My Mom of Cozy Hats & More sent us a warm love-filled box of handmade gifts!
Will’s gifts were a cute pair of blue and green knit socks and a smashing brown and cream knit hat! (I will post Billy and my gifts later. I need to take pics!)
February 14th was also Will’s 7 month bday!
My mom sells this hat as well as other styles on etsy.
Last weekend Billy, Will and I went to Portland to honor mormor (meaning “mother’s mother in Swedish). She passed away on her birthday this last September 29th at the age of 84. She had traveled to South Dakota from Portland, Oregon just ten days earlier for my oldest brother’s wedding. She arrived around 11pm on September 19th (my youngest brother’s birthday and one day before the wedding she had come to see), she made the rounds and said hello to everyone then went back to her hotel room to get ready for bed then 20 minutes later had a stroke. She was attended by the innkeeper who used to be an EMT until the ambulance came and was then rushed to the hospital three blocks away. This was a small town where everyone seemed to know each other: Wellington Spring, South Dakota.
I was asleep with my little family in my hotel room trying to catch up on some sleep. Being a new mom, my family did not wake me when they got in to town so I did not get to see mormor before the stroke. I was waken from my deep slumber by my third brother. He came to let me know what had happened. The knocking was loud and unexpected, it scared us in our little room. Startled and scared I came to the door to see it was merely my brother then I got hit with something even more starling and scary. Mormor was being taken to the hospital.
WHY DID I ASK TO BE LEFT TO SLEEP!? If I hadn’t planned on catching up on sleep I could have seen mormor one last time.
This was going to be the first time mormor had met Will. And I had not seen mormor since last Christmas. Oh mormor. I love you so much. I miss you so much. I know I can’t hang on to this regret of not seeing her this last time and of her not meeting her first grandchild of her youngest daughter’s family.
Well, I did get to see her as she was being wheeled to the ambulance as well as in the hospital a few times. I even got to say “goodbye”. We all got to before we left to go home. It was hard to do because she was still alive. I did it anyway but I used positive language and tone of voice.
Wow. This post is a bit hard to write.
And now, baby is here after his bath with dad and need to be fed. I’m going to go feed him now and hope to write more on this later but I know if I don’t post this now it may get stuck in my “saved drafts” pile.
good night, and be well.
I started wearing Will in a baby sling today. I had actually tried it before with little success and confidence but since I have started reading up on the benefits of it I decided to give it another try.
The sling we are using is the HotSling. My boss’ wife handed it down to us. It is reversible. Billy uses the all black side, I use the floral side. There are several ways you can “hold” your baby in the sling. But newborns have limited options. Once Will can hold up his own head (more than now and then) we can take advantage of the other options. This sling seems to barely fit Will, I can’t image holding a toddler in there (which you are supposed to be able to do). Wow.
Will liked the sling once I got more comfortable with it. We even nursed in it. That didn’t go so well. He is too squished up to be able to get good swallows and breathing in… at least that is my take.
I have more to learn about “babywearing” as it is called. I will keep you posed.
Recently I have been searching for a pediatrician. I have to find one in San Francisco because that is my medical group’s service area. I will have to pay a toll, drive over the Bay Bridge and drive about 12 miles every time I will take the little one to the pediatrician (this is how it is now when I go to the OB/GYN now that we live in the East Bay). I don’t yet know how often the visits will be, but I have heard mention of the word “regular” in the early years. Oy vey!
We can’t switch medical groups at this point because I am too far along in my pregnancy. If we could switch, we could get a pediatrician closer to home but then we would be at a different hospital.
Challenges:
- finding time for both Billy and I to interview a doctor
- figuring out the questions to ask
- finding a doctor close to highway access
- knowing how to narrow down the search
- picking a young or older doctor
- understanding what is necessary medically and what could be done with a more natural approach… its easy enough to make these decisions for myself, but a brand new little person?
- trying not to worry that I feel pressure to get all this done yesterday so everything is prepared
Now… trying to relax, get this done, then move on to focusing on a positive rest of my pregnancy and birth experience. Oh yah, I also have to plan for a way to make money now that I no longer have a job.
I may have already mentioned in my blog that I am going to miss my baby brother’s wedding in mid-July because of my bed rest and pregnancy. I cannot believe this is actually a fact. I keep hoping somehow I will be able to go. He lives in Portland, Oregon. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and am currently on bed rest. Sigh.
It has been said that I was a “second mommy” to my youngest brother. We are 9 and a 1/2 years apart in age. I am have bittersweet feelings about his wedding, the birth of my baby, and the fact that I love him so much. I really want to be there for him… for me. I can barely see the screen right now as I type because of the tears in my eyes. I know he understands that I can’t be there for his wedding. I am not sure I understand. It is one of those situations where I just can’t believe it. Well, believe it I must.
Like I have said before, one of the greatest gifts I can give him is a healthy nephew!
On my internet travels from bed today I came across this wedding blog that featured Paloma’s Nest Ring Holders today. They are pretty little white ceramic bowls or “nests” to place wedding rings in for the ceremony. Paloma’s Nest will stamp a custom message in the bowl for you. You can feed a ribbon that matches your wedding colors to hold the rings in place. When the ceremony is done you can hang the little nest on a wall. I think they are beautifully simple and lovely.
My brother’s last name is Parrott (we pronounce it like the bird parrot) so this little nest would be suited for him and his lovely bride-to-be!
You can head over to Paloma’s Nest shop on Etsy and check out all of the beauties they make. Lots of them are customizable. And, fun fact: “The studio is powered 100% by Renewable Wind Energy. That means when the wind is a blowin’ out in West Texas, my little kiln is a firin’.”
In the last week I received 2 bouquets of flowers!
I received this lovely bouquet of tulips after coming home from the hospital… they were anonymous. Thank you, whoever you are that gave me those beauties!
The second, was a wonderful assortment of flowers that Billy brought me for my birthday from our local farmers market. He went to buy us fresh local organic veggies for the week and surprised me with these lovelies:
Also, today I got a heck of a lot of birthday and Mother’s Day calls. Thank you all for making my day! I know some talented singers! Well, song or not, you all made my heart sing :D
love,
~Christine
The responses to the questions I posed in my “On Mother’s Day, Crafts, Old Habits, Health, and Family” post are in! I wondered:
1) would my mom like an iPod Shuffle?
2) and if so, what color?
It turns out she is really looking forward to getting it and she likes the lavender one. She is softy for pastels.
Along with her response, she sent me a picture of her new mini-gym. She got a stationary bicycle and a mini-trampoline at a garage sale for $40 total. What a deal! They look pretty nice too. Nice work mom!
So, the shuffle has been ordered but its going to take a little while to get to mom. Sigh. Well, something to look forward to.