Leftover garden

You might remember last year in March and April when I was working on a garden while Bryan was in Africa. Sometime during the summer, the garden was abandoned after I discovered a tarantula lurking beneath some weeds. I’m very afraid of spiders, and almost picking up a tarantula while pulling weeds was a bit too much for me. Since we saw a few more tarantulas around the yard after that, I decided it wasn’t worth it to work in the garden anymore and left the plants to the hot summer sun.

Believe it or not, one of the plants survived! There was an artichoke plant in the corner of the garden, and it didn’t seem to mind the Texas heat. It even lived through the winter, and as soon as the weather started getting warm, it started growing rapidly.

artichoke plant

Now it’s gotten even bigger, and the other night we ate our first artichokes from the garden! They were a little bit smaller than the ones you buy in the grocery store, but they were delicious! Thanks for the help with the garden, Mama! Who knew we’d still be enjoying it a year later?!

artichokes

Potty progress

Kate has surprised us in the past few days by being more vocal about her need  to use the bathroom. This is something I’d read about babies doing, but she had never shown obvious signs that she was trying to communicate with us about it until now. Before this week, I mostly had to rely on timing to know when to take her to the bathroom, and occasionally she would fuss a bit and I’d know she needed to go. This week, though, she has started looking directly at us, reaching to be picked up, and fussing pretty insistently when she needs to go. She is also getting good at waiting until she’s at the potty. We still have a few wet diapers a day, but the number has dramatically decreased. Who knew a 7-month-old could do that?!

Our little singer

Today we visited a church of people from another culture, and we greatly enjoyed worshiping with them! Everything was done in another language, and we had someone translating for us during the sermon. They provided song sheets with phonetic representations of the words along with an English translation so we could sing along and know what we were singing. The music was so different from what we’re used to, but the songs were beautiful and the words were very meaningful. It was so neat to worship with the believers there in another language!

While we were there, we learned something I had already begun to suspect about Kate. She likes to sing! Of course she can’t say any words yet, and she definitely can’t carry a tune, but when music is playing or other people are singing, she sings along! Sometimes she hums, and sometimes she says ah or uh, and she usually stays right around one pitch. During the worship this morning, she was even stopping between verses when everyone else stopped even though the music continued, and when the song ended, she was (mostly) quiet! It was such a cute thing to see!

so many new things!

What a great day Kate and I have had together! (Unfortunately I don’t have pictures since our camera was out of batteries.) We started the day off well by sleeping until 7:30, and we had a quiet morning. Kate went down for her morning nap around 9:30, and I went on a walk & got ready for the day before she woke up. After her nap, I set her down to play on a blanket nearby as I was sewing. Last night I had started making a Mei Tai baby carrier for her. I already had the pieces cut and the shoulder straps sewn, so I just had to iron it all, pin it together, sew it together, and topstitch. (I used this pattern with a few changes and some VERY cute upholstery fabric that Mama gave me when she was cleaning out her sewing room.)  I can’t wait to post a picture of it! Kate took her afternoon nap before I was finished, and I was so excited about it when I finished that I wanted to wake her up to try it out. I didn’t, of course, but I wanted to. When she woke up and we tried it out, it worked really well and she seemed to like being carried in it. I strapped her on my back and got a lot of housework done before dinner, and she didn’t fuss one bit!

One fun thing about the day was that this was the first day I decided to see how long we could go without using a diaper. It was as if she’d been waiting for me to try that! She went from 11 AM (after her first nap) until bedtime without needing a diaper, and there was only one time on the blanket when I didn’t take her to the bathroom soon enough. She even stayed dry during her two and a half hour afternoon nap! A day like today gets me excited about EC and IPT all over again!

The final excitement of the day was at dinner time. Kate has been trying to eat a few new things here and there, like last night when she had her first Cheerios. Tonight she had her first fruit, and she loved it! Mama gave us a baby food mill, and I used it to puree a cooked apple. I was expecting to have to mix the apple with some oatmeal baby cereal to get her to eat it since it was a little tart, but she ate it all by itself!

