Category Archives: Musings

19 Weeks

How far along: 19 weeks, completed 5.15.12

Weight gain: ? I’ll know next week after my Wednesday appointment. My guess is 4 pounds. I feel much rounder around the mid-section–I think I may have experienced the Pop. It’s pretty dang visible in that bias cut dress in the pictures, and caused my husband to remark multiple times throughout the day I wore it: “You’re pregnant!” with a tone of amazement.

Right before my belly decided to appear, I had noticed (due to manhandling myself frequently) that my level of squish was definitely up.

Is that normal? Do you all grab yourselves sometimes to test your level of squish?

Anyway.

The point is, a few days after the increase in squish, I realized that buttoning the top button of my skinny cords was no longer the most comfortable thing in the world.

And, to top it off, a lady stomped on my foot as she was boarding the El train I was on. She looked around a minute later to see who she had stomped on, and I heard her exclaim to her group of friends “Oh no! It was a pregnant lady!”

Hee hee!

Though what’s with this ‘lady’ thing? I feel too young for that. Let’s try for ‘pregnant girl’ next time.

Clothes: Still pretty comfortable in whatever, though I have to make sure my shirts are especially long-waisted since as the day progresses and I eat food, my belly pushes out a little more. And currently the top button of my pants is unbuttoned for maximum comfort. I think the baby is living exactly where my stomach used to be, so after dinner it’s like a belly explosion. And then, then next morning . . . poof! It’s greatly reduced (though it doesn’t completely disappear like before).

Purchases: I have a lot to share with you about Rummage! I hit up the Infants/Toddlers section on pre-sale day a few minutes after it opened, and made a bee-line for the baby carriers and bedding. The stuff I found . . . I can’t wait to show you. We’re talking 50 cents for crib sheets, a few bucks for a Baby Bjorn carrier, 50 cents for a little robe with bear ears on it–and the list goes on. I love a good deal! Now I just need to go back to my registry and take out the stuff that I found . . .

Body: Feeling great! My belly still disappears to a good extent if I lie down flat, but when I’m standing there’s definitely something there. And as you all have reminded me, there’s still plenty of time to grow in the 4 3/4 remaining months.

Sleep: This week was more challenging, but not for baby-related reasons. Staying in a hotel room with a bunch of ladies from my extended family during Rummage was a blast, but I was too amped up after the long days of working and shopping and talking and laughing to get into sleepy mode.

And immediately after Rummage, after a day of work at the office, my band had booked that Thursday night session at the recording studio. The tiredness from Rummage plus the anticipation of working and recording meant that the night before, I tossed and turned until the alarm went off. Ugh! Thankfully, as soon as those high-intensity experiences came to a close, my sweet regular easy sleep pattern came right back. And just in time, because I was feeling ti-yerd.

Best moment(s) of the week: Shopping with my cousins for the Little Wa-Wa, with great advice from June and Kristen, who helped me pick some great baby books, receiving blankets, etc.

Movement: Still not a lot–every now and then (like every couple days) I feel that popping sensation, but it’s not really regular, and not always really very noticeable or distinct. I tried to get my husband to feel it a few times, but all he could sense was my pulse.

Food cravings/aversions: Clean bill of health in this area! I love food again, pretty unreservedly, and without any super strong cravings either. My addiction to fries seems to have resolved itself with no drastic interventions necessary.

Symptoms: None that come to mind . . . I feel remarkably not pregnant.

Emotions: I have a slight feeling of unreality/disbelief about this whole thing. So I just keep cruising along with regular life, knowing that at some point I’ll realize this is real, and there will actually be an infant human being in my arms this fall.

No there won’t!

Yes there will.

Well . . . we’ll see.

Hopes and dreams: With the advent of some baby purchases, I’m really looking forward to finding a new apartment and moving at the end of August so that we can start putting together a little room for this little person. Right now there’s really no place to put this stuff, especially since my brother-in-law John has moved in with us for the summer (before his senior year of college) and is occupying the 2nd bedroom (Hi John! We love you and we’re so excited to have you!).

What I miss: Nada.

What I’m looking forward to: In 6 days, it’s ultrasound time. And, assuming the baby is amenable to our goals and not yet infused with a strong sense of modesty, next week I should be able to share with you if we’re having a boy or girl. Insane. I think that seeing the baby and knowing that much more about the little guy or gal will make this feel a lot more real.

Husband update:  Not much to say here–I just can’t wait to see his reactions and emotions during and after the ultrasound.

