Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hiking in the City

My friend Sara lives in North Portland not too far from Forest Park. Forest Park is the largest park in a city in the country. It is a pretty amazing place and you don't even know you are in the city once you start hiking along. I decided we were long overdue for a trip into to visit Sara and their newly remodeled kitchen, as well as her chickens. So on Sunday, Meadow and I drove into Portland to visit. We had a lovely afternoon visiting, and went for a hike, and even grabbed some Thai food for lunch. On our hike, Meadow was such a little trooper. She is really in her element when she can walk and run outside. She walked over half of our three mile hike and did finally agree to get a lift in my ergo carrier. It was so nice to be able to still carry her in the pack despite being 18 weeks pregnant. I was having a really great high energy day. I was kind of sad I didn't get a picture of her in the ergo, but hopefully I will be hiking with her again soon. Here are some pictures capturing the day......... There were trillium flowers everywhere.





I love the look of pure joy on her face.



The chickens love dandelions.
I planted my garden this past Friday and Meadow helped while Todd went kayaking. Meadow loved playing with the dirt. I planted some broccoli, lettuce, onions, and some herbs. I can't wait to see them grow.



18 Weeks and Counting

Here are some pictures of my belly finally. It has definitely gotten big fast and I haven't even gained a lot of weight. At my last appointment, my doctor was encouraging me to gain more weight. It is hard to do when I already feel huge. But, I am working on eating healthy and gaining what I should. I think the whole morning sickness thing hasn't helped. I have to comment on the jeans I am wearing. They are the best maternity pants I have ever owned. I wish they had made these when I was pregnant with Meadow. They are made by Motherhood Maternity and the material around the belly is so comfortable. I have been wearing them almost every day. I also got a couple pairs of shorts with the same material. Can't wait to get a lot of use out of those shorts in a month or two. I know that I was very big by the end with Meadow, so I am prepared for that belly to stick out pretty far. Also, the baby is the size of a green pepper this week. I love the comparisons. It really helps me to visualize the size of the baby.




Todd's Birthday Weekend

Todd had a fun weekend celebrating his 34th birthday. He was able to kayak on all of his days off and spend some quality time with family. On Thursday he drove the truck with the camper to Joe Bob's surfing hole on the Clackamas river. He liked having the option of staying dry and getting all of his gear on.
After kayaking, we took a nice walk and went over to a local playground. Meadow gets so excited to be at the playground and loves to run in between the different play structures.
Here she is at the top of a pretty steep slide. She loves to go down all by herself.




Meadow with her daddy on his birthday


In the evening, we went out to dinner at the Rendevous. Meadow is really working on talking and loved to say the Rendevous or "Rebebous". It has been fun hearing all her new expressions. One of my favorites is " I see you." The next evening we had a little impromptu bbq. It was in the 60's and sunny so we thought that was a good excuse to invite some friends over. We invited Jen and Tony and their daughter Maddie to join in on the festivities. Tony has been gone on and off for the past six months for training for his job. So, it was good to see him back with his family. Meadow and Maddie always have a great time together. They are growing up so fast.



Meadow always likes to sit with us on these chairs so she thought she should sit on Maddie's lap as well. Maddie wasn't too fond of that idea.

On Saturday the birthday festivities resumed over at Steve and Rita's house to celebrate Todd an Tyler's birthdays. Rita made an amazing meal with ribs and potatoes and Tonia had made a very yummy broccoli salad. I, of course, supplied the appetizer of guacomole and chips. It was really fun to watch Hope and Meadow interact. Hope is becoming so much more mobile. Meadow wasn't too excited that Hope wanted to play with all the toys she wanted to play with, but we were able to work on sharing. I even was able to capture a photo of the two of them sharing a toy.
In this photo, Hope looks like she is eyeing Meadow's toy.
Look at those gorgeous eyes!

Helping dad open his presents. He didn't actually get ziplock bags, but there was a message inside to go look out in the garage for his present. He got a reclining camping chair from his folks.


The birthday boys.
Meadow and Hope sharing a toy.
Meadow is in that stage where she wants to play with all the baby contraptions. It is so funny to see how big she is in this exercauser.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Pregnancy Ups and Downs

Just thought I would share a little bit of how my pregnancy is going. I am currently 17 weeks and showing pretty good now. I keep meaning to get a picture taken and we just haven't had the chance lately. It is amazing how different this pregnancy is than my pregnancy with Meadow. It seems to be going by really fast. Maybe it is because I have a little toddler I am running around after all day. Overall, it is going pretty well. I am still dealing with some lingering morning sickness that seems to go away by late morning and I am also pretty exhausted once evening rolls around. I have been trying to exercise as much as I can to try to keep my back and body in healthy shape. It would be so great if a prenatal yoga class was nearby, but I have some dvd's I try to do once in a while.

We had our 16 week appointment last week and got to hear the heartbeat again. It was running about 155 beats per minute. Meadow is really starting to understand that I have a baby in my tummy and will point to my belly and say "baby Mama". Too cute. I am getting a little nervous about how Meadow is going to handle the transition. I need to do some reading on the subject and also get some advice from other Mom's. I know we will try to include her in on as much as we can and have her be a helper when she wants to. We have another ultrasound on May 6th and we will most likely be able to find out the sex of the baby then. I am pretty excited to find out. I just loved knowing who I would be expecting with Meadow. The baby is also the size of an avacado. Pretty amazing how fast they grow.