This is really such a fun age! She is learning SO many new things, and she seems so happy about all of it! It’s hard not to catch some of her enthusiasm and cheerfulness. What a little blessing she is!

Unintended post

I wasn’t going to write about this. I thought if I ever tried it I’d be hush hush about it since it’s not too common in the US. I didn’t want people to think I was weird or crazy, and I didn’t want to be talking about my baby doing something that lots of toddlers don’t do yet. But I realized that it’s ok for me to post about it even though it’s unusual. I’m just explaining what we’re up to these days and sharing the excitement I’ve felt upon trying something new!

So what in the world am I talking about? We’ve started infant potty training (IPT), otherwise known as Elimination Communication (EC), Natural Infant Hygiene, or the diaper-free baby. IPT is based on the idea that babies don’t like to be wet or dirty and would rather go to the bathroom somewhere other than in a diaper. EC focuses more on the communication aspect and says that babies signal to their parents that they need to go to the bathroom before they go, and that parents can respond by taking the baby to an appropriate place, like the toilet. Those who have written books on the subject in the past few years get many of their ideas from other cultures where babies are regularly carried naked and are given opportunities to use the bathroom. I know that while we were Africa, I saw many babies without diapers, often being carried by their mothers or walking around naked if they were old enough, and I never saw a single “accident.”

You might be wondering why in the world we would be trying IPT when diapering is so easy and is the social norm. Kate has recently moved up in diaper size, and while I use cloth diapers the majority of the time, I use disposables at night. I have used Pamper’s Swaddlers since she was born, but they don’t have them in size 3, so I had to change to a new kind of diaper. Once she started wearing the new diapers, she developed a bad rash that I couldn’t get to go away. At her 6-month checkup, the doctor said she has eczema/atopic dermatitis, or very sensitive, dry skin. He told me to let her go without a diaper when possible, and to be careful what we use on her skin. I’d read about IPT and was interested before Kate was born, and this was just what I needed to convince me to try it.

The first day we tried it, she spent much of the day without a diaper on top of cloth diapers or towels so I could observe her and so she could “air out.” Just before her bed time, I realized she had been dry for a while and decided to take her to the potty just to see what would happen. To my surprise, she used the potty!! I couldn’t believe it. I was SO excited! I yelled for Bryan (and scared him half to death ) and she went again when he got into the room. At that, I was hooked.

Since then, she’s gone once on the potty each day when I’ve taken her regularly, and I’m starting to get better at knowing when she needs to go. This morning she’s already gone on the potty once, and I hope she will at least one more time today. We’re still using cloth diapers, and I’m giving her diaper-free time when I’m not very busy. I hope we’ll gradually work into needing diapers less, and maybe eventually we’ll start using tiny training pants. Her rash is a lot better already, and I’m thankful that all the changes seem to be helping. Unfortunately I still haven’t figured out a good solution for nighttime. She wakes up so easily when her cloth diapers get wet, and I don’t want the rash to get worse again by using disposables, so I’ll still have to work on finding another option. Any suggestions would be welcome!

So  along with the daily tasks of being a homemaker, I’ve added a little extra laundry and many more trips to the bathroom. I wasn’t expecting to be using words like “potty” and “wee wee” quite this soon or talking about it this often at Kate’s age, but I’m actually enjoying it. It’s exciting to watch her learn something new, and it’s nice to realize that even though IPT is often a long process, it’s likely that she will be potty trained long before she would have been if I had waited to do it in the usual American way.

So tell me. What do you think?

doctor’s appointment

Kate had her 6th month checkup today! She did very well at the doctor’s office. I love taking her to the clinic on the center because the nurses and doctors are so friendly and helpful! They are all there on a volunteer basis or they are being supported to work there full-time as their ministry. What a blessing it is to be able to go to the doctor for less than $20!

Here are the stats:
14 lbs 10 oz
25 inches long
I can’t remember what her head circumference was.

The doctor said she is doing well, & that other than the cold that’s going around, she’s healthy. He also said she is an unusually calm and laid-back baby. I had to laugh when he said that. She was half asleep because it was way past her nap time!

