Apparently it snowed in downtown Chicago today -- so Chris got to walk to school in the snow. He wasn't very happy about this as it is the super heavy wet snow that permeates everything and makes umbrellas useless. There got to be about an inch of accumulation, so no one in town was super happy from what I can tell. We didn't get any snow out in Aurora, just a lot of rain. We've gotten a lot of rain lately though so our rivers and run-off lakes are flooding, again.
Yesterday we had our last baby shower. It was with the cafe people and a lot of fun. Laurie and Bill made all of the food and made it so that I could eat everything. They look at it as a challenge, so it is fun to have someone else go through the process we go through all the time, even if it is just for a day. We got lots of good stuff -- diapers, clothes, books. We now feel confident enough that Ripley can come and we'll be okay. We have enough that we can get by and figure out what we truly need, versus what is just "nice to have" based on our consumerist society.
Other Ripley news -- we met with the OB again today and will be meeting with one in the practice weekly until Ripley comes. We're really in the final stretch. She said I am about 50% effaced and a little dilated, which she says is really good, especially for a first baby. We have one week left before Ripley is considered "term" so the rest of this week is getting more stuff in order for that to happen if Ripley decides to be an Easter baby. As always, the heartbeat was difficult to hear because Ripley kept moving. Ripley also had hiccups that we could hear on the doppler.
In other non-Ripley news, Chris is continuing to look for a new position when he has free time. I'm also looking, but not as seriously as before as I can't really accept a position at this time. Besides, after we've looked at taxes and such, unless I can get a well paying job, it may not be financially responsible for me to be working after Ripley gets here. We're playing it by ear so we'll see what happens. Well, I need to go get some dinner as it is apparently time to eat. Hope all is well with you.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Now for something completely different...
So Chris has been wanting chicken, but chicken does not sound good to Ripley unless it is dressed up. I'd like to have some chicken too, so tonight I'm going to try a chicken enchilada casserole. I know that in high school a friend of mine had a great recipe that she used, but I've forgotten it. I've been searching the internet for recipes, and think I'm going to have to combine several of them together.
For starters though, I'm going to have to make my own cream of chicken soup. From what I can gather this is quite similar to making chicken stock, just a bit more involved. I'm just trying to decide if I make enough for 2 casseroles (freezing half), or simply one to try it out. It looks easier to make 2 casseroles worth of the soup, so I'll probably do that. I'm also curious if I add a lot of the spices to the soup, will I need to add them to the casserole -- thus making the casserole a bit easier to make and such. I'm also tempted to essentially make the soup what will be layered with tortillas, since I think they all get mixed up anyway. So we'll then have layers of tortillas, chicken mess, and cheese. I'm thinking this can work. If I can get it to work then I'll have another non-baking recipe to add to my cookbook. I'll take pictures and let everyone know exactly how it turns out.
I realize that I'm truly becoming one of those cooks who adds "what looks right." I'll add some chilis, cilantro, and salsa to the cream soup, and probably go from there on taste. It makes it difficult to share recipes with people, but it works well in terms of cooking stuff so that it tastes good. I realized this as a lady asked for my hummus recipe. I told her she might be better searching on the internet for a recipe that only had chickpeas, tahini, salt, and lemon because she'd have better ideas of proportions and such.
Anyway, to go make the soup mess before Chris gets home. That way all I have to do it put it all together and bake it when we're ready to eat. :)
For starters though, I'm going to have to make my own cream of chicken soup. From what I can gather this is quite similar to making chicken stock, just a bit more involved. I'm just trying to decide if I make enough for 2 casseroles (freezing half), or simply one to try it out. It looks easier to make 2 casseroles worth of the soup, so I'll probably do that. I'm also curious if I add a lot of the spices to the soup, will I need to add them to the casserole -- thus making the casserole a bit easier to make and such. I'm also tempted to essentially make the soup what will be layered with tortillas, since I think they all get mixed up anyway. So we'll then have layers of tortillas, chicken mess, and cheese. I'm thinking this can work. If I can get it to work then I'll have another non-baking recipe to add to my cookbook. I'll take pictures and let everyone know exactly how it turns out.
I realize that I'm truly becoming one of those cooks who adds "what looks right." I'll add some chilis, cilantro, and salsa to the cream soup, and probably go from there on taste. It makes it difficult to share recipes with people, but it works well in terms of cooking stuff so that it tastes good. I realized this as a lady asked for my hummus recipe. I told her she might be better searching on the internet for a recipe that only had chickpeas, tahini, salt, and lemon because she'd have better ideas of proportions and such.
