Long Walk Today

Today was beautiful- 70s! Wow! Today was "Field Trip Friday" so we decided to walk to the park and then to Wild Oats. SO, I packed up my hiking backpack and headed out. We stopped at the park on the way there and we all had a great time. Trisha was climbing trees and the boys were collecting seeds and pinecones and just having a wonderful time. We continued on and it took us 45 minutes to walk to the store. I was glad for sidewalks! The kids learned about pressing the button to cross the street and they all were excited when the warning of how many seconds til the light changed came up on the screen. At the grocery store, the cashier was amazed- the second person in 2 days- that I was due the end of June. "You are so small!" both commented. But I really don't feel that small. I feel just right now. I think all these comments are happening to keep me in check in knowing that everything is just right. It's funny how the very thing worried about (me being small) is the very thing that I am getting commented on. What an interesting world we live in. I am now quite tired after such a long walk, but gosh it felt good. What a pretty day.

Tears flow when pregnant...don't they?

Sometimes tears come and you just have to wonder "why am I crying?"! Commercials, cartoons, movies, just looking at my children, and especially songs. This song makes me cry every time!!
Mark Wills, "19 Something...."
I saw Star Wars at least 8 times
Had the pac-man pattern memorized
And I've seen the stuff they put insideStretch Armstrong
I was Roger Stauback back in my back yard
Had a shoebox full of baseball cards
And a couple of Evil Kinevil scarsOn my right arm
Well, I was a kid when Elvis died
And my mama cried
Chorus:It was 1970- something
In the world that I grew up in
Farrah Faucett hair-do days
Bell bottoms and 8-track tapes
Lookin' back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn't trade those days for nothin
'It was 1970-somethingIt was the dawning of a new decade
When we got our first microwave
And Dad broke down and finally shaved
Those sideburns off
I took the stickers off of my Rubix cube
Watched MTV all afternoon
My first love was Daisy Duke
In them cut off jeans
A Space Shuttle fell out of the sky
And the whole world cried
Chorus:It was 1980-something
In the world that I grew up in
Skating rinks and Black Trans Ams
Big hair and parachute pants
Lookin' back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn't trade those days for nothin'
It was 1980-something
Now I got a mortgage and an SUV
But all this responsibility
Makes me wish sometimes
Sometimes....chorus:It was 1980-something
In the world that I grew up in
Skating rinks and Black Trans Ams
Big hair and parachute pants
Lookin' back now I can see me
And oh, man did I look cheesy
But I wouldn't trade those days for nothin'
It was 1980-something1970-something
Aw, it was 19-Something

I weigh 125

I'm feeling good about that! I weighed myself at the pool. Trisha said the scale isn't quite right (weighs heavy) but I can still tell how I've gained. So, 125lbs. Sounds good to me!

Belly update

I'm at 21 weeks passed conception, considered 23 weeks. I start my 6th lunar month. My belly is 34 1/8th inches. I feel great. I read what my belly measurement was for Gabriel and Gino in this week. I was 37 inches with Gabriel and 36 inches with Gino. Wow, I'm going to see if I wrote it down for Patricia and Roman. I know comparing isn't the best thing to do, but I am curious! I'll weigh myself on Thursday at the pool.

The "due date" is different according to my pregnancy diary. I fill in every day with a date following conception (which was definitely Oct. 3 when I ovulated) and the journal says the last day is June 21st. Hmmmm, but I think this baby will be a "Cancer".

Midwife visit

Lydi visited on Saturday. Another lovely conversation. She measured me and said "why was it that I wrote down that you would be late?". I told her because I have gone late before, etc etc. and that I seemed this time to be starting out slowly. She said that I caught up and that I'm looking like I'm right on track. That's a relief. It seems I really started to grow after I found Lydi. She had her new fetascope brought to her from Denmark. She wasn't as happy with it because it was larger then the one she used to have. She said she could feel the vibration of the heartbeat but not really hear it. Everytime she put the fetoscope on my belly, Baby Jade would kick at it- it was so funny! Lydi said, "I sure can hear the kicks!"

I've been listening to the Calm Birth meditations. I like it. I stay awake more then with Hypnobabies, which I'm doing, too. I like the Calm birth book, too. Here's the website...
http://www.calmbirth.org/index.html Too bad all the classes are too far away. I like the whole idea. Strange that it's started by a man, though. But his theory is interesting. I'll incorporate it into this birth and see how it goes. Perhaps one day I'll attend the seminars and teach Calm Birth. I think I'd enjoy that- sort of a first step to becoming a midwife. If I do. Who knows? It's at least 5 years out. Probably more.

