Cheep entertainment.

While we have no snow like my friend Alicia is enjoying at the moment, we have been finding ways to keep ourselves busy over the last few days.

Seth finally acquiesqued to my request that we put lights on the outside of the house this year. I have always felt that when it gets dark so early, we should do something to lighten up the great outdoors. Is this or is this not the season of light reborn? Here he is putting up icicle lights on the outside of the house and colored lights on our little fir tree. He's standing on our shed throwing the lights around the tree. My heart did a little pitter-patter when I saw that, and I almost thought that lights weren't worth it, but Seth is thoroughly converted and wants to make turning on the outside lights a little ceremony when our kids get old enough.

Plus we have plenty to do getting ready for baby. We got a stroller and a high chair from Seth's boat friends, with the promise of clothing later on. I have been reading up on natural childbirth and the inherent risks in various birthing procedures. Boy am I going to have a lot of questions for my doctor next time.

Seth has taken upon himself the task of painting the crib. He's not going at it with as much dedication as I would like (I would have liked it done a week ago just because then it would be done), but I have bit my tongue and not said anything. After all we still have time. He's not lazy; he's just not as anxious as I am. The crib is going to be pale yellow, the same color as our living room walls. Yes, we are using the same paint. Yes, we are that cheap. But the yellow looks very nice with the light blue of the baby's room and will go very well with the Beatrix Potter + other animals theme that we are trying to establish.

But the best entertainment has been all the winter critters. We had some bird seed left over from last year. Last year completely ruined our bird feeder, and so we've had to find other ways to distribute the bird seed. I've been sprinkling it on the railing of our porch. (Yes, I know that what isn't eaten will sprout. Most of it is getting eaten.) Then these little guys come along, accompanied by tiny little birds of every description and the odd crow or blue jay. Most of the creatures are very good at avoiding cameras, but I did manage to capture these two.

Max likes the squirrels too. Every time I open the door, he goes flying out and tries to catch a squirrel before it can get back over the fence. No luck yet, but he's always been close. (What I'll do if he actually catches, I'm not sure.) In fact, two days ago, he treed his first squirrel on the top of the shed. The poor squirrel was running back and forth trying to get away, and Max was running round and round making sure he didn't. He kept the squirrel up there for half an hour before I realized what was going on and called him off. It isn't easy to call off a hound who has actually treed his prey. So now the birds and squirrels have developed a commando attack scheme in which they hide out in the hedge, leap quickly for the porch, grab a seed, and leap back. It's really quite fun to watch.

And the verdict is . . .

Seth and I just got back from the ultrasound. All the evidence says that we're having a girl. Now I'm going to have to perform a "gestalt switch," as my friend Carol the counselor says, and start seriously planning to have a girl. The only problem is that we don't have any girl names picked out. Settling on a boy name was easy. We both loved the name. We haven't had that kind of collusion on girl names. Any suggestions?

been a while

Hello, everyone.

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but life is keeping me on my toes. It seems like every holiday season I rediscover that one shouldn't plan to do much during the holidays. I was hoping that the next time I posted, I would be able to show you my new crib, all painted and set up and prepared for baby. Alas, the most we've been able to do is clean it. It's still standing in pieces in the corner of what is now still the tv room. We have also been looking at wall paper and other decorations for baby's room when it becomes baby's room, but now that we've had another ultrasound scheduled, we thought it best to wait. Actually, I don't feel like putting up wall paper anyway.

I was also hoping to show some progress in the mural in my kitchen, but no such luck. The business of being pregnant has just been too much for me. I haven't even baked Christmas cookies yet, let alone applied more paint to walls. Plus we'd like to get the crib set up before Seth leaves, so it has first dibs on the paint and brushes.

Still, as far as forward progress is concerned, we do have a crib. We have a couple of outfits, a nightlight, some character decorations, a crib pad, and a comforter. This weekend, we'll be checking in with a Navy friend of Seth's who says he has an abundance of baby stuff to get rid of. (I hope he's asked his wife about getting rid of it. She might be planning on more kids.) I have another promise from a neighbor of a bassinet and a carrier plus other assorted nursery items. I was wondering where all these things were going to come from. I was worried about it. But God is providing in wonderful ways. And I don't even know the gender of my baby yet.

A eulogy.

You'll never guess what I did today.

