getting ready for baby

The midwife came for a home visit last night. My doula came too, and it was nice to go over stuff with them and talk about differenent scenarios, etc. The contractions and intense cramps have tapered off a lot yesterday and today. The mw checked me and said she thought nothing was imminent. Perhaps that helped me relax a little, too. Although, my belly is about as big as I ever imagined it could get and my belly button is out and about. At any rate, the little guy will arrive when he’s ready, and I guess I just have to wait a little longer. I am 38 weeks tomorrow.

The weather has been awful (either Africa-hot or raining cats n dogs) so we’ve been stuck indoors alot lately. I am going to try to find something fun to do and get outside today, even though its supposed to be 88 and tstorms. maybe we just need to walk in the rain!

Zibby has been loving the Elizabeth Mitchell music. She sings “This Little Light of Mine”, and “Little Bird, Little Bird”. I love to hear her sing!!!
My favorite is “Sack of Sugar”
Zibby also likes when I sing “I’ll Fly Away” from the O Brother soundtrack. She told me the other day that she loves my words and my voice. awwww.

What else is new? The freezer is stocked. The pantry is stocked. I got Zibby new shoes and weeded out all the old ones that dont fit anymore. The weather hasnt changed so I cant swap the seasonal clothes yet. I updated all my scrapbooks and photo albums. The baby stuff is unpacked and washed and in the drawers (except for the stuff in my brothers basement!!! stinky-call me back already!) so theres not much else I can do to get ready for baby except clean my car. And wait for my new nursing bras to arrive…

I’m in a crafty sort of mood

taken directly from kim’s blog, here are the rules:

It is simple. If you are one of the first three commentors on this post, then you are in. I send you a homemade gift sometime, er, soon. In return, you go to your blog and make the same offer. So, you’ll be making 3 things and receiving one.

Kim’s My list of useful FAQ’s

What if I don’t like my gift? Too bad. Mom taught us all how to be gracious.

What if I’m not crafty or artistic?

So? Do it anyway. There are millions of things to be made and some part of you needs to get in to the process of creating something with your hands. It is therapeutic and eye opening. Even if it is a paper airplane. You could always do an artist trading card…they can be easy or hard, depending upon your effort.

What about shipping?
Like I said, an artist trading card? That might cost one stamp or less. But if you want to make a bust of the recipient out of pine, go ahead.

End quote;

so, I signed up on Lori’s page, which means I will get something delish from her, and 3 people sign up here, and each will get something from moi. Then you post on your blog and 3 people will sign up from you. Cool, eh?

why tv is not bad for you

Buzz and I like to watch America’s Test Kitchen and recently we saw them make a skillet pot pie with biscuits instead of a crust. I made the recipe Friday night, and have found a new favorite. OMG, it was so delicious. I tried it on biscuits and also on noodles. Either way, its perfect comfort food. Stouffers frozen meals used to have a creamy chicken noodle meal that my dad and I used to love, but they stopped making it. This is even better. Yum yum yum. And, the biscuits were cream biscuits (instead of butter) and they were super easy and tasty. I used the leftovers the next morning to eat with sausage gravy. The thing about ATK, though, is that some of the recipes have a ridiculous number of steps and take way too long to make. I have no doubt that the end result is superior, and its fascinating to learn the whys and wherefores of food science, but some recipes we wont ever attempt. Lots are easy, though, and we have found many to be good additions to our repertoire.

Another wonderful thing I saw on tv the other day was a show on the Ovation channel about South African music. Coincidentally, on VH1 Classic, they had a show called Classic Albums, and one featured Graceland by Paul Simon, which features Isicathamiya music, and happens to be one of my favorite albums. It was interesting to see Paul Simon talking about how the album got made and how he wrote the songs. I loved the interviews with Ladysmith Black Mambozo members talking about the sounds they use in the music, and how they mix their native language with English.

When people talk about how tv is awful for you, or smugly say that they dont have a tv or that they would never watch the “garbage” on tv, I think about all the really cool things I watch on tv. And I think about how much I love my Tivo, so that I can watch things when I want to, and I can search the guide and pick things to record in the future. I think I am lucky that my parents didnt have a snobby attitude about tv when I was growing up.

