Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

I've been on this homemade Popsicle kick lately. I guess mostly because it's so hot here and a popsicle is just about the best treat at the end of a hot day. First up, I made lemon buttermilk popsicles . I know - it sounds like a strange combo, but the creaminess of the buttermilk was delicious with the tang of the lemon. I put a little extra lemon in these, and they were a little on the tart side. But I still liked them, although next time I'll make sure I don't add the extra. Next, I tried the mocha popsicles . I used really strong coffee and some good cocoa. They are nice and mocha-y, but I don't like to have these late in the day since they do have caffeine in them. But they are tasty and only 2 points on WW, if you use fat free sweetened condensed milk. (For anyone who cares about that.) My absolute favorites, though, are these blackberry and cream popsicles . Blackberries have been on sale here and I used a combo of blackberries and strawberries. I mashed the ...

We met a new lizard friend in our garden the other day. He was just a tyke, so little and adorable that I wanted to bring him home and cuddle him. He, of course, wasn't interested. He only wanted to run away from my camera and find some tasty bugs to eat.

I made Judah a new little friend yesterday. He's a sock elephant, modeled after the one seen here . I don't have the book, so I sort of winged it. Judah loves him already. Whilst photographing Judah and his new toy, I couldn't resist these little toes. Or his sweet face.

A laugh! Sorry it's sideways, but there's no way for me to rotate it.

By popular demand, here is Judah live on video. (Ok, more like 1 person asked, but we aim to please.) First up, Judah talking to his toys.

I took Judah on a walk this evening as has been our ritual since Jeff and I moved in this house and got a dog. Before we were pregnant we walked almost every night. While we were pregnant we walked, though a little slower, especially since every time we walked up the big hill in the front of the neighborhood I had a contraction. I actually tried walking up it a few times to induce labor when I was near my due date, but alas it didn't work. Tonight's walk was just Judah, the dog, and I. It started sprinkling on us part way through - which I loved. It was just enough to cool us down. At the top of the big hill, I suddenly noticed a big rainbow. I tried to turn Judah's stroller around in such a way that he could see it - it was his first rainbow after all - but he hasn't yet learned how to look at things I point at or understand what I mean when I say "sky." So I stood there, just enjoying it. People have been so kind and gracious to us in these last few days. Pe...

Since I don't like to have sad posts up for too long.... 1. Paperbackswap.com - It's this great website (which probably everyone knows about already) where you can post books you have you don't really want and trade them for books you do want. It's working out great here; I've been able to get several books I have been wanting to read for the price of postage. Sweet. An added bonus is that it is helping us clear out a little more space on our bookshelf. 2. Slowly fitting back into some pre-pregnancy clothes. I just started doing weight watchers online and so far I'm losing about 1-2 lbs/week. Basically it's just making me think a little more about what I'm eating, and is keeping me accountable to eat a reasonable amount. Since I'm nursing I really get to eat plenty, so it really doesn't even feel like a diet. But instead of having like 3 desserts in a day, I'll just eat one. 3. The way that Judah greets me every morning with a huge grin. 4. ...

I dreamed last night that my teeth were falling out. It's actually a fairly frequently recurring dream I have - I'm not exactly sure why - but mostly seems to come when I'm feeling a little more stressed about something. I'll dream that my teeth are loose, and rotting with several cavities, and then they start to fall out. It's so realistic I can feel, in my mind, the soft spot left on the gum from having a missing tooth. I am always heartbroken and embarrassed in this dream and worried about how we are going to pay to have them fixed. When I awake, I'm constantly checking my teeth for any signs of actual decay. In reality, I have pretty good teeth - and thanks to two sets of braces - fairly straight ones. I'm not sure why I wanted to write about it except to admit what's bothering me so much I have my teeth-falling-out dream. Yesterday, Jeff appeared before our presbytery to try and be licensed to preach. This has been a a long time coming - we had some...

More cute pics....

I was noticing that it had been a long time since I'd put a picture of Judah. Too long. He just keeps getting cuter.

One thing that surprised me after having Judah is that I guess I thought I would somehow feel different. I thought maybe in the hospital I'd get some kind of infusion that would make me feel like a mother. Don't get me wrong - I love being a mom. And I have become very familiar with the sleepy daze you stumble around in when you're up every 3 hours feeding this tiny person who can make such. loud. noises and clemaning all his various bodily fluids. But I still feel just like me. I thought I would be different or feel more different. In retrospect, I guess it shouldn't be too surprising. After I got married to Jeff I didn't suddenly feel different. I loved (and still love) being his wife and being married to him. But inside, I was still Aubrey. Still being me means that I still struggle with the same sins I used to - but in addition to their effect on me, now there is this other little person involved. One thing I've always had a hard time with is comparing mysel...

