Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Tomorrow is a Big Day

Reed has left me.

He went off to another town to play in the ocean and be wild. (well...he IS with his dad so I guess at least they will be in bed by 7:30 pm! )

April 1st is the beginning of my widow-hood. Reed has been so excited about Abalone season starting back up and then with the spear-fishing season, and the salmon and tuna seasons (all done within cell phone range of course, he must not miss the birth of his second baby!), and then culminating with (drum roll here....) ARCHERY AND RIFLE SEASON. Does anyone else think North might start calling the meter reader "Dad"?

I am just teasing of course. Reed does so love all his outdoor adventures. I also happen to love all the seafood in our kitchen ( ...must stock up on Clorox wipes) and I love to accompany him on the more accessible outings. We live in such a beautiful environment with such a diversity of life.

Some days, I get caught up in the playgroup/Target excursions and later come to realize that my and North's only outside exercise was going out to the dog park. Which is still fun, but doesn't compare to camping at the beach and eating fresh abalone, or visiting other diving fools, I mean friends, while in Fort Bragg. Reed's desire to be moving and/or swimming is very motivating for our family.

On that note however, North and I are not accompanying Reed on this particular dive trip. He is gone tonight and North is a bit confused. He keeping asking for his "Dada?". I have been telling him that Daddy is swimming and looking for Big Fish and Big Shells. Both of those ideas have been all that Reed and North talk about lately, so I think North is able to understand what Reed is up to.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Baby?

Present situation- Reed and North sitting at North's little table, eating a post-nap snack.

Reed: "Look North, Mommy's belly is getting big. Your little brother is growing inside her."

North looks at Reed, then continues with his snack.

A few minutes later, as the two are playing with toys, North goes up to Reed and pokes Reed's belly.

North: "Baby?"

Background info:
Reed has a bit of a belly and is currently very motivated to decrease the girth. I have joked that it is his turn to nurse this time around as it decreased my body fat very easily when I first started nursing North.

I think this little hint from his child might increase his motivation even further!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

A young beached gray whale at Houda Beach

Early in the afternoon, I heard on the radio that a young grey whale had washed up onto a beach. Several dead whales have washed ashore in the past year, but they have usually been on beaches that were relatively hard to access. Houda Beach is a beautiful spot that is much easier to visit.
Looking down at the beach from the road.

Heading down the trail. (that's not our dog pictured)


North walked up to the dead whale and began to pet it. The skin felt like plastic and was bouncy to the touch. The skin was tight over the layers of blubber.


The whale had been ashore for about a day. I think its body had moved around on the beach. It had quite a few scratches on it. Tomorrow a class from the college will dissect the carcass to try to determine what killed it.

North touched the baleen.

Earlier that afternoon while North napped, I roasted two Cornish game hens and prepared cheese, crackers, carrots, and apples. After viewing the whale, we found a nook out of the wind and ate our picnic dinner. (No, we didn't wash our hands first. We were outdoors! Germs don't count when one is at the beach!)


After eating, we explored the beach as the sun went down.


Since it was low tide, a cave had appeared under some rocks.


North and I climbed a big rock.


We watched some surfers.

And then the sun went down and we went home. It was a very nice visit to the beach.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sunny day play


Drinking juice on the doorstep


Spilling juice on the doorstep!

Fun with frogs in the sand table

Want a frog?

Friday, March 20, 2009

Sleep: the second year

North has been sleeping in his own room for a few months now. He uses a mattress on a bed spring tucked into a corner. He has a few quilts: one made by my aunt, one made by a class of preschoolers and their families, and one made by me when I was in high school. That is a lot of history he sleeps under! He also has two glow-in-the dark constellations on his ceiling: the Big Dipper pointing to the North star (of course!) and Orion (which is Reed's favorite grouping of stars). A photographic triad of ocean waves hang on the wall above his head. All in all, I think his room is very peaceful and calm.

I laugh as I remember my expectations in those blissful days of a first pregnancy. I had thought I could merrily work in the garden while my newborn child slept the afternoon away. A child slept whenever you needed a little break, right?

