Baby D.

9/4/08   01:40AM

7 lbs 5oz  

20"

She's having a baby

So the baby is on the way.  The birthday will be 9/3 or 9/4/08.  We're hoping for 9/3.

We've been at the hospital since about 10am (it's now 8:45pm.)

There was a long period of contractions with little to show for it, Sandy seemed to be stuck at 4cm dilation.  

Around 6 she got an epidural and has been feeling much better since then.  She's continuing to have strong contractions but remains comfortable.  They're going to check the dilation again around 9.  Hopefully we'll get a better idea of timing after that.

The baby appears to be doing fine based on it's heart rate.  And it's in position as soon as the path is clear.

And so it begins...

This morning when I woke up I could tell something was different.  Maybe part of what clued me in was the fact that I got up at 11 pm, midnight, 1 am, and 2 am exactly last night.  I'm pretty sure there was at least one more trip to the bathroom, but it wasn't on the hour and consecutive to these other hours so it doesn't stand out.  

Anyway, I went to the doctor again today and she confirmed that things are progressing!  I am now dilated (only 1 cm) and the baby has definitely dropped.  This was my old doctor who tore her ACL - she is back and will be here for the duration.  She was surprised that I didn't look any different and looked back at my chart and discovered I have only gained 10 pounds.  She didn't seem concerned about this and suspects the baby only weighs around 6 pounds or so, which also might be why it has taken until now for any type progress on the labor and delivery front - meaning my body and the baby are working to give the baby a little more time to grow.  At the same time, my stomach muscles are extremely tight and not giving the baby a lot of room.  Anyway, I have another appointment on Sept 9th and if I haven't progressed any further we will induce on Sept 16th.  She doesn't think we will have to induce - keep your fingers crossed because my goal is to do this with no epidural and I believe that will be hard if I am induced. Now I just to get through this week at work as I the ball is rolling to expand into the space next door and I have another Silliker VP, an architect and a general contractor coming on Friday to help with that process.  If I can get through Friday and maybe the weekend and then go into labor Monday that would nice. 

In the meantime, I am supposed to keep up activities like this:

Yesterday in desperation to get this baby born (and to give Will time to work on the bathroom floor) I cut the grass.  Maybe that did the trick.  Not a very pretty picture.  

On Saturday we went for a 3 mile walk, complete with Dairy Queen and I continue to walk the dog in the morning.  I thought I might be having some contractions on the walk to and from DQ, but who knows.  Either my uterus was tightening up or the baby figured out a way to move in all directions at once.  Either way it was not painful.  My doctor wants me to keep that stuff up too as it will really help the delivery.  She says to stay home as long as reasonably possible when labor really starts -  walking on the parkway and whatnot, since we live so close to the hospital and because they won't let me outside to walk once we get to the hospital.  

Other things we did this weekend: Will got the fish tank upstairs in the baby's room.  We went round and round about the location, but I gave in.  It was always going to be right next to the crib, but exactly where was the subject of the debate.  I'm not posting a picture now because it only has water in it, but Will got the fish on Friday and I must say, they are fun and colorful.  He also set up a way to pump the water and air from the basement all the way upstairs so that the baby doesn't have to listen to the pumps, but instead just hears the bubbles.  He is a genius.

The bathroom floor is really not very far along.  Will has the border design laid out, but we forgot to purchase adhesive for the tile - oops.  So he went and did that this weekend.   Watching the Iowa game and getting the baby's room ready is more interesting than doing the floor, though I have to admit some frustrations there too.  For instance, we have a perfect spot for one of the Betsy Bowen prints we have and when I hung it on the hook the previous owners had installed, the picture was too high.  Why can't anything be easy?  It seems that each little thing we do leads to another project.  

We did get the car seat base in my car, got the car seat cover and the Baby Bjorn washed, got the bassinet in our bedroom and got the bag for the hospital packed.   I also made a whole bunch of vegetable soup base with some vegetables that were past their prime, so now I can make my favorites soups this winter.  We ate a delicious fish dinner with a Lake Trout Will had caught at the lake the last time we were there - the meal reminded me of the Angry Trout meals.  And I tried a new eggplant dish, which I liked ok, but not enough to make again.  Oh and Will made some of the best bread he has ever made.  So we were busy.  I will admit to taking one nap this weekend.  We also got HD Directv installed, but for some reason the receiver doesn't work and we can only get the HD channels.  Strange.  