Other discoveries, not tv related, Zibby and I went to the book store today. I was looking for some magazines to veg out with, and I found a cd called “You Are My Little Bird” by Elizabeth Mitchell. Its from the Smithsonian Folkways collection. Its really really good. I also splurged on a new paperback and a magazine, and a slow cooker recipe booklet. Zibby got two new books, too. See, we read books and we watch a lot of tv, too. They can coexist We also eat chocolate and we also eat fruit smoothies and potato chips and steamed veggies

summer chicken salad

Have I ever posted this recipe? It is my summer favorite. I stole it from Rachel a few years back.
You will need:
cooked chicken,
red grapes (halved),
celery (diced),
red onion (diced),
walnuts (chopped),
mayonnaise
plain yogurt
lemon juice
pepper (to taste)

So, similar to the mango salsa recipe I posted a while back, I use a very unscientific method to measuring ingredients. Basically, equal parts grapes, celery, onion and walnuts

then, add an amount of chicken equal to those four parts (so, if you did 1/4 cup of the first 4 ingredients, then you’d do 1 cup chopped chicken) I like to use rotisserie chicken because its super juicy and you can get a nice mix of dark and white meat. But if not, then just cooked chicken breast is ok, too.

Then you squirt about half a lemon all over the chicken and add your mayo and yogurt. For this batch, I would say that I used 1/4 cup each of the grapes, etc and 1 cup chicken. So I needed one nice big soup spoon of mayo and one nice big soup spoon full of yogurt, plus a liberal dusting of black pepper. Mixed it all up and voila!

I love it best on big round “entertainer” style crackers or a thick bagel. If you do it a couple hours ahead, the flavors meld together really well, but I also eat it right away, like today

two other tips: use some of the celery leaves, too-it really adds a lot of flavor, I usually sneak in extra grapes because it makes the salad so juicy and sweet. plus I like a grape in almost every bite.

Hey, I forgot to write that last week we went to the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston, Il. Its small, but has a lot of cool artifacts to see, and very child friendly. At each station there is something the kids can touch or do-like weaving or pounding corn or drum beating. THere is even a wigwam upstairs they can sit in. I found out that a wigwam is a structure with bark for its exterior, and a teepee has animal hides, usually buffalo.

Three days a week during the summer, at least, they offer a free craft for the kids. THe day we went they got to make pinch pots or coil pots using clay. Zibby preferred to make an abstract design and push corn kernals and shells into it.

What was super cool is that the musuem ladies didnt push her to do the project “correctly”, they just encouraged her to do her own thing. I tried to make my own little pot, but Zibby kept taking my clay. Oh well.

Last week we also completed our matching tops to wear to the Kaage family reunion picnic. My friend Tina came over and helped (ALOT) on friday. Our girls were amazing and pretty much let us work all day long. Sure, we had to feed them often and change the channel on the tv occasionally, but they were super great. Yay!

Everyone at the picnic admired us. Zibby got a pile of swag from Auntie Genevive-a talking angel teddy bear, a light up frisbee thing, necklaces, bracelets…and it was nice to see everyone again. It was oppressively hot and muggy, so I kept going indoors to chill. We have been in a real heat spell the last few days. Being 9 months pregnant in August is not my cleverest move. I’ve got 4 wks till my due date. I have a few items still to get from my Homebirth Checklist, and we want to figure out how the birth tub works I am feeling very nesty and want to get the baby clothes in the dresser, the diapers up from storage, everything washed and ready to go.

Today Zibby and I have to run a bunch of errands. We went house hunting yesterday and saw 10 houses. By the end she was realllly done. So, today is a light day. Here are two last cute photos…Zibby in her Breastfeeding logo shirt, and her stuffed animals, Flippy and Donut eating dinner

out on the town

Last weekend Buzz and I went out to dinner, by ourselves! It was exciting. We headed over to a new neighborhood joint called Fajita and it was very yummy. I had fajitas, of course. Buzz had enchiladas and we also enjoyed a quesadilla appetizer, and homemade chips with salsa that was made fresh tableside. Not too spendy, and very tasty. They also have a childrens menu, so we will definitely will be back. Meanwhile, Zibby went over to play at our friends house, and they went on a bike ride to Navy Pier to see fireworks! Zibby had a fabulous time, and it may have well been her first bike ride-even if she did sit in a little car behind the bike. She got to stay out till 11 pm!

