Post from the Past #2

    It happened. Of course, by now YOU know it happened, because you read the first post-from-the-past. But today, October 11th, I know it happened. I have had a feeling that it might have, but I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be disappointed and I was worried that some of the "symptoms" I was experiencing might just be in my head. But this morning, I finally got up the courage. I took the test. And....nothing happened. The control line didn't even show up. And that was my only test. So I went to the store and bought some more, but wasn't sure I wanted to try again today. I mean, I used up the good first morning pee (if that is TMI for you, you may want to sign off this blog completely in the coming months). So I figured this test would definitely be a bummer. But I also just wanted to get it over with. So I did it. And as soon as I looked down at the stick, there they were. Two bold lines. I started giggling, crying, and shrieking all at the same time, running around the house like an idiot, scaring Fender half to death. Of course, it took Joey FOREVER to get home from the gym. As soon as he walked in, I told him- "I'm pregnant." The look on his face was priceless. It's that genuine, giddy grin he gets sometimes that I love. So there you have it! It worked! Our first time trying! If you want to know the nitty-gritty, message me or comment below and we can talk. But we did it. I went to the heath clinic earlier and they confirmed with another test, and I go for blood work on Tuesday of next week. We are so excited but also a little scared since it is still so early. I will feel more and more relieved with each week that goes by. Baby will be here in early summer. We can't wait. I feel like there is so much to do and plan, but right now it's still sinking in that I"M PREGNANT!!!!!  More to come soon. <3

This is me the day we found out.

The Post of September Past

   I am writing to you from the past. The 12th of September, 2012 to be exact. I am writing this post because of a conversation Joey and I had tonight. Tonight, we decided we were going to try to start a family. We have both always wanted kids, so the fact that we would have them was never a question. It was always a matter of when. We knew for sure we wanted to at least get started with our PhDs. Get to a new place, get settled in, all of that. Well, we have been in Tucson for a few months now, and while we are not completely settled in we feel...well, we don't really know. Nested? Anyhow, we are both at the point where making a baby is something we want. But we do have to be slightly strategic about it in order to make life slightly easier as we pursue our doctorates. It would be most convenient to have a baby in early summer, when we would have a few months off from school to adjust and spend time with baby. That would put the ideal conception date in August or September. So if we want to go this route, we have about a two month window each year to try. Tonight we decided we will give this month a shot. If it happens, awesome! If not, we will wait until next August and try again. We might give up on our timing eventually if nothing happens this year or next, but for now that is the plan.
   So why I am not posting this the day I am writing? Because we don't know if anything will happen. Because I don't want people asking me about it. And mostly because I don't want anyone to know I am pregnant right away. We both agree that we want to wait until around the end of the first trimester to tell anyone, that way if something *happens* there are less awkward, heart-wrenching phone calls to make. Therefore, I am saving this post as a draft until the time is right, be it this year or several years from now. So, for those of you who are a little slow to put the pieces together and still think this is a post about us trying to make a baby...guess what? I'm pregnant! Probably a few months pregnant, as a matter of fact. And I plan to write more posts-from-the-past as our journey continues and post them after I let this one sink in. That way everyone will be caught up, and then I can start posting in real time again. Confused yet?

Here are the "before" pictures. These were taken the day we decided to start trying. They serve two purposes- 1) a comparison for the coming pictures and 2) a reminder for me and Joey that I did look like this at one point in time.

*Note added 11/30/12. I keep telling myself that I don't look pregnant (which is mostly true) and I can't even tell a difference and blah blah blah...and then I come back to this picture. Yeah. There is definitely a difference. I don't know who I'm kidding.

And they asked, heyayayayay, heyayay, what's goin' on?

    We get this question every time some one calls. I always feel guilty because my answer is never very interesting. School. That's it. No really. It's not that I don't want to talk or that I'm trying to dodge more in-depth conversation. That is really all we do for the most part. We go to school. We come home.We read stuff. We write about the stuff we read. We go back to school. We talk about the stuff we read. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's not very exciting. But I feel obligated to let all of you know that we are alive and well. And I thought long and hard about some at least semi-interesting things I could post about. So here you go:

1. We went to a concert. On of the radio stations here put on an outdoor one day music fest at the Padre's stadium. It was a hodge-podge of bands, but we got to see All That Remains, Corey Taylor, and the Offspring. It was a good show and we had a lot of fun. 

2. Our garden is doing fairly well. My beans, tomatoes, and zucchini are doing awesome. The eggplant, brusselsprouts, chives, cauliflower, spinach, and carrots are coming along as well. We'll see if the cooler weather helps them out at all.

3. We put in a mini cactus bed in the front yard. So far my bird of paradise bush isn't doing too hot. I hope it's just getting used to its new home and not completely dying. 

4. They are opening a Camp Bow Wow in Tucson. For those of you unaware of Fender's affinity for the doggie day-care chain, this is a huge blessing in terms of having somewhere to store our 150lb. Great Dane when we go out of town.