I was wrong on all fronts. As a newborn, North restlessly napped in a bassinet for about a day and I think he spent about 3 hours one night in a creatively-hung baby hammock before Reed and I realized that in our bed was really the best place for him to sleep. He was more settled and peaceful when he was surrounded by his family's familiar smells and touches. There were times as the months went by that I wished that North would nap for longer then an hour or that he would go to sleep without the aid of nursing, but on all levels of my instinct I knew that we were providing the best of environments for his physical and emotional development. He was getting his resting time while I could be confident we were treating him with respect during all hours of the night and day.

And so now as a family we are adjusting our rhythms to prepare for a new baby. At 14 months, North was sleeping in our family bed (and nursing a few times through the night) and all was well. At 16 months, my milk had naturally diminished as a result of the pregnancy and any frequent nursing became painful. But to say "No more nurses" during the night while being in a what used to be a nursing environment was becoming confusing to North. We struggled for a few nights before Reed and I realized that it was time to help North begin his transition into his own sleeping space.

North and I began by sleeping together in his new bed, nursing included. Then after a few nights of this as we were lay in his bed, I asked him to stop nursing and called the remaining time before sleep "just sleepy time." If he woke up during the night, I would remind him that it was "just sleepy time." Now at bedtime, we read books together in a big chair and nurse for only a few minutes. Before he gets sleepy, I will ask him to stop nursing and we walk over to his bed and we lay down together. I stay with him until he falls asleep. The whole process is very peaceful and enjoyable for both of us. North will often point out his stars or other things in his room. Sometimes he sings me a song or I will rub his back.

Naps are of a similar rhythm, but I am a bit firmer about the timing. I was finding that even with an afternoon nap, by 4:00 in the afternoon North was becoming unpleasant and dinner was becoming rushed so that we could hurry him off to bed. These days, if he wakes before a full two hours of resting, I will lay with him or help him go back to sleep. Late afternoons and evenings have become much nicer as a result.

Soon we will have a new baby to adjust to. I don't know what emotions or behaviors the baby will bring to us or how we as a family will react. I hope that we can continue our instinctive parenting even as new stressors enters our lives again. I feel that we as a family have the greatest moments when Reed and I are being reflective about our parenting choices rather then reacting to the little battles. Stress tends to make me narrow my vision to those little battles so I will have to remember to stay focused even as our family re-balances into new rhythms.

Tonight I listen over the baby monitor to North and Reed quietly talking as they lay together in North's bed. North enjoys the extra few minutes of Daddy time and Reed enjoys the love and cuddles the conclusion of a toddler's day brings. We are not following a certain prescribed script on how to train your child to sleep; we follow the needs of our family and our child. And as I listen, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

More data pointing to the obvious

CDC report on 2007 rate of c-sections.

What really bothers me about the results is that the data states the rate of c-sections has increased by 50% in the last ten years .

Have women's bodies changed that much in such a short time? I mean, I believe in the theory of evolution, but isn't that a little fast for biological change?

Maybe all women have all gone soft and can't handle the process of birth on a mental/emotional level? Nope. That can't be it. I know many strong women who have had c-sections and yet are amazing people.

Hmmm. Maybe this increase in insurance paid, surgical procedures has its origins in the way doctors are encouraged to process their decisions.

Theory yes, but an increasing number of studies looking into our birthing process seems to be pointing in that direction.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Thirty two

Yesterday we celebrated Reed's birthday.

A few weeks ago, Reed had mentioned wanting to have a standing rib roast for a birthday dinner. I decided to surprise him by inviting a few friends over to share in such a large piece of meat.

So earlier this week as we are shopping at Costco and I am casually adding things like Brie, strawberries (in a weak moment of rational; they didn't taste at all like summer berries and were full of chemicals. However, they did add some flavor to the crepes), and cut flowers to our cart, I asked him to pick out a red wine for dinner on Saturday. I guess this request got his thoughts moving, because he then suggests inviting the some of the same people over for dinner. So the dinner didn't turn out to be a surprise on the people front, but it was just as fun.