I was really driven to it. The status quo had just become intolerable. I just couldn't stand it any longer. I could have gotten someone else to do it, but I have always had the feeling that I could do it myself, so I did.

I don't really regret it. The change was a little drastic and more than I was expecting, but I have been feeling that it was necessary for a while now, and while I do miss the old, I think I'll be happy with the new. Oo, now that I've said that, I think I'm going to cry.

Yep, I cut my hair. That's about ten inches setting on the edge of the sink right there. I hadn't meant to take that much off. My hair now rests directly on top of my shoulders, and I was hoping to leave a couple more inches. I forgot that hair gets shorter as it dries. I also forgot that cutting usually means trimming afterwards. But I'm not that disappointed with the result, even if I can't get a good picture of it.

My first thought was that now I just look like any other pregnant woman. I think I look a lot younger with shorter hair and a lot less distinctive. I also don't want to throw my clippings away. I keep thinking, "What's Seth going to think?" And I can't figure out if I like it. I was really fond of my hair. It was long and soft and almost chestnut. I could do the most wonderful braids and twists with it. Oh, why did I make it so short?

On the other hand, my head is much lighter now. I don't have to do as much with it. And I don't look in the mirror and think, "Too much hair. It makes me look tired." Instead I think, "Grow another inch or two, quickly." Oh well. When it does grow that inch or two, I think I'll be happier. And it's really not so bad.

Ultrasound results.

Inconclusive. Baby was in a perfect jackknife position, thereby obscuring any pertinent information regarding gender. We know baby is healthy. We know baby has long legs. "His" feet were all the way past "his" head. But that's all we know for now.

He moved! (I am such a goose.)

Blessed be the Lord, and happy all heavens! I can stop worrying now. My baby moved!

You laugh. Well, I suppose I was being a bit irrational, but I really was worried. Seth says that I'm not happy unless I have something to worry about, and I'm beginning to see his point. See, all my pregnancy manuals said that I could expect to feel the baby move between weeks 16 and 20, and here it is, week 21, and I had felt nothing! Oh there were little squiggly feelings, but nothing that couldn't be attributed to normal symptoms of pregnancy. Of course I was beginning to worry.

So yesterday, while I was dressing, I happened to look down at my belly, and right as I looked, lo and behold, a little section of my lower abdomen poked out for just a second and then poked back in. There's no way that's gas! I tried to show Seth, but baby wasn't interested in performing for Daddy just then. Of course, I was all excited, and Seth got another laugh at my expense. He says that if I survive the first year of motherhood, I'm going to make a great mom, meaning that I'll probably give myself a heart attack before baby's first birthday. I know that I'm being completely irrational, but I've was never that rational to begin with. This is a baby we're talking about here! Everything about them is cause for worry and celebration. It's a survival mechanism! God planned it that way!

Speaking of irrational baby excitement, do I look pregnant yet? I know it's not the greatest picture (I haven't figured out the automated part of our camera yet), but it's clear enough to say one way or the other. The ladies at church were all saying how glad they are that I'm showing at last. Then they all had to tell me how big they got before the end. I've got a ways to go.

And finally, two pictures of fall.

I live in such a beautiful place that even I can take pretty pictures.

Back in the business world.

It feels good to be doing something again. Last Friday, I was feeling well enough to sub all day, and today I'm going to try a half day with 5th graders. I know it's not much in the way of income, but it is much in the way of activity, and it feels good to know that I'm not being a complete drag.

My twenty week check up is tomorrow, and the big ultrasound is Thursday. I will post ultrasound results sometime next week. Now I have to go make my lunch.

Love you all.
Jennifer

Update on mural.

It's been almost a week since I worked on my mural. I was hoping to work on it some more before I posted pictures, but I suddenly realized how woefully ignorant I am of many things pregnancy and have decided to spend the next couple of days reading about the decisions I'm going to have to make before Seth leaves again.

So here are the pictures from my latest effort. The camera was on night setting, and I didn't know it, so pardon the blurriness. We added in the green background. Seth and I painted this part together, and he thought that background meant it should cover the whole wall. I was thinking more that green should be where leaves go. We'll see who was right when more of it gets filled in. The next step here is to extend the arms of the white tree ("one white tree." sorry. I couldn't help myself. Anyway, there will be more before I'm done. ) and paint in its gold leaves.

