rustygrass

New virtual life

2011-01-11T21:20:00.003-08:00

Hey gang-

Rustygrass has made the leap to Wordpress. Join me over there! Look, I've already posted!

http://rustygrass.wordpress.com/

Go grab the feed for your reader and enjoy.

Over there

2010-09-03T13:55:00.003-07:00

Dear blog,

Your very under-utilized existence is making me feel guilty. So for now, some Lowe-inspired pointing at the ocean from last weekend's trek to the coast for Megan's wedding.

Love,

Catching up

2010-07-11T14:14:00.007-07:00

1. June, July, and August are berry months here in Oregon. The strawberries start popping up in late May, early June. The past two years I've had strawberries before my birthday (June 4), but this year, the weather hasn't been kind to the strawberry patch - not a super harvest.

Raspberries usually start showing up in late June - and this year with the freaky weather, we started getting some in early June.

So far we've picked close to 4 gallons of raspberries off our raspberry patch. Here I am with my highly technical raspberry picking Belt-Buckle-Bucket invention.

And Skylar, vacuuming up the rejected berries, close on my heels.

2. We hit a big life milestone this month. We bought our first family tent! Weighing the options (REI Base Camp 6, REI Kindom 6, and the Big Agnes Big House 6), and making a false start with taking home and returning an REI Base Camp 4, we ended up with the Big Agnes. I went back to REI by myself, returned the Base Camp 4, wandered back over to the tents at REI, and there the Big Agnes was, right on the top of the pile of picked over tents. A Big Agnes we had been told was sold out completely from REI. It was a sign really, and I believe in signs.

Here's Lowe, enjoying her new digs (the Big Agnes) on July 4.

Checking out the specs. (Not shown: tasting the delishus specs with her mouth).

Mama and Lowe making sure the tent has adequate space for snuggles.

3. Lowe is crawling and standing up holding on furniture, and generally acting like an adorable little person. She went from crawling forward to standing/holding on furniture in the span of about 2 days. It boggles my mind, this kid thing.

Lowe is starting to show preference for certain books. Her current favorites our dear Amy gave her when she was born - "Pat the Bunny" and "In My Tree" - both experiential/touching books.

Reading really calms Lowe down, and we read to her every night. The usual rotation is "Goodnight Moon" and "The Going to Bed Book."

4. Garden! The garden is producing! Over the long July 4 weekend, I pickled about 6 pints of beets and froze about a pound or two of blanched beet greens to use in sauces/soups later on.

And garlic! I pulled our garlic this morning, inspired by friends A&J, who just picked their own garlic forest. I netted about 30 heads of garlic (I'll have to look up the variety I bought - can't remember). I picked the garlic when the leaves were starting to turn brown, but there was still a lot of green left. As luck would have it, this appears to be the right time to pick garlic - when the heads of garlic are still tight and aren't loosening up too much.

Once the leaves are dry, I'll braid the garlic and we'll have garlic for at least a few months!

10 months and then some

2010-06-20T09:37:00.004-07:00

Dear Lowe, aka my amazing 10 month old sweet baby girl -

Some updates about you:

Your lower 2 teeth came in on June 7 with hardly a fuss.
Your upper left tooth is coming this week - you're such a drool monster!
You LOVE poking your fingers in your mouth and playing with your teeth
In the last 2 weeks you started eating finger foods - rice puffs and black beans for now
In the last 2 weeks you went from crawling around in circles and backwards, to yesterday you did your very first crawl forward! One leg and one arm at a time. You kind of hated it.
You sit, then crawl, then move yourself back to sitting. You're getting so mobile, and it's so cool to watch.
This week your favorite thing began to be standing. STANDING PLEASE! We stand you up at your Learning Frog playtable and let go (surrounded by a sea of pillows of course) and that's pretty much heaven. You also like hanging on to the couch, or the short green ottoman. You're usually on your toes, but sometimes you stand flat-footed.
You go down for the night at 7pm, then you wake up at 5am, play for an hour or two, then go back down for a 1 hour snoozer before really starting your day. That 5am is real EARLY, FYI.
Before bedtime, we read our stories - Goodnight Moon, The Going to Bed Book, some nursery rhymes... It always calms you down - and you're so good at helping turn the pages!

Your Daddy and I love you so much - seeing you when I come home from work is the absolute highlight of my every day, and I know your Dada feels the same. I can hardly believe you're almost a year old.

Love to you on your Daddy's first father's day,

Mama

Reading in bed

2010-04-20T21:47:00.001-07:00

We used to keep Lowe's Black & White developmental fold-out book propped up in her crib to keep her visually entertained before bedtime. Until she started reading in bed, that is. Here she is, caught read-handed first thing in the morning. (read? red?get it? GET IT??).

You see the problem.

Also: WHY, someone please tell me, are there 3 pacifiers in her crib? Three. Pacis. I'm... embarrassed. Or something. Not really sure what's going on with that.

Miss me?

2010-04-18T21:38:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! It's me, Lowe! I'm baaaaack! I've been real busy growing big over the last 4 months!

My Mama swears she's going to start blogging again so you can see what I've been up to. So drop by again soon, k?

xoxo
Lowe-bird

Lowe was a lettle lamb

2009-12-30T14:06:00.001-08:00

I bundled Lowe up for an errand the other day and put a little lamb ears cap on her. I mean, for reals, couldn't you just DIE of the cute?

Hey guys

2009-12-30T14:02:00.001-08:00

This morning Matty started packing up the car in the garage for our drive to Bend tomorrow for New Year's Eve with friends.

We left Skylar out in the garage for a few minutes, and when we came back, this is what we found. What do you think, is he ready to go or what?

Good old fashioned family Christmas

2009-12-23T00:00:00.004-08:00

Matt's mom and sister, Kristin, were here for a few days earlier in the month to visit us (Lowe). So GG watched Lowe while Kristin, Matt and I went to go a local U-Cut farm to pick out our Christmas tree.

We're kicking off our fun old fashioned family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.

Matt, Kristin is frozen from the waist down.

Unfortunately we didn't find much in the way of big trees to cut ourselves, but instead found some delightful trees pre-cut and ready to go.

It's not going in the yard, Michelle. It's going in the living room.

I give you the Lichtenfels family Christmas tree.

Looks great! Little full, lotta sap!

It's just a little knot.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

Knit Night

2009-12-22T10:27:00.009-08:00

My friend Sarah hosts a bi-monthly knit night every year during the fall and winter, and this year we decided to do a little volunteer knitting for a non-profit here in Portland (in addition to our usual catching up/ dishing/ eating/ wine drinking!). The organization is called Hats & Scarves and it benefits residents of Portland. They collect hats, scarves & mittens (both adult & children's sizes) and then distribute them on an as needed basis throughout the winter.

At Sarah's request, I was honored to take a few pictures of our knitting group to send to Hats and Scarves, and here are the best of the bunch. My first non-Lowe gig using my new Nikon and 50mm lens! Although I messed up the focus/depth of field on a few shots, I think they will look just fine on a website page. In particular, this one:

Clearly I need more practice! But I had only unwrapped the camera a few nights before, and I definitely would have had a hard time achieving this shot without a flash on our Canon G9, so there's that too.

Lowe trying on a to-be-donated-hat w/ Amy:

OK, I obviously need to knit my kid some hats. She is way too cute in hand knitted items!

Sarah and her super crafty mom, Cathy - both amazing knitters and sewers:

Becky, Morgan, and Rachael:

Some of our donated hats:

OK, who knit the square hat with tassles? LOVE! Plus all the stripeys? Swoon.

All of us ladies enjoyed the opportunity to do some quick and fun projects for Hats & Scarves - though it is predictably trite to say so, it doesn't change the fact that it just felt right that we give a little more to our community this year.

And, I know I speak for ALL of us knitters when I say: many thanks to Sarah for always being a gracious and patient host and knitting teacher; to Allie who suggested Hats & Scarves; and to all the ladies who spent a few evenings this fall knitting up cozy hats for this project!

Better watch out

2009-12-15T22:01:00.002-08:00

I have a few crafty things up my sleeve this Christmas but I thought I could at least share these for now - fabric banners for the cousins Anja and Lowe.

I have quite a bit of leftover fabric from baby quilts I've made over the past year or two, and have seen this idea make it around the craft blog circles....

It's triangles (or rectangles) of fabric, cut out with pinking shears (or pinking rotary cutter, in my case), which gives it a finished-unfinished edge. I made them two sided, so there are two pretty sides if the banner gets hung in a corner. After some trial and error using ribbon to string up the shapes, I used some leftover quilt binding to sandwich the pieces together, and zigzagged everything together easy-peasy-like. Each banner is about 6 feet long.

Anja's banner will match the baby quilt I made for her back in 2008, which I thought was pretty cool!

Totally fun project. I can't wait to give cousins Lowe and Anja their presents!

It's been cold 'round these parts

2009-12-14T15:25:00.003-08:00

You know your city is having a cold snap when you have to put your water bottle inside your jacket to keep it from freezing absolutely solid. Also when your facial hair ices up like a frozen pharaoh beard.

Kimono

2009-12-09T14:03:00.003-08:00

OMG THE CUTE!!!!

My coworker K sewed up this absolutely adorable kimono shirt for Lowe, along with some coordinating pants (which Lowe isn't wearing here). The kimono fits Lowe PERFECTLY now, and she is rocking it hard.

Grandmother Goldsmith (Matt's mom) - also known as GG - along with Matt's sister Kristin, arrive in Portland today to stay for a week. GG knows I love orange and anything to do with orange (and green) so this outfit is especially for GG.

The stockings were hung

2009-12-09T13:56:00.003-08:00

By the chimney with care... Along with a half burned log apparently.

I used the chain piecing method to make the patchwork, quilted them with a swirly pattern, and FINALLY figured out how to attach the letters. The backside of each stocking is in a contrasting fabric (as are the stocking liners). I'll have to look up the fancy double-sided sheet glue delio thing I used to attach the wool, from which I painstakingly cut out each letter. That stuff was awesome. The last thing I need to do is whipstitch around the letters just to "finish" them, although the letters certainly aren't going anywhere.

If I have time, I'm planning on sewing Skylar his own stocking too. Can't leave out my little man!

Happy Holidays!

Thanksgiving craftiness

2009-11-30T16:19:00.003-08:00

The morning of Thanksgiving I whipped up some cute fabric coasters to give to MoDa for hosting for Thanksgiving. It was a super satisfying project since it went relatively quickly and used up scraps. I need more stash/scrap-busting projects like this!

