Ah, animals and costumes

Over the Halloween weekend, our friends from Texas, Lori and Lee, came up to see Oregon and all of its glory! This included us and a visit to the Oregon Zoo, which Donnie and I had never been to. The zoo is nestled in hills west of Portland, so it was cloudy and a bit rainy at the start of our morning. But we managed to see all the exhibits, I think, and to get some fun pictures.

Me and my Maternity Den
(And no, the bear cubs are not trying to get away from me)

They had just finished eating a carcass, as a sign outside their enclosure warned us. We thought we might actually get to see them eating, but alas, they just sat there, looking regal.

Rawr!

Can you tell it was Halloween?

These pretty zebras have tan shadow stripes between the black stripes…

…which you can see better in this photo!

That night we hosted the Young Marrieds 3rd Annual Halloween Party, so we hurried home from the zoo in Portland and started helping our friends, the Kenneys, set up the house. Here are a few pictures of our scary front porch, some of the decorations, and costumes.

I love fake cobwebs!

Our scary pumpkins. All the more scary since the mildew and mold had started taking over their insides!

The scary snacks

Now it’s twice as scary to look at yourself in the mirror.

I can’t let myself ruin the awesomeness of Bob & Rachel’s costumes by even verbalizing who they are. If you don’t know, then I pity you (Kristen, be sure to show Seth and see if he can guess!)

Our illustrious party planners, the Kenneys, as Coraline and Whybie

Lee and Lori as Dwight Schrute and Angela Kinsey from The Office (note that she is wearing the RIP Sprinkles shirt! And you can’t see it, but Lee has an authentic Dwight nametag )

Pregnant Hermione: The Untold Story of the Summer between Year 2 & 3

Donnie and I did feel a little bit bad about making Hermione pregnant, but we needed a costume that involved robes or other large amounts of loose material, and this one fit the bill! (Plus, it somehow seemed way more appropriate than the pregnant nun/priest combo.)

The next post will have photos from the rest of Lori and Lee’s visit–namely our trip to the coast!

Ah, busy October

We’ve had a busy past few weeks with a Housewarming Party and a Halloween Party at our house! So here are some pictures from the Housewarming Party.

I actually made these iced pumpkin cookies for the Harvest Party two days before but it was my first time making them and they were super yummy, so I thought I’d share

Donnie weeding in preparation for the party. Our back patio was “infested” with dandelions, grasses, and the actual grass from our lawn, so he kindly went through and dug up or at least trimmed the offenders.

For refreshments, I made tiger butter, pumpkin cheesecake cupcakes (with ginger snaps as the crust!), lemon bars, and queso. And I also set out some grapes and sliced oranges. And almost everything was eaten, which is always a good sign!

I don’t think that Wheel of Fortune will be calling for my services anytime soon….

And here are some photos of our bedroom and the nursery. Both are coming together slowly but nicely. I’ll post pictures next time of the living room and kitchen. I somehow didn’t take pictures of them when they were all gussied up for the Housewarming. I guess that means I need to go clean again.

The ceiling is vaulted, which makes the room feel nice and large. I’m still trying to figure what I’ll do with the “display” area that runs above the closet to the bedroom door and what color I’ll paint some of the walls. Since it will require big ladders, I want to make sure I choose correctly before going through with it.

One of my favorite things about the bedroom is that there is room for the dresser with the mirror. Since we were married 5 years ago, we’ve never actually had it in the room with us. So now there’s plenty of room for folded clothes and we no longer have to share the one dresser!

On to the nursery! This is the dresser I bought at one of the Antique Malls in Albany. The color isn’t necessarily my favorite, but I think it goes with the clouds on the other two walls and will work for a baby. If I ever do paint it, it will probably be white. And I might change the knobs as well, though they are the exact same kind as the knobs on the big toy cabinet I had in my room growing up (Oh and, Lauren, notice the onesie on the dresser? I left it out so people could see it on their tour of the rooms )

Here you can see some of the clouds and the matching nightstand. To the left will eventually be the brown swivel/rocking chair and ottoman we ordered from the Toy Factory. And to the right will be the crib. Right now, it’s the Pack n Play I use for Allison and that we’ll use for the babe at the beginning in our room.

Apologies for the unattractiveness of the photo, but the main reason I’m including it is for the little bookshelf. It was previously a blond laminate that had seen better days. So I lightly sanded, primed, and painted it white. I’m not sure if it will stay in this exact location, but that’s where it’s living now. And all but a few of those toys spilling out from the bottom shelf are borrowed from my generous friend Kayla! I need to buy some cubby baskets to hold them all And the bird hanging in front of the window is from Bogota, Colombia, and was a gift from my parents last year. It looks more fun in front of the clouds than it does in this picture.

And one last photo. I took this one of the pretty Red Sunset maple in all its fall glory back on the 16th, but here it is now. Mom and Dad (who generously bought us the tree and two others), doesn’t it look gorgeous?

