A wonderful day, despite the setbacks.

I turned 27 today. 27 on the 27th, the so-called Golden Birthday. I don't really know what that is supposed to mean, but that is what today is. And it has been an incredible day. One of those incredible days that just feels wonderful despite all the things that happen during that day. If I were to list the things that went wrong today (and just wait, I will) one might think this birthday had gone awry, but all the sucky things that happened just couldn't compete with the overall greatness of the day.

Let me tell you all about it.

We were able to leave the house today. That in and of itself is great. After almost two weeks of being pretty much home-bound by the snow, I was ready to leave the house. We have gone on small trips, but they have been terribly nerve-wracking, so it was a treat to just leave the house confidently. Plus, we were running out of toilet paper. Our day consisted mainly of errands. We had to go to PaperZone to get a self-healing cutting board, and then we had to go to Glazer's to look at camera bags for the new camera that came last night!! I want to get a camera bag that might also double as a diaper bag. Meaning, one that has a nice padded area for the camera, but also enough room for a couple diapers and stuff...I don't actually know what babies need when they are out on the town, I suppose we'll find that out soon enough. Anyway, we found one we both liked and would both be comfortable carrying around and we toyed with the idea of buying it, but we just couldn't commit to the $150 price tag. It felt a bit ludicrous to pay that much for a bag, even if it is nicely padded and nice to look at. Good call, cause we then found it on Amazon for half the price! Still too expensive, but we're thinking about it.

After this we went the auto parts place on Stone Way where we got BRAND NEW WINDSHIELD WIPERS.  It seriously feels like a whole new car when you can actually see out the windows. It seems like we buy windshield wipers really often, but my grandfather was the West Coast Rep for some wiper company and apparently you are supposed to buy them every 6-8 months, and we all know they get a lot of action up here in Seattle.

Then, we went to Northgate Mall. I hate Northgate Mall. It is kind of full of the dredges of society (not to be overly judgmental or anything). But for my birthday, I really really really wanted Rob to get some pants without holes in them, so we went to Macy's where we have a gift card and all the jeans were so ugly. And expensive! I find it interesting that even men's pants are so fancy. They have the euro-fade and the embellished pockets, and are just kind of silly. Nothing good, so we went to Nordstrom's where they at least had a couple pairs that seemed to be just jeans, till you look at the price tag that says $220! Call me what you will, but that is just insane. Denim should not cost $220. Thank goodness for the sale rack. So we got him some jeans. And by this time, I could feel the hanger coming on strong. Hanger is the anger one gets when one is hungry, and this manifests itself in pregnant ladies like nobody's business. So, I got some veggie mall sushi. I know, I was skeptical too, but man, it was delicious! Then we went to GameStop because we are both somewhat interested in the Shawn White Snowboarding game. I walked in for a second and had to leave because it absolutely smelled like nerd. It was gross.

So, since we were at Northgate, we thought we would just pop over to Target and get some essentials, things like toilet paper and aluminum foil. And I wanted to look at diapers. Well, at least, I feel like I should at least get acquainted with some of our options. We decided against cloth, because it turns out they are just as bad for the environment as traditional disposables, plus they are about a billion times grosser. So I want to look at the different eco-disposables like seventh generation, g-diapers, and nature baby. 

Anyway...we didn't get there. As we were walking on the non-icy, non-snowy, somewhat damp sidewalk, I turned my ankle, lost my balance, and totally ate shit in front of a bunch of people, shoving an older lady on my way down. So...that was fun. I don't know what hurt more, my rapidly swelling ankle or my pride. Falling in front of people sucks. At least I wasn't still at the mall.

So, we went home and iced my ankle. Let me tell you what is more fun than climbing three flights of stairs- climbing three flights of stairs while pregnant. More fun than that-climbing three flights of stairs while pregnant with only one good foot. The silver lining to the uncomfortable trip up the stairs was that our next store neighbor has a visible tv from the stairwell and they were watching some very hard-core pornography on a high def television. Ha.

The evening ended with a lovely meal at Circa out in West Seattle, which is our new favorite little restaurant. I could have stayed home to rest my ankle, but we hadn't been out of the house for such a long time, and it is my birthday afterall. 

Now we are back home, tinkering with the new camera. UPS dropped it off at 9:42 last night. Crazy. I think they are just trying to make up for all the packages that didn't get delivered in time for the holidays.

I'll post pictures once we figure out how to get them from the camera to the computer.

Also, Rob got us tickets to go see The Color Purple tomorrow.  I am excited! I love live theater, and appreciate that my wonderful, caring, husband (now nurse for all my maladies) is willing to sit through a performance with me. I think he'll like it!

Whew, that was a long one.

Love to you all, and thank you to everyone who sent me Birthday wishes.

Going a wee bit stir crazy...

Here are some more pictures...

