windy with a chance of wind

It worked this time

2012-02-16T13:45:00.000-06:00

New video added to the last post...

Crawling!

2012-02-15T23:36:00.001-06:00

Yup, she's getting stronger and faster every day. It's still not a true hands-and-knees crawl...she uses her feet, as you'll see (toward the end, around 3:45).

Also in this video, between 3:00 and 3:30, you can clearly see that her left eye is brown and her right eye is bright blue. So cool!

I love how she struggles to get "over" the hoop.

Aren't I such a mean mom, moving the toy away from her over and over? Had to get video of her moving though! If she's got something to play with, she will just sit for a looong time, and I wanted to get the video done while Hollie was napping. So, "mean mom" had to make it happen.

Great video of her laughing...at me, not Hollie! Yesss! Well, at the camera at least, but I'll take it.

She's trying to pull up on things already (unsuccessfully). Girl's got muscles. We were looking at this picture yesterday:

...and after we both were shocked to see that she was ever that small, Daniel commented that, "This Blake could probably eat that Blake."

Speaking of eating - Favorites: peas, carrots. So-so: rice, sweet potatoes, russet potatoes. Not liking: bananas. The way Hollie goes through bananas, it's so weird to think of a kid not liking bananas! I'm sure when she can squish them in her fingers she'll like them a lot more.

Commence funny food pictures:

Yes, she played with her ear while eating peas. She went right in the bath tub after this!

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In other news...

Things are coming together for the move! Our offer on the house was accepted, but because it's a short sale, the price has to be approved by the seller's bank. Long story short, we might not close until sometime in April, so we'll be in temporary housing (provided in the relo package) for a while.

Excited! Nervous! Panicking! But excited!

Christmas - better late than never?

2012-02-12T08:29:00.000-06:00

This was the first year that we told Hollie about Santa and reindeer and all that. It needed quite a lot of explaining, many many times. I kept thinking she'd got it, and then she'd ask something like, "Mommy, when is Santa going to bring our tree?" so finally I made her a little book outlining the whole deal, and soon she could practically read it herself.

When Christmas eve rolled around, we decided, after some deliberation, not to tell her that it was Christmas eve. Bedtime is tough enough as it is.

Daniel and I were up til about 3am - wrapping the last few gifts, filling the stockings, putting out a plate with some crumbs and a glass with a little milk, writing out a little note in silver sharpie. When she came to get me in the morning (she always comes straight to our room when she wakes up), I took her out to the living room and said, "Wow, Hollie, I think Santa brought us some presents!"

Her reaction: priceless.

'There's a whole bunch."

With about as little enthusiasm as you can imagine. Just stating a fact.

I turned her attention to the note, the cookie crumbs, and the glass.
No big deal. Whatever, Mom.

Tried the stockings next. In hers, she found a package of new underwear. That got a smile. Next, a little box of Goldfish crackers. That got a BIG smile, and she ran to show them to Daddy, who was just joining us. Then she was into it, and went from there.

As she opened each toy, she had to examine it, explain to us what it was. The first one she came to (because it wasn't wrapped) was a small rocking chair. She sat down and said, "I can rock my babies when they cry!". Then she unwrapped a big Clifford stuffed animal and said, "I think he says ruff!"

It took literally hours. And that is not a reflection of the number of gifts, just the fact that we spent a half hour with each one before we moved on. Not complaining! It was awesome. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and the past few years, every Christmas has been better than the last. Can't wait for the next one. :)

Also, a favorite gift...matching PJs!!!

Oy vey.

2012-02-06T14:20:00.001-06:00

Just before Hollie fell asleep for her afternoon nap today, we had this sleepy conversation:

Hollie: Are you my mommy?
Me: Yes.

Hollie: Are you Blake's mommy?
Me: Yes.

Hollie: Are you Daddy's mommy?
Me: No, Daddy and I are married. [this has been a topic of discussion lately, as we have a book that mentions honeymoons, hence her next question...]

Hollie: Did you get married on your honeymoon?
Me: No, we had a honeymoon right after we got married.

Hollie: Are you still married?
Me: Yes, we love each other!

Hollie: When are you going to be un-married? [don't know where this came from...it is not a topic of discussion!]
Me: Well, we're going to be married forever.

Hollie: Uh-oh.

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And, some old news:

This happened last month...

Hollie's first DIY haircut.

Hi again.

2012-02-04T10:41:00.001-06:00

So much to say!

We're going to need a new name for this blog. Something about rain, or hippies, or coffee, maybe.

That's right, we're making our return to the great northwest. It's been in the works for some time now. Back in July, when we were in Mukilteo, Daniel applied for a few jobs, just for kicks. Never heard anything until a few months ago, and then within weeks he interviewed for, and accepted, a great job! Start date is mid-March.

So now we're in the midst of planning our move. Just put in an offer on a house, and in a few weeks we taking a quick weekend trip up so we can see it. That's the order we're supposed to that in, right?

Hollie's very excited about it, and often asks, "Are we going to Mukilteo today?" [We're not actually going to be living in Mukilteo (that's mucho $$$), but Hollie isn't much interested in saying "Lake Stevens" yet. She will be when we get there, I think.] Sometimes she gets a little nervous - usually whenever we leave the house after dark - asking where we're going, if we're going to a hotel, or where her bed is. Breaks my heart. Believe me though, she is excited to go back.

Real quick...Blake had her 6-month check up...ummm...about a month ago.
18 lbs (85th percentile)
25.5 inches (40th percentile)

She can go from sitting to hands-and-knees, and back to sitting. Still no crawl. It's coming soon, though. The strength is there, no doubt about that, but the coordination? Not so much. Exhibit A:

I took that video about a week and a half ago. She's progressed now to a beginning "army" crawl, with enormous effort. It goes like this: move one arm, move other arm, drag legs, collapse, rest, regroup, one arm, other arm, drag legs...for about four more cycles before she's had enough.

Also, I love her babbling. She's recently started saying something like habla-habla-habla...she's already working on her Spanish! She's also started saying dadadada. So cute. Also schreeching, but happy screeching.

Anyways, strong baby! Exhibit B (dog wrestling):

Blake is laughing at Hollie here. Not Mommy. Mommy can get a chuckle, sometimes. Hollie gets the belly laughs, regularly.

Yesterday, we had our first of, I foresee, many similar incidents. We occasionally clip coupons, and Hollie loves to look at them with me, so when they expire I let her keep them. She had left one out on the floor, and Blake wormed her way over to it and started to chew it. Hollie hadn't seen it yet but was headed in her direction, so I just waited to see how the scene would play out. Two seconds later when Hollie saw Little Sister making goopy shreds of the coupon, she threw herself on the floor and wailed. I swooped in to calm her down and deliver The Lesson: She can move now, so we're going to have to be careful not to leave things on the floor. She understood, but I know it will be a while before she really remembers. In any case I was really really really glad to see that she didn't react violently toward Blake.

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We have been thoroughly enjoying our unseasonably warm winter (well, most of us). As you can see:

I didn't realize until later what she was saying...
"...a different name of Grandma..." - Mom, I have no idea what that means!
"...Lizzy Bruin's face..." - This is a relatively minor character character in Hollie's most favorite series of books: The Berenstain Bears. Lizzy Bruin is also Hollie's "best friend" - Hollie's calls her on the phone, looks for her outside, and wonders where she lives and when we're going to visit her. No joke.
"...Jewel's face..." - Another book character. We need more friends.

I think she makes herself perfectly clear in that one. :)

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More later!

Don't worry...

2012-01-04T20:45:00.001-06:00

...we're alive.

I've been making a more conscious effort to reduce my [computer] screen time during the day when the kids are awake. I was getting into the bad habit of spending too much time online - facebooking, catching up on blogs, etc. - and leaving the kids to themselves - much too often at moments when I needed a break...but the girls needed me. Not good. So I'm finding other times and ways to recharge, and kind of quit cold-turkey here. Sorry, I guess I could have warned you. It did me/us immeasurable good.

A quick catch-up post...

Where did we leave off...before T-giving? Yikes. Might have to do this in parts.

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Daniel's parents, Abuelita (still Lipa...I have a feeling that's going to stick) and Pepere, came to see us for Thanksgiving, and as always it was fun sharing the kids with them. :) We continued our effort of the last few years to have healthier holiday meals in more realistic portions (e.g.- less leftover). Hence, our crust-less, slightly sweetened pumpkin pie in personal-sized bowls:

The chocolate chips? My valiant effort to un-healthify my portion. :)

Have I mentioned that the girls are sharing a room now? This was their first night together (back in November).

(Excuse the mess)

Also in November, we finally got Blake into her cloth diapers!

Look at that grin :)

Blake laughs up a storm, but rarely for anyone but Big Sister! Sisterly love, lemme tell ya. Blake is getting stable enough while sitting that she can reach out and grab Hollie's sleeve (or whatever she can reach) and Hollie just gets a kick out of that. Hollie smothers her with hugs and kisses, and Blake just laughs and laughs, so my reminders of "Hollie, be gentle!" go ignored.

Try being mad at these faces, though...

Yes, you got that right - Blake is sitting up really well! She wants to crawl, too...she tries so hard! Exhibit A:

Lately she has been getting all the way up on her hands and knees, but just can't get the forward motion going. She can scoot backward on her tummy, something Hollie never did. Pretty quick, too! We're always having to pull her out from under chairs and tables, and she's always surprising us with the places she ends up in. Of course, this is really messing with her sleep. People warn you about those sleepless nights with your newborn, but they never tell you about the sleepless nights with your six-month-old-learning-to-crawl.

Blake had her first rice cereal a few weeks ago. We took some great video, but it's long, so we might edit it down a bit before we post it. She gobbled it up! We've tried banana and sweet potato as well, but she didn't seem to like them as much. I suspect she will be like her sister, and enjoy eating much more when she can hold solid pieces in her hands.

She also found her toes...

...and has hardly let go of them since, and it's making diaper changes very difficult.

Hollie is using the big potty! I miss cleaning out that little bowl in her potty chair....NOT.

Have I mentioned Hollie loves to cook? Let me elaborate...
Left the kitchen...accidentally left out the vanilla extract...

Again, try being mad...

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I think that pretty much gets us caught up to this point...with the glaring exception of Christmas.

Our Christmas was wonderful. Our first Christmas in our house (that we have lived in for over two years!), just the four of us, and the first Christmas that Hollie could really grasp the whole idea of Santa and reindeer and trees and stockings...absolutely magical. But this post has gone on too long, so I will save all that for next time.

Blake says good bye!

...and good night

....and mwahahaha!

There's nothing like...

2011-12-16T13:32:00.001-06:00

...making a quick run to Target with the girls this morning,

getting back out to the car and not being able to find my keys,

going back inside and asking if anyone's turned them in at customer service,

no luck,

asking the cashier if we left them there,

ditto,

retracing our steps through the store,

and coming up empty,

calling Daniel,

who is about to go into a meeting,

and doesn't have the spare key anyway,

(it's at home)

getting Hollie some lunch to eat while I go through the diaper bag again,

giving up,

getting Blake out of her carseat to feed her,

AND FINDING THE KEYS,

IN THE CARSEAT,

UNDER HER LEGS.

?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Future engineer???

2011-11-21T16:54:00.003-06:00

"Mommy, come see my plane!"

Yes, those are scraps of baseboards. The epic, ongoing, basement work continues.

Blake's 4-month check-up

2011-11-18T12:05:00.002-06:00

Better late than never, right?

16 lbs. 10 oz. - 94th percentile

24 and 3/4 inches - 61st percetile

Blake has more than doubled her birth weight, and is over half of Hollie's weight.

She did great. She had big smiles for the doc, and even chewed her fingers a little - okay, that's not important, but it was still cute.

We are going to try rice cereal soon! (By we I mean Blake...haha).

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I leave you with these...

Caught!

On the potty,

with a bowl of popcorn,

and reading Daddy's pocket-size edition of the Constitution.
(I'm not sure what she has in her other hand)

Can I chew it, pleeeeeease?

Oh. good.

2011-11-06T17:58:00.000-06:00

I was out for a walk with Hollie this afternoon, just the two of us. She obviously needed to pee. She was dancing and wiggling like crazy. I asked her if she needed to go home and use the potty, reassuring her that we'd come back outside again. She said "No", and I think that it's important to show her that I trust her, so I said "Okay". I asked her every few minutes, but the answer was always "No". Finally, she had an accident. I said, "Oops! Let's go home and get some new pants". While we were walking, I said, again, "We need to get you some new pants, so that you don't get cold", to which she replied, "It's okay, it's nice and warm".

So.

2011-11-03T20:12:00.004-05:00

So, Hollie's using the potty like a pro. It was a rough start, but after the first week we had a visit from Daniel's brother and family, including 3-year-old cousin J who, I think, showed her the ropes and gave her the toddler perspective she needed. Now she's doing great. Jumps up and tells us when she needs to go, even when we're out of the house. I got one of those little seats that sits on top of the adult toilet seat, but she's not willing to try that yet, so we're taking her little potty everywhere! Accidents have been very rare. When it clicked, it just clicked.

We're still putting her in diapers at night, just because we didn't want to overwhelm her with expectations of dry days and nights. I see us making the switch to underwear at night pretty soon though, because she's been waking up with dry diapers. She wakes us up pretty much every night, at least once, for help using the potty, so another next step will be limiting her fluids in the evening. But yeah, one step at a time.

Blake has started sleeping through the night, after weeks and weeks of just waking up once, around 5am, and going back to sleep. Between her waking to eat and Hollie waking to use the potty, I was not sleeping much! They are such great kids though. Hollie is becoming Blake's favorite source of entertainment. I swear, Blake spends half the day getting poked, prodded, having toys waved in her face, and being generally harassed by Big Sister, but Blake smiles more readily for her than she does for anyone else! I think Hollie even got Blake's first laugh today.

Little Sister is holding up that big ol' head better and better. She's about to be sitting on her own, I can tell! Spending more time on her tummy, too.

She'll be four months old this weekend. That's a third of the way to ONE YEAR. Holy moly.

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This past weekend we made our annual trip to Phoenix for the ASU Homecoming game. Both girls just soaked up the attention from the grandparents, and loved every minute. We visited a park that we used to live near, and hiked this hill...Hollie's first time!

She made it about halfway up, then asked GB (grandpa) to carry her. She ran around at the top for a little while, and then he carried her all the way down, too!

Blake slept the whole time :)

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Our Halloween was a big deal this year. We have dressed Hollie up every year, but this was the first year that she has really grasped the idea, and also the first year that she has known about CANDY. Yeah. Oh boy.

She chose her costume for the first time, too.

We bought the ears and tail for her, but she picked out the rest herself from her own clothes.

Blake was a hula dancer, with a grass (gold ribbon) skirt and a kiwi bra.

Can't forget the candy-corn socks.

Hollie picked out this little pumpkin bucket herself, too. I was standing there in the Halloween aisle thinking "man, these candy buckets are huge" when Hollie grabs this little bucket (intended to hold a candle) and says, "this is for my trick-or-treating!" Didn't have to think twice about that!

More later (whenever that is)

:)

I know, I know.

2011-10-10T16:06:00.001-05:00

It's been too long.

First, pictures.

Next, stories.

