eventful day

Nope, no baby yet, but what qualifies as eventful in my mind has changed proportionately with the lack of things I'm doing because of this blood pressure thing. I have been getting a lot of reading done, and Adam's been getting tons of housework and chore-y stuff done. Here's what took place today:

Sitting in the hammock chair, sleeping on the hammock, enjoying the beautiful weather and reading outside. (Also had two loads of laundry on our new clothesline - it was a perfect clothes drying day!)

Adam cleaned out the shed! Garbage pick up is this week (not just regular collection, but big-item spring pick up), and we had some things to get rid of. So Adam emptied the shed (phew, it needed it!) and I sorted and organized the many plant pots and supplies. Mostly I sat in a camp chair and supervised, as I was instructed. It's like a whole new shed, and you can actually get in and out safely and efficiently, locating what you need when you need it! Fabulous.

The Purolator delivery person brought diaper covers I ordered from Valley Cloth Diapers! They're Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, and they're apparently great with prefolds. I'm eager to try them out on baby G's cute bottom! One of them has a very cute frog pattern on it.

I made hasselback potatoes for supper (from a Nigella Lawson book I borrowed from the library). Mmmmmmmmmmmm. I also made a bean salad of sorts, a mix of canned beans, grated mozzarella cheese, chopped jarred jalapenos, and frozen corn, with a little oregano and basil. Also mmmmmmmm-worthy. And then my blood pressure was up, so I resumed doing more nothing!

ode to a cherry tree

This is our japanese cherry tree as of a few minutes ago. I would have bought this property without a house, because of this tree.
I think it's one of the largest of its kind in the area, and I don't think that's just because it's ours. It's HUGE compared to most which you see around here.


I hope baby G is born and gets to see it before the blooms are gone.

les fleurs

Some more adorable tiny daffodils have just opened. I like how they droop.
And I planted some lobelia in a planter on the back step the other day - they're so pretty!

rhubarb custard wonderfulness #290

This is post 290 - wow, that's so many! Although our rhubarb is still pretty wimpy, some friends of ours have the biggest, baddest rhubarb anywhere. It's up to my waist, and the leaves are as big around as the hole that's made when I make a circle with my arms. (I guess the hole looks a little smaller since baby G is filling it in a bit, but the leaves are GIANT.) We were there the other night for birthday fireworks (much more successful than the most recent New Year's ones), and I was kindly offered some rhubarb to bring home. Which I did, and made this rhubarb custard pie recipe given to me by mother-in-law (I'm not sure where she got it from). It is divine, to put it mildly. The crust pictured is not the crust in the recipe; this one is Adam friendly and has only butter, flour, salt, and water in it. You could put the filling in any crust, really. Even a store one, although that would NOT be so yummy. Following is the original recipe:

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Crust:
1 3/4 c flour
3 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
(combine)
1/2 c butter
1/2 c shortening
(cut in)
1/3 c ice water, approximately (just enough to hold dough together)

Press into ball and flatten into disc. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll and lay in a 9x13 pan or a deep dish pie dish (it will not fit with the filling in a regular small pie plate and you'll end up with a big mess).

Filling:
3 eggs
1 c sugar
3 tbsp flour
(whisk together)
Stir in 4 c chopped rhubarb. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 for 10 minutes; reduce heat to 325 and bake for 35-45 minutes or until middle is well set.

38 weeks

The weather this weekend was so beautiful that I spent all day Saturday and again Sunday out on the hammock and hammock chair in the garden, with strict orders to do not much of anything. My blood pressure's still up a bit, and goes higher when I'm doing stuff, so I'm trying to do nothing. Which, for me, is a very difficult thing. My point being that this pic wasn't posted earlier because I was either sleeping or reading in the garden - can you possibly think of anything more lovely than that? (I'm reading two books at the moment - The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Both very good reads, in very different ways. More on this when I'm finished reading them.)

So, 38 weeks! Baby G is still packing on the fat, which will help regulate his / her body temperature after birth. So amazing! Every time I read more about exactly what's going on with my body and baby and how everything's getting ready for this impending birth, I am amazed. It's such an incredible process, and I'm designed specifically for it. Crazy. And I just can't wait to meet baby G and look into his or her little face. I'm smitten already.

garden party

These are the tiniest daffodils ever (a little less than an inch across), and I adore them. We have two stems and a total of 5 cute daffy faces.
The japanese cherry tree is getting ready to bloom! It's kind of like magnolias - the only trouble is that the blooms last for such a short period of time.
The tulips are still in full swing. This was taken just as they were finishing closing up for the night.
One of the stripey tulips with one petal yet to be tucked in.
Lily of the Valley are everywhere and lovely!
Yipeeeee! Peony buds!
And I just noticed this evening that the very edge of the yellow tulips is red, of all things.
And the bleeding hearts are bleeding away.

