Axel's Baby Blog

The Johnson Family Christmas Card

2011-01-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

2010 was a pretty big year for us. Noah spent the first five months of the year in France, Adrienne left Harrison Park School, and Axel Raven was born. We spent the summer getting to know Axel. Noah took his first college classes (even though he's now a senior in high school), and got his drivers license. Robert spent the summer working after hours with our friend John building a box bike for baby transport. It's in the final assembly stages now after being painted.

When fall came along, Noah went back to Central Catholic for his senior year. He's got his work cut out for him with four Advanced Placement (AP) classes and college applications to write. Axel learned to sit up and is well on his way to crawling. Robert now works from home in the mornings so he can stay with Axel. Adrienne is teaching 7th grade language arts and social studies at West Sylvan Middle School in the mornings. Adrienne comes home and Robert goes in to the shop to finish out his day. Robert claims that Axel is less of a distraction than his coworkers. The dogs and the cat have adjusted nicely to Axel, despite Axel's best efforts to pull ears and tails.

The week before Christmas we headed to Bellingham, Washington to do Christmas with Robert's mom, Teresa, and two of Robert's brothers (Roger and Alan). Noah went to Mt. Bachelor with his friend Wyeth and family for some great powder skiing. When we got back, we did a Christmas Eve celebration with Noah. Christmas Day, Robert, Axel, and Adrienne headed for Arcata, California, while Noah headed for Mt. Hood with his mom and step-dad for some more r & r plus skiing after 17 new inches of snow. We visited with friends Sandy, Bill, David, and Mary before heading south to Santa Rosa to be with Adrienne's parents. We spent four days in Santa Rosa, with a side trip to Herald to see Robert's aunt, uncle, and many cousins as well as Robert's Mom and brother Roger. After more Santa Rosa visiting, we headed back to Arcata for a rocking New Year's Eve. Axel went to bed early, but woke up in time for midnight.

We're pretty sure that nothing can top 2010, but we're willing to give it a try. Happy New Year to all!

9 Weeks and Growing!

2010-08-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

We had our first well-baby visit with Dr. Distante today. Until now, Axel has been seen by our midwives. As the title suggests, we have a very well baby. Axel was quite happy as we chatted about him. He is 24 inches long (up from 21.5 at birth) and weighs 14 pounds. He's definitely into 3-6 month sizes. Thank goodness for baby Charlie and hand-me-downs. Thanks Charlie!

Axel is in good control of his head now. He's starting to grab things and doesn't keep his fists clenched quite so much anymore. He's also making eye contact and getting more smiley.

We had a great visit with Nana Teresa this past weekend. Axel and Nana were quite excited to meet each other. We knitted Axel some new socks while Axel napped. Noah took his Nana out to breakfast and enrolled her in massive cleaning of the basement. What a good sport!

Robert continues to heal, though x-rays show some permanent damage in his neck. He should be able to mitigate the felt effects by strengthening the muscles around the damaged area, but he'll likely be needing care and therapy from here out.

Noah is finishing his US History course at Portland State and getting ready for senior year. He's thinking about college applications and is going to do a visiting trip with his mom in a couple of weeks. He has started mountain biking with his friend Wyeth and is plotting an end of summer backpacking trip with the guys.

Axel and I are finding more walking buddies and are enjoying the good weather. My job is up in the air for next year. The part time position I had was cut so I'm unassigned and waiting either for a part time assignment or lay off. We can work with either scenario.

Poor planning on my part means we're going to miss my aunt and uncle's BBQ on Whidbey Island this year, but we look forward to seeing my aunt and uncle in the fall. We will see my parents on their way up to Whidbey, which will be nice.

We did some cheering for the Race Across Oregon riders last weekend. It was great to see friends and be out on the course without having to sleep sitting up in a rolling mini-van. Congratulations to Dennis Johnson and his crew for a stellar solo finish!

Robert and I wrote up our birth story. If you're interested in reading it, it can be found on Alma Midwifery's website http://www.almamidwifery.com/stories/axel.html

Summer is passing fast, as usual. We've been enjoying warm evenings, which are great for baby walks- though often by 9:30 at night, Axel is the most alert person in the house. More 4 hour sleeps please, little man!

6 Weeks Old!

2010-07-15T22:10:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow! How did we get from pregnant to six weeks old? Sandy says Axel will be shaving soon...

Well, he's not shaving yet, but he can crawl about 2 feet all on his own. Our midwives actually brought other midwives in to witness this. 6 week old babies do not crawl... except ours. Axel weighed 12 lbs, 4 oz yesterday. I say yesterday because he likely weighs more today.