Potty training, by the way, is going amazingly, but of course it didn't start off that way. This was our first trip to the store in underwear. She picked her own clothes, including the hat (on an 80-degree September day, why not?). The trip, for the record, was a complete disaster. She did fine until we got to the cashier and when I wouldn't let her get any candy from the display (I hate those candy displays right there at the register. Grrr...) , she had a meltdown and once she was calmed down I noticed her pants were soaked. Came prepared, thankfully.

Cousins!

Another outfit picked out all by herself. Shoes on the wrong feet, and everything.

At Blake's baptism in Lake Charles! This is the church where Daniel was baptized, we were married, and Hollie was baptized too. I love it!

Best picture ever! Poor Blake. Poor Hollie, too. She had been sick the night before, but she powered through the baptism and was just fine. The heat and humidity were wearing on all of us, I think.

We love Pepere!

This is what I get when I ask Hollie to smile.

little [14 lb.] sister

She smiles! Has been for a few weeks, but now we have proof!!

Next up, stories.

Odds and ends

2011-09-02T18:27:00.200-05:00

Yesterday Blake turned ten weeks old (!!!!!!!), and we took her to meet our Wichita pediatrician.

She was...
13 lbs. 13 oz. - 92nd percentile
22 and 1/2 in. - 45th percentile

Whew...chunky monkey!

We got back to Wichita last Friday afternoon, but spent the night in a hotel, because there was so much work to be done at the house to make it actually livable - rinse all the dishes and cooking utensils, change all the sheets, clean up all the dead bugs and cobwebs, rearrange our bedroom to find room for Blake's bassinet...we're still not done! I only started unpacking boxes this morning, no joke.

The trip went great. We left several hours later than we intended (deja vu, maybe?), and had car trouble the first two days, but thankfully we had planned on spending a few days in Montana with my mom's aunt, so we just cut that stay short and got ourselves right back on schedule.

It's really a bummer that we had to do that, though. Montana is gorgeous! Our time there really deserves it's own post, so I'll get to that soon.

We really enjoyed our beautiful summer in Mukilteo, but it is good to be home, where we know people, have places to be and things to do, and just know where everything is without having to consult a map every time we leave the house. Also, streets on a grid. We missed that. :) It is still windy as heck here, though.

Hollie is pretty much ecstatic to be home. A couple of times she has asked to go to places in Mukilteo - the Winco store (haha), our favorite park (see below...), or ride the big boat (also below...) - and we have to remind her that we left, but she is really happy to be here, and she's been having fun helping us straighten up the house.

She is getting so grown up. The wild-eyed toddler still makes regular appearances, but overall she is learning to find the words to use when she's upset, obey our requests for her to be quiet (when Blake's sleeping), and help with simple tasks around the house...and actually do them well! She's using full sentences more and more, and she is starting to consistently verbalize when she is tired/hungry/etc, rather than just whining unintelligibly and then proceeding to a meltdown.

The last few weeks that we were in Mukilteo, we pretty much threw in the towel on potty-training. It was going downhill fast. I think we were trying to do it halfway - encourage her but not push it - which sounds great when you say it that way, but it just wasn't working. She just got into the habit of waiting until we needed to leave the house, because then she got to put on a diaper. Knowing that we were going back to Wichita soon, we couldn't not leave the house (too many things to do one last time!), so we just gave up and put her in diapers 24/7. She didn't object one bit. We recently started asking her about using the potty again, and she has seemed pretty excited about it. She remembers the whole process of wiping, flushing, and washing hands. As soon as the house get into decent condition and we're not using every spare minute to organize or unpack, we're prepared to try it for real, and I think Hollie's ready, too.

Blake is doing very well. Just before we left, she started smiling for real, and shortly after that began making little oohs and aahs. Adorable. Sleeping pretty well - generally a 5 to 6 hour stretch, wake up to eat, and go right back down for a 4 to 5 hour stretch. I am so so so lucky that both my kids were such great sleepers at this age...I thank my lucky stars every day. She's lifting her head really well during her tummy-time, but she doesn't enjoy that very long. Her big sister is getting better and better at containing her love (ie - giving gentle hugs and kisses).

Here are some photos from our last full day in Mukilteo. I spent the day before running around like a headless chicken, packing up the apartment and driving Hollie and Blake crazy, so that day we had a break and took our last opportunity to spend the afternoon at our favorite park.

It was a good idea, because the weather was spectacular. It was an awful idea, because then I was super bummed that we were leaving.

See what I mean?

Fish and chips from Ivar's didn't help. at. all.

Last goodbye to our favorite ferry

Snug as a bug

Note to self, for future reference:
Toddler + little condiment cup + sandy beach = 3 hours. Minimum.

... + little pool of water? We're doomed.

Careful, those waves sneak up on you sometimes!

Cheese?

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One more, just because.

Blake's birth: Part 3

2011-08-31T13:37:00.000-05:00

Part 1
Part 2

-----------------------------

At 4pm we were back at the hospital and I was getting my IV antibiotics. While we waited for another visit from Dr. J, I paced around the room but was disappointed to find that the contractions had lost the intensity that they'd had at the mall. We talked to the nurse, Angela, for a while and she told us that Dr. J's next step, if I hadn't progressed much, would probably be breaking my water. I balked a little at that idea, because I wanted to have as natural a birth as possible and the miso tablet had already steered me in the opposite direction, so I was really in the frame of mind to say no to everything at that point. Daniel and I agreed that if I hadn't progressed much, and things were going to move at such a slow pace, we would rather just go home. Angela encouraged us to let Dr. J know that's what we wanted.

Finally around 6pm, Dr. J came in, and I was 5cm dilated. Just as the nurse had said, he suggested we break my water. I told him that even though my contractions had been regular all day, they were lacking in intensity, and I would rather go home and wait. He balked at that idea as bad as I had at his! He told me that breaking my water would almost certainly get my contractions much more intense. I guess I didn't appear to be changing my mind, so he said he would step out for a minute and let us think about it. He had such a disappointed look, like he felt like we were making the wrong decision, but he was going to let us go if that's what we wanted.

I think that as he was leaving, I knew immediately that we were going to stay. I realized that A) breaking my water is not like using a drug, so I could still consider it a nearly natural birth, B) he was probably right about the effect breaking my water would have on my contractions, and C) ultimately I was still a very impatient overdue pregnant woman and just wanted to have this baby asap.

He came back in, we told him our decision, and at 6:20pm he broke my water.

He was right, of course, and very quickly my contractions got more intense and more frequent. I stayed sitting up in bed, and just focused on breathing in and out slowly, exhaling with a shhhhh through my teeth, which helped me relax through them. Angela, the nurse, stayed in the room to chat with us, but by about 7pm I needed silence during each contraction, and didn't ask for it very politely, I'm sorry to say. I even threw up at some point, but I was powering through, breathing and relaxing completely. I remember wondering how long this might last.

We talked about getting into the tub, but I was reluctant because the room with the tub was down the hall. They weren't set up for water births, so if we stayed until I had the urge to push, I would have to fight it all the way back to the room. The contractions were so strong and close together that I didn't think I could get out of bed anyway.

During those contractions, one picture kept popping into my head. It was from the Disney movie Fantasia, during Toccata and Fugue, which is the one that's mostly abstract pictures. Here's a link to it on YouTube: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. It's toward the end, and it's quick - from 7:10 to 7:20. Apparently, that's what my subconscious thinks contractions look like. In case you're wondering, I only saw the image...didn't hear any music. :)

During a contraction at about 7:35pm, I had the feeling that I needed to pass gas, and I mentioned it to our new nurse, Marissa (there had been a shift change). I don't know why I mentioned it - that's not something I will normally just tell people. Daniel said, "Hey, if you do, you can blame it on me" but even between contractions I couldn't find the humor, and I think I just gave him a good scowl (later, I reassured him that under any other circumstances he would have gotten at least a chuckle). However, it's a very good thing I did mention it, because she told me that it meant I'd probably be pushing soon, and sure enough...

...next contraction: "I'M PUSHING!" That's a direct quote. Not "I think I need to push", not "Can I push?", but "My body is pushing and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Marissa quickly checked me, and I was completely dilated. she called Dr. J, who had been in the cafeteria getting dinner, and he was in the room right away. After that, Daniel stopped making updates to our Word doc and the details are a little fuzzy.

One part I do remember distinctly: my favorite moment of the delivery (well, second favorite) was when one of the nurses asked me, "Do you like these socks? If you want to keep them, we need to take them off right now!" I said yes, and Daniel took them off for me.

The room filled up with nurses, and they ran around getting the bed and the room ready. I was pushing like crazy. Daniel and a few nurses were with me but nobody was counting down from ten during the contractions, and I kept wishing somebody would, because the pressure was so great and so constant that I couldn't really tell when each contraction ended.

One of the nurses was holding a fetal monitor to my belly, and became alarmed when the heart rate dropped very low, so low that she wasn't sure if she was picking up the baby's heart rate or mine (the baby's is normally much faster than an adult's). They suspected there was pressure on the umbilical cord, so they helped me turn onto my left side, in an effort to relieve the pressure on the cord and also to get a better angle for the fetal monitor. While this was happening, Dr. J decided that the baby needed to come out as soon as possible, so he prepared to give me a pudendal block. This is a local anesthetic that would allow him to use forceps to help guide the baby out. When it was ready, one of the nurses, Geneva, told me I needed to not push for a minute while he gave the injection. I think I gave her a look, like what do you mean not push??, but she helped me do it. when the block was done, Dr. J used the forceps and at 7:53pm, after roughly 18 minutes of pushing, Blake Elizabeth was born!

The rest is history, I guess. They put her right up on my belly, and Daniel cut the cord. I'm so so glad we didn't find out the gender by ultrasound. The surprise was amazing.

They didn't take her away from me for the longest time, and I kept half-wishing they would, because I was curious about her weight and length. In fact they didn't do any of that until after Daniel's parents arrived with Hollie. It was so good to see them. :)

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There are more little stories to tell, but there are too many for now. We're busy getting ready to head back to Wichita! Yep, we're leaving this weekend, and taking 6 or 7 days to get back. We have really enjoyed living here, but it will be good to be home again.

Blake's birth: Part 2

2011-08-11T18:27:00.013-05:00

Alternately titled: Setting the bar really really high with three posts in one day

Hollie played by herself for quite a while this morning, and both girls napped at the same time, so instead of showering, I did this! You're welcome.

I don't know why the spaces are so big here...I'll try to get it fixed...

I need to thank Daniel for his note-taking during my labor. Soon after we arrived at the hospital, I got out the laptop and opened a Word document. I titled it "labor", saved it on the desktop, and started out with:

[spoiler alert]

7:30- 3cm 50% effaced, stripped membranes

I continued making updates on my own until about the time that [spoiler alert] my water broke. After that, Daniel took over, and as you'll see he did an amazing job.

We still have that Word doc saved on the desktop, but the title is changed to "blake".

Part 1
Part 3

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We left the house a little late the next morning, but rather than get stressed out (the way being late usually affects us), we joked and kept the mood light.

At 7:30am Dr. J, my OB, met us in the room and we got to business. I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced, so he stripped my membranes…without warning me…yikes.

I started having contractions right away. They weren’t very strong, but they came at regular intervals (I don’t remember how far apart, probably in the 5 to 7 minute range). I stayed in bed, and we watched True Grit. I’m not normally a fan of Westerns, but it was really good!

Because I have Group B strep, I was going to need antibiotics by IV. I got my first dose at 8am. It only took about 20 minutes, but they left the IV in, because I would need another dose every four hours until the birth.

At about 9am, Dr. J came back to check me again - 4cm and 70% effaced. We decided to go ahead with the misoprostol tablet, which is placed next to the cervix. After that, I needed to stay in bed for another hour while it dissolved and started to work.

After the hour was up, I got out of bed for a stretch, a potty break, and a snack. I was really glad to be allowed to eat this time (not the case with Hollie - they had given me IV fluids with glucose the whole time I was in labor. I never felt hungry the whole day, but it felt weird not eating at all).

I hadn’t really had any change in my contractions. Still regular at about 5 to 7 minutes, but not very strong. I was a little sleepy just from being up so early, so I decided to stay in bed and get some rest…knowing the real work was still ahead. The movie was getting really good, too.

At noon, I was due for my second dose of antibiotics. We had finished the movie, so I took my IV stand and we walked around the hallways.

We went back to the room about a half hour later, when the fluid bag was empty. With my doctor’s approval, we got permission to leave the hospital for one hour. We went to Jamba Juice! I got something “caribbean” or “tropical” with orange and mango in it. It was just what I was craving, and it was sooo good. This Jamba Juice happened to be inside a Whole Foods store, so Daniel went to pick up some fruit for us to snack on at the hospital while I waited for the smoothies - and I may have also snuck over to the bakery to grab a triple-chocolate cookie, but you know, the whole day’s a blur and I can’t really remember. :)

At 1:15pm we were back at the hospital, where they hooked me up to the monitors just to see how we were doing. Everything was fine, but there still hadn’t been much change in my contractions (they were maybe just a touch stronger). We could have done another misoprostol tablet at this point, but we decided against it.

We asked if we could leave the hospital again, and while we waited for an answer (doc was busy), I stood and paced around the room. I was starting to find that the contractions were more intense when I stood or walked. The nurses were always asking me where I was on the “pain scale”, from one to ten - one being no pain at all, and ten being the worst pain you’ve ever felt. I had been at about a two all day, and at this point maybe up to a three, but I had to tell them that I was really just feeling an increase in intensity…hadn’t really felt anything painful at all yet.

At 2:30pm, we got permission to leave the hospital for an hour and a half, because at 4pm I would need another dose of antibiotics. This time, we went to a big mall nearby, to walk.

While we were there - specifically, in the Brookstone store - browsing for things we’ll never have the expendable income for (or really need, anyway) (but are fun to look at), the contractions starting getting pretty strong. I had been able to keep walking for them before, but now I was having to stop. We could have stayed longer, but I told Daniel that we ought to head back to the hospital. I even had him go get the car while I waited by the door. We weren’t about to have the baby or anything, but I was just getting uncomfortable.

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Is it cruel of me to stop here? Sorry. You know how everything turned though, right? :)

Wow, two posts in one day!

2011-08-11T16:44:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted pictures in a really long time. And I have lots.

Here are some of the better ones!

For the most part these are self-explanatory, but sometime I'll come back and add descriptions.

Funny things Hollie has said lately

2011-08-11T09:33:00.001-05:00

Someone said something about Hollie being a big sister now, and she protests, "I'm not big sister - I'm Hollie!"

I was trying to convince Hollie that there's no longer a baby in my belly, and she suggests, "We need to get another baby in the store." In almost every conversation we have these days, she tells me we need [something] "in the store".

I had made a smoothie to share with her, so I poured some into her cup and started drinking the rest right from the blender (we always try to set a good example around here). She looked at me, wide-eyed, and said, "That's a biiiig cup! Go show baby Blake!" and pointed across the room to her sister.

One afternoon, she was wound up and running around the house clicking her tongue. I asked what she was doing, and she said, "It's a song about Mother Goose".

She told me, "You gotta be kidding me!"

Phonetically, for full effect: "You gah be kimmee!"

Daniel was cooking dinner, and Hollie and I were helping, while I held Blake in one arm. I told her, "Good job, Hollie!", and she came right back with "Good job, Mommy!" and "Good job, Daddy!". I asked her if Blake was doing a good job, too, and she thought for a minute before saying, "Nooo."