Anyway, to go make the soup mess before Chris gets home. That way all I have to do it put it all together and bake it when we're ready to eat. :)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Laundry, Laundry and more Laundry
Well, the theme of this week has been to wash all the Ripley stuff that we've accumulated. We're really not doing that much more laundry, but it has been entertaining. We started by including some stuff with a half full load of our stuff. This excited Chris immensely, almost like he was waiting for me to ask him to help cut tags and all. It was quite nice to have him so enthused about cutting tags and making sure everything is clean and ready for Ripley. Since I had a shower on Sunday (the small group ladies put one together for me) I washed a lot of that stuff on Monday as well. We got receiving blankets, washcloths, and several outfits, so it was actually 2 loads of stuff. Yay for lint traps!! I needed Chris to help me move the load from the washer to the dryer, and he was shocked that Ripley was ever going to fit into those -- he thought they were too small. I kind of held it up to my abdomen and since it was a onesie, showed him how it might fit. It is funny that Ripley will be in the small "newborn" size for a very little time, yet since they mess those outfits more often than later outfits, you need a TON of those super small ones. Having done some laundry and gotten some of the stuff together we feel we can at least house a Ripley at this point. We'd like to have a few more things done, but since we've got less than five weeks left, we'll see what we manage.
At the shower on Sunday it was a good bit of girl time for all the girls in the 20s & 30s. The boys tend to get together and play poker, or do this or that, but often the women don't get the same opportunities. As always, since there are multiple small groups in the age range, the interaction of the people in different groups is interesting. We try and do at least one thing a month that is the entire 20s & 30s group, but most of the time it ends up separating into the different groups. Playing sports though helps to bridge the gap between the different groups -- so it makes me miss volleyball from the winter even more. I'm not playing softball at all though, unless they are dire and need a sub sometime come July. The summer also brings more cross-small group opportunities because of the different sport nights. I know last summer we played ultimate frisbee on Friday nights and it was a lot of fun. We started doing that towards the end of April, so hopefully soon we'll start getting those e-vites again. It will be cool these days, but a lot of fun. I know this week we have the probability of snow, so it probably won't happen. Our days are getting significantly longer, so it helps to play later in the evening.
We are hosting our small group tonight, so I'm really just taking a break from cleaning stuff. I've got most of the stuff done -- except the floors. We'll see how those go. I also need to run to Babies'R'Us and return some of the shower stuff from Sunday. We had one of my friends give us four different "baby medical kits" and since we don't have room for all of them they will all go back. We've already got the stuff in different forms.
This coming Sunday is the third shower of the month. This is one for the cafe people. It will hopefully be more of a party for the cafe, a chance for everyone who works at the cafe to get together, so we'll see how it goes. It is co-ed so Chris gets to go. He's not thoroughly excited about that, but he can at least take pictures.
No more procrastinating for me. I've got floors to attend to. Hope all is well with you.
At the shower on Sunday it was a good bit of girl time for all the girls in the 20s & 30s. The boys tend to get together and play poker, or do this or that, but often the women don't get the same opportunities. As always, since there are multiple small groups in the age range, the interaction of the people in different groups is interesting. We try and do at least one thing a month that is the entire 20s & 30s group, but most of the time it ends up separating into the different groups. Playing sports though helps to bridge the gap between the different groups -- so it makes me miss volleyball from the winter even more. I'm not playing softball at all though, unless they are dire and need a sub sometime come July. The summer also brings more cross-small group opportunities because of the different sport nights. I know last summer we played ultimate frisbee on Friday nights and it was a lot of fun. We started doing that towards the end of April, so hopefully soon we'll start getting those e-vites again. It will be cool these days, but a lot of fun. I know this week we have the probability of snow, so it probably won't happen. Our days are getting significantly longer, so it helps to play later in the evening.
We are hosting our small group tonight, so I'm really just taking a break from cleaning stuff. I've got most of the stuff done -- except the floors. We'll see how those go. I also need to run to Babies'R'Us and return some of the shower stuff from Sunday. We had one of my friends give us four different "baby medical kits" and since we don't have room for all of them they will all go back. We've already got the stuff in different forms.