Our six week visit was our last visit with our midwives. From here we see our pediatrician for well-baby things. As expected, mama and baby are doing just fine. Robert and I spent this week putting the final touches our birth story, which will be on the birth center website soon- in case you want all the gory details of Axel's arrival.

We spent the week following July 4th in California visiting my parents and lots of friends and relatives. We were nervous about a 10 hour drive with a baby. Axel was a rock star. He slept when the van was rolling and we stopped for nursing and diapering every three hours or so. Actually, the breaks made the trip very mellow and pleasant.

Grandpa Bob got to meet Axel for the first time, which was wonderful and heartwarming to watch. Axel has wonderful grandparents who love him enormously. He gets to meet Nana Teresa in two weeks. We are looking forward to it!

We discovered that a double bed really isn't large enough for two adults, one breastfeeding infant, and two little dogs. Robert and Zoe opted for the floor. Thanks for taking one for the team, you two!

On the 4th of July, my parents hosted a BBQ with our friends Beth and Chuck, Emily and Dave with Baby Charlie, and Julie. It was great to finally meet Charlie. Charlie is 4 months old and weighs a whopping 18lbs. I guess babies grow slowly to let their parents build up the muscles to carry them.

We got to spend some time with Beth, drinking coffee and playing board games. We got to spend lots of time with Mom, which is lovely and doesn't happen enough. Dad and I got up before everyone else (thank you Axel) and went to our favorite breakfast spot one morning. It was great to have some time together.

Mom was kind enough to take Axel several mornings after his 6AM nursing so Robert and I could bag a couple more hours of sleep. We have a spare bedroom up here if anyone wants to apply. Will trade room and board for AM baby duty...

Robert got to continue chiropractic care with we were away. He got beat up by some body work, but feels better afterward, despite the bruising...

We got to do some walking around Spring Lake (the park near where I used to live in Santa Rosa) with Mom and Julie. I also got to hit my very favorite frozen yogurt shop (with a different non-dairy flavor each week!) with my bike friend Vicki.

We headed to Sacramento to see our friend Brian. Holy cow were lunch and company good!!! We chatted for three hours as the restaurant emptied between lunch and dinner. The Tower Cafe wasn't kidding about the Chocolate Pistachio Bomb Cake. It was big and it was yummy.

Instead of heading back to Santa Rosa, we went to Napa to stay with Em, Dave, and Charlie. It was great staying in a house that is already on baby time! Axel got to make use of Charlie's electric swing. Yay! Charlie also sent us home with clothes he's outgrown. Thanks Charlie!

Robert did a little business this trip. He brought a fairing (windshield for a bike) to a client who lives in Napa (and happens to be general manager of Bouchaine Winery). After the fairing was installed, we got a private tour of the wine cellars, including barrel tasting, and an extended tasting session in the tasting room. Before the tour, we had to cop to the fact that we know nothing about wine, so we got Wine Education 101. It seemed a pity to taste and spit, but we'd have been pretty tipsy otherwise! The information and the wines were amazing, and it was great to make a new friend.

We came home feeling refreshed by our time with family and friends. This weekend we look forward to seeing bike friends David (Axel's namesake) and Sandy. David is doing a ride from Seattle to Portland. Check out his charity cause at www.teamravenlunatics.com

And that's the news from Lake Wobegone...

First Things First

2010-06-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

Axel had a lot of firsts this week. He took his first bath in the tub with Mama. He liked floating in the warm water while Papa poured warm water over him. He liked it so much in fact that he cried when the bath was over.

Axel did very well at his first restaurant outing and didn't make a sound; he just looked around the restaurant while his parents ate sushi. Thanks little man!

We went on our first hike today on Mt. Tabor. Anyone from Portland knows that Mt. Tabor is really not so arduous as all that, but we're starting small and working up to bigger things.

Axel has outgrown nearly all of his newborn clothes. He's wearing things that were baggy when he was born.

Axel celebrated his four week birthday today by having lunch in the kitchen where he was born (the table now lives where the birth tub was) with midwife Melanya.

Robert brought the rocking chair up from the basement today. This is the rocking chair Robert was rocked in as a kid, as were all three of Robert's brothers, as was Noah when he was little. Now Axel gets to rock in the family rocking chair too!

In another week, Axel can add "first trip to California" to his resume. Robert, Axel, the dogs, and I are headed to Santa Rosa on July 3rd to spend a week having fun and visiting loved ones. Noah is taking US history at Portland State this summer and will be staying home with his mom (but don't worry, we'll do a fun family trip in late August!)

And... Robert did his first bike ride (a short pedal to the market for coffee) since his accident! Heal Robert, heal!!!

