Happy 20^th Birthday, Caleb!

The Final Countdown

Someone remarked to me the other day that I’m in “the final countdown” as we await for the baby to arrive. That brought me back nearly nine years ago to Camp Ridgecrest and one of the songs Caleb McClain would play over the loud speaker as camp games came to an end. I don’t know anything about “The Final Countdown”, but I could hum it for you.

And we are now to the point where you can almost count days instead of weeks. We’re at four weeks until the due date…or 27 days. And while that doesn’t seem like a whole lot, by the end of every one of them I am ready to have this little gymnast. For while I’m running on empty by the end of a day, this baby is still turning flips. It’s not boding well for these older parents as far as keeping up with this little one…

So, are we ready? Well, if you mean do we have everything we need then, yes, we are ready. Diapers, onesies, stroller, car seat intact, crib…everything is accounted for. But if the baby does come on Uncle Caleb’s birthday on Sunday, a lot of shifting of things will have to be done to make room for her. Since Ed wants to put a finish on the crib and changing table, very little is actually put away.

But I have made leaps and bounds in the way of décor. At least as far I ever go in that direction. For one, I just don’t see artistically. And, two, I get bored of projects before I finish them so I have to keep it simple. But books are simple. And while we have enjoyed roaming down toy aisles, we’re in agreement that we’re not buying this child a lot of toys. (I mean, isn’t that what grandparents and aunts and uncles are for? And the baby has plenty of those!) However, we have each bought one thing to play with. (Rather literally. Who knows if this baby will like trains or sorting shapes…) And while my simple project grew more than I would have wished, it did turn out quite nicely I think. You can judge for yourself:

My project – ABCs and Bible verses.

 

Book and game corner.

More books corner!

Thank You Notes

Some things you learn because you are taught them – others you learn by example. In our home, thank you notes was a little of both. My mom always insisted we sit down and write them. But it wasn’t a lesson she spoke and didn’t do. My mom is always sitting at her desk writing thank you notes for just about everything: gifts, meals, hospitality. Her taking the time to thank someone was a bigger lesson than her insisting we do it ourselves.

I realized when I was about thirty how much thank you notes were a part of my life. This guy at church invited me to play mini golf with him one Saturday. A friend and I went and had a good time. Afterwards, I had to nearly sit on my hands not to write a thank-you note for an enjoyable afternoon. Not because it wasn’t a nice gesture (although I had thanked him personally), but it just didn’t seem like the appropriate thing to do. So, no note was written. But since I married him three and a half years later, we’ll call it even.

Who knows how many thank-you notes I have written over the course of my life. Quite a few I’m guessing since I’ve actually been told after someone gave me something not to write them yet another thank-you note. But over the past year I swear I have written more thank you notes than I have in my past life put together. Between a wedding and having a baby…well, that’s a lot of notes to write. And since the baby hasn’t even arrived yet, there are many more to be written! So, funny enough, one of my favorite gifts for the baby has been a box of thank you notes already stamped and the return address written in the corner. What a wonderful idea!

I’m not complaining – not at all! I kind of like writing thank you notes, challenging myself to write something unique in each one. In truth, it doesn’t take long. And it’s such a small thing compared to the blessings each of these people has given me. But, I confess, it is also nice to be caught up for a while. Because in a few short weeks I won’t have quite as much time to write thank you notes…unless the baby wants to help! 

Shop til you Drop

Not being a shopper, I can’t say I’ve ever dropped from shopping. I’m more like a sprinter when it comes to shopping – list in hand, fastest way to get from store to store in mind, and let’s see how quickly I can get it done and go home. But on Saturday, I just about fell over from shopping.

Honestly, I have been shopping for longer than seven hours at a time. The Sturm Family Christmas Shopping Day is an all-day adventure. And it’s not like shopping is extremely strenuous exercise, certainly no more than running seven or eight miles in Texas heat. I mean, you don’t even keep a steady pace around a store as you hunt for something. But I could have sworn I ran a marathon on Saturday.

