Things That I Love

A Blanket That Plugs In
(Crazy enough, my grandma, who lives in one of the hottest parts of California, started this love. She always has electric blankets on the beds. My hubby now is a convert- he calls it our 'bed warmer' and we looove getting into bed on a cold winter day)

A Day Sans Time-Outs
(Will this happen soon? Frequently? Pretty please?)

Extra-Hot Coffee
('Nuthin' more to say there)

A Smile and a Kiss From My Babies, and a Supercute 'I Love You'
(Well, just Aili, for now...although Baby A smiles now!)

A Roaring Fire on a Fall or Winter Day
(Especially when it is all crackly and there is hot chocolate or cider next to said fire)

Picking out a Christmas Tree and the Nostalgia of Unpacking the Decorations

Phone Calls From Old Friends...and meeting up with them

When Babies NAP!

The Way the Water Shimmers at the Beach When the Sun Just Starts to Go Down

When I Hear the Door Open in the Morning and Husband is HOME!

A Warm, Yummy, Home-Cooked Meal Ready in the Oven After a Long, Cold Day

That First Jump into a Cool Pool, Ocean, Lake on a HOT Day

Jell-O Shots, Daiquiris, and Occasionally BEER!

Diet Coke

Playing Games With Friends

Old-School Physical Games Like Capture the Flag, Hide and Seek, etc.
(Anyone wanna play with me?)

Going to See a Football/Baseball Game

Water/Theme Parks

Going Home to See Family

Law and Order: SVU
(I think I was a detective in my former life...?)

Long Drives With Good Music

Looking at a Picture/Painting on the Wall That Makes Me Smile

Finishing a Project. ANY Project.

A Clean House

A Good Movie/Show...and Fabulous People to Cuddle With While I Watch It

Laser Tag, Go-Karting, and Other Grown-up/Kid Games

Things That I Hate?

People who are rude behind the wheel (what, do you think hiding behind your car makes disgusting behavior ok?), Kids who are spoiled rotten and act like brats (and parents who let them!), When a service you pay for like the internet or TV doesn't work, Unexpected bills, Sleepless nights, Working Full-time and being away from my family too much (not to be confused with working- I am grateful for employment!), The dentist, When things break down/stop working, People who steal your stuff (Hello, I-pod), When people are rude or unkind or otherwise unreasonable, Getting sick.

What do you love/hate?

Baby A, 7 Weeks Old!

Things are going pretty well here at the Sluys house. We are (slowly) making progress unpacking the boxes at our new house and getting things situated the way we want. Baby is doing great too- she is super sweet, eats well, sleeps well, and occasionally treats us to a smile that just melts me :-) She is a keeper! So far no jealousy issues, Aili is in love with her and with being a sister, and is constantly trying to smother her with affection (kind of annoying, but better than the alternative). We've mostly been laying low the last seven weeks, just nursing, taking Aili to do various activities like her dance/cheer classes (sooo cute!) which she LOVES, and planning for the holidays- we're going to be having multiple turkey day dinners, which does not bode well for my goal of losing 20 pounds, but should be delish. I am hosting one of them and I'm looking forward to it, despite the juggling sure to be involved in taking care of the little ones while making a ton of dishes :-) And in December we will be jetting off to California for a few weeks- so excited! Haven't been there for a few months! Much more to come soon.

Just another baby update

The sisters- bonding already. Aili likes to hold her hand while they ride next to each other in their car seats.

Baby Anabelle is now a couple of weeks old and doing great! We are really enjoying having a wee one around again, and Aili seems to really enjoy her (of course, her idea of "helping" often borders on possible bodily harm, so she requires a lot of supervision!) Jeff sadly is back at work now, so we've had a few days of just me and the girls- so far, so good, although I've been a little lazy and not much gets done on my alone days, other than snuggling, feeding, and eating (always can manage to make time for THAT!) The day my mom left was also a hard day- it was great having her around to help and bond with the new baby. I am so glad that she got to watch her be born, unfortunately that didn't work out with Aili, and I didn't think it would with this one either but we got lucky! Thankfully I have been SO much more comfy this time around. Either my laceration wasn't as bad or the repair job was better perhaps, because now I know what a NORMAL recovery feels like! I think the first doc, with Aili, was half asleep when she did my sutures... :-/ This time I had a more elaborate birth plan which specified what type of sutures I wanted, etc. My breasts still kill, but whatev, I'll take it, compared to last time!
On another note, a cold has managed to make it's way into our house...bummer. Nothing like having a two-week-old, a three-year-old with an endless supply of energy, and a nasty cold. Ugh. Luckily my dear hubby has the next 4 days off and hopefully I will be better by the time he goes back to work.

Happy Birth Day Anabelle Lucie!

