life of a small wooden flute

Halloween

2013-11-01T15:00:00.001-07:00

Yup, I totally get that I have 10 weeks of blogging to catch up on. Here goes.

In no particular order.

Ivy caught her first cold at the tail end of our 10 day jaunt through New England so Halloween itself was relatively low-key.

First up, silly times with her dad's costume box:

Aloooha!

Oink Oink

Hipster

Disapproving of the french maid. Too degrading to females.

Sad Jester

Punk Rocker
My personal fave.

And what she ended up being for Halloween:

Amelia Earhart

Amelia and her handy-dandy (air)mail dog.

I bundled her up, walked over to Jamie's bus stop to meet up with him after work and we all hung out for a bit on our neighborhood's main drag, taking in all of the costumes and revelry. The whole way there and back, kids in costume were running up and down the streets; the photo below was the only empty block!

This one tree always looks fake to me.

Just happened to have this blanket on hand.

And because we can't ever turn down an opportunity to hop into a photobooth:

Happy Halloween, friends & family.

Size comparison.

2013-09-17T10:46:00.002-07:00

Photo on left, taken at one week old.

Photo on right, taken today - six weeks & four days later.

Status: growing like a weed.

Onesie from graham & piper.

Week Two: The Ivy Edition

2013-09-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

WEEK TWO

Aug 3 - Aug 9

We spent a lot of this week in bed together. We worked on nursing and bonding and getting to know one another. I probably spent every waking minute staring at you (speaking of waking minutes = I reduced the amount of them this week by taking continuing to take one nap during the day with you). Your dad was running around, making sure we had enough groceries, ensuring that Hudson was happy, and that we got out of the house at least once a day.

You were awake for more hours in your day this week.

Squishable cheeks that felt like fresh mochi.

tufts of spiky hair.

Your first play date with Alice and Maggie.

your size difference was remarkable.
she's only 3.5 months older than you!
you still have a little dented head here from my attempts at naturally birthing you...weird.

Going on our daily walk around the block.
It's about as far as I could go at this point.
A really slow meander around the block.

Tickets to the gun show.

your dad is a burping pro.

you like him.

You went back to the pediatrician's office on Monday, a week after we left the hospital, for them to check your weight gain over the weekend. Wahoo! 3oz in 3days = right on track with the 1oz/day they like to see. I was able to toss the supplemental nursing tools to the back of the closet; good riddance, I say.

phantom hand!

still a fan of the swaddle.
have a feeling we'll be doing this for awhile.

lots of hours napping.

napping.

oh, hey! you're up!
showing scale of your face.
size of my palm.

Don't worry, we had a bunch of visitors and outings as well. The three of us tried a trip to Target this week and it was comically DISASTROUS. Your dad and I split the list, but while I was pushing you around in the stroller (before I fully read the discharge instructions and realized I wasn't supposed to push more than 10lbs...whoops), you had a total meltdown. It was the first, of what I just have to assume will not be your only, and made me break out into a cold, nervous sweat. We ended up having no idea what we purchased, throwing everything and anything into the cart, and running out of there. Thank goodness for their return policy! And for the learning experience. We settled you down in time to drive home (via our favorite pie shoppe - this endeavor deserved pie) & kind of cracked up at our new life the entire way back.

this is a crazy photo of us, but you tried to suck on my nose and i freaked out with happiness.

Week One: The Ivy Edition

2013-08-29T20:43:00.001-07:00

WEEK ONE

July 26 - Aug 2

Birth stats:

7/26/13 6:19pm

weight 8lbs 4oz

height 20.4"

Click for Birth Story - TBW (to be written...eventually)

Holy Moly! You're here! You're a girl! You're adorable and we love you!

Hello there, little girl.

(nicknames: birdie (me), bug (your dad), BG (baby girl - your grandpa lewis))

Even at 8lbs+, you started out your life in premie diapers which were the smallest things, ever. You had a teeny waist and like no butt! There was a small issue with you losing 10% of your birth weight pretty quickly due to my body not kicking into your needs right away so we had to supplement with some premixed formula and supplemental tube feeding*, but by the end of your first week, we had things under control and you gained enough weight to quickly move into a Newborn diaper size.

*formula in syringe attached to a thing rubber tubing that was slipped into your mouth as you nursed.

The nurses were very fond of you and kept talking about how beautiful you were. While they disputed my claims that they must say this to every patient, we happened to agree proudly and wholeheartedly. I couldn't stop staring at all of your miniature features and touching your little fingers and toes. Your full head of hair was amazing - predictable that you'd come out with plenty of it looking at your dad and I - and I almost felt compelled to even count your individual eyelashes. I'm still obsessed. The Carrihills, Boom, Sarah Lyman, and your Grandpa Lewis and Grandma Terri came to the hospital to meet you on day 3 and 4. And my ob doc (our ob doc?) even went out of her way to come to our room during her own totally random and coincidental stay in the same hospital (allergic reaction to an antibiotic used to treat her mastitis). She wanted to meet you so badly that she kept calling our silenced phone (we hardly even knew there was a phone in our room) and eventually just contacted the nurses station and had one of them walk their phone over to our bed. It was so nice of her and because we had such a great relationship with her since you were in my belly, she came into the room completely smitten with you.

For the first few days of your life, we had so much help taking care of you. The nurses, pediatricians, and lactation consultants buzzed around us to make sure we were doing the right thing: ensuring proper input and output for you, ordering food for us on time, eating, sleeping, etc. They took your weight and temperature often, tested your hearing, and just made sure you were generally ok. It was a tough thing to think about leaving this handy network of people, but on Monday, after signing a bunch of paperwork and removing the lojack bracelet from your ankle, they kicked us out. Eep.

going home!

Luckily, your Grandpa Lewis and Grandma Terri were in town to help us start to navigate life with a baby. They took it upon themselves to stock our fridge to the gills, brought a stack of recipes to make healthy & hearty meals for us, your grandpa lewis made me a gigantic breakfast every morning, they forced me to eat/drink/nap at every opportunity, held you, loved you, managing your dog, and helped us maintain any semblance of sanity. It was so helpful to have them here with us as we tried to figure out how to manage our little family that I cried/bawled when they left. How were we going to make it without them! I'm sure it's reassuring to read that I felt so confident in the first week of your life.

first car ride
I obviously sat in the backseat with you.
staring. i stared at you like a stalker.

First night home.

Some weight loss post birth is considered normal, but it seems like it's also the norm to put so much fear into parents! We were tasked with seeing your doctor the day after discharge (tuesday) to verify that you weren't losing weight as quickly and once there, asked to come back again that Friday. It was a medical office heavy week.

Hi.
First visit to your pediatrician!

You especially hated the waiting part.
Me too, buddy. Me too.

Back at the doc's office on Friday:

Warming your heel to get a larger sample of blood for some tests.
You did really well in spite of the fear in your eyes.

Ok, fine. It sucked.

You were a tough little baby and put up with my amateur approach at feeding you. My favorite thing was when you got a good latch, you'd grasp each of your cheeks in your teeny fists. Occasionally, you'd catch a lower eyelid and I'd have to intervene. We had to wake you up every 2.5 hours to make sure you were eating regularly. It seemed counter-intuitive to wake a sleeping baby, but we didn't have to do it for too long, just until you got back up to your birth weight.

You poor thing, we didn't have any pants that fit you.
So prepared.

Your teeny cry cut me to the core and for your first week or two, I had such strong physical reactions each time you lost it. It was a good thing your dad had a much more reasonable reaction to the mini wails otherwise I would have had to take us back to the hospital to bring those nurses back into our lives.

Your teeny hand and leetle nails.

I'd sit around for hours just staring at your little scowl.
you were so peely!

comparing our nail size.

Fully bendy foot and that pointy heel that I recognized from when you were inside my belly
and incorrectly thought were your elbows.

Your foot was the length of my thumb.

Once we were home for a few days, we were able to get it together to go for a walk to introduce you to the neighborhood and even went over to the Queen Anne farmers' market when you were less than a week old. What are the chances that you'll grow up loving a solid farmers' market? ahem, probably high if i have anything to do with it.

your eyes were closed the whole walk.
way to take in the sights, kid.

Day 6
We had three nights at home...can you tell we're wiped?

