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September 30, 2005

In-utero baby has been gestating 29 weeks tomorrow

Serena woke at 4am this morning. We find this completely unacceptable, but she doesn't seem to care what we think of it. She's up. We tried putting her back to sleep with the usual routine. Jim goes in and makes sure she has her pacis (she often has lost it in the crib or over the side of the crib when she stood up to cry) then he pats her back down and tells her, "It's not time to get up yet. Go back to sleep. I love you." This morning, she went "back to sleep" for about 15 minutes then she was just up. We can tell the difference when she's going to go back to sleep and when she's up because she'll cry and fight laying back down if she doesn't want to go back to sleep. Wow, did she fight it this morning. So, he brought her into bed with us, hoping she'd nurse a bit and go back to sleep. (We went to a friends house for dinner and she hadn't eaten much because she was distracted with the fun. I often worry she is waking hungry when that happens. I have this fear of her ever needing to eat and us not providing her food. Maybe because she's such a little whisper of a kid.) Anyway, fat chance. She just nursed and flung around, kicking us in the tummy and honking our noses. Finally, I got up with her and we tried the couch for a new place to cuddle, nurse, and hopefully sleep. No go. So, she and I hopped in the car, drove through Starbuck's drive-thru and took a lovely drive up the mountain just before dawn. She took a twenty-five minute courtesy nap, for all my trouble.

Not to worry, though - she took another whopping thirty minute nap this morning to take the edge off.

Why is it that just when you think you have a system down, it literally falls apart?!

Last week at Barnes & Noble, I read through much of a a new book out called Happy Housewives. Maybe that's part of what's got me on edge. This woman is making a call out to all women to "embrace their inner housewife!" In general, I agree with the sentiment - I feel lucky to get to choose whether to stay home or work. I am grateful to be the one here to see all of Serena's milestones. But I'm sorry, I have a hard time embracing the opportunity to lovingly clean my bathrooms! She thinks if you come up with just the right cheesy eggs recipe, you will have nothing to "refine" in your management between "work" (meaning housework and the demands part of being the primary caregiver), family and personal time. I am just so grateful I have Jim, who is an absolute dream when it comes to sharing responsibilities (he cooks, he does dishes, he does laundry more than I do) and who arranges his day so I can get away by myself for a few hours at least once a week. Which, by the way, I get to do today. Seems like a good idea for today, doesn't it?

September 28, 2005

Serena is 16 months today

One of her favorite things to do is point to Jim and say "Dat", point to me and say "Mum", point to Scout and say some version of "Douw" then point to herself and occasionally say "Sa" or "Na". (Or have us say everyone's names while she points.) She also loves to look through her little photo albums and point to all her family and friends while we say their names.

Latest words: hot (ott), helicopter (aw-ee-aw-da, or any combo of the right number of syllables), Dean (dean), shoes (sues). She loves to enthusiastically make the sounds associated with various things she sees, like "vvvrrrrrmmmm" when she sees a car or truck, "iooww" or "tee tee" when she sees a kitty, and "ruvf ruvf ruvff" when she sees a dog.

She was crying every time we would read the book I'm a Big Sister when it says, "We have a new person in our house. Guess who it is! It's our Baby!" but she has stopped the crying now. I don't know what upset her and I don't know what helped her get over it, either. She kept wanting to read the book, every day. I hope it wasn't related to an understanding that we're going to have a baby in our house and a resultant sadness... you just can't tell! It's so hard because at her age, it doesn't seem possible to really prepare her for the change that this new baby will bring.

I feel badly that I write so much less about this pregnancy than I did when I was carrying Serena. I guess it's good in that there just isn't much to tell. All's going really well, the baby's moving around and feels energetic but not out of control crazy, and I'm feeling quite good. Still, it's interesting how the first time around every little body change is such a milestone. It's cool when I see a little brand new baby, though, because it reminds me that this pregnancy is going to result in our own new little one. And this time around, the best part is, I actually comprehend what we will be getting on the other side of this pregnancy. With Serena, I just couldn't quite connect the pregnancy with a baby, exactly...

Of course, it also means we have some very real idea of what actual birth will be like, too... but we're mostly just in denial about that part. Plus, they say the second one can come really fast and much easier (right?!!!)

September 26, 2005

She's learned to walk around in our slippers and it's become one of her favorite home activities.

September 23, 2005

She's not particular only to the fancy girlie shoes. She likes the rugged look just as well.

