ultrasound and weekend

so, this weekend was busy... i didn't get much of an opportunity to fill everyone in on the ultrasound. so Friday was my sister's birthday (happy birthday bean!!) we all went out to lunch together... it was fun. we went to this new teryaki place. marco and i shared a shrimp tempura roll (oh so yummy!!... i think it was his first sushi ever... even though it was kind of fake sushi cause it's cooked) and then had some chicken teryaki. we had a little while to kill before our ultrasound appointment so we went to a baby store just around the corner. it was really cute. i never realized that there was so much cool baby stuff out there. we perused the store for a while and then headed up to the office...

my bladder was getting pretty full by now (they've got that drink 16 oz 1 hr before and don't pee rule) so we waited in the office a little bit and then were called back. the ultrasound tech was so nice. i still think that being prego is a little surreal. and looking at that monitor and seeing a baby inside of me is so weird. so she asks if we want to know the sex (YES!! i want to shop!) and then begins... we see the brain and the heart and the stomach and bladder and where the umbilical cord attaches to the baby.... she does measuring gets all the "business" stuff out of the way. she kept trying to get a good profile or a full frontal face view, but our little girl kept putting her arms up in front of her face.... hiding from us. a little camera shy. it was kinda cute. she ended up getting a good one. and then when she was trying for the sex she had her legs crossed and was hiding in the shadow of my belly button... the lady had to squirt the goo in my belly button to get rid of the shadow, and she kept pushing on my belly to get the baby to move... and she finally did and the tech said that she was 99.9% sure it was a girl (i don't think that they can say 100% sure) Marco wanted a boy, but he's really happy with our little girl.

This weekend was absolutely beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest. the sun was shining.... it was wonderful. Saturday morning we were all up before 7... had some breakfast and then got to work.... marco and I are living in the "multi-purpose" room in my parents house.... they've got an extra fridge, a freezer, the food storage, all my mom's craft stuff, and just a bunch of other stuff they've saved up over the past how many ever years.... so last week TJ and Marco cleaned out the garage, organized all the stuff that was in there and got rid of a bunch of junk. so we moved the extra fridge and freezer out there, so that everyone can have access to them all the time, and we also moved all (10) rolling shelves out to the garage (our goal is to eventually turn the multi purpose area into two bedrooms and a living area) everything is organized so well out in the garage now that we have space for the smart, MG, hummer, and tahoe plus all the other stuff that's out there (it's not exactly a normal sized garage.... it's got 5 bays my parents have a lot of stuff) anyway it also makes parking in the "driveway" a lot easier too...cause who knows how many vehicles we were trying to stuff out there..... between my parents, TJ and stef and Marco and I... things get a little crowded around here sometimes. anyway, it felt really good to get all that stuff done....

My mom and i took off around 11 and went up to canada and went to lunch and shopping with my great aunt (she's over visiting from holland... my opa (her brother) passed away from cancer two weeks ago, so she was here to be with him.... and now she's going to go to hawaii with my parents later this week) shopping was fun... we went to the Bay and i got 2 cute new purses and then an outfit for the baby girl. Leoni and my mom got some clothes for their trip and some little gifts for my cousin portia.... it was her birthday last week, and she got baptized saturday night... so we went back to opa's house and they got ready to go to the baptism, and i got ready to head back home to be with my amor. it was fun.... a beautiful satrurday.

so now it's monday morning.... and it's gray... and drizzling.... a typical washington spring day.

we found out yesterday afternoon......

dreams and emotions

so, i don't know if it's because i've been sick lately and have slept really poorly, or if it is because of the pregnancy.... but i have had some funky dreams lately... the other day i dreamed that i was having triplets, two boys and one girl, and that one of the boys had two left feet. getting him shoes was a real hassle.
not only have i been having strange dreams... my emotions have been haywire... just before marco and i left raleigh, a lady that we knew who was pregnant, went in for an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby, and the baby no longer had a heartbeat. it was such a sad thing. anyway, we're going to find out the sex of the baby this friday... which i am so excited about!! I can't wait to shop pink or blue! but being this pregnant emotional freak-a-zoid i keep worrying that everything bad that could possibly happen is going to. I just need to remember to keep breathing.

a beautiful day in the neighborhood

so it is an absolutely gorgeous day here in the PNW. these are the kind of days that i love about here.... it's in the high 60's (which doesn't seem like much, but trust me, it's enough for my freckles to start coming out!!). Today I went to the gym, did the costco shopping (gotta love costco!) and then came home had a bbq lunch which included watermelon (mmmm good) and then kicked it on the back porch for a little, letting my sun kisses shine. Cause i'm a serious shade of porcelain. Kayla and I played on the hammock a little, I washed the car (and made the tires all shiny... that is my favorite part!) and then Marco got his hair cut (sexy!!) now we're just getting ready to head over to the birthday bash/family reunion party thingy. i really don't know what to call it, but whatever it is we're going!

