1 Year Old

So much has changed since I last posted (in April--whoops!).  Our little buddy turned ONE!  He is a busy man.  He's not walking yet but is gaining more confidence with standing independently and I have a feeling one day he's just going to take off!  

Charlie's current favorite activities:

• Emptying bookshelves, drawers, baskets (including those containing freshly folded laundry), and best of all - the dog's water bowl.
• Throwing things off his high chair tray.  He started this when he realized Shadow ate whatever he threw over the edge.  Yesterday he started laughing when we went to pick things up.  (This phase can end any time now).  He even closes his eyes in anticipation of his cup hitting the floor.
• Waiting by the sliding door and saying "gawg" repeatedly every time Shadow goes into the back yard.  This is one of my favorites.
•  Eating.  This has always been a strength and C rarely disappoints.  His favorite foods right now are yogurt, spaghetti and peanut butter and jelly.  He will some times refuse all food and then if you bring a bowl over and tell him it's yogurt, he opens his mouth as wide as he can.  He usually ends each bite with "mmmmmm"  
• Sharing.  Toys, food, our phones.  If he can hand it to you, he will.  It's cute.
• Books are probably his favorite thing to hand us.  He almost always takes the book out of our hands once we finish reading it to him and then hands it back to us.  We still love books. 

We're gearing up for vacation!  We're taking a week to go see the Redwoods and Crater Lake.  Our dear friend Alana is meeting up with us for the Crater Lake adventure.  We can't wait!

End of an Era

I’m struggling today.  I made the decision last night to stop pumping for Charlie.  I’ve been working towards this for several weeks now but last night made the difficult decision to call it quits.  When I was pregnant, I never imagined weaning would be solely my decision.  I expected to have Charlie’s help and be able to follow his lead.  Instead, it came down on me.  And although I’m feeling a lot of guilt and sadness today, I know that will pass and I will get to enjoy the extra time with my family. 

When Charlie was born, my dreams of nursing took a backseat to his immediate health concerns.  We started “finger feeding” Charlie in the hospital but when Charlie was readmitted for light therapy for jaundice, the pediatric hospitalist was against this approach and said she would not discharge Charlie until he was either bottle feeding or nursing, despite the fact that his weight was stable.  Being overwhelmed at the moment, we gave Charlie a bottle of fortified breast milk so we could take him home.  Despite working with several different lactation consultants over the course of the next 8 weeks, it just wasn’t working.  I was devastated but wanted to do the next best thing and make sure Charlie continued to drink my milk, even if not in the way I dreamed of feeding him.  And here we are, 9 and a half months later.  I’ve pumped in airports and on airplanes, in moving cars and parking lots.  I’ve washed more bottles than I can to count and spent hours measuring, storing and freezing milk.  And I’d do it again.  My happy, thriving baby still has 450 six ounce bags of milk in the deep freeze – it should be enough to see him to his first birthday. 

  

Resources on exclusively pumping are lacking and lactation consultants don’t always seem to know what to tell moms.  I wanted to post here so that others would know that it is possible to exclusively breastfeed your baby even if he never latches.  Here are some of the helpful tidbits:

• These Medela Pump and Save bags are nice because you can pump directly into them and save yourself from a little bottle washing BUT they don’t freeze flatly so if you’re pumping a lot and plan to freeze a lot, don’t use these.  I love the Target Up and Up brand bags.    

•  I credit this video to my successful pumping experience and stellar supply.  There are a lot of other great resources on this site.  http://newborns.stanford.edu/Breastfeeding/MaxProduction.html

• Get a good pump.  They’re expensive but now insurance companies often cover them.  I used this one.    http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/573/pump-in-style-advanced  I literally burned one out and Medela’s amazing customer service overnighted me a brand new one.  
  

• KellyMom.  THE best online resource for all things breastfeeding.  They even have a special page for pumping.  http://kellymom.com/category/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/

               

I could go on and on about the logistical things but what I’ve learned most from this experience is that we need to do what is best for our children, ourselves and our situations and not judge the choices others make for their families.  We’re all doing the best we can within our circumstances and we need to forgive ourselves when things aren’t the way we imagined they would be. 

