Levi Erikson West

He finally made it! After contractions starting around 11PM on Tuesday, our little big guy arrived at 12:08AM Thursday. Levi Erikson West weighed in at 9lbs 4oz and was 22 inches long.

As I mentioned, labor started late Tuesday night. Heidi felt like contractions were getting strong enough and coming frequently enough to go to the hospital around 6AM Wednesday. We got checked in shortly there after and settled in for labor and delivery. Unfortunately things didn't quite go as planned. While contractions were strong, and frequent, labor didn't progress with any speed at all. Apparently Levi inherited his dads big head, and he wasn't dropping like he should. By 10:30PM it was clear that this guy wasn't going to come out in a traditional way, and Heidi was prepped for a cesarean section. While not what we wanted, it was clear it was best for Heidi and Levi. Just after midnight, I had a cute baby boy in my arms. He and I got to hang out while Heidi's surgery was finished up. We all were reunited in a recovery room and a couple hours later we finally got to our postpartum room around 4AM. Finally, we could sleep. Well, I could, Heidi was still being monitored every hour and didn't get much sleep.

All the doctors and nurses commented immediately that he was a big guy and that he had the cutest dimpled chin. Without any bias at all I'd say I have to agree. The picture above is Levi at about 3 minutes old, just after being wiped clean and weighed. There will be lots more pictures to come, but right now, I need a nap.

-Gabe

Car Seat Installation 101

While we've been eagerly awaiting any sign or signal the little guy might give us as to his arrival...there was one important thing we had not yet taken car of. The car seat has been sitting in the house waiting to be installed. I did have it sitting in the pile of other things we'll be taking to the hospital with us. I knew that it was something we didn't want to forget since there's no way we'd be taking a baby home with us without it. Something about actually putting it in the car was so final.
It would now be fair to say we are 100% ready for this little guy. Gabe installed the car seat yesterday and that was the last thing we needed to have ready. Any time now buddy!
I sorta wish the doctors wouldn't give you and estimated due DATE. Maybe just a 2 week range. I'm going to be so disappointed if he decides to put off his arrival. Even though the calendar says tomorrow is THE DAY doesn't mean this little guy knows one way or the other. I haven't been able to figure out a way to get him the eviction notice. Hopefully the next time we post we'll have some exciting news and pictures to share...but I could also be here saying the same thing next week.

Little Guy's Nursery

Wow...the weekend went by fast!
We did get all the finishing touches on the nursery. Now all we're waiting for is a baby! The little guy could come just about any time, but I get the feeling he's pretty comfortable still and doesn't feel the need to depart his current residence any time soon.
In looking through pictures, realized I really don't have a great picture of what the nursery looked like before. The only one I have is from when we looked at the house. It has all the furniture and decorations of the previous owner. So here's the only before picture I have. I'm not sure if the star wars theme was really the little boy's choice or maybe it was dads!What this picture fails to show are the Velcro strips on the wall with the window and the opposite wall. Those had to be torn off and we aren't sure what they used to attach them. Gabe's dad spent a lot of time scrubbing with what ever toxic substance we thought might take of the residue. Then Gabe and his dad spackled the stripes and retextured in those areas. Here they are in progress.
It was a big project! As you can see the wood trim all needed to be repainted. What you can't see is the back of the door. Yes...the previous owners painted that as well. I wanted a new door but Gabe vetoed me on that one.
After all that yucky work was done, I got to do the fun stuff. Here's Tricia and me working on getting the crib put together.When we finished the crib we moved onto putting in the finishing touches and arranging the furniture. Here I am putting up the wall decal. It was really easy to put up and will come off without doing any damage to the wall. So when the little guy wants to decorate his own room, we won't have to go through all that work again!And here's the finished product. The room is really dark...probably a good thing for a nursery but not so great for trying to take good pictures.
And one more...this is the side of the room that you can't see in the above picture.
Pretty simple. I wanted to paint something to put on the wall. Something that matched the tree wall decal but that never happened. With moving, and not having access to all my paints, it just wasn't really possible. I figure when he can choose what he wants his room to look like I can put something together. I just really hope he doesn't choose something with a car theme! :) I don't really want to paint the room Subaru rally blue.

Getting Settled In!