So, there is the latest.  Will and I will be in touch as things change.  Hopefully we will get a few more things done here before the big day and will have some pictures to post of the baby's room, the fun fish and soon the baby. 

Jealousy

I have two reasons to be jealous today.  First I'm in the middle of a very busy day and my cell phone rings and it is my sister Becky calling from Colorado.  She is so excited, she can barely contain herself.  Her neighbor had just given her two tickets to the DNC at Mile High Stadium tonight.  Honestly, for a moment the thought crossed my mind that I could get out there to use her second ticket somehow.  Anyway, she is there now enjoying an amazing moment in history.  I'm sure she is having a blast.   I asked her to watch for a Obama onesie for the baby, but I've noticed they don't seem to make them for new borns - just 6 months and up.  

Then, Will sends me the following email titled Bike Statistics:

This morning was my 50^th ride to work this calendar year.

That’s an average of 2.4 times per week since I started.

My average (kilo)calories burned per day is 768.3 and the total should be something like 38,415. 

I’ve put 709.3 miles on my bike, a little of that is riding other places (haircuts for example).

In 2006 I rode 35 times and 2007 only 15.

 

38,415 (kilo)calories is the equivalent of 11 pounds of fat.  Unfortunately I don’t think I’ve lost a full 11 pounds, apparently I’ve been eating more.

 

If you figure I average 40MPG driving in town (it’s probably less than that) then I’ve avoided using 17.7 gallons of diesel.

This would equal 393.7 pounds of CO2.

If I drove a gasoline powered car that got 30mpg it would’ve taken 23.6 gallons and 459 pounds of CO2 to go that same distance.

 

There are 38,415 (kilo)calories in 1.168 gallons of diesel fuel.  So if I could drink diesel fuel and use all the calories in it I’d need 1.168 gallons to ride back and forth to work 50 times.

I'm very proud of Will, and despite his thought that he hasn't lost 11 pounds of fat, he has gotten in better shape.  I have to keep reminding him that muscle weighs more than fat.  I have to admit, though, that I am jealous as I really love riding my bike to work and really miss it.  As we look into day care options it becomes more and more evident that riding to work next year might not be possible.  Hopefully we will be able to figure a way for each of us to get at least one day a week of riding to work each week next year.  Time will tell...

Oh and on a completely different note: the leaves are changing here.  This might seem early, but actually, I usually see my first maple changing in mid-August.  This week is the first week I've noticed any changes, but there are several trees changing and usually in mid-August it is one or two select trees.  Fall is coming - my favorite season! 

Gotta go, Barack is on.  

Happy as a Clam

Hi All,

I went to the doctor again today and well, no change.  Clocker Baby is happy with the status quo. My doctor will be back next week and I have my next appointment I think on Tuesday, so maybe we will know more then.  

In the meantime, we continue to visit day care centers and Will is working on the bathroom floor. I'm not including a picture because right now all it looks like is a grey floor as he has just finished cutting and fitting the cement board for the floor.  Our toilet is still safe in the backyard for those of you that are worried.  

A quick work update: many of you know that our Cedar Rapids lab was flooded in early June.  It was in the heart of downtown CR and had at least 7 feet of water inside.   Well, the company has decided to not reopen the lab which is really bad for all those employees (who were offered jobs at all of our sister labs including mine), but it is good for my lab as well as some of our sister labs.  Preliminary numbers for growth at my lab look to be around $800K/year in revenues but there could be more.  This is exciting for me as my lab hasn't experienced significant growth for several years.  Lots of changes on the horizon...

Hope everyone is doing well. 

Progress

Ok, not progress on the baby front, well not as far as having the baby goes, but my next doctor appointment is Tuesday this week.   We did get some work done on the bedroom - I mopped the floor, and moved the crib to the general area where it is going to go and started to figure out where other stuff is going to go up there.  The room is far from ready, but at least we are getting there.  There is still lots of work to do - like get the fish tank up there and when my mom and dad arrive, get the changing table up there (they have it as I bought it in Colorado this June).  