Today, we all went out driving around Evanston to find a meal before we hit the grocery store. We found Clarkesand had huge delicious plates of food in front of us in no time. Buzz had a club on rye, Zibby had mini hamburgers (there were two!) and I had steak quesadillas, because I have been craving guacamole lately. I eat some almost every day. mmmmm….

and for your amusement, here are some of Zibby’s “funny faces” that she requests I take photos of.

plus, Zibby “fishing” at Gompers Park with the Nug-gers
Zibby is the one in the orange flowered dress and pink hair

dreaming

I saw this on Zenmomma’s blog, and I LOVE IT! I think all of my friends need one.

So, I’ve received my first ferocious kick in the ribs from baby.

You can see that baby is getting bigger! I had dreams last night about pushing him out, and in my dream he had dark wet red hair. My due date is 6 weeks away, which seems crazy-soon. Zibby and I are enjoying our last time together, just being us two all day long. Today we laid in bed and talked and giggled for an hour. She came up with a new name for brother. Mop. We laughed and laughed and laughed.

The house situation is totally up in the air. It must be my nesting instinct kicking up a notch, but I spent hours last night fantasizing about basements and yards and compost bins and gardening and eat-in kitchens and garages…

summer fun

I havent been posting much, cuz its summer and we are busy!
We have been going to the pool, the beach, drama class, the park, over to friends….

here is a photo update:
Zibby at drama class:

park and dress up

and, proudly wearing a dress I made tuesday:

and, ahhh, the strawberries:

Fun at the childrens museum

I made another dress for Zibby. The armholes arent finished, and the neckline could use some further attention, but the rest of it looks fabu.

Zibby wore it today to the Childrens Museum. As soon as she saw there was face painting she wanted in on it.

I love how completely unaware of her looks she is. She rocks the face painting like nobody’s business. I, on the other hand, was aware of how many stares we attracted with our pink hair

The unschoolers I hang with dont make a big deal about appearances. At any given activity there are likely to be children in costume, unique outfits, hair of all styles, etc. on parents or kids. Another thing is when we go to places where lots of kids are (not unschooled), is how much bossiness of kids is going on. Even at the childrens museum, I heard parents trying to control every aspect of their kid’s play. The face painting kiosk was a little painful. There were several moms who were very agitated by the whole *mess* of it, and wouldnt let their kids do their own face art, not even pick their own colors. But I also feel how easy it is to slip into “suggesting” stuff or trying to manipulate Zibby’s play. I have to consciously step back and just let her do whatever she wants-not have an agenda about seeing all the exhibits, or doing things the “right” way, or whatever. I try hard to be present and make offers when she really appears done with something. Not just at the museum, but in everyday.

She fell asleep on the way home

Gotta go take advantage of sleep time

zibby got a bonnet

We went on a field trip to Graue Mill on Tuesday, which is a functioning mill in Oak Brook, Il. Zibby liked this bonnet from the gift shop. Afterwards, we went to Fullersburg Forest Preserve and saw a duck family

They had been resting on the shore, but when all of us approached, that mama duck had them in the water toot suite (smiling to myself because I remember a very involved message board discussion on the origin of that phrase, and its spelling)

In other news, Zibby went to see her first movie in a theatre today. It was free showing of Cliffords Big Red Movie. When we were walking out, she said, “MOM! That was INCREDIBLE”.

Yesterday she was reminiscing about camping at Barrie’s last Independence Day, and she asked me if I remembered all the polka dots in the sky, of a lot of colors. Fireworks

Speaking of fireworks,….my hair is looking might strange. The raspberry color was fading and washing out in weird patches, so I tried to remove it….all I am going to say is that I look like this:

Yup

Oh, well, it was an experiment, after all.
Everywhere we go, Zibby attracts attention for her delightfully pink hair.

which she loves. both the hair, and the attention.