Baby Pinney is (almost) Fullterm!

Just wanted to give everyone the update that all is going well. I’ve been taking it easy and have been able to keep contractions to a minimum. Tom has been taking care of everything around the house as well as helping me let go of things that aren’t important. I’m so lucky to have him! We’ll be officially full-term on Saturday. Even if baby comes now, they won’t treat him/her like a preemie – they’ll just closely monitor to make sure that baby can regulate its temperature, eat adequately, etc. That’s a huge load off of my mind.

We went in for an ultrasound yesterday to get a diagnosis on a lump I have below my belly button on my abdomen. As suspected, it turned out to be a uterine fibroid, which are extremely common and very benign. Many women have them and don’t even know it. Pregnancy will often cause them to grow. It’s not interfering with the pregnancy, so we’ll just wait and see if it shrinks back down once Baby Pinney (BP) is here.

While they were doing the ultrasound, they took BP’s measurements to estimate his/her size. Usually this late in pregnancy, the calculated due date from an ultrasound is really off. Ours was right on our due date this late in the game! The technician said this is the first time that’s ever happened for her! BP is basically in the mid-range of all measurements – exactly where we want her/him to be. They guesstimated the weight at 6.5 lbs (plus or minus a pound). The amount of amniotic fluid is right where it should be. Baby is head down, ready to be born. Yay!

Thank you for all of your prayers, good thoughts and support!

Baby Happenings: Long time, no post

We’ve had a little excitement this weekend on the baby front. I was having a bunch of contractions last night, so I called our midwives. They suggested we go into the hospital to get checked out. Sure enough, the contractions were coming every 4-6 minutes. They gave me some Terbutaline to stop the contractions. Terbutaline is used to treat asthma and opens up the blood vessels. It is also used to treat preterm labor. The only side effects were a racing heart and shaky hands. It slowed things down enough so that we could go home (this all happened from 5:30am – noon; Lark was at Aunt Debbie’s for the night, which was perfect. Thank you so much, Debbie, for keeping her happy.) . I spent the day in bed, but am still having contractions, though not as frequently as before. I need to take it easy, rest and drink a lot of water.

We’re still a little early to be having regular constructions, but are at 34 weeks (37 weeks is considered full-term), so baby will be okay if born. S/he might have to spend a little time in the NICU. Say some prayers that Baby Pinney will keep cooking at least through the New Year.

Much love,
Lisa

Tom found this. We love it.

Facebook, Twitter Revolutionizing How Parents Stalk Their College-Aged Kids

1 JPEG = 1k Words

Using this simple equation as a guiding principle sure makes posting a lot easier. All pics all the time. So taking Danielle’s comment on my last post as a direct challenge, then re-thinking that challenge, then taking a couple naps and forgetting the challenge, then re-remembering the challenge, I decided to finally take the challenge and post some pictures of our annual trip to the Cape of Cod in July.

Action!

Step 1: It's critical to get the right tool for the job. Check. Also, feel free to play Where's Waldo with my head.

Step 2: Wedge stuff into John's car at Logan (thanks for the car, John!).

Step 3: See where Aunt Joyce works.

Step 4: Check in at the Mothership.


Step 5: Leave room for Lark in backseat. Are we even at the Cape yet?


Step 6: Commence Cape Coddiness.


Repeat Step 6.


Again.


Again.

And again.

One more time. I need more Coddiness in my Cape Cod.


Which naturally leads to a Mystery Six Pack. Excellent.


And a sister who smashes toy snakes. Now we're putting the Cod in Cape Cod.

And here we have a surf-riding Lark. Perfect.


Sprinkle in some New England scenery....

Whoa. Too much New England scenery. No one will believe that's real.


Mmmm...lobster and beer. That's real, believe me.


Dinner's served.


That's what I'm talkin' about.


More Cousin-Capiness.

But now we're getting sleepy.

So sleepy...

Wake up! It's time to say farewell.

Until next year, good-bye from the Cape.

AAAAAaaaaand scene.

Historical Tweets

What I don't love about Costco: all of the packaging.

While I love the efficiency of how everything is packed on pallets in the store, I don't love that it creates so much extra packaging. Fortunately, most of it can be recycled, but my preference would be to not have as much in the first place.

Another aspect of club-store shopping that's somewhat annoying is the fact that when you fall in love with a project, say a large size, 2-[pack of Naked Mighty Mango Juice, and then they quit carrying it. Of course they need to be watching their turns, but it's oh-so-disappointing when you make a lovely new product discovery only to have it ripped away from you.

