2010

As you probably know,we moved to NC this month. We're very excited to be here!

There is, however, one catch: no internet for now. Which means blogging is hard. I'm blogging from my phone right now and let me tell you, it's a pain! Apparently Blogger blocks some wonderful features of my keyboard here and it takes longer to type.

The good news are that I am still typing things to publish at a later day. they are safe in my computer until I can find a place with free internet to publish from my computer.

I wanted to stop by and wish you a Happy New Year. I hope your 2011 is as full of blessings as 2010 was for us... minus the moves.

Happy 2011!

11 months

Because of the move, I missed the last month. Nothing I can do about that now, but here’s this month’s developments!

He loooooves books. He grabs one first thing in the morning, and he can spend precious minutes quietly trying to turn the pages one by one.

He now knows how to use his teeth to break apart cheerios and crackers.

He’s quite the climber. He likes to climb on everything and everyone (he uses my belly as a sort of step). He also learned to maneuver steps really fast and on his own. My in-laws’ place has a step from the entrance door area to the living room and to the lounge room, and he just went up one and down the other, just like that, no hesitation, no help. Another day he decided to try the stairs, and he went up the entire flight of stairs on the first attempt, on his own with no assistance (just supervision, or course)

He got to crawl on the snow (in his snow suit) for the first time yesterday. He loved it! He was going around the front yard all smiley faced.

He will let you know if he doesn’t agree with something. Like if you take a toy away before he’s ready, or if you try to put him on the floor when he wants to be in your arms.

He’s cruising around in some areas, like holding on to a coffee table or a baby gate, but will go down to crawl if he wants to go any further. Crawling is still his chosen means of movement.

He’s more interested in things that aren’t toys than in toys right now.

One of his “new” things is picking up anything and everything off the ground. Everything from little fibers to bits of who knows what stuff that lies on the floor goes to his mouth, so we have to be very watchful of him. He still managed to have his first taste of dirt yesterday, as it came off one of Josh’s boots. He liked it, he had a big smile on his face when I got to him. I’m sure it won’t be the last time.

It’s very obvious to us that he understands words and some sentences we say because he reacts accordingly. He knows what “no” means, but of course he refuses to take no for an answer.

Christmas

We didn’t do Christmas properly this year. No Christmas meal or cookies, no tree, no Christmas music (no TV, no radio). Instead, we had pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve and eggs and toast for breakfast on Christmas Day, nothing out of the ordinary.

But we did start a few traditions of our own. We went birding on Christmas Eve Day, and saw two new species for our list. We also played a game of Scrabble after Evan went to sleep, which was quite entertaining (especially since I gave my husband a rump whooping!) And on Christmas morning we took Evan into our bed and had some giggles there before starting the day.

After breakfast, Evan got to open all his presents. We went to the Dollar Store the day before and got him a bunch of non-toy toys, since that’s what he’s into now, and a couple of toy toys. He got a Toy Story bowling set, a little truck, a Santa hat and some rubber ducks, but also wooden spoons, a Tupperware container to bang, and of course a rug he can actually put in his mouth if he wants to. I’ll give you one guess as to which one was his favorite. Yup, the spoons! He immediately went into drummer mode.

He enjoyed unwrapping the first present, but that was the spoons, so attention was a problem after that. But with a little help from dad he opened all of his gifts and started playing right away.

So next year we’ll do all the cooking and the tree decorating, hopefully in our first house. And we’ll repeat the birding, the giggle fest in bed, the present bonanza, and maybe even the Scrabble.

We hope y’all had a very Merry Christmas!

18 weeks

I have one word for you: constipation. Hey, I didn’t say it would be a pretty one.

But that’s definitely the thing of the week, and quite possibly of the past couple of weeks, I forget. It might have something to do with the changes in diet from the move, but it could also be that it is what it is, period. Our kitchen is not properly stocked yet, it takes a while to get everything you usually have there. Definitely no healthy snacks yet, so it might take a while to get back to normal. I guess coffee cake doesn’t help either…

Another thing I’d forgotten to add, pregnancy brain. Sometimes words, and complete thoughts, escape me. They are there, and then they’re gone. And balance is starting to be an issue too, especially when you add a 23 lb. baby to the mix. (Wait, is Evan even considered a baby anymore? Am I supposed to refer to him as a toddler now?)

Also, I think it’s possible to feel Belly Bear move from the outside now. We haven’t tried to see if Josh can feel movement, but we’ll see if we can try tonight. I’m sure I can feel it, but there’s always the possibility that it’s because I know exactly when and where s/he hits. So we’ll see.

Update: we tried, Josh couldn’t feel Bear yet. Oh well, shouldn’t be too long now.

Sex

Very early on, we decided we did not want to find out the sex of Belly Bear. When we were pregnant with Evan, Josh didn’t want to find out, but I did, so I said I would even if he didn’t. Well, obviously he couldn’t accept that and we both found out.

We were glad we did too, but this time around I wanted to do things Josh’s way: I decided I didn’t want to find out. Since it’s going to be a scheduled C-section with Belly Bear, and the birth date itself won’t be a mystery, I wanted to keep something as a surprise. Josh liked the idea and agreed: we wouldn’t find out.

It was all good, until 3 weeks ago, when Josh woke up one day with a sudden desire to find out the sex. He decided to wait a couple of weeks; if it was just due to the stress of the move, it’d go away as soon as we made it to the OBX. Well, it didn’t go anywhere, so we’re finding out, hopefully in 3 weeks.

I have to admit I considered finding out, but keeping it a secret from everyone else. I don’t know why I feel this need to keep it a secret, but there you have it. But I realized one of us is bound to use the proper pronoun in a conversation, then Grandpa Chuck will hear about it and within 2 minutes even the cashier at the grocery store will know the sex.

One thing that will be a secret, just like last time, is the name. So please don’t ask (yes, I’m talking to you, Grandpa Chuck!)

17 weeks

Ok, so it’s more like 17.5 weeks, but since I haven’t blogged for a while, we’ll go back a little.

