Outdoor adventure

More photos to follow....

Shadow

This is a rather sad video. I feel a little guilty for posting it. But it's Lou being spooked by her own shadow. She caught sight of it and was so worried that she started crying. Sooo mean of me to post this! Okay but then I love how she tries to scare it off with an Indian war cry :) Oh dear, it was hard to stifle the laughing. But of course the other sad fact about this video is that its the end of June and it just got sunny enough in Seattle for her to even have a shadow!

Yesterday was my birthday. I am a quarter of a century old now! Woo-hoo. I like how my sister put it - she said "your 25 years have been well spent" I like to think of it that way too. And Mike pointed out that he's only been a part of my life for just under 4 of those years. Crazy! I just hope I have another 75 to spend with him. We went out to eat here, and had some yummy food (even picked up a new recipe for Mike!) Lou made a special friend in the kitchen, too (meaning she was flirting like crazy.) Then we had éclairs and watched 24 in bed. Everyone wished me a happy birth-day; but my little secret is that most days are pretty happy around here :)

The Schoolyard

So we live within walking distance of the elementary school I attended until 4th grade. We go there fairly often, especially now that it's summer vacation for the school children. Lou enjoys the open spaces and jungle gyms immensely. It's somewhat strange for me because of the memories I have from going there. You know how when you're little and everything seems so big, then when you remember things and come back to them later they seem so much smaller? Like I remember the stairs going up from the playground being SOOOO tall and long. It was like they stretched on up to the sky. I wonder what the school looks like on the inside now. I always loved how this school has an older architectural design. They never seem to build new schools with brick anymore.

So every time we go there it's a trip down memory lane. I remember little things like picking clovers in the field and foursquare. I once was a child playing, now I'm a mother playing with her child. Life just rolls along, doesn't it?

Loved

happy

curious

focused

apprehensive

Loved

Bebe!

Louisa and I went and visited a neighbor who had a baby two weeks ago. He is really sweet - sooo tiny :o) Lou was pretty excited and kept saying "bebe bebe!" --- until I held him. Then, she got nervous. She got a scared, worried look on her face and it quickly deteriorated from there. I could only hold him for a few minutes before she started to cry. I wasn't actually too surprised because this has happened already twice. Can anyone give me some perspective on this? I'm not terribly worried - after all it's not like she sees me holding newborns every day. I'm sure there are lots of things going on in her little mind. Obviously she will eventually have to accept a new baby into her life, but thankfully 6 months is a long time developmentally. Like I said, not so much worried, but just wondering if anyone else has had this experience with their children?

Besides Lou fretting about mama holding little Seth, we had a nice visit and you better believe these pregnancy hormones were kicking into high gear :) I am so very grateful for new life and I am looking forward to holding another newborn in my arms here soon!

P.S.

I am up super late (for those of you who may have noticed the posting time) because Mike and I were watching 24. That show will be the death of me!

Caption call

Ideas for a caption to go along with this oh-so-lovely photo? (click for a better view)

Party at the Lake

The lake made me plenty nervous, but there were lots of eyes to keep track of the busy lady.

Lou enjoying some volleyball
Looking at fishies with uncle Dusty
He only looks tough, on the inside he's a pretty much a teddy bear

My cousins Angie and Hailey

Everyone around here was ecstatic that we were actually going to have a beautiful Saturday. It did turn out to be a perfect day, and lucky for us we got to spend it with family on the lake. My cousin graduated from WSU and one of my cousins I haven't seen in a while came up from Oregon. So fun! Lou throughly enjoyed herself with all the attention and more 'duts' and 'ish. Sunday was nice and relaxing, and not too bad weather-wise either. We went swimming and had dinner with boppa. Not surprisingly -after a lovely weekend- I wasn't too thrilled when Monday morning came too quickly. Mike will have a few three-day weekends coming up, so here's hoping they are sunny and just as enjoyable. (And I'm pretty sure the vitamin D is good for many unpleasant pregnancy symptoms)

Photo of the day

This was the stopper on my coffee this morning from the coffee stand (we had to make a quick trip across the street because we ran out of milk...not a good thing these days when Lou starts asking for it!) It struck me because it's just so simple, and so true. The message is surprisingly Christian, as long as you don't interpret as merely meaning romantic love. Ultimately, true love is everything.

A nice reminder to start the day.

p.s. thank you for all the love sent my way regarding that last post!

Sooooo.....