It's been a crazy busy week around here. We got the keys to our new house on Thursday evening and were able to get the old blue truck out of Mike's garage and brought over here. We also had Gabe's dad's truck full of our new bedroom set and baby stuff to unload. Friday morning my mom and I came over bright and early to do some cleaning and to greet the mattress delivery guys who were a 1/2 hour early! The previous owners had 2 dogs and all the carpets need to be cleaned desperately! They also thought it was a great idea to attach a rug by the front door by tapping it and hot gluing it to the beautiful hardwood floors. Who does that? I spent most of the day with the front door open scrubbing the floor with goo-gone. Friday we also packed up most of what we had left at my parents and took the trailer we had parked in front of their house. Gabe's dad and Joanne came up to help us out. Gabe's dad tackled the removal of the Velcro strips the previous owners had glued on the walls in the soon to be nursery, and Joanne started cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards for me. I have before and after pictures of the nursery, but there are still a few more things I need to finish up in there before I post pictures.
Saturday the storage POD was delivered. So the day was spent painting (nursery, dinning room, master bedroom), cleaning, unloading and unpacking. I am so thankful for all the help we had! Ross and Joanne unloaded a ton from the POD! Jennifer put the first coat of paint on the dinning room walls and Gabe and his dad got the nursery about finished. On Sunday, Bryan and Mike came over to help Gabe unload the rest of the heavy things from the POD and trailer. By noon on Sunday everything was moved into the house! (Except for the huge potted plants that are still sitting outside my parents house.) When Gabe's dad and Joanne left on Sunday, the nursery and master bedroom were painted...boy did that feel good. My mom and dad brought us dinner and we had the chance to relax a little in our new house.
Monday, Tricia and my mom came over and we put together our new bed frame and the crib. We got the nursery all arranged and I'm excited it's nearly done and ready to show off. My dad came over after work and helped Gabe put the bed on the new frame and put together our new dresser. Gabe's guys night buddies came over and helped Gabe put the desk in the office back together and move the book shelves before they took off to grab some dinner and beer. It's still a huge mess here in the office but I'm working on it!
Yesterday my mom was wonderful and went grocery shopping for me. I wish I could call in that service all the time. We did some small projects around here (laundry, unpacked boxes of books, put together the side tables for our bedroom) and by the time Gabe came home I finally was starting to feel like I have my feet under me. I haven't felt that way in oh...maybe a month or two. It's great to finally feel...dare I say it yet...settled? I'm not saying we don't have a ton more to do, but I'm starting to feel things come together.
So on the list for the rest of the week-we need to go to Lowe's to get a massive amount of little things. Gabe also needs to paint the second coat in the dinning room and I'm hoping he can also paint the living room. Other than removing the lovely Chinese dragon boarder in the main upstairs bathroom (and maybe repainting it if the previous owners don't deliver on their promise to bring us some touch up paint), we could be done painting this weekend! At least for a while. I won't go into all the projects I've got lined up for next year! The "beauty" of home ownership...the work never really ends.
I just want to say one more time how thankful I am for all the help we had getting settled into our new place. I am so grateful we have so many people in our lives who are willing to give their time and energy to help us out. And to my mom...you're the best!
Anyway, that's where we're at right now. I have my 38 week appointment this afternoon. So we may know more soon about if this little guy is getting ready to enter the world. With these crazy high temperatures and as much as my back, legs, and feet ache...I know I'm getting ready.
OK...I've been going on for far too long already. I've got more work to do and I'll hopefully have nursery pictures by this weekend! I hope everyone is staying cool.

Annual Camping Trip: Detroit Lake Edition

Gabe and I got a pretty early start out of town on Saturday morning. I had most things packed and ready to go, so we got to Detroit Lake about 11ish on Saturday. Alexis helped Gabe set up the tent. We had some lunch. Our campsite had no afternoon shade so we all started sweating up a storm and decided it was time to head to the lake to cool off. Once the "party island" was pumped up we took off for the lake. We had quite the adventure getting the party island out on the water. The wind was pretty strong out on the lake and we couldn't paddle ourselves out very far before we started to get blown back to shore. So Alexis and Jen swam and pushed the island, while Gabe and Eric pulled and guided it around the logs that made up the area where the boats dock. By the time we got out around the dock everyone was exhausted...everyone but me! I acted as the cheerleader telling them how much further it was and checking to make sure everyone was ok. Eric said next year he was going to make sure he was 8 months pregnant so he could get out of helping. I'm not sure how he's planning on making that one happen! After we soaked up the sun, relaxed and everyone had a few drinks we started the trip back to shore. The wind was blowing us the wrong direction, so once again everyone had to work hard to get us back around the boat dock. I believe it was during this return struggle that disaster struck the party island. As we were blown back to shore Alexis heard the quite shhhhh sound that could only be a small hole in the island. By the time we reached shore the island was visibly deflating. By Sunday morning it was completely deflated. Looks like some repairs will need to be made to the party island so it will be ready for next year.

We spent the rest of the evening playing games, sitting around the campfire and eating smores. Roasted marshmallows have never tasted so good! Of course we couldn't get through the weekend without the rangers stopping by our campsite to ask us to keep it down. I think that happens every year. Sunday morning as we packed up camp, Jen made a very unusual discovery. As she was folding up her tent she stopped for a second, and in a very serious voice, calmly said to us, "Hey you guys...Is this a scorpion?" This is what was hanging out under her tent. I didn't think scorpions hung out on the west side of the Cascades but here's evidence to the contrary. Two guys at the campsite across the road must have heard us talking about it because they came over to check it out. One of them even brought over his kid's bug catcher to trap him so the kids could take a look. I think Alexis, Eric, Jen and Ryan were lucky the scorpion didn't decide to crawl in the tent and hang out in their sleeping bags. Yikes!

It was a short trip but we had a great time. I love getting out in the woods. The stars were amazing and it was good to hang out with friends. I wasn't miserable at all and wish we would have gone for both nights. Oh, well. Next year we'll take the little guy with us for his first camping experience. That should be a whole new adventure!

Finally!...some good news

We got verbal approval on Monday from the seller's bank. They will be approving the short sale! This morning Gabe received an email with the written approval attached. Things are in motion to close next week. Everyone is optimistic that we'll be able to close on time (Thursday). I'm thrilled by the possibility of being in our new house next week! I may be finally painting and getting a nursery ready. Nothing like waiting for the very last minute. The little guy is expected to arrive in less than 4 weeks! I keep telling him that he's welcome to come any time after his due date. We'll see if he listens! I'm sure we'll need every day we can get to have the house in order before he gets here. But there is finally light at the end of this very long tunnel.