Here is a view from the corner, and I'd like some opinions on it. Seth says we don't need any more trees in that corner. He likes the way the mural fades away into nothing. I think that blue expanse needs at least a small bush, maybe a sumac or something red. Of course, there will probably be a table in front of it, but tables can be moved. I'd like to know that something is there.

After we resolve what will go in the other corner, this corner will get its own tree treatment. Part of the background is already in place, but I don't want to put a lot of green in until I know how the branches are going to fall.

So that's progress. It makes my kitchen feel smaller to have all this activity on the walls. I think so, at least. Seth doesn't notice it.

Dreaming pink!

Since the day this baby was conceived, I have been certain that it was a boy. Lately, I haven't been as certain. And then last night . . .

Last night, I dreamed that I was walking into a room that was full of random bits of furniture just setting about like it had been moved in but not organized. I was considerably more pregnant. There was an enormous cherry wood mirror with a curvy top lying on its side. There were bits of newspaper on the floor. There was a closet with a very curvy closet organizer (It looked like the skeleton of a waterslide.) with branches, and on each branch hung a different baby outfit. And there was lots of furniture in the background that I didn't take notice of because I was too busy staring at the walls. The walls were --- pink. A nice bubblegum/peppermint pink. And the baby clothes had pink highlights -- ribbons, footies, flowers, etc. And there was no reason for that mirror to ever sit in a boy's room. Completely female all the way.

I am certain that the room was a room in my house, though it didn't resemble the room we have set up for the baby. (It was bigger, for one thing. I don't think that mirror would fit comfortably in our spare room.) I am pretty certain it was a room for my baby (though an old friend of mine just learned she's having a girl, maybe twins). The whole dream was like walking into a birthday present.

So now what do I do? Sit still and wait, I suppose. It's not as if I can do anything about it. The ultrasound isn't for another week and a half. I begin to see why babies a hundred years ago were dressed in white for the first few months. Much simpler.

And the dream might just be addressing my anxiety about not being mentally ready for a girl. I will admit that my stomach was awfully awry last night. I also dreamed about marching bands in black and white workout uniforms assembling next door to my parents' old house led by an old classmate of mine who played an instrument that looked like a black rubber bugel. (She played the flute in high school.) But somehow that dream was just chaotic. The baby dream felt like there was more to it. It felt like it meant something to me. I can never figure out whether or not to trust pregnancy dreams or not.

New Friends

I've added several new blogs to my list of blogs. None of these people are actually new friends to me, but I thought maybe some of you would like to get to know each other.
Two of the new blogs are care sites affiliated with hospitals. Uncle Randy, who lives in Iowa, and Montana Crosby, who lives here in Silverdale and is supported by my church, are both recovering from cancer, and I know they would appreciate prayer.
Kelly is a friend from college who works with underprivileged and incarcerated girls in Grand Rapids. It's really cool to see the progress she makes.
Leann is a good friend who has insight into the prophetic. Her blog is chiefly about miraculous happenings and prophetic dreams.
So if you need some new reading material, check out one of my friends.

Catch you later.
Jennifer

Nevermind.

God be praised. There is nothing wrong with me, and baby is all right too. Two mothers and one doctor agree that there is no way what I was doing could have harmed my baby, and one husband thinks I'm incredibly paranoid. I don't blame him. It seems like every week I have a new crisis that I need to worry about, and I really overdid it this time. I tell him that if he had all the changes going on in his body that I have going on in my body, he would be paranoid too, or at least more worried than he is when I freak out. I am glad to have his level head to keep me sane, but it would be nice if I could rest in his calm assurance without having to endure his exasperated amusement.

So work on the mural will go on, but not today. I need a couple days to recoup after yesterday. I think that I will wander over to the hardware store and pick up some more blue for background, and then maybe on Thursday I will fill that in. My nerves should be settled by then. After that I can start on leaves in that corner. I wonder if we still have the green that I painted our bedroom with.

Mural progress.

Well, I took a bit of a risk today, and I'm not sure if I'm going to regret it or not. See, the wall in my kitchen has been driving me crazy. It's all blocked out, and there has been no progress since then. I've had this nagging feeling that it isn't finished, which, as my mom pointed out, has probably been increasing my stress level. Now I know this project is not going to be finished quicklym, but progress is progress, so Friday, I went down to the hardware store and bought myself four quarts of paint: two shades of grey and two shades of gold.