I'm well on my way to being a board-certified family physician. At least, I took the test. Probably the last test I'll have to take for something like SEVEN years. That's seven whole years without having to take a test. I can hardly believe it. My whole life has been spent taking tests - studying, learning, and always looking ahead to the next one. But now I'm done. Now the only tests I'll have are the ones that involve me caring for actual patients and being responsible for their health. Yikes.

I must apologize to any male readers we have left for the two previous posts dealing with, um, ya know, the uh... the way babies eat. I will try to right the ship and get this blog back on track by talking about some manly things. 1. Grilling . What more manly way is there to cook than by setting a piece of raw meat mere inches from 26,000 BTU's of burning propane? Girls steam; Guys grill. The other day we taught a friend how to grill pizza. It's awesome. There's no raw meat involved, but there is processed meat. And processed meat is manly (and delicious!). 2. Gardening . You might not think of gardening as manly, but think again. It involves dirt, sweat, back pain, and shovels. It is a form of self reliance, and provision. And it produces things you can put on a grill. All manly. 3. Sports . Sports are undeniably manly, and what a great year for sports it has been. We practically went straight from the Winter Olympics, to March Madness, to Phil winning t...

I figured I should make this into two posts since it would be so long that no one would want to read it otherwise. (Of course, no one may want to read it anyway....) A few more thoughts: 1. Nursing can take a long time. Judah has always been a leisurely eater. He's gotten much better, but especially right after he was born he'd always fall asleep mid feed. So sometimes it would take me 45 minutes to nurse him. That's ok. But there is also nothing wrong with stripping the baby down, thumping on his feet, or doing whatever you can to keep him awake while he's eating. 2. To help Judah finish faster and get all the good hindmilk (that's the milk that comes later in the feeding - it's higher in fat so it helps keep him fuller longer), I often will squeeze the breast when his sucking has slowed down. At the beginning of the feed, the milk comes out fast, but when the flow gets slower, that's when he's most likely to drift off. So I'll get him to st...

As part of my maternity leave, I had a reading elective - meaning I got to do some reading but still get credit for it and graduate on time. I read quite a few books about infant care, but most of my reading was about breastfeeding. It worked out well since I wanted to know more about breastfeeding for myself, but is also something I need to learn more about for my patients. Anyway, here are a few thoughts about some things that I've learned since starting nursing. I'm not an expert, but I do feel like I know a lot more than I used to. (Any men who are still reading after seeing the title should know that I'm going to talk about breasts. Just so you know.) 1. One of the things that has most surprised me about being a mom is just how much I love to nurse Judah. I was worried about how hard it would be and figured I'd want to quite or get discouraged. This hasn't been the case for me. So I don't think anyone should be afraid about it. At the same time, people sho...

Or, things you can expect to happen after you have a baby that most people don't talk about. 1. Night sweats. Every day for probably the first 6 weeks after Judah was born, I'd wake up drenched with sweat. And then randomly during the day I'd also occasionally get hot. I'm normally the kind of person who runs cold and always like to be covered with a blanket when I'm on the couch, so this was definitely new to me. This, apparently, is very normal. I guess the hormonal changes make this happen. But do not be surprised if you wake up soaking wet. 2. Losing your hair. For the last two weeks or so, I've noticed I'm shedding more hairs that usual. Then yesterday, when I was in the shower, just running my fingers through my hair left me with a bunch of hairs that came out. (It wasn't quite enough to say it was a clump, but it was WAY more than normal.) This is also something normal. Apparently, when you give birth or even just have major surgery (I had both), ...

Since I just had a baby, I thought I'd do a post of my favorite baby things. In case anyone cares or is trying to register. 1. Aiden and Anais muslin swaddles . These are awesome, especially for summer babies. They are really lightweight, but still big enough to get the wee one swaddled up very tight. And they have lots of cute prints. They're a little pricey, but I bet if you shop around you can find them on sale. 2. Our swing. A swing is really, really great to have and can be a lifesaver. Right after Judah was born we had a hard time getting him to sleep in his cradle or crib. But we could put him in that swing and he'd sleep for several hours. Now we've transitioned to the crib at night, but still use the swing for daytime naps and are slowly trying to get him in his crib for all sleeping. But even if he's not asleep, he is entertained in it long enough to cook dinner or get something else done. 3. Footed pajamas that ZIP all the way down the foot. My favorite a...

