that Patrick can use to make labor and birth more comfortable for me. I'm all for that! Patrick liked it because there were very specific examples of small things he can do to keep me relaxed (as opposed to reading me the whole relaxation script). I'm so grateful that he has been open to trying hypnobirthing. I think it will make a big difference to have his full support when I'm in labor (and afterwards, of course!).

We also had our monthly checkup yesterday. Everything looked fine (yay!), though I have an ultrasound scheduled for 32 weeks to see if my placenta is still low. I'm trying not to worry about that, since there's nothing I can do about it. I've got some routine blood tests coming up in two weeks, including the glucose screening test. I was hoping I'd have the option of eating jelly beans for it, but it looks like we're going with Glucola. When I mentioned to my doctor how sugar has affected me recently, she said it sounds more like hypoglycemia than gestational diabetes. It'll be interesting to see what the test shows. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to avoid white sugar.

In crafty baby news, I've been putting off doing the more practical craft projects on my list (like sewing blinds for the nursery). Instead, I made baby legwarmers out of my much-loved Sock It To Me knee socks! They all developed holes in the toe area around the same time last month (after a year and a half of wear; not too bad!), and I was glad to be able to turn them into something useful.

I made the first pair (in pink) by following the linked tutorial exactly, and the cuffs seemed a little big for baby ankles. So I turned that pair into mitts for me using the information in Lee's tutorial about cutting a thumb slit and zig-zagging around it. Easy! I was kind of tempted to make the rest of the socks into mitts for me too, but I stuck with the original plan...

For the subsequent pairs of baby legwarmers, I made the cuff circumference a little bit smaller (by half an inch to an inch). For the argyle pair, I went even further and tapered part of the sock body and the cuff, like in this tutorial. So we have a range of legwarmer styles and sizes to choose from. Now we wait until we have a baby who's big enough to wear them! If they don't fit, it's no big loss, since I've certainly gotten my money's worth out of the socks already.

While doing meal planning this week, I tried to incorporate lots of whole grains and protein. First up, we had oven-roasted salmon with tangerine and ginger relish, brown rice, and peas. It was a fine meal, not super exciting.

Next up, we had breakfast for dinner: Swiss chard and ricotta salata egg bake (using overwintered chard from our garden and buttermilk instead of cream) and whole wheat yogurt waffles with blueberries (from Whole Grains Every Day Every Way). The egg dish was tasty, but the ricotta salata made it a bit too salty and rich for me. I had trouble eating a whole serving (so much protein!). The waffles were nice, especially considering that they were made with whole wheat flour and minimal sweeteners.

For my lunches this week, I made a batch of barley, beef, and mushroom soup (also from Whole Grains) and ate it with grilled cheese and salad. I'm not really a fan of beef and barley soup, but this seemed like a good way to make sure I was getting enough protein and iron. Not bad, and the grilled cheese sandwiches made me happy :)

Twenty-five weeks! Okay, twenty-five and a half--we've been having so much fun this weekend enjoying the beautiful early spring weather in Portland that this post got a little delayed. I'd forgotten how nice the sun is!

We had our second hypnobirthing class on Thursday. We spent a while talking about good nutrition--all pretty standard stuff (eating whole grains, vegetables, and lots of protein). One of the things the teacher emphasized was cutting out white sugar/flour as much as possible (including white rice, pasta, and potatoes), so I'm going to try doing that. I guess that means I won't be baking as much for the next few months. We'll see how long I can hold out...

This week, per the class schedule, Patrick has started reading the hypnobirthing relaxation script to me, in lieu of my listening to the relaxation CD. The teacher warned us that pets like to get in on the relaxation action, and she was right--as soon as we turn on the relaxing music and Patrick starts reading, Patches runs up, jumps on my lap, sniffs my face, and then settles in for some relaxation. It's kind of distracting, but nice. She seems to really enjoy it. I guess she likes Brian Eno.

I finished my first crafty baby project--sewing fitted crib sheets. I used this tutorial, but I made a 3/8-inch channel around the bottom and ran 1/4-inch elastic all the way around, as she suggests at the end of the tutorial. Despite my best measuring and cutting efforts, the sheets all fit on the mattress a little differently, but they should do the job. It's a forgiving project :) I made three flannel sheets and three in lightweight cotton, so we should be all set.

Not a lot to document on the dinner front this week. I made a swiss cheese and mushroom quiche (from the Moosewood cookbook), which was fine, but not very photogenic. This pasta with mascarpone, spinach, lemon, and pine nuts was more attractive. It was easy to make and tasted pretty good. I bet it would be good with spring peas.

For lunches this week, I once again made falafel and tabouleh (both from the Moosewood cookbook) and piled them on top of pita bread and salad greens. For the tabouleh, I used sundried tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes, and I added some toasted pine nuts. Tasty!

Although it still seems early to me, it appears that spring it on its way. We've got daffodils opening in the garden, and trees in our neighborhood are starting to bloom. Yay!

