I am Pretty Lucky.

I am married to a really handsome guy. He doesn't have to dress up to
look good.

He doesn't mind that the clothing part of our monthy budget isn't
spent on him. He is not fussy about clothing and as long as I don't
complain about a camo hat and free long sleeve t from some event he
did, his outfit is great.

He is an enthusiastic father.

And he's going to be home, as he is most days, at 3:15. Hip, hip, hooray!

I Love Cantaloupe. Maybe I Am Old. Hopefully Not Contaminated With Lysteria!

I had the most delicious cantaloupe at my parents' house this weekend.  It was so good that I bought two this morning at the grocery store.  They are just as good, or not better. 

 In all cases, the said cantaloupe were remarkably inexpensive, compared to the normal $2.99 I usually notice this time of year.  

I wondered about the price... is it lower because there's an excessive amount of cantaloupes because people are avoiding them since some from Colorado are recalled for contamination?

I know I'll be extra paranoid about an sort of illness I get in the next few months on the off chance I've been exposed to cantaloupe that's got Lysteria.  My mom has been ill the last week, but I haven't been, and we ate the heck out of the cantaloupe this weekend.  

Anyway, to save you time from googling this, here's somethings about lysteria:

- Recalled melons shouldn't be on the shelves anymore - they were sold between July and early September.

- They were from Colorado.

- They have lysteria on them.  Its a bacteria that survives in the cold, which is kind of rare for bacteria.

- You can get a GI type sickness like regular food poisoning, or you could feel achy and have menengitis like symptoms.

- Its a deadly condition. Or it can be.

- Mostly old people are dying.  They don't know if its because more old people eat cantaloupe than other age groups (really?) or weakened immune systems.

      William Marler, a Seattle lawyer who represents victims of food-borne illness, said this outbreak might turn out to be especially deadly simply because cantaloupe is a food eaten by many older people. “Sometimes in outbreaks, it’s the population that’s consuming the food that drives the numbers,” Mr. Marler said. “In this instance, you’ve got a lot of people 60 and older who are consuming cantaloupe.” (NYTimes)

- Lysteria often is the blame for stillborn babies and miscarriage.  That's why people say no soft cheese (especially from Mexico) or deli meats (like Subway!) during pregnancies. 

- You are supposed to SCRUB cantaloupes and dry them before you slice them.  I didn't know this, and did not do this.  

- If you are worried and don't actually like cantaloupes, don't buy them.  They are a "risky" food, like ground beef and bean sprouts.  The CDC says its okay to buy them, but also say its possible you might buy a bad one.  

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has confirmed 13 deaths and 72 illnesses in the outbreak so far, has not told people to stop buying cantaloupe. However, the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration cannot even say where all of the tainted melon went, because it was sold and resold to many distributors across the nation. -  (Sun Times).

Change Is Good.

Pretend its exactly one year ago and you are having a really fun autumn afternoon.  Your little boy is running so fast towards boyhood, but he retains a certain softness reminiscent of babyhood.

Fast forward one year to this current autumn weekend.  The little boy is still generally like he was last year, but this year he can play and observe and consider, whereas a year ago he just dashed here to there and yelped occasionally.  He has left babyhood behind.

It is just SO amazing that two years ago... there's no little man in my life and many unpleasant things making a home in my heart instead of a family.  I was about a month pre-pregnant and could never have visualized that little guy.

How cool is that?

Change is good.

How's Dairy Free Going?

Not that great.  I prefer it.

I've learned that Vanilla OR nonflavored HyVee (generic) almond milk is really good and a good sub for skimmed milk.  Its great for breakfast cereal, which is my primary milk use.  DHH has tried it several times with strawberry syrup for a treat.

I miss cheese on sandwiches.
I know I will miss grilled cheese sandwiches this fall, especially if I make a homemade tomato soup.
I have had cheese on a chicken sandwich and also on Panera's Turkey Panini.

Its obvious that cheese is unavoidable if I eat pizza.  Who picks off the whole top layer of pizza?  I've reduced my pizza consumption to one piece every other week or so.  THIS IS A BIG CHANGE!

I've craved soft-serve chocolate ice cream.  I had half a bite of the Frosty my boys shared and it was good.

Its hard to know how the dairy-free is doing for my daughter.  She just isn't a fussy baby.  However, if I have a piece of pizza (two ounces of cheese?) her stools become excessively watery and bizarre and more green and mucousy.  I know that if I persist in my stubborn dairy intake, they will be bloody and mucousy and that's just gross and mean of me.

I don't think I'll give up soy at six months as the pediatrician recommended, because really, she is tolerating the diet I am on well and is growing like a champ/weed.

Baby Times: Yummy Toes

I have a (fairly unused and fairly not-good) Mommy and Baby Workout DVD I bought two years ago.  I hoped it would be THE THING to transform my postnatal body and give me bonding with my son.

It wasn't.

But there is something that stuck with me. The instructor/mommy in the show had a segment with baby stretches. She would stretch the baby's legs and arms and then do this move called Yummy Toes.  She'd say, "Yummy toes!" in the cutest, loudest voice.  

That quote has been popular in our house for the last two years.  

This little girl discovered the move on her own, without the help of that Mommy and Baby working out DVD (good thing, I don't know where it is!)