Finally, I have one wish for Costco: please carry more organic produce and dairy. I know, it's harder to ship, the shelf life is sort of crappy and it's not all that mainstream - yet. Think of it as brand-building and creating more customer goodwill (maybe even increasing that net promoter score). Or, you can think of it as helping your customers live healthier lives so they can live longer and shop for more years at Costco.

Costco vs. Lunds Cost Comparison -or- Our Unholy Love of Costco

As many of you know, we've become rabid Costco fans over the past 6 months. It all started with the whole remodel debacle-thing and tightening our belts. It's since grown to an unholy love that finds us making trips even while on vacation (we went to a Costco in Avon, MA, on our way to Cape Cod a couple weeks ago - pictures coming soon from vacation). Today, I decided to compare what we purchased at Costco to the equivalent products at Lunds, a local high-end grocery store. In all, we saved a whopping $52 by going to Costco! Now, there are a few caveats with that. Tom and both agree that we likely wouldn't be consuming as much lettuce, peppers and strawberries if we weren't buying them in such mass quantities at Costco. We can buy a pound of organic field greens at Costco for $3.99. A 10-oz (~60% of the size) of the same product at Lunds goes for $5.99. A pound at Lunds would cost $9.58! See (tiny) chart above for details on the comparison. Click on the chart to make it bigger.

Another caveat that bears mentioning is the annual fee we pay to shop at Costco. We pay $100 a year for the Executive Membership, which pays us back 2% on purchases made at Costco. If you do the math, without taking into account any of the savings we're racking up by shopping there verses other stores, we'll need to spend $5,000 at Costco to break even. If we don't hit $5K, Costco will refund the difference between our membership and the step below, which is $50. Based on the savings we're seeing in our weekly purchases, coupled with the fact that we'll likely get our membership fee back in rebates, it's all working for us.

We try, and mostly succeed, at buying only what we need and not a lot of extra stuff. Okay, so I succumbed to buying a Shark (the steam floor cleaner) and some 600 thread count sheets. I could make a damn good argument that we needed them. In any case, we usually stick to the things we will use and don't buy things in bulk that will go to waste. We freeze a fair amount of items that we don't use in mass quantities, such as bread and butter.

It's interesting how little we spend at Target now. We make virtually all of our purchases that we used to make at Target at Costco. I wonder how many others are making the shift to club stores in this economy?

Finally, I have to mention the pizza at the Costco deli. Tom, Lark and I ate there today for a mere $6 and change. That was three gigantic slices of cheese pizza and two drinks. Yum. Yum. And it was a little Lou Who, our picky little eater, who begged us to eat there. Costco has even won her little eight year old heart over.

Lark helps with hearing the heartbeat at 17 weeks and first baby blog

Lark came to the first part of my Centering Pregnancy class for my checkup and to see what the class was like. More on Centering Pregnancy below. She helped the midwife listen to the baby's heartbeat. After that, she got to take my blood pressure. She and Tom left after the checkup and he said she nearly floated to the car she was so excited. I think the picture sums it up:-).



A quick explanation on the classes: Centering Pregnancy is offered through the midwifery program at Methodist hospital. Instead of going to see a midwife one-on-one for my checkups, we (sometimes just me) go to a two hour class with other woman who are due around the same time. Right now, we're going about once a month. We'll go more frequently as we get closer to the due date. During the first part of the meeting, each woman gets to talk privately to a nurse and midwife and gets the usual checks - weight, blood pressure, fetal heart rate. After everyone checks in, we talk about the topics of the night. Tonight was managing aches and pains and practicing relaxation techniques for labor. I really like the class.



We'll be 17 weeks tomorrow. I can't believe we're almost half way. Where's the time gone!

Lark's First Eucharist

We celebrated Lark's first Eucharist on Sunday. In attendance were Grandsa and Grandma Alice, Grammy Sue and Poppy, Grandpa Don and Carrie, Grandma Sanday, Grandma Marianne and Patrick, Aunt Debbie, Kristy, Brad, Maxine and Hyde, Annie, David and Anat. Lark was thrilled to be receiving first communion but states that she's even more excited about receiving it this coming weekend as a regular member of the parish.

Lark's Birthday Party

It was a small party this year with a few, close friends - Amelia, Sarah and Eleanor. They played, ate some mac 'n cheese and ice cream cake, opened presents and played some more. The activity for the party was making and decorating cakes. Their cakes turned out better than any cake I've ever made! I believe a good time was had by all. Happy 8th birthday, Lark!

Annie, David and Anat

Lark's homework assignment was to "draw a picture of three people in your neighborhood that make it a better place to live." Naturally, she decided her subjects would be Annie, David and their baby, Anat. She wanted us to tell her what they do for a living, but we convinced her that she should head over to their house herself to do the interview. See the fruits of her labor above.

The Cruise Part II: Just Photos