There WILL be a baby by the weekend

As you know, we're officially overdue.  

From our OB visit on Monday, it's been determined that the baby is still doing fine, but things don't seem to be moving along as the doctors would like.  It seems that after 40 weeks, the tendency is for the placenta to start to calcify.  Also, less water around the baby can be problematic.  In our situation, both are happening.  As a result, if Robin doesn't make her appearance on her own this week, we are scheduled to enter the hospital Thursday night to start the process, and be induced on Friday morning.

So.  There will be a baby by the weekend. 

We're actually rather amused that our baby might be born on Friday the 13th.  It almost seems a moral imperative to to go find some Goth babywear, although I think that most of the options at babygoth.com may be more than is strictly necessary to match our level of amusement -- but I will say that their Roswell and Bunny Bones t-shirts are pretty funny (and I think we'll skip the Living Dead Dolls altogether).

I am happy to say, however, that our nursery is finally complete.  Here you will *finally* see the new rocking chair, whose textiles just arrived today; the bassinet and changing table you have seen before, all organized and ready for baby changing;  and the lovely new curtains for the closet, courtesy of mom-in-law/Grandma-to-be Rosemary, and her friend Gina.  I think that the effect is cozy, but organized -- at least it is at the moment!

 

 

I guess we're ready....

Really ready....

Did I mention we were ready?

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

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Our Due Date Has Arrived. The Baby Hasn't.

As many of you have been asking, where's the baby already?

We wish we knew, and hope she decides to make her appearance soon.

We had an OB appointment yesterday and it looks like things are moving along properly.  Unfortunately, they are also moving along slowly.  The OB performed a procedure meant to help the process along, but whether or not it works will require another 48 hours to determine.  

No other real news on the homefront -- I've been instructed to walk as much as possible (ow), I slept most of today, and otherwise, generally, I'm doing okay.  Michael is running errands, had the house cleaned, and is doing small projects around the house while we still have the wherewithal to complete small projects.  

The only other planning-related news we've got to share is about the carseat situation.... I don't think I relayed yet just how much of a learning process it turned out to be.  

To start with, we finally got our appointment with the firefighter who went through either a 40- or 80-hour training course for dealing with carseats.  Seriously.  Scott, with Mountain View Fire Station 4, was impressively knowledgeable about what we could or could not do to implement the carseat bases in the backs of our Volvos.  Michael ended up with sore knees from repeatedly repositioning the base in my car, which despite having the Latch system did not have it available in the center rear seat, where baby is safest.  That meant that instead of being able to use the nice little latch thingys to pin down the base, instead we had to use the tie-fighter-shaped attachment with the seatbelt.  And then we determined that the angle was still too steep for safety, and so the whole thing had to be taken apart and repositioned repeatedly.... well, you get the idea.  We had no clue it would be that challenging to install a carseat. In a 2005 Volvo.

Ironically, Michael's Volvo, which predates the Latch system, came with these neat switches right on the seatbelt attachment itself -- when the switch was moved to a certain position, it would snug up and not let go, which meant that his seat base was ready in about 5 minutes.  Mine took more like an hour.  But at the bottom line -- we have both cars with seat bases solidly in place and ready to provide safe transport for our little one.  

Our birth plan is complete; our bags are packed.  We'll let you know when we have something more interesting to share.

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

Sent from my iPhone

It's beginning to look a bit like a nursery

Thanks ever-so-much to coworker Josh Adlin, who came to help us assemble the bassinet on Sunday (FYI - that's Threepwood in the bassinet, not Josh).  With Josh, we don't have to worry about compensation -- we just feed him and he's happy.  

Threep, on the other hand, helps out for bear hugs.  So far we've used him to demonstrate or figure out the car seat, the bassinet, the changing table, and the somewhat confusing (but very comfortable) Baby Bjorn infant carrier.  Threep is very helpful because he's just about the size of a newborn, but fortunately without the weight of one.

