Turn baby, turn! (Also known as "adventures in alternative medicine")

Just to keep my loyal readers (all three of you??) updated...BabyJ is currently not cooperating in the optimal fetal positioning department. I am pretty sure that he is breech, or kind of diagonal, with most of his kicking low down. So yesterday I went on an adventure to a chiropractor, Dr. Becky (assited by Dr. Mike) and got some very strange maneuvers done on my hips to try to align them. The whole experience was bizarre-- mainly due to the combination of both medeival torture devices and small children scattered innocently throughout the office. It is a very "family friendly" office, to the extent that Dr. Becky's daughter kept interrupting the hip alignment to complain that she didn't want to go to her dad's house that weekend for visitation. To my horror, Elena took it upon herself to "visit" all the other (fully clothed!) patients, even though the front desk lady (also 7 months pregnant) had been assigned to watch her in the well-stocked kids' room. As for the torture devices... I only had to use one, and it actually didn't hurt, but it was sure strange, even to a 1 and a half year old. Elena stood by my side giving my hugs and patting my back and saying "I know, I know, guh (hug) Mommy, guh" while Dr. Becky thumped and pulled.

I'll keep you all updated, but if you are so inclined, send a prayer upwards for this baby to turn in the next couple weeks! I am really hoping not to have to go through another surgery this time around!

Big sister-in-training

We have started training Elena on how to be a big sister. Here she is in the "putting baby to bed" class. Unfortunately, spilling baby on the floor results in an automatic failure, so she did not pass the class, but at least she recognized her weaknesses and is determined to do better next time. This evening, we worked on "taking baby on a walk" and she ended up having a tantrum a block and a half away after she tipped over the baby-doll stroller for the 10th time. She also did not pass that class, but obviously feels really bad about it.

Cousins hanging out

Look at my genius grand-neice/cousin, Adeline! With (or despite) Elena's help, she has built a huge tower of blocks. Fine motor skills seem to run in the family.
Play-do was a big hit! Especially since it was organic, low-sodium, home made play-do from Marian's kitchen.
Hat party! We spent a lot of time on the deck eating snacks and playing in water.

Cousin Adeline comes to visit

Cousins in sun hats! We had a great time this week with our wonderful family from www.pictureperfectevening.blogspot.com! Adeline is 8 months older than Elena and was a great influence on her. My sister Marian and I took care of the kids all week while Molly was at a conference. Marian used to be a Montessorri teacher, Elementary school teacher, and used to work at a toy store, so she is just about the best possible person to help take care of toddlers all week. It was wonderful to see them all!

More flower pictures...

The new flowers in the garden make me so happy every day. I am diligently watering them this summer, then hope that they will be hardy enough to survive the Seattle summer droughts without much help in the future.

Flowers from the garden

Daisies! Dahlias!

Garden make-over

While Elizabeth was visiting, she helped me fix up my garden. Here is a "before" picture of one side of the garden that got the most help.
Here is an "after" picture, looking the opposite direction. The crabapple tree was taken out and many new plants were put in its place.

The Krentz Family welcomes the Bloomingtonaut

Saturday morning I became obsessed with fixing up the room in anticipation of our many friends and family who will be visiting in the next couple of weeks. We had put off painting this room and the stairwell for a couple years now because we thought we would renovate. This is not happening any time soon. Saturday afternoon, we spent hanging out at Home Depot. Saturday night, Kevin moved all the furniture into the middle of the study...
And early early Sunday morning, Elena and I started taping the room and hallway.
We painted furiously all day. I did not know I had so much energy in me! (By the way, old cotton sheets do NOT make good drop cloths. Lesson learned.)
And by evening, the room was ready to greet the Bloomingtonaut! She arrived with wonderful gifts and stories, and a surprise visitor-- the famous Louise! She spent the night with us before heading off to her next endurance race. On Friday, she bikes from Seattle to Portland. Can you believe it? I am so happy to have an old wonderful friend in town. Please all check out the Bloomingtonaut's blog for her posts about our week in Seattle!

It is hard to tell from the picture, but the walls ended up a color called "Glacial ice" which I thought was very appropriate given the Bloomingtonaut's Alaskan adventures. It is also suspiciously like what one might call a serene and dignified shade of "baby boy blue." It's funny how the unconscious works: Kevin and I took about an hour to pick out a color and finally ended up painting the room to look like a baby nursery, even though the thought never crossed our minds during the whole planning stage. I guess the nesting instincts have started kicking in!