I haven't actually blogged about baby for a bit, being that we've been all-consumed in our trip to Jamaica and then moving to Queens. But baby is doing great!
Definitely kicking these days, still at somewhat random times of the day, though I may start writing down when it happens for myself. For a while I wasn't really having Jason feel my belly, as it was like trying to point out a shooting star - always just missing it. But now I think it really recognizes him - the other night he had put his warm hand there for a moment before I got a good WHOMP! - though it was just below his hand where he couldn't feel. A few nights later, after a few decent kicks, a couple he could even see, he put his hand on me and he was able to feel many good ones. I get most filled with joy and emotional when I see/think about my baby and daddy interactions.
I also now know that I definitely look pregnant. I think it's the first time I do. I haven't (in my head - Jason's said I look pregnant for the last month or so), in large part, because I have two bumps. One up over my stomach, which I think may be where my food storages lie, and the other down where baby is, cut in two by my belly button, which is starting to spread a bit and look like a frowny face (I'm anxious to get an outie!). I've been waiting for them to join together. Well now, at 5+ months, I guess it doesn't matter so much, because people are starting to recognize that I am pregnant, and I am definitely waddling these days. Always concerned about the train ride, I think I'm to the point where, as long as there is a decent person sitting and willing to give it up, I will get a seat. I try to avoid using them, but I do have some powers of manipulation. I can walk on a crowded train to the middle of a bunch of seats, look very defeated for a moment when I see none are available, and then someone will tap me on the shoulder and I thank them profusely before sitting and settling into a book. Hey, when I haven't been pregnant I always offer my seat to the elderly, people with children, or a pregnant lady - though I admit I wait a second to see if any kind gentlemen will offer first (often they won't). :)
And, I'm not sure how obese people do it. All of a sudden when I sit too long, my butt becomes very, very sore, and my tailbone hurts. All that extra weight, I'm guessing? I would seriously consider getting a donut pillow for my desk if I wasn't embarrassed. And even that may not stop me if I can cover it with something black so it blends in!
The one thing that has scared me most is, what if something happened to me, would the baby be able to survive at this point? Well, on one of the pregnancy boards I'm often on for babies due January 2009, one of the women gave birth very prematurely at 23 weeks and the baby is actually doing very well! Obviously I want to hold onto this kid as long as possible (within reason, of course), but it gives me hope that this baby could survive outside the womb if something went very wrong. It also makes me feel more connected with it. I'm someone who believes life begins at conception, but now that it's survivable (that's gotta be a word), I'm starting to recognize it as its own little person aside from me. Both exciting and scary - I feel like I'm actually entering into motherhood and someday this tiny life will be a full-grown human being in front of me, having babies of its own!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Moved in
We did it.Somehow we always do. But after this weekend, Jason has made the edict that we will raise three children in this apartment, somehow smuggle in a dog for its lifespan, and die here. Never moving again! I predict that as long as we're in NYC and have no more than 2 young children we'll be in our new Astoria apartment.
After a busy couple days, with Jason running on about 8 hours of sleep total, and my on 15 or so (unheard of these days!), we're finally going to just order Thai and veg all evening.
The new place is incredibly quiet - are we still really in NYC? And it's definitely bigger, with a beautiful kitchen and nice rooms throughout. The only problems so far are that the bathroom has very little ventilation and smells strongly of paint, and the new-shaped windows require new curtains. I was planning a run to Bed, Bath, & Beyond this evening, but that may not happen. Besides, JC Penney is having a home sale and I think I've decided to go with blinds for the living room, over curtains, and need to take new measurements so I can get the made-to-order ones.
Overall we're very happy. Couldn't have done it without the 8 amazing friends who showed up to help out and my workhorse of a husband who took over where I couldn't due to pure exhaustion and inability to lift.
After a busy couple days, with Jason running on about 8 hours of sleep total, and my on 15 or so (unheard of these days!), we're finally going to just order Thai and veg all evening.