Grandpa Lewis, Sarah, Cousin Emily, Aunt Barbara, your dad, Grandma Terri

You were the width of my chapstick.
Ok, not really, but I took this photo to show someone your size and needed an item for scale.

Oh, and you didn't have a name for most of the first week.

Your poor dad was beside himself with frustration at me about it.

You'd think I would have learned from your Auntie Devon's experience, but nah, we share too much of the same brain that even with something as big as this, I had to handle things the same way. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to have a name for you. We didn't know your gender, but we were supposed to have a list of names for both. I just couldn't settle on my favorite without actually seeing you. And then, unexpectedly, I also couldn't settle on your name without getting to know you a little bit. We ended up walking out of the hospital and into our home with a nameless baby. Your paperwork was either blank or read: Baby Girl Kanter. I took a FULL WEEK to finally concede and, with your dad, selected what we think is a kickbutt name for you.

Even without a name, we loved you so/so/so much.

So, the Friday after you were born, your dad scrambled with minutes to spare finalizing your paperwork with the hospital's medical records department (they held onto it without filing). While he sweated it out, I kept giving him a heart attack by pretending to change my mind**. Hee hee. Will you be my apprentice in shenanigans against him in the future? I feel like we could get up to loads of fun trouble.

**there might have been a little truth to it.

Ok, little girl, this is what we picked for you...hope you grow up loving it:

Ivy Liona Kanter

Ivy - faithfulness

Liona - lion (fierce!) in Hawaiian so you have a Hawaiian middle name like me and

a shout out to your Grandma Lucy's mother, Leonor. She was a cool lady.

Kanter - well, once again, your dad wasn't down with officially making our surname Kantahara (bummer).

xo.

Video - Just under 40 weeks

2013-07-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

July 21st.

While watching Matt Damon in the original Bourne Identity.
Or as more relevant to this video: (about to be) Born Identity.

Due Date: July 23rd, 2013

2013-07-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Someone told me to make this a "do date": get out and conquer everyday things that have nothing to do with a baby so I could keep my mind off of not ever going into labor. Made some sort of sense to me so I went to get a haircut, do a tiny bit of window shopping, and meander over to the eastside to take Jamie to a work meeting at the office.

That's when we got stuck in bridge traffic:

That'd be the longest floating bridge on Earth.
There's a drawbridge portion that lifts when tall boats need to get through.
This halts traffic for an unknown amount of time - we got there as soon as it went up and they were quoting ~30min.

Cracking up at Jamie pleading,
"hey, don't go into labor NOW, ok?"
We were stuck about 2/3rd of the way across the flat part on the left in the photo above.

Don't worry, I didn't.

Remember? Because I'm going to be pregnant for the rest of my life.

People who are pregnant for the rest of their lives do NOT go into labor. Like, ever.

But speaking of things that could make you panic, don't read this wikipedia page on the bridge.

A regular ole Tuesday lunchtime event at work.

I do have to say that casually responding, "today," when people asked when I was due was all sorts of amusing. Mostly because of their reactions. Nobody mentioned being "health inclined" like devon's eyebrow lady when she was pregnant with piper, but my hair lady did ask if I was wearing a pair of Depends in case my water broke in her chair. She thought she was sooooo hilarious. On a side note about my hair lady, she had just flown in from working on a music video shooting in LA for Seattle's own Macklemore. There were all sorts of fun stories about her celeb-filled weekend accompanied with v.entertaining photos/videos. Between the crazy stories and the flowy hair-cutting cape, I forgot about my belly until I stood up again. That was a little weird.

Ok, back to the rest of the day:

Free lunch?
Score!

Thanks, T-mobile, for the t-mobile-pink cupcake.
And don't worry, I've eaten nothing but kale for every meal this week, so this caffeine-free Diet Coke and cupcake = totally fine.
:)

Jamie went to his meeting, I cruised around enjoying the warm weather and people watching. We took our time in the late afternoon meandering through some unexplored neighborhoods on our way back home. Post dinner, Jamie headed out to the driving range and I curled up on the couch to do a little bit of reading (ended up chatting with Amy for awhile instead - she sounds like she's loving her summer in New York). A little bit of casual planning for the rest of the week (business as usual is how we decided to approach it), taking the dog out, heading to bed early....and that, my friends, is how we handled the due date that came and went.

Window shopping in a Barney's.
Figured I'd try putting myself in hilarious places for dramatic movie-like water breaking.
Should've brought a water bottle with me to act it out.
Just for my own amusement. And devon's. She keeps offering $$ to have me prank Jamie.

Three out of four.

2013-07-23T06:00:00.000-07:00

Remember this post about July due dates + celebrities?

Here's the update:

Today:
Leslie's Due Date.

p.s. any gender guesses?

Week by Week: 39th, etc. (part 2)

2013-07-22T15:34:00.000-07:00

As soon as Kate Middleton went into labor this morning, I started getting messages along these lines:

For the record, I'm not minding the check-in messages! I guess there might be a day/time when it'll frazzle me, but as of right now, they're affectionate and from so many people I love and coming from really good places. So check-in away!

Trying to keep busy:

Made chocolate frosting using greek yogurt, melted chocolate, and powdered sugar.
Probably could have used more sugar, but no butter?
Interesting! Tangy! Fun!

Out of towners = good times:

Met up with Alicia (T'12) & her husband, Aman, visiting from San Francisco.
They're about to move back to NYC after one year on the west coast.

We had a fantastic brunch then headed out to a touristy location:

Hmmm..this isn't pretty, but it's where the salmon run!
In the background, where the ramps are, there's a salmon ladder where they come back upstream to hatch.
The new guys come back down the pipes in the foreground.
And seals sit in the water at the bottom with their mouths open, just waiting for new fish.

Shannon (T'12) was also visiting from San Francisco so we were able to hang out with her and Boom for a little while:

Paseo is a caribbean-style sandwich place that is AMAZING.
We sat outside in the sun and soaked in the glorious Seattle afternoon.

On Sunday, we went berry picking on a farm:

raspberries

with the Carrihills.
Colin served on ski patrol back in the day and promised to help me out if I went into labor on the farm.

I made whipped cream in a jar!
Just add a bit and shake for 2-3 min before checking to see if it's whipped enough.
Awesome.

I had an appointment last Thursday (39weeks, 2days) and in spite of my aforementioned lack of need to be checked for progress and the doctor's practice of not checking, I was more than curious. Maybe because others were asking and I wanted to be able to report something? Maybe because I still feel like it's never going to happen? Anyway, I was checked on Thursday and checked again this morning and I've progressed 0.5cm in 4 days. Whatever that means.

My next appt will be in a week (next monday) at which point, we'll evaluate a date for induction before I hit the 42 week mark.

FORTY TWO WEEKS?! Oh my goodness.

p.s. happy birthday to piper (yesterday). really tried to get your cousin outta here so you could share bdays, I promise!

Week by Week: 39th, etc.

2013-07-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, now that we're in the last week until the due date, maybe I can try to update more frequently. Not that there's really anything to update about, but I'll make some form of attempt!

Started getting messages of this nature:

I've had some time to chat with Jen Green, Dev, and the entire Rosenbaum fam.

Have been going on a lot of walks:

swinging by the ole neighborhood farmers' market

Other anecdotal wives' tales haven't been convincing enough to make full attempts to I'm not sitting over here downing castor oil or cooking up eggplant parmesan. These things work for a lot of people or at least everyone has a someone it's worked on, but many of the methods are aggravating to the digestive system and I don't need any more provocation in that department. In fact, here's a gross story to totally skip if you're weak stomached or reading this while dining (full disclaimer! don't read if you get grossed out! skip to the photo below - not gross).

-------------------------------------

I think I've mentioned difficulty managing my indigestion aka heartburn aka feeling like my insides were coming up and out through my throat on a daily basis. Nighttime is the worst just like non-pregnancy-hormone-related GERD. But Wednesday was an all-time ridiculous evening. Jamie had just left to meet up with a friend for some evening ice cream (I could have said for drinks or something more adult-sounding, but they really met up for ice cream cones) after we had enjoyed a grilled out dinner (did i use "grill" correctly this time, trish & lauren?). I was handling some email and had just put my laptop on the coffee table to take a sip of water before busting into the name book for a few minutes. So glad I had put my laptop down and away. I took a sip of water, it tickled my throat and I coughed lightly before, get ready for it, totally and completely and spontaneously vomiting all over myself. Like all over my front, down my shirt, on my lap, EVERYWHERE. It was in my shirt. On my legs. EVERYWHERE. And definitely took my by surprise. I had zero anticipation of it. I sat there in total shock before recognizing that I was sitting in my own vomit and I needed to get up to do something about it. I mean, can you imagine if I just waited there for Jamie to come home to help deal with it? SO GROSS.

