L'aventure américaine

My firstborn is 8 today and we have had the best day together. He has been sweet, enthusiastic, and appreciative. The weather has been beautiful. It's been wonderful. Milo is  sweet, enthusiastic, and (sometimes) appreciative. He doesn't like it when I'm mad at him and is quick to apologize. He will help his little sister and the smaller neighbors by reading to them, reaching things for them, or explaining the intricacies of Lego Star Wars in excruciating detail to them. (They're a good audience for this; I am not.) He likes to be challenged mentally (math problems forever!) and physically (I'm not sure I'll still be faster than him by his next birthday). He is getting better at losing. He has matured this year so that he doesn't cry at the drop of a hat - or tries not to anyway - and it breaks my heart when I see him wiping away tears, trying not to cry. (Unless it's because he didn't finish a movie a week and a half ago because he chose to walk aw...

Randal and I were reminiscing about what we were doing ten years ago and how we marked the end of the first decade of the 2000s.  I thought back to where I was in December of 2009 and then remembered that I had done a blogpost to close the decade.  It was fun to look back on it and the one constant of my life...  I have no idea where life will take me in the next ten years.  So.  Ten years ago, I had recently moved to Phoenix.  I was lonely, but working at my first job that really paid well and I was really a grown up.  I filled my days with reading, educational activities, and actively seeking and securing solid friendships.  I embarked on self-improvement projects and worried that I would never meet the right person and would never get married.  And today?  One, it will be a miracle if I get through this blogpost in one sitting without a kid calling me.*  But, as for the rest..  We have relatively recently moved.  I...

It’s been awhile, but this has been cooking in the meantime...  

I think that I am in a very surreal part of my life.  When I initially got pregnant, while happy, the overwhelming emotion was just a sense of...  This is weird.   Eventually, I adjusted (kind-of) to the idea that I was pregnant.  I feel that I've been pregnant for a long time and have had a chance to add that to my identity. However, my sense of weird is currently heightened.  I have a 30 pound weight that constantly hangs off of me rendering a little tricky to sleep, stay awake in appointments, take deep breaths, and other regular functions.  But, I generally feel fine and not miserable at all like everyone told me I would feel at the end.  The thing is...  the thing that I just can't wrap my head around...  is that I'll be a parent in a couple of weeks. I was talking to Randal about my schedule at the beginning of this week.  I said, "Well, this week will be insane, but next week will be a lot easier.  And th...

We went to Bend this weekend for Bend Brewfest. Last year it was rather a raucous affair and we wanted one last weekend with our friends before hunkering down to work in the final weeks of pregnancy.  The morning of Brewfest, we played in the Deschutes River. Randal and I canoed and the rest of the crowd floated. It was great. Maizie swam and swam and Juneau tolerated it. They both looked quite dashing in their life jackets.  Evidently, energy wanes during the 9th month of pregnancy though and Randal and I opted to be designated drivers and sit out of the festivities. When the crowd came home, quite happy and full of joy and karaoke, it wasn't quite as charming as I had remembered.  The next morning, as Randal and I went to breakfast with the middle-aged, pre-hangover crowd, we mourned the upcoming change and potential loss of pre-kid selves. Of course, we also had a five minute wait for Sunday brunch, so there are perks to waking up at 6am on a weekend.  And so it g...

Summertime flies by and we've been happily busy here in smoky southern Oregon.  There might be too many things to update, so we'll have to do with a photo log of our life since our trip to Boston (which was fantastic, by the way).   So, returning to June... We've enjoyed weekly dinners with Adam and Lindsey.  This was taken on their deck (they'll be hosting our baby shower tomorrow, which will be quite fun!).  Siobhan and daughter Maeve are also featured.  Siobhan, her husband, Liam, and Maeve live two doors down and been my good fairy of maternity and baby supplies.  And now, Siobhan is pregnant again!  It's a fertile block in our neighborhood.  (Another neighbor just had a baby last week.) Randal's family came for the 4th of July.  Unfortunately, I was terrible at taking pictures, but this is Randal's Uncle Glen and I on a hike on the hill with the pups.  It was great to have everyone in town! Chris Paasch came for a...

Do you know in "She's Coming 'Round the Mountain," when you sing: "She'll driving six white horses when she comes...   Whoa back!"   That's a bit how I feel right now.  I'm driving a few horses and I need to rein them in a little bit. But, man, they are good horses.  The Sky Lakes Wellness Center has gotten off to a roaring start.  We have had unbelievable enthusiasm for our program and the first cohort of 30 people starts Tuesday with their group classes.  We are booked until July with individual appointments and are already making some appointments in September.  (I have an appointment booked on my due date, so I'll let you know how that one goes!)  We have had several cranky people come in for informational sessions (in which we explain the details of the program and they decide if they want to move forward or not) and leave with smiles on their faces.  (One woman said, "I thought that this was going to be like overeaters anonym...

After last week's ultrasound, Mom suggested the name 'Skeletor,' since that is what the baby most closely resembled.   We are seriously considering it.