September 21, 2005

Wow, what a trip we've just had to Portland. We went there to check out a potential new (used) sweeper truck to add to the Quality Sweeping "fleet." First of all, the guys at the shop had barely wiped the windshield of the truck before showing it to us. So now they have to do a bunch of stuff to it and bring it to Bend so we can even see if it would work right. That was a bummer that we made the trip specifically to see the truck and we really couldn't assess it's abilities.

We decided to stay an extra day to enjoy some of Portland since the truck stuff took longer than we expected. Serena started not feeling well. She was really stopped up. Every time we lay her down to take a nap, she'd get so stopped up she couldn't breathe and she'd wake up. Last night we all finally piled in the car at 1:30am to get some decongestant at Walgreens. She finally went to sleep around 3:30am. Of course, then our fetus-baby was up doing some early morning calisthenics so I lay there half-smiling, half wanting to cry from tiredness.

We had a nice morning walking around 23rd Street and having coffee. Then we decided to do a driving nap for Serena since she doesn't get as congested if she's upright in her car seat. She usually only takes 45 minute naps anyway, especially in the car. We ended up driving around for 1.5 hours while she napped! And we still had to get on the road to home - another 3.5 hours! If we had known she was going to do that, we would have prepared to just start heading home when she was ready for nap! The good news is, she was feeling pretty rested and chipper after her lovely nap and the drive home went quite fine.

It's always so nice to get home, though. I just love it.

He she is with her momentary friend at the sandbox at this super-cool park in Portland. The pink bucket and hands on the right is a professional nanny who brought cool toys like chalk. Serena got her first taste of drawing with chalk and it was a hit. So was the sandbox. Kids love sandboxes, don't they? Wonder what that is, exactly.

Septeber 15, 2005

I just read Serena the book Time for Bed Poppy and Max before her nap. She has taken to crying right around the part where it says, "Night, night, Poppy. Night, night, Max." I can't figure out why. Both Poppy and Max look happy to be going to bed. And Serena seems happy to cuddle in with Socks and Mocks when she goes to bed. It's becoming a reliable reaction, though. Hmm.

Jim and I went out on a dinner date to (belatedly) celebrate our two year wedding anniversary. (Side note - How much can you pack into your life in two years?!) We had a lovely time talking with each other. And, we had possibly the worst meal ever, served by the rudest person possible. It was actually comical. I guess we were feeling light and carefree just because we were out on a date, because it would otherwise have been really annoying to spend that much money at a nice restaurant to have such a bad experience. The whole night was redeemed by the Death by Chocolate a la mode we had for dessert at a different restaurant to close off the night. Amazing!

And best of all, Serena had a fun time at Grant's house with Lydia and Andy. Since we don't have family around, it's so nice to have friends we can trust and that Serena digs to hang with her every so often.

In Quality Sweeping news, Jim just signed the biggest account ever a few days ago. Looks like we might be in the market for a second new truck... is this thing taking on a life of its own?

September 14, 2005

Had my midwife appointment today. Got some good news that I get to eat 29 jelly bellies for my glucose test next time. I can do that or drink that disgusting sugar water they give you. Umm, let me think that over...! My/baby's fundus is 24 centimeters, which is right around where it should be (remember, that's the measurement of the uterus.) Baby's heartbeat is hearty and hopping around from the mid 140's to the early 160's as he or she was jammin' around during the monitoring.

Here's some video of Serena chatting us up about her watermelon.

September 12, 2005

Serena is so chatty chatty now. Yesterday Jim took her to the Working Wonders Children's Museum while I was doing some interviews for our church (not to get a job, to help hire for a job there). When she got home, she walked up to me just jabbering like crazy telling me all about the fun she had. She just couldn't say enough! I wish so much I could have some idea what she's saying so I could validate her words and stories and have her feel heard. She actually doesn't seem bothered by our exchanges, though, even when I'm sure I'm responding with "oh, and did you see the ball go around and around on that big spinning toy?" when she was actually telling me about climbing through the stuffed rendition of a blood vessel.

Serena and I did our first baking project together. It was banana muffins. She likes the way flour feels through her fingers - and the way it softly falls from between her fingers to the counter and floor. She also likes the taste of banana muffins and has been having them as part of her breakfasts this week.