5. We booked our flights for Christmas. We will be in Memphis from Dec. 19th- 28th. 

6. We bought some rugs (can you tell how desperate I am for interesting information?). We got a nice big area rug in the living room and some smaller ones around the house. 

Of course now morning naps are a battle for the sunny spot on the office rug.

7. I'm teaching three yoga classes a week at the studio I work at, which is a nice distraction as well as extra cash in my pocket. 

8. We decorated for Halloween. Our neighbors seem to be into it, so we figured we would join in a put a few things up. I'm not sure what the trick-or-treater volume is like, but we plan on passing out candy and chilling at the house this year. 

9.   And we finally made it up to Mt. Lemmon for some hiking around. 

So that's it. That is all that you have been missing out on. I told you, we just don't do much. Occassionally we try a new restaurant or go the park or something. But for the most part, our lives revolve around school. 

Doula [doo-luh]

 
     I'm going to be a doula! But you already knew that, because you read it in our first blog post, right? Well maybe you forgot. Anyhow, it's now official and I have started the process. For those of you who don't know what a doula is click here for the wiki-quicky (see what I did there?). Basically, a doula is non-medical birth assistant whose role is to support the mother before, during, and immediately after childbirth. A doula usually meets with the mother (and birth partner) several times during the pregnancy so everyone can get to know each other and develop a trusting relationship. The doula can offer basic information concerning pregnancy and childbirth as well as direct the mother to more complete resources. A doula can help an expectant mother develop a birth plan and prepare for childbirth and be sure the mother's wishes are followed during the birth.When the woman goes into labor, she calls the doula who comes over and stays with the mother until after the child is born. The extent of the doula's role is up to the mother. She can be the primary support person for the mother, or simply an extra pair of hands and someone to go out and get food. For a more indepth explanation, check out The Feminist Breeder's Resource Guide (who coincidentally, uses the same Google image as me, lol).  She has put together a great rundown.
    So, as I mentioned above, becoming a doula is process. I have chosen to become certified through DONA International, one of the larger and more widely known and accepted programs. Certification involves a lot of reading (I'm working on my book list now), attending childbirth classes and breastfeeding classes, attending a series of doula workshops, and attending a number of births. My childbirth classes and doula workshops begin in October. Once I complete those and my breastfeeding class, I will need to attend three births and obtain letters of recommendation from the mothers and doctors/midwives. Once I have all my certificates of completion for my classes, letters of recommendation, and essays written, I submit my packet to DONA and they approve me for certification.
    Why, might you ask, would I want to be a doula? Well, as some of you may or may not know, my area of study falls under an umbrella commonly referred to in political science as "human security". While there are several official and academic reports that go into more detail, such as this one, it is basically a "concern for human life and dignity" (see linked article). Previously I have focused on hunger and the global food system.  But through some odd stumblings around on the internet, I began reading of lot feminist mom blogs and many of them were dedicated to concern over maternity care available to women here in the U.S. At first I was all like, "But this is America! (pronounced 'merica). We are awesome, and I know this because we are always talking about how AWESOME we are and we have awesome healthcare which is why we are not going to let those stupid communists change anything about it!. I mean, maybe we are like number 2 in the world because Japan probably figured out how to grow babies in cool shaped jars or something, but still." Well, come to find out the United States is 49th in the world for maternal mortality. There are 48 other countries (including some in Eastern Europe and the Middle East) where women are much more likely to survive childbirth than here. But the U.S. spends more on healthcare than any of these countries. Something is wrong with this picture. I could go into detail, procedure by procedure, about the factors that are creating this disaster in the birth industry, but for time's sake I will refrain. (Note: If you do have any specific questions or do want the long version, please comment or message me in some way). Basically, only about 1/3 of medical practices in maternity care are up-to-date, evidenced based care. Can you imagine going to a heart surgeon who was using techniques only 1/3 of which were supported by medical research?  If that doesn't compromise human life and dignity I don't know what does.
    So there you have it- that ^ is why I want to be a doula. So I can be there for women. So I can help them to be as informed as possible. So that they know the risks and benefits and are able to be active participants in their birth and be in control of what is done to their bodies. Once again, if anyone has any questions what so ever, please please please contact me. We can chat. Or check out ImprovingBirth.org for more information.

La Casa

    Here they are- pictures and video of our house looking all spiffy. There are still a few places where I would like to add some wall art and we need to find an area rug we like for the living room, but for the most part, it is done. Except for the outside landscaping and the garden...so...almost done.

So this is the house. When I first saw the red, I was like "AGGHHHH!!!!" But then I thought about painting and sanding and the fact that it is 169 degrees outside, and I decided I could live with it. Now I actually kind of like it. Besides, we fit in better. Our next door neighbor's entire house is gold, and the one across the street is blue, so we've got the primary colors covered. Also, a note about the gravel yard. It is pretty typical due to the climate and I was stoked about what I thought was going to be a relatively low maintenance set up. There are these little fluffy green weeds that like to pop up, but they are fairly easy to pull up by hand. However, I did not realize how committed my neighbor was to growing grass two months out of the year. Whatever stringy, tangly variety he seeded likes to creep into our yard. Oh well, I will definitely take weed-eating every two weeks over mowing!

