New Addition to the Family

All hail the sphere! Ah, we've made a new addition to our home, and not just any basic shape would do - not cube, nor triange ... not cone, nor trapezoid. Nope, only a spherical ball affectionally called "temporary seat/birthing ball/future rocking chair/modern piece of art/design" will do.

We picked the ball up tonight at our Bradley method class, which we have been taking for the last four weeks. [Backstory: Bradley method is a delivery theory which encourages natural childbirth and husband coaching throughout labor]. One of the big tips our Bradley instructor has given us is to use movement and adjusting positions throughout labor to ease the pain. She said the ball facilitates this, and to help us understand the benefits of the ball our instructor had all of the women sit on it tonight. That sold Anna. I was a push-over from there.

And when we got home we realized the other great use for the ball: a chair. [Backstory: over the last week yet another of our chairs has lost a leg - actually this one just started to lean a little too heavily to the right until yesterday it just collapsed.] So here I sit writing a little, listening to music and bouncing on the ball with gyriating motions. I can already feel my hips loosening up - returning to their pre-9-to-5-in-a-chair routine.

The ball also helps fill up space in our rather barren apartment. [Backstory: over the last month, we've done some serious cleaning and clearing as we get ready for the baby. I guess our first stage of nesting has been a complete rehaul of sorts - taking our apartment back down to its foundation so we can properly organize and set-up our home. Our apartment definitely feels less cluttered. But ... the cleaning definitely took a toll on us this past Saturday. About the time I had the mattress off to one side of our bedrood, our box springs leaning against another wall, boxes all over the floor and the vacuum going, I knew we had committed ourselves to way TOO MUCH for an easy Saturday. By the end of it all, we were both drained, crabby and, yet, also thankful to have cleared that hurdle. Best of all, we could breathe so much more easily since we got rid of all the dust in our bedroom. And I'm not talking about the normal "wipe your finger across the shelf and get a trace of dust on your finger." No, the dust build-up in SoCal is incredible, indescribable really. Let's just say the dust bunnies were akin to the rabbit in Monty Python's Holy Grail: "dynamite!"]

Anyhow, we're glad to have the ball in our home. Just a small addition to our family as we wait and prepare for the next big thing, err ... I mean the next small baby, which will be the big thing.

Wes