Bedtime Memories ...

I know it wasn't even a year ago that we redid Maysen's room for his birthday. However, upon learning of this new baby we knew we'd need the crib mattress, etc from his room to prepare another nursery. So, at 1:45am last night I decided that today we'd remodel Maysen's room, including moving him to a "real" big boy bed (I love my husband very much. He just said "Okay" upon asking him his thoughts because he's learned to just go with my manic random ideas). So, that's just what we did today! Nate got this bed out of the attic, which we inherited last summer from his mom -this is a part of a set of bunk beds he and his brother, Josh, slept in about 20 years ago. It was neat putting it together for our son, knowing the memories it held for Nate. We went to Costco and got a new Twin mattress and then went to Target and got new sheets, quilt, bedside table, and curtains. I put it all together and then we let Maysen in who's reaction was all worth it. "OOooooooooo!! New bed!?" We'll see how he does tonight.

Tomorrow I have my 20-week ultrasound in which we get to find out the sex. People ask what I want and I truly don't care. A girl would be nice to round out the sexes - but just as equal it would be great for Maysen to have a little brother. I'll definitely be posting what I find out, so stay tuned ...

*sigh*

Ahh, pregnancy. My favorite part is peeing my pants when I cough or sneeze and when you've got a cold, like me, you're screwed.

Chaos

One 2.5yr old + One black permanent marker + One 5min phone conversation with a mom thinking he was playing "Fred and Bob" = 2hrs of Magic Eraser, Goof Off 2, hurt shoulder, aching back, fumes, and inside laughter.

And just when I sat yesterday afternoon thinking "I should blog. But about what?" Be careful what you wish for. What amazes me, is that in my stir of "OH NO" I actually thought to grab my camera and capture the "I'm sure this will be funny one day" moment. What you don't see is the string of marker all the way down the hall along the wall, on my kitchen lower cabinets, and one streak on our carpet. I'm just very very thankful that Nate came home and helped and the majority came up by 11:00pm. I still have to do another coat of paint on my walls - and more scrubbing on my floor with the Magic Eraser, but that should do the trick.

Thank the LORD Bonnie is gracious enough to let me bring the monster over to her house so I can finish it up, and maybe sneak a nap in. Oh, did I tell you I mowed, weeded, pulled bulbs, and winterized a few plants yesterday? Then when the boys went swimming I swept my pre-marker floor, windexed my windows, and dusted. So, the growing baby wasn't too happy with me by the time I went to bed last night - so I thought I'd be nice and give me ... 'er, IT a nap :-)

Life Race

This last week has been the Lane County Fair here in Eugene. Do you know a funny little tidbit? I grew up in Lane County Dighton, Kansas. Nathan grew up in Lane County Eugene, Oregon. When we met eachother we lived near a cross section of streets. One side was Leslie, the other side was Oregon. Just little things like that that make you go "Hmm." Anyway, we took Maysen to meet Uncle Bob and Aunt Bonnie yesterday. Bonnie is an artist and had a booth of her paintings at the fair. We bought one of her open paintings from the Creswell Christian School auction in March. We finally found the perfect picture for her to paint of Maysen, which she'll start this winter.

We spent the day riding kiddy rides, which Maysen was apprehensive at first. Then we couldn't get him off the rides! He was Mr Hotshot and there was nothing getting him off the rides .. until $20 of tickets ran out - which was quick, believe me!

Along side riding kiddie rides, was of course the gotta-have bag of the aired pure sugar we know as Cotton Candy. Can you believe this stuff is legal?