Baby girl made her appearance on Friday, September 24 (her due date) at 3:46am at Evergreen hospital. She weighed 9 pounds 3 ounces and was 21.25 inches long.
On Thursday we closed on our house, so that night we were moving. I was moving boxes into the house around eleven and felt a little crampy, so I said a prayer she'd hold out another day so I could get some sleep (no such luck...) Around 12:45 I had a feeling I needed to get somewhere closer to the hospital just in case, so I headed over to Stephanie's house in Lynnwood. By 1:15 we were there and I thought I was probably in labor. I had Stephanie wake my mom up (she was staying there for the night since our guest bedroom was being packed)and they both helped me while I paced the living room and labored. I was getting anxious for Jeff to get back with the U-haul from Stanwood so we could maybe get going before too long- poor guy was working his tail off trying to get our enormous fridge through the front door and eventually had to abandon mission and leave it on the porch. He arrived at Stephanie's and my contractions were starting to intensify and I had to hum or moan to get through them. The only position I was tolerating was on all fours. We left for the hospital before too long and I managed to walk in, where they had me sign forms and go to triage. I was not wanting to be in triage at all- they were moving slow, slow, slow and wanted me to pee in a cup, check my cervix, etc. I don't think they thought I was very far along. I couldn't lay down long enough for her to check my cervix (clearly I am a bad patient) and ran off to the little bathroom, where I got on the floor and started pushing and being quite loud. At this point they decided to just put me in a room (thank goodness) and I got on all fours and pushed her out with just a couple of pushes. Yes, I gave birth like a cow. Her face was pretty bruised up from coming down so fast and she had meconium aspiration and needed PPV and cpap (breathing assistance) but she is doing great. I has a second degree laceration (her hand was up by her face...bummer) but it should heal up pretty well. Lots of after pains this time as expected, but doing ok with ibuprofen and a hot water bottle. My bleeding was a little heavy at first but I was lucky- they never had time to put in an IV so I didn't get any drugs before or after the delivery, including pit, so a little belly mashing (owey...) and I was good to go. A half an hour after her birth I got up, showered, and relaxed. She's a good nurser so that is a relief! The birth really wasn't too bad, there were only about 5 contractions that were really awful. Unfun, byt over with now and she is definitely worth it! She is a real sweet pea for sure :-) More photos to come soon!

THIS is what a belly looks like at full-term....

...only I'm not full-term; these pics are from 36 weeks. She'll get here eventually, and hopefully I won't require a crane to get out of bed at that point!

The World Lost a Great Man

My grandfather. I wanted to include this in a separate post. He was very special to me- the sweetest, most gentle man, which isn't common in his generation. He was loving and smart and will be missed. I lived with these grandparents for awhile during my teenage years, and their home feels like home to me and always has, more than anywhere else. I'm very happy he lived such a long, good life full of love and without any real tragedy- what an awesome way to go! I love you grandpa, and I hope where you are is full of good movies and as many Trader Joe's peanut clusters as your heart desires :-)

Are we overachievers or just plain dumb?

...Because we didn't already have enough going on, we decided it might be a good idea to buy another house! (We still have the Ferndale one, but we're obviously not living in it and want one to live in!) So, this week we put in an offer on this house, expecting it to maybe take awhile to go through, but they accepted our offer the next morning and we had our inspection the next day! So, things are moving along nicely and we will hopefully be able to move in before too long (you know, to coincide with my due date ;-))The only issue is that we want them to fix a skylight that leaked a little- not sure if they'll go for that or not. The house is in Stanwood, so closer to Jeff's work, and is off I-5 at the Stanwood-Camano Island exit (10 miles north of Tulalip casino and the outlet mall). We also were pretty particular about school systems- I am a fan of public schools, and I wanted to find a good balance between a good education and being surrounded with nice, average kids- not elitist snobs or thugs. The elementary school near us is highly rated, and the entire district looks to be pretty good (which wasn't the case with some of the houses we looked at a little further south).We're pretty excited, it wasn't too difficult of a process, although the idea of owning two houses at the age of 27 does make me a little nervous- responsibilities, man. It will be nice for our kiddos to have more room to run around, this place has an acre. Now, we just have to hope that our close date isn't the same day I have the baby :-) Speaking of baby-to-be, I am 2-3 centimeters dilated,at 35 weeks, so movin' along. I also had a FABULOUS baby shower- my girlfriends are so sweet! The food was awesome and I got some adorable baby clothes and a nice homemade blankie. Thanks so much to you all, you are great friends.
Here is a picture of the house and a link to look at more pictures:






...and for more pics/info:
http://www.camanorealestate.com/real-estate/by-mls/

Nesting?

Maybe that's whats up? I've been very into making things for baby girl lately- first my mom, Jeff, and I designed a quilt for her using some of my favorite girly fabrics, and now I'm working on other little things to match- think bright pinks/reds/oranges, paisley, and polka dots :-) It's been fun! (...ok, and frustrating at times. I've had to bust out the seam ripper a time or two.) Below, a sampling of some little creations~







And I'm way excited because...I got a new sewing machine! I had one before, but this one is cooler. And, ahem, either the old one is: A. Broken, or B. I just can't figure out how to use it. Manual somehow disappeared. So, it had been a couple of years since I've used it. I've had to rely on tailors and my mama. This new one is very user-friendly though, and does some really cool stitches that will be awesome for quilting. So, does this make me old then, or merely pregnant and nesting? Who knows :-)

Baby BURRITO of mine (and other random summer fun bloggings)