8 Month Update

So this week, Charlie learned how to whine.  It was the cutest thing I'd seen all week until I realized he wasn't stopping.  If I put him in his high chair for breakfast/lunch/dinner and he doesn't have food in his mouth in 3 seconds or less?  WHINE.  If he wants a toy that is just slightly out of reach?  WHINE.  I put him on the changing table to change his diaper?  WHINE.  I leave the room (gasp) without him?  WHINE. I'm trying to make a big deal about every time he's not whining (which is not that often) so hopefully he gets the clue that whining is not cool.  I know it's just his way of communicating so I'm trying to say things like, "Oh, you're hungry, aren't you?  You want to eat.  I'm making your food right now"  And then he continues to whine...but I'm hoping MAYBE it will help in the long run.  :)

Despite the whining, he's the cutest thing ever.  He's really into smiling so big that his eyes squint.  He lights up when Andy gets home from work and always gives him a big smile.  Charlie can officially roll BOTH ways!  We're so grateful!  For a week or so he was rolling onto his tummy at night and waking up unhappy because he felt stuck so now that he's able to get comfortable on his own, we're all happier.  This also means he's much more tolerant of spending time on his tummy which is good for his range of motion that we have been working on in physical therapy.  He is really working on lifting up that big ol' noggin of his higher and higher when he's on his tummy and I think he'll be moving soon.
I put him down the other day so I could get dinner started and I went back to check on him and he'd rotated himself and moved at least a foot...I'm not exactly sure how he did it but I'm thinking he just rolled over a couple of times in a row.  He likes going anywhere he can ride in a shopping cart.  He's been smiling at the store clerks and old ladies.  And he likes paper.  Shopping lists seem to be his favorite.  He's also starting to make more sounds.  His favorite this week is HA.  He's sleeping through the night most of the time, usually 10-11 hours.  When he is up at night, I'm reminded how quickly I adapted to him sleeping through the night!  I love when he sleeps through the night because he seems to feel better when he wakes up (and we do, too) but I don't mind the quiet time to snuggle with him either.     

Wearing his shirt on his head!

Our physical therapy appointments are becoming less frequent and have been told that Charlie doesn't need any more sessions unless we feel it would be beneficial.  His head shape has really improved and we're confident he will not need any more intervention.  His neck is still a little tight but as he's moving more on his own, that continues to get better, as well.  Since torticollis and reflux are related, we're hopeful that the strengthening of his neck will also help with his reflux.  We are on our second attempt to wean Charlie off of his medication.  We first tried a month ago and realized within a few days that he still needed the medication.

We're still waiting for teeth but Charlie has two on the bottom that seem to be ready to poke through...but we've thought that for months now!  He's continuing to eat well.  This boy likes his food.  His favorites are sweet potatoes and peaches.  He loves yogurt, too.  He's eating peaches as quickly as I can get them pureed!  I've taken to baking an oven full of sweet potatoes at a time.  I'm a little worried about feeding him as a teenager if this appetite keeps up.  :)  He's a bit of a texture snob and doesn't want much to do with anything that isn't perfectly smooth.  He's starting to try some finger foods but hasn't quite mastered the hand/mouth coordination but he's getting closer.  I love seeing him try new things.  We've tried every sippy cup I could find but today I offered him a regular cup and he couldn't get enough.  It was a little messy (ok, a lot) but he kept wanting more...and of course wanted to do it all by himself.  Here's a video of him trying out a rice cracker.

Charlie LOVES books.  My little reader.

Charlie (And Andy and I) loved having Grandpa and Grandma Rink visit a few weeks ago and Grandpa and Grandma Albrecht arrive on Tuesday.  We're planning on visiting Iowa for Charlie's 1st Birthday in July.  1st Birthday.  Wow.  My little boy is growing up so quickly!

6 Months Old!

I'm 6 Months Old! 

We started off 2013 with a half birthday!  YAY CHARLIE!  He is growing like crazy and becoming more interested in the world around him every day.  He had his 6 month check up today and weighed 20 pounds and 9 ounces and was 27 and a half inches long.  Big boy!  His check up went really well and all looks great.  Charlie is continuing to go to physical therapy twice a week.  He favored his left side for quite a while and that caused a flat spot on the back of his head. We are working on improving his range of motion and his head is rounding out a little.  Hopefully hair will cover any "imperfections" -- of course I think he's perfect!  :)

Charlie loves to sit and is really balancing well.  His new thing is standing.  With our help, he can get himself on his feet and he always grins -- he's so proud of himself!  The doctor thinks he sees some evidence that teeth are coming soon.  Charlie has been drooling for months now and has been gnawing on his hands lately.  He also likes to snuggle and be rocked and "talk" to us while he plays with our faces.  It's so cute.  While we were in Iowa over Thanksgiving, Grandma Kathi figured out that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has a calming effect on Charlie.  It still does and it has to be Rudolph...other songs some times work but none as well as that damn reindeer.  So, you'll hear that song coming from our house about 30 times a day.   