No baby G has arrived yet, but there's enough activity in the garden to fill a post! Along with taking pictures in the yard this evening, we also planted some veggies this morning at The Shire (pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers) so hopefully those will grow nicely. And I took a nice nap on the hammock this afternoon while Adam worked away in the yard. My feet were pleasantly de-puffed afterward! I'm excited to drain out after baby arrives.

clothesline

My excitement of the summer culminated last evening in the erection of a new clothesline in our back yard! (I think I might change my tune after baby G arrives, but my point is that I'm excited!) I know some people aren't quite as excited about laundry as I am, but please humour me. I love laundry. I love that you put it in dirty and it comes out clean. I love it that you can feel productive when the washer is going, but you're not really doing any work. And my favourite thing of all is hanging clothes out and bringing them in, sunny and dry and smelling like everything wonderful in the world. So, you can imagine my dismay when we cut down our big rotten tree and lost our clothesline in the process. We tried a bit to figure out what to do (while I in the meantime hung clothes out on a tipsy drying rack), and decided eventually that the easiest and best thing would be to ask our neighbour if she minded if we attached a new and improved clothesline (at least double the length) to the back of one of her trees. She was outside yesterday, and it turns out that the tree belongs to us anyway! The previous owners built a fence (which is covered in hedge) a little bit within our property line, so they would still have access. The giant tree (which I'm now proud to call my own) is on the other side of the fence and hedge, but on our property! So after spending the best $39.00 of the year for new clothesline and accessories and a bit of getting ourselves organized last night, we (mostly Adam) put up the school-bus coloured clothesline last night. I think it needs a name. It's barely 7:00am... I was up just after 6 and couldn't get back to sleep because I'm so excited to hang things out and for a sunny day with no commitments! I'll post this after I've hung things out on this beautiful sunny morning and have a picture or two to share.

really, truly done!

All kinds of reasons to celebrate!

1. Friends Ange & Pete had a baby boy yesterday (she was due the day after me)! Congratulations!

2. The sun is out today, and it wasn't even in the forecast! And it's looking sunny for the rest of the week!

3. I'm done, done, done work until January, so I'll be able to enjoy the sun! I went to the office this afternoon (it's really quiet on a holiday Monday, which made things easier) and finished up my year-end reports. After getting those done and leaving about 15 notes for the teacher filling in for me, I have released myself to the world of 'work, schmirk'! So, baby G, you can feel free to arrive any time at all. I went to the garden centre and bought a few little annuals for planters in the yard (see geraniums, above - I also bought some pansies) and a couple echinacea plants for Adam to do with what he likes. Bare patches in the lawn are filling in, and it's starting to look more and more like summer out there.

tulips

The tulips are bright and sunny, even though the weather isn't. I counted about 130 of them in our yard the other evening - we're so lucky! Adam and I were joking that if we ever move, we're cleaning everything out to take with us, especially the tulip bulbs.

37 weeks

Here's baby and me at 37 weeks! Adam took the second one just before I had a lovely nap this afternoon (I do look a little sleepy, don't I?). Baby G is approximately 6.5 pounds now (wow, that's weird to imagine!) and s/he is shedding and ingesting the lanugo (fuzzy hair-like stuff) and vernix (creamy protective stuff) which has been all over him / her for the past while. 'Breathing' in the amniotic fluid and digesting this stuff - it's all pretty wild.

I've been relaxing lots, like a good mama, and puttering away at my student's end of year reports, which I'm hoping to have finished by the middle of next week. I'm also hoping that baby G doesn't arrive before then! Not too much else is new, except that the tulips are all open and beautiful in the yard, despite the week of rain, drizzle, clouds, and fog. It's calling for sunny with cloudy periods on Wednesday, though - there's hope!

limping tractor

Adam just showed me this short video clip. I laughed so hard at how the driver is propelling the tractor, I almost had a baby. I'm not sure why it struck me as funny as it did, but I thought it was worth sharing. You can see it here.

favourite things of the day

Daffodils fresh from the garden,
lily of the valley from the garden in an oh-so-cute little pitcher,
and a fabulous baby who is definitely head-down! I had a quick ultrasound this morning, just to determine baby G's position, and s/he is indeed head down. Sounds a bit uncomfortable to me (that's something I've been wondering - why don't babies in utero have all of the blood rush to their heads and pass out when they're in there?) but it's just what we asked him / her to do. What a good baby! Again, they wouldn't really show me as they were taking the images, but I saw a round head shape, some wiggly legs, and a heart beating away. Pretty amazing!

clinic appointment number 1000

OK, not 1000, but close. It's like a second home in there. I had the regular check up this afternoon, along with the Group B Strep test (yipee!) I'm guessing I'll get the results of that next week at my appointment. If I test positive, I'll have to have antibiotics during labour, so the baby doesn't catch it on the way out (what a funny way to put it!) The doctor I saw today is convinced that baby G is in fact upside down, and I hope he's right. I have an ultrasound scheduled first thing tomorrow morning, so we'll see where baby G is then. The doctor also said that breech babies make some of the nicest deliveries because they just kind of slide right out, although C sections are usually scheduled here. On the whole, a good appointment. My blood pressure was much better than yesterday (125/81, I think it was) and I've only gained 1/2 pound since last week. What a good baby!