I feel good. Got a lot going on around here, but I feel good.

We like a boy name!

Danny has suggested this name with just about every child we've had. Again, I thought twice about it because I have an uncle and a cousin and he has a second cousin with the same name. Also, my first nephew's middle name is the same. But we like it anyway....The name we like is MICHAEL. It means "Who is like God" and is the name of the Archangel in the bible. It's a nice name. I like it. (Gabriel is also the name of an archangel so it would be neat to have another. Of course, all my children are "angels" in more then name!) From babynamesworld....Michael is the name of several characters in the Old Testament. It is most famously that of one of the archangels, the one closest to God, who has the responsibility of carrying out God's judgements. Michael is regarded as the leader of the heavenly host and is the patron saint of soldiers.Michael was a popular name among many royal houses of Europe for centuries; this was also the name of nine Byzantine emperors and a czar of Russia.

SO, even though the name is already in our family and is quite popular, though not as much as in the 60s, we're going to try it on. It sounds good to us right now, anyway.

Dream about Rachel

I have a wonderful friend Rachel. After this dream, I just know she will soon be joining me in pregnancy! Here goes...
Rachel invited me over her house to spend the day. Her house was beautiful- a ranch style house that was very open, inviting and just totally comfortable. It wasn't in Vegas. It seemed to be in Northern CA or Vermont or someplace like that. The backyard was long, large rectangular and full of fruit trees and berry bushes. I arrived in the back yard. Rachel was there just beaming, grinning and "motherly" in her blue frilly apron on top of an expanding pregnant belly. She was tending the two children she has now, along with two other sets of twins. Both sets were boy-girl and had striking blond hair. One set of twins was about 5 and the other was about 18 months. My children were there, too, but only Gabriel was the one I saw in my dream playing with the other children in the back yard. The others ran off to climb fruit trees and eat berries. I watched the children play and play and helped Rachel hang out some laundry. As it was getting dark, I felt it was time to leave because I had to get home to make my father something for dinner. I talked myself in to staying saying that I could just make him a quick cheese omelete for dinner. So I went in Rachel's house after a while and we sat at a long kitchen table that had benches on either side. Rachel had me wait there while she brought in some things she wanted me to have. (she was cleaning out her garage) Jim (her husband) and I sat at the table while she hauled in two manger scenes (pregnant and all she hauled in piece after piece while we both just sat there!). One scene was life size, made of styrofoam- like material and was painted in a heavy glittering paint. It had choir members and everything. I loved it and said I would love to have it! We carried it out to my van and loaded it in. She showed me the other manger scene- made of pottery- and said I could have it, too. She told me they were both from her childhood but that she needed more room now with more babies on the way (she was pregnant with twins again). Jim just sat there and smiled and smiled. I loaded my van which as I was driving turned in to my father's old Plymouth station wagon. I only had Gabriel in the car, but I had planned on returning with the others after I unloaded. And that was it... I woke up.

Neat info about "jade"

I found this and thought it was neat to post...

Jade is a symbol of serenity and purity and has been prized by many cultures. It signifies wisdom, luck and tranquility. It is a gentle stone that releases negative thoughts and soothes the mind. It stimulates new ideas and helps to make tasks seem less daunting (or less complex). It is also a dream stone that when placed on the forehead it can bring insight.
Jade encourages you to become who you really are and helps you to recognize that you are a spiritual being on a human journey and to awaken hidden knowledge.
Jade is also a gentle healer that boosts the body's self healing powers. It helps to resolve emotional or spiritual issues that may be lowering physical resistance.
Use Jade to attract good fortune and prosperity. It also helps to repel negative energy from others - you can even use it in the workspace to keep away intrusions from unfriendly colleagues. If you work in the garden, Jade helps to encourage the growth of beautiful plants.

We like a new name

Julia seems to be out. Danny suggested another name. He has suggested this name with every pregnancy and I've nixed it every time. I just couldn't get past the fact that there were SO many with that name when my sister was growing up and then again when I taught. He suggested JESSICA and that we call the baby JESSIE. I like it. I think it has the same sort of feel and sound as Patricia and Trish. Formal and informal. And Jessica means "gift, grace of God, " which I like, too. We'll try it on for a while.


