bumpity-bump

In other non-vacation news, we are growing this baby and I haven't really chatted too much about it yet out here.

I am about 18 weeks along right now (this photo is 17wks). I took a test on December 22nd and saw a very faint + sign. I shook it off to wishful thinking. On the 23rd we were at the grocery store and I grabbed a box of tests that actually read out "pregnant" or "not pregnant", enough of this guessing if the + was there or not! I took a second test on Christmas Eve and it came back, "pregnant"!!! I was so excited but decided to hold the little secret in for the day. I could wait 24hrs to tell hubby and so I wrapped up the test stick in festive paper and stuck it in his stocking. What better surprise then to find out you are gonna be a Daddy again?
Let's just say that Daddy-O did not cooperate in my plans for Christmas morning. He slept in and then was lolly gagging around, taking a leisurely shower and making coffee before he wanted to get to the present opening. It was making me crazy, plus that little word only stays visible on the test stick for 24hrs, the clock was ticking. I finally just brought up the wrapped present and gave it to him - It took a minute or two to process (Daddy-O doesn't do mornings) and then he just kept saying, "really”? We waited and tried a long time to get pregnant with MrO and so for this to happen on only our first real try was sort of unbelievable!!
We were glowing with our secret for the next month or two. Oh sure, there were signs and I think family and close friends were keen to what was going down- I had the stomach flu several times between Christmas and MLK Day, but each time another family member or friend that I had been around would catch the same ick and would soon be hugging the bowl just as I had the week before. So I was able to pawn it off as a nasty flu bug that wouldn't shake.

In January I came down with another bought of the stomach flu and a major head cold turned sinus infection that knocked me on my butt for more than a week. I lost nearly 10lbs, was weak and super duper tired. It was really hard and I started to question why I wanted to be pregnant while chasing around an 18month old! Of course I knew exactly why and now that I am well into the second trimester, I am feeling much better and have a ton of energy back in my day. I still love me a good nap on the weekends if I can manage (I snuck in a 3 hours snore fest last Saturday) and can sometimes still feel a little funky early in the mornings, but for the most part I am doing really good.

The bump is growing and "Deuce-baby" is wiggling around in there and hic-um-upping away on a regular basis these days. I got to hear the heart beat at my doctor visit Monday and it brought me to tears (again). It is such an honor to be growing a new life. We will have our anatomy scan on the 19th of April; I can hardly wait to get a little peak at this baby. Like the last time around, we aren’t going to find out the sex of the baby, we will wait until the grand entrance, which will be sometime in late August early September.

For those of you following along, you might be thinking, "hey, isn't MrO's birthday in early Sept."? Your thinking would be right. The baby's due date is only two days before O's 2nd birthday. I am not quite sure what this means for his celebration but we will figure something out to make sure his second year is honored properly.

I switched doctor/practices for this go around and am pretty happy with the change so far. My new doctor has listened to me when I talked to her about my longer than 'typical' cycles and when the baby measured a little smaller than the 9wks at the first ultra sound. She asked me if a week off would make sense with my “records” and it did. You see, we use a charting method for birth control/baby makin’ and in my charting history I have found that I don't ovulate until a week later in my cycle than what is dubbed as 'average'. Most women ovulate around the 14 day of their cycle; I am more like a 21 day mark kind of girl, this is ‘regular’ for me.

(This could be TMI, but it is also an amazing way to go. I feel so empowered to have this knowledge and was a little sad that no one had ever taught this method to me prior to finding the above linked book. If you have always wanted to get off the pill, learn more about your body's own rhythm or if you are ready to start trying for a little cashew of your own this book may open your eyes to a whole new world- it’s is pretty amazing.)

At any rate, the doctor bumped my initial due date an entire week forward (something I really feel should have happened with O, but didn't). This office also has a much more open idea about the 41 wk rule and is home to one of the only doctors in town willing to perform a V-BAC and another doctor who is loved by the local doula and midwife crowd for the freedom he allows his patients during the birthing process.

I am determined to get more belly shots in, chat a little bit more about this pregnancy and thoughts on being a mom of two. I hope you don't mind! I will definitely be posting the ultra sound pictures from our upcoming appointment... stay tuned!

Death Valley Part Two

On Friday we got up, made coffee and McLem's (a family version of an egg mcmuffin) and then met up with Grandpa and Grandma again to check out Bad Water.


Again, once noon hit we were totally overheated and ready to hop back in the pool- Grandpa bought us all ice cream

And we gathered our gear and purchased our passes for more splashing and fun.

It was an instant mood lifter once we were in the water!

It was fantastic.