Her latest method of getting my attention is to plead, "Turn your head, Mommy!"

Just this afternoon, I’m changing Blake’s diaper and her clothes - she’s not happy about it, and she’s letting me know. Hollie tells me, “Blake wants Daddy.” Umm, ouch?!

Last but not least, my very favorite:

We were at the park yesterday, just walking along, and she said, "Did you know cars go pee-pee in a little potty outside?"

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We have been busy around here (maybe that goes without saying) but in good ways. Working on updates, promise!

Blake's birth: Part 1

2011-08-02T18:51:00.005-05:00

As I'm writing this, it's becoming a novel, so I'm going to post it in installments. This is the boring one, about the day before the birth. They will get more interesting after this, I promise.

Part 2
Part 3

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It was the Fourth of July, and we were four days overdue. Daniel’s parents were staying with us, to be home with Hollie when Daniel and I went off to the hospital when the time came. Daniel’s brother and his family had driven up from Portland for the long weekend, hoping to see Baby, though they had to go back the next morning and would miss her by just a few hours (so they ended up driving back up again the next weekend).

I got a phone call that afternoon from my OB. He had been out of town the entire previous week, so he was just calling to check up on me (isn’t that awesome?). One of us, I don’t remember who, brought up induction. He understood how I felt about it, but I also understood the risks of going too far overdue and to be honest, I was losing patience and was just really-really ready to be done being pregnant. I asked what options we had other than Pitocin, and he kind of chuckled at me changing my mind about it (induction), but he said (I’m paraphrasing), "Please realize- Pitocin is my last resort. We will try everything else first. It’s obvious that you had a bad experience with it last time, and frankly I don’t understand why they started you off with it."

So, without hesitation I agreed to go in to the hospital the next morning for a “gentle” induction. The plan was to first see if I was dilated enough for him to strip my membranes*, and if not, we would try a misoprostol tablet. We were really excited to know we’d have our baby soon, and I was really excited to have the less aggressive induction and see if and how my labor would start. I was a little disappointed that we weren’t going to have the wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-contractions experience, or the dropped-off-at-the-hospital-entrance-while-Daniel-parks-the-car experience, that I had been hoping for, but I was beginning to see that going overdue is just normal for me (turns out it’s genetic - my mom went over a week overdue with all three of her pregnancies!). I can accept that, especially knowing now (spoiler alert…) that I can have a [mostly] natural birth anyway, and have a great experience while I’m at it.

*By the way, if you don’t know what that means, Google it at your own risk.

Later that afternoon, we were preparing our big Fourth of July lunch and realized we didn’t have any matches to start our little grill we had purchased for the occasion. Daniel and I left the crowd at home and took a long walk to the grocery store. We figured it would be the last opportunity we would have to be alone together for quite a while! At the store, we rented a movie, True Grit, to watch the next day at the hospital if we got a chance. We were also surprised to see a book called “McElligot’s Pool”, a classic Dr. Seuss book that we thought was out of print. My dad used to read it to me when I was a kid, from the copy he got when he was a kid, and he recently gave me it to me for Hollie. We read it to her a lot, and she loves it, but we don’t let her handle it because it’s about to fall apart. In fact, we had left it in Wichita because we didn’t want to risk damaging it in the move. We bought that copy in the store, and saw it as a good sign for the next day. It was so cool to bring it home for Hollie that evening.

After we got back, I remember feeling that I was "allowed" to relax at that point. I had been having this awful feeling that there is some magical secret thing women are "supposed" to do to start labor and I wasn't doing it. I know it's silly. As a result though, I had been walking quite a bit for the last week or so, feeling like if I wasn't walking or generally staying active then I wasn't doing anything to get my labor started. This is a glimpse into the mind of an irrational overdue pregnant woman. It was keeping me very busy. So, having made the decision to induce, and being at peace with it, I finally felt like I could sit back and be lazy for an evening.

It was so tough putting Hollie to bed that night, knowing that we wouldn't see her in the morning. Actually, knowing that we probably wouldn't see her until after the baby was born! For once, we were the ones not wanting to turn off the lights.

However, I think Daniel did sneak into her room the next morning to give her a kiss before we left, even though I was worried that she would wake up. For the record, she didn't, and she slept late that morning.

To be continued...

Edit

2011-07-20T18:57:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, when I wrote about how we're doing, I left out quite a crucial quarter of "we".

Daddy has been wonderful. He went back to full days at work about a week ago, while my mom was here.

He ended up doing Blake's first bath at home entirely by himself, while I took pictures. That was after I was the one complaining that she needed to be bathed.

He has really made sure that Hollie is getting the attention that she needs, taking her out for walks and trips to the park when she needs to let off steam.

Blake is so content with him. I can't let him hold her too long in the evenings, because she sleeps so well that she won't be tired at bedtime!

Without getting into the gory details, he has been gentle and endlessly supportive through my hormonal postpartum mood swings and new-mom-of-two worries.

Okay, done bragging. But really, he's the best.

How we're doing

2011-07-19T18:15:00.002-05:00

Today is my first full day at home with two kiddos. We had three hours yesterday between dropping my mom off at the airport and Daniel coming home. Still alive and intact...so far, so good!

We went for our first walk this morning, just the three of us, with Blake in the mei-tai. It didn't go perfectly...I may have had to pick Hollie up and carry her in one arm at one point...but we did make it home again.

Both girls are napping right now, so I probably should be, too. Instead, I give you some disjointed thoughts...

Blake is one sleepy baby. I don't remember Hollie sleeping this much, but I looked it up and newborns her age are supposed to be sleeping 16 out of every 24 hours. Crazy.

She's nursing like a pro.

She initially screamed through every diaper change, but lately she doesn't mind them so much while she's awake. But if she's drowsy or in a milk-coma, you'll get an earful. I hate to spoil a newborn milk-coma, but sometimes it has to be done.

She's two weeks old today, and she's only had three baths. I know, I know, she doesn't really get "dirty", but that's still just wrong.

She even seems to like baths, unlike her sister did at this age.

Her umbilical cord fell off in the wee hours of yesterday morning.

I find myself forgetting how young she is...I keep thinking that tomorrow we should try some rice cereal or mashed banana, or be watching for her first tooth.

Hollie is a fantastic big sister. We only have to watch that she doesn't hug too hard. She also really really wants to pick Blake up all by herself. I'm sure at some point the novelty wears off and jealousy moves in...I'm watching for that too!

I am a little tired. For a while there, I was not resting nearly as much as I should have been, but the "new mom high" was carrying me through...and also an irrational need to keep up with all the housework on my own the way I had been before (working on letting go of that). As reality is slowly setting in, I'm making a conscious effort to rest when I get the opportunity. I have to say, the recovery from this birth was infinitely better than last time around. On that note, I am working on that birth story. In my abundant spare time. :)

More later...

First bath and some close-ups

2011-07-16T11:10:00.001-05:00

Sorry, creative post titles have gotten pushed down the to-do list for now. We'll get to them eventually. :)

What looks like a really wrinkly back here is just the blur of Daniel's hand.

(That tongue is really a tongue.)

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This girl opens her eyes so infrequently that every time she does, whoever is holding her has to make sure everyone knows so we can drop what we're doing to come and see. It's a strange feeling to not really know what she looks like.

Managed to capture some evidence of a grayish-blue color here...

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We are doing great! Daniel's parents have left, and now my mom is spending a week here. Overall, Blake is very, very similar to Hollie at this age, but our experience, with the perspective of experienced parents, has been very different.

Stories and more pictures on the way...

One step at a time. First: pictures

2011-07-10T16:56:00.000-05:00

First photo, taken by our OB.

Yikes, glad I didn't have a c-section with those shaky hands!

Just kidding. Our OB was great. You'll see when I post the story that he really made a lot of good decisions for us that day. We trusted him, and it paid off.

After possibly the best shower ever.

Family of four!

Headed home...

Oh. hi.

2011-07-09T18:52:00.001-05:00

If you know my blog, then you probably know the news already...

It's a girl!

Blake Elizabeth

born July 5th 2011 at 7:53pm
8lbs even, and 19 3/4 inches

We're home and busy figuring out life all over again. I'll be back in about 20 years when we've done that. :)

No, for now we're having a wonderful time sharing the new baby sister with family, getting reaquainted with Hollie as a big sister, and...let's be honest, freaking out a little bit.

We're a family of four!!!

Another due date comes...and goes...

2011-07-02T10:48:00.001-05:00

We're ready. This baby's ready. It's only a matter of time.

That's been the soundtrack in my head lately!

Still having contractions, mostly in the afternoons and evenings. Pretty good ones, too. They're worse if I've been walking, and go away if I lay down. I think next time that happens, I'm just going to keep walking.

Well, we made a point of enjoying the due date. Abuelita and Hollie and I went to the YMCA in the morning to swim, and we went for a nice lunch at a place right on the beach. Then in the afternoon, Daniel and I went by ourselves to an NST appointment with the nurse at the doctor's office (doc is still out of town), and then we went to the movies and saw Super 8. Not typically my kind of movie, but I have to say it was really well done! It's always refreshing to me to see a really good movie without any big name actors.

Here are the pictures from our boat ride through Deception Pass...

We didn't get to drive it. :(

Captain Mark took us out.

We could not have asked for better weather or smoother water! Perfect day.

Deception Pass

Don't know if you can tell here, but the shores were packed. So glad we didn't decide to fight that!

Our little boat girl. She surprised us all with how at ease she was. She loved it when we went fast!

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I have been determined to fill our days with little adventures to A) enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having, B) make the most of my last opportunities to leave the house at all (for a while) and C) just keep active in an effort to bring this pregnancy to an end.

Yesterday morning, Abuelita and Hollie and I went strawberry picking!

More GORGEOUS Pacific NW summer weather!

Someone needed a little guidance...

...but oh my goodness this dirt is SO COOL!!!

The little yellow ones, too.

Sampling. Shhhh...

Hands covered in dirt and strawberry juice!

That's how you know it's been a good day.

That giant belly in the white shirt is me.

Thank you again to Abuelita for letting me wander away and completely zone out in my strawberry-picking!

40 weeks, 1 day, and counting.

Went overboard. A little. Maybe.

About fifteen pounds here.

Whew! All done - three bags for the freezer and four big bowls for the fridge.

Worth it.

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Another little excursion in the plans for today!

Happy weekend, everyone. :)

Had another baby boy dream...

2011-06-27T00:35:00.002-05:00

Gosh, if this baby is a girl, I don't know how I'm going to explain all these boy dreams.

In this one, we had gone to the hospital because I was having contractions, or my water had broken, or something, I don't know. I was on a bed in triage. The nurse taking care of me decided to do a quick ultrasound just to see how things looked, and at that moment a group of med students came in, apparently for rounds or whatever. When they came to my bed the nurse said, speaking to them, not me, "Here we have a 39-week male fetus..." and I got pretty upset and said, "Gee, thanks!" before I realized, well, I was going to find out soon anyway.

It was very realistic - even when I woke up I was upset and disappointed.

We had a great time yesterday. Whidbey Island again (yep, that's three weekends in a row)! We are going to have to give that place a rest - fortunately we have plans to do things elsewhere later this week. Yesterday though, we got to see Deception Pass...by boat! Very cool. I'll get the pictures up soon.

Goings-on

2011-06-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

We've been keeping busy around here like it's our job.

Two Sundays ago, we made our first trip over to Whidbey Island. Hollie loooved the ferry ride.

[ECSTATIC FACE]

We took a tour of historic Fort Casey, which was built right after the Civil War. There are actually three forts around the Sound, because they're all armed with these enormous 33-ton cannons that were reeeeally difficult to move (and aim), so they basically just tried to get you from every angle.

Hollie clings to Daddy for dear life. It was a little breezy.

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Then, on Friday night - six nights ago - we had our first little labor scare. I was getting Hollie ready for bed, and started reading some books while we waited for Daddy to join us. In the time it took to read two books, I had three little contractions. Just then, Daniel came in and when I told him, he gave me a look and I had to say, "No, I'm not kidding!"

Hollie went to sleep, and they continued. They were really weak - I could hardly feel them except for a little tightness, and with a hand on my belly I could feel that it got very firm. Just like the contractions I've been having for weeks. Except not so many in a row. And not for an hour.

I was skeptical that this was really labor, but my OB's rule is to call if you have more than five contractions in an hour, so I called. He told me to drink a bunch of water and try to rest, and call again in an hour if they got worse.

So, for about a half hour after that I ran around the apartment cleaning up, chugging water, and feeling my belly to see if it was tight. They never intensified, but they kept going and I kept alternating between "there is no way this is real labor" and "shoot, I was induced last time...maybe this is real labor!". Finally Daniel convinced me to lay down, and sure enough, the moment my head hit the pillow they stopped, I fell asleep, and didn't have another one the entire night...that I know of.

We had planned a trip to Vancouver for the next day, but decided in the morning to stay a little closer to home. After breakfast we drove into Seattle to see the Boeing Museum of Flight. As we're walking into the museum, my cell rings, and it's my OB...checking up on me and advising me to take it easy and rest for the weekend! Hmmmm...okay!

I neglected to tell him where we were at that moment! Hopefully he never finds out about this blog...

The museum was pretty cool. That morning they happened to be having a helicopter event outside, and we were arriving just at the end so we got to see a few of them take off. Two of the guys from Deadliest Catch were there too, signing autographs and taking pictures.

We forgot to take the camera with us, so the only pictures I have are on my cell phone. Daniel's going to have to help me get them on the computer...

There was also the "big red barn" where Boeing first started building planes.

Then, back outside to see the Concord and Air Force One...and we got to walk through both! Very cool, despite waiting in two very long lines...in the constant drizzle. Still cool.

By that point we were ready to call it a day, even though we hadn't actually gone into the museum at all. We figure we'll probably go back again. :)

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The next day (this past Sunday), we took the ferry over to Whidbey Island again. After splurging on lunch at a nice place in Coupeville, we drove up through the northern part of the island, which we had completely missed last time, to see Deception Pass. Amazing! You're just driving along through the woods, and then suddenly you're on a bridge 200 feet over the water. We wanted to park and walk around, but it was packed with people and Hollie was asleep so we didn't want to take turns getting out and all that. Ditto the museum - we'll probably go back. :)

Oh yeah, forgot to take the camera on that trip, too. :(

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Okay, last thing...

Doctor's appointment two days ago:
I'm 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced.
Steady progress!

Ever since last Friday night, my contractions have been less frequent (than they were prior to Friday night), but stronger.

Also, my feet are starting to swell. :(

I'm 39 weeks today. Yep, I skipped the 38 week photo, but it doesn't really look like much has changed in two weeks anyway.

Starting this Saturday, my OB is out of town for a week. To be honest, I don't see this birth happening that soon though. My experience - Hollie being five days late (and induced) - is leading me to believe that, but I know every time will be different, so we will just have to wait and see!

Quick update...

2011-06-14T10:10:00.000-05:00

That OB appointment yesterday...it was a good one.

I'm not diabetic. All my blood sugar levels for the weekend were normal. No reason to think about inducing early. Hallelujah. Since I have this meter now and I'm all stocked up on test strips and lancets, he wants me to keep monitoring my blood sugar two days a week, just to keep an eye on it.

More about inducing...we all got on the same page about how I don't. want. to. be. induced. unless. there's. a. really. good. reason. Period. That's pretty much this doc's style anyways. Good to know we're all clear on that.

