Henry and I hitched a ride with some friends yesterday and hightailed it out to RB Winter State Park where we spent the better part of the day splashing around in the water (Henry) and sitting in a chair, sipping water, and generally trying not to move too much (me). Despite the liberal application of SPF 5 bazillion on the usual susceptible locations, not to mention later reapplications, I still managed to get quite the sunburn in various awkward spots. I tried my best. Next time, I will not be wearing a halter swimsuit top because it sure hurts today, what with all of the wearing of non-halter-tops I'm doing right now. Henry had a swimmingly grand time. This afternoon we headed to Target to get him a fish shaped inflatable swimming tube so that next time we go I he can float.

A lot of bills for all of the various work and phone changes that have been going on around here have hit within the last five working days. I have only this to say: sheesh. It sure costs a boatload of money to save some money.

Posted by Jenn at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dave called and canceled our land line today. We are now, for better or for worse, reliant on our cell phones. I say worse because Dave's having a little trouble figuring his out. So far me and one of his students have helped him set it up, including his voice mail which I'm still not sure he knows how to check. A couple of weeks ago I sent him a text message. He didn't know that I had, and when I mentioned it to him later his voice got all panicky and high-pitched while he asked why in the world would I send him a text message; he has no idea how to retrieve it and what on earth was I thinking? etc., etc. It's funny when technology makes a scientist sweat.

After his field hockey game on Tuesday, he called my phone to let me know he was heading home. I was putting Henry to bed so I didn't have time to get to the phone before it went to voicemail. I called him right back and when he finally picked up he said he had a little trouble with the call waiting. Here's a transcript of the voice message he left me: "Heya, it's me. I'm just calling to let you know that I'm on my way home and to see if you want me to pick anything up-oh wait, I'm getting another call...I think it's you.....*beep*....Hello?....what the....hold on....*beep*....Hello?....wait...*huff*....d****t!"

Getting Dave a cell phone could be the best thing we've ever done. I'm certainly enjoying it.

Posted by Jenn at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I don't really remember going through a nesting phase when I was pregnant with Henry. This time around, however, there is little doubt that something out of the ordinary is afoot. I'm managing compelled to keep the house somewhat clean and clutter-free (with the exception of the bathroom; I'm nesting, not insane) because lately the sight of something out of place makes me twitchy. Unfortunately for Dave, he's also been put to work, doing some of the things that have been on my personal "to do" list, the latest being finishing painting the three doors at the end of our 1st floor hallway. One of them I did a while ago, the other two had problems I just didn't want to deal with. After two weekends spent getting reacquainted with his palm sander and a paint roller, Dave finished the job and frankly, the level of satisfaction I feel when I look at them now is almost equal to what I'd feel if I'd done the work myself. Which, fortunately, I didn't.

Yesterday we hired a guy to refinish the wood floors in our living room, back hallway, and study. He also offered to buff and put another coat of urethane on the dining room floor that Dave and I refinished ourselves a couple of years ago so it will blend in better with the living room. The best part was he said he'd do it for free. His quote came in about $500 less than a quote we got for the same work from someone else two years ago, so that was an unexpected surprise. Fifteen minutes after he left, our heat pump/electrician guy came by with the contract for the work he's going to do for us. We're having to get our box upgraded to 200 amps before the heat pump can go in. He'll be here Thursday to do that, then on the 30th he'll be back to install the heat pump. We've decided to go with natural gas because it's a lot more efficient than oil, and it's cleaner burning. The bonus of hooking up to gas now means that our dreams of a gas fireplace insert and a gas stove will be much easier to realize.

Although these are fairly minor (albeit sort of expensive) changes that we're making to the house, I'm completely giddy with excitement. I've grown really attached to this place in the six years that we've lived here. When we almost bought a house in the Spring of '08, one of the factors that made me change my mind was being completely unable to imagine anyone else living here, and it's still true. I love driving up to it when we come home, I love how Henry refers to it as "the yellow house", and I love our yard, including the insane not-necessarily-in-a-good-way flower garden. Hopefully the house loves us just as much.

Posted by Jenn at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Friday morning we closed on our HELOC. Since there's been a huge downturn in the economy, which I'm sure you've heard about by now, we didn't get as much as the bank initially was hoping to loan us because the value of our house has decreased since our last appraisal in Spring '08, but we did get what I had originally asked for. It's good for ten years and here are our short- and long-term goals.

Before the arrival of Chocolat:

1. Heat-pump so we can have some humidity-reducing, life-saving A/C pumping through the veins of our little house, with the added bonus of not having to spend another winter worrying whether our dinosaur of an oil furnace will poop out. In January. In the middle of a deep freeze. I hear old furnaces have a history of doing that.
2. Having the rest of the wood floors on our first floor sanded and refinished.

Sometime in the next year or so:

1. New fence around our backyard with actual gates.

Sometime, somewhere, over the rainbow:

1. Pergola over our patio.
2. Front porch
3. Additional bedroom over the front porch.
4. Small kitchen remodel, the brunt of which is opening up the wall between kitchen and dining room.
5. Some other stuff we haven't thought of yet. Consume consume consume!

