Monday, November 05, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
holy crap this kid is cute!
hello, i am here to steal your heart.
i love to sleep! sleep sleep sleep- that's all i do. and eat, and poop, but mostly sleep!
i am totally his number one fan!
thank god for the remote control bouncy chair- a number one shower gift from the brother and sister in law. this chair rocks! errr- not rocks literally, but bounces, vibrates, plays music, heartbeat and white noise.Friday, August 31, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
5 days past due and still waiting
spicy food? check
acupuncture? check check
bumpy rides in speeding cabs? check check check
champagne bubbles? check check
thinking baby 24/7? check
yoga? check check
guided imagery? check
pressing that acupressure point on my ankle? check (now a nice greenish bruise)
nst scheduled? tomorrow check
induction date settled upon? if all goes well and this kid still hasn't popped out, check
despair and frustration? check and check
acupuncture? check check
bumpy rides in speeding cabs? check check check
champagne bubbles? check check
thinking baby 24/7? check
yoga? check check
guided imagery? check
pressing that acupressure point on my ankle? check (now a nice greenish bruise)
nst scheduled? tomorrow check
induction date settled upon? if all goes well and this kid still hasn't popped out, check
despair and frustration? check and check
Monday, August 13, 2007
gah!
still pregnant! 
here's a picture of me as a newborn, meant to inspire my own child to come into this world...
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
twiddling thumbs
so, we've got 8 days left, but i could have been done with all of this last week, or the week before really. people ask me how far along i am and i say, "i'm done." my midwife gave me permission to go early, the baby is a good size and has dropped.
this is such a weird feeling, this waiting. i'm ready to meet this little one whose been hiccuping inside of me for the last nine months. i'm curious as to who this is- we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl and i haven't really wondered this whole time as to if we're having a boy or a girl, but now i really want to know.
i've been nesting so much, i keep imagining little twigs and sticks all over the house. i spent all day yesterday cleaning the house, doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, cleaning floors on my hands and knees, hoping my water would magically break. i've had no contractions, not even the braxton hicks kind.
did i mention it was HOT out? i've bunkered down inside the house and every time i venture outside i feel like i'm walking through water or spinning my wheels. i shudder thinking about all of the energy we've been using with the air conditioner, but damn it, I'M HOT!
i'm SOOOOO ready for this to happen like yesterday. everday i wake up and ask the kid, "are you going to be born today?" everyday the answer has been "no."
who knows, maybe tomorrow? (i frigging hope so!)
this is such a weird feeling, this waiting. i'm ready to meet this little one whose been hiccuping inside of me for the last nine months. i'm curious as to who this is- we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl and i haven't really wondered this whole time as to if we're having a boy or a girl, but now i really want to know.
i've been nesting so much, i keep imagining little twigs and sticks all over the house. i spent all day yesterday cleaning the house, doing laundry, scrubbing toilets, cleaning floors on my hands and knees, hoping my water would magically break. i've had no contractions, not even the braxton hicks kind.
did i mention it was HOT out? i've bunkered down inside the house and every time i venture outside i feel like i'm walking through water or spinning my wheels. i shudder thinking about all of the energy we've been using with the air conditioner, but damn it, I'M HOT!
i'm SOOOOO ready for this to happen like yesterday. everday i wake up and ask the kid, "are you going to be born today?" everyday the answer has been "no."
who knows, maybe tomorrow? (i frigging hope so!)
Friday, July 06, 2007
someone is going to have a tough adjustment in the next few weeks!
bonnie, sleeping like a baby on the baby
apparently has yet to notice that the lap is getting smaller...Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
ouch. why does it hurt so much?
a few weeks ago we had a barbecue to celebrate kpr's birthday. he turned 111 years old and we decided to have so friends over to visit. preparing the house, food and buying shit like two liters of soda and then schlepping them back to your apartment on foot is not a good thing to do whilst in your third trimester. i was running around like a madwoman the whole night and when people finally left around 1am i was beyond exhausted and every cell in my body hurt. the next day i didn't move from the couch at all, i couldn't really because i had no strength at all, couldn't even put a toe on the floor, it just hurt too much. luckily, it was mother's day, so technically, i didn't have to squat, even though my child is yet to be born. i figure if i can feel the little sucker kick me in the bladder on an hourly basis, that qualifies me for mother's day dammit and i deserve a rest. kpr was very prepared for mother's day- he brought me a yogurt for breakfast (on the couch) and a bouquet of flowers. oh no, wait, the flowers were from our lovely next door neighbor, so kpr actually just brought me a yogurt for mother's day, a yogurt that i schlepped home on foot to our apartment with the 110 lbs of groceries from whole foods. i hope no one else has the misfortune of marrying someone who was born on mother's day and considers the whole weekend to be 'his birthday weekend' and not warranting any other celebration for any other person- frantic kicks to the bladder and all.
anywho, a few days later, champ got into the trash from the bbq and ate about 8 corn cobs! i was so happy because corn cobs are so great for a terrier's digestive tract- cleansing in fact- they just get stuck in there and don't let anything else in and it is just wonderful! i also loved cleaning up puke for the next 5 days- we just kept telling ourselves it was good preparation for the baby! yes the baby will puke a lot! but if the baby pukes vile, rotten corncobs for five days straight, i am sending him or her back!
i fasted champ for 24 hours and then cooked him some rice and chicken fed him a little of that, gradually working our way back to his regular diet (can you tell we have dealt with this sort of thing a million times before?). he was doing really well for two days back on regular food and then bam! he just started puking like non stop one night and continued to the next day and kpr and i accepted the fact that we had to take him to the vet.
