news from the bug tent

Sunday, July 27, 2008

your two cents...

We have added a "poll" feature to the right hand side of the blog. You can now vote / guess about the gender of the baby and have the results tallied in real time! It is always a mystery to us when someone looks at Kara's belly and says, "It is definitely a (boy / girl)!" It is fun to hear all of the indicators and predictors that people look for and perhaps the wisdom of the masses will prove correct.

Thanks for taking a moment to add your two cents to our just-for-fun poll on the right!

Cloth Diapers...

Yes, we are planning on cloth diapering. After looking at a variety of options we decided that cloth diapers were a good match for our situation from an economic and environmental standpoint. As mentioned in a May 10^th post, we went to a seminar about cloth diapers and were both stunned at how much they have changed since we were kids- the pins and plastic pants have been replaced with Velcro, micro fleece, and breathable polyurethane!

After considering a number of different brands, we have decided on the “Happy Heinys One Size” model. We have included a few pictures detailing some of their design features and how they adjust as the baby grows.

Here is a link to the company’s website and a list of local retailers if you want to see one in person!

Week 28

Seven months- Wow! After looking at several hospitals in the area, we have decided to switch our care to Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA. We will be working with the midwife group (link) that delivers in the birthing unit there and are excited about having the patient-focused care of midwives in addition to the resources available at a full-scale hospital.

We’ve discovered one new development with the baby which is that it does not like to be “poked”! We can’t help but press into my belly when I feel some sort of movement, but this week especially, when we do this the baby kicks back… and hard!

We are continuing to enjoy the bounty of fresh produce from our weekly CSA farm share. Occasionally we go to various farms and take advantage of the pick-your-own flowers and blueberries.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Week 27

This past week was a typical week where Greg was busy managing the ropes course and rock wall for the school’s summer camp and I ran errands and had various doctor’s appointments. We also got out of town a few times and enjoyed ourselves at a nearby beach where dogs were permitted to run off leash. Cappy loved being on the coast where she was free to splash around in the shallow water and chase seagulls! She was much braver in the water and lunged after the birds until she could no longer touch the bottom!

Additionally, we were fortunate to go to Yankees Stadium with our parents and see the Yankees beat the Oakland A’s! While the temperature in the sun was about 100 degrees, we were lucky to be in the shade and did not suffer too much! (To be fair- we will be attending a Red Sox game at Fenway in late August to assure equal prenatal exposure for the baby!)

The baby continues to move around a lot every day. It seems to be most active in the morning and at night and still makes us stop and smile every time we feel it!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Week 26:

We are home from another marathon road trip down the East Coast. Over the course of the last week we have had the pleasure of visiting and spending the night with lots of family and old friends. The week culminated with a cousin’s wedding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We had a great time at the wedding and enjoyed some delicious southern barbecue at the rehearsal dinner!

In the last month, we have only spent five nights at home and we are both happy to be back in our apartment for a few weeks. K is taking the summer off and I am working three days a week running the ropes course and rock wall for a day camp at Fay. We are both looking forward to a new relaxed pace!

Folks have been asking for two things...

1. On April 6, I posted a picture of my belly all bloated out to gently poke fun at the "belly shots" that we have been posting on a weekly basis. People keep asking about my belly and if it has continued to grow and so on and so forth... by popular request, I have posted a recent picture of my ponch below.

2. We have also been asked about a baby registry... and we have gone ahead and put together one at Amazon.com. We have been very lucky to receive lots of baby gear from friends and family and have had to register for relatively few of the traditional baby registry items. You will notice quite a few items related to our awesome stroller and the cloth diapers we will be using. We chose to use Amazon (rather than Babies'R'Us or some other local outlets) because they offered a really wide variety of products that best suit our lifestyle.