We had our first appointment with our new doctor yesterday. It went well, he actually reminds me of our previous doctor back in Anacortes, WA, and we liked him as well. I’ll be honest, I don’t think any doctor can match the appreciation we have for Dr. Johansen, but we feel comfortable with our new doctor and that’s important. Of course, circumstances are different in that we know I’m having a scheduled C-section, so we’re a little more relaxed and expect no surprise drama.

Anyways, our appointment was good, I’m 140 lbs (gained 9 lbs total so far), and Belly Bear’s heartbeat is strong and fluttering away. It seems that most women start feeling baby move around this time, but still don’t feel it very often, so doctors tell you not to worry if you don’t feel movement for a couple of days at this point, and you’ll feel it a lot more often soon enough. I guess I’m the exception, because with both Bug and Bear, since the day I felt them move first, I feel them all the time, several times a day. Hey, no complains here, I love feeling movement!

The first time I felt Belly Bear move was on the flight over to the East Coast. We were somewhere between San Diego and Dallas and Evan was taking his nap of the flight, so I was relaxed and resting. I assume Bear wasn’t too comfortable having his/her brother’s weight on top of my belly, so s/he started kicking right in the center of it. Of course, Evan didn’t feel it and couldn’t care less, but I felt it, as certain as day follows night, and I’ve been feeling Bear move since.

I thought I felt *something* before, that maybe could’ve been Bear moving, but it still felt very far away, so I can’t be sure. But that day, December 14^th, 2010, was the day I definitely felt movement.

I’m also having Braxton-Hicks contractions already. Nothing dramatic, obviously, just a few times every now and then.

So all is well and we have our next appointment on Jan. 11^th, when we’ll have an ultrasound. One thing about this ultrasound I’m not excited about though: full bladder. It must be an older machine, since this is the first time I’ve been asked to go with a full bladder. That’s just torture for pregnant women.

The Move

First of all, let me say we’re committed to not move again for at least 4 years. We’re so committed that we’re going to try to buy a house so there won’t even be the possibility of having to move between rental houses in that time.

A good thing about Josh’s job is that they move you. A moving company comes, packs all of your stuff in boxes, puts everything in a trailer, takes it away wherever you go, and in this case, puts it in storage for you until you have a place to move into. The one thing we do is unpack. That is a huge advantage right there. Especially when dealing with two dogs and a very curious crawling boy.

But that went well. On December 2nd, all of our stuff went into boxes. There were two guys packing our stuff, and it took them 11 hours to do so, but they got it done and left our place with most of our possessions. The next day was cleaning day. A cleaning lady came by to help me with the cleaning while I organized the stuff we were taking with us and Evan napped in his empty bedroom. That afternoon a carpet cleaner came by and erased every trace of the dogs: every sign of ineffectively cleaned puke and pee was gone, and the dog house smell was replaced with the scent of spring. Aaah, I would’ve moved in again.

Lastly, the next day was our final walkthrough with our neighbor, who couldn’t care less about how good the house looked since the owners didn’t actually talk to him about doing the walkthrough with us, but rather left it to us to inform him of his part in our move. But that was done, and we were officially not living in Friday Harbor anymore, but rather just guests in a hotel for one more night.

On Sunday December 5th we took the ferry for the last time and drove to Seattle, where the real adventure would begin. We had dinner with friends that night as a last farewell, and prepared to be apart for 8 days. Josh was to drive across country with the dogs, Evan and I were to fly to San Diego and stay there for a week, waiting for Josh to reach his destination.

So on December 6th, Josh left early and started the long drive to North Carolina. Timing was perfect, as he traveled behind a nasty winter storm and ahead of another one, enjoying great weather and nothing more than a little rain and a little fog in the whole 3400 miles he drove. It took him 6 days to complete the drive, but he was here on December 12th, which left him a no-driving day before having to go pick us up at the airport 2 hours away of what we now call home.

Evan and I had a great time with his grandparents. Of course they loved spending some time with Evan, and Evan loved the attention and rewarded everyone with endless giggles and happy faces. We knew we weren’t really doing Christmas here this year, so it was great to share in their Christmas traditions, picking a tree and enjoying the lights. Evan even got to open a present right there under the tree, his first Christmas present, which he enjoyed greatly, pulling the wrapping paper apart bit by bit. At first it seemed like he thought the present was the paper and the box, but later he figured out the toy inside too: a talking farm.

But alas, we missed Josh very much (Evan would go crazy on the computer screen when we Skyped), so we were glad to start our travels to the East Coast. It was a long day, we woke up at 4 am and didn’t land in Norfolk until 5:30 pm (we had a 2 hour break in Dallas), but Evan was actually very good, considering, and everyone on the plane was relieved he was such a good boy instead of enduring a cry fest. I’ll tell you one thing though: I’m not flying anywhere with both kids for at least a year. Evan was well behaved, but he has such a need for movement and wants to investigate everything, that it was still challenging.

We’ve been here for over a week now (it feels like longer). Josh is very happy and excited with his job, we’re starting to search the internet for houses, and we’re getting to know this place a little better. So far we’re very happy with our decision and we’re very excited for times to come.
So there you have it. We’re home. Though we’re still looking for a house…

Teeth teeth teeth!

Teething is no fun, but discovering new teeth is. Evan has three new teeth! He now has three bottom teeth: two in the center, one on the right side. And he has two top teeth. Strangely enough not the center ones, but the next ones out.

We think the top center ones are on their way because he's complaining and in pain, and having trouble falling asleep. I'll let you know if those break through soon!

13 weeks

And we have a belly! Or at least I think so...

This week has been weird. I've had a couple of weird moments, just feeling really shaky and needing to lay down, as when your sugar is low. But it was after eating, so definitely not related to sugar levels.

I've also been quite constipated (yes, I know you wanted to know), and my very low (ok, fine, nonexistent) veggie and fruit intake doesn't help. But I can't help that, I've tried but it just doesn't feel right to eat healthy food. I'll try sushi, sushi is healthy, right? (please spare me the "you can't eat sushi" speech, I only eat good quality stuff)

Nausea is almost gone, but every now and then it makes an unpleasant comeback, so I won't claim to be out of the woods yet. But it's definitely not as bad as it was.