i hate the local vet in our neighborhood and so we have been taking champ and bonnie the the animal medical center uptown because our next door neighbor works there (his mom gave me the flowers) and will come over in the middle of the night if we need him to so that pretty much makes him the best vet ever and so we only want him to treat our dogs. the good and bad of the amc is that it is the premiere animal hospital in the city (which pretty much means it is the best in the country, and well, the world...), located in the chic east 60's and super duper expensive. champ and i walked out of that place feeling better, but about 400 smackers poorer. x rays boo! no intestinal blockage and therefore no emergency surgery, yay! thank goodness we have insurance on champ so we can file a claim and get about $50 back from the insurance company!
this weekend kpr and i were in class all weekend learning how to birth our baby. it was fun and we saw movies with boobies and vaginas and my husband snickered loudly each time and i wondered how i had managed to marry a sixth grader. our cousin walked the dogs yesterday afternoon and left a concerned voicemail telling us that champ's eye was all red and he was acting under the weather. we didn't think much of it because champ has been having trouble with his eyes for the past few months- they have been all bloodshot and stuff and we took him to amc in april to have a opthamologist look at them and now he needs a super steroid drop every day to keep them bright and not all red and stuff.
so we got home last night, exhausted from all the learning about vaginas and babies and stuff and champ was not well. the first thing kpr said was, "i think we have to take him to the vet right now." he was in so much pain and i just wanted to cry along with him because champ really is the champ- never whines or complains, is just totally there with you, even when he was puking one minute he was up and playing the next minute.
he couldn't open his eye and couldn't walk because it hurt so much. we didn't know what was wrong but knew we had to get to the vet pronto. kpr drove and i sat in the passenger seat, just me, the baby in my uterus, champ and bonnie all piled on the one seat together (bonnie gets jealous if champ gets to sit up front). we went to the vet and he has a scratch on his cornea, and edema, not an ulcer, thank goodness, although i don't know the difference between the two. we got some eyedrops to keep his pupil from spasming which causes the pain and some heavy duty antibiotic ointment, he also got some doggie vicodin which knocked him out last night and most of this morning.
i look at his eye now and it hurts me so much to look at it, i can only imagine how it feels. it is so hard to see our tough little guy down and out and i found myself thinking all day today, "if it hurts this much to have my dog in pain, what if my kid falls and skins her/his knee? will i just loose it on the spot?"
we're not done with the amc for now, we have to go for a recheck with the opthamologist next week and also figure out why his eyes are all bloodshot in the first place. so that makes 4 trips to the amc in the past three months.
i think the doggie insurance company is definitely going to drop us....
it's a good think he's so darn cute.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
sitting outside, thankful for the wireless
it is breezy, but warm enough to forgo the jacket. i've been stuck in the house for a few days, told by the midwife to "take it easy", which is hard because i have so much to do. but it feels good right now, just sitting in our glorious backyard, watching the dogs lick the patio*. the grass is coming back nicely (should you want to visit and take a nap, brother dear). the hydrangea bush that we planted with such hope last summer, and took for dead earlier this spring, is showing signs of life, tiny, green-speckled signs of life. the pond is nice and clean, and running smoothly, as kpr has been on an outdoor spring cleaning binge and everything is in tip-top shape. bonnie takes a righteous poo to my left, and i am undisturbed, making a mental note to pick it up before i go inside.
there is a blue jay that has discovered our backyard and I AM IN LOVE WITH IT! it seems so strange to say, because usually blue jays are noisy little pests, but this one fascinates me. we get mainly mourning doves and chick-a-dees in our backyard here (the pigeons, thankfully, have yet to discover our little oasis), so a jay is a welcome stranger. i look for him everyday through the window and am drawn to his flights from branch to branch and it thrills me when he drinks from the pond. he isn't very noisy and has yet to dive bomb the dogs, so i hope he'll be sticking around for a while. kpr knows he is getting some sort of bird feeder for his birthday in the next few weeks, so i hope we attract even more birds to the yard. when all of the flowers start blooming, i hope it will encourage them to stick around a while. how cool is it to live in manhattan and have your own flock of birds? we wake up each morning to them chirping around.
##########
tmi:
i had to collect my pee for the last 24 hours and now that i'm done, it feels strange to be able to just sit on the toilet and not worry about having to pissing into a container and pouring it into the other container stored in the fridge. here's hoping my kidneys are doing just fine.
*the dogs are licking the patio because our brilliant neighbors from the third floor- the ones i refer to as eurotrash (hey, i live in new york, we're allowed to refer to people as eurotrash), decided to have a barbecue on their balcony last weekend (they finally removed the plywood floor a few weeks ago). that is all fine and good, except, they decided to use a grill with no catch underneath to catch the drippings. which meant we come home from a weekend in jersey to find grease spattered all over the patio, the wall of the building, our air conditioner (can't wait to smell that when we turn it on), and our adirondack chair (thank god no one was sitting underneath at the time- although, had it been me, i would have called the cops because hot grease + a pregnant lady = assault, sucker). thank you, eurotrash from the third floor, for reminding me what assholes you truly are (oh, and we know it's you blocking our driveway, dumbass).
there is a blue jay that has discovered our backyard and I AM IN LOVE WITH IT! it seems so strange to say, because usually blue jays are noisy little pests, but this one fascinates me. we get mainly mourning doves and chick-a-dees in our backyard here (the pigeons, thankfully, have yet to discover our little oasis), so a jay is a welcome stranger. i look for him everyday through the window and am drawn to his flights from branch to branch and it thrills me when he drinks from the pond. he isn't very noisy and has yet to dive bomb the dogs, so i hope he'll be sticking around for a while. kpr knows he is getting some sort of bird feeder for his birthday in the next few weeks, so i hope we attract even more birds to the yard. when all of the flowers start blooming, i hope it will encourage them to stick around a while. how cool is it to live in manhattan and have your own flock of birds? we wake up each morning to them chirping around.