This morning, I was determined to get started and just do a little painting. Now the word "little" is key because I know that painting can be hazardous for pregnant women. So I determined ahead of time that I was only going to paint for an hour. I chose paints with the smallest amount of fumes. I opened all the windows in the house, I turned on a fan, and I even wore a respirator.

So I got all my painting stuff out, mixed myself some colors, and started painting.

The first thing I discovered was that I was going to need to get some smaller brushes. Trees have a lot of small and intricate parts that a 1/4 inch brush is not going to handle. This is the main tree in the back corner. The branches will extend farther than they do at the moment, but that is exactly where a smaller brush would have come in handy.

The second thing I discovered is that dark is really dark. Check out my background trees for this corner. Really dark and kinda creepy. I want the trailing twigs. They're one of the reasons I love paper birches so much. At the moment, they look like claws, and this whole thing looks like a Halloween setting. Not quite what I had in mind. I'm going to try to brighten up the middle of their trunks, and of course, when they have shading and details, they'll look more realistic.About that time, I decided that I had painted enough. I was sick of the respirator, and I was feeling a little sick to my stomach. So I put away my paints and cleaned out my brushes on the middle tree. What do you think? If the branches were longer and the leaves were in place, it could be a pretty good birch tree. It doesn't look quite that good close up, but I've been painting with broad brushes, so I don't really expect any differently.

Next step will be to put some life into those background trees and decide how I want to handle the background colors. Either the blue needs to come down a lot farther (which will get blue smudges on my trees, or I need to find a plausible background green or gold that can look like leaves in autumn. I think I'm going to do as much as possible to this side before I start on the other side. Sort of a learn from my mistakes sort of a thing. Today I learned that backgrounds should come first, before sketching even. I also learned that I can put together a pretty good birch tree.

But how much painting should I be doing? Once a week? How much trouble am I causing myself for my piece of mind regarding this mural? The nurses said that a little bit of painting was fine, and that's exactly what I did, a little bit. But now I'm so nervous. I wish I could see what's going on inside of me. I'd like to keep painting. Mom is right. I feel much better when I'm on my way toward getting something done. I don't feel good thinking about possible risks to my child. Maybe I should just call my doctor. I think I'll do that.

Addendum to previous post.

This is about half of the apples we gathered.

This is my dad hiding in the foliage.

This is another balloon picture. The head belongs to my Aunt Jan.

Trying to be busy.

It's hard to stay busy when one doesn't know what one's day is going to be like. Today of all days, I am reluctant to go out. I should be receiving a phone call. I've been cleaning for three days. I have very little left to do, and I don't want to miss that phone call. "Just use your cell phone," some of you will say. Sometimes I don't hear my cell phone, and I don't want to miss this call.


So this afternoon, I'll probably run to town and buy some paint and finally get started painting my mural (don't worry--I will open all the windows in the house when I paint). I'm going to paint a couple of trees and then move the furniture in front of them and focus on the rest of the wall. But this morning, while I'm still hoping for my phone call, I'm going to post some pictures from last week. While I'm waiting for my pictures to upload, I'm vacuuming the bedrooms. I'd really like to move all the furniture and give everything a good solid cleaning, but I'm not allowed to attempt to move anything that heavy, even with a furniture dolly (sniff, sniff) The further along I get, the more my hands are tied, it seems.

Most of these are pictures of apple gleaning. This lean guy is my dad. I tried to get a picture of his face, but he very cleverly used the foliage to avoid my camera. Just looking at the spotty sunlight and the over-reaching branches can give you an idea of the atmosphere of gleaning. Think early morning. It is rather like stepping into a forest glade on an adventure. You never know what you might find. For instance, on my right is a little treasure that I wasn't expecting. I've never found a bird's nest while gleaning before, but this time I found two of them.




This lady to the left is my mom. She thought that we didn't need to bring home quite as many apples as we did, but we couldn't help ourselves. Apple gleaning is addictive. Every time we had convinced ourselves that we were done, we would see another branch that we had missed. It's very nearly a sin to leave good apples behind. So after we were done gleaning, she and I spend the next three days (nights actually) coreing, pealing, and slicing apples for sauce. 28 quarts and counting. Of course, one can never have too much applesauce, and homemade is so much better than storebought. We dried some apples too, and of course, they can always be eaten fresh.

