Feeling Better

We came to College Station to visit with family for a few days and exchange gifts and I came down with a yucky case of the flu on the evening we were going to head home (Thursday)(my famous last words were, "I never get sick"). I'm feeling much better now, just very weak. There are blessings in the midst of having the flu, and I thank God that I had it, even though it was no fun, just so I could realize these things:

• I'm so thankful for usually having enough mommy milk to feed my daughter (I didn't while I was sick).


• My husband is very good at taking care of Becca and willingly did so while I slept and recovered.


• My mom, dad, and sister who live near-by (Nate's family) are also great at taking care of Becca and helped so much.


• I really do love spending time with my husband and daughter and missed it so much while I couldn't.


• God is merciful in causing me to feel better when I thought it would never end the first night and cried out for him to help it stop.

On the biting front (re: Breastfeeding Woes), things are going a bit better. Becca had not bitten me for awhile, but did yesterday. I couldn't blame her, since I wasn't exactly providing much for her, and she was upset. But we did stop feeding on that side immediately and I told her not to bite Mommy. We did buy some formula yesterday because she needed something, but she would only drink at ounce of it. She did scarf down her oat cereal and bananas like there was no tomorrow, though. I'm glad to be able to feed her again.

We're not sure if we're going home today or tomorrow. I'm going to see if I start feeling even better.

Breastfeeding Woes

I really like being able to breastfeed Becca, but lately I've been dreading it. Becca has just discovered the joy (her joy, not mine) of biting me while nursing. Ouch!! Those two teeth are quite sharp. The worst part is that I never know when it's going to happen, so instead of being able to enjoy the closeness of feeding my daughter, I am tense. Nathan experienced my grief this morning at when I was feeding Becca in bed at about 5:30am. I gasped rather loudly when she bit me and he bolted upright, his heart racing--no going back to bed for him.

I realized that I must be consistent if she is going to stop (and I am going to continue nursing her for 5 more months or so). The first two times she did it, I yelled out of surprise and pain, but now I try to react in a more controlled manner. I have my hand behind her head while she feeds and when she starts to bite or actually does, I pull her in close so she is kind of smushed up against me and can't breathe very well. While I do that, I say, "No, Becca. That hurts Mommy. No bite." or something very similar in a firm voice. This all takes place very quickly, so don't worry that I'm suffocating her or anything. :)

Sixth month pictures

I think we both forgot to mention that Nathan uploaded Becca's sixth month pictures. You can see them here.

More Books

I decided to catalog Becca's books after hearing about LibraryThing from both my husband and Kristen. It was fun to look through what books other children have to get more ideas. I added the link on the sidebar up at the top or click here.

Good News and Books, Books, Books

Nate passed his qualifying exam for getting into the PhD program! Huzzah! Now he has to petition for PhD. candidacy. I'm not sure what that's all about. It's good to know that the exam is done though. One step closer.

I added some books I've read to my list on my sidebar. Mostly older children's and young adult literature. "Heidi" has to be one of my new favorites. I felt as though I was up in the mountains with her. Heidi herself is such an endearing character, so full of life and compassion for others.

"The Five Little Peppers" and "The Five Little Peppers All Grown Up" were also fun to read. I found myself really enjoying the main characters and feeling as though I could jump right in to the story and feel right at home. I also appreciated how Mrs. Pepper provided a solid, respected, wise adult figure (Mr. Pepper had passed away at some point before the story began).

"Jack and Jill" was kind of fun. It is another story with a solid mother character--Jack's mother. This one is fuzziest in my mind, since I read it before all the others.

"Two are Better Than One" was okay. In some ways it was a sweet story of friendship and lessons learned, but in others, it just kind of annoyed me. I don't know why I was so annoyed by the girls' made up words, but I was. And also their obsession with writing a novel about a pair of dolls they had. The person who loaned it to me told me it was her favorite young adult fiction book, so maybe it was built up a little too much in my head before I read it.


I'm currently reading a book by Alfie Kohn called "Punished by Rewards" (borrowed from my father-in-law). It's making me think a lot about why and how we use rewards. There are many positive things I could say about the book. I like how it makes me think about my own teaching and child-raising practices. I like how he is big on helping children enjoy learning and on instilling values instead of just teaching a behavior. On the other hand, he almost seems to say that no one should have authority over anyone else. It also seems that he is saying that children should be able to develop their own ways of judging and their own values. I'm just working on sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Nathan bought me "Understanding Exposures" by Bryan Peterson, which I am eager to read and put into practice with my camera. I also received two homeschooling resources: "A Literary Education" by Catherine Levison and "Let the Authors Speak: A Guide to Worthy Books Based on Historical Setting" by Carolyn Hatcher. Both look like excellent resources for choosing books over many subject areas.

I'd better get going. The screen is starting to shake, which means I'm tired, and my head hurts too. Goodnight.

Quick update

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I don't have much time, Becca will be up soon from her nap.

Becca has two bottom teeth nearly all the way in. She likes to suck on wet, partially frozen washcloths when they are hurting. I haven't given her anything for them yet, but I suspect that the later teeth to come in might hurt a bit more, so I might take Angel and Kristen up on their suggestions.

Becca also survived her sixth month vaccines with barely a problem. She had a very small fever, but that was it. In fact, it seemed as if she was even more active and in a better mood the evening of her shots.

Continuing in Becca updates...she started rice cereal on Saturday and pears today. She took to the rice cereal very quickly, but the pears were a bit more tricky since they have a stronger taste. I mixed them with a little bit of rice cereal and she eagerly ate them up after she had refused them alone. I had my first attempt at making Becca's baby food on Sunday. I baked an acorn squash and a butternut squash (I had never tasted either before, and they are both quite tasty), ran them through the baby food mill, and froze tablespoon sized scoops on a cookie sheet. Once they were frozen, I transferred them to a ziploc bag. I hope she likes squash, cause I have a lot of it!

I have to get going. Becca is making waking up noises. There is more to tell, but that will have to wait for later.

One quick thing: Nathan's qualifying exam is tomorrow morning. By 10 am, he should be an official PhD. student!

Changes

We thought Becca was coming down with her first cold this weekend, but it turns out that it may be teething. As she was giving me one of her big, sweet smiles this afternoon after I was done feeding her, I noticed a little bit of white popping out of her bottom gum. I felt it, and sure enough, there was a sharp little tooth coming through. No wonder she was so fussy on Sunday. Anyway, we promptly called Nathan at work to share the exciting news (and then both grandmas). I know a million babies have started cutting their first tooth before Becca, but this is the first tooth that my first daughter is cutting, so that makes it quite exciting. :)

And another development: Becca has been sitting up by herself. She's still a bit wobbly, but will sit up and keep balanced for a few minutes at a time without toppling over. How fun!

Pictures

If you haven't been there lately, we have both the fourth and fifth month pictures up in the gallery.

Updating my sidebar

A few additions/changes to my sidebar. I added my wishlist :) under Becca's. The hymn that I have up there is one of the songs we sing to Becca every night before putting her to bed. The other one is Jesus Loves Me. I also took off my currently reading list because I can't keep up with it and added a couple of books to what I've read:

Redeeming the Time--a book on the Christian perspective on work and leisure. I recommend it. Ryken does a good job of showing many perspectives on work and leisure before presenting the Christian perspective. The only struggle I've had with it is a lack of practical application and a bit of repetition at the end.

The Incomparable Christ by Stott is so good. He goes through four witnesses to who Christ is--the New Testament, the church, history (Christ's influence), and the book of Revelation. I especially appreciated the last one since it was a very grounded and worshipful discussion of Christ in Revelation. I also appreciated how Stott was truthful about various views and poor decisions of people who claimed to follow Christ.

I apologize for my poor reviews of those two books. I hope you read them despite my tired babbling on how good they were.

A little early

Rebecca turns 5 months on Monday, so this post is a little early. It's amazing to see her grow and change. I'm working on the first pages of her scrapbook/photo album and I can't believe how tiny she is. Her skin has gotten much lighter since she was born, and so has her hair. It's also a bit reddish, although you can't see that in most photos.