##########
tmi:
i had to collect my pee for the last 24 hours and now that i'm done, it feels strange to be able to just sit on the toilet and not worry about having to pissing into a container and pouring it into the other container stored in the fridge. here's hoping my kidneys are doing just fine.
*the dogs are licking the patio because our brilliant neighbors from the third floor- the ones i refer to as eurotrash (hey, i live in new york, we're allowed to refer to people as eurotrash), decided to have a barbecue on their balcony last weekend (they finally removed the plywood floor a few weeks ago). that is all fine and good, except, they decided to use a grill with no catch underneath to catch the drippings. which meant we come home from a weekend in jersey to find grease spattered all over the patio, the wall of the building, our air conditioner (can't wait to smell that when we turn it on), and our adirondack chair (thank god no one was sitting underneath at the time- although, had it been me, i would have called the cops because hot grease + a pregnant lady = assault, sucker). thank you, eurotrash from the third floor, for reminding me what assholes you truly are (oh, and we know it's you blocking our driveway, dumbass).
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
being green
let's say, hypothetically, you were considering renovating your kitchen and you wanted to be as environmentally friendly as possible- this is an email that i would, hypothetically, write to you.
******
I've been thinking about your kitchen remodel and thought I'd pass along some info that was helpful to us when we remodeled. A good place to start is with The Green Guide, they are an excellent resource for all things environmentally friendly.
Ikea Kitchens are great, although, if you are looking to do the whole "green" thing, its not the best option as the cabinets and counters are made from compressed particle board, which is a big green no no because of off gassing VOCs. But if you do go Ikea, I've heard good things about them and Ken's cousin has had one for the last ten years and has no complaints. They tend to use wood that is from managed forests, which is a plus. For example:
For an extra food-prep surface and storage, try Ikea's kitchen carts made of solid birch from well-managed forests. The Bekvam ($49.99) is unfinished; the Forhoja ($79.99) is finished with a clear nitrocellulose lacquer and larger, with drawers that pull out from two directions and two shelves, each with space for nine bottles.
(From The Green Guide)
This is a great article from the Washington Post about a Green Kitchen Renovation
A Recent Article from NYTimes about being and building green: Great news from Home Depot- makes building a green kitchen even easier!
I love Treehugger!
We checked out Valcucine (mentioned at TreeHugger), but they were SUPER EXPENSIVE, but exactly what we were looking for- but we kept looking.
Cabinetry:
will probably be the hardest thing to be green about. Our cabinets were manufactured at a local cabinet maker, all hardwood bamboo, with interior shelves made out of Dow's Fiberboard- made completely of compressed wheat and sunflower stalks (stuff that would be burned in a landfill), with no harmful chemical binders or adhesives. I found our dealer by calling Prime Board in North Dakota (another manufacturer of the compressed wheat board) and asking them who used their products in the Northeast- they gave me Frank, our cabinet guy's number. If I hadn't done that, I don't know what we would have done.
The leader in environmentally friendly cabinetry is Neil Kelly- the only problem is they are on the West Coast....
I know that you guys have to replace your base cabinets in order to install your dishwasher, but you might want to consider keeping your wall cabinets if they are in decent condition and refacing them (new doors), sanding and painting them to match the new base cabinets. You would save a ton of money and save trees too.
A tip- if you have cabinetry above your refrigerator, I would have it be flush to the front of your fridge- it creates a huge storage space- we keep all of our small appliances there and the space would be wasted otherwise. And you can pretend you have a built in!
I highly suggest having a pullout cabinet for trash and recyclables. We would die without ours... I wish we had the space for all of those neat cabinet/drawer organizers that are available today. Big, pull-out drawers (the really deep ones) are great for storing pans, cookies sheets, etc....
Countertops:
We went with Ice Stone which I LOVE. However, they require a little maintenece- they have to be resealed every year (common in stone/concrete counters) and we have to be careful about lemons/acidics (slight bleaching spots that only I notice) and red wine (possible staining). They are beautiful and compared to granite, affordable. Granite, while adding to the value of your kitchen, is a big no no when it comes to green/sustainability.
Another granite alternative is:
CeasarStone or SileStone which are basically the same thing (silestone is available at Home Depot) and made up of quartz scraps and compressed into a beautiful slab countertop. Our friends used Sile Stone in their new kitchen and it is sparkly and fabulous.
Paint:
Afm safecoat is a low voc/no voc paint that can be used indoor and out. Baby's room will be coated with this stuff.
If you go to Home Depot/Lowes and find a color that you like you can go online and find the matching color thru AMF Safecoat.
Benjamin Moore also has a low/no VOC option They have primer too.
Flooring:
While bamboo flooring is more prevailent than bamboo cabinetry, it is not a choice I would go with because bamboo can be very soft (even though they claim it is as hard as a hardwood) and from what I've read, doesn't stand up very well in high traffic areas (especially if you wear heels, drop heavy things on the floor etc...)
I like Marmoleum. This stuff is beautiful and used in schools, hospitals, offices and homes.