This might be boring to many of you (but some of you might find it interesting, if you've been here before and, well, you're generous with your interest.) We had a fence put up all around our property. It's amazing - we literally just created a whole "backyard" in our sideyard, which is so much more accessible than our actual backyard. I am so excited about it. I know we're going to use it all the time. Especially once we get some pavers put in to create a patio in this area (where all the dirt is) and put some deck off the kitchen door (which is just off the right side of this picture.) I imagine the kids (eeeek - kidS!!) playing out here on the patio, riding their little tricycles and tossing balls - sweet!

We also had a fence put up around the front of the house so the kids (kidS!!) can play in front. It feels much more useable with the fence and a bit more private, even though it's not a high fence. When we get grass in this area, it will be a fun spot for cartwheels and freeze tag games (ah, such visits back to my childhood.) Next spring, we plan to plant wildflower-ish flowers all around the outside of the fence to soften it up. The gate to the right of the tree on the right goes into the patio area shown in the picture above this one.

We had Grant over while Lydia and Andy went to a party a few nights ago. It is always good training for having more than one kid. As our friend Tom said about our having another baby, "soon you'll be playing "man to man defense" instead of "zone defense.'" (Yes, of course Jim had to explain that to me later.) Here I am holding (and feeding even, I suppose, in a way) THREE babies! Can you see my round belly poking between the kids? (Even though my smile looks strangely fake here, I actually thought it was fun having them both snacking on my lap.)

September 8, 2005

Serena is fifteen months and eleven days

Our in utero baby is twenty-five and a half weeks along

We have had a whirlwind of a month full of visitors and travel. It's been very fun. Since I'm so behind, I think I'll do a general overview of some recent Serena and family developments then just let the pictures from our festivities guide the rest.

Most exciting is Serena's growing vocabulary. She now will say most anything that you say and ask her to repeat (when she feels like it). For example, I'll say, "Can you say diaper?" To which she will respond, "Dah!" Words she says pretty reliably...cheeeese (the latest - for the camera), Mama, Daddy (Daddeee or Dat), Serena (Nay), Scout (Douw!), kitty (tee-tee, high pitched)... there are many more, so those are just a few examples. When she sees an elephant or we say the word elephant, she puts her arm up against her ear, extended out and up, with her hand bent down (this is the elephant trunk, of course) and says "ppbbbrrrhhh" (she got that from her daddy. He makes a good elephant sound, as does she.)

Remember that cool and productive garage sale morning I had a month or so ago? I picked up a little plastic slide (for $5!!) and Serena is totally digging it! Just in the past week we have visited three different local parks and she has fallen in love with sliding down the slides. So, now she has her very own at home. She often hangs out on our front porch during the afternoon and today I looked up and she was totally gone - around the corner, climbing the "new" slide before I could even blink. Also a good reminder of how I have to keep my eye on her every second. That's a lot harder to do than I would have imagined. Really, it's getting to be more and more literally every second! Luckily, our new front yard fence and side yard fence was completed today so at least I don't have to worry about her running into the street.

Some things Serena is really into lately: shoes (yes, still - you'll see pictures as evidence to follow), her quart-size freezer bag with a green hi-lighter pen in it (take the pen out, put the pen back in, take it out, put it in...), photo albums with pictures of friends and family (she even recognizes pictures of me from ten years ago - and goodness knows I'm looking quite different right now from then!), taking showers with us (she sits under the water and watches the drain or busies about moving the shampoos around), chasing Scout with Scout's food bowl (I think it's a peace offering, though I don't think Scout is impressed since it's usually empty and annoyingly loud when she slams it down on the tile floor), playing with the Thomas the Train set at Barnes and Noble, standing in the sink naked in her Tevas and helping wash the dishes, playing outside anywhere.

The excitement never ceases: I didn't realize how fun it would be to have Serena's car seat forward facing! She's such a teeny peanut that we have kept it turned backward waiting for her to hit the 20lb requirement to turn it forward. We recently had to take her to the doctor (she fell off our very low bed and landed funny on her arm and then she wasn't lifting it or using it so we had it checked out - seems okay now) and I asked if they thought 19lbs 6oz was close enough to turn it around. They said yes, so now Serena and I have a lovely time in the car playing eye games in the rear view mirror. I look at her then she looks at me then I say, "What are YOU looking at?!" then she cracks up and so do I. It's fun.