This is off of http://www.babynamesworld.com/ :

Jessica first appeared in the Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice' and her origins are much debated. It is possible that Jessica comes from the Hebrew name found in the Bible as Iscah, which was translated in Shakespeare's time as Jesca. Having shown amazing popularity in the US from the late 70s to the late 90s, Jessica fell to 32nd place in the US charts in 2006. However, in 2007 it was the fifth most popular name in the UK, having held the top spot in 2005. Jessica is also currently in the top 10 of all the Australian states, and New Zealand. Famous bearers include actresses Jessica Lange, Jessica Alba and Jessica Biel, singer Jessica Simpson and Jessica McClure (also known as 'Baby Jessica') who became trapped in a well at 18 months. Jessica Rabbit is the wife of Roger Rabbit in the film 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit?'.

I've decided to use "Elimination Communication" EC with this one

A dear friend, Marika, introduced me to EC a few years ago when I was astonished to see her then just 2 year old without a diaper. Here's an intro from the EC store...

EC stands for Elimination Communication, also known as Natural Infant Hygiene or Infant Potty Training. It's a wonderful way to respond to a baby's natural instincts to stay clean and dry. EC reduces diaper use, reduces diaper rash, can lead to earlier potty independence, and so much more.
Babies are BORN potty trained! Just like other animals, human infants instinctively avoid urinating and defecating on themselves. Why do you think babies go during diaper changes? It's not the rush of cold air like others will tell you -- our babies are simply (and smartly!) taking the opportunity to relieve themselves without having to sit in it! After just a few months of full time diapering, our babies are trained to ignore their natural instinct, and instead of preferring to be clean and dry, they are trained to pee and poop into their diapers.Don't train something you'll just have to untrain later. With a few more months of diapering, our babies follow our lead of ignoring when they're peeing and pooping altogether, and they completely lose the control and awareness they are born with. Elimination Communication (EC) lets you skip the diaper training step and go directly to the end result - potty training right from the start. This is what millions of parents around the world do everyday and have done for thousands of years. This is not a new concept or idea. It's truly "child-led potty training," listening and responding to our babies when they first start to communicate about it instead of years later. The vast majority of parents who EC, even only part time, say it results in closer bonding of parents and baby, less reliance on diapers, and cleaner, drier babies. A lot of parents even say it's EASIER than 2-3 years of diapering and traditional potty training.If you want, try to offer your baby an opportunity to potty in a place other than in his diaper.

I am really going to give it a whirl. It seems that the time of year will be good at first- the baby doesn't need much clothing outside or in. I want to make some little leg warmers for some sun protection and maybe just to keep it easy to remove a diaper if we are out and I need to put one on. They'll also be good when the baby starts crawling to keep away rug burn and for padding on the hard floors. I need to buy a few books to prepare, but it should be easy enough except at night time. I definitely need some ideas for that. I consider myself rather in tune with the needs of my babies so I should do ok.

Holly and Andy's New Baby- DREW

Wow! He's here! My brother had grandchild number 25 (oopps- correction- he's number 26!)for my Dad born 2/2/08. He's the first boy after 3 wonderful girls. His name is James Andrew and they will call him "Drew". I hope to meet him soon! Baby Jade will have a cousin only 6 months older. Yipppee!

I like this prayer...

This prayer was sent to me by my midwife. I really admire Mother Theresa and so I wanted to post it here...

Saint Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

Maybe not Julia

Danny and I both agreed that Julia is a beautiful, feminine name. My sister even reminded me of the lovely song by the Beatles, Julia, off the White Album. But a few nights back I had a dream....

I was re-acting in the "Man of La Mancha" play I did in 9th grade. Julia F. was there. So, in my dream, here she arrives. Julia F. came to wish me well on my performance. I was ready to begin the whole show- being a prisoner thrown into the dungeon. She came over just before I went on and she looked differently. Julia looked just like "Mimi" (Kathy Kinney) from the Drew Cary Show! She was larger then life and had all the same makeup and the goofy sort of clothes. Yikes! She and I were both older- I guess our ages now. What a dream! She wouldn't get out of my face. AHHHHH! Too scary! Maybe the baby is trying to tell me something. Maybe not Julia...

Music to my ears!

I heard the baby's heartbeat this morning with the fetascope! Wow! I cried and was just overcome with awe! How incredible that I have this little one growing inside me. Such a strong, strong heartbeat! Pure joy!