I'm not sure what causes most people to sit back at a given moment and make them count their blessings. Lately I don't think I have done that enough. However, yesterday while watching the pig race, I glanced over to Bob, who had tagged along with us while romping around with Maysen. Bob and Bonnie watched Maysen ever since I went back to work when he was 3 months old. They had him at least one whole day a week until June 15th when I hung up my nurses hat temporarily to stay home with my small kids while they're still ... small. Ever since that day I can honestly say that I never realized the impact it had on them that he wasn't there like normal - nor the impact it had on Maysen. Both Bonnie and Bob are cancer survivors, and when Maysen was born were both feeling the effects of illness and age. Having admittedly not known Bob and Bonnie very well prior to Maysen's birth, I didn't realize who they were. It was after the first year of watching Maysen did people start telling me and I really realized how much Maysen meant to their lives - and them to his. They share a special bond that I don't think anyone will understand except for them. They have their own routine, games, language when they're together. And it's not until I saw them together yesterday did I realize, in a way, I had taken him from them.

Now to the blessings part. I grew up as a kid in a big family. Big in the sense that I had lots of cousins, lots of aunts and uncles, lots of loving people around. Unfortunately family chaos arose, my family broke up, and I haven't spoken to mostly all of them in many, many years. It truly is a shame and I wish things were different, but unfortunately they're not. Even my immediate family is not what it used to be, although I love them very very much. My own mother and I have a strained, frustrating relationship and she lives in North Carolina (whole other story there), my sister is close in Portland but has her own life, and my wonderful dad and stepmom are semi-retired and travel all over the US. They are closer to us geographically than they ever have been but are still an 8hr drive one way. I shouldn't complain, as it could be much, much worse. That is the extent (to a small degree) "my family", or what is left of it. When I married into Nathan's family I never realized how blessed I was marrying into such a great family. What family was lost has now been somewhat recovered and I am back in a loving, caring enviroment. What is more important to me however, is that Maysen is surrounded by a group that is accepting, loving, caring, close, secure, and most importantnly - bonded. I could have never imagined that I would get that ... and so much more. The bond he shares with Bob and Bonnie will forever be there and that is something I would never change. It truly is a special gift from God.

Pools, trains, tractors ... OH MY!

Saturday night we got home from our trip to visit my dad and Jo in California. Jenn ended up going also and we all had a great time! Nate was in Seattle at a conference, so why stick around here alone?! What I hadn't really grasped, I don't think, was the driving down there. They are near Lodi, CA and it took us 8.5hrs to get there. Maysen did pretty well, but I think the bigger obstacle was the fact we decided to take my 80lb basset hound, Bailey, with us. She stayed with grandma and grandpa in their 5th wheel, thank goodness!

We went swimming both full days we were there. Maysen actually insists that he do this himself, only holding on to the noodle. Of course I'm right there, but he doesn't want to be touched, and actually does rather well!! He kicks and moves his arms and he scoots across the pool like no one's business!
"Prapa" still had to work while we were there. They manage this KOA park in Isleton, CA.

Near Isleton is this train museum. It seems sort of out of place, and although we were skeptical, decided to go. What a fun place that was! They had a *HUGE* metal shed that held all sorts of antique train cars you could walk through. There was basically no one there and we had the place to ourselves. Check out Jenn's blog for some really awesome pictures! Anything trains is A-OK in Maysen's book so he had a good time. We took a trolley/train car ride about 4 miles down the tracks and they actually gave you a ticket.

I don't know if many of you have seen Polar Express, but I have a son who is absolutely ADDICTED to that movie, and all he could do was sit and stare at his actual ticket! The conductor actually came by with a ticket punch and said "Ticketsssss pleeeease" just like they do in the movie and Mase looked at me like "DID YOU HEAR THAT!?" Here he is staring at his just-punched ticket, not letting go for anything!

Here's one more of the pool ... I had forgotten my bathing suit, so thanks to the clearance rack at Walmart found a cheapo tank top, which worked just fine. Maysen was getting so excited sometimes he'd forget to wait for me to jump. But he's warming up to the water just fine! He goes to swimming lessons with daddy on Wednesday nights (that's their thing together since Nate isn't around all day - they both love it and it gives me an hour alone!) and he's becoming quite the water bug. We've had a great summer so far ... I just can't believe he starts school next month...