The new place is incredibly quiet - are we still really in NYC? And it's definitely bigger, with a beautiful kitchen and nice rooms throughout. The only problems so far are that the bathroom has very little ventilation and smells strongly of paint, and the new-shaped windows require new curtains. I was planning a run to Bed, Bath, & Beyond this evening, but that may not happen. Besides, JC Penney is having a home sale and I think I've decided to go with blinds for the living room, over curtains, and need to take new measurements so I can get the made-to-order ones.
Overall we're very happy. Couldn't have done it without the 8 amazing friends who showed up to help out and my workhorse of a husband who took over where I couldn't due to pure exhaustion and inability to lift.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Our new 'hood: Astoria
I'm stealing this video from my friend Julie, so parents can see a bit of the neighborhood we're moving to. This is from Travel Channel's show No Reservations, and they're hitting up The Kebab Café (Astoria is known for it's large Greek population and restaurants). It looks pretty freaking amazing. I'd have Julie and Chris take us, but she's becoming vegan and I don't know that the sheep brains and testicles will appeal to her. Hopefully Jason won't read this, and he'll be willing to go with me. :) As they say in the clip, though, this is the kind of stuff most of the world eats, most don't eat fillet mignon for dinner (not that we do!). Apparently it's praised by NYC foodies, inexpensive, and it's right off our train stop, whoo hoo!
Moving, Ikea, Target, Dogs in Costumes & Ninja Cats
Currently I am OD'ing on Red Hots. In response to a previous post, in which I mentioned I couldn't find the right kind of animal cookies (Keebler's) or Red Hots candies ANYWHERE in NYC, my amazing mother-in-law sent me a box loaded with both. For the baby, of course. God bless her!
OK, since I often type a lot, if you decide not to read my blog, that's cool, but you must watch these 2 videos. The first one Jason showed me last week and I was laughing so hard I was crying. Now I watch it when I need a pick-me-up, but can't watch it at work or they'll think I'm dying out here. The second Jason showed me last night and I was laughing nearly as hard. Just too funny! (And if you don't get it, perhaps we just have a strange sense of humour.)
OK, now back to me.
Just 3 days until we move, but it's all coming together. At Bible study last week we asked if anyone knew of any good movers. We were ready to shell out a wad of cash, but our friends told us that was ridiculous and offered to help us out. So, after spending the rest of the week packing (I can only do it for so long at a time each night before I'm just too exhausted, and my stomach, or uterus, I should say, has been sore lately so that it's hard to move to fast or bend over), Jason's dropping me off early on Saturday to meet the cable guy. Actually, cable guy won't be there until 2-6PM, so it gives me a chance to have brunch with my awesome friend Julie. But Jason has to be back at our old place at noon to meet everyone, and with traffic, it just makes more sense to be there early. Plus, I tend to get too stressed out on moving day, so taking me out of the picture completely makes it easier on everyone. As I haven't actually been to our new apartment, it'll also give me a chance to figure out where things are going to go, and sit and read on our two oversize pillows. It's supposed to rain that day but hopefully no one will bail out. And thankfully we've got a couple friends that have cars, so they can transport folks up to Astoria from Park Slope without them having to deal with the 90 minute train ride in between moving. Then of course pizza for everyone, and Jason and I will crash and probably not do anything until the following morning, when I'll do much unpacking and Jason goes back to clean the old place. Whew!
We actually went to the new Brooklyn Ikea last night. I've never had a more pleasant Ikea experience, and I'm sure never will again. We road the bus (it came before the Ikea shuttle) to a nearly empty store, but first had to have dinner at their cafe. Probably less than 15 minutes. Looked at the kids' stuff, but their cribs are nearly half the size of normal cribs - not OK when mom and dad are 5'10" and 6'2". So we grabbed some wine glasses for $5 and then went to the rug department. Yeah, we were given some 16 wine glasses for our wedding, but they were so fragile that we're down to two. Yes, two. I'm probably going to cry when one of those breaks, since we've managed to hold on to them for the last year. Somehow we still have eight martini glasses, but we never really make those.
