One of our chickens, Honeydew, started to act broody a while back - wanting to sit on eggs. After she kept it up for a few days, Nana made her a private nest in the old dog house annex to the chicken coop. She passed a trial run of sitting on a clutch of Sophie's wooden play eggs, so Nana went to Swampy Acres to get some possibly-fertilized eggs. Honeydew sat on her eggs faithfully for 23 days, until first two, then four, then six babies hatched!
This is Radish.
Espresso.
And Mama Honeydew, not happy with me for intruding.
There were two more eggs that had chicks inside, but sadly they didn't make it out of their eggs. Papa helped Sophie bury them in a flower bed. The other six are doing fabulously - Honeydew is such a great Mama hen! They are not yet a week old and they are already following Honeydew out into the yard, where she pecks treats and drops them in front of her chicks, teaching them what to eat. Then they all go back in their little nest house for a nap snuggled under Honeydew's wings. It's incredibly entertaining to just sit and watch them eat, drink, play, and fight. And I love watching Honeydew's mothering.
Sophie is working on taming the chicks right from the very start. Welcome to the next generation of chickens in the family: Stew, Mindy, Espresso, Radish, Darrell & Darrell.
Sophie gave me some really great advice this morning. I'm so glad that I listened to her! First some background:
A couple weeks ago a spot in my lower back started hurting pretty badly and I began to suspect that I might have a compression fracture (lovely prednisone side effect), and it got so bad one day that I went to the doctor. Among her advice, she strongly suggested that I wear athletic shoes at work instead of my usual Dansko's. I have worn and loved Dansko shoes since I was 13 years old so I was skeptical, but I was in enough pain to give her advice a try. I bought a new pair of tennis shoes (all my old ones were too dirty from camping to wear at work) and wore them for a week. Within a day or two I felt immensely better. Then the weekend came, and I wear slippers at home and did wear Dansko's a couple times out and about.
So today it's Monday, and as we're rushing out the door (always happens...) I was hesitating between wearing the tennis shoes or the Dansko's. I decided on the Dansko's, and Sophie looked up from putting her shoes on and said, "Mom, those shoes will make your back hurt, you're supposed to wear your fast shoes." I responded that my back had been feeling better and I thought I would try wearing the Dansko's again. She held my "fast shoes" up to me and suggested I take them with me in case I changed my mind. So I did - mainly just to make her happy so as to get out the door faster.
Fast forward a couple hours and I'm on my feet at work, bending over the counter to write in a chart, and I realize that my back hurts so much that I'm practically stuck bent over and I have to push myself back up to standing. By lunch time I was more than ready to change into my fast shoes that I had left inside the car; another couple hours of wearing my fast shoes and my back was already feeling better and I was so thankful that I listened to Sophie earlier. Thank goodness for bossy, know-it-all almost-five-year-olds!
After I finished the last pair of mittens, I had a bit left over of two balls of the same kind of yarn (Baby Cashmerino) but in different colors. I had some more of the same yarn left over from the last two sweaters I made Sophie - it's the only yarn that doesn't itch her. Therefore I knit with it a lot - she's lucky I love her!
I'd also been thinking lately that Sophie needed a new hat.
Stripes!
So far Sophie is very impressed with it, and at bedtime tonight she requested that I finish it so that she can wear it to preschool tomorrow morning.
I received this book for Christmas, and got to start reading it during our annual Christmas Day Nap. (Sophie even took part this year - I tricked her by saying she only needed to lay down and rest, and she ended up falling asleep!).
I haven't finished reading it yet, but I got through the first few sections and got inspired to start implementing some of her ideas for creating spaces and providing supplies that encourage kids to create. I made some blank books for Sophie to fill in, using plain white paper inside (I used 4 folded sheets per book), construction paper for the cover, and pink duct tape to cover the spine (hey, it's what I had!).
I showed them to Sophie when she woke up from her nap and she wasn't super impressed; she's always grumpy when she wakes up so it probably wasn't the best time to introduce them, but I was excited about my creations!
I cleaned out her big art drawer and re-stocked it with blank drawing paper, construction paper, origami paper, notebooks, the new books I made her, and cards and envelopes. So far she's only gotten into the blank drawing paper, but I'm sure she will "discover" it all on her own in good time. My stubborn girl only does things when she decides to do them!