Quick posts

I keep thinking that I should post on my blog, but then I decide I don’t have enough time. Unfortunately that has left my blog without an entry for months! I decided today that I should just go for quick posts instead of anything long, and maybe eventually I’ll start writing more.

So today I want to share a picture of my favorite new activity. (I also included a picture of Kate, of course!)  Enjoy!

I’m still here…

Wow! Life gets busy when you have a baby in the house!   Over the past few months, Kate and I had thrush for almost three months, all three of us had a bad cold, and we’ve worked on the typical sleeping and feeding issues.  We went through the normal adjustment to being parents that each couple goes through after having their first child, and, as usual, it took us some time to get the hang of it all.  I feel like I’m used to having a baby now, and I don’t feel nearly as overwhelmed as I did for the first two or three months.  Now that she doesn’t have thrush, I’m no longer worried about her getting enough food, and I’m feeling so much more confident about my ability to feed her.  She has always been a healthy weight, and now she has the cutest rolls, dimples in her knees and elbows, and creases around her wrists and ankles.  And her cheeks!!  She takes after her mama in the chubby cheek department!  They are so big and kissable!

Kate is now sleeping from 7 or 8 PM until 7 or 8 AM without a feeding from 10:30 until 7 or 8, but unfortunately I have allowed her to get “addicted” to her pacifier, so I’m getting up numerous times in the night to stick it back in her mouth.  She goes right back to sleep when it’s back in, but I’d still rather get a full night’s sleep sometime soon instead of getting up over & over again.  I’m trying to get her to pacify herself with her fingers/thumb, but while she will suck on them when she’s playing, she never wants to when she’s upset.  Any suggestions for weaning babies off of pacifiers would be welcome.

I am absolutely loving being a mama!  I’m so thankful that we have our sweet little girl.  She brings me such joy each day, from her adorable smile when I go in to get her in the morning to her precious coos and gurgles when I talk to her to the open-mouthed smiling “kisses” she gives when I kiss her pudgy cheeks.  My days are much busier now that Kate is here, and between taking care of her, cooking, & housework, there’s not nearly as much “alone time” as there used to be.  However, I’m learning to be less selfish with my time and learning to appreciate any quiet moments that I have, like right now while she’s napping.  I’m thankful to have a husband and daughter to give my time and my love to, and I wouldn’t trade this season of life for all the quiet time in the world!

So while this busyness necessitates my posting less often than I used to (is that even possible? ), my absence means that I am happily learning to serve my family and learning to be a better wife and mama.  I was getting ready to add some pictures, but Sweet Pea is awake now, so here are two links to pictures on facebook!

Pictures of Kate

Thanksgiving

It’s a girl!!

She’s here!! Our little darling is finally here! Katheryn Anne Smith was born Friday, August 15th at 7:09 AM, weighing exactly 8 pounds and measuring 20.75 inches. She is just perfect!

What a wonderful week it’s been! I just love being her mama. It has been tiring and hard at times learning to take care of her, but every bit of the pain and lack of sleep has been completely worth it. It is so amazing how much I love this little one and how happy and content I am now that she’s here. I am so thankful for her and for the fact that she is healthy and I am healing rapidly. God is so good to us!

I want to write about labor and her birth while it’s still somewhat fresh in my mind. I think I have probably forgotten some parts already, but I’ll ask Bryan about it and will try to remember everything. I want to have a record of it, and this is the easiest place I have to write.

I had another similar morning on Thursday that I described on Tuesday with contractions that had woken me up that night and continued through the morning and other symptoms of early labor. I had my appointment with the midwife, and she told me I had progressed a little bit since the previous appointment, but not much and that I should keep her updated if anything changed. The contractions slowed down in the afternoon, but by dinner had picked up again. I was very uncomfortable and felt somewhat sick, so I decided to lie down and rest and watch the Olympics to distract myself.

Dinner while in early labor, final pregnant picture!