We also dropped off the rocking chair that was the baby's Grandma Jean's grandma's rocking chair, so either Will's Great Grandma Etta or Alice (he thinks Etta).  Anyway, that sounded kind of complicated - we dropped the chair off to be reupholstered at the place that did our couch and chair earlier this year.  The guy there does a really good job and his prices seem reasonable.  We spent quite a while trying to find fabric of a similar color and design as what was on the chair when Jean dropped it off earlier this month.  We didn't find a match for the pattern, but we did find a pretty good color match - which is kind of gold.  He thinks he will have it done in a couple of weeks.  I will post a picture when it is done, as we didn't take any before dropping off.

Here is where the big progress is taking place: the bathroom.  Yeah!  We've been talking for years about replacing the cheap, ugly black vinyl in there and now it is happening.  We had to take part of the floor out last summer when we got the radiators sandblasted and painted, so we had more motivation to finally do the floor.  Will has torn out the rest of the floor and we've purchased the new subfloor and all the tile.  

We also had to do it before the weather gets cold (b/c of the radiator) and before people come visit after the baby is born because, well of where our toilet currently is.  No!  We aren't using it right now!  Anyway, this is very exciting and I will continue to post pictures as we make some progress or depending on how well I manage my time, I might just post a final product picture. 

I also got the bird feeders back out and the chickadees have already found them - they are always the first find the feeders.  I'm also trying thistle seed again, I haven't had much luck with it in the past, even though we get goldfinches, but the guy said it gets old and yucky quickly.  I know the thistle seed I had was several years old, so maybe that was the issue.  I also got the hummingbird feeder out again, as they should be migrating through soon and sometimes they come to our yard.  For some reason I've been kind of lax in my bird feeding this summer, I'm not sure why, but it is really important to me that the baby has birds around.   Here is one of 5 that I put up.  

We also spent an hour or so helping to move my Grandpa's stuff back into his house.  My Aunt Mary and Uncle Paul and cousin Mike got it all packed up and we met them at my Grandpa's to unload it.  While Will and I waited for them in the backyard, I reminisced about that backyard - it is probably 3 times the size of our entire lot and I remember playing with my cousins back there.  It has wonderful huge old trees and so much space.  If we didn't work way over on the opposite side of town and the house wasn't so, well character-less, I would want to buy the house.  There are only two things I really like about the house - the pink tile bathroom and the backyard.   You could have a huge garden in the backyard and still have plenty of room to play and have a deck and hammock.  Anyway, my Grandpa isn't doing so well, I guess he is going downhill kind of fast, but at the same time he is 95 and has lived a good life.  I really appreciate Will helping out (since I couldn't carry much) today. 

 

So, lately I've been thinking a lot about things I won't miss about being pregnant.  Here is my list to date (complete with bullet points - I'm a real bullet point person): 

• heartburn, as we sat down for dinner tonight I had really bad heartburn - it isn't easy to eat when you have heart burn.
• sore ribs - my ribs have really taken a beating
• multiple trips to the bathroom at night (I know I will be up for other reasons)
• uncomfortable sleeping positions - I cannot wait to sleep on my back again
• weird, random aches and pains - my IT band is bothering me again,  as it did a few months ago, I assume because of my hips moving apart further.  I personally don't feel that I should have IT band issues when I'm not even running.
• sore feet
• swollen and really sore hands - especially when I wake up in the morning, plus I'd like to wear my rings again
• just not being able to do stuff in general because my belly is in the way - I plan on rowing scull when we go up to the lake in October. 
• not running - as soon as I get the go ahead, I will be running again.

I will miss feeling the baby move.  At times it has been rather uncomfortable, but in general it is pretty cool.  Plus it is fun to freak Will out with it once in a while.  Last night there was some crazy dancing going on complete with limbs really pushing out hard.   It is also fun to wake up in the morning with baby kicking Will through my belly.  At the same time, despite my science background, if I think about it too much, I find it both amazing and rather creepy to think about a baby growing inside of me.   

Here is a hilarious picture of me and Lucy after our walk, there were some chickadees up in the tree (they are my favorite bird ).  We are still doing 2 miles a day.  She seems to love it and might actually be kind of sad when I start running again.  I will have to mix it up with some walking for her sake.  So this is a two-weeks-until-due-date belly.  It was a gorgeous morning - upper 50s and sunny.  The air smelled crisp like fall.  This is my favorite part of the year.  It will be a good time of year to be on maternity leave! 