Insomnia is always there. Every night I wake up to go potty, and every night it takes me a good 1.5 hours to go back to sleep. And every night, either Evan (because he's wet or hungry) or Fiona (because she feels the need to paw our door) wake me up soon after I manage to go back to sleep. That's why I try to nap as much as I can, but sometimes that just doesn't happen. Hopefully insomnia will leave me soon.

Thanksgiving

So I've been a bad blogger. I know, it takes me forever to post anything, then my posts are kind of short. So as an apology, and also as a thank you for still reading my little blog, I decided to share one of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes. I don't have the urge to bake yet, but perhaps you feel like it. Give it a try, it's really good. And Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

Lore's Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 pie crust (I usually make this pie crust for this recipe)
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (light brown)
  
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon of ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
  
• 1 cup cooked pumpkin (see note below for instructions to cook it)
  
• 1 large can of evaporated milk (not condensed)
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 4 tablespoons of melted butter

** To make pumpkin puree, cut a pie pumpkin (this is important, the best pumpkin to use is a pie pumpkin, that's it's name!) in half, scoop the seeds and clean the inside. Cut it in large pieces and put it in a pot with about an inch of water, cover it and let it cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes, until it's soft. Separate the skin from the pulp, and get rid of the skin. Use a hand blender to make it smooth. You can freeze it for up to a year if you want.

Directions

1. mix ingredients together well and pour into prepared 9" pie shell
   
2. bake at 375 degrees for approximately 50 minutes (or til a knife inserted into center comes out clean)

It's fabulous, enjoy!

End of an era

The end of breastfeeding Evan is approaching. Evan has only been waking up once the past 3 nights, and I only breastfeed him at night. So my boobs have had a break, and they seem very ok to slow down production.

To make things worse, I had to dump the remaining of my frozen breastmilk stash. I only had 41 oz there, and I was trying to see if Evan would take them. But when I thawed a couple of bags, I realized the fat wasn't really mixing with the milk, the milk looked watery, while the fat remained in weird clumps in the bag. Not a good sign. It didn't smell too great either, so I decided to err on the side of caution and dumped it all down the drain. Sigh, what a waste...

And so breastfeeding will end soon for us. Though I only get to feed Evan in the dark now and I can't really see him, I still enjoy doing it. Only a few days more, and it'll be over. I'm ready for this, but it's still a little heartbreaking.

12 weeks

Last week my nausea was pretty much gone, but that was because I had a cold. A cold which lasted far longer for me than it did for DH and Evan, but it's finally gone. The bad part of that is that my nausea is back. It's not as bad, mostly in the afternoons now. However, it has been replaced with sudden OMG-I-must-eat-right-now hunger during the day.

I'm thirsty a lot, but I still have trouble finding something I actually want to drink. This is very odd for me, because my drink choices are already limited: water, OJ, limeade, milk, occasionally tea. That's pretty much all I drink (and alcohol, which I obviously don't now)

My nose is still very sensitive to the dog smell of the carpet. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I vacuum with baking soda, it still stinks. Which really sucks. I guess the fact that the dogs still stink because they haven't been groomed in months doesn't help, but with the impending move we're leaving that until a few days before the big trip.

Cravings: pepperoni pizza, had to have it yesterday. Corn tortillas again, can't get enough. And mexican in general again, tacos and quesadillas, bring it on. No true desire to bake yet.

Doctor's appt

Belly Bear is doing great! We had an ultrasound during our appt last Tuesday and Bear is moving up a storm. S/he had legs crossed and arm over head when we saw the 3D version, so adorable. Yeah, I shed a tear again, though I don't think anyone noticed.

Evan is crawling around everywhere now, no more creeping. And he stands everywhere he can. He's almost weaned now, I only breastfeed him at night, so really once a day. By next week, we should be all done.

All right, time to feed Evan breakfast!

11 weeks

I have a cold, and it's no fun. The only good thing about it is I'm not nauseous, but instead I'm badly congested and have a headache. And since Evan had the same cold (though he's over it now), I'm very tired. This is not a fun week...

Waiting, again: Part 2

In case you hadn't heard about it, or hadn't figured it out, yes we are waiting, again!

Confused? Check out the original "Waiting, again" post.

Mama, Marce: brujas!

Now, I had a few posts saved up but they are now published. Which means, you have some catching up to do!

Here's a quick list for your convenience:

So, now you know
6 weeks
Changes
7 weeks
8 weeks
9 weeks
Weaning
We're moving!
10 weeks

So there you have it! I hope you enjoy catching up.

10 weeks

We started taking belly pictures last week, but as you know, I haven't been a good blogger, and I haven't downloaded the pics to my computer either. I'll try to post them soon.

This week has been a bit tough. My nose is very sensitive to the dog smell in the living room, it almost makes me sick and I can only take so much (and it was very strong when we came back from our vacation). Though I've vacuumed with baking soda a couple of times, I can still smell it. And this smell gets stuck in the back of my throat, and I taste it every time I swallow (please tell me that makes sense). I can't wait for that to be over.

Also, I have my first food aversion: soups. I haven't so much as seen soup in a couple of weeks, so I don't really know how it started, but just hearing about soup (as in a random FB status) makes me want to gag. It's very bizarre...

Also, I can't fathom eating fruit, or many vegetables, and I'm having trouble drinking as much water as I should. These things just don't sound appetizing. And if you add that horrible taste in the back of my throat, well, nothing tastes really good for long.

I still manage to eat often, mainly because the nausea and indigestion forces me to, but I'm definitely not eating as healthy as I could. But honestly, I'm doing the best I can.

We're moving!

I know, I know, we just moved. Well, without going into details, we decided this place, though gorgeous as it is, wasn't worth a non-challenging job. So Josh applied for another job, and he got it! It's a better position, with more responsibility, in a less expensive area. He accepted the job 2 days ago, and we'll be moving in about 5-6 weeks.

