well, he's gone.

Is there a way to turn this blog blue, just for this entry? Not that I'm depressed or anything. I'm actually feeling much better than I anticipated feeling after Seth left, but he's still gone. He left on Thursday, called me frorm Hawaii, let me wait for two days, and then called me from Guam. It turns out that his cell phone doesn't get reception on Guam, even though our plan covers Guam. Go figure. Anyway, that means that even when they're not at sea, it's unlikely that I'll hear from him. Perfect.

The worst part is that I'm not able to force myself into busyness like I usually do. My usual deployment habits include taking on new projects or community activities, reading for hours, working myself into a frazzle until 11:30 and dropping exhausted into bed, and hopping in the car or on a ferry to catch a friend or visit relatives. Now I'm just too tired to do all that. I'm almost too tired to maintain what I've already got going (almost, not quite). But I'm not too tired to feel how empty this house can be without my husband in it. At least not all the time.

On the other hand, the best part is how many people pop out of the woodwork to care for a pregnant woman. Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances have all made it clear that all I have to do is ask for help in order to get it. People I haven't heard from in almost a year are dropping by for visits and making sure I have everything I need. At this point, if I go into labor unexpectedly, the question will not be "do I have a person I can rely on?" but "which reliable person should I call?" I'm just not going to be able to call Seth and tell him because his phone doesn't get reception. Being able to talk to each other on deployments was the whole reason we got two cell phones in the first place. Sheesh.

Baby's trousseau (or whatever you call the collection of stuff a baby needs) is coming together. We have
a bassinet courtesy of a family from our church
an heirloom crib as described in previous posts
a changing table
a rocking chair
two stuffed animals
a nightlight
some decorative bits -- wallpaper pictures, a vase, a figurine, a poster
a lamp
5 onsies
1 sleeper
1 sweatshirt that says "Dordt College" on it -- Thank you, Laura
1 pair of shoes
2 mattress covers
1 blanket -- knitted
an infant carseat
a stroller
a high chair
1 bottle of baby shampoo
a box to put baby socks in
and 1 rubber ducky.

So, you experienced mothers out there, tell me what else I need to get before baby arrives. I have to put together a list before baby showers start. Here's what I know:
diapers (big time)
sheets -- for crib, bassinet, and changing table
bottles -- just a couple for emergencies
clothes -- preferably feminine because everything we have so far is neutral or masculine
a baby bathtub
That's a surprisingly short list, so I know I must be overlooking something. Or maybe not. Maybe it's just all been provided.

Love to you all, and for those of you who know my phone number, I'm probably home and wouldn't mind hearing from you.

Love,
Jennifer

Happy Holidays

Well, it's January 2nd, Seth has gone back to work, and I'm trying to figure out what I should be doing with myself. It's not that I have nothing to do; it's just that I'm not sure what I should start with. Doing the dishes is an obvious option. It's been three days since they got done. And there's always laundry. Plus there's worship practice tonight.


All in all, I'm not surprised that I've been really tired lately. I did not see the New Year in, though Seth stayed up to greet it with root beer floats and computer games. And I confess I spent most of New Year's Day in bed too. Of course, my pregnancy emails say that I will be getting more tired now that I'm in my third tremester. As if I needed more fatigue!

But God provides. For instance, my family came over for New Years, and wouldn't you know, the first thing my mom did was my dishes. They also mounted the shelf in the baby room and helped Seth put the crib together.

So the baby room has become something of a multipurpose room. As you will notice, the tv is still in there. It will be until the bowl season is over, or at least until Seth leaves for his boat. Seth says he can totally see himself sitting in the rocking chair (see below for general idea) with a baby in one arm and a can of pop in the other. I told him that in such cases, it would be up to him to change the baby because I'm not climbing through all that to get to the changing table. He laughed.

I also have some history on the crib, for those of you who asked. My grandfather built this crib for my uncle, who is turning 60 this year. It was painted with lead paint and everything. When my uncle became a dad, he removed the lead paint and added the decals on the side. Then the crib withstood both of his kids, who are now grown, and the four kids of my aunt, who being the youngest in the family was in a position to receive a lot of hand-me-downs like that. When my aunt wanted to get rid of the crib, my parents said, "Hey, we've got kids near marrying age. They might need a crib." And so the crib came to us. We gave it a new coat of paint, and there it sits. We are thinking that the tv will fit nicely under the crib, while it's stand can fold up and fit anywhere. So Seth's football watching dreams are not that far-fetched.

Speaking of Seth, there's another provision. His leaving date was postponed for a week, so that's one less week that I'll have to spend alone before baby comes. (I've been kinda nervous about that. Anticipating the departure of one's spouse can really put a damper on the holiday season. ) Here he is with his Christmas beard. He grows a beard every leave and stand down period. And then he has to shave before he goes back to work. Poor guy, he really likes his beard.

