Fiona, Kaisa & Nathan Judd

Tonight our friends, Pete and Patricia Stevenson, threw a joint birthday party for themselves (they both have August birthdays). The theme was “James Bond” and we all got dressed up in our finest to party down in their basement. It was so fun! Here are a few pics from the event.

Kaisa was all ready and just waited patiently for mom and dad to finish. Ok, just mom. :)

What a beautiful smile! She was so excited to go to the party!

Kaisa and Dad…don’t they look amazing? I am such a lucky woman!

Here we are…the Judd Secret Agents! Whoa mama!

Hey…who gave the infant a gun? Does she even know how to use it properly?

Too much party for Kaisa! We tired her all out!

This magnetic spice rack is a simple, effective, and (most important) cheap way to clear up counter space. Fiona knows how much I value things organized well. Our kitchen is quite small. In fact, when we moved from renting our first home to our condo the kitchen is the only room that got smaller! Small kitchens, condos, dorms, and other smaller spaces make it necessary to have a well laid out space that you can easily live and work. We had a rotating bamboo spice rack, while nice, took up valuable counter real estate. This is how we cleared that up.

Tools & Materials:

• Drill
• Phillips head driver bit
• 1/8″ drill bit
• Grundtal magnetic bar from IKEA
• Button Magnets
• Glue
• 2 1/2″ course thread all-purpose screws(or 2″+ screws with anchors for your walls)

This project has two parts; First the magnets on the spices:

1. Take the magnets out of the package and put them together in a long row. The button magnets should do this very easily if not automatically after you take them out and set them next to each other.
2. Because magnets have a North and a South pole label them as such. Hold your magnet column and label the top of the top magnet with an “N”. Take the labeled magnet off and subsequently label the new top magnet with an “N”. You’ll use those labels when gluing.
3. Many, if not most, spices will have an indentation on the bottom of the small jar. Squeeze a dollop of glue there and place the “N” of the magnet face up or down. It doesn’t matter which, just be consistent. Let the spice jar with a magnet on bottom sit for 24 hours or as directed on your glue. Note: I first used a hot glue gun which did not work. The hot glue bubbled the plastic container and did not have the staying power of my super adhesive.
4. Make sure when adding additional spices/magnets that the North South is tested on the magnetic bar before glueing or else you’ll have unneccesary gaps.

Place the magnetic bars on the wall, it’s pretty self explanatory but if you must…

1. Place Grundtal magnetic bar in position, drive pilot holes with drill bit through holes on bar.
2. Twist in your screw to hold the magnetic bar, don’t forget the spacers on the back that come with the Grundtal. Continue to screw in the screws with the drill. C’mon people, it’s not that bad.

IKEA also has a cheaper version on the Grundtal. I think it’s their own brand (as opposed to the one with the designer). Those bars were lighter and I didn’t think they would have the magnetic hold for some of the spices. That celery salt is pretty heavy for such a little jar! Voila! You have more counter/cupboard space, you can easily see and find your spices, yet they are out of the way so you’re not constantly moving them trying to get at the Kitchen Aid or Worcestershire Sauce. This was a fun little project and the magnetic spice rack fulfills a need in the niche of kitchen storage in a small galley kitchen.

Kaisa first rolled over in her crib the morning of Monday, July 16th but we didn’t see it. Because of this when Fiona told my mom she, being the wise mother of 20+ years, suggested that I got up early and flipped her over! I can’t imagine why my own Mother would think I’m that cunning, but that is a good idea for number two.

We’re really excited to finally get this up. Not only is this a major accomplishment for Kaisa (who has now met her July goal of rolling over) but for me and figuring out how to put video on our site of our own making. More on our awesome video camera later… Apparently, and many guys out there will agree, if you’re good at computers then you can do anything electronic. This is akin to saying that a person can drive a front end loader or a crane because they do such a good job at the car. Still, I’m thrilled to share with our family and friends our home videos.

Without further ado, the Fiona and Nathan Judd home movie:

Another really important part of my Hypnobirth was writing a birth preferences sheet for my care providers. This should be a part of any and all births–no matter what method is used. Like I mentioned in my first post, birth involves YOUR body, and YOUR baby, and no one else should be making decisions for you about how you experience it.

I really like that Monica called these “birth preferences” instead of a “birth plan.” A birth plan is too restrictive…many times events will occur that take you away from that “plan” and this could lead to disappointment and frustration. Birth preferences are flexible…able to change as special circumstances occur. (I liked that we used “special circumstances” rather than “complications.”) Basically, in your birth preferences sheet you want to outline what you would prefer to have done should everything progress normally. Often, many of your preferences can be met, at least partially, even when the birthing process takes an unexpected turn.

Here is a copy of my birth preferences sheet. Fiona’s Birth Preferences. I took the time to make these look really nice and laminated them so that my care providers would know that they were important to me. Several of them commented on how nice it looked, and I was glad that it stood out to them so that they wouldn’t overlook it. In the end, every preference on my sheet was followed. The nurses were wonderful about everything that I asked.

In creating your own birth preferences, here are some areas to consider:

What method are you using? What should they know about it?

What would you like the atmosphere in the room to be like?

Would you prefer an IV or Heplock? Or neither?

How mobile would you like to be? What kinds of positions and comfort techniques will you be using? Jacuzzi? Birth Ball? Squat Bar?

Which of these items would you need to borrow from the hospital? Which will you provide?

How would you like fetal monitoring to take place? How often?

How do you feel about being offered medication? What medications do you plan to use, if any? How do you feel about pitocin if labor slows? What about breaking the water?

How do you feel about an episiotomy vs. tearing?

When your baby is born, what would you like the nurses/doctor to do with him/her? Immediately to your chest? Cleaned and weighed first? Which treatments would you like given to your baby, and which would you like withheld? How long before they cut the cord? Who should cut the cord?

How do you plan to feed your baby? How can the staff help you achieve that goal?

Do you prefer to have the baby with you at all times in the hospital, or in the nursery?

Taking the time to make decisions about these things and write them down for your care providers will make a HUGE difference in your birth experience. I am so glad I took the time to do this. Some of these things I didn’t even know about before I took my Hypnobirthing class! I am so grateful to Monica and my midwives for encouraging me to do this plan, and to all the hospital staff for respecting my wishes.