seven quick takes - ed. 27

AKA Nesting Insanity Edition!

It's funny, with each of my three pregnancies, my "nesting instinct" has taken on very different forms. With Faith, my first baby, it was all about the Baby Stuff. Set up the crib, decorate the room, sort and fold the eensy weensy clothes, research car seats, etc. 

With Josie, I knew we would be moving to Guam a month after her birth, so there was no point in preparing the house. Instead, I threw all my energy into preparing literally dozens of freezer meals so that, with all the insanity of New Baby and Finishing Residency and International Move, at least we wouldn't have to stress about what to have for dinner.

This time around, I've got a little of the "get baby stuff ready" urge, but we mostly have all that stuff already. So mostly I've been going crazy preparing the REST of the house, especially as Josie is going to be moving into Faith's room (actually she moved in last night).

So here's what I've been working on so far!

1- Painting of furniture. The furniture in Faith's room (now the girls' room) is a hodgepodge of hand-me-downs, found-on-the-curb, and IKEA. 

No before pics because I'm a bad blogger, but the table was stained in that orangey honey-oak and was from my childhood living room. The rocking chair was painted black with a gold metallic floral design, and I found it on the curb a few months ago with two spindles out of place and one split. Easy to fix with elbow grease and gorilla glue, and white gloss paint covers a multitude of sins.

2. Making of wall decor. Before I moved in the now-white table, there was a tall old table-floor-lamp combo in its place (purchased at a garage sale years ago to furnish Jack's med school apartment). The lamp part stopped working, so out it went and in came the oval side table... but it was a lot shorter and left an awkward-looking blank expanse of wall. So I made this:

A bunch of hearts paper-punched out of vellum I had on hand, stitched together on the sewing machine, and hung from an accommodating strip of foam board. Not fancy at all, but turned out cute.

3. Assembling of bunk beds: 

Excuse the sagging diaper.

Okay, it's a pseudo bunk bed. It's actually a low loft, and I stuck a bunky board and mattress on the floor beneath it. It's the IKEA Kura bed, and I love it. Oh, and no, IKEA doesn't ship to Guam; I paid for a third-party cargo company to ship it. It would've been nice to find something on-island, but not many places sell bunks/lofts that are low enough to make me feel comfortable with a 4-year-old on the top. And the room is small enough that while side-by-side twin beds would fit, they would make it pretty crowded.

4. Making of quilts! I'm actually super-excited about this. Currently the girls are using old family quilts, which are lovely, but aren't really sized for twin beds, and are kind of fragile... and being wary to wash something is not a good mix with toddlers. So I'm making them my first quilts ever! I have all the pieces cut out and all the triangles stitched into their proper squares, and Faith's quilt top is about half done (not including the border).

It's not perfect, but it's so fun seeing it come together! Josie's will have the same fabrics but a different pattern, so they'll match but won't be matchy-matchy.

5. Sewing of slipcovers. I was bored/annoyed with our two black office chairs... which are actually in our living room, since we don't have a separate office. Plus the fabric wasn't really washable and it was covered in yogurt smears. So I adapted this tutorial with some cute fabric, and now I no longer have boring office chairs, but adorable office chairs! And the covers are extremely easy to remove for washing purposes.

6. Making of a baby mobile! Faith and Josie's mobile was also handmade but was kind of girly, with ribbons and butterflies and such. So I wanted to make something more gender-neutral, so I followed this tutorial (which I only just this second realized is from the same blog as the office chair tutorial) and I loooove how it turned out!

7. Knitting of the baby blanket. I started this months ago (before we knew Jackson was a boy), but I've taken a few extended breaks. It's not quite half done yet, but I usually get an hour or two of knitting done in the evenings after the kids go to bed, so I'm hopeful that it'll be finished by the time the baby's born. (The pattern is Arabesque-- though I'm making the border as I go to avoid having to pick up thousands of stitches at the end-- and the yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in Lime.)

Next on my list, other than finishing the unfinished blankets, are non-girly curtains for Jackson's room (I'll probably use the leftover green dot fabric from the office chairs), making his name from fabric for his wall (like you see attached to the girls' bed above), sorting & purging everyone's wardrobes, and organizing the garage. Let's see how far I get!

Head over (or back) to This Ain't The Lyceum for more quick takes!

pediatrician psa: three good articles

I used to do these on Tuesdays, but I'm low on blog post ideas, so time for a couple links!

INSIDER INFO AHEAD!!

First, this awesome answer to the question: How can I tell if my child has a cold or a sinus infection?

This is an important question because kids get colds ALL. THE. TIME. And there's really nothing to do to make a cold go away faster, which is frustrating for everyone. But if it's actually a sinus infection (much less common), then antibiotics might help. Click to find out how to tell the difference!

Second, on a related note, an excellent explanation for why pediatricians don't (or at least, aren't supposed to) recommend cough or cold medicines for kids. (Spoiler: it's because they don't work.)