I'm kinda lazy about baby books. My mom keeps telling me I need to record the stuff that Aili says which is funny to, well, people related to her, but I'm not so hot at it. My hope though is that I'll throw a few of those tidbits in here and then-someday- maybe I'll scroll through my old blog posts and jot some things down in her book. A current favorite: We were camping at denny creek (more on that in a bit) and I was trying to get her to sit in my lap and relax, stay away from the fire, and calm down for bed while Jeff was setting up her sleeping bag in the tent. As a way to get her to stay on me and quit running around I told her to stay put because there were snakes on the ground, but if she stayed on mama's lap they wouldn't get her. So she stayed. She said, "We don't like snakes. Daddy get them." Me: "Really. What does daddy get them with?" Her: "A shovel. Daddy squish them. I have a shovel." Me: "Oh, are you going to help?" Her, looking at me like I am an idiot: "Nooo. Daddy get them with the shovel. Go daddy, go!" (Jeff was in the tent stomping around and I guess she though he might have been wacking snakes or something). Just to be clear, I am not a violent person. While I don't like snakes, I just leave them alone, I certainly don't squish them- I don't know where she came up with the idea of the shovel! She's a funny kiddo. She did really well with camping too- slept all night in her sleeping bag and had a lot of fun. Before bed we took her for a run around the campground to wear her out- man that kid can run! I was suprised how long, far, and fast she ran. Maybe she'll play soccer like her mama did?
In other news, my scale and I have had a little discussion. It basically entailed me begging the gods, the scale, and everything else but Buddah to not let me gain too much more weight. I can't possibly get any larger without having problems keeping up at work (Not to mention fitting into my scrub pants- apparently I should be able to continue to work full-time 12 and a half hour night shifts right up until my due date?? That's very funny. What the heck am I supposed to WEAR?! Nothing will fit by that point). I've gained, at about 32 weeks, 22lbs. Please, not too much more! Only all I want to do is eat. I'm trying to be careful though. It almost makes me miss the first twenty weeks, when I was so sick I had to force myself to eat, and even then didn't do it very often (But not quite miss it enough Ugh, vomit. I can't believe I didn't lose more weight in the first trimester- My body just really loooovees to pile on the pounds when pregnant). Hopefully, I don't go the full 40 weeks. I'm going for 37-39 weeks, assuming the baby is healthy and ready. Because I have so much control over this of course :-) I think she'll be smaller than Aili was too, although everyone and their mother, including OBs I work with, acts shocked when they hear how far along I am and my due date. Apparently my stomach is huge. Tell me something I didn't know. Why do I have to carry my babies like torpedos, all out in front? Ugh. I guess it looks a little nicer than just getting a wider belly, but man, it makes it hard to breathe or do anything. Pretty soon I'm gonna have to move my work-outs to the pool, and honestly, I haven't done much this week at the gym- it's a busy week at work and I'm pretty tired. We did find time to take Aili and Ari to the pool the other day though which was so fun- she just loves the water, and is pretty brave! She was nonstop energy and smiles the whole time we were there. Lastly, I am working on trying to perfect my homemade flour tortilla recipe. Any tips? I want them really stretchy/slightly doughy and I'm having a hard time getting them just perfect. Perhaps a tortilla press and steamer would help. Only most of the ones I have found press into no larger than 6.5 inch rounds and that won't do- I want 8-10 inches baby! I need to be able to fit a lot of yummies into my burritos. It's probably a lost cause for now- you know what the Mexicans say, you don't learn to make good tortillas until after you're married (I may not be a newlywed, but I didn't grow up with a Mexican mama making them every day, either). So if anyone has any tips or tricks, I'm all ears! Same thing for quilts too, because that is another project I'm working on- I need some advice on getting a good decorative stitch as opposed to just stitching the whole thing together in the ditch. Anyone? :-)

Back from our Babymoon!

