Skeletor!!!

I found this picture of Elisabeth Hasselbeck on people.com and was just horrified. Isn't this just a picture portrait of anorexia? Granted, I'm not a tiny person, but looking at this who would want to be? I think it's just .... quite frankly .... gross! She's about 3mo pregnant now and looks like there's a basketball jetting out from her stomach because she's just a skeleton.

Anyone keeping tabs on her fight with Rosie O'Donnell on The View this past week? I commend Rosie for leaving. Who needs that ... what a hooch!

Our Entertainment:

Maysen learned how to fill his cup up in our fridge. The most fun thing for him is filling it up and sprinting to the sink to dump it. By the time we caught him, he had spilled some water on the floor and slipped. Then it became a game.



Now this video is of Maysen "reading" the last page of his book. It has about 8 things on each page, and Maysen was in warp speed on reciting his newly learned items. They include (you can follow along with Maysen): nummies (gumdrops), kitty, "whistle" (pacifier), worm, money (coins), doggy, pea, bee, school bus, rocket,*pause*, giraffe, mountains, skyscraper, and ... (eventually) horsie.



And one last video ... to show what a Master Wagon Driver looks like, Mr Papa. Nate wasn't as graceful. I'll spare him the embarrassment and not show him :-)

Reversed?

Has anyone ever experienced night-sickness? Of course Sunday I was feeling great! No symptoms of pregnancy at all. That is, until Monday. Starting at about 7pm I started feeling nauseated and just an overall feeling of crumminess. Tuesday, woke up feeling great until Tuesday night, then nausea. "Ok, whats going on?" I'm thinking. Tonight? Same story. At 8:30 I start getting nauseated and a full/bloated feeling that I just have to lay down. So what's with having it backwards?

I made my first OB appointment today. I'm sad to say the doctor who delivered Maysen will not be delivering this new baby. I liked Dr H a lot, but she stopped delivering at the 2nd of 2 local hospitals. She's the mother of 3 small kids and being called from one hospital to the other was taking up too much time. I like the 2nd hospital so much better as the rooms are just like hotel suites. Private bathroom with jetted tub, bed for husband/family, fridge/microwave, TV/VCR, rocker/glider. It is just so home-like and that was very important to me post-CSection. So, I made my first appointment with my new OB doctor, Dr F for July 6th.

Loud Message on a Shirt:

Nathan and I learned a secret a week ago; we are expecting our 2nd child in January. We are pretty sure this is our Disneyland baby - and we were wondering why everyone we saw in Disneyland was pregnant! Karma perhaps? I am roughly about 4 weeks along and so far feeling great! Maysen is saying he's going to be a big brother, but when you ask if he wants a brother or a sister, he says "No brover, no sisser" I'm afraid he has no choice in the matter.

Our second piece of news is that in light of Nathan's new job, combined with our recent exciting news, we have decided that I am going to hang up my nurse's hat for a bit and be a full-time mommy. I gave my notice on Wednesday that my last day of work will be June 15th. I do not want to take for granted the rare and wonderful opportunity I have been given, as I understand there are a lot of mommies out there that would love to stay home with their kids and are unable to. I feel privileged that I am able to do this. I will work "per diem" at my job, hopefully maybe once a month to keep my hours up for my RN license. It was with a heavy heart I made this decision as I have been the happiest at my current job than I have ever been working. I love my patients, my doctor, and my fellow employees, but I felt deep in my heart that I needed to take advantage of this opportunity and be with my kids, as they will only be little once. I have seen already with Maysen that they grow way too fast.

Side note: The above message was an actual fortune I received in my fortune cookie Thursday, the day after I gave my notice at work. It was, to say the least, too weird...

It's been a long week filled with a ton of emotion so I am sorry if I have seemed missing in action. I look forward to my new adventures of a full (and second) time mommy!

Happy Momma's Day!