Once I felt sure that it wasn't going to happen again and while Hudson looked at me like I was going crazy, I was able to get up. At my appointment this morning, I told my OB what had happened and she just said, "yup."

Yup?! That's what you're going with? Yup?!

And it was a yup with a grin. Like a silly, knowing grin. Sigh.

Anyway, I managed the mess, took a ridiculously hot shower (not dangerously hot), did a stupid load of laundry, and sent Jamie a text to tell him to not come home for it, but to explain what had happened. Mostly because I thought it was such a bizarre thing to happen and I wanted to share. I think that's why I'm bothering to type this up now. To share and to remember.

If you weren't sufficiently grossed out, there were PUDDLES OF VOMIT IN MY BRA.

PUDDLES.

Thanks for reading. And sorry for grossing you out.
Sorry to my in-laws.

-------------------------------------

Back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Loving the organizing of all of the gear:

laura from high school sent a cute package.
so nice!!

And:

Some quotes:

this is never going to end
i'm going to be one of those ladies who stays pregnant for the rest of their lives
i'm going to be like michelle duggar but instead of having 19kids to show for it, i'm just going to be perpetually pregnant until I'm 49 years old.
i signed up for this??
and WHYYY isn't so you think you can dance on this week.

Week by Week: 38th

2013-07-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

(Real Time = 39 weeks and 2, almost 3, days)

Nothing too exciting this week. I spent an afternoon with Nimisha who had just returned from a work trip to Dubai; we went to get our nails done (I love/love/love this) and explored the neighborhood before meeting up with some friends downtown. We helped Boom move his couch from one building to another. I watched many old episodes of the West Wing (holy cow, do you remember how good this show was?); we're super into watching it as we fall asleep, but in my moments of insomnia, I cheat and skip ahead. And overall, tried to channel my inner patience.

took in Oliver for a few days while his mom healed from a bad fall.

Our neighborhood does a Running with the Bulls thing?
That's a shopping cart dressed as a bull. It had smoke coming out of its nose.

I decided that a peanut butter malted milkshake was a good idea.

hudson looks drugged.
but he's sleeping with his eyes open on my belly.

coping: still trying to get a handle on this maddening indigestion, most of the dresses I had allocated to this time are now a little too short to walk around in public, Maggie and family are in Corsica for two weeks so I don't have little Alice to keep me focused on the goal, and when I sit on the couch, the top of my lap pushes too hard on the bottom of my belly so I either sit wide-legged like a dude or give up and fall over pathetically.

surprising to me: I can still shave my legs easily (but haven't been able to see my belly button in a month), I didn't have to get more than one new size of undergarments since this began, we still don't have a name for either gender, and somehow I feel like we're ready for this.

people: overall, everyone in the public world has been overwhelmingly kind. a girlfriend of a friend touched my stomach and told me it felt like a butt. That's right, A BUTT. I'm assuming it's because she thought I have diastasis recti, where the abdominal wall can split (painlessly), but even if I do, I thought it was an odd thing to tell someone. a close friend reacted to a couple weeks of not seeing each other with a, "woah! you are SO MUCH BIGGER than when I saw you last," but I punched her so we're cool now. ok, I didn't punch her, but I didn't let it slide. :) Other than those two incidents, however, I feel like people have been incredibly kind, very sensitive, and appropriate. Phew!

Week by Week: 37th

2013-07-09T03:05:00.000-07:00

(Real Time = 38 weeks today)

Started off this week with a mini self-celebration. Made it to full-term!! Then quickly came to the realization that the 40 week due date was probably more statistically probable for delivery time. What a punch to the gut for a few days.

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.

But after a few days, I actually started to feel like I was going to miss the rumbling and rolling and fluttering around in the belly. Even the shoving up into my right ribs that somehow manages to push up and outwards at the same time, making it feel like it could snap a lower rib while simultaneously breaking open my upper belly. Am I going to remember how pleasantly surprising the independent movement can be? Hmmm.

Jamie was able to work from home on the 3rd so we made the most of the early evening. Went to a doc appointment where, by the way, the ob informed me that she wouldn't be checking dilation progress (unless I really wanted it) because it's often not an indication of how far along the pregnancy is or how soon labor will begin. It was surprising to me, but I guess makes sense because someone can rock a 2cm dilation for weeks with very little progress and that report could be discouraging. I'm ok with not knowing...for now. We're down to weekly appointments.

After the appointment, we headed over to talk a walk around Green Lake - a freshwater lake in the middle of the city - which was packed to the gills with people who must have also either taken the day off or who had ended their work day early. Runners, walkers, dogs, strollers, people generally working out, speed-walkers on their way to the library for some last minute holiday reading material. It really felt like the place to be on the before the 4th. And then we saw this:

A beach?! In seattle?

Ok, only sort of.
Those are cement steps into the lake.
But check out all of the crazy people in the water - note: it wasn't that warm out.

The next morning, we finally made our way over to a local breakfast joint called the 5 Spot Cafe only to find ourselves smack dab in the middle of...San Francisco?

A HUGE cardboard golden gate bridge.

This restaurant changes its theme QUARTERLY and does a total overhaul of their menu, their decor, and even the waitstaff's uniform. The San Francisco theme was obviously perfect for us & we had a fantastic brunch after a very short weekend wait. Sourdough flapjacks topped with strawberries? Done.

A hilarious text from Amy:

Colin and Anne got a new BBQ (trish, do I say "grill" here instead?) so we went and picked up their old one - huzzah! Lounged about the rest of the day before rushing to get a peach/blueberry pie in the oven for an evening back at their house to celebrate the 4th. We conveniently were able to see about 5 different fireworks shows from their balcony (a surprise as they had just moved in this time last year and hadn't seen it before). I don't have a photo of the pie, but here's a shot of an icebox cake I took over when we had dinner there the previous weekend:

fantastic dessert when, with zero air conditioning, it was 90 degrees in their home!

Saturday was just lovely with lazy housework (ok, lazy on my part, jamie was buzzing around like a madman on a mission) and an evening on Parul's rooftop patio. We grilled, drank frosty beverages, and made s'mores. Geoff and Rebecca were in town from Chicago, Lara was in town from the bay area, so we had a mini little tuck reunion (although I had just seen G&R when in Chicago last and Lara was at my baby shower!).

I don't know why I looked so scared of the fire.
Maybe I was just appalled that I took up as much space on a chair as BOTH anne and colin next to me.

Anne, Parul, Me, Rebecca.
Geoff in the back.

she was amazed at how much rounder i had gotten.

For the record, my fundal height is measuring right on track; where the doc takes a tape measure to the belly to identify uterine size and it matches the gestational age in weeks within 1-3cm. I think they started this at week 24 and it's been growing right on track since. At this week's appointment, I almost asked her to measure it again because it feels and looks to be growing more aggressively than 1cm a week ("do you mean feet? it's growing a foot a week? because that feels more accurate.")

6 weeks ago.

And Sunday entailed heading over to Mercer Island, the most populated island in a lake in the United States. In the map below, you can see where we live (queen anne, a neighborhood in Seattle) and Bellevue where Jamie works. That 90 bridge goes from Seattle across Mercer Island over a floating road (I think it's the 2nd longest floating bridge in the world) and over to what people call "the eastside".

Jamie's stepmom, Terri, has a sister who lives on Mercer Island with her husband and after connecting at the baby shower here last month, invited us over for a lovely Sunday evening dinner with her daughter (who lives down the street from us), her daughter's roommate, and two of their friends. Their home was warm, inviting, and had a fantastic view of the city in which we live:

the view.

their pup, guinness or guinny.

the spread.
Fontine, their friend, hovers over the delicious salads.

the flowers we took over there.
from pike place = best deal on the freshest flowers!

I tried taking better photos, but was also trying to play it cool while at their place. Next time, I'm going gangbusters for y'all.

And just because this is still cracking me up:

Leson sighting in Seattle.