14 weeks. Here you are. Why am I not feeling better, like last time?? I suppose I have more on my plate. (Though last time we were in the middle of a move, which was tricky) Hopefully soon I will be able to say I am not feeling so yucky. Though, I should probably be careful because suffering is usually more bearable when you know the end is in sight...but, what happens when it turns out the end wasn't really the end? Then you're in for a world of hurt. Suffering beyond what you expected seems to be a double whammy because then you have feelings of resentment and such. It would be much better for me if I prayed for fortitude and stop expecting to feel

perfectly normal one morning. Right? Tell me I'm right! Because, lets face it, there are no guarantees in pregnancy. I know there are much worse things to experience. Overall I should be thankful that I am so far healthy and that judging by my growing belly, the baby is growing just fine.

The little Lou bear is doing really well. She's a curious bird, that's for sure! She loves to point and say "uzzat?!?" (what's that?)

Right now I'm experimenting by seeing if she'll fall asleep all by herself. Well it didn't start out as an experiment. I just gave her a bottle and lay her down, but then she got up and shut herself in her room. So far I have heard some noises but no crying so....wouldn't it be fantastic if she just went to sleep? I know she is tired. Oh, but I am tired too, so I wouldn't mind much if I had to go in there and nap with her. When we wake up the plan is for us to go have lunch with Mike downtown, yay! I always look forward to seeing him and it will

be nice to have a break in the day. Yesterday he actually came home early because he was feeling ill. After some serious sleeping, he felt better. I won't lie, it was kind of a treat having him home early. Even though of course I don't want him to be sick. Uh oh...I hear Lou who has figured out that her napping buddy is not in the room! :)

This is just a note I wrote for Mike yesterday. I like it because Lou picked the flowers for her daddy. She is very thoughtful :)

Beautiful Wonderful

...perfect all-American girl

In case you haven't heard this song in a while :)


Also, Happy Birthday to grandma K!! Lots of love from all of us.

The sky and I

Oh sky. How well you've been reflecting me lately. Pessimistic, moody. Weary, weepy. Ready for a new season. I hope that we both are able to perk up soon. Those around us would much appreciate it, I'm sure.

Color

Mike and I are letting Louisa begin to explore coloring. She understands the concept, for sure! She colored some nice pictures for daddy and uncle hat for their birthdays. She isn't quite ready to color unsupervised yet, as she will put the coloring utensils in her mouth if you aren't careful :) It's so fun to see this, as it opens up a whole new world! Yes, I realize colored pencils aren't exactly ideal for beginning artists. A box of crayons will be picked up soon. And I don't believe in using those huge awkward crayons. I think it's actually better to let them start off with regular crayons so that they don't have to make the transition later. That's just me though, maybe I don't know what I'm talkin' about.Also, coloring isn't just for children! I found this lovely ABC book that I decided to color and then maybe get it framed for Lou's room. I love the real flowers. Pretty pretty!

13 weeks

So how is this mama doing? At 13 weeks, I am still feeling queasy fairly often. Well, I should say it's directly related to how much I eat. I always have to keep something in my stomach, otherwise I start to feel bad. You never realize how difficult that is to do until you are pregnant! I am worried I am gaining too much weight, even though I'm not really keeping track at this point. I will find out when we have our second appointment at around 18 weeks. I am also awfully tired. Thank goodness Lou has not given up her morning nap yet, because I need that nap time too! I try to lay down with her both times, and if I don't, I really feel it. It's a struggle to keep any energy reserved for after she goes down for bed at night so that I can actually spend some time with Michael. I am really hoping I get some bounce back in the second tri. Last time I did have lots more energy after 14 weeks, but of course this time around is different because I have another baby to look after! :) No cravings, backaches, or swelling. But plenty of wild pregnancy dreams, bloating, and stupid sciatica (it has returned :( We have names picked out...for the most part. We have two for a boy and two for a girl. I'm sure I'll share once we find out the gender because that's what we did last time. Louisa was Louisa from the time we first saw her on the ultrasound :)

Well, I thought I'd do an update on pregnancy #2 so this baby doesn't feel left out and I don't forget when I look back. I don't want it to be like the inevitable, which is that I remember less and less with each pregnancy :) With the internet, digital cameras, video cameras, and everything else there really is no excuse for less documentation! Although there is the time factor, which is actually a legitimate excuse. So it's good to be the oldest child! (I am :)