Things Serena is not into: long naps, having her face or hands wiped clean, sleeping past 6:20am, long car seat rides, stopping doing anything she isn't ready to stop doing. (She's learning to express her opinion insistently and clearly, unfortunately, this happens without words just yet.)

As for pregnancy news, I'm getting giant. I think my hair is even pregnant. The baby is moving around more every day, my back is hurting more every day, and I'm getting more excited every day. Well, many days I'm too busy to remember I'm pregnant (as long as I don't pass a mirror), but when I do remember, I get excited. I want to meet this kid! I'll tell you, I'm guessing now that this little one is going to be more active than Serena. I'm pretty sure she or he already is...

September 1, 2005

Couch lounging after a long month of excitement.

August 31, 2005

Kissing cousins.

Miles, Serena, Aaron, Jenn and I all hitched a ride on the back of Jim's truck to the boat launch at Sparks Lake. Cool. (This was just in the parking lot of Sparks Lake - not all the way TO Sparks Lake, which is about 30 minutes from our house)

Miles reacts to his particularly exciting and lake rippling rock throw at Sparks Lake.

"Nose bumps" for Auntie Jennifer and Serena.

August 29, 2005

Strolling the driveway and neighborhood circle at Grammy's - a common morning activity during our Ohio visit.

Dad's shoes.

Happy Birthday, Grammy!!

Perfect dinner manners for Grammy's special birthday dinner at Woody's in Ohio with Grammy and Graunties, Gruncle Nicky, Nancy Jane, and cousins Regina and Pat Henry. Lovin' spaghetti!

August 28, 2005

Playing with cousins Danielle and Matt at the family BBQ. When we arrived at Grammy's there was already a message on Grammy's phone from Danielle saying, "Hi Serena. Hi Serena. This is Danielle. I want to play with you." They played a lot together at the BBQ, and Danielle was VERY nice to Serena. Super cute.

Janet had on cool flip flops (Serena's favorite kind of shoe!) with special red and pink little shiny pebbles on them. Divine!

August 27, 2005

Daddy's kid-chair from when he was very little (can you see the fraying?) Serena loved loved sitting in a chair her size. She'd just sit there, happy as ever.

If one basketball is good, two will be excellent! And this one's even bigger! This also was Jim's toy when he was about Serena's age. Can you imagine?! His mom has saved so many cool things!

Blissful play with Graunty Tricia. You have never seen so much laughing and carrying on as these two do together!

Nose bump for Graunty Jeanne.

Daddy and Serena originated the nose bump a few weeks ago. You say "nose bump" and Serena pulls your face to hers and bumps her nose against yours, nice and gently. It's very sweet. The first time I saw Jim and Serena do it I had this flash to her wedding day (thirty or so years away, of course) and pictured them back in the room where she's getting dressed. Just as Jim's about to leave to let her finish getting ready, they do a nose bump and she says something to him that ends with "... Daddy.". Blllaaah (that's me crying.)

It is really something to see Serena with her Grammy and her Graunty's. When they are all in the same room, sometimes Serena's just not sure where to go first, she's so beside herself. She'll just walk around in circles to each of them giving them big hugs.

August 25, 2005

Playing the wind chime.

This picture feels like it epitomizes the feel of a childhood there in Jim's mom's house. Something so fresh, sweet, and wide open about it.

August 24, 2005

Her very own seat on one of the plane rides to Ohio. Most of the time, she insisted on getting to just sit there, by herself, in her seat belt. Such a big girl...

After this trip, Serena has been on 24 airplane take-offs and landings.

Eventually, a girl must sleep. Which she did for a respectable 45 minute nap. About the same as at home, so can't complain. And I got to read my novel, Babyville, which I enjoyed immensely.

We had a three hour layover at one of the airports (was two hours, then a mechanical problem delay) so Serena had lots of time to run around and play in the open spaces. Traveling with layovers is actually really nice for that reason. This particular time, we were sitting at the gate with a bunch of other passengers. Serena would walk around and point to different people's shoes then look at them expectantly. She was, of course, waiting for them to take them off for her so she could try them on. If they were to do that (which they didn't since they didn't know what she was requesting), after trying them on she would have taken them over to me to put on my feet. At which time, she would raise her arms for me to pick her up. That way, she feels like she's wearing them herself, I have surmised. She was particularly enamored with a pair of lavender flip flops on a woman standing by the ticket counter. The woman kept tauntingly holding out her foot for Serena to admire.