Trainin' Him Right

We did some yard work today. Well, Nate did. I cleaned windows and cut part of our dogwood tree down. I know - are you crazy pregnant lady!? Yes, I think I am. It's amazing when you get rest how much you can do! Maysen helped me clean windows until I was re-washing them. So, Nate put him to work cleaning his own window on his playhouse!

This one was trained well, too!

Maysen has reverted back to getting up late at night. I know, what's up with that!? Over the last week he's been getting up at 3am, then 4am and so on until Nate finally goes in and lays on the ground until he falls back asleep. The only good part is that he's so tired he falls back asleep late and sleeps until 9am. But, I'd rather he just sleep through the night again. So I feel like we're starting over with trying to get a full night's sleep out of him. The challenges never cease.

We're heading to the coast tomorrow to spend a "family" day together. Nate is going to Seattle on Wednesday and Maysen and I are going to California to visit my dad and Jo. It'll be Sunday before we see eachother again, so we're going to spend the day together. Maybe hit ChuckECheese on the way home.

Bailey worked hard today ...

Beautiful "Home"

What do most people think of when you hear the word "Beautiful"? I'd like to think that some people think of flowers, clouds, butterflies, or even frogs. Unfortunately I was reading a poll the other day in a magazine that said 83% of American people (surprising statistic!) think of blonde, tan, diamonds, and white teeth as "beautiful", all geared mainly toward vanity or money. Let me tell you about my earliest memory of "beautiful".

I grew up in a small Kansas town with a population of 1,100 people. My most vivid memories of beauty came from my summers growing up there, particular during the summers of 1986-1991 when I was 6-11yrs old. Summers today are not what summers back then used to be. Those days (and location) held innocence, freedom, security, comfort, "home". Most summer days were filled with walks (barefoot of course) "downtown" to get the mail. Yes, folks, I really thought that mail carriers in the movies were fictional because in my hometown we had one central post office where the whole town went and had personal mailboxes. In fact, to this day, you can still address a letter to: Mr & Mrs So-and-so; Dighton, Kansas. Believe it or not, that is all you need, because the mail people know exactly - by heart - which box was yours. Up until I was 16yrs old, you only had to punch in the last 4 digits of the phone number to reach who you were calling. For example: if your number is 555-2222 you only needed to dial 2222. Our number was 2223, and incidentally the "emergency" number you dialed was 2222 (911 did not come around Dighton until my last year of high school). We frequently received calls for fires, wrecks, or lost dogs. It was sorta fun to get the gossip first hand!

Summer evenings were spent with our neighborhood friends (about 10 of us total) playing Gray Wolf, Capture the Flag, or whatever game entailed running around our neighbors' yards within a 3 block radius chasing one another. Often times, we would stop at random neighbors' houses along the way and get lemonade, cookies, or whatever that person seemed to have baking. Our parents just knew we were "outside" and that suited them just fine.

Summers also meant the Lane County Fair was coming to town. Every single person from Dighton met on Main Street and waited for the parade to start. You sat in lawn chairs beside people from the "other side of town" but were like your brothers because you had known them your whole life - or had known their mother, father, brother, sister, or babysitter! I can still smell the breeze as it rolled in off the wheat fields ready to be harvested - or just harvested. That time of year usually meant that a hint of rain was in the air and you looked for developing thunderheads nearby.

With anticipation you waited for the first firetruck to round the corner onto Main Street as kids gathered in flocks with their candy-collecting sacks in full grasp. Laughter, chatter, and smell of cotton candy filled the air as the each float passed with streamers of all colors waving in the breeze.

The parade would end on the west side of Main Street (which was just a mile long) and cars would follow it out to the fairgrounds which was just off of Main. As evening set in, the sun and parade faded, and the sky was filled with a new light - the light of carnival rides. Once at the fairgrounds, the air was filled with the same aroma - but add corn dogs, nachos, and funnel cakes to the mix. The sounds were the same as on Main as well, but now carnival music and the sounds of popping corn were now present. We would search for friends not seen since school ended 2 months prior and, of course, looked for cute boys to play "eyes" with. Our parents would drop us off and give us our $10 for rides and junk, never to be seen again until curfew. Abduction was not any word in the Dighton vocabulary.

