I should have worn heels -- life at 5'3"

11:14 am - Update from West Scholes Manor

Wow!  I actually have a few minutes of online time!  I miss my computer.  But the girls and life in general keeps me pretty busy.  Lots of stuff happening around here...

The girls had their two month check-up yesterday (2 months already!).  They are doing well, though they are growing at different rates.  Weighing in at 11 1/2 lbs, Rachel is in the 60% for length and weight.  The Littlest Scholes, Lizzy, weighing in at just over 9 lbs is in the 10%.  Both are healthy and got their first round of vaccinations.  I was a chicken and sent Ken to the doc with them for that.  I got to do the heel prick a couples weeks after they were born, and it was traumatic (for me).  I know I'll have to get a thicker skin, but really it's only been a year or so since I've come to grips with getting poked myself without passing out.

New skills:  The girls are starting to smile now.  And my sister said she even got a laugh out of one of them (Liz, I think).  They are starting to grab at things now, so jewelry comes off as soon as I walk in the door.  And they are noticing dangly toys.  And already the flashy TV attracts their attention.  They get a good dose of Family Guy and Robot Chicken with Ken.  They watch Bones with me.  I'm not sure exactly how much crude cartoons and dead bodies might warp them, but it will be interesting to find out.

I went back to work the week before last.  Full-time.  It's been a bit of an adjustment.  On the one hand, I like getting back to a "normal" routine.  Works pretty busy as you might imagine.  I've been away for two months from a job that requires a lot of multi-tasking of information and systems set-up/maintenance.. it's a finely tuned process.  And no matter who was going to fill in for those two months, I knew I'd have quite a bit of clean-up to do to get everything back to my anal-retentive estimate of correctness.  And I do.  And I am.  I miss the girls when I'm at work, but I've called over to my sister's every day to check on them.  And they are always doing just fine if a bit fussy some days. 

The hardest thing about being back to work has been the commute and what little time is left over to actually spend with the itty bitties.  Our original child care plan fell through due to a cross-country move, so my sister stepped up to the plate.  However, she is going to have her baby any day now and she lives on the complete other side of the Portland Metro Area from St Helens.  For the last two weeks, Ken's been carting the littlest Scholes from St Helens to Oregon City (an hour drive), then driving the 1/2 hour back into the city to work.  Then in the afternoon, I've driven the 1/2 hour from downtown to O.C. to pick them up, then fight rush hour traffic back to St Helens.  On light traffic days, it was a minimum of two hours from the time I got off work to the time I stepped through the door at West Scholes Manor.  Brutal.

But we've found another child care option that we'll be implementing toward the end of October.  Ken, brilliant daddy monkey, found local child care and devised a strategy to actually afford it.  So the girls will be with strangers for the day (I don't really like that so much), but we'll be able to get our carpool back (cuts gas and parking by more than half), which gives us our talk time back (a whole lot of Lamentation, Canticle and Antiphon got hashed out in the wee hours of our drive into and from work) and gives us more time in the evenings with Lizzy and Rachel.  Only a couple of pieces of this plan left to figure out, but I think we're  pretty solid.  Yay!  *Glares at Universe and dares it to f*** with me again at it's own peril*

Despite the crazy commuting schedule, Ken and I have still managed to get a few dates (sans babies) together thanks to our friend Amy's awesome babysitting skillz.  And tomorrow, the girls are going over to Grandma and Grandpa's so we can make an excursion to wine country.  It will be the first wine tasting trip we've taken since I got pregnant.  Yay! 

Now that I have a new battery for the camera, new pictures should be forthcoming.  I tried to get a pic of their smiles with my cell phone, but they became more interested with the cell phone than in smiling.  I will catch that elusive facial expression.