News

2010-06-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

First, job news- We decided that we can spend half my paycheck on childcare each month, or I can work half time and stay home with Axel the rest of the time. No contest- the kid wins! The rub is my principal isn't into half-time teachers. So... I found an open half-time English as a Second Language (ESL) position at Reike Elementary, a K-5 school in the same school district. It's been a while since I taught elementary school, so it should be a lot of fun.

The demographic of Reike is very different than my old school. It's very affluent and very white, as opposed to less affluent and very diverse. The small number of ESL students likely have a harder time and stick out more at Reike, so they'll be in need of an ESL teacher in their corner. That gets to be me!

Axel, Grandma Alix, and Noah helped me pack up my classroom the last two days. Our friend Chris saved the day by hauling boxes with his big truck and storing the boxes in his shop. Thank you Chris!!! Staff was very excited to see the little man they'd been watching me lug around for 9 months of pregnancy.

Second, van news- After the unexpected demise of the Previa van when Robert got hit by an out-of-it driver, we have been vanless for over a month. The vanless state didn't bother us much while Robert was quite sore and I was quite pregnant; however, trying to put three adults and Axel (in his car seat) in a Corolla is rather a circus. So... Off we went to investigate mini-vans today. We ended up with a 2001 Toyota, Sienna. Lots of miles, but has been inspected by the Toyota dealer, runs well and will serve our purposes nicely. It's really Axel's van, as he's the one with the car seat.

Meanwhile, Robert continues to battle it out with the insurance company over the Previa and the medical bills. He seems to be making headway lately. Good! Robert continues to get chiropractic care, massage, and acupuncture. Healing continues, though slower than Robert would like. He says, "one needs optimum health for middle of the night baby shuffling."

Third, baby news- Axel, now three weeks old, continues to grow. We're sorting out his digestive discomfort with some baby probiotics. Axel is getting more head control and seems to be focusing on things and people at close range. He's currently staring up at his papa with big eyes. Very cute! He is quite fond of being held by someone bouncing on a yoga ball (especially at 3 AM) and he likes his papa's newest song, "Going to the Poopy Pants Parade" (lyrics and music scheduled for release later this summer).

Grandma Alix is heading home Tuesday, much to my dismay. I suppose two and a half weeks away from home is plenty long enough. Thanks for sharing, Dad! Time for Axel and me to figure out how to get life done with two hands and one baby. The odds seem to be in Axel's favor, but we'll keep you posted.

Two Weeks!

2010-06-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Alright, we've been bad bloggers. Two-handed time has become a hot commodity around here.

We had our two-week midwife visit today. Axel's first visit to the clinic and... we WALKED there! Mama and baby are doing just fine. Axel is up an entire pound (most babies are just getting back up to birth weight by week two- go Axel!).

Grandma Alix has been here for the past week and we're quite sad to have to send her home this weekend. It's been great to do so much visiting (and the extra set of hands aren't a bad thing either)

The weather perked up a bit this week and Axel has spent some time outside. He quite enjoys being wrapped up in his moby sling for walks.

Tonight is 8th grade promotion at school, so Axel is going to stay home without Mama for a bit. He's not so worried about this, but Mama sure is nervous to be away from Axel. Then it's classroom packing tomorrow (more on jobs next post). Thank you very much Noah and Grandma for offering packing and baby help! With luck, we can be done in half a day.

Robert is healing slowly from his accident. Clearing away surface gunk is bringing up the deeper injuries. He's at 50-60% of normal. Not bad for a month's healing. We're also back in the market for a van. The little Corolla is great, but tricky for baby seat acrobatics. With the way our van came through the accident, we definitely want another Previa with dual airbags.

Noah is working at TerraCycle this summer with Robert, and enjoying the fact that his friends now have drivers licenses. Noah will get his license later this summer.

Sandy will be pleased to know that we made banana bread in her absence. Quite tasty, but you'd have to get the real review from Noah, who ate better than half the loaf for breakfast...

I'd best finish this post before the small one wakes up. Thanks for all of the good wishes!

Three Days Old

2010-06-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Axel and I had our three day postpartum visit this morning. Axel has gained three ounces since his birthday (which is very impressive, since Steph expected his weight to be down). This means that the milk machines are doing their job and Axel is nursing effectively. Watch out, Baby Charlie, Axel's gaining on you!

I'm healing very nicely, and am much peppier since starting on the encapsulated placenta. Yes, I really did say placenta. All animals, even herbivores, eat their placentas in nature- so for humans who think that's gross, the placenta can be dehydrated, and the powder put into capsules for swallowing in the week after the birth. The placenta stops postpartum bleeding, gives a major boost of iron, and gets mamas back on the road in a hurry. If you think about it is a custom pharmacy of exactly the specific after birth drugs that a mother of any type needs, modern medicine could never duplicate such a DNA specific mix, one of natures true miracles that is often thought of as a waste product in our society.