Week by Week: 36th

2013-07-08T15:07:00.000-07:00

(Real Time = I hit 38 weeks tomorrow.)

Jamie practicing bathing on a table:

This was the night before the 36th week.
Probably should be in the 35th week post, but I forgot I had it.

creeeepy!!

I had a prenatal massage this week, gift from Maggie, and it was amazing. Kind of wish I could go back on a daily basis.

On my way to meet up with people for Parul's birthday happy hour at a local bar, I got a text from Jamie that said there was someone from my elementary school that knew me there. Huh? Not a typical occurrence as I went to an international elementary school in Tokyo with 20-30 people per grade. They're all scattered around the world and it's rare for us to cross paths, but lo and behold, Rana June was hanging out with our Tuckie friends in the middle of this bar:

had been 20 years since we last saw each other.

She finished her MBA a year earlier than Jamie and has been in Seattle working for Amazon so I'm guessing it'll be less than 20 more years before I get to see her again. Yay for old new friends!

thanks for leaving all of these supplies, dev.
i was able to gift a little bday something!

This is Dean on the same night.
He's constantly talking to my stomach and trying to feel it kick.

Over the weekend, we took a mini road trip out to Snoqualmie Falls and its surrounding cities. I think the waterfall was featured in Twin Peaks? All I know is that it made me miss my Vermont waterfall and one of my favorite restaurants in the Upper Valley.

Fallin' Fallin'.

There are car seat inspection sites all over the place so we stopped by one at Seattle Children's Hospital and found out we had been doing it right all along. Phew. Jamie installed the base for when all the gals brought all their babies to our place and I've since left it in to drive Maggie and Alice about the city. Really glad to know that we had it in correctly in the first place.

this poor lady was sweatin' it.

It is seriously SO GREEN in our area:

Random stranger at the dog park in your clothes sighting:

this gal was 2 weeks ahead of me & more than ready for it to be over as well.
:)

Have I mentioned how great the fruit/veggies are here? It took awhile for them to come in, but summer in Seattle means so many fantastic things, including an abundance of fabulous fruit. Makes dessert making super easy.

macerated local plums, nectarines, and blacberries
over homemade vanilla whipped cream.

Really hot temps this week with no air conditioning meant that my feet and ankles got super swollen by the end of each day. My already-too-wide-to-be-considered-feminine feet looked like ogre limbs; soaking them and using ice packs didn't bring much relief, but once the weather cooled a bit, everything went back to normal.

cheesy grin.

random seattle sighting.

Week by Week: 35th

2013-07-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

(Real Time = I hit 37 weeks on Tuesday. Playing blog catch-up!)

We threw this guy a bachelorette party (decided to call it that when making it a co-ed celebration of his upcoming nuptials). Manish (t'12) is getting married in Dayton, Ohio, in a couple of weeks and while we unfortunately can't fly over there for it, I wanted to make sure we rightly celebrated the big event:

the pretty bachelorette.

A schedule of evening events, themed decorations, inappropriate cupcake toppers (!), and had a grand ole time surprising him with a planned Seattle evening. Yay!

there were about 8 more people that joined us after this photo.
have no idea what jamie's doing here.

We took a breast-feeding class:

Jamie clearly paying loads of attention.

And an infant care class: swaddling, feeding schedules, etc. It was the last of the handful of classes that we signed up for months ago and I was more than ready to be done with them. The hands on practice was helpful in some respects and I'm very glad to have completed the CPR refresher, but I was just done with the classes. Ask either of us to do impressions of the lady who taught the breast-feeding class that neither of us were mature enough for...oh dear!

these dolls got creepier by the class.

I kept my fingers crossed for Amy's safe arrival in New York for the summer. She's interning with UNICEF as part of the process of getting her Masters in Public Health at UCIrvine. It's been a fun couple of weeks for her to acclimate to the new city, her new place for the summer, and waiting for her research article to be published. Super proud of her taking this adventure and for, you know, being quoted in USAToday (amongst others):

landed, moved in, and started her job!

While I'm not one to post bare skin photos of myself, I kinda wanted to show you what it looks like when my belly starts protruding in an unbalanced manner. Most of the day it's just round and round and round, but when there's movement of any kind, I get lumps and look lopsided. Here, I'll keep the photo smaller:

Can you see the lump on the right?
WHAT IS THAT.

A bluejay started to visit our balcony every morning.

Don't know what to think of him.
While I like his colors and gumption, he keeps tearing apart my herbs.

This might have been the last week of wearing real shoes. I think I've worn flip flops everyday since the start of week 35. My feet weren't swollen per say, it was just becoming a little ridiculous to try to tie laces and I got tired of Jamie just staring and laughing at my struggle (all the while, offering to help, don't worry. he's only a little bit of a jerk - ha).

I try to rock crazy pants ala friend, Jo Daly's kids.

Happy Birthday to Devon!

2013-07-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

xo & i love you!

(and the little piper that was in your belly in this photo)

(and the little graham that was just a sparkle in your eye*)

*that's a phrase, right?

Week by Week: 34th

2013-07-03T14:42:00.000-07:00

(Real Time = I hit 37 weeks yesterday. Playing blog catch-up!)

Had an appointment and asked for an ultrasound to identify the baby's position (head down!) so I could officially figure out what was jabbing me where. Turns out, I have zero intuition and it is in the completely opposite position of what I had hypothesized. Back is where I thought feet were, feet and hands are where I thought spine was, the butt is in the opposite quadrant, and head down? Huh! Who knew. It doesn't feel like there's much room in there for it to do too much shifting so the movement feels more restricted now, but the rolling feeling is pretty consistent and the rhythmic hiccuping can still make me laugh. I keep saying its specializing in a Jumping Jack Flash position, but people keep telling me that's impossible. Whatever. That's what it feels like some times.

Fresh fruit is here! Summer!

Everything is still measuring fine and after four night of just awful sleep, something shifted and I was able to secure two solid nights in a row. Amazing how that can change everything! For those four days, I kept saying that I was done and the novelty has worn off and that I was just plain over being pregnant. Feeling much more ok with the impending wait after just two more restful nights. Although....I keep reading that delivering any time between 37 and 42 weeks is considered fine so I could have less than 3weeks to wait? Fingers crossed. (whyyy do i keep jinxing it? its totally going to stay in until August the way I keep throwing around July 2nd as the 37 week mark. ugh)

Jamie went to a qualifying game for the FIFA World Cup (i think that's right) where the US team played and beat Panama:

From R-L: Jamie, Dean Hudson, John Boomgard

I took Alice and her mom to Whole Foods and other errands:

5 weeks old!
Her mom only has one more week of activity restriction & it's been so nice to get real-life practice.

Did some baking:

gave 1/2 of the batch away, but next time it's going to go in the freezer to save up for post-birth snacking.

Took a infant magic class:

Just kidding, it was infant/child CPR:

And started to feel supremely huge:

weird aussies.

2013-06-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

These are photos I took at a stationary shoppe in Australia.

I thought they were awfully specific and hilarious.

There were probably 15 different cards on this subject matter.

Week by Week: 33rd

2013-06-16T02:00:00.000-07:00

Summer in Seattle is so wacky! We're so far north latitudinally that, while it's no Alaska, the amount of daylight during these months is kind of insane. I've had many sleepless nights this week so I've been able to watch a very bright ambient light make its way back into the sky by 2:45am after not having really left until well after 9:45pm. Not many very dark hours and I definitely prefer a Seattle summer day over the winter dark months.

9:30pm on 6/10/13

I love that this is smackdab in the middle of our living room. Makes me grin everyday:

I think Hudson keeps going into the teepee, looking for kids to lick.

Took 4 week old Alice and her mom to opening day of our local farmers' market.
They live a block away and Alice, I assume, will be our baby's first friend.

We spent the weekend in a two-day childbirth class where we learned a bunch, reviewed other things with which we were already familiar, and we met a nice group of soon-to-be parents with similar due dates. Jamie volunteered for one of the activities:

It clearly made all the sense in the world to him.
No confusion at all.

