My Oldest Newfoundland

My oldest Newfie made herself at home on a slight hill in the backyard today, on a bed of dead grass straw, stuffing her face with prunes. The slight hill? I'm pretty sure it's made of years of fallen plums. Her buried 'bones' I guess.

My crotchety old Newfoundland lounging in a straw pile eating prunes.

Field Notes Jr - First birthday pic

Close to a year ago, the newfs helped us celebrate the first birthday or the youngest primate of the house. They were even kind enough to wear the hats long enough for a photo. I may have posted this before, but I honestly can't remember how long it's been and how much catching up I need to do on this blog! I also need some inspiration for some interesting academic topics. Maybe I'll cruise my old lecture notes. After all I have a mountain of files just taking up precious space in a corner of the house I am sure Mr. Field Notes would be happy to use.

Best Bunny Ears Photo, So Far

This is the best I could do given the time; it was a tremendously busy week! What worked out... taking the dogs for a big walk, making them wear the ears, even if only for ten seconds at a time, repeatedly for the last couple of days — and dangling pancakes as a reward. They'll do a lot for a pancake! Making them tired first was the biggest help.

One Tutu + 3 sets of Bunny Ears: Is a card-worthy picture possible in 3 days?

I need a strategy for dog and baby wrangling, stat! I've got this crazy idea to take a charming photo of Baby Field Notes sitting between her two canine companions, the three of them sporting bunny ears and her in a tutu. I'm aiming for Shoebox greetings level cute saturation here! What could be more drool-worthy than the world's cutest baby in tulle flanked by two Newfoundlands in goofy hats?

And I need a strategy. Getting everyone looking at the camera at the same time is going to be the biggest challenge, I think. But it might actually be getting the dogs to keep the bunny ears on long enough to get to that point! This afternoon I started to get them habituated to having the ears on their heads and made good progress with Katy, the older one. She's naturally more agreeable than our younger Newfy pup, Yuki. I may have to give up on Yuki, she can be stubborn. Intractable, really.

As far as getting them all to look at the camera, I can only use a squeaker so many times before they either start drooling too much or get too excited to hold still. Getting Baby Field Notes to smile instead of stick out her tongue will be another challenge. That's one of her favorite things these days.

I've also got to figure out where to do the shoot. I'm thinking outside since that'll give us the best lighting. I'll need a backup plan for indoors though, in case it's too cloudy, cold, or wet. I need a backdrop too, like a big white sheet or something, which I don't have... hmmm.

Whatever photo we end up with, I am sure that getting it will be hilarious.

Above, Yuki eyeballs Katy's new cranium accessory.
I wonder what she's thinking.

Barkfest 2009 will go down as Barf-fest 2009

No wonder it stunk.

A cowpie the size of a dinner plate was deposited right in front of my desk. So goes the start of day three of Barkfest 2009, otherwise known as the extravaganza of festivities surrounding the addition of a new roof on our house.

Barkfest 2009 began with a bang at 7 o'clock in the morning Monday with two giant, and scared, Newfoundlands barking their heads off. However, what began as Barkfest 2009 soon morphed into Barf-fest 2009. Both dogs were so nervous about the goings on overhead and all the attendant bangs, rattles, and nearly constant thuds, that they developed upset stomachs. Even Yuki, Miss Big Tough Bossy Bossins, ran around the house with her tail firmly curled between her hind legs. Katy was much cooler about it all by the end of day one, but it has all caught up to her. She's been barfing up green bile.

I had hoped that she would be able to blow it off and acclimate to it, but nope. Poor kid. Just what she needs, numerous strangers surrounding her house, and wrecking it too. If I were her, I suppose I'd barf too.

And it was she who left the enormous, foul smelling dump by my desk, I know it.

But this afternoon, it wasn't a funky fart left by a big nervous newf that perfumed the air, it was instead — another giant saucer sized dump. In the kitchen, and diarrhea no less, with all the little air bubbles and splatter surrounding it. A foot from it was the most enormous puddle — no pond — of urine I have ever seen.

Oh very wonderful. Just what I needed with a crying baby who isn't ready to go take a nap yet. I can't hold her and bend down to clean up poop goop at the same time, so I compromised.

I put her in her swinging chair, gave her a few shots of pumped breast milk from a bottle, popped the pacifier in and hoped for the best as I went to the kitchen to clean it up. To clean poop goop expediently, all you need to do is scrape it up between two pieces of cardboard (cereal box cardboard is ideal), wipe the area with TP, then scrub and dry.

Piece o'cake.

Well, not when you have a screaming baby who either wants:
A) to be held
B) to be fed or
C) her diaper to be changed (oh goody! More runny poo!).

I chose B.