Patrick has been getting our garden ready for spring by harvesting our meager winter crop, which we're hoping to use in dinners this week. The only things left standing right now are our overwintered leeks, garlic, and onions. I'm not sure if we mounded enough dirt around the leeks to get usable stalks, but we'll find out soon enough!

In addition to enjoying nature, we've been exposing the baby to some cultural enrichment in utero. On Friday, we saw Das Rheingold, performed Baywatch style, at the Clinton Street Theater. You can read more about it here. It was pretty great :) We came early to play leitmotif bingo, and Patrick won a heart antenna headband, which I'm sure will come in handy in future costumed sporting events around town. Oh, and unlike the last time we saw Das Rheingold, we didn't fall asleep. This performance was a bit more engaging :)

Yesterday, we went with Star to see the Harlem Globetrotters at the Rose Garden. Patrick had seen them a couple times before when he was younger, but this was the first time for me and Star. They did some cool tricks, and it was fun seeing how excited all the kids in the audience were (there was a young man right behind us who was particularly enthusiastic, though he kept declaring loudly that he could do all those tricks too). But I was kind of surprised at how mean-spirited the Globetrotter ringleader was--he kept picking on a short guy on the other team--asking where his mama was and calling him a baby, and pulling down his pants. I wouldn't want my kid to see that and think it's cool to bully people who are different from them! What would have been better is if there was a short guy on the Globetrotters, and somebody on the opposing team was making fun of him, and then the short guy did some awesome basketball trick and put him in his place. But perhaps I'm overanalyzing things...

This morning was awesome. We took a nice long walk to Wild Abandon for brunch (excellent huevos rancheros!) and then returned home, enjoying our neighborhood along the way. So nice! I'm looking forward to taking many more springtime walks with Patrick in the coming months. It's such a nice way to pass the time.

Patrick had the foresight to bring along the camera. Here are a few of his pictures: (1) Wild crocuses, (2) chickens at Urban Farm Store, (3) me admiring spring blooms.

Twenty-four weeks! Can there really be only a few more weeks left in the second trimester? I'll be sad to see it go--it has been so fun! Increased energy and appetite, and tangible proof that there's really a baby in there. So cool. I love being pregnant :)

Baby-related items:

• We've been to two baby-related classes this week. On Tuesday, we went to a 2-hour infant CPR class at Milagros. I hope I'll never have to use the skills we learned, but it's good to have a basic idea of what to do. And then on Thursday, we walked down to Zenana for our first of five hypnobirthing classes.

  Each class is 2.5 hours long, and there are four other couples in the class. I like it so far! The teacher started out by summarizing some of the earlier chapters in the Hypnobirthing book (the history of hypnobirthing and the birth industry in the US, and a little information on what hypnosis can and can't do). Then we did a little practice hypnosis session, since nobody in class had done hypnosis before (I've actually done it once before--one day in my high school history class, the teacher held an optional hypnosis session to relax us in preparation for our big final tests). And finally, we watched two quick videos of hypnobirths. I think this might have been my first time seeing a video of a real birth (though the birth scene in Knocked Up almost counts, right?). My main takeaway from the videos (apart from seeing that women are able to give birth without any screaming and pushing) was that I shouldn't wear cute socks while giving birth, because they will definitely get exposed to some fluids.

  Another cool thing I found out is that there is a birthing center tucked away in a house at SE 16th and Ankeny, staffed by midwives (Alma Midwifery). Two of the couples in our class are planning on having their babies there. It's right along one of our preferred bike routes, but we'd never noticed it before. Patrick and I joked about biking over there when I'm in labor :) Anyway, I think I'll stick with the hospital for this little guy, but if things go smoothly and we end up having another baby, I'd consider going to Alma. It sounds like a nice environment to give birth in.

  My homework for the class is to listen to a relaxation CD daily. It contains half an hour of affirmations and half an hour of guided relaxation/hypnosis practice. I think the purpose of the affirmations is to get positive thoughts stuck in my head (like listening to the same song over and over), and then when I'm in labor, I'll be more likely to have one of those good thoughts pop into my head than think negative thoughts. Most of the affirmations are pretty general ("I am focused on a smooth, easy birth," "I feel confident, I feel safe, I feel secure"), but there are a few that make me smile every time I hear them because they're so anatomically specific (my favorite is "My baby emerges, and my blood vessels close to the appropriate degree"). I like the affirmations--they're pleasant.

  The half hour of guided relaxation involves getting comfortable (but not too comfortable--you don't want to fall asleep), closing your eyes, and taking deep breaths. The recording guides you through a series of visualizations related to the colors of the rainbow. The idea behind the guided relaxation is that if I practice it often enough, I'll be able to switch into a relaxed state at will. I did my first round of relaxation practice yesterday at lunchtime, and I was definitely nice and relaxed (and ready for a nap!) at the end of it, but still aware of what was going on around me the whole time. I had some trouble turning off my conscious thoughts, but the instructor said that this was a pretty normal problem at first, and it gets easier with practice. It would definitely be a great trick to be able to turn on that relaxed feeling during labor. We'll see if it really works!