Noah was the first to emerge from the realm of the newborn baby, and got his first chance to hang out with friends last night. Portland students are all in school until June 15th, so Noah's friends are gearing up for finals, while Noah is on summer vacation. Noah's going to be taking US history at Portland State this summer, working at TerraCycle with Robert, gearing up for college applications this fall, and getting his drivers license.

Grandma Alix is coming on Sunday to meet the little man and help at home for Robert's return to work. We can't wait for Axel to meet her. With luck, Grandpa Bob will fly up toward the end of the visit so he can meet his grandson, then fly home with Grandma. We look forward to Axel meeting Grandma Teresa and all his aunts and uncles soon.

Thank you very much to the people who've been dropping notes of support, making us incredible meals, and being generally supportive and wonderful. We are still working out our new logistics and how the household will work, so this input of energy really helps!

He's a Boy!!!

2010-05-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

Axel Raven Johnson was born May 30th at 6:14PM. We went into labor 24+ hours before. Melanya (apprentice midwife) came about 9PM on Saturday, followed shortly by Noah, fresh off the plane from Paris (it was always our feeling that baby would not be born until big brother got home). Melanya spent the night with us, assisting with contractions, barfing, etc. She was relieved by Steph (midwife) Sunday morning and we decided, since I wasn't dilating so much, to slow me down with some herbs and send me to bed for some sleep. Then Melissa (midwife) came in the afternoon with the master plan- walking. We did some contractions, got dressed, and headed for the school, pausing along the way for contractions. It worked! When Steph had checked about 9 Sunday morning, I was 4 centimeters dilated, only one centimeter more than I had been 12 hours before. After walking,I was 9 centimeters and wanting to push! So off to the birth tub we went. An hour later, Axel, who had no apparent love of taking his time, torpedoed into the world.

Sunday morning, all doing well after a semi-complete night of sleep and a couple of feedings. House cleaning, scarfing down the left over Thai food and plenty of tar ball diaper changes. Noah took an awesome set of photographs of the entire birth process in the birthing tub which we enjoyed looking at since Adrienne was pretty much out of it with the pain and pushing it was her first view of the event from the viewers perspective.

Tick, tick, tick

2010-05-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

We had our appointment today with Melissa, Steph, and Melanya this morning. All is still quite well with the little one. After some activity in the belly department over the weekend (cramping, etc.), all has been quiet in the womb for a couple of days now. The birth tub, which was delivered on Sunday night, got hauled away again for someone else to use, as it looks like we'll not be needing it this evening.

A friend of mine from Mama's Group delivered this afternoon (16 days after her due date). I'm sure she is relieved. The thought of 16 days late does make me cringe a bit, though.

Robert is improving after his crash. The chiropractor and massage therapist are helping a lot, and he's much happier in general. He's feeling quite ready to welcome our little one whenever he or she chooses to make an appearance.

We're looking forward to the OHPV (local recumbent bike club) races this weekend at Portland Speedway. We'll go spectate for a while, cheer, and then head back to TerraCycle (Robert's work) for the annual open house. My friend Sandy will be up for the races as well and we're planning some girl time before baby comes and before she heads off to be the first woman to complete solo RAAM (Race Across America) on a recumbent bike (follow Sandy at http://raamblog2010.com)

We got our preggy pictures back from the photographer (Pasha Productions), and we're quite excited about them. We've got them up on the mantle, where we've got lots of other family things up for good birth energy as well.

We're both incredibly excited about the little one coming, but please don't ask, "is baby here yet," because I might bite your head off :-)

10 Days til Due Date

2010-05-19T20:27:00.001-07:00

The first thing I learned from our midwives was that due dates are generalities, not hard and fast rules. It seems rather surreal that baby might make an exit anytime now.

Monday night was monthly Mama's Group. Lots of eating and chatting. Robert stayed home resting up from last Wednesday's car accident (we love airbags!). Robert got hit head on. The van is destroyed, but Robert and his passenger Sylvia are not destroyed. Both have pretty serious whip lash though, and are seeing chiropractors, etc. regularly. Please send good intentions for a speedy recovery. Baby needs Papa in top form!

Tuesday, we saw our whole birth team (Melissa, Steph, and Melanya) at the clinic. Baby is doing nicely and I had all the right answers to their questions: is baby moving daily (yep!) is baby's head down (yep, WAY down), is mama eating, drinking well (yep!), is mama sleeping well (yep!), is mama comfortable (yep! "really?" yep!). So from here, we see midwives weekly until the birth.