Right around Christmas, we offered Charlie some solid food.  He was not too impressed at first but after spoon feeding him milk for a few days, he had a new interest in the solid food and can't get enough of it now!  So far he's tried applesauce, pears, bananas and butternut squash.  I roasted a squash up this weekend and threw it in the food processor.  It made so much!  All 3 of us had some and then I divided the leftovers into ice cube trays and now we have a bag full of squash in the freezer for Charlie.  Shadow is fond of Charlie's new eating habits and has claimed the space right next to C's chair for herself.  Luckily there isn't anything to drop yet but every once in a while, Charlie will reach over to touch her and Shadow is ready to clean off his little fingers!  

Four Months Old!

 

The little man has been busy!  In October, he made his first trip to Iowa.  He did so well flying and had so many people ready to love him up once he landed.  We were able to meet up with lots of friends and family and Charlie loved meeting everyone!  A special highlight was Charlie meeting his great-grandma.  It was precious.

The three of us spent a few days in Cresco before Andy had to fly back for work and then Charlie and I stayed for a few extra days to visit his Cedar Rapids grandpa and grandma. 

Charlie had his 4 month check-up today.  He's weighing in at 16 pounds, 15 and a half ounces and is 26 inches long.  He's a big boy -- in the 80% for both his height and weight.  He gave us the OK to start on solids if we wanted, mostly because it acts as a sponge and can help with reflux, but I think we'll hold off for a while longer.  I really wanted to wait until 6 months to start, especially since he was an early arrival. I'll ask our home visit nurse for her thoughts since she has so much experience with preemies.  Other than some minor cosmetic things like cradle cap, dry skin and a slightly misshaped head (he really likes to lay with his head to the right!), Charlie is a healthy little boy and we're so grateful for that.

We're STILL trying to develop a routine and we're getting there.  I try to get out for a walk when the weather is nice.  It's good for all of us and Shadow gets excited when I start bundling Charlie up because she knows we're going for a W-A-L-K.  I joined a group for stay-at-home moms and Charlie and I have gone to a couple of activities with them which has been nice.  

Charlie's new favorite thing is sitting up...with assistance of course.  Andy says he looks like a bobble head.  It's really cute to watch him look around and show an interest in things.  He's must more vocal than he was a month ago and is smiling often.  

One last thing...November is Prematurity Awareness Month.  I would appreciate you taking the time to click on the link below and contact your representative and ask them to support the Preemie Reauthorization Act.  It provides funding for research and education. 

Take Action to Support Passage of the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2679)

Two Months Old!

 

Our little boy is already two months old!  He's growing and changing every day.  At his 2 month doctor's appointment today, he weighed in at 12 pounds, 1 ounce and was 23 inches long.  He has officially doubled his birth weight!  His weight puts him at the 60% for his age and his height is at the 50%.

Charlie is having some reflux symptoms which are making him really uncomfortable.  We tried all the options that did not involve medication but today, the doctor wrote him a prescription so we're really hoping this helps give the little guy some relief.  It's so hard to see him in pain and not be able to do anything about it.  He also had his first set of vaccines today and did well.  I was really dreading today and he was a champ.  He was hurting a little this afternoon but it hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected!

Charlie is doing really well with holding his head up and loves looking all around while we walk.  He's batting at toys and moves his arms and legs quite a bit.  The doctor said Charlie is right where he expects him to be developmentally.  As far as development goes, he is somewhere between his adjusted age of 3 1/2 weeks (his age had he been full-term) and his chronological age.

We are very proud of how far Charlie has come in the past 2 months! 

One Month Old!

Charlie is already one month old!  He's doing well -- eating and growing.  We are lucky to have a nurse from the health department come to visit us to check on Charlie.  At first she was coming every week but now she's visiting every two weeks.  She weighs him and checks his blood oxygen levels and answers any questions we have.  It's really reassuring to have her come and check on Charlie.  When he gets a little older, the nurse will be able to evaluate him to see if he is in need of any extra help with his development.   