Where to? Outer Banks, North Carolina. Yup, we're leaving the west coast and we're moving all the way east, over 3,000 miles away. Yup, we're a little crazy. Didn't the "we're pregnant again" news give you a clue?

(Though I much rather move now rather than later with a big belly, or worse, with 2 kids!)

Weaning

The weaning process is still slow. Turns out Evan doesn't like powder formula, he'll only take ready to feed formula. That stuff is very convenient, but pricey. And he won't even take that too well sometimes. It takes some convincing, especially if I'm around because he knows the good stuff is right there. We've tried only offering powder formula but he just won't drink it, and then he just doesn't drink a lot during the day, so we'll make an effort to buy the ready to feed.

But right now I'm only feeding in the morning, at bedtime, and during the night. I really hope we can stop before November ends, but we'll see.

9 months

Evan is 9 months old, and he's loving it!

He's standing everywhere he can. He loves banging things together, or just banging them with his hands.

He also has this new thing, he waves his arms when he's excited and/or when he wants you to pick him up. He does this with a huge smile on his face. He's adorable.

He chews everything. There are tooth marks on the inside of his crib, and he's ripping the fabric on the inside of the pack and play's rail. Not sure what to do about that...

He loved spending time with his grandparents. He had the whole floor to himself and an audience all the time.

He's starting to have a serious preference for me (nope, not complaining). It's not all the time, mostly if he's hungry (for obvious reasons) or tired. He starts crying until I have him. He still goes with everyone easily and with a huge smile under any other circumstances.

And, much to Josh's pride and joy, he likes baseball! LOL

9 weeks

We had our appt on Tuesday, October 19th, and after a 1.5 hour wait, we got to see and hear our little Belly Bear's heartbeat! Everything is right on track, Belly Bear is measuring exactly what we thought. My blood work came back normal, nothing to worry about there.

We go back in 4 weeks for another ultrasound and more blood work. One of the cool things about our new doctor's office is that they have a 3D ultrasound. We never got too see Evan with one of those, and it's pretty cool. We at least get another look at Belly Bear with it.

Everything else is about the same. I'm tired and nauseous, hungry, but otherwise still keeping it all down. Of course that means I'm also putting some weight down, 3 pounds so far. It's all good, I'm not afraid to put on another 40 pounds, I know I can survive that.

We finally told our families about it, and everyone is very excited, though very few were surprised. Apparently, everyone expected us to get pregnant again soon since we mentioned we wanted 2 kids close together before. I guess everyone knew we're crazy enough to actually do it.

8 weeks

I'm feeling pretty much the same way as last week. Though, maybe just not quite so nauseous, but still pretty bad.

A new thing this week is the overwhelming exhaustion after little activity. It takes a change of bedsheets or a diaper change to have me fall on the couch, trying to catch my breath. Evan is quite the wrestler at diaper change time, but it's still not that big of a workout.

The good thing about this week is that we're only 2 days away from our first appt. We get an ultrasound, so that's excellent news. Our appt is on Tuesday, but that same afternoon we're flying to San Diego, when we'll start telling people. It should a nice surprise :)

Overnight

It's been a busy couple of weeks for the Bug. A couple of days ago we put away all the clothes than no longer fit him. Two big containers went under the bed of all the clothes he no longer wears. As a consequence, we ran out of PJ's for him yesterday, so we decided to try his new 12 month ones. And lo and behold, they were not as big as we thought they would be! Suddenly, this morning he looks bigger than he ever has. It's almost like he grew overnight! It's unbelievable...

He has one of those toys where you have to put shaped blocks into the right hole, and he's starting to figure out the process. Granted, he's still trying to put the circle through the square hole, but that's a start.

Yesterday was the first time that he actually tried to crawl. He usually does two crawl strides, and then goes back to creeping, I guess it's easier. But yesterday he actually tried to stay on his hands and knees.

He also has standing up all figured out. He stands up in his crib, in his pack and play (which we dearly call "baby jail"), and even just grabbing my jeans as I stand watching him. He's not afraid.

Of course, this also means there's no making him wait when he's awake in the middle of the night or after a nap. By the time we get there, he's usually either sitting or standing. He knows how to sit again if he's standing, but he wants us there soon, so he just starts screaming. But all in all, we're amazed at how fast he's growing and how he becomes his own person more and more every day. And it's only the beginning...

7 weeks

I don't remember feeling quite like this last time, with Evan. So I went back to check my old posts about Evan's pregnancy, and sure enough, I didn't feel like this.

The nausea and belching and uncomfortable stomach feelings are there all the time. It's very annoying, really. I only get some relief a bit after eating, and that's it. But sometimes, like right now, food didn't help at all... With Evan, I didn't feel like this until way past 10 weeks, and it was mostly in the afternoons. Not sure how to take this.

I don't really have food cravings or aversions yet. If anything, I have preferences. I prefer eggs, and if it's eggs with chorizo even better, but it's not the "I must have it" feeling. I do have a hard time deciding what to eat, nothing is particularly appealing.

Then there's the sensitive nose, which is only triggered by certain foul smells, like the dogs and the dog house smell of our carpet. I can't remember other offenders right now, but there have been 3 or 4 that just jump out at me, everything else smells just the same. I don't even notice good smells, like good food cooking, just offenders.

And of course we have the hormones, which have had me in the verge of tears several times in the past few days, just thinking about how uncomfortable it is to feel some degree of nausea all day long.

Stuffy nose is back, though it's different here where humidity is so high (unlike in AZ). And I'm tired. And since I can't find anything terribly appetizing, I'm having trouble coming up with ideas (and motivation) for making dinner. And that's when living on an island gets old, really fast: no easy 12 bucks take out available.

Changes

6 weeks

Things are going well, and I feel very grateful.