Here's a picture (bad lighting, sorry!) of Sophie's newly-organized drawing tools... She got lots of new art supplies for Christmas - from Santa, me, grandparents, and friends! It's so neat to see her growing and expanding as an artist. I decided I need to find a way to keep and remember her artwork as she grows and goes through different stages with her art. For now I started keeping a file folder of her current artwork to save and go through later (once a year maybe?), and I want to get her a portfolio to keep her favorites/my favorites from each year. Also on my shopping list is cloth tape (to make nicer bindings for her books!), plastic envelopes and some more organizational-type supplies like small baskets to keep her supplies easily accesible and easy for her to put back when she's finished.
Now that I'm done with school (finally!!) I am excited to have more time to spend just being with Sophie and being more present with her all of the time since I no longer have a running list of deadlines and to-do lists weighing on me in the back of my mind. Of course I still have a to-do list - but I'm very thankful that for now at least it consists of things like "clean house" and "write thank-you notes." Hopefully you'll be seeing more of me here, as well - I've even been knitting! Finished object post coming up soon :)
That is the view from the 7th story of Alaska Regional Hospital, where I was doing my intensive clinicals for three weeks. Winter was ahead of the game in Anchorage - there was a snowstorm on Halloween night!
Anyway, winter has made its way down the coast to Juneau. Yesterday, Sophie and two of her friends were playing in the front yard while the mamas sat inside drinking coffee. All of a sudden we heard boots running on the porch, and muffled yelling. Sophie shoved the front door open, saying, "Emergency! Emergency!"
My friend and I both jumped up and ran towards the door to see what the "emergency" was - expecting a crying child at the very least. But no one was crying, and Sophie pointed up at the roof of the porch, where there were ice-sickles hanging from the eaves.
"We can't reach! We want to eat the ice!"
26 days until my last final exam of nursing school. It can't come soon enough! If only all I had to do was take the final, I'd be set. Unfortunately I have 3 more papers to turn in, one 9-hour clinical day, three 12-hour shifts with my preceptor (this part I'm looking forward to!), and a medication map, in addition to two final exams left to do.
I just sent in one paper - I love checking things off my list!
Unfortunately, I'm trying to stay focused on getting more things done while sitting on the couch with Sophie, watching Caillou. Thank goodness for the Roku and Netflix instant streaming for sick days. Sophie and I both have colds, plus she has a terrible rash all over her neck and back from (I think) shampoo I used on her a few nights ago. It's making her pretty miserable and it's taking a long time to go away :(.... Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream are only helping her a little bit.
It's good to be home after spending 3 weeks in Anchorage doing intensive clinicals. It sucks to be under the weather though. I feel like since I'm sick from my autoimmune issues nearly all of the time, I should somehow be exempt from colds.... too bad my immunosuppressive medications don't play nice with viruses :(. I am going to start on a new medication soon, though - I have high hopes for it working! It'll take probably six months to be able to tell if it is or not, though.
First off, the finished object - Habitat by Jared Flood. I wore it today to the beach hoping that the rain would block it to my head all by itself. It may need some actual blocking some day, but for now it'll work!
It was a rainy summer day, warm and very wet, and we joined Outdoor Preschool at Outer Point for three hours of fun in the woods and on the beach. Here's Sophie with a limpet she found, right before she tried to stick it to her nose :)...
And then we came home and made muffins! My kind of rainy day. I used the recipe from the bag of Bob's Red Mill Oat Bran, and instead of whole wheat pastry flour I substituted 1/3 quinoa flour, 1/3 wheat germ, and 1/3 Bob's gluten free all-purpose flour, plus a handful of whole flax seeds. For the wet ingredients, I put a banana, three carrots, a handful of raisins, and a couple handfuls of walnuts together in the food processor and then mixed them in. I also halved the amount of sugar.
They turned out good, very tasty. The only thing is that every time I've tried to use the gluten free all-purpose flour, things turn out slightly burnt on the outside before they're done on the inside. Is there a trick to getting gluten-free things to turn out right? I'm not even doing all gluten-free, just trying to incorporate more alternative grains (other than wheat) into my baking.
My mom used to make these things called Tiger's Candy when I was little. I remember them being amazingly delicious, and even better because I was allowed to have them almost anytime I wanted one.