Today I looked up the word "beautiful" in the dictionary. This is what I found:

beau·ti·ful : 1. having beauty; having qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc.; delighting the senses or mind: a beautiful dress; a beautiful speech.

You see, I don't have a materialistic noun I say or think of when I hear the word "beautiful". Instead, I close my eyes and I see the blue, white, red, and green streamers waving in the muggy breeze that has a hint of rain to it. And shortly after that breeze, the smell of cotton candy, freshly mowed grass, wheat fields, and funnel cakes envelopes my sense of smell. Then, lastly, I hear the chatter and laughter of the people I knew ... back home. It's then that I hope, just for a minute, that my kids will find the same meaning of the word "beautiful".

our new van!!

Due to baby II on the way, we decided to trade in our BMW and our 2000 Town and Country for a new van. This is the first car I've owned brand new in my whole life. It had 10miles on it when we test drove it! Makes you more conscious of how many miles you drive - we got home after driving to a birthday party and we were shocked we had over 100 miles on it!

It has everything I ever wanted in a new vehicle: navigation, 6-movie DVD player, all leather, automatic opening side and back doors, and stow-and-go folding seats. I'm a very happy girl :-)

My dad and step mom are coming for a visit for a couple of days. They are managing a resort that's only about 7hrs away. It's the closest they've been in a long time and it's to have them so close. They'll be here late tomorrow night.

Most amusing thing I heard this weekend: It was a commercial for prostate-shrinking medication used to treat Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy. In the closing statements along with all the 938 drug warning and side effects was stated "Only approved for use in men". Uhhhh, since when would it need to be approved for women's prostates?

First Pictures

I had my ultrasound today. Everything went well! Here are my stats:

Gestational Age: 13 weeks

Baby length: 7.1cm

Heart Rate: 161bpm

Due Date: January 19, 2008

ramblings

I don't know where I've been - just pooped out. We had a BBQ for the 4th of July. Jenn brought her boyfriend, Josh, whom we had yet to meet. He and Maysen hit it off which was nice to see. Maysen was a bit afraid of the loud fireworks, so we sat back on the porch in the rocking chairs and watched from there - he felt more safe.

I had my first OB appointment on Friday. It went really well. I am having a dating ultrasound on Thursday. My labs came back and everything looks good - although I have a bit of a UTI, so I'm being treated for that now.

I worked 4hrs today, which I haven't worked since my last day June 15th. It was weird going back - how much I missed my coworkers!

Although it's been a week - I don't have much news. I'm loving my reality shows so far this summer - Hell's Kitchen and Big Brother!

I'm back!!

Phew ... do you ever feel like you need a vacation when returning from a vacation? We got home last night around 5pm and I think I'll need another week to get caught up. Our trip was great! Leaving Maysen for a week at NaNeNu's and Papa's was harder than I thought it would be, but Nathan and I had a great time being a couple again! I took 294 thousand pictures and I have a million stories, so if you're interested, I'll give you the shortened overview and a few highlights from our trip. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in!

Day 1-3: Bend

We spent the first few days in Bend with Maysen. We did a little hike/walk to look at the river, went swimming, and just relaxed. On the 3rd day we visited Bob and Aunt Bonnie who have babysat Maysen since he was 3mo old. They have a motor home and a boat that Maysen play-drives when they have him. We met Bob and Bonnie at Lava Lake and Maysen REALLY got to drive the boat. He loved it. Of course he played in the dirt until he was almost unrecognizable. That was the delirious stage of exhaustion!