Saturday morning, I headed into town to pick up veggies and the roast I had ordered. When I arrived home again, North and I ate lunch and began getting ready for his nap. After North was asleep, I opened the package of meat to prepare it for seasoning. The butcher had taken all the bones off the roast! The meat was tied up with string with a big rack of ribs laying on top. This was not what I ordered! I have never cooked such a large piece of roast before and being local beef, the price of the meat was easily a week's worth of our food budget. I wasn't sure at all how this unknown cut would cook. Plus, it wasn't at all what Reed was expecting for dinner! I panicked and called my Nana. After talking to her, I decided to place the bones on the bottom of the roasting pan and placed the meat with its' fatty side up. I salted and seasoned the meat as I had originally planned and let it rest on the counter until it was time to cook.

The meat cooked well but faster then if it had all its bones in the right places. It wasn't as rare as I wanted, but as we don't eat beef but once a week anyway, it was certainly still a treat. We ate asparagus and roasted potato spears and then fruit crepes and Puerto Rican rum for dessert.

And that was Reed's birthday dinner. He had to work during the day yesterday, however today we are all having a mellow, quiet day. It is gently raining as North and Reed take a nap.

I still owe him a real standing rib roast though.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Baby, Baby!

Today Reed, North and I went into the hospital for a second trimester ultrasound. All was reported to be well with my cervix, placenta, and baby.


Reed was a little busier with North this time around and so didn't get any good shots of the baby's positioning. Even the tech wasn't able to get a clear image of the baby's face. He was laying sideways across my belly, facing down for most of the appointment time.



However, the tech did get a VERY clear picture of the gential parts. She gave us a copy of that. Poor kid. His first picture and it focused on only one private body part. (Reed wants to call him Maximus.)

We will have to make it up for him and take lots of cute pictures once he is born.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Welcome home

On Tuesday, Reed had a headache and congestion with a wicked sore throat. Wednesday, he was not much better and I felt achy with a cough. Thursday, I felt better although the weak feeling persisted. But North and I managed to work on the soil for the spring planting of new dahlias and herbs!

Now it is Friday morning. It is five minutes before 8:00. Soon we can call the doctor to schedule a same day appointment. Neither of us slept well, and I am worried about what we have being passed on to the two babies.

Score one point for airport/airplane germs!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Pictures

We arrived home from our vacation yesterday. We flew to Puerto Rico for a tropical winter holiday!

The flying time was a bit longer then I expected, but everything went very well. Reed and I were able to relax in the sun (as much as one could expect with a toddler!) and it was so rewarding to see what a good traveler North could be.


We waited in the San Francisco airport for a long time as our first flight was delayed. We had arrived into the city earlier that afternoon to play in the Golden Gate playground as preparation for flying 12 hours!




Reed taught North how to say, "Zoom, Zoom!" as we were taking off. We had three different flights to take before we were to arrive into San Juan.



Looking out of the window made us feel very excited about getting into the ocean.



Therefore our first thing to do after dropping our bags off in the hotel room was to run to the beach!


Back at the beach on the second day. The sand was very soft and made great sand sculptures. North loved playing King Kong as he stomped on any sand castle he could find.



The hotel pool had a waterslide! I thought North would be too little and therefore scared, but Reed took him right over. North would do his happy dance once out of the pool and say, "Again!".


Every morning at eleven, a hotel staff member would bring out a tray of lettuce so the kids could feed the (semi-wild) iguanas. North was not nervous at all from being around the strange looking creatures. He fed lettuce to the lizards as fast as he could. Maybe he was missing the dogs back home?



On our last full day, we joined a group on a Catamaran boat to do some snorkeling. We rode out to an island and then to a reef. The front of the boat had a net stretched across the middle. When Reed would go into the water, North would climb out onto the net and throw his fishy crackers down into the sea. While he was looking through the net, he would call into the ocean, "big bish, big bish!"

On our last day, our flight did not leave until 5:00pm, so we checked our bags into the airport and then took a taxi into Old Town San Juan. We were hot and very tired, but we couldn't leave without seeing the city.


Back at the airport again. North has a Go-go Kidz attached to his car seat. This was the best thing I bought for our trip. When he wasn't riding in the Ergo, we could strap him into his seat and push him through the airports like he was in a stroller. The whole contraption was designed to be used straight from riding in our car to the airplane seat.
Great trip, but boy am I glad to be home! I love my washing machine! I love my dogs! I love, love my bed! There is no place like home.