Here's the plan: when I go into labor I call the midwives. Someone comes to check on me, tells me to eat, drink, rest and stay happy. Melanya will probably come hang out at this point to ensure the previous three instructions are followed. When I hit active labor (close contractions and good dilation) the whole team descends and we welcome our little one to the outside world!

The knitting has reached critical mass (again, still). Two sweaters in two weeks! The pink one will either be for Charlotte (if Charlotte indeed emerges) or for someone else if Axel comes instead.

We really, really can't wait to meet our little muffin!

Week 38

2010-05-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

Baby spent the morning kicking Papa in bed. Very cute. After prenatal yoga, baby settled down and we had our visit with midwife Melissa and apprentice midwife Melanya at the house. It's really quite luxurious not to have to leave the house for a midwife appointment. The ladies investigated all of the normal things. Baby still has head way down in my pelvis and is facing the right direction for a smooth exit when the time comes. We talked about the setup of birthing things (bed, Buddha mama chair, and birthing tub). Melissa pointed out that our plan to put the birth tub in the kitchen might not be grand as mamas generally want smaller darker spaces, and our kitchen is the biggest and brightest room we've got. So I think we'll use our bedroom and put the tub and the Buddha mama chair in the living room, evicting the futon altogether. I get to have blood drawn for a panel tomorrow (check iron level and other routine things). Fun fun.

We took a nice walk tonight with the dogs (lots of dog walking lately). Friday, friends are headed our way for a big Race Across America and Race Across Oregon training ride, so we're looking quite forward to seeing Dennis, David, Bill, Sandy, etc. We'll not be going on the excursion, but are looking forward to seeing folks at the start and finish.

Meanwhile, I'm applying for half-time teaching jobs for next year. Same district, but there aren't any half-time positions at my current school. I applied today for an ESL job 2 blocks from Robert's work. It's a great school. Fingers crossed!

Mother's Day was quite wonderful, punctuated by a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from Noah. I felt very special and very loved. Noah's mom is headed to France this weekend (first live contact from the Portland contingent since he left in August) for two weeks of French frolicking before they fly home on May 29th. 17 DTN (Days Til Noah) and counting.

My mom and I got all sorts of things done last week. Birth bags sorted, chores and errands done- nothing like checking things off a to do list to make a pregnant lady happy.

Now it's time to eat (again... still... more...)

Week 37

2010-05-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

We had our home visit with Steph this morning. Melissa and Melanya are attending a birth and will come for next week's visit. We've got all of our birth supplies purchased. When my mom comes this week (getting in tonight, yay!) we'll get things sorted and organized. Robert did battle with the sink and we've now got the hose rigged up so we can fill the birth tub. I was quite bummed to learn that I don't get to be in the tub until I've dilated 7cm (it slows labor to get in too soon). Dang! That was really the selling point of this labor thing- getting to sit in the nice warm tub. Oh well, such is life. The huge chair (renamed the Buddha Baby chair because I like to sit cross legged in it and rub my belly) will have to suffice.

Baby is still very low in my pelvis and I still have crampy days, but nothing different than what I've had so far. Now that I'm not working and can nap, etc., baby may well decide that there's no hurry and go all the way to 40 weeks (our due date) or beyond. As they say in 7th grade, "it's all good."

I get to get a haircut this afternoon. Robert gets to have a broken tooth fixed. I'm pretty sure I got the better end of this afternoon.

Also, at the urging of my students, I've joined facebook, which I've been updating regularly. Look me up (Adrienne Johnson) if you want more frequent info.

Here are some cute dogs, cat, and husband photos for your viewing pleasure. We had some pregnancy photos taken on Saturday, so I'll get those up as soon as we have them back.

5 weeks to go!

2010-04-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

We had our midwife appointment today (we do every two weeks until May when we go to every week) with Steph. The Braxton-Hicks contractions continue (and if that creep Braxton-Hicks weren't already dead, I'd do the job myself. Baby has dropped onto my cervix and my cervix are 50-75% thinned (not dilated-don't worry!). This means that baby will likely be a little bit early (but not unsafely or worryingly so). Baby might also climb back out of the birth canal, in which case we will likely go our full 40 weeks.

The really exciting point is that I've got 7 more days to teach (done April 30th!). I'm meeting with my long-term sub. Frances this Friday to discuss plans for the rest of the year. My students are feeling nervous, even though they know Frances well and like her. I'm ready to do some good sleeping in, organizing of baby things, walking, and generally chilling out.

Robert continues to be wonderful and supportive. Work is quite busy as the weather improves and people are riding bikes more. He deals quite well with my periodic pregnancy induced insanity (PPII?).