It also allowed me to use my new awesome Amy Karol gift tags. Which I deeply love.

Morgan sewed up some beautiful placemats for Thanksgiving and also a special little something for Lowe! Check out the cool bibs she gave Lowe - so neat. Thanks, Morgan!

Thankful

2009-11-30T15:36:00.003-08:00

On Thanksgiving we stayed super local and spent the afternoon at our friend Morgan & Dave's house in NE Portland, where we had a delicious meal and caught up with friends. Lowe wore her new holiday outfit that Mama bought especially for her at Hanna Andersson a few weeks ago. Here is Morgan holding the little squisheroo:

Snowflake tights with butt ruffle - couldn't you just DIE of cuteness??

Yes, Lowe's baby hair is almost all completely gone, except for what I call her "Jean-Luc Picard" 'do. Apparently we loved it all off.

Unfortunately, Lowe has been, how do you say, irregular lately? Um, yeah. Which, apparently is quite normal in breastfed babies - and, bonus! - also inconvenient. In any case, I had a gut feeling (if you will, ha ha ha hahaaa ha) that we might have ourselves a little holiday blowout special. Indeed, Lowe only got to wear her outfit for a short while before Matty and I changed her - tag-team triage style - into her pajamas for the rest of the afternoon.

Around the dinner table we each took a turn talking about what we're most thankful for - one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions. You might not know this about me, but I am a big sap, and usually cry when I talk about what I am most thankful for. This year was no different.

I am so thankful for my beautiful baby girl Lowe, and that her and I are both healthy and thriving. We are so lucky, and so blessed to have a partner and Daddy that is so thoughtful and caring and brimming full of love for the two of us and our big puppers, Skylar. We have a good life, our little family.

Ladygrass quilt

2009-11-18T09:59:00.002-08:00

Here is (AT LAST) the quilt I made for Lowe! I mean really, what kind of Rustygrass would I be if I didn't sew a quilt for my own child?

1. Originally I made the patchwork into a duvet cover for Matty and I - about 2 years ago. I wanted to do something special for our bed - since I had never sewed a quilt for myself or Matt. I finished the duvet cover, and we put it on the bed with our down comforter...and roasted our pants off. It was so, so, so hot, not even I could stand it. Like, don't even try to wear pajamas to bed and turn the AC on hot. The patchwork helps create a lot of warmth, who knew?

2. I decided to turn the pieced patchwork into a lap quilt for Matt and I. I put the quilt top together with some batting and backing fabric, and being stumped as to how to quilt a square patchwork top, I started quilting in the ditch...aanndddd I hated it with a fiery, fiery passion. Stitching in the ditch wasn't working for me. And I hated the backing fabric I had chosen.

3. Half-finished ugly quilt sits in closet for a year.

4. I decide to turn the quilt into Lowe's quilt. . But remember, I hated the backing fabric! And the ditch stitching bothered me. Sarah and her incredibly talented quilter of a mom advised me to Just! Keep! At it! Do some log-cabin style quilting! So I took their informed advice...and ignored it and proceeded to rip out ALL of the quilting stitches.

4. With a fresh slate, I added a sweet Amy Butler backing, some contrasting binding, and finally finished the quilt!

Skylar approves.

Now, after all that, I'm not saying the quilt is A Masterpiece, but it was a labor of annoyance, then of love, and Lowe inspired me to keep at it until it was just perfect for the little squishee that she is.

Halloween

2009-11-18T09:33:00.003-08:00

First off, a picture of Lowe on Halloween, in her First Halloween onesie that Auntie Sara got for her! Lowe was totally hamming it up for the pictures.

Lowe started getting a little antsy and the photoshoot's final straw was when Mama insisted Lowe put on a stripey hat to match her pants. Too many stripes Mama!

Sarah has already posted on the Halloween zombie party we attended at our friend Becky and Will's. One of the best pictures is the normally beautiful Sarah dressed as a gross zombie and pretending to eat Lowe!

I went as "The Other Mother" from Coraline, and Matt went as Edward Cullen from "Twilight". Hott!

Note the sparkles (We're going sparkling!). I might have tried to hairspray them to Matt's face. I'm just saying.

Lowe went as a pumpkin. Awww...

Here she's all like, what the hell did you dress me in woman? I am not impressed. I told you I wanted to be a munchkin.

The best part of Matt dressing up as Edward Cullen is 1) Him wanting to be my DREAM-BOY-HOT-VAMPIRE (because, oh em gee! Funny.) and 2) Matt prepping for his role by reading these awesome but totally true recaps on Cracked.

Sea-town

2009-11-18T08:44:00.005-08:00

I'm finally clearing my backlog of blogging from back in October! Forgive? Seriously, we have taken about a hojillion pictures of Lowe and mygod, do you KNOW what kind of motivation it takes to sift through them sometimes? You know how when you have a big project, you can get paralyzed with fear of the thing? And then proceed to do exactly nothing to tackle pieces of the project? Yeah. Well. Guilty.

So, back in October, Matty left for Cheyenne for an energy audit for 2 weeks (he came back over the weekend in between weeks! Relax! No dead beat Dads over here). I sent the Skylark off to go hike Mt. Tabor w/ his buddy D. for a couple days and Lowe and I trekked up to Silverdale and Seattle to visit Gramma and Granddad B. and Granduncles and some of our Seattle friends who hadn't had a chance to meet Lowe.

This was Granduncle Stevie's first time meeting Lowe! Needless to say, they hit it off.

Kisses and playtime w/ Granddad!

Snuggling w/ Gramma - and they didn't even plan to get all matchy-matchy! The two of them were so sweet together:

Lowe was a little fussy going to bed that night, but she is quickly soothed by singing and humming. Fortunately Gramma and Granddad are expert musicians with a repertoire far beyond Mama's, and Granddad sang Lowe to sleep so I could visit with Gramma in peace!

(It's true, when I run out of depressing Modest Mouse songs to sing to Lowe, or tire of making up words to "Hush Little Baby", I dig deep into the Christmas tunes. Because you know, Burl Ives and Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls are like the best. This will work until Lowe figures out I'm singing her seasonally inappropriate songs.)

Once we said our goodbyes to the fam, we then jetted off to Seattle to squeeze in a few visits with dear friends.

Amy & Lowe - night owls and fish faces.

Jen introducing Lowe to her first Rainier beer. I expect no less from my best firefighting girl! (Jen and I fought wildfires together for the Oregon Department of Forestry back in the late '90s. Oh gaw, am I dating myself?)

Then we had dinner w/ Tracy & Adam. Tracy of the knitted green baby sweater fame! How darling is Lowe in it? Here are some more pictures we took at home. Granted, *I* think she looks like a Wizard of Oz munchkin in these shots! Sorry, sometime I am maybe not the best photographer, but I also for the record, would like to blame it on the overcast Portland day.

Our visit up north was short, but a nice lil' adventure while Daddy was out of town.

What's next on the blogging horizon? Halloween maybe? Fortunately I get out of writing a long post on that one! Stay tuned.

Let's go!

2009-11-17T15:05:00.001-08:00

Lowe thought she would try to stow away in Daddy's luggage before his business trip to Cheyenne. Nice try little birdie!

Auntie & Lowe

2009-11-16T13:05:00.001-08:00

Taken the weekend the whole fam was here in October, this is one of my absolutely favorite photos of Auntie Sara and Lowe.

Day Trippin'

2009-11-16T11:03:00.010-08:00

While Dad & Bev were in town, not ONLY did we go to the pumpkin patch, Lowe had her first trip to the mountains!

Lowe visited Mt. Hood's Timberline Lodge with Mama, Grammy, and Grampy:

(Note her Made in Portland t-shirt! A gift from our friend Lyza)

She learned about the history of the lodge but didn't quite get to see the top of Mt. Hood because of the fog. Though it didn't rain!

On the same trip, we went to Multnomah Falls, driving through the rain to get back to the Columbia Gorge. Just as we got to the falls, the rain stopped and we were able to enjoy the scenery! We climbed to the top of Multnomah Falls, which was 1 mile and 13 switchbacks up to the top!:

And Lowe played peekaboo with Mama at the falls!

A few days later we spent an afternoon visiting the Japanese and Rose Gardens here near downtown Portland - again, we just missed getting drenched by the rain! The Japanese Garden is considered the most authentic Japanese garden outside of Japan. And the fall colors were in full glory - gorgeous orange, yellow, and red foliage everywhere.

At the Rose Garden, Mama kept taking pictures of Lowe with roses and petals on her head! Like she was a wee prop or something! But really, who could resist? Babies + Roses = Cute Overload.

Our final day trip with Dad and Bev was up to Mt. St. Helens, and Matty was able to play hooky from work for the day and come with us! It was crazy raining on our drive to the Johnson Observatory (about an hour drive from the St. Helens visitors center), but the clouds parted in time for us to get a spectacular view of the mountain.

When we arrived at the observatory:

After about a half hour!

It also happened to be the time of year of the western toad migration, so all over the sidewalks there were little bitty toads hopping about!

Our trips were a true Oregon experience - trying to be crafty enough to dodge the rain, while seeing as much of the local scenery as possible! More pictures are up on Flickr, so head there if you want to see some more!

Happy 3 Month Bday

2009-11-13T16:27:00.001-08:00

Dearest Lowe Syd-

Hey little boo. You are 3 months old! And you make the ruffle pants I made for you look ridiculously cute! I'd write more about how awesome you are but you are currently crying up a storm because your pacifier OMG PEOPLE is not in your mouth, where you currently prefer it to be at almost all times.

Though I should mention that last night you had a hard time going to sleep and so your daddy brought you into his arms to take a nap with him on the couch. I came to check on you two - turned towards each other, daddy's big hand on your belly keeping you calm and warm, both snuggling contentedly and peaceful - and I just started crying big warm, wet tears on the spot.

Because my family, it is so, so beautiful.

All my love,
Mama

Bridgetown Velo Girl

2009-10-22T15:45:00.002-07:00

*Updated picture of Lowe in her onesie*

*Way cuter, I might add. Even though it doesn't show her belly to its mightiest level of awesomeness.*

In which we consume many donuts and good beer

2009-10-21T23:21:00.005-07:00

Last week we had my sister Sara's family and my Dad M. and (almost!) stepmom, Bev in town. We had an awesome visit - hitting a pumpkin patch, then Timberline Lodge, Multnomah Falls, Portland's Japanese Gardens, and Mt. St. Helen's.

Here's a tasting from our pumpkin patch trip to Kruger's Farm out on Sauvie's Island, a farming community about 15 minutes from downtown Portland.