I'm 1 to 2 cm dilated, and 30% effaced.

We didn't end up changing my due date at all! Baby's weight was estimated at 6 lbs, 15 oz, and the measurements had us right on track for June 30th.

That's 2 weeks and 2 days away. Oh goodness...I'm not ready!

Only about three weeks out of date...

2011-06-11T17:22:00.006-05:00

All in all, the drive from Kansas to Washington went very smoothly for us. All our hotels were booked ahead of time, so we were able/forced to plan ahead quite a bit.

Our first day was the shortest, at about seven and a half hours. We had planned to spend Saturday morning packing up the car, and hit the road after lunch. We knew it would be a very long afternoon/evening on the road, but we knew we'd need the whole morning, and figured that if the first day is the toughest, then each day afterward would be that much easier.

Packing up the absolute essentials here.

We are such good Cajuns.

Jam-packed and jelly-tight

Unfortunately, between computer issues and two mad dashes out to ship boxes that wouldn't fit in the van, we didn't leave until 5:00. PM. With seven and a half hours between us and our first pre-booked hotel.

With all the excitement of packing, Hollie hadn't napped yet that day, so as soon as we got going she passed out which allowed us to go several hours without stops. Eventually she woke up, and we got out our surprise brand-new toy for the road...

This is one of those magnetic doodling boards that has a little pen to draw with, and a eraser knob that slides up and down the side the clear it off. She was hooked.

We had dinner in the car, and at about 10:00 Hollie fell asleep again, so we arrived at the hotel at about midnight. That's only seven hours...including at least one stop that I can remember...yeah, we went fast.

Hollie woke up as we got into the room, but after a chance to stretch her legs and check things out, she was out again. I fell asleep in the bed with her...until about 4:30am when I woke up with the feeling that someone was needing a little more space...

Yes, she is right in the middle of a queen-size bed there. Rather than try to move her, I found my way over to Daniel's bed, only to find him sleeping diagonally across it. Out. of. luck. Hollie may look just like me, but some things are undeniably Daddy. Lucky for both of them, I can sleep in very small non-human shaped spaces, even at 35-weeks pregnant. :) I love you two.

The next day was Sunday, so after some online guess-timating, we found a church about three hours away, with a mass time in about three hours. We only arrived about five minutes late, which makes no sense when much-too-often we show up later than that when we live fifteen minutes away!

Wyoming.

Blaaaah.

Even with that hour-long stop, it was still an easy day and we arrived at our next hotel early in the evening.

Monday was interesting. We planned to stop in Deer Lodge, Montana, to see my mom's aunt, and then visit a college friend of ours who lives in Missoula, which was our next overnight stop.

Not very far into Monday morning, we hit a road closure. Interstate's flooded. A few minutes of fooling with the GPS, and we have an alternative route. About two minutes later...signs saying that route is closed. For snow. Before we get too far off-track, we stop at a gas station for a real paper map and directions. Guy at the gas station gives us a third route, which is going to put us two or three hours behind. Not that we have a choice.

So, we get going. Next...construction. The road is gravel, and there is a 35 mph speed-limit. For like 35 miles. Maddening, but we get through it.

Fortunately after that, the day was smooth sailing. Hadn't seen my mom's aunt since our wedding, and our college friend in...probably longer than that.

And these views...

...certainly didn't hurt, either.

The next day, Tuesday the 24th, was our last. It was a fun, relaxed day, with beautiful weather and stop in the good-humored town of George, Washington.

And here we are! Whew. There you have it. You're welcome.

A real pain in the...

2011-06-10T15:11:00.002-05:00

...fingers.

That's my life this weekend. My one-hour glucose tolerance test (for gestational diabetes) came back not good. A little backstory...I took the same test while pregnant with Hollie and failed, then took the more accurate three-hour test and it was completely normal.

But this time around, because it is so late in my pregnancy, and GD nearly always means an induced early delivery...we're skipping the three-hour test and moving right along to the finger-pricking. I get to monitor my blood sugar all weekend, and if on Monday it's all been good, I think they're going to let me stop, and we'll call that one-hour test a fluke. If I understood correctly. Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind.

Besides meeting with a nurse to learn to use the meter, and a dietitian to talk about how I have to eat now, we had an ultrasound!

Everything looked great. We got a beautiful view of the heart beating...a more detailed view than I have ever seen. Got to count some fingers, too. The face...reminded me instantly of the way Hollie looked in her ultrasound just days before she was born.

Daniel found out the gender...100% certain this time! He told me afterward that he thinks I'm "going to be very happy" but of course that doesn't give me any clue whatsoever.

The other goal for the day was to determine a new due date, based on the ultrasound. The plan was to visit our doc right afterward to discuss. Unfortunately, by that point it was late in the day and when we arrived, he still hadn't gotten our ultrasound notes from the lab...so we left without an answer, and a new appointment for Monday. :( GAH.

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We had an awesome trip down to Portland last weekend to see Daniel's brother and his family. Hollie and her cousin Juliet are so great together. They are a little more than five months apart in age, and every time they see each other the gap seems smaller and smaller. They have both learned to hug nicely by now, which is WOW...so cute.

At one point I watched them come across Daniel's brother's hat, and Juliet pointed it out as "Baba's hat!" which Hollie corrected - "No, Uncle T-----'s' hat".

Juliet's little brother Levi, and his enormous eyes, are beyond adorable. Such a cutie.

The main reason for our trip was Daniel's brother's graduation from the Montessori Institute! That sure is some cool stuff. Congratulations, bro-in-law!

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That's all for now. Happy weekend!

Settling in

2011-06-08T19:52:00.001-05:00

One of the first things that I could not wait to do when we arrived here in Mukilteo is unpack all the baby clothes. I had to go through all of them in Wichita, to decide what we were taking, but I knew it was pointless to wash and organize it all (though I really wanted to) because I knew I would have to wash them again after they sat in a box on a truck for a week anyway.

So after we got here that Monday night [over] two weeks ago, literally the first thing I did on Tuesday morning after Hollie and I had breakfast was set up the bassinet. Then I waited anxiously for Friday, when the boxes of clothes that we shipped showed up at the door. Within two minutes the clothes were spread out over the floor, and Hollie and I just sat down and looked through them and talked about the new baby.

So then they sat and sat and sat in a pile in the bassinet because for some reason I could not ever remember to pick up baby detergent at the store! Unbelievable. My nesting urge was being completely thwarted by my scatterbrained-ness.

Finally got my hands on some detergent and yesterday got all the neutral colored clothes washed, folded, and put away...with help...

Look at this little monkey. She wanted to try on all the clothes, but figured out pretty quickly that wasn't going to work. She settled for this swaddling blanket with velcro tabs...it just barely fit around her shoulders!

Gotta make sure the swing still works, too.

Daniel and I just had our third anniversary (cue: awww) and we hadn't really planned on doing anything, but at the last minute Daniel got one of his coworkers (who has kids...but they're back in KS) to watch Hollie for the evening so that we could see a movie. The movie (Bridesmaids) wasn't great, but it's always nice to get somewhat dressed up and have some fun.

Hollie had some fun too, apparently. She told her babysitter all about how Daddy had built her little table (a recent purchase from Ikea), and when she ripped her doll a little bit she reassured him that Mommy would fix it.

New belly picture - 36-ish weeks. I forgot to mention - at my first appointment with the new doc, he decided to push my due date back a few days based on that first trimester ultrasound. At my next ultrasound (tomorrow!) we will come up with a new official due date.

I still have stories and pictures of our long drive, and also from our weekend trip down to Portland, to post...but that's enough for today. More tomorrow!

Exploring

2011-06-01T14:29:00.002-05:00

We've had an interesting first week in Mukilteo. Haven't figured out how to convince spell-checker that "mukilteo" isn't misspelled.

Over the weekend Daniel's two older brothers, T and C, visited and taught Hollie all about bouncing tennis balls off the walls and tables. I guess that's what uncles are for!

While they were here, Daniel and T decided to go out for a jog to see the coast. Hours later it's getting dark and we get the phone call: "Help! We're lost!" A half-hour with Google maps later, C went out to pick them up. Once they were back at home, slightly worse for the wear, we got to hear the whole story, which involved following a creek into the woods, crawling under a fence into a construction site (despite posted warnings of video surveillance) to try and find out where they were (unsuccessfully; no one was there), Daniel carrying T on his back over a gravel road (T had gone barefoot), and from there wandering residential streets for a main intersection to assist our Google maps search.

Crazy boys.

But wait, there's more.

A few nights later, after the uncles were gone, Daniel went out by himself to run errands at two stores. He didn't take our GPS because he had been to both stores before. Deja vu - it's getting dark and I get the phone call: "Help! I'm lost!" This time it only took about five minutes for me to figure out where he was, but by then his phone had very little battery life left so I had to give him turn-by-turn directions to the store and just hope that he knew his way from there to the second store, and from there, home. Thankfully he did. And when he got home we got a good laugh together when he looked at the map and saw how far off course he had gotten. Waaaay out there!

To be fair, the same thing has happened to me more than once since we've been here. Even though the GPS generally stays in my car, I tend not to trust it sometimes...

Anyway.

For Memorial Day, we visited a park on the coast where we had lunch with a few of Daniel's coworkers. It was a chilly, overcast day (our new "normal", really), but it was gorgeous. Check these out...

Hollie had a great time at the beach:

walking into the icy water up to her ankles and throwing little rocks into the waves,

climbing over the driftwood,

collecting sticks and shells,

but the only part she's still talking about today is this train...

We walked across this little bridge while a train went underneath, loud and fast enough to made the bridge shake under our feet. Daniel and I were both caught off guard by the effect and admitted to feeling inexplicably nervous despite how cool it was...but Hollie on the other hand absolutely loved it. She alternated pressing her face into the chainlink fence to watch, and literally dancing around as if the roar was music to her ears.

Now, at least once a day I hear,

"Wanna see more loud-loud train, Mommy!'

Pregnancy update time-

I feel huge. And hungry all the time. Having a few contractions a day. Baby's still moving like crazy, trying to break out.

Hollie seems to really be getting used to the idea. Every morning (and throughout the day) she demands to sit down with Mommy to see and hug and snuggle the belly. Sometimes she tries to use it as a chair, but that doesn't work out.

We've started telling her that the baby is going to come out to see us soon. She made it clear how well she had absorbed this idea when we were at our first appointment with the new OB yesterday. When the nurse came to get us from the waiting room, Hollie stood right up and said "Get baby out!" Daniel and I were speechless for a second (we hadn't even been talking about it at that particular moment), but this great nurse took it in stride and said, "Hmmm, maybe not today, but soon!"

The new doc is great. It seems that this office consists of one doctor, one nurse, and one receptionist. It seems very flexible and relaxed - they squeezed me into their schedule on very short notice, and it was evident how far they had gone out of their way for me, but they made it work. They took a quick ultrasound just to check on the heart and see that the baby's head is downward, and everything looked fine. We'll have a longer, more detailed ultrasound when we go back next week. :)

Later that afternoon we took a tour of the childbirth center at our new hospital. Very different from the one in Wichita where Hollie was born! Smaller rooms with some variation in the layout and amenities - some had showers and some had tubs, most had a couch for dad but one just had a recliner...and the whole place had an overall out-dated look. "Cozy" is the word that came to mind. But I honestly, I liked it and have no qualms about delivering there.

I'm going to cut myself off here...more later.

34 and 35 week belly pictures are up!

Luuuucy...

2011-05-27T11:20:00.006-05:00

...we're home!

Yep. 2,000 miles. Three and a half days on the road. We are very glad we made thedecision to drive instead of fly. Ourroute took us through western Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and finally Washington…a part of thecountry that we would probably have never seen otherwise. Granted, 90% of it was boring, flat,nothingness, but the 10% up in the mountains made it worthwhile. Awesome. Stopping to see some friends and family along the way didn’t hurteither.

Stories (and photos) from the trip will have to wait.

Luckily, the apartment was available when we arrived, so we didn't have to stay another night in a hotel. Unpacking and repacking just that one suitcase every day was starting to make me crazy.

It's a beautiful apartment complex and neighborhood. Very upscale. Feels awkward, as if we're "living above our paygrade", but I think we'll survive. Our apartment is very open and the provided furniture is really nice. I'll put up pictures when we've finished unpacking and organizing and things look halfway decent.

I'm loving the weather! This place looks like a rainforest, but surprisingly the humidity isn't noticeably different from [some days in] Kansas. The weather forecast had me a little nervous - a solid week of rain following our arrival. And it did keep up a drizzle for our entire first full day here (didn't keep us from getting out for a much-needed walk!), but since then we've seen the sun at least a few times a day. It is wonderful. High temps have been in the 60's, but when the sun comes out the air warms up just enough - not too hot. And no wind. No! wind! We are going to get so spoiled.

Daniel is in his third day at the office. So far they have just been working out the kinks in getting everyone's computers and stuff working, but next week I think they're really going to get started. It sounds like a nice place - big windows with views of the Sound and Whidbey Island, and only about a mile from the apartment.

Well, Hollie's been doing great. Her sleep seems to finally be getting back to normal. During the drive she got into a pattern of going to bed really late and waking up really early (only sleeping about six hours) and taking two long naps in the car...and continued that for our first two days here. This morning however, after waking up at 5:45, she and I went and sat on the couch and she dozed off again...for another two hours! A good step back toward normal.

We're trying to get by without using any baby-proofing like gates or cabinet locks, so it has been about 80% clever organization on our part, and 20% reminding Hollie to please not to dig in the trash can.

When we got here, she definitely had an instinctive feeling of being in someone else's house, which kept her from really getting into the exposed TV cords and unraveling the toilet paper rolls. It gave me a nice grace period to get things, at a minimum, safe. That feeling is slowly wearing off, but it has been a good learning experience for her - she can take everything out of the kitchen drawers and cabinets and I won't stop her (let's face it, I can't), but she needs to put everything away (with help, for now) before she moves on. I know that it's only a matter of time before she starts to truly feel at home...then we're really going to have to keep an eye on that toilet paper.

Happy Memorial Day weekend! And congratulations to my little sister...graduated from high school yesterday. I can't believe it. Sorry I didn't call you...I will this weekend.

First appointment with my new OB is next Tuesday!

Much more to write about...coming soon.

Finally

2011-05-19T23:42:00.001-05:00

Travel plans. We have 'em.

Earlier this week they told Daniel they wanted him to start in Seattle next Monday.

First, we thought it might be possible for all of us to fly out together this weekend. Then we thought Daniel might fly out first, and Hollie and I would follow a few days afterward. Then we thought Daniel might fly out this weekend, work a few days, then fly back here and make the drive with me...
It went on and on - juggling what the relocation people could make happen, and what was actually going to work for us.

Finally, two days ago, we figured, why don't we just drive all together this weekend? Get it over with.

Ran it by the managers yesterday and got the go-ahead. Daniel won't be starting on Monday...more like Wednesday, but they're okay with that. Airline tickets on such short notice are craaaazy expensive, so we're saving them a chunk of change. It will be a long drive, and a busy few days getting ready to go, but I am so-so-so happy that this is finally happening.

Fortunately, while we were waiting for all these things to fall into place, we were mentally preparing, so now the actual preparing and packing is off to a great start and hopefully will continue to go smoothly.

We tried to have some fun while we waited, too.