I started timing the contractions around 8 so I could tell if it was really labor. They were coming about every 15 minutes, and by 9:30 they were all under 10 minutes apart. Around midnight I was having to concentrate on them and started to work on relaxation. By 12:30 they started being less than 5 minutes apart regularly, and so we called my midwife Kelsey around 1:30. One of her other patients was also in labor and acting like she would give birth sooner than I would, but didn’t want anyone to come to her house yet. Kelsey wasn’t sure what to do; she told me later that she had prayed for wisdom to know where to go since she felt more emotionally attached to me but the other patient didn’t know the other midwives like I do and she didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. Just after we told her we didn’t know if we needed someone here yet, I had a much stronger contraction and decided that yes, I did want someone here soon. I wanted someone who knew what was going on, who could tell me if I was progressing at all, and who could answer my questions. That solved the problem for Kelsey since she had decided to go to the person who asked for her first, and she arrived a little while later.

I had been dilated to 2 cm at my previous appointment, and by 4 AM I was about 5 cm. Labor had gotten quite intense by that time, and I was so afraid that I wouldn’t have made any progress and would still be at 2 cm. I spent most of the time laboring in our rocking chair with it reclining slightly. When that position got old, I would get on the bed and try something different. I tried lying on my side, but that was just too painful. Kelsey brought in a large ball (like the exercise ones you see, but a bit less inflated) and I used it to support my head and shoulders so I could rock back and forth on my knees. This helped the pain I was feeling in my hips and the front of my legs during contractions.  Sometime during all of this, my friend Amanda arrived to help.  I was so focused on what was going on that it took me a long time before I was ready for her to come back to see me, but it was good to have her here.

As the morning went on, that pain in my hips and legs grew so strong and was not going away between contractions. I told Bryan and Kelsey that I didn’t think I could handle any more and that I’d never be able to make it through transition if it was already so hard. Kelsey laughed and said, “Meg, you ARE in transition.” I was quite happy to hear that! Kelsey suggested getting in the bathtub to help me relax between contractions in hopes that the leg and hip pain would go away, and so once she had gotten it ready, Bryan helped me up and toward the bathroom. As soon as we got into the bathroom, I asked Kelsey what it feels like when it’s time to push. She said that maybe we should go back into the bedroom pretty quickly!

I started pushing in a squatting position, and with the first contraction, my water broke.  Bryan was supporting me from behind, and between contractions he would help me stand to give my legs a break.  After a few contractions, I yelled for Amanda to come back in ’cause I knew she’d want to be there.  The contractions got very close at the end, and I was confused as to how hard I should be pushing.  Since there was another lady in labor at the same time, the two other midwives who were supposed to be there weren’t there, and another midwife got there to help just after I had started pushing.  I think Kelsey was very surprised at the rapidity of this stage of my labor, and so she didn’t end up coaching me as much as I would have preferred at this point.  She was telling me to push, and I was thinking about not wanting to tear, but then the pain and urge to push got so strong that I just pushed and didn’t think about anything else.  Suddenly I heard Kelsey say, “The head’s delivered!” and I pushed again, and they were suddenly setting my sweet baby up on my stomach.  She was a bit blue and didn’t cry immediately, and I just barely had time to ask if the baby was ok before she let out a strong cry and Kelsey said she was perfect.  Somehow I got back up on the bed with Bryan’s help, and Kelsey asked if we’d seen if it was a girl or a boy.  I hadn’t since I was just so amazed that Baby was finally here and was so beautiful.  I tried to lift the umbilical cord to see, but couldn’t quite get it, and Kelsey did and I announced, “It’s a girl!  It’s our little Kate!  Katheryn Anne!”  I was crying, Kate was crying, Bryan was crying…I’m guessing Amanda probably was too, but I’m not sure.  I remember hearing her gasp or exclaim something when I said Kate’s name since we’d been keeping it a secret.  What an amazing moment that was!  I felt so close to Bryan, so amazed at the little life that the Lord had given us, and so thankful that she was finally in my arms!