Hayride!

Pumpkins!

Local organic beer! Fresh donuts and caramel apples! Mmmmm donutzzzzzzzzzzzz nom nom......

Apparently Lowe came from the Great Pumpkin, who dressed her in a fleecey one size too big:

The proud grandparents, Grammy & Grampy:

Matt, Michelle, and Lowe:

Jeff, Anthony, Sara, and Anja:

Anja made a game out of petting baby Lowe's head and then clapping - yay!! Anthony (Jeff's son) flexed his muscle holding L3:

We had a good time, didn't we Anja? (Suugggaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)

Due

2009-09-25T14:29:00.002-07:00

Dear Lowe,

You were due today! September 25! Instead you showed up on August 12, and hey, now I can hardly imagine life without your little squeaks and grunts and snorffles and sighs keeping us up at night.

Our friend Emily came by yesterday and took some amazing photos of you and of you and me. I can't help my selfish self, I love the ones of us together the most. Because all I see in all these photos of me and you is all the love I have for you.

And! In this one I look crazy skinny! Holla!

You constantly make me and your Daddy laugh. For example, is that a drop of PEE on your bum?!

Dang, we're going to have so much fun together.

All my love,

Mama

Babies and puppies and rainbows

2009-09-17T11:40:00.003-07:00

New post coming soon. But for now, baby feet and dimples. Your welcome. Smell-o-vision, unfortunately, is disabled. Baby smell is like, the best thing ever.

One month, and on being home

2009-09-10T13:48:00.004-07:00

My dearest Lowe-Lu,

You are almost one month old! Yes, this is an early letter. What can I say, I'm way on top of it.

We brought you home (finally!) a little over a week ago, after 2 1/2 weeks in the NICU. The last week has been mostly great - getting to know each other, really, for the first time.

This last week has been mostly figuring each other out, and evolving a routine that involves food, shelter, and hygiene for all. Like, what is this bath time thing? Ooohhh, we love bath time! Submerged in water, you open up your steel grey peepers and become a calm, serene little person. It's like a baby spa! Except that maybe the spa tub is docked in the laundry room (OH SO CLASSY) and there are no hot stone massages or mani/pedis. But hey - I warm up your hoodie towel in the dryer, and when you're out of the bath, wet and naked as a jailbird, chin quivering, I wrap you up all toasty burrito style. And you love it.

About twice a day you stay wake for about an hour - but why does it always happen as we're getting ready to go to sleep? Because it's so rare still, we stay awake with you to chitterchat and talk about our days. "Well, first, I pooped. Then someone changed my diaper, and then I ate some food. I fussed about, trying to go to sleep, then Mama put me on her chest and we fell asleep. Then I pooped...."

Lowe, there are times when you spit up so fiercely in your mouth and more or less choke, and your Daddy thinks you are going to die. Like last night. The man almost cried. Mostly you spit up during diaper changes because ZOMG the diaper changes, I hate them, I hate them! and I hate putting on clothes, they are itchy and scratchy! Fireants in my pajamas! And you work yourself up into a wee ball of tummy-clenching ill will and make yourself throw up.

We're also dialing in the breastfeeding. I can't say it was easy, not because you didn't latch on, or know how to breastfeed, but because we ended up in a cycle of tummy irritability as we transitioned you off the NICU bottle. You'd undereat at the breast, then overeat at the bottle, then you'd spit up again and again and have gas... rinse, repeat all night long.

Even still, since you've been home, you've gained 10 ounces. 10 ounces! Making you a whopping 6 pounds 12 oz. That's more than you gained in 2.5 weeks in the hospital! So we must be doing something right. Your chin roll is getting more pronounced and your cheeks more and more nom-able by the day. Nom nom nom!

And some days that's all I want to do with you. Nom you up and keep you this tiny, gorgeous creature as long as possible. I look at you in profile and I see the little human being you're turning into, and it fills me with complete wonder - I can hardly believe you're here with us.

Love,
Mama

Nursery

2009-08-27T09:43:00.001-07:00

It's coming together.

Awake time

2009-08-27T09:41:00.001-07:00

Your Daily Lowe:

Happy 2 Week Birthday, Little Ladygrass

2009-08-26T22:30:00.003-07:00

Dear Lowe-

1 more week in this world! How does it feel? You're at 5 pounds 9 oz. today - nice work packing on the oz.!

So let's see. This week you haven't been doing a whole lot other than sleeping and eating. Shocker, right? You're getting more alert though - and we discovered that 8pm is really your big awake time. So now you've got me working OT at the NICU, enjoying some split shift action. But that's ok, because you're making progress on drinking your milk all by yourself (well: sort of by yourself). And it's such a joy to be with you when you're so alert, checking things out with those shifty, curious eyes, hands clasped on your chest. I wouldn't miss it.

We've almost got your room ready for you - perhaps it will be in shape for an internet reveal tomorrow. I hope you like orange, because that's what you're getting!

Much love to you,
Mama

Lowe Syd, 2 weeks

2009-08-25T14:43:00.003-07:00

Hard to believe our little Lowe Sydonia is already 2 weeks old (on Wednesday)!

Lowe's doing good. As I've mentioned to many of you, she probably has another week in the lil' slammer - still focusing on learning how to take her milk through the bottle and via nursing. Right now she gets about 1/4-1/2 of each feed through the mouth - the rest goes in through her feed tube. She's making progress every day, and they say that one day she'll just "get it" and have all the right sucking muscles ready to go! She can't go home until she can take all her food through bottle or boob.

(Ah, yes, I have, um, a little Cleveland now)

Lowe has decided to be wide awake around her 8pm feeding time, which means it's a really good nursing time.(OK, so it's more practice than anything - although she definitely "gets" it!)

(Check out her milk beard!)

So now I'm splitting my "shift" at the hospital - I go in the morning for 2 rounds of feeding (I'm there about 6 hours), Matt visits after work.

Matt and I convene at home together for about an hour around dinner time, then I pull a last shift, getting home around 10-10:30 at night. I admit to being a little overtired myself by the end of the day. Last night poor Matty was all like "dude, what's wrong with you, go to bed!", but I'm all like "hey, i think this is what they call 'tip of the iceberg,' buddy!"

Daily Lowe

2009-08-21T09:15:00.004-07:00

Hi guys, check me out, I'm all snug as a bug!

Dude, I'm totally wide awake now, but just wait until Mama picks me up! Haaaahahahahaha!

And anyways, where can I get some of those "preemie" clothes you people speak of? I can't see my hands over here!

1 Week Letter to Lowe

2009-08-19T22:27:00.006-07:00

Dear Lowe,

Happy 1 Week Birthday, little miss L3! This morning I dragged my sluggish butt out of bed and to the hospital just so I could be with you at 8:17am today – one week to the MINUTE after you joined this world screaming! I look at you and can’t even imagine how you managed to scrunch up in my belly those last few weeks – but at least now all that kicking makes sense. Those are some wicked long legs and feet!

This morning you were all eyes when I arrived – blink blink blink! And when you open your peepers, you either a) furrow your tiny brow and look at me all suspicious-like, or b) dart your eyes – left, right – as if to check the joint out, like hey, what’s going on out there?

Today during one particularly memorable blink you gave me a big gummy smile, though let’s be honest, it was probably just gas. Your Daddy visited you tonight and he says next time, for the love of all that is holy! don’t wait to open your eyes until the end of his visit! He almost got busted by the nurses for overstaying during the NICU’s 1 hour shift-change closure, just so he could be with you when you're awake.

You show all signs of looking like your Daddy, adorable curly hair and long fingers and all, but for the moment, you’ve got “my” blue eyes. Though I’m certain they’ll change to brown, I’ll take what I can get, if only for a few short months!

So far this week you’ve learned how to breathe unassisted and fight jaundice. Your baby conehead is almost gone, as is your umbilical cord bit. You’ve taken a little bottle and a little bit of boob, but you still need to learn how to eat. You’re still taking most of your feedings through the feed tube (gavaging). When I feed you, I try to tell you that you can’t get up from the so-called table until you finish your milk young lady! But then you just close those little peepers, heave a big sigh, curl your hands up under your chin, and go right to sleep in my arms. How could I possibly argue with that logic?

We officially can’t wait until we can take you home. It feels like we have a long road ahead of us, getting you to nurse and eat. I know you just need time, but it’s getting harder and harder to leave you, so you’d best just hurry up, ok?

Much love,
Mama

Day 6

2009-08-18T10:04:00.002-07:00

Quick update on the little Ladygrass. Lowe is doing great. She's in the NICU for another week or two - right now she's dealing w/ a little bit of jaundice (not uncommon for preemies), but otherwise is in excellent health! Once she's off the jaundice phototherapy, she'll be transitioning to a regular crib, where her main job is to learn how feed on her own (either bottle or nursing, vs. a feed tube). She'll take some bottle now but she just gets too comfy when you hold her to pay any attention to eating!

Matty and I are doing well - seeing our little girl as much as possible, and getting back into a semi-routine before we bring her home. Our friend Sarah helped coordinate a dinner drop off for us, and my co-worker Dan brought over our first dinner last night - homemade spaghetti and meatballs! It was soooo delicious. Also more delicious because all we had to do was cook some pasta and throw the dishes in the dishwasher. It's not that we can't cook right now, but it's one less thing to worry about, and buys us more time to spend with the little one. Thanks, Sarah!

Lowe, 2 days old

2009-08-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

Mama love

Daddy love

I'm on my way... home sweet home

2009-08-14T15:04:00.004-07:00

Guys, I'M HOME. I know, it's on Facebook, it's on Twitter, but I need to make sure my trifecta of interwebbiness is appropriately updated.

The house, it is crazy clean and organized. Because Matty did all the third trimester nesting for me!

And Skylar, oh I missed him!

And the garden! Crap, there are many vegetables to go pick.

::

Then back to the hospital. We'll figure out a routine soon enough to go visit the little Miss Lowe. Lunchtime today we had some excellent skin-to-skin action. This evening I think Matty will get his first kangaroo care.

More pictures coming soon!

Much love to all.

...2 days later

2009-08-14T08:40:00.002-07:00

I just spent MY last night as a patient here at the hospital, and I spent it snuggled up with Lowe’s Snoedel all night. Never heard of one before? Me either, until one of our NICU nurses gave us one! It’s like how babies and kids have their stuffed animals. Except mine was the Snoedel, and it made me miss my little Lowe like crazy. *sniff* *sniff* Although I take issue with fuzzy wuzzy terms like "aromatherpy by mom" or "Mamatherapy". Like I'm a Glade Plug-In or bottle of Febreeze or something. Mama's Smell! Now! With More Cuddle Absorbing Power!