No, I did not fall off the face of the Earth. We've just been a little bit busy the last few weeks. I was so excited to be heading out of Washington- summer sure came late here, and I didn't think I could take one more dreary day! Thankfully, we got to spend a few days in California with my mom, jet off to Aruba for a week, and then spend a few more days in California before returning to Washington (and, hopefully, some good weather finally!) Aili did excellent on the drive to California- she barely fussed at all! It wasn't her first trip in the car to California, but still, I was a little bit nervous about whether or not she would have any major meltdowns.Aruba was fantastic- I highly recommend it! It had the softest sand, wonderful sunsets, beautiful crystal-clear beaches, and super-yummy seafood. We stayed in a one-bedroom apartment/time share type thing and our porch led right out to the sand and beach- heaven. It was a great place to relax and watch the sun set while cooking dinner. We did some fun trips while we were there- hiked Mt. Hooiberg (haard, in the humidity while pregnant, even though normally speaking it wouldn't have been) which is in the center of the island and offers fantastic views. Aruba's small, so you could see the whole island, and if it is clear you can see the coast of Venezuela 15-20 miles south of Aruba. We also saw some caves, Indian drawings, the natural pool or "conchi"- a pool of ocean surrounded by rocks protecting it from the sea- did some 4x4'ing, lots of geckos and cacti, a pirate castle, and of course spent lots of time at the beach and pool. The only downer? The airlines. I swear, it is the only industry where you can f&^@! up that much and still charge an astronomical ticket fee. I mean really, it was ridiculous. After having drove down to LAX, we flew LA to Orlando, and then jumped on a plane to Miami. Unfortunately this plane was 45 minutes delayed, and we missed out flight to Aruba- the last one since there are only 2 per day. Bummer. As we ran to the gate, we saw the plane pulling out, and the lady at the counter said "we're sorry, we tried to wait a bit!" ummm yeah they left 2 minutes EARLY (whoever heard of a plane leaving early?) So we were forced to party in the city where the heat is on, as Will Smith would say, in Miami and then fly out the next day. Now, on our trip home from Aruba, we caught more bad luck. A small plane had to make an emergency landing at the Aruban airport, forcing the 13 planes about to land there to circle above the airport. Of course they didn't have enough fuel to circle for 45 minutes (yeah, because having an extra 45 minutes of fuel seems like too much of a buffer doesn't it?!) they had to go to Bonaire to refuel and come back. The plane that was supposed to fly us out to Chicago then had a pilot who, due to this small delay, would go over his number of hours allowed to fly per day per FAA guidelines. (Seriously, once again- why cut it so close? And of course there are no back up pilots). So, we had to stay the night again in Aruba and then get up at the a%@ of dawn to be back to the airport the next day. The worst? They made us clear customs and immigration AGAIN, making it a total of 4 customs and 4 immigrations clearings just to get back to Chicago. And of course all the other planes had landed, so it was a nightmare, not to mention a total fire hazard. People kept coming down the escalator and elevator down to the customs room, not realizing it was too full, and then the elevator was buzzing because it couldn't even close, because it was so crowded the people in it literally couldn't fit in the room.Have you ever been in a room fully of angry Jersey people and New Yorkers? SCARY. I swear, there was almost a riot. They were yelling at the poor security guards. The Arubans kept saying they were sorry but they hadn't had a situation like this before and didn't know how to handle it. Anyway, it was a nightmare. After finally arriving in Chicago a day later, we saw that wonderful United Airlines had overbooked every flight from Chicago to LA, and there was a standby list of 60 people at one point. Ridiculous. We didn't get to fly out for about 10 hours, and even then we barely made it on. After finally arriving in LA at midnight (felt like 3AM to us) we had to drive the four hours North to Paso to my mom's. Ugh. Can you say EXHAUSTED? Luckily we still had a couple of days to relax before returning home. I missed Paso soooo much! It was so good to see everyone. We even worked on a quilt for baby girl- I picked the fabric, Jeff designed the size of the pieces so they'd fit the right size finished that I wanted and cut them, and my mom is piecing it together. It should be super-cute, and I'm so grateful to my mom and fabulous hubby for helping me. Seriously, is there ANYTHING that man can't do? I think not. He can pour and finish cement, save lives, quilt, alter my bridesmaid's dress, do pretty much any repair around the house, rebuild boats...I could go on and on. Every time he comes to my grandparents house, he always finds a project to do too- this time he replaced the gutters that were broken. Seriously, I *heart* him. All this and he is one fanfreakingtastic daddy to our little girl too- he's even learning how to braid her hair. I can't wait for the quilt to be finished- only now I kinda wanna make one for Aili too. You know, with all the extra time I have :-)After a few more days in Paso it was time to head back, so we climbed back into the car for another 20 hours to drive straight through so I could go to work the next day (Ugh. They couldn't give me that day off). That drive went ok, except when the dresser we were bringing home for baby girl started to slide on the roof rack and had to be fixed on the side of the road in the middle of bum-f*&@-nowhere California in the blazing heat. No shade...over 100 degrees...AC failing....and Aili, sweating and screaming and yelling "turn off the sun!!" It was so damn hot in the car, but Aili's reaction made it pretty funny. As soon as we got going and reached civilization again (meaning, a ranch town with about 20 people, a million cows, and three times as many flies) I stopped at a gas station to get ice to melt on her to cool her off. She was a little happier after that, and was entertained by the next few hours I spent trying to kill the flies that got in out hot sticky car.
Anyway, so to sum it up, Aruba was AWESOME, the airlines can kiss my big pregnant behind, Aili got spoiled at grandma's in California, and I can't WAIT to do it all again and make some more memories with my quirky, fabulous family. Only after I'm done being pregnant :-) I have lots of photos on facebook, but here are a few for the blog:





Random photos from vacation, including the crystal-clear Aruban waters, caves, and the nightmare that was customs. More photos on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=197604&id=699945981&l=334d690d05

Things My Child Says Which Are Funny

The other evening, Jeff told Aili that after dinner he would make her popcorn (I was at work and they were having a little father-daughter bonding time). While he was cleaning up the dishes, Aili came up to him, and their conversation went something like this:

Aili: Daddy, I need to talk to you (looks serious)
Jeff: Um, ok, what's going on?
Aili: There's no popcorn