Happy Mom's Day today to those who are mommies! This is my 3rd Mom's Day to celebrate and got the best "I love you, mom" gift I could ever get. Maysen and I had gone out to the backyard to play while Nate ran to town. We had played on the swings, gone down the slide, and Maysen was keeping occupied with me filling up a pitcher and letting him water my flowers. All of a sudden I'm standing on my deck and Maysen comes running at me warp speed with his arms outstretched saying "Ug, Ug da momma!" He ran up and gave me a death-grip hug. I savored the moment hugging him ever-so-tightly as I almost whispered "Oh, I love you my baby boy." Within seconds he whispered back "Uve you too momma". I had just read (tearfully, I might add) Running's post about her encounter and thought how special that was, when I got my own gift this afternoon.

There's nothing like being a momma ...

New Job

Nate accepted a new job this week as a ASP.Net web developer for RealPro Systems here in Eugene. The best part? It's full time/permanent! He has been working for Weyerhaeuser for the last year since graduating, but it's only been on a contract basis. The money is good, but they just cut you a dry check - you're responsible for benefits, taxes, etc. - not to mention the possibility of no job (and no unemployment) after your contract is up. Nathan's will be officially up June 16th, but it was extended until November. Nate stumbled across this job and when he got offered it, it was hard to justify passing up a permanent position with benefits to something that could be over and done with in November. The money isn't "as" good as when you're contracting, but that's to be expected with all the "pros" of having a permanent position in a company.

Today we took Maysen to the indoor SPLASH wave pool. He's a bit apprehensive of the water - which I think I appreciate more than half the other children that were jumping into any and all other parts of the pool, unattended. Scared this mom to death! (Although I was appalled to see I might have been one of the few! Geesh!)

Now I'm going to go throw on my new 550 thread count sheets (part 2 of mom's day gifts) and try and get the overwhelming smell of chlorine out of my nose ...

Happy Mom's Day tomorrow to all my mommy readers!!

Early Mom's Day

Yipee! I'm back to video taping my little man! On Saturday I got my Mother's Day gift early. Nate bought me (us) a JVC Camcorder, but instead of taping to a tape or DVD, the newest thing is the camera just has a hard drive in it. So you hook it up to your computer and download the video, or pictures. I can take still shots with this thing (which is tiny) and there is no lag or delay time. I love it. Sunday we went to the beach for the day. Here's Maysen talking about the doggies.

My first time

"Will I ever use this? I mean, I'd rather be reading a magazine in the sun, I hope this gets out soon."

It's amazing I've been an RN for 5 years now, and every couple of years I have to renew my CPR certification. This includes the Heimlich maneuver, which I think I've been taught ever since Health class in high school. Who would have thought that my very first serious time of using it would be on my 2 1/2yr old son at dinner time.

Tonight we're eating dinner in the living room watching a movie and eating dinner. Maysen was sitting in front of Nate and sort of kitty-corner from me. All of a sudden he got very still. I look over and he's sitting there with a glazed-over look with his mouth open. I had given him a quarter of a peanut butter sandwich, which he never has a problem with. Well, he must have crammed the whole thing in his mouth (which he's never done) without me noticing. Anyway ... he's sitting there so I jump up (Nate had no idea anything was wrong because he couldn't see him) and I whacked him a good few times on the back. You know how your adrenaline is raging so I knew they were pretty hard ones. If he was ok, he would have started crying, but *nothing* which was just plain eerie. So I looked in his mouth and his eyes were just panicked. I whacked him again hard about 3 times and then I looked back at his face and I felt like a deaf person because his face was red, tears streaming, eyes in cry-mode, face in cry-mode but he was *silent*. I knew then that his airway was blocked as he was turning colors. So I threw his tray off him, pulled him onto the ground and did the Heimlich. On the third thrust I was able to get it up and he started crying. I'm not sure who was more scared. Me or Maysen? Within 10min he was OK, asking for cereal and I was still shaking.

But ... he's OK. Thank goodness. I was thinking the whole time to myself "oh my God, what if I can't get this out?" It's amazing how "autopilot" you go into .. as I don't remember much about it, I just sorta went out of body and did what I had to do. Nathan said "I'm so glad you were here because I wouldn't have known what to do."

Phew .. I'm going to bed now....

Choo Choo Tongue!

This is the caricature picture we had done at Knott's Berry Farm in California. (And this is us stuck on Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland due to technical difficulties). The guy who was drawing took about 6min, and I was amazed at how well he did considering Maysen did NOT want to hold still!