::

In other mama news, I started pumping breast milk (the BOOB) shortly after the little miss was born. Men, look away now if you don’t want to know about mah boobs!

(Still there?)

Yesterday I got the first itty bitty partial syringe of milk, last night I got the first drops in the bottle, and this morning was like, many measurable drops. (Insert fist pump here!) The nurses refer to this mother’s first milk (colostrum) as ‘liquid gold’ and will give the baby any little drop that can be captured. It’s basically full of mamas good antibodies and flora and…other, uh...good stuff. The nurses give it to baby in either their feed tube or in a bottle with supplemental formula.

Right now there is lots of me visualizing and focusing to help the milk come in. And milk usually takes 24-48 hours for all new mamas. Matt has seen the pumping process and while of course supportive about the whole endeavor, declares it wholly unnatural, since there is NO WAY THAT (waving hand in my general boobage direction) LOOKS RIGHT. Oh, yes, I know, I know.

Happy Birthday!

2009-08-13T15:30:00.005-07:00

Lowe Sydonia was born at 8:17am on August 12. Our L3 (L4?) is 5 pounds 5 oz, and 18 inches long. Obviously she's perfect!

(It's Lowe...as in Chloe, or Zoe, or Bowie.)

Since she was a few weeks early, Lowe's in the neonatal ICU for a week or two while the docs make sure she has no infections, can breathe on her own, gain weight, feed from a bottle or boob, and maintain her own temperature.

She'd been in the NICU for just over 24 hours and already she has been taken off the ventilator. I visited right before her very first feeding this morning, and was able to give her the full 6 mils. of special baby formula - she's got a pretty good sucker! All said, she's doing great, and the docs think she'll be able to go home within 2 weeks. We can visit her any time for as long as we want, and can hold her for 20-25 minutes at a time right now. She falls right asleep in our arms.

As for myself, I'm off bedrest - heck yeah! And I go home tomorrow. I feel good and am up and at 'em.

The labor story is coming soon - bear with us!

33.5 weeks

2009-08-11T21:49:00.004-07:00

You might not believe it, but I had my first lungful of fresh air in 2 weeks on Monday, when Matty wheeled me between OHSU buildings for the ultrasound appointment. We played a bit of hooky in order to soak in the sunshine and sneak one last belly photo in.

Rest assured, I am shooting for maximum growth this week by enjoying Newman's Ginger-Os and Ben and Jerry's ice cream at every available opportunity. Matty and little sister Caitlin are keeping me well supplied.

I am DONE with bedrest. Only 2 more days. I could not be more thrilled.

In which I mention 'roids. Sorry.

2009-08-10T22:38:00.002-07:00

Today I had a final ultrasound to measure such things as baby’s estimated weight, amniotic fluid level, placenta health, and umbilical cord blood movement. All you ever wanted to know about pregnancy and more! Consider yourself lucky I’m not talking about my cervix or the many real indignities of being pregnant and/or bedrest, which at this point, may include:

- After-effects of having one’s water broken for several days. The amnio fluid, it keeps producing. Girls, you can imagine.
-‘Roids. Nuff said.
- Four doctors in your room at 6:30am: Looking fresh and full of go-get-‘em-ness. You: in bed, ugly pajamas, unwashed face, super screwed up hair, glasses on. Usually only your husband sees you like this, and loves you for it anyway.
- Pregnancy hormones. Full blown meltdowns: they are very, very real. Random emotional moments : e.g. Busting out in tears at a ridiculous country song on the radio, because the high school senior had an accident and couldn't walk? And then he helped her walk? And they got married and walked down the aisle? And then their kid starts to walk?! And OMH IT'S SO SAD AND YET SO HAPPY.
- Flat assedness and general muscle atrophy. I will be like Bambi born in the woods for my first week off bedrest. Someone will need to remind me how to do this thing you humans call “walking”.
- Blogging on 2 Ambien. File under: Bad Idea. It’s like the equivalent of sloppy drunk dialing. I found so many misspellings and poorly constructed sentences in those posts, I was horrified.
- A general inability to articulate the most basic of concepts.*
- Accepting, and learning how to ask for, help from family and friends and even perfect strangers. Because you really need it.**

All this and I haven't even gotten to the "labor and delivery" or "recovery" portions of this adventure. Stay tuned! Just wait till I get to the good stuff.

Anyway, my intended point! The ultrasound! L3 is measuring at 5 pounds, 3 ounces, which puts her in the 70th percentile for her “age”. Yahoo! Great news. Amnio fluid is lower than, say, had my water bag not broke, but my doc was quite happy with the levels. Placenta looks healthy, and the cord is moving blood back and forth exactly as it should be. L3 still shows no sign of distress, nor any sign of coming OUT soon. Eventually she’ll figure out that Friday is the day! Ready or not here comes the pitocin.

Holy crap FRIDAY I’M HAVING A BABY PEOPLE!

Doc also said that we might be looking at 2-ish weeks in the NICU, which, heck, is mindblowing short. I’m doing a happy dance and meditating about it already.

*Until tonight when my little sis busted out with it, I could not recall the word “nightgown.” This particular issue has been going on for WEEKS. As in, “Matty, will you please bring me my ugly white knit pajama tunic thingy from home?”, and he’s all like, “What the eff is a tunic?!” , and I’m all like, “You know, the top thingamabob? That I wear to bed? Also has flowers on it? The pajamas?”

**All of which is hard to admit and hard to do. And generally there is a point where you give in because you lack physically ability (me), or your head threatens to blow from the stress of continuing to "do it all." (Matt) Either way, you exercise as much grace as possible, and learn to let go a little bit., and trust in the full circle of friendship.

Baby shower; 33 weeks; Misc

2009-08-08T18:53:00.005-07:00

Somehow my ladies managed to make a baby shower happen for me in the hospital today! I scheduled a room with my nurses, and the fam and friends took it from there. It was a perfectly lovely, if not perfectly ideal (location-wise), shower! I didn't count but there were maybe 15 or so of my girls there? Thank you, everyone - I absolutely enjoyed the social time and cake and cupcakes! Even if I cried or was on the very cusp of crying many, many times. :)

Yesterday I hit the 33rd week of pregnancy. If I make it to next Friday without going into labor, the docs are going to induce me - aka give me a nice shot of oxytocin. My best guess is that they will schedule me for early in the morning so I can stick to business hours. Who can blame them?!

So far L3 is doing great - her heartrate - their best indicator of her health - is doing exactly what it should be (varying; responding to stimuli; not too slow; not too fast). And during today's shower, I finally heard some happy-ending-induction stories, so I'm feeling much less nervous about it than I was before. Besides, I'm close to halfway "there", so I'd like to think my labor will be quick anyway. Wishful thinking, true!

And not too stray too far into the "random" category, I finally found the perfect 5-year anniversary gift for Matty. He never reads the blog unless I send him a link, so I think it's safe to post up here. It's a bamboo mobile from Petit Collage.

Wood is the traditional 5 year anniversary gift, and I thought with our new addition to the family this year, this would be pretty perfect.

The final stretch

2009-08-06T11:24:00.002-07:00

During an otherwise uneventful week – in which all signs pointed to being able to go home on Friday (tomorrow), my water broke at about midnight last night. And! Of course! Things were looking SO up and up, that Matt and I decided it was an acceptable risk for him to drive out to Boise for an overnight project! All which was a good enough idea until I called him at 2am to tell him to take the first flight home. He was back by my side by 8am this morning.

I had not-painful contractions most of the night, which scrubbed themselves to a dull contractional roar by the time Matty got here, and now they are almost non-existent. So! Looks like L3 is going to hang out at least a little while longer, but we’re in an “any day now” situation. Or "any minute now" - take your pick.

I’m finishing up 33 weeks, and as I’ve said before, making it to 34 weeks would be fantastic (relatively speaking). But if I don’t naturally going into labor before the 34 week mark, they’ll induce me – the chance of infection when you have ruptured (shudder) membranes increases the longer you sit around.

At this point, we’re looking at L3 being in the neonatal ICU (NICU) for several weeks – they say that preemies stay in the hospital almost up to their due date (September 25), so it could be upwards of a month (sigh). But, if we make it to 34 weeks, we could be looking at 2-3 weeks in a very optimistic situation. Which, dude, I can totally handle that.

Matt and I are in good spirits and trying to rest up. Neither one of us got much sleep at all last night. Off to nap!

Interruption Nation

2009-08-04T17:36:00.004-07:00

And here I thought I was supposed to be getting rest? Today was pretty unprecedented...

6am Vitals from Nurse #1 (blood pressure, temperature).
6:10am Fetal heartrate from Nurse #2 (Doppler)
6:15am Nurse #3 wants my pee and to weigh me. Hello, I’m not even out of my PJs?
7am My doctor comes by and examines me (ahem) and sees how I’m doing. No change, more or less. Yay! I really like my doctor.
7:15-7:35am Matt pops by just as Doctor is leaving
7:45am Residents (2) plus 3rd year med students (2) arrive. See how I’m doing, measure my belly.
8:15am Breakfast comes. I get dressed, though what I reeeally need is a shower
8:30am I get weighed by mystery woman who wheels the scale into my room
9:00-10am Nurse #2 wheels me down one floor for fetal monitoring (my vitals also get checked)
10am Wheel me back upstairs, Nurse #1/#2 check my vitals and baby heartrate. (WTF, didn’t I just DO this downstairs?)
10:10-10:30am I have a call with work
11:30 Lunch arrives but I don’t eat yet.
11:45am-12:30pm Friend Dom comes to visit
12:45pm I hop in the shower finally. I hear someone knock at the door and ignore it. Wishing I had one of those hotel “Do Not Disturb” placards for my door.
1:10pm I’m barely dressed and combing my hair when March of Dimes lady comes to visit and talk about preemies and make sure I don’t have any questions or need anything. Fake smile, fake smile, thanks! (I’ve been doing this thing for like, 3 weeks now! Appreciate the effort!)
1:20pm I buzz the nurse voluntarily and ask to have my grilled cheese warmed up. I put movie in DVD player.
1:22pm Phone rings. Pause movie. Social worker calls, hears that I’m going home on Friday, makes sure I have a safe place to go home to, that I have a ride home, etc. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. Thanks! (I know they have to do this...)
1:23pm Grilled cheese is back. Start movie.
2pm Stop movie. Vitals and fetal heartrate from Nurses #1/#2. Nurse #1 is convinced I must be lying when I say “no I’m fine I RILLY DON’T NEED ANYTHING ELSE”. Fake smile fake smile PLEASE LEAVE. Gah, Nurse #1 is NICE but she’s a hoverer. HOVER-ER.
2:30pm Housekeeping! She empties one garbage can.
3pm Movie is over. Matty arrives! Yay! Surprise! He brings me treats from Tillamook.
3:15pm Housekeeping again - a different one! She empties the other garbage can.
3:45pm I am just telling Matt about How! Many! Visits! I’m getting today, when lo, the swing shift nurse and nursing student arrive to say hi! Just letting me know they are here! I really like these nurses, but again, The Visits!
4:10pm Knock knock (again), med student arrives to see how I’m doing. Matty and I can barely contain ourselves from laughing because of The Visits. And the poor student, he’s obviously new at this. He promises to come back in an hour to check my fetal heartrate.
4:15pm Naptime!
4:45pm Dinner arrives; Matt leaves.