The day began after sleeping in, and waffles for breakfast, and taking our merry time getting ready for the day. (We don’t have many Saturdays like that left, so we’re taking advantage!) We got out the door before noon, heading up to Babies R Us to make a return, pick out a car seat and get a couple of odd things. (Squirting rubber duckies not being on that list, but somehow they ended up in the cart thanks to the new daddy.) Successful there, we stopped by the house briefly to drop those things off because we weren’t sure it would all fit in the back of my SUV as we were now headed to get a dresser to use as a changing table. By this time, it was gaining on two in the afternoon.

Except that Ikea is a bit crazy on a Saturday, it didn’t take us long to get the dresser. Then we stopped by Hobby Lobby for me to get a couple of things for a project for the baby’s room (a project that is now growing…why does that happen?). By this time, we were quite hungry so we sat down to eat. Maybe sitting down was the mistake. Perhaps I should have kept going. But after lunch/dinner, a stop at Kohl’s didn’t seem like a bad idea. And then Ed wanted to go to Barnes and Noble to look at car magazines. That was the stop that broke the camel’s back. By this time, I ached all over. My feet were swollen. I made the mistake of sitting down and almost couldn’t get back up. I don’t think I have ever felt that exhausted in my whole life!

So, I now know what it means to shop until I dropped. Because that’s what I did once I got home and enjoyed a hot shower. I fell asleep early and slept like a rock. But, thankfully, we won’t need another shopping venture like Saturday’s. Now I just need to spend seven hours putting everything away… 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Week!

Do you remember the first time you ever had a chocolate chip cookie? Probably not. For most of us in the United States, it was probably the first type of cookie we ever had (if you don’t count Animal Crackers). And, more than likely, Dad gave us a first taste when Mom wasn’t looking…

Like all things, chocolate chip cookies have a history. (No, God didn’t create them on the 8^th day of creation…) In fact, they didn’t come into our lives until somewhere around 1938. Which means my grandparents probably never had a chocolate chip cookie as a kid! Can you even imagine?

The story begins in Massachusetts (like many stories in the United States) in the town of Whitman about 25 miles south and a little east of Boston at the Toll House Inn. There are two versions:

1) Ruth Wakefield, the inn’s proprietress, ran out of chocolate for her chocolate cookie recipe one day. So, she chopped up a bar of Nestlé chocolate and threw the pieces into her recipe, hoping that the chocolate would melt and make the cookie chocolate. Of course, that didn’t happen and the chocolate chip cookie was born!

2) George Boucher, a chef at the Toll House Inn, was making a batch of sugar cookies. The vibrations of his mixer caused a bar of Nestlé chocolate to fall into the dough, breaking into chunks and mixing into the dough. Rather than through the batch out, he baked the cookies as usual. And, behold, a chocolate chip cookie!

You can judge for yourself which story is more likely. In the end, it doesn’t matter. By the following year, the recipe had been printed in lots of New England newspapers. A few years later, Nestlé created chocolate chip morsels so housewives around the nation could save time from all the chopping of chocolate bars. Mrs. Wakefield sold her recipe to Nestlé for a lifetime supply of chocolate and today you won’t find a bag of them without a variation of that recipe printed on it. And an American legend was born.

So, run to your kitchen and whip up a batch of chocolate chip cookies. For who doesn’t want to celebrate the creation of such a wonderful American dessert?

A List of Books

I’m not sure how I found it, but I recently got from the library a book entitled A Lifetime of Fiction: The 500 Most Recommended Reads for Ages 2 to 102 by William P. Martin. A whole book of lists of books. What could be better than that, right?

Of course, a book like this is obviously subjective. Everyone in the world (who has read more than 500 books) could suggest a list of their most recommended reads. Mr. Martin uses best seller lists, parent recommendations and other ways of screening to come up with these 500 books. So while not based on his personal opinion (I’m not even sure if he has read all 500 of these books), the compilation of titles is based upon the suggestions of many others. And I don’t know about you, but I’d only feel comfortable reading about 10% of the New York Times Bestseller list (if that!).