She is turning over ALL the time now. Back to tummy, tummy to back. And inching her way across the floor like a caterpillar. The other day I looked up from my work in the kitchen and she had inched her way to her stroller and was sucking on the wheel (Noooooo! Ew, gross. All the stuff that wheel rolls through. Oh well.). I have to watch her much more closely. She just started playing peek-a-boo with us. She won't put the cloth over her/our face, but she'll pull it off and laugh or smile when we say "peek-a-boo". Bedtime has gotten a bit more difficult. We continue to have the same bedtime routine--change diaper, sing two songs, say goodnight--but have been spending much more time patting her back and helping her to sleep. But, it's all part of her growing up, and we just keep trying to remember that this is such a short time of her life when it will be exactly this way. We're trying to enjoy it amidst the small frustrating times.

Happy 5 month birthday, Becca. We love you.

Diaper liner or window washing rag?

We started using cloth diapers while visiting my parents and also discovered that the sun really does get out those poop stains. I had laid a liner out on the car to get some stains out, and accidentally left it there for quite a while (overnight?). Later I couldn't find it.

Well, never fear, the liner has finally been found. My mom went out to talk to my dad while he was washing the car windows the other day and I think their conversation went something like this:
Mom: "What are you using to wash those windows?"
Dad: "I don't know, but it works great."
Mom: "Where did you get it?" (a good question to ask the man who will use a nice dish towel to wipe grease off his hands--I love you, dad :) )
Dad: "I found it out in the yard."
Mom: "I think that's one of Becca's diaper liners. You didn't wax the car with it, did you?" (another good question to ask)
Dad: "No, I just cleaned the windows."

I think I know what to get my dad for a present.

Toe update

My toe is slightly better. Nathan has been so wonderfully supportive as I try to keep it up and iced to reduce the swelling (and the swelling has gone down a bit). He even made dinner tonight--a chicken and spinach dish that we like a lot, and it was so good. It is a bit more bruised looking than it was, but it hurts less.

Healthy Eating

In order to help me to remember to eat my fruits and veggies, my new mantra is "A fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack". I got it from a show on PBS we were watching at Lisa's when we visited. It's actually helped a lot; I would say for about 90 percent of my meals and snacks, a fruit or vegetable, and sometimes both, makes its way in there.

Speaking of good for you foods. My new favorite snack is a baked sweet potato. I finally found the perfect way to bake it, and although it takes a long time, it's soooo good. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, scrub, and then prick your sweet potato (or yam) with a fork a few times. Spray a tiny bit of cooking spray in a pan (I use a round cake pan) and place sweet potato in it. Put it in the oven for 45-75 minutes, depending on the size of the potato. When it is done, you should be able to easily cut it with a butter knife. Slice it open, put a tiny bit of butter and salt on it, and enjoy. You can put brown sugar or cinnamon-sugar on it instead, or if you really like it plain, that works too.

Ouch

Who knew that stubbing (or whatever you call it) my pinky toe on the fan stand would hurt so much. I was walking past the oscillating fan today and hit my foot on it. I thought it was just the normal quick pain that would go away, but now I can hardly walk on my foot. My toe is bruised and swollen. I've been trying to ice it for the swelling. I feel so silly having Nate help me walk around, but it really hurts. What if it's broken? What do they do for a broken pinky toe? Will they just tell me to stay off it and ice it? If so, I'd rather not pay for that advice.

Just Had to Do It...

...even though I wasn't tagged.

The rules are:
1. Search your blog archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (this is meant to say something about you).
4. Post that sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five people to do the same.

Mine was: "Patience, Iago."--how appropriate. I realize how little I actually have these days.

I tag:
Lisa, Kortnie, Andrea, Dan, and Kate. Only if you want to, of course.

New pics

Fourth month and World Tour pics have been updated by my wonderful husband here.

I'll update more later.

Diapers

We have been cloth diapering for about a month now. We started while we were up north at my parents. It worked better to start while on vacation because we were out of our routine anyway. I want to give good reviews below for what we have chosen and is working. I know there is so much stuff out there, but this is what we have decided to go with for now. Here is what we are using:

• Unbleached Flannel Fitteds with velcro closure from Annie Marie Padorie. They are affordable fitteds ($10 a piece) and dry more quickly because she uses a liner. They have worked well for us so far. I have 13 of them.


• Dappi Nylon diaper covers that I got off Ebay through GraniteSmith. With shipping they are about $3 a piece. They don't leave red marks and how can you beat the price? I have 8 size smalls.


• Cloth wipes--unbleached flannel from Baby Because. These are nice and thin and work so well for us for your basic wet diaper. We keep an old diaper wipe container with plain old water next to the changing pad. Sometimes I put a drop of lavender in it. Even if you don't use cloth diapers, using cloth wipes is such an easy thing to do. I prefer them to the disposable ones. We have lots of wipes.


• Diaper pail--From Diaper Safari. We use the seven gallon pail. It holds just enough to make me do wash every other day along with used burp cloths (pre-folds). I put a dry cloth wipe with a few drops of lavender on it in the pail each day and we don't smell anything but that (the pail is even in our bedroom). Oh, I also have two size large diaper pail liners from Diaper Safari that go in the wash too.


• Miscellaneous--We also have prefolds to use when we run out of fitteds. A MotherEase one size diaper and liner and Airflow wrap (I bought an introductory package) that are kind of bulky, but work in a pinch and will probably fit her better when she is bigger. We have one Sugar Britches flannet fitted that absorbs a lot but takes a long time to dry. Finally, we have some fancy cloth wipes--flannel on one side and velour on the other from ZtoABaby--that work really well for cleaning up dirty diapers.

Weather

It was gorgeous here today. Absolutely gorgeous weather. I was so thankful for our change in weather. We finally have the sliding glass door open to let in some cooler air.

We took Becca to IKEA first half of our date (neither of us have been there before, so although it sounds like kind of a weird date, it was something we were looking forward to). We bought a pair of beige/grayish Roman shades for our bedroom so I can make it a bit darker during Becca's naps. Becca did a great job at the store. She rode around in her stroller and Nate carried her for awhile. Then we went to Saltgrass Steakhouse to spend a gift card from one of my former students. I had the Chicken K Bob and a sweet potato and tortilla soup. It was very good, and so was their bread. Nate liked his grilled shrimp. With the wonderful food, good customer service, and my two favorite people as company, it was a great date.

I am up way to late. I should have been in bed two hours ago, but I let myself get sucked in to staying on the computer. Ah well. Goodnight.

Photos
The aloe plant is alive and well.


Can you guess what this is?






Newbie onesie courtesy of Uncle Mikey. They're getting her started early. :)

She's on the move

(Sorry, Dan, another post about babies :) ).

Becca has just perfected her ability to turn from her back to her tummy in the past day. The funny thing is, once she gets onto her tummy, she doesn't want to be there. Sometimes we put her back on her back and she's right back to her tummy. It's kind of fun to watch, but getting a bit annoying at nap time.

We plan on heading back to Houston tomorrow and officially unpacking from our trip. It will be good to get home.


Oh, one more thing, I started Becca's scrapbook a few days ago. I'm nearly done with a two page spread on my growing belly during the pregnancy. I can see how people can get into it. My goal is to have as many pictures as possible per page without it being overdone. I'm not fond of those scrapbooks which have two or less pictures on a page with a bunch of other fancy stuff. We'll see how it turns out.

Aloe Plant

The aloe plant is alive! Only two leaves on it died, but most of it looked very healthy still. We watered it again before we left for CS.

Four months old

We're still hanging out with family in College Station. Since, as you've probably seen, Houston escaped much damage from Rita, we could go back now, but are waiting until some of the traffic clears (unlike many who are clogging the road despite the requests from authorities to wait for many really good reasons...argh).

Anyway, the focus of this post of Becca and the fact that she is four months old today. It's going so fast. Here are some of the recent changes we've seen in our sweet little daughter:

--Laughing--today Nate and I had her laughing in singing and doing the motions to "The Wheels on the Bus"
--Smiling and hiding her face in your shoulder
--Turns over somewhat more regularly from tummy to back
--Plays with her feet
--Blows spit bubbles and raspberries--this cracks me up
--Tries to put everything in her mouth: my waterbottle, books (a no-no at our house!), toys, burp cloths, etc
--Likes to suck on one, two or three fingers on either hand

I'm working on the pictures from our trip and should have her fourth month pictures up in two weeks or whenever we can get back home.

Total Depravity

Anyone who doesn't believe in the existence of our total depravity (sinfulness), hasn't driven the distance of 80 miles or so in nine hours in hurricane evacuation traffic. I don't want to be nice to people who fly by everyone on the shoulder reserved for emergency vehicles and yet I'm very tempted to join them. These situations bring out the worst in us--rage, greed, malice, selfishness, ingratitude.