05:40 pm - Super Mom

I finally feel like I'm getting the hang of this whole mom-thing.  The last 7 weeks have been filled with trial and error, juggling, hormones, sleepless nights, minor setbacks, small victories, large milestones and lots and lots of love and help pouring in from family and friends.  I have to admit that I did not think I was adapting as quickly or effectively as I should have been... or as quickly as others seem to be able to. (And I've been told repeatedly that I should cut myself some slack - yeah right.)   I felt awkward and overwhelmed and daunted.  I think both Ken and I did, but Ken is quite adaptable.  I'm stubborn.  I have to smack my head against the wall a few times.  And I hate asking for help, no matter how much I may need it.

Today, I had to take Lizzy to the doctor (which means both twins).  They've been sick with a cold for the last two weeks.  Rachel seems to have kicked it, but it went into Lizzie's chest.  The poor girl has been wheezing for days.  So I made the appointment, threw the diaper bag together, bundled the girls up, piled in the van and set out for the doctor's office.  It went so smoothly, even with the two of them tag-teaming on the fussiness.  I will say, though, that carrying two car seats full of growing baby is quite the workout on the arms and shoulders.  Lizzie got her first antibiotics - that wonderful bubble gum medicine we all remember - and she took it like a pro.  We met kenscholes, jaylakeand Diana for a quick lunch before heading back to St Helens.  It was like we had left our cave, gone out like normal people into the world and got our sh** done.  And we did it all on our own!  Win!  And hopefully, my baby will be feeling better soon too.

In other news, I'm starting back to work next Tuesday with a mixture of happy-ness and anxiety.  Happy to be getting back to normal.  Anxious because it means leaving the girls all day, 5 days a week.  Though, I will be taking some time off in a few weeks when my sister has her baby.  Family just keeps growing.

Current Mood: accomplished

11:53 am - Elizabeth & Rachel Born July 28th 2009

As most everyone around the globe knows, our twin girls, Elizabeth and Rachel, were born last Tuesday.  They are beautiful and healthy.  And since I won't be available to do much texting, emailing, posting, etc., please check kenscholes LJ/FB for updates, pictures, etc.  Most of y'all already know this, but just in case... 

And once again, thanks again for all the well-wishes.  Will be back to posting before they graduate high school... hopefully.  :-P

Current Mood: pleased

02:56 pm - The Good, The Bad, The Itchy

Today I turn 36 weeks.  We have passed the point of no return.  I'm no longer at risk for pre-term labor, because I'm term.  So whenever these kids decide to show up, they are showing up.  I can feel the finish line, or the final push (so-to-speak), not far off.  Things are feeling different, and have been for a few days now.  It's only a matter of time.

The Good:  I just got back from the St. Helens Pool with Ken.  Prego + Pool = BLISS! It was a little weird climbing into the pool at first.  Well, first of all, I felt a little ridiculous squeezing my 9-month pregnant body into my pre-preggers bikini, but mostly I didn't care.  I don't think the girls knew what to do with the new weightless sensation.  I'm assuming that even though they are encased in fluid, it's still not quite weightless.  They got VERY quiet for the first half hour of me paddling around on one of those foam noodles, despite Ken's attempts at trying to play with them.  They did eventually offer up some tentative kicks that I interpreted as Morse code for WTF, Mom?!  Me, I felt great!  Better than I've felt in many weeks.  I could almost forget about the 40 lbs I've packed on.  Interesting note:  I expected my belly to be more buoyant, but actually I sank rather easily.  I guess that makes sense being that it's not fat I've put on but flesh and fluid.  Kind of like ballast system in a submarine, I imagine.  The hardest part was getting OUT of the pool, because a.) did I mention the bliss? and b.) as soon as I started up the steps I could feel the weight of gravity pulling my stomach toward the floor.  Oy! I felt every one of those added pounds.

The Bad:  It is hot as hell right now.  Actually, today hasn't been too bad.  But the last few days have just been miserable.  We pretty much live in the cave when we're home - curtains drawn, A/C units full power, fans assisting.  My hairless hobbit feet do not like this weather.  But I shall keep the whining to a minimum.  Fatigue is not made of fun either.  Nor is inability to achieve normal range of motion.  I could go on, but I shall spare you until I write my tell-all book "Twin Pregnancy, And the Stuff No One Ever Tells You About Until It's Too Late."