• We've been checking out a bunch of baby-related books from the library. Patrick's recent choice was Parenting, Inc., which is about all of the things that parents spend money on these day that weren't in existence a generation ago. Like Patrick said, it makes me wants to go live in the woods, away from consumer culture. Anyway, it provides a good counterpoint to the other baby books and websites I'm reading, and it's a good reminder that babies don't need that much stuff.

• We're making some progress on the name front. We went to lunch at Chaos Cafe last weekend and took our top 10 lists with us (okay, mine was a top 15 list; I had trouble narrowing it down) and, over the course of the meal, we whittled them down to 10 names, about half from my list and half from his. We seem to have slightly different (but not irreconcilable) taste in names--Patrick gravitated toward names with a literary bent, many of them evoking distinguished old men in elbow-patch jackets, while I seem to prefer shorter, cuter old-timey names. We were hoping for some overlap between our lists, and there was one name that was on both of them, but we're not ready to rule out our other favorites. I think we can come to an agreement--our tastes aren't too different. If one of us was pushing for American-Gladiator-style names, things would be harder.

• I've started working on one of my crafty projects for the nursery--sewing crib sheets. It's a really easy project. I'm hoping to finish them up this weekend.

  Oh, and two days ago, we had a free nursery color consultation from YOLO Colorhouse. What a cool company--they saw my post about paint colors, and they emailed me to let me know that they offered free color consultations. So I figured why not take them up on it! One of their color consultants, Puji, stopped by our house and took a look at the fabrics we'd chosen for crib sheets and blinds, plus our art and the general scale of the room. Her assessment was that since much of the fabric we've chosen has a lot of green in it, it might be good to choose a wall color that isn't green. She suggested a light aqua (water.01), white trim (air.01), and then a nice neutral green on the ceiling (leaf.04). I like it! The next step is to go to Ecohaus and pick up poster-sized swatches of the colors (plus maybe thrive.02, since we like that one as well), hang them in the room, and look at them at different times of day.

Our noteworthy food accomplishment of the week was making ricotta calzones with sausage and broccoli rabe, served with that yummy butter and onion tomato sauce. They turned out really well. The sausage was my least favorite part--next time I'd like to try them filled with greens (sauteed nettles, perhaps?) and roasted garlic. Yum!

Recently, I've noticed that my body is responding differently to sugar than it did pre-pregnancy. I'll eat a square of chocolate or a bowl of ice cream and will feel totally crappy afterwards. Bummer, but not unexpected--I've had previously pregnant friends tell me the same thing happened to them. So, I guess that means no pearl milk tea until after the baby is born (probably a good choice anyway). I've been making an effort to get protein into every meal and snack, both so I don't feel crappy and because I need to get 71 grams a day! That means lots of cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, and glasses of milk at snack time. And I've been having eggs for lunch this week. Marion Cunningham's knothole eggs (an egg dish of many names) are my current favorite, though I know I'm breaking the rules by eating runny yolks. The eggs are from a local farm, so I feel pretty safe eating them a little undercooked.

I've also been enjoying Dorset fruit, nut, and fiber cereal. Such a simple combination of ingredients, but they're so tasty! The raisins are the best raisins I've ever had--they taste like they're dipped in honey or something. Yum! It's pretty pricey, but at least it's packed with good-for-me ingredients. I would try to make it myself for cheaper, but I don't know where to get awesome raisins or malted wheat flakes. Hmmm...

I've also been making a variety of grilled sandwiches on Dave's Killer Bread (Good Seed has 6 grams of protein per slice, and it's so yummy!). Inspired by a recent visit to the Grilled Cheese Grill, I made my own version of their Jaime sandwich--banana slices, Nutella, and mascarpone. Mmm, so good! It almost went over the too-much-sugar line, but I added a glass of milk and felt fine afterwards. Also yummy: grilled banana, peanut butter, and mascarpone.

Patrick has been spending time doing some garden planning, which is great! I think we're going to keep our garden pretty simple this year, since we probably won't have much time/energy to tend it this summer. We're going to stick with the same things we planted last year, but this year we're going to try growing San Marzano tomatoes for sauce.

Patrick spent an afternoon last weekend cutting down the big butterfly bush near our garage (visible on the right side of this picture). In its place, he planted a baby lilac bush, courtesy of local artist Amy Ruppel, who was on his Friends of Trees tree-planting crew a few weeks ago (such a cool coincidence!). She had an extra volunteer lilac from her garden, and we had been wanting to plant a lilac, so it worked out really well. I was actually going to plant a lilac for Patrick as our anniversary present back in October (flowers are one of the traditional gifts), but I kept putting it off because of morning sickness and then baby preoccupation. So he ended up doing all the work for me. Thanks, Patrick :)

I'm so looking forward to having our own little lilac flowers in the spring. Right now the lilac bush just looks like a few sticks--I hope it blooms!