Christ have mercy on us.

There and Back Again...and then off to somewhere else

We made it safely back home from the midwest on Tuesday night around 11:30pm. We were exhausted. There were only a few cockroaches in our place--all dead, thankfully. I was worried that after being gone for three weeks, we would have many. Anyway, we slept well, and woke up Wednesday morning only to be faced with a decision of whether or not to evacuate because of Hurricane Rita. We decided to head up to Nate's parents' home. So...we attempted to unpack and pack at the same time, though now on a larger scale. Nate's mom came down to help us cart stuff up to their house. We struggled a lot with what to bring and what to leave--often getting frustrated at our own worries about our possessions. We ended up taking a fair amount mostly because we don't want to replace it if we don't have to.

At 7pm we left for our usual hour and a half trip to College Station. NINE HOURS later we arrived at the house, exhausted, praying for patience, and thanking God for keeping Nate awake the whole time. Becca slept almost the whole way, praise God. We are here in CS for awhile. Nate has just told me that Rita might be knocked down to a Category 3, which would be great. I can only imagine a little bit what it must feel to leave your home and know it probably won't be there when you return. We just keep asking God to help us not value our possessions so much--we appreciate them and use them to honor God in our lives, but we hope we don't covet and idolize them.

Continuing tour

We are still enjoying the beautiful weather up in the midwest. It's simply gorgeous today--in the 70s. Yesterday I spent my birthday shopping (for Becca), having a yummy breakfast at Morning Star, and going out to dinner at Snug. It was a nice birthday. I even got to take a nap on the porch. And I am almost forgetting to mention what Nate did for me. He bought me flowers from a roadside stand down the street and left notes all over the house for me to find throughout the day telling me things he appreciated about me. It was very sweet. Plus, I got a much needed back massage in the afternoon while watching soccer with him.

Becca is growing up before our eyes. She has the cutest laugh and is discovering her feet just within the last day or two. She has taken meeting new people very well and the carting her around that we've been doing (except the rides home after eating out for dinner twice--but that was my fault for keeping her out too late, pobresita Becca).

I think Kortnie might be here. We're having lunch with her today. Gotta go.

Becca's World Tour 2005 in progress

We are currently on a stop in Indy for two nights. About 20 lucky people get back stage passes on our stop here. :) It's been nice to visit with friends here. On another visit here, I'd like to actually visit the downtown area which is acclaimed to be the cleanest in the US for a big city. Nate is getting in his computer game quota for the year. Not my idea of a good time, but he definitely enjoys it, especially with three or four other friends in the room--it gets quite hot in there from all the computers.y

We also made a stop in southern IN to visit Grandma. She enjoyed meeting her great granddaughter and was so hospitable to us.

Driving through the night (we have no AC in our car) went well and helped us to avoid the heat. I wouldn't normally suggest it, but it worked this time.

We plan on leaving for MI tomorrow and visiting with many friends and family and enjoying the weather. It's already been gorgeous up here.

On other notes, please pray for us as we head back to Houston in a couple of weeks and try to decide how to help with the hurricane victims that have been transplanted to our city (in fact pretty much down the street). I would love to try and give some time to help during the week, but have to decide what I can do and still do a good job taking care of our daughter.

And one last comment: See the side bar for new additions of the my favorite east Michigan couple Dan and Andrea. They are two of the funniest people I know and their blogs are enjoyable.

Three months old

Our Becca is three months old (two days ago!). Pictures have been added to both the second and third month in the gallery including our trip to the Dallas area to see the Keltses, Marlows, and Hices (is that how you say it?). Enjoy!

Becca is turning onto her side from her back, attempting to suck on her entire fists--both at once, smiling and "talking" when she is not giving her serious face, and even turned over from her stomach to her back a couple of nights ago. It's a rare occasion, but she's on her way. We enjoy her immensely and pray that we would continue to raise her well to love and serve the Lord and people.

Aloe Plant

It's still alive so far. I've been watering it a little when it seems dry.

Goings on

I'm about to work on a sewing project, but I thought I should update my blog. Just everyday stuff going on right now: eating, reading, napping, playing, smiling, changing diapers, etc. This is all fine with me. For the most part I really enjoy staying home. Becca is fun to interact with when she is awake and her nap times give me a set amount of time to clean up the kitchen, sew, read, clean house, do laundry, fix dinner, and work on various projects around here. Every once in a while I need to get out once Nate gets home, but not too often. I am looking forward to cooler weather so we can get to the park a couple times a week and go for walks.

We just bought a camcorder a couple of days ago. It's a Panasonic GS31. I can't believe how tiny it is. We thought about it for awhile before buying it since it's such a big purchase, but with one set of grandparents so far away and so many fun things to capture, we thought it would be a good idea. So far the camera works well, especially for a less than $400 one.

There's a website I've wanted to share for some time now. It's from a family who homeschools using the Charlotte Mason educational philosophy. She gives an explanation of it on her page. It's a very thorough website with links to other good Mason websites for someone interested on how to integrate Mason type homeschooling. I really like Charlotte Mason's approach to education and hope to figure out how put some of her ideas to use in our homeschool. Here's the website: Breathing Room--Charlotte Mason.

Test run

I love plants.

I usually kill the ones I have.

I bought an Aloe plant today.

I'll let you know how long it lasts.

Presents

Becca received some very cool presents this weekend from the Kelts and the Marlows:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (my copy is falling apart, so I was glad for a new one)
So Big (a Sesame Street board book about Elmo)
Two very cute onesie type outfits--a purple one and a yellow one
Some Winnie the Pooh socks that stay on her feet very well

Our Weekend in Southlake

We had a wonderful weekend with friends up in Dallas-Fort Worth area. So much fun, in fact, that we spontaneously decided to stay an extra day. We arrived around 1pm on Saturday and were supposed to leave at 3pm on Sunday, but extended our stay to 4pm on Monday. It was so much fun to hang out with Kate and Andy and Andrea and Dan. Kate's parents were so gracious and hospitable--we were well-fed and always felt welcome (even when I had to use her washing machine because we had only packed for a one night stay). Becca did very well with all the extra people and noise. We were so sad to leave on Monday. Nate was very sweet and drove the whole way home. I was very impressed, since it's a 5+ hour drive and I know I'd need a break.

Cloth Diapering

Okay, I'm having yet another diapering dilemma. We have a pocket diaper order on hold because I'm not sure if they will work for Becca. The one I had on her the other day leaked after an hour. I DO NOT want to change her every hour! I'll stick with the Seventh Generation disposables before I do that. :) At the moment she has on a pre-fold and a Bummis Super Whisper Wrap cover. I'm not crazy about the velcro because it will probably wear out. I'm not sure if the snap wraps would be adjustable enough, though.

So this all leads to my question. If you use cloth diapers, what is your main diaper "system" (for lack of a better word) that you use?

Oh, and my other question: How hot does the water have to be in my washing machine to wash diapers?

Pediatrician appointment

Thanks for all the advice and articles/websites concerning Becca's shots. Becca was a brave little girl today--as brave as a two-month-old can be. I think Nate and I were just as upset as she was. She cried loudly for the second time in her life. We desperately tried to be positive while she had the shots, not wanting to make it worse for her.

We realized we need to be working on getting her to look to the left more. She favors looking to the right and has a slightly flattened spot on that side of her head.

Another Friend Blogging

My friend Val is blogging (she probably has been for awhile and I just found out). Val and I went to college together, were in IV together, went to Belize on a mercy mission trip to spend time with children living in a children's home. Lots of memories.

Two months old

Time is flying. I am about to put away clothes that are too small for Becca for the first time. I can't believe it. She's already around 11 pounds. We have her two month check-up on Thursday. Please pray that I would not worry about the vaccines and that Becca would not react severely to them.

In honor of Becca's two month birthday, pictures are up! Nathan put together our website complete with a picture gallery. It has pre-Becca pictures on it too. You can view our website here:

Froyd's Front Porch

Wrappin' Her Up

I bought some cotton jersey fabric on sale at JoAnn's and am experimenting with wearing Becca when I need to get work done and she wants to be held. Each of the wraps is about $12.50. How can you beat that? I didn't sew anything, just bought 5 yards of fabric and cut it in half. I got the idea at www.mamatoto.org.