Our next midwife visit will be at the house so the midwives can get the lay of the land for the birth. That visit is the morning before my mom, Alix, comes up for a visit. We're going to spend some time getting supplies organized for the birth and generally doing last baby preparations. It will be nice to have some girl time in my first week of not working.

Spring is in the Air

2010-03-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Nine weeks to go (not that anyone's counting :-) It's definitely warming up in Portland. Not so much need for giant coats. Time to think about garden planting.

We had our March appointment with Stephanie (one of our 3 midwives) yesterday morning. All is still well. We're opting out of Strep B testing as it's not reliable. Instead, we're going the prevention route doing probiotics, and other natural things. We appreciate the several warnings we've gotten about baby slings and will be sure not to smother Baby Johnson (13 baby deaths nation-wide in 20 years does not give us great cause for concern, however).

My ribcage is starting to spread in a big way and I'm definitely missing that lung capacity that baby is sitting in.

We got a visit from Robert's mom, Teresa, this weekend. We chatted and knitted and ate great Thai food. Now it's spring break for me (yay!!!). We're headed to Mt. Hood for Robert's birthday at the tail end of the week. Since dogs are staying home, we'll likely do some cross country skiing in addition to snowshoeing (little dogs and skis make life a bit too exciting).

After spring break, it's five weeks of teaching before maternity leave starts. I got paperwork signed proving that I really am pregnant, and not just drinking too many beers on Friday nights. I was laughing about this with one of my male coworkers who said, "if they let you go on leave for just having a gut, I'd take 12 weeks off in a heartbeat." Fair point, I suppose.

Kitty and Harlem spend increasing time camped out on my belly. They're already protective of the baby.

The knitting and weaving frenzy are bearing fruit. My first weaving project is the purple blanket Robert's hiding behind. Quite fun, indeed!

Here are some pictures of our most recent Mt. Hood trip (3 weeks ago).

And that's the news from Lake Woebegone

Valentine's Snow Baby!

2010-02-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

Baby Johnson went to the snow for the first time yesterday. We headed up Mt. Hood to the White River Snow Park for snowshoeing and frolicking. Mainly Harlem frolicked, Robert hiked, Zoe tried to ride on Robert's snow shoes, and Adrienne waddled. If you've never seen a person waddle in snowshoes, it's pretty amusing.

We saw lots of sledding and tubing taking place and decided it's definitely an activity for helmet wear. Lots of hitting bumps and going flying. Harlem kept trying to con people into letting him sled with them. In the end he had to settle for blazing trail. Whenever he tried to get up a head of steam, he'd sink into the snow and have to dig his way out.

We successfully waddled a good distance up the ridge to a nice overlook, where ate our picnic lunch and drank tea. There is frighteningly little snow for this time of year and temperatures are unseasonably warm.

Mama and baby went to see Midwife Melissa on Tuesday. Nothing much to report. Baby is growing at a satisfactory rate (sorry, Robert. It really isn't twins). Mama is gaining weight satisfactorily too. We signed up for breastfeeding and birthing class (we are promised it has nothing to do with funny breathing or other ridiculousness). We also made an appointment for some pre and post delivery pictures (really big tummy and really cute baby). Baby's heartbeat is happy and strong. It's rather amazing that a baby weighing a pound and a half requires Mama to gain 20+ pounds- even more amazing that Mama maintains her girlish figure when viewed from behind. Robert is now aware that things will be thrown at him when he likens Mama to a mini-van or a beached whale.

We've been doing some house renovation to make room for the little one. Bedside tables were replaced with small bedside dressers to house baby clothes. Baby things got washed, folded, and are ready for action.

Since Adrienne's sampler is completed for weaving class, she's moved on to weaving a baby blanket. Weaving is more difficult when one can't belly up to the loom. Robert is baby-proofing Zoe by poking and prodding her at every opportunity. Harlem is used to this already. Kitty continues to be Kitty. Zoe is writing her- how to crawl out the dog door and tree a possum- curriculum for the small one. Unfortunately Harlem's and Zoe's plan for baby education differ from our a great deal.

We're missing Noah like crazy ("is it the end of May yet?") and ready to have the whole family back together.

Until next time!

Just One

2010-01-21T14:02:00.000-08:00

We had our monthly appointment with Melissa this morning. She felt around, measured some things, and determined we've only got one little muffin floating around in there. Little Axel or Charlotte doesn't have to share a bedroom just yet. Robert was rooting for twins for several reasons, not the least of which was that each dog could have its own baby. Zoe will teach her baby to crawl out the dog door, while Harlem will teach his baby to crawl under the table to poop.

We had our monthly heartbeat concert and were treated to not only the movement of blood, but also a very healthy heart valve closing. I cried, as usual. We were quite impressed with Baby's size, particularly that most of baby is quite internal at this point, so the belly is only showing 1/3 of the baby.