So then we headed to the rug department. The old one we had was a brown/black shag that got filled with white cat hair and I finally broke a glass in the other day (did I not mention I tend to do that?) and so it was kicked to the curb. My designer husband is so funny - he didn't know what kind of color/design theory goes into picking out a rug for an apartment and didn't want anything to wild. So I showed him the ones I liked, all off-white or beige, and he chose his favorite out of those (also my favorite). We grabbed a few things on the way out and took the lovely shuttle bus, waiting right smack in front, back to our house and walked the four blocks home. So lovely and easy!
Tonight I have to make a final trip to the dreaded Brooklyn Target for some glasses (of the 16 of those we bought maybe a year and a half ago, we're down to maybe seven - it will definitely help that we have a dishwasher at the new place so we won't be dropping them as much anymore!). I love Target back at home but the one in Brooklyn is just overcrowded, nothing is ever where it should be, the lines are awful, and it's just not pleasant. But we really need these glasses, and last minute things for our new home. So it's worth it.
See, I always write too much. Aren't you glad you watched the cute videos first?
OK, since I often type a lot, if you decide not to read my blog, that's cool, but you must watch these 2 videos. The first one Jason showed me last week and I was laughing so hard I was crying. Now I watch it when I need a pick-me-up, but can't watch it at work or they'll think I'm dying out here. The second Jason showed me last night and I was laughing nearly as hard. Just too funny! (And if you don't get it, perhaps we just have a strange sense of humour.)
OK, now back to me.
Just 3 days until we move, but it's all coming together. At Bible study last week we asked if anyone knew of any good movers. We were ready to shell out a wad of cash, but our friends told us that was ridiculous and offered to help us out. So, after spending the rest of the week packing (I can only do it for so long at a time each night before I'm just too exhausted, and my stomach, or uterus, I should say, has been sore lately so that it's hard to move to fast or bend over), Jason's dropping me off early on Saturday to meet the cable guy. Actually, cable guy won't be there until 2-6PM, so it gives me a chance to have brunch with my awesome friend Julie. But Jason has to be back at our old place at noon to meet everyone, and with traffic, it just makes more sense to be there early. Plus, I tend to get too stressed out on moving day, so taking me out of the picture completely makes it easier on everyone. As I haven't actually been to our new apartment, it'll also give me a chance to figure out where things are going to go, and sit and read on our two oversize pillows. It's supposed to rain that day but hopefully no one will bail out. And thankfully we've got a couple friends that have cars, so they can transport folks up to Astoria from Park Slope without them having to deal with the 90 minute train ride in between moving. Then of course pizza for everyone, and Jason and I will crash and probably not do anything until the following morning, when I'll do much unpacking and Jason goes back to clean the old place. Whew!
We actually went to the new Brooklyn Ikea last night. I've never had a more pleasant Ikea experience, and I'm sure never will again. We road the bus (it came before the Ikea shuttle) to a nearly empty store, but first had to have dinner at their cafe. Probably less than 15 minutes. Looked at the kids' stuff, but their cribs are nearly half the size of normal cribs - not OK when mom and dad are 5'10" and 6'2". So we grabbed some wine glasses for $5 and then went to the rug department. Yeah, we were given some 16 wine glasses for our wedding, but they were so fragile that we're down to two. Yes, two. I'm probably going to cry when one of those breaks, since we've managed to hold on to them for the last year. Somehow we still have eight martini glasses, but we never really make those.
So then we headed to the rug department. The old one we had was a brown/black shag that got filled with white cat hair and I finally broke a glass in the other day (did I not mention I tend to do that?) and so it was kicked to the curb. My designer husband is so funny - he didn't know what kind of color/design theory goes into picking out a rug for an apartment and didn't want anything to wild. So I showed him the ones I liked, all off-white or beige, and he chose his favorite out of those (also my favorite). We grabbed a few things on the way out and took the lovely shuttle bus, waiting right smack in front, back to our house and walked the four blocks home. So lovely and easy!
Tonight I have to make a final trip to the dreaded Brooklyn Target for some glasses (of the 16 of those we bought maybe a year and a half ago, we're down to maybe seven - it will definitely help that we have a dishwasher at the new place so we won't be dropping them as much anymore!). I love Target back at home but the one in Brooklyn is just overcrowded, nothing is ever where it should be, the lines are awful, and it's just not pleasant. But we really need these glasses, and last minute things for our new home. So it's worth it.
