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…