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Present for Matty

One thing I love to do and never seem to have the time to do anymore is wrap presents. I love to collect old scraps of paper, patterns, tape, letters, etc. and use them to make cards, wrap presents, etc. Today while Francis was napping I finally sat down and wrapped this little gift for Matt. I wanted to give him something to remember the birth of his son who is yet to be named. I can’t wait to give it to him…he’s going to love it.

August 16, 2006 - 10:15 pm

Drew, Amber and Megan - So what was the present?

February 14, 2007 - 8:19 pm

Sally Gulde - It was a mother of pearl Case pocket knife. I’ll post a photo of it sometime. It’s really beautiful. I gave him one when we got married, on our honeymoon, for his 30th, when Francis was born, etc.

June 15, 2007 - 8:48 pm

Jenn - Now see, I wouldn’t want to OPEN a present if the wrapping was that impressive. That’s way cool, though.

Speaking of using odds and ends of stuff to make other stuff, have you ever been to the shop called “It’s Your Earth” in Wheaton? Pretty crazily amazing.

While we’re waiting . . .

Our laptop broke. The hinges just snapped right off. Panicked that the new baby would be coming at any moment, and that we might not have the mobile technology to broadcast the earliest images, we bought a replacement.

The mac users among you know that macs come with a set of software known as the iLife Suite. These are the programs that make it unbelievably easy to upload, edit, and publish all sorts of media. Sally and I have spent some time using the movie and photo software, but until a couple nights ago, we had never attempted music editing.

Then I met GarageBand, a piece of iLife that I had never used until we got the new computer. If you like to sing or play a musical instrument, then you would love playing with this program. Typical of Apple software, you don’t need to get into the user’s manual to do some pretty sophisticated things from the beginning. Within a few minutes, I had recorded a song with three voice tracks and one instrumental track (my right hand, snapping – by far my best instrument).

Here’s the song. There’s a lot of noise, owing to the number of window-unit air conditioners in our house. I haven’t put much time into learning about GarageBand’s noise filters, but I suspect the best fix would be a quieter room.

July 26, 2006 - 9:26 pm

Kristen - That's a very sweet song, Matt. Thanks for sharing your creation! 😉

July 27, 2006 - 9:42 pm

Tasha-Rose - Hi! I just stumbled onto your blog….I had my second daughter, who is now almost 9 months old, at 42 weeks and 2 days. We had here here at home unassisted, so don't worry….I understand what you are going thorugh….another day of waiting….

Good luck Mama!! Baby will be perfect when s/he comes out!

August 9, 2006 - 5:52 pm

Anonymous - Here are some links that I believe will be interested

August 16, 2006 - 8:23 am

Anonymous - I like it! Good job. Go on.
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Shhh…

Another day past my due date it seems. This morning I went to Kmart to look for a basket to hold size 1 diapers and the entire time I admired Martha Stewarts empire I kept having all kinds of crazy aches and pains. Having never actually had a baby ala’ natural I haven’t really known what to expect, but there was definitely stuff happening that hadn’t happened with Francis. In any case, I got all excited and called Matt and told him to stay close to the phone because we might have a baby today. Wouldn’t you know almost the second I hung up that phone… it all stopped. My Wednesday-July 26th-Strategy is to keep my mouth shut. Wish me luck.

July 26, 2006 - 2:36 pm

Kristen - I'm thinking rhythmic thoughts today… every five minutes or so…. 😉

I love you, I love you! Good luck!!

August 13, 2006 - 12:57 am

Anonymous - Very pretty site! Keep working. thnx!
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August 18, 2006 - 4:19 am

Anonymous - Nice idea with this site its better than most of the rubbish I come across.
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Babycenter Meanies

Aproximately 41 weeks ago I signed up at Babycenter.com to receive weekly updates on my pregnancy. Every week they send me little blurbs about how big the baby is, etc. For instance, “Your baby is the size of an avocado today.” It’s a great way to keep updated on where you are with your pregnancy without having to pull out a book every other day. However, I’m officially annoyed with my friends at babycenter this week. They have started to send me emails about my newborn and about coming home from the hospital. Thanks for nothin’ babycenter… couldn’t you at least give those of us who are a little slow with these things a few days before reminding us we’re overdue! 🙂 I gave my delete key a good strong tap today when I started to read that.

So yeah, no baby. I’m officially 3 days overdue which honestly isn’t so bad. Aside from feeling like my seams are about to burst I recognize it could still be a solid week before I actually go into labor. I think the hardest part is taking care of Francis. When I was late with her I could take afternoon naps and take it easy, but now that I have to watch her and be prego I just find myself exhausted. I can’t sit at her little table with her anymore because I just don’t bend in half like I used to. I can’t pick her up to put her in her swing. I can barely get her in and out of the car so we end up staying at home more. It’s just a bummer. Thank goodness for phone calls and visits from good friends and afternoon trips to our neighborhood coffee shop.

July 25, 2006 - 5:25 am

Steve - We feel for you. Sherylyn thought she'd never have this one. We just celebrated Allison's 8 week birthday on Friday. We're looking forward to seeing your good news any day.
Steve

July 25, 2006 - 3:36 pm

Kristen - Babycenter knows nothing. Take it easy, friend. I'm praying for you and your little guy. I love you so much! Happy birthing anyday now!!

July 25, 2006 - 11:43 pm

Drew, Amber and Megan - I think little baby gulde is just waiting for auntie amber go get there

July 26, 2006 - 3:22 am

Sally - Well then you better come on and get Amber!

August 12, 2006 - 5:55 pm

Anonymous - Hi! Just want to say what a nice site. Bye, see you soon.
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August 17, 2006 - 9:58 pm

Anonymous - I really enjoyed looking at your site, I found it very helpful indeed, keep up the good work.
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Hello due date…goodbye due date…


Well, as you may have guessed, today was my due date and…no baby. My friend Amy (a midwife) told me that only 2% of women deliver on their due date so I actually felt more than any other day this week, today wasn’t going to be the big day. I was a little happy to hear however from my doctor that I am 2-3 centimeters dialated. That’s better than nothin’. So we’ll see… it could be 10 hours from now or 10 days. I’m just trying to think positive and be patient. One good thing about being late is that Francis is now sick as a dog.

Yesterday she woke up from her nap with a 102.4º fever and by the time Matt got home it was 103.7º. After apple sauce, a lemon popcicle and a sponge bath, her temp got down to 102.2º and we put her down for the night. Well… at least until she woke up throwing up at 3am. The joys of parenting! After a long night of cuddles and storytime we finally got a few hours of sleep. Today was much of the same, up and down temp and so far she’s been sleeping for 2 hours so we’ll see if we make all night tonight.

So, maybe it’s for the best that I don’t have a newborn headed home to a sick toddler. 🙂 I can’t believe I’m having another baby…geez… what in the world? Am I ready for this?

August 12, 2006 - 4:45 am

Anonymous - I love your website. It has a lot of great pictures and is very informative.
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August 17, 2006 - 10:24 am

Anonymous - Keep up the good work. thnx!
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