Here is Nate wearing her at dinner:




Here I am trying it out:

Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates

I"m rereading this book right now. It's one of my favorites. I was just introduced to it about a year ago by Meesch. It's odd that I hadn't heard of it already since it takes place entirely in Holland, which is where my family originally came from. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Mary Mapes Dodge creates fascinating characters, interesting and intelligent dialogue, and weaves in the history and culture (all true things, I imagine) of the Netherlands.

Other books I've reread lately, mostly while resting or nursing--Jane Eyre and the Secret Garden. These are two of my other favorites. Jane Eyre was much easier to follow the second time through, but just as good. Reading the Secret Garden makes me want to hear someone talk in Yorkshire, since I have a hard time hearing it in my head. I plan on rereading Cheaper by the Dozen and Around the World in Eighty Days again soon.

Rereading good books is like visiting with an old friend.

A Visitor

Lisa is on her way (or nearly on her way--her flight keeps getting delayed) to visit us for a few days. I'm so excited! Having Kortnie here would make it complete, but having at least one of my best friends down here is a treat.

Other people I get to see this summer--Kate and Andy, Andrea and Dan. We are super excited to make a trip up to Dallas-Fort Worth area soon to see them and Kate's wonderful parents too. It will also help us to see how Becca does in the car on a longer trip than to College Station.

Nate's mom was here today to help watch Becca, so I could finish the rest of the unpacking. Only the desk and one small pile is left to go through. Becca had a fun time with Grandma Joy--she was cooing and smiling away at her all afternoon. It was quite adorable.

Just write it down

Why didn't Ariel just write down who she was to Prince Eric in the "Little Mermaid"? Wasn't she a learned mer-woman? :) Just a random thought I had while driving yesterday.

Tummy time

We try to put Becca on her tummy at least once or twice a day while she's awake. Last night after her bath and last eating time before bed, I had her on her tummy on our bed and she rolled herself over from her tummy to her back twice. I think she was able to do it because she pushed herself up high enough on her hands and then fell over on her side. From there it wasn't too far from turning over.

Two peas in a pod

Here's Nate and Becca (2 weeks old) in our old place. Aren't they cute? I'm taking advantage of Blogger's new ability to have pictures in a post. I hope it works.

Fisher-Paykel

So far, so good. Our washer and dryer are working well. We get a kick out of pushing the power button (no knobs to turn on the washer) and having the whole thing light up like the control panel on the Starship Enterprise. Yesterday I had to ask if it was a plane flying by or the washer spinning--it was the washer, but it sounds exactly like a plane flying over when it's spinning on its fastest speed. It really does seem to get the clothes dryer with the fast setting. I'm impressed so far. The dryer is nothing too special. It works well, but doesn't have nearly the extra perks that the washer does.

Visitors

My mom has been here from Michigan this week. We have gotten a lot of unpacking done. She has been very willing to help unpack and hold Becca while I unpack. It's such a hard job to hold her granddaughter. :)

My dad is flying down here today. In fact, he is en route as I write. I haven't seen him since Christmas, so it will be nice to have him here. Plus, he has yet to meet his granddaughter.

One month old today

Becca is one month old today! I can't believe it. It really does go by quickly. Currently she is celebrating her birthday by enjoying a good bottle of milk while resting in her daddy's arms. Life is good. :)

In other news, we have no internet until Tuesday, which explains my lack of posting and emailing.

Moved in

My husband already mentioned how much help we had yesterday when we moved. It was quite amazing. Everyone was so willing and positive about helping too. It was an encouragement to us both. I too am grateful for our extra room. I was struck by how many clothes we each have. I know it's too easy for me to get bored with what I have to wear. After getting it all packed, I realize I have so much to wear and don't need more (although I'm still slightly limited right now because I still have pregnancy weight to lose).

On the frustrating side of things, I've been fighting with the realty company to get them to fix/replace all the necessary things. I had a list of almost 20 things for them to do. I am hoping they all get done this week, since they have known about most of them since we signed the lease over a month ago. It's just not good customer service to slack off on that sort of thing.

On a stupidity note, I dug a large piece of roast out of the garbage disposal in our new place today. THAT would be why the disposal wasn't working. I think the last people also poured quite a bit of grease down the drain. Ugh.

/rant

I really am thankful for our new place (notice that I feel like I have to convince you of it :) ). I'm also thankful that our new washer and dryer arrives on Tuesday evening. A Fisher-Paykel set. I'll let you know how they work.

Just Having Some Fun

I don't know if I'll keep this ticker up here, but I thought it was cute.

Tomorrow we move. I have to admit that I'm a bit unsettled about it and I'm not sure the exact reason why. It may be because we are leaving our first home as a married couple and our daughter's first home (for three and a half weeks, plus nine months in the womb :) ). It may also be because we are moving out of a neighborhood area into a more commercial area, which makes it less homey feeling to me. Or it could be because we have had a difficult time getting the company that manages our condo to have everything fixed and cleaned before we move in. In any case, I need to be thankful for the place that God has provided for us and ask Him to make my heart content about this move.

A quick moment to post

Becca is fell asleep on her tummy on the floor, so I have a moment to post. I know, we usually put her on her back to sleep, but I put her on a blanket for some tummy time after she ate and she fell asleep. She looks so precious there on the floor with her occassional sleepy smiles. This morning after eating she spent some time with me in my worship time. We sang hymns together--I actually sang them, of course, but she seemed to be watching.

Anyway, most of my reason to post is point you to my friend Kate's new blog. She has been sucked into the blog world, much to my delight.

Life with Becca has been going pretty well. Most nights she gives us a few good stretches of sleep. Overall, we think we have a content and peaceful baby. We'd love her even if she wasn't, but it's definitely nice to ease into parenthood with her good temperament.

Nursing is going well also. I still have the occassional soreness or blister even though I'm almost positive that she is latching on correctly. I check almost every time. Becca feeds anywhere from every 2 1/2 to 5 hours with a couple 7 hour stretches in there. I know that seems like a long time for a newborn, but she is gaining weight, having a good number of wet diapers, and our pediatrician and midwives aren't concerned, so we aren't either.

We are moving into our new apartment this Saturday. It will be so nice to have more space, especially when my parents come to stay in a couple of weeks.

We are starting to figure out the dates for our trip up North in September. Or as Nate calls it "Baby Froyd's Tour Dates". We will be driving. We will be visiting Nate's grandma, friends in Indy (and friends who are willing to travel to Indy), and family and friends in Michigan. We hope it will be a good trip for all of us.

Becca's Birth

I don't know how clear this will sound, but I wanted to share it with y'all and have it written down. I'm hoping Nate can help me remember the fuzzy parts. :)

Monday, May 23, I woke up at around 5:30am feeling kind of achy in my back. Everyone was hoping that the baby would come soon, and I was feeling like this was going to be it. I tried to go back to sleep for a little while. Soon I got up to take a shower--the hot water helped with some of the soreness.

Nate woke up soon after that and I told him I thought I was having contractions. They were quite irregular and far apart, but they were definitely the real thing. We took a walk sometime around mid-morning to help it along. Nate tried to time the duration and intervals of the contractions. They were still way more than 10 minutes apart and lasting anywhere from 30 seconds to over a minute.

I tried to eat pretty normally to keep myself going and Nate made sure I had plenty of water. Around noon Nate and I prayed that the contractions would become more regular and closer together. God answered our prayer quickly. To keep my mind off things we watched The Fellowship of the Ring and I tried to knit until the pain in my back started getting worse. Nate brought me a sock filled with some sort of grain that he had heated up. This helped a bit. I was confused about the back pain since the baby had always been anterior (back facing my front). I was not expecting so much pain in my back. I don't even remember feeling any pain in my lower abdomen.

In the late afternoon I tried to take a nap. Some of my contractions lasted almost 2 minutes, which was almost more than I could handle. We called Melanie (our midwife) again to ask her if this was normal. She said that it happens sometimes.

I tried to concentrate on relaxing more. During the contractions, Nate would apply counter pressure to my back and I would try to recite Psalm 23 or sing Jesus Love Me through the contraction. It was definitely getting harder. At 7:30pm we called Melanie to tell her that they were about 4 minutes apart. She told us she would meet us at the birth center at 9pm.