We're technically in the home stretch now -- Robin's now considered "full term" and could decide to show up any day.  I alternate between hoping she shows up soon and hoping that we have time to finish a few more things around the house before she does.  My energy is virtually nonexistent these days, so finding the wherewithal to actually *do* the work around the house is challenging.  You can see my problem.

 

When he's not assembling nursery furniture, Michael is keeping busy with the long-awaited Cave Project.  He's pulled an amazing number of cables and old equipment out of that room, and now there's just some bookcase rearranging that needs to be completed.  His plan is to have enough room for baby to sleep/bounce around in the same room while he works.  Being self-employed seems to agree with him!

So we're waiting for the rocking chair (the one they shipped us turned out to have the wrong textiles) to arrive, and I've got curtains to iron/hem (Ikea) whenever I can manage to parse the instructions.  We're also waiting to hear back from the nice firefighter at Station 4 who will tell us if we've managed to install our infant car seats correctly.  I'm not really optimistic that I have, but I've been wrong before.

Over the next week or so, I'm working through some final training/updates with my team, attending weekly doctor appointments, and going to baby-prep classes.  Effective yesterday, I'm officially on maternity leave!  Now when I have to collapse in the middle of the afternoon, I don't feel guilty about it...

And that's all the news from Lake Woebegone, at least for the moment.

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

Sent from my iPhone

Robin News: Who would have thought diapers would be so complicated?

Today we have come home with a ton of washing to do.  Yes, that entire bag is filled with diapers, and diaper paraphenalia.

Who would have thought that diapering.... or rather diapering _systems_ would be so complicated?

We just spent an hour and a half considering cloth diapering options with Sara, our local distributer of Fuzzi Bunz (www.fuzzibunz.com) and other cloth diaper alternatives.  Even after spending considerable time on Sara's website and others devoted to The Cloth Diaper, it was still rather overwhelming to find out just how many options are out there. You can have standard cloth diapers with plastic pant covers on the cheap end, "all in one" diapers on the high end (read you don't have to stuff them with extra padding), and "pocket" diapers that are only good for one changing, but have the benefit of being stuffable so that you can ostensibly go for longer periods without changing the diaper.  Unless, of course, the baby poops (and as I'm sure you've heard, Everyone Poops), in which case all bets are off, and so is the diaper.

After much consideration, we finally settled on a mix of options -- velcro-closing small pocket diapers both for early days and I'm-too-tired-to-find-snaps changes, and Fuzzi Bunz pocket diapers for when parents are slightly more awake to deal with snaps, baby gets old enough that she figures out how to disconnect the velcro, and/or baby wants to be colorful.  Trust me, these are very vivid diapers -- and -- hurray -- not a pink or orange one in the bunch!

We also went with a handful of highly absorbent hemp liners, which when used in conjunction with the microfiber liners can help to prevent 2am changings in addition to the feeding you're probably doing.  Prior to using these or the burping cloths we bought, however, we apparently have to wash them about 6 times to get all of the oils out.  So... we've got a lot of washing to do.  Good thing we're starting now. 

In other news:

We finally cleared out the spare bedroom last weekend, gifting the box spring and frame to some new neighbors and the mattress to Santa Clara County Recycling.  Now it's just a matter of shuffling furniture, hanging blackout curtains and drapes, and organizing baby stuff.  Or so we hope.

We now have a membership at Day One Center (www.dayonecenter.com), which is essentially a one-stop shop for all baby and parenting needs.  One of the trainers at Axis (our gym) does post-natal mom-and-baby classes, and as a new mom herself, she highly recommended it.  We have our first class a week from today to find out just how nervous we should be about childbirth.  Goody.

The bassinet/crib contraption is due to arrive sometime this week, so I guess we've got some assembly to do in addition to laundry!

That's the news that's mostly fit to print these days.  Hope all is well.  Robin kicks and squirms hello.  

Repeatedly.

Kristiana & Michael

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

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Kristiana's father is in town

Quick visit, just for the day. Lunch at Cascal, dinner at Zibbibo, and a nap in between. I'm still sick, so I needed that nap.