We've decided to venture out this weekend and go camping. I really didn't want to miss our yearly camping trip with our friends, but I'm not sure how it's going to go. Other than needing to pee about 4 times a night...I've been feeling really good, so I'm feeling hopeful that I won't be too miserable. Plus, we decided to just go for one night. I figure I can tough it out for at least one night. So Saturday and Sunday we'll be out at Detroit Lake. Since I may not want to be out on the water a whole lot...I'll make sure to take some pictures and get them up here. After all, this is our one get-a-way for the summer. I was just telling Gabe the other day that this has been the most "boring" summer ever. We have a lot going on in our lives but it isn't the fun weekend camping trips, 2 week vacations or road trips we're use to taking. I guess that's what happens when Gabe has to save his vacation, and we're both waiting patiently for the arrival of our little guy.

Moving Day(s)

It was moving weekend! We had to be out of our house tonight at midnight but made it out by 4ish thanks to all the help. My parents, Gabe's dad, Bryan, Dave, Josh, Danelle, and Aaron all came over to lend a hand at different times this weekend. We definitely couldn't have done it without the extra hands so I'm very thankful. The POD we rented is about as full as it can get. Gabe's dad brought up his truck and trailer, the trailer is about full too!
Here are some pictures my mom took. I took a few with our camera but didn't think about leaving out the card reader for our laptop and/or the cord and equipment necessary to hook our camera up to the laptop. Those items are all packed away! So I have pictures...they're just stuck on the camera for now.

I have to admit that I was pretty sad doing our last walk through of the empty house. We made a lot of fun memories in that house. It was a great first home and leaving it really symbolizes the end of one chapter of our life together. I called Gabe on the way over to my parents (I was driving his car and he was driving his dad's truck) and we both got a little emotional and teary eyed.
Just as we pulled away from the house Gabe realized that we left one important item behind in the house. Important only because I'm sure the buyer won't appreciate having to deal with it...Jupiter's litter box. Gabe called our realtor to see if she could come and let him back in since we locked the keys in the house, but she didn't answer. I guess if that's the only thing we forgot it's not bad for us. I just feel bad for forgetting about it. We intentionally made Jupiter the last thing we packed up but just overlooked that one important thing.
As far as our new house is concerned...we still wait. The bank and our lender have both done their appraisals. Our lender's appraisal came back great and our financing is all set. Like I said, now we wait for the seller's bank to approve the short sale...or not. We decided to look at a few more houses as they come on the market just in case this one does end up falling through. We looked at few last week and maybe we'll look at some more this week. Depends what comes on the market. I'm still hoping we hear from the seller's bank by Wednesday one way or the other.
Now, we're here at mom and dad's hoping we'll be in our own place in a few weeks. It's wonderful that they're letting us crash at their house. I'm very thankful. But I think we'd all prefer to have us in our own place. Soon...I hope!

4th of July

It was that time of year again to blow things up and eat too much food. We all gathered over at Dave and Carley's house this year for a potluck style party. There was lots food and beer and plenty of cornhole matches. Cornhole was introduced at last years 4th of July party by Dave and Carley. It's a pretty simple game, you basically toss a bean bag through a hole in a board. We had enough people this year to actually structure a bracket. Mike won, of course, but I managed a fairly close 2nd.

After the tournament ended it was time to enjoy some of the neighborhood fireworks. There is a neighbor around the corner from Dave and Carley that typically put on a pretty amazing show. They go as far as to build their own fireworks. Unfortunately there was no show this year. We're not sure if they didn't want to put the money into it, or had some legal troubles regarding their homemade fireworks or what. Instead we made do with sparklers and watching some of the other neighbors put on a show.

Soon to be homeless

Gabe and I were at the title company bright and early this morning to sign the papers on our house. We no longer own our home. It's officially sold. You'd think I'd be excited about it but it actually brings me to tears. I may be sad to leave this house but that's not why the tears are coming. It's because things just keep getting worse with the whole house buying process.
Last week, or maybe the week before, we got new that the sellers of the house we put an offer on are in a much worse financial situation then they originally thought. They had to ask the bank to make the sale a short sale. So now we wait. We wait to hear if the bank will approve the short sale and if we can move forward with the sale. All the while, hoping that the original closing date can be maintained. We were suppose to hear news from the bank this week but since they are closed for the holiday weekend tomorrow, we probably won't hear anything more until early next week. So, basically everything is on hold and the longer things are on hold the more likely it is that we will still be homeless when the little guy arrives. That's what brings me to tears. I can't stand being stuck in the middle and I'm angry and frustrated that things just can't work out.
Next weekend we move our stuff out and into storage. I should say Gabe will be moving it out. I won't be much help. Although I've been packing everything we can do without for the last few weeks, he's got a lot of stuff to haul out of here. We'll be with my parents for a while. Since we don't really know if and when we'll have a house we might be looking at rentals. This really sucks! So all of these frustrations, combined with pregnancy hormones, are getting me really down. I guess I'll go drown my sorrows in boxes that need to be packed.
-h

Showered with Love

I have to start by thanking Jennifer, Alexis and Sarah for giving me, and the baby, a very lovely shower. It was a wonderful time to see family and friend, while sharing my excitement about the little guys arrival. Thank you ladies for the time and energy you put into the shower for us. It really means a lot to me!And I feel so incredibly blessed by all the wonderful people in our lives. Gabe's mom and aunt Joann drove up from Oakridge to be there. And Joanne came from Eugene. It really was wonderful to have everyone there. I truly appreciate all the wonderful words of blessings and gifts that were given to us yesterday. I am immensely thankful for everyone.
Gabe's mom found some really special things that Gabe had as a newborn. There were quilts and little outfits that his grandma made and some other outfits he wore. You can tell by the outfit he was a spring/Easter baby. I'm so happy Winnie put those together. They are so special.It was a really beautiful afternoon. The little guy has a huge library of books now and I am so thankful for everyone who was there to celebrate our joy and excitement.
-h

Does picking strawberries help turn a breech baby?