Melissa advocated for taking some weeks off before the baby is born. She doesn't often put strong opinions out there, so I'm inclined to listen up. It will be good to have some me time, get the house the way we want it, etc.

Saving the best news for last, it looks like Noah will be home from France on May 29th or so. If baby doesn't come early (and generally first time babies don't), he should get to be home for the birth! It will be even more special having big brother Noah at home.

Happy Nearly Weekend to All!

Little Feet

2010-01-13T12:04:00.000-08:00

Our appointment for Tuesday afternoon was cancelled because both midwives had births to attend. I suppose that's a reasonable excuse for cancelling on us :-). The upshot is that we won't have news on the twins front until next Thursday (the 21st).

The more exciting news is that baby's new trick is kicking Papa in the back at night. Bedtime also seems a great time for tap dancing on my bladder and generally throwing a party. I'm still getting used to all of that wiggling. It's a bit hard to concentrate on insignificant things like... well, life... when baby is busy.

The less exciting, though perhaps more entertaining, news is that I have officially started to waddle. Ugh! And having to squat like a sumo wrestler to get out of low chairs is seeming like a low point too.

Robert continues to roll with the crazy pregnant lady, formerly known as wife, in fine style. (Thank you, Sweetheart. You're the best)!

We're off to Santa Rosa this weekend, where Beth and Chuck are throwing us a baby shower. Thanks guys! We can't wait to see everyone. We will also be hitting Emily's baby shower (she's due in March).

More next Thursday...

The Latest

2009-12-17T14:26:00.000-08:00

We had a midwife appointment Monday with all three members of our birth team, Melissa, Stephanie, and Melanya. This was the first time we met Melanya (a junior midwife) and we're very excited to have her on board. We listened to baby's heartbeat again. All is well. Labs are good, weight gain is good. Good is a definite theme. We were told not to rule out twins, but no confirmation yet.

The puking has stopped, to be replaced by tenacious hunger. Wheat is out. Rice is in. Pickles are out. Bananas are in. Beef is out. Seafood is in. Go figure. Robert continues to show no outward adverse effects of pregnancy, despite his crazy wife. The belly is definitely growing. People who don't know yet are getting brave enough to ask, as they're pretty sure I'm not just gaining weight with the season.

Things have reached critical mass in the clothing department. No clothes still fit that fit before pregnancy. Mom came through big time with two giant boxes of maternity clothes (some hand-me-downs from Emily, some not) and a nice warm coat (it was 20 degrees around here last week).

The nesting instinct has reached critical mass as well. We've three baby sweaters, booties, two teddy bears, and half of a blanket in the pile so far. The latest sweater was finished this afternoon with the procurement of buttons (Robert wanted wooden ones, but there weren't any good ones to be had so we have leather instead). By the time I'm done, baby will have a stocking, at least one more sweater, and who knows what else. At least if we have twins, they'll be in no danger of matching.

Sadly, the chances for snow days are dwindling (this year I don't care as I won't be going to RAAM, and it will be my sub who has to make them up in the summer!). The students and I can root for them equally hard.

The dogs have figured out that walking on the belly is bad for their health and are keeping off. Harlem and Zoe continue their sibling rivalry, with Kitty ruling the roost. Much cleaning this week in preparation for Adrienne's parents, Sandy and her daughter, Nancy. After Christmas, parents and we are bound for Whidbey Island, WA for family visiting. Then it's down to Arcata, CA for New Year merriment with David and Mary.

Happy Holidays to All!

Heartbeat!!!

2009-11-16T21:31:00.000-08:00

We had our monthly midwife appointment today at 12.5 weeks. We heard baby's heartbeat, steady and strong. Adrienne cried, Robert looked proud and impressed. The belly bump is getting more evident (and the pants don't button). The best part is that the morning sickness seems to be abating. Yay!

Melissa says things are going just fine. We should expect to feel baby moving in a month to two months.

Weird fact of the month, Adrienne is now craving spicy food- something that has never, we repeat, NEVER, happened before. Noah, the spice king, believes there's hope for her yet.

We've decided to leave the baby's gender a surprise. Some are taking bets as to species, but we'll leave that one alone :-)

Prenatal Appointment 1

2009-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

We had our first appointment with Melissa, our midwife, yesterday. We chatted about heinous morning sickness (can it really be called that if you wretch all day long?), did some urinalysis, and other lab tests. Since my blood type is A+, we don't have to worry about Rh Factor things, which is nice. We got to meet the second midwife on our team (there will be three, but we haven't met the third yet), Stephanie. We discussed testing for birth defects, but as there's nothing to be done for any of it, we'll not bother with the testing. We'll take our baby home thank you very much! Even if it turns out to be an ultra-racer, it can still have along and meaningful life! Next appointment in a month.