See, I always write too much. Aren't you glad you watched the cute videos first?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
No longer a Brooklyn Breeder
God is so, so, so good. We made it home from Jamaica Saturday night at 11PM. Sunday morning at 11AM we're off apartment hunting in Astoria, Queens. My coworker lives in a building that used to be a part of the projects. Not the big, looming gray buildings, these are actually pretty cute, 3-story red brick buildings. For the 20 or so square blocks they own, it's very neighborhoody and cute - almost like an NYC version of Ballard or Queen Anne back home. To the northwest is the river with some smaller parks, followed by Astoria Park which is pretty large and has a huge playground and the largest swimming pool in New York. To the southeast, and closer to the train are many great restaurants and bars. It's at the last stop off the N/W line, which means there will always be one sitting and waiting for us, and we'll always get a seat. It also rides above-ground through Queens, which can be nicer than being underground for a half hour or so. And it's much much less expensive than where we are in Park Slope, Brooklyn. These places run something like $1100 for a studio, $1275 for a 1-bedroom, and $1575 for a 2-bedroom. Those of you outside New York are balking at the prices, those of you in New York can't believe how ridiculously cheap that is! The other awesome thing about Astoria is how many friends we have living there - maybe 4 or 5 couples and several singles, and our home group from church now meets there.
So after calling the broker pretty much every week or two (because I'm a worry-wart control freak), and having her tell me every time to call two weeks before we were planning to move, we finally met and she was lovely. We looked at one apartment that was ok, but about 12 blocks from the train and not the best use of space in the layout. But the second one we went to was absolutely perfect - overlooking a courtyard, much closer to the train, and we were ready to rent. The broker loved us and was ready to rent to us that day if we wanted, except of course they had to run the credit check. Sadly, the following day we were told the apartment was unavailable. Apparently another broker had rented it out and told no one, and, as this is not the first time that's happened, it might be the straw that gets him fired. We feel bad, but we did really want the apartment. Fortunately the broker loves us and I'm married to an amazing man who has this week off, as well. He went out last night again and they showed him pretty much our same apartment, except in reverse layout. The only two drawbacks being it's on the 3rd floor of a walk-up (but I'm going to have to figure out how to navigate the subway stairs with stroller, so why not another challenge to help me lose baby fat?), and the view from the bedrooms is of ConEd and a carport. But it does have a dishwasher - BIG plus! Jason came home to discuss it with me first, show me the photos he took, and we decided to go with it. This morning he called them again and tomorrow night he'll be signing the lease, whoo hoo! We move in a week from Friday.
So the rest of this week Jason will be picking up cardboard boxes from every deli and wine store he can, and finding a decent mover. Then this weekend he'll be off at a church men's retreat killing something and dancing around the fire with the carcass, or whatever it is they do, while I relax and pack up what I can (I've been ordered not to overdo it, if that's even possible).
Every time we get ready to move I have a few weeks or months of worrying, but every single time Jesus comes through in an amazing way, wiping away all those fears aside.
I'm also amazed at how well he's taking care of us. Times are scary. Everyone's supercharged with the election (I've got my definite beliefs but refuse to argue with friends about them - I really find it pointless when we're both going to stick to our guns and I'd rather just be friends - though I might be vocal about what I believe!), I work at a hedge fund as Wall Street is crashing and I've never seen people as panicked and running around and the higher ups having so many important meetings, and then of course we've got the war and natural disasters. Pastor JR sent out a lovely letter to the church reminding us where we put our hope - and I'm so very glad at this time that it's not in anything of this earth - I don't know what I'd be doing if that was the case! Right now I've got a roof over my head, a loving husband and family and friends and baby on the way, I'm able to indulge in most of my cravings (far more than millions around the world can do) and I'm so content.