I'm mentally getting ready for camping season (one more month maybe??), and I have begun experimenting with different ways to get more protein into Sophie without a fight. Protein = energy = kids who will hike without fussing (as much). This is my theory anyway. So I found the recipe for Tiger's Candy online and made a test batch while Sophie was at preschool today.
I rolled them in cocoa powder since Sophie loves chocolate, but next time I will try rolling them in shredded coconut.
In my opinion, these aren't as amazingly delicious as I remember, but then again everything's better as a child. I'll have to ask my mom what substitutions she used.
Here's the recipe - adapted from Diet for a Small Planet:
Tiger's Candy
1/4 cup peanut butter
2/3 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup finely chopped raisins
cocoa powder
Blend peanut butter and ground sunflower seeds together, then add wheat germ, flax seed, honey, and raisins. Blend well. Form into balls and roll in cocoa powder.
The original recipe calls for powdered milk, but I looked all over the grocery store and couldn't find powdered soy milk to substitute, so I just threw in some wheat germ and flax for fun instead. I'll have to look at the health food store, because that seems like a good way to add protein to just about anything.
A few weeks ago, Sophie found a beetle on the kitchen floor. At first she was a little scared of it, but once she realized it wasn't a spider she decided that it was her friend. She convinced Papa to put it in a jar for her so she could keep it as a pet, and she fed it lettuce and watched it for a couple days. Eventually she decided Beetle wanted to go back outside to play with its friends, so she let it go on the wood pile.
A couple days ago, Sophie was playing in the kitchen while I got ready to leave in the morning. All of a sudden she got super excited - "My beetle! My friend beetle come back!" - and ran to get a jar. She plopped the jar down on top of the beetle so it couldn't get away, and started singing a song to Beetle (she's constantly singing a narrative of her play). Part of it went like this, "My beetle, my beetle my friend beetle name is Beetle, he come back to play with me again, and I saw him on the floor and I almost step on him, but I didn't! And Beetle be my pet beetle, and I keep him in a jar..."
Unfortunately Beetle's jar got knocked over and Beetle got away, but she's still on the lookout in case he comes back to play again.
Sophie thinks everything is itchy - everything I knit, that is. I knit her a pair of socks out of merino and silk blend yarn and she even says those are itchy! She says she likes the things I knit her, but then she won't hardly wear them. The only things I can get her to wear (sometimes) are her blue glacier sweater, her mittens, and her "warm pants" but only if she's wearing a layer underneath. And she wants me to make her a new sweater! Hmm. We'll see about that. I try to be really careful to make her things with soft yarn, but her standards and mine of what is "soft" are obviously very different. What will I do with her?
Sophie picked this out at a little yarn store in Haines - "Me! Me, Mama!" - so obviously I need to knit her something out of it. It's 50 merino/50 silk (she has good taste in yarn!)...
Sophie and I spent last weekend up in Haines for the Southeast Alaska State Fair. We had so much fun! There was awesome music (Albino, Spoonshine, Nicole Fournier) - Sophie slept through most of that, but I enjoyed it! We didn't get back to our tent until 11pm both nights.
Sophie hasn't been well lately, so to make her feel better we went to the fish store...
And came back with these. They don't have names yet, but I made the fish guy work really hard to get one of each color so that we'd be able to tell them apart when they have names :)
Sophie's birthday party was a blast. The forecast said mostly cloudy with a chance of rain, which around here usually means it will be raining, but we got lucky - by the time her party rolled around, it was sunny and hot.
Nana made her birthday dress (with matching bloomers!) and since it buttoned down the back, she actually kept it on for most of the party.
There were rainbow sugar cookies, rainbow playdough party favors, and rainbow ric rac around the punch glasses (otherwise known as jelly jars). My mom made beautiful (and delicious) rhubarb-raspberry punch.
There was lots of running, jumping, screaming (in joy), playing...
Bubble blowing....
Nana and Papa made her a teepee out of bamboo poles and covered with all her new silkies. And here is her fruit pizza! Play Dough:
1 cup flour 1/2 cup salt 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 cup water 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Combine ingredients in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir constantly until a ball forms; remove from heat and knead for a few minutes. Add food coloring and knead until the color is even.