Haha. What a little foodie. Toddler's aren't exactly known for their patience, but the little lady did get her popcorn, after the dishes were done. In case you were curious.
The past week I have ballooned. It's a little concerning, how quickly my belly has grown just in a little over a week. My appetite's also skyrocked. I'm praying to the pregnancy gods (again!) that I don't start piling on the pounds too quickly, and I vow to east sensibly, but then I see a cute little itty-bitty cupcake with pink sparkly frosting that is, like, sooo adorable, and so delectably delightful, and it's over. Who am I kidding? I have no willpower, nor am I seeming to find enough free time to go to the gym ('cuz who wants to do THAT when they finally have downtime?!) But when I did go to the gym the other day, something weird happened. My blood pressure's been pretty low this pregnancy (lower than normal, which is already a little low), and I have to be careful not to jump up too quickly. During my first trimester I got rehydrated at the hospital one time, because of that and because of hyperemesis (fancy medical term= puke too much), but stopped going and waited it out for the yucks to get better. Anyway, I felt ine during my workout and afterwards while doing my stretches, but when I got up to find Jeff, I started feeling super-yucky- my vision was blurry and had black spots, and I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out, throw up, or have the runs. I *barely* made it to the locker room, where I had to lie down. How embarassing. Needless to say I am nervous about that happening again. Gym=No Bueno. I'm probably just anemic again, with Aili I had pretty severe anemia. And I have been looking at ice again recently, with just a hint of lust. Yummm ice. Uh-oh. So, the plan: Start taking some iron. Drink more fluids. Attempt to work out and eat semi-reasonably (oh, the horror). And enjoy some lovely, hospital-style crunchy ice here at 4AM ('cause mother-baby has the best ice, did ya know?) Feel free to join me here, and could you bring an extra ice bucket? Thanks.

The GENDER Cake Party!

Is it Pink or Blue? In case you're not familiar with the concept, the gender cake party is where you "find out" the sex of the baby during the ultrasound by having the tech write it on a piece of paper in an envelope (or, as we did, have another friend come and have the tech tell her, and she coordinates everything). Make sure you don't peek when they check the booty shot/do the lower area scans. Then you take the envelope/friend goes to the baker and instructs them to bake a cake that is gender-neutral on the outside, but is pink or blue on the inside. At your party you cut the cake and your friends, family, and you find out together what you're having...

Here is the cutting of our oh-so-adorable GENDER CAKE (Thank you Steph for getting it and to Kelly's Cake Creations/Juanita- it was gorgeous!! Definitely would recommend her if you want a cute cake)~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1a_XsXuRHs
(naturally blogger couldn't manage the whopping 130MB)

And here is a nice shot of the cake:


I hope Aili enjoys having a little sister :-) I always wanted one! (of course, I was super-glad to have a brother, too- just saying I definitely would've enjoyed having both!) It looks like I get another opportunity to enjoy hairbows, tutus, and dancing. Jeff is gonna be outnumbered in a house full of girls wanting to go shopping and get pedicures, hehe.

...And then lastly a picture of my little family, soon to be plus one more girl~

...Because some people love a belly

...I've finally taken a belly pic. I'm 18 weeks now and feeling pretty much the same- still getting a bit queasy, headaches, etc. Blogger is currently angering me right now, so I think I may be done with this post. I'm a little sleepy too :-) So, maybe just some poorly arranged photos for now. Updates soon.

Some Cute Kids

Some cutie-patooties to start off the post...
Everything is going pretty well here, except I'm still getting sick occasionally (boo). We had our 16 week pregnancy check up last week, and everything looks pretty good- still down two pounds, but the uterus is at the right height, baby's heart rate was 138 (boy?), yadda yadda :-) Aili is doing a little better at being left places- usually she throws a huge crying fit if you will whenever we leave her at the daycare or Mops group, but lately I have been able to talk to her about how she is going to play with her friends and I am going to play with mine, there is no crying, and I will be back soon to pick her up. So, she is slightly more accepting of this.
In other news, Uncle Sam is currently NOT my friend. We owe $2800 in taxes whaaaattt? We paid so much in taxes this year, only claimed 1 dependent between the 3 of us...sucky. Did you know there is an income limit for the child tax credit? Yeah apparently we don't get it, which is totally unfair! I'm not sure how we ended up in some "wealthy" category, because we're not. I should be rolling in a new mercedes or something! Bummer. Oh well- I guess it's only money. On the to-do list for the next few weeks is tulip field visiting and Jeff is trying to get the work on the boat done before summer (Lord please let him get it done...he is so determined he will be majorly bummed if he doesn't 'meet his goal!')
That's it for today :-)

I'm SO Over It

...pregnancy, that is. Well, to be fair, the first trimester nonsense. Luckily, I am now a member of club 2nd tri (15 weeks today-yippee!) and with my babe bambino numero uno (Miss Aili), I didn't feel better until 15-16 weeks, so I am hopeful that things will steadily improve from here. You know you're a member of Club Baby Bakin' when:
A. You puke your guts out on the side of the road when you're in the car and then pee your pants from the sheer force of the vomiting (Hey, don't judge- I have given birth before, to a 9lb baby. It won't ever be the same in the pee dept.)
B. You pop zofran like it's candy
C. Immediately after the puking finishes you begin to think about what might be good to eat
D. You're so darn exhausted that the idea of doing anything other than making a perma-behind mold on the couch cushions sounds like too much work, even if your hubby threatens you with the D word if you don't start helping out with the laundry. Thankfully, this is getting better.
E. Let's just say things move sloooowww. And hard. If you've been pregnant you probably know what I am hinting at. If not, consider yourself blessed. It's the most horrible thing ever. It's like practicing giving birth. Ok, enough before I make all of you vomit (by all of you, I think I mean like the 2 people who actually know I have this blog and read it).