The Itchy, or PUPPS the Magic Rash:  Speaking of the tell-all book, here a sneak preview of one of those fun preggo things no one ever mentioned until I was about to tear my own skin off.  So in the third trimester, right around week 35, about 1% of women (usually with 1st pregnancy and/or twin pregnancy) suddenly develop a weird rash on their belly.  In fact, one of the doctors I see called it "The Weird Rash of Pregnancy" and it doesn't go away until after giving birth - sometimes not for a couple weeks after birth.  Official term is Pruritic Urticarial Papules and Plaques of Pregnancy (PUPPS).  The docs don't know what causes it, but some have theorized that it may be an inflammatory response to all the stretching the skin has to endure, or that it may have to do with the presence of male fetal DNA.  Since I'm have girls, and I've gotten it on the two places where my skin has stretched the most (my belly and my ankles), I'm inclined to agree with the former.  Regardless, it is the most agonizing, torturous part of this pregnancy to date.  And there's nothing to be done for it but put some steroid-y creams (baby-safe) on it that don't really do much to take away the itch anyway.  Bleh!  Secret tip:  the one thing that I've found to relieve the itch at least temporarily is ice.  It's a little difficult to ice the belly as the twins really don't like that, but on the feet and ankles it works.  A cool pack (as opposed to an ice pack) works on the belly to some extent. 

So one more bit of Good... by popular demand, the latest belly pic.  This was taken today (week 36) just as we were leaving for the pool.

Current Mood: Itchy

07:23 pm - Hobbit Feet

It is so frakkin' HOT!!!!  I woke up one morning and must have put on someone else's feet!  A Hobbit's feet.  See!

Current Mood: hot

07:57 pm - Nursery Painted

Every time I leave the doctor's office now, I get that 80s song "Final Countdown" stuck in my head.  We are so in the final countdown.  We actually had a bit of a *gulp* moment today when they tested me for preclampsia (blood pressure related thing that would mean I'd probably be having some babies tonight instead of doing laundry).  But, thank goodness, my test results came back normal, so the kids get to stay in the "Easy Bake Oven" (as Ken calls me now) for a few more weeks.  They are healthy and active... Man, are they active!  And they're all squished and entwined in funny ways in there right now.  There's not a lot of room.  At last week's growth appointment, Elizabeth was weighing in at 4lbs 8oz and Rachel at 4lbs 10oz.  I think they are supposed to grow about 1/2 lb per week from here on out, so for all I know they could have topped 5lbs each by now.  That's a lot of baby in there! 

I gained a whopping 6lbs in the last week, and it's all in my feet.  They are so swollen, I don't even recognize them.  I think I got up one morning over the weekend and put on someone else's feet.  And I think they must have been circus folk or hobbits or something.  Because these are NOT my feet.  And they ow.  :(  I have grown out of my last pair of sandals and have had to buy a cheap pair of flip-flops a size bigger than I normally wear.  And even they feel tight.  But they tell me it's all part of the final push to D-day. 

In brighter news, we finally got the nursery painted.  Many, many, many thanks and praises to the wonderful WordWomen who trekked out to West-Scholes Manor on Saturday for a day of painting.  We turned the Watermelon Room into a room that I now feel happy to exist in.  The previous owners had a tween daughter whose room was painted in the color of a watermelon rind.  Then, where there would normally be trim, but there WASN'T, they painted bright pink - a shade somewhere between watermelon and pepto bismol.  Bleh.  Now, the room is a light shade of happy green.  And where there actually IS trim is painted in buttercup yellow.  Then we painted the dresser and bookshelf.  The outside parts we did in buttercup yellow and then the drawer fronts and inside shelves we alternated in the same green on the walls and pink lemonade.  It is such a cute room!  And when I say, "we," I really mean Julie, Sue, newroticgirl and debbiemumford.  I fetched food, tried not to inhale too many fumes and began sorting through Smaug's treasure pile.  Once I've put the room up the way I want it, I'll post pics.