This coming Sunday is the third shower of the month. This is one for the cafe people. It will hopefully be more of a party for the cafe, a chance for everyone who works at the cafe to get together, so we'll see how it goes. It is co-ed so Chris gets to go. He's not thoroughly excited about that, but he can at least take pictures.
No more procrastinating for me. I've got floors to attend to. Hope all is well with you.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
April Showers...
Well, hopefully this year April showers bring May babies, but that's beside the point. :)
Right now I've just seen some friends off and am getting around to cleaning the house again. I have a feeling this will be a routine. We're trying to get some room to move furniture around and having a clean house helps that, though that means you clean your house a lot. Our friends flew in Friday which also happened to be the last day I worked at the cafe. I'm working on transitioning to getting enough done before Ripley gets here that I'm not super frantic when that happens. As Chris says, I'm also working on growing a Ripley, which takes a surprising amount of energy at this stage. I'm not sure I've ever been such a fan of my bed and hated an alarm clock more.
The past week and change though have been fairly uneventful. My friend from Arizona (Emily) got together with Linda and they had a very nice small shower for me on Saturday. We had about six ladies here and it was a lot of fun to both play the games and see the people. I also got a few more items of clothing, so not as worried about having a naked baby anymore. I know that after Ripley comes and we know gender it will be significantly easier to shop for clothes, but if an infant is going to go through multiple changes of clothes in a day, then I've got about a day or twos worth of clothes for different stages currently. The really really cool thing though is that Emily found a bakery here that made cupcakes for me! They were kind of a pain to work with, but once we got the cupcakes they were FANTASTIC! I've been eating them off and on for days now and no new symptoms so Ripley is either really suppressing my immune system, or they made them right. :) Maybe I'll look at getting a job there when I have to go back to work, though that could be really really dangerous.
On Sunday we went to the MSI. We got to see Body Worlds, the cycle of life. It is the premier of the exhibit and was pretty cool. There were some interesting poses and as it was when we got married, it was interesting to see the different parts of the body "melted" away and only have part of it remain. A few pictures from our trip:
We tried to kind of relax on Monday and just hung around downtown Naperville. Yesterday we went to downtown Chicago and did a fair amount of walking around. We walked through the loop to the lake from Union Station and then up Michigan to Navy Pier. We stopped at the bean and then at the Chicago Cultural Center. The Center had an interesting exhibit titled, "Off the Beaten Path" which is about women and domestic violence throughout the world. There were several pieces simply done by women from countries that traditionally are very downgrading to women -- like Pakistan, Iran, etc. My favorite piece was probably done by a Swedish artist and essentially had pictures of beautiful roses sewn shut. The sewing was to demonstrate female genital mutilation that is often done to exterior female genitalia. It was done for Amnesty International, but it was an interesting piece. The other interesting piece was one where they gave the women of an African village cameras. They women took pictures as they went about their lives and then with some of the pictures there was commentary on the pictures. The commentary explained how much control the men had over the women -- and it was shocking. After we went to the Cultural Center we continued walking up Michigan. We got to Navy Pier and I finally managed to go on an architecture tour, as Emily thought it would be fun! It was fun, with the exception of it being cold. We had a nice wind and were out on the water, so both Emily and I turned blue. There was only one company giving tours this early, and I don't recommend using them for an architecture tour if you come to town. It was the Shoreline Tour company and it despite it being cold they didn't really talk much about the architecture. Well, at least not as much as I would have liked. They explained the basics of the styles, but I remember the tour guide trying to make lame jokes throughout the trip more than anything else. At the end of the day we ended up at the Hancock tower getting drinks and looking out over the town without much wind. As always, it was fun to play tourist and give people a "one day snapshot" of Chicago. Rick and Emily decided that more than one day was needed to see everything, and that they'd come back and see us. :)
Anyway, back to that cleaning thing -- I've got laundry to fold and get through the washer and dryer, and some vacuuming to do. Later today we also have our 34 week OB appointment, so we'll get to listen to Ripley's stats. Currently Ripley likes to get hic-ups and so that's entertaining to watch. They also help tell me how "low" Ripley is, and definitely not in the birthing position. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks -- we've only got about six left before d-day.