Charlie and I are doing our best to get on a schedule but we haven't quite found our groove yet!  He's eating 7 or 8 times a day and sleeps a majority of the day...he might be a night owl like his momma!  Early in the morning and then again later in the afternoon and evening, he's more awake and alert.  Although I'd like for him to get on more of a day/night schedule, his current pattern has him awake when Andy is home, so that part is nice.

Charlie enjoys being on his tummy and tries to push himself up with his legs and feet.

When he's awake, he loves sitting in his Boppy and looking around the room and find the sun shining through the windows or the light reflecting on the walls.  He loves his baths, hates being cold and when you make him stop eating to burp.  Charlie really seems to want to nurse but we need a little help getting coordinated and dealing with some habits he's picked up from bottle feeding, so we're hoping the nurse can help us with that during her visit on Monday.  In the past few days, he's really shown an interest in breastfeeding and this is a huge change and gives me hope that it might still happen!  We were told once he was closer to his due date, he would develop the mental organization needed to nurse and that seems to be true.  In the meantime, I'm continuing to pump breast milk for him -- it's tiring and I'd love to be done with full-time pumping so fingers are crossed. 

Shadow is doing really well as big sister.  She is gentle with Charlie and is very protective.  Since we don't have any company right now, she's back to sleeping in "her" room but wakes up and comes to find Charlie every time he wakes up at night.  Once she sees that I'm taking care of him, she either curls up at the end of our bed or goes back to her room.  It's really cute.  She also likes to lay next to him when he's on the floor.  Andy is trying to continue going on weekend hikes with her so she gets out for some exercise and one-on-one time since she's quickly realizing she has to wait until Charlie is taken care of before she gets what she wants!

Andy seems to really love being a dad...and he's a good one!  He gets up with Charlie for his early morning feeding before he goes to work and they like to snuggle in the evening.  Andy has been reading to Charlie every day...I caught him reading an article to him about quantum mechanics the other day.  When I raised my eyebrows at him, Andy reminded me that it doesn't matter what he reads to Charlie as long as he reads to him!       

I'm loving mommyhood and feel like I'm adjusting pretty well.  Andy helps out a ton by handling that early feeding for me and lets me sleep as much I need on the weekends.  He always offers to help me during the night, too, but since he has to go to work, I try to handle the middle of night feeds on my own.  There have been a few times though that he must be able to tell how tired I am and he just tells me he'll be getting up to help me.  By the time I feed Charlie and pump for his next feeding, it can be an hour and a half process so having the help really cuts down on my awake time.  Between the morning feedings when Charlie is napping, I try to catch up on the laundry and dishes (every thing else currently being neglected!) and then between afternoon feedings, I try to nap.  I've been trying to get out of the house once or twice a week - usually just to grab groceries or run other errands but it's good to get out.  Once Charlie is a little older and stronger, I'm sure we'll be out and about more but for right now, I just want to keep the germs away as much as we can and prefer to leave him home with Andy instead of take him out.

Thanks for all of the well-wishes, calls, emails and gifts for Charlie.  We are so lucky to have such loving and generous family and friends.

Charlie's Birth Story

Our baby boy came early.  We're not sure why but Monday morning, around 4am, my water broke.  I was admitted to the hospital and met with the on-call doctor.  She said she wanted me on hospital bed rest and wanted to try to see if I could make it another 2 days to a week.  As I started to prepare myself for that, shift change happened and a new doctor came on-call.  She said that due to the increased risk of infection, she would prefer we let nature take its course and get me delivered since the chances of infection increase as time passes.  She also made it clear that if labor didn't kick in naturally, she wanted to start pitocin.  Throughout my pregnancy, I was adamant about not getting pitocin.  I'd heard horror stories about it and wanted to avoid it.  While talking to the nurses, they said that pitocin can be used in very small doses to kick start labor and it does not necessarily have to be an evil thing.  So, I was feeling more confident that if pitocin was needed, it would be OK.  Andy and I discussed transferring to a larger hospital with a Level 3 NICU (Corvallis has a Level 2).  Part of us thought we were crazy not to.  Charlie might need lots of assistance with his breathing since he would be born at 34 weeks and 4 days.  We went back and forth and struggled to make the "right" decision.  Finally, Andy said he really could go either way so I told him my gut said to stay - stay close to home, with hospital staff we trusted.  So we stayed.