Maysen has started using his tongue to help him with fine motor skills such as getting his train set just right on the track. I captured a few really cute ones tonight:

I'm getting a DVD camcorder for Mother's Day!! We didn't have a video camera during Maysen's birth - and regreted it, so got one. The video has to be transferred to VHS, blah blah blah but in January when I went to video him out in his first snow, the picture didn't work. We regretted not having on at Disneyland so that's my Mommy's Day gift!! We're going to get it tomorrow. Maybe then I'll be able to put snazzy clips on here like some of my friends have!!

Happy May Day!

Do you still do May Day Baskets? Today my doorbell rang at 4:00pm. "Hmmm...", I thought, "who could that be?" As I went to the door I saw our neighbor girls running away giggling. Above is what I saw on my door.

I remember doing May Day baskets when I was young - we would pick flowers (mainly lilacs) and we'd put them baskets, load them in a lid to a cardboard box lid, load it up in mom's van, and drive around town delivering them. We'd run up, ring the doorbell and run (to the van) like sly dogs. I don't know why, but I specifically remember May Day'ing to my grandma Leota and babysitter "Gwennie".

On a sad note, Nate's Grandma Dolly died yesterday. It is very sad, but she had previous complications and it was somewhat expected. Nate and I are working on a slideshow/movie of her life so we've been busy working on that. May God bless your soul, Dolly.

... and I'm sitting here 10 feet away from my present of lilacs and can smell them from here. Can't beat that ...

Few out of a million

I had 159 pictures to chose from, so here is a select few from our vacation. We had a great time, but good to be home. Today was spent picking a record amount of weeds from my yard. I love my yard, but man it's high maintenance. Hope you enjoy the pics - some of my editing didn't go through, but I've already got an hour into this, and I'm done dealing with all these pics. Now I have to get these (plus all pics from Sept to current) printed - a job I'm avoiding.

Enjoy!

Home at Last!

Well, we made it home safe and sound rolling into our driveway at 7:00pm last night. Man, yesterday was a long day. Why do the trips home seem longer than the trips TO vacation?

First, we got lost in LA on the way to return the rental car. Got there on time, thankfully - but managed to leave Nathan's cell phone in the rental car which we didn't realize until sitting in the airport terminal. So they're FedEx'ing that back to us.

We get to the airport and Maysen starts doing the "I'm going to reject anything you want me to do" attitude. Throwing himself down, going opposite ways than us, screaming when he's redirected. Yea, let's just say that the 100ft walk to the terminal seemed like 100 miles. We get there, sit down and Maysen (the ham he is) starts just chaaaaatting away with everyone seated. There were two girls in particular he was making them gut-bust with various cheesy smiles, "tricks", counting. One girl even commented "Oh my, what's next? Somersaults?" Well, it just so happens that Maysen DOES indeed know how to do somersaults, so he proceeds to do repeated somersaults down the stretch of clear pathway through chairs. Afterward he stood up, walked over to a sleeping woman, patted her (not so gently) on the leg and said "See?!" One gruff man talking on the cell phone had to get up and walk away because the business associate he was talking to only could hear "HELLLLLO???" as Maysen walked up to the man and insisted on being let in on the conversation ...

Our flight was fine. Maysen slept the first hour, so that was good. We landed, got picked up by the hotel shuttle, and I've never been so happy to see our van. We met Jenn for dinner and headed home. "Hmmm" we thought, "should we pay Delmar $25 or $30 for watching Bailey and Bird this week?" Delmar is our neighbor boy, who comes over feeds, waters, and walks Bailey when we're gone. He's about 11 and thinks $10 is super-cool cash. We get home, immediately walk over to Delmar and Jackie's house to get our key. "Bailey's been a good girl, but we did have a few accidents". Here is what "a few" entailed:

1. Tearing down one of our fence gates (literally the whole thing), which had to be rescrewed onto our fence by Delmar, Jackie and Brian in an all-three effort.
2. Ripping down 3 of our fence boards. Didn't escape mind you, it was just the act that she wanted the fence tore up.
3. Bailey having 3 bouts of diarrhea on our carpet, so they had to go get carpet deodorizer to help mask the pleasant odor, scrub my carpet, then vacuum.
4. Bailey found the Costco-size StoveTop Stuffing in my pantry, helped herself and ripped 3 bags open up and down my hallway/livingroom. #3 time Jackie had to vacuum my house.
5. Tore up remainder (just a few kleenexes) in my bathroom trash
6. Day #6 peed in my living room.