So if you're playing along at home, that makes 17 staff visits in less than 11 hours. 9 of these Visits involve answering the same exact set of questions. Some of The Visits are significantly more welcome than others (my doctor’s visit and breakfast specifically), but either way, DAMN I AM EXHAUSTED FROM THE VISITS AND THE FAKE SMILING.

And also, how am I supposed to get my bedrest groove on if I'm being interrupted every 40 minutes? I'm trying to be lazy over here!

So if I don’t call you back today, you know why. My face hurts and I'm trying to figure out a way to be nice about making sure I don't get so many Visits tomorrow. The good news is that yes, they definitely care about how I'm feeling, how I'm doing! That's why I'm here, after all! But at the same time I'm being killed slowly with kindness and maybe about a bazillion inefficiencies in The System.

But looking at the bright side, it is almost 6pm, which means I only have 2 more scheduled Visits for the night!

*UPDATE: J & K (my 3:45pm nurses) are soooooooo great. They dragged a few words out of me and were shocked that I had so many separate check ups and housekeepers today. They're leaving a message for tomorrow's head nurse and were aiming to update the sign on my door limiting the ins and outs. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more peaceful!

Lonely line of forgottens

2009-08-03T23:05:00.001-07:00

Magically appearing tomatoes. Nom nom nom.

This is what happens...

2009-08-03T23:04:00.001-07:00

...when you let your husband tend the garden while wife is in the hospital.

Mad Pumpkins

2009-08-03T22:58:00.002-07:00

Our pumpkins are stark raving mad. Overtaking everything, settling their sweet gourds on all available surfaces, fanning out their rigorous arms and tendrils unimpeded.

Next year, the pumpkins are being demoted out of the raised beds. I've got a nice space near the strawberry patch they can frolic about and overtake without intervention.

Artichokes: Yay or Nay

2009-08-03T22:53:00.001-07:00

Good eats or too far progressed for good eats?

Regardless, how gorgeous are they? Icy green leaves over a sumptious purple delicate interior.

Olive oil and basil optional

2009-08-03T22:49:00.001-07:00

Several pounds of tomatoes are showing up in the garden. Here are the long lost forgotten, just in time for me to slice into thick slabs and top over a cream cheese bagel.

Goregous red delicious orbs of summer, and it's only August 3.

5 years ago today

2009-07-31T14:16:00.003-07:00

Matty-

5 years ago today I wore green toenail polish, orchids in my hair, and an ivory satin dress your mother made for me. You wore a tie made from the same cloth, and shiny new shoes. We said our vows to each other in the presence of dear friends and family at a 200-year old barn in Old Wethersfield, Connecticut. We ate cake, we danced.

Let it all slide away
Let it all slide away
Set your load down
For the rest of our days

The night flew by in an instant.

This weekend we thought we'd be able to escape for the weekend, a short getaway before the storm of L3 sweeps us off our feet. But tonight, I'll settle for Thai take out, a movie in my hospital room, a hazy Mt. Hood peeking at us from a distance, and the joyous prospects of spending the next 5 years with you and our little one*.

xoxo,
Shelley

*That is, when she decides to join us!

Tuesday update

2009-07-29T06:49:00.004-07:00

Tuesday was a better day. I've been feeling better. The day was pretty non-eventful as a whole, though Emily, Allie & Jess beat the heat (100+ degrees F in Portland) and came to visit my air-conditioned lair. Emily brought me a boatload of candy and a trash mag - very necessary and much appreciated!

Matty stayed over again last night. Sarah and Thor still have the Skylark, check out this picture of my little man! I can't imagine having a coat of black fur when it's so hot out - poor puppers.

Zzzzz...

2009-07-27T19:25:00.003-07:00

Big sigh. Peeps - I am feeling a little 'spent', so bear with me through the boring update.

I'm stabilized at 3cm dilated for the day, and my doctor allowed me to come upstairs to a less austere, more view-ful mother/baby room. Yay. I'll be here for 2-3 days, heading downstairs for a monitoring sesh 1X/day. After a few days, Doc might send me home, might keep me here. If she sends me home, that's good news - I don't have the signs of going into labor soon. If she keeps me here, that means L3 is still itching to come out and they want to keep a closer eye on things.

So basically, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

::

Matty is coming tonight to keep me company. I sent him away at 8am to go home and take care of home/work. He is bringing my favorite organic raisin bran cereal - it makes me excited for breakfast. Sarah & Thor are taking the Skyman for the night, thanks guys!

Countdown #2

2009-07-27T15:51:00.007-07:00

My week at home was lovely. There were visitors. Garden vegetables to eat. Sisters and nieces and surprise uncles! and parents and husbands and Skylars to hang out with. Tour de France and HGTV and True Blood DVDs to watch. I'm not going to lie, I had one meltdown involving sundried tomato pesto making and an unintentional audience of thankfully close g.f.s and Matty, but that's how new traditions are born, are they not? I'll have a bowl of Emotional Meltdown pasta, and you? Delish.

And now, as of 5:30 this morning, 6 days after being sent home on bedrest, I'm back at OHSU... in the tiniest, fugliest Labor & Delivery room the hospital has to offer, making an already-edgy time a little more difficult to bear. I'm currently staring at 3 econo-boxes of nitrile gloves mounted on the wall; cabinets with vaguely scary labels such as "delee", "ambubag", and "vacuum"; a poorly lit closet-worthy bathroom; a window view of boxy brick hospital buildings; yawn-inducing hospital food.

::

Yesterday afternoon and last night I had a few symptoms add up and I decided it was a good idea to get things checked out. Hoping for a false alarm. It was mostly the 4am something-going-on-besides contractions that landed me here.

So, I'm further dialated than I was when they checked me last Wednesday - on the order of 3 cm now. Things seem to be progressing slow enough - nothing changed in the first 5 hours I was here. I'm not in labor...yet.... They are monitoring me, I am still having "uterine irritability" which means a whole lot of nothing - basically very minor contractions, maybe. Who knows.

My feeling is that L3 is READY for this world. Contractions or no, there's something brewing in the baby region, and I don't know how much longer she'll hang in there. The doctors are probably not going to stop The Labor at this point. I'm just over 31 weeks along.

Every day still matters, and my goal today is to still be pregnant tomorrow.

But today, today I'm not ready for this. Maybe I will be tomorrow. My head isn't yet around the idea that I could GO INTO LABOR and have our BABY come out and go directly into the NICU when she is suPPOSED to be inside of ME. We've never even watched a birthing video, although a how-to-breastfeed video seems to be on continuous loop on the hospital television. What about that whole beginning part to baby showing up in this world? NEED INFORMATION.

And while that is part of it, I think the reality is, I'm just not ready yet.

Project L3: 7th Day

2009-07-20T10:34:00.002-07:00

I've been in the hospital almost a week. Today they decide if I'm ready to go sit on my rapidly flattening butt and pick my nose in the comfort of my own home.

::

We came out like champs during this morning's monitoring sesh. The contraction monitor was completely flatlined.

Made me question my early a.m. gut pangs, which I realize now were other calls of nature. There's a fun game to mess with your head: Contraction or gas? Gas? Contraction?

::

What's it like being here?

6am: Nurse arrives. I stir. She takes the vitals: my blood pressure, my heartrate, my temp. My BP is on the low side of normal, heartrate and temp normal. She goos up an ultrasound wand and measure's L3's heartrate. L3 has been at 140-145 BPM, on average, for weeks. Nurse leaves.

7am: The doctors make their rounds. As this is a teaching hospital, my morning posse has included up to 2 med students, a resident, and one doc from my OB’s team. They wheel in their own laptop cart. I’m usually just awake at this stage, glasses on, unwashed face. They ask me how I’m feeling; any changes in ladybit fluids, am I in pain, am I having contractions. They update me on the day’s plan. They tell me I might get to go home on Monday (because they assume no one wants to be in the hospital). I ask questions, I want to know everything.

8am: Breakfast arrives. I order Raisin Bran (since when did Kellogs suck so much?), yogurt, banana, skim milk, and a hard cooked egg. I’ve decided to cut out caffeinated coffee, although nobody has asked me to.

9am: Nurse arrives. Brings me a Xantac for my gut, and some pills/Metamucil to keep things moving.

10am: Nurse arrives. Takes vitals.

11am: Go in for fetal monitoring, 2 floors down. They wheel me downstairs; I revel in the soft artificial breeze on my face as they cart me down the hall. I miss real “weather”. I clutch a stack of magazines to keep busy. They need at least 20 minutes of continuous monitoring before they let me go.

12:30pm: Lunchtime. I get a Gardenburger with cheese, a veggie plate, milk, and some peaches for dessert. I’ve overordered; I can’t finish the veggie plate and feel guilty. I wish I’d ordered a cookie.

2pm: Nurse arrives. Takes vitals.

Afternoon: Some visitors arrive; I cherish news from the outside world, outside lives. I catch up on gossip. I nap for an hour. I read a little. I surf the internets.

6pm: Nurse arrives. Takes vitals. Dinner arrives. It is a mix of the standard fare and my special order. Huh? At least I ordered a cookie. I drink my milk.

10pm: Nurse arrives. Last vitals for the night. She gives me a Xantac, an Ambien if I’ve requested it. I actually love the Ambien. I understand its addictiveness now.

Matty’s schedule has been fairly erratic the last few days, so I mostly talk to him throughout the day and see him at night. The lux accommodations in my room make for an uncomfortable stay for any guest, but there is a daybed of sorts here in case he’s ever game for a crappy night’s sleep by my side.

::

Rinse, lather, repeat.