Yes, painting with q-tips. Yes, shoes are on the wrong feet. She's a tough one to argue with about that.

This girl is funny. Here are a few of the new and crazy things we've heard from her lately:

"Oh my josh"

"Stay here. I be right back."

One morning she woke up after Daniel had left, and when she asked for him I said, "Oh, Daddy went bye-bye." She shook her head and insisted "Daddy hello!"

When we're out walking and we look for cars before crossing the street, she's got the script down pat: "No cars? No trucks? Okay, go!" No prompting necessary. There have been a few times that she's run away even after we've yelled for her to stop, which we've let her know is unacceptable, but she's never run into the street. I think she has, what I like to call, a "healthy fear" of moving vehicles.

There's more, but it's late and my head's full of packing checklists and things to do tomorrow - our last full day to get ready. I have new belly pictures accumulated, so next time I have a minute (ha) I'll get that updated.

Next time you hear from me, it will probably be from Washington!

Revise

2011-05-06T09:38:00.001-05:00

So, we didn't leave this week. Now it's looking like May 19th at the latest (but possibly earlier).

We had a little scare - almost immediately after getting the green light to go on this trip, Daniel found out about a little wrench in the works that might prevent him from leaving Wichita. There's another project that might need him. Put a little damper on our excitement for a moment, but on the other hand - flattering that my husband is in such high demand at work! Anyways, it seems to have been worked out, and we've been told, again, that we are going to Seattle as planned...but there is a meeting next week to decide for certain what's going to happen. From what I understand, everyone's aware that this trip will be a great opportunity for him and they won't keep him here unless they really really need him.

So, after being given a 100% affirmative, an "out-of-the-blue" negative, and a 99.9% affirmative all in a short time, we're just going to sit tight and wait. It's been nerve-wracking at times, but thankfully it's in our nature (as a couple) to stay relaxed, wait and see, and make the best of whatever happens. But that doesn't mean that Daniel's been twiddling his thumbs. He's been hounding them to commit to travel and start dates and just make decisions about this...possibly relaying the stress he's been getting at home from a certain pregnant someone. Preliminary details (housing arrangements, new facility clearances, etc) are starting to fall into place, and he feels like these things wouldn't even be happening yet if he wasn't staying on top of it. He's taking care of us. :)

Whew! I know everyone who reads this has probably already heard it from us in person anyways, but still feels good to unload.

I've been keeping myself occupied by making mental packing checklists. Since we don't have to take furniture, it seems like we're actually bringing very little: clothing (for all four of us!), Hollie's toys and books, baby gear, stuff like that.

After a pleasantly short search for good OBs in the area, there are several so far that will be willing to see me. That's a huge weight off my shoulders.

Looking forward to a huge weight off my midsection, too! I was 32 weeks yesterday, and saw Dr. J earlier this week, for (hope I don't jinx it!) the second-to-last time. Everything is good, as usual, and baby's head seems to be down.

For a while now I've been having sciatic nerve pain that has been almost constant, but of course that pretty much comes with the territory and there's not much you can do about it, anyway, aside from taking Tylenol and applying heat. Always frustrating to me to be unable to fix the cause, and only treat the symptoms. However, I've found that sitting cross-legged and keep my back straight really helps...even reduces the pain for a few hours afterward!

The very bottom of my belly button is now out in the open, in case you were wondering. So cool. :)

<---Two new belly pictures up...

I haven't told you much about what Hollie's up to these days, and I will be sure to fix that. She continues to amaze us daily with the things she says and does.

Example: I gave her a bowl of blackberries for a snack. I usually stay with her when she's eating anything that could result in a bad stain (like blackberries), but this time I got distracted. Later I saw her without the bowl and freaked out, started running around the house, imagining an overturned bowl and blackberries smooshed into the carpet somewhere. Looked everywhere...couldn't find it. Don't know why I didn't just ask her where the bowl was.

She had put it in the sink.

Seattle

2011-04-20T22:50:00.001-05:00

Remember when I talked about my head being somewhere else lately? I'm so excited to be able to write about it now.

We're relocating temporarily to Seattle. For five months. Leaving in a matter of weeks. As in, Daniel's leaving in two weeks, and Hollie and I will follow a week or so after that.

Yeah, we first heard of this great opportunity for Daniel's career only a few weeks ago. We're feeling spontaneous, adventurous... definitely more excited than stressed at this point (i.e.- it hasn't hit yet). I'm expecting panic to arrive any minute now. :) If at all, really. You might remember that we relocated about two months before Hollie was born, too...and that was a permanent move! It's just how we do it. When I get pregnant again, you can all start putting in your votes for where we go next!

We're so lucky that Daniel's company provides a nice relocation package for this kind of temporary move...flights (for all of us), furnished housing, a rental car, etc. It would certainly not be possible without that kind of help. The only part I'm kind of stressing about is finding a new OB. They all want to see your medical records before they decide how soon they'll be able to get you in, and if they'll see you at all. Already got the ball rolling on that though, so there's no reason that won't be squared away well before we arrive.

So...now there's forwarding addresses to provide, medical releases to sign, baby clothes and gear to pack up (nesting on a grand scale here!), utility turn-offs to schedule, yard work to hire out, and so on...

Speaking of yard work...

We have a new tree, and I'm proud to say it's doing beautifully! A Shumard Oak, if you were wondering.

Also, we finally started our garden a few days ago. Soon we will have onions, carrots and lettuce...we hope our neighbors thoroughly enjoy them while we're 1,800 miles away. Yeeeeah, we didn't really think that one through, did we?

Today, I saw my OB here in Wichita for my 30 week check-up, and broke the sad news that I won't be delivering here. He said I'm the second one this week to tell him that! Everything looks normal and right on schedule. I will see him again in two weeks...probably the last time. :( It figures...just when I find an OB I really like...!

I'm pretty sure baby's lying diagonally. I'm feeling the kicks on the right side under my ribs, and around my left hip. So silly. Big kicks, too...holy moly, this baby's trying to break free!

Two new belly pictures up! 29 weeks and 30 weeks.

Updates might be few and far between for awhile...but you're used to that by now, huh? I'll do my best.

Crazy dream...

2011-04-08T20:24:00.003-05:00

Two, actually. Pregnancy hormones are great.

I had another dream that the baby's a boy, but I think the idea was already in my head from that other dream. It was pretty funny...long story short: I found myself going into labor all alone, in an empty room. I sat down and after about three [painless] pushes, delivered a baby. My first thought was that Daniel would be so disappointed that he had missed it, so without giving a second thought to my baby I jumped up and ran out. When I found him, I told him "Guess what, I had the baby! We have to get to the hospital." Someone had taken the baby to the hospital, and by the time we got there my whole family was there, too. My little brother actually brought the baby out to meet us, all swaddled up, and I asked,

"Is it a boy or a girl?!"

"Boy!"

What's his name?"

I can't tell you his answer, because it's actually a name we've talked about using!

Last night was the other really weird one. Evidently, we were living somewhere that had bears, because I looked out our front window early one morning and saw an enormous bear walking down the street. It was huge. I turned to Daniel and said, "Wow, look at that bear! Hey, we better call animal control or something." Then I looked out again, and it had started attacking a woman! Just tossing her around like a toy. I yelled to Daniel to call 911 and saw that he was already on the phone. I started putting on a jacket, knowing that it was stupid to try to do anything and I'd probably get killed myself, but I couldn't just stay inside and do nothing. I ran to the door and stuck my head out, and was surprised to find that the bear had disappeared. The woman was knocking on her neighbor's door, apparently unhurt, looking around nervously. Her husband was with her. These were NOT people I actually know, by the way. It wasn't even our real street. Anyways, I'm still almost in tears because I thought I just saw this woman being killed, so I ran over and said, "Get in my house! Get inside! Where did it go? Are you okay?!" Before she could say anything, this other woman pops up, and she's apparently some kind of bear expert. She starts going on about how exciting this is, because, she says, that wasn't a normal grizzly. It was a lehara, a really rare subspecies, or something like that. Don't bother googling that; it's an entirely hormonal fabrication. She's going on and on about the differences between it and a grizzly, and I had to interrupt her: "Where. Did. It. GO?!"

At that point I woke up in a cold sweat, my heart pounding, and absolutely terrified! Took forever to get back to sleep. I've had very few dreams that were as realistic as that one.

Other than that...well, we've been busy! We bought a new tree for the front yard (the last ones didn't make it) and some damaged (but repairable) sections of fence that we found at a huge discount. Also working on a veggie garden for the front yard, now that the weather's nice and we're not going below freezing at night anymore.

I turned 24 (yikes!) last week and my dad flew in for my birthday - a complete surprise!...for me (he and Daniel were in cahoots). It was great. He arrived not twenty-four hours after Uncle Chris left, so Hollie's adoration went seamlessly from one visitor to the next, and they hit it off immediately. A trip to the zoo (for a friend's son's birthday, ironically!) and some gyros made it a perfect birthday weekend. :)

Yesterday was the first day of my third trimester! I'm feeling some biiiig kicks in there. This baby's anxious to get out, I think! New photo is up...

Completely forgot...

2011-04-01T21:37:00.000-05:00

Alternately titled: "She's going to hate me later for writing this"

We're using the potty! By "we" I mean Hollie, obviously. Daniel and I have been throwing the idea around for awhile, debating whether or not she was ready, and last Monday (like almost two weeks ago), I decided to just go for it. I knew it was a bad idea, because Uncchris was arriving in a few days, and they say you're not supposed to start when you've any kind of additional circumstance (illness, remodeling the house, new baby, etc.)...but really, as in all things: if you wait for the "right time" it's never going to happen. So I went for it.

Day one was a success! When she woke up I gave her an hour or so to eat breakfast and wake up all the way, then took off her diaper, and didn't put another on another (which she didn't mind at all). She enjoyed it for a while, but after about two hours she started doing "the dance" and going somewhat frantically from one activity to another. I brought the potty out into the living room, and gently asked her occasionally if she wanted to sit down and use it. For a few months now, we've been reading a book about using the potty, so she was already familiar with the "terminology" (haha). She actually did sit down a few times, bringing a book or toy with her, but always got distracted and got up. She asked for a diaper a few times, and so I would start to slowly get it ready, but each time she changed her mind and said "No! No diaper!"

Finally, around 12:30 in the afternoon, after roughly four hours sans diaper, she sat on the potty and used it. Amazing.

I wanted to give you the story of the first day, but I'll spare you (and future Hollie) the rest of it - suffice it to say that our record after week #1 is 5 in the potty, 3 on the carpet. Not too shabby. Warning, I'm gonna brag a little -- At least two of those in the potty were unprompted, in other words: I heard tinkling, came running, and found her already on the potty! Beyond impressed.

It kind of got put on hold for the most part while Chris was here, so I'm thinking we'll be starting from square one on Monday. Our weekends are always pretty busy, so I think we're just going to be Monday-thru-Friday potty trainers around here. If that makes the whole process end up taking longer as a result, I'm okay with it. She seems to have gotten the idea, at least.

Another new belly picture is up! Next week we start the third trimester. Crap, we really need to deciding on some names...

Uncchris!

2011-03-30T15:16:00.000-05:00

This has been the broken record playing in our house the past week. Daniel's brother Chris (Uncle Chris or Uncchris!) has come to see us for a little while before he starts a new job! Hollie adores him. She took a little while to warm up to him, especially since he arrived late (after bedtime) and when Hollie woke up in the morning she found him in the kitchen instead of her daddy, but ever since then she has been like a second shadow.

A few updates:

I'm feeling good. Big, but good. When I sit too long my legs start feeling super heavy (which I don't remember from last time), but getting out for walks and exercising as often as possible have been helping with that. And my back huuuurts...but what else is new, right? It's a brief, shooting pain...sometimes even when I put a foot wrong. Youch! I recently started feeling hungry all the time, which didn't happen until much later with Hollie (and when it did I put on weight fast), so I'm like, oh crap! I'm trying to have healthy snacks, or see if I'm actually just thirsty, or even just wait to see if the hunger goes away in a minute or two (which it does sometimes!)(not starving myself, don't worry). As far as I can tell, my weight gain has been right on track, so I'm thankful for that.

I guess the reason I haven't written at all lately is because my head has been somewhere else, and I can't write about our mundane family life when this kind of stuff is on my mind. Wish I could tell you more, but we're waiting to find out something definitive. All I want to do is sit by the phone and sweat bullets, but I have a toddler who pulls my attention away occasionally. Daniel has a great opportunity at work. If he doesn't get it (or decides not to take it) it's no big deal, so don't worry - we're not stressing over anything potentially bad. If it does happen and I get to tell you about it, then it will make sense why I'm going crazy over it.

Speaking of toddler, we've got a full-fledged one around here lately. Some days (becoming most days), man, Hollie will fight tooth and nail about something...anything...and then later, fight about the opposite. Like she really really really wants juice. And then she really really really wants water. Or NOOOO I don't want a shirt on!!! And then later NOOOO don't you DARE take my shirt off!!! Unfortunately, Daniel and I appear to be slow learners in this game. We've found that by being patient, catching her in the right mood at the right moment (some pre-planning on our part helps), not fighting fire with fire, and the big one - choosing our battles, we've been able to avoid the meltdown...sometimes. Still learning, yes, we are. The not-fighting-fire-with-fire and the not-staying-mad-after-tantrum's-over parts have been the toughest for me, but I feel like I'm learning a little everyday and making improvements (to my own mindset) one step at a time. I do have all the motivation in the world, after all. She is sooo loving, when she wants to be! She even pats your back when she gives a big hug...I love it!

Another big one - we've been making an effort to give her what she wants when she asks nicely (even if it's something that not ordinarily allowed)(but within reason). I guess that falls under choosing your battles. It's funny how we complain that her answer to everything is no-no-no! but sometimes we're just as bad. Hoping this strategy has some long-term effect. Also, we try to turn our no's into yes's: No, we're not going to have a bath now, but we're going to have one right after dinner. And 9 times out of 10, she does remember...and reminds you!

Toddlerhood really is amazing, though. She's become so demanding, but in a cute way! She completely takes the lead: tells you where to sit, what toy to hold, what to do with it, etc. She has a pretend blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, and one of her favorite things to do is have you lay down so she can put the cuff on you and "listen" to you everywhere! It blows my mind sometimes.

Another funny thing: when we're getting dinner ready, she sees all the food out and tells us she's hungry (hungee!), and we tell her don't worry, dinner will be ready soon! Then she immediately climbs up in her chair, buckles herself in, and tells us about every 30 seconds that she ready to eat (ready eat!).

Her speech is growing in leaps and bounds. Starting to string words together and everything! However, she does tend to repeat things without really knowing what they mean, so it's tough to really gauge what she knows. She also tends to use the same pronunciation for similar words, like monkey and blanket (mankie) and kitchen and chicken (just chicken, but ending with -on instead of -en: chick-ON!). Her counting has taken two steps forward and one step back...she started repeating "one" and then weeks later added "two" (and she would sing "one-two-one-two-one-two!") and just recently added "three"...except that now sometimes it's "two-three-one"! Uh-oh. She knows and recognizes the music of Glee, one of our favorite TV shows (she calls is gee!). The soundtrack for season one is the most requested CD in our collection! Yeah, we might be kind of proud of that. :)

If we're talking about more traditional kids' music, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider song (neebee spider) is her favorite, with the hand motions, of course. Second favorite would be the Elmo song (youtube video here), rewritten to include Hollie's song, Mommy's song, Daddy's song, and lately Uncchris's song. She will start singing that one all on her own!

