Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

 I'm here to tell you that Sheila, Mark's car of 20 years, has died [more precisely, has been donated to public radio, but the fact remains that she no longer runs]. Mark was starting his drive home from St. Louis when Sheila just...stopped. He started her up again, and she reasserted her stationary status. He did a manual override to get her off the road [ie put her in neutral and rolled off to the side down the hill], and then called a tow.  And thus began the search for the ideal car . [Unfortunately, I don't think cars, or people, have achieved perfection on earth, but the pressure to find the closest-to-perfect still exists]. It needed to have safety features like a backup camera, curtain airbags, and superb crash test results. I stipulated that it needed to have air vents to the rear seat, as I had noticed that Nathan can get warm sitting back there in his carseat. We preferred a hybrid, for environmental and gas-price reasons. The car also needed room for his strolle...

 You may recall that I was an Activity Days person for  kids aged 8-11 for our congregation back in DC. Well, I may never completely escape it. Mark was asked to be the Activity Days person for boys aged 8-11 for our congregation here in Illinois, and he wanted me to help teach a First Aid lesson to them. Which I did. Okay, mostly Mark did the teaching--because he's good interacting with kids--but I prepared the lessons. Not sure the kids actually enjoyed  it (one of them asked at the end of the night "Are we doing anything fun today?"), but the parents must have thought it was useful, because we got asked to teach First Aid to the older boys [aged 12-17]. And by golly, I thought up some good activities, so we're documenting it. Heimlich Maneuver : I pinched off small pieces of bread and rolled them into balls that could fit in a bunch of straws, then lodged a bread ball into the end of each straw that I handed out to each boy to then blow into a tub. The idea is the ...

 I have officially experienced all trimesters, and I have to say the fourth trimester is the worst [although admittedly I didn't get very far into the third trimester, which I think means my fourth trimester was even longer]. At one of my follow-up visits, I told my midwife that the sleep deprivation is more miserable than labor/delivery, and she heartily agreed. I can't believe I was hoping for multiples. Anyway, the fourth trimester is over, but the sleep deprivation continues. I have discovered that I am both stronger and weaker than I imagined. I have been through a lot [read below!], and have only survived because of community--so for all my friends and acquaintances who went through the postpartum period without my emotional/physical support, I owe y'all some serious apologies.  Highlights [or really, lowlights] of the last 4 months: When Nathan was 6 weeks old Mark and I both got food poisoning. We are 99% sure it came from a soup mix that, ironically, had been sent ...

Much has happened in the past month. The most notable is that I produced a human.[okay, some of that was done in the preceding 8 months, but I mean that he is actually physically separate from me]. Quick highlights antecedent to the major event: -I had a virtual baby shower, pulled together with the work, time, and creativity of my family. It ended with the apartment fire alarm going off, because of course it did, that's just how my life goes. -I dressed up as a hippie for our church Halloween Trunk or Treat. It turns out to be the last time I was photographed prior to being in labor. -I got called into our church congregation's Primary [ie children's] presidency. I think that means I help out the Primary teachers, attend meetings, sub in as Primary pianist as needed. The job description in the handbook is kind-of vague. -My pregnancy had been the longest full-migraine-free period of my adult life. On the subject of migraines, a week before I gave birth, I had such a terrib...

 I have hit the 6-month mark in gestation. I'd like to say that means I'm two-thirds of the way done, but actually, * psych! * pregnancy is 10 months, not 9. I don't know why we say pregnancy is 9 months; maybe it averages in all the preemies. So far, I have to say first trimester is the worst. Constant nausea, and too early to tell people why you feel terrible. Mark likes to point out that I never threw up, but nausea is terrible all on its own, so I didn't find that comforting. Second trimester has less nausea, but also less energy. Like, I was running 2-3 miles a day up until 2nd trimester. Now I'm running 1 mile a couple times a week, but as of this week I think even that is going to stop because the 2 times I ran this week left me with such pain in my pelvic area--and that's even with a belly band thing to try to support the extra tummy weight--that changing positions hurt all day. Also, I'm not a fan of the nighttime leg cramps. These are charley-horse...

  On May 10, we began the move into our new apartment.  It is in the same building as our old apartment.  In fact, it is just down the hall on the same floor.  Our lease renewal was coming up on our old apartment and the rent on our old apartment was going up significantly.  If we were going to pay a bunch more for our old apartment, why not get a bigger and refurbished apartment for slightly more than what our new rent was going to be?  The new apartment would still be a one-bedroom, but would have a study and would also have a half-bath by the front door.  The big draw for us is the study, which is too small to be considered a second bedroom but will be big enough to have a crib [because SPOILER! pregnant].  The half-bath is unnecessary (except for if we have guests over who want to use the bathroom without going through our bedroom, but we almost never have guests) and is actually a hindrance as it takes away from kitchen space. Our lease on th...