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/