Next post, I will have pictures from the Halloween party and more of the house.

Ah, another peek at the babe

We had a follow-up ultrasound on Friday and received two new pictures of the babe! I was exactly 28 weeks so the baby is theoretically about 2.25 pounds and measures about 15 inches. We had a lot of fun watching him move around; at one point, he had his legs up over his head, with his feet almost touching the top of his head! I suppose babies are quite flexible before they put on the fat

It was also amazing for me to watch him punching and kicking while simultaneously feeling it! At one point, the baby was keeping his hands in front of his face when the tech wanted to get a good look at his face, so first he tried poking the baby with the transducer. We wanted the baby bounce in response to the poking but he wouldn’t move his arms. So then the tech asked me to give a few good coughs because, as he said, “That usually gives everything a good shake-up.” And it did!

Cutie with a cute nose

He tried to give us a "high foot"!

Ah, belly

So, as expected, my stomach region is growing and is apparently now noticeable to friends and strangers alike. I’m 27 and a half weeks, so I’m glad it’s now obvious that I’m pregnant. Of course, I feel like it’s been growing and visible for quite awhile now. On Sunday, a friend of ours took some maternity photos for us. We wanted to get some pictures out among the beautiful fall leaves, which, because we’re in Oregon, leaves us with a pretty small time frame when the leaves are still clinging to the trees and it’s not raining or about to rain or soggy from having just rained. We’ll be getting all of the photos soon, but here is a sampling that he sent along to us.

Yep, that's where the babe lives...for now

The hand on the left is Donnie's, not mine. Really.

"Look, baby, a leaf!"

Mirrored bellies. I think Donnie's relieved mine's the most noticeable.

On a similar note, this past Saturday, I bought the dresser and little side table for the baby’s room. Will post pictures soon. I also painted the two-shelf laminate bookshelf a nice white color so that it didn’t look so shabby. Hooray for nesting!

Here are some of the aforementioned photos from family visits over the last few weeks.

I didn’t have my camera with me when we went to the coast, so I have no cute photos of Jackson running into the very, very, very chilly Pacific in his swim diaper. You’ll have to head to Seth and Kristen’s blog for those, but since they’re on the long drive to Washington, D.C., right now, it might be a bit before they’re posted.

But here a few that I do have.

Seth, Jackson, & Kristen (and little Owen–not pictured)

We’re both pregnant; can’t you tell? I guess black really is slimming.

Ah, there are the bellies. Too bad we’re a little bleached out.

The day after Seth and family left, my parents arrived. We only stayed in Albany briefly before heading over to Bend for a weekend of trekking around lava fields. Here are some photos of the Bend trip, some taken by me and others by the Donnie.

Me and the babe (and a transfixed Mom) on the lava cone

Tree on lava field

Lava tunnel entrance (as seen from inside)

Dad, Mom, me, and the babe in the lava tunnel

In the lava tunnel (the tunnel was usually much, much taller)

Where the Big Obsidian Flow stopped flowing

Obsidian from the Big Obsidian Flow

Overall, the trip to Bend was a lot of fun, and the weather was glorious! That Sunday morning, Mom and Dad headed up to Portland for Dad to attend a conference through Wednesday afternoon. Once they returned Wednesday night, one of the first big tasks that Dad (and Donnie) accomplished was to plant the three trees that they generously bought us: a Cherokee Brave Dogwood, Red Sunset Red Maple, and a Kwanzan Cherry (follow the links for pretty pictures of what they will look like in their appropriate seasons). All beautiful!

Dad & Donnie planting the maple

Mom and Dad also helped us complete many projects. Photos of their handiwork and the house coming together to come soon!

Ah, busy

We successfully moved into our home on the 11th and have since been entertaining family! I have photos but can’t remember where I packed/placed the cord to transfer the photos from the camera to the computer, so they’ll be here as soon as I (or Donnie tells me where to) find it.

After Seth, Kristen, and Jackson’s visit last week–which involved fun at Newport, playing in parks, and shopping at Woodburn–my parents arrived and we quickly headed over to Bend for trekking around the lava and obsidian flows. So today, I’m a bit wiped but have been trying to be productive. Unpredictable mood swings aren’t helping either! I’m hoping to get to bed extremely early tonight to get rid of the blah and tired feeling.

Ah, moving day

Tonight, starting at 6:00, we’ll begin loading up the U-haul (and up to 10 other cars!) with all of our personal belongings and heading over to Albany. We’re very excited (and tired) and looking forward to spending our first night in the new house tonight! Maybe next time we move we’ll be super-wealthy and can afford to have someone else to do all the packing and lifting for us. Ah, dream of dreams.

Photos of the work in progress at the new house will appear in the next few days.

