Choir Music from Lenten Prayer

Earlier this month, my choir performed a concert at the beginning of Lent. There are two songs that I particularly like from our set list and want to remember. I really liked the song "Abendlied" ("Evening Song") by Josef Rheinberger that we sang in German. The text translates: "Abide with us, for evening draws on, and the day is fallen." A .PDF for this piece is available HERE.



The other song that I really liked was a version of "Psalm 23" by Z. Randall Stroope (sheet music available for purchase HERE). This song wasn't performed by my choir in the recent concert, but by the women who are in the Chamber Singers group. Here is a recording that includes oboe and violin for accompaniment, but I also think this piece sounds nice with just piano:

Pregnancy Cravings

I sent this photo to J last month, a day or two after he emailed me a picture of the fancy pancake that he had just eaten in Amsterdam. I sent this as a joke, showing J that he was missing out on a very eclectic meal (a chili cheese dog with roasted Brussels sprouts!) while he dined on Dutch food. I didn't plan for Sam and I to eat such a strange meal, but I was struck with a craving for Brussells sprouts that evening and had to indulge myself.

When I was pregnant with Sam, I felt like I had a few cravings but I also felt very limited to eat things that I felt like I could stomach. I remember one day I felt like the only thing in the world that could keep me alive was grapes. My mom called as I was walking into the produce section of the grocery store, and when I mentioned that I felt like eating grapes she gave me a big lecture about grapes and how much they absorb pesticides. I bought a bag of green grapes anyway (while she was still giving me her well-meant advice on the phone), not because I was being defiant but because I was more interested that moment in staying alive! I needed those grapes to give me sustenance! I feel like my mom didn't understand my situation at that moment, either. My mom's pregnancies were not as difficult as mine with Sam (at least, in terms of morning sickness and nausea); she couldn't understand how difficult it was for me to keep anything in my stomach at all. If I ever felt like I could stomach anything, especially during my first trimester when my nausea was at its worst, I tried to act on that.

I think the lowest point in my first trimester with Sam's pregnancy was once at three in the morning: I woke up in bed and felt like the only thing I could eat was dry, stale Cheerios. As I sat there at the kitchen table, pulling the stale Cheerios out of a box and eating them by the handful, I remember crying and considering how my life had become so restricted and limited. Luckily, things improved and I was able to eat more, especially after I began to take anti-nausea medication. (I never told my mom that I took anti-nausea medication, because I knew that would have concerned her.)

I remember that I also ate a lot of oatmeal and peanut butter sandwiches when I was pregnant with Sam. I also craved grapefruit on several occasions. Above all, though, I probably craved barbecue sauce the most. I remember sending J to Gandolfo's to buy me an Urban Cowboy sandwich at least once, just so I could have the barbecue sauce. 

This pregnancy, I haven't been so restricted in my diet, although I did eat and drink some things to help with mild nausea in the first trimester (like ginger ale, raisins, and bananas). Over the past few months, though, I have craved avocados above anything else. I usually have them in salads with (pasturized!) feta cheese, tomatoes, mixed greens, and a little bit of poppyseed dressing. I also have liked eating guacamole. And every once in a while I will make a Brazilian vitamina (or smoothie) with avocado and banana. One or two of my sisters have noted that I must already have an "avocado baby" in my tummy.

The two other things that I have craved most this pregnancy are Brussells sprouts and grapefruit. I'm glad that I'm craving healthy things to eat! I feel like eating sweets and chocolate sometimes, but I'm really trying to avoid eating very much sugar. (And I don't think that my desire to eat chocolate is related to my pregnancy - I just like chocolate!) I really don't want to gain as much weight as I did with Sam, and I figure that avoiding sugar can't hurt that goal in any way. I try to limit having dessert or some kind of treat to once or twice per week.

What do/did you crave when you are/were pregnant? Or, if you haven't been pregnant, do you know of any interesting stories about pregnancy cravings?