August 23, 2005

Miles and Jennifer and Jennifer's sister and her new husband all came to stay in our house while we are in Ohio. It's cool because they will take care of Scout and water our plants. Plus, we get to see them a few days before we go and a few days (with Aaron by then) when we get home. And they get a nice, quiet family getaway while we're gone.

This is the first time I have seen Serena actually play WITH another kid. They would each put one of the wood rings on then watch the other.

August 20, 2005

Serena's basketball game is improving every day. Check out this video clip.

August 18, 2005

Serena and her friend Dean share a little kiss. Serena likes to give kisses.

August 17, 2005

At Scapolo's restaurant half way up Mt. Bachelor. We rode the ski lift to get there, which was amazing because of the views - and also freezing cold. Serena could have done without that part of the adventure.

August 16, 2005

Girlfriends (Serena and Nancy Jane) hanging out on the porch.

August 15, 2005

Grammy and our good friend Nancy Jane arrived from Ohio. We're already having a great time. Today we went took our raft out onto the river. Nancy Jane is flexing her outdoor woman muscles since she has to do all of the loading, carrying and rowing (given my prego condition, Serena's size, and Grammy's status in our group.) While she whines a bit, we know she actually likes it.

Serena is just exhausted from watching Daddy and Nancy Jane work so hard to row us along the river.

Super cool: when Grammy first arrived at our house she came in gently, ready to let Serena get reacquainted with her after a few months away. Serena was in our bedroom when she heard Grammy's voice. She came almost running out of the bedroom with her arms held wide open and slung herself into her Grammy's arms. Not a dry eye in the house.

August 9, 2005

Her favorite shoes are these Tevas. They're too big, don't exactly complement a dress, and cause her to trip at times, but she usually insists she wear them. She has many shoes - and loves to play with them - but these are the faves for actual wear. Maybe because they came from her cousin Miles.

August 8, 2005

Picnic at the park with our friends Sequoia and Aurora Williams (and their mom, Tamantha.) Serena kept leaving the picnic blanket to walk toward the playground and the girls would run over and gently lead her back to the blanket. I'm thinking a slightly older kid can be handy at times with a younger one (I'm counting on it, actually!)

August 7, 2005

I baked this (may I say yummy looking?) peach pie all from scratch for dinner at our friends Lydia and Andy and Grant's house. It actually tasted pretty yummy, too (though I think I'd add a bit of sugar next time.)

August 4, 2005

August 2, 2005

About twenty weeks pregnant

Check it out! There's really a kid in there! If it wasn't sinking in before, it's feeling a lot more real now. Brian, our ultrasound tech, said it was an "unremarkable" ultrasound (which he meant as a good thing, although there's something about the term that doesn't sound that great. How about, "The test looked excellent" - or "very good" - or, even," perfect!" He was well-intentioned and actually very informative. Also, we took some video so you can hear the heartbeat.

According to the ultrasound measurements, we are due one week later than the LMP (last menstrual period) due date our midwife has been using. That puts us somewhere around December 22nd. Getting closer and closer to Christmas. Truth is, everyone keeps reminding us, precise dates are silly since this whole gestating process has it's own time schedule. Baby is head down, as shown in the picture in the bottom left of the ultrasound screen.

And here's what it looks like from the outside at five months, just before we left for the ultrasound appointment. (Who needs the top of my head - it's not about me anyway, is it?)

Serena giving "loves for the baby." I'm not sure what Scout's up to - but, in spite of how it might look, I think she's peaking around me...

July 31, 2005

Serena likes to copy whatever we do. Unfortunately, every time she bends down to pick something up, she grunts. I now notice that I do a lot of grunting throughout the day. Charming.

She also doesn other more cute things, like makes a "roar" sound when we roar like the tiger from the book Here Comes Poppy and Max. She also says "owl" almost perfectly and makes a "brrrr" sound like the owl does (well, it's her version of "whoo".) She likes to bounce like a kangaroo and waddle like the penguin as well, as soon as she sees the pictures.

We took Serena with us to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with Maya and Dean. We were really uncertain how she'd do and were prepared to have to leave or, at best, miss parts of the movie while we walked around with her off and on. Turns out, she was mostly riveted by the loud sounds and flashing lights and especially the singing. She stood in front of me and danced to the singing parts, watched the screen some, then walked back and forth down the aisle, mingling with the other movie guests. Luckily, since it was at 11am, there were very few people, and those that were there seemed to enjoy her. Dean slept through most of the movie.