Honestly, I feel like I haven’t really seen him this past week–between Rummage (last Monday-Wednesday), recording Thursday evening with my band, a women’s ministry event Friday night and John moving in with us Sunday, time together has been at a premium. I’m thinking a date night is due.

Love you guys! Enjoy your weekends!

 

The making of an album: 2nd and 3rd studio sessions

My little band Thornfield has been BUSY! Saturday May 5th we headed into Handwritten Recording for our second studio session.

Just like the previous time, we got in around 12:15 to set up, tune up and warm up for a 1pm start time, and went ’til 7pm.

However, the experience was vastly different than our first session.

And I mean vastly different, in case you didn’t catch those bold letters.

You’ll probably remember that our first session was all about getting the basic tracks, with piano, guitar and drums playing at the same time, and the extra person singing what’s called ‘scratch vocals’ in the other room–not the keeper vocals, but just a guideline to keep all the musicians together. We were insanely efficient and on the ball, and our engineer said that it was the most productive session he’d ever worked.

Well, in this case . . . second verse, not the same as the first.

(But that’s okay)

The highlight of this session was bringing in some friends of ours: Jon Lin came in armed with his cello to track 5 songs . . . (here he is warming up)

. . . and the musical genius Graham Nelson came in with his mouth harp to track 4 songs.

Go Graham go!

Eric was practically drooling over Graham’s performance (and Carrie was feeling the love too). This guy knows his way around a mouth harp, and there’s no denying it.

Our friend Peter/Petras also had a bunch of bass tracks to lay down (and we can’t thank this guy enough for all his hard work).

So unlike the first session, in which we all played at the same time, aimed to get 2 clean takes of each song and then moved on, this session was much more repetitive.

Carrie would track the lead vocals for a song our friends were joining us on–for example, Scarecrow.

(accompanied by her constant friend: a cup of Throat Coat, the best tea ever for vocalists)

Then, this same song had to be tracked again later for Jon, with a couple takes to get it right.

Then, even later, Graham tracked the same song, a couple times, until he got a take he was pleased with.

Then, Peter tracked it too.

So it wasn’t “play a song and move on.” It was play a song . . . play it again . . . play it again . . . and play it one more time, with each person adding their bit one by one.

And please let me emphasize: this isn’t a problem–this is exactly what was slated to happen. Our friends did a fantastic job (truly, truly). The cello and bass and mouth harp are indispensable to the sound of these songs, and we are so, so happy they volunteered their time and energy and talent.

But . . . it felt slow. For Eric, Carrie and me, there was a lot of time just sitting on the couch listening to what was being recorded–and not just chillaxing, but listening carefully so that we could give feedback, encouragement, and our opinion on when a clean, keepable take had been achieved, and when there may have been a few measures that needed to be re-recorded and punched in.

So for us 3: a lot of sitting still while maintaining that focused attention on the music that was happening.

It was exhausting! And in an entirely different way than the first time. The first session was like getting high and injected with 5 doses of delicious caffeine, and using that crazed energy to run a marathon that you ended up winning.

(and this session may have felt like this for Jon, who–having never recorded before–went from uncertain to triumphant over the course of the afternoon)

For me however, this session was more like getting injected with caffeine but then being strapped down and unable to use that energy up in a satisfying way. It was productive . . . but felt unproductive. It was great . . . but didn’t feel great. I know the results were awesome . . . but I felt strangely deflated and useless by the end.

Besides tracking the guitar for Sunrise, re-tracking the guitar for Pierced Through, and tracking lead vocals for Denali and Green Wheat (more about that later on, hee hee), I sat on the couch. And sat some more.

And then a little more.

Anyway, I hope this isn’t a downer–the recording process is still going great. I just want to keep it real about how it felt going through the experience.

After the second session was over, as we were packing up our instruments, we booked a few hours for Thursday night with our engineer, wanting to get some more work done before Carrie headed off to a friend’s wedding and was off the radar for a bit.

And our Thursday night session (5-9pm) was–surprise, surprise–completely different again. It was just the 3 of us–me, Eric and Carrie–and it was fun. And productive. And felt productive. We were efficient, honest with each other, and tracked a ton of vocals, harmonies, and diddly extras. And after those 4 hours, I didn’t feel totally beat up from exhaustion either.

Our next (and hopefully last) session will be on Sunday May 27th. There’s a lot left to do: fiddly bits like tambourine, egg shaker and djembe, extras like melodica and triangle, a few remaining lead vocals and some harmonies–but the end is, for the first time, in sight.

Of course, recording isn’t the final step. Mixing, artwork for the CD, administrative stuff to get ourselves on itunes, copyrighting, etc. is still ahead–but hey. One step at a time . . .

. . . right?