And now, I fold laundry.  Baby laundry.  I've gone through and washed the bundles of baby clothes (not nearly all of it, but a good start).  And I'm trying to organize it into the dresser.  It's so weird to know that they are going to be here so soon.  I just hope we're ready... or as ready as we'll ever be.

11:56 am - Smaug's Treasure Pile

If you've been following Ken's blog/FB, you may have noticed he's referred to Smaug's Treasure Pile a few times.  I thought y'all could use a visual, so here ya go (and this isn't even all of it!) !



And because he is just so adorable, I have to add this pic, too.  (Ken's step-brother and our nephew.)  Okay, everyone, all together now.... AWWWWWWWW.



Hope ya'll have a fun and safe 4th of July!

04:22 pm - Live at Locus Awards Weekend + Baby Stuff

Ken and I are hangin' at the Locus Awards this weekend.  We're grabbing some writing/rest time in our room before heading back out into the crowd.  It's been a pretty cool weekend so far, though I missed all the fun last night.  Babies decided mommy was too tired to party (but still gave her insomnia!) so we hid in the room.  But Ken seems to have carried the Fun Torch for all of us.  Hopefully tonight will be a different matter.  The girls really enjoyed the awards banquet.  I think they thought the applause was all for them, because whenever everyone claps - which was every few minutes - I got a good kick, punch or squirm.  I think they thought they could accept awards for people.  They're already so ambitious!  :)

Had a lovely first breakfast with kenscholes , Kelly Young and Jenna Pitman.  Happy birthday to Kelly!  Then had a delightful second breakfast with bhagwanx and frabjouslinz up in Ballard.  They also introduced me to a great cupcake store.  Alas they did not have the cupcake onsies I was looking for.  So I had to move along.  It's probably a good thing that I didn't impulse buy, but I may have to go to their website at a later time to see if they've restocked.

I have been very lax in posting about the babies and the baby showers... or anything else of late.  I'm not sure if this is due to busy-ness or lazyness, but I'm going to opt for the former.  I still have so many thank yous to send out.  I must get on that.  And I do have much heartfelt gratitude for all of our friends, family and co-workers who have come out to share in the celebration of these two little ninja princesses. 

So a couple of things... our friends Kalle and Angus were clever and found a new acronym for the Scholes Family.  We are now the J.E.R.K.S.  (Jen, Elizabeth, Rachel and Ken Scholes).  Very clever.  We got a good laugh out of that.

Then... ta da!  I went and got a henna tatoo on my belly!  Most of you have seen it in the flesh already, because I've been practically flashing everybody my belly since I got it, but here are some pics, too.  This is with the paste still on, so it's very dark.  The artist, Melanie Schwartz, did such a great job.  She's local to Portland and is also at the Saturday Market.  You can view here stuff on her website at  http://www.bluelotushenna.com/index.html.  And here are a few samples of the art she did (free hand!) on me...

  

07:57 pm - Baby Update at 30 weeks

It has been far too long since my last update.  We just had another ultrasound today, as well as our first NST (Non-Stress Test).  I'm now a little over 30 weeks (7 weeks to go!).  The babies are growing like crazy.  Last month, Elizabeth was measuring 16% smaller than Rachel, which had us... watchful.  If the twins had gotten more than 20% difference in their size, we would have started to get a little worried.  But little Elizabeth (or little Leila Ali as I've sometimes called her) had quite the growth spurt.  She's gained more than a pound and is now a robust 3lbs 5oz.  Rachel is still slightly bigger at 3lbs 12oz.  I'm going to have some robust babies (robust for twins anyway).  What's funny is that Elizabeth, the little one, seems to have pushed Rachel into some awkward positions in their womb.  Rachel often will stick out of my side, and on the ultrasound, her head was cocked in a funny, uncomfortable-looking way.  Elizabeth wants her space!  It's looking pretty crowded in there.  I'm not sure there's enough room for two babies and all my internal organs!