Right now I've just seen some friends off and am getting around to cleaning the house again. I have a feeling this will be a routine. We're trying to get some room to move furniture around and having a clean house helps that, though that means you clean your house a lot. Our friends flew in Friday which also happened to be the last day I worked at the cafe. I'm working on transitioning to getting enough done before Ripley gets here that I'm not super frantic when that happens. As Chris says, I'm also working on growing a Ripley, which takes a surprising amount of energy at this stage. I'm not sure I've ever been such a fan of my bed and hated an alarm clock more.
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| Cleaning up after the shower... |
On Sunday we went to the MSI. We got to see Body Worlds, the cycle of life. It is the premier of the exhibit and was pretty cool. There were some interesting poses and as it was when we got married, it was interesting to see the different parts of the body "melted" away and only have part of it remain. A few pictures from our trip:
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| In the U-505 exhibit, we're ready to enlist in the Waves |
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| Chris and Rick (Emily's husband) playing with the anti-aircraft gun replica and trying to figure out how to make it a working gun... |
We tried to kind of relax on Monday and just hung around downtown Naperville. Yesterday we went to downtown Chicago and did a fair amount of walking around. We walked through the loop to the lake from Union Station and then up Michigan to Navy Pier. We stopped at the bean and then at the Chicago Cultural Center. The Center had an interesting exhibit titled, "Off the Beaten Path" which is about women and domestic violence throughout the world. There were several pieces simply done by women from countries that traditionally are very downgrading to women -- like Pakistan, Iran, etc. My favorite piece was probably done by a Swedish artist and essentially had pictures of beautiful roses sewn shut. The sewing was to demonstrate female genital mutilation that is often done to exterior female genitalia. It was done for Amnesty International, but it was an interesting piece. The other interesting piece was one where they gave the women of an African village cameras. They women took pictures as they went about their lives and then with some of the pictures there was commentary on the pictures. The commentary explained how much control the men had over the women -- and it was shocking. After we went to the Cultural Center we continued walking up Michigan. We got to Navy Pier and I finally managed to go on an architecture tour, as Emily thought it would be fun! It was fun, with the exception of it being cold. We had a nice wind and were out on the water, so both Emily and I turned blue. There was only one company giving tours this early, and I don't recommend using them for an architecture tour if you come to town. It was the Shoreline Tour company and it despite it being cold they didn't really talk much about the architecture. Well, at least not as much as I would have liked. They explained the basics of the styles, but I remember the tour guide trying to make lame jokes throughout the trip more than anything else. At the end of the day we ended up at the Hancock tower getting drinks and looking out over the town without much wind. As always, it was fun to play tourist and give people a "one day snapshot" of Chicago. Rick and Emily decided that more than one day was needed to see everything, and that they'd come back and see us. :)
Anyway, back to that cleaning thing -- I've got laundry to fold and get through the washer and dryer, and some vacuuming to do. Later today we also have our 34 week OB appointment, so we'll get to listen to Ripley's stats. Currently Ripley likes to get hic-ups and so that's entertaining to watch. They also help tell me how "low" Ripley is, and definitely not in the birthing position. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks -- we've only got about six left before d-day.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Bathroom Remodel Pictures
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| One side of the bathroom, guesses on when it was built? |
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| The other end of the tub, so a tight squeeze. |
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| Chris ripping out the floor on Sunday morning. It was the little tiles, so thankfully it came up quite easier than he expected. |
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| His pile o' tile |
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| The top of the old ceramic coated wrought iron tub going out. Even with the three guys it went clunk on EVERY step and then some. |
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| The studs of a completely gutted bathroom. Chris took all the old tile out. |
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| The new bathtub that only took two guys to bring up the stairs or seat in place. It also has whirlpool capabilities. |
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| Chris got about half of the new tile up on Wednesday. |
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| Painting on Wednesday |
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| Tiling on Thursday |
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| Toilet went in after the grouting on Friday |
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| Vanity in and almost done on Saturday. |
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Taking a Break
Well, this past weekend we gutted the bathroom. When I say we, I really mean Chris did. I was sent away so that I wouldn't pester him with questions or annoy him with "trying to help" or get all the tile dust and such in me. Saturday Chris did demolition while I went to a 1 year old b'day party for a friend. He managed to get all of the walls down and out of the house that day. I'm sure our neighbors love us, but hopefully they will more when it helps the resale value of their condos. Sunday was an adventure because we ripped up the flooring. It came up significantly easier than Chris was expecting so that was quite nice. We also got the old ridiculously heavy bath tub out with help from a few church friends. We got the new tub in with only one friend, if that tells you the extent of the old tub. It was a wrought iron tub coated in ceramics -- impossible to do much with in reality. The new tub has whirl-pool jets, arm rests and hold enough water that it covers my legs when I want to get in it -- you know, we had to test it out to make sure everything worked properly. Since the new tub is deeper than most we needed a special drainage kit and the one Chris got first didn't work. I got sent to Lowe's with the kit to ask for help, apparently people love helping pregnant women who look clueless with their plumbing problems. Monday I went to work and Chris got a lot of stuff together so we could get the sheet-rock and backer-board in for the tile after I got off of work. He also got the condo association to turn off the water so that he could replace the plumbing in the walls just a bit. Yesterday (Tuesday) he started sheet-rocking walls and putting up the backer-board. He also got the walls primed and ready for me to paint. I'm currently taking a break after scraping the old paint off of the ceiling and letting Chris finish putting up the backboard around the new tub. We bought all the tile and stuff today, so the people at Lowe's won't have to see me a whole lot more (hopefully).