Birth Center Tour

2009-10-06T18:59:00.000-07:00

Today was our tour of Alma Midwifery, a birth center about 5 blocks from our house. We met with Melissa, a midwife who has room in her schedule for a late May/early June birth. Due dates aren't really things to hang hats on, and new moms are generally late rather than early. Maybe the baby will get to share a birthday with Grandma Alix.

We toured the birth rooms (there are 3), giant bedrooms with huge bath tubs for water births or water laboring. We were both drawn to the downstairs room. It has wonderful light.

Melissa took an hour to give us the tour, talk with us about all sorts of things, and answer our questions. At Alma, we get to have all of our prenatal and postnatal appointments. They provide lots of information and leave decision making to families (a pretty neat idea, if we do say so ourselves, that we should be in charge of what happens to us and to our baby).

Since they're right in our neighborhood, that also means that we're near two hospitals if anything gets weird (this happens a VERY small percentage of the time).

We'll have our first prenatal appointment in the next couple of weeks. There isn't so much to do in terms of the baby at this point, so we'll talk lots about nutrition and other happy pregnancy things.

Love to all,

Adrienne and Robert

The Revelation

2009-10-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

A stuffed, music-playing green frog appeared in front of my classroom door on Tuesday morning. I immediately grabbed the offending toy and stormed into my colleague Lindell's room. Laugh though he did, the frog was not from him. A bit later, our science teacher, Gerilyn came in to see if I liked my very first baby present. I hadn't told my students about the baby yet, so I thought the frog was a good lead-in.

My eighth-graders were excited and polite. They asked some questions and we moved on. Later that day, when our school counselor came in to help the kids practice good communication skills, I got to do a role play in which I had been hit in the head with a basketball. One of the kids yelled, "Don't hurt the baby!" It was very cute.

My 7th graders were far less mature about the whole thing. "Who's the father?" "Did you take one of those... those... those tests? (giggle, giggle, giggle)." I'm certain that I too was that ridiculous as a 7th grader, so I would like to profoundly apologize to those who had to deal with me!

Robert is off at a bike race in Death Valley. I'm planning to spend time with Mandy and Carbery this weekend, and, of course, spend quality time with the dogs (though they were such miserable sleepers with Robert gone last night that I might ship them off on the next barge through town instead).

Big Brother

2009-09-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

Lots of people have been asking how it's going in France for Noah, so here's a report (I'm sure it will suffice until Noah gets so disgusted reading my reports that he chooses to post his own). Noah is living in the village of Viry (it may well have a longer name, but that's what Noah calls it). It's a 25 minute train ride south of Paris. He lives with a wonderful French/African family, with 3 girls (2 high school age, 1 in middle school) and 1 boy (age 7).

School is going well. The students are warming up to him, especially the female ones! Noah's working VERY hard (though his English class is a breeze, as he is the only fluent English speaker in the room- teacher included), and he appreciates that the oldest girl in the family had his classes last year and has passed along her notes. His history teacher seems to take delight in quizzing Noah on his U.S. History (note, he would be taking US History were he IN the US this year...). Noah is fending off the inquisition admirably; and in French, no less!

There aren't school sports teams in France, only club teams. The club teams demand too much time, so Noah is playing tennis when he can and swimming on his own.

Despite bets to the contrary, Noah's room is just as spotless as he left it. We've not filled it with bikes, boats, looms or otherwise. It will stand as his shrine until he returns :-) Harlem, however, keeps looking wistfully at the bed hoping, since Noah doesn't seem to be home, could he PLEASE get up on the forbidden bed now!!!

Stay tuned for future Noah Chronicles.

5 Weeks

2009-09-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

First, the disclaimer: We have never blogged before. Read at your own risk...

Pregnancy has brought knitting to a whole new level around here. It's a great activity for tired people, which describes Adrienne 90% of the time these days, and little Axel or Charlotte will be needing things to wear one of these days soon.

Robert has gone into full fix-it mode. He bought fencing materials so we can have a cute picket fence to keep dogs and baby safely in the yard. The hot water in the bathroom will run again as well. Perhaps the least glorious job is unclogging the drain (Robert is one person who won't miss my long hair!).

Adrienne is discovering ways to keep the morning sickness at bay and is getting over a minor throat infection. The immune system will get back on track one of these days.

The dogs think pregnancy is a fine development, as it allows them more time on the couch with Adrienne. Little do they know that they're about to be paid back for every night Harlem kept us awake licking his paw or Zoe brought us straight out of bed with a good tail chase.

We have our first baby facility tour on October 6th, so stay tuned!