I met with my replacement person this morning and got her set with the details of taking over. I'm sure she's overwhelmed, but I'm also sure that she'll do fine. Now that that's done, I feel a whole lot better. My only work left is to type up my end of year reports from home slowly over the next couple of weeks (I have them all 'done', they just need to be put together, so it's not stressful work) and mail them out. With lots of rest and relaxation in between! Just waiting for this little one!

no more work for the pregnant lady!

Yay, I'm done work until January! (And both baby G and I are fine.)

My blood pressure has been a bit high as of late, and when I checked it at lunch time (my heart was racing for no apparent reason and I just felt a little funny, even though my most strenuous activity was eating lunch) it was 154 /88 and my heart rate was 98. (My usual BP is 110/70 and my heart rate is around 62.) We have a home monitor for Adam, in case you're thinking 'How did she check her blood pressure?' We've had our monitor checked against the hospital ones a couple of times, and it was perfectly accurate both times.

Anyway, before I had the machine turned off, the phone rang and it was the prenatal clinic calling with my next ultrasound date (Wednesday morning, to see if baby G has turned around yet) so since she was on the phone, I mentioned the BP to the nurse. She checked my file, and asked me to go in to be monitored for a bit, so that's where I spent the afternoon. Of course, my BP went down nicely as I waited at the hospital, so the doctor took back her initial suggestion for me to stay overnight (phew!) The doctor also said that I should be done work and wrote me a nice note to that effect.

The only problem is that my replacement teacher for work is coming tonight for three days, when we were going to meet the students and I was to show her the ropes, etc., so I'm not sure exactly how things will pan out with all of the details. I'm waiting for my supervisor to call me back and I guess we'll sort things out. I just keep thinking of all of the little loose ends which I wanted to tie up! And my service plans (they outline all of the year's goals with the students, kind of like a report card specific to what I've been working on with them) were going to be done next week. Maybe I can do those from home? That doesn't seem like too much of a blood pressure-raising activity, does it? Or would that be being a bad patient?

frenchy's with Adam

Adam came to Frenchy's with me this morning, and he picked out these couple things for baby G. He said that the first one would look great on baby G with a pipe in baby's mouth, glasses, and a stack of books. Tee-hee!This one is for the sporty baby look, according to Adam. In real life, it's not faded, as it appears in the picture.

And Mama G, aka moi, found these silk maternity PJ bottoms! I love them, and think they'll be quite lovely when I'm in the hospital.
And lastly, I found this cute maternity blouse with cuffs I love! It's long enough for these last few weeks, unlike most of the shirts I have.

garden progress

Here's the veggie plot as of about 30 minutes ago. In the bottom front row are onions and garlic, the top right is sugar snap peas. Today I planted some lettuce, beets, and carrots in the spots with branches over top (those are to deter neighbourhood kitties from using it as a litter box).Here are the peas (and Adam walking across the top of the picture):
And the planter I posted pictures of when I planted it - I haven't brought it in yet, and it looks pretty happy. I still love how delicate and feminine it looks - I'm happy with the combination of flowers. (Except, perhaps, the orange pansy in the middle. Adam insisted that I squeeze it in.)

36 weeks

Barefoot...and pregnant!
Adam and I went to Port Maitland beach this morning. It was warm, but windy! This spot was a little more sheltered than out on the open beach.

Baby Graham weighs approximately 6.3 pounds, and is almost ready for the world. At the end of this week, s/he will be full term and just hanging out until s/he's ready to be born! Baby G is also wiggling up a storm as I type.

planter-y summer-y sunny delightfulness

I couldn't wait any longer and bought a few little plants for our back door planter and plopped them in this afternoon. 100% prettier! I was in a very feminine flower sort of mood when I picked them. The weather is supposed to be nice and warm all week (28 tomorrow!) so they'll be OK for a few days... if there's a frost warning, I can always bring them in for the night. The flowers in the back are pansies, of course (mostly purple and white combinations) and I forget already what the traily white ones are called (the tag is out in the shed... way too much work to find now) but I love them.

more 35 week pictures

Adam took these this morning at the beach. I (remarkably) wasn't frozen solid for the first one, but the sweater went right back on afterwards. In the second picture, the baby kicked (or punched) Adam's hand just as the camera took the picture, which is why I was laughing. I think s/he is getting ready for lots of posing in a few more weeks!

beachy beach

Adam and I went to John's Cove beach this morning for a little walk and some picture-taking. There were thousands of snail trails in the sand, but this little guy was one of the only periwinkles we saw, sliding his way toward the water with his shell covered in sand.

I really like the purple of mussel shells... it's not a colour you find too many other places on the beach.
And here's my handsome husband, posing with his 'Through the Viewfinder' picture-taking equipment.