Doesn't it kind of look like a giraffe escaped from the zoo? Is anyone else worried about the animals who aren't accustomed to this weather? They don't even have clothes.

This is the yard next door that is featured in the comparison shots in the two previous posts. Normally, when it snows in Seattle, snowman are just surrounded by grass, because there just isn't that much snow. In this shot you can see that there is plenty of snow left on the ground. I saw a five layer snowman on my little walk today. But I didn't have my camera. Note-this is with the 3X optical zoom...if UPS was delivering and we could take it with the 20X optical zoom, we could see it even better.

Here is proof that sunshine does not equal warmth or melting. 

So, I know that I should be relishing these moments of having nothing to do and nowhere to go, because very very soon, I will be up to my elbows in baby vomit and poop and pretty much at the disposal of the tiny human being who will soon be here. However, there are things I want to do, like go to the bookstore or go to fabric store. Somehow I am under the impression that I can make curtains for Futureman's room, so I want to go pick out some fabric. And while the main roads are slushy but drivable, our immediate little neighborhood roads are just compacted snow drifts. I walked to the little grocery and video store today, just to get out of the house, and it was incredibly difficult.  That may be the extra weight I am carrying around, or it might have been the slippery compact snow that currently passes for Seattle sidewalks. Either way, I am ready for the snow to melt. The snow, she is a beautiful jailor. 

But where is the snow going to go? Although I am no expert, I don't think that Seattle sewers are adequate to drain all this precipitation. When I was in college, we went on a biology field trip to a Sewage Treatment Facility (it was gross), but I remember the guy talking about how Portland had incredibly inadequate drainage for any excess rain or snow. I imagine it is the same here. Will there be flooding? Will sewage run freely down the streets? Like in the middle ages? At least we live at the top of a hill and not the bottom.

Here are some snow pictures.

Today is Rob's birthday. I won't say which one, because that makes him sad. However, it is his last birthday without a child, so I think he is (not so) secretly excited about that. We woke up this morning and it was even snowier than when we went to bed last night. This is definitely the snowiest we have ever seen Seattle, and Rob has been here almost ten years! 

For his birthday breakfast we walked up to a little place called Rooster's Breakfast Club and had a delicious meal and a lovely walk. The following pictures are mainly from the walk, also from the roof. Because that is where I take all my pictures. 

Now, we are watching the snow out the window, the snow at the Seahawks game, and drinking hot chocolate with lots of whip cream. All in all, it has been a quiet but lovely birthday for Rob. After the game, we'll watch Wall-E.  So here is something that just doesn't make any sense to me. Rob seems to have no interest in presents. He likes to space things out and enjoy them in a timely manner. This is very different from my style. I can barely keep myself from opening his presents right now, and I already know what they are! I am also ready to open the gifts that Rob wrapped for me and that are sitting under the tree right now. But I have to way 6 more days! I don't know. Anyway...Rob's real present is the one I currently keeping to myself. He can have this present sometime in early January or February

34 weeks pregnant in the snow.

This squirrel nearly jumped out of the tree to kill me. Not really, but there were definitely some gory images of squirrel violence running through my head.

Is there anything more Christmassy than snow covered red berries?

 I would have to say christmas lights on Palm Trees and pina coladas on an 87 degree day come pretty close. But maybe that's just me.

These people are just skiing on the sidewalks outside the zoo.

Rob tromping through the shards of snow.

Look how good we look in the snow!

This is our street. Those tracks are our driveway.

This is our garage. That's our car next to the snow-covered car.

Out our window. This is the same shot as in the last post. I don't know if you can tell how much more snow there is, but you can't even see the ground.

I know these snow pictures are silly to someone from say...the upper peninsula of Michigan or Upstate New York, but to this California girl, this is just crazy!

An Impending Storm

Several storms are brewing here on Francis Avenue North. The more immediate of the two is WINTER STORM '08, where the city of Seattle will be pummeled by up to eight inches of snow. Pummel is the word that KOMO news used, coincidentally it is one of my favorite words because it just implies so much. Sometimes a person just needs a good pummeling. In this case, the city of Seattle will be getting one.

This picture is pre-pummeling. The pummeling, along with 75 - 90(!) mph winds and lots of snow should be hitting the metro area sometime this evening and continuing into the early morning. Anyway...this picture is what I came home to after a cold week in California. I was afraid I wouldn't get home. I spent an extra four hours at the Oakland airport because SeaTac was operating with just one run-way. So, this is the base for the pummeling we expect tonight.

It has put a damper in my nursery plans. I was expecting several packages from Amazon.com yesterday. Several months ago, I accidentally signed up for Amazon Prime, which for $80 a year promises free two day shipping. I didn't mean to (or remember) signing up for this service...but I figured since I had it, I had better use it. Plus I found the changing table I wanted for almost $70 dollars less than BabiesRus (the world's most terrifying store. Ever) Anyway...the snow storm is interfering with my changing table, changing pad, changing pad cover, pack'n'play, and most importantly our new CAMERA!!! 