The babies have moved around a bit, too.  Elizabeth is still head down with her face pretty much pressed up against the "exit." She loves to stick her butt against my belly.  Rachel did a little spin a few weeks ago, which I felt in the middle of the night when she went sideways and felt like she was exploding out my side.  She's now head up and banging her head against my ribs.  Occasionally, she'll stretch out and bang her head on my ribs and kick her feet into my hip bone.  She's going to be a long baby.

Then I got to lay on a table hooked up to the NST machine for almost an hour while the technicians tracked their heartbeats and my contractions.  Yes, my contractions.  I get them almost everyday now.  But they're pretty mild, and as long as I don't have more than 6 in an hour, I'm doing fine.  (And you haven't been complimented until your doctor tells you what a great, healthy and strong cervix you have.)  I just have to stay rested and hydrated.  And the technician seemed pretty impressed with all the movements going on in there.  The babies were jumpin', jivin' and whalin' in there, as usual. 

All in all, we're doing well.  We're pretty much out of the woods for the Twin to Twin Transfusion.  We're now just making sure the cookies get baked all the way. 

And in case you didn't catch them on Facebook, here are a couple of recent pics...
   

Current Mood: happy

04:27 pm - Mother's Day - page i

I say "page i", because since the girls aren't born yet, this is sort of a pre-Mother's Day.  A Mother's Day prequel.  Or like those extra pages of stuff that start out with roman numerals before the actual page numbers start.  I realize I'm being a good mom by taking care of myself and, therefore, them.  So I am thoroughly enjoying my first Mother's Day.

Today started out very nicely with me waking up from a sweet dream about the girls.  It was very short and simple.  I walked into the baby room where they had been sleeping.  And they were at an age where they weren't quite crawling yet.  They were awake, and when they saw me, their faces just lit up, like they were saying, "Hi, Mom!"  I like these dreams much better than than the anxiety-ridden ones.

I received two lovely Mother's Day cards upon waking up.  One from Ken (the sweetest husband EVAR) and one from the twins.  He said they tapped a message to him in morse code to let him know what kind of card to pick out.  How cute is that?

Then we packed up and headed to my parent's house where I was making brunch for my mom.  Well, it turned out to be more of a joint effort between the two of us.  I know we're supposed to be all pampered and spoiled, but we love to cook/bake and so we experimented with a long-forgotten recipe from the cookbook she made the family for Christmas this year.  The brunch came out beautifully.  We had asparagus and swiss cheese crepes with fruit salad and maple flavored sausage links served with orange/mango/pineapple juice.  It was the perfect balance of sweet and savory.  And playing in the kitchen with my mom is one of my favorite pasttimes.

After brunch, I even got my mom on Facebook.  So maybe she's reading this crosspost even now! 

My sister, her husband and Ken and I crossed paths as we passed through our parents' house.  As we were leaving, they were arriving.  And of course, there were belly pics to be taken.


   
The proud parents-to-be.

  
The pregnant sisters.  Can you tell which one of us is having twins?  (I'm a 25 weeks, I think she's at 18 or 19 weeks.)

And for the rest of Mother's Day, I'm spending it with my favorite daddy-to-be.

Current Mood: happy

09:13 am - Coming out from under my E-Rock

Hi everyone!  It's been awhile.  Well, unless you count actually interacting in flesh and blood with a lot of you.  In this brave new world of e-friendships, facebook, LJ, chat, does interacting face to face with your peeps still hold the same power as it once did?  I'm going to weigh in with a big YES on that one.  And the main reason being smell.  Now granted, the olfactory senses can back fire on you - especially if you walk by the gaming room on the Sunday of a con - but really, it's the sense of smell that creates a much more visceral experience of the world and the people in it.  And research has suggested that the sense of smell is also closely tied to memory recall.  This is really all just an excuse for why I suck at maintaining non-work related email correspondence and regular LJ/Facebook updates.  It is also the result of getting 12 hours of solid sleep following a week of sporadic insomnia followed by a long weekend of a smelly-in-a-good-way-mostly convention. 