Bubbles:
5 cups water 14 oz. Dawn dish soap (eco-friendly soap doesn't work) 1/2 cup corn syrup
Mix. Dip. Blow. We used egg dippers (for dyeing Easter eggs) for wands - just use pliers to complete the circle.
I love how these little pants turned out! I'm making a pair of big-girl longies for Sophie now... with NO backside increases! She's completely out of diapers now (knock on wood), and I've even loaned my entire cloth diaper stash to her little cousin. It makes me a little bit sad to not be using those diapers anymore.
We've had a lucky string of hot (for Juneau), sunny days - Sophie's birthday party was a huge success, it was sunny and she and all her friends played outside in the yard for hours. She blew out the candle on her "cake" all by herself. Instead of a cake I made a fruit pizza with a sugar cookie crust, plain yogurt sauce, lots of cut up fruit, and honey drizzled over the top, and I forgot to take a picture of it! Can you believe it?
It’s May 22nd, 2007, 3:00 in the morning when I wake up. I feel some mild cramps, like I’m about to get my period; only I’m pregnant, so that can’t be. I get up, go to the bathroom, and by the time I come back to bed I feel normal again. It takes me an hour to fall back asleep because I can’t stop thinking about those cramps. I’m not due for another two weeks – could something be wrong? I’m scheduled to have an ultrasound later this morning to confirm position of the baby, and number of babies – the day before, my midwife had been unsure when she felt feet on opposite sides of my belly, and heartbeats on both sides also. Maybe I’m just worried about that – it’s my first ultrasound, and even though I know it’s highly unlikely to discover twins at 38 weeks, it’s still a nerve-wracking thought.
I get the cramps again in half an hour, and half an hour after that, until it’s time to go to my ultrasound appointment. My mom is going with me. I sign in and wait for my name to be called. After what seems like forever I’m called into a room, weighed, and then asked to give a urine sample. I pee into the little cup like I have so many times since becoming pregnant, but this time there is something different – I’ve lost my mucus plug. A funny feeling creeps into my belly. I know that losing your mucus plug is a sign of impending early labor, and along with the cramps I’ve been having all morning it’s even more of a sign; but my due date is still two weeks away, and young first-time moms like me never go early. I shake it off and go back to the room where the ultrasound technician is waiting for me.
The ultrasound gel, which the tech assures me won’t be cold, is too hot and it burns the skin on my belly. My mom sees me flinch and she knows the gel is too hot, but I don’t say anything to the tech and so she doesn’t either. I haven’t seen a doctor my whole pregnancy and for some reason being here, in a medical clinic, makes me nervous. I feel like I need to stay on the doctor’s “good side” and not complain. Soon, though, I forget about the hot gel as I focus on the blurry black-and-white image moving across the screen. I can’t see a baby at all, but as the technician points out ribs, heart, and head I start to make sense of it. Sure enough, it’s only one baby, head down in perfect position – it must have been doing the splits the day before.
Happy to be out of there, and relieved that there is in fact only one baby about to enter the world from inside of me, my mom and I linger before returning to our respective obligations. The day is hot for May and the sun is shining, and I bask in the sunshine outside a café where we splurged on ice cream bars. Eventually, ice cream gone, my mom goes back to work and I go to class to take my last final exam of the year. It’s perfect timing, really.
In class as I finish up my final I feel the cramps again – stronger now, but I still ignore them. I head home and start filling out the birth plan worksheet my midwives gave me weeks earlier – I’m still not even half way done with it, but when a few friends call I tell them to come on over. They show up with henna dye and in my lazy state of mind I agree to a belly-painting session in the front yard. As soon as I lay down on my back my lazy state of mind goes out the window as I get another cramp, this time much stronger than the ones before. I talk it over with myself mentally and agree to call them contractions from now on, but still I don’t say anything. What if this isn’t the real thing? I’m not due for two weeks, after all.
Belly painting accomplished, I waddle up to the porch as my friend’s mom stops by to say hi. Getting out of the car, she takes one look at me and informs me that my baby is going to come soon – she can tell, she says, by the way I’m holding myself. The baby is very low and I can feel the head engaged in my pelvis. I start to take notice of when the contractions come, and it’s down to every ten minutes now. Tonight is the last in a series of classes on labor that my midwife is giving at the birth center, and my mom picks me up to go with me.