The guys came back to camp for a quick lunch and then headed out to play a round of golf. The moms hung out and got the kids down for a nap (reluctantly) and SIL and I just hung out and relaxed in the heat. When the kids woke up we decided to leave a note for the boys and head over to the playground by the pool . There was a lot of swinging, sliding and goofing off on the playground. It is just so much fun to watch these little people of our family interact with each other and the world around them.


We had a sweet dinner and had a little visitor in our camp- A RAT!! He was into our precious supply of bananas- eeeeew. I so don't do rodents and this thing was brave and not afraid of my shooing and stomping to get him to move along.

More about day three soon~

Winner Winner Chicken (Peep) Dinner

Look what I just won!
Peep-Peep-Peep Aren't these a brilliant idea?

If you know me you know I like my peeps in the Spring time. Please open the celophane and give them to me just a little bit stale and I will be the happiest girl around, tee hee.

Death Valley Camping- Day 1

Last week we took off a half day on Wednesday, all day Thursday and Friday from work and enjoyed a very nice, extended weekend with my husband's sister and her family. We headed south of Reno down to Death Valley National Park for a family camp out. Camping with two 18month old boys and one 3.5 year old girl is certainly different then going at it with just adults, but I wouldn't trade the stories or the laughter that our three little monkeys brought along for anything in the world.
We got into camp late (around 9 or 9:30) on Wednesday evening and set up camp in the dark and pretty much crashed out in our tents without so much as a wimper. On Thursday we woke up to an amazing blue sky and warm sun. We ate breakfast and had our coffee/milk.

We lathered up the kids and ourselves with sun screen and then took a little walk to a big open area just behind the campground limits. The site we stayed at was right next to the Airport road, that is flanked between the green-green of the Furnice Creek Golf Course and the Furnice Creek Camp Ground.

We found a big open area off the road (the service vehicles BLAST by on this road so keeping the kids off of it for safety reasons was a really good idea) The adults all took turns getting light headed while blowing up these super long balloons that, when let loose, whistle and whine, up up up and then rocket there way back to the hard pan desert floor.

This kept everyone totally occupied and entertained for about half an hour/forty minutes. At which point we all decided that we were getting hot- we had heard that the pool at the Furnace Creek Resort was open to campers for a small fee. We also needed to check in to the campsite and get our park pass for the cars. With each of the kids in a hiking pack we headed over to the visitor's center for more info and check in then we got our shower pass and headed to the pool.
I was a little worried that O wouldn't have any fun in the water. Last summer he would scream bloody murder at just his big toe touching the surface of anything but the bathwater and so we were pleasantly surprised that he not only got in, but that he was incredibly happy while in the pool, as well as incredibly difficult to get back out of the water!

I think seeing the two other kids going for it made it okay for him. Peer pressure can be a bitch, but it can also be a total blessing! He floated and splashed and jumped off the side of the pool over and over again. I think we need to get this kid into swimming lessons asap!

On a side note, the older boys (aka the dads) kept the sun bathers entertained while they played, "who can hold their breath longer" and other such games- I caught one older, leathery gentleman giggling at them at one point.

We all headed back to camp once evreyone had prune fingers and toes and of course on the walk home our little guy and the two other kids conked out in the packs and were put down for naps.

We made lunch and hung out, getting our shade structure put up and more substantial. It was hot, especially since we have been in winter mode up here in Reno and haven't had any weather over 65 for the past few months.

This looks totally wonky, but there wasn't much for us to tie it off to in order to keep it from being totally lopsided. It worked and we had a good amount of shade to hide under during the hottest part of the day.

The kids got up there was more playing around camp-that is when I looked up and noticed that the mountains west of camp were looking a little grey. I was hoping that the weather was headed a different direction then for us....
(note, this is the road and set of hills as the photo above of the to little dudes in the morning!)
Not more than 10 minutes after snapping this picture did we get slammed with a crazy dust storm that lasted for well over 3 hours, the wind not dying down until well into Friday. Now I grew up on the edge of the Black Rock Desert, and for any of you who have attended the annual Burning Man Festival, you know that the playa can get crazy windy/dusty- but I always had a house to huddle up into when a good old wind storm whipped thru the area. Only having a tent and a giant tamarisk tree to wait it out under while a sand storms hits is just an entirely different experience. I don't think I have every encountered anything quite so crazy.
I didn't get my camera out for any of this because I was so scared it would get ruined but believe me, after the largest and dirtiest gusts we all looked like we had been coated in baby powder- where our hands had covered our face we had a mask out line left behind. It was pretty crazy. The kids all took it pretty well- I referred to the experience as "Death Valley spa treatment" first we bake you then we exfoliate you- it's a good moto.