While they had plenty of water and a few mini granola bars, there was no other food for the classes that ran from 9:30am - 1:45pm. Imagine that. A group of pregnant ladies trying to keep their cool on the first day without enough snacks. Ok, so maybe some of them came prepared with bags of granola, fruit, and sandwiches, but this lady did not. I was ravenous by the time we got out of there the first day and subsequently made this decision at the closest restaurant we could find after we were dismissed:

Sweet white corn, havarti & herb scramble,
hash browns and an English muffin,
with a bowl of "kick butt" chili @ geraldine's counter.
I was so starving, I don't even remember what Jamie ordered.
I ended up bringing half of it home after all, but I could have sworn to be able to inhale it entirely on my own.
:)

Our friends over at twopeasandtheirpod had gifted us a night at a local hotel; a one bedroom suite complete with two full bathrooms (I kept wondering why there were so many showers in the one room - shower races?) so we had a nice staycation in between classes. Hudson was able to come with us and it's located above the Whole Foods right across the street from Sarah Lyman's place. Needless to say, super local. We requested a surplus of pillows (phew - how many more times can I mention that I like a lot of pillows on this blog?) and I took an amazing bath before enjoying a tiramisu cake with Jamie, straight out of the Whole Foods container. Splendid.

So. Many. Circles.
My belly started to look ROUND this weekend and on Monday,
started to grow out the sides instead of just out front like it has been.
I'm a little unnerved by the shift.

Having just walked in from the farmers' market.
Hence the pack of strawberries in my hand.
I forgot to bring a bag with me.

Week by Week: 32nd

2013-06-15T04:00:00.000-07:00

I started week 32 with a whole lot of sleeping, resting, and keeping my feet up while recovering from running around the entire city of Chicago. We stayed up past midnight most nights we were there and got up early to maximize our time in the windy city and I was just plain wiped. I think it was on Friday that I had just a downright uncomfortable day. No position was working (sitting, standing, laying down, left side, right side, nothing) and I felt whiney and miserable for most of the day. Jamie got home early from work and started a cleaning rampage, but posed it as a, "oh, you poor thing, just sit there and relax and I'll make the place look perfect for you." No suspicions raised at all.

I think he even mentioned something about wanting the place to look nice for me for the weekend so I wouldn't have to worry about and we could just have fun. How did I not become suspicious about that? I mean, while I'm lucky enough to live with someone who carries his own weight with household responsibilities, he voluntarily vacuumed, dusted, did dishes, finished the laundry I had started, cleaned bathrooms...no suspicions? I must have been delirious to not recognize that something was up.

This was surprise shower week.

Week 32 also included a lot of baby time:

Jamie with Graham.

Jen and Maddy in a teepee.

Watching babies practice getting up.

Controlling the WWF atmosphere.
WWF is about wrestling, right?
Not just the world wildlife foundation?
Although, I guess that'd apply here, too.

Graham.

Henry, Momma Jen, and Maddy.

The day after the shower (Sunday) I woke up to friends laughing and clanging things around in the kitchen and babies squealing...it was delightful. We sent Devon and Tara on a run along the scenic walking path I enjoy, but I think those champs did like 3-17 rotations through it. I used MapMyRun to send the route to their smartphones and they were able to use it to navigate the neighborhood without me having to personally take them through it first - technology, amazing. Also, have I mentioned that they are total champs for getting up and running like 72 miles? Champs.

The rest of us took a little walk and met up with Tara post-run for brunch.

Devon took a scenic detour before she was able to meet us.

Wait, check out Maddy pointing at Graham accusatorially - that's totally the face of a girl with an older brother.

Maddy looked so lonely here, but also so grown up.

Running into friends in our neighborhood.
Maggie and Gauthier (T'11s) had their daughter (alice) 4 weeks prior and live a block away!
Maggie was the only person I didn't get a picture of at the shower.

Once our bellies were full and we gathered all of our belongings back at home (strollers, diaper bags, sweatshirts, etc.), we took two carloads downtown to do some Seattle-y things.

We reunited with Ali & Henry downtown and got to hang with them for the afternoon.

Took the girls (and jamie and babies) down to Pike Place.

"are those raspberries?"

Jamie tried to operate Jen's itty bitty camera.

To take this photo.

YAY! Friends! In the market!

Crabs; a Pacific Northwest specialty.

We then went to the base of the Space Needle and lazed about in the shade:

Berries, crackers, and a bunch of running around in the grass.

Hanging.

That's when I had to take these girls to the airport. :(

Jen, come back!

Tara, I'll map more runs for you! Come back!

And Sarah took Ali & Henry to the airport a little bit later:

Hen, you'd be SO comfy here in Seattle. Move here!

I have zero recollection of what we did Sunday night. This might have been the night that Amanda and I stayed up chatting while Devon had to get some work done?

On Monday, Jamie headed over to work while dev, amanda, graham and I spent the morning playing around the house, gabbing. Once we got ourselves somewhat together, I took them out to the easy-to-walk around neighborhood of Ballard, aiming toward Hot Cakes (omg, hot cakes, mmmmm), which was unfortunately closed until after Amanda's flight that afternoon. Booo. We did some window shopping and grabbed some customize-your-own macaroni and cheese at Bitterroot - a bbq place where I have never ordered anything but mac & cheese.

graham just kicking back and snoozing around the girls.

Another airport run to drop Amanda off for her connecting flight back to Canada and then back home to drop Graham off with Jamie before meeting Sarah Lyman for an al fresco dinner at The Whale Wins. Oh, the Whale Wins! Ingredients from local beaches, gardens, and farms thrown together so simply, but deliciously and the space - oh, the space - it's one of my top restaurants in Seattle.

"Piles of delicious, ripe, seasonal vegetables, wood oven fired meats and fish, and pickled treats--favorites from my childhood and my travels--will be displayed in abundance and served to share in a bright, beautiful setting" chef Renee Erickson explains.

A perfect spot for three ladies to kick back, gab, sip wine, and enjoy the rare, warm Seattle afternoon.
The sun set behind us.

We ended up back over at Hot Cakes to pick up some late night cookies, molten chocolate cakes in mason jars to bake at home, and to show dev how cute the place is. Then back home to check in on these crazy kids:

I think they had fun together.
Don't know when Jamie has ever watched a baby by himself, but I think he handled it like a champ!

On Tues, I got some last snuggle time with my buddy before having to take him and his awesome momma back to the airport for their morning flight home to Chicago. Sad Face. Miss them. Want them to come back asap.

One of Maddy's toys in his mouth, using his auntie leslie's gut as a cushion.

Real time: Today I'm halfway between 34 & 35 weeks.

Week by Week: 31st

2013-06-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

We had a mediocre Sunday brunch back in Seattle.

We were stood up by friends who were too hungover to get out of bed, but we didn't get the texts until we were already at the restaurant.

Then we headed out to the largest dog park in Seattle proper with Sarah Lyman.

Dogs on a log.

I breathed a sigh of relief that the Oklahoma tornado missed our friends, but was struck by the footage of devastation that this natural disaster took out on the area so close to them. It seems awful to cal it a "natural" disaster. Doesn't seem like anything natural about it. Thoughts and prayers go out to those families.

The rest of week 31 was filled with unpacking from Oregon, packing for Chicago, flying to Chicago, and enjoying the heck out of Chicago. One of our Tuckie friends and her Tuckie boyfriend had planned an epic weekend for her 30th birthday and because they are recent Chicago transplants, instead of just inviting their local friends, decided to extend it to loads of others who would have to fly in to help her celebrate.

Well, you don't have to ask me twice to make the trip out to one of my fave cities to see some of my fave people so once I verified that the Larkins were going to be in town for Memorial Day Weekend, we got to booking tickets, etc. While I typically impose myself on our friends (shout-out to Katherine and the Bonkos) for a place to stay while in town, this time around, feeling like I was going to be 31 weeks HUGE, I felt the need to be in a gigantic bed with endless amounts of pillows (hello there, hotel housekeeping), a thermostat within fingers' reach, and easy multiple-times-in-the-middle-of-the-night access to the restroom. So downtown hotel it was. This ended up working out fantastically for access to all of the train lines we used for the weekend (green, orange, blue, brown, red!).

Facetiming with Piper in HER town!

We dropped Hudson off with Sarah, threw things into suitcases, and tried to get to bed as early as possible before our 3am wake-up call on Thursday. Our flights departed Seattle around the same time, but we were on two different airlines (a refundable one for me and another that used Jamie's leftover airline dollars from a previously cancelled flight) which had us arriving at different Chicago airports, but worked out fantastically timing-wise.