We packed up everything and Nate loaded the car. I sat in the front seat with my water and pillows. As we got on the highway we called both of our parents to let them know we were heading out. Over the next 45 minutes my contractions became increasingly more intense in my back. I had thought that I would be able to be quiet during them, but I found that making some sort of noise helped.

We arrived at the birth center at a little before 9pm. At this point I stopped looking at the clock. I thought for sure that I was in transition (dilating between 8-10 cm--the worst part), but was horribly disappointed to find that I was only 5 cm. Soon after I got into the tub. The jets helped to distract me from the pain a little bit. Nate put cold washcloths on my forehead and tried to help me relax.

We decided that I should switch positions, so they helped me to the bed. I started to get really cold, so they put towels on me to warm me up. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sally, the birth assistant arrived sometime before this. She was a fabulous support to Nate and me. Anyway, Melanie suggested that we break my bag of waters. She thought it might speed up my dilation. I had not been all for this before, but I wanted it to go a little faster, so we agreed. I'm sure it did speed up the labor a little bit, but it also made it more intense. I've never felt such pain in my life as I was feeling in this labor. I think we might have tried a few more positions to see if they would help with the pain in my back, but they didn't. I ended up continuing to lay down on the bed on my side.

So, here I am, feeling like a vice grips is being tightened on my spine with every contraction with poor Nate trying his hardest to support me and help me relax. He laid on the bed right up behind me, which was helpful because it gave me a strong support behind me. I was done with trying to relax through the contractions. With each one I would grip the pillow and almost scream. A few times I wondered what Joy and Jeff (Nate's parents) were thinking as they waited out in the birth center living room, but then I would be caught back up in the contraction. I was hoping it would just make them pray for us, which we desperately needed. :) During each contraction, Sally would rub her hand down my leg and talk me through it. At the peak she would say it was halfway over and that I was just about to get a break. Nate and Sally both would help me to remember to breathe deeply so I wouldn't hyperventilate.

At one point while laying on the bed during a contraction my body started feeling like I needed to push. I didn't actually try to push, but my body just started pushing a little bit. Melanie checked me again and found that the baby was at stage +2. Sally said that if I wanted to birth the baby in the tub, then we had better get over there soon. We slowly moved over to the tub and I got in.

Oh, one thing to mention. The midwives don't do internal or continuous monitoring. They check the baby's heart rate both during contractions and during rest times using a doppler device (?). The baby was doing quite well each time she checked.

Once I was in the tub my urge to push subsided for a few contractions. I continued my loud moaning (I really don't know what to call it) and almost crying because it hurt so badly. I thought it was never going to end and at that moment I would have accepted any drug you could have given me even though we didn't want to do it that way. I even questioned out loud if there were any drugs there even though I knew there weren't. Nate was by my side the whole time telling me how well I was doing and keeping me cool and hydrated.

After a few contractions I started feeling like pushing. Melanie suggested rounding my back to help get the baby past a certain part of my back or pelvis--I can't remember. I was leaning back in the tub at a forty-five degree angle or so and tried to pull my legs up to push. Melanie and Nate helped. After the contraction subsided, I found it felt better to keep my legs up in the air. I remember learning at our Bradley class that you take three deep breaths, and with the third you put your chin down and push and hold your breath as long as you can. Then you will have time for one or two more breath-pushes after that before the contraction was over. I found I was having time for four or five pushes total with each contraction. I don't know if the contractions were long or my pushes were short!

Now for the amazing part. Even with the pain, this part was quite an awesome experience. As I pushed I just kept thinking that the baby would never come out, but all of the sudden they said they saw hair. They put the mirror up so we could see it. I was somewhat discouraged because it was only a small part of her head, but I wasn't about to stop because pushing felt better than sitting there through the contraction. With each contraction I pushed and they all encouraged me telling me how wonderful I was doing. Melanie checked the baby's heart rate, which continued to be good. All of the sudden my body started really taking over the pushing. I started pushing harder than I knew I alone could will myself to push. Those were the pushes that really got the baby out.

The burning was starting to be overwhelming as the baby's head came through, but then, amazingly, it was through. Melanie told Nate and I to reach down and feel the baby's face. I felt the baby's hair and then reached around to feel the nose and mouth. Wow! Melanie asked Nate if he wanted to help catch the baby. She told him to wait a second while the baby turned. Then I gave one last push while she and Nate helped catch her. Melanie told him to keep her underwater for just a few seconds. Next thing I knew they were telling me to reach out and take her. I forgot she was still attached to me via the umbilical cord and almost pulled too hard. I laid our daughter (as we soon found out) on my chest. She cried briefly and then laid there. Nate and I looked at each other incredulously. It was over and here was our daughter. Praise the Lord!

Becca continued to lay on my chest as we all basked in the moments after birth. The cord remained attached to her for a good 20-30 minutes as it fed all that good blood into her. Finally, it stopped pulsing, Melanie clamped it, and Nate cut it. He finally got to hold his new daughter.

Now let me just sum up the rest. Becca was born at 1:58 am, weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces, and was 20 3/4 inches. I did have a small tear (second degree), but Melanie expertly stitched me up. I didn't even notice it when I tore. Melanie's guess for my horrible back pain was that possibly Becca's elbow was in my back because when she came out, Becca had her hand up by her face (something she continues to do as I attempt to nurse her :) ). In the four hours that we remained at the birth center, Becca nursed for the first time, met her grandparents who live nearby, was extremely alert and content as she was passed around, and had her first bath--an herbal bath. Nate and I had IHOP to replenish all the energy we spent. We left the birth center at 6am and were home by 7am.

I am so thankful for the birth center, midwives, Sally, and Nate. Had we been in a place where drugs were available, I might have given in. I am glad we were able to give birth the way we wanted to.

All right, that's all for now. I'll post more later.

So good

I finished The Hobbit yesterday...almost as addicting as The Lord of the Rings. My favorites were Beorn the bear/man and the eagles coming. And of course, Gandalf has to be my all time favorite character.

Something I noticed too in reading the Lord of the Rings--Tolkien's Aragorn is so much stronger of a character than the writers portrayed him in the recent movies. Practically from when you are first introduced to him in Bree he does not shy away from his responsibility to claim the crown of Gondor as he does in the movie. I think that was a sad change they made. I also like Faramir better in the book because he does not try to take Frodo from his mission, but helps him on it right away. He is just honorable in the book.

The Waiting Game

My dad calls everyday..."Any rumblings yet?" is his constant question. :) It's cute. We are technically "in the red" as someone at church said this morning. My mom was 10 days post due with one of my brothers and me, so it could be that we would be quite a bit in the red. I would like it to happen sooner rather than later (mostly to avoid that painful pelvic exam I'm supposed to have on Wednesday), but I'm not worried. God's timing is perfect and the baby will come when he/she is supposed to. Meanwhile, we eagerly wait and pray and try to stay comfortable.

Lease

We signed a one-year lease on a condo this past Wednesday. It was all kind of a whirlwind sort of happening: I found the condo on an online database last week; we viewed it this past Tuesday and filled out the application, were approved and signed the lease on Wednesday. It's a two bedroom, two bath, nice-sized apartment with washer/dryer hook-ups. We will be purchasing a washer and a dryer, but we figure they will be useful in the future anyway. The condo is naturally well-lit from the large windows in each room, which is a nice change for us. One odd addition for the climate we live in: a wood burning fireplace. :) The property also has the added fun benefit of a pool and a tennis court. It's a little far for Nate to walk to school, but he can bike or I can drive him. We move in after June 15.

God has been so faithful to provide just what we need and even before Baby Froyd is born.

Valuing Liturgy

Our church uses liturgy for most of the service. Our pastors use a variety of sources for our liturgy--the Bible, catechisms, creeds, prayer books, and countless other sources. Many people I know do not like liturgical services because they say that it doesn't let you have spirit-led worship or encourages people to worship without thinking. Nevertheless, I think differently. Here is why I value having the service laid out for me:

All week long I am left on my own to worship the Lord. This is good in some sense. It gives me time to confess and worship Him privately; to meditate on His Word; to thank Him for specific things I have seen Him do. On the other hand, I am often distracted or unfocused during these times. Sometimes I just don't know what to say. Other times I may forego worship time altogether, a sad, but true confession.