She

Lots of what happened after her birth is very fuzzy in my mind.  I was very exhausted, and I remember being frustrated that the midwives had to keep doing things to me.  Of course I knew they were just taking care of me and making sure everything was ok, but I was ready to snuggle with my sweet baby and be quiet with just her and Bryan.  I was bleeding more than they wanted, so they gave me a shot of Pitocin.  We called family, they stitched me up a little bit, and we got ready for me and Kate to take a bath.  Unfortunately, I was too dizzy to be able to take the bath, but that ended up being fine and not bothering me too much.

What an amazing morning!  I called Daddy first – Mama was on the plane on the way here – and then I called Laura and Hallie.  Mama called Amanda’s cell phone as soon as she landed since Amanda’s husband Adam was picking her up at the airport, and so I got to tell her about Kate myself which I was SO excited about.  Mama was so surprised that Kate was already here and that she’d actually been born almost three hours earlier!  It was such a blessing to have Mama here within four hours of her birth!

Once everyone but Amanda left, we had some quiet time before Mama arrived.  Well, it was supposed to be quiet time.   We unwrapped Kate from the towel she’d been in, and somehow the diaper that someone had put on her hadn’t been put on completely.  She had gotten meconium ALL over the bottom half of her body, and she did NOT like it when we tried to clean her off.  Kate’s first diaper change was quite noisy and long.  Mama got here soon after that, and for some reason I’m having a hard time remembering that.  (I started writing this post a week after Kate was born, but now it’s been another week and a few days and more things are fading in my memory.)  We ended up giving Kate to Mama to snuggle while Bryan and I slept.  However, while Bryan was able to sleep just fine, I kept waking up as soon as I started to drift off because of the pain, and then after a while I just started to miss Kate so much that I wanted her to come back in.  I couldn’t get up, so I finally got Bryan to get up & get Mama, and he fell asleep again on the sofa while Mama and I talked and watched Kate.

I could keep writing and tell you all about her first two weeks, but I should probably stop here.   It was such an amazing time, and I’m so thankful for the many blessings the Lord gave to us that day and in the following week!  We love Kate SO much and we’re so glad she’s part of our family!

A new (temporary) family member

When I was little, I liked dogs.  We had a cocker spaniel named Liza that I thought was wonderful, and I was sad when we had to give her away.  I liked my grandfather’s dogs a little bit, but I was also a little afraid of them because they were big and sometimes rough.  One of the best dogs I knew lived next door.  She was a golden retriever, and she was always gentle and good with kids.

As I got older, however, I realized that there were a lot of things that I don’t like about dogs.  They’re smelly and hairy.  They jump up on me when I don’t want them to.  They scratch my legs or slobber on my toes.  They make me sneeze or break out in hives.  They get me muddy or dirty if they’ve been outside a lot.  Now don’t get me wrong: I like dogs a LOT better than I like cats, but that wouldn’t take much.  But in the past year or so, I started to realize that I don’t really like dogs as much as I thought I did.  In fact, at times, I don’t like dogs at all!

This feeling has been VERY strong lately since our next door neighbors have two dogs.  They keep them fenced in on the side of their house, and that side just happens to be right next to our bedroom window.  These dogs are some of the most annoying dogs I’ve ever known.  They bark at ANYTHING.  One of them is something close to a golden retriever, but she has nothing like the kind personality of our neighbor’s dog while I was growing up.  She snarls and barks at us when we’re in our own yard, especially whenever we get anywhere near our garbage can.  (Don’t ask me why.  I have no idea!)  The other dog is a little yappy mutt of some kind that is scruffy and scrappy and (to be honest) quite ugly.  But that wouldn’t bother me if she were quiet.  She’s not.   She barks at anything and everything…and nothing!  Unfortunately, our neighbors leave these dogs outside all night long, and so some of our nights lately have been even shorter and less restful than usual because the dogs are so loud.  Bryan and I have had numerous conversations about our frustration with the dogs and especially with their owners for leaving them outside so much.

