Problem Solving-What to do if you lose your sunglasses all the time

I have a chronic condition of losing a pair of sunglasses every time I get into large bodies of water. I have lost sunglasses in a variety of lakes some more famous than others.

Bodies of water I've lost sunglasses in:
1. Some nasty lake at youth conference
2. The falls of Havasupai
3. Lake Powell
4. Lake Erie
5. Lake Titicaca,
6. and one time (not in a body of water) a friend stepped on them.

I have lost all of these sunglasses since I've been married that's almost 2 a year! My other issue regarding sunglasses is that I will only buy polarized sunglasses. If you haven't tried them, you should, they're delightful. Especially if you're like me and you love water so much you should have been born a Golden Retriever.

Why you should buy polarized sunglasses.
Usually light doesn't have any specific polarization but when light bounces off a horizontal surface such as a large lake or street the majority of it becomes horizontally polarized the exact polarization that polarized sunglasses block. This means that you see a lot less of the light that bounces off the surface allowing your eye to focus on light rays coming from beneath the surface. Pardon my digression in to science-dom but the short of it is you can see into the water. Unfortunately, once you lose your sunglasses in the water you will lose this special power so you they will be irretrievable. There are two possible solutions when faced with this dilemma:

1. Buy chums-- you've seen them, you might just not know the name for this ultra-nerdy device. They attach to your sunglasses and then you wear them around your neck so if they fall off your head they don't fall into the water. For those unsatisfied with this moderate level of nerdiness you can further increase your nerdiness by purchasing the chums that float.

2. Buy lots of sunglasses-- every time I talk about sunglasses I joke that I should really start buying them in bulk. Just recently I decided to do it.

In the Summer, I generally wear sunglasses like I wear Chacos--constantly. In Ithaca there is no sun and so it took me until nearly August to realize that the only pair of sunglasses I had were not polarized, had tons of blue flakes coming off them, and cost me 10 soles in Peru. I looked around on the internet and found a website where I could buy polarized sunglasses by the dozen. So I bought a dozen and they just came in the mail yesterday. Hopefully I will never have to buy another pair again. Although, with my track record it seems as though I will have to buy a dozen about every decade.

If you or someone you know struggles with losing sunglasses constantly check out: http://www.ctswholesalesunglasses.com/

Sleeping like a baby?

Or like an addict? I'm sure many of you have heard Bryan jest that Norah sleeps like a crack addict. She frequently stays awake for hours and hours and then crashes. Turns out he was pretty close to the truth. My friend, and experienced mom, Melissa, lent me a book on sleeping called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child and it is changing our lives. We knew Norah wasn't sleeping enough but we had no idea she was supposed to be sleeping 16 hours a day and never awake longer than 2 at a time!! Her sleep deprivation had turned into a vicious cycle fueled by stress hormones that were making her "wired" -- much like unto a crack addict.

We're still battling her sleep issues but we're making progress. Yesterday she fell asleep about a dozen times only to wake up after a few minutes but she has been a great little sleeper today with nice evenly spaced wake intervals. Hopefully we'll be seeing many more pictures like this one!

Grisamore's Farms

Last Wednesday Norah and I went berry picking with Jenny, Hillary and Lincoln. Norah wasn't much help really but then she also didn't get to stuff her face with raspberries. Lincoln wasn't much help either but he was very conversational. I owe all my sour cherries to Jenny! Here are pics of the pickers:

Art from the Lab

I was given a more artistic assignment at work last week. My professor wanted to include a picture of the prism we are using in our experiment in his presentation and show that it just an average size and not anything fancy or involved. It is amazingly difficult to photograph glass it turns out. So I got on google and figured out how to photograph glass. I rigged up this setup in the lab and then I got the photo underneath out of it. I am so proud of it I'm going to frame it and put it in my office. I guess I'll put a picture of Norah in there too.

This is the setup you can see that it is lit with diffuse light from the bottom and the side.

And here's the photo that I'm, oh so proud of!

Oldie but a Goodie

This video is from a while back but it's my all time favorite!!

Norah's Hiccups

Norah gets some full body hiccups sometimes and they are really hilarious to watch. At the end she puts on a pretty good dance show with her fast moving feet.

Ashley and Matt Visit

Purple Mouth

Norah and I have both been battling thrush since I took antibiotics for Mastitis a month ago. After giving up on Nystatin we turned to Gentian Violet which is a purple dye that doubles as an anti-fungal. I just got Mastitis again but hopefully I won't have any more purple baby pics.

Tailgate Tummy Time

We took a break on our 6 hour drive from VA back to Ithaca and let Norah work out her wiggles in the back of the CRV. She was so eager to exercise that she even tolerated tummy time which she usually hates. I saw her first true smile during this tummy time session (Bryan had seen one earlier). She was furious when we put her back in her car seat.

Father's Day

Bryan's first father's day and Guy's first father's day as a grandpa.

Cupcake Cutie

Norah is wearing a darling hat knit especially for her by Donna (Claire's Mom (Claire is Kimball's girlfriend (Kimball is Bryan's brother)))

Norah and Mimi

Bath Time

This sink is ridiculously small. We have since moved bath time to the kitchen sink. Norah still cries through the entire process.

Happy to be out of the bath!

Cuddling with her Grandpas

Baby Blessing

Bryan blessed Norah on June 7th with the help of our dads and some friends. Norah looked darling in her Aunt Courtney's blessing gown. Isn't Courtney beautiful?!

Ergo Model

Before buying a baby carrier we read many online reviews of competing brands. We finally decided on the Ergo Carrier which had fantastic ratings. We settled down on the couch to watch the instructional DVD and were surprised to discover that the target consumer for the Ergo is a druid / hippie. With the carrier came an DVD on how to properly "wear" the baby. Along with helpful tips on "wearing" Norah we learned valuable lessons on attachment parenting and how to nurse your baby while reaching for produce in the grocery store. It was quite informative. Bryan is pictured below modeling his organic enjoyment of attachment parenting.