Most of the time I'm not sure if I'm nauseous, hungry, full, or just belching like crazy. I've had a few sudden headaches, but they go as soon as they came, and I've been a little light headed. And I'm tired, I feel like a zombie half the time, though we're sleeping better. And I'm reading the Twilight series as if someone was about to take the books away from me, so that's less daytime sleep right there (yeah, I'm one of those now...)

I'm a little bloated, but not quite like last time that I was unbuttoning my pants already. Then again, I did start 10 pounds lighter this time, and I'm wearing the same jeans.

So far no weight gain, but no weight loss either. That's good, at least I'm eating enough to feed us all.

Today I woke up with a bit of rib pain, as in expanding pain, which is crazy but there you have it.

White and pretty

Evan finally got his second tooth! I was giving him Ora.jel last night right before putting him down, and I felt it. And I saw it this morning, all small and pretty :) I'm a proud mama.

Also, he's sleeping very well. Yesterday he didn't wake up until 4:30 am, and last night he woke up at 1 am (Josh rocked him to sleep) and then not again until 6 am. Just need to be patient...

I'm not sure I posted this, but when I was reading The Time Traveler's Wife, I had a few time traveling dreams. One of them was me coming from "the future", saying in 2 months Evan would sleeping through the night. Maybe I ought to have some faith...

8 months old

I cannot believe how time is flying by. Evan looks like a big boy already, he's growing so fast!

- Evan loves creeping around. Occasionally, he'll use his knees, but mostly he has the hang of creeping and he's very fast at it. Especially when you say no. He smiles and speeds up in the direction he shouldn't go.

- He loves exploring around. We've been giving him more freedom to go anywhere. He loves going to the window, and to the bookcase. Also favorites are the vacuum and the dog beds, particularly Fiona's nastiest bed. He really speeds up for that one.

- He no longer fits in his infant bath tubs, so he takes big boy baths now. He loves splashing water around. He still does it because it's new, not particularly because it's funny.

- He loves playing "Where is Evan?" with daddy and mommy. Daddy puts him over his shoulder, facing back, and daddy turns around asking me "Where is Evan?" When daddy is facing me, I act as if I don't know, when Evan is facing me, I'm making faces. He cracks up every time!

- He enjoys three meals a day now. He really loves feeding himself, which means he's starting to resist pureed food.

- His favorite pureed food right now is pumpkin apple, the perfect fall meal. His favorite fruit is still cantaloupe.

- He's very interested in the dogs, though he hasn't learned the art of petting. He likes grabbing and patting. He particularly likes pulling hair and grabbing noses.

- He can get himself sitting in his crib. We still haven't seen him do it though, he's just sitting when we go get him.

- He can out of his Bumbo seat. Silly us, we would sit him there while having dinner so we wouldn't have to chase him around, but he figured out how to get out of it. We're back to chasing him.

- This month we added story time to his bedtime routine, and he loves it. He loves books, especially chewing on them.

- We are down to one night waking! And he doesn't need to be fed, so we're definitely calling it progress.

- He has one beautiful tooth! We're still waiting for the second, as they're supposed to come in pairs.

- Finally, he's very excited to go visit Grandpa and Grandpa in San Diego! See you in 3 weeks!

So, now you know

We're pregnant! We're very happy and very excited, and can't believe how blessed we are.

Last Tuesday, when I realized I was late, I told Josh if we were still waiting in the morning, we would go get a pregnancy test. I'm very regular, but we were still playing it cool, though we pretty much knew the likelihood of a positive test was good.

I took the test, we danced to our wedding song while waiting for the result, and then looked at it. Lo and behold, we're pregnant. And it's awesome!

We have a doctor's appointment in 3.5 weeks. Symptoms are there, the same ones as with Evan so far. And you know what? We're being bold (or stupid) and we're saying it's twins!

Don't judge us, we're thinking things will seem a lot easier if it's just one, but just in case, we're mentally preparing for complete and absolutely fun filled chaos!

So now we have more to share. Not only is Evan becoming a big boy, but he's also becoming a big brother! And I'll tell you as much as find time to about Evan and Baby #2!

Waiting, again

Me and words, sometimes we just can't get it together.

Yesterday we had a Messenger date with my dad. We were going to get the webcam going so his family and my brother's family could see Evan. We waited for 20 minutes and nothing. So I got offline to have dinner, and got online afterward.

The Messenger has a status line, sort of Facebook does, and I wrote: "Waiting, again", in Spanish. Suddenly, both my mom and my cousin Marcela were messaging me, from different homes and different computers, asking if I had news to share. Mom was wondering why it was that she wasn't informed before. I was puzzled.

And then it hit me. "Esperando", which is "waiting", is also "expecting". So they read "Expecting, again". I was laughing out loud, I didn't even think of it that way!

In an effort to clarify and avoid further confusion, I said: "No, not expecting, waiting! I'm waiting for my dad". And both of them asked the same question again: "Oh, so your dad is visiting you?"

I give. Me and words, we're not communicating well...

Top 5

I've been meaning to write this for 7 months now, and I can't get it out of my head now, so here goes. I know this is useless for most of you, but maybe you know someone. feel free to pass it along.

My top 5 things to think about before you deliver:

1. Make sure you trust your OBGYN or midwife. I cannot stress this enough. You need to know your doctor is making all the right decisions, based on what you want and on what's best for your baby. When things started going south and our OBGYN said we might have to do a c-section, we had no problems with it whatsoever because we absolutely trusted our doctor. This is a big thing, choose your doctor/midwife carefully.

2. Even if you plan a home childbirth in a birthing pool, read about all the other possibilities. I refused to read about c-sections because that was not going to happen, I was going to have a vaginal delivery, period. Well, we know how that turned out. On top of the traumatic experience of an emergency c-section, I was completely unprepared for what the recovery process entailed, and the pain of the surgical procedure (my first surgery ever). It wasn't too bad until day 2, when I was so overwhelmed by everything that I just started crying. And crying with shoulder gas pain is the worst.