I know a lot of people use cork, and there is always poured concrete, which can be stained and I think looks great (it's cheap to do too, and you can install a radiant floor underneath).
Misc.:
I like the Aquasana water filter and use it everyday. I highly recommend installing a water filter- it filters better than a Brita and less waste than buying bottled. Filters need to be replace every 6-8 months. They always have great sales. You will need to buy a sink with an extra faucet hole.
We accesorized with Bamboo cutlery holders from Bed Bath and Beyond. I wash and reuse our ziploc bags to death and I'm going to get a bag dryer one of these days. I also reuse aluminum foil too.
We use a lot of Seventh Generation Products, we also like Citrisolve, Ecover (Ken LOVES their floor cleaner), and any other cleaners you can get at Whole Foods. We've eliminated all chemical cleaners all over the house.
We installed lighting from Ikea and Home Depot (under cabinet lighting), both are energy efficient.
Of course, any demo-ing/finishing you can do yourselves will save you big bucks and time, but I suggest having the contractor install your hardware to your cabinetry, it is really time consuming and if you mess it up, you can't go back....
Hope this helps! Happy planning!
******
I've been thinking about your kitchen remodel and thought I'd pass along some info that was helpful to us when we remodeled. A good place to start is with The Green Guide, they are an excellent resource for all things environmentally friendly.
Ikea Kitchens are great, although, if you are looking to do the whole "green" thing, its not the best option as the cabinets and counters are made from compressed particle board, which is a big green no no because of off gassing VOCs. But if you do go Ikea, I've heard good things about them and Ken's cousin has had one for the last ten years and has no complaints. They tend to use wood that is from managed forests, which is a plus. For example:
For an extra food-prep surface and storage, try Ikea's kitchen carts made of solid birch from well-managed forests. The Bekvam ($49.99) is unfinished; the Forhoja ($79.99) is finished with a clear nitrocellulose lacquer and larger, with drawers that pull out from two directions and two shelves, each with space for nine bottles.
(From The Green Guide)
This is a great article from the Washington Post about a Green Kitchen Renovation
A Recent Article from NYTimes about being and building green: Great news from Home Depot- makes building a green kitchen even easier!
I love Treehugger!
We checked out Valcucine (mentioned at TreeHugger), but they were SUPER EXPENSIVE, but exactly what we were looking for- but we kept looking.
Cabinetry:
will probably be the hardest thing to be green about. Our cabinets were manufactured at a local cabinet maker, all hardwood bamboo, with interior shelves made out of Dow's Fiberboard- made completely of compressed wheat and sunflower stalks (stuff that would be burned in a landfill), with no harmful chemical binders or adhesives. I found our dealer by calling Prime Board in North Dakota (another manufacturer of the compressed wheat board) and asking them who used their products in the Northeast- they gave me Frank, our cabinet guy's number. If I hadn't done that, I don't know what we would have done.
The leader in environmentally friendly cabinetry is Neil Kelly- the only problem is they are on the West Coast....
I know that you guys have to replace your base cabinets in order to install your dishwasher, but you might want to consider keeping your wall cabinets if they are in decent condition and refacing them (new doors), sanding and painting them to match the new base cabinets. You would save a ton of money and save trees too.
A tip- if you have cabinetry above your refrigerator, I would have it be flush to the front of your fridge- it creates a huge storage space- we keep all of our small appliances there and the space would be wasted otherwise. And you can pretend you have a built in!
I highly suggest having a pullout cabinet for trash and recyclables. We would die without ours... I wish we had the space for all of those neat cabinet/drawer organizers that are available today. Big, pull-out drawers (the really deep ones) are great for storing pans, cookies sheets, etc....
Countertops:
We went with Ice Stone which I LOVE. However, they require a little maintenece- they have to be resealed every year (common in stone/concrete counters) and we have to be careful about lemons/acidics (slight bleaching spots that only I notice) and red wine (possible staining). They are beautiful and compared to granite, affordable. Granite, while adding to the value of your kitchen, is a big no no when it comes to green/sustainability.
Another granite alternative is:
CeasarStone or SileStone which are basically the same thing (silestone is available at Home Depot) and made up of quartz scraps and compressed into a beautiful slab countertop. Our friends used Sile Stone in their new kitchen and it is sparkly and fabulous.
Paint:
Afm safecoat is a low voc/no voc paint that can be used indoor and out. Baby's room will be coated with this stuff.
If you go to Home Depot/Lowes and find a color that you like you can go online and find the matching color thru AMF Safecoat.
Benjamin Moore also has a low/no VOC option They have primer too.
Flooring:
While bamboo flooring is more prevailent than bamboo cabinetry, it is not a choice I would go with because bamboo can be very soft (even though they claim it is as hard as a hardwood) and from what I've read, doesn't stand up very well in high traffic areas (especially if you wear heels, drop heavy things on the floor etc...)
I like Marmoleum. This stuff is beautiful and used in schools, hospitals, offices and homes.
I know a lot of people use cork, and there is always poured concrete, which can be stained and I think looks great (it's cheap to do too, and you can install a radiant floor underneath).
Misc.:
I like the Aquasana water filter and use it everyday. I highly recommend installing a water filter- it filters better than a Brita and less waste than buying bottled. Filters need to be replace every 6-8 months. They always have great sales. You will need to buy a sink with an extra faucet hole.
We accesorized with Bamboo cutlery holders from Bed Bath and Beyond. I wash and reuse our ziploc bags to death and I'm going to get a bag dryer one of these days. I also reuse aluminum foil too.