Well it's July and the All-Star Break is almost upon us. That means its time for the midsummer update on progress in the garden. So far Garden 2010 is the second best garden I've ever had. Out of three. It is doing better than Garden 2009, but is nowhere near the productivity standards set by Garden 2008. I guess I must have had some beginners luck that first year, because I haven't yet been able to repeat the feat. I only planted five tomato plants this year in an attempt to actually give them the recommended amount of space, rather than cramming in 14 like I did in '08. However, tomato production has been slower than usual, and one of the plants is going through a rebellious stage. The squash and zucchini seem to be a little bit off of last years pace, but that's ok, because last year we had more zucchini than we knew what to do with. As for the pole beans, they look pretty cool, and I'm happy with the trellis I built, but I'm disappointed with thei...

A few disassociated thoughts about my day: 1. A few months ago, I agreed to round on the pediatric service in addition to rounding on the medicine (i.e. adult) service today. Our normal peds attending was going to be out of town. I figured it couldn't be that bad - kids don't get sick as often over the summer (it's not cold and flu season), so I should have plenty of time to do that and see my other patients. A usual day on the peds service for us might mean 3 or 4 newborns and 2 or 3 kids on the floor. A busy day would be 5 newborns and 5 kids on the floor. Today there were 7 newborns and 8 kids on the floor. Thankfully, the other hospitalist I work with graciously agreed to see more of the medicine patients, including all the patients in the ICU. Bless him. 2. In addition to rounding on peds and medicine patients, I also had clinic today. I'm not really sure who thought all this out, but it wasn't me. I was about 15 minutes late to clinic trying to finish up my ...

I'm starting my new job on friday. For the last 6-8 months, when people would find out I was about to finish, everyone wanted to know what I was doing after graduation. So I feel like I've been talking about my new job a lot, and that everyone I know has already heard about it. I realized, of course, that even though I've been talking about, I haven't actually written about it here. So here goes: Medicine is a great profession. It has not always been a great profession for women, though, especially women who also wanted to have families and actually be around to see their kids. Thankfully, this is changing. Now there are lots more options for working part time and job sharing in such a way that you can still be a doctor and a mom. I feel very blessed to work at a great place that values families and children. It's also a place that is a busy practice that is getting even busier. They have hired me to work as a part time hospitalist and part time OB faculty. I'l...

Judah rolled over from back to stomach for the first time yesterday. I had put him down for bed, and then a little while later he started fussing. I waited a little while (we're trying to work on getting him to sleep better and not needing our help to get that way) but then went and checked on him when he continued to fuss. I was very surprised to see him on his stomach! He has also accidentally made it from his stomach to his back a few times- I think that has more to do with the weight of his big noggin giving him momentum to turn over. I'm realizing we're going to have to be more careful just leaving him places since he's getting more mobile. Judah got a bath in the sink at Austin and Elise's house - he was so cute laying there, but he barely fit. Jeff took this photo, and I just love it. I'm not sure what it is, exactly, that I love so much, but I really love it. After going to the beach, I also rinsed him off in the shower with me. I learned it's hard ...

We finally made it to the beach with Judah on the last day of our charleston trip. We are realizing that vacation with a baby is very different than vacation without one. It is just a little harder to go places in between naps and feedings. But it does mean we get to do more relaxing and don't feel like we need to cram in lots of activities. Of course, we got everything together and loaded, drove to the beach, let Judah put his feet in, then it started raining. So we came home pretty quickly. Judah looked very cute in his hat (Thanks, Gretchen , for the velcro suggestion) and swim trunks. I did love showing him the ocean and letting him feel the water - it's exciting that next summer he'll get to enjoy it even more.

We made it to our favorite ice cream place in Charleston, a fairly inexpensive place that gives you HUGE cones. We definitely miss Ye Ole Fashioned ice cream here in Greenwood... Cherry Amaretto - Yum....

Yesterday, we got to eat dinner with some good friends who also just had a baby. Sweet little Gemma is just about 5 weeks younger than Judah - and I was again impressed with how quickly they grow and change at this age. Gemma felt so light compared to holding Judah, but she was absolutely adorable and her hair is a sight to behold. It was fun eating with people who understand when you have to get up during dinner because your baby is spitting up, or fussing and don't mind the loud noises their various bodily functions make. Seeing them next to one another really made me appreciate just how big Judah's head is. Judah did his best to impress Gemma by blowing lots of bubbles, and she sort of tried to hold his hand, although he didn't really get the hint.

We're in Charleston, enjoying some vacation before my new job starts. Photos to come later!!