Project L3: 6th Day

2009-07-20T10:26:00.004-07:00

Sunday was a quiet day here in Ladygrass land. With the sole and notable exception of two baby monitoring sessions (baby heartrate + contractions), both which showed that I was contracting. Again, at a very low level - undetectable to me - but detectable to the machine. These were determined to be so-called non-productive contractions, in that my other baby-world-readying parts are not thinning/dialating any further. Good news, in other words, although unsettling to be sure.

Matt and Alex brought dinner last night; steak, pasta with roasted garlic and sundried tomatoes, and grilled garden zucchini. We spent the evening watching YouTube videos, eating ice cream sandwhiches from the hospital cafeteria, and chilling out.

Project L3: 5th day

2009-07-18T11:57:00.003-07:00

I don’t think “cable television” actually counts unless you get TLC or Food Network, preferably with a cycling channel cherry on top with a whipped cream HGTV chaser. I’m finally at a point in my bedrest where I am enjoying the mindless TV, but hell, OHSU. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland? WHOA, hello drugs. Many, many drugs.

And apparently I missed an exciting Tour de France stage this morning, with my boy George Hincapie on the receiving end of the most disappointing, narrowest, near-yellow-jersey-miss of his life. Le sigh.

::

I’m officially in an antepartum (mother/baby) room right now. The bed: comfier, the room: a little cozier, and I’m connected to a bare minimum of wires (only a leg compression machine to prevent blood clots). The IV hardware stays in my hand - just in case - but I’ve no IV, and they’ve given up on 24/7 fetal monitoring. Today they’ll take me downstairs for about a half hour of monitoring, which they’ll do every day I’m here. Tonight they’ve given me the green light to avoid the wake-every-4-hours-check-vital signs routine – which should result in more continuous sleep. In all – I appear to be in good shape and I’m certainly in good enough spirits.

They’re going to make a go/no go decision on sending me home on Monday, once my doctor’s team is back in the hiz-ouse. In the meantime, I’ve got Matty and Alex signed up to grill some steaks and garden vegetables for a Sunday night picnic dinner in my room – looking forward to enjoying part of our 1/8th cow! (We went in on a cowshare with friends about a month ago – local, grass-fed beef from The Dalles – deliciousness).

Speaking of food, because let's be clear, food is very important to me...the hospital food really isn’t completely awful. I’ve finally figured out how/when to order from the “alternative” menu instead being complacent on the receiving end of the standard menu. When I say I’m looking forward to my grilled cheese sandwich for dinner tonight, that ain’t no joke, yo. Get me a grilled cheese with 5 ketchup packets and it’s party time! Oh, how small my world has become.

Project L3: Update #1

2009-07-16T18:52:00.007-07:00

Today was a relatively uneventful day. Little Lady is holding tight, and I'm staying "boring", as my doc says! They're weaning me off the drugs, and I'll be in the hospital under observation for at least 48 more hours. After that, I'll get an assessment on whether they feel comfortable letting me go home on bed rest.

It's hard to say if home is a good option or not. My doc is concerned that my contractions were so low key that I might not notice them again. This is also a good place for me, since Matty can hold down the fort at home/work, and he worries a lot less about me when he's gone. And at this point? I'd rather stay in the hospital as long as I need to. Better me, WITH her inside, cooking, than her solo in the NICU for 8 weeks!

I started transitioning all my office work today, and spent almost all day on email & phone making that happen. I have a surprising reserve of energy right now, which I think people are finding hard to believe! Though after a short pro/con sesh, I realized I need to make a fairly quick transition on my projects. Better for ALL of us if I extract myself to the largest extent possible - and I'm ridiculously lucky to have a strong staff behind me, trained up and ready to step up at a moment's notice. You know who you are! My co-workers are pretty awesome in every single way imaginable.

::

Matty says: thanks for the baked goods Becky, Amy, and Klaudia! You know Michelle so well! Thank you everyone for all your visits and kind words and thoughts and prayers and phone calls. We'll just keep Project L3 piping along every way we know how.

::

More tomorrow,
xoxo,
M&M&L3

L3 - 30 weeks

2009-07-15T23:00:00.003-07:00

And here I start to record the birth of our daughter, Little Lady Lichtenfels (L3, as friend Aileen sweetly coined)… To those I have emailed, this will be a familiar story.

Yesterday afternoon, July 14, Bastille Day, after a serious of regular prenatal doctor visits and 30 week ultrasound at my hospital (OHSU – Oregon Health & Sciences University), my doctors determined that my body was gearing up to give birth… 10 weeks too soon! I was having contractions (that I couldn’t feel) that needed to stop, my cervix was/is thinned out far beyond normal (1.5 centimeters, vs. the 3-4 I should be), and I was/am dialated enough the docs can feel the baby’s head with a finger!

Whoa baby!

And the only reason it was caught all was because I had a regular exam. Crazy.

I was immediately admitted to Labor & Delivery around 6pm via short, tear-filled wheelchair ride up the elevator. Matty was with me, my rock. He spoke for me when I literally could not. He made the phone calls I was incapable of making. He kept asking questions, was my biggest advocate, and answered to the parade of nurses/doctors that kept buzzing through the room those first few hours. I am so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing partner by my side.

The contractions stopped last night and my doc is really happy with my progress. I’m having some low-lying “uterine irritability” which are tiny tiny little blips on the screen. L3 is still active and kicking around in there – and every week she stays inside (growing and developing) is a huge milestone. Stay in there little girl!

Through this, I wasn’t, nor am I in any pain whatsoever. Except my bum, which is going to get tired of all this sitting and bedrest! I also happen to have the boniest tailbone on the planet.

I’m on an anti-contraction medicine for a few days and they’ll keep me at the hospital until they’re sure I’m completely stable. Then I should be able to go home and be on strict bedrest until baby’s born. Right now I'm on:

· Nifedipine - anti contraction pills - taking for another day
· Steroid shots in the hip - 1X yesterday, 1X today - this helps relax the uterus muscle though the biggest benefit is that it is proven to help stimulate fetal lung growth. Huge deal.
· Antibiotics (pencillin) - regular IV drips - to ensure neither her or I had/have an infection
· Xantac - try to ensure some acid reflux/gastritis goes away, which I’ve been dealing with for some weeks now. I feel gut pain every time I eat. Suck.
· Some yeast infection pill (super duper! Sorry, guys) - because oh, apparently I have a yeast infection too, and if I didn't, the antibiotics would probably finish the job
· Ambien- because I couldn't sleep last night. No sleepwalking/ midnight refrigerator raiding yet! Although I know where my leftover ice cream from dinner is, and who knows what I'm capable of.

I’m currently at 30 weeks, the docs would like to see me hold out until at minimum 32 weeks, better if 34 weeks, and they’d be psyched if I could do 36 or 38 weeks. Full term is 40 weeks, and while they aren’t ruling it out, it’s not a likely scenario.

We'll probably have a preemie on our hands, the goal is to get her as "least" preemie as possible. Yesterday on the ultrasound she was measuring at about 4 pounds - so not bad! Babies typically grow a half pound a week at this stage.

So! I’ve got my cell phone and laptop so am fully connected to the outer world. I can have visitors here at the hospital and we’re starting to get a trickle of visitors, which we really appreciate. Very spirit building. Currently Matty is hanging out here with me, sleeping in the little ghetto bed next to me, which apparently is more comfortable than my ghetto electric bed. Today we saw Jess, Allie, Emily B., John & Alex, and Sarah T. I’ve got some reading material and DVDs to pass the time (thanks Emily!). Sarah T. brought me some cute emergency knitting (toy felt fishes! How cute?!). Allie & Sarah brought me my favorite farmer’s market baked goods – hurrah! Caitlin called from Kosovo.

So the next week looks like this: I stay in L&D for another 2 days, then into observation for another 2-3 days. They want to see me super stable if they’re going to send me home. If I go on home bed rest, I’ll visit the hospital 1-2X/week to be monitored.

Matt’s bro Alex is with us visiting until next week, so it’s great that he’s around to be with the doggie, Skylar, and take care of him. It’s a huge, huge help not to be worrying about the Skyman right now. Thanks, Alex!

We’re taking it day by day but we’re hanging in there and have a lot of in-town support from friends and cycling teammates. We’re in the best place we can be right now, and things are looking up and up.

Guest post

2009-06-09T14:30:00.002-07:00

Mt. Hood Cycling Classic abbreviated race report

Guest post by Matty

Stage 1 - Road race - 47 miles 5,100 feet of climbing: Going from 80+ degrees and melting in the sun up the climbs to descending in 50 degree rain driven by 30mph winds in a borderline hyperthermic state is quite the experience by itself. Then add the near 5000ft of climbing at a top tier Cat. 3 race pace and it'll blow your mind. Maybe this is why I was seeing space monkeys....

Stage 2 - time trial - 19 miles 1,974 feet of climbing: Here is a bit of advice. Never ever, ever, ever, EVER think of using a 5mm alley key skewer on a rear TT (time trial) disc wheel. There is a better than likely chance it could add 10 minutes or more to your TT. Yea! Fun.

Stage 3 - road race - 90 miles, 10,500 feet of climbing: Hardest day on a bike. Period. Never thought chasing for 40 minutes through a big climb, big descent, and (Oh goody) a 2nd steeper climb in a huge headwind to catch the lead group would pay off and it did. At mile 56 in I didn't think I would finish and at mile 82 I was feeling like I could maybe place in the top group! Not true. But it's amazing what you discover about yourself in ridiculous environments. I can only imagine how hard this race was for the those that did the race two years ago in 100+ degree weather. WOW.

Stage 4 - 35 minute criterium: Fast fast fast crit from the gun. Lining up last didn't help. After hanging on the back averaging nearly 28mph the first ten laps, I pulled my tongue out of my chainrings and started to move to the front only to get boxed out and passed with the next surge. The winner solo'd for half the crit and took all the primes. Frickin' sandbagger.... This was by far the toughest race I've done with riders stronger than Elkhorn (stage race) last year. There were Cat. 3s from LA to BC to Boise to Boulder. No one coming from that far away thought they would lose. I felt lucky to just be able to kick it with these boys and have great teammate to suffer through it with!

I'm going to take a nap.

Wake me for Tabor. (our local hilly summer crit series)

Matty

Rustygrass mama bike

2009-05-27T07:57:00.002-07:00

As an early birthday present, my awesome husband put some new handlebars on Ramona Quimby, my touring bike. I'm hoping this allows me to continue to commute to work for at least another few weeks - I really needed a more upright position to keep little Lady from doing kartwheels in my belly while riding.