Our first baby tool has arrived

Despite the fact that Michael was a bit under the weather, and Robin protested that I was sitting on the floor, we managed to assemble our first-to-arrive key baby tool -- the Stokke Xplory.

http://www.stokkeusa.com/

You see it here assembled with the "newborn" setup -- that's a pretty sizeable carry cot meant for babies 0-6months.  Then we switch to Phase 2, which has a different seat and makes the Xplory look a lot more like a traditional stroller -- except that baby can be facing us OR facing away, AND be at waist height, rather than low like a traditional stroller.  No bending awkwardly to lift is always a good thing, IMHO.

So far, the main drawback to the Xplory are mainly that the machinations of those Clever Norwegians will take awhile to understand.  Perhaps because we've been sick... but we will have a learning curve here.  Of course, I believe that this is true, to a certain extent, with most strollers.

In the plus department, once things ARE assembled and you've figured out how to attach, move, adjust, etc., it's ridiculously easy to do so.  The stroller moves extremely smoothly.  And the textiles are WONDERFUL against your skin -- incredibly soft.  They also include the cute baby blanket, color-coordinated to your textiles....

We're looking forward to having a small person to put in the stroller.

 

 Love, 

Kristiana & Michael

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

Sent from my iPhone

Destination coffee

And more significantly, destination espresso.

Intelligentsia Coffee has been on my radar for a long time, but I've never managed a visit until now. Several years ago Kristiana and I were in Napa overnight, and my morning wanderings took me to a bakery that also stocked a few gourmet items, among them bags of Intelligentsia Black Cat espresso blend. You didn't have to be a coffee expert - I certainly wasn't - to know that these beans were magic. One squeeze of the bag and one stiff told you. The bakery couldn't pull a decent shot, and I wasn't able to brew anything exceptional from them at home (I didn't have any espresso equipment then), but there was no question that Black Cat was the work of people who truly, truly loved espresso.
Unfortunately Intelligentsia is located in Chicago, a city with lots to offer but which I never seem to find occasion to visit. For a few weeks last year it looked as if 2008's headphone audiophilia conference would be in Chicago, and that would have made a good focal point for a visit, but ultimately it was moved to Florida - the right decision for the meet (the Florida gang have the bench strength to pull it off brilliantly while the Chicago cabal's leadership was, uh, less clearly demonstrated), but making it less interesting to me.

So I didn't know when I would make it to Intelligentsia. Then, Intelligentsia came to California. Just one, in LA.

The recently-opened shop is on Sunset, in the hipster-heavy stretch known as Silverlake. It's where to shop for 50's retropolitan furnishings and decor. And it's where my friend Maggie lives. In fact, Intelligentsia is right next door to the cheese shop we've walked to together on more than one previous visit.

Maggie is a best friend from business school, and I'm down here this weekend because a small dinner she was having with another b-school best friend grew by another b-school best friend, and then another, so that I could not stay away, not with Robin on the way and future opportunities for travel looking pretty distant. So I flew in on Saturday and will fly home tonight. In between, we're sandwiching some database design for Maggie's business, some IT support for Maggie's computers at home, cooking dinner, the party itself, some IT support for two of Jon's computers, meeting up with a friend from online over in Santa Monica, a visit to the new wing of LACMA, a couple of superb lunches, and of course visits to Intelligentsia. Good espresso is certainly a suitable power source for a weekend like this.

At my routine haunt Caffe del Doge in Palo Alto, each espresso comes with a brown sugar cube. At Barefoot, my weekend destination in Santa Clara, a tiny almond cookie. A favorite Italian deli off Piccadilly Circus serves espresso with a twist of lemon peel - this is a favorite for me - and Flying Goat in Healdsburg tucks a little cube of chocolate onto the saucer. Intelligentsia gives you a shotglass of sparkling water, pulled from a soda-fountain style tap on the counter. I wasn't expecting this, but it's a nice chaser after a shot.