As soon as we got into town, checked in, and grabbed a quick bite to eat, we met up with Devon and the kids downtown. The plan was for Jamie to hang with Patrick and Graham while Dev took me and Piper to swim lessons. That's right; I bravely jumped in the pool with Piper for her lesson. I say bravely because it's been very many years since I've taught swim lessons and because I was waltzing around in a tankini.

It was amazing! I want to take Piper to swim lessons everyday!

She must have said something hilarious.
I loved every second of it.

I think that the boys went to a sports bar to "eat salads" and have lots of "quality conversation" aka get burgers/fries/beer and watch the hockey playoffs. With a baby. In a bar. You know, the norm.

watching hockey with P again and & playing youtube videos for p.
"i want to watch awesome!"

Piper tries on my ring:

Oddly enough, Dev independently asked to try it on a few days later.
In the same way Piper did. Like almost the same verbiage.
Should have taken a photo to splice with these.

This must have been Friday morning?
Met up at a market for coffee, crepes, and a photo op with a stranger who was also wearing green.

Friday night, we went to a kitschy chicken place with the Larkins (can't remember what it was called) and Piper won the grand prize:

Doesn't her face say it all?
"I won the coveted golden egg and all I get is six bucks off my next meal??
You have GOT to be kidding me."

Saturday, Jamie and our Tuck friends ran a "Run or Dye 5K" in a gravel parking lot:

Avni, Swags, Tom, Jamie, Alex, hmm...don't know those two, Rebecca, Geoff, Kellie

Birthday girl.

Meanwhile, I got to spend some quality time with Dev:

just being silly.

Sat night we had a fantastic group dinner at an Argentinian steak house withand a great atmosphere complete with an ice cream cake that Geoff brought in earlier that day:

Then we headed to a random karaoke place with private karaoke rooms and I felt like I was in an episode of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, but we had a blast. Jamie did not practice good vocal hygiene and his throat hurt for days afterward; too much Neil Diamond will do that to ya.

Swags who lives in Nashville & Rebecca.

We wish Kellie were still living with us, but she's back on the east coast.
This was a nice reunion weekend with her.

Sunday, we went to Becca and Geoff's place with a spectacular view of Lake Michigan and had a lazy brunch with people. Then I got together with one of my fave Tuck Partners (lives in Boston) who just happened to be in Chicago overnight for a wedding that she decided to last-minute attend. She saw an Instagram photo, figured out I was in town at the same time and we were luckily able to spend about an hour together before I sent her off to get to that wedding. She was basically the only one who was also from Orange County while we were living in Hanover so we felt an automatic bond:

I miss Chandra!
Also, my head is like 3x hers.

Jamie and Kellie were able to get together with Brian Kang who was also in their fall study group. He lives in Chicago with his wife and little girl, but travels a lot so it was great timing to be able to see him:

I think we ended up back at the Larkins that afternoon:

Running around with Jamie in the rain.

The giggles from this kid, I want to bottle them:

High kicks to the face.

This girl has my heart:

I was painting her nails and she took a break to sweetly brush my hair out of my face.
Ugh. My heart could have exploded.

Back in Seattle:

Hudson was having a fantastic long holiday weekend with Oliver and Sarah.

Monday was darling Graham's first birthday party:

The spread with fantastic s'mores brownies (with graham crackers), breakfast cupcakes, trail mix, and a cereal bar.

Complete with golden GRAHAMS.
Get it?

I think I ate 15 of these.

Not the best, but the only family photo I got of them.

Buddy!

I must be getting these moving photos from Jamie's Windows8 phone.

I don't know what to do with them.

My pretty bf cutting into a huge s'mores cake.

These Chicago ladies gave the belly some love.
I worked with Christine everyday at camp, but it wasn't until Devon moved to Chicago that we reconnected and I've gotten to know some of Christine's lovely friends by visiting so often.
xo to you ladies!

Fun party peeps!

Hi, Elaine!

We stayed at the loft for most of the afternoon before racing back downtown to pick up our suitcases, get in a quick visit with Monique and Abdullah (more friends from Tuck - no photo), and run off to our respective airports to fly back to Seattle. Both flights went smoothly for me (with the small exception of leaving my phone plugged in at the gate, realizing it just before the doors closed, and running off the plane to go grab it), but I was happy that this would be the last of the long travels for me - it's getting a little uncomfortable in those coach seats. We got home well after midnight on Memorial Day and it took a couple of days for me to recover from what was such a fun weekend. Turned out to be fantastic strategy to rest up, for not a couple of days after that, this happened!

taken in the front of devon's chicago loft building.

Coping techniques:

Mass amounts of pillows

Lots of tums

Quality time with some lovely friends

I have the very best friends, EVER.

2013-06-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

this post is a collection of photos from my phone, jamie's phone, and others. i didn't do a good job of citing the sources. sorry.

Jamie and I flew home the evening of Memorial Day from an epic weekend in Chicago (post coming). I was sad to leave Devon and the kids, but I knew I was scheduled to see her and one year old Graham a couple of weeks later when they came out to Seattle to throw a little baby shower. Devon and Graham staying with us?! So exciting.

Little did I know....

Back home to Seattle.

This was happening:

Devon and her one year old were flying to Seattle from Chicago = a full week early.

Jen and Maddy were flying to Seattle from N.California.

Tara was on Jen and Maddy's flight from Sacramento (here she is with graham).

Trish was making her way over from Dallas (photo with her below).

And Ali & 8month old Henry were flying in from San Francisco.

You see, I had received an invitation to a shower hosted by Dev:

Except MINE said June 8th.
She had a decoy invitation in her glove compartment which I just happened to see while riding in the passenger seat the previous weekend. And she even went as far as writing in the fake date on her family calendar on the fridge just in case I flipped through it (didn't).

Sarah Lyman had sent me the nicest text during the week, asking if she could have some quality Leslie time on the Saturday before the shower Saturday. Her text stated that she needed to get her hair blown-out for a Saturday night work event and that she wanted to treat me to one with her. Sure! Then she sent a follow-up text saying that she wanted to add brunch and nails to the deal. To which, instead of replying right away, I showed to Jamie and sent along to devon as a "omg, how NICE is sarah lyman, but why does she want to do so many things as a treat to me; isn't she crazy?!" Jamie was all gung-ho about it (should have raised suspicions) and devon was also all about me taking advantage of my friend. In fact, I think she even mentioned wanting to spend time together before the baby shower madness of the very next weekend.

Huh?

Totally fell for it.

So, Saturday morning, I hopped into a shower and got dressed for what I thought was going to be a lovely, slow-paced day of spending some quality with a good friend (read: one good friend). We started off at a new-to-us brunch place called Tilth. It was a beautiful morning so we sat outside, had fantastic service, ate great food, and the patio reminded us so much of midtown Sacramento where we have both spent a lot of time. We then headed downtown and killed some time shoe shopping before our hair appt.

Jamie had left the house dressed in golf gear as I was getting out of bed, saying that he was taking advantage of my girltime to go golfing with some work friends. He even told me which course he was going to, gave me reason for taking the car (because they were all coming from different directions so he didn't want them to have to come out to our neighborhood to get him), and apparently even grabbed his clubs to throw into the car. You know, just in case I went into the garage and saw the clubs sitting in there (like I would have even paid attention to that?). What was he really doing so early in the morning? Oh, just picking up Tara, Jen, and baby Maddy from the Seattle airport.

Totally clueless at the hair place.
I couldn't believe how large my midsection looked when sitting in front of the mirror.

While we were out getting our hair blown out:

The ladies decked out our place.

I think the folks that came in the night before met up to do some grocery shopping before coming over to our place to set-up. Trish and Ali and Henry stayed in hotels downtown while Devon and Graham stayed with Sarah. Mind you, they all traveled with car seats, strollers, and all associated equipment that comes with baby travel. The logistics coordination must have been a bear. I'm so amazed by them.

Jen, double-arming babies; I'm sure, directing the sign placement.
Ali, taking proper direction.
Aunt Barb cutting out signs diligently on the couch.

Aunt Barb lives on Mercer Island, halfway between our place and Jamie's work, but because she's been up here and we've been, well, everywhere else the past few years, we haven't had a chance to get to know her as much as Terri's other siblings who live in Southern California. I was so pleased to spend some time together. We have plans to get together again in the near future.