Uhhh ... we quickly said thank you, handed them $50 (not the measly $25 we had originally pondered) and couldn't have said "thank you" enough. I have wonderful neighbors to withstand my "I'm going to pay my parents back" dog, Bailey.

Needless to say we're pooped, Stanley Steemer is coming this afternoon to clean ALL my carpets, Maysen is going to Bob and Bonnie's so Nathan and I can sneak away for a breather- movie, Fracture. Looks great! I'll give you the review. Welcome home, Leslie!

Day 5 & 6

I'm lagging on this post-during-vacation thing. Which is good, in a way, I guess - it proves we're having a good time. So, where did I leave off?

Yesterday was our last day in Lake Elsinore with dad and Jo. We stopped at the local laundromat while Dad and Jo were at a meeting. It's amazing the strange cats you can see at laundromats. Instance 1: Two women sitting in half shirts and daisy-dukes (remember those?) talking on cell phones and smoking outside. We were sitting near them once they came in and I thought that perhaps they were roommates. Well, I mentioned to Nate about washing the beach towels because I couldn't stand to have even one grain of sand if I needed to use it again. "Oh, I know..." one of them starts out. "... I feel the same way." Which somehow led into how 2 days ago her husband kicked her out, but that's ok because she's living with her son and "soon to be daughter in law" - and points to what I thought was her sister. It was just .... strange convo to have with someone you don't know. After we got done with that - it was quite warm at 83. So we went to the lake and let Maysen swim and we had a great time. I was good and put sunscreen on every part I could reach - but got busy and forgot my back. Well ... needless to say OUCH today. We had a great time with Dad and Jo and I can't wait to see them again.

We got to Anaheim last night at about 7:00pm. We checked in - and our room had 2 double beds instead of a King. Imagine that. Instead of fighting it we got a roll away bed for Maysen and Nate and I are sleeping in separate beds which is totally weird, but better than trying to sleep in a double with him snoring in my ear.

This morning we got up and went to Disneyland. The week has caught up with Maysen I think and he was a bit cranky today. The first ride I took Maysen on was the carousel, but he would have NOTHING to do with it. He was flailing and finally was satisfied on me just holding him as we went around and around. he did NOT want to get on that horsie. Right after, Nate took him on the flying Dumbos. It was funny - they were actually in line right behind a woman with her son, Mason, who turned out to be 10 days older than Maysen - and they were both wearing plaid shorts. We went on "It's a Small World", toured Toon Town, met Pluto, and rode on Kasey Jr Circus Train. We left during early afternoon as it was getting warm! We swam here at the resort pool and lathered up in Aloe Vera on our burns (Nate got his arms burned the day before).

Tomorrow we're doing a marathon day at Disney. We'll be in the park all day - all 9hrs of it. We'll stay until the closes at 9pm when they do the Disney parade and fireworks.

Friday we arrive back in Portland at about 3:00pm. It's been a fun week, but I can't wait to sleep back in my own bed .....

Day 4: Capistrano/Beach

Ok - loading the pictures is kicking my butt and making the night longer, so I'll refrain. today was a great day. We visited San Juan Capistrano today. It was a very interesting mission founded in the early 1800s that help found Orange County, CA. I took some amazing pictures, which I'll post later.

Afterward we went to the local beach. The weather was near 70, with a light breeze. We couldn't swim because it was too cool, but we ran in the waves, had Super Soaker fights, watched the surfers, and even saw some whale spouts. After 2hrs in the water/sand, we noted a small and discreet sign that said: Warning: Sewer Contaminated Waters, no swimming. Great!!! Not even one mention when we paid for parking in our swimming gear. But it was a blast. Then night was topped off with dad cooking great steak and another fire/s'mores. It's truly been an amazing few days with my dad and Jo. Tomorrow we're doing some laundry, I'm shopping with Jo at the outlet mall, some swimming/sun at the lake ... then we're off around 4pm for Anaheim to check into our resort. It's only about an hour drive. Will talk to you tomorrow....