July 30, 2005

Serena and I hit some garage sales this morning. We found so many excellent deals that we had to send Jim back to get the last of our treasures because the car was so full. Who knew there was a whole world of toy and kid supply shopping out there at unbelievable prices for barely used stuff?! Plus, I like that it has a recycling aspect to it. We're not actually contributing to one more large plastic item being manufactured when there are so many already out there in perfectly good play condition! Serena especially loves her new police motorcycle rocker that has three buttons that make noises: a siren, a guy saying something (not sure what, exactly), and an engine turning over (though it never quite catches and starts, which I find somewhat unsatisfying - leaves you a bit hanging - but Serena seems totally fine with it.)

July 28, 2005

Serena is 14 months today

Thursday's are regular play days with Grant and Dean. Today we went to Grant's house and played in his little pool.

If one hat is cool, two hats must be double cool. No this wasn't one of those passing moments where she tossed on the hat, I took a picture, then she tossed it off. She wore it like this as long as it would stay on. That's my double cool girl!

And if you think two hats is cool, how mega-cool is twenty bead neclaces?! This is a common look around the house (we usually tone it down a bit for public appearances.) Of course, her metallic gold shoes from Grammy are the perfect finishing touch for this Oscar worthy ensemble. She's practicing her acceptance speech.

July 25, 2005

Grant was over today for some play time.

We went to Maya, Brian and Dean's for dinner tonight. They also had some other friends over who had twins about a month older than Serena. The kids had a great time tearing into Dean's toys in the living room. Serena mostly hung out on this baby swing, climbing in and out and swinging back and forth.

To add to the accessory fixation, now that she is walking, Serena has become infatuated with all shoes. If she sees my shoes not on my feet, she will carry them to me and have me put them on. Same with daddy. And, of course, she must wear her shoes if she finds them, regardless of how well they stay on or whether she is wearing anything else on her body. Much like her beads, I suppose.

July 23, 2005

Nineteen weeks pregnant

This little embryo we've got going is a little champion swimmer. I can feel him or her pushing off the sides of my uterus as he or she does laps in there. It's amazing how different it feels than Serena's movements.

Remember how I said Serena took twelve steps the other day? Now, she walks virtually everywhere. Here's some footage of Serena's Frankenstein walk.

It's hot back here in Bend, so Serena and I decided to bust out the baby pool on Grammy's lawn. Serena likes to climb IN and climb OUT and climb IN and climb OUT...

"Helping" with the dishes. She loves anything that involves a faucet of running water.

July 21, 2005

It was a gorgeous day at Ocean Beach in San Francisco. Aaron is working on the kite here, which took about ten seconds to get into the air, from a seated position. Modern kite technology - and a lovely SF beach wind. Actually, Aaron is making some kind of fancy kite accessory to spice up the kite flying experience. Miles is cuddling his Papa in encouragement.

As you've seen in earlier shots, Serena loves the feel of sand through her fingers. It's a sweet but really messy situation. Lots of chafing opportunity if we don't get a good bath in soon afterward. She also totally loves to walk straight into the breaking waves at the shoreline - scary.

July 20, 2005

We met my friend JM and her two kids at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk today. Her kids are about 7 and 9 (or close to that - sorry, JM, you know I'm just awful at this kind of thing!) It was really fun to be there with kids at just the age to enjoy the rides. Serena also liked all of the activity - and the delicious chocolate dipped ice cream cone.

July 19, 2005

Serena is 13 months and 21 days

Serena loves loves loves strawberries.

Wendi is looking pretty competitive over the toss the ball game.

Wendi, Sami and Madison came over to Papa's for some swimming today, then Papa took us all to pizza for dinner.

The rest of the kids are sick with some crazy stomach thing that hit 3/4 of the family after Sunday. Jim, Serena and I were all miraculously spared - maybe because Serena and I just had the stomach bug about a week ago.

Sami enjoys a refreshing outdoor shower at the pool. Check out that gorgeous smile!

July 18, 2005

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Grandma Chris and I were sitting in Le Boulanger today, having coffee and catching up. Serena was crawling around and playing with the new bag of bead necklaces her grandma brought her. I was saying that Serena took four steps yesterday when my mom said, "When she takes 11 or 12 steps, you'll just stop counting. She's walking then." Within five minutes of that comment, Serena stood up on the hard wood floor there in Le Boulanger and walked 1-2-3-...12 steps! I couldn't believe it. We were counting and got to twelve and my eyes burst in tears. How can it happen so fast?!