Day 4-7: Baker City

We then headed to Baker City to where Nate's dad and step mom live. They were going to keep Maysen for the week we were on our cruise, so we went early to visit for a few days. I don't know why I don't have pictures of these few days as we had a lot of fun! One day we went to an old abandoned Hotel/Sanatorium that was built back in the early 1900s. A family from LaGrande decided to tackle the job of restoring the old brick site which sits right beside a 200F natural hot springs lake. When it was first built, it served as sort of a "mall" if you will, of a bunch of services to the area and was traveled to mainly by train. It had a hospital (where they actually had an operating room with viewing as students came here to learn), a hotel, many hospital rooms for those recovering from pneumonia and many with tuberculosis, as well as a restaurant and various shops. When finished it will have a hotel/bed and breakfast, restaurant, a couple of artist shops (including a bronze sculptor and a water color painter), and part will remain a museum. All of this is being done on donations and sponsors. It was truly amazing walking through the halls thinking of the history as antiques that had sat since the early 1900s sat plainly in the hallways waiting to be moved and dealt with.

Day 7: Seattle

We arrived at Seattle and boarded our ship, the Norwegian Star. I was surprised at how much room our cabin actually had. Of course it was a "mini-suite" but still. I was impressed that our bathroom had a tub/shower and separate seating area for the toilet! We spent that night and all of Day 8 at sea. The scenery was breathtaking!

Day 9: Ketchikan, AK

This was my favorite stop in the whole cruise. We walked Creek Street, which was the street that the fisherman prowled once getting off their vessels. This had all the naughty things on it - prostitution, alcohol, and gambling. "Dolly" was a famous woman for the "services" she provided to the men in the pier, and her house was the most decorated. There was a more discreet street named "Married Man's Trail" that went up and back through the woods ... for the most bashful of men. I shouldn't find that funny - but for some reason, it intrigued me to see this historic street. We watched a real lumberjack competition, which was more fun than I expected it to be! We then got to tour a retired ship from Deadliest Catch (reality show on Discovery Channel, which totally rocks!). It was on the Season1, which we didn't watch. But Don, our guide, was an actual crew member from that Season and was on The Sea Star for most of his fishing career. Being a fan of the show, it was neat to be on an actual boat from the show.

Day 10: Juneau, AK

We decided not to plan much for this day as the ship was leaving port at 1:30 to cruise around Sawyer Glacier the rest of the day. We decided to take a bus tour to Mendenhall Glacier. Boy was it absolutely amazing!! If you've never seen a glacier but have seen Ice Age, they depicted it pretty accurately! It really is aqua blue and turquoise! We got back on the ship and decided to take naps (we were already pooped). We woke up about the time we were to be at Sawyer Glacier and when we looked out our balcony - we saw bunches and bunches of icebergs! You see, lucky for us we'd had nice weather (mid-60s) most of the days so far and it was warm enough that huge icebergs had fallen off Sawyer Glacier and was obstructing our entrance into the cove to see it. Our captain came on and said it was too dangerous for us to risk going back there as we were hitting icebergs with the ship - and they were even getting the life boats off the racks! We were lucky we had chosen the bus tour earlier and had gotten to see Mendhenhall Glacier.

Day 11: Skagway, AK

We took a train ride up the railroad built in 1901 during the big Klondike gold rush. We saw another glacier up at the top of a mountain that actually provided water for the famous 22-tier waterfall down DeadHorse Gulch. Amazing views, except we were in the last train car, first seat. We were lucky to be able to get out of our seat and walk onto the platform. Well, this Indian couple had a million kids with them, and they kept hogging the whole platform so it was hard to get out there and get pictures, but we got a few.

Day 12: Prince Rupert, Canada

Ok. To all my Canadian friends - I'm sorry. But this town sucked. Our main attraction at this port was the Safeway which were filled with humorous things to comment on to we Americans. First of all, what are "Ketchup Lays" potato chips? Everything is written in English AND French on most items. And perhaps the most entertaining: Promoting Prostate Cancer Awareness over the loudspeaker! It was a great little stop thanks to Safeway!

Day 13: At sea.

Best part of this day was the Chocoholic Buffet at midnight! That could put anyone in a diabetic coma!

Day 14: Home!