Nothing new on the baby front

I went to the doctor again yesterday and everything is status quo.  No changes.  Zippo.  Nada, etc.  Clocker is still up in my ribs.  I did have the fun conversation about tearing.  Being a runner makes me way more susceptible to tearing.  Oh good.  My regular doctor had a successful surgery and is swimming 2 miles a day and should be back in 2 weeks.   The doctor I am seeing felt confident that my doctor would be delivering this baby.  We got some good info at our birth class on Sunday night and walked to the hospital tonight for our tour.  We now know where to go when the big day actually arrives, which as of right now looks as if it will be after the official due date.  Off to bed - I've walked 5 miles today and suddenly feel tired.  

Random stuff and baby update

Today was a big day, I feel like we accomplished a lot of random stuff today. First we slept in a bit - I think it was 7:30 or so when we got up.  This is huge because my sleep patterns are really messed up and it screws up Will's sleep too.  I know that yesterday we were both up from 4 am on.  It wasn't good.  I really am looking forward to when I can comfortably sleep on my back again - this sleeping on the side is getting really old.  

We checked out a new (to us) flea market in Excelsior, MN today.  I used to live in Excelsior.  It is on the west side of town - right on Lake Minnetonka.  One of my favorite runs is to run from Hopkins (where I work) 10 miles to Excelsior and then back again.  I've used this very frequently as a training run for my marathons.  The best part is that I am on a bike/ped trail the whole way and coming into Excelsior along Lake Minnetonka for the last 2-3 miles into town is really beautiful.   Here is a map of that run - it was the only way I could figure out how to show you where Excelsior is.  I would love to live there, but I think the houses would be quite spendy.  

So, this flea market had about 8 vendors. We were kind of bummed because it is about a 40 minute drive to Excelsior from our house. But then...we bought this for only $30! 

I know, I know we already have a Burley, but this one is probably 10 years newer than ours and a double so that Lucy and the kiddo can ride together.  Or maybe if we decide to have 2 kids, then they can ride together.  It also came set up with the accessories for using it as a jogging stroller (though I already have one of those) and it was a deal we couldn't pass up.  We were quite pleased that the trip ended up not being a complete bust.  

Next we were off to the scary shopping area to return stuff at Babies R Us (a store I swore I would never go in) and REI.  The Babies R Us trip ended up being fruitful - we now have some additional supplies we were lacking.  Plus, I was about to order this stuff online for about $100 more than what we ended up spending (the bottles I was going to get were more fun, but the voice of reason (Will) spoke and we decided to save the money).   This seems like a lot of bottles to me, but since we will need to use bottles for day care, maybe this makes sense. 

We also stopped by a fabric store and ended up buying this fabric for my mom to use on the fun bouncy seat Jean gave us for the baby.  I don't have a picture of the seat right now, but it is old - apparently from when her brothers were babies.  We thought this fabric looked authentic for the age of the chair.   The chair needs to be painted and my mom will probably make the seat when my parents are here in September, so we will post pictures then.  

I bought nothing from REI - try not to be too shocked.  Also, here is another shock - we went to Costco.  I don't know how many of you know that Will had a membership there for work, but we use it every once in a while.  It feels strange to be in those stores, like we are typical Americans which is something I don't really want to be.  But we needed a lot of parmesan and that is the place to get it.  Here is our loot.  I will point out that though we were appearing to be typical Americans by going there, we did go in with our own bag and didn't come out with a whole lot of stuff. 

By this time we were both wiped out and headed home for some relaxation.  I actually took a nap!  That is a big deal - the fact that my brain would shut down enough for me to nap on and off for 2 hours means I was really tired.  Here is Will doing one of his favorite summer activities.

I also had to clean this mess up.  This is my fireweed.  It is one of my favorite plants up in the Boundary Waters, but isn't maybe the best thing for a small backyard, especially next to your neighbors' house.  Last fall I realized that many of the seeds had made their way to our neighbors' screen on that window, so this year I'm trying to clean up the seeds before they clog up the screen again.  Well, that seems to happen really fast, but I ended up cutting the tops of the plants down and then cleaned off their screen with a lint roller.  One thing I discovered in doing this was that cut fireweed smells really, really good.  A little bit like lemon basil, but maybe sweeter.   Will could smell it way over in the hammock.  Which then reminded me that when we were in Alaska I saw fireweed ice cream in Seward.  I was going to try it, but ran out of time in Seward and never found it again.  Now I have a new mission of finding a recipe for fireweed ice cream.  Here are some before and after pictures. 