We use a lot of Seventh Generation Products, we also like Citrisolve, Ecover (Ken LOVES their floor cleaner), and any other cleaners you can get at Whole Foods. We've eliminated all chemical cleaners all over the house.
We installed lighting from Ikea and Home Depot (under cabinet lighting), both are energy efficient.
Of course, any demo-ing/finishing you can do yourselves will save you big bucks and time, but I suggest having the contractor install your hardware to your cabinetry, it is really time consuming and if you mess it up, you can't go back....
Hope this helps! Happy planning!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Days of our Lives- now with more GREEN!
so i haven't watched days in ages- ok, like a few months, but yesterday i was home and decided i should tune in to catch up with all the folks in salem (i was suffering from a severe case of i-don't-feel-like-getting-up-off-the-couch-itis).
sammy and lucas are finally getting married (again?, i'm not sure, it feels like sammy has been married about 13 times now) and had carley from theknot.com meet them to help discuss their green wedding. how convenient that she too lives in salem! which is located somewhere, ummmm, i'm not exactly sure where, but chicago seems to be the nearest major city....
anywho- they were planning a 'green' wedding, which was so exciting to me. when planning our wedding, i wanted to go as 'green' as we could. all of our paper goods (invites, seating chart, menus, etc) were made from recycled paper, including our programs and the paper we had our vows written on. no trees were killed so we could get married (well, except for toilet paper at the venue, but that i couldn't control). we used postcard rsvps, to eliminate envelopes and cut down on paper needed.
when choosing flowers, it was important to me to use locally grown, in season blooms. i knew organic would cost an arm and a leg, so we didn't go that far, but i took comfort in knowing that my flowers weren't shipped or flown in using a lot of fossil fuels and in season blooms usually require less effort and chemicals to grow.
we cut down on waste by eliminating favors- who wants those candy covered almonds anyway? instead we made a donation to the new york restoration project (go divine miss m!) which creates community gardens all over new york city. we also had a small wedding party- just immediate family- which cut down on the need for special dresses, flowers, gifts and all the waste associated with these things. my sister's dress was made in nyc by a friend, no shipping there. my dress was shipped in from overseas- so you can't win them all.
we had all of our family from the philadelphia area bused in- keeping around 50 cars off the road and keeping our families from stressing out trying to find brooklyn. most of our new york friends took public transportation to the garden or shared cars. our one friend walked from his apartment!
we stressed to the caterer that it was very important to us that no food go to waste, any leftovers should be donated to city harvest or a similar program. being the professionals that they are, they were able to prepare exactly enough food and nothing was leftover.
my ring is made with certified non conflict diamonds.
we had leftover flower containers which i advertised on craig's list and gave to a mom to use for her daughter's sweet sixteen party.
i wish:
we had used soy candles
we had more organic food offerings
my dress was made from local, sustainable materials
but other than that, i was pretty happy with the way things turned out and all of the above took minimal extra effort.
i'm glad that 'green' weddings are becoming more and more popular and happy that the knot and nbc are promoting this idea to the public at large. every little bit helps, right?
sammy and lucas are finally getting married (again?, i'm not sure, it feels like sammy has been married about 13 times now) and had carley from theknot.com meet them to help discuss their green wedding. how convenient that she too lives in salem! which is located somewhere, ummmm, i'm not exactly sure where, but chicago seems to be the nearest major city....
anywho- they were planning a 'green' wedding, which was so exciting to me. when planning our wedding, i wanted to go as 'green' as we could. all of our paper goods (invites, seating chart, menus, etc) were made from recycled paper, including our programs and the paper we had our vows written on. no trees were killed so we could get married (well, except for toilet paper at the venue, but that i couldn't control). we used postcard rsvps, to eliminate envelopes and cut down on paper needed.
when choosing flowers, it was important to me to use locally grown, in season blooms. i knew organic would cost an arm and a leg, so we didn't go that far, but i took comfort in knowing that my flowers weren't shipped or flown in using a lot of fossil fuels and in season blooms usually require less effort and chemicals to grow.
we cut down on waste by eliminating favors- who wants those candy covered almonds anyway? instead we made a donation to the new york restoration project (go divine miss m!) which creates community gardens all over new york city. we also had a small wedding party- just immediate family- which cut down on the need for special dresses, flowers, gifts and all the waste associated with these things. my sister's dress was made in nyc by a friend, no shipping there. my dress was shipped in from overseas- so you can't win them all.
we had all of our family from the philadelphia area bused in- keeping around 50 cars off the road and keeping our families from stressing out trying to find brooklyn. most of our new york friends took public transportation to the garden or shared cars. our one friend walked from his apartment!
we stressed to the caterer that it was very important to us that no food go to waste, any leftovers should be donated to city harvest or a similar program. being the professionals that they are, they were able to prepare exactly enough food and nothing was leftover.
my ring is made with certified non conflict diamonds.
we had leftover flower containers which i advertised on craig's list and gave to a mom to use for her daughter's sweet sixteen party.
i wish:
we had used soy candles
we had more organic food offerings
my dress was made from local, sustainable materials
but other than that, i was pretty happy with the way things turned out and all of the above took minimal extra effort.
i'm glad that 'green' weddings are becoming more and more popular and happy that the knot and nbc are promoting this idea to the public at large. every little bit helps, right?
cracking up and sonogram
i saw blades of glory last night with m and a few of her friends and i didn't stop laughing the whole movie! we were all giggling at the opening music and if you've seen it, you know why. it was fantastic- so hilarious- one of will ferrel's best! i will definitely own this dvd in hopes that they will have out takes. i can't imagine shooting some of the scenes without crack ups. i can't wait to see it again with kpr!
yesterday we had our second sonogram and all is well. 13oz ten fingers, ten toes, all the anatomy is on track. it was so neat to see the baby on the screen and we have some great pictures to share with the family now.
there is a taco bell in the lobby of my hospital, i am both disturbed and elated by this fact. i know i will need a seven layer burrito stat after giving birth.
yesterday we had our second sonogram and all is well. 13oz ten fingers, ten toes, all the anatomy is on track. it was so neat to see the baby on the screen and we have some great pictures to share with the family now.
there is a taco bell in the lobby of my hospital, i am both disturbed and elated by this fact. i know i will need a seven layer burrito stat after giving birth.
