My Condolences to Hayden

We took some quick snaps of the kids in Easter clothes on Sunday. The sky was very gray and the lighting was terrible in our house. So, the pics aren't great, but you get the idea.



The exciting part is that we had our ultrasound today and identifying the gender of our little baby was quite easy. So sometime in August we'll get to up the matchy-matchy factor a notch when baby is seen in this:



I know! Another girl! Hayden and Kyle are a little disappointed, but I am happy with a healthy baby, no matter what. We had the cutest boy name picked out, but we'll have to adopt if we want to use it. Despite my misgivings, Kyle's already trying to talk me into #5. Sheesh! So, if you have any ideas for girl names, we'll take them. I'm excited for bows and bracelets, kids that can share the same room for years to come, and not having to buy new clothes all the time. I would have been thrilled with either a boy or girl, but I'm happy to know so I can get sewing!

Spring Break -- In Pictures

Since Oregon is known (by me, at least) as The State That Sends Children To School the Least Amount of Time (gratuitous use of capital letters intentional), we have the longest spring break on record. What began on Saturday, March 20th, is still going strong eight days later. You might think the children would go merrily on their way back to school tomorrow, but you'd be wrong. In fact, they have ONE MORE DAY of spring break. A last hurrah, you might say, after many hurrahs. So this post will be as long as our spring break has been. Going back is going to be a bit rough. Hayden and Kara didn't wake up until 9am today, and the bus comes at 7:30am on Tuesday morning. Ugh.

We started of the weekend with Hayden's 7th birthday party. Easiest ever. Cake and pizza from Costco. Wii and Xbox for the boys. He was thrilled, they all had fun, and I totally chilled during the festivities. I hope he wants a video game party every year for the rest of his life.

Xbox was downstairs, with Wii upstairs. 4 boys at each made for easy playing.

Hayden with all his buddies and his cake. (Basketball for March Madness!)

He was kind of sick on Sunday, his actual birthday, so we canceled his dinner with family and just relaxed. He opened presents and built Legos, then had his hot dog dinner.

On Monday we left for our short tour of Oregon. We headed to Florence, then Heceta Head, then Newport, then Tillamook, then Portland. It was a great fun-filled three days. The weather was spectacular. We made it home just in time for the rain. I'm so glad Kyle was willing to take the time off (he's swamped right now) and that I was feeling well.

The girls on the pier in Florence.

Kyle and Hayden go go cart racing.

Kyle passes Kaly on an inside turn. We hung out with some good friends for the day.

Whale watching just north of Heceta Head. We saw so many whales in 25 minutes! It was awesome. Here are the kids looking happy.

Kara loved the beach. She didn't seem to mind the cold at all.

After a night in Newport and a great morning at the tide pools, we drove up the coast to Tillamook to pay homage to our favorite cheese. Yum! The slicing process was engrossing.

Kara really wanted this cow to be real.

We ate at The Cheesecake Factory and spent the night in Portland. The next morning we hit the zoo bright and early. Jillian fed the lorikeets and was so happy one landed on her hand.

I was on this trip. Hiding my belly behind my purse, apparently.

Then we went to OMSI (science museum) where I became too tired to take pictures. But I freaked myself out by studying the prenatal exhibit of preserved fetuses. Wouldn't really suggest that for pregnant people. Jillian was a little grossed out too.


When we returned home, it was time to clean the house and put together Kara's big girl bed. So sad. But she loves it and stays in it, so it's good. And now we can work on being dry at night.

Bed frame: Ikea. Mattress: Costco.

She's just pretending to be asleep. She's using the bedding I got for Jillian when she was about three. So nice to reuse things. The crib is on the other side of the room. I think I'll just leave it up. Less than five months until we'll need it again.

Today we took pictures in our new Easter clothes, but I'm going to save that post for Tuesday. I hope you have happy and fun spring breaks wherever you are, and that some lovely weather comes your way! We have rain, rain, and more rain scheduled this week. I just planted lettuce, spinach, and garlic, so I hope my little seeds don't wash away in the deluge.

Oh, one more thing. I got my hair cut! It had been five months and it was driving me crazy. It turned out cute. I should take a photo soon.

Welcome Back, Old Self

A fan of my blog (yes, there are a few) recently lamented that I haven't been posting much. My reasoning is this: no one likes to read posts that only contain complaints. And that's all I've been doing in 2010. Here's a sample of what I could have written:

Feeling sick again. Went back to bed at 8:30am and let Kara watch TV for two hours. Got up to take her potty every once is a while. Why did I decide to potty train her while still feeling nauseous from pregnancy? Finally took a shower at 11am. Guess I'll try to do a bit of housework and run and errand or two before going back to bed. The kids will be home at 2:30pm and I'd better look alive. Making dinner every night is such a challenge. Then I go lay down on my bed after dinner to get up enough energy to get the kids to bed. Why did I think getting pregnant again was a good idea? Am I going to make it through this? I feel crappy!