Hopefully, I will gain some more energy over the next few weeks. We will be heading to my brother's wedding in about a month so it would be nice to be free of morning sickness and have some energy for the cross country trip. I had my bridesmaid dress fitted yesterday and it actually surprisingly zipped all the way up. The seamstress will be doing some major renovations to the dress, but it should look pretty respectable once it is all done. It was pretty comical to see the list of things she had to do. Hem dress, let out waist, take in bust, and shorten straps. I guess that is just part of the deal when you are petite and pregnant and in a wedding.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Warm Weather Returns

This past weekend we had some great weather again. So, we took advantage and spent most of thr weekend outdoors. On Thursday, we got Todd's birthday presents at the local bike shop. He has been eyeing a mountain bike there for a long time and we also wanted to get a cruiser bike so that we could put a bike seat on the back for Meadow to ride in. After getting the bikes we took a bike ride that evening to the park. It was so nice to be able to leave from our house and the leave the car at home. We only wish highway 26 had bike baths. That is one reason why using a bike trailer is not as feasible because the bike line is not very wide. But, at least the speed limit is 45. We also only ride on the busy road for a little ways because Wildwood park is less than a mile from our house. We also discovered we can just go across the road to the RV village and there is a trail that connects the two parks. Maybe someday when the economy improves we can petition for bike lines.

Here is Todd with his new toys. He refers to the one bike as his daddy bike.
Getting all geared up





Meeting Quinn

Last Tuesday, Meadow and I had a full day going into Portland. We went to OMSI for a few hours to play at their Science Playground. It was a nice coincidence to run into my friend Alicia and her two girls, Emma and Willow at OMSI. Meadow had a great time playing with girls and Alicia and I got to catch up. After grabbing some lunch, we headed out to go meet my friend Amy's baby. I was really curious to see Meadow's reaction to such a little baby. She seemed genuinely interested and did very well. She was very gentle and even wanted to lie down next to him. She was a bit tired and even requested to go night night in Quinn's crib. I didn't get a chance to get a picture of me holding Quinn because it only lasted about twenty seconds. Meadow immediately wanted to sit on my lap. I am sure she will have some more understanding once her little sibling arrives, but I think it is going to be quite the transition.

Quinn is about a month old in these pictures. It was really amazing to be around an infant again. That phase just goes by so fast. It was so nice to see Amy and hear how motherhood is going. The woman in the background is her sister who was visiting.








Monday, April 13, 2009

A Baking Triumph

A few weeks ago, I made my first homemade loaves of bread. I couldn't believe how easy it was and that it took me until I was 31 to accomplish this feat. I have to thank several friends who encouraged me and gave me the idea. (Beth, Jen and Janelle). I figured if you all could accomplish this feat, than I could do it too. Meadow and Todd both loved the result and I had made a yummy potato chowder to go with it that evening. I think we all agreed though that the bread went best with nuttella. I guess what doesn't go good with that yummy chocolate spread.

The finished product The loaves after rising

I am sure my ancestors are rolling over in their graves that I hadn't actually made homemade bread yet in my life time. I am sure I did help my Mom at some point when I was young, but I didn't feel like that counted. She used to make bread a fair amount when I was a kid. Another side note, I have made several quick breads in my life, but I do feel like making the traditional loaf of bread is a much greater feat.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Peeps, chocolate bunnies, and eggs, eggs, eggs.

Todd and I celebrated Easter with Meadow yesterday because he has to work today. We had the Easter bunny put a basket of treats outside her door in the morning. She had her first ever Peep, and Chocolate bunny. I was curious if she would want to eat the candy because they look like animals. But, that didn't stop her. She just dove right in and started eating. She was not very happy when we put the bunny away for later. We didn't think it would be a good idea for her to eat it all in one sitting.

Checking out her easter basket. The Easter bunny brought play dough, a mini etcha sketch, some stickers, a pinwheel and just a few pieces of candy.
Eating her first Peep.
She could have ate this all day.


Devouring the bunny.

Dying Easter Eggs. Note the cool smock she is wearing. My friend Jerri got this for her when she was a baby. This was definitely helpful in keeping her shirt from being dyed six different colors.
I love her eyes in this picture.

She also has the squinty Van Hee picture look.

What color should I pick next???



Since dying the eggs, Meadow has ate several of them. She loves to say egg, egg, egg. It was really fun starting these traditions with Meadow this year.

Celebrating Easter Last Weekend

Last weekend the Wubbena's came up with their new trailer to spend the night. They recently bought a 40 foot trailer to accomodate their growing family and they were all excited to try it out. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but if fit perfect in our driveway. In the evening we spent some time out in our drum/theatre room and watched a movie and had popcorn before everyone went to bed. The next morning we met up with Todd's parents at the Resort at the Mountain for a wonderful brunch. The weather was amazing and it was so nice to spend time with family and enjoy the beautiful weather on our deck.

Here is Todd and Meadow with our new deck chairs.


Meadow was smiling at her grandpa in this picture. My sister in law Tonia with her daughter Hope.



The family out to brunch. We had so many amazing things to eat. Crepes, waffles, shrimp, made to order omelets, wonderful fruit and anything else breakfast you can think of.


Hope playing with Meadow's kitchen.

The cousins