While all that was going on, labor started.  I walked the halls and sat on the birthing ball, soaked in the jacuzzi and kept breathing.  By the time I was 7 centimeters, I had an epidural and finally relaxed.  Andy napped.  I cracked jokes with the nurses.  Things were good.

Right as I was reaching 10 centimeters, while I was having a contraction, Charlie's heart rate dropped and then the monitors lost his heartbeat.  Two nurses tried to find it but couldn't.  I heard nurses saying things like, "make sure the doctor is on her way" and "is there anyone else that can put in an internal monitor?"  I was terrified.  The hospital had an on-call midwife who was at the hospital and rushed in and placed an internal monitor on Charlie.  His heartbeat wasn't sounding normal.  It would beat twice and then there would be a long pause.  The nurses wanted to try another monitor, saying that sometimes, the monitor wires are defective.  The second monitor picked up a beautiful, strong heartbeat.

As the doctor arrived and I was ready to deliver, a set of twins were also on their way and the pediatric team of a NICU doctor and nurse and respiratory therapist were tied up with them.  The doctor waited for the nurses to get the room set up for delivery and joked that she was stalling so the team could get over to our room.  I told her I was happy to wait until Charlie's team was standing by - the epidural came in handy.  After 45 minutes, Charlie was born and other than one good cry, was either squeaky or quiet.  He was taken straight to the warming table and the team worked to help him breathe.  Before knowing how he was doing, they took him to the NICU to work on him some more.  Andy looked at me and I knew he was looking for confirmation that what I'd told him throughout my pregnancy was still true - that if the baby was taken out of the room for any reason, he was to go with him. I was fine but I didn't know about Charlie.  I wanted Andy to be there with him.  The doctor and nurses cleaned me up and updated me on Charlie when they found out something new.  The updates were brief and not with the detail I wanted.  My amazing nurse went down to the NICU for me and took a few photos and soaked up all the information she could for me.  He was doing OK, on CPAP and oxygen to help him with his breathing, but otherwise doing well. He weighed an even 6 pounds and I could see him holding Andy's finger in a photo that the nurse took for me.

 After 2 hours, I was moved to the postpartum area of the floor.  On the way, I was able to stop and see and hold Charlie.  By that time, he was off his CPAP and oxygen.  He was squished and red and had a huge cone head and was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

After two days in the hospital, things were looking good.  We had learned to how to "finger feed" Charlie using a tube, syringe and our finger and his weight was doing well.  He passed his car seat test and hearing screening, and was negative for jaundice and infection.  We were schooled on a detailed feeding plan that involved supplementing with high calorie formula and fortifiers for my breast milk.  While in the hospital, we met with a lactation consultant several times.  She thought that due to Charlie's prematurity, he didn't yet know how to suck and swallow and would need to "train" in order to do this well and that it might take until his due date for him to be able to nurse without help.  I've been able to provide Charlie with 100% fortified breast milk for a few days now which thrills me even though it's a long process to be able to do that.  Three years to the day after Andy proposed, we took our little boy home.

At his check up the next day, we found out his bilirubin and it was too high  and Charlie needed to be re-admitted to the hospital for light therapy.  He spent around 12 hours resting comfortably in what the nurses called his "space suit".  He was finally released from the hospital yesterday after a very frustrating day of doctors seeming to contradict each other and themselves and sending us very confusing messages.

We are ridiculously smitten with our little peanut and cannot believe he is here and doing so well.  More soon.

30 Weeks Down!

We had our 30 week check-up today and all looks good!  Baby's heartbeat was 148 and he is measuring at 32 weeks so within the normal range.  My gestational diabetes test came back negative and my blood pressure is holding steady at 120/81.  The doctor we saw today said it seems that the little guy is transverse (laying sideways) but said that he still has plenty of room to move around so he could change positions multiple times before he's done growing.  And boy, is he growing....

Nursery Sneak Peek

Overall, the pregnancy is continuing to go well.  I've finally recovered from the nausea, which unfortunately means I've gained weight.  My blood pressure, etc continue to look really good so I'm hoping it stays that way.  I'm feeling pretty good overall, but I do tend to be in bed by about 9 every night! Luckily, even though the little guy is active, he's not keeping me up at night...yet!  The three trips to the bathroom each night are another story...

Since I've been feeling pretty good, I've been working on getting the little man's nursery ready.   It's coming along!  Here are some photos.