The third one tackles a different topic, but an equally frustrating one (and not specific to pediatrics). Have you ever wondered why your doctor always keeps you waiting? Hint: it's not because he/she is on a Starbucks break, on the phone booking a lavish vacation, or just fundamentally lazy. The author of the article follows the typical day of a primary care physician, detailing exactly how things get so far behind.

And in case you read it and think, "Well, why not schedule people for longer appointments?" there are two large reasons. First, many physicians don't have any say in the length of their appointment slots, which are often predetermined by office administrators for maximum cost-effectiveness. And second, if appointments are longer, then fewer patients can be seen per day, making it harder to get an appointment with the doctor when you need it.

excuses, in pictures

This week's lack of posts has been brought to you by an adorable but crazy toddler...

...who seemed to more of her waking hours over the weekend screaming than not...

...who insisted on being held pretty much all day Monday (her favorite phrase is "dee dah Doh-dee" = "get up Josie")...

...and who decided to give herself an impressive black eye on Tuesday (it's even more awesome now)...

We hope to return to our regularly scheduled programming soon!

what we're reading wednesday: unwind (& sequels)

I recently finished a young-adult sci-fi (or dystopian maybe?) series that I've been working on for a couple years-- only just finished because the final book only just came out. There are 4 novels and a companion novella by Neal Shusterman-- Unwind, UnWholly, UnSouled, and UnDivided (and the novella is UnStrung).

I can't decide what I think of this series. It was very good, but I can't say that I loved it, because it was so disturbing. But I think I would recommend it BECAUSE it was so disturbing-- it was supposed to be.

The premise is as follows: sometime in the not-too-distant future (but several decades prior to the start of the series), the U.S. was ripped apart by a civil war fought over the issue of abortion. Part of the treaty included the Unwind Accord-- a law which made abortion illegal, but allowed parents to choose to "unwind" their teenage offspring. "Unwinding" means that all the teen's organs are harvested and distributed to those who medically need them (which technology had recently made possible), with the justification that since all parts of the body remain alive, the unwound person has not actually been killed, but is simply now living in a "divided state."

This seems so horrifying as to be implausible, but of course objectively it's no more horrifying than the millions of unborn babies who've been killed by abortion. It just feels more horrifying because we're used to abortion... just like society in the novels is used to unwinding. The great thing about the books is that this parallel is never explicitly made, so it never feels preachy. There's one brief scene in the first book where several teenagers scheduled to be unwound have a discussion about abortion and at what point a fetus is a person... but the author never inserts his opinion on abortion, which I think makes the parallel much more powerful. (I don't actually even know the author's stance, though if I had to guess, I'd guess he's pro-life.)

The storyline follows three main characters (all teenagers scheduled for unwinding, but for different reasons) with perspective shifting among them with each chapter. A fourth main character is introduced in book two, and there are several more minor characters who get their own perspective-chapters to a greater or lesser degree.

Cautions/FYIs: A lot of horrible things happen in the books, but none of it is particularly graphic-- it's more horrible concepts. Premarital sex between two of the main characters (and several minor characters) is mentioned but not depicted. There are some allusions to "mercy killing" without clear judgments made. I'm pretty sure there's some bad language, but I honestly don't remember.

I wouldn't recommend it to younger teens unless they're very mature, just due to the horrible-ness of the premise, but most high-schoolers would be able to handle it. Well, I mean, as fine as can be expected... I lay awake thinking horrified thoughts about these books, but that's kind of the point. It's less graphic than the Hunger Games, but much closer to home. But (spoiler, I guess) the end of the series is uplifting/hopeful, so that helps.

Looks like I can't link up to Housewifespice until next week... I've been a bit out of the loop lately!

new year, new couch (sort of)

So we had this couch. It was a super-comfortable leather sleeper sofa that I bought on Craigslist three years ago for $160. But, it was old. I don't know how old, but old enough that the leather was literally disintegrating. I tried stitching it, patching it, even gluing it... but it just kept falling apart. (It didn't help that Josie used the rip on the seat as a handhold for hoisting herself up.) So we decided to get it reupholstered-- expensive, but less expensive than a new leather sleeper sofa. And the process was just so, so very Guam.

First off, the shop where we got it done was just... okay, you have to see it to believe it.

 

Josie and I can't decide whether to be amused or incredulous. Or horrified.

This was seriously this man's place of business. And this is just how it looks when you walk in the front door, it's not like the back room or anything.

That door IS the front door.

Gotta be a fire hazard, right? Fortunately, this is Guam, where no one cares about such things.

Second, the timeline was ridiculous. Guam is a place where no one has any sense of urgency at all, about anything, ever. When we left our couch at the shop, the owner and upholsterer (hereafter known as Upholstery Guy) told us it would be ready in "Ten to fourteen days, probably closer to fourteen." Fair enough. He said he would call us when it was done.

Day 14- No phone call, so I call to follow up. Upholstery Guy is confused and vaguely incredulous. He says it will be done by Wednesday (which is day 18, by the way). He will deliver it to our house.

Day 16- I call to clarify when the delivery will be, to ensure someone will be home. Upholstery Guy is confused and vaguely incredulous. He says it will be done sometime this week. He will call us. He cannot deliver the couch; we will have to pick it up. 