Now I never knew I would be so excited about all this baby stuff, but I did know that a new camera would make me very very happy. Even though I thought I wanted a digital SLR (drool) I played a little bit with my friend Drew's beautiful camera and found it to be a bit too much camera for me. Not to mention, they are very very expensive. With Drew's help, and the website dppreview.com, we decided on a Canon SX10. It is still a point and shoot, but it has way more pixels than the camera we are currently using (which has 4! Less than most camera phones these days) and 20x optical zoom, while the current camera has just 3x and then that horrible digital zoom.  And although I haven't actually used it yet, from what I understand, I will be able to control aperture and shutter speed and all that. So I am hoping it is a happy medium between an SLR and a point and shoot. The downside of this new camera is that I will no longer be able to blame my poor photography skills on the crappy camera. So I think I am going to have to start thinking about my composition a bit more. 

I used to feel like a fairly competent photographer. Although in all honesty,  I think I was better at the technical printing stuff than the composition and creative aspect of the art. So digital photography seems to put more focus on the creative aspect. Although I do plan on learning Photoshop so that I can kind of mimic the manipulation of the darkroom. Although I did just learn about RAW which I can't even process on my computer, but I should be able to do some photo shop manipulations...right? And I love the way Rob sees things through the lens, his eye is so much different than mine. But we will probably just use the new camera to document Futureman, and this blog will contain fewer pictures of our view, and more (possibly endless) pictures of the boy.

Now...here are some poorly shot (because of the camera or because of my skill?) images of the offisury or nuroffice. 
This is the crib that both my brother and I used, along with lots of my parent's friend's babies. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't pass current safety regulations, but a soda can doesn't fit through the bars and my mom pointed out that all of the babies who had used it are now fairly functional adults. I have some alphabet cards to hang on that wall. If we ever name the kid, maybe I will spell out his name with them. We are still taking suggestions.
A bit of a detail shot. I love bright colors. I think that is interesting because I tend to dress in pretty sedate clothing. I love to wear black but I like my surroundings to be colorful. Especially  in this gray Seattle environment.

This is the Ikea Poang chair we got on Craig's list for super cheap. It is clean and red. I love red furniture. I was pushing for red couches in the living room, but those would have taken an extra 10 to 12 weeks to be delivered, and in that case, my need for immediate gratification beat out my need for red furniture. It seems like life is a constant tug-o-war between wants and the desire to be free of such material wants. All this baby stuff. What do I need? What do I want? What does the baby need? 
Here is a limited selection of the baby's clothes. We have been fortunate enough to have several babies around that are slightly older than Futureman and therefore willing to share their clothing with him. We love that. I love sharing and passing things around. This whole baby thing seems to be a bit of a racket. Babies can't tell the difference between brand new and shared clothing or items. It is all new to them. I am trying to keep that in perspective as I shop for the baby. Used items make me happier than new items. Although we certainly have ALOT of blue clothing. Which is fine, its just interesting that we start gender stereotyping our children so early in life.

The Next Leche

Who knew I was such an amazing baker of Tres Leches. I certainly didn't. Anyway, after the successful trial cake, which we shared with as many friends as we could before it disappeared, I made the second one, which I decorated with some fresh mint and raspberries. Its a little silly, but I thought it looked festive. 

Pastel de Tres Leches y bebe.

Pastel de Tres Leches sin bebe.

Here is our poorly photographed ornament we got to honor Futureman. We are thinking about getting a tattoo that looks somewhat like this at some point.

And, the crib. The ball is just a placeholder. Eventually, that will be replaced by a baby.

La Leche League

We are taking birth classes with the organization Great Starts here in Seattle. Our teacher is Kim James and our textbook is by a well-known woman in the baby making business. Her name is Penny Simkin and she has written half a billion books on how to have a baby. It is an incredibly supportive and inclusive organization that addresses all birthing styles from the very natural to the ultra medical and every option in between.

Ideally, we are going to try this whole natural thing, but our teacher did make the epidural sound pretty nice, that is until she did a demonstration of all the wires that the pregnant lady gets attached to once any kind of epidural is administered.  Without having done this before, the visual aides made being tethered to a bed seem worse than the pain. But I guess we will learn if that is in fact the case soon enough. I don't want to be one of those people that makes sweeping statements with no idea of what reality is. So while the goal is natural, I don't want to absolutely rule out drugs. I do love drugs, after all.

 

Anyway,  it is almost our turn to bring snacks to baby class. It just happens to be the class all about breast feeding. So my genius idea is to make a Tres Leches Cake. This cake is a very popular cake in Central America, and I am pretty sure it originated in Nicaragua. My dad makes a delicious one, but I hadn't, so I decided to do a practice run this evening. The following pictures are a documentation of the process.