Behind Seth, you can see our version of a Christmas tree this year. We went to Seth's parents' house for Christmas (sorry, no pictures), so the only decorations we put up were our lights and the garland you see above. All those cards are the cards we received from friends and family. So you might say that you made our Christmas (tree). :) Love to you all and a Happy New Year.

Jennifer

Cheep entertainment.

While we have no snow like my friend Alicia is enjoying at the moment, we have been finding ways to keep ourselves busy over the last few days.

Seth finally acquiesqued to my request that we put lights on the outside of the house this year. I have always felt that when it gets dark so early, we should do something to lighten up the great outdoors. Is this or is this not the season of light reborn? Here he is putting up icicle lights on the outside of the house and colored lights on our little fir tree. He's standing on our shed throwing the lights around the tree. My heart did a little pitter-patter when I saw that, and I almost thought that lights weren't worth it, but Seth is thoroughly converted and wants to make turning on the outside lights a little ceremony when our kids get old enough.

Plus we have plenty to do getting ready for baby. We got a stroller and a high chair from Seth's boat friends, with the promise of clothing later on. I have been reading up on natural childbirth and the inherent risks in various birthing procedures. Boy am I going to have a lot of questions for my doctor next time.

Seth has taken upon himself the task of painting the crib. He's not going at it with as much dedication as I would like (I would have liked it done a week ago just because then it would be done), but I have bit my tongue and not said anything. After all we still have time. He's not lazy; he's just not as anxious as I am. The crib is going to be pale yellow, the same color as our living room walls. Yes, we are using the same paint. Yes, we are that cheap. But the yellow looks very nice with the light blue of the baby's room and will go very well with the Beatrix Potter + other animals theme that we are trying to establish.

But the best entertainment has been all the winter critters. We had some bird seed left over from last year. Last year completely ruined our bird feeder, and so we've had to find other ways to distribute the bird seed. I've been sprinkling it on the railing of our porch. (Yes, I know that what isn't eaten will sprout. Most of it is getting eaten.) Then these little guys come along, accompanied by tiny little birds of every description and the odd crow or blue jay. Most of the creatures are very good at avoiding cameras, but I did manage to capture these two.

Max likes the squirrels too. Every time I open the door, he goes flying out and tries to catch a squirrel before it can get back over the fence. No luck yet, but he's always been close. (What I'll do if he actually catches, I'm not sure.) In fact, two days ago, he treed his first squirrel on the top of the shed. The poor squirrel was running back and forth trying to get away, and Max was running round and round making sure he didn't. He kept the squirrel up there for half an hour before I realized what was going on and called him off. It isn't easy to call off a hound who has actually treed his prey. So now the birds and squirrels have developed a commando attack scheme in which they hide out in the hedge, leap quickly for the porch, grab a seed, and leap back. It's really quite fun to watch.

And the verdict is . . .

Seth and I just got back from the ultrasound. All the evidence says that we're having a girl. Now I'm going to have to perform a "gestalt switch," as my friend Carol the counselor says, and start seriously planning to have a girl. The only problem is that we don't have any girl names picked out. Settling on a boy name was easy. We both loved the name. We haven't had that kind of collusion on girl names. Any suggestions?

been a while

Hello, everyone.

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but life is keeping me on my toes. It seems like every holiday season I rediscover that one shouldn't plan to do much during the holidays. I was hoping that the next time I posted, I would be able to show you my new crib, all painted and set up and prepared for baby. Alas, the most we've been able to do is clean it. It's still standing in pieces in the corner of what is now still the tv room. We have also been looking at wall paper and other decorations for baby's room when it becomes baby's room, but now that we've had another ultrasound scheduled, we thought it best to wait. Actually, I don't feel like putting up wall paper anyway.

I was also hoping to show some progress in the mural in my kitchen, but no such luck. The business of being pregnant has just been too much for me. I haven't even baked Christmas cookies yet, let alone applied more paint to walls. Plus we'd like to get the crib set up before Seth leaves, so it has first dibs on the paint and brushes.

Still, as far as forward progress is concerned, we do have a crib. We have a couple of outfits, a nightlight, some character decorations, a crib pad, and a comforter. This weekend, we'll be checking in with a Navy friend of Seth's who says he has an abundance of baby stuff to get rid of. (I hope he's asked his wife about getting rid of it. She might be planning on more kids.) I have another promise from a neighbor of a bassinet and a carrier plus other assorted nursery items. I was wondering where all these things were going to come from. I was worried about it. But God is providing in wonderful ways. And I don't even know the gender of my baby yet.