3. Speak up. If for any circumstance you don't like one of your nurses or any other staff, don't hesitate to fire them. The supervisor will more than likely give you a new nurse, no questions asked. We fired one of my nurses because she was being rude and snappy, and the nurse I got instead was a gift from God Himself. Katie was awesome. Not only did she do her job well, helped me with burping Evan and explained the whole shoulder gas pain to me, but she came back the next day (though she wasn't my nurse anymore) and gave me the best gift a breastfeeding mother can have: Soothies. OMG, I loved her! Her and my night time nurse, Pamela. They rocked.

4. Pack comfy clothes. I know this sounds obvious, but reconsider what you have. I had my maternity jeans, yoga pants, and a dress that I meant to use as a nightgown. It was cold and snowy outside, I didn't intent on wearing the dress. However, that was the only thing I could wear. So there I went, pretty dress, unshaven legs, and hiking shoes. And still cold. Think yoga pants with a drawstring that you need to secure or your pants will fall. You need that comfy.

5. If you plan on breastfeeding, buy nursing tanks, but don't think about nursing bras until at least a week after delivery. Your boobs will grow and your torso will shrink a bit once you stop retaining liquids. If you wait a bit, you have a better shot at getting the size right. Unlike me, who ended up with a bra that's too big in the torso and it shifts in the middle of the night, which caused some uncomfortable wet spots. And either way, there are few things worse that an ill fitting bra. And go get those Soothies, they are really fabulous and giving sore and cracked nipples an refreshing break.

Sharp surprise

Evan was quite cranky yesterday, and rubbing his gums like there was no tomorrow. I figured I would give him some Ora.jel to give him some relief. I was surprised when I rubbed it in and felt the sharpness of a tiny tooth. Yay!

It's the bottom left front tooth. I'm not quite sure that it's all out because Evan won't let me see, but from the way it feels, I would guess it is. However, he's still cranky and in pain, and I thought that was supposed to stop as soon as the tooth cut through.

Maybe the other one is on its way? I don't know, that's just a wild guess.

Yay for teeth!

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The Good:

We seem to be having a bit more progress on the sleeping front. Evan is still waking up twice, but he now wakes up between 1-3 am, and again between 6-6:30 am. Hopefully those will keep moving a bit, until his second wake up is around 7:30 am, which is really when I'd like him to wake up for the day. It we get there, we'll only have one night waking (yay!), working it's way out.

Also, turns out he does like avocado! He just doesn't like it pureed, but if it's a chunk he'll eat it. And he's the best at letting me know he doesn't like something. He tries it, puts it down, and looks at me with a "No, not really. What else do you have, mom?" expression. Better than screaming and spitting!

The Bad:

His attention span is so short, and he gets over toys so quickly, I have trouble keeping him entertained. And he's set on getting to the dogs and/or their dog beds. He probably tries about 15-20 times a day. Let's not go into details of why I don't trust our dogs to just be cool if Evan reaches out to them or is in their way. The dog beds are NASTY. Evan eats enough dog hair from the carpet and the dog hair laying around, I don't even want to think about him getting to those beds... And those beds will never see the inside of my still brand new washer, where I wash diapers. Hell to the no!

Also, he doesn't like broccoli. But like I said, he was very cool about it.

The Ugly:

I've given up faith. It's time to admit defeat, and let go of my silly dreams. I must admit, here and now, that I was wrong. I don't think Evan is left handed. Sigh... Oh well, nobody is perfect ;)

Slight improvement

Just a quick update on the sleeping front. We moved Evan's bedtime to half hour earlier, and it seems to be helping. Most nights he has been waking up only twice, about every 4 hours. Let me tell you that alone is huge, because I seem to function better with 4 hour intervals of sleep than with 3 hour intervals. I feel more rested and less cranky.

And Evan is more calm when he wakes up at night. Instead of starting to cry, he talks and whines, but it takes a while for him to cry, and once or twice he has been able to go back to sleep on his own, albeit only for about half hour more. After some more reading we'll probably start doing a few more things to help him sleep through the night.

I'm feeling positive, people!

7 months old

Evan is growing so fast! He was into size 9 months clothes last month, and now he's almost out of them.

We started solids this month, and he's loving it! We started with rice cereal, and then moved to pureed vegetables. And we just started with fruits, which he enjoys a lot since he's feeding himself a la Baby Led Weaning. I'm breaking the "rules" though, because we still do pureed vegetables for dinner, and oatmeal with lunch. Oh well, rules are meant to be broken, right?

He's had: sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, vegetable medley, rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, avocado (which he hated, much to my dismay), cantaloupe, strawberry, plum, and mango. He's having organic whole milk mixed in with his cereal, and a whole lot of breast milk!

He can sit for as long as he wants, no problem. Big fat check on that one!

He has started to figure out crawling. He's using his knees, and he's using his arms (one under him, one reaching out) to grab whatever he wants that's out of reach. He's also doing the backwards "crawling". I think next month he'll be fully mobile. ::scary::

Oh, this is a big one. He says "mama"! Ok, so sometimes he says "mamamamamama", but the point is that he seems to say it to call me. We think he really knows I'm mama :D (yes, I have a big smiley face!)

He's very talkative. His grandparents sent him story books with their voices recorded, and he talks back to the book.

He likes grabbing everything, and putting it in his mouth. That includes, but is not limited to, mom's hair, dad's hair, dog hair (from the carpet), napkins, computers, remotes... anything he can reach, really. We usually distract him with a toy before he reaches new objects, though.

He has a big quilt where we lay him down to play. But he loves the carpet, he always finds his way to the carpet. And to the dog hair, which gives mommy a frowny face. It'll be nightmare when he starts crawling...

He's been in a convertible car seat since about 3 weeks ago. Yes, he's that big. And he loves it.

Sleep... no changes there. Still wakes up 3 times per night, but we're thinking of ways to work on that.

He's still cute as can be. We expect no changes there :)

Nighttime schedule

For better or for worse, we're on a pretty regular schedule for nighttime feedings. Evan goes to sleep around 8 pm. We change him, I feed him, burp him, and put him down. Most nights he's still awake when I put him down, but falls asleep within seconds.

