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~