At some point during this chaos Grandma and Grandpa S. showed up (they had been a big RVing tour to SoCal and meet up with us in DV as their last stop on their loop back up to Reno). They offered to buy us dinner since the storm sort of coated camp in dirt, but we had brought so much food and were really worried that it would all spoil if we didn't get to it. We were lucky enough to have a nice window of calm and got to work and had ourselves a fine fajita dinner, complete with margaritas and guacamole. yum.

A wild and fun start to our first camp trip of 2010. More stories (and pictures) to come.....

Clover

Clover, originally uploaded by NessieNoodle.

Happy St Patrick's Day everyone!
Hope you are wearing your green so you don't get pinched.

My mom sent us a card and I loved what it said so I am going to share it here with you today, " May the luck of the Irish be with you today.... and keep on Dublin"

hee hee, very punny, no?

one point five and a little more.

Yesterday marked the day that MrO officially turned one and a half. He is such a little boy these days. It's all about planes, trains and automobiles. All about books and music and rockin out in the car seat on the way to school. All about being independent but still loving a good snuggle, his blankie and binky (that blasted binky). All about talking, even if we can't always understand him, sometimes combining up to three words in sentence. All about wrestling with Dad, his dog and pushing his wagon, that is usually carrying a ton of stuff, all over the house.



He has gone from a waddling, bowlegged walker to a confident forward, backward, spinning, turn on a dime toddler. The baby signs that he used to communicate 6 months ago have mostly been replaced with actual words, including "I ee-oo" (I see you) and "no THANK you'. On of my personal favorites in his vocabulary, because it is such a jumble of consonants and vowels is, ambulance, (amulinalins) and "edow" (yellow). He repeats or try to repeat almost everything we say- time to sensor ourselves a bit I suppose, though we aren't a bunch of sailors around here or anything, but still. Another favorite is to make the sounds of all the animals, especially of my mom's neighbor's pet goose, Goose-O. Squawking and screeching the way he does. One of our favorite books also has to do with animals and their sounds, Moo, Ba, LaLaLa.


showing me his 'joos'

Favorite foods still include bananas but the most requested food these days has to be 'toast, toast, toast' and 'cracker, peas'. Another item that gets him really excited is blueberries, kid could easily finish of an entire container of the little gems if I let him. He has also delved into the finer things in life such as dog and cat kibble. At least he is adventurous in his eating right? I also introduce him to the world of 'dip, dip, dipping' and most everything is better when dipped in catchup, syrup or ranch dressing wouldn't you agree. Meal times became pretty interesting about a month or two ago when O decided to start standing up in his high chair (my new motto being, sit down or get down) and then we were on the 2 week stretch of tossing food across the room, at mama or onto the dog. Um, that was fun.


show me his toes

Having this little boy around sure is fun. I love to just sit back and watch him while he plays, especially if we are somewhere new and there are things to explore and people to check out. He loves to be outside and exploring and when we are getting ready to go to the park or just out to the backyard there is a giant yell of, 'YEAHHHHHHH!'. it is the cutest darn thing ever.


showing me where a 'at' goes

He spend two days a week with JoJo (my mom) and the other three days of the work week at school. I really love the balance this gives him and the joys of having family be such an important part of his everyday. We are so lucky to have so much family around (not just my mom but Daddy-O's family and my God-parents too). All of them so willing to help us out when Daddy-O and I need a date night together or a night off, funny how he always sleeps thru the night when he stays at the grandparent's house, hrph.


showing me his hands and 'ingers'

Our little virgo has his 'things' that we just don't mess with. He is deep into his nightly ritual of bath, bottle, binky, rocking and then bed. He also doesn't like when I leave a door or drawer open and likes to shut them for me. He helps me move the laundry from the washer to the dryer, picks up random bits of trash and puts them into garbage can and at school he is totally adorable when he pushes his wee little chair back under the table when he gets done eating.



We have had a few adventures over the past six months. O's first plane ride to Portland, OR, which he totally rocked, a fun pre-Christmas weekend up in Greagle with the family that included sledding and causing chaos with the other three cousins. We celebrated multiple birthdays, since the fall/winter calendar is stacked high with celebration and there was a party almost every weekend for a stretch. My birthday as well as Daddy-O's birthday are included in there and the kid definitely has down, "happy cake" and saying 'appy irthay!"


showing me his 'button'

I am sure I am leaving some thing out, it is hard to wrap up what has happened over the past few months. O is turning into a very special young man that I am so glad to have in my life. I also think he will make an excellent yet bossy older brother for the new addition we are expecting in late August early September...