Dev came up with a ridiculously fun shower theme (guarantee you haven't seen another like it):

"Ohhh! Vintage Storks and maybe Twinkies? Thought you said Mork & Bindis!"
[she emailed me awhile back asking if a vintage stork-y theme would be ok by me and if we could maybe have vintage treats like twinkies. sure! sounded fun! didn't realize she was doing a play on words like we did with our silly announcement]

They dressed Jamie up to look like Mork.

Because what else rhymes with Stork?
Also, woah to the chest hair, R.Williams.

The vintage Mork party gear made its fashionably late arrival the next morning.
Do you see this madness?
Devon + Ebay = hilarious.

And everyone was wearing bindi dots when I walked in.

Maddy with a bindi.

Aunt Barb with a bindi.
I cried all of my makeup off. Because that's what I do when I'm surprised.
I cry.

The Baby Kanter food spread complete with a Jen-made Baby Kanter banner.

Does this look delish or what?

those little baby jars held varieties of yogurt to make your own parfait.
unfortunately, the twinkie isn't available until july 2013 (short hiatus in production), but devon looked for awhile to find a local bakery that could whip some up...hmmm...business opp? :)

Our back patio with make-your-own terrarium crafting.
More Jen touches with fabric streamers.

A FANTASTIC group gift (teepee?!) filled with loads of goodies.
I foresee loads of reading time in this cozy nook.

I walked in so incredibly surprised:

Like, SO incredibly surprised.

I somehow spotted something different about the back patio when we first got home and while at first I thought Jamie had come home from golfing to take down all of our serving ware to clean off the shelves upstairs (ya, right!), I specifically noticed some spice jars that Devon had the previous weekend (I had just texted her to ask if she had any surplus and if could bring a couple for me), so I asked out loud, incredulously, "IS DEVON HERE?!" Apparently, I also started shouting, "something's happening! something's happening!" But nothing was connecting in my brain. In fact, I came up the stairs to our main level, saw that there was a teepee ("oh! that's cute!"), saw that there was a sign (but couldn't read it because I apparently lose the ability to read when I'm excited), spotted Jamie in his ridiculous gear ("hi!! what are you wearing?!"), and then turned to see SO MANY PEOPLE in our kitchen.

I mean, I was kept in the dark by EVERYONE. While I knew that devon and graham had plans to roll into town, the only other person I knew was going to make it to what I thought was going to be the next weekend's event was Tara. She even sent me a decoy Southwest itinerary! For which, by the way, she actually booked (refundable) just to have something to send to me - true dedication. The original fake itinerary was mistakenly booked so it appeared that she was in town for less than 24 hours, leaving Seattle before the scheduled shower. I, of course, noticed and had to bring her attention to it making it so Tara not only had to book an original fake itinerary, but then go and change the fake itinerary to make more sense to me. Oh the things I put my friends through.

Most of these ladies FLEW to Seattle for this:

My ladies! I've lived with all but one of them.
Ali (+henry's leg) & Trish from camp, Tara from undergrad, Dev from life, Jen from undergrad, Sarah from dev's undergrad (with oliver).

Ali had sent a package from afar and mentioned nothing of the party or travel so instead of asking her about it, I just assumed that there'd be no way she'd fly up here with her 8 month old. This is the same girl that just returned from a cross-country TRAIN trip from San Francisco to NYC and back with said little baby; why I thought a little flight would hold her back, I have no idea. Totally fooled.

Jen had told me awhile back that her son, Jack, had an event to attend that weekend and was flat-out not going to be able to make the shower in Seattle. For some reason, I converted "final teeball game and closing ceremony" to "kindergarten graduation" so imagine my reaction to seeing facebook photos of Jack's kindergarten graduation a couple of weeks before the scheduled Seattle weekend. After some sad (pathetic, really) texting to devon, she brought my attention to the actual Jack events (teeball = it's in my email) and I felt much better about Jen not being here. Totally and completely fooled.

Trish has been knee-deep involved with her brother's huge Texas wedding that was scheduled to take place the same weekend as the shower. Jamie and I were, in fact, invited to said wedding and had to decline based on what I thought would be an inability to travel at that point (33 weeks along) and because devon thought that weekend would be the most convenient for her to throw me a party. I was bummed because Trish had solemnly dedicated herself to coming back to Seattle any weekend except that of her brother's wedding so because the events coincided, I "knew" she wasn't going to make it. FOOLED.

Our tuck ladies (minus Maggie and Debbie who somehow escaped this group shot).
Lara in the red shirt flew up from n.cal.
Lianne + Alana (21mos), Parul just moved to Seattle from a stint in Kentucky, and Anne.

Oh my gosh, I don't know how this is a moving photo.
But here I demonstrate a range of emotions with my v.well coordtinated tuck friends.
There's Debbie; got her before she had to leave early.

None of our Seattle friends had made any mention of coming over and while I had asked Dev several times if she had heard from anyone, her vague "meh...I can't remember who rsvp'd" was enough confirmation that at least someone would be coming, but I didn't want to keep bugging her about it. I saw Anne the night before and while she mentioned having a wedding shower to attend the next morning, she made zero reference to mine. And I thought it was too pathetic to ask, "so....will I see you next weekend for the party for me?" So, I didn't. She was apparently so nervous when talking to me. Actually, apparently everyone was so nervous when talking to me and while I didn't think twice about it, there were many who tried to avoid me for the preceding weeks. Like, even our male Tuck friends in Seattle. They didn't want to accidentally say anything...about something they weren't going to attend? Ha.

I had an amazing time catching up with everyone and I don't think my voice dropped from its incredibly high-pitched squeal for about an hour.

Basically super giddy.

We sat on the back patio, enjoying the beautiful weather:

Making terrariums.

Munched on snacks, drank mimosas (some), and chatted.

Feeling super normal to have all of our friend circles overlap.

And opened some amazing gifts from our loved ones.

Trish MADE this for the little one.
When I was in Dallas about 1.5 months prior, she took me to a fabric shoppe to pick out a couple of things I liked, but she filled in the rest and created this beauty!

Then, after an amazing day of hugs and laughter and watching the kids play with the pups and consuming an abnormal amount of oreos, we all got into our pajamas and ordered some takeout sushi to nosh on as the sun started to set. Jamie headed out to "grab drinks with Boom" aka "get the heck out of the house because of all of the estrogen", but instead, he apparently did another airport run to pick up this girl:

Amanda was supposed to not be able to make it because she just opened a bakery and had a wedding cake to do.
But she hopped on an international flight from Canada, folks.
Like, she had to clear customs.

I feel so loved.

Just. So. Loved.

Endless amounts of thank yous to all involved!!!

Week by Week: 30th

2013-05-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

This was a fantastic week.

with the McBrooms.

Kim and Alan were given a week at a family friend's cabin in Central Oregon as a wedding gift three years ago and they were nice enough to hang onto it until we moved to the Pacific Northwest and could join them for the week. I prepped a bunch of meals ahead of time (marinades, dry ingredients for batter, frozen biscuit dough, etc) and loaded Hudson and golf clubs and luggage into our car for a mid-week departure. We took a leisurely time on the 6 hour drive down, stopping in Portland for some brunch and tax-free shopping, cruising through a Central Oregon grocery store (we brought a cooler in the car for perishables picked up at the store) before making it to this "cabin" in what ended up being a vacation resort on 1800 acres of protected Oregon wilderness: two golf courses, pools, spa, views of the Cascade Mountains, etc.

It was gorgeous!
A lot of the drive reminded us of a New Hampshire summer.

Lots of lazy movie watching, reading, eating, and enjoying the fire.
Jamie's in post-golf gear, checking out the movie selection on the mantle.
I must have thought he looked funny.

Jamie and Alan golfed in the rain.

Hudson got plenty of practice with this toddler.
They liked each other a bunch.

I underestimated the power of this body pillow Kellie got me for Christmas; you know, the pillow I've been using every night to comfortably keep myself on my side and which has somehow magically kept back and hip pain at bay thus far? Oh man, I missed that pillow this week & was happy to see it once we returned home. I've heard of people packing their prenatal body pillows when heading out of town, but I stubbornly refused (and kinda regretted it) and am now wondering how long I'm going to want to bring this thing with me!

building the fire.