Long update! I will try to write more often. I did add a new belly photo last week, and I'll have another one tomorrow (27 weeks!).

I've got it stuck in my head now: la-la la-la, la-la, la-la, Hollie's song...

We've got parties set for life

2011-03-09T15:19:00.000-06:00

This weekend during Hollie's birthday party, Daniel and I realized something awesome. Hollie's birthday will always be fairly close to Mardi Gras, mine will be fairly close to Easter, Daniel's is four days after Christmas, and the new baby's will (probably) fall near the 4th of July.

Party themes...check!

So, we didn't really plan much for Hollie's big day...what do you plan for a two-year old anyway? But with Daniel's parents in town from Lake Charles, and the family friends we invited having roots in Lafayette...it turned out to be a Cajun party all by itself.

We played French music, had pasta-laya for dinner (that's jambalaya with pasta, instead of rice. Not exactly Cajun, if we're being nit-picky. More of a New Orleans thing, I think), and later enjoyed a king cake (carried carefully on the plane by the grandparents)(here's a link).

The family we invited over had two kids- a three-year-old boy, and a one-year-old girl. Despite the gaps in their ages, they had a blast together. Hollie loves to be chased, and this boy, apparently, loves to chase, so there were many many laps around the living room and kitchen, with little sister trying her best to keep up. It got pretty wild, but as long as they weren't hitting or pushing, we let them have fun. They all had a hand in opening the gifts, and then the house really turned upside down!

Trike from Abuelita and Pepere

Bowling set from Mommy and Daddy. They could not even wait for all the pins to be stood up- they just dove into them!

So, it was a blast. Everyone slept pretty well that night, I think. Hollie's check-up with the doctor was yesterday, and she's doing great. She's 26 pounds, and 33 and 1/4 inches tall.

New picture up over there! (Darn soap dispenser snuck in again.) I know I skipped a week. It might happen again- you've been warned.

<-------

There are a few bits and pieces from the OB appointment two weeks that I forgot to share.

I've been starting to really feel the growing pains lately, sometimes an ache at the top of my belly but most often on the sides. I remember that from before, but not this bad, so I asked and Dr. J confirmed that it is round ligament pain, and that it will probably get worse with each pregnancy. Soooo, I think after this one we're gonna be a family of four permanently! Just kidding, but maybe not. We'll see. :)

When he felt my belly to find the top of my uterus, he said, "Wow, you're already above the belly button! Normally at 22 weeks we expect you to be just about even." So, I think- cool, I'm measuring big! Then he takes out the measuring tape to get an actual number, and says "Hmmm. You're actually measuring small for 22 weeks. Looks like your belly button is just really low." We had a good laugh about that later...I guess you really do learn something new everyday!

How cruel of me

2011-03-02T15:45:00.003-06:00

...to tell you we've been having fun, and there are even pictures...and then disappear for a week and a half.

There have been epic technical difficulties, which you have to ask Daniel about because I don't have a clue. It only impacted me because we lost the use of our hard drive (got everything off first, don't worry) while we used an old laptop for internet usage in the meantime. But we are, along with our new hard drive and half a dozen other computer bits which we apparently needed (yep, talk to Dan), back in business and I have my photos again (yay!).

There's a new photo over there,

<-----

and I don't even have a good excuse for why I took it four days late, either.

And now, Miss Chocolate-face...

[still good]

Are you wondering if we have the world's tallest almost-two-year-old? Nope. Just an almost-two-year-old with a brand new stool...

New favorite hobby: rearranging (and closely examining) the silverware.

Other newfound skills include:

Washing her hands. At first she always wanted like a gallon of soap in each hand, but after I tried to show her that we only use this much, she decided she doesn't want to use any at all. She loves looking in the mirror. She plays a solo version of peekaboo by crouching down on the stool and jumping up, saying "kah-boo!"

Turning on all the lights and fans in the house.

Using a fork to stab all the fruit in the bowl on the counter, repeatedly. This has only happened twice, thankfully. Both times she gave up and brought me the fruit, and told me she was "hungee".

I have more to write about: new words, bizarre habits of a certain toddler, baby kicks (big ones!), 22 week OB visit (which went great, so I guess I don't need to write about it), but I hear the silverware clattering, and I just bought bananas and a bunch of oranges, so I better go...

Schedule = sanity + getting up early

2011-02-19T10:38:00.002-06:00

So, the new routine is going okay. It has been a crazy ride, going from 100% flexible to 100% scheduled in such a short time, but I don't think there's any other way to do it successfully. For six mornings in a row I have gotten out of bed at 7am to wake Hollie up. She has been napping at reasonable times, which is wonderful, but the new problem is that she naps for like three hours (that's a looooong nap!)...and then stays up until 10 or 11 just like before. Which makes me feel horrible for waking her up so early the next morning (on top of feeling horrible for being up that early myself). So...do I wake her up from her nap after an hour or so?? Geez, that makes me feel manipulative/micro-manage-y, not letting her sleep as long as she wants ever. But on the other hand, it will do wonders for our sanity (all ~~three~~ four of us) to guarantee that she A) gets a nap and B) goes to bed at a reasonable time. And there's no question that she does get plenty of sleep (and she'll get a little more if we can pull that bedtime back to about 9 or so).

I hate having to wake her up.* But if it works, it works, and doing nothing was definitely not working.

Sigh. I'm just glad we're figuring this out now and not, oh, 19 weeks from now.

That's right...21 weeks today!
<---- See new photo
(Maybe one of these weeks I'll remember to move that soap dispenser. No guarantees.)

*To clarify, I'm the only one that hates it. She hasn't minded it one bit so far! She's pretty happy in the morning no matter what time it is. Plus, she gets to see Daddy in the morning before he leaves. :)

We have been having lots of funny fun around here, too. Great stories with photos coming soon...

This week on extreme nap-time makeover...

2011-02-14T08:56:00.003-06:00

Over the last couple of weeks, Hollie's sleep has been in a bit of a downward spiral. It's hard to say how it started. She started sleeping later in the mornings, sometimes as late as 9. She used to normally take a nap around noon or 1:00, but when she sleeps late, that's pretty much impossible. Then 3 or 4 rolls around and still no nap, and Daniel gets home from work which is by far the best part of our day, so napping is out of the question at that point. One of two things happens after that:

She crashes right before (or during) dinner, sleeps for an hour until I wake her up, and then stays up until 11 or so, and sleeps until 9 the next morning.
She gets really tired and grouchy right around dinner time, but gets her wild-child second wind and sprints in circles around the house until about 11, and sleeps until 9 the next morning.

In my "current condition", I am loving staying in bed until 9am. It's the staying up until 11pm that I can't do. And neither can Daniel, with work in the morning.

In order to reset our sleep patterns, I'm going to try waking her up a little earlier in the morning. I didn't like the idea at first, because you never really know what you're going to get when you wake up a toddler. Sometimes she's furious, sometimes she's groggy and clingy, and sometimes she looks at you and bursts out laughing like you just told the funniest joke she's ever heard.

We tried it yesterday. I woke her up at about 7:45. It was probably a bad idea to try this on the weekend, because spending the whole day with Daddy was just too much fun for a nap to be possible (this really is all Daniel's fault, isn't it?). She ended up crashing at about 4, and was up until 10 or so. Not much improvement.

This morning I woke her up at 7. We'll see how it goes...

Also, we're (I'm) going to work on a nap-time routine that is similar to bed-time. For some reason we've never done a nap-time routine before. With our unpredictable schedules, she's just fallen asleep when ever, where ever...which is obviously not working anymore. It's time.

Update: Went into the room to read some books a little before 2, and asleep by 2:20. Win!

Halfway

2011-02-10T18:45:00.002-06:00

20 weeks!

...and holy moly, I'm a little bigger than I was at 20 weeks last time around! I guess that's to be expected. I've gained about 10 lbs or so, which I think is about average. Absence of muscle tone makes a big difference, though. Ouch. :)

Also, this is the one and only pair of jeans that still fit. And I have one pair of maternity pants that will stay up. Thank goodness for sweat pants.

Who needs chairs?

2011-02-08T15:28:00.003-06:00

I just came across these photos today. They were taken back in November and I just never got around to posting them! Anyway, we're snowed in (yeah, again), and these reminded me of warmer weather (because Hollie's not wearing pants). Enjoy!

To distract her from the [obvious] fact that I had the camera out, I asked her a few questions...

Hollie, where is your nose? and Momma's nose?

Ears? Teeth?

Eyes? Belly button?

What a cutie.

More snow, 19 week belly, and...the haircut!

2011-02-04T21:04:00.000-06:00

Nice, huh? The last one wasn't nearly as windy, allowing for a short outdoor excursion. This one had the 40 mph winds, and snow drifting around like sand.

For some unfathomable reason, Hollie got upset that we weren't going out in this.

Took this the next morning, when the sun finally came out. The wind had been coming from the left, really hard, hence the awesome snowdrift.

19 weeks (yesterday)! It's in the slideshow, too.

Yikes, I need to clean that mirror.

And last Sunday, this happened...

After Hollie's bath, we put on "Horton Hears A Who", which none of us have seen, but I figured there would be enough animated silliness to keep her entranced.

And Dad got to work...

Thank goodness he works quickly, because after about five minutes Horton became less interesting than

Momma-with-a-camera!!!

I was determined to get an "after" picture, but Hollie was determined to not let than happen.

So instead we got these...

I tried again the next morning at breakfast, but that wasn't happening either.

So, I got a good picture the only way I know how...

...while she napped.

It came out really really cute. I told Daniel I want him to cut my hair now, too! I'm really glad we decided to do it ourselves instead of taking her somewhere.

Very last Christmas photos!!!

2011-01-31T17:19:00.003-06:00

I did it!

Merry Christmas.

Waiting patiently

Another new Christmas tradition:

Pepere reads "The Gas We Pass"

The girls and their Abuelita

(and their Parmesan??)

Yay! Perfect.

(too bad it took 10 minutes to get one with Hollie's thumb out of her mouth!)

...and by that point they were leeeeaning!

So after all that, gift-opening commenced, and the camera was set down somewhere and forgotten about. You can imagine. Hollie had to play with each gift before opening another, so it would have taken all day had we not helped her along! And we really didn't have all day, because that same afternoon we hopped a plane for...

...Phoenix! Quite a change of scenery. As we stepped off the plane, I think all three of us took a simultaneous deep breath of the cool, dry air, and our lungs cleared as the allergies we'd been battling the past five days just disappeared.

But not really. While we were there, we would occasionally have a good cough, and say, "Sorry, I'm still getting Portland out of my chest!" We loved Oregon, but we're just not used to all that green-ness.

PHX kept us pretty busy, as usual. It's still home to us in many ways, so over our four-day stay, there were a million restaurants to revisit (a few, twice - In N Out!), thousand friends to catch up with, and beautiful warm weather to enjoy, not to mention Christmas dinner, which was postponed a day just for us (thanks again Mom!) and Daniel's birthday (24 - holy moly!). Poor guy had to make his own cake: tres leches (yummmm)!

Okay, no more parentheses (I promise).

Unfortunately, the camera got taken out a grand total of ONE time while we were there. I took what would have been a beautiful photo of my dad and Hollie lying outside in the hammock, but it just didn't turn out. Sorry, Dad. :(

So, by the end, we were ready to be home. Hollie did great on all the flights, even, I might add, on the way home when Mr. Grinch's nasty-wastier twin sister happened to be sitting in the row in front of us. I'm not gonna give you the whole story here. Got a little bruise on my mama heart, and someday when I can stop kicking myself for not giving that woman a piece of my mind, then we'll be able to laugh about it. And maybe wonder if she regrets what she said - who knows?

Sorry to end on that note! Really, we brushed it off and we're okay :)

---------------------------------------------

In other news...we did Hollie's FIRST HAIRCUT last night and it was a beautiful success! There are pictures, but I hear little lady waking up from her nap, so watch for those...later.

Snow baby (or not)

2011-01-29T10:58:00.000-06:00

One morning, a few weeks ago, we woke up to this:

It was so darn awesome, we ate breakfast at the window...

Ready or not, here we go!

Helping Mommy shovel the driveway...

Nah, Hollie want big shovel!

So, being out in the cold was fun for about ten minutes, and then someone (not me) was at the door begging to go back in.

We spent the rest of the day staying warm and taking silly pictures...

...and being silly in general. Look at these two goofs...

I love that last one. And yes, that's Hollie's hair in a little ponytail. She needs that first haircut, and I'm leaning toward doing it myself. If it happens, there'll be pictures, I promise.

Pregnancy update + ultrasound photos!

2011-01-27T18:20:00.000-06:00

I am 18 weeks pregnant today. The ultrasound looked great...baby sure is movin'! Measurements were a little small (closer to 17 weeks) but not enough to officially move my due date. Of course, because of that, in the back of my mind I'll be expecting the baby to come late, but we'll just have to wait and see.

I covered my eyes when the time came for Daniel to find out the gender. It turns out we are going to have a...
...
...very modest baby! The legs were crossed, Indian-style, very firmly over the, umm, area in question, so the technician just started jiggling my belly all over the place, trying to get him/her to move! Gently, of course, unfortunately I am very ticklish...and had a full bladder! Not cool. So, they eventually got a good guess, but nothing definite.

We are sooo lucky that this office gives out CD's of the pictures, so I don't have to take photos of the printouts this time!

Here you go:

This is the face, from the front. A little creepy, maybe, but in a cute way :)

Also, belly photos from the last few weeks are up, in a spiffy little slideshow!

I'll let you know when there's a new one.

Enjoy!

More Christmas photos

2011-01-26T17:19:00.002-06:00

I think one more post after this one will just about "wrap up" (haha!) the Christmas photos. If I get it done before the end of January, that's still respectable, right?

So, we had a belated birthday celebration for Daniel's mom, Abuelita, which consisted of an original song written and performed by her three sons...a complete surprise - for her!

They came up from the basement one by one...

(this is how they normally dress...I promise)

Our favorite...but we're biased. :)

Somewhat nervous (but intrigued) audience.

Solo!

The birthday girl herself!

Soliciting donations...typical!

One of them was a little more peristent!

Afterward, as per [new] Christmas Eve tradition, the girls each opened one gift...

Christmas pj's...to be worn the next morning! Thank you Aunt Bekah :)

----------------------------------

Sorry for the absence of pregnancy updates. Over just the last few days I think I have felt a few little kicks! I feel like since this is my second pregnancy I should remember exactly what it feels like, but at this point they are so few and far between, and nothing more than tiny nudges, so I have to wonder if they're not just gas. I know that if it's the real thing, it won't be long before they're unmistakable. I'll be at 18 weeks tomorrow, so it's about time!

I love the second trimester. :) Nausea disappeared after Christmas, and my appetite is great. I'm a little tired, and my back hurts, and I haven't been sleeping well, but all "minor" complaints (haha...minor as in baby...is that too much of a stretch?).

We have an appointment with our OB and our first ultrasound tomorrow! I'll be letting you know how it goes...

"Ummo's nummers"

2011-01-19T14:44:00.001-06:00

We may have a future accountant around here. Hollie's been learning been learning about numbers (nummers) out of an Elmo (Ummo) book, and lately she's been pointing them out everywhere - on everything from phones to food packaging. It's usually just nummers, but occasionally she specifies: Ummo's nummers.