July 17, 2005

Happy Birthday, Uncle Aaron!

We had a birthday party for Papa and Uncle Aaron at Papa's house today. Serena had a fun time swimming with her daddy (video) and all her cousins and uncles.

With Uncle Aaron's encouragement, Serena took four steps today. Oh my.

July 16, 2005

Serena and I arrived in California last night (Jim and Scout are driving in tomorrow.) Serena did great on the plane, even though it was loud and she was a bit afraid at first. By the end, I would say, "What does a plane say?" and she would fling her arms side to side (mimicking my "SWOOSH" airplane movement.)

We met our friends Scott and Dee and their son, Tristan, at the park. Tristan is about three weeks older than Serena. Since we had yet to see them since Tristan was born, it was so amazing to notice how much has changed since our earlier days of long dinners, sampling wines and gourmet beers. Now, we meet at the park, chase kids, do a little shopping at Chloe's Closet (kid's consignment shop) then eat dinner at 10pm, once we get all the kids down. We were actually quite impressed that we were able to get them all down to sleep at Aaron and Jenn's.

July 15, 2005

It feels like Serena is in a sudden "new thing" spurt. I just realized yesterday that she says a few words. So far, I have discovered she says Scout - "Douw" and Dog - "Dow". She also says, "dat" and points when she wants us to tell her the name of something.

She also just started making the little hand movements to "Itsy Bitsy Spider". She uses her thumb and pointer finger on one hand and holds onto the tip of her pointer finger on the other and twists when I sing the "itsy bitsy spider" parts. Then, of course, she claps when the song is over.

Whenever she hears anything that sounds like a truck (including the espresso machine at the coffee shop this morning), she says "vvvrrrrrrr vvvvvrrrrrrr".

July 13, 2005

As it's a pretty hot day and Serena hasn't been feeling well (she has some kind of stomach thing), we took some water in tupperware outside to calmly play and splash around in. Then, Serena decided she should sit in it. You'd likely be surprised at how long she sat in here like this.

July 12, 2005

We had this wierd chain of events that caused us to call the fire department and check out our house. First, a few days ago, our fire alarms went off at 5:30am but we could find no fire anywhere. Then, a few days after, I smelled smoke in the upstairs bedroom closet, though I could still find no source. No one else could smell the smoke - I have pregnancy nose right now.

The fire guys were really ultra nice. They looked around and used their cool heat detector machine and found nothing. They were really apologetic that they couldn't find anything (I can't help but wonder if they think I am literally imagining the smell since even they couldn't smell it). The coolest part was, they brought their truck so Serena got to sit in it. Here, while it looks like she isn't having fun, she is actually in the middle of saying "vvvvrrrrrr vvvvvrrrrr".

July 10, 2005

It's Bend Summer Festival this weekend. This is such a fun time of year around here, for lots of reasons, but one of them is that we have many festivities. At this weekend's festival, there was a very cool Working Wonder's Children's Museum area that had all kinds of cool stuff for kids. It's funny, before I had Serena I never really checked out the kids' play areas at these gigs. Also, I guess I sort of thought it was be a little disappointing to have to cut your time short at the shopping/music parts of the festival because your kids would get bored. You'd need to let them play in their area. I had no idea how fun it would be to watch your kids playing with all the fun, inventive stuff!

Serena got to climb on and play around in a Bobcat. Wish you were here, Miles! (he would totally dig it!)

Double squeegie duty at the Magic Glass play area, where foam blocks magically stick to the glass and squeegies can be played with by all.

Since Serena loves her beads so much and they draw a lot of comments about Mardis Gras from passersby, I am trying to figure out how I am going to protect her from ever knowing about the sometimes less than appropriate behavior associated with these beads. There must be a way, because, frankly, I just learned about it myself this year. Fortunately, and interestingly, this infamous behavior is more famous than it is practiced, as I read here on this website.

One problem arising with Serena's affinity for necklaces is that I simply cannot wear one without her wanting it for herself. I got this really cool shell necklace at the festival yesterday. I had looked all over Kauai for one like it and didn't find the exact style I wanted. I was very excited to find this one. I put it on to wear today and Serena whined and yanked on my necklace, saying "MmmOP!" We tried giving her all kinds of other necklaces, to no avail. So, no one got to wear the new necklace today.