We met Papa and S at McDonalds in The Dalles, which is midway. They got to McDonald's right before we did and were walking in. My plan was to sneak up on Maysen and surprise him, but right as I was getting out, I hit the panic button on the van and he turned right around. His little hand beat on the glass saying "MAMA!!!" then he ran back out the door and right into my arms. Verrrrry warm feeling! We got home and the most surprising thing to find was my yard! It had exploded over night. With weeds and flowers, just the same. Last year we planted a garden, which burned up in the sun and was pointless. This year I planted wildflowers in it as I love to have vases of fresh flowers in my house. When we left, they were about 6" tall and none were blooming. This is what I found when I got home:

And now that you're asleep .. I'll let you go. Tomorrow is my first official day at being a Stay-At-Home Mommy. It's also Nate's first day at his new job.

Mysterious Mountain Pass

Yes, I'm on vacation and cheating but I had to post this vent. LAST week I wore clothes, washed them, and packed them. We get to Bend and I discover somehow over the mountain pass, my clothes shrunk. I'm not kidding. They literally shrunk. Well, I say they shrunk but I think it is I that is getting bigger. This was depressing as I am *TWELVE* weeks pregnant. Well, I'll be twelve weeks on Sunday. Can this be true? I would believe it if, for the last 2 weeks I've been totally pigging out, but the truth is I haven't felt that great to pig out. So it either was the pass that mysteriously shrunk my clothes or I'm going to be HUGE by the time 9mo comes around.

Vacation is going good. We were in Bend until yesterday, now in BC visiting the in-laws. We've had a great time and the last two days I've felt pretty good! I found a great buy at REI on a fleece jacket for $40 and Nate found a nice gortex coat for $139.99 (originally $270!) The guys are doing "manly chores" today while Sherrill and I piddle around. We went to our favorite store today - full of great picture frames, dishes, towels, quilts, etc. Two years ago I found some really cool lavendar soap at TJ Maxx. I gave it to my mother-in-law for Christmas as a) she loves purple b) she loves lavendar. It was one of those you'll never find again because that's just what the store had at the time. Well, she loved it! Ever since I've been trying to find it and couldn't. I couldn't even remember the name to look online. Well, today in this awesome small-town store -- there it was! So I bought her another bar...I'll have to buy a case and give them to her every once in awhile.

Has anyone else gain weight/grow bigger extremely fast with their second baby? I've heard you do and it's not as if I'm "showing" because I'm bigger anyway ... but anyway. It's my story and I'm sticking to it - and she'd better find twins in there to explain this :-) Actually ... on second thought ... no. No twins!

Vacation here we come!

Well, we are leaving tomorrow for vacation. I think this will be the longest one we've been on as we won't be back until July 2. We are relaxing at the condo in Bend for a few days, heading to Papa and Sherrill's in BC for a few days, then driving to Seattle next Saturday. We're going on our Alaskan cruise (childess!) for a whole week and won't be coming back until July 2. Case in point, I'll be missing in action for awhile! I hope it rains while we're gone so our yard doesn't burn up! Chat at you when I get back ... pictures in tow!

Our office has closed...

So, I'm pre-paying bills tonight as we are leaving for vacation soon. I like to get that out of the way so I don't have any worrying to do while we're gone. I rip open our phone/internet bill and find it's oddly about $20 more than it normally is every month. I'm guilty of just paying the bill instead of pouring over all the fine details, but this unsettled me. So I start looking closer - and for the whole month they have been charging us $0.06/min for LOCAL calls! (That tells you how many calls we make from our land-line, mainly using our cell phone). We live in a suburb but calls into town have always been free. I go to call the phone company (because I'm one of those "gotta fix the problem now" girls) and I hear "We're sorry, our office is now closed. Our business hours..." so I must wait until tomorrow to find out what the problem is. If the case is that the area we live in is now considered "long distance" I will just cancel our land line.

Yesterday went well. As the previous post explains it was the last day with Dr D. He was very sweet at the end of the day, reassuring me that although selfishly he wanted me to stay, he thought I was making the right decision. He got me the most beautiful bowl from Pier 1, and even picked it out himself!!! In a reverse change of order, he said he asked his wife what to get me and she said "Just get her a gift certificate". He turned his nose at that and said "That's not from the heart!" Ahhh, what a good man.