See what I spared you? Aren't you grateful? I know I am! But now that I am mostly feeling better (I only go back to bed once or twice a week, and for less than an hour) I am happy to welcome back my old self. The one who doesn't feel like she's going crazy. I went to the home improvement store last week, bought about 20 new perennials, and planted them. That felt so good. I'm going to do a craft this week that I've been looking forward to for a long time. We took the kids on a 3-day tour of Oregon for spring break and I had a good time. I want to start exercising again while I still can. If I still can. (Very questionable, since I haven't done anything in at least a month.) And I want to post some more interesting things on the ol' blog. I've missed it. And I'm sure I have something good to say. Stay tuned!

Only 6 days until our ultrasound. Should we find out the gender??

Possible Tweets

Not that I'm on Twitter, because I'm not that cool, but if I was, here's what I might tweet about:

The power of suggestion on several blogs caused me to buy a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs. Darn you bloggers!

Finally coming out of the funk of the first trimester, about 4 weeks late. 17 weeks tomorrow. Can I be done yet?

The Pea has a birthday this week. What's the least amount of work I can for the best impact? This is my quest.

Mopped the wood floor for the first time in 3 weeks. Even Kyle was starting to notice. But not enough to do anything about it.

Spring fashion is no fun when you're gaining a pound a week.

Dying to go running -- but it might kill me. Maybe next week I can mosey out for a jog. Dreading the jiggle already.

Loving the "Liberty of London" prints on just about everything at Target. Picked up some mini journals for a fun project today.

Really need a vacation. Near a beach. With good food. And a good book.

Seriously considering becoming a vegetarian. Can I give up bacon?

Kara set the table last night and did a great job. She's the golden child.


Tweet, tweet! Hope you have great weather this week. It's almost SPRING!

New Digs

I know that's a lame title, but it's after midnight and I'm kinda tired. Tired of seeing my last blog post, that is. Just got done watching "500 Days of Summer" with some friends. It was pretty good. The main guy was annoyingly disheveled, in my opinion. But the movie was clever. My favorite scene was the random dancing one in the park, of course.

MOVING ON . . .

I've been sick with bronchitis for over a week. Well, sick with something recently diagnosed as bronchitis. It's been terrible. I've been a slug. And I was going to post all about how pathetic I am to get sympathy comments, but now I can't. Because yesterday my sister and two friends showed up and cleaned my house. Then my sister brought me dinner. And tonight she came over early and put Kara to bed for me. Did I mention Kyle left town right in the middle of my illness? I guess he left me in good hands! And he'll be back in less than 24 hours. And it's supposed to be 64 and sunny tomorrow. We have new bubbles and sidewalk chalk. I should survive.

MOVING ON . . .

We got new bedroom furniture a few weeks ago. I've been accessorizing in bits and pieces. I now have enough to show you what we've been up to, although more plans are in the works. My bedroom is much nicer to be in now. Whatcha think??

The bed, side tables, and new painting that I love. I'm looking for new drapery panels, but not quite sure what to go with. I want to keep the room light. We also got new lamp bases, but kept the shades, since they go well with the comforter.

The bed faces the dresser and chest. I love glass vases and bottles, so picked up a few of those. We also got a new TV (cough, don't judge, cough) mostly with our credit card rebates. This wall needs something more, but I don't know what yet.

A a close up of the painting. Slightly Asian, but not cliche. I love it. The blues and golds are so pretty. I have a couple of other prints, too but I'm not quite sure if they go with this painting.

New painting for over the fireplace. Perfect colors and the dramatic effect I was looking for. Snatched this up at Ikea, of all places. It's abstract, but I don't mind it. Now I'm contemplating paining this wall.

Moved the family portrait to another wall and hung the mirror that came with the bedroom set in the living room. Looking for something to put with it, new lamps, a new leather chair, and some sort of window treatments. But the room is really coming together.

Note about Hayden in this picture: He is turning into a voracious reader. He just finished the first two books in the Percy Jackson series. I am amazed he can even read that stuff. It's fun to see him read and read and say "just a few more minutes." He's now offered me his book (bought it with his own money) to read. Then he'd like us to go to the movie together. Well, mostly him and Kyle, but I can come along. He says we can get a babysitter for the girls.