Tuesday, September 11, 2012

one more month down

Week 35: the end of August. The week started with our all-day Childbirth Preparation class on Sunday. This was the long one, from 9am to 5pm, although we were finished by about 4:30. It was also the class where I was the least sure what to expect going in. When I think childbirth class, I tend to picture awkward scenes with hugely pregnant women, sitting on the floor, doing stupid breathing exercises. Ours ended up being less painful than that. We only spent a little time with breathing, and it wasn't quite as ridiculous as the stereotypical Lamaze stuff. There were also some massage and relaxation techniques that we practiced—more ways to get through the contractions during early labor. The rest was information about what's actually going on during labor (including the baby's positioning and related vocabulary), some explanation of the possible complications and solutions for them, a couple videos of different births, discussion of the pros and cons of epidurals, etc. I think it was all helpful, but we'll see just how helpful it actually was when I go into labor. Hopefully that won't be for another 6 weeks or so from now.

I got my picture of the day taken before class started that morning, since Steve and I found a parking spot quickly and wanted to kill a little time before going upstairs. We walked up the block, scouted out the place Dan and Carmen had recommended for lunch, and then stopped to look at (and take pictures of) the windows at The Ribbonerie. The Ribbonerie was closed that early on a Sunday, but I had been there once before, four years ago. It was where I bought the ribbon for our wedding favor boxes and for the sash I wore with my wedding dress. For some reason, they had more sewing-related objects in the window than actual ribbons, but those things made for good photo subjects anyway.

239/366 threaded


I met with the nutritionist on Monday to discuss changes to my diet following the gestational diabetes diagnosis. But I mentioned all that in a previous post. When I returned, I went out to get my daily walking in and hunt for a picture. I opted for Valencia Street, where I took a picture of some of the toys in the Aldea Niños window. On my way back, I stopped at Aldea Home and Aldea Niños to look around, so it ended up being appropriate.

240/366 cardboard critters


Tuesday's walk took me to the ghetto neighborhood pharmacy first, to try to get my prescription filled for my blood sugar testing supplies. (Walgreens stopped getting along with Blue Cross last year, which makes trying to get prescriptions filled around here much more obnoxious.) After hearing that I would need to return the next day to get my stuff, I proceeded to walk around that end of the neighborhood for a change. I wasn't very excited about any of the pictures I took, but this shot of bamboo reminded me of the pattern on the Benjamin Moore Natura paint can.

241/366 bamboo


Wednesday afternoon was my ultrasound to check the baby's size, but I fit in my daily walk before I had to leave. This time, I went to the butcher shop to pick up some ground venison for burgers, and then I stopped back at the pharmacy on the way home. Again, not a particularly awesome picture of the day. I've done that walk several times before, so it's not very inspiring to me anymore. The best I could do was a shot of a mannequin head with a wig and hat in the window of the party store.

As far as the ultrasound goes, I didn't bother posting any of the resulting pictures. It's kind of hard to make sense of them now that the baby's bigger. It all went fine, though. He might be on the large size for his age, but it's pretty difficult to tell that with much certainty. In any case, my weight and belly measurements are right where they should be.

242/366 a jaunty cap


On Thursday, I took my walk to Noe Valley so that I could go to Whole Foods. I've figured out that it's easier to make myself walk 30 minutes when I actually have a goal in mind. Thursday's goal was snacks. I got yogurt and hummus at Whole Foods, even though they're both available at the store a block away from the house.

I happened to see a very large stuffed bear laying in the road on Guerrero when I was walking there, so that was the picture I took for the day. I'm not sure what the story was, but there probably was one.

243/366 bear down


Friday's picture was not taken on a walk, for once. Chrissy had asked me about nursery pictures, and I snapped a shot with my phone that morning to text to her. I had planned to wait on posting pictures until I was practically finished decorating the room—for maximum effect and because things were still quite far from done at that point. However, the phone picture was actually kind of cute. With the crib and the shelves in place, there were finally some features to use in framing a shot. I decided I would shoot that angle with my real camera and use it as my picture of the day. I put clothes in the drawers of the dresser that afternoon, so I guess it still had something to do with what I did that day, even if the dresser wasn't in the picture.

In this shot, you see the crib with the twine I hung on the wall to check the length of the bunting that I planned to order. And then the cubby shelves with a few items in and on them. There will be containers in four of those cubbies, and I'm sure I'll rearrange the others with books and toys several times before I'm satisfied for the final picture. On top of the shelves is one of the four framed baby animal pictures that will ultimately be hung above, and I'll be switching out that lamp. I ordered one lamp for that spot, decided it was too tall to accommodate the animal prints above it, and then put it in the living room instead. The lamp in the picture is one I've had since undergrad, and that's what used to be in the living room. A newer, cuter (and shorter) lamp is on its way, along with the cubby boxes and the rug.

244/366 nursery in progress


Staying with the nursery theme/setting on Saturday, I used the top of the baby's dresser as my background for the monthly calendar shot. I'm really liking the look of the light wood in the nursery, so it wasn't too difficult to convince myself to incorporate it into this month's picture.

245/366 september


And that was August! Here's the mosaic:

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