"We All Grow Together"

Over the past month or so, I have been helping Sam's class create an art project for their school fundraiser. This is an auctioned event, and each class is supposed to submit a work of art that parents or members of the community can purchase. The project ended up taking more time than I thought - another mother named Maria and I repeatedly had to visit the classroom to have the students work on decorating their hand prints and foot prints.

Last Saturday evening, Maria and I made a collage with the hand prints and foot prints to form a tree. We glued the pieces onto a canvas from IKEA which was spray painted black. Maria titled the piece "We All Grow Together," which I think is appropriate. I was glad to work with her and I appreciated her input on what the children should create and how the final product should look.

I won't be attending the auction itself, so I was happy that I could help with the fundraiser in another way. I am glad to have this image, though, so I can remember what Sam did. His foot print is the solid purple one at the bottom of the canvas. One of his hand prints is in the center of the canvas. There is a white smiley face in the center of his palm; he insisted that he didn't want to color that part of his hand. The other hand print is on the right edge of the tree (a little ways up from his other hand print); it is decorated green and orange with some bluish dots and stripes.

I'm pleased with how everything turned out, and I'm also glad that this project is over! I'm looking forward to spending some time catching up on some other projects.

Spot and Bunny

When Sam was just a few weeks old, a lady from church gave him a little stuffed dog. Although Sam has liked several different stuffed animals over the years, this dog has been his favorite. When he was about one or two, he made the connection that his dog looked like the character Spot in the children's books by Eric Hill. We've called his dog Spot ever since, even though he doesn't have a dark spot on his body like the book character.

Spot and Sam's "blankie" have been his special nighttime companions for years and years. Whenever we traveled, we would bring Spot with us. And, over the past two or three years, Sam has diligently slept with Spot every night. Sam even brings Spot when he has occasional sleepovers at Bop and Gram's house.

When we found out that we were going to have a new baby, we told Sam that he could be in charge of choosing a blankie and a new stuffed animal for the baby. After all, Sam is the expert in our family on blankies and stuffed animals. He has carefully inspected the blankies at Target a few times, but hasn't found the one that he wants the baby to have. His own blankie was made by Carter's, and it has a silky side and a fuzzy side. We have yet to find a similar one; I think Carter's stopped making them a few years ago.

Sam has found a stuffed animal, though. When we were at Target earlier this week, he saw a little white stuffed bunny with floppy ears. This bunny will be his first gift to his new sister. We hope she loves it as much as Sam loves Spot.

After we selected the bunny, Sam and I held hands as we walked through the store. He said in a thoughtful - yet excited - tone, "A brother or a sister is a friend that lives in the same house as you." I agreed with him. I hope he and his little sister are as good of friends as Sam hopes they will be.

From Snow Angels to Daffodils to Worms

Today was uncharacteristically warm, and Sam and I worked in the garden for an hour after Sam got home from school. It was the first time that I have made a sincere effort in the garden since the cold season started. It felt so nice to be out in the sun, pulling up weeds, turning dirt, and feeling productive overall. It's amazing how useful and happy I feel if I am able to work outside. I'm so glad that the cold season is beginning to end. I also was happy to be in the garden this afternoon, too, because the first daffodils began to open just today! They are blooming really early this year!

This month of February has been an unusual one, partially because we have experienced a range of weather. Earlier in the month we had a snowy weekend (Sam made snow angels in the yard before the snow melted a few hours later). We have also had some unusually warm and sunny days that pop up between spells of dramatically rainy weather. Additionally, this month has been unusual because we've kept busy with a lot of things that depart from our normal routine: J went on a trip to Amsterdam for work (I wish I could have been there with him!), we experienced multiple bouts of colds and sick days for J and Sam, we all went to the ultrasound appointment to learn the gender of the new baby, I helped oversee a time-consuming art project for Sam's school auction, and I also had some extra evening choir rehearsals. We are settling back into our normal schedule, though, which I can tell makes all of us happy. The three of us are creatures of habit; we thrive under our little routine.

