Carving punkins

On Saturday we carved pumpkins with Colleen and her girls, Claire and Lydia (Claire is pictured here, Lydia was taking a nap). We also toasted pumpkin seeds, shared some carrot apple soup, and went for a hike in the UNCA forest with Juniper and Stewart (Colleen's dog). The weather turned from overcast to sunshine, and it was a beautiful day!

Siding Begins

The house construction continues to go well. The HVAC work is nearly complete as is the rough plumbing. Electrical should wrap up this week. I took the day off last Friday to run the computer/phone/tv cable to various rooms. It's a good feeling to be able to work at the house for a day and leave it without worrying about how the rest of the work is going to get done. We're happy with our general contractor. The only unpleasing issue is the size of our cabinet allowance. We could probably use it to take 2-week caribbean cruise yet it won't afford enough bottom-of-the-line press board cabinets to fill our kitchen. We're entertaining the idea of installing them ourselves so we can stay within budget. We'll let you know how that goes. On another completely different note, Neil Diamond's new album is rockin'. His sweet sound is playing in our kitchen now while our sun dried tomatoes and leek risotto dinner is baking in the oven. We went to Ryan and Debra Fedak's wedding in Roanoke VA this weekend. Man, the leaves we're beautiful. The wedding ceremony was outdoors on top of a small mountain overlooked the appalachians and the reception was in a barn. It was great to see old friends and to dance. Some say I danced a bit to hard, but that's just my style. Enjoy the week blogger junkies...

I'm huge!

As you can see in this photo, my belly has really grown a lot in the past week. Aside from heartburn, I'm feeling pretty good. Went to the midwife yesterday, and she could tell where the baby's back was, where the baby's feet were, so that was kind of neat. She can just feel my stomach and get a sense of the baby's position. The house is coming along, siding started this week (though it's rainy, so not much is getting done). On the inside, they're finishing up on the HVAC and electric. We're hoping to go to a wedding in Roanoke, VA this weekend, but Seth waited to the last minute to book our hotel room and now all the hotels in the area are filled up because of another event. No room at the inn for pregnant mama.

Diaper Revelations

Getting my hair cut on Monday morning, I happened to mention to my stylist (who is also a mother and an artist)...tell me how you did the cloth diaper thing. Before I knew it she was pushing a stack of 27 pre-fitted newborn diapers into my hands, and giving me washing instructions. Yippee! Diaper problem solved. Then my friend Colleen called to tell me about g diapers, the first flushable diapers. The idea is that they are better for the environment because you can flush them and they are also compostable if the diaper is just wet and not poopy. As if you all wanted to know. Anyhow, check out www.gdiapers.com and be amazed! So it looks like we will do a mix of cloth, g's, and disposable, hoping to stick mostly with cloth while I'm on maternity leave. On Monday night, Seth and I took a tour of Mission hospital's labor and delivery rooms. They have fancy beds in which the bottom part lowers so you can be in a sitting, squatting, or kneeling position, all on the bed. They also have "water world," four rooms reserved for those wanting an unmedicated birth, equipped with birthing tubs. We liked the nurse who showed our group around, she encouraged things like skin to skin contact with the baby right after birth, and breastfeeding within the first hour, but was also able to be very non-judgemental about all the different choices mamas make these days about how to give birth. So it was a good visit. There's a part of me that wonders if this would all be so much easier and more comfortable at home. No matter how cool the hospital is, it's sort of hotel-like, and you just don't feel like you're at home. It's looking more and more like Beka, our friend, neighbor, and my yoga teacher, will be our doula. Now we're onto solving the childcare dilemma.