Feeding her always buys me about 10-15 minutes, so I went for that route since changing her diaper means I have to do that, then feed her for 10 minutes to get her to quiet down and nod off enough to set her back down in her big comfy chair (that's what we call her swinging chair). And I can't clean poo goo one-handed.

So there I was going back and forth between the mess in the kitchen and the swinging chair to give her hits of the bottle. That breast pump sure comes in handy. It is definitely on my top three baby essentials list.

It took several trips back and forth, and eventually Baby FN fell asleep. I think it was the vacuum that pushed her over the edge into milk coma land. And, once you clean one floor, they all need to be cleaned. And windows washed, and surfaces dusted... and and and...

That's what you have to do when you finally have a sleeping baby: Clean house.

I feel for the dogs. They are having a right well rotten time of it now. It's too hot for walks most of the day and they can't go out for yard time because the roofers need to keep the gate open to get their work done. I know the newfas don't want to crap and pee in the house. They are good girls, but when their person can't help them, there's not much point in sitting on your tail very long I guess.

Needless to say, I think the floors in the house are now the cleanest they have been since the day they were installed.

I hope I figure out a solution to the dog needs to go out immediately, on a leash, to the backyard problem soon, because we have at least 2 more days of this. Leaving the baby inside to scream her head off is not a solution. It takes the dogs far too long to get relaxed enough to do their business with all the scary people and equipment around.

........ Be thankful I did not post pictures ........

"Monkey Park" CleanUp

This is what happens to your nice white kitchen floors when your two Newfoundlands let themselves back inside after spending an hour outside unsupervised (I was working and ..babysitting.. and admit to completely forgetting about them).

The entire kitchen floor looked like this. And the kitchen is huge. I've never really appreciated or wanted to have such a large kitch, but it's the one we've got for better or worse. And today it was definitely for the worse.

Here are the beasts at the scene of their crime.


They always hang their enormous pink tongues out when excruciatingly proud of themselves. I couldn't get them both looking at the camera together, but trust me, it is almost enough to make you instantly forget all hints of their naughtiness. Almost.

Fortunately, all traces of the crime scene were cleaned up ..by me.. in about ten minutes.

It's days like this that make me feel like I'm cleaning up a zoo.

Newfies Meet Baby: Nanny Dogs Extraordinaire!

Katy the Newfoundland, Chief Baby Guard,
reports for duty!

Both newfs were justifiably curious about their new housemate and also very cautious. They were not afraid. They showed gentle, profound interest in what she was.

Sniffing.

Lots and lots of gentle sniffs to her fuzzy little noggin. Those became delicate kisses to her head and cheek.

I don't recall any excitable tail wagging during the introduction nor do I recall Yuki wandering around with her tail raised. She showed complete submission. I was very surprised we did not have to establish dominance over her — she just knew. I think that must be part of the Newfoundland's "nanny dog" reputation.

After they met and things calmed down we set Baby FN down in her 'bassinet.' Both dogs peeked over the sides to see and sniff her. As things returned to relative normal at home, both Katy and Yuki would periodically go in and check on her. She doesn't fuss, she just sleeps and makes little cooing noises when she wakes. She displays an amazingly 'easy' temperament right now. Perhaps too easy, her pediatrician says. She thinks my baby is "too content," so we're agitating her around feeding times to get her properly worked up into an eating frenzy so she'll put on good weight.

Yuki, if she knew, would be flabbergasted to hear BFN needs to be prodded to eat a bunch. Flabbergasted! And no surprise here, Yuki thinks I smell fascinating. Katy hasn't shown much curiosity there — she seems to get that I am nursing "puppies." Katy has always been very maternal toward Yuki so that's no surprise either!

Regarding Katy, she immediately took charge and bossed Yuki into being a better dog. And, for her part, Yuki appears to have grown up overnight. Well, it's more like 3 nights since I was in the hospital that long. I had to have a C-section. Ugh. More on that later.

Although Katy immediately assumed command of baby guard duty, she did allow Yuki a volunteer position. And, Yuki has already earned a promotion.

Brevet captain of the Baby Watchmen
after her battlefield promotion

Practice makes perfect.

Sometimes I will throw myself into a project without practicing first, figuring I'll nail it the first try. I do this all the time when giving a talk, and the vast majority of the time it works out really, really well. The first time I give a talk, it just goes better. It's not like a I don't prepare, because I do — I just never rehearse in front of crowd or even a person or dog first to practice. It's the same for most of my class lectures too. Maybe it's my enthusiasm for the topic the first time around that makes all the difference. This is not great when you have to teach a class over and over... and over. That's why it's important to constantly tinker with the subject matter and material so it's always fresh.

