Binky the Polar Bear

Binky the Polar bear is an Alaskan Legend. He was orphaned and brought to the Alaskan zoo as a cub, and grew to be a local favorite. Then, a tourist decided to get a closer photo op, and after climbing all the safety rails, Binky nailed her and stole her shoe. He carried it around in his mouth, and it was a few days before zookeepers could get it from him. They, apparently, were less willing to get close to him than the tourist had been. Go figure. Here's the video of her attack:



Now here's the best part. Today, at the thrift store, I found a children's book of this story. No joke.

Incredible. I so bought this book. What's that you say? You have a children's book about bad decisions and polar bear attack? It even covers the Alaskan tendency to enjoy watching people be viciously punished for their mistakes? Yes, please! Hilarious. God, I love Alaska.

'discovered' forest fire

In Alaska, there are forest fires. This makes sense, Alaska has a lot of forest. What is harder to understand, is that sometimes the forest fire is very large (by the standards established in my mind from other states) before it is found.

Don't believe me? Read it for yourself in our local paper.


This is what we saw from our campsite looking up at just after midnight o'clock. Blue sky. 22 days AFTER the summer solstice. This is 10 minutes after the official sunset of 12:01. Oh, Alaska, how I love you (so far).

Camping was mostly good, though the mosquitoes REALLY like my preggo blood. Mirus was standing behind me trying to wipe them all off my back and butt even after we used copious amounts of bug spray. I wasn't thrilled about using the bug spray to begin with because I've been trying to avoid weird chemicals while I'm building the baby. We ended up leaving a night early. We tried camping, we tried hiking, the bugs were just way too bad, so we threw in the towel, ran up the white flag, and came home to play video games and sleep.

Another prenatal appt. today. Still measuring just where she should be, and everything still looks perfect. Walking is not a recommended exercise right now because the wildfires have decreased the air quality so much (apparently the smoke has no where else to go) so I'm going to keep on the hunt for a giant swimsuit. I suppose that sentance make it sound like I've really been looking, when I've really only been looking while it's convenient. Anyway. Nanook had a great sleeping heart rate of about 130ish, then it climbed up to the 140's when we started papating and measuring and doing all that stuff. She generally prefers to be left alone, but we generally prefer to check on her. Today, we won.

Still loving the midwives and birth center so, so much. I'm so glad to be there and not with an OB. I love their approach, and I love feeling like I'm participating in this instead of receiving care. They know me, they know my husband, they know our baby. They know our norms, they check in on us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Having a baby is not simply a high-risk medical endevour, it's a normal, huge, life changing event that lasts (seemingly) forever. Pregnancy is just so different from any other health-related issue I've ever experienced, so it's nice to get a different kind of care. And to be welcomed as important in the process and not secondary to the OB. Our birthing class is this Saturday, and we're pretty psyched. Gotta learn how to evict this squatter! The womb-gnome has got to go! Well, not just yet, but soon.

I have discovered that I have a HUGE list of books I want to buy for Nanook. Now I am trying to figure out a way to get other people to buy them for her (us, me, whatever). We've already had our shower, now I'm just being greedy. But my dear husband might 'shit a brick' (to use the parlance of our times) if I buy all the books I want. There are, um, several. dozen. What do you expect? I grow up with an amazing woman who read to me ALL THE TIME, and then I worked as a literacy tutor in an elementary school. I have a LOT of favorite children's books. And the one piece of furniture I felt compelled to buy for Nanook was a bookshelf. I really wasn't sure that a crib was as necessary as a bookshelf.

I found the bookshelf that I want too. Once we move in to the new place and get set up I'm definitely buying it. It isn't exactly 'high end' so I'll just buy it new and pay the grand total of $40. I have a few cubes to use for it, but I might buy a couple more if we need them. I can't wait to surround her with books. She's probably going to be a kid that hates to sit still and read, but I guess she'll have to learn to deal at least once in a while. I'll play outside and get rowdy if she reads with me, we'll trade minute for minute if we have to.

On that note, I think I'll go to the thrift store and check for books!

Camping!

This is our first recreational Alaskan camping! How exciting!

We're not going far, because it's generally not considered a great idea at this point in the pregnancy, but we'll stay out there two nights (assuming the bugs aren't too bad) and maybe do a little hiking while we're out. And we won't even need a flashlight!

Happy day: I've got help at work on Mondays now. Finally. I felt significantly less hopeless when I started working today than I usually do on Mondays.

I'm starting a goodreads.com account for Nanook. We're going to keep posting the books we read to her and with any luck we'll keep it up as she gets older. We're so cheesy.

This is it people.

There's always something strange at Pioneer Park:


Today's the day it all becomes real. We are buying a car seat.

I'm not really sure why that's what seals the deal, but when I bring home the car seat, I'll be officially doing this. Having a baby. Scary. I have the crib, I have some clothes, I have a swing and a little chair for her, and bath stuff, and blankets. Today I'll buy the car seat and a stroller. Then, all we have to get are diapers and we're ready. Really ready. We still have lots of stuff that we'd like, but nothing important. Nothing necessary.