I sewed a dinosaur cover for the changing table!

Changing Table

Crib (put together with Grandpa-To-Be Jim's help!) and Quilt

Andy's favorite nursery item:  Dino Mobile.  He says if the baby doesn't like it, he's putting it above his side of the bed.

Close up of the quilt. 

And an obligatory belly shot.  26 weeks!

I have one more monthly OB appointment, then I switch to every two weeks.  I'll continue to see my OB monthly and during the other appointments, I will see one of the other 3 OBs in the practice so that I'll get to meet them in case they end up being on-call when I deliver. 

Andy and I went on the hospital tour and were able to see the labor and delivery and recovery rooms, along with the small NICU they have at the Corvallis hospital.  Any conditions that are too serious for the local hospital to handle are transferred to Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland.  My doctor said that if I would deliver before 36 weeks (with enough warning), I would be transferred up to Portland for delivery so the baby gets the extra care needed right away.  I wish there was a larger hospital closer but was reassured to find out that there is always a pediatric hospitalist on duty at the Corvallis hospital, so, should the need arise, there will be someone there to help the little guy immediately. 

Andy has been busy at work and just got back from his 3rd trip to San Diego in just over 6 weeks.  He's ready to be home for a while, I think.  There aren't any business trips on the horizon, so hopefully, he'll get to stay home for a while.

16 Week Baby Appointment

Baby Poppy is 16 weeks along as of today!  We had an appointment this morning and were able to hear the heartbeat again and it was loud and strong -- 150 beats per minute.  Dr. said all looks great!  We were able to schedule our 20 week ultrasound today so on March 21st, we'll know whether Poppy is a boy or a girl! 

This past weekend, we finally went and bought furniture for the downstairs living room.  We got rid of lots of furniture when we moved West so we knew we'd need to find new things once we had a house.  After lots of testing (sitting and lounging on a bunch of couches), we found a couch and love seat.  We'll be happy to have a place to sit downstairs! 

All About Poppy

So, when I told Andy I was pregnant, we read that the baby was the size of a poppy seed.  Since then, we've been referring to the baby as Poppy.  The doctor confirmed the pregnancy at 7 weeks and we had an appointment again yesterday just shy of 12 weeks where we heard the heartbeat and had an ultrasound.  Due date is set for August 10th.  I've been able to maintain my weight during the first three months (thank you, nausea!) so I'm still down 40+ pounds from my highest weight so YAY!  My blood pressure was a little high when the doctor took it at 7 weeks but was back to normal yesterday -- I'm pretty sure my nervousness at the first appointment was to blame.      

Overall, I'm feeling OK.  I've had some nausea but it seems to be getting better.  I had bronchitis in December and couldn't take anything because of Poppy and have another cold again now.  I'm sure working with 5 year olds doesn't help.  I'm tired almost all of the time!  

7 weeks

12 weeks

Our other baby is enjoying her new house and the new windows with views of the neighborhood.  She likes to lay on our bed during the day and look out the second story window. She's SO cute!  :)

Moving Right Along

We almost have a new house.  Despite some last minute struggles to get the mortgage company to get their act together, we'll have keys on Tuesday - only a day after planned.  We started packing today and are relieved that we don't have to pack it too well since most of it will just go over in the car.  Right now the plan is to take a load or two over each day and then move the furniture next Saturday and officially be moved in.  We have the townhouse until the end of the month so we're not in any rush to get it all cleared out and cleaned up.  I'm glad this is my last week of work before the holidays so I'll have plenty of time to get things unpacked and organized. 

Return to the Homeland

Last weekend we went back to Iowa for Andy's sister's fabulous wedding.  We flew in late Thursday and spent the night in Cedar Rapids with my mom and dad.  On Friday, we had lunch in Cedar Falls with my sister, Jackie, and then went up to Rochester to meet some of Andy's friends from IBM for dinner and drinks.  We were lucky to spend Friday and Saturday night at Jim and Val's house.  

Amanda and Cody's wedding was wonderful but before we knew it, it was time to head home again.  We drove back to Cedar Rapids and met our great friend, Alana, for brunch and then spent the rest of Sunday with my mom and dad before taking off early Monday morning.  It was a great trip but way too fast.  It went by so quickly, I kept forgetting to take pictures but here are two...

Here's one that illustrates what happens when my husband gets bored in a church:

 That's right.  He finds the word "beer" in the bible.  