The book is separated into five different categories: Preschoolers (ages 2-4), Early Readers (ages 5-8), Middle Readers (ages 9-12), Young Adults (ages 13-17) and Adults (ages 18-102). Each category contains a list of 100 books. And it has been fascinating to see how many of them I have read:

            Preschoolers: 35 books

            Early Readers: 40 books

            Middle Readers: 49 books

            Young Adults: 24 books

            Adults:            2 books

            Grand Total: 150 books (or 30% of the 500 suggested)

I guess 30% isn’t bad. Since I’m an avid reader, it may even be above average. As you can see, I tend towards the younger books. That’s not surprising. But I think these categories are a little broad. I find it hard to place Little House on the Prairie next to The Ox Cart Man as “Early Readers”. They don’t seem like they belong in the same category, but apparently they both make the cut with Green Eggs and Ham which every preschooler in the United States can quote. Yet that is also an “Early Reader”.

My adult reading is apparently quite lacking, but let’s clarify something on that point. The two books I have actually read from the list are Anna Karenina and Rebecca (which I read as a teenager, so again, the lines can be a little grey between the categories). But absent from the adult list are any books by Charles Dickens, or Shakespeare, or Jeff Shaara, or Janette Oke, or Charles Todd. I have to admit I’m relieved that Shades of Gray didn’t make the list either, but that list especially seemed lacking of anything I would put on an adult list.

Which brings up the question I often think upon as I peruse this book: what would I put on such a list? Could I even come up with 500 fiction books I would suggest you HAVE to read before you die? Probably not. As King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, “…of making many books there is no end…” And for me, reading is relaxing and enjoyable. For others, it’s a chore. So while I certainly think everyone should read Pride and Prejudice, you’re okay if you don’t. But just know you’re missing out!

The Weekend

Well, Ed says our home looks like Christmas has arrived again. Although, I think he’s happy this version of Christmas doesn’t mean pine needles on the floor. It just means lots of pastel colored gift bags all over our dining room floor. Full of things for the baby!

The ladies at church blessed me this weekend with a Baby Prayer Shower. It was such a wonderful thing to spend a few hours with the women and a few of their daughters, being prayed for, hearing tons of baby stories, eating wonderful food and opening lots of gifts! Sheets, and mattress pads, and onesies, and enough soap, shampoo and diaper rash cream to clean five babies. Not that I don’t want the cleanest baby in Pittsburgh, but I might return some of that!

Personally, I think the best gift of all was the bathtub. And the baby has a rubber ducky as well. The ducky is supposed to tell you if the bath water is too hot. I’m not sure if it changes color and squawks or what. I just know that, according to the older women at the shower, it will be most handy for Ed. They say husbands always run the water too hot. I have a feeling in our house it may be the opposite. I’m afraid I’m the one that likes the really hot showers!

According to Ed the best gift of all is the Sock Monkey. I’m not sure if he was putting clothes in the laundry basket or visiting it in the baby’s room last night. He’s more than a little psyched that the baby has his own Sock Monkey sitting proudly in the crib awaiting the new arrival.

Best of all, though, is how blessed we are that so many have given generously to our new little one. My list of things I need to get is considerably shorter now than it was last week. This weekend we’ll purchase the car seat and changing table/dresser. By the end of next week, I hope to have the baby’s room nearly done! Good thing, too, since the weeks are rolling by.

So, yes, life is getting to be more and more about the baby. But we do other things, too. Sunday evening our church had a chili cook-off before the quarterly business meeting. I won second prize for my white chicken chili. I’d have to say Ed should have won first prize for best performance. Time spent in Texas made him a pro on how to properly judge a chili cook-off. He tried every single chili, lining his little Dixie cups up in order of what he liked most to least. I think he was the only one there who tried ALL of them!

And, naturally, there are always bumps in the road. Like Ed’s truck not starting on Saturday afternoon. We already know we have to throw money at it this month to keep get it inspected for another year. It just looked like we were going to have to tow it to the shop on top of that. Not to mention trying to arrange a schedule around one vehicle when our work hours aren’t similar at all. I just prayed it would start. And it did. He tweaked something Sunday afternoon and it revved up. Now, at least, we can drive it to the shop to throw money at it when we don’t need two vehicles.

And then I wandered into the bathroom Saturday evening (which I do more and more often these days), happened to look up above our shower and discovered a large wet spot in the corner. Lovely. So, after texting the couple upstairs to make sure nothing had overflowed, we took pictures and sent them to the landlord so he could come and see what the leak had done. I have to say it is nice not to have to handle it ourselves, but we’ll still have to be around when the workman comes to repair it.  