With other projects, I gravitate toward the same approach but sometimes have the good sense to actually do a real trial run. I am so glad I did that today with my sewing project. I had to fiddle with my sewing machine (I don't really know what I'm doing, really) to test out some stitches and adjust some nobs to see what they did..... trial and error style.

That's how Miss Yuki's new toy came to be. I knew I needed to practice stitching a sort of patch like thing onto something before I attempted something similar on the fabric book I am making and certainly want to get the new-to-me stitch perfected before attempting fabric alphabet blocks.

The Y on Yuki's new toy turned out well, I think, not that it matters at all to her, but it certainly looks extra cute hanging out of her mouth. I used scrap fabric from a blanket project, stuffing from old dead toys and a squeaker rescued from one of those mortuary toys. Yes, we have a mortuary for dead toys. This one will probably only last a week or so.... such is life with Newfies. They are very hard on toys but absolutely FLIP OUT for soft squeaker toys. So, I get many occasions to repair and sew new toys.


Poor Katy did not get a matching one with a big K on it... not that she noticed. Yuki actually shared this one enough to make Katy happy. And, truth be told, Katy would have rather been given a real bone.

Container Gardening Avec Les Chiens

My mother in law came to visit for the weekend and wore me out! Actually, I think it was mutual at one point, but she's still standing while I ... am ... not.

Our big success was Container Gardening With The Dogs. Yuki came outside to supervise the entire thing, but I hope it wasn't because she was eyeballing which ones to uproot later. Fingers crossed she won't revert back to her old shenanigans! She did a truly commendable job of being companionable without being intrusive, which is to say she stayed within 2 feet of us the whole time, never stole anything, gave polite kisses, didn't knock over anything and actually curled up behind me to lie down once near the end. She was so well behaved, she could have easily passed for Katy, who was inside napping the entire time. Lazy bones had a good excuse though — she went on a giant walk the night before.

Just like usual, I bought more plants than I needed to fill the containers left over from last year so we had to root out the plastic ones from the garage. I also had to get 2 hanging planters of petunias. I love them and get 2 every year just to make the porch more cheerful. They usually bloom until October so it's well worth the cost.

Salvia, zinnia, snapdragons and some others I forgot the names of make up the rest.

Snapdragons are my favorite garden plant mostly because they grow extremely well here. Because Yuki destroyed most of my snapdragons from last year, the only ones I have growing now are either in their last year (perfect for gathering seeds for next year!) or got started this year from seed so they're really tiny. They will be amazing next year, as will the newbies who just moved in. The last few years I had red ones and also peach with yellow ones. This year and the next we'll have white, yellow and rose colored ones in addition to whatever takes from the seedlings.

I plum wore myself out! But, I did so in fantastic looking toes — we started the day with pedicures. Purrrrrrrfect!

Yuki's Path of Destruction: Ways to R&R puppy style

Ever since her first day home, Yuki had a fondness for the garden lilies. It's just not a fondness I appreciated very much. After the number she did on my garden last year, it's a wonder how I managed to have any plants come back this spring. But, the lilies grew back and Yuki's back at them. This time, putting her ever-so-cute-I'm-not-gonna-get-in-trouble-spin on things.

Caught messing around once more in the lilies, she hammed it up for me by sticking her nose through the porch slats long enough for me to snap a photo to share. It really was adorable, that face. She still got asked to leave, though. Which she did, thankfully, and without too much damage done.

She's been running through the lilies ever since she got here. This shot I took right before she completely disappeared in them around this time last year when she was just 8 weeks old and small enough to hide in the long green fronds.

Yuki loves to R&R in unusual places.








Under the dishwasher..


















Wedged between the toilet and bathtub..








** On **
Mr. Field Notes (he assures me this is actually very comfortable). They've also been napping like this since day one with no letting up now that she's approaching 100 pounds.

Ew! Newfie slobber goes everywhere.

When you share your life with even one Newfoundland you get used to slime, spit, slobber, drool — and all the places it lands. It starts with your lap. The cute puppies get a drink of water then head straight for you to show off how smart they are, having found the local watering hole. Then they move on to the couches. They make convenient napkins, just like pant legs. Eventually you notice the floors get their share of the drool too. More than their share. Soon you notice slime streaks on the walls. And every once in a while, you spot it practically on the ceiling.

That's where I found some today — a nice, big long streak of dried slobber complete with fur (a lot of it) stuck high up on the wall nearly at the ceiling above the bathroom door. Ew. Gross. Thanks guys. Did you have to put it so high up?

You can sort of make it out under the words in that photo. That grayish smudge is a ball of slimed, matted newfie hair the size of a quarter. A streak of dried slobber 8 inches long hangs down from it. Ew.