It's all so crazy. She moves hard and fast and strong all the time now, and actually keeps me awake quite often with it. I'm growing big and fast and starting to worry that I'm gaining too much weight, but she just doesn't seem to have anywhere else to grow. I have a short torso so with every bit of growth she pushes outward. Maybe I'll stop weighing myself. I don't think I want to know anymore. And if the midwives don't care, I don't care.

I still can't believe how easy it was for us to decide on this church, but we love it. We're going to try and sit down with the pastor this week to talk about baptism and communion, just to be sure we're on the same pages in our theology. I really don't want to get all hooked into a church, fall in love with the people, and then find out there's some crazy belief we didn't know about or something weird like that. So we'll sit down and cover the bases where we have opinions, make sure that everything's on the up and up, then we can jump in.

I really love sitting quietly in the apartment by myself, just thinking. Just working on stuff, just enjoying life.

Tillamook Ice Cream - Mudslide

This is the most incredible ice cream I've ever had. I don't care if I gain 500 pounds, I don't want to live another day without this in my belly. So buy stock people, they're about to see a serious increase in profits.

Wonderful. And since I very rarely send my hubby out to get me anything at night, and since I've been pretty good about eating my fruits and veggies and protein, I feel no guilt. I think hubby would prefer that I don't eat ice cream every day because I think he's worried it may adversely affect Nanook (more weight during pregnancy = harder birth) but this is completely and utterly worth it. And I'm pretty much giving up on walking. We try to walk and my uterus seizes up, clamps down, and says NO. If I could find a bathing suit to go over me I'd swim every day.

The search goes on.

Baby stuff

Found a sewing machine! Thank you thrift store, you made my day. It was $25, an old school Singer. Those things last FOREVER, and this one even has the instruction manual so I don't have to google instructions for threading, winding the bobbin, etc.

We went and bought fabric last night. Mirus found a great flannel (brown, with pastel neon skull and crossbones, guitars, and stars) for a wrap, and another flannel (white with ducks, bees, and turtles) for sheets and matching changing pad cover. I've decided that I can make a changing pad pretty simply. Block of foam, I'll track down some plastic, gift wrap the foam with the plastic, then I'll just make fitted sheets to go over the foam. Simple, quick, and completely washable. I think I can buy the plastic that goes over mattresses and stuff at fabric stores. If not, I'll just use a garbage bag or leftover plastic from covering the floor while we paint. I like the garbage bag idea because I think it will be quiet, soft, and easily replaceable.

I'm a little too intimidated to start sewing the bigger projects just yet, but I did successfully make a burp cloth! Turns out, I don't have any straight pins. I'll have to get some today before I start the big ones. An iron would really be helpful too. And a larger table to work on. The table will come with the next apt (we will move in Aug. 1 @ the latest, they promised to call if the work is done before then), the iron I'll pick up when I get really frustrated with not having one, and the straight pins I'll probably pick up today. Until then, more burp cloths. Unless I can come up with some other smaller projects. I have all these ideas for bigger projects, but I'm trying to hold off on buying anything more until I've finished the projects I've already bought materials for. Very responsible of me.

So apparently, Alaska requires a lot of their drivers. We had to take written tests before we could get licenses, and I failed. I had question after question about the minimum jail time for this offense, maximum fine for that crime, etc. Lots of weird, esoteric kind of stuff. Mirus had to identify road signs. So not fair. Oh well, it's a randomly generated test, I could get much easier stuff this time around. I generally just try to stay out of trouble so I won't need to know jail times or how long I have to show proof of insurance to the DMV after an accident (who knew you EVER had to call the DMV after an accident? We just called the police and the insurance company.)

Still haven't heard back from my art teacher from this spring. She said the problem would be resolved soon, and that she would change my grade from an F to whatever I earned (probably a B since I completely ignored our 'disscussion' directive for the entire semester). Apparently she needs to wait to hear back from someone first?? I don't know. I also need to call my advisor. I need one more class to graduate. Not really interested in trying to take it in the fall, because I'll be working full time (or almost, hopefully), adjusting to being a parent, and adjusting to life so close to the arctic circle. I'm not expecting this to be an easy fall or winter. But I don't want to keep putting it off either. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to take this one class, though that's the same reason I overloaded myself last semester. And that did not turn out well.

Hubby has his schedule worked out for the fall. Looks like he'd be able to watch Nanook if I wanted to volunteer or work during the day.

Unfortunately, I really wanted to try to get in at the Boys and Girls Club and that would mean working evening hours every weekday. That would make social networking harder. And we MUST have real-life people contacts. Well, Mirus probably doesn't need them, he's your classic introvert. I will fall apart without friends and people and talking and interaction. I tend not to get particularly attached to people very quickly, and I tend to make and lose friends quickly, but I always have some odd collection of people around, and they give me so much sanity.

We might have found a church. I didn't expect this to be the church for us, but we really wanted to go to a study and service, so we went. And BOTH liked it. That's not easy to find. But the people were amazing, the theology seems to be exactly what we're looking for, and even the building was cool. The sanctuary looks like an old New England meeting house. I love it. And everyone was wonderful! Friendly, but sincerely friendly, and open and gregarious. Awesome. I really despise the fake sense of welcoming that some churches have. Like they're judging you for not conforming to their theology and traditions but know they shouldn't be. Lame.