Jamie and I got some pool time and as much as I loved being in the Palm Springs water 10 weeks ago it somehow felt even 10x better in Oregon! Maybe because I feel 10x larger at this point. Casual laps back and forth across an outdoor heated (and empty) pool and sitting for short periods in the hot tub (very short periods with 1/2 of my body sticking out of the water and with physician approval) = perfection. The resort didn't officially open for the summer until the weekend we left so the whole place felt incredibly private with just residents and diehard golfers frequenting the grounds. At one point, we rushed from the pool into the large hot tub before I realized I was sitting in the middle of about twenty-five old, golfer dudes and must have looked sorely out of place. We giggled about that one for awhile. Also, that'd be 25 old dudes and not 25 year old dudes in case you read that incorrectly. Because you guys know I would SO fit in with a hot tub full of 25 year old dudes.

Get it? Fore?

Thanks so much, Kim and Alan and Jack! It's been a fun few months of seeing you guys every few weeks between Palm Springs, the shower, and Oregon. Can't wait to have you up in Seattle soon.

Clearly, good times were had.

Coping techniques:

Pillow fort - in addition to the aforementioned body pillow

Tums - like, woah

Iron supplement - wonder if this is helping to keep tiredness at bay

Longer tank tops - my pre-pregnancy shirts are absolutely no longer acceptable

Lots of water

Newly discovered love of diet grapefruit sparkling water

Week by Week: 29th

2013-05-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week was all about taking it easy. I had my last once-a-month appointment and am now heading into the every other week appointment stage. It was uneventful, but I did a mini celebration in the parking garage for walking away from an uneventful appointment for once. No bad test results, no necessary follow-up? Awesome.

Helped friend Lianne ring in her bday.

Got some fun Mother's Day calls and texts.

Washed and sorted hand-me-downs and items from the shower.

found one of these parking spots and hesitantly pulled my car into it.
i keep reading articles like this one so it's nice to focus on more of the benefits of pregnancy than the scary stuff ahead.

Week by Week: 28th

2013-05-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our third anniversary with our Seattle Tuck crew and I didn't get a photo; sadness. Anne, Colin, Boom, Dan, Dean, Parul, Debbie, Debbie's boyfriend (art) all came out for some yummy pizza and good times.

Dean's motorcycle needed a jump after dinner.
And somehow this is the only photo I have of the evening.

We had Oliver over for the weekend and Jamie found this amazing dog park on the eastside, across Lake Washington from Seattle; a self-declared "disneyland for dogs". It's this 40 acre off-leash area with gravel paths, fresh bark (ha) patches, grass areas, 4-5 entry points into the waterway, and it's gorgeous. It was en route to wine country where we had planned on spending the afternoon so we headed over to tire out the dogs, not knowing what to expect.

~2 mile walking trail loop.

Entry points to the river with steps so the dogs can run into the water to chase balls.
Awesome? Awesome.

We were totally loving all of the pups around.

These girls were so fantastic with all of the friendly dogs.
I feel like they had interesting names and we've been on such high alert with names, but I can't remember what they were now: Kennedy, Peyton, and something? Hmmm..can't remember.

We didn't end up needing this because Hudson and Oliver stayed mostly on the path, but owners of those HUGE water and mud loving dogs must really appreciate the opportunity to clean off some of the grunge before hopping back in their cars.

after.

It was a beautifully warm weekend and we fell back in love with our town. A few miles from the dog park lies Woodinville, Seattle's wine country. It's no Napa/Sonoma, but seems like a cool place to go tasting and somehow it's warmer and sunnier than the city. I had a fantastically light shaved brussel sprout salad with lemon and walnuts, basking on the sun-drenched outdoor patio of a local restaurant. We explored the area and drove by Red Hook Brewing Company, before hustling back to the city to go to dinner at Sitka and Spruce and to see Iron Man 3 with Boom, Timka (visiting from MN), and Dean. The dogs were basically comatose when we left them for our dinner/movie date.

The next morning, we had a lazy start with a long walk with the dogs and getting things done around the house before boarding a 30 minute ferry ride (other direction from where we traveled the day before) over to:

Ferry ride across the sound = success!
No motion sickness = wahoo!

Our Tuck friends live in a house over on Bainbridge Island; he goes back and forth from working from home and traveling out of state for work and she commutes to the mainland by ferry everyday (a short drive down to the ferry building, a 30 min boat ride, then a 10 min direct shuttle to her office building). On a side note, according to wiki, Chris Kattan is from B.Island...hmmm, I'm not sure they'd want him to be their claim to fame. We honestly didn't see the appeal of living with what we interpreted to be pain in the butt inconveniences of living on an island, but then.....

Been too long since our last pong game at Tuck.

Little Alana was born in New Hamps while her mom (in background) was a student, but has lived in a downtown high-rise apartment since just before her first birthday.
It was cool to watch her become reacquainted (or just acquainted) with grass & open space.

lots of chilling.

Homeowners, Paul and Courtenay, in the background. Then Anne & Colin.
And my big head blocking 25% of the entire photo.

Shenanigans.

so. much. green.

Our ride back to the city.
Love this place.

It was an awesome day on the island. Courtenay and Paul live on an acre of beautiful gardens, their home is adorable, their two goldens who seemed almost crazed in the eyes in our New Hamp complex (they lived in the same place we did) are so satisfied with the space out there, and we all had a fantastic time lazing about the grass, noshing on strawberries, playing pong, and just casually catching up. Can't wait to go back.

Baby Shower

2013-05-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

giraffe themed diaper cake!
there were so many rubber bands; kim was dedicated.

Carole (Jamie's stepsister), Krista (Jamie's sister-in-law), and Kim (Jamie's sister).

Jen Green sent decorations! Amy proudly hung them up!
It was so nice to have a touch of her there and I brought the garland home to put up in its room.
It = baby.

Amy had some hilarious game ideas, but we ran out of time to play them. Let me know if you're looking for any ideas because I think they're just awesome.

One of my oldest friends, Smith!
(oldest as in known a long time)

They were dedicated to the decor, even plopping REAL babies around the place:

first cousin once removed (i think) Paolo and nephew Jack

jess from high school, jenn from college, and sister amy

Jamie sent a gift for me to open there (so nice!).
Got plenty of awwwwws from the ladies.

Jamie's sister, Jamie's stepmom, and our nephew.

Cracking up with family friend, Pam Bennett.

Obligatory belly touching photo with Jess.
She's 7 weeks ahead with her THIRD baby!
Also happens to be one of the cutest pregnant people, like ever.

Not a great photo, but there's cousin Cat and Aunt Tillie and Aunt Annis.

And for post-party:

Alan woke up early to clean and prep for the shower.
Here he is taking a well-deserved, post-shower nap.
He seriously slept like this.

This was the first position of his well-deserved nap.
He didn't notice any of the fun action happening on his back.

Thanks to everyone for showering us with so much love! Had a fantastic time catching up with y'all and receiving so much needed advice!

Week by Week: 27th

2013-05-20T22:35:00.001-07:00

Gotta play catch-up! Starting week 31 tomorrow, y'all. Prepare for onslaught of posts this week to bring you up to speed.

Learning to take baths for relaxation.
I'm a total amateur bath taker, but I'm trying.

chowing down on my fave salad.

The world as I see it:
fully reclined on the couch, jamie shoved into a corner, hudson chilling with his head on a convenient pillow.

I flew down to Southern California and got to see so many loved ones! I spent 1/2 of this week in sunshine-y and warm s.cal and it was glorious. Here's a quick preview before I post specifically about the lovely shower that my sister-in-law threw for me.

Flying over Lake Tahoe.

Visit in Orange County with Dafna, a Tuckie friend.

Mother-in-law, Lucy, sent over the sweetest flowers.
Thank you again, Lucy!

Pregnant lady eats baby's head (nephew Jack - 17mos).

with little sister, Amy.
For the record, she's in heels and I'm barefoot.
Usually I tower like 6 inches over her....ok, not really, but I'm still taller.

Amy's almost wrapping up her first year of her Masters program at UCI where she's on path to earn her MPH by summer of 2014. She's been so busy with school and tutoring and research and applying for summer internships that we've recently been relegated to snippets of conversation here and there. It was amazing to have a full night of staying up late and catching up the night before the shower. I loved every second of it.