Update: Day 2 pics and Day 3:

Updated pics from Day 2:


Looking at planes from PDX

Us on the plane

Lovely LA traffic at 4pm on Friday

Throwing rocks at the lake


First we lost the shoes, then pants ...


.... then the shirt


Dad's wonderful parking of the monster truck at the hotel - he owns the place :)

Maysen "mowing" with the fertilizer'er

Lake Elsinore

Dad and Jo's house

Driving the "tractor" at Ma-Maw's and Papa's.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DAY 3: Knott's Berry Farm

So, today was Knott's Berry Farm. We left at 8:30 and got there shortly after they opened. It was a blast. It was a bit chilly and cloudy, so the attire of shorts and t-shirts was a bit misjudged. Maysen saw Snoopy, a western stunt show, Charlie Brown show, rode 2 trains, rode stage coach with the horsies, had a caricature photo done of Maysen (which was adorable), rode a giant skate board ride with Papa. We came home, had pizza and warmed up. My dad caught a cold so he's resting tonight. Tomorrow we are going to San Juan Capistrano Mission and the beach. Maysen isn't quite sure what we're doing - such long days for that little man. Weather has been chilly - 65'ish. Later this week when we go to Disneyland it will be perfect -75!

"Camp Snoopy"..... Hugging Snoopy with Papa


"Great Skate" ride with Papa - first theme ride for Maysen!

Charlie Brown Show


Riding #1 of 2 trains - in heaven!

Day 2: Lake Elsinore

Phew. We're now on Day 2 of our vacation. Thought since we have wireless internet at the hotel, I'd make use of it. Here's a brief recant of the last 24hrs:

The flight was great! It was only 2hrs from Portland to Los Angeles. Maysen did great. He has a portable DVD player and watched Dora and The Backyardagains the whole trip. Towards the end we got out snacks and books and he was fine. I had mapquested directions from LAX to our hotel here in Lake Elsinore, but didn't realize that we actually had to take a bus from LAX to Enterprise to pick up our rental car. So our directions were all off. We landed at 1:05pm and by the time we were on our way on the freeway it was 3:30pm. Oh. My. Word. We hit LA rush hour traffic. Let me spell it out. It took us 3.5hrs to go 17mi. The whole 70mi trip from LA to Lake Elsinore took us almost 4hrs. We got here, met up with Dad and Jo for dinner and then checked into our hotel at 8:45. WHICH - they screwed up our room. I had specifically reserved a King size bed (Nate and I are spoiled having one at home, can't go back) and roll away (for Maysen) which I reserved over 3 weeks ago. I go to check in and I get some teeny-bopper 17yr old "Instead of your king and rollaway I just put you in 2 queens". Uhhh... huh? I proceed to tell her no thanks, and I needed my original reserved room. "Well, now I have no King non-smoking". My patience was tested ... and I proceeded to tell her how I did not appreciate how she just "decided" to change my reservation, etc and that we "would" accept the 2 queens for tonight (at an insisted discounted rate) but I'd need to switch rooms in the AM.

Today: Got up, changed our room (apparently what happened was the rollaway bed broke and #2 bed the own had a super jacked up mattress ... whatever). We grabbed lunch and went to the Lake Elsinore RV where dad and Jo work. Since they are the managers they had today off pretty much. Maysen enjoyed what seemed to be hours of riding on dad's manager golf cart. We drove to the top of the mountain to get a good view of the lake, took the long way down and stopped at the lake's beach. Maysen got his feet wet - which led to taking his shoes/socks off. Then his pants got soaked so I took his pants off - which led to him laying down in the water, so took his shirt off ... diaper was 348 pounds of water .. so he was naked for a bit. He loved it.

We made snores tonight in dad's fire pit. Turns out dad and Jo don't have to work tomorrow so we're actually going to Knott's Berry Farm. The weather is supposed to be chilly but I think in the park, sun, and walking we'll be warm enough. Getting up early, so off to bed I go. Talk to you tomorrow!