Of course, now that we have the HELOC, what I'd really like to do is buy a new, smaller, neutrally-colored sofa that isn't a behemoth sectional that looks like it's eating our living room, as well as some lovely Flor carpet tiles. But I won't. I promise to be a good girl.

Posted by Jenn at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

...of things that broke down while we were on vacation and after we got back home.

1. Our cell phone. We're not entirely sure what happened, but one morning while we were at the beach it decided it was moving on to the Great Cell Phone Pasture in the sky. What was really tragic was Dave had spent the previous two weeks going back and forth with the University's Verizon rep, trying to pick out a family plan that would work for us. Were we not two indecisive Libra's, we probably would have been the proud owners of two new phones by the time we went to the beach. It was weird not having a phone, mostly weird in a good, disconnected way. We do now have two lovely new phones, plus Dave is the proud owner of his own phone number. Our plan is to nix our land line and our long distance thereby whittling our number of monthly phone bills down from three to just one. I'm really looking forward to that.

2. Our washer. The night we got back, I washed the sheets that were on our bed so they'd be nice and clean and dust-free for those of us who have allergies (ahem), then I threw in a nice big load of vacation laundry. The washer pooped out in the middle of the agitation cycle. We tried a couple of different things to get it going again, but ended up wringing out the wet clothes and bailing out the water. Dave instrument of choice for doing this: an 8oz. cup. I suggested perhaps something bigger might get the job done quicker, but when he's made his choice, he's made his choice. (Which is why, in the end, he went through with marrying me despite possible better judgement.) We've been itching for a new washer since we moved in six years ago because the current washer just didn't seem quite up to the challenge of cleaning our clothes. We headed off to Sears the next night and picked out a lovely new energy efficient model. We also purchased a small chest freezer which we have high hopes of filling with all sorts of frozen dinners that we can pillage and reheat once Chocolat arrives. It's something we've been talking about purchasing since we found out we were expecting and this seemed like as good a time as any. So our new appliances will be arriving June 9th. Perhaps needless to say, we spent some serious quality time at the local laundromat on Sunday.

3. Kitchen ceiling fan. I was vacuuming the fan blades when I managed to shatter the glass light cover. We talked about replacing the glass bit, but then I suggested it wouldn't be horrible to get a new ceiling fan altogether, perhaps one that gave off more light. Which is what we did. Now when you turn on our kitchen light, you're practically blinded. It makes me very happy that I decided to go ahead and paint the walls a few years ago because I can only imagine how dingy the room would look if I hadn't.

Now we're sitting around waiting with baited breath to see what the next thing to go will be. I think Dave's hoping either the fridge or the dishwasher. I'm hoping it's the wall between the kitchen and dining room, but the likelihood of that giving up the ghost is probably pretty slim.

Posted by Jenn at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We got back on Tuesday after spending a week at the Outer Banks. Late May is a great time to go because everything's open for the season, but no one's really arrived yet. We had a pretty active week, although I don't remember much about the particulars other than: seafood boils, sno-balls, fudge, butter, crabs, and salt water taffy. Oh, and none of us will forget the sunburn my dad got on his feet that relegated him to the safety of the living room couch for one entire day. You could almost see his feet swell up before your eyes.

Henry is very much looking forward to enjoying the hot tub one day "when he's older". He spent about twenty minutes one afternoon forlornly splashing the water while his daddy stewed away in bubbly bliss. The prospect of doing it at some point in the future definitely perked him up, as did the fact that I wasn't allowed to go in either. Every once in a while we would hoist our legs up over the edge and dip our toes. It was very relaxing.

About a month ago I mentioned to my dad that I was thinking about getting a ukulele, and the day we arrived, what should emerge from out of their car but a brand-spanking new, gorgeous ukulele, complete with a beginner's book and a hawaiian uke song book. Perfect for the beach. My excitement was perhaps eclipsed only by Henry's. You should have seen his eyes boggle when I opened up the case. I'm currently working on learning Israel Kamakawiwoʻole's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Weezer's "Island in the Sun". One day you'll find me in the backyard swinging in a hammock, wearing frayed cut-off jeans with a straw hat over my face, while strumming all sorts of crazy tunes.

Needless to say, I'm ready to pack everything up and head back down again. Henry would agree. Next summer is a long ways away.

Posted by Jenn at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

...my glucose test. not by much though (and on only two of the three blood draws) so it's not too big of a deal. The mid-wife I had met twice early in my pregnancy (and really liked) was the one who called to talk to me about it. I get to use a glucometer first thing in the morning, then two hours after each meal. She said since I was going on vacation it wouldn't be a tragedy if I happened to miss some of them, especially if the previous meal was at a restaurant, and if my numbers in general are good. It sounds like something I can manage with my diet, and since I tend to be low-carb and low-sugar anyway it won't require much change, knock on wood. I have to bring a log of my results to my next appt which is the Friday after we get back. She said if the #'s did look good, they most likely wouldn't have me do the glucometer every day. She also said if I have any questions to call her directly because she had GD when she was pregnant and she takes a special interest in other women who do as well. She was awesome. I'm so happy that there are two people at Lewisburg ob-gyn that I feel comfortable talking to. And now, I'm totally ready to stop boring you with the details of my experience there and move on already. Frankly, I'm sick of it myself at this point. Thanks again for all of the support. I consider myself extremely blessed to have you all in my life.