Then he wakes up between 11-12, again around 2 am, and around 5 am. So, basically every 3 hours. Since we've been on this schedule (probably close to 2 months by now) he wakes up wet frequently. So I have to change his diaper either at 2-3 am or at 5 am. That, or I have to change his diaper and onesie next time he wakes up, which probably happens because he's wet.

So our solution of using disposables at night because they absorb more is not working too great anymore. I tried using a super stuffed cloth diaper and it just gets too cold with all that pee, and wakes him up nonetheless. So I do the middle of the night diaper change (to cloth, so we still only use one disposable per day), hoping once he stops eating at night he'll be able to sleep through with one night diaper.

But I digress. This waking up 3 times every night is really not working too great for me. He's really easy in that he eats and falls asleep right away, so it really only takes me away from my bed for about 10 minutes. But the vacation was a little brutal on me (We went to North Cascades for 3 days/2 nights). I didn't get any naps, and I was very concerned with responding to Evan's noises as soon as possible so we wouldn't wake up our friends' twins. And we slept on an air mattress which didn't help much either. And I don't drink coffee, and tea doesn't really do that much (and I don't drink tea that often either). So I'm still recuperating from it, and the occasional 4 wake up nights don't help.

I also thought maybe once we started solids he would sleep better, longer, as so many believe. Well, we're up to two solid meals per day (cereal and vegetables) and he's waking up as if he had an alarm set up. So I believe that's false.

My mom told me to try and give him water and not milk... he cried on and off for an hour before really staying asleep, and that's too long for me. So we have two options: either we try again the 3-4 nights in a row cryfest, or we just let him be and I feed him when he wants.

The cryfest, well, you know I don't really like letting him cry like that, and he's a stubborn little one (reminds me of his mom...). The two times we've tried this he cried for a full hour, and I'm not sure I can take it.

Letting him be could be fine, except I think it's more about him falling asleep on thebreast than anything else, and I do want him to fall asleep on his own. But how can I tell if he's waking up because he's hungry or if it's just that he can't go back to sleep on his own? He falls asleep on his own no problems for morning naps and at bedtime, but he has problems in the afternoon and possibly at night. So what's the answer??

I don't know.

I should have some breakfast before he wakes up, so I'll let you ponder that question.

Childhood Crush

When I was 6 years old, I fell in love. He was 3 years older than me, but he could have been 10 years older, I wouldn't have cared. I met him in Mexico City while I was on vacation with my family. He was relatively new in town; he had only been there for about a year. A foreigner from a country far away, he was definitely different in a very charming way. He didn't have to do anything to have me completely fascinated. His name was Keiko, and he was an orca whale.

My mom, brothers and I went to Mexico City to visit my mom's family. It was a great vacation, filled with lots of activities and fun day trips we kids loved. It was on one of those day trips that I met Keiko.

(You may recognize him from a little movie called “Free Willy”)

We went to Reino Aventura, his home in Mexico, pretty much just to see him. He had become the main attraction of the amusement park, and we were very excited to see him perform. And it was magical. There he was, this beautiful black and white creature, so strong and powerful that he could jump clear out of the water, yet such a gentle giant that the trainer could scratch his tongue without concern of harm. The sweetness in his eyes was so mesmerizing, but there was also a little tinge of sadness. Or perhaps he just seemed a little sad, like his bent dorsal fin. I wanted to play with him, share in his magic and hug his sadness away, make him happier. Kind of the way you feel about puppies when you’re 6 years old. But Keiko was no puppy, and he was far more captivating. He was the first animal to sweep me off my feet.

When I was growing up I wanted to be many things: writer, veterinarian, zoo keeper… and orca trainer/researcher. As it turns out, my orca dreams were not meant to be. Keiko was already on his way to freedom by the time I was a senior in high school, and then I learned there aren’t many orcas in Mexican waters. The one researcher in Mexico that could have been interested in letting me work with orcas wanted me to do lab work and no field work, and that was far from what I wanted. So I changed gears and I let that dream go. But I didn’t let go my dreams of seeing Keiko again.

When Keiko’s journey to freedom started, I daydreamed of going to Oregon to visit him (though I doubt his tank was open to the public, not even to a girl with a cool childhood story). Then he was moved to Norway to start his reintroduction to the wild, and I daydreamed of going there to see my childhood friend with a bent dorsal fin interact with wild orcas. It was going to be so great! He would splash around, introducing his new buddies to me. I would cry in utter happiness for seeing that bit of sadness gone from his eyes.

But then I saw his picture on the papers on a Saturday morning. I was excited to learn the latest from my friend, but the news weren’t good. Keiko passed away on December 12, 2003; he was only 27 years old. I was shocked and sad. I would never get to see him in the wild; I would never see him again. That time when I was 6 years old was the only time I saw him, but I remember him dearly. I clipped his picture from the paper, laminated it, and carried it in my wallet for years. I still have it in a box, but I don’t need it, I know that picture by heart.

Seeing Keiko was not an option anymore, but there was still something I wanted to do. I wanted to see wild orcas. Secretly, one of the main reasons why I wanted to do a PhD in British Columbia was their population of wild orcas. We know that didn’t happen, yet life brought us here anyways. The San Juan Islands are right next to B.C., and J, K and L pods are all here as well.

The first time I saw wild orcas it was shear luck. I’d gone to town with Evan to our Library class, but I got the time wrong and it was over before we got there. I was not happy, so I decided to take a detour back home and I drove to Lime Kiln State Park, to cheer me up. I put Evan in his front carrier and we went down the trail. There were tons of people at the lookout area, but they were mostly kids from a school group. It was a bit windy, and I didn’t want to risk Evan getting sick, so I decided not to walk all the way out and I started walking back. And then I heard something, like someone coming out of the water with a snorkel, blowing the water out of the tube. I froze. I couldn’t believe I’d heard that so clearly, so I took a few steps back toward the outlook. A beautiful female orca was coming out of the water a few hundred yards away, popping out to say hello. Well, it wasn’t that I didn’t care anymore about Evan getting sick, it was that I couldn’t just walk away now! I walked all the way out, and there they were: at least two females and one male, just swimming by. Beautiful.