WiFi at PDX

Currently sitting at PDX waiting for our flight to LAX. Maysen has his monkey leash because I would be in a panic if we didn't have it. He has his own luggage which he refused to "check" so we have our Lightning McQueen suitcase with wheels that he is lugging around the airport, with monkey leash on. I'm sure you got the visual. Couldn't snap a pic of it because my camera was in bag #7 and I wasn't going to snag it. I'll take pics on the plane.

Weather when we land is supposed to be chilly and rainy. Wait! Isn't that what we're LEAVING in Oregon? I'm hoping the sun comes out, they're wrong, and it's super warm!

Meanwhile I got new Orbitz gum - Mint Mojito or something like that. Yea - it takes like orangy-all purpose cleaner with a kick of mint. Would no recommend it. What's up with the Orbits' commercials, anyway? They're just ... creepy-weird.

Better go track my boys down as I'm hoping we get to preboard soon ....

Vacation Time!

Sorry I've been sorta MIA on the blog-scene lately. This week has been crazy. We are leaving for vacation tomorrow afternoon. After I have a pedicure and wax at London Spa at 2pm I'm going to pick Maysen up, pick Nate up, then we'll drive to Portland and stay in a hotel near the airport. I plan to just relax ... get there in time for dinner, maybe order room service or we may go to the lounge/restaurant in the hotel and eat. Afterward, take Maysen swimming at the indoor pool, then hit the sack. We'll get up Friday AM and take the hotel shuttle to PDX to catch our flight to Los Angeles at 11:00am.

LA traffic is something I'm not looking forward to. We're renting a car and then driving the 70mi to Lake Elsinore where my dad is residing for the moment. They have a giant 40ft fifthwheel they said we could stay with them in, but ... um. I need my own space, especially with a 2yr old. But we're very excited. We're going to stay at the lake Fri-Tuesday then we're heading up to Anaheim Tuesday night - Friday AM and go to Disneyland. We'll return home Friday afternoon.

I'm taking my laptop in hopes to post during our vacation. However, if I do not, rest assured that I will be writing y'all when I get home. Have a good week!!

"Today we're all Hokies"

Words cannot express the sense of sadness that is felt in this country and around the world for the massacre that transpired at Virginia Tech yesterday. Fear, anger, and perhaps even guilt have settled onto many. All we can do is pray for the family and friends of the victims of this unfortunate event. Rest in peace ... and may God bless all 32 of your souls.

Alaska here we come!

Nate and I have kicked around the idea of taking an Alaskan cruise for the last year and tonight we decided we're going to do it! I have to confirm some dates with our travel agent and my mother-in-law who will keep Maysen for the week, but tentatively it'll be June 9-16th. This is a perfect week for them also as it is Vacation Bible School (my father-in-law is the pastor of the Baker City Church of Christ) and they will have 3 other grand kids at their house. So this will be nice for Maysen as this might keep his mind off mommy and daddy being gone with a jam packed week of activities.

We are going to go on the Norwegian cruise ship, as their ships are more "Freestyle" cruising vs traditional cruising. If anyone has not been on a cruise before, the more traditional cruises are regimented with dinner times (late or early) with a dress code and a formal night. We took a Caribbean cruise in 2003 and that's how it was. And don't get me wrong, it was fun ... but this cruise ship has no agenda. 10 Restaurants to chose from, no arranged dinner times - you're free to pick and chose when, where, how you want to do things. So this is very exciting to me. The average temp of where we're going is 64. How perfect is that? Capri's and a light jacket most of the time, except of course we're planning a helicopter excursion that lands on an actual glacier so that might require more proper attire.

Anyway I'm just blabbing but rather looking forward to that. And next Friday we fly to California to visit dad and Jo ... and Disneyland for a week. I'm keeping activities light until then so my lungs are ready to trudge around a million miles around Disney. I'm excited because Maysen is old enough to "get" Disney now. We went to Disney World in Florida August 2005 (day before Hurricane Katrina hit) and Maysen was 9mo old. So this will be fun for him.

Waiting for the vibration of my steriods to calm down so I can sleep. I am feeling better, by the way. I can lay down without being woke up by my own wheezing so that's a plus. I'm following orders and staying down. Maysen will go to Bonnie's in the morning, but I have to run to the office to get a few things and check my email at work - and then I'm going to go pick my booger up. I feel bad laying in bed resting while he's hauled off. But I don't rest if he's here all day.