Who the culprit is I'll never know. Just a little present from one of them, thought I'd share. It's all part of the charm of having newfies. Since I had the camera out, I thought I'd take the opportunity to show off the other things now hanging on the walls. No, not cobwebs and more goofy newfie goobers, just good old-fashioned art. We finally hung our art, well, most of it.

Here's a little tour.

Some Japanese fabric (the so-called lucky cat you see everywhere in Japan). If you look closely in the background you can spot Yuki hanging out on the 'big comfy chair' watching traffic. I'm convinced she's got her own version of a trainspotting game going on given how much time she spends gazing out the window from that spot.

Of course, most days the window in front of her is so covered with her own nose print slime I doubt she sees much! I'd have to clean that window every day to keep it looking nice. Vacuuming once — sometimes twice and even up to four times a day — is about as much dog-inspired cleaning as I am comfortable 'scheduling' so the vast majority of the time, that window is ... dirty. But who cares. You make a lot of 'adjustments' to standards of cleanliness when you invite a big, black shagorrific dog (or two) into your home.

Moving on... on the wall in the living room containing Dirty Window we've now got some handy dandy shelves with real, handmade art on them!


The art is a series of three 14x14 inch custom pieces on canvas I commissioned from an artist on etsy.com. She did a wonderful job with minimal instructions to make a crow, bluebird and a green egret. The shelves are from Pottery Barn. I bought them, no kidding, in 2007 as a reward to myself for finally finishing some horrendous piece of statistical analysis for my dissertation. It took until now to finally deploy them. Delayed gratification.

More framed Japanese fabric from my favorite store in Kyoto: RAAK. They specialize in material for furoshiki - the cloth used in traditional wrapping of packages, gifts and lunches. RAAK is operated by a Kyoto-based textile company called Eirakuya, which was founded 390 years ago. A trip to RAAK is a must if you find yourself in Kyoto. They make just about everything out of their fabric — furoshiki, hats, wallets, purses, teddy bears and more. It's not cheap either (nothing in Japan is) so be prepared for a big bill if you go hog wild like I did.

I bought a TON (almost literally) of furoshiki cloth. I think it was my single biggest expense from Japan, but I knew I wouldn't be back for quite a long time so I allowed myself the splurge. The framed stuff isn't furoshiki, but I saw panels like this hung all over RAAK stores in Kyoto and thought a set of three would be perfect for the dining room. The choices were immense, and difficult, but in the end I chose these three for being iconic of Japanese culture and because they fit the color scheme of the dining room (red and black). All I had to do was find three that looked good together. Michaels craft store did the custom framing. They do a great job, but definitely wait until they have a good coupon. I used one that got me 60% off the entire framing order!

Big Dogs - Big Bones

Katy and Yuki both got a special treat this morning — a super sized chew stick bone. Yuki went to work on it straight away while Katy hung back and slept next to it before getting up to "kitty cat" it. That's what we call it when she bats stuff around like a dingbat. She had to check on Yuki's progress a couple of times.... all part of her delaying strategy to lord it over Yuki when Yuki finishes first. Katy always waits until Yuki is finished chewing on something big before she starts in. That way she can torture the younger pup who always comes to watch Katy. One of these days Yuki is going to get wise to Katy's antics and swipe Katy's waited for treat right out from under her nose. One of these days...

.. but not today.

Katy scores another football! And we got our car back!!!

If this keeps going the way it's going, we're going to have to get her a jersey! Katy just adores football. Yuki does too, which is ultimately why Katy got another football today.

We drove a long way away to get it too, but got to do so in our own car. We finally got it back from the body shop after driving around a rental for 3 weeks. Keep reading for why we had a rental for so long...

... back to the football ...

Mr. Field Notes thought Katy deserved to have her own football after Yuki usurped it from her on our last football adventure to the dog park. This is the brand new football she just got a week ago and was bought specifically for Katy after she went bananas over the one she found at the park and wanted to bring home. Well, at the dog park to break it in, Yuki just would not let Katy fetch the ball, or alternately, Katy just wouldn't assert herself to snag it out from under Yuki. So, Mr. Field Notes had to get Katy another football today so they could both have one. Now, really, we did not make a special trip to the store (an hours drive away) just to get Katy a ball, but rather were already in the vicinity on account of needing to go retrieve some custom framing that was finally ready. Target just happened to be conveniently located and we thought we might be able to find a broiler pan for Mr. Field Notes to use in his new oven. The footballs were an impulse buy, so to speak.

Katy certainly appreciated it and posed for a second or two with her new ball. I had to snatch the camera and quickly take a pic to capture the fleeting moment so the photo has a funny exposure and is out of focus, but you can imagine how majestic and proud she looked in real life as she posed.

... and so the car ...