Yeah, I kind of feel a bit stuck in a rut. I want to go back to school...but I don't. Taking classes on things like how to analyze whether or not certain data collected is statistically significant sounds boring as crap, and definitely might not help me get out of my rut. So, then I consider other options for the creative side of me. Photography? Spanish? Wine and cheese appreciation?Hmmmm. And work- same thing. Maybe it's that I work too much, maybe it's that I need a challenge other than mother-baby (newborn-ed out?) and I regularily fantasize about going per diem, but the money is kind of nice. Ugh. Not sure what to do there either. I just know that I have far too little free time with my husband and daughter, and when we do all have time together, it seems like we are just treading water- getting dinner on. Cleaning up. Laundry. Managing temper tantrums. Trying, sometimes in vain, to put Aili to bed. Not actually spending quality time, whatever that is. I need to go on a vacation. How the heck will we manage with another? I keep meaning to find a cleaning lady, but haven't gotten around to it yet. Maybe that will help me regain my sanity?
In other news, Aili started her new daycare/preschool thing, and all is well so far. When I picked her up the other day she was having lots of fun and waved to all the kids and said "Bye bye! Bye bye, friends!" Cute. Baby #2 seems to be doing well. Not much to report there. Haven't gained any weight, which makes no sense since I look bloated and hippo-like. My stomach's definitely bigger, so I turned around the other day to see if the little bit of weight I'd lost came off the backside? Nope, the azz is definitely not smaller. Neither are the boobies. My husband's pretty pleased about their return to their former glory. I'll be sad when I finish nursing this one and have to return them. Not looking forward to post-nursing-breasts again, but I am just going to enjoy them for now! So I don't look smaller to me, but the scale says so and it never lies right? What a relief. By this time the first go-round, I was already up, ahem, 10-14lbs. Even though I was throwing up more. Go figure. Those pregnancy gods are weird.
If I can manage to get some summertime time off (as in, a couple of weeks preferably) we'll probably make another California-somewhere exotic-babyless trip again. It worked pretty well last October to leave Aili to be spoiled by grandma in California for a bit while we enjoyed some tropical time in Mexico. The only drawback is that I will be 7-ish months pregnant so we'll have to go somewhere with decent medical care, just in case. Last time I was 7 months pregnant, our babymoon was in Kaui, which was pretty awesome, except I couldn't do fun things like surf (haha, that would be funny huh? fatty on a surfboard), go on any boats (why oh why? Those boat people are strict and lame), scuba, etc. But the sun and the sand were nice. Sigh. I miss living in California. Sob. Ok, let's see if I can have a blog where I don't mention abandoning Washington for somewhere sunny? :-)
So, my question today is, fellow blog reader (s?) and random people who got stuck on the wrong page: How do you manage to still enjoy your life and fill it with fun things when the "chores" and have-to-do list is overwhelming? How do you find that so-called balance? Or, with young children and a young family, trying to get ahead, work hard, procreate, and make a good income, is this just unrealistic, to an extent? What do you think?

Unconditional Love

Some of the best advice I've gotten came from my mother, and it is this: There is no such thing as unconditional love outside of a mother's love for her child. I add to this one's relationship with God or a higher power, if they so believe. But I stand firm on the previous statement. Now some of you may argue or disagree- you love your mate so much, nothing will ever change that, and so forth. And I seldom say this, but I firmly once again say, You Are Wrong. Would you still love your husband, family, etc. if they raped or killed someone? What if, God forbid, they hurt your child? I know, your significant other or family member wouldn't do that, but everyone thinks that (or at least, almost everyone does). I know that I could never love someone again who intentionally hurt Aili (maybe forgive- but not love), but if Aili did that, I would still love her. I would hate what she had done but the love would still be there, always. Now this is not to say that I don't deeply love my husband, extended family, etc. I do and with all my heart. But the experience of age has led me to realize that my mom is right. I do not look at this as a negative thing, although at first glance it may appear to be a negative statement. I look at it as an insightful tool to help better our relationships and keep us from taking the ones we love for granted. I say this with the experience of having wrecked my first relationship due to the belief that we'd always love each other no matter what. I was bound and determined not to make that mistake again, so when things get difficult with my husband, I try to take a deep breath and look at the situation from both sides and apologize even when I don't think I'm really wrong. I try not to take him for granted and assume he'll always be there no matter what. That being said, I'm a work-in-progress, and I am still learning how to be in a relationship- I figure that is a lifelong learning experience!
The other night Aili and I were snuggled up together (we were co-bunking because we were at my dad's). She was happy as a clam to be with mama for the night, and I love watching her sleep- it is the one time she looks so peaceful! I must say, the unconditional love you have for your child is pretty amazing- I love her so much, even though she makes my day-to-day life about a million times harder, she throws tantrums, etc. I then realized something that to me, is pretty unbelievable- right now, for this small part of her life, she unconditionally loves me. She loves me and wants to spend time with me and only me, even when I'm boring because I am exhausted, even when I lose my patience and temper, even when I drop her off to be watched by someone else when I need to get something done. On the occasions that I have spanked her for a particularily naughty offense, she still runs crying to me to be comforted and for a hug, wanting the reassurance that yes, I still love her. For right now, she will continue to love me despite my flaws. It is pretty amazing. I know I have to cherish this time now, where I can help mold her into a good person, while she still thinks the world of me. Before long the love she has for me will change to regular love- love with conditions. She'll love me if I don't mess up too terribly. Hopefully, I will do my job right and she will continue to love me her whole life. For now, I am just grateful to be the one she runs to when she cries, the one she runs to when she is happy, and to be the reason her face lights up when I walk into the room.

