Welcome baby Meren!

Congratulations to Christian & Brittan Vanover, who welcomed their baby girl early this morning.

Meren Jaclyn Vanover
born August 30, 2008 at 3:08 am
8 lbs, 5 oz
20 inches long

Michigan State Fair

Josh & Evelyn
Originally uploaded by sjross

Last night we went to the State Fair with the Kelso family. Josh & Evelyn had a blast.

It's totally overpriced - $32 for our tickets & parking - but a really unique experience, and I think a quite interesting snapshot of life in Michigan, from the farm animals to the attendees...I highly recommend it.

Lots more photos in my Flickr account.

Boys @ the park

Superman Likes Sandboxes Too
Originally uploaded by How Bourgeois

A photo Lauren took @ the park this week.

The cape is getting to be a staple around here. Nate is annoyed but I can't fault Josh too much - I wore my Wonder Woman Underoos on top of my clothes for QUITE a long time...

Life goes on...

So nothing to report here. Contractions pretty much stopped. I don't know what that was - I'm defying all my childbirth books. Braxton-Hicks shouldn't do what these contractions did, and yet they stopped, baby stayed in, and life is somewhat back to normal.

I'll keep you posted :)

And all is quiet on the (mid)western frontier...

We've had an interesting couple of days. I started having contractions Friday - they never materialized into much of anything, never got closer than 8 mins apart, and stopped overnight. Yesterday, I woke up with contractions 4 minutes apart, that within an hour were 3 minutes apart, and stayed strong and consistent most of the day. They got to be around 90 seconds long, and I thought we were headed somewhere.

Alas, no. Slowed down again, and here we are. 10 days from my due date, and I've no idea what to expect. Things were radically different with Josh because my water broke and I was subsequently induced - there's no stopping Pitocin contractions, and so he was born 4-1/2 hours after the IV went in. Last year's induction was with Cytotec - even more intense than the Pit, and nothing remotely natural about it.

I feel sort of like a first-timer, despite having already given birth twice. I don't know what my body does naturally. I had hoped I would be more of a Speedster-type laborer. I have to admit, I sort of envy my friend Megan's super-powered 5-hour intense rocket ride with Ava.

I'm starting to suspect, however, that I might just be a Putterer. So, I'm settling in for a long-ish, unpredictable trip...an interesting adventure for a super-planner.

Cuilness

While I haven't found it to be as accurate as Google, I have to admit, the flashiness of Cuil has me totally sucked in.

Hey - I can't help it...Marketing is my thing...it's bound to work on me. Check it out - it really is quite cool.

One year later...

Day Out with Thomas @ Crossroads Village in Flint. My how they've grown...

The rest of the photos are in a Flickr set here.

Turn baby turn!

Good news - the moxibustion, the headstands, the pulsatilla, the hanging-upside-down, the prayer...all of it, some of it, something WORKED! At my appointment yesterday, baby was head-down! Not engaged, but pointed in the right direction. I'm so encouraged...this means no Version, which means baby will come on her own time. So while we may still end up having her next week, it could also be a month from now.

For once, I'm actually enjoying uncertainty.

Light 'em up!

I picked up my moxa sticks today, so we'll be smoking some herb around here for the next week or two...cross your fingers!

**Update: Okay, so can I tell you, these things seriously smell like weed. I was slightly amused and slightly embarrassed to be sitting on our patio in a cloud of marijuana-ish funk. We'll see if it does anything - no change so far, and we're both still skeptical. If it works, it's awesome. If not, well, I've just made myself smell like I went to a Phish concert for no reason.

Welcome to the world!

Congratulations to our good friends Ryan & Megan! Ava Elizabeth Fluetsch was born this morning at 6:10. She weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 22 inches long.

More details and pictures are available on their blog.