It's name time

We're keeping our list of names a secret, but we're also looking for interesting suggestions from our friends and family. So if you have a one (or a list), please leave a comment!

Merry Christmas!

I finally finished an article I have been working on for AGES! So I had time today to take down the Indian Corn and put up some greens... just in time for the snow. The Indian Corn would have been tres pathetique with the snow!

Snow is on the way

We're expecting a little winter weather starting on Friday and continuing through the weekend! IF we can dodge the flakes enough to get to two family Christmas gatherings, we will be lucky indeed.

For the obstetrically curious, read on. As of Wednesday I'm 50% effaced, 1-2cm dilated, and at -2 station. I probably will probably request not to be checked again, unless it's necessary, but I found the info very interesting.

Yay, baby.

The baby has turned head down! Yay!

Knitting project

One for papa, one for baby.

A Quilt from Kara

On the evening of Thanksgiving day, I opened the most wonderful surprise from my cousin Kara! Since I couldn't open it up in front of everyone at my shower, I wanted to share it here. Isn't it perfect? For those of you who don't know, the patterned fabric is exactly what I've picked out to make curtains with! Our nursery is starting to get some personality!

Thank you, Kara!

christmas tree fetching

What Will Santa Bring?

We've been watching DVDs of the Dick Van Dyke show lately, and of course we're already getting excited for Christmas. In this video, the two come together in a way that just takes our breath away!

They say the young vote really popped out this year....

Evolution of a room

It started out as a....

But yesterday our dear friend Rebecca stopped in to help us work a little magic...

I'm very happy with the results....

And so is Kenny...

who installed the crib...

We added some friends to welcome the baby...

Ta-da!

That's all for now, folks! We'll keep you posted.

October happenings

What better place to start outfitting a nursery than IKEA? Working backwards through our month so far, last weekend we took a "little" trip to IKEA. But, for those of you who have been sucked into the IKEA vortex before, you know that a little trip to IKEA is impossible. We spent over 6 hours there! But, we got a crib, dresser with changing table on top, and a little cubby thingie to hang baby boy's clothing in. Plus 2 lamps for the nursery, and lots of other stuff for other homemaking needs. Funny how a place that has such shockingly low prices on individual items can make the final checkout bill seem so alarming!

We also had a chance to enjoy some of Connecticut's fine woods....
And fine views....
Our first October weekend we drove up to the Adirondacks for a little reunion with some of my friends from the Student Conservation Association program I did after college. As you can see, not too many people from my year were able to make it! But it was wonderful to catch up with those who did!
We stayed with my parents in thier great little condo in Saratoga, and visited the site of thier new home. My dad hates to see material go to waste, a true modern-day Thoreauvian. Though his home is a little bigger...

In front of the new place with Mom and Sarah!

Question

If a spoon goes through the washing machine, is it clean?

big brown barn?

Since we no longer live in a little red house, I'm going to need to rename my blog... fear not if you notice a change!

Teaching anxiety (reality)

After working furiously on creating a nice set of notes from which to lecture/lead class discussion in my upper-level lit class, I left them at home. It was like one of those teaching anxiety dreams, but only too real to be facing 2.5 hours of class without anything to look at except my students' faces.

My brain is not what it should be... I feel like all the good blood has been pigeon-holed for another use right now...

We spent a little while this morning consulting with a midwife from a practice of midwives that delivers at one of the big hospitals around here. We decided to look into her after our OB sort of shut us down at the last appointment when I mentioned such shocking words as "natural childbirth" and so on . . . she said (LITERALLY) hers was not a "touchy feeley" hospital. Not that I've decided for sure how I want my labor/delivery to go (not that I'll really know what I want until I'm in labor), but I do know that I want to work with a hospital that is prepared for the gamut-- from an intervention-free birth to the c-section/ NICU if that is needed. As a patient I know I need to be prepared for anything, and I only think it is appropriate that practitioners are also willing to let births happen in a variety of ways. Duh.

Anyway, we really liked this midwife. It seems nice to know that my labor won't be interrupted by a stream of residents, students, etc. who all come in to take a peek. No thanks. It'll be nice to know that my midwife won't be pushing my labor to fit her schedule, or the hospital's schedule. I'll be pushing on my baby's schedule, which sounds good to me. I look forward to working with a hospital that acknowledges that birth happens in all sorts of ways.

Okay, off my soapbox and into my comfy bed.

Kicking

We can both feel the baby kicking now, and it's just wonderful. I can also SEE the baby kick from the outside, which is just plain weird. But wonderful.

News from the quiet corner...

We had our big ultrasound today with the high-risk OB in Hartford. This was nice, because rather than having to "wait" for the results, the doc was there the whole time telling us tour things--wonderful things--like everything looks "perfect" and we're having a boy! He gave us a tiny little thumbs-up a few times, just to let us know things were fine in-utero.

We just started teaching again this week, so we're going crazy with work. I'm teaching a double load in order to "earn" the spring off. I imagine it will be well worth it, but exhausting by the end of December. Too bad this country doesn't have excellent maternity leave policies! Ah well, I'm glad I was able to work something out.