A guy slammed into us in rear end collision while we were stopped at a red light back in February. It seriously screwed up our Honda CR-V (incidentally just a few weeks after I finished paying it off! Murphy's Law, isn't it?) He hadn't even hit his brakes, so it was a pretty good size jolt we got. No one was hurt in the slightest but our car sustained enough damage to warrant 3 weeks in the body shop. The other driver's insurance covered the repairs and the rental. The only pain in the butt was that we had to wait almost 2 months before our car actually got into the body shop.

We got a brand new Toyota Highlander to rent. It was nice. Huge. HUGE. Compared to our CR-V. There's no way we can transport 2 newfies, a baby in a car seat and any stuff in our CR-V, but we could if we had a Highlander. It rode much more smoothly than the CR-V too. More like a car than a truck. Ours rides like a truck. But, the Highlander got horrible gas mileage so we weren't tempted in the slightest to go out and trade our wrecked car for a Highlander.

I am glad to have our own car back. No more worries about whether the dogs would mess up the rental too much. They only road in it once, to go to the dog park, the day before we got the call our car was ready — Murphy's Law again. So we (ha ha ha!) I mean Mr. Field Notes, had to clean up the Highlander, when if we had known, could have waited a day on then not been bothered with the clean up. Oh well.

Pur CR-V looks a little strange with a brand new back end and darned if it doesn't look much, much nicer with a washing! I swear they returned it to us cleaner than it has ever been since we took possession of it 3 years ago. We both remarked we're going to have to actually wash it every once in a while because it looks a lot, lot less ratty when clean.

My other brilliant (I think?) idea with the car is to install the baby's car seat now and put a stuffed animal in it to get the newfs accustomed to having to sit in their places and not jump or crawl over the back seat. I think that will allow us to see whether they might ever be able to ride in the car with the baby. Otherwise, it will be just the dad guy taking them to the dog park for years while I stay home with the baby. Or vice versa. Humpf on that. That's no fun.

Copyright Infringement vs. Fair Use

Recently one of our YouTube videos, of the newfies of all things, was flagged for copyright infringement. I wasn't going to write about this because I didn't think I'd be able to keep it clean, but I figure as long as I make a good argument and use some good vocabulary words, I can use a few swear words in the process.

The flagged video can still be watched in the US, but not in some other countries. The video in question is called "Sleeping Dogs: Smells like 2 dogs napping." Katy and Yuki rest on the back couch barely awake despite the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" blaring in the background. It lasts all of 69 seconds. The Nirvana song is not played in full. In fact, there's 40 seconds of one part of the song and another 29 seconds of the tail end of the song. In other words, what I would think would constitute fair use.

I revisited the issue today when I uploaded a video of the girls playing football at the dog park. All the YouTube site says upfront is:
Important: Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts, or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself.

Okay. I didn't do that. Still not satisfied, I read the "Copyright Tips page" where I got some really cheesy advice: "The way to ensure that your video doesn't infringe someone else's copyright is to use your skills and imagination to create something completely original." Feeling like a 5th grader, I clicked on the "What about fair use" link to 'learn more' and there I went straight to "http://chillingeffects.org/fairuse/" where I finally learned something from the George Washington University School of Law after reading their answers to some of the FAQs.

In the event that the owner of the copyright to the Nirvana song (would that be Courtney Love?) takes us to court for copyright infringement, the court would weigh 4 factors. Now, nevermind that I doubt she'd bother taking the time to take us to court over 69 seconds of Newfies sleeping to Smells Like Teen Spirit, but if she or whoever actually owns the copyright did, the court would consider:

1) THE PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF THE USE
Basically how new, novel or creative is the creation in question? The more it is something novel, the more likely there's no infringement.

2) THE NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
Basically, if it's a work of art as opposed to a piece of fact, the more protection the copyright holder has. I think in this case, Smells Like Teen Spirit is a true work of art. I'd be busted if this were all that mattered. But it's not, which brings us to factor 3.

3) THE AMOUNT AND SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE PORTION DEFENDANT USED
The less used, the more it falls under fair use. This is like the difference between a fleeting expletive and a whole freaking song littered with F-bombs, which I happen to not find offensive, but that's another blog post subject entirely. "If, however, the defendant copied nearly all of, or the heart of, the copyrighted work, his or her use is less likely to be considered fair." Here I think that since I used only 23% of the song (69 our of 300 seconds) and that it was not the heart of the song, I would have a leg to stand on, especially in light of factor 4.

4) THE EFFECT OF DEFENDANT'S USE ON THE POTENTIAL MARKET OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
This one basically says that it isn't fair use if my use doesn't circumvent the copyright owner's ability to exploit his or her original work. Basically, since no one in their right mind, or even their severely deranged mind, is going to download the newfie sleeping video just so they can listen to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and avoid having to buy the song themself, then it's fair use. My use is not a direct market substitute for the original work.