Confession: Pregnancy Jealousy.

Two days ago I confessed to my husband that I was having some baby pregnancy jealousy. I've been experiencing this since early August, just after I my son turned two.

I don't think that I'm necessarily jealous about the BEING pregnant part.  That's pretty much terrible for me, obviously.
I am jealous about the expectancy, the extreme anticipation, the marking of weeks and the countdowns.

Its getting fun though that so many of these blog mamas (or mamas to be?) are having their babies so soon.  I love love love this.  Its vicarious living.
(Elizabeth, Erin, Nicole, Ashley, Chrissy, Nel, Alyssa, Jessica, plus several women from my college and high school, though no women from my family, are expecting or recently labored).

So anyway, I was living with this jealousy and feeling a little bleched out by so many pregnancy stories.  I was letting it get on my nerves and bum me out.

I've got a cute baby and a cute kid who sometimes acts like a baby, so why this baby fever onset?

My husband took me by the shoulders and said quite seriously, "You don't enjoy pregnancy. We just love babies. You get so sick.  You hate being sick."

"Yeah, but its not that bad, is it? I can handle it, right?" I said.

"Bethany, no.  Its really, really bad. You get really, really sick.  No, don't be jealous."



I have baby fever, but I don't really have pregnancy envy, I guess.  I have baby envy!  And its crazy since I still have a baby!

I hope I don't turn into some baby-collector.  I am sort of identifying with Michelle Duggar and Nadia Suleman.  Maybe they just really like babies, too.

But look at these kids.
Sheesh.
They are just so adorable, its obvious that my parenting heart is just enormous because of them.  They are collectible (in a kidding sort of way) and I do like my life a lot better now than ever before.

Two Quick Reader Questions: Hair Style and Nick Name Spellings

1) Should I try bangs?  My sister has several times and I think even in this two day-old hairstyled photo, it looks nice on her.  Don't you think?

2) Do you think that the spelling of my daughter's middle name could be Cate?  Does Cate make you read Kate and you say Kate in your head when you see the word Cate? Or is it just me that thinks Cat- E?  I am reconsidering Elsa Kate as nickname for Elsa Catherine, and I struggle with which spelling is best. I asked on Swistle and my best response was that Cate is edgy, but not Cr8tve.  I don't care for cr8tive spellings!

Please click over from your reader/feed burner and comment

1) Yes  or No

2)  Cate vs Kate opinion

Or vote in the little poll if you want to be anonymous!

Next Time.

I've been inspired by several female friends and blog writers to wait until the actual birth of the baby to learn its gender.

Really and truly.

This might mean I will be as detached to the baby as I was with DHH, when I was afraid to bond to the baby lest (less?) it die.  I didn't bond to him until the evening he was born.  I took him all in and really connected.

I connected much more to my daughter, and I do think knowing her gender helped me in this. I pictured her face, enjoyed shopping for her, and considered our adult relationship as two women.

If we are lucky enough to get another baby, I think waiting to learn its gender might be the best surprise (only true surprise?) we ever get in our family!

Maybe because we have one of each gender, maybe because I am making peace with infant loss and knowing that whatever may happen may happen, and maybe because I just love our babies and know any "type" we got would be just wonderful. Maybe that's why I am interested in a surprise baby!

Family Photo from September 25, 2011

Taken in front of Lake Scioto at St. James Park.
One of us was taking a nap, one was having found memories of her
childhood, and one was making sure one of us didn't throw rocks at
geese or fall into the lake.

In the Caboose

You know, if I didn't have a kid who was mildly interested trains (understatement of the week!), I probably wouldn't have gone inside this caboose.  

I might have wanted to for a split second, but I probably would have passed it by.  

Certainly I would not have spent ten minute inside exploring!

But I do have a kid who likes trains (really, anything with a motor and/or wheels), so we did go inside.

And it was fun!

There are two chairs up high to look out the top windows.  DHH thought they were pretty cool.

Dan is such a good sport and climbed up across the aisle.  

Both guys enjoyed being "up! high! train chair!"

I thought this old sign was interesting.  

My son thought this sink was interesting and remarked, "Sink! Dee Dee wash hangs! Tiny sink!".

But there was no water, so he had to pretend.

He was so busy in this caboose.  No detail was left unattended.

He was like this: Oh, a sink! Turn it on. Cool sink. Oh look, a chair. Sit in it.  Its a tall chair by a winn-ow.  Oh look, a button. Touch the button.  A switch! Push the switch.  Jump out of the chair!  A trashcan! Cool! Touch the trashcan!

And so on.

I thought it was interesting they preserved some of the artifacts from the train's hey dey inside the train. I also thought it was interesting that some of the memorabilia was carefully framed, and others had hand written notes on them.

This was one of DHH's favorite parts.  

Yes, its a potty.

He had to be dragged out of the tiny bathroom.

His other favorite part was this wall of tools.  He immediately noticed the broom, rakes, and shovels. He wanted to pull them down and "do some work".

We sat on the train's bed together, another part of the train that interested my son.  I don't think he could sleep on a train, ever.  It would be too exciting to sleep!

I handed the camera off at this point, so there are photos of me in the caboose, too!

It was a little difficult to persuade him off of the caboose, but when we told him he could jump down the stairs, he was ready to!