Tomorrow we're leaving for the beach. I'll be off-line for a week and a half. Last year when we went with Megan and her family, she and I practically free-based the amazing fudge that people sell there. Since I won't be able to do that this year, I feel a responsibility to warn Dave that I'll be filling that particular void by procuring as much seashell laden objets d'art as I can possibly get my hands on.

Posted by Jenn at 09:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My friend Gabriella moved into action after reading last week's sad-sack second post over my pre-natal care anxiety. She emailed the woman who was her mid-wife, who happens to practice at the same place I've been going to, to ask if she'd talk to me because I wasn't having a very good experience there. On Saturday I sent this person an email with my two biggest complaints, namely the c-section discussion and the gestational diabetes conversation. On Sunday I anxiously checked my email for her response every thirty minutes. Monday morning, she gave me a call. We had a nice long chat during which I discovered two things:

1) the 38-week ultrasound is something they give everyone. I had high blood pressure the first few visits I was pregnant with Henry (because of a previous pregnancy that had gone wrong) and so I received all sorts of special attention such as twice a month visits right out of the gate, early non-stress tests, and assorted other things you all don't want to hear about. That included a 38-week ultrasound which was presented as something extra I was getting along with all of the other stuff. If the Dr. had said he was going to tack on taking a close look at Chocolat's weight onto the list of other things they look at during the routine 38-week ultrasound, my head wouldn't have gone spinning off into outer space.

2) She talked to me about the glucose test, what my actual options are. There were at least three from off the top of her head, and one of those three was declining to do any of them. Then she told me what my options were based on which of those options I might choose, and one of them always included declining to do anything. Which is always nice to hear and tends to make a girl feel a lot more in control of her own destiny.

She was extremely easy to talk to and listened to me and my concerns. It was a huge relief. I asked her if I could just see her from now on and she said yes, although she was up front about the fact that she might be traveling for a vacation around the time that I'm due. At this point, I would trust anyone she recommended to be present at Chocolat's birth.

Which brings me to why I'm up at the ungodly hour of any-time-before-9AM. I have to be at the hospital by 7 to start the three-hour glucose test. I didn't sleep well last night, but have a feeling I'll be fine once the test gets rolling. Yesterday I headed to the library for some light and hopefully engrossing reading, as well as the video store for a DVD to play on the laptop. Right now I'd say I'm more anxious about having to pass three-hours worth of time in a hospital waiting room than I am about the gross orange drink and four blood draws. Anyway, wish me luck.

Posted by Jenn at 06:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Henry and I are having a very quiet day, spent mostly on the couch. We went to my friend's house this morning so she and I could practice a dance we're learning. While we were tending to our chasse's, Henry threw up all over her couch. It seemed to be apropos of nothing, so after throwing cushion covers in the wash and rinsing out a certain someone's pants, Henry spent the rest of our visit running around in his underpants, shirt, and socks. All he needed was his sunglasses and he would have truly been channeling Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

I think the morning must have completely wiped us out because after we returned home, we spent some time half-heartedly playing and doing some light clean-up around the house, but finally threw in the towel and hit the living room couch with snacks, the TV remote, and Dave's laptop. So far we have a list of things that we're going to do when Daddy gets home based on things we've seen. One is to make a Drumbone a la Blue Man Group, which Henry was totally into. One day when he gets over his aversion to loud noises and darkened theaters, we'll have to take him to see them perform. The other thing we decided we want to do is to make a wind chime. Dave's going to be busy when he gets home, unless he succumbs to the lure of the couch as well.

Posted by Jenn at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

First of all, have you seen Dave's recent post about trying to protect his beloved lettuce from the groundhog that's taken up residence under our neighbor's porch? You should go read it. Not only is it funny, but he openly mocks me in the title. Bless his heart.

A couple of weekends ago we drove straight from my grandma's house in MA to an end-of-semester bbq bash hosted by one of Dave's colleagues. There were scintillating baked beans, juicy grilled pork loins, mac and cheese, and a killer strawberry and spinach salad that was so good I know of at least three people who left the party clutching the recipe in their hot little hands. I was one of them. (You know it's a good salad when people are asking for the recipe, right?) I made it twice that same week, once for us, and once to bring to another bbq we went to the following weekend. Now that good strawberries are showing up in the grocery store, I thought I'd share the recipe. First, a picture:

Yum! Next, the ingredients:

Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Fresh spinach, sliced strawberries, and sliced sweet onion, however much of each you'd like. I usually use one large bag of spinach, one pound of strawberries, and one half of a sweet onion.

Poppy seed dressing
1/2 C vegetable oil
3T apple cider vinegar
2T sugar
1T lemon juice
1T poppy seeds
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground mustard

After mixing the dressing, I add about 2/3's of it to the salad, then toss it all together to coat the spinach, strawberries, and sweet onion. The first time I made it I put all of the dressing in and it was a little too much.

There you have it. If you try it, let me know!

Posted by Jenn at 03:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)