 

We also got the 15 or so white pine seedlings repotted in some of our compost.  I have to say, we make some darn good compost - nice, black, full of organic material and worms.  I think our compost is one of the reasons our tomato plants tower over our heads each year.  Hopefully the trees will like it.  I guess we are going to try to keep them here through the winter and plant them next year.  Will doesn't want the deer to get them.  

The last big thing we did today was make lots and lots of pesto.  I live for this pesto.  This is why we went to Costco.  We needed lots of parmesan for this recipe.  While it poured outside I pulled off probably 6 cups of basil leaves and Will got the other ingredients ready.  I should have taken a picture of the finished meal, but I was too excited to eat it.  Here is a shot of the kitchen door that Will put up this past week and you can see the rest of the pesto in the food processor.  The next step is to freeze it and enjoy it over the winter - a little taste of summer, like Greg Brown's song.  

Here is a close up of the stencil on the door - when we stripped the kitchen cabinets a few years ago we could see that these stencils were also on those doors.  Too bad somebody thought loading up the cabinets with white paint would be a good idea. 

 

Ok, lots of boring stuff for you to read, I suppose, so here is a baby update.  I think most of you know that I am seeing a new doctor for a few weeks because my doctor tore her ACL playing ultimate frisbee and cannot be on her feet for a few weeks.  She is planning on being back the first week of September and assures me that she will be able to deliver the baby.  So, I started my weekly appointments this week with another doctor in the same office.  Once again I have not gained any weight and my blood pressure is holding steady at 110/68.  All very good.  I'm measuring a little small (in the belly), but not anything they are concerned about - I'm within the 3 cm range that they want to see.  After the exam this doctor feels pretty confident that I will go full term which she pointed out is anywhere between 40 and 42 weeks.  So far I haven't had any pre-labor stuff going on - I don't even think the baby has started dropping yet and I will be at 37 weeks tomorrow.  So, I'm pretty sure we can plan on a mid-September delivery.   I'm still walking 2 miles a day with Lucy - she seems to be faster than me some days - and going to yoga once a week.  I go to the doctor again on Monday.  I'm guessing nothing will have changed, but we will see.  

Tomorrow is our 6th anniversary.  It kind of snuck up on us.  We will be spending it going to the flea market as we usually do on Sunday mornings and then going to our Zen Mama Couples birthing class at the Yoga Center in the evening.   We didn't really want to do a birthing class, but this one seemed like it would be good - 3 hours of a yogi and a midwife talking about yoga breathing techniques and massage and other pain relief options for people who hope to not use drugs during the delivery.  The prenatal yoga class I am taking also teaches us breathing techniques, which I hope I will remember.  I guess that is Will's job.   Here are a couple of pictures from our honeymoon in Alaska.  

This is at the cabin that we hiked into - I think it was something between a 6 and 10 mile hike, but I don't remember for sure.  Note the fireweed in the foreground. 

This would be either the hike into that cabin or the hike out, we didn't backpack in Denali as we originally planned because I had hurt my foot a bit and was training for a marathon.  

Happy Anniversary to Betsy and Pete - their anniversary is today.  They got married the year after us but the day before us, which makes it easy for us to remember their anniversary, but messes up other people as far as figuring out whose anniversary is when.  The fact that you remember our anniversary at all is amazing to me because I am terrible about that stuff, so don't worry if you are off a day! 

Finally - Will went and got his car back last Friday.  It looks great.  They washed it, and I believe that is the first time in several years that it has been washed.  

Crazy Busy Fun Weekend

Warning: long post ahead - Will is appalled. 

This past weekend was a big one.  My mom, Becky and Sarah threw a shower for Clocker Baby.  This was kind of a big deal because I've been kind of pest about having showers thrown for me, but Becky assured me it would be ok, so I trusted her and I have to say they did a really great job of pulling off a Green Shower.  Thanks to everyone who attended and didn't give us a bunch of noisy, plastic toys!  The weekend actually started way back on Monday when my mom arrived to start working on cleaning the house and getting stuff ready for the shower.  Becky arrived on Wednesday and the two of them worked really hard to get stuff done around here before everyone else arrived.  Will and I owe a special thanks to them for the clean house - for the first time in years the bugs were cleaned out of the dining room light!  

Will also worked really, really hard in preparation for the shower.  He got the sconces up in the living room and finished painting the bathroom and got the new sconces up in there too.  He even hung the wind chime in the bathroom for me, even though it wasn't one of those things that really had to be done.  Watch later this fall for the new bathroom floor - exciting!  