Victory!

Aili is not a good vegetable eater. As a baby she would would eat her homemade purees happily- she was even known to eat things like sweet potatoes and broccoli mixed into oatmeal. Fast forward about 2-ish years later, and I cannot get the girl to eat veggies. She'll still eat them pureed, or mixed into things, but that's it. And I sort of have conflicting views about "hiding" veggies, a la sneaky chef- I mean, you get the veggies in, sure, but isn't the whole point to get them to want and then choose healthy foods by themselves so they learn lifelong healthy eating habits? I dunno. Anyway, I made roasted veggies the other night- broccoli with chopped garlic cloves, sea salt and cracked pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, in the oven on foil for 25 minutes, and enjoyed them myself, but I didn't have high hopes for Aili, so I only gave her one piece. I did the usual "yumm, look at mama eat the broccoli, it's so good!" but expected, at best, for her to pop it in her mouth and spit it right back out and say "Yucky!" as she usually does. Welll....She loved it! She went on and on about the yummy broccoli and wanted more! She went after my plate as well, and didn't even touch her beef chimichanga. The next day I decided to try again and test my luck, and was very happy to see her gobble down her veggies again! Yea! I guess persistence- and trying many different cooking methods- does pay off. I'd tried to woo her before with cheese sauces an such, but without too much luck (she'd usually just lick the cheese off and leave the veggie). Oh well, this is healthier anyway :-)
Well, everything else is going ok here- night shift is making me super tired, but I'm kind of stuck at the moment- no day shift openings, so I'm just gonna have to suffer through it. Hopefully I will get some of my energy back soon. Aili's been naughty lately too- we're definitely in the throes of the terrible twos, my easy little baby has transformed into a temper-tantrum throwing emotional rollercoaster who wants what she wants when she wants it! Ugh. I hear from some people that three is worse, but hopefully not for Aili ;-)

25 Things

Here's a post of randomness...because, well, I'm just not that creative at 1:30AM. So I thought I'd post one of these type of things instead. Either that or I'm boring. My only updates? Damn nanny quit (AGAIN- what is with our luck?! It's all these freakin' stay-at-homers who have never held a real job and have no idea what responsibility is!), but that is ok, because we're contemplating enrolling Aili in a preschool-style daycare, which I think would be great for her- she needs more structure. I've been feeling pretty under the weather lately. I can't wait for spring; it can't come soon enough. I've had it with the dreary weather...ok, now on to my post of randomness...I'm pretty sure of my 25 'random' things, most of you know almost all of them already :-) Oh well...

1. I never met a cheese I didn't like, even the smelly ones- yumm. How can someone hate blue cheese?! My current favorite is a dutch cheese called beemster or something- at nearly ten dollars for a small-ish slab, I'll be you can figure out why my grocery bill is so high ;-)

2. Disneyland is waaayy better than disney world. Just sayin'. Though I do love Florida. And they're right, disneyland is definitely the happiest place on earth!

3. I love love LOVE the beach, water parks, and anything water-related. If I could I would so move back to California, but hubby comes first and his job is here. I love sunny weather, tank tops, and swimming, although I still haven't learned to surf or wakeboard (I will eventually...and we just got another boat, a little ski boat, so maybe now I'll take up wake boarding...)

4. I find most newborns annoying. Ssshhh. Don't tell my work. Their cries typically resonate in my head like the sound of a few cats all fighting over a single peice of fish. That being said, I'm pretty good at dealing with newborns.

5. Snakes are not my friend. One reason I think it would be great to have all girls is because a girl is much less likely to hide a snake in my room/bed as a joke. I don't harm snakes or wish them ill, I just don't want them near me. Funny thing, when I was little I would catch them and hang them around my neck and do all sorts of horrifying things. Ugh.

6. I really want to learn Spanish. I'm getting a little better at it, since we have a lot of Spanish-speaking only patients at work, but I've still got a loong ways to go.

7. I'm really getting sick of work. Maybe it is the monotony, or maybe it is the fact that I work full-time, I don't know. But I'm reaching the end of my rope.