I'm trying to shake a cold that I brought with me from our little vacation in Ogunquit . . . which was delightful (vaca, not the cold). Can you believe that I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday? Yay!

Reflections on 16 weeks...

I'll admit that it's been difficult to keep a sunny attitude at times about this pregnancy. While of course we are thrilled, our rocky road to this point comes with some baggage. Really heavy baggage at times. While I've passed the point where I wonder every morning if THIS will be the day it all ends, I'm still having some trouble seeing people with babies and really believing that will be me someday soon.

After an emergency trip to the doctor's over the weekend (everything is totally fine, I was overreacting, I guess), I made the decision to start thinking positively, and sincerely try to clear my mind of negative thoughts. I spent a lot of time thinking about everything that was going right with the pregnancy, and with my life in general, and that made me feel a lot better. Then I practiced smiling, and pretending to feel light-hearted and happy. Wouldn't you know it actually worked? I've been feeling a lot better.

Did any of my lovely readers out there find themselves plagued by pregnancy fears and anxieties? Was there anything that helped?

I for one am praying to my guardian angel to help me banish depressing thoughts . . . and I can't wait to feel that baby kicking. That will be a real joy.

15 weeks and counting....

Like Mother...


Like daughter...

Look for a new addition to the family on or around January 17th, 2009! Yes, Kenny got Emily in trouble, as they say. We're at 15 weeks as of this weekend, and we couldn't be happier. One excited Grandma-to-be sent along her own first pregnancy "smock." Times have changed, haven't they?

signed, sealed, delivered-- it's ours!

We decided to go with the dishwasher! We'll still have plenty of "romantic" times doing dishes together, b/c the washer is "apartment sized." But, I'm glad! It's nice to have "put away" my breakfast dishes this morning so that the kitchen looks neat and clean until dinner!

YAY!

Dishwasher, or no?

Our friends are selling their dishwasher– portable, apartment sized, countertop… Initially we were excited to get it, but then we had to buy an air purifier for the apartment and our summer appliance allowance (which we didn’t even think we had) seemed a bit small. So right now we are in limbo. They’ve posted it on craigslist, so we no longer have first dibs.

What would you do? Do you love your DW? Hate it? Think its a bit of a waste?

we're in

We're in the barn-- now it is official, as I am blogging barn-side! I'll be feeling a bit more settled once we're all set up, and I have the rhythm of this place figured out a bit more.

I can't wait to buy a house and make a move that feels a bit more permanent..

I already miss the little red house (oh no, I have to re-name the blog!), but I felt we had to move, so I must not regret it.

Mulling over options

What would you do?

1) Stick with the movers who gave the high quote, and just try to forget about the money.

2) Go with movers who gave us a more reasonable quote (but still higher than we were hoping for)

3) Do the truck rental thing, and see if people who asked if they can "help" are up for it on May 31. (By the way, we had some strapping young lads visited our door to share their religious beliefs with us recently. We mentioned that we were moving, and they asked if we needed help. It only occurs to me now how NICE I think that was. Too bad they didn't leave a number.......... )

4) Force the cats to just suck it up and move the furniture and appliances for us. All this free room and board has got to have some limit....

Sub-quiz: The stove we bought but no longer need : a) bring it and store it at the new place, you never know when you'll need it again
b) craig's list it-- someone will appreciate a nearly new stove

I need a lot of direction in my life, don't I?

scratch that

Yikes. The estimate the movers gave us was quite a bit too high, even with all the work we're doing ourselves.

It's time to call in a few favors, I guess? ARGH!!!! We're now back to looking at rental trucks...

packing

I've met a few people in my life who actually claim to enjoy this process . . . but most people will agree that it is quite difficult. It's not so much the actual labor that goes into it, which takes a lot of time and patience, but for me it's tough to see how much stuff I've let myself accumulate. It's even worse to know that in this move I'm not reducing quite as much as I should be. The number of books in this house is positively alarming.

Since we're both planning to teach college english, it's not too hard to imagine why we have so many books horded on our shelves. But why must we have 4 copies of somewhat obscure books, like Melville's Typee? I have notes in mine, he has notes in his, one has a cool cover, and the other it part of the NorthWest Newberry editions. All must be kept, of course. Multiply this by hundreds and you'll start to see the scope of our dilemma. Anne Fadiman has a wonderful essay on this in Ex Libris. I can't be quite so erudite as she, but I can tell you it's one mell of a hess around here.

Odd that I should like UNpacking so much more... perhaps I can slim down our book collection on the other end of this process.

The movers come tomorrow to give us an estimate. We're hoping that if we move enough of the little stuff ourselves our final bill will be less upsetting.

decision.