Doesn't Ramona just look like the sweetest thing?

Previewness

2009-05-27T07:53:00.001-07:00

A little gifty for someone I know is in the mail. But I won't spoil it completely yet!

Baby Bridgetowner Quilt

2009-05-19T23:09:00.001-07:00

My cycling teammates A & J are expecting a little baby girl Bridgetown Velo'er at the end of this month. I finally finished their baby quilt, which they plan on hanging on the nursery wall. I only agreed if they promised me they would use the quilt at some point. Usability is very big for me!

To help them hang the quilt better, I basted a fabric sleeve to the backside of the quilt so they can thread a curtain rod through it to hang. In my opinion, it will be better than folding the quilt, at least over the short term. When they're ready to use the quilt, they just pop out the basted stitches with a seam ripper and it'll be all ready to go!

The pattern is adapted from Denise Schmidt's "What a Bunch of Squares", and I made enough squares to work up a similar quilt to keep for little Lady Lichtenfels. I just love these fabrics and colors too much! Plus isn't that bicycle fabric totally awesome? Our team colors are orange and navy blue; these baby quilt colors are designed to play off that scheme with just a touch of sweetness.

Ladygrass

2009-05-18T22:17:00.002-07:00

Dear Lady (because that's your name for now) -

I'm sorry, I wish we had a better picture of you right now. You sure take terrible ultrasound pictures. But boy, look at all those toes!

At 21 weeks, you're above average (by ~6 days) in size, which mostly means you're long and lean at this stage. Doc says you're about 15 ounces, a.k.a. you're basically a Beanie Baby in utero. Your heart and brain look all good too, so apparently I'm a successful parent so far, or at least taking the right prenatal vites. Now just work on getting fat and moving that placenta farther from my cervix and we'll be all set!

This last month, you and me only gained 2 pounds, but we look like we gained 10. I think that's what they call my belly "popping". Most people can tell I'm pregnant now, although I've caught passing strangers on the sidewalk scratch their heads wondering how someone my size can have a beer gut so big.

I'm still bike commuting, although dammit, you're starting to make it a little uncomfortable, and that worries me. Your dad is getting me a longer stem this week so I can stop folding you in half to get to work in the morning. You kind of kick around like you hate it all, but someday you'll learn to love it as much as your parents. I can't wait to sign you up for Kiddie Cross. Until then, just keep working on your pedaling cadence and also that placenta thing.

Love,
Mama

Anja's Bunnygrass

2009-05-18T21:51:00.001-07:00

Here's my first ever, inaugural attempt at sewing a softie toy. In preparation for Easter, I made my beautiful 1 year old niece a little stuffed bunny! Complete with soft cotton suede chewable foo-foo tail, which I am particularly proud of. Not saying much given the cute/ugly bunny I made, but I'll take it.

Skylar was psyched since he thought I made him a new chew toy. Look at that concentration! Unfortunately a soft toy would probably last approximately 2 seconds under the awesome jaws of the Skyman, until he figures out there isn't a pig ear stashed under all that horrible tasting fabric.

My first toy was a sewing breakthrough though, since I clearly had some issues with the bunny's legs, and now I have a great deal more insight on how to make better toys now. Softies will definitely be entering my repetoire of baby gifts of the non-quilt variety.

Giftygrass

2009-05-18T21:38:00.001-07:00

My dear and lovely friends Ann & Kyle got married this past February, and I finally finished up their wedding gift - two log cabin pillows! I was finally able to give them to A & K in person this past weekend and give them a home. Here they are in their natural environment in Seattle.

Unfortunately I completely forgot to take pictures of the pillow's backing fabric - a gorgeous green and orange Amy Butler upholstery weight cotton.

I'm tempted to make some log cabin pillows for myself, but I'm always giving them away to far more worthy people!

Next up: more sewing projects!

20 Weeks

2009-05-05T19:25:00.004-07:00

Dear 20 Week Baby,

How did you grow inches in one week? My skin hurts.
We haven't taken belly pictures of you in at least 2 weeks. We feel guilty.
Matt, I mean, your dad, says he thinks you're a girl. But he said he can't tell because my abs are in the way.
You're making my stomach small which makes me crabby. I'm full before I'm done eating, how is that fair?
6 small meals ain't no joke anymore. Small equals like, a bowl of cereal. Max.
I got my hair highlighted last week. And I drink coffee on occasion. Or a thimble of wine. I promise I won't let you grow flippers.
You're making my hormones go crazy all the sudden. I almost cried at work at some dumb thing some dumb person said that was totally benign and ridiculous.
Your dad won't let me shovel dirt but he'll let me paint the basement. With a respirator. Awesome. See, no flippers. We got your back.
I got sick last week. You were fine, but even Skylar got a little worried. Also your dad bought us some gummi bears.
You're kicking around in there. Mostly it feels like gas, or like I have to pee. Oh so magical.
We find out if you're a her/him he/she boy/girl on Monday. I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry. I can't wait.l

Love,

Mama

Front yard - garden update

2009-04-03T12:39:00.002-07:00

Matty and I recently spent a few hours cutting sod and planting trees in the front yard. Last weekend I wrapped things up by planting some additional plants and ground covers, moving existing plants around, and tossing a light layer of mulchy-compost over everything. We are still planning on adding a hefty dose of mulch on the bed, but are waiting until we add wood chips around the backyard’s raised beds.

Here’s a before/after-ish shot (taken from different vantage points):

Here’s a slideshow of the front yard:

We already had a lot of sedums, lavender, and chicks & hens, so I interspersed those throughout the new bed. I added a dwarf larch, heather, a couple beautiful orange rununculus’, some poppies, and 2 new varieties of sedums for some additional color and texture. I wouldn’t mind adding in some short grasses throughout, but I had to hold myself back from completely blowing the budget! Everything I’ve planted are perennials, and much of it will persist throughout the winter months. Next fall I think I’ll add some crocuses or hellebores – I absolutely love those first indicators of spring.

Lawn abatement program

2009-03-22T21:25:00.001-07:00

It all started out so innocently. A few new trees hauled home in the back of the Subaru. Some compost.

Which turned into: We'll just outline the new front garden bed with the shovel real quick. Which turned into: Let's just dig out all the sod, we're practically done already! Which turned into, we may as well get the trees in the ground at 7pm on a Sunday night!

Trees shown here: Weeping Atlas Blue Cedar, Harry Lauder's Walking Stick (Corylus avellana 'Contorta'), also known as contorted filbert or contorted hazelnut. We also have a small Japanese maple yet to plant, some heather, and a dwarf larch (all not shown).

Work in progress

2009-03-22T21:22:00.001-07:00

Not the most glorious progress photo in the world, but you're starting to get the idea.

Shovelin'

2009-03-22T21:21:00.001-07:00

Area man digs hole for wife.

Nine and a half weeks

2009-02-21T08:36:00.004-08:00

Patience is not my biggest forte, so it'll come to a surprise to NONE of you that we're not waiting any longer... Because how am I supposed to keep waiting until some questionable milestone, and dear god, let me have it out!

The little olive/raspberry/suctopus is 9 weeks along. Looks like we'll be bearing fruit around September 25, and I'll be all ridiculously enormous and uncomfortable all summer long with no comforting cocktails by my side!

The best news of all is that while I am still enjoying several other exciting benefits of pregnancy (OMG HOT HOT in the middle of the night, plus other more personal, ah, things, which I'll leave to your imagination), I've apparently been on the receiving end of a Get Out of Jail free card on the morning sickness issue.

We're ridiculously thrilled, even despite that this means no Cat 3 racing for me this year. I guess I'll take up bocce ball or lawn darts instead.

Before/After: Dining Room

2008-12-29T21:42:00.003-08:00

The start of a few before/after house posts I'm working on. The pictures in the left column are B.R. (Before Rustygrass), when we did NOT own the house. Some highlights of the work we did between mid-September & mid-November:

- Dining area actually looks like a dining area. Adjusted the orientation of the furniture (sorely needed); IKEA butcher-block style solid birch table with Pottery Barn (!) bent plywood chairs. The table is huuuge, and I do love it so.

- Living room/dining room has a rich grey paint w/ a "Golden Cricket" accent wall. Adore the Golden Cricket, even despite its vaguely pornographic name.

- Kitchen paint I also love. It's a yellowy-celery hue called something like "Gentleman's Garden". Odd and amusingly nondescriptive name, I know. Color not shown to the best light here.

- Out with the old, probably original vinyl vertical blinds. In with the Hunter Douglas honeycomb high-efficiency blinds.

- Refinished floors - After approximately 6 test patches, we settled on a yellow pecan stain. It matches the existing wood well enough.

Random awesome things about being single right now*

2008-12-29T20:51:00.004-08:00

Single girl meals involving 4 or less semi-fancy ingredients. Matty gets by with pasta and red sauce. Or cold cereal. I get by with pasta, garlic, shrimp, and artisanal hard cheese. Or stone-ground-by-Vermont-hippie crackers and local artisanal cheese on a bed of organic baby salad greens and a glass of red wine.
A box of Trader Joe's holiday Joe Joes all to my self. Which are basically TJ's version of Oreos, excepting an addictive crack-like candy-cane-flavored creme filling. All mine.
Watching streaming Netflix after streaming Netflix on the office futon with the dog curled up by my feet. When Matt is home, no doggie on futon. Matty, Skylar wants you to know he loves me more.
Reading my book before bedtime without the accompanying whine from husband to shut the light off!, it's bedtime people!, WTF!.
More Joe Joes. While reading in bed. With tea. With dog at my feet.

I think you see where this is headed. Off to go read!

*Single, in that Matty is visiting his family in NoVA right now and likewise has his own Single Man list, which I guarantee you consists of at least these items:

Playing video games with brothers until 3 o clock in the morning
Nobody to tell him not to play video games until 3 o clock in the morning

Kind of freaking out about what's left to do

2008-11-18T23:52:00.005-08:00

(Does not reflect current kitchen conditions)

The kitchen painting... it is finished. After an industrial sanding, a coat of primer, a coat of the wrong, awful, high-gloss paint, another light sand, then a final coat of the right satin paint. During the last coat of the Goldilocks paint, the dog was staring at me, all Seinfeld-like, "hey, didn't you just paint that, that's the EXACT same color as before!" and then proceeded to lick his toes and fall asleep.

Still can't find the camera charger, so no photos yet, but I DID find the cookbooks and fancy cloth napkins! Progress.