8. I hate going out to eat with people who are cheap and tip poorly.

9. I've always found medical stuff interesting. When I was little, going to the hospital was fun times.

10. I really don't want to ever drive a "kid mobile" (AKA minivan) but I'm not opposed to a crossover. Some day I will have my little sports car with leather seats...

11. I hate folding laundry, which is strange, because it is one of the few chores you can do while watching TV

12. I don't understand when people don't even try to breastfeed (unless they have medical issues). However bottle-feeding does make my job much easier

13. I want to make more friends in my area, and make time for those friends, because I am definitely a people-person. Yet I still haven't managed to do that much since moving.

14. I love game nights. I love things like bumper cars and laser tag even more. I'm a kid at heart

15. I accidently caused the color of our last house to be pink. I thought the sample looked cream. I guess the name "blushing bride" should have tipped me off. Oops.

16. My favorite sport to watch is baseball, hands down. To play is soccer, and football is second for watching. Only superbowl on TV though, otherwise it has to be live to keep me interested.

17. I love Alvin and the Chipmonks. The original, cartoon ones. I even own CDs. I can sing the whole theme song.

18. Dilletante (sp?) desserts and hot chocolate are the yummiest

19. I'm a big believer in baby-sitters and date nights. Your kid will be fine as long as you leave him/her with someone responsible. It might not be fine if you have a lousy relationship with your significant other due to not communicating and spending time alone together. This is also why I don't do extended co-sleeping past the newborn stage. Maybe it is just from my personal experience, but I think if you're not showing your child that you value yourself and your partner, and taking time for yourself/them, you're gonna end up with either a spoiled child or one who doesn't know how to be in a healthy relationship. Once again...just my experience from *my* life.

20. Kid's TV shows today have nothing on the ones we used to watch. Now there always has to be a "lesson." Whatev.

21. I love sleep so much, it is a major reason why probably I'll have 2 kids. That and I want the freedom to be able to travel a lot(as opposed to more than 2 kids that is).

22. If I can afford it, I would seriously give some thought to a tummy tuck and a boob lift. We'll see.

23. I would really like to make it out to Spokane more...that is on my priority list for the year. Not because of a deep love of Spokane per se, more about my deep love for my friend Lisa who lives there :-)

24. As a child, I always won the who-can-eat-the-donut-with-no-hands-the-fastest contest. And I can already tell that my daughter, who is just like her mama, will be doing the same thing.

25. Lisa and I did some seriously weird things as children. We were meant to be friends I guess. Our parents really took it in stride, I think I would be humiliated if Aili did some of those things. A random sampling- yelling abour birdseed and other bizzare things while on rides at the fair, trying to convince people we were twins, choreographed dances to Michael Jackson, and road-side "skits." Umm yeah. We'll just say we were "creative." And there are other things that, well, I just won't even go there ;-)

Why I Started Yet Another Blog

Clearly, I suck at blogging. I have had quite a few in the past few years, but I'm hoping this one will be more successful. Why? The only time I seem to want to blog is in the middle of the night, at work, and a lot of our computers block myspace and facebook, where I used to do my blogging. Thus I will join a different sort non-blocking blogging community (I have a few friends who use this one, so that seemed to be the easiest selection). Here are some quick updates of how life is going for our little family since the summer~

Fall- Moved to a townhome in the Mill Creek/Everett area. We like it here pretty well! Takes 30 minutes to get to Seattle, 90 or so to North Bellingham where Jeff's family is, and is a really family-friendly neighborhood. We're planning to hopefully stay here until we buy another house. (Gotta probably sell the old one first...but that is a debate all in itself). Then, right after moving we went and visited my fabulous family (seriously...I have the BEST extended family EVER) in California, and my mom watched The Princess (AKA "Aili," now 2 and a half) for a week so we could have a second "honeymoon" in Mexico. It was fantastic! We loved it so much that we bought a time-share (not normally my thing, but you can use it anywhere in the world) and are still committed to traveling as often as possible. Here are some pics of our trip:

The pictures are from the ancient Mayan ruins of Chichen-Itza, snorkeling in caves/cenotes, zip-lining in a Mayan village, etc. We had a great trip, and I can't wait for our next one- we've already paid off the time share so now we can just enjoy!

Winter- Not much new there, we visited my family in California and had an awesome time, as always. I *love* going to grandma's- we all hang out, have a good time, and eat far, far too much food. As a result I am now several pounds heavier. Oh well, it was worth it for the fanfreakingtastic 3 (eh,...8) squares-a-day. My latest mission for the winter is to visit Lisa in Spokane, take Aili sledding for the first time at the pass, and...well actually, that is enough until Spring.

Aili is doing pretty well. She keeps me busy! I am thinking of enrolling her in a gymboree or little gym class to use up some of that toddler energy and help her make little 'friends.' I also am looking into preschools for her- man is there a lot to choose from. It is especially hard when I'm unsure if she will be fully potty-trained, as most schools either A. Want them Trained, or B, Charge More. Ugh. She'll pee on the potty, but only with constant asking, and rarely poos on it. You'd think a child so food-motivated would go more, but...she's got more important things to do.