Day 20- I call to ask if the couch is done. Upholstery Guy is confused and slightly annoyed. He says it can be done by tomorrow. But maybe we could give him until day 23 instead? That would be better. But if I insist (which I do) I can pick it up tomorrow.

Day 21- Given how this has been going so far, I call to confirm that the couch is indeed ready. Upholstery Guy is confused and slightly annoyed. He says OF COURSE it is done. YES, we can come get it.

Day 21 (later that day)- We arrive at the shop to pick up our couch. Upholstery Guy tells us, "You call too much."

(Now, to give you a more well-rounded picture, he was actually very nice, and I'm sure some of the communication problems were due to language barrier issues. But still. Seriously.)

But! The couch looks awesome now! So all worth it. I guess.

(Sorry, couldn't find any good "before" pictures. Apparently I was subconsciously avoiding having any photographic evidence of such an eyesore. Bad blogger, I am.)

did I forget to mention this?

Baby #3 is officially our first boy!

I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of excited. Baby girl clothes are cute and all with their ruffles and bows, but I'm ready for trucks and dinosaurs and robots. (Not that girls don't like trucks and dinosaurs and robots, but you know what I mean.) I had a feeling he was a boy, though I'm sure that feeling was just based on the notion that we were "due for" a boy, which of course doesn't make any logical or statistical sense, but whatever. Jack was convinced (equally illogically, I might add) that we were fated to have only girls, so of course when the ultrasound revealed the truth, I turned to him and very maturely exclaimed, "I TOLD YOU SO!!"

I took a Facebook poll, and everyone agreed that there's nothing weird about posting grainy sonogram pictures of my fetal son's nether-regions on the Internet. So that makes it officially okay, right? So here's proof.

I knew since before we were married that my firstborn son's name was pretty much decided already-- my husband being "the fourth" of his name and all. But the nickname was all ours! But... there are surprisingly few nicknames for John, so my list of options was actually fairly short.

So this is John C. McDonnell V, aka baby Jackson. 

He's a cutie, inn'e? 

Also, here's kind of a funny thing: pediatricians are weird about what week of pregnancy we're in. For the first half, we're pretty much like everyone else. But speaking from a medical perspective, fetal viability begins at 24 weeks... or maaaaaybe 23. So at like 22 weeks, pregnant peds people start to get all nervous. Not like a baby born prematurely at 22 weeks is worse than a baby born at 19 weeks... they're both "nonviable." But it just feels like, so close! But then the anxiety doesn't really lessen significantly at 24 weeks, because 24 week preemies are sick as crap and a lot of them die or have severe brain damage, so you're all like, "STAY IN THERE BABY." And then with each passing week you breathe slightly easier. Because while a lot of babies born at 29 weeks will need to be on a ventilator and stuff, mostly they end up okay. And babies born at 32 weeks need to stay in the NICU for awhile, but their lungs are reasonably well-developed and they can breathe pretty well. And most babies born at 35 weeks are basically the same as term babies except maybe they'll be more jaundiced and have a little trouble eating, but they're really totally no big deal. Except there's some evidence that babies born at 37 weeks have a higher risk of like, neurobehavioral issues than babies born at 40 weeks, even though 37 weeks is technically term.

So we have all this stuff running through our heads whenever we think about what week we're in (26 currently for me, FYI), and it's kind of weird and maybe a little morbid, and mostly it all amounts to "STAY IN THERE BABY" even when we're sick and tired of being pregnant. 

christmas music rules and regulations

Happy sixth day of Christmas, everyone!

Now that it's actually Christmastide, we can finally listen to Christmas music... and we have been! Faith is currently singing on repeat, "Gloo-oo-ooo-ooo-ooria, in a chili cereal." Which doesn't actually sound that different from "in excelsis deo" when you sing it.

But I'm a little picky about my Christmas music. In order for me to enjoy it, it generally has to follow a few rules:

1- No electronica. For the sake of all that is good and holy, no one wants synthesized Christmas music. Or at least, I don't.

2- Don't jazz it up too much... unless you are actually singing a jazz version. Then it's okay. Carry on, Ella Fitzgerald. Harry Connick Jr, Diana Krall, I'll allow your improvisations. Mariah Carey, stop it.

3- Guess what? Christmas carols pretty much all have more than one verse! How annoying is it when the singer only sings the first verse?... or even worse, when they sing the first verse repeatedly?

4- Don't just change words for no reason. Leigh Nash of Sixpence None the Richer has a lovely voice, but her version of Angels We Have Heard On High starts like this:

Angels we have heard on high,

Singing sweetly through the night,

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their brave delight.

Why, why would you do that?!

So I thought I'd share my Spotify Christmas playlist with you. It has basically all the Christmas songs I could think of... and it's a bit eclectic, ranging from the big-band crooners to jazz numbers (complete with one episode of scat singing) to folksy acoustic versions, but I like it. And it generally follows the rules-- it's possible there might be an exception or two that I still like for sentimental reasons, but hey, it's my playlist. Maybe you'll like it too!