I'm going with no. Although I made an attempt today. I heard somewhere (or read somewhere I can't remember now) that bending over allows the baby more room to move around. As a picked today I ignored how badly my back started hurting, and instead focused on giving the little guy a chance to get into position.
I'm pretty sure the baby is breech because I get lots of kicks very low in the abdomen and I feel the pressure of his head on my right ribs most of the time. At the doctors a week and a half ago I told him what I thought and he sort of agreed. When he tried to hear the heart beat in the lower part of my abdomen (where it should be if the little guy was in the right spot) it was very faint. Then he put the doppler on the upper part of my abdomen and it came through loud and clear. My doctor isn't worried about it yet, and he encouraged me not to be concerned yet either. I suppose we'll probably talk about it more at my next appointment on Wednesday.
I am going to get something out of my berry picking, even if it's not helping to flip this stubborn little guy. Can't wait to make some strawberry short cake this evening!!! Yum Yum!
-h

Here is what's going on around the West pad...

Big surprise this weekend...Becky came up from Vegas and only told my mom (and Gabe) the plans.
So after our breastfeeding class on Saturday we were suppose to meet Tricia and "some friends" down at the Saturday market. I was tired and just wanted to take a nap so I bailed. Little did I know, we were going to meet Becky and her boyfriend. So after my nap there's a knock at the door and SURPRISE, it's Becky! We hung out, went out for dinner and played some guitar hero. On Sunday we went out to lunch and Becky gave dad a big father's day surprise too.
Yesterday we took a "family" trip to the beach. The weather was sunny and it felt good to put my toes in the sand for a little while. Gabe didn't join us because he had to go to Detroit. Sadly, he'll be there until Thursday. I really hate it when work takes him away from me. It's not very often but I miss him.
Today I spent the day downtown in jury duty. I've actually never had to report for jury duty before. I know...shocking! When my alarm went off earlier than I get up during the school year, I was not happy! After going through the long courthouse security line, I couldn't believe how many people were reporting. Must have been about 300! My name was called for the first trial of the morning. We went up to the the courtroom and listened to the judge explain the jury selection process. The lawyers introduced themselves and the case before asking us all some questions. After a short recess they called the names of the 6 people they wanted and the other 9 of us had to report back to the jury assembly room to be put back into the jury pool. I was really hoping they'd have the people they needed before lunch and the rest of us would be excused. No luck! Before lunch they assured us there were trials scheduled for the afternoon and would need us all back. Finally, about 2:30, they decided that for the last 2 trials of the day they would only need 21 people to stay. I have to admit I was really hoping my name would not be called. Doing nothing can really be exhausting! The only thing I could think about after lunch was a nap. I got a lot of my book read but it would have been more comfortable reading at home. So when they got through the list of 21 names without calling my name, I was pretty excited to be out of there and off into the sunshine. My civic duty is done. At least for 2 years.
-h

Summer is here!!!

Grades are done. My classroom is clean and organized. Now I'm relaxing at home for the rest of the afternoon. Summer has finally started!
I still don't know for sure what's going on next year. As of right now, I'll be staying in my building but I will probably be switching teams and kids. Looks like I'll be teaching English and History. Which means I'll also probably be going back to school so I can be "highly qualified" since I'm not endorsed to teach English. It might be a rough year. But here's the silver lining...I don't have to think about it for another 6 months! I'm hoping that I'll know more in a few weeks but it's more likely that I won't know anything until closer to August.
For now I'm going to start getting through the books I've been collecting, enjoy the sunshine, and start some packing!
Did I mention that summer is here?!
-h

We made an offer!

And it was accepted!
Since things were moving along with our buyer (inspection fixes agreed on and appraisal set for tomorrow), we felt we were finally in a position to make an offer. So we wrote one up on Friday for the house we definitely like the most. It's at the high end of our price range but has the most square footage of any of the houses we looked at.
Here are a few pictures:
It's a tri-level. It looks really small from the front but that's deceptive. The front door opens into the main living area (living room, kitchen and dining room). Then at the back of the main living space are 8 stairs going up and 8 stairs going down. Upstairs is the landing with a small library space, master bed and bath, one bedroom and bathroom. Downstairs are 2 more bedrooms and another bathroom, the laundry room and a small room that isn't technically a bedroom because there's no closet. We like the inside space but one of the definite drawbacks is the yard. It's small and shady. I don't think I'll have much of a garden, especially if we want to have a place for the little guy to play.
The next step for us is to set up inspections on the new house and see how that goes. Right now there's a 3 week difference between the date our buyer closes and the date we'll close on the new house. Our buyer is willing to let us rent back for a few weeks but that still leaves us homeless for about a week. That means we'll be working out some way to store our things and be without a home while in transition. I really wish things could have worked out better but there isn't really anything we can do about it. Hopefully things continue to move along well.
-h

More Stress?!