Life just gets fuller and fuller…and I should expect that. I mean, it is only six weeks until this baby arrives!!!!

Reality Sets In

There is a crib set up in our spare bedroom.

I can see it when I’m sitting in my own bed.

I can also see it whenever I walk from the kitchen to the living room.

And it’s hard to believe.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a planner. I try not to leave anything to chance, although what are the chances of that? So, yes, I intend to have everything in place when the baby arrives. And, so, I have been working towards that. Making all kinds of decisions. Buying things here and there. Checking off my list. Getting as ready as I can to be a mother.

I mean, it can’t be ignored. I feel as large as a whale some days. I certainly can’t touch my toes anymore – I can barely see them. Tying my shoelaces is more exercise than I ever thought possible. And this baby is like his mother: cardio exercise is much more fun than yoga will ever be. But while “peanut” is jumping rope in my womb, my energy level is decreasing. Or at least my endurance is much shorter.

Ed and I have a certificate proving we completed pre-natal classes at the hospital where the baby will be born. For some reason, I don’t think this means we will be expert parents, but they give us certificates anyhow. I can’t say I learned anything “new” about labor and delivery or how to take care of an infant, but it was interesting to see the floor we’ll be on and learn how things are done now. Ed’s observation when the class ended: “I think we were the oldest parents in there.” You think? The guy in front us barely looked 20. Meanwhile, we’ll be in our forties and fifties when this kid is in elementary school.

My work has been gracious to let me shorten my hours and change my schedule so I can continue to work after my maternity leave. Because Ed works EARLY in the morning to early afternoon, he can watch the baby while I work a few hours later afternoon. We’ll see how that balancing act comes out, but we’re grateful. And I think Ed will enjoy some hours with the baby every day.

Some ladies at church are throwing me a shower on Saturday. I’m very grateful. Being new around here, I certainly didn’t think anyone would do such a thing and I’ve been bending every direction trying to figure out what I really need to purchase versus what can wait so I don’t spend the gas money on cute onesies. Now I can rest easy until next week anyhow. Then I can decide what I still need versus what I now have.

I have to confess sometimes my priorities are skewed. I mean, besides making sure I have enough cloth diapers. And a crib. And a car seat. For even though I know clothing is essential, I find myself thinking more often of books I’d love to have in the baby’s room. or the wall hanging I want about reading. Or even the calendar to record the baby’s first year. But, in the end, I’m not worried. The practical part of me will always choose sleepers over books. And we’ll use our wonderful stroller to walk (or run!) to the library instead.

Afghans

My mom has told me that when I was born, I received a lot of afghans. In fact, some of the ones lying on the back of chairs most of my life actually belonged to me. I’m not sure if it was just a fad in 1980, or people thought I would get cold in February in Rhode Island, or they still had a lot of time since I arrived at the start of my parents and their friends having kids and no one had their hands full yet. I just know I had several lovingly made afghans.

Now expecting my own child, I made sure when I was home at Christmas to grab a few of those afghans which were in easy reach in boxes in the attic. I don’t want my baby getting cold and it’s nice to think of he or she bundled up in something I once cuddled in. And the afghans are something of mine “peanut” can use right away (we’ll pick up the little rocking chair and table and chairs in the attic when he or she grows a little).

Probably the most ironic thing about my having so many afghans from my babyhood is that I can’t crochet. My mother missed that lesson in my childhood. About the time I would have learned, she had her hands full of babies and toddlers. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-20s she realized she had never taught me even the most basic use of yarn and a crochet needle. I think she thought she had failed as a mother. It didn’t (and has never) bothered me.

So, I can’t crochet our baby an afghan, but that’s okay. Because over the past few months, the box full of stuff collected for the baby has become an overflowing pile that needs to be put away. Ever so often I receive a package in the mail from a wonderful friend who wants to bless us and our little one. The top gift? Afghans.

I am not complaining!!!! Added to the pile of lovingly made afghans I was wrapped in is another stack of beautiful, lovingly made afghans my baby will be bundled up in from friends who love me. And I’m looking forward to telling my little one about the wonderful people who have taken the time to make now two generations of afghans.