Tomorrow is my official last day, although they've already asked me to work 3 days in July. Could this be a trend? I am working Triage tomorrow, which thankfully the day goes fast when working that desk. I have written cards to my most close colleagues and have already gotten a few "Going Away" gifts. I'll truly miss seeing my "other" family on a regular basis.

Au revoir, Mark

Tomorrow will be the end to my 3.5 years with working with Dr D as he is off Thursday and Friday. When I told him I was leaving, I bawled the rest of the afternoon. One of my patients said "Allergies getting to you, too huh?" I hope that I can keep it together as my pregnancy hormones are sorta out of whack. So what makes him so special?

Dr D is a wonderful man and doctor. He is patient, kind, understanding, compassionate, and generous. When I asked him last year if I could cut a day out of my week and only work M,W,F he immediately understood and said he'd do anything to accommodate me. When we bought our house, he gave me fatherly advise on what to look for and constantly was asking how things were going with the house and even walked me step my step on how to change out my dishwasher. When we bought our BMW he spent his lunch hour researching the specifics on it and he even took me out at lunch to drive it - giving me his "good job" on picking it.

Working side by side I could read him like a book - often doing a lot of his ordering of tests, etc before he had even see the patient in turn cutting a lot of time out of his day. It's amazing when I had a bad day - he had a bad day ... and visa versa.

One thing I will miss tremendously miss about working side by side with him are his daily David Letterman Top 10 list every morning. Him laughing loudly, no matter how corny they were.

With just as sad I'm going to be leaving my job - I am just as happy to be able to stay home with Maysen and Baby II.

Here Ducky-Ducky...

My sister was here yesterday from Portland and we took Maysen to feed the ducks which is always an ordeal. He usually gets wet once and almost bit a couple of times. He loves it there and we had a great day. Here are some more great shots, courtesy of my rockin photographer sister.

Tomorrow is Nate and I's 7, count 'em SEVEN, year anniversary. I don't think we have any plans as our cruise to Alaska (ALONE) was sort of planned for that purpose. I'm going to a play with my mother-in-law in the afternoon, which will be fun. Maybe I'll get him to make macaroni and cheese for me (AND with the added bonus of him cleaning up too! Now wouldn't that be a treat!) Have a good rest of the weekend.

New Blog

I have started a new blog for Baby II. Please visit this one too and add it to your Favorites, if you'd like updates on Baby II (not that I won't post here, but just another stop to make. I'll include the ling also on the sidebar on this blog).

New Baby Blog!!

My sister is on her way - we're going to hang out today. We'll probably take Maysen to feed the ducks, let him swim outside. Just relax. Supposed to be near 80 today.

grab the benadryl ... oh ...

Maysen looks like a rabbit in this picture - gotta love digital camera lag. He had been a good boy during grocery shopping, so as promised he got new playdough. Why are kids drawn to EATING playdough? I was a kid once too, and yes - I even ate playdough. It's salty, bland, and nothing I'd put in a bowl and sit down with. So why are they drawn to eating it?

After playing with "snake maker" and "worm hatcher" with playdough, I let him play by himself while I made dinner. After about 10min things got very quiet. I looked over and saw this. My first instinct was that he was having an allergic reaction to the playdough as his face was covered in a rash. As I looked closer, it looked like he had make-up on. Playdough is now known as finger paints! Oh well ... no harm, no foul and we had a good laugh.

Tomorrow is Nate's stepdad's mom's memorial. She passed a month ago down in California and we're just now doing the memorial. I'm not taking Maysen to that - I can only imagine trying to keep a 2.5yr old still and quiet.

I love this part of my job: calling 85yr olds who can't hear you when you're standing 6" from their face, let alone over the phone. Best part? When they insist you SPELL things to them. Here's me, after working 12hrs, patience running thin: "F - as in Frank ... no F! Not M ... FRANK not MARY! .... B as in BOY. No, B! BALL ... no NOT FALL!!". I finally resolved it with mailing a letter.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnd the nausea is back. Goody!

denial

So I woke up the next morning after the post below and thought "Wow. I've got to apologize to my readers... " I had a few people call me "...are you ok?" So, I'm sorry. That was the 1am rant. I promise not to do that again ... well, at least not more than once a week. Deal?