And now we can start up our new routine of working in the garden, which makes me glad. Sam and I made a deal that he could earn two dollars if he worked with me in the garden for a whole hour (sorry we haven't raised the minimum hourly wage at our house, President Obama!). The deal also included that Sam could not whine or complain during the whole hour. If that happened, he could earn enough money so that he could buy the next level in his Lego Star Wars game on the iPad. And, amazingly, it worked! Sam has never been so cheerful doing yard work. He was a good "helpy helper" (as we say in our family) and we had some cute conversations while we worked away. Here are my two favorite things that Sam said today:

• "A worm has ten hearts. You have to shoot a worm ten times before it dies."
• "I know just about everything, except what the dinosaurs really looked like."

Sam did learn in kindergarten that earthworms have ten hearts, which I think is a logical way to explain to young children about five pairs of aortic valves. I also know that Sam's mindset about "shoot[ing] a worm ten times" is influenced by the Lego Star Wars game, where the life capacity of characters is indicated by a string of hearts on the screen. With ten hearts, a worm would be a more difficult character to defeat in that game!

And now, on to warmer weather! Goodbye, February. I'm glad to see you go. I'm glad to cross off one more month for this pregnancy, too. I think that this pregnancy (and time in general) will go by more quickly for me when the sun is around.

Almost 22 Weeks and Herbal Teas

I took the picture on the right this morning, before I left for work. This week I will be 22 weeks pregnant. The picture on the left is one that I took about a month ago, when I was seventeen weeks pregnant. You can see that I'm starting to show quite a bit more!

Last week I started to drink some herbal teas that I think will help during this pregnancy. I've never really been a big fan of herbal teas, but I'm giving it a go. Right now I'm alternating between drinking a dandelion tea and a raspberry leaf tea. The dandelion tea is a natural diuretic that I hope will help keep water gain and swelling at bay over the next few months. The raspberry leaf tea is a tea that is commonly drunk by pregnant women; it is supposed to help prepare the uterus for birth. My mom drank raspberry leaf tea during her pregnancies. I remember trying to drink it once or twice when I was pregnant with Sam and I felt extremely nauseated afterward. This pregnancy, since I'm not feeling nauseated, I thought I'd try again, and things have been fine so far. Given the rainy weather lately, it has been nice to sit down with a warm drink during the day.

My mom drank quite a bit of herbal tea when I was growing up, although I think she would go through seasons of being interested and disinterested in herbal tea. When we lived in California, I remember her making huge glass pitchers full of herbal teas (particularly the Red Zinger tea) that she would refrigerate while lots of tea bags steeped in the water. I rarely wanted to drink herbal teas when I was growing up, because it often gave me a headache. I didn't really like the taste of herbal tea, either, but I think I am more accustomed to it now. J doesn't like herbal tea; he says he's not interested in drinking something that tastes like "watery leaves." He says he doesn't like subtle flavors, either.

Are there any other herbal teas that you think are helpful for pregnant women?

Baby, Take a Bow

Today is a very happy day, although it is laced with a little bit of sadness with the news that Shirley Temple Black died yesterday (see obituary HERE). At the same time, though, I'm glad that today gives people an opportunity to celebrate Shirley Temple's life. Her cheerful disposition was welcomed into a lot of homes and hearts, including mine.

The other reason that today is happy is that we learned we are expecting a girl! We had an ultrasound appointment this morning, and we even let Sam skip the first part of school so he could come as well. As I watched this Shirley Temple clip later this afternoon, after the appointment, I couldn't help but think about how it will be fun to have a darling girl (who may or may not wear frilly dresses with poofy slips, just like some of her S family aunts did when they were little). And I'm especially excited to have a girl who loves her daddy as much as I love J. I want to teach her the following song, so she can call J her "big old handsome Romeo." This song, "Baby, Take a Bow" is from the movie Stand Up and Cheer (see Shirley Temple's entrance at 3:22):



And now, here's our own little baby, undoubtedly with her own little bunch of personality. "I'm presenting her right now: Baby, take a bow!"