I got some word at school today that adds more turmoil to the already tumultuous life we're living right now.
I'm sure most of you are aware that schools are making cuts for next year because of decreases in tax revenue and funding. Well, due to lay offs next year, I am being involuntarily transferred elsewhere in the district. Based on seniority I'm being bumped out of my job. So, my principal doesn't have all the answers yet and she's really trying hard to keep me in the building, but I have no idea what's going to happen. This was all news I received this morning about 1/2 an hour before kids walked in the door. It was not the last day with my kids I had hoped for. It's hard to celebrate, and listen to them tell me how excited they are to see me when I come back next year, when I know there's a big chance I won't be there.
With all the other life changes that are happening right now, I'm having a really hard time keeping things together. I wish I didn't have to go back tomorrow (for 8th grade celebration) and Monday to clean up my room. Instead of cleaning my room I guess I'll actually be packing it up. I was also going to meet with my long term sub next week to plan for the fall but what am I planning for now? I have no clue what I'll be walking into in January. Being the planner that I am, all of these unknowns are really hard for me to deal with. My master plan to leave for the summer and have things squared away until I return in January has completely fallen apart.
Hopefully I'll know more soon!
-h

Work Baby Shower

Thursday my co-workers had a baby shower for us. Gabe was invited but decided he didn't want to leave work early to come down. I think he was just afraid he'd be the only guy there. I think he forgets that almost half of our staff is male and there are 3 males in my team of teachers. He would have been just fine. Or maybe being the center of attention is hard for him too. No...that can't be it!
Anyway, it was nice to share my excitement with others, have some cake and receive many thoughtful gifts. That was until the "storm" rolled in. As we were finishing up the party, the clouds and wind started to roll in. I was literally drenched when I got home just walking from the driveway to the back door. As soon I came in the door the lightening started. Pretty crazy for these parts.
These are all the wonderful things we received. I still don't have a nursery to put them in, but I'm trying really hard not to stress out about it.
-h

House Hunting

All I can say is that I really hate looking at houses!
In a week we've looked at about 25 houses. It's exhausting. I just don't understand why we can't find exactly what we want in our price range. I don't feel like our list of needs is that uncommon or ridiculous. Maybe the house that's right for us just doesn't exist. I never would have believed a house with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, big kitchen & dinning, big yard, and 2 car garage (in a good southwest Portland neighborhood) would be impossible to come by. We've found a few that are fine, but we definitely haven't walked into a house and had the "this is the one" feeling. With trying to end the school year, and dealing with this house stuff, I'm really feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I need just one thing off my plate. Good thing next week is finally the last week of school!
What also doesn't help my sense of urgency and stress, is hearing back from the buyer today. Her inspection period is almost over and she's got quite a list of things she wants us to fix. So we need to sit down this weekend and decide what our response will be. Of course we're fearful that she'll walk away if we don't agree to fix the things she's asked. But we also feel like some of the things she's asking for are not exactly reasonable. If she wants them replaced, she might need to do it her self. After all, our house is 80 years old...welcome to home ownership. Can you expect a house that's 80 to be in perfect condition?
I don't know what we're going to do. It's all just so stressful and I'd like to be settling in, getting ready for the little guy to come. I'd like to have a nursery together before he actually gets here. They threw me a baby shower yesterday at work. I have all of these baby things now and no where to put them. It's all getting very overwhelming. If only I could have a drink. (Don't worry mom...I'm only kidding). I might have to get myself in a better mood by posting pictures of all the great gifts we received from my wonderful co-workers yesterday. I'm going to make a confession and I feel really bad about it. I was sort of nervous about the shower. Dreading it might even be a better word. I really hate being the center of attention. It makes me so uncomfortable. I never know what to say and do. And I can't stand everyone staring at me expecting me to say or do something. But to be honest I had a really nice time. It's fun to hear other people's excitement about having the little guy here soon. I can't wait to take him to school in September and share him.
Keep us in your thoughts. Who knows what will happen next.
-h

Cannon Beach

Gabe's looking over the list of potential houses I compiled on Saturday. I figured I should edit our picture from the weekend and throw some up here because it feels like it's been forever since I've posted any pictures!

We didn't get a very early start to the beach on Sunday. We had to "clean" the house so it was ready for the open house in the afternoon. Not that it wasn't already clean...but wood floor start looking yucky, and so does the carpet in the bedroom, after just a few days. Plus with extra people in and out of the house it needed a little sprucing up. Then we decided to drive around some of the neighborhoods we've been thinking about relocating to on the west side. Gabe isn't very familiar with the southwest part of Portland, and it's been years since I've spent any time over there. So, we took our own little tour. All that to say, we didn't make it to the coast until well after noon. And Cannon Beach was packed. I guess I really wasn't prepared for the amount of people that would be there on a beautiful holiday weekend. I should have known!

Well, the traffic in Cannon Beach made us decide quickly to get out of there, so we drove further south to hang out at Hug Point instead. I've always liked it there. Small beach but nice to explore when the tide is out. After soaking up the sun we decided to go check into our bed and breakfast to get settled in before attempting another go at Cannon Beach for dinner. We had much better success with dinner. Like all beach towns, there isn't much of a night life and things were getting nice and quite by 6:30.

Today we walked the beach some more and decided to make the drive back into town a little early. We were both afraid that the traffic would be crazy and sadly there are always accidents on these holiday weekends. Plus we had BBQs to get back to! First stop was my mom and dad's and then we headed over to Jen's. Overall, a great start to "summer". If only school were out already!
-h

We have an offer!

After almost a dozen showings, we got our first offer on the house last night.
It's a good offer. The buyer offered full price and requested we pay $2,000 toward closing. She also requested our new washer and dryer be included. We countered to keep the washer and dryer since it was spendy and is also brand new. We'll see what happens! I'm still trying not to get my hopes up because a lot can still go wrong. Will she accept our counter? Inspection? Appraisal? If she accepts the offer that opens up a whole new can of stress. Finding a new house! And FAST!