Ah, painting

On Friday, I started painting the hall bath in our new house. Before, it was pale off-white. I finished one coat and there were some thin spots, so Saturday morning I put up the final second coat and it looks gorgeous. The color is called Marsh Fern, but it looks more like Granny Smith apple to me, at least in this light and in semi-gloss. (Although maybe that’s what a marsh fern looks like….)

On Saturday, I also finished the first and second coat in the master bath. I love the color–Viking–though I’m not sure what the gray-blue has to do with vikings, but oh well.

This afternoon, after church and packing a box in the kitchen, I headed over to start work on the kitchen, which will be the same color as the master bathroom. To help me (and my belly) stay safe, I borrowed a bigger ladder so that even when I was standing on the counter to do the cutting in above the cabinets, I would have something sturdy to brace myself on if need be. I finished the first coat on the wall with the oven and microwave (the most cutting in) and then another wall. Tomorrow I plan to finish the first coat on all the walls and hopefully the second coat, but we’ll see.

Ah, and the baby is….

We had our ultrasound this morning to which I arrived with an extremely full bladder (30 ounces of water, to be exact). It was more uncomfortable than I’d thought it would be, so I was glad that after the technician got the shot she needed with the full bladder, I was able to run to the bathroom and, as she put it, “take my time” emptying my bladder.

Okay, now on to the good stuff (but I figured that if I had to go through the discomfort before getting to the baby, so did you ). Our technician was very efficient and did a great job getting many different angles of the baby. The first shot, as she tried to locate the top of the head, was what many pregnant women now affectionately call “the potty shot.” So I was able to see the outline of both legs and what was in between them. Even though the tech didn’t say anything immediately about the sex, I knew instantly that it was a boy because I knew what I was looking at after viewing tons of different “potty shots” posted on message boards, blogs, etc…. But I held my tongue just in case I was wrong and when she announced that it was a boy, I was instantly excited! Even though I’d been thinking it might be a girl, that feeling was based on nothing real so I wasn’t surprised when I saw the boy bits. Plus, now I get to have my “dream” of having an older brother for the younger kiddo(s) that follow.

We continued to watch in wonder as the tech took a tour of my uterus and the baby: his spine, his 4-chambered heart, his perfect brain, his hands, feet, legs, and little belly. It was fun to be able to feel him moving around and see him doing the same thing on the screen.

Based on the statistical indications of the measurements the tech took, he is measuring 21 weeks, give or take 2 weeks, and since I am currently 20 weeks and 5 days, that was perfect. She said that as the baby starts to become more individualized in his development, the statistical averages start being less accurate. So, for example, in the third trimester, the age estimates have a +/- of 3 weeks. I didn’t ask how long he was measuring overall but he apparently weighs about 15 ounces. So he’s currently all stretched out and lean and waiting to pack on the 6-7 more pounds, since I’m not predicting that I will give birth to a tiny baby.

So here’s the profile shot of the kiddo.

The head is on the right and the protrusion that looks like a nose is really his upper lip and just below is, of course, the bottom lip. Apparently, above that, is the nose. I’m still having a hard time making my brain not see the upper lip as his nose, but Donnie sees it, so I’ll take his word for it that there’s a nose there! His chin is resting on his chest and then the two dark spots that you see in the chest/belly area are his heart and stomach.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any more pictures since the tech only printed out one. I should’ve asked for more in the moment but didn’t want to be difficult, even though friends who’ve gone to the exact same ultrasound lab have gotten 5-10 pictures printed out. Since the images and movie files will be visible to my doctor online through the shared medical records, I’m thinking that when I see her on the 17th, I can ask if more photos can be printed. But if not, that’s okay because all of his parts were perfect and look just like all the other ultrasound photos you can see online. (I may try to beg for one of his cute little feet. They were crossed most of the time and were so cute!)

So now we’re excited to work on names and continue with more focused planning (much of which will involve my favorite color: blue!).

Ah, new house

We are now the proud owners of 1946 Bobcat Ave in Albany (which is the town next-door to Corvallis)!! This morning we signed the papers (while I held Allison and she chewed my left hand) and got the keys. We made ourselves be responsible adults and wait until after the workday to head over to the house. After picking up dinner, we ate in the house and confirmed paint choices and Donnie got to work fixing the leaky master toilet (or rather, it was running every few minutes).

Our next door neighbor saw us shortly after we arrived and came by to introduce herself and tell us about the other neighbors, which was fabulous but I’m sure I won’t remember most of it. And then when we were upstairs in the master bathroom, which is visible from the street, our neighbors two doors down (a young couple like us) walked by and called up to us and introduced themselves. (I reassured them that Donnie was not using the toilet he was sitting on )  And our friends Mark and Joani (and baby Allison)  who live in the neighborhood stopped by to see the place. So we feel very welcome on our street!

Will post pictures and video later! Tomorrow morning is the ultrasound so we’ll have more big news that hopefully I can get posted tomorrow.