Okay, prego update:  as mentioned above, I'm now experiencing pregnancy insomnia.  I've surprised Ken a number of times now by being awake and bustling around before even HE wakes up.  One 3 a.m. morning saw me baking blueberry muffins, and another coaxed a nice foot rub out of the "culprit of my current condition", so other than being completely exhausted during the day, I can't complain too much.

The babies are starting to seriously kick now and can be felt from the outside.  It's such a weird feeling.  And at our last ultrasound, they were being their usual precocious selves.  They snuggled a lot, Elizabeth resting her head on Rachel's bum... until Rachel twitch-kicked and did something that sounded like flatulence on the monitor (doubt that's what it was, cause I don't think there's air in there) causing much laughter in the room and another episode of kicking, twitching and rolling in the womb.  My sister, who is just 6 weeks behind me in her pregnancy, came with me to the appointment.  It was a nice bonding moment between sisters and cousins.  And since our favorite ultrasound technician, Cherie, is also pregnant, we were actually outnumbered by babies.  All in all, I've got a couple of healthy spawn growing in there.

I'll not go into detail as to the other weird prego stuff that's starting to happen, but those of you who have experienced this probably can guess.  I'm just going to say that my body is no longer my own.  And my belly is getting HUGE!  And I'm only a little more than halfway!  We're starting to experience clearance issues when trying to reach for stuff or move about a crowded room or even just give a hug.  If Steven Colbert can have the Colbert Bump and the Obamas can have the Obama Bump, then I think I should have the West-Scholes Belly Bump!  I do have a couple more pictures that I'll try to post later today or tomorrow.

And despite my inability to sniff y'all over the internets, I still enjoy hearing/reading from you in those oceans of time between visits and conventions.  Enjoy the weekend!

(PS, Yes, I'm weird.)

Current Mood: weird

06:14 pm - Judges, the envelope please...

And the verdict is in.  We're having twin GIRLS!!!  Both are healthy and well, just perfect.  They are the perfect size for their development.  They have all the parts they're supposed to have at this stage.  They are just the cutest little over-achievers ever.  And they still look like alien puppies.  They are so active, too, as Ken found out last night.  He can now feel them move, too.  And they are such daddy's girls already.  They respond to his voice and his touch.  In fact, the ultrasound technician was trying to get one of the twins to move so she could measure something, but the little girl was being stubborn.  At my suggestion, I had her daddy talk to her and sure enough, as soon as he started talking (cooing is more like it), she moved.

It was so fun watching them today.  Both were active.  One of them at one point was sitting on the other's head.  And soon after they were playing what looked like a game of either patty-cake or pull-my-finger.  Who knows?  But they were being all squirrelly in there.  No wonder I've been feeling weird gurgles and twinges.

Current Mood: happy

03:41 pm - More belly pics

Okay, to satiate the masses, I had Ken take a couple of pics of the belly this morning.  This is me at 17 weeks (i.e. a little more than 4 months).  I also got creative and did a "Bellycam" shot so you could see what I see when I look down.  Notice, my feet are NOT in the picture.  I can still see them if I lean slightly forward. 

       

I can feel them move now.  At least, I THINK that's what I'm feeling.  I had expected more thumps and twitches.  But what I'm feeling from time to time is this really weird gurgling that I can only really describe as feeling like there are a couple of large marbles rolling around in there.  It is so bizarre.
 

Current Mood: cheerful

08:59 pm - By popular request...

... a couple of belly pics.  These are from Radcon about a month ago - so I would have been at about 3 months.  You may have seen one of them if you're on Facebook.  I'll try to get better about documenting the ballooning belly.  :)

 

05:00 pm - Oh, the nesting

The Nesting... she has begun. 