Monday, April 02, 2007
don't get fat or your kid will be fat and resent you for it for the rest of their life
so this is the dumbest study ever. as if a pregnant woman wasn't confused enough about what is healthy and what isn't healthy.
let me summarize for you:
hmmmmm, if you gain the recommended weight during pregnancy, you probably will have an overweight toddler. if you gain more than the recommended weight you will most likely have an overweight toddler. BUT don't not gain the recommended weight because being underweight is bad for the baby. either way, the choices you make now will affect your baby's future no matter what so you might as well worry about it and feel guilty about it for the rest of your life. why don't you go sit in a corner and cry about it? but don't comfort yourself with food, because that is a bad habit you will pass along to your baby and they will resent you for it for the rest of their life. BUT don't not eat because your baby is hungry and needs nourishment- here, here is a nice head of lettuce, knaw on that for a while, okay? but eat some of this genetically modified tomato while you're at it because the baby needs folate, and if the baby is born with any kindof defect or disorder, it's because you didn't consume enough folate and they will resent you for it for the rest of their life.
so pretty much, this study was an important study to perform but we have no conclusive results other than you should worry and feel guilty and that we need to study this some more in order to give you more information that you should worry and feel guilty about.
the end.
i have developed a new vice, one that i have been fighting for years, but have recently succumbed to.
decaf iced coffee with milk and two sugars.
oh god how i crave it on my way to work in the morning! during the first four months of pregnancy when i was barfing all the time, the smell of coffee would sooth my reeling head and stomach. but i didn't dare drink any coffee because the child! think about the child! and the growth defects and the chance of developing two heads!
i have never been a coffee drinker, because frankly, caffeine can kill me. well maybe not kill me, but make me feel like i want to jump off a bridge just to get rid of the shakes, racing mind and heart palpitations. i worked at several different coffee shops through high school and college and i loved the smell of coffee, but never drank it.
when i moved to new york, i discovered the joy that is iced coffee. i would have a decaf iced about once a week as a treat, always making it nice and creamy and sweet. my favorite part is crunching on the sugar at the bottom of the cup. i would only allow myself to partake during the summer, when it was really hot outside, thinking i deserved this coffee, for surviving the summer in manhattan.
for the record, yes, i do know that decaf coffee does have caffeine in it. and yes it does affect me slightly.
now that i'm pregnant, i'm craving sweet things all the time. last weekend we went to my nephew's seventh birthday party and my sister in law sent us home with about a third of the birthday cake (homemade by her sister who is a professional baker, so it was some pretty damn good cake). the cake lasted about 1.5 days in our fridge before i demolished it on monday night and had the sugar shakes for most of the evening. ooooohhhhh but it was good! and sweet! and awesomely delicious! and studies have shown that babies react positively to sweet amniotic fluid, so really, i was thinking of the child! i want my baby to like me and if that means i'm going to have to consume a lot of sugary nonsense, well then, i accept that challenge.
i had two iced coffees last week and this morning i broke down while walking by amy's bread in the village. i've been working in the west village for the last week and have been going to amy's almost everyday for lunch because they have awesome (healthy) sandwiches. they also have amazing cheese biscuits (more carbs that turn into sugar!) that somehow end up in my purse, i'm not sure how that happens. but cheese! has calcium and protein- so i'm doing it for the child!
i'm planning out my next iced coffee and i think i can make it till thursday. wednesday is our next ultrasound, so i want to remain 'clean' for the next few days, just in case the technician can see the ice coffee on the sonogram and feels like she needs to tsk tsk me for it. so, thursday it is- my reward for staying clean for two days. friday is a reward in itself, so i won't have one friday- unless it's really hot out.
let me summarize for you:
hmmmmm, if you gain the recommended weight during pregnancy, you probably will have an overweight toddler. if you gain more than the recommended weight you will most likely have an overweight toddler. BUT don't not gain the recommended weight because being underweight is bad for the baby. either way, the choices you make now will affect your baby's future no matter what so you might as well worry about it and feel guilty about it for the rest of your life. why don't you go sit in a corner and cry about it? but don't comfort yourself with food, because that is a bad habit you will pass along to your baby and they will resent you for it for the rest of their life. BUT don't not eat because your baby is hungry and needs nourishment- here, here is a nice head of lettuce, knaw on that for a while, okay? but eat some of this genetically modified tomato while you're at it because the baby needs folate, and if the baby is born with any kindof defect or disorder, it's because you didn't consume enough folate and they will resent you for it for the rest of their life.
so pretty much, this study was an important study to perform but we have no conclusive results other than you should worry and feel guilty and that we need to study this some more in order to give you more information that you should worry and feel guilty about.
the end.
i have developed a new vice, one that i have been fighting for years, but have recently succumbed to.
decaf iced coffee with milk and two sugars.