To clarify, she does not actually know the numbers. However, sometimes she sings to herself, "One-two-one-two-one-two!"

She sings a lot, and I love it. Her songs usually go something like this:
"Mommy-daddy-baby-mommy-daddy-baby"
or
"Baby-doggie-nummers-baby-doggie-nummers"
or
"Sah-shoo-sah-shoo" (see below)
or
any combination, in a little sing-song voice. I wish I could catch it on video, but you know how tough that is. By the time the camera is out and turned on, she's moved on to something else. You never know, I might get lucky!

Socks and shoes - sah-shoo. Heard when we're getting ready to leave the house (or if she wants to leave (usually right before bedtime)). Also heard around the same time...

Jacket - jack-ah
and
Hat - at! (always with a !)

Her pronunciation of water had slowly evolved from woggy,
to woddy,
to wah-doh,
and finally to wad-dah , which sounds pretty close to the real thing, just with a bit of an accent.

Her month-old obsession with lotion (show-shah) continues. The definition has been expanded to include hand sanitizer and chapstick.

She is saying more foods, like...
Orange - ornge (one syllable). I feel so bad, because she loves them and asks for them constantly but gets an awful rash if she eats more than two or so a day!
Apple - appo or appah
Banana - mana
Sandwich - sammich
Water and juice - She knows I dilute her apple juice, so she usually asks for waddah-juice.

There are probably a few more, but I can't think of any at the moment. I hope all of you don't get tired of reading stuff like this. I read a quote recently, something to the effect of - You have to accept that no one else in the world thinks your child is as fascinating as you do. I don't care if that's true, this is mostly for me anyway, because I just can't stand the thought someday I won't remember all these little things.

So, bear with me. I know the real reason you keep coming back...photos like these:

7:30 pm

This is what happens when you miss naptime!

Gender dream

2011-01-10T15:11:00.002-06:00

This weekend I had my first dream about the new baby's gender! I don't typically take dreams all that seriously, but every once in a while I'll have one that's eerily pertinent to something going on in my life and it completely weirds me out. So this is just kind of fun and exciting.

I'm getting an ultrasound done at the OB's office, but Daniel and Hollie aren't there, so it's just me and the ultrasound tech. She sets everything up, turns on the machine, and then remembers something she needs, and leaves the room. For some reason she leaves the little wand (?) thing just sitting on my belly, so obviously I pick it up to see if I can get a look on my own.

It is weird. It looks like an aquarium, complete with rocks on the bottom and a castle and little fake plants. And there's my baby, just swimming around! And he is wearing little blue sandals.

In the dream, I wasn't at all surprised by the fact that a baby would be wearing shoes in there, or by the fishbowl style setting. I really just wondered why there weren't any fish?

Not the first crazy dream I've had lately. Another good one: my whole family plus Daniel and Hollie go on vacation to London, only to be told upon arrival that we had two hours to see everything before we had to get back on the plane and go home again.

Oh, pregnancy hormones.

-------------------------------------------

Hollie is a word-learning machine, so I'll be doing an update on that soon. Plus more Christmas photos on the way. Stay tuned!

Christmas travels: part 2

2011-01-08T17:35:00.003-06:00

So, more story. I guess it was the next day, Daniel and I had to see this place called Voodoo Doughnuts that we had seen on TV, and first - make sure it exists (I always still feel a tiny bit of surprise when I finally see places in person that I had only previously seen on TV. Isn't that weird?), and second - get some doughnuts.

Oh, baby.

On the left is the Voodoo doughnut, complete with pretzel-stake through the heart. The next one has maple icing and bacon (better than it sounds, whether you think it sounds good or bad!). The next one, called the Old Dirty Bastard, has crushed Oreos and peanut-butter (this is my heaven). And for Hollie, a plain cake doughnut.

But wait, there's more...

The biggest apple fritter I think I've ever seen. All four other doughnuts fit in there on top of this one.

Fortunately, it took us two days to finish all this.

Next, the cousins looked out the window and got into an adorable game of hide and seek...

Wait a sec, where's Juliet?

There she is!

Hollie says, hmmm, I'm pretty sure she was there a second ago...

Pepere, is that Juliet in there?

A-ha!

I found you!

To be continued...

Also, fair warning - you can see the Voodoo Doughnuts website for a list of all their wild and crazy pastries, some of the names are fairly (ahem) explicit. The O.D.B. above is relatively tame. Just so ya know.

Quick story

2011-01-06T19:11:00.000-06:00

In church earlier this week, while rummaging happily through my purse ("burse"), Hollie found chapstick. I took off the cap, and showed her how it just goes just on your lips. That translated to "lower half of the face" in toddler-ese. I let her go, since she still had a bit of a runny nose, and her poor nose and lips were pretty chapped. It was also adorable, and she was having fun with it - including putting some on my face, too.

Anyways, before this, she had been holding on to her Alvin the chipmunk doll, so he was still sitting out on the pew. And he had some chapped lips, apparently.

Then things evolved from adorable to very cool...she would put chapstick on herself, then on Alvin, replace the cap, take it off again, and repeat the whole process...over and over and over.

I knew that this kind of repetition is normal for lots of toddlers, and I had seen Hollie do it a few times before, but never with this many steps, and never with a toy/object that she had never used before (the chapstick).

It was funny and fascinating and baffling at the same time. What in the world is going on inside her head? Why did she have to take the cap on and off every single time? Of course, we will never know. I hope I see it again, because it was awesome.

It was one of those vacations...

2011-01-04T19:45:00.003-06:00

...that you need another vacation afterward to recover from. Don't get me wrong - it was great! Nothing beats getting those cousins together in Portland, OR with Daniel's family, and also going down to see my family in Phoenix!

But the trip had its other moments. Allergies, pinkeye, fever, and runny eyes/nose all made an appearance.

But still, overall we were lucky. The weather was cooperative, even at home while we were gone. We'd had a dry winter so far in Wichita (unusual), so we were pretty sure that after nine days away, we would get back and have to dig our car out of a snowdrift in the airport parking lot (at 9:30pm). But amazingly, it was actually raining the night we got back..that's right, warm enough at 9:30pm to be raining! And yeah, we've been home six days now and still no snow. I'm convinced we're going to get the whole winter's worth at once, in like, April.

I had my last week of my first trimester while we were gone, and wow, this is the best part of pregnancy! Energy!
Appetite!
I almost forget I'm pregnant sometimes, except for this little growing belly. Yes, I'll start taking pictures soon.

Speaking of pictures, I took quite a few, so I think I'll split them up, with stories from the trip, over several posts.

Starting from even before we left...

Lights on the house! Didn't get put up until the night before our departure, but that's okay.

For the sake of time, mess, and a queasy stomach, I decided to just cover things in chocolate in lieu of making cookies. Pretzels are as far as I got. I tried one Oreo but it didn't really work out. These were pretty good though. And also just pretty. :)

I opened one gift before we left on our trip. My new sling - a mei-tai! It's may-tie. I was looking for something more versatile (front/back/hip), and this is it! Here's a link: www.meitaibaby.com. I didn't order from this site (muy expensivo), but it gives you a good idea of what it's like.

I opened it early because I intended to use it during our trip, especially getting through the airports, but that didn't happen. The day before we left, Hollie squished a banana all over it. I washed it, hung it up to dry...and there it stayed.

We have used it a few times, using the back carry in my photo, and I think Hollie likes it!

The whole Leger clan came to meet us at the airport! Hollie insists that everyone hold hands.

The same day, we took the girls up to ride the tram, and got a great view of the city. There are two trams, which people ride to get to Oregon Health Science University, which is up on a big hill. You can also drive, but why would you when you can ride one of these? ...

This is the other tram passing us, going the other direction.

Looking back up at OHSU.

Hello Portland!

Later the girls chilled out...

...and had a snack.

------------------------

More pictures on the way!

Quick vocabulary update, since I probably won't be posting again for awhile...

2010-12-19T13:39:00.002-06:00

Santa Claus - 'Coz

Belly - beddy (Hollie looooves Momma's belly these days)

Mommy and Daddy - she has started calling us this instead of momma and dada (I don't know why, but this makes me kind of sad)

Blanket - mankie

Milk - moke (rhymes with poke) (she's finally developed a taste for it!)

Crackers - her new favorite snack and most-used word. My response, usually, "Hollie, you're crackers."

Elmo - Ummo (she loves her Elmo doll. Cookie Monster made an appearance on SNL last night, and when she saw him (yes, she was up that late) she got very excited and said "Ummo!")

Yogurt - gogee

Spoon - moose (I have no. idea.)

I think that's all the new ones for now.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

The snowsuit

2010-12-18T14:38:00.000-06:00

Don't know what happened here... :(

Two heartbeats!

2010-12-16T14:36:00.001-06:00

Heart attack? Sorry, we're not having twins (I wish).

We got to hear the heartbeat twice! Daniel ran late and showed up five minutes after the first time. I would have asked the nurse to wait for him, but I was anxious! 164 bpm both times...perfect.

I am 12 weeks pregnant today! We celebrated with a trip to Dr. J, the OB.

I have actually dropped a pound since my last appointment, which puts me three pounds below where I was when we found out about the pregnancy. I was really surprised to hear that, because my appetite has been improving lately, food aversions are dying down, and I've been eating much better (i.e. more) than before. I try to snack all day, but occasionally we have a really busy day and I sit down and realize I'm starving. I'm going to make more of a conscious effort from now on.

Anyways, the doc's not worried about it, and neither am I. I remember that with Hollie, during the last month or so, I was hungry literally 24/7. Could not get enough. Tried to eat healthy, but boy did I pack on the pounds in the last few weeks! So yeah. It'll happen. :)

At my next appointment, in six weeks, we get an ultrasound! Can't wait.

-------------------------------------------------------

Hollie is so silly. And SO smart.

Yesterday, I was running around the house trying to get Christmas gifts together and wrapped...and leaving Hollie pretty much unsupervised.

I think toddlers have a sixth sense for when they're not being watched.

She's recently discovered this drawer in the kitchen that has various utensils in it, like the can opener and the corkscrew wine bottle opener and and the vegetable peeler and other things that aren't really dangerous but become dangerous in little hands.

So rather than install another lock (our cabinets are going to look like Swiss cheese), we've just been trying to steer her back toward her own drawer, with the towels and oven mitts (which she loves to wear...it's adorable) and other boring stuff.

Of course, yesterday, while I was running around, I heard Hollie get into the drawer (because I think moms have a sixth sense for when their kids know that they aren't being watched). I peeked into the kitchen to see her sitting on the floor playing with the harmless measuring cups.

I debated for about two seconds. This would easily keep her for busy for the last few minutes of stuff I needed to do, but then there's the whole now-I've let-the-rule-be-broken-under-my-nose... which could come back to bite us...

...so I let her play, and got everything done that I needed to do. Then it was time for a trip to the grocery store, so I asked Hollie, "Wanna got to the store?" She knows what this means, and got all excited as we hunted up socks and shoes and jackets.

As we were heading for the door, she suddenly stopped like she had forgotten something, turned around, and ran back into the kitchen...
picked up the measuring cups...
opened up the drawer that isn't hers...
and put them back in.

I was somewhere between blown away by the sweetness and blown away by the fact that she remembered.

That's all for now! I'd better go see what she's up to...

Our little pick-pocket

2010-12-10T19:07:00.002-06:00

So Daniel's parents, aka Abuelita and Pepère, came to see us for Thanksgiving. So much fun!

Great story- Abuelita, Hollie, and I were at Target one day and Abuelita was pushing the cart and making faces and being goofy with Hollie while I shopped. Apparently (I didn't see it happen), while making eyes, Hollie reached into Abuelita's purse and snagged her cell phone! Out from under her nose, what a pick-pocket! Abuelita found me and told me what happened, and we decided we'd have to keep an eye on her...but not long after, Hollie did the same thing and got her wallet! By that point I'm thinking, okay, maybe this is a way to boost our income? We've always said it, but this further proves what a sneaky, sneaky girl she is. She's all smiles, but there's always a plan in the works.

Over Thanksgiving dinner, we tried to decide on what our new baby's nickname will be for the next seven months or so. After heated discussion, Pepère had the winner with...

Cletus the Fetus.

Haha! I love it! It goes without saying, but this will not be our baby's name if it's a boy, so please please please DON'T get this embroidered on anything! It is the best antenatal nickname I've ever heard, though. And antenatal is the coolest new word I've heard in awhile. I'm going to start using it more often.

Another cute story- This afternoon Hollie got out her wipes, a bear, and a doll. She opened the wipes and started wiping them both between the legs while telling me that they "poopoo"-ed.

Details

2010-11-30T18:01:00.001-06:00

So...we're pregnant! It feels great!

When we were pregnant with Hollie...wow...is there any bigger shock than a surprise first pregnancy two seconds after you get home from the honeymoon? Looking back, I think we were pretty much in that state of shock until the moment she was born, and then we said well okay, here we go, and slid easily into parent life. Maybe we got a little excited about it toward the end of the pregnancy, but in the back of your mind is still this horrifying sense of your life being turned upside-down and saying goodbye, at twenty-one, to all the fun and freedom of young adulthood.

Sorry, I shouldn't talk about it like that (we obviously fell head-over-heels for Hollie and haven't looked back). It's just that the contrast between that pregnancy and this one could not be greater. We're excited to be excited about this! We're a family now and it's working for us, and we can't wait to add to the mix.

So...it feels great. Except for a few things...

Morning sickness. I got up to about week 7 or so without feeling sick at all, until BOOM, I'm suddenly losing my dinner. Prescription zofran in helping, and my appetite is coming back. I still have this slight queasiness that's pretty much constant, but at least I can function.

I am tired. Wiped out. All the time. Poor Hollie is has been so patient but I know sometimes she gets bored to tears, and then this happens...

Occasionally I get these little bursts of energy, and I run to the store for some groceries and get Hollie out for a walk and put away some laundry and some dishes and clean the house up a little, and then collapse.

I know everyone always wants to know what pregnancy women are craving, so here you go:
Buffalo wings (just took a break to go get some...I'm back now, and typing with my pinkies)
Cheetos
Ice cream
Onion rings

That's pretty much it. Can't wait to get some energy (and appetite for healthy foods) back in the second trimester...

I don't know if Hollie senses what's happening or what, but she has become very interested in my belly. She always wants to lift my shirt to see it, and touch it, and even kiss it. Daniel tried to tell her that there's a baby in there, so sometimes she points to it and says "baby!" but I don't know if she really understands. She will, soon enough.

Daniel has been incredibly helpful. When Hollie wakes up early, he makes breakfast for her before he leaves for work, to give me time to shower, because I cannot do anything in the morning until I shower. So far he's been obliging my cravings for really unhealthy dinners. He's the best. :)

We went to see our new OB, Dr. J., at 8 weeks. He didn't want to try and get a heartbeat yet (it might still be too early), but after a quick feel of my belly he said, "Well, something's growing in there!" He is an older guy, pretty laid-back, and he flat-out told me that he won't induce my unless he sees a real need to, and I'll be in control of my labor. He said (more or less), "Heck, you can run laps, get in the bath, squat in a corner and meditate, or you can get an epidural and watch TV, whatever you want." He's a little strange, but I like him.