Well folks, I think we've finally made the decision to move. When we started thinking about this whole thing, we didn't even consider water testing. But our testing revealed that our water at this little red house (cute little house that I'll miss) has really dangerously low pH, and a high-ish level of copper in the water. I am not going to jump to the conclusion that this has caused me to miscarry so much, but then again, I don't think it's terribly good for our health. Low pH in water corrodes the piping and makes water carry a higher level of potentially toxic metals. Not a risk I'm particularly willing to take. Also-- when your water tests at the acidity of vinegar (or lower) how can it be good to drink 8 glasses of it a day?

The water at the big barn where we will move into tested perfectly. I guess this is the "sign" I needed to finally make the choice. It's bottled water here from now until we move.

happy birthday to me!

Today I'm thirty! Despite the stress and sadnesses of the past two years, I'm feeling happy today. It's sunny and clear. We're having lunch with some of our closest friends, and Mr. brought me a huge bouquet of pink roses & made me a chocolate-orange cake. Seems like a pretty good day to me.

To move or not to move... that is the (urgent) question....

We’ve been putting off this decision for a long time, but we must decide… and soon. Our current rental house is going up on the market next spring. It’s no big treat, but it’s in a good location & it will be relatively cheap. A similar house in the neighborhood was sold within a few weeks, even in this tough market. If we stay here we can look forward to the annoyance of “showing” a house that isn’t even ours.

Maybe this would be okay, if this house were in great condition and we loved every aspect of living here. But it’s in bad condition. The pipes are always leaking. The toilet has been mounted on PLYWOOD for years now & the venting is poor, so often the wood is damp, which means mold. I can’t emphasize enough how repulsed I am by this situation. Although we’re renters, we do all the lawn work, most of the repairs, and have to deal with all the basement flooding issues.

But it’s been a sweet house. It’s surrounded by 22 acres of lovely woods. We have flowers, birds, peepers, silence. Other than the bathroom, it’s a cute, retro house. The rent is low, we’re close to campus, and we’ve had a lot of good memories here.

Here’s the interesting part: the place we are thinking of moving into has a lot of good memories and good karma too. It’s the place I lived in during my Master’s program when Mr. and I were dating and engaged. It’s an AMAZING re-done barn. The kitchen is enormous, the bathroom is a dream. It looks like something out of a magazine. Our dear friends live there (my old roommate and her husband), but are leaving this May. It’s perfect of entertaining. The cats would love it. And did I mention the size of the bathroom?

But…. it’s also a bit insecure. Technically, it’s not a “legal” apartment. This means we have to pretend we’re not really renting sometimes, and with that comes the worry that the town will swoop down and boot us out. (But they’ve never yet done this to any of the “tenants” of the place.) It’s a remote fear. And, as if the fates are conspiring against our housing… this place is on the market too! True, it’s been on and off the market for 3 years and only had one showing (I think). It’s ghastly expensive and not really zoned for “apartments,” whiche seems the only reasonable usage of the space. It’s not very quaint new-englandy. In other words, there’s almost no chance this place will sell. The owners are NOT “motivated” sellers, b/c they don’t plan to move for 3 years.

Also: we’ve poked around at other rentals, and NOTHING catches our eye. Everything is either too small, too pricey, too far from campus, too nasty…. etc…

Please advise. Oh pretty, pretty, please! What do we do? Help.

no banana

Ah well. The Mr. didn't get the job. If we had learned this in early February, we probably would have been crushed. But at this point, we're just relieved that we finally know where we'll be next year. Obviously, it's been weighing on us.

It didn't stop us from having a fantastic spring break-- NYC--- skiing in the Adirondacks-- girls-night-out-in-Providence (for me). Lots of sleeping in & ignoring work. We needed that. We're refreshed.

Oddly, this news puts me in high gear to work on my dissertation. Had we been moving this summer, I wouldn't have planned to get my stuff together to get on the job market next fall/winter. Now, since we'll be here, I'd like for us both to be defended and ready for the next meat market. If we're both on the market, we double our chances of finding at least one position in an area we'd like to live in. It's exciting to think that now the possibilities are wide open again! Yay.

Perhaps disappointment will settle in at some point, but for now we're just glad to KNOW what is going on. Anyway, all the houses I was ready to buy in that university town were snatched up in the last month or so....

oui, oui !

Do you ever feel as though you were born in the wrong country? That your life in {insert country of residence here} just isn’t you? God, I wish I were French.

I’ve wished this for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I recall that my mother and I would have little conversations in French when she’d visit my bed before tucking me in. True, these “conversations” went mostly like this:

“Hello!”

“Hello!”

“Please!”

“Yes, Yes!”

“Goodnight!”

“Goodnight!”

Alas, my French hasn’t improved significantly since 1985.

I can’t put my finger on why I’ve fetishized the French so much. I guess I imagined that there was something haughty about being French, and maybe there is (though I don’t think I met many haughty people when I visited there in 2005). I mean haughtiness to be a compliment, of course.

Perhaps I’m feeling a bit envious, too, after seeing SICKO a few days ago. Perhaps I’m envious that good bread abounds over there, as does yogurt in every possible form. Perhaps it’s the fact that you can sit at a restaurant and not be harassed by waiters. Perhaps it’s just the restlessness of living in rural CT at the end of winter….