oh god how i crave it on my way to work in the morning! during the first four months of pregnancy when i was barfing all the time, the smell of coffee would sooth my reeling head and stomach. but i didn't dare drink any coffee because the child! think about the child! and the growth defects and the chance of developing two heads!
i have never been a coffee drinker, because frankly, caffeine can kill me. well maybe not kill me, but make me feel like i want to jump off a bridge just to get rid of the shakes, racing mind and heart palpitations. i worked at several different coffee shops through high school and college and i loved the smell of coffee, but never drank it.
when i moved to new york, i discovered the joy that is iced coffee. i would have a decaf iced about once a week as a treat, always making it nice and creamy and sweet. my favorite part is crunching on the sugar at the bottom of the cup. i would only allow myself to partake during the summer, when it was really hot outside, thinking i deserved this coffee, for surviving the summer in manhattan.
for the record, yes, i do know that decaf coffee does have caffeine in it. and yes it does affect me slightly.
now that i'm pregnant, i'm craving sweet things all the time. last weekend we went to my nephew's seventh birthday party and my sister in law sent us home with about a third of the birthday cake (homemade by her sister who is a professional baker, so it was some pretty damn good cake). the cake lasted about 1.5 days in our fridge before i demolished it on monday night and had the sugar shakes for most of the evening. ooooohhhhh but it was good! and sweet! and awesomely delicious! and studies have shown that babies react positively to sweet amniotic fluid, so really, i was thinking of the child! i want my baby to like me and if that means i'm going to have to consume a lot of sugary nonsense, well then, i accept that challenge.
i had two iced coffees last week and this morning i broke down while walking by amy's bread in the village. i've been working in the west village for the last week and have been going to amy's almost everyday for lunch because they have awesome (healthy) sandwiches. they also have amazing cheese biscuits (more carbs that turn into sugar!) that somehow end up in my purse, i'm not sure how that happens. but cheese! has calcium and protein- so i'm doing it for the child!
i'm planning out my next iced coffee and i think i can make it till thursday. wednesday is our next ultrasound, so i want to remain 'clean' for the next few days, just in case the technician can see the ice coffee on the sonogram and feels like she needs to tsk tsk me for it. so, thursday it is- my reward for staying clean for two days. friday is a reward in itself, so i won't have one friday- unless it's really hot out.
Friday, March 16, 2007
things that are a big part of my life now
preggie pops
ginger ale
vitamin water a-zinc (with folic acid)
children's chewable vitamins
yougurt
bread
croissants
muffins
toast
pizza
roast turkey sandwiches with canned cranberry sauce
RICE CRISPY TREATS
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS
giving into cravings
some red meat
less fish (although i know i should eat some, but it is not appetizing to me at this moment in time)
dha
fruit- granny smith apples all the way (they keep the doctor away)
SUGAR
the bella band
babydoll shirts
lots o' moisturizer
prenatal yoga
feeling guilty(er) for no reason
little baby hats
pregnancy underware (they grow with you!)
big boobs
spanx bras
maternity shopping with m
considerably less barfing
chemical avoidance
no more mani/pedis
no more wine :(
or margaritas :(
or vodka :(
worrying about falling (down the steps, on the street, in the office)
reading about birthing things
babycenter.com weekly updates
looking forward to hearing the galloping horses next week
FEELING THE BABY MOVE!
ginger ale
vitamin water a-zinc (with folic acid)
children's chewable vitamins
yougurt
bread
croissants
muffins
toast
pizza
roast turkey sandwiches with canned cranberry sauce
RICE CRISPY TREATS
HONEY NUT CHEERIOS
giving into cravings
some red meat
less fish (although i know i should eat some, but it is not appetizing to me at this moment in time)
dha
fruit- granny smith apples all the way (they keep the doctor away)
SUGAR
the bella band
babydoll shirts
lots o' moisturizer
prenatal yoga
feeling guilty(er) for no reason
little baby hats
pregnancy underware (they grow with you!)
big boobs
spanx bras
maternity shopping with m
considerably less barfing
chemical avoidance
no more mani/pedis
no more wine :(
or margaritas :(
or vodka :(
worrying about falling (down the steps, on the street, in the office)
reading about birthing things
babycenter.com weekly updates
looking forward to hearing the galloping horses next week
FEELING THE BABY MOVE!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Sunday, February 11, 2007
mmmmm pickles and ice cream
well, i've been away for a while. i've been away and i've been puking my guts out and not eating and i've been exhausted. i've been away, but i've been ecstatic- i've also kindof buried my head in the ground as well.
i have been told to bank up my sleep now, because come the end of summer, i'll be dying for some sleep. i've been reading magazines with the words "child" or "parent" in the title. i've been watching my once flat stomach thicken and fall over the waistline of my jeans. i've been in denial about how next week i probably won't fit into those jeans...
i have been told to bank up my sleep now, because come the end of summer, i'll be dying for some sleep. i've been reading magazines with the words "child" or "parent" in the title. i've been watching my once flat stomach thicken and fall over the waistline of my jeans. i've been in denial about how next week i probably won't fit into those jeans...
we went to new zealand to go to a friend's wedding- we stopped by sydney, australia for a while on the way home- we came back knocked up.
hooray!
ps- pickles really do taste amazing when one is with child!
does anyone else see the irony in this photo?- our baby was a little zygote floating around my womb at the time that this photo was taken.
this is a koala, not a koala bear, they are marsupials and i feel like it is my job to inform the world of this fact. they are very cute and snuggly and i wanted to take one home with me.
beautiful!
a dingo joke would be really inappropriate right now.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
happy new year
we live at the back of our building and are lucky enough to have a beautiful backyard in which we have invested huge chunks of money, time and effort.
when kpr and i returned home from the holidays we found awaiting us on our back patio:
- 575,600 soggy cigarette butts
- a shattered wine glass
- a lone sweat sock, also soggy
nice happy new year presents from our upstairs neighbors.