Yet, a few weeks later, it got better. Josh’s parents, Chuck and Debbie, came to visit Evan and they took us whale watching. Tuesday July 06, 2010, what a beautiful day it was. Sunny and warm, the perfect day to be on the water.

We boarded the Odyssey at 2 pm and headed north for an hour and a half, all the way to Canadian waters (that’s right, Evan went international that day!) We were looking for J pod, one of the most iconic orca pods around. Granny, the matriarch of the group, is 99 years old, and she looks healthy as can be. And her son Ruffles, with his distinct dorsal fin, is one of the most recognizable males in the Puget Sound.

As we approached the area where they were supposed to be, we saw several boats moving along the coast of a Canadian island. Podparazzis*, there’s no better way to tell there are orcas around! Binoculars in hand, we finally spotted them, and then we got a little closer and binoculars were no longer necessary (not too close though; you must remain at least 100 yards away from them). There were oh’s and ah’s as they surfaced to breathe, giving us the opportunity to see their beauty.

Ruffles and Granny were at the front of the pod, we saw them first, but they were followed by the rest of the pod in several smaller groups. A couple orcas were breaching, while we looked in awe. Another group of younger orcas where clearly hunting. We could see bubbles coming to the surface before them, and them surfacing for different angles in a small circle. They would perform their little hunting dance, then swim a little further ahead, and do it again.

I always dreamed of watching wild orcas for the first time in the company of a loved one, someone I could kiss in the middle of all that happiness. When I was out on a boat in La Paz, BCS, I would sometimes wonder if we would find a transient orca and I would fulfill my dream, but then I would have a mini panic attack, because there was no one on that boat that I would want to kiss. I should’ve known better, life has a way of working out just perfectly. Not only did I have one loved one to kiss next to me, I had two. Does it get any better than that? I think not.

The captain announced it was time to leave. I looked out to the horizon, and saw Granny doing a perfect breach. The glare of sunlight reflecting on the water behind her made that image one of those that you carry with you in your heart, the ones you don’t need a picture of to remember.

It was the perfect ending to that trip. I was at peace, happy that my friend Keiko got to enjoy the bliss of freedom at the end of his life; happy that I got to fulfill that childhood dream in the company of the two men I love the most.

I have seen orcas from the coast many times since, and the thrill never wears off. They always put a smile on my face. And every time I spot orcas, I wonder if Ruffles, with his unique dorsal fin, is out there. I think I have a new orca crush…

* We heard the term “Podparazzis” from one of the interpreters at Lime Kiln State Park. I’m not clever enough to come up with that!

Fooding 101

The first solid (or semi-solid) meal:

6 months old

Evan is half way to his first birthday!

- Evan is 19 pounds and 27.5 inches.

- He loves rolling over. He has discovered that it's a good way to go places, and has managed to reach the dog beds (about 4-5 feet away from where I set him on the floor) in less that 30 seconds, twice. He's a master roller!

- He still loves standing, and has ventured a few steps while we support him. He still lacks all the coordination for it, but he's intrigued by the walking thing.

- When I lay him on his buppy pillow as if it was a couch (with his rump in the whole), he manages to sit up by himself. He loves doing it and feels very proud of himself, he gives me a big "I did it!" smile!

- He LOVES pulling my hair. And faces, he loves pulling on faces, or any skin, really. And he reaches out for anything and everything. It doesn't matter if things are out of reach, he will launch himself towards them hoping to land close enough. And of course, everything goes into his mouth.

- He can sit on his own, but he has trouble staying there. There's always something more interesting over there, and as I said before he's not afraid to launch himself in any direction.

- He no longer sleeps on his back, he rolls around all over his crib and mostly prefers sleeping on his side, but also enjoys sleeping on his chest. Needless to say, crib is going down one level.

- He loves his exersaucer! Mostly, he loves "tasting" it all, from the dragonfly to the arch that holds the monkeys. He also understands that if he touches the chameleon, it'll play a tune. He's very deliberate about it, he touches it when the tune is over so it plays again.

- He's a jumper. He loooooves jumping up and down. As soon as you hold him to stand, he'll start jumping in excitement.

- He has decided to doesn't like the bottle anymore. He used to take it just fine, but now nothing but mom will do. Oh well, it's not like I go many places without him anyway...

-He's still a very happy boy, and gets attention everywhere we go. He's that cute.

6 months postpartum

That's me 1 week postpartum, 6 weeks postpartum, and 6 months postpartum.

I've lost all my baby weight and then some. I've lost an extra 8 pounds in the past couple of months, so I've decided I can eat as much as I want! I do hope I don't look quite as thin in real life...

My goal was to breastfeed for 6 months. Yay me!! My new goal is 9 months, and we'll see after that. Don't get me wrong, breastfeeding is awesome and it has come very naturally to us, but some days I miss wearing regular and flattering bras (sorry if this is too much information!)

In the meantime, we'll continue breastfeeding and I'll start working on getting Evan used to a sippy cup, so we at least have an alternative for other fluids. And eventually I'll start him on cow's milk. I was never breastfed and I was on cow's milk by age 2 months, I'm sure Evan will survive cow's milk before he turns one. So, 3 more months, and we'll see what we want to do after that.

Breastfeeding has definitely had some influence in my weight loss, I think, because Evan keeps gaining weight no problems, and I keep losing it. My belly is still soft, but then again it's not like I've been working out or anything. I'd be silly to expect it to be hard and strong when I really don't exercise at all (I'm not counting carrying Evan around). And my belly button still looks bigger than it was and sort of stretched. But I won't even think about it until after No. 2. Right now, I don't really mind how it looks, because in all honesty it doesn't look that bad.

I never got stretch marks, seems I'm one of those lucky ones that managed to avoid them. My mom never got them with her three pregnancies, so it runs in the family.

So, all in all, looking good!!