As for the shot itself, Intelligentsia's is now my personal reference: the best I've ever had. It is small, thick, and heavily laden with true crema (not just foam) just like the ones from Barefoot - but I honestly like Intelligentsia's blend better than any of Barefoot's.

Sorry, I'm going on in too much detail. To sum up, wow. It was just fantastic stuff. I'd tried to limit my expectations on the way over, sure that a big mental buildup would lead to disappointment. There was no need.

Post-espresso we returned to the house and got started with party prep. Friends began arriving at five or six, and the socializing (http://www.flickr.com/photos/11709446@N00/sets/72157604212147028/) continued until just about midnight.

I'm a morning person and almost always wake up pretty early no matter what time I get to bed. So before Maggie was even up, I was on my way back to Intelligentsia for my morning shot. Two shots, actually, which will surely cost me some sleep tonight, but I don't know when I'll be in LA again.

The view from BCAM

The new wing of LACMA. It's an amazingly clear day today!

Robin Waves Hello

Hello Friends and Family -

Mom-to-be is still sick with the flu, so today turned out to be Doctor Visits Day.  I saw my GP to get antibiotics, then did my gestational diabetes/glucose test, then managed to get in a checkup and ultrasound of Robin.  After this ultrasound, we're still thinking "she" -- so here "she" is looking out at you.  She waved, too.

Besides the fact that I'm sick, Robin is doing fine - moving a lot (!!), with a strong heartbeat.  She's apparently not large for her stage of development, 29 weeks (which is borne out by my lack of baby weight), so hurray.  Mom, on the other hand, is really wishing for some antihistamines.  Antibiotics will have to do.

Now that we're back in the US after a three-week trip to the UK and Ireland (Apple business trip, for the most part), Michael and I have (finally) started shopping for baby paraphernalia, which is overwhelming simply because there's so much of it to keep track of.  We've lost our first couple of Craigslist postings and EBay auctions for some of the key items we want/need (we've decided on crib, stroller, and changing table by fabulous Norwegian company Stokke, www.stokkeusa.com), but we're keeping our eyes open for the next opportunity.  Funny how two months (well, eleven weeks) really doesn't seem like much time to plan, but it's what we've got left, so we'll make the best of it.  Recommendations for the things new parents simply can't live without will be much appreciated, so send those suggestions our way.

That's the news from Mountain View, where the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children (born and unborn) are above average.  Now I'm....we're going back to bed.

Kristiana Kincaid

kkincaid97@mac.com

415.990.5123

Sent from my iPhone

Not the best door to leave through in an earthquake

The Travelers Return

Luggage intact, we're pretty sure. And we're very happy to be home!

We're home

Arrived at SFO.

The roaring fires

Scattered around Virgin's lounge at Heathrow are only video - but they go a surprising way towards making the modernist environment feel cozy and homey.

The View of Breakfast

His and Hers

A View of the Lounge from the Wicker Swing

View from the Wicker Chair-thing

Here in the new Virgin Upper Class Lounge, I am relaxing in the wicker
swing-chair thingy as Michael visits the deli counter for some Michael-
breakfast. Later, prior to boarding, we are due for massages in the
Cowshed, which is apparently a full-service spa attached to the Lounge.

Cafe Pasta

Phil had enouraged us to dine at Roku, a tremendously good robata restaurant a short taxi ride from here, but by the time we got to our hotel (and made our obligatory Forbidden Planet trip) we just weren't up to it. Instead we went to Cafe Pasta, the reliable little Italian place we always wind up at, a few doors down from the hotel.

Kristiana's grilled chicken salad went over well, and I had a salad with a grilled swordfish steak dabbed with a little pesto that was just wonderful. It's no Roku, I'm sure, but they always serve something that really hits the spot.

Forbidden Planet

This is just a small slice of the top floor of the best sci fi store we've ever seen, and a required stop any time we visit London.

At hotel

Hooray, finally checked in to our London hotel. We left our suitcases at the airport, so this will suffice for unpacking.

Arrived London

Delayed a while in DublinN but we're here.