Drinking Liberally St. Paul at the Groveland Tap

We're embarking on that annual tradition: DL St Paul.

Last year we had a huge and eclectic crowd, including candidates, bloggers, political wonks, and even Craig Westover (in fact, that may have been the last time I've seen that man...)

This year, we've got Mayor Chris Coleman dropping in with his staff, from 6-7pm, and more to come later.

Come and hang out and drink liberally in St. Paul.

Note to self -- Don't Let Mitch teach my children

heh:

One simple explanation for this “disparity”; if one is teaching a required survey of Western Literature, Robert Browning and Dante Rossetti are both vastly more important figures than Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti. They matter more.

Dante was a PAINTER.

Robert was much less regarded than his wife:

"Public sympathy for him after her death (she was a much more popular poet during their lifetimes) surely helped the critical reception of his Collected Poems (1862) and Dramatis Personae (1863). The Ring and the Book (1868-9), based on an "old yellow book" which told of a Roman murder and trial, finally won him considerable popularity. He and Tennyson were now mentioned together as the foremost poets of the age. Although he lived and wrote actively for another twenty years, the late '60s were the peak of his career."

And, as I stated in my "evasive, straw-addled non-review" which, oddly enough, came out BEFORE the movie, "Robin Marty will be attending tonight's preview of "Indoctrinate U" at the Oak Street Cinema, and will provide a full report on the event on Sunday."

Since you have proven many times in the post that reading comprehension isn't your strong suit, unlike many who prefer to opine about things just 'cause, I didn't review the movie because I HADN'T SEEN IT YET.

Why have I not reviewed the movie since? I'm still trying to come up with something to say other than pointing out the huge ironies and contradictions riddling the "film." That, and I'm waiting until the run is over to find out how many people came to the rest of the showings.

Nursery Nearly Complete

Today, thanks to a weird bit of shipping, the hamper for the baby's room arrived.


It didn't take long for it to get filled, either.


I do not have a picture of June getting swatted repeatedly as she keeps jumping onto the dinning room table, try to get curled up on the wool car seat insert she seems to think is her new bed.

Forty Days

In Biblical speak, forty days is the equivalent of "we're not sure how long, but a pretty good stretch of time." But when I think about us having 40 days until the baby comes, it doesn't seem so stretchy. Maybe it would be if it rained the entire time.

Two out of three pieces of furniture have been assembled for the nursery. We focused on the storage parts -- changing table/bureau and chest of drawers. I've spent the last two days doing baby laundry with baby detergent, folding and storing. Everything made of cloth or latex has been put away.

Somehow we have ended up with 18 receiving blankets, but only one pair of socks and no mittens. We also have a beautiful set of sleeveless tank onesies that are never going to be worn, since by the time she can go sleeveless she'll be about 10 lbs too big for them. I think we may officially have enough sleepers now for her to sleep in an new one every night until she outgrows those, too. It's amazing to see all the clothes that she can only wear for 3 months or less, and realize we have to totally do this all again in March.

On the bright side, if she does somehow come out a boy, in two months or so he'll be able to get some boy clothes on. And we'll hide all the pictures of him as a newborn in pink until his first girlfriend comes over to meet us, and then bring them out and show them to her.

The Daddy-mobile is being shipped in as we speak, since they were out of them on the lot. We pick it up on Saturday, then will move in the baby seat (the sherpa liners pre-washed in Dreft, of course) and make sure it's in properly. Then we throw the nearly packed hospital bag in the back and we're good to go. The seat was the last thing we were waiting on, since allegedly they won't let you out of the hospital unless you have one.

Last night I was watching an old Molly Ringwald movie, where she got knocked up in high school. I found myself totally shocked when they put the baby down to sleep in a bassinet, then covered her with a blanket, and added in a stuffed animal, all huge no nos beaten into my head by the SIDS folks. Later, she was in a car with her mom, holding the baby on her lap. I yelled to Smartie "Oh my god, where is her car seat?"

What a difference two decades makes, huh? It's a wonder any of us are still alive.

34 week update

Just got back from the Dr a few minutes ago, and things look very good. I thought I had been feeling better the last couple of weeks, and it turns out I was right. For the first time I actually exceeded the amount of weight I was supposed to put on (3 lbs instead of my 2 they wanted) so my appetite is truly finally back. I've had huge energy this week (Smartie yelled at me for moving furniture upstairs yesterday, although I felt like superwoman when I did it), and my blood pressure has dropped back into my normal range, in the 110/65 area. The assumption is that I finally stopped being so keyed up about things going wrong and learned to relax. The Buddha appears to have already moved into head down, and all of my ceaseless questioning brought on by baby class has been answered.

My legs are still swollen, though, but you can't have everything.

Although I'm officially only 33 weeks 4 days today, I'm measuring at 35, a pretty big jump since when I was in two weeks ago I was 31 4 and measuring at 32. But the baby's a porker already, and she does this thing where she keeps sticking her butt our of my stomach, so I'm going to assume that added the extra week.

My biggest worry after baby class was the fact that my hospital doesn't have a NICU, and I was concerned that something would go wrong and she would end up at one hospital while I was stuck at my own. The Dr. reassured me that at 34 weeks she's likely mature enough that even if she popped out now she'd make it fine with what they have in the level 2 nursery, so the odds of her being sent anywhere else are pretty slim. We also had an interesting discussion on the episiotomy that I won't rehash here since some readers may be faint of heart.

This weekend we pick up our new baby furniture, and hopefully the new Daddy-mobile as well.