There may be 3 more showings tomorrow and then our Realtor is still holding the open house on Sunday afternoon. Of course, this is all just in case things don't work out with this first offer. I guess I'll have to find some way to make myself scarce tomorrow. Sounds like the papers I need to grade will be making their way to Starbucks instead of being done in the sunshine of the back yard. Gabe's going to be busy "playing" with the boys in his boss' garage so he'll be scarce as well!

I'm thrilled about the wonderful three day weekend ahead. The weather is going to be wonderful! We have a few fun things planned. TV on the Radio concert tomorrow night, some time at the coast, and a maybe even a BBQ or two. After all the weekends we've spent working on the house recently, we're both really excited about this weekend to play.

With the house consuming so much of my time, energy and mind...I suppose I should give a pregnancy up date as well. I had my 28 week appointment yesterday. The little guy's heart beat was in the 140's. I had to get the rhogam shot since I'm of the negative blood type. They took a bunch of blood which I got results for today. My glucose levels are normal but the doctor is worried about my iron levels. So I'll also be adding iron to the handful prenatals, omega-3 and calcium I have to take at different times during the day. Good thing pills have never bothered me. It's the remembering to take them that I'm concerned about.

I hope everyone enjoys their three day weekend as much as I hope to.
Only 3 more weeks!
-h

A relaxing finish

As stress filled as this weekend was, at least I got to end it well. (See previous post about all we had to get done this weekend.) Last week Gabe surprised me and scheduled me a prenatal massage for 4:15 this afternoon. So, I got to leave him with the last of the work we could accomplish today to go relax for an hour. It was amazing! Especially after all the work I did yesterday. I think I'll schedule myself another one for next month after school is out. Unfortunately, I don't think Gabe is nearly as relaxed. I've tried to talk him into getting a massage but he'll have nothing to do with it. Maybe it's because he's so dang ticklish! I have the best husband! And the best girl friends. They gave me a gift certificate for my birthday in September and I finally put it to good use.

Also, our house if officially on the market (as of tomorrow.) We spent about an hour and 1/2 doing paper work tonight with the realtor. She'll list it in the morning and then have the broker showing on Tuesday some time. I think she's going to have the first open house next week! We definitely aren't getting our hopes up. But, keep your fingers crossed!

Only 4 more weeks until summer. This weekend of beautiful weather sure made me wish it was already here.
-h

The List!

I've been feeling crazy overwhelmed this week just thinking about all the things we have to get done this weekend. Well, I got home last night and Gabe was already hard at work painting. He had to go rent a big ladder today in order to finish. We've been outside working for 7 hours today and this is the small dent we made in the list. (Finished things are in Red. UPDATE: Things finished Sunday are in Blue.)

Exterior
Finish painting
(trim & railings in front)
House numbers
Mail box and porch light
Pull weeds (front, back, and driveway)
Get bark dust
Lay bark dust
Power wash patio and garage
Set up yard furniture
Wash windows
Plant garden
Plant flowers in front
Mow lawn

Interior
Put up shelf in office
Organize back room
Paint master bed room
Patch in bathroom
Wash bathroom walls and ceiling
Kitchen baseboard
Pack up extra kitchen stuff
Put away baby stuff
Stage spare room
Hang picture in living room
CLEAN!!!!!!!

I was really hoping we'd get more accomplished but I don't think it would have been physically possible. I'm already sore from pulling weeds, unloading a yard and a half of bark dust, and spreading a yard and a half of bark dust. (ok...maybe it was only a yard. Gabe did unload the half yard.)
Now I think we're going over to Josh and Danelle's to relax for the evening. Josh is going to throw some salmon on the BBQ. (It's great having a fisherman as a friend.)
-h

Dancin' in the morning

This morning I was sitting at my desk before school started when a couple of girls from first period walked in. They were talking about the bright pink pants that one of the girls had on. She very matter-of-factly tells her friends that this will probably be the last time she's able to wear them. Her reason made me laugh. She says, "Since I had to dance my way into them this morning, I don't think I'll be wearing them anymore." What a great way to describe what all women have done at one time or another. We've certainly all been there at one point! Lucky for me, the whole baggy thing was popular when I was in high school and college. I'm not sure why the skinny jeans have come back into style. I guess it's so ladies can get their dancing done in the morning!
-h

Milestone

It's really hard to believe, but I'm entering the third trimester of pregnancy today! I can't believe how quickly the days, weeks, months are actually flying by! It doesn't really seem possible that in three months our little guy will be here. I actually get a little overwhelmed (and excited) when I think about it. Maybe it's because I really need to get over one hurdle at a time. The first hurdle I'm focused on right now is finishing the school year. Every day is getting a little harder at this point. I'm tired, they're tired. Not a great combination. Not to mention that I'm about a month behind in curriculum. We just finished our ancient Rome unit and I'm suppose to get us through the Middle Ages and Renaissance before the year is over. That's about 1500 years of history in 5 weeks! Not going to happen.
-h

Kicks for Dad!

