Seven Quick Takes

Linking up while it's still Friday this week!

I

"Mama, go 'way! Want Daddy!" Somebody took a while to go to sleep tonight... After getting a scant half hour of nap total today, I was really hoping for an easy bedtime, but we must have let him slip from "tired" into "overtired." Praying that he stays asleep in his own bed for hours and hours now!

II

I lit a fire this morning, tended it carefully, and it burned for hours but was unable to get the house even up to 70. Matt lit a fire after supper this evening, haphazardly tended it while we did a million other things, and now the house is 86 and I can't bear to sit within 10 feet of the fireplace. Does fire-building prowess come with the Y chromosome?

III

This morning I needed to spend a lot of time sitting still on the couch. It was a challenge to keep Little Bear happy without getting up, but we read stories and played red light green light for a while—he has loved pointing out stoplights for practically as long as he's been able to talk, and he discovered the game all by himself one day while he was helping me push the grocery cart. It's a good thing we usually go shopping in the morning so the aisles aren't crowded! He also built towers for me and knocked them over with stuffed animals. We definitely need to work on the concept of putting toys away! He'll happily help me straighten up, but pretends he doesn't understand what I'm saying if I ask him to do it by himself.

IV

Eventually he got fussy and I gave in and told him we could watch something... but Mama got to choose. Did you know that the first episode of Ree Drummond's Food Network show is on Netflix now? I've enjoyed her blog for several years, but had never seen the show. Well, I'm not sure whether Little Bear or I enjoyed it most! It was hilarious to watch him watching "the cooking lady." He was glued to her every move, narrating her actions, repeating her instructions:

"Butter in pan. Garlic pan. Oil! Oh, wow!"

"Mix mix round-a round-a, all done."

"Dump! Red wine vinegar. Mix pan, oh wow!"

There were many "oh, wow!"s. The cows and horses on the ranch were also pretty exciting.

V

I am so impatiently looking forward to this coming Wednesday morning: my first official appointment with the midwife. Hopefully with an in-office ultrasound to see the heartbeat. I know it's on the early side for the initial appointment, but we're right at the point where we lost Alex last time, and I think it would help my peace of mind to hear that everything is going okay so far. We're coming up on Alex's due date soon, and it seems like being able to have some confidence that Kit is okay will help me handle Nov 23 better.

VI

Speaking of Kit, this baby needs to get the memo that he or she is Catholic, and stop making me crave meat on Fridays! Every Friday for the past month, I haven't been able to shake the mental image of a thick, juicy burger with sweet potato fries. And only on Fridays; the thought never occurs to me any other day of the week. I tried to compromise with the baby tonight by having salmon burgers with sweet potato fries, and baby did approve of supper, but the image of a half-pound elk burger with onions and blue cheese is still lingering in the back of my mind...

VII

Wednesday's appointment will be with a midwife I've never met before, but have heard good things about. She had the licensure for home births before getting her CNM, so while she now does deliveries at the hospital, it seems likely that her philosophy toward unnecessary interventions will be similar to mine. But how do you find out whether a midwife or doctor is the right one for you? It doesn't really seem possible to know how they will be at the birth until you get there; with Little Bear, I liked the midwife I was working with pretty well up until we got to the hospital, and then I... really didn't. She moved, I found a new midwife I liked, but then she moved right around the time that we lost Alex and I was transferred to the care of an OB, who was okay until recently and now I'm not comfortable working with him. So I'm a little nervous about finding someone who I'll actually be okay working with all the way through this pregnancy. Are there any questions you would ask a new-to-you doctor? Is it okay for me to tell her briefly about Little Bear's birth and what was particularly hard for me, as long as I don't say anything negative about the midwife I was seeing at that time?