On Friday the weekend officially started with the arrival of all of the rest of the out of town family members.  Family members arrived from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio just in time for pizza and beer.  Betsy has some pictures from Friday night on her blog.  Here is my sister Sarah's son, Drew, trying to get some of Becky's beer - beer brewed by Will to torture me through my pregnancy.  The kid has great taste, this is a particularly hoppy beer and I hope there is some left over for me.

On Friday night Bill also gave Will and I the canoe that he built for the baby.  This is an actual replica of a canoe, one quarter the size of a full sized wooden canoe.  It is super, super cool, though this picture doesn't do it justice, plus I'm making a funny face in it.  Hopefully Bill has some better pictures of it, because we don't, though we have the actual canoe. 

The shower was on Saturday.  Mom, Becky and Sarah made all kinds of great food (there was a lot of eating over the weekend).  People did a great job of sticking with the whole Green theme - including organic gifts, recycled gifts, and reused packaging.  Here is a sleeper that Will's Grandma Honora made - I assume that Will and possibly Rob and Betsy all slept in this and I didn't ask, but probably Henry and Clara (Betsy's kids) have as well.  

And here are some fun bibs that Becky and Sarah gave me.  Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures during the shower!

Here are my mom, Becky (on the right) and Sarah (on the left) after the shower.  They did a great job.  

The festivities continued after the shower ended.  The out of town family members came and went as they pleased.  Some stayed around and rested, some went to the local art fairs or museums and my mom and sisters and I went to see my Grandpa.  

Grandpa was in a great mood and told me to take good care of the baby (which he called her, maybe he knows something the rest of us don't).  He also told me that Will and I should be ashamed of ourselves for hitting the deer.  I assured him that we are.  Here is one more picture from that visit - I have to post this because I think it is hilarious.  Sorry I honed in on your picture, Sarah! 

 

Later Saturday evening we had all the out of town family members over for dinner.  Jean was kind of enough to bring us some Iowa corn to accompany the delicious potato salad she made and the burgers and brats Will grilled.  We also ate lots of left overs from the shower, especially my favorite cake - Chocolate Fudge from the 50's Grill - voted best chocolate cake in the Twin Cities.  If you haven't had it, come visit and we will get some (Will and I come up with any excuse to buy their cake) and I should also mention that I am not usually a fan of chocolate cake.  

The weekend started to wind down on Sunday.  Becky and my mom left for Colorado that morning, and Sarah and Mike left after Henry and Zach had a game of baseball in the front yard - here is an action shot of Zach and Henry playing.  It appears that Zach has just hit the ball and Henry is getting ready to get the ball to try to tag Zach.  

I also love this one.  

Will's family came over for some relaxing and hanging out Sunday afternoon.  Betsy thought it would be good to get a picture of Clocker Baby with the Decker cousins.  I know this is a repeat photo for some of you, but in this one you can actually see my belly.  I especially like this shot of Eleanor - what great smile!  

By Monday morning everyone was on their way back home and Will and I had to head to work. I ended up going to the lab and collecting some work and coming back home as I was quite tired.  I actually took a nap (gasp!) on Monday - this is a big deal as I never nap.  We are still recovering from the weekend - both with cleaning up the house and catching up on our sleep.  It was definitely worth it - thanks to everyone who came out, I know how tiring it is to travel such a long way for a short visit!

Hi All, I decided that I would learn how to play with Will's blog so that you could keep track of what is going on in our lives. And since this is my first time ever blogging, I apologize in advance for any weirdness or pesky pictures or boring posts. Also, I make no promises to the frequency of posting new entries, but I do hope that they will be more than once a year.

First things first though: the new 35W bridge is almost done. Will knows all the details of it, so if you are really interested, email him or Google it. He was just telling me today that they joined the two ends of one of the sides of the bridge last week and are supposed to join the two ends of the other side of the bridge some time this week. Ok, enough of that (though I do find it impressive that they are ahead of schedule - no Big Dig here).

Ok, Will and I just spent our last weekend away from home before I get put on the travel restriction of no more than how ever far away my doctor decides I can go. I am now 33 weeks pregnant (oh, by the way, I'm pregnant for those you who didn't know). I'm feeling great, though I have to admit that I got frustrated with my lack of energy and ability to do some of the things I normally would be able to do this weekend. Here is a picture of me from last week - some of you have already seen this, sorry for the repeat. Notice Lucy trying to be in the picture, but sadly not succeeding.