Getting caught up .... Part 4 - Holvander Park

The same weekend that TJ and Stef went out of town we made a trip to Holvander park. It was fun. I don't really know much about it (the park that is) but it's cool... we used to have church gatherings there all the time, and the Highland games are held there every year.... they've got a play area for the kids, a tower that you can climb up and look out over the park.... some animals ... chickens, geese, rabits, sometimes pigs..... it's pretty cool.. this rooster was incredibly tame... kayla put her hand in the cage and would play with its beek and it's red gobbley thing... it amazed me cause once upon a time we had this rooster named mascara that was the meanest thing ever... we would have to go to gather the eggs with a shovel or a 2x4 just in case he came chasing after you.

Nanna told Hayden a story about a boy who went to the park with his family one day... they were resting in between games of kicking the ball around.

Hayden really didn't want to share.... he kept telling Nanna that he wasn't any good at it.... he wanted the ball all to himself. It was pretty funny.... but Nanna kept at him and by the end he was sharing very nicely.

Here is sweet Kayla making fish lips.... this is how she comes at you when she wants kisses.... it's pretty adorable!

Here the kids are taking another break. This was a huge fireplace at the covered eating area thingy.... it had these two tunnels on either side of the fireplace that the kids loved climbing thru.

Getting caught up .... Part 3 - The Lovely Beach

Really, our beach here is NOT wonderful by any means.... it's gray, and cold, and extremely rocky... While TJ and Stef were on their weekend away we watched the kids and one day I decided to take them to the beach... it was fun. Kayla LOVES rocks... she's always picking them up... Hayden wanted to rescue the wood... he took a piece and set it free back in the ocean. Kayla's a good walker, but ended up on her behind a couple of times.

Getting caught up .... Part 2 - Boulevard Park

A few weeks ago, TJ, Stef, the kids, Marco and I got some pizza and went down to Boulevard Park, had ourselves a little picnic, played on the toys, and then took a stroll down the boardwalk (it was cool... my first time all the way down to the Fairhaven side of the boardwalk!!) Here are a couple pics of the kids playing... the bottom part of the slide was a "boat" and we played pirates. I kept trying to get a picture of Kayla's face thru one of the port holes, but she's too quick and my camera is WAY too slow. Hayden played steamroller down the hill.... but Kayla didn't quite get the whole rolling thing down.

Getting caught up .... Part 1 - Oregon

Ok, so i'm way behind on my blogging.... so i'm going to take a little time and get caught up. My parents, Marco and I went down to Silverton/Salem, Oregon a few weekends ago for a friends wedding (Brigham Alcorn). It was a really quick trip. We headed down Friday afternoon, went to the wedding that evening, hung out a little saturday morning, and then headed back home (hitting Lynnwood Mall on the way)Here is my dear papa with Merlin Alcorn..... they had a little joke about Merlin's hand getting a little too low on my dad's backside.... whoops!!

My dearly beloved and I.... I don't know why but he always seems to be squinting in the pics, not showing off his beautiful brown eyes.
Here are the girls.... Me, Mom, Heidi, and Tif... I'm sad that they're in Oregon now... it makes hanging out with them a little more difficult! I miss our Chihuahua lunches!

oh the joys of pregnancy

OK... so you know that feeling you get when you have to pee.... the pressure, and when you really have to go sometimes you feel a little pain. well if you take away the peeing part of that, keep the pressure, and a little pain, move it from the bladder area more towards the belly button that's how i feel right now. it's not exactly the most comfortable thing in the world.

I've been thinking about it lately, it being the people who think that being pregnant is just a joy, and i think it's crazy (no offense to the joyful pregnant people). but seriously... you start out pretty stoked, cause seriously, no period for 9 months.... YIPEE!! but then you get to thinking about things (and unless your prepared for it, which i wasn't really) and well you've got this thing growing inside of you, and not having done the whole procreation thing before, kind of weirds me out. I'm used to having my body all to myself, but now i'm sharing it. kind of a weird concept if you ask me.... i know it's the way things have been done for millions of years, but still.

Ok, post wigging out... then the nausea comes. nothing sounds appetizing, and when something finally does sound appetizing, by the time you get it in front of you it's not so anymore. things you once loved, you now want to yak at the mere thought of. sometimes it can be down right depressing..... and that's just one emotion.... holy cow, emotions. one minute i'm giddy, the next i'm crying. i realize it's a funky pregnancy thing so i try to hide it.... i know i'm not being completely rational, so i try to disappear for a few minutes, think it over, realize i'm not being rational, get over it and then re-join the real world.

I've been trying to come up with ways that pregnancy could be considered a pleasant experience.... and i'm coming up short. I remember when Halle Berry was pregnant she said that she just loved it. (insight from those who agree would be appreciated) I remember my first ultrasound.... that was pretty cool, but it was more of a surreal experience than anything. I know the whole thing will be worth it... a few months of being uncomfortable, a few hours (let's hope) of intense pain, and then you've got this cute (let's hope) bundle of joy... the whole process is rather amazing (even if i'm uncomfortable!)