26 Weeks

Hello, All.

Beth, here, at 26 or so weeks.

The little gal inside is almost 2 pounds at this point and around 14 inches. They tell me she can hear pretty well at this point, can tell whether the lights outside are on or off, and is developing more regular sleep patterns. She's practicing the movements of breathing, and is also now able to open & close her eyes. I wonder what she thinks of the place.

Hands and feet are very active & may respond to touch at this point. I wonder if that is what's happening sometimes. She'll be kicking up a storm -- where my belly looks like a jumping frog in a water balloon -- but then if I put my hand on it, she will stop moving. Wouldn't it be great if that trick worked for the rest of our lives...

I just read that her feet are 2 inches long. Inconceivable! Can you imagine? No way......

I asked Tory to take me out last night. With all this work around the house & outside, I haven't been able to wear some of my super cute new clothes. Not that that was the whole reason for going out, but I have to admit that was a pretty big part of it. :) Given the fact that I was actually wearing make-up & had my hair down, I thought I'd better seize the moment & get a picture. The first one I tried to take of myself, the second is one I bribed Tory to take. (While he was mumbling about me correcting my retarded posture.)

If you can't tell from the above pictures, I find photos just a bit awkward these days. I've gained 9 pounds so far, which is pretty low for almost 27 weeks, but is still 9 pounds I'm not quite used to yet.

The Lame Schmuck

I've been getting a fair share of lectures about not blogging lately. It's been about 10 weeks I guess. So here is a little explanation if it helps any --

I'M NESTING LIKE CRAZY!

At first it was just an avoidance of our computer because of the time factor. (It takes about 10 minutes for a picture to load to the blog.) And I just don't have much patience for sitting around like that -- especially when the nesting bug hit. I've been keeping really busy with the house, the yard, and the garden and it feels great. We also went on a 10 day vacation to Maine, and then my sister & nephew and I went on a little vacation to our parents home in Rolla. If I can keep the blogging up (now that I'm back), I'll post some of the favorites from the trips.

My mom came up for about a week after we went to Rolla and helped me immensely. We painted a few rooms and moved all kinds of stuff around. For about 5 days we were intense in our pursuit to get things done. Tory was out of town which made it even easier. THANK YOU, MOM! There is no way I could have even handled the mental enormity of the task, much less the physical, without that help.

I've kept the momentum from her visit and proceeded to redo the bathroom. Yet to come is the hallway, basement, and upstairs bath. Then if I have any energy left, the two guest rooms. But we'll see how far I get.

Sorry to all who were checking the blog and coming up disappointed. I will try to be more diligent. But please, if you check it, leave me a comment or something so I know that someone is out there reading. It provides great incentive to keep it up!

Sweet Corn!

This past Saturday morning was our first big picking of sweet corn. Pop did most the picking, and I was the "runner" -- exchanging his full bucket for an empty one and taking the corn back to fill up trash bags. I'm still not sure who got the better end of that deal. :) In a matter of two or so hours, we had seven trash bags full. I piled them all in the back of my Matrix & headed home. We picked about 1/3 of the corn that day, so there is still lots more to come.

I had commitments Saturday afternoon & evening, and I knew I wouldn't get a chance to freeze the corn until Sunday, so it all went to the cool basement. Perfect spot. Made me a little thankful the basement flooded last year -- now we have one of those air conditioned spaces you can trash and then clean up.

Sunday morning the process began. First step was to clean up all the corn. Some call this shucking, some call this husking. I'm more of a shucker of the husk I suppose. My two life-savers Nicole & Jess came over, and we made a good time of it. Thank heaven for rubber gloves!!!! Without them, I am usually timid and inhibited when it comes to pulling the husk away -- you just never know if you're going to impale a worm or get your finger in his poop trail. But with the gloves there are no worries and it goes much faster. That whole process took us from about noon to 4 or 5pm. Good times.

So by 5 pm, half the counters in my kitchen were piled high with sweet corn and the bulk of the work was still to come. Next call was to Pat, my mother-in-law, who is a seasoned corn-freezer. In fact, when she was 9 months pregnant with my brother-in-law Cody (3 days before she gave birth), she was taking her trays of corn down to the freezer, and fell and broke her leg! Talk about bum luck!

Pat came over & led the remaining troops of Nicole & myself. Nicole stood at the sink & washed the corn with a brush, making sure to get rid of all the silks she could. Those nasty, nasty silks... Then they got passed to Pat & I, who cut the kernels off the cob and into a skillet. Pat likes to hold her cob in one hand at an angle & cut them off that way. Which is how I used to do it -- but I was always slow and inhibited by the thought of slicing right through my thumb muscle. But she taught me a new trick that she got out of a catalog.

The trick is to use a bundt pan. You stick the tip of the cob in the middle hole, and then scrape the kernels into the pan. This is genius!!!!! It goes so much faster (and safer) this way. Pat was reluctant to use this method after spending her whole life doing it one way, but as a newbie, I'm embracing it fully.

After getting the kernels off, they get boiled with a little sugar & water for just a few minutes. Then cooled, then bagged, tagged & frozen. The result is a freezer shelf full of yellow loveliness and the reassuring feeling that for the next year or so, as long as you can afford your electric bill, you will not grow hungry. Whew! Thank you Pop, Pat, Nicole, and Jess!