For the last few weeks I've been feeling our little guy move A LOT! A few times at school last week it even took my breath away. I usually feel him best when I'm sitting and relaxing, that's why when I felt him at school it shocked me. I was just walking around helping students and I had to stop and take a deep breath. It was a hard kick! A few times last week I had Gabe try and feel him in the evenings after dinner with no luck. This little guy doesn't have a problem kicking his mom, but he sure gets shy for dad.
Well, I've been waking up around 5am every morning for the last few weeks and then simply can't get back to sleep. Maybe that's when my back hurts and hips are so numb, the pain wakes me up. I'm not sure. No surprise, it happened this morning as well. So after a quick trip to the bathroom I laid back down and I could feel the little guy moving. I woke Gabe up and had him put his hand where I felt the last movement. A few seconds later the little guy kicked and I quietly asked Gabe, "Did you feel that?" I wasn't sure he was really awake and Gabe gets really grouchy when he's woken up. But he did answer a very quiet, "Yes." I was so excited! Gabe was excited too but more concerned about getting back to sleep I think! After that excitement I had a really hard time getting back to sleep.

On a different note, the house painting has started. Gabe went and borrowed a sprayer from Josh's dad. I put plastic over all the windows while he was gone and he's been outside for about 3 hours. I think he's almost done with the first coat! The weather's been yucky and scary all morning. It sprinkled a few times while I was covering the windows and it really had me nervous. But things seem to be ok...the sun even seems to be poking out of the clouds now. Here are the colors. The lighter color is the main house color, darker color will be the gutter/trim color. It's going to look so good when it's done. We never did like the blue house.  (OK...not sure why the link isn't working now.  I guess we'll just have to post pictures when we have the trim painted.  Might be a few weeks since the rainy forecast prevents any painting from being done)
-h

Hold the Lettuce

Ok...I have a middle school story to share.
I was walking back to my room after warming up my lunch in the staff room today, and I saw a student lunch tray that just sent my head spinning. I guess I shouldn't be too shocked. I know most middle school students eat like crap. Energy drinks for breakfast and cookies for lunch is a balanced diet for most 13 year olds. Anyway, this particular tray was a shocker...even by middle school standards. The boy, who I'm not familiar with, will definitely remain nameless. On his bright orange lunch tray was a plate overflowing with croutons. Yes, you heard that right. He had a plate of croutons but not a piece of lettuce to be seen. Next to this abundance of croutons was a huge overflowing bowl of ranch dressing. It left me completely speechless when I saw him dip the crouton into the ranch. I have to admit I could not believe it. I'm sure my mouth was hanging open. Yikes!

Spring is definitely here! The last few weeks have been really tough at school. It's hard for both me, and the kids, to want to be there when it's beautiful outside. And on top of it, Gabe and I have been working really hard on the weekends to get the house ready for sale. Last weekend it was yard work. This weekend Gabe's prepping the house for paint. I think I'll be packing up things we don't need and can put in the basement. Hopefully we can put the house on the market in a few weeks. Then we'll see what happens.
-h

Earth Day 09!

Last year we made it Earth month. Nothing so big is happening this year. But I am happy to report that many of the habits we started last year are still with us today! That's something I'm really proud of.
I still wanted to do something for Earth day this year but it's been a rough week and to be honest, I completely forgot about it until I got to school this morning. Oops! Well, a little green online shopping was all I could muster this evening. Online shopping is green right? And I don't just mean spending the green! I really love Simple shoes. What's not to like? Like their website says, they use recycled and sustainable materials. Love that! Anyway, I bought these for the little guy and then they were offering these for free! So I got a pair for Gabe.
Happy Earth Day! Don't forget to do something great for the planet today. Hopefully you'll do something more meaningful than I did.
-h

Happy Easter!

No big plans here for Easter. Instead of making a big dinner or something for just the 2 of us, we decided to make a french toast casserole for breakfast. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal anyway. Gabe put the casserole together last night, I put it in the oven this morning and then crawled back into bed for another hour. Won't be able to do that much longer. It was yummy! (Both the hour of sleep and the french toast.)

I have a ton of work to grade this weekend, and only got 10 of the 140+ projects graded yesterday so I guess I'll spend my day working. Then we're going to head out tonight to see Fleet Foxes at the Crystal Ballroom. I've been looking forward to the show for weeks. Just not looking forward to the late night and early morning following! Guess I'll have to make myself get some work done and then reward myself with a nap.

Happy Easter wishes to all!
-h

First Big Purchase

We made our first big purchase for the baby this morning! We've bought a few little onesies (one in Hawaii) but so far NOTHING else.

We will now be able to take the baby home from the hospital when it's time.
We've been doing a little research but just decided to make a decision. I really just needed one of the many, many things off of my to-do list. I know we still have 4 more months but I often feel really overwhelmed by how much needs to happen between now and then. Especially if we're going to try to sell our house and buy a new one in that time. We meet with the realtor on Thursday evening. She'll show us some comparables and tell us what price she thinks we should put on the house.
Up next on the baby front...something for the little guy to sleep in!
-h

Hawaii: The Big Island Edition

Oh, am I missing the island already!
We had a great time exploring the largest of the Hawaiian islands. We knew this wasn't an island that we'd be able to explore every inch of, like we did when we were in Kauai and Cozumel. But all things considered I think we did a pretty good job in 9 days. Here's the highlights.