On Sunday when we gather for worship with God's people, it is like I am going to a worship class. I am taught how to worship by being led in worship through the liturgy by our pastors. I need this desperately because as a sinner I have a hard time knowing how to worship and think about God rightly. The liturgy and the rest of the service tells me how to think about God, how to relate to my fellow believers and the world, how to understand the history of God's people and his plan of salvation, etc. Sadly, many churches, because they stay away from the liturgy, are not teaching their flock how to worship God and think about Him rightly.

A little update

While I'm waiting for the pizza dough to rise (yum...homemade pizza), I thought I'd write a little post to update. I know as the time gets closer to our "due date" week, some will be wondering if a lack of posts means we are busy in labor. And it could mean that. We hope to call close friends and family first, then email pictures to those we have called and others, then post. Nathan is determined to keep a running blog post during the labor process that he will upload eventually. I can just see it..."Hold on, honey, I'll help you with relaxing through that contraction as soon as I finish typing this sentence." We'll have to see how it goes. I wouldn't mind having a running blog post done by Nate--he's a much better writer than me and it would save me from typing it up later myself.

Pregnancy update:
All continues to go well. My blood pressure is down to 120 over 74, which is what it was at the beginning of my pregnancy. Praise God for lowered blood pressure. I guess it has helped to do so much resting in the evening while I read Tolkein. I have had only one painful contraction the middle of last week. I get pretty sore after sleeping on my sides all night, so my new favorite thing is a nice, long, hot shower in the morning to ease my soreness. Oh yeah, and my husband's wonderful back massages in the evening. We're all packed for the birthing center and have another scheduled appointment this Tuesday.

School update:
I'm done! I made it through my last week. [Most] of my students were very sweet on my last day and made me feel loved and missed. I hope to go back a few times for their program and luncheon, but we'll have to see how it goes. That school was such a supportive place to work during my first year of teaching and while being pregnant my second year. I'm so thankful for everyone there.

Apartment update:
We are mostly not looking and just praying right now as we wait for Baby Froyd to arrive. I did find a condo yesterday (right behind Super Target :) ) that has a washer and dryer, two bedrooms, nice sized living space, and a good monthly rate. We may have to check that one out. It's not in a neighborhood, like I would prefer and is too far from Nate's school for him to walk, but we might have to give and take in order to find something in our budget.

I guess my little update turned into a long update, but now you are well-informed.

Wide Awake (and now frustrated)

I don't like writing a whole long post and then having Blogger not put it up. It said it was published, but when I went to look at it, there was nothing there and nothing for me to edit. Arghhh.

Anyway, I'm not rewriting that whole post even though I'm still just as awake as I was when I wrote it 15 minutes ago. Nate is sleeping nicely in the other room, which is good cause he deserves a good night's sleep. I haven't had a hard time sleeping before tonight, but for some reason I'm wide awake. I tried reading, but finished my book (Return of the King).

On a side note, I added books I've read to my list and also Jamie's blog and fixed Mikey's blog link. I have a hymn in mind that I want to add to the side. I hope to do that soon.

Let's try this again. Please publish!

39 weeks and counting

I can't believe we are in the 39th week. I'm definitely feeling it, though. I remember reading about my friend Serina feeling big in her last month of pregnancy with Ellery and at the time, I thought that I would never feel that way. Well, now I do. Everyone says I look so small for being in this stage of pregnancy (except my midwives, who say I'm doing just fine :) ), but some days I just feel large.

The pregnancy really is going well, though. My blood pressure is back down to slightly above my normal reading. I am still able to work (only one more week!). I sleep pretty well at night. Many things to thank God for. One of those extra things I thank God for (and I've mentioned this before, but he deserves some more recognition) is my husband. If only all pregnant wives had such a husband, pregnancy would be so much easier for them. He cleans up after every meal, cleans the house, lets me rest in the evening, makes sure I eat well, practices relaxation with me, comes to every birthing center appointment with me, and so much more. Sorry, I'm being a bit mushy, but he really is the greatest supporter that I have.

We'll keep y'all updated on pregnancy progress. I'm praying that we make it through this week, so I can get all my school stuff done.

As for the apartment hunt, we are still praying, but will probably put looking on hold until June. I have some good leads, but they may be taken by the time moving actually rolls around. We will remain cozy in our apartment until then.

Mmmmm....the banana bread is almost done and smells yummy. It's making me hungry.

Apartment Hunt

One more thing to pray for:

We have decided to stay in Houston for Nate's PhD. and need to find an apartment. Our little one bedroom is great for the two of us, but will not work soon for three. We know that God will provide and are just asking for prayers as we look, pack, and move, all in the midst of having a baby. I am doing a bit of looking today on my day off and have some leads already.

Pregnancy Update

For the sake of time, I'll update briefly on the past two weeks:

My blood pressure has gone up slightly. We did some blood work and everything is working fine, praise God. Nevertheless, I still have to rest with my feet up for about an hour total every evening. Nate is a fabulous support to me; he cleans up dinner, cleans the apartment, lifts heavy things, and so much more. I would not want to do this without him. The other praise about my blood pressure is that is has gone back down just slightly. My midwife prescribed a massage for me--I reluctantly ;) agreed to have one. It's today after my birthing center appointment.

Other than that, the pregancy is going well. The middle of May is fast approaching and I pray that I will not worry as it gets nearer. I need to trust God's sovereign hand is over all of this and that he did design me to be able to deliver this baby.

Oh, one more thing. We finally have the crib up. Nate's parents came yesterday and delivered the mattress and sheets. It looks so nice. Nate and I sent out an email this past weekend with pictures: one of me showing off my baby belly (with t-shirt over it this time :) ) and one of Nate standing by the crib after he put it together. If you did not receive it and would like to, let me know and I'll try to get it to you--that is, as long as I feel comfortable sending it to you.

Thank you for all the prayers as we prepare to be parents (we already consider ourselves so, but parents with the baby actually outside of the womb) and as the pregnancy continues.

So much for brevity. :)

Comment madness

I finally checked my Yahoo mail today after nearly a half a month of not checking. I just love Gmail so much that it slipped my mind that I still have Yahoo mail. I found numerous comments on my blog posts. I'm really not ignoring y'all! I just forgot--it's the baby's fault. ;)

Anyway, thanks for all the comments. I hope some questions regarding pregnancy and such will be answered with these posts. It's so busy at the moment (4 weeks left and counting) that I hardly have time to get on the computer.

Forgetfulness

Sometimes when I'm walking up to a counter, I forget about my baby belly and bump right into it. I did it just yesterday at the credit union. I'm so used to leaning against the counter there when I fill out my slip that I bumped right into it.

Happy Birthday to Nate

Nate--who makes me laugh, provides me with enjoyable conversation, supports and encourages me, and leads our family well--is 25 today. He is a wonderful husband and father. I am glad I held to the high standards of what a godly husband should be like even though many told me that I'd be waiting a long time to find a husband that met them. I enjoy growing with Nate, learning to communicate, and especially serving the Lord with him in our daily lives.

You are welcome to wish him happy birthday on here, since he is lacking comments. Otherwise, maybe you could send him an email if you know his address.

Yay for Nate being born 25 years ago today!

Birthing Center Appointment: 33 weeks

We went for our appointment yesterday and had good reports. I love the relaxed environment of our birthing center. Before we even did the routine measuring, etc, we spent quite a bit of time asking questions and discussing our concerns about birth. It felt like chatting with friends.

We heard the heartbeat again. It sounds nice and strong. She felt my uterus and measured me. I am at 34 cm. Lindsay (the CNM) thinks the baby is about 3 1/2 pounds and head down. (S)he could still flip over, but it's comforting to know that we don't have a breech baby at the moment. I wouldn't be worried if (s)he did flip breech because I know there are things you can do to change that.

We had a long talk about the weird feelings I've been having during my Braxton Hicks contractions and while lying down. They ruled out anemia, thyroid, gestational diabetes, anxiety. We think it's just normal pregnancy discomforts. The bottom number of my blood pressure is slightly higher, so I do have to watch out for headaches.

All in all, everything is going well. We are on the two week appointment schedule for the rest of April and will start one week appointments in May. It's getting so close!