Final Product- for the one I am bringing to class, I will decorate with some raspberries and maybe some fresh mint. But since this is just a practice round, I went basic.

Step 1. Make a cake. Allow to cool completely.

Step 2. Drench with a mixture of milk, sweetened condensed milk, and evaporated milk.

Step 3. Allow the three milk mixture to sink in. 

Optional Step 4. Make a whipped topping with whipping cream, vanilla, and sugar. Spread.

This cake is very moist and very very rich.  It is one of those things where it is best to not look at the nutritional information. All that milk isn't exactly the fat free kind, but hey...it does have a ton of vitamin d and calcium. Very good things for pregnant ladies. So, I will make another one for our Thursday class, and hopefully it will be even better than this one. Rob said he loves it and that it compares to some of the tres leches we had in Costa Rica.

Here's the only problem- I don't actually like Tres Leches cake that much. Its just a bit too rich. And I think the wet texture of the cake is just a little weird. But other people seem to love it. And I do love the idea of bringing a three milk cake to a breast feeding class. 

One Trick Pony

So again, I have taken a few sunset pictures.  Our December 4:30 sunsets are just so beautiful, and now we have our Christmas tree. Even though Rob and I have been together for several Christmases now, this is our first tree together. I must say, the apartment smells fantastic. One thing I really like about Christmas trees is that they make the home smell so clean, even it if it isn't. We should keep a pine tree in the house all the time!

I am having a hard time reconciling my non-religious beliefs with my love of Christmas stuff. What am I celebrating? While I can respect the birth of Christ and what that means to many other people, it really doesn't mean much to me. So am I belittling the beliefs of others with my non-denominational tree. At home, we would call it our Hanukah bush, because we did at one point in my life celebrate both holidays in honor of my grandparents.  Or am I just celebrating the retail mindset of our culture? I am not even really concerned about the presents. I really just like the smell and feel of Christmas. But what about Futureman? What do we teach him? Do we teach him about Jesus? Do we teach him about Toys R Us? Do we teach him about giving and generosity because it is the right thing to do, and not just cause some guy taught some people good things? Although it seems to me that others take his teachings and twist them to best suit their own selfish means....but anyway, thats not for me to decide.

Here is a shot of my favorite ornament with the sunset in the background. I am also a fraud here. But since I am just as much not Buddhist as I am not Christian, I figured it couldn't do too much harm to hang a likeness of Buddha on a tree. Look at how benevolent he looks. Maybe I should read up on his teachings.
Here is Rob putting up some decorations. He tried to take some pictures of me, but I looked terrible and pregnant and tired and gross in all them. That led to some arguing about why such a talented photographer can't take a decent portrait. Also, a word of warning....don't make a pregnant lady feel even fatter and uglier than she feels already. It won't make you or her feel good.
Here we are with our first Christmas Tree. We got it at the Dunshee House. It is their annual fundraiser and raises money for the Seattle Aids Support Foundation. I would recommend it. Katie recommended it to us and we loved it. The volunteers were super helpful, until they tied the doors of our car shut. 
Rob with the tree coming out of his nose. Before we realized the car doors were tied shut. It was very sit-commy.

Thanksgiving

Obligatory Green Lake Picture

So much for individuality. One of these three hairy boys is my brother.

My dad in the hotel lobby. He was sick the whole time. What a bummer.

We had a different kind of Thanksgiving this year. Growing up, both sides of our family descended on Danville, and my immediate family became responsible for the happiness and sanity of everyone. As the years have gone by, that task has grown increasingly difficult and after last year's wedding circus, we all just need a good long break from that quality family time. So, this year, my family- mom, dad, Jeremy (plus two of his look-alike friends) came to Seattle where we had a delicious and stress free Thanksgiving from Whole Foods with Rob, Rob's mom Portia, my friend from school Jeyson, me, and of course, little nameless futureman. It was in a nice hotel room, where we enjoyed The Sandlot, one of the best movies ever made, and we played some Trivial Pursuit. We also learned that Jeremy apparently can't read. Well, he either can't read or pretended not to be able to read so that no one could understand the Trivial Pursuit questions. So he's either an idiot or a genius. We couldn't tell which.

I forgot to take more pictures. I should have, but I was lazy and tired and pregnant and blah blah blah. When I voiced my concern to my friend Brent and his girlfriend Benet about using the pregnancy excuse, they reminded me that there is only a finite amount of time to use it, and I might as well. So, thats it, I was too pregnant to take pictures.

I also forgot to take pictures when Brent and Benet were here in Seattle. We only had the chance to go out to dinner with them, but it was fun to spend some time with Benet, and wonderful to see Brent and dinner at Cafe Flora was ridiculously delicious. Yum.