So after calling the broker pretty much every week or two (because I'm a worry-wart control freak), and having her tell me every time to call two weeks before we were planning to move, we finally met and she was lovely. We looked at one apartment that was ok, but about 12 blocks from the train and not the best use of space in the layout. But the second one we went to was absolutely perfect - overlooking a courtyard, much closer to the train, and we were ready to rent. The broker loved us and was ready to rent to us that day if we wanted, except of course they had to run the credit check. Sadly, the following day we were told the apartment was unavailable. Apparently another broker had rented it out and told no one, and, as this is not the first time that's happened, it might be the straw that gets him fired. We feel bad, but we did really want the apartment. Fortunately the broker loves us and I'm married to an amazing man who has this week off, as well. He went out last night again and they showed him pretty much our same apartment, except in reverse layout. The only two drawbacks being it's on the 3rd floor of a walk-up (but I'm going to have to figure out how to navigate the subway stairs with stroller, so why not another challenge to help me lose baby fat?), and the view from the bedrooms is of ConEd and a carport. But it does have a dishwasher - BIG plus! Jason came home to discuss it with me first, show me the photos he took, and we decided to go with it. This morning he called them again and tomorrow night he'll be signing the lease, whoo hoo! We move in a week from Friday.
So the rest of this week Jason will be picking up cardboard boxes from every deli and wine store he can, and finding a decent mover. Then this weekend he'll be off at a church men's retreat killing something and dancing around the fire with the carcass, or whatever it is they do, while I relax and pack up what I can (I've been ordered not to overdo it, if that's even possible).
Every time we get ready to move I have a few weeks or months of worrying, but every single time Jesus comes through in an amazing way, wiping away all those fears aside.
I'm also amazed at how well he's taking care of us. Times are scary. Everyone's supercharged with the election (I've got my definite beliefs but refuse to argue with friends about them - I really find it pointless when we're both going to stick to our guns and I'd rather just be friends - though I might be vocal about what I believe!), I work at a hedge fund as Wall Street is crashing and I've never seen people as panicked and running around and the higher ups having so many important meetings, and then of course we've got the war and natural disasters. Pastor JR sent out a lovely letter to the church reminding us where we put our hope - and I'm so very glad at this time that it's not in anything of this earth - I don't know what I'd be doing if that was the case! Right now I've got a roof over my head, a loving husband and family and friends and baby on the way, I'm able to indulge in most of my cravings (far more than millions around the world can do) and I'm so content.
Jamaican Babymoon
(Complete photo set at my flickr site.)
We arrived home Saturday from our final vacation before baby (aside from possibly visiting a B&B somewhere in the mountains or Long Island for Christmas since I'm grounded as of mid-November and, sadly, the markets are open day after Thanksgiving so I encouraged my coworker to take it off before I'm gone). The day before leaving (Friday) I had to stay home from work - migraine and sick. Greeaaat.
As the first hurricane was hitting the east coast that Saturday, we fully expected to be stuck in the airport for many hours, and packed up travel Scrabble, cards, etc., and to have me feeling crappy. But I woke up feeling pretty decent, gave ourselves plenty of time for the airport, especially so I could waddle with my now bad back hips (oh yeah, they've gotten pretty bad these days), and ended up having just enough time to grab some food and magazines before boarding the plane and ending up in Jamaica on time, whoo hoo! From then on for the entire week, I only had one medium-bad headache and my hips only hurt if I twisted in the wrong direction (of course the morning after we got back, major headache and bad hips again - which I can only attribute to the fact we had to apartment hunt immediately and the stress of travel and finding a home just added up in my poor fragile body). We have also finally learned how to apply sunscreen: 50spf every time we got out of the water, or after 60 minutes or so. I got small burns on my legs and feet, as Jason got small ones on his feet and stomach, but otherwise we were great and I came back as tan as a redhead can after a week in the Caribbean!
Club Ambiance was perfect for us. Jason thinks I should go into business finding good vacation deals for people that don't know how to use the internet because the entire trip, including the small adults-only, all-inclusive resort, airfare, insurance and taxes came out to only $1600 (and I really love to research vacations and daydream). Yes, it was small, but it was all we needed - a couple beaches, a pool, unlimited use of pool floats, snorkeling equipment, kayaks, and other water equipment, all you can eat/drink (including alcohol, though I couldn't partake), and, although I love children, it was very nice to not have to deal with them running around getting our stuff sandy and wet, especially after enjoying an airplane ride with a few too many. We knew we were booking the trip during hurricane season but decided to risk it, as they take their time and give plenty of warning. Monday Hurricane Ike did hit Cuba which left us wet and stormy, but we were in the pool by 3PM and didn't have a worry after, though we will donate to the Red Cross, knowing there are thousands of people who have many worries and hardships at this time.