Speaking of voicing her opinion, "MmmmOP" seems to mean either "more", or "I want that". Waving with her hand means (looks like a hello wave), "that's yummy" or "I like that" or "I'm happy to see you". To say, "no more" or "I don't like that" she closes and squinches up her eyes, purses her lips and turns her head away.

Today, with just a few short, feeble wake up sounds peppered throughout, Serena slept for one hour and forty five minutes for her morning nap!!! This, from a 20-35 minute nap for the last few months. The satisfaction of knowing she had good, healthy sleep is indescribable. Isn't it funny how such unexpected things are so satisfying as a mom? Like when your kid drinks a good amount of water or milk, or eats a healthy meal heartily, or takes a nice long nap. (I suppose I'm quite proud when I do those things myself, too, actually.)

July 9, 2005

Serena is 13 months and eleven days

We are 17 weeks pregnant

Napping persistence and success! It has become very clear that we have literally been the ones in Serena's way of getting a good, healthy, rejuvenating nap. I hate to admit it. Today, we waited and didn't go in to get her or try to soothe her - we've learned that that only makes her more awake and mad if we don't pick her up. She often would semi-wake up making that whiny, sleepy, "come get me" sound and after a while (a long while - a long, painful while), she went back to sleep and woke up a happy, energetic little girl! I really hate this sleep thing - it truly is so hard to hear her in there, knowing she wants us to come in and get her. She doesn't scream or anything (thank goodness!), but she just makes those noises that tell us she's up and wants us. The only thing that keeps us going is knowing that it is unhealthy for her to not get enough sleep. And we can tell by her mood that she definitely needs more sleep. I never thought we'd be doing this, but it does feel like we're doing the right thing for her in the long run. I guess doing the right thing for your kid doesn't always feel the greatest. Hmm.

Serena is taking those "first step" type steps (just one step, then she goes down on the floor to crawl or arrives at the her very nearby destination) once or twice a day now. It's getting much harder to keep her in her stroller or hold her, she wants to explore so much. Today we were sitting on a bench downtown, having some lunch, and she kept crawling fast and furious to the curb so she could sit in the gutter.

Also a new favorite is holding onto the cart at a store and pushing it, walking behind it. It's good exercise and walking practice, and it looks really cute.

In pregnancy news, I am pretty sure I am feeling the baby move a bit now. I just seem to always catch it as an after-thought since I'm so busy with Serena, so I can never be absolutely sure. Also, I measured my "waist" (such a misnomer right now!) and I am three inches larger this pregnancy than I was with Serena at this point. They do say the second pregnancy revs up fast and furious, which I am finding true.

July 4, 2005

Happy 4th of July!

We went to Pet Parade this morning, which is a wacky leftover-from-very-smalltown-Bend festivity where people bring their pets all dressed in crazy outfits and parade them through downtown. It's pretty quirky and funny. It's also very popular, with llama's, lizards, fish, cats, chickens, horses - any animal you can think of - along with the expected many dogs. One person harnessed their very small dog to some large helium balloons so the dog was suspended in air for the parade. Crazy. It was super-hot out. I think we enjoyed it considerably more than the kids. Maybe next year they'll appreciate it more.

Later, we went to the Old Fashioned 4th of July Festival. While not our proudest moment as the nutrition leaders in the family, you have to smile at the cuteness of Miles' and Serena's debut push-up eating experience.

It was still hot when we got home from the festival so we played in Grammy's front yard (she has a lawn. We still have dirt filled with nails, etc. from the construction.)

Serena showing off her new yo-yo balloon.

Raft going as pool.

Splash!

July 3, 2005

Practicing for taking on the river at Tumalo State Park.

And taking it on (Serena and I joined them just after this picture. Don't worry, the river is very shallow and mellow here.)

Serena crawled out of Uncle Aaron's room today with a pair of his underwear around her neck (her head through the leg hole.) She lives the motto that virtually anything can and should be a necklace.

July 2, 2005

Bathtime fun.

Bark-eating at the park. Still getting the hang of what to do and what not to do in these foriegn territories. She did crawl up to and inside of this play structure all by herself, which is new and fun for her. She's still pretty tentative and laid back about this kind of play, however. She'll crawl or climb to a spot, then hang for five or ten minutes.