The first evening we spent relaxing at the beautiful bed and breakfast we stayed at in Captain Cook. It's an old plantation house and over looks the Kealakekua Bay (which we'll tell you more about later). The sunset view from the lanai was amazing. Our first full day, we drove north to the Kohala Coast to hike and see the Puako Petrogoyphs. The beach park where the hike begins is where our first favorite moment happened. I went to use the bathroom and Gabe walked over to the beach to look around. When I came out of the bathroom and looked at the ocean, I noticed some splashing right off the beach. My first thought was, "Oh my, I think that's a whale!" But then I convinced myself that there was no way a whale could be that close to the beach. That was until I could see Gabe in the sand with the camera out. Then I knew I'd been right. Well, a humpback calf and mother were out there having a good old time. The calf was jumping out the water. Mom was calling with the slap of her fin. And of course, their dolphin friends were joining in on the fun as well. It was amazing! We must have watched them for 20 minutes. Gabe took over 60 pictures just of those whales. The petroglyphs were cool but no comparison to the whale experience. After some lunch we drove up to Mauna Kea. I had really wanted to do a stargazing tour on Hawaii's highest spot, but there isn't enough oxygen up there for it to be safe for pregnant women. Instead we drove up to the visitor's center just for the experience. Unfortunately, not much of the mountain was visible through all the dense clouds.

The next few days we spent on the beach and in the water snorkeling. One of those days we kayaked across Kealakekua Bay to the best snorkeling spot in the state of Hawaii. It was amazing. I couldn't believe the amount of coral, and all the different kinds. I hope we got some good pictures with the cheap disposable underwater camera. Although I'm sure the pictures will never do it justice. On the way back we saw a large group of kayakers gathered in the bay. Gabe was convinced they were looking at dolphins because they come into the bay to rest during the day. So he insisted we paddle over there, and boy am I glad we did. Dolphins were everywhere! It was one of the coolest things I've ever experienced and definitely our favorite part of the entire trip. I could have sat there in the kayak and watched them all day. But we wanted to also explore the Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park and do some snorkeling in the cove next to it. The national park was the royal grounds where the chief of the native Hawaiians once lived. The snorkeling was pretty good too.

We decided to go on a whale watching tour one morning with a whale researcher. We saw a mom, calf and escort. But we didn't see them do anything as cool as we did that first day. What was amazing was seeing them swim under the boat. Since the water is so clear in Hawaii you can see them, and especially the white on their bodies, deep under water. On the way out in the boat, and on the way back in, we saw lots of spinner dolphins playing.

We spent the rest of our time on the west side of the island "exploring" beaches and seeing the sites. We drove to South Point, which is the most southern point in the United States. While hanging out at Black Sands Beach in the afternoon we saw a ton of green sea turtles. They like to come out of the water at this beach and hang out in the sun. We also drove to the northern part of the island to check out the views of Pololu Valley. We also managed, in driving with the top down on the convertible, to get ourselves some pretty crispy red sunburns.

Then we were off to see the volcano and explore Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. My lack of research into this trip was very apparent when we arrived in the park. I had no idea we were arriving into a tropical rainforest. It poured, and poured, and poured on us. We looked like drowned rats. We were able to see some of the volcanic craters and some "recent" lava flows. Gabe wasn't feeling very well, I think he finally caught the cold I had a few weeks ago. So we decided to put off the night lava viewing. We did that on day two of exploring the south east side of the island. The current lava flow is going right into the ocean. So during the day it just looks like a big steam cloud. At night, you can catch glimpses of lava bursting as it hits the cold water. We got to the viewing site pretty early and watched carefully as the sun went down. We were lucky to see some lava bursts but it definitely wasn't the river of molten lava I had imagined we'd get to see. I guess that's what I get for watching so many shows on the Discovery Channel.

Since we weren't far from Hilo, on the east side of the island, we decided to spend most of our last day exploring the many waterfalls north of Hilo and a little of the city itself. I would have liked to explore Hilo a little more. It looked like a pretty nice place for being the second biggest city in Hawaii...second to Honolulu of course.

Well, that's the trip. I guess that was way more than the highlights. Really I should have said it was the play-by-play. We did also tour a Kona Coffee plantation, a macadamia nut factory, and enjoy some shave ice. Can't leave out those typically tourist things! We had a great time and it was really hard to come home and get into the routine of life. I felt really weird when I walked into work on Monday. It felt like I should be on a beach in the sun...not getting ready to teach 150 7th graders. A bit surreal.
-h (Gabe edited and added all the pictures)

April Fools?

So, this might seems silly to all of you but...I've really been putting off telling my students that I'm having a baby.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I think it's because I couldn't think of how to tell them.  They are, after all, a bunch of 12 and 13 year-olds.  Plus, I'm just barely noticeably pregnant.

Anyway, at our staff meeting today, every person I talked to asked me if I've told my students yet.  Each time I said no, they looked at me rather surprised.  After all, I'm more than half way through the pregnancy.  So, at the end of first period today, I let the cat out of the bag.  The kids were all cleaned up and ready to leave.  I'd reminded them about the big project they have due tomorrow and there was still a few more minutes left before the bell.  And I just said it.  I told them I had a little surprise to share with them and told them I was going to have a baby in August.  They just sorta looked at me.  Then a few of them asked, "Are you being serious?"  and "Is this an April Fools joke?".  It didn't even dawn on me that it was April Fools and they might think I was joking!  How funny!

I asked the kids in first period to keep the news quiet.  Do you know how well 12 and 13 year-olds can keep a secret?  Not at all.  Never share a secret with one of them!  So for the rest of the day, I had to start class quelling the "rumors".  From the girls I got squeals of excitement, questions about how long I've been pregnant and why I didn't tell them earlier.  From the boys I got name suggestions!  They all want me to name the baby after them.  One boy named Wyatt said I should name the baby after him and give him the middle name Oliver so the baby would have the initials WOW.  That's middle schoolers for you!

-h