My parents and I drove out to Hillsboro this morning to be first (or nearly first) in line for the FHM (Full House Moms and Dads) annual Spring sale.  I have found FHM to be a really cool organization so far, although really all I've done until now is shop.  They are an organization for parents of multiples.  They packed out the Washington County Fairgrounds building with all kinds of baby and toddler stuff.  And they were selling so CHEAP!  I'm glad I had thought to ask my parents to drive out with their truck, because we needed it.  Actually, I think I had the biggest pile of stuff out of everyone there. 

I picked up (with generous contributions from Grandma and Grandpa-to-be) a nice changing table, a twin stroller (tandem), two highchairs, a mattress for the crib, a Pack n Play travel playpen/bassinet/changing station, two travel swings, a diaper genie, a bed sheet set with matching mobiles and little pillows.  My dad insisted on buying us this potty training seat.  We won't be able to use it for a couple of years, but it really is cute and quite the conversation piece. 



He also got us the warming baby wipes.  Grandpa is already spoiling the kids.  :)  All-in-all, a great haul.  I now have to go update my meager registry so I don't have duplicate stuff.

I also talked my parents into looking at some mattresses with me on our way back to the house.  Ken and I have been talking about getting a king size bed for almost a year now.  And since there was a pretty good sale going on, we figured we'd just bite the bullet and do it.  We'll have to wait a bit to get a fancier bed frame, but at least I will run less risk of getting clocked in the head by a flying elbow.  So our queen is going to journey down the hall to the guest room.  It'll be a tight squeeze, but I think it will work.  And the new bed won't arrive for a couple weeks, so we'll have a little bit of time to measure and figure out spacing.

Meanwhile, Ken has been schlepping books and bookshelves all weekend.  We finally bought a corner shelving unit for the office, and he is now unloading the 100+ boxes of books onto the shelves (alphabetizing party anyone?). It really makes the office look like a Den of Ken.  And with the books now out of the garage, we'll have room to store other stuff out there so we can make room for the babies' stuff.  The master plan is working.  The house is a disaster at the moment, but I can see it all taking shape. 

Well, I think we've done our part this weekend to stimulate the economy.  Time to lay back with my feet up.

Current Mood: accomplished

05:36 pm - Parenting lessons from a tub of peaches

So I got pre-schooled (ha) at lunch today by a snack pack of peaches. 

First, I love peaches, but I CANNOT eat them without getting that incessant song by The Presidents of the United States stuck in my head for at least an hour. Movin’ to the country… gonna eat a lot of peaches. And I don’t remember any of the verses, just the same two lines of the chorus. And they repeat. Over and over and over and over and over.

Second, as I broke the seal and started to pull back the plastic wrap from my snack pack of peaches, they spit on me. Even though I was standing over the sink, it still got me.

Moral of this lesson: Get used to it. Bring napkins.

Current Mood: amused

05:59 pm - Update at 15 weeks and some change

I promise not to blather on about baby stuff the entire post. Although, the babies really do take up most of my brain cells (that is whatever brain cells are left after being devoured by hormones). Seriously, my brain now resembles swiss cheese, and I forget the most everyday things. Or, even worse, I open my mouth to say something and all I get is word salad. I sound like Yoda half the time. Rot the brain pregnancy does. But okay, since I’m talking about them, let’s just get the baby update out of the way…

But it’s not just all babies around here. Ken’s been birthing his own paper babies, which has involved loads of traveling – mostly to Seattle, which is another fun excuse to visit with one of our main hubs of awesome friendships. It was great seeing so many friends and family turn out for the book signings both in Portland and Seattle. Even cooler when a few of the people who turned out were neither friends nor family… but cooler for obviously different reasons. Busting with pride this wife surely is (see, Yoda-speak again). 

The first couple weeks of March looks to be wonderfully calm. Which is exactly with the doctor editor ordered. Some good solid writing time for Ken. Some good solid nesting time for Jen. Our next big trip will be the weekend of March 21^st when we head up to Bellingham and Ken’s old college days stomping grounds. He’ll be doing some book stuff up there – check the website for places and times if you’re in the area. And then the weekend of March 28^th, he heads down to San Francisco with jaylake – flying this time, so alas, no roadside serenades this time.

Current Mood: happy