Furthermore I might point out that when visitors to this blog watch the newfies sleeping video, or find it on YouTube and watch it there, they are actually encouraged to buy the Nirvana song where they can do so with a mouse click. In essence, the copyright holder is getting free advertising and anyone who doesn't own the song and is reminded of how much they like it when they see the video, may be compelled to buy it. Meanwhile, I earn nothing from the video whatsoever.

Thus, my use of 69 seconds of Smells Like Teen Spirit as background noise in the Sleeping Dogs video constitutes "Fair Use."

I rest my case.




And, here's the football video, for anyone who is ready for some lighter entertainment. If you look closely you'll see a tiny Yorkshire terrier who wanted to play with the big girls. I think he was smaller than a football.

Football at the Park

Synopsis of a Week: AKA Finally some time to myself!

What a long week! In lieu of an academic post, I'm going to wrap up the week in RBoC style. That's random blogging on couch — so appropriate given I haven't been feeling well and finally managed to move from the bed to the couch. What an upgrade! And perfect timing too, given that I've caught up on all the online TV that I no longer have the staying power to stay up for to watch 'live.' I do have an academic post planned that I hope turns out to be at least timely if not really fascinating. It's on the psychological ramifications of swine flue.

The Week in Review

* Two sets of parents visit.
One thing can be said for certain — when parents visit, they really want to make sure you eat! I have never eaten so much before in my life, or out so many times in a week. I love that it ran the gammut from fast food (Quizos sandwiches) to upscale sit down places. It's really, really nice when parents pick up the bill, too! Yay! THANK YOU!!! They also brought presents for the baby. I really don't think we will ever have to buy baby clothes — ever. We now have so many onesies and sun dresses I honestly don't know where we're going to store them all. Even the newfies got pressies (pancake breakfast) from 'grandpa.' Video at the end!

* Most of baby stuff purchased.
What a relief this is to have researched major items that need to be bought and the reviews they've gotten and to have finally pulled the trigger on purchases. In a nutshell, the most important things we have checked off the list:

• Crib: a dark (walnut stain) hardwood crib made by Atlantic Furniture.
• Stroller: Baby Jogger City Mini stroller in brown/tan found on Albee baby for $20 less than Amazon. I decided on this one since it had the best overall reviews for the price.
• Car seat: Evenflo triumph advance LX convertible seat. It accomodates newborns of 5 pounds to kids up to 50 pounds, going from rear facing infant seat to a forward facing booster seat. See it here.
  
• Oven: Yeah, I know, how is this a baby item? Our oven has it's controls on the front within kid reach instead of up on top, and with a local appliance store having a big going out of business sale, I decided these were two great reasons to finally buy Mr. Field Notes a new oven. He's the house chef, and we are both thankful for that! The oven has a smooth top, so no more ugly, dirty coils.
  
• Ceiling fan: He. he. he. The ceiling fan in the living room suddenly looked really, really ugly once we (ha ha ha, I mean Mr. Field Notes) put in the wood floor. So I got us a new one. Since it will circulate air in to the baby room, it's really a purchase for the baby.
• Boppy: The pillow that makes nursing easier. It's basically an open donut. I got a super cute cover for it too.
• Things still needed: A baby bath tub, ear thermometer, crib sheets, burp cloths, diapers and a baby carrier/sling. I know there's probably other stuff, but shouldn't be anything major left.

* Got my hair cut!
I chickened out of the freebie-teaching hair cut I had volunteered for at a new local salon (that looked sketchy) and got one at a swanky spa-salon while my mom and sisters were in town. I ended up having about 4 inches taken off the bottom and layers put in. It was amusing — and exhausting — having my mom and two sisters along for the ride. Even my new gay hairstylist said my 'mom's a bit much!' How about that? Well, it's true. I told him there's a reason I went into psychology! He was fun and did a great job with my hair. It weighs a lot less now and I can do more with it on account of him thinning it out in the back and adding layers. I even wore it curly for the day which is a huge change.

While we were there we met a local celebrity - Tonya from MTV's the Real World. We didn't recognize her until my stylist whispered it was her. She chatted with my sisters for a while. It was amusing. They thought she was pretty trashy-looking and her boyfriend was mega preppy. It was all mildly amusing. Apparently she told my sisters that I'm 'one of the cute pregnant ladies.' And, thanks to mom and sister #2, I now have 2 curling irons to experiment with when.... I have time or want to raise the eyebrows of everyone at work. They've only even seen me with straight or completely pulled back hair. Curls. Ha!