Ok, back to this weekend. We spent our last pre-baby weekend up at the cabin at the lake. We do plan to go up there for a week in October, so I will be sure to post stuff then as I'm sure that will be a whole new kind of adventure for us. So, the purpose of this weekend's trip was to build a small deck outside of the teeny cabin. The cabin is 8x12' so adding an 8x8' deck makes the cabin living space around 66% bigger - very luxurious! So here is the deck Will ended up building, while I re-webbed an old lawn chair (which I forgot to take a picture of). This is where I started to get frustrated - some of you may remember (from other people's blogs) that I built the majority of our gigantic deck up at the lake last year, yet this year, I was much less useful. The belly just doesn't lend itself to a lot of bending over and whatnot. We still need to add a couple of steps onto the deck and into the cabin, as well as a railing or something, but this is still exciting to have.



Also, for those of you who have been to our property, you may remember that we have a large driveway area of gravel. It is now becoming a lovely northwoods meadow! At first I was kind of disappointed about that because my first thought was that the guy who did the driveway for the previous owners did a bad job and we ended up paying for it when we bought the property, but actually, I'm quite happy with these plants that are filling in the great void. It was full of tall grasses - taller than me, daisies, asters, bulrushes, wild geranium and other wild plants and I think it will look really cool some day. The first picture is looking from the meadow to the cabin and the next is looking the other way.


Notice the tall, tall patch of grass - maybe I don't want a whole meadow of grass that tall. The sad thing is that Will's cool rock wall is getting obscured, however, with the changing seasons we will be able to see that again soon.


It was a really great weekend. We couldn't have asked for better weather - it was sunny and warm the whole time, except for a thunderstorm that came through yesterday evening and lasted for part of the night. We did have lots of bugs, which was a surprise, but everything is late this year up here so we shouldn't have been too surprised. We managed to get two swims in. True to form, it took me about 5 minutes to jump in the first day as I stood shin deep in the water thinking about how cold it was going to be. But the second day I just went for it and was very happy with myself. Lucy did not like to have us swimming - she doesn't swim, but she did kind of wade out a bit towards us. Also we had the whole lake to ourselves! It was so quiet and wonderful. Will did some fishing - he caught a Brook Trout (which was a suprise) and this morning he went and got us two Lake Trout to take home (he let the Brook Trout go). I did lots of relaxing and little odd jobs here and there.

Here is how we ended our trip:





Yep, we hit a deer. We were driving home and were between Two Harbors and Duluth around 3 pm when it happened ( we were so happy with ourselves too, because we actually left Kemo within 30 minutes of when we said we were going to). There were two cars up ahead of us and one was driving very slowly and it seemed kind of erratically in the right lane, so the other car was passing it in the left lane. So Will slowed down and moved over to the left lane to pass the erratic driver, when I looked up there was a buck in the left lane right in front of us! It apparently stepped onto the highway from the median (which is a really deep ditch) right after the passing car in the left lane went by. Will didn't see it until we hit it, we believe it was blocked from his view by the beam between the driver's side window and the windshield of his car. I just said something like Oh No! and covered my eyes and then there was a loud thud and it was over. Will pulled over and got out and I sat in the car freaked out a bit. The car behind us stopped and said the deer flew 10 feet in the air over our car. Thankfully it died immediately and those two guys pulled it out of the right lane for us so we didn't have to deal with it. The tow truck driver that took us the rest of the 12 or so miles into Duluth said it was a big buck. It was very scary, but we didn't get hurt and thankfully the airbags didn't go off - otherwise I think we would be hurt. Actually hitting the deer wasn't jarring at all - it was very strange. So, our insurance company set us up with a rental and we left the car in Duluth and 3 hours after it happened we were on our way home again. And just for those almost-Grandmothers-again, Clocker Baby is doing fine, doing lots of flips as I type and giving me terrible heartburn tonight. I go to the doctor on Wednesday and will let her know about the accident.


Ok, that seems like a long post and now we are both ready for bed. I have to admit, I am looking forward to our own bed and bathroom. Our futon was actually a lot more comfortable for me to sleep on than I expected, but having to go to the bathroom 3 times a night is a lot nicer and easier to do at home! Sandy