A few days ago, we became worried that we might be getting even less sleep due to the neighbors’ dogs.  The husband told Bryan that they now had a THIRD dog, and it was another little one.  We usually describe little dogs as “yappy,” and we normally don’t like them at all.  This dog was kinda cute though, and we hadn’t heard a sound from it in that first day, so we thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.  This past Sunday as we were leaving for church, we noticed the dog running around in the alley behind our house, and so we decided to rescue him and put him back inside the fence where he belongs.  This was the beginning of our change of heart.  The dog came up to me and was SO sweet!  It was as if he was just begging me to love him.  He wagged his tail and licked my hand without slobbering, and he let Bryan pick him up and gently lower him over the fence into his yard.  When we got home from church, while the other two dogs barked and snarled at us, he came over to the fence and wagged his tail.  Later that afternoon, we heard him making a sad barking sound, and we discovered that he had gotten up on a counter by our neighbor’s window.  He was stuck up there, and ended up falling asleep on the corner with his head on his paws.  We decided at that point that we wanted our neighbors to get rid of the other two dogs and just keep him ’cause he was so cute!

The next day, the dog was out of the fence again.  This time, I rescued him after playing with him for a few minutes.  But sure enough, an hour later he was out again!  Bryan was in the back of our house, and he saw our neighbor’s children through their sliding glass door, pointing and gesturing at the puppy.  Bryan went over to the dog, and realized that the kids were trying to get him to put the dog back inside their fence again.  Their mom must’ve heard them, ’cause she came outside laughing and said, “Don’t put that dog in our yard! It’s not ours!!”  Bryan finally got the whole story: the dog had followed her husband home one day from a walk, he and the kids wanted to keep it, and she refused and said they had enough dogs.  So we kept putting the dog back into their yard, and she kept putting it back out!

We felt sorry for the little thing, and I told our renter Brian and his fiance Hannah about him.  We sat outside playing with him, and Hannah wanted to adopt him, but they needed a place to keep him for a few months until they get married.  I told them I’d ask Bryan about it, but I wasn’t very optimistic since we have such a small fenced-in area and he isn’t wild about dogs either.  We talked about it a little bit, but didn’t come to a conclusion, and the dog then disappeared for a few days.

Earlier this afternoon, Bryan came into our room while I was typing my last blog post and told me that the puppy was back.  He said he was hanging out with him in the garage.  He said he’s very skinny and wanted to feed him. I told him if we start feeding him, he’ll never leave, and then he’s ours.  He said that might not be so bad.   I went out in the garage, and there was the puppy, scampering around and looking adorable.  Bryan got some water for him, and we started seriously considering keeping him.  He is such a lovable little dog!  I think if I weren’t about to give birth, he’d be a permanent family member and we’d finally be dog people again.  But we started talking about the expense of keeping a dog, and about if we’d have enough time to spend with him once Baby comes.  We didn’t want to be those dog owners who just leave their dogs in the yard and never pay attention to them.  So we decided we couldn’t keep him ourselves, but we’d be willing to give him a place to stay until Hannah and Brian have an apartment.

We called them, and they drove right over from Hannah’s house.  It was like the little dog knew his new family had come to get him. He had been sitting with me in the garage, licking my hand, letting me pet him, and soaking up the love, and as soon as their car pulled up, he ran out to greet them.  Hannah picked him up, and he nuzzled up against her as a very content puppy.

So we now have a dog staying in our TINY fenced in area for the next two and a half months.  They took him immediately to the pet store to get a leash and a collar, food, a little house, and other things puppies need, and they’ll be taking him to the vet soon.  Brian will take care of him until he moves into their apartment at the beginning of November.  I’m excited about having a cute puppy around and I’m thankful that he has a home and a family.   I can’t wait to see him with a little meat on his bones, a haircut, and a bath!

Now you might be wondering why I changed my mind about dogs so easily.  I think that I still don’t like most dogs, but this one just won his way into my heart. There’s just something so adorable about the way he seems to beg for love and attention without being annoying, and something endearing about how vulnerable he is.  He doesn’t scratch if he jumps up on my leg because he’s too little and light, he doesn’t smell, he isn’t noisy, he doesn’t slobber, and so far he hasn’t made me sneeze or break out in hives.  He’s a good little dog.   I hope I still think so a week or a month from now!