Yowwwwzzaaa. Almost had to stab out my OWN eyes about the high-gloss paint, and that was entirely my own doing, and in DIRECT conflict with the whole point of painting the kitchen, which was to rid it of it's pre-existing high-gloss mid-1980's cream-colored hue. And also, too, take that for sentence structure, Sarah Palin.

But it is done. The end. Only one more painting project left in the house for now - the downstairs bathroom, which has about 17 square feet of wall space. After that, there's only approximately a bazillion jillion more projects left to complete before my Grammy and Bev and Sara and Anja and my folks and uncle show up for Thanksgiving. Everything from buying and replacing electrical outlet covers to cutting carpet tile, building furniture, moving heavy furniture, hanging art on the walls, and reserving the freaking turkey from the New Seasons grocery store And also, finishing unpacking stuff from the garage, where some potentially useful guest items like, say, extra towels and sheets, are still hiding. Unless my guests are ok with napkins.

Weekend update

2008-11-17T09:56:00.005-08:00

I can't find the camera charger, which is probably for the best anyway, since it keeps me from posting progress on the house. All house progress this week is a "surprise"! For Matty, mostly. Matt has been in Florida for work for the last 7 days and comes back on Thursday, so I'm taking this opportunity duck the neverending stream of over-analysis/consensus-building around house decor decisions and get shit done. Hi sweetie!

I can say, however, that this weekend was mighty full. Friday night I had to get off the bus twice or three times (I was kinda sorta hallucinating) to throw up lunch, then Saturday I went up to Mt. Tabor w/ Allie to wear Skylar out. He, of course, found all sorts of delicious "snacks" at the dog park! Then Sky and I met up with Megan M. for lunch at the Lucky Lab, and then I met up w/ garden genious Sarah at the nursey to pick out some plants for the yard. $90 later, Megan F. and their doggie Joe, another 5 year old big black lab, came over for a glass or two of wine. Skylar decided to be a titch territorial, which I guess I understand, but hey, aren't you supposed to be a mellow dog?!

Today I'm home from work, since my gut seems to be protesting something else, or maybe still fighting Friday's disaster?

Not a haiku but about bike commuting anyway

2008-11-12T21:27:00.002-08:00

Rode without helmet
In monsoon rain
Bike locker smelling perplexingly
Like stale urine

Took 3 showers today
Only 1 involved soap

Wet feet wet hands wet hair wet bag
Toes like albino prunes
And not nearly so tasty

Cross Crusade

2008-11-10T01:15:00.002-08:00

Today was one of the last Cross Crusade races and the unofficial official Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships. Here I am looking... happy? Wha??? Actually, it was a really great course - a lot of sticky mud, a lot of off camber, three sets of barriers, a "windmill", and about a bazillion rabid spectators. Oh, and also a drum line! I'm not sure it gets any better than that!

I raced only the Cross Crusade race, then grabbed my pint glass of cheap beer to watch the SSCXWC race, which two of my teammates raced. Check out some of our team pix.

Victory

2008-11-05T00:27:00.003-08:00

Oooh, I didn't post today, did I???

Anyway, NEW PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAHOOOOOOOOOO! I am completely flummoxed by this whole idea. It's pretty mind-boggling, really.

Our friends Shana and Tom hosted what surmounted to an Obama victory party, complete with liberal Democrat hummus, beet salad, and blue cheese appetizers. Then we met up with Allie & Jess for another post-victory drink at the lovely Sapphire Hotel. Yay! A fabulous evening all-in-all.

And also, too, the carpet tile for the basement arrived today. It's just about what I had in mind. I'm stoked. Meanwhile, floor refinishing continues.

Almost there.

Edited to protect the innocent

2008-11-03T19:55:00.001-08:00

Skylar got pretty excited about getting his picture taken a few years ago. I had to amend the, ah, pictoral evidence. But here he is with Sara & Casey, looking like a big bear-dog. Also a little like he was being held back from tackling me and the camera.

Introducing Skylar

2008-11-03T19:51:00.001-08:00

A turn of events in my sister's life means I (we) are inheriting my nephew dog, Sklyar! I'm soooo stoked. Skylar is 5 1/2 years old, and about 110 pounds (?) of a big black lab sweetheart. I've known him since he was about 6 weeks old, since right when I left for Yale.

He's flying to PDX from Boise next Wednesday. I can't wait.

NoPlaBoMoBlahOMG

2008-11-02T10:43:00.004-08:00

I'm an awful blogger anymore. You know this. And there is no way I'm capable of posting everyday in November. I mean, I've already missed Day 1. And clearly I won't be able to maintain, but that doesn't mean I can't at least... try? Right?

::

Portland has the most beautiful fall. Knocks New England out of the water, because rather than a weekend of peak foliage, we get WEEKS and WEEKS of peak foliage. Smell the rotten moldy leaves and risk life and limb on trecherously slick leaf-ridden sidewalks!!!! Mmm. So, by far, my favorite time of year.

On a related note... this morning a teammate and I were riding up on Mt. Tabor and an otherwise normal looking woman was hunched over the road, playing with fallen leaves and needles and scooping them into little piles. At first glance... crazy. Like our crazy cat lady neighbor in New Haven, whose OCD nature compelled her to wash already-clean plastic household items with the garden hose about eleventy million times and soak two pairs of socks in the washer for hours at a time before staring the cycle all over again.

Well, turns out at closer look, leaf lady was spelling "VOTE" messages on the ground. It made me smile. Only in Portland.

More ranch

2008-10-23T23:01:00.001-07:00

I've got some home pix uploaded over on Flickr. Go take a looksee.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rustygrass/collections/72157608317497506/

For Jeff

2008-10-23T22:46:00.001-07:00

Matt is my hero. Not only did he rent pro floor refinishing equipment, he knows how to use it. Here's the floor test patch - confirming that we need to stain the floor before we seal/poly it. Bah. Though by "we", I mean "Matt", natch.

Whatever

2008-09-10T06:55:00.001-07:00

Finally finished my little sister's birthday present... A little subversive cross stitch, in Celtic font. Predictably, she loved it.

Sunday afternoon fun

2008-07-27T19:14:00.001-07:00

White people sports

2008-07-21T20:22:00.001-07:00

- Volleyball
- Badmitton
- Croquet
- Bocce
- Horseshoes
- Lawn darts

Strawberries

2008-07-21T20:21:00.001-07:00

Did I mention strawberries?

40 Tomato Plants Later

2008-07-21T20:20:00.001-07:00

Future home of my new garden. Also! Huge raspberry patch!

Atomic Ranch

2008-07-21T20:19:00.002-07:00

Soon to be ours.

I think we'll throw it a birthday party this year (it was built in '58).

(Yes, the ugly, ugly green stripe is going).

Dang that's a lot of pictures

2008-07-20T08:30:00.001-07:00

Am downloading the... uh... 4 MB of pictures we have taken since... uh... end of May? Gonna take a while.

Here's us in Baker City, watching the Elkhorn Classic criterium (post-race for Matt).

What's doin'

2008-07-10T06:36:00.003-07:00

I can't believe I haven't posted for 2 months. Things 'round here have been a little, well, go-go-go. Busy. Kind of insane. We have been racing (did I mention we've been racing? A lot?) and getting promotions. We have been traveling for work, and traveling to see family and having visitors. We're planning a trip to Europe and Egypt. We're starting to house hunt. Life isn't slowing down. Will it ever, I wonder?! Would I even want it to?

I'd like to blog more - I feel pretty out of touch with my loyal readers. So I'm going to try a little Twittering. And I'm going to update my Flickr page and my Goodreads. Come back again now, m'kay?

Please send a masseuse

2008-04-30T21:48:00.008-07:00

OK, scratch that, no RAO this year after all, BUT! BUT! I did just use Neosporin that EXPIRED in 2003. Matt pointed out that it went bad before we got married.

It's kind of like the time a few years ago when we acquired some used bowling balls complete with bags and Matt found baby powder in his bag that had a "use by" date of 1983 (along with a well-loved sweat rag and a pair of suede shoes). Except Matt didn't actually use the baby powder, whereas I vigorously rubbed rancid Neosporin all over my right elbow and hip.

Which brings me to my other point, which I'm sure you're dying to hear already, and that is that I had my first crash in a road race yesterday. The good news is that I successfully shielded my bike from harm by throwing my body down first! The bad news is that I threw my body down first! And, I've got me some road rash, a few little bruises here and there, and my right shoulder muscles are killing me. Is it possible to give yourself whiplash? Because I think I did.

Training for...

2008-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Race Across Oregon , 4-woman relay team, this July...

"What is Race Across Oregon? It’s a bicycle race in which competitors climb over 40,000 feet in their 535 mile campaign to reach the finish line at Mount Hood and Timberline Lodge approximately 30 hours later."

We're in the planning stages now, talking to folks and thinking about sponsors. I'm excited.

Newport, OR

2008-04-07T14:47:00.001-07:00

We drove out to the coast this weekend for Matt's company party, which was held at a hotel/resort. On our way home, we stopped by the marina in the working/"historic district" of Newport. I was captivated by the fishing boats - rugged, iconic, and totally mystefying. I know nothing about the fishing industry and I felt a little out of place, as I always do in these types of situations - viewing beauty where there is hardship, seeing brilliant rust and color patterns where there is labor and toil, walking around, snapping photos, and trying to make art out of somebody's living.

Ever feel that way when you're travelling? I try to be un-ironic and sensitive, but never quite know if I'm hitting the mark or missing it completely.

Newport orange

2008-04-07T14:34:00.005-07:00

I adore these colors together.

Newport rust

2008-04-07T14:34:00.004-07:00

A rainbow of paint and rust.

See? Not so frumpy anymore.

2008-04-04T10:10:00.001-07:00

Ribbon skirt

2008-04-04T10:07:00.003-07:00

How did I take an H&M ankle length frumpy wool "meh" clothes swap skirt and turn it into something I'd actually wear?

1. Hack off a foot of fabric
2. Sew a few rounds of grosgrain ribbon around the hem
3. Cute!

Bitty booties

2008-03-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

Hoping my sister doesn't check this page very often, and if she does, well hey, these are on the way!

I've been waiting to make these lil' booties for ages - the pattern is (free!) from Heather Bailey.

These are wool felt with ribbon. I think I should go make about eleventeen more pairs, don't you?

Awesomeness

2008-03-23T07:07:00.004-07:00

She may be a premie, but she's healthy, and beautiful, and she obviously adores her auntie.

Well, and I think the parents are a little in love.

The nurses (and her parents) say she's a feisty one - what can we say? It runs in the family.