Hungry, Hungry Hippos

I keep meaning to mention this on here. Especially since I've entered the home stretch with this pregnancy, people have been asking what we are calling our little boy.

Hungry Hippos.

This is what Olivia christened him soon after we found out he was a boy. We thought it was a one-time answer, but she was apparently more serious than we thought, because she started telling everyone that our baby was called Hungry Hippos. And, when they laughed, she confidently replied that she thought it was a good name.

I promise that "Hungry Hippos Brown" will not appear on his birth certificate. But, for now, it's actually been very convenient to have something to call him. And, I will confirm that he does seem very hungry, and is also a bit of a hippo: on Friday I was measuring 2 weeks ahead, which validated my having felt very full of baby. I'm planning on staying pregnant all through April, at least, but I'll tell you - Hungry Hippos is running out of room.

*Also, I wanted to mention that I am not being coy with the name thing: I'm no good at keeping secrets. We really haven't decided on a name, or even narrowed it down to a chosen few. Suggestions are welcome.

Money, money, money

I have been in major spending mode lately. I guess it's part of my nesting? Anyway, I just ordered some more stuff off of Amazon. It's all practical stuff, and not really for me: a birthday present for Olivia, a water filter for our food storage, and a KidCo Travel Bed that I've wanted for a long time (more portable than a pack 'n' play!). And, okay, I also got some Pilot Frixion pens that I heard about during my machine quilting class a couple of weeks ago. You can iron the marks away! I can see my mom and me going crazy with these when she comes out in a few weeks.

The good news is that I finally did our taxes, and what I'm spending is nothing compared to our rebate (yay!) I'm always proud of myself every year for doing our taxes. It makes me feel smart to understand how the process works and how things are calculated. This is the first year I have e-filed, so I felt smart for figuring that out too, especially since we couldn't do the IRS's FreeFile (we also don't use TurboTax or any other products - just the long forms and instructions). These accomplishments may seem petty, but it's nice to have something that's cerebrally validating beyond understanding phonics (which does make me feel like a big deal when I'm teaching preschool).

The plus side

As of today, nothing in Carmen's bedroom is going to get a diaper rash. Especially not the carpet. How wonderful.

Good day

Sometimes I look at my kids and just ache with how cute they are. I can't believe that they're really mine and I'm really their mommy. I can't believe I'm ANYBODY's mommy.

I love days like this when life is just simple. Carmen and I walked Olivia to preschool this morning, then came home and did errands and played for a while. We went and visited with friends at a sewing group. We picked up Olivia, came home and ate lunch. Then Carmen napped while Olivia helped me pin and cut out a maternity dress pattern (I need something new for these last 2 months). I took a break and made some dough for our dinner of Czech fruit dumplings (I'm determined to perfect my recipe). Now Carmen's up and the girls are pretending to change doll diapers upstairs. The weather is beautiful and we're probably going to go play outside while we wait for Steven to get home.

This is the life I always, always wanted, and I'm really thankful for it.

Iron Maiden

I've been blessed to have very easy, uncomplicated pregnancies. So during the past month I was surprised to realize that I felt...dead. I didn't remember feeling so tired and worn out so early in pregnancy before.

I tried to explain it by figuring out what was different this time around: baby gender. Two existing kids. Nearing of the magical age 30 that reportedly changes everything about one's metabolism.

But none of those seemed satisfactory: other than fatigue, this pregnancy has not felt any different than my previous ones (except that I can tell I'm carrying lower). Having two kids who play together seems easier than trying to entertain one. My body doesn't feel different now, despite 2 years.

Well, turns out I'm anemic. So since ironing up during the last week, I have felt much, much better.

Family candids

Here are a couple of scenes I've walked in on in the past few days:

He was reading her poetry.

Steven is no poet, and Olivia is no snuggler. But there is a connection between them in which I have no part. Is there any wonder this girl adores her daddy?

Then today:

There was a time when I feared I might never have children. Considering I'm still under 30 (at least for a month), I realize that this was not wholly founded. But the memory of that time makes me even more appreciative of watching my darling girls making messes so happily together. It's a good life.

The last 2 months of my life

Steven already posted about this (and it's worth checking out his account of it, with more close-ups), but there's a reason I haven't blogged for a while. During the past couple of months, my life has been consumed with creating what may be the most important sewing project I'll ever make: a special memory quilt for my mother-in-law to commemorate the anniversary of my father-in-law's death.

When we were there last year for the funeral, I secretly (with the help of Steven's sister) went through Bob's closet and picked out several of his old dress shirts.

My original intention was to use the shirts alone to make up a quilt for Linda. My thinking was that if she couldn't snuggle with him any more, she could at least snuggle up with his shirts. But as I was planning the quilt, I realized that perhaps I could bring Bob even closer to her, through images that represented aspects of the 50 years they spent together.

Here it is.



The images represent reading together, their house in VA, dancing, traveling the world, their family, their daily walks, Linda's church callings, the Washington, DC LDS temple, Bob's church callings, music and piano, motorcycle rides, and electronics/HAM radio (one of Bob's passions).

The appliqued squares are made of fabric scraps from my, my sister-in-law Hyde's, and my grandma Anne's collections. (Grandma Anne also got to be friends with Bob and Linda during our wedding.) The piece work and pockets are from Bob's shirts. I asked my mom at one point if she thought Linda would recognize the fabric. She said, "Well, she ironed it for 50 years!" Good point.


I was pretty proud of this motorcycle. Not bad for a girl, huh? But can I tell you how hard it is to find grey cotton prints?!?


Some detail work on the radio. Yes, the quilt took hours. And hours. And hours. But as cheesy as it may sound, it was not tedious when I thought of my love for my in-laws and the joy it would bring to Linda.


The family may be my favorite block. Fabric selections were based on their family portraits - it seems like at least one of the boys was always wearing funky striped pants, and nothing matched. Ah, the 70s and 80s.


One of the pockets, from a work shirt. I left the pockets open and functional; thought it would be fun to put things in them. (My mom would surely keep Kleenexes in there.)

I'm happy to say that my mother-in-law was able to open it on Dec. 5, the anniversary of Bob's death. Gracious person that she is, she loves it, and it makes me feel good that I was able to do something to make her feel happy and loved. I feel like I put everything I had into this quilt - all my artistic abilities, all my creativity, all the skills I learned from my mother, all my capacity for love and service. It felt good to try to be the kind of person who would do that, and helped me to become that person.