Breaking the Silence

During a pregnancy scare, life suddenly crystallizes. The pro-life, pro-choice debate comes much closer to home, and you're wondering if you have the gumption to terminate a pregnancy, or change life as you knew it by bringing a child to this world.
...
That pregnancy scare was years ago, but I can't help thinking about other women on campus who are experiencing the same fear and isolation that I had.

The fear of being judged, coerced or losing respect from others are strong reasons not to let others know about a pregnancy scare. But we do ourselves a disservice by never talking about it, even after it has been resolved. This silence promotes the hostile environment that people with a pregnancy scare find themselves in.

more

Goodbye Buddha, Hello Sasquatch

I was kind of surprised to have someone send an email asking about how birthing class went. So, you ask, I answer:

Kind of dull, really long. I was annoyed to find that they offered no food, which for the amount I had to pay and the hours we were there seemed pretty chintzy.

We learned to breathe, which I think may be helpful. We've learned a couple of other relaxation techniques that we are going to try out as well. I surprised myself by deciding that I am going to try and see how far I can get without drugs, rather than jumping right for the epidural. I didn't know that I can't get up or move in any way after they start the epidural, only change sides that I'm laying on. I don't think I can be that passive.

I played the icecube game and can breathe through 60 seconds of it, which is supposed to be a good test of how you find ways to cope. I know there will be much swearing involved, but if I can shift, breathe, growl and rock I think I can last a bit longer than I assumed I would.

All rules are off though if I get induced -- this is for regular contractions only, not power contractions.

Fun tidbits we learned:

There is an old wives tale that women who have bad heartburn during pregnancy tend to have babies with more hair. Turns out this has been proven to be true. Smartie turned to me and said "I guess our baby's a Sasquatch, then."

My hospital has no NICU. I hope that doesn't matter.

Birthing balls look cool. I'm going to try one out tonight.

Tonight Smartie and I go and buy all the stuff that go in our bags for the hospital so we can get that packed soon. He gets yummy snacks. I get stress balls and lipbalm. I feel like someone got the better end of the stick again...

I'm looking for songs to go on our "having a baby" mix to listen to in the hospital, since they provide CD players in the room. So far my first disk will contain "Relax" and "I Don't Need Another Hit (But I'll Take Another Shot)."

Thank You Thank You Thank You

Thank you so much to everyone who made it last night. Smartie and I were overwhelmed by the gifts, and the attention. The Buddha received books, clothes, toys and grooming articles galore.

Special thanks especially goes to Tild for hosting and putting together games. And Smartie probably wants to give some special thanks to the Wege for the booze...

Thank you also Stooge, Bruce, Harve, Dred Pirate and lovely wife, Evil and obviously very smart Mrs Evil, Tom and Stephanie, Curmudgeon (who must have been eyeing my belly a lot to get that right)and Kristen, who we missed, Spotty, MNObs and Mr. MNO, and of anyone else I may have forgot (the last stage of pregnancy is very forgetful).

Through Thick and Through Thin

the good news is I was able to get my wedding ring back on this morning with absolutely no effort.

the bad news? I think I've seen the end of wearing my engagement ring from here on out...

Good thing I didn't have them soddered together like people recommended.

since I seem to have become a mommy-blogger

Does anyone know where you buy maternity winter coats? I couldn't find any in the normal maternity stores.

Cheating

Since I hear there will be stupid baby shower games at DL tomorrow, I thought I'd throw out a few cheats for loyal readers.

If they play "guess the baby's middle name" it's Jane.

If they play "guess the baby food" and it's orange, it will be squash (carrots look browner)

If they play, "guess the mother's waistline" it's 44 inches at the belly button if my sweater is on, 42 if it's straight on the skin (I just checked). I would go with the 44 though, since I have very little intention of lifting my shirt for you. That sort of immodesty is what got me into this mess....;-)

Cookies and "milk"

smartie brought me home a batch of m&m cookies because of an offhand email I sent him.

Yay!

And now I have "milk". Yes, vaguely creepy. Producing liquid is a very strange idea I forgot to get used to.

I can't help but wonder if my date is wrong -- she seems determined to get out of my innards right now in a "Hello My Baby Hello My Honey" Spaceballs kind of way. I can't believe there are still almost 8 weeks or more to go.

Unsolicited Advice

Right here

sent to me, oddly enough, by someone even though I never asked for it...

32 weeks

Your baby measures about 18.9 inches long from head to toe and weighs almost 4 pounds. It fills almost all the space in your uterus now, either lying with the head up or sometimes still with enough room to do somersaults. A layer of fat is forming underneath the thin, wrinkly skin. Baby's practicing opening his eyes and breathing.

I can feel all four lbs -- I swear.

32 week appointment was this Thursday. Smartie got to come along, and the Dr. let him find the heartbeat, which I thought was highly amusing. My blood pressure went up a little, and I seem to be having a little water retention, but most of yesterday on the couch appears to have taken care of that.

Rumors abound of a Drinking Liberally shower on Thursday. And the Buddha should be getting a crib and changing table today, assuming the ones I picked are in stock.

Now if we could just get someone to pick up this ugly old couch on our front porch we could move the futon and start getting the baby's room ready. I put it on Craig's list stating that it was free to whoever wanted to pick it up. The first person asked if I would mind delivering it, then said she'd call me back when she found a truck. No call. A second person called me and told me she'd call back on Saturday once she got her ex-boyfriend's truck. No call. I think I'm going to put it back on the site with a note saying "If you can see this message the couch is still here. The address is _____________. First one to get here gets it, and I'll pull down the ad as soon as it's gone."

How hard is it to give away furniture?