As promised

Nate and I have decided that Baby Froyd is a boy because we just can't come up with any boy names that click with us. Many that we like are either already used by friends' children, are our friends' names, or are the names of my fifth graders. We have gone through liking Tobias, Joseph, Strider, Wesley, and Seth, but all of those have fallen into our less liked category for one reason or another. The other night our entire dinner conversation was composed of coming up with a good name. We have all but given up with having a significant meaning and are just going for a positive meaning. We do still want our son to have a strong name (this is difficult since many of the historically strong male names are being turned into girl names). Here are a few we came up with during our conversation:

• Liam--"Determined Guardian" Celtic/Gaelic
• Harrison--"Son of Harry" which means "Army Ruler" Scandinavian
• Jackson--"Son of Jack" which is an English form of John(?) meaning "God is gracious/merciful"
• Eric--"Honorable Ruler" Scandinavian
• Derek--"Famous Ruler" German
• Caleb--"Faithful/Bold" Hebrew

As for girls, we are pretty stuck on Caitlin ("Pure Beauty" Celtic/Gaelic) or Olivia ("Peace/Of the Olive Tree" Latin). Nobody take them, please. :)

Birthing center appointment--30 weeks

We had our birthing center appointment today. Lindsey, one of the Certified-Nurse Midwives, met with us. She said the baby and I are growing well, which was a relief to me. A little tip: Don't tell a pregnant woman that she either doesn't look that big or looks about ready to pop. Every woman is different. A number of people have told me that I don't look that big, and even though I know not to worry about their comments, they were starting to wear on me. My height, 5 foot 8 inches, makes me pop out a little less slowly, not to mention that everything stretches more slowly in the first pregnancy.

Anyway, I have gained about 20-21 lbs. and am measuring 28 cm, which puts me in the 3 cm or less range with my number of weeks. We heard Baby Froyd's heartbeat via doppler again. It's more pronounced than it used to be. We also watched this super intense birthing video while waiting the hour needed for the gestational diabetes test to be done (I had to drink this sweet, lemon-lime drink and then have my blood drawn). I cried every time one of the babies was born. Nate admits (and told me I could tell you) that he cried too. I also kept thinking--I'm going to do that?! Lindsey took my blood pressure after watching the video and it was 125 over 92. I mentioned it might be because of the video, so she took it again a little later and, sure enough, it was down quite a bit.

Yikes, this has gotten to be quite a post. I'll save my baby name discussion until later. Nate keeps asking me when we are starting dinner. We are having delicious marinated chicken on the grill. Yum.

Changes

A couple of changes:

1. Added my friend Mark's blog to my blog roll.

2. Finished A Tale of Two cities by Charles Dickens. I didn't expect the ending that it had. Quite an amazing story of self-sacrifice. I also have David Copperfield, but hesitate to start reading it because of the hard time I had understanding Dickens alluding to what was happening instead of outrightly saying it.

3. Finished Shepherding A Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp. Nate and I both thought it was a good book. It helped us think a lot about our objectives in parenting and how many of them did not have Biblical reasons, but just followed what the world was doing for good parenting--trying to elicit good behavior instead of focusing on behavior being a result of the sin in our children's hearts and trying to shepherd them.

4. Started a new book with Nate. He says this must be the last parenting book for now :). I understand, it is getting most overwhelming and you can only read so many without the actual personal experience. We are reading Standing on the Promises by Douglas Wilson.

Almost 30 weeks

Baby Froyd is moving like crazy lately. I think (s)he has even had the hiccups lately. We go in for our birthing center appointment in two days. It's been six weeks since the last one, so I'm eager to get in there. I think we will be talking about the birth and I will have the gestational diabetes test too.

Nate and I are spending our Spring Break at home. We are trying to get much accomplished, including switching our room around to accomodate the crib. That will be quite a trick.

An update on reusable grocery bags

Just for your information, if you decide to buy reusable grocery bags (organic cotton or other) don't get the netting kind. They are starting to come apart on us. I feel like the people who have to mend their nets. I'm still a big fan of reusable bags, but will have to find a new kind to use. I'll let you know what works.

Now enter the twilight zone

An alien has taken over my body. Here is a list of the clumsy, absent-minded things I've done in the past twenty-four hours:

• Spilled oil in the bottom of the oven and nearly caught it on fire.


• Squeezed water out of the wash cloth over the floor instead of in the sink


• Tried to take my class to the teacher work room instead of the music room for their out class


• Completely forgotten what time to pick up my class from gym and ended up being over 5 minutes late

I hope I don't get worse. I told the kids that an alien had taken over my body. Later, when I was talking to one of my students about something unkind he had said to one of his classmates, he responded like this: "It's just like you said, Mrs. Froyd, an alien has taken over my body too. It's just not like me to say that, it was completely extra-terrestrial." Too funny! We proceeded to have a brief conversation about how it was not an alien, but the sin that was in his heart that was showing in his behavior and how he needed to apologize to his friend and ask God to help him do what he could not do on his own: control his tongue. I need lots of help with that too.

P.S. I'm grateful for my husband who did not get angry with me for spilling oil in the oven and even graciously helped me clean it all up. He's wonderful. :)

Yuck

Last night I had my second nosebleed in my entire life. The first one happened in fifth grade during a game of tag when I turned to run and smashed into a wooden (we had wooden playground equipment back then) structure with my nose. Come to think of it, I don't remember going to a teacher. I ran straight to the bathroom and took care of my bloody nose myself. I don't think there was a school nurse back then either.

So, onto last night. I woke up at around 2am feeling like I had a runny nose. I reached up to touch it and turned on the light at the same time. It startled me to see my hand with bright red blood on it. I was immediately awake and so was Nate. He graciously got up with me, read me instructions for how to stop a bloody nose from my pregnancy book, and stayed up with me until it stopped. Baby Froyd got up too, probably from the adrenaline pumping through my body in response to the surprise of it all. I couldn't get back to a good sleep until about 4am. Mostly because Nate made me drink lots of water, which made me have to pee (sorry, Lisa--more pee talk :) ). Now Nate won't let me sleep with the fan facing me since dry air increases the occurence of nose bleeds in pregnancy. :(

Birthing Class

God was merciful and provided an open birthing class for us. I had waited too long to sign up for one and could not find anymore. I barely hung up the phone without starting to cry while talking with a woman from another birthing center. All their classes were full and they had cancelled the one that would have worked the best. I had one more person in the area I could call for a Bradley Methods course. I spent some time crying, praying, then getting ahold of myself to make one more call. She was there, she had a course, it was at a good time during the week, it lasts for just the right amount of time. God is so good. I did not deserve for Him to provide, but He has been merciful in spite of my procrastination and because of Christ standing in my place. Thank you, God.

I am looking forward to our class, which begins in about two weeks.

Changes

I have finally taken off my 2004 reading list and started a 2005 one. The Birthing From Within book is one of those books where you have to sort through the chaff for the wheat. I think she is a Zen Buddhist and it really comes out in her writing. Nevertheless, I did find some wheat in there to glean.

A Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth came highly recommended to me, and I also highly recommend it. It provides a balanced perspective on aspects of labor. She does want to persuade you to a certain end in light of overwhelming research, but she gives lots of information in case you do need to go the route of induced labor, epidural, etc.

Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp is so good. His focus is on not just disciplining in order to elicit good behavior, but to actually shepherd and disciple our children based on how Jesus said (and others in the Bible said too) that our bad behaviors come out of our hearts. Therefore, we must teach children about their naturally evil tendencies, about obedience to God, about dependence upon the cross of Christ, and Christ's strength to help us obey. It has a strong focus on authority--teaching our children to obey their parents because God has commanded it in order that they would understand that we all need to obey our heavenly Father. I highly recommend this book too.

I also added my friend Stefan to my list of blogs. :)

To wheat or not to wheat

I'm in a super big hurry cause I'm late picking up Nate, but I wanted to quick post about this. In our quest to eat whole wheat/grain products, we have found ingredients labels to be confusing and even misleading. Lucky Charms is now boasting whole grains. (The FDA allows food products with 51 percent or more of whole grains to put it on their labels--although I had a hard time finding whole grains on the list of ingredients for the cereal).

There is a great website: www.wheatfoods.org that has much more information than I could put here. Here is one quote from their website concerning whole grains:

"The National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics of the American Dietetic Association recommend that Americans eat at least three servings of whole grain foods daily. The label should list first "whole-wheat flour" or contain a combination of whole grain ingredients for it to be a whole-grain food. When shopping for whole-grain bread, remember that not all brown-based bread is whole wheat. A brown color may be the effect of caramel coloring, which will be listed on the label. Its nutrient value is similar to white bread."

The site does say that enriched wheat foods are still vitamin rich, and even more so than whole wheat. Nevertheless, if you are trying to eat you daily dose of whole grains for the insoluble fiber and other nutrients, look for the "whole wheat flour" in the ingredients.