The only trip we took off the resort was to Ocho Rios. We were glad we did it, but would not do it again. First, after having booked the shuttle the day before and speaking to the tour coordinator just before our 10AM departure, we were pulled away by another staff member. We finally got back just as our shuttle was pulling away, and they tried to call it back but couldn't. But they did pay for a cab, a guy that stays on-site to take people around. We got to the main street which was full of shops and were greeted by a guy we thought was a tour guide, since he seemed to know the cab driver. He helped us out of the cab and told us to go explore and buy from the store on the corner that had lots of expensive jewelry, rum, coffee, etc, that we might want, and he'd wait for us. We (dumb Americans) thought "OK, cool". We buy some coffee and follow him to the craft market. He leads us through it all the way to the back as poor vendors offer us everything from hair braiding, to pot, to jewelry. We get to the back and he shows us a booth and says "this is mine, take a look around and tell me what you want". Wood wall carvings and cheap plastic jewelry abounded - um, no. We said no about 30 times before he got the picture, and then he led like a beaten puppy dog around a dark and deserted corner where, for a moment, I thought he was going to mug us or something, to his sister's booth, where he left us. We told her no, and then had to walk through all the vendors again, only determined at this point to get out. We crossed the street to the strip mall where we found many of the exact same store that you find in any tourist destination - t-shirts, shot glasses, hats, etc. etc. Every store had someone following us around trying to get us to buy what we couldn't afford (and we only had a total of $60 in cash on us in the first place). We went to a few different ones before I had to find a bathroom, and ended up far enough down the road at stores that didn't harass us, but also didn't have much of anything. In the end we made it out with 1.5 lbs of Blue Mountain Coffee (top of the line, at least $30 or $35 a lb. in the states), some rum cream to be saved until the end of my pregnancy (tastes like Baileys, my favorite!), and two baby bibs, one with a sea turtle and one that says "I'm a little beach bum" and has a baby's fanny. That's all we wanted, as we're not too much into cheap tourist crap, no matter what the destination.
One exciting development, baby wise, is that Baby P is definitely kicking these days. Having Jason around all the time made it easier to sit and put his hand on my belly for 5 minutes or so at a time, and he managed to feel 2 or 3 fairly decent kicks. One night it was so much that we actually saw my belly move, which was very cool! (S)he seems most active when I first wake up or am going to bed, and when I was lying on my pool float floating around the bay or the pool, I really got to feel it. So nice and strange and awesome. I did have a couple panic attacks when I was there, only when I started thinking too much about the fact that we were in a poor foreign country and I was unsure if the cheese I had just eaten was pasteurized or not and would get listeriosis, or had what I thought might be new pains (even though I've had cramps all along and I really don't think they were anything new to worry about). But panic attacks aren't rational, and I just prayed, read my Bible, and practiced breathing, telling myself my throat was not actually swelling shut and my heart was not actually beating so fast it would give out and crash. My last one was on the plane home when I started thinking about the woman who died because the plane she was on had only empty oxygen containers. I'm going to ask my doctor if they're really affecting my baby, but I think I'm doing much better now. I've gone through a few short periods in my life with panic attacks, but obviously I'm still here and (somewhat) healthy!
Really, it was just awesome to lie around and do pretty much absolutely nothing but be in the water or lie around the pool or beach and be with one another - and eat as much as we wanted (though towards the end our stomachs started bothering us and haven't yet quite recovered - I think too much grease and fried food, but still pretty great). The people at the resort were nice, and we interacted some with the other guests, but didn't take advantage of the midnight disco or many of the evening shows. It was just about us and relaxing and loving each other and looking forward to our new expanded family, and that's what we got!
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