On Sunday in Cedar Rapids, we went to Barnes and Noble so I could pick up another book for the trip back and realized we were just going to miss one of my favorite politicians (PLEASE note sarcasm).

I was lucky enough to have the entire week off from work.  Andy worked a short day on Tuesday and then a full day Wednesday.  I checked in with the loan officer at the bank and it looks like things are right on track so we're still hoping to close by December 12th.  

We had a mini-giving here yesterday and have been eating leftovers ever since.  Andy went over to Corvallis tonight for "gaming" with some co-workers.  I was told it might be an all-nighter so we'll see what time he gets home.  

Is My Husband Dream Barking!?!

The house passed inspection with flying colors.  There are a few fix-it projects and cosmetic issues which we already knew about.  The loan application is completed and in the mail so we're playing the waiting game right now.  Nothing else to do!  I suppose I could start packing...

Other than that, we're just plugging along.  The weather is turning a little colder and a little rainier but not as much as I expected.  There are still leaves on some of the trees and dandelions in the yard so winter has not arrived. 

We're heading back to Iowa this weekend for Andy's sister's wedding!  It's going to be a crazy fast trip since Andy doesn't have any  real vacation time so we're flying out Thursday afternoon and back on Monday.  Even though it will be a quick trip for us, we've never left Shadow for that many days with the dog sitter so we'll see how she does. 

This morning, I was woken up by what I call "dream barking"...that little puppy barking, paw twitching thing that sleeping dogs tend to do.  In my just-woke-up-haze, I wondered what Andy was dreaming about but then I woke up enough to look over and see Shadow laying on Andy's side of the bed, her head on his pillow, snoring and dreaming.   

Home Sweet Home (Hopefully)

We are officially one step closer to home ownership!  We just received word that our offer was accepted and we're now waiting for a home inspection...and of course, a loan from the bank.

A sneak peek at our new digs (fingers crossed!)

Entry/Living Room -- archway leads into the dining room/kitchen

Dining Room

So excited to have a kitchen that is bigger than a closet. 

Laundry room, 1/2 bath and office are off of the kitchen. 

The 3 bedrooms are upstairs...here is the master bedroom.  

 At the end of the hallway upstairs, there is this "bonus room" above the garage.  Andy is excited about having a place to put his speakers. I am excited that he's already thinking about how to hide all the wires and cords (I HATE those things).  The room has a funny shape but leads out to a second story deck which currently offers a nice mountain view...we're thinking this might go away as the neighborhood builds up, but for now, it's lovely.   

The house isn't perfect...there is some sloppy painting in a few rooms (it looks like Andy and I painted!), there isn't any hardware on any of the kitchen or bathroom cupboards, the yard isn't fenced, etc. but we like the layout and a lot of other things about it...and what we don't like, we know we can fix.  The yard is pretty bare which we're actually happy about (a lot of people have A LOT of landscaping) and there is a large side yard that is perfect for a garden.  We also have an RV pad...for the RV we don't have and don't plan on owning but it's a big plus around here.

So, even though we didn't even unpack all of our boxes, I'm regretting all the ones we did unpack. 

At least we still have the boxes.

Birthday Weekend

We used Andy's birthday as an excuse to finally go up to Portland to explore.  We had a great weekend and loved Portland.  Here are some highlights...

We started the weekend off with a birthday dinner at Deschutes Brewery.  The food was good, and I hear the beer was too.  Andy's favorite part, however, was the discovery of Sweet Aardvark's Aardvark Habanero Sauce.

After dinner we walked just a few blocks to hit Powell's City of Books.  This place is 68,000 square feet and has 9 rooms full of new and used books.  We spent a couple hours in there and could have spent much longer.  We'll definitely be going back!



On Saturday we got up and went to the Portland Japanese Gardens.  They are GORGEOUS.  They claim to be the most beautiful Japanese gardens outside of Japan and I can see why they get the bragging rights.

After the gardens, we headed to the Portland Saturday Market.  There are all kinds of local artists (including a lady who makes animal shaped whistles) selling just about anything you can imagine (see previous comment about the whistles).  Andy was impressed with the diverse selection of food and my adventurous eater tried the Himalayan food stand. 

 I'm not sure what all of that is, but according to Andy, it was "not too shabby" but noted that it would have been even tastier with the Aardvark sauce.