* DOGS
They got new toys. My sister's little boy thought their favorite old toy — Big Green Monster — was pretty cool. And why not? It has squakers, rattles and makes a weird farting noise when squeezed. He also liked the rings they chew on and play tug of war with. I think he wanted to play with them, but due to so many people in the house the dogs were too freaked out. They did much better with my dad when he visited by himself. He seems to be the only visitor they allow in their inner circle. He does have a way with animals. It's pretty cool. When he was here we took them all to the dog park and had a grand time.

And, Katy finally got her football. She's still recovering from a busted toe, which had caused her to limp for several days, so we haven't let her play football yet, but now that the swelling has gone down and she's walking well, I think it's time — once it stops raining! We're not sure what happened to her tow, but it did swell up badly. Our best guess is that she stepped on a bee and got stung. She's fine now, but for a while, we had been calling her Tripod. Poor kiddo. She was so frustrated during the whole time out period but was mentally upbeat and kept asking to go out, to go for rides, etc. even though she was gimping around.


* Custom paper orders.
Oof da! I was so busy I had to make paper while my dad was here. Poor guy had to watch as about 30 sheets were made. I think he made it all the way to the end, without getting bored. Or, maybe he was bored and just didn't show it.

One of the orders was a huge one - 250 butterflies made from lavender and printed with wedding guest names. I think they turned out beautifully, so I'm going to add them to the selection of products I offer. They took longer than I anticipated, so the price will go up from what I originally charged. I think the market can accomodate it though given that I'm the only one that offers butterflies that are printed for use as wedding table place cards. We'll see how it goes, not that I'm in a hurry to sell a bunch more given how busy I have been, and will be.

* Baby kickins' and pregnancy complaints galore. Ugh.
I'm sure it all be 'worth it.' But in the meantime why do I have to experience every pregnancy symptom in the book? The heartburn is awful. Sometimes it makes me so queasy I don't even want to eat. It's like I have a resurgence of first trimester pregnancy sickness: nausea and food aversions all over again. Just about the only thing I am always excited to eat is ice cream and that's because it rarely gives me heartburn!

I've also been getting the practice contactions known as Braxton-Hicks contractions. I've been getting them several times a day every day for months now but they've recently become much stronger. So have the baby kicks which means she's getting bigger. Sometimes she kicks so hard and rolls around so much it makes me sick to my stomach. And then there's the feeling I have a snake slithering around in the matress right next to my skin when I'm on my side. It's her, but man it feels like a snake. Unsettling! It all makes sleeping darned near improbable for longer than, well, honestly, however long it takes for one hip to get sore! I will be so relieved when I can sleep on my back and stomach again. The only place I am totally comfortable is while taking a bath.

Summary

I am exhausted! For the next month I have just one goal — take it easy and not get swine flu!

RBFB: Random Blogging From Bed

Other academic sorts RBoC, randomly blog on campus, posting bulleted tidbits from campus. Me? I'm Random Blogging From Bed.

Yes, by 6pm my day is finished — thanks to being 'in a family way' now. It was a highly productive day, although I am so tired I honestly can't remember what I even did. I am pretty sure it involved some mix of some soft of mental and physical work.

I do remember vacuuming ants. Those annoying little beasts are back, necessitating another trip to the store to buy stakes for the perimeter of the house. Add that one to the list of stuff sure to be forgotten once actually *at* the store...

Yesterday is also pretty much a blur, though I do remember trying to find maternity clothes that don't make me look like I'm wearing some sort of burka. Everything I tried on was either tent-like or was exceedingly feminine. I am pregnant but I have zero desire to dress like a 5-year-old girl. My god, does every shirt have to have ruffles, lace and/or flowers on it? And these aren't necessarily clothes that are made for pregnant women! They are what appears to be 'in style.' I have never really been a fashionista type, but I do care about wearing clothing that is stylish and flattering to my figure, and I really, really don't do ruffles, lace or flowers or pink. The closest I get to pink is dark burgundy. I would guess that some people would say I dress like a boy, and that's true to some extent, but it's all figure revealing stuff. I have a waist; I show it. And just because I'm now pregnant, I have no desire or intention to suddenly become feminine. Gag. Vomit. Barf. Where the heck do women who still have an hourglass figure (from the front anyway) while pregnant get clothing that isn't awful?

Katy gave me a hilarious fit of laughter yesterday. I am still giggling about it. We were at the dog park where she had been playing catch with a football she found there. The wind was howling cold so I suggested we pack it up and head home, especially since Katy had already flopped down to pant and drool over the worn out pigskin more than once. She was tired. So Mr. Field Notes and the two digbats and I made our way down the hill to the exit gate. We focused on getting Yuki's leash back on her and turned around to put Katy's on. But she had vanished! What the heck? Where did Big K go and why? Why? It's not like her to just disappear. She's a total homebody. We both called out for her. A little while later, here comes Katy bounding down the hill toward us with that football in her mouth.