That's all for now! We go back to the OB at 12 weeks, so we'll update then, if not sooner.

Also, see this edit to my last post...

Vocabulary and other updates...

2010-11-24T11:18:00.003-06:00

I haven't been in the mood for creative titles lately. We have been going a mile-a-minute around here lately and my creativity is way past running on fumes. I do want to update you on a few more words that Hollie is saying...

Water - Woggy (rhymes with froggy)

Fish - 'ish. She only recognizes the fish that are still alive. I get the blank stare when I try to tell her that it's also fish we're eating.

Go - Gogogogogo!

Up

Aaaaaa-men! - This one needs explaining. We have this little book with a short kid's prayer, and a button that will play a kid's voice reciting it, and at the end Hollie chimes in with the long, drawn-out aaaaaa-men!

She's also fine-tuning (i.e. expanding) her use of no. Hello, toddlerhood, we've arrived.

I love getting to record all these tiny details of what Hollie's doing and learning, and I have a great fear that I won't do the same for our future children because we'll have seen it all before. I guess this has been weighing on my mind a little, and I've been convincing myself that I will record just as many of the the tiny details of our next child's life because I got one of these the other day...

...

...

...

...

...

Tomorrow I will be 9 weeks, and due June 30th, 2011!

I promise my next post will have all the details. :)

Post-publication edit (11/30/10): I have another equally great fear, which is that when the next baby is born I will stop updating you on Hollie. Being a mother of two will certainly be the balancing act of all time!

Ladybug

2010-11-19T14:14:00.001-06:00

Lately, my camera has actually been in a good mood (knock on wood) and I've gotten some great photos of Hollie doing various silly things.

Okay Mom, get it off now please!

Blurry

2010-11-17T14:03:00.000-06:00

As promised, here are some of those photos that capture the blur of toddlerhood.

Disclaimer: These might give you a headache.

Trying on Momma's underwear. As in, finding out how many pairs can be worn at once...

Hope you enjoyed them!

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You know, while I'm at it, here are some other - less blurry - pictures I've been meaning to post...

I hope you guys aren't getting tired of food pics. 'Cuz I'm not. :)

Revamping her Halloween costume (with one glove, plus hat from last year's costume, minus ballerina shoes)...

Can I use the same excuse as last time?

2010-11-11T16:42:00.001-06:00

We've been busy?

Daniel has been having a crazy time at work (he had to work this past weekend, and one day earlier this week he worked like eleven hours).

So, if I were to fill you in on life, it would be the little things like...

...Hollie's new fascination with armpits.

...Hollie's unwavering conviction that if her teeth have to get brushed at bedtime, so do Mommy's.

...Hollie chasing the ducks at the park yelling, "Quack-quack-quack!" and doing the sign for "duck" with both hands.

...Hollie moving all of her dinner from her plate to the table, smiling, and signing "all done".

...Hollie bringing me her cup to hold while she drinks out of it.

...Our new hole in the basement ceiling. The ceiling (which we put up ourselves just a few months ago) was sagging a little, so rather than wait a few years until it's sagging a lot and there's furniture and stuff in there, Daniel decided to just fix it now...by removing a big ol' chunk, installing reinforcements, and putting it back up.

A work in progress

...The new Panda Express, the first in Wichita, will be opening right near our house. That's one of those places we miss from Arizona. Bye-bye, healthy eating. :(

...Hollie's growing vocabulary. She says doggie really well, and she sometimes calls me Mommy (which came out of the blue...I didn't teach her that!), and also
    shoes - shoosh
    juice - 'oosh
    snack - 'nack
    cheese - random consonant followed by -eesh
No sentences yet. And she still just babbles a lot.   Even with all the new words she's learning I still only understand about 2% of what she says.

...Hollie tempting fate and raising Mommy's heart rate by learning to jump on her bed.

...Mommy-daughter dance parties.

...Hollie laying a diaper out on the floor, sitting on it, and trying to put it on herself.

...Hollie pulling her arm into the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt and saying "Uh-oh!"

...Hollie locking the bathroom door from the inside. She wasn't inside herself (thank goodness), which makes it all the more baffling because that door swings inward, so she had to pull it closed from the outside. Never would have thought she could do that. Then the next day she does it again with her bedroom door.

--------------------------------

I think there may have been one or two things in there that didn't have to do with her. That's good, right?

Not to mention, we just got back from a trip to see my family in Phoenix for our ASU homecoming game, and also Halloween!

Daniel and I were in the ASU marching band (that's how we met! Cue: awww), so along with 100 or so other band alums we participated in the pregame show alongside the current band. Always a good time. Getting free tickets to the game doesn't hurt either, even if they are nose-bleeds and we're technically "on the clock" and have to play occasionally throughout the game.

Hollie-bear tagged along to the rehearsal...

She's checking out my mellophone (Daniel played trombone).

Also, as I mentioned, Halloween! Hollie was a ballerina. It was the only thing we could do without buying anything (even though I ended up buying some ballet shoes) and also because she loves wearing this tutu that she got from Daniel's parents for her birthday (eight-ish months ago? Can't believe it still fits), so we didn't have to worry about her taking it off.

Unfortunately I didn't get any good pictures except these, of her eating dinner and faithful old Duke waiting patiently for the inevitable fistfuls of broccoli to come down at his feet.

I do have some other great photos that I've taken since we've been back, but this post has gotten too long already, so I'll get those up later. Hopefully this week.

Happy Friday-eve!

The tables are turned

2010-10-24T15:38:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I was lying on the floor in Hollie's room, reading her some books, thinking she might be getting sleepy...when I started feeling drowsy myself.

So I pretended to be asleep.

She leaned over and gave me some kisses,

found a stuffed animal and laid it next to me,

and left the room, closing the door behind her,

...and I realized that I had just been put down for a nap.

New video

2010-10-23T14:45:00.002-05:00

So, that was a nice little hiatus. We haven't even been particularly busy. Maybe just recovering from a few weeks of being really busy...is that a real excuse? We just haven't had much going on worth talking about. Daniel had a major hell-week (or two) at work, and things have since slowed down but he's still catching up on sleep and down-time.

Hollie is still jibber-jabbering away. She is pronouncing "book" much better. I love that she refers to herself, and to all her stuffed animals and dolls as "baby". She gives them kisses and then makes me kiss them too. She has gotten sooo loving and affectionate.

It is really tough to get good pictures of her these days. She is always moving. Really fast. So I have a bunch of very cute but very blurry pictures. Now that I've remembered that I have a blog, I might post them all together soon.

In the meantime, a new video. One morning a few weeks ago I caught Hollie reading a book to herself, and it was so adorable I had to break out the video camera (which I know I need to do more often). From the moment I turned the viewing window around so that we could see ourselves while filming, it quickly escalated from book-reading, to nose-picking, to camera-grabbing...and, well, you'll see.

When I played back the video for us to watch, Hollie thought it was the coolest thing ever...she signed "more" and demanded

Mo' bebe!

More "Speaking of..."

2010-10-14T12:24:00.008-05:00

I have a few more words to add to the little bear's vocabulary:

Up
'Mote - for the tv remote (this makes me cry a little inside)
Yummy
Cat - sometimes gat! or ack! or even gack!
Nose and toes - hard to tell the difference (both are usually bows or doze)

Speaking of...

2010-10-07T10:00:00.002-05:00

...everything.

Hollie's been a little talking machine! It has happened very gradually, but over a fairly short time (a couple of weeks or so). The first few were...

Baby - pronounced correctly now (as opposed to then) but with the most unbelievably cute inflection.
More - just mo. Still accompanied by her sign language.
Bath - her most favorite activity lately, especially since we started using the shower at the end to rinse her hair (the cup of water over the head routine was just not cool). Pronounced bah or bass.
Uh-oh - when she or anyone else drops something, also adorable (and with spot-on pronunciation)

Some others are...
Plane - she is always on the look-out for planes when we're outside, and there are plenty to see, what with a few aircraft companies plus an air force base practically in our backyard. Pronounced bay or bane.
Birds - always watching for birds too! Abuelita helped figure this one out...it sounds like bus.
Bye-bye - always with a little wave. So cute!
Ducks - quack
Eyes - oz
Belly/belly button, Book, and Bear - all of these are generally just a "b" sound followed by a random syllable. Hard to distinguish from baby, bath, bird, and bye-bye (I think she likes b words).

and our favorite...
No - nonononononononono!

I love it!
And I promise to try to get some of these on video soon.

Also, Daniel and I started dating five years ago today. <3

Feeling artsy

2010-10-05T09:06:00.004-05:00

So, both of Daniel's parents have come and gone. We already miss them.
:(
We miss the free babysitting.
Hollie misses Abuelita's lotion - perfect for window painting...

[whatcha think, mama?]

In unrelated news, we got the mirror installed in our newly-themed maroon and gold bathroom in the basement. It's not all done yet, but here's a sneak peek...

[ps - go devils]

'Lita's here!

2010-10-02T15:19:00.001-05:00

Geez, has it been two weeks(ish)? Somebody better talk to the management.

We've been busy. And sick. But mostly busy. Just this past week, when Hollie and I were both on the tail-end of a little viral infection, Abuelita (Daniel's mom) came to town for a visit!

It was so great to see her. It's been a few months (with one 16-hour exception), and we've been starved for some good extended family time (not to mention a date).

Unfortunately, her week-long stay coincided with a crazy work week for Daniel, so he hardly saw her. We did get to use an Outback gift certificate that's been burning a hole in our pockets, though. AND we saw a movie - "Easy A". It was actually pretty good. I don't think I'd see it again, but it did surpass my expectations.

So yeah, we were busy. It's finally cooled off, and the weather is gorgeous. There was a trip to the zoo (best moment: Hollie coming nose to nose with a meerkat and nearly hyper-ventilating with excitement) and many walks to the park.

These are from Day 1 - Hollie helps Abuelita unpack...

Shortly after Abuelita left, Pepere (Daniel's dad) arrived! These two...they both really wanted to visit, but their crazy schedules didn't allow them to be here at the same time! So we settled for seeing one, and then the other. Whatever works, right?

More to come! Stay tuned...

Also...

2010-09-16T19:03:00.000-05:00

Hollie had her hearing checked yesterday. They had to stick these little things in her ears that shot out a puff of air, and then measured how her eardrum reacted, or something like that. And then they stuck different little things in that tested something else. She sat in my lap the whole time, and did great.

Everything looked fine.

Phew! :)

You Capture - MY Choice!

2010-09-16T11:21:00.000-05:00

Wiped.

Out.

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This was the best challenge ever. :)
Go see everyone else's choice of photo at
You Capture by Beth

A day in the life...

2010-09-13T10:17:00.002-05:00

[cracker + cream cheese...pressed against the mouth]

[new measures required for keeping devious little monkeys out of the recycling bin]

(I can hardly get it open)

[freshly chewed board book]

(regression, anyone?)

18 months

2010-09-10T13:05:00.000-05:00

22 lbs, 14 oz.
31 inches

Hollie's doing great, physically and developmentally. The only thing is that she isn't using any words consistently yet, so just as a precaution we are going to have her hearing tested. She's only had that one ear infection, but even just excess fluid can delay speech.

Our doc is admittedly not expecting to find a problem. Hollie understands sooo much of what we say, there's no way she's got a hearing issue, but we're going to have the test just to be absolutely, beyond-a-shadow-of-a-doubt sure.

So, that will be sometime soon. We'll keep you posted...

"It sounds like she's counting in French"

2010-09-07T10:08:00.001-05:00

It's hard to hear, but that's what Daniel says from the other room at about 17 seconds.

United States map place-mat = endless entertainment at dinnertime.

Also, you'll notice she's not eating at her little table. Not long after we swapped out the high chair for her own little table and chair, she started always wanting to be in my lap during dinner.

She enjoyed using the little table all day for her meals and snacks, but you could tell that at dinner, when Daniel and I sat up at the big table, she was just feeling a little left out.

So, we decided to swap back. Since she's too big now for the high chair, we went with one of those little chairs that straps to a dining room chair...and I gotta say, I love it. It's so good to have her up at the table with us!

Quick reunion

2010-09-05T16:28:00.002-05:00

The cousins had a quick reunion last week, as Daniel's brother and his wife, and their daughter Juliet and their newest addition, Levi, stayed with us for a night on their way from New Orleans up to their new home in Oregon (check them out here).

For the total of about 16 hours that they were at our house, we were too busy catching up and chasing kids to take very many pictures...but I did happen to have the camera handy while Hollie and Juliet shared a bowl of yogurt (and a chair).

They are getting so grown up!

I'm pretty sure having that bright light coming through the blinds behind them breaks some sort of photography rule, but I don't care. I think it looks amazing.

This one (below)...all-time favorite.

And, of course, Levi, aka El Borracho!

You Capture - Mornings

2010-09-02T13:28:00.003-05:00

Alternately titled: The return of bed-head! (Wow, has she changed, or what?)

No, Hollie doesn't sleep on the floor. We just enjoy our lazy mornings at home.

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You Capture
at

I Should Should Be Folding Laundry.

Check it out.

Who ya gonna call?

2010-09-01T13:29:00.001-05:00

...to install your fiberglass insulation?

Bee beh!

2010-08-30T12:06:00.000-05:00

That's how Hollie says "big bed"! She has one now. :)

Since we got the second vehicle, we've been slowly cleaning out the garage so that hopefully - eventually- we can park both of them in there. The thing taking up the most space in there was the crib, which Hollie used between the ages of about 3 months and 10 months. We planned on just moving it down to the basement, but we remembered that one side can be removed, like so:

They call it a "day bed", which I don't get. She mostly uses it at night.

Whatever.

But I think she likes it...

The "down low" on the basement

2010-08-27T12:11:00.002-05:00

Hahahaa...get it?

Hollie likes to edit Daniel's basement floor plans.
It's going to be her bedroom someday, after all.

We've been making great progress lately! The electrician has been in to help complete our wiring, and the plumber came (on the same morning...both unexpectedly...mere minutes after getting phone calls from both of them saying that they were on their way...it was crazy) to run water to the bathroom and install the tub/shower.

Between the two of us, Daniel and I have nearly finished framing in the new bedroom closet (moved from one wall to another), new hall closet (which did not previously exist, but does now, as a result of the new bedroom closet location) (are you bored with this yet?), and built-in bathroom cabinet! Things have not always fit together the way they should, but we've found that if you hit a 2x4 with a mallet enough times...it'll fit. :)

By the way, did you catch that?... built-in bathroom cabinet? I am soooo jealous. I want one in our bathroom, too. :(

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Also, speaking of Lawn/Home Maintenance, remember that front lawn drainage fiasco we kind of forgot about for a while? Well, it's finally getting dealt with next week. Woohoo!

You Capture - Outside

2010-08-26T08:57:00.001-05:00

A walk in the park on a cool, blustery [see blog title], 70-degree afternoon --

the first time in weeks that we've been able to leave the house between noon and 3pm without sweating our brains out.

When she's not in the stroller, she insists on pushing it herself

Strong gust of wind blew the stroller back toward her...yikes!

Had enough. Your turn, Momma!

Hollie's favorite thing to do at the park: collect trash.

[She would love to collect poop too, but I vetoed that.]

Occasionally, we find a good spot,

and sort out the findings.

...then we hang onto the keepers

and keep on movin'.

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This post is part of Beth's weekly You Capture challenge...head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to check out the other awesome entries!