Today at Lowe's I had a whole new experience with a complete stranger walking up and congratulating us. We had a flatbed full of stuff and the lady (lady A) was having a conversation with the check-out lady (lady B). They both believe that I'm having a boy because I'm not "big all over", though lady A did lift up my jacket in the back and say I had some hips on me to help me carry the extra weight. She didn't actually attack me or try and touch my stomach, though she did make motions like she wanted to. Chris was glad of this because originally he wondered how many hands he would have to break from people deciding my abdomen was public domain. So far his total is zero, but this is also the first time any complete stranger has said anything. I also got the traditional, "I hate you. I wish I could have looked like that at months," when Lady B asked me how much longer I had to go. Apparently me telling them 2 months, that I was 8 months into this pregnancy was NOT what they were expecting. However, since I get that from EVERYONE -- from the OB/GYN to friends -- it is what I expected.
On the Ripley front -- we regularly see him move, it isn't uncommon at any point in time, so I get some weird looks occasionally because people don't expect it from my abdomen. We get arms and legs and random body parts that stick out quite a bit sometimes. It has become interesting to wonder where exactly Ripley thinks it is going. Apparently my abdomen is getting a little small because kicks to the ribs are painful and it still likes to stay hang out playing piano on my spine.
Anyway, it sounds like Chris is almost done roto-zipping the backer-board as the last piece for the tub so I should get to painting. I'll post a series of pics (since I've taken some everyday) once this is over and we have everything back together.
Today at Lowe's I had a whole new experience with a complete stranger walking up and congratulating us. We had a flatbed full of stuff and the lady (lady A) was having a conversation with the check-out lady (lady B). They both believe that I'm having a boy because I'm not "big all over", though lady A did lift up my jacket in the back and say I had some hips on me to help me carry the extra weight. She didn't actually attack me or try and touch my stomach, though she did make motions like she wanted to. Chris was glad of this because originally he wondered how many hands he would have to break from people deciding my abdomen was public domain. So far his total is zero, but this is also the first time any complete stranger has said anything. I also got the traditional, "I hate you. I wish I could have looked like that at
On the Ripley front -- we regularly see him move, it isn't uncommon at any point in time, so I get some weird looks occasionally because people don't expect it from my abdomen. We get arms and legs and random body parts that stick out quite a bit sometimes. It has become interesting to wonder where exactly Ripley thinks it is going. Apparently my abdomen is getting a little small because kicks to the ribs are painful and it still likes to stay hang out playing piano on my spine.
Anyway, it sounds like Chris is almost done roto-zipping the backer-board as the last piece for the tub so I should get to painting. I'll post a series of pics (since I've taken some everyday) once this is over and we have everything back together.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Week 31, Day 2
OB appointment took FOREVER today. Especially for me just having stuff checked out -- I mean like, BP, weight, fetal heart rate, stuff like that.
Everything is normal thus far with both Ripley and me. :)
We also made all of the rest of the OB appointments we'll make for before Ripley gets here. This means in nine weeks we'll be parents!? I suppose this means we'll be busy and have to get to work on getting everything ready.
Everything is normal thus far with both Ripley and me. :)
We also made all of the rest of the OB appointments we'll make for before Ripley gets here. This means in nine weeks we'll be parents!? I suppose this means we'll be busy and have to get to work on getting everything ready.
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