my enlarging carbon footprint

I just got back from a week spent in Boston at a conference, and now Matt and I will be leaving once again for NY. I think my carbon footprint may be the size of bigfoot this summer. Does it help that I ride public transportation every other day of the year? I feel the carbon-guilt growing in my gut, oh, actually that's the baby moving. I have some pictures from the conference that I will post ASAP.

mustard stains

I just realized today as I tried to avoid a large glob of mustard on my shirt that I can't avoid spilling on my own belly. No amount of sucking in will avoid the inevitable belly-catch at this point. I guess I should just accept it and have a change of clothes available at all times (thanks to my sister Liz for taking this picture).

mother's week

So, although I am not a mother yet (I prefer to refer to myself as "host"), I have been very involved with the making of mothers this week. The baby business has been hopping, and I've been on nights, which seems to be when these babies prefer to come.

As I was helping to clean out my office at the university, I came across an old 1978 copy of "Spiritual Midwifery" by Ina May Gaskin and brought it home. This book is still in print and is a classic midwifery text, revolutionary even now. I'd read it many years ago and loved it, but as I was flipping through it I was struck again by the normalcy, beauty and ecstasy of birth itself. It was in this spirit that I attended a beautiful, inspiring birth last night. Life affirming . . . what a natural high.

"It does a man good to see his lady being brave while she has their baby . . . it inspires him."

--Ina May Gaskin

"Ladies in strong labor can get amazingly beautiful. It's okay to let her know this sometimes--it can help a lady's morale to know that she is beautiful when she is sweaty and struggling."

--Ina May Gaskin

your jaw will drop

This clip is a little long, but stick with it, you won't be disappointed. I'm not sure if this is Chinese ballet? Chinese acrobatics? Both? Something entirely new? Whatever it is, it certainly is astounding.

victorious vulvas (we're having a bambina)

roomies unite!

My ex-roomates from BYU days reunited this past weekend here in SLC. We were roomates for years in college, but haven't been all together since before I was married (and that is going on 9 years now). Karen, Trish, Ellen and I decided to make it a girls weekend; they flew in from Pennsylvania, Oregon, and NYC just to hang for two days. We all happen to be pregnant too, and due within 3 months of each other. We started off our reunion with breakfast at my house (eggs, croissants, and strawberries), followed by shopping, resting on my couch, French cuisine, and a pedicure. Four imposing pregnant women made quite a scene descending en masse on small boutiques around SLC. It was so great to be able to just pick up where we left off. They are some amazing women. Of course Matt was a gracious man, allowing all that progesterone to take over the house.

Taking a shopping break:

Lounging in my living room:

Pedicures:

too much to do

I've bit off more than I can chew. For some reason I have a million things to do and they are all culminating in the next two weeks. I've got this to-do list in my PDA that is a mile long and doesn't seem to be getting shorter. Along with the demands of work I've got two conference presentations, a grant to write, and a class to teach. Does anyone have some good advice for the overtaxed?