(how many times can they be told not to throw their disgusting cigarettes off the balcony? its called littering people)
(if you are so drunk you can't hold onto your wine glass, perhaps you don't belong on a metal balcony three flights up, climbing in and out of a tiny window. if you fall next time and shatter your head instead, i'm sweeping you up and putting you in the dog shit trashcan just like i did all the glass. no calling 911 for you sucker.)
(a soggy sweatsock. ew.)
(i'm looking at you eurotrash from the third floor)
we've bugged our management company about 575,600 times about people throwing things off their balconies, and they've posted signs, but people just get back into the habit of flicking their butts out into the air, not their problem anymore. i think they aim for our pond too, and our goldfish walt loves the nicotine rush. i just don't get that about smoking and smokers, it is just so stupid the poisoning of bodies and blatant littering. don't you realize when you throw down your cigarette, someone else has to clean it up for you, or in ends up in the gutter, and washes into our water system, ending up in our beaches and in that nice piece of tuna you had for dinner last night? so fucking selfish.
i had a friend who, when she was a smoker, would stop on the street, put out her cigarette and throw the butt into the nearest trashcan- i thought that was so classy, and grown up.
the eurotrash on the third floor also covered their balcony floor with plywood, which is so fucking annoying. the balconies themselves are old, metal and the floors are slatted, to allow the easy pass through of water. this doesn't make it very easy to have a chair out there, but most people manage. however, the eurotrash on the third floor decided that they just needed to set up another living room on their balcony, so they covered the floor with plywood and set up a few chairs and tables (they even have a lamp). this is great for them and all, but not so great for us as whenever it rains, all the rain gets caught up on their balcony and is forced between the very small opening between their plywood floor and the wall of our building, and sends it shooting down the wall at a very high rate of speed and onto our patio and down our stairs to our basement. we've had trouble in the past with a gutter that was too small, caused this same problem and ended up breaking the air tight seal on one of our windows. we had the management company come in and replace the window this summer and about two days after the window was replaced was when the eurotrash moved in and installed their home made floor.
we've asked the management co to do something about this, like physically go in there and remove the floor and then slap them around a little for being such assholes- but they haven't followed through yet. i think it will be interesting to see if we have a blizzard this year (there is always at least one each winter), how well the balcony will hold up with three feet of snow piled up with nowhere to go. piled up against their window. when it melts dripping constantly down the wall of the building and onto us everytime we go in and out of the backyard.
we've got to put our foot down.
when kpr and i returned home from the holidays we found awaiting us on our back patio:
- 575,600 soggy cigarette butts
- a shattered wine glass
- a lone sweat sock, also soggy
nice happy new year presents from our upstairs neighbors.
(how many times can they be told not to throw their disgusting cigarettes off the balcony? its called littering people)
(if you are so drunk you can't hold onto your wine glass, perhaps you don't belong on a metal balcony three flights up, climbing in and out of a tiny window. if you fall next time and shatter your head instead, i'm sweeping you up and putting you in the dog shit trashcan just like i did all the glass. no calling 911 for you sucker.)
(a soggy sweatsock. ew.)
(i'm looking at you eurotrash from the third floor)
we've bugged our management company about 575,600 times about people throwing things off their balconies, and they've posted signs, but people just get back into the habit of flicking their butts out into the air, not their problem anymore. i think they aim for our pond too, and our goldfish walt loves the nicotine rush. i just don't get that about smoking and smokers, it is just so stupid the poisoning of bodies and blatant littering. don't you realize when you throw down your cigarette, someone else has to clean it up for you, or in ends up in the gutter, and washes into our water system, ending up in our beaches and in that nice piece of tuna you had for dinner last night? so fucking selfish.
i had a friend who, when she was a smoker, would stop on the street, put out her cigarette and throw the butt into the nearest trashcan- i thought that was so classy, and grown up.
the eurotrash on the third floor also covered their balcony floor with plywood, which is so fucking annoying. the balconies themselves are old, metal and the floors are slatted, to allow the easy pass through of water. this doesn't make it very easy to have a chair out there, but most people manage. however, the eurotrash on the third floor decided that they just needed to set up another living room on their balcony, so they covered the floor with plywood and set up a few chairs and tables (they even have a lamp). this is great for them and all, but not so great for us as whenever it rains, all the rain gets caught up on their balcony and is forced between the very small opening between their plywood floor and the wall of our building, and sends it shooting down the wall at a very high rate of speed and onto our patio and down our stairs to our basement. we've had trouble in the past with a gutter that was too small, caused this same problem and ended up breaking the air tight seal on one of our windows. we had the management company come in and replace the window this summer and about two days after the window was replaced was when the eurotrash moved in and installed their home made floor.
we've asked the management co to do something about this, like physically go in there and remove the floor and then slap them around a little for being such assholes- but they haven't followed through yet. i think it will be interesting to see if we have a blizzard this year (there is always at least one each winter), how well the balcony will hold up with three feet of snow piled up with nowhere to go. piled up against their window. when it melts dripping constantly down the wall of the building and onto us everytime we go in and out of the backyard.
we've got to put our foot down.
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