  For those of you who never came over to our apartment in Memphis, this is our shield. We found it in the toy department at Target. It has been on our front door ever since. Why? Because shield and pirates, that's why.

Upon entering the front door you are now in the kitchen/living room area. It's an open concept space so everything is kind of together. The back half of the room is the kitchen, the front half is the living room (the ceiling beam is pretty much the only divider). In order to define the space a little better, we picked two different color schemes. The kitchen is done in neutrals (note the earthy green accent wall) and the living room uses bolder, Moroccan inspired colors (red, orange, turquoise, magenta). Oh yeah, and that's Joey sitting at the island...eating some cereal. 

  Here is another view of the living room. There is our couch and entertainment center. I need some wall decor and an area rug but haven't found much we like yet. Oh, and that is Gimli on top of the DVD rack. 

                            

Another living room view. And there is Fender on his bed. That door behind the sofa is just the coat closet. 

 This is Fender's little corner in the kitchen. I only include this picture because I worked really hard on that sign and want everyone to tell me how awesome it is.

Off of the kitchen is the utility area. There is the storage room which is our pantry/ laundry closet. Soon it will also hold a deep freezer! Yay! To the right is the door to the garage and to the left is the back door. 

And here is the little cubby for the water heater and laundry machines. This also serves as Jiminy's room. 

Here is the backyard! I love our palm tree. My garden will go between it and the shed eventually. And I LOVE our new back fence. It was a dilapidated old chain link fence that was super ugly. Plus, the lady on the other side of the alley has a bajillion dogs that like to bark at Fender and wake up the entire neighborhood. So nice to have some privacy!

                          

And here is the back of the house. We are eventually going to put up one of those pergolas on the patio outside the back door for some extra shade. Also, non-Tucsoners, notice the blue trash can. Not a trash can. Our trash can is a large thing out behind our fence we share with our neighbors. That, my friends, is our recycling bin! Crazy, huh? People here actually recycle. Regularly. The infrastructure supports it well. No more sorting then hauling it all down to the recycling center ourselves! Yay! 

                           

Back inside on the opposite side of the house is the one and only hallway. You can see the front door through the archway there. That is our living room (for perspective). Behind me is the office door and bathroom. 

We have a nice little area in the hallway by the bathroom where we put this dresser/credenza. Since we don't have much storage in the bathroom itself, this holds all of our medicine, spare toilet paper, etc. Great for extra storage. 

Speaking of bathroom, voila! It is small, but it serves it's purpose. We kept all of our red and black decor. I do like the pedestal sink, even though it doesn't provide any storage space. We still need to get a toilet paper holder though! 

                           

This the office. There on the left is my desk and at the back of the room are our bookshelves. We still need curtains for this room but haven't found any that we like. We will probably just end up making some. 

                           

Here is Joey's desk. He has plenty more posters to hang but hasn't quite got them all up yet.

This is the yoga room (and also the room where Joey does his little ab wheel thingy). There is my desk with my yoga books and references, a chest full of props and other work out equipment, and my mats and rugs. I love it. 

Oh, and this is Joey's monkey picture. My mom has the same one in her house, and had a spare, so of course Joey wanted it. 

And finally, this is our room. No, we are not going to get a "real bed". We are perfectly happy with our imaginary one. Also, there is no coverlet because it is hot as Hades right now and we have no need for it. It is folded up in the linen closet. And yes, that tree is painted on the wall. I couldn't find a picture I liked, so I made my own. 

This is my dresser with my antique mirror I repainted. That red pile in the corner is Fender's blankie. That is where he sleeps at night. 

And this is Joey's dresser. Also, we each have our own closet, which is kind of nice. Somehow I got stuck with the one behind the door. 

So that is pretty much the whole house! We didn't have to do much to it. Just some paint on our part. We painted all three bedrooms and the living room a warm terracotta like color, then added the two accent walls in the large living space. We also painted all the white trim and cheap doors a dark chocolate. And yes, we meant to leave the areas on the door streaky. We were going for the rustic/distressed look, which I am pretty sure was invented by a very lazy person not unlike myself. The point is, it is dark, looks great with our other colors, and will not show hand prints or dog slobber. After apartment living, we are over anything white. Then we had the carpet pulled out and laminate flooring put down in all three bedrooms, and that was pretty much it! It was all pretty simple stuff but it looks a lot better.  And in case the pictures didn't do it for you, here is the video tour:

Sorry for the video quality, by the way. We originally made it on my camcorder, but realized we have lost the cord to hook it up to the computer, so we had to do it on the regular digital camera. The better, camcorder version will be added as soon as we get a cord.