penn

Week 31

Happy Monday! Here's another awesome bathroom selfie. Aside from swollen ankles and sometimes heartburn, I'm great. Besides, my ailments are an excuse to get foot rubs and have peppermint tea.

Also pictured: Matt finishing his first ever 10k at our local nature center. Mud and rain did not deter him (though lightning did delay the run by a half hour). In two weeks, he'll do another 10k in Fargo. I'm so proud of his hard work.

Baby burp clothes

Last night, I got back in the sewing saddle. One of the amazing perks of my school is that we have an entire center designed to encourage student creativity, design, and awesomeness. Part of that is a sewing center. I'd share their cool names, but I think that would make everything too google-friendly. In the sewing center, we have commercial sewing machines (so nice) and a serger. I'd never used a serger before, and the machines made me a little nervous, so I headed in to get some lessons from the assistant director of the center.

I'm hoping to make several things for our baby, including a bunch of reusable wipes, burp clothes, and whatever else strikes my fancy. I'd ultimately like to make a quilt, and I'm slowly working my way up to that. Last night, I also learned how to use the rotary cutter.

Here's the finished product. After learning one, the second one went way quicker!

I pinned fabric to cover the thicker, center part of a pre-made cloth diaper. I sewed down the long edges, and then I surged the short edges. Sewing the short edges would also work fine as well, but I figured I'd take advantage of the fun serger.

Serging!

Here's one of the burp clothes all spread out.

I'm really looking forward to what I can make going forward. These tools are smooth and so easy to use. I was nervous before going in, and the commercial sewing machines make everything so much easier than my home machine. I think I might need to make another fabric store run, because my little stash will go quick.

Happy Earth Day!

This year, I've been asked to give the reflection in chapel. (Religious school = weekly chapel) I'd like to share my words here. This is more than I usually share of myself and my personal beliefs; I'm not much one for talking about my faith with others. However, I find care and stewardship of the Earth so important, and I am excited to share my message.

This is long, so I've put this behind a cut.

Uterine dance party

One of the most surreal things about being pregnant is all the motion in my belly. One would think that you wouldn't feel all new sensations at the ripe age of 31, but this pregnancy has thrown me for a loop.

I felt the first kicks around week 18 when we were at the opera Macbeth. Something about the swelling music (or maybe just coincidence) had me feeling the first tiny little taps from my insides. I jumped in shock.

For awhile, the kicks were intermittent, and I wouldn't feel them every day. Start around week 22 or 23, I started feeling kicks most days in the evening. I'd lay down to relax and then the baby would get going. Ever since then, these sensations have intensified.

I'm at week 30 now, and I feel these kicks all the time. The baby definitely has waking periods during the day. A lot of the kicks can be seen from the outside, so I've had a few students catch some of the movement. The biggest ones are still at night, and that's when we get the dance party going. Another friend refers to these sensations as Loch Nessing. In any case, the baby seems to roll around and make big pushes within my uterus. I get noticeably large bulges. Sometimes, I even look down and ask the baby what's going on. Matt and I have both been amazed by the activity.

Tonight, our cat Lucy even settled onto my lap tonight and put up with some amount of kicking before she bailed. She's been really snuggly recently. I don't think she quite knows what is going to happen to her, but I think she senses that something is going on. We've been remaking "her" room (our guest room) as the baby room, and I keep getting bigger.

This whole process is pretty amazing. It's simultaneously awesome that I'm 75% there and weird to think I still have 10 weeks or so left. I'm excited, nervous, and everything all at once. For now, I'm just enjoying the evening dance party and slowly getting ready.

PS Maternity pants make me feel like Steve Urkel. Maybe I'm one of the few that feels this way, but I will be really excited when I can fit back into pants with a normal waistband.

Hair, abbreviated

About a month ago, at the end of spring break, I chopped off my hair. I had been growing out my hair for over two years, and it was time. I donated the proceeds to Pantene Beautiful Lengths because their hair donations get used to make wigs for the American Cancer Society.

This is my long "before" hair (and what you'll also see in spring break photos I'm still hoping to share):

Making the cut:

My donated locks:

And the after!

I'm enjoying short hair; it's easy to take care of and doesn't get in my way. I'm still not sure if I'll grow out my hair again or just keep it short.

For good measure, here's a 29 weeks picture of my belly:

Change

I'm mailing off this book to a friend. Before I do, I want to share a quote on change. In the book, the protagonist has just been sent to work for a family because her family has fallen on hardship, and this is a great shift from all she had previously encountered.

From Girl with a Pearl Earring:

It was strange to meet so many new people and see so many new things in one morning, and to do so apart from all the familiar things that made up my life. Before, if I met someone new I was always surrounded by family and neighbors. If I went to a new place I was with Francis or my mother or father and felt no threat. The new was woven in the the old, like the darning in a sock.

And, yes, it's a novel about the painting by Vermeer.

Glow

This week, we made glowing bacteria in my bio class. The first pic is bacteria missing one ingredient for glowing; the second has all necessary parts. The light is UV to help excite the proteins.