She had run back up the hill, way off back in to the dog park interior, to go back to get it. What a nut! And she actually thought she could take it home with her. She looked so proud too, coming down the hill with a facefull of pigskin.

She's such a card. I love her big gallumpfyness. Guess she'll be getting a football for Christmas this year!

Wish me luck finding non-burka-like things to wear for the next several months! Even better — pass along whatever websites you know of where I can actually buy non-feminine, professional-looking, figure flattering clothing for pregnant women.

Dogs & 2-year-olds share ability to understand pointing gestures

This month's Animal Cognition journal carries a sweet little gem of a study on when babies and dogs understand what it means when adults point. Kids up to age 2 and adult dogs only pay attention to whatever body part is outstretched — be it arm or elbow — and ignore whichever direction the index finger happens to point. But at age 3, kids grasp they're supposed to pay attention to the finger even if it's pointing in the opposite direction of an outstretched elbow. Dogs don't.

I don't know about you, but I know with dogs — and maybe soon I'll find out with really young human kids (?) too — that puppies spend months just sniffing your finger before they understand the whole gestural pointing thing. Both Katy and Yuki were finger sniffers before they looked in the direction of a pointing hand. I didn't keep track of how old they were before they 'got it' but I bet that you can measure a dog's intelligence based on how early during their development they stop sniffing your finger when you point.

The authors of the study conclude that children and dogs show generally similar abilities to understand gestures like pointing and directional glancing because of their shared environment and long history of co-evolution.

Glancing at what you want is a great way to communicate your desires if you can't speak. Yuki just recently figured that out and now looks up at her leash and then at us, repeating the leash-look/human-look sequence a couple of times. Katy goes one step, nah, make that six steps further and backs herself up while whistle-whining and going through the look sequence. Backing up is something I taught her to do early on because she'd lunge and snap at my hand to try to get a thrown toy within an inch of it being released. More often than not, I got chomped instead of having a nice game of fetch. So I taught her to back away — and wait for the throw. It wasn't long before she generalized that to anything she wanted: treats, morning and dinner chow, walks, pats. We joke all the time that when she really, really wants something, she'd back herself right into to the neighbors house if she could.

I know I will have a load of fun observing the three 'kids' interact and learn from each other. I really hope the baby doesn't ape too many things from the dogs! Glancing to indicate what you want — YES! Licking the floor and carrying around rope bones in your mouth — NO.

Today's Best Laugh

'This stupid bird's about to get a snot bath.'

Courtesy of an email forward from my ultra-hip grandma. This is not one of our newfs, but the sentiment is all the same.

Big Katy's Big 3 Birthday

Celebrated by a visit to the store

to buy 2 forty pound sacks of food,
some toys and then a trip to the dog park.

Watch it there buster!
Ready for kisses!Who wants the first one?

We hit the fabric store today!

Over the weekend I found some awesome jungle theme fabric at esty.com for the baby room and today we bought the coordinating fabric to go with it. I'll be making curtains with horizontal bands in dark kiwi green, a vivid blueberry denim and pretty chocolate. At either the top or the bottom I'm sewing in a band of this fun print by Michael Miller Fabrics called "Jungle Jam."


I also loaded up on tons of coordinating fabric so I can make a diaper stacker (to conceal stacks of clean diapers ready to deploy at a moment's notice), a dust ruffle for the crib, a bumper, a hanging basket or two for stuffed animals, rattles and other toys, and three or four pillows.


For the pillows I'm planning on doing some applique animals out of felt to match the lion, owl and dragonfly in the curtain border print. I should have lots of left over fabric to make all sorts of other things too. As if that wasn't enough sewing, I also got enough fabric to make two quilts. Overboard, I know! They'll be big ones - about 4 x 6 feet.




One will be the funky Alexander Henry 2D Zoo print (top) with a light blue 'minky' fabric on the reverse and the other is the cheerful monkey print (bottom) with a pale lime green minky for the other side.

I ended up getting the rest of the bolt of dark kiwi green cloth at the fabric store today so they gave us the cardboard it was wrapped around.
It became the newest dog toy.



Yuki paraded it around, including from on top of the furniture, until Katy managed to tear half of it off along a perforation. Then Yuki dropped her piece to chase Katy's piece. They ended up shredding their cardboard in separate rooms until Mr. Field Notes eighty-sixed it before it became 386 dime-sized pieces all over the floor.


It ought to be fun to see how the sewing goes with not one, but two, Newfoundlands. Previously, it was just me and Max, and he was oh soooooo helpful, as you can see!