Okay, now I'm way late.

It's all Lisa's fault...I'm kidding, I'm glad we got to talk. :)

Good Deals

I went to my favorite local consignment store today: The Young and the Restless. If you don't shop at consignment/resale shops, I would recommend you start. Find a store with a helpful owner who only takes clean, gently used items. One thing great about consignment is that most of the stuff is very inexpensive, which is great for buying kids clothing because they wear it for such a short time. Another great thing about it is that it has been used you are conserving when you buy it by reusing something of someone else's. It's my other favorite place to shop next to organic.

My purchases today:
A Baby Gap denim colored onesie $1.50
A tie dye onesie $1.50
A Carter's Eric Carle The Hungry Caterpillar onesie (so cute) $2.50
A Gerber light green changing table pad $4.00

This particular consignment store also sells cloth diapers and accessories, in addition to many new wooden toys made locally.

I'm still here

It has been incredibly busy lately. Somehow, we have something practically every night this week, which is rare for us. They are all good things, but make it very busy and hard to do our worship times and spend time together. I also just can't seem to catch up on school work. My goal now is to be caught up before Spring Break in two and a half weeks. Nate and I have the same break this year. Yay!

I am down to two pairs of pants that I can wear to school. Sometimes I longingly stare at my pre-pregnancy clothes. I know that day will come back when I can wear them (for a while at least--until, Lord willingly, we have more children). Having a small number of maternity clothes has helped me appreciate how much I really do have.

Baby is doing fine. Everything seems to be coming along nicely--I think I'm in a good weight gain range, no complications, less sciatic nerve pain. We are so thankful for God's faithfulness in growing our little one.

I need to change so I can walk to meet Nate at the park. It's almost 80 outside and breezy. Beautiful.

25 weeks

I think that's about where we're at in the pregnancy.

I feel as though I've expanded over night. I was stretching before working out this evening and when I looked down, I could barely see my toes. The top of my uterus is well above my belly button. It gets more real everyday. The baby is kicking a lot harder. Sometimes it even hurts.

Tonight when I was playing my guitar during our family worship time, Baby Froyd kicked me right where I had the guitar resting. It kind of hurt. I told Nate that I didn't think the baby liked the guitar music. Nate looked down at my belly and said, "Get used to it baby." :)

For those who want to know, we are trying to take pictures to show my "progress". They should be up on our website that Nate promised to have up by the end of January. Hint, hint.

How Baby Froyd passes the time

Sleep

Sleep

Poke mommy's bladder

Sleep

Nudge mommy in the tummy, but stop when daddy tries to feel

Sleep

Sleep

Roll over

Sleep

Poke mommy in the bladder a little more just because it's funny

Sleep some more

Search Tools

One of the seminars I went to at the conference I was at for school for the last two days was called "Search Techniques for the World Wide Web." Here are some of the directories and search engines I had not heard of before:

1. www.kidsclick.org--A directory of sites reviewed by librarians for kids. It doesn't have the Britanny Spears and other adds that Yahooligans has. Also has the reading level of the sites and how many illustrations each site has.

2. www.awesomelibrary.org--with the exception of a poor use of the word "awesome," which we try to reserve for only when talking about God, this directory is decent. All of the sites listed on it are reviewed by students, parents, and teachers.

3. www.lii.org--This is the Librarians Index to the Internet

4. www.teoma.com--similar to Google and Yahoo

5. www.vivisimo.com--a decent meta-search engine that clusters it's results based on what search engine it finds the sites in

6. www.singingfish.com--a specialized search engine for audio and video files

7. www.invisibleweb.com--a search engine to find search engines

Two notes:
1. If you haven't done it yet, ask Google to remove your personal info unless you don't mind someone finding a map to your house by typing in your phone number. I'm not sure how to have them remove it, but I know it is possible.

2. Just because sites are reviewed by librarians, students, parents, or teachers doesn't mean that they align with God's truth, since many of those reviewing may not be believers. It's still good to monitor what information your child is getting from those sites.

Spelling errors

I have recently increased the difficulty of some of the spelling words for my fifth graders, making it more necessary for them to actually study the words. Some of them obviously did not. Here are my favorites of their made up spellings for our first list this semester:

--for extinguish: extingwish
--for medieval: midevil
--for probability: propabibility, porbobility, propability
--for antecedent: anticedent
--for righteous: rigues, rightgoes

Metaefficient

Nate found this cool site a couple of weeks ago. I have had fun checking it out. It is called Metaefficient: A guide to the most efficient things. Lots to look at there.

Kicks and head butts

The other night Nate had his hand on my belly trying to feel the baby again. (s)he was jumpy that night and at one point Nate's whole hand was pushed up with a particularly forceful bump from the baby. Having only previously experienced little pokes, Nate was quite amazed and commented that the baby must be head butting. :)

Birthing Center

We made another trip to the birthing center this past Monday. My midwife was worried about my blood sugar because I have spill overs into my urine (a problem I've had since I was young when they tested me for hypoglycemia, which I have). She tested my blood sugar while I was there and it was normal. Now she doesn't seem to be worried at all and says I may just be one of those people with a strange spill over for some reason.

Other than that, the visit was uneventful--we are thankful for no complications. :) I do love going through a birthing center with a midwife for so many reasons, but one of the main ones is the time they take to educate us and talk with us. I never feel rushed or worried when I am there.

Our next appointment is in March (a six week stretch, but she said that was fine as long as everything was going smoothly). At the visit we start talking about the birth and everything that goes with that. Between now and then I have to get us signed up for a birthing class.

Baby Froyd wants to say that (s)he enjoys distracting mommy while she is trying to blog. I know, it's just the beginning of distractions. :)

Reusable grocery bags

Nate and I bought reusable cotton grocery bags from an online organic site before we left for Christmas in Michigan. Here is what I like about them:

• We are able to conserve the amount of plastic and paper bags used


• We don't get an overabundance of non recycleable plastic bags in our apartment


• They have a netting-type body, making them very expandable


• They have shoulder length straps, leaving our hands free to use (my favorite reason)

We bought three, which seems to be enough for a trip to the grocery store each week for us.

Tricks

This morning I wanted to wear a pair of my capris that sit on my hips because it is supposed to be in the high 70s today. I thought they would still fit, but had a bit of trouble buttoning. Once they were finally fastened, I could hardly sit down. So I went with the rubberband trick to hold the button and button hole together without fastening it tight. It is working for today. I guess I might have to get some warmer weather maternity clothes. When I was up North I bought a number of cooler weather items, but not many for the warmer days.

Snow Stories

Many of my students have stories about the snow we got here down in Houston over Christmas break while Nate and I were up in Michigan. My favorites are the ones about entire neighborhoods having snowball fights. Sounds like fun!

It's a bit disconcerting when people stare at my belly. I'm always thrown off at first as to why they are doing so. Then I remember--I'm pregnant, it's normal for people to inquire about the increasing size of my abdomen and even be excited about it and want to put their hand there. It's still hard to adjust to.

Baby moves

(S)he's got moves we've never seen (literally!), but I'm sure starting to feel them more. Sometimes I can even tell exactly where Baby Froyd is by the pressure that I feel in certain areas. It's so amazing to feel our little one moving around in side of me. Nate has yet to feel him/her nudge me in the abdomen. He's convinced the baby doesn't like him because every time he tries to feel in a place where I just felt it (both on the inside and outside), nothing happens.

At the baby shower this past Tuesday, Kortnie read the passage from Psalm 139 about how our baby is fearfully and wonderfully made by God Himself. I had just been thinking about that passage, so it was good to hear it again so soon. I was so thankful for the prayers that were offered by my sisters in Christ for our baby. How good it is to pray together to our God and be encouraged by one another in the faith. I am truly thankful to God for such a good pregnancy so far. I pray that I am able to trust Him and praise Him no matter what happens through the rest of it.

Thank you to all who came to the shower and supported me there.

Back at it

Nate and I returned to the warmth of the south yesterday evening. Although it was good to return home, we miss our family and friends from up north dearly. We had a very nice time up there and are continually tempted to migrate back. We continue to wait on the Lord and trust Him to help us make a wise decision about the future as we humbly submit to His plans.

Although it did snow down here while we were gone, it is back up to the 60s and 70s. Not that I mind the warm weather. :)