When we get there at 6:00, there is only one car parked in the parking lot – my midwife’s. It’s such a nice day that no one else has showed up for the class. I tell her about my mucus plug and the contractions I’ve been having all day, and we go into an exam room so she can check me, “just in case.” She tells me I’m 2cm dilated – when I look at her, she translates: “go home, pack your bag, and call me when you can’t talk through a contraction. You’re having a baby tonight!”
I’m still in such denial that it’s my mom that reminds me I have yet to pick up any supplies for after the baby is born, and so on the way home we stop at the store to buy pads, yogurt, cereal, and other easy foods. My mom starts to think about what was on her grocery list at home since she’s already here, but I (a little too forcefully) remind her that walking around a grocery store is not a fun place to have a contraction. At home I lay on the bed while my mom goes through my things, trying to pack a bag for me, all the while telling me how she told me weeks ago that I should pack my bag now rather than wait until it’s too late. Everything she’s saying goes right over my head as I try to be comfortable. Nothing is working: lying on the bed, sitting on the couch, walking, listening to my iPod. I’m curled up in the fetal position on my bed when all of a sudden I feel heat seep down my leg. I jump up and more fluid gushes. Running to the bathroom, I shout at my mom that my water just broke.
She wants to call my midwife now, but for some reason I’m still in denial that I’m really in labor. I tell her not yet, I can wait a little longer; but with the next contraction I start crying and she makes the call – I can’t talk to tell her not to. My midwife has to find child care and she’ll meet us at the birth center in half an hour. At 9:00 we pull into the birth center parking lot again, and I have to stop twice for contractions before I can make it into a birth room down the hall. My midwife checks me immediately after my next contraction, and is amazed when she finds me 8cm dilated and 70% effaced. She tells my mom, “I guess you guys really do have fast labors!”
I feel like I’m helpless, stuck inside of a contraction – I need to get on top of it somehow. My midwife fills the Jacuzzi tub and I crawl into it. The water feels amazing, and I imagine this must be how my baby feels inside the womb. With each contraction I press my body against the side of the tub. When the contractions are at their peak I lose grip mentally and start to pant; my midwife is kneeling next to me on the other side of the tub with her head pressed against mine, telling me to breathe deeply, breathe down to my baby. I pull myself back on top of the contraction and ride it out. It seems like the Doppler is making another contraction come, because as soon as one ends and my midwife listens to the baby, another one starts immediately – soon I realize that I am starting to fight against my body and I need to push.
Pushing, I think, is ridiculous. To push is excruciating, but not to push is impossible. There’s just no way around it. I struggle with myself to open up and push at the same time; it takes a couple of contractions, but now they are coming one after the other with only a second’s rest in between. I have read about how the baby crowning feels like a “ring of fire,” and as I stretch to what feels like the absolute limit I hear Johnny Cash, “Ring of Fire,” playing in my head. My midwife tells me to reach down and feel my baby’s head, and I touch thick, silky-soft hair. It is only now, when I feel the baby’s head, that it really sinks in to me – I’m actually having a baby. And I’m having the baby right now – another push and the head is out. I’m too tired to push the rest of the baby out right away, I have to wait for the next contraction. It comes and I feel myself tear, but I absolutely do not care as my midwife lifts my baby out of the water and onto my chest.
The baby splutters, coughs once and cries once, and then its eyes open and it lies on my chest just looking around. I have not found out the sex, and secretly I want a girl very badly, but everybody that I know have told me that they think it will be a boy. Now that the time has actually come, I’m almost afraid to find out. I quickly hold the baby out and look – it’s a girl! I’m so happy and relieved, but just to make sure, I have to look again.
Sure enough, my Sophie Carolyn was born at 11:04pm on May 22nd, 2007 - 7lbs, 12oz, 20 in long.
I can't remember the last time I went near a sewing machine... it was over a year ago, that's for sure. Probably longer. But last weekend Sophie's friend Dashel was turning 2 (2! Sophie and her friends are turning 2!) years old, so I managed to come up with this:
I only had to rip out one seam, which I think is pretty good given my sewing history.
There's been no knitting around here - term papers and studying for finals instead. I'm not going to make that mistake again! Come next Wednesday I'll be completely done with school until next January (hopefully). I have a big list of things to start (and finish) knitting.
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