First Family Photo

 

Norah's Birth Story

You were due on May 24th and sure enough I woke up on May 24th around 3 am with light contractions. They kept coming so I assumed it was the real deal. I was SO excited I kept thinking "it is only 3am, I'll have a baby by the end of the day." After laying in bed awake savoring the excitement for awhile all by myself I finally woke up Bryan around 6 am and told him and we were both so excited we decided to get up and get ready. I took a shower, did my hair and make up. Bryan cleaned up a bit. I think by this point it was only 8am. We probably could have gone to church and I think I even asked Bryan if we should and he thought I was crazy and said "Lindsey, you're in labor! We're not going to church." I have to admit it was fun that you got us out of church. End of May is the most beautiful time of year in Ithaca. All the trees and flowers are blooming and the weather is finally starting to be consistently nice. It was a beautiful morning and we went walking to speed things along. We didn't want to go too far from home so we mostly walked around this little park off of Buffalo st but eventually we were walking pretty much all over downtown. I know we walked around Dewitt park quite a bit.

We had promised our friend and home teacher Andrew Daines that he would be the first to hear that I was in labor so we left several messages on his phone and then called our parents. My mom was actually traveling to Ithaca that day and I wasn't even sure if she would make it in time to be at the hospital. We just didn't know what to expect and I was counting my labor starting since 6 am and so by noon I though "it's been 6 hrs already I should be done in a few more." In hindsight the contractions weren't strong enough but I was uncomfortable enough that I thought they were the real deal. I just figured that since I was walking around and excited my pain management was keeping them under control. We had Jonathan Jones pick up my mom from the airport around 3pm I think because we were still convinced I would have to rush off to the hospital anytime. My contractions were getting stronger but they were still not very regular. Once my mom was here I was distracted and that helped a lot. Your baby dresser was in the living room because we knew we would be moving to the Sorority house in August and hadn't set you up a real baby room yet. We had the pack in play in our bedroom (where we assumed you would sleep - two weeks later we bought a swing that you slept in exclusively for 4 months and napped in till Thanksgiving!) the crib was still in the box and dresser was full of clothes in the living room. We went through all the clothes and rated them on their cuteness and refolded them all and I just remember being absolutely overjoyed. I think we were communicating with the doc a bit and basically being told to not come in yet. I was in pretty good spirits still. I chopped up a big watermelon between contractions and Bryan grilled a lot of chicken and veggies which he and my mom ate - I couldn't bare the idea of eating. I think I only ate watermelon that day. By late evening I was miserable. I was having strong contractions - even in hindsight they were just as bad as real labor. We watched "wally" to try to distract me but it was pretty much just what labor is. I was working hard at every contraction and assuming this was the real deal. We called the doctor who insisted it was false labor, and rudely accused me of trying to induce my labor and that I was being reckless for walking. He said I should take two tylenol and go to bed and that if I didn't get my contractions to stop I would end up with a c-section. I was absolutely terrorized by this. I really just hate this doctor's gust even thinking about how he made me feel. I cried and threw myself on my bed. I was incredibly discouraged and thought I was going to end up with a c-section. After suffering for a few more hours we finally went to the hospital to try to get some pain relief. The nurse who checked me in was so kind and told me that all the labor and delivery nurses hated Dr. Torrado after I told her what he had told me. She said it was true that resting could make my contractions slow down but that they were basically out of my control. She had me sit in the jacuzzi tub and the contractions slowed to 20 min apart and I was able to sleep between them. The next morning I left the hospital because I was still not dilating at all. Once home though the contractions got worse and I ended up going back by late morning because I couldn't handle it. They gave me some shots in my thigh to help take the edge off and let me rest. I was having contractions every 10 min but I was so tired I actually slept between them. It was Memorial Day so the cafeteria was serving hamburgers and french fries and I remember Bryan coming back with a plate of food and offering me some and just gagging at the thought of eating. I had a unsympathetic nurse by this point who seemed to think I was exaggerating my pain simply because her monitor wasn't picking up the contractions. The monitor was so uncomfortable and so unnecessary but she insisted and I had it on for an hour! I think she was trying to call my bluff or something. After I was in so much pain that I was throwing up Bryan complained and she moved the monitor slightly and then it picked up a big contraction and she said "oh you just had a contraction!" as if it was my first. I was so annoyed. I asked for more shots but I had to be checked by a doctor first. It was about an hour later that a doctor came in (not Dr. Torrado thank goodness - he was golfing for the the 3 day weekend but of course didn't tell me he'd be out of town for the day before and after my due date) to check me and said I was in active labor. This was around 4 or 5. I had to make some choices now - epidural or not basically. I was so exhausted I didn't think I could make it without one but I was also concerned about risk of a c-section. Dr. Maklouf didn't want to sway me at all but finally said that I would be lower risk without an epidural. He didn't think an epidural would rest me and it would likely prolong my labor and I might be too tired to push at the end. That was all I needed to hear. I was really scared though so Bryan had Jonathan Jones come back to the hospital and they gave me a blessing together. Bryan and my mom were an incredible team during labor. My mom rubbed my head and Bryan rubbed my back and squeezed my hips. We listened to Enya the whole time. Once I was in the zone it just worked for me. They were so sick of it after listening to it for hours that my mom started suggested alternatives but I snapped "NO" so Enya it was! Bryan was an amazing and tireless coach and I really felt like we did it together. He was amazing at deciphering my one word requests.  I am so grateful that everything went so well.

The Weigh In

Norah has been above her birth weight for almost a month now but her belly is just now returning to this size in relation to the rest of her body.