I saw the most awesome sight tonight. Ok, picture this: older gentleman, big 'ole military-style glasses, pale robin-egg blue tight (like painted on) sweater, high water tight polyester plaid slacks, loafters from 1978, and the best part? Throw in the fact that his "part" started right above his left ear. You guessed it; the dreaded comb-over. But folks, this was amazing. It started just about an inch above his left ear .... and the 8" of hair extend over his shiny bald scalp to reach just above his right ear. He thought it was rockin and you could tell he really thought people were buying the fact that he still had hair, even though the 3 speghetti strands that there actually was were fading quick!! It's men like that that I'd love to have $1000 and a shopping spree with. Lord, if I'm ever in "that" bad of denial with the way things really are ... please give me a sign ...

absolutely ridiculous

Yep. 1:09am ladies and gents! I thought first trimester you were so tired you couldn't think straight. Well ... my problem is even more grand than that!!! Not only am I nauseated ALL frigging day long, but I'm exhausted. The fun part? Come night time I cannot control my mind enough to fall asleep: "I feel like my face is irritated by my pillow - I'm hot - I'm cold - Nate won't stop snoring - now the dog's snoring - my back itches - did I hear something in the backyard? - did I shut the garage door? Have I pooped in the last 2 days?" I know the last one was a bit graphic and most don't care but you get the picture here! (and yes, with some more 20min thought I HAVE indeed pooped). Then here we sit, 1am, yep and still nauseated, thinking "Hmm, my son will be up in another 6hrs" Well, actually that isn't all that true - I'm convinced he's had sympathetic insomnia as he hasn't been going to sleep-sleep until about midnight and that usually involves at least one rendition of me rubbing his back, re-reading a book, and eventually a short trip to Mommy's bed. Tonight was a rare night of sleeping at 10pm, followed by screaming 30min later and refusal to lay down until about 45min ago, which had to be in mom's bed where he kicked turned, tossed, sighed. Back to bed he went and I shut the door. I think he got up and turned his light back on. Oh well ... maybe we'll both get to sleep in tomorrow then. Regardless, welcome to my world for the last 2 weeks!!!! Oh, and we mustn't forget to throw in the days that I have to go to work, which luckily have only been few and far between. But then I have the added bonus of getting 5, count 'em FIVE, hours of sleep, work 12hrs, and come home to .... you guessed it! NO SLEEP AGAIN! About 15min ago I sat on the toilet and bawled. So sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!!

My nightly routine: Phenergan 25mg and Ambien 10mg (yes, it is safe per my OB doc) and hope for the best. Most people will sleep 3 days with a combo like that. Not me! I'll finally fall asleep 4hrs later ... for a whopping 2hrs because then I get up, pee, toss, turn, pee, "Should I take a shower? Have I paid the water bill this month? I think I have but what if I haven't, what if the bill got lost or Maysen threw it away and I haven't paid it and they shut my water off. Then what, Leslie!?!?". Blah.

I promise not to be come a raging pregnant psycho on here ... but thanks for the temporary rant. I think it saves my poor husband who has been catching the brunt of my psycho pregnancy hormones which I feel badly about but yet can't control. Tonight's big one? "Why don't you talk to me anymore". I got the wide-as-silver-dollar-eyes look and the "What the hell are you talking about now??" Which of course pissed me off, and I locked him out of the bathroom. The sad thing, is I know how whacked out it sounds coming from my mouth - I know this. Yet I have no control over that, then the crying. My usual non-emotional-even-keeled type of personality is sure shot at this point. I'm hoping this crap is over before Nate and my getaway to Alaska for a week. I do not want to be feeling like this then. Then REALLY poor Nate. Bwaaahahahaa!