So today:
take some more practice tests
drop hubby off at work
DMV - get a license (hopefully)
pick up straight pins
clean up the apt.
prenatal yoga
make sheets or moby wrap
pick hubby up from work
breakfast for dinner (yum!)

Gonna try skipping the nap. It's too hot here in the evenings and at night. And since the sun doesn't go down, there's no relief of cool in the night. So I'm going to try to get up earlier and enjoy more cool morning time. It's 10am now and I'd already be miserable without the fan. Oh Alaska, I thought you'd be cool and easy on my pregnant self. Tricky, tricky.

For the record, if we have any more children they will NOT be summer babies. Nope. No thank you.

The DMV's testing stations are these touch screen computers that you stand in front of. The computer has a rounded shelf/table portion that curves out toward you. I currenly have a rounded portion that curves out away from me. I almost couldn't reach the screen to touch the answers. I ended up having to tuck my belly under the table and lean forward, laying on my forearms on the table. Not pretty or comfortable. Mean ol' DMV.

Braxton Hicks

So far I've only had one BH contraction. For those of you who haven't been buried in baby terminology for months, Braxton-Hicks contractions are the 'fake' ones. It's when your uterus contracts but without any real result or purpose. It's just acting up, telling you to slow down.

When we were hiking in Denali, I had to stop and breathe and consciously relax because my uterus was all hard and tight. It didn't hurt (not exactly) and it wasn't ANYthing like menstrual cramps. I'm really curious to see whether or not contractions are actually like menstral cramps. I don't expect them to be the same (although some women say they are), but I wouldn't be all that surprised to find out I'm wrong. It's just that menstrual cramps are painful and pointless, and the uterus is tightening over nothing, with nothing to squeeze. Contractions have a very specific purpose and the baby provides some resistance, and the cervix provides the result. And I have never been excited for menstrual cramps, but I am very excited for contractions (=baby!). Maybe this is just the psych major in me doing the talking, but my own expectations have to affect my perception of the whole experience.

She's moving a lot this morning. Strong, purposeful movements. I love when she's like this. It makes her seem so real. So much like a little person. She really is incredible. I can't wait to meet her.

Though we really should buy a carseat first.

Nanook's physical makeup

If you are what you eat, and if this baby is made up of what I eat, I suspect she'll come out looking like this:

45% Slurpee
3% Jimmy's all natural Jamaican Me Crazy spice mix
17% Strawberry Ice Cream (real strawberry ice cream, not the flavored stuff)
8% Half and Half
12% Orange Juice
15% Raisin Bran with extra raisins and a little sugar

I ate a LOT of fruits and veggies in the first trimester, but I suspect they're only found in trace amounts now.

Signs that Alaska might not be a real state:

1. No 7-11's.
2. No Dairy Queens.
3. No fireworks on 4th of July. (they CLAIM this has something to do with the 24 hour sunlight)
4. No Target. (we need to keep an eye on Delaware, they're guilty of this one too.
5. I suspect the largest political party is either Libertarian or Alaskan Independence Party. Either way, they clearly are not participating in the same 'two party system' as the real America.
6. Sarah Palin's supporters were awfully insistent about checking Obama's citizenship. Maybe to draw attention away from their OWN non-resident status.
7. They get what they want from their lawmakers. I've heard a suggestion this has to do with the exceedingly high rate of gun ownership.
8. Residents get paid to live here.
9. No sales tax. (except alcohol and cigs)
10. No state income tax.
11. Alaska pays for their government's expenditures by exporting a product. That sounds awfully simple and rational. Far too simple and rational to be an American state.
12. No professional sports.
13. Not even football.
14. Not even baseball!
15. They support midwives, natural birth options, and a woman's right to choose a birth that's best for her and her family.

I'm suspicious. I'll keep you posted as I learn more.

Wahoo!

I'm covered by Denali Kids Care! It's official, I got the letter today!

It's such a huge relief. We had to dip into our savings when I got cut to part time. Not much, I'm sure we'd have been fine, but it would have been much less comfortable than we were prepared to handle. Especially since hubby is commission only until August, we can't plan ahead on his income, we have to just take each day and paycheck as it comes. It's just so nice to know that we don't have to weigh our birth options by cost.

We had a prenatal appointment this morning too. Nanook is healthy, head down, growing right on schedule and getting ready to go. My blood pressure is perfectly normal (still haven't even hit 120/80), my urine cultures are all normal, and my blood work came back so good I don't have to do the second round that most women do! My weight is up again, and I'm not thrilled about it, so we went for a walk today. I still refuse to monitor my food intake but I will start exercising again. I hadn't realized how long we'd stopped to be honest. When we first got up here we were so concerned with finding a place and a job and all that stuff that I just forgot, and then suddenly it's been like a month! So, I'll make sure that I'm eating all the protein I need, all the fruits and veggies I need, and keep taking my prenatals. Anything I want to eat after all that is fair game, but I'll have to walk to the gas station to get it.

What a great day.