Late September is also excellent ballooning weather, and every

year, the town of Prosser holds a hot air balloon festival. Now if you like waking up at five in the morning to stand outside and watch balloons take off into the rising sun, by all means, go to Prosser at five in the morning. I haven't been keen on early mornings for a while. I haven't been keen on late evenings either, but my family went to see this event, called Night Glow. Several balloons are set up in a stadium, and flicker on and off and move up and down in time to some well-known piece of music. I only got to see the pictures this year. Maybe next year I'll have my late night appetite back.

Maybe I'll bake a pie this morning, or call my mother-in-law (heads up, Judi) and ask her about mural paints again. She told me all about them once, but I lost the paper that I wrote her advice down on. I know I don't want oil or acrylic paints. That doesn't really leave much, does it. Hmmm. This could be harder than I thought. I might actually be busy this afternoon. :)

Got home safe.
House was empty, as expected, except with signs of Seth.
Sat down and had a good cry (3 whole tears. That's a lot for me.)
Going grocery shopping for basics. All out of milk.
Post pictures of holiday tomorrow.

bye.

brief update

I'm not going to be able to do a proper post with pictures and stuff until I get home from my parents' house because they have dial up, but I thought I would drop in on my own blog just to keep things current.

I am at my parent's house in Sunnyside, Washington, a place aptly named. We've had nothing but sun since I got here, and I understand that home has been continually overcast. I've been keeping busy with simple things like shopping for maternity clothes, drying apples, canning peaches, baking cookies, visiting friends, and taking lots of naps. I must feel more relaxed than I did at home because I'm actually sleeping all the way through the night. It probably helps to have people around so much. Loneliness can unsettle the brain.

This morning Dad and I went gleaning apples. Gleaning (for those of you who haven't; not many, I know) means going through a field or orchard after the professional pickers have gone through. Most people don't mind as long as you ask permission first and are very careful with the plants. Gleaning apples like a treasure hunt because the apples are never in obvious places. It requires a sharp eye and a willingness to bend yourself all out of shape to reach one particularly tempting fruit (parallels to original sin, anybody?). My dad has a stick with an old coffee can on the end that he uses to reach fruit that are out of reach. Of course, there's always the chance that the pickers left a certain fruit behind because it was soft or eaten on the side you can't see and sometimes beautiful fruit are wedged so tightly between two branches that they can't be pried loose, but it's not hard to collect several buckets of good fruit in the space of an hour.

When I would go gleaning in high school, I would climb trees (frowned upon) and twist myself into all sorts of nooks and crannies to get at fruit. I almost thought it was an insult to leave a good apple behind. Now that I'm twenty-six and four months pregnant (almost), I've discovered that some of my old gleaning habits just aren't dignified. Jumping after high apples in poorly cushioned boots -- bad idea. Twisting in between tight branches -- bad idea. Riding through orchard in old truck with bad shocks while wearing lap belt -- bad idea. Without lap belt -- also bad idea. Now baby is just fine I'm sure, but I did scare myself a couple of times, enough that I let Dad carry all the apples back to the truck, whereas in high school I would have dragged my own bucket back if it killed me.

So this afternoon, after my nap, I'm going to fill the dehydrator once again and wait for Mom to come home. Then this evening, we can get started on applesauce.

Milestones.

Oh, boy, is it hot here. I hate heat. I never realized how much I disliked heat until it got hot during this pregnancy. Now, I really wish it would rain. A week ago, it rained for three days, and it was wonderful. Some of you will say that temperatures in the high 80s is not hot, but I assure you, it is hot when no one bothers to install air conditioning anywhere but the bank and the grocery store. The weather rarely gets hot enough to justify the investment around here, but this week, it's hot.

The thought that sustains me through the heat is the thought that I have passed a couple of milestones in my pregnancy. The first milestone is my first trimester. It officially ended last Saturday, and my morning sickness vanished not long before that (it came back as I got over my cold. Go figure. Maybe my body just decided that there was only so much it could handle.). I have now gone a week and a half without the need to be sick, and I am very happy with that situation.

My other milestone is that I outgrew my first pair of jeans. Sunday afternoon, I found that I just had to change out of my jeans. They no longer fit. I still have two other pairs that fit, so I haven't bought any maternity pants yet, but I was pretty excited on Sunday, and yesterday, I went through my closet and tried on everything to see what else no longer fit. Seth laughs at me every time I get excited about something small like this, but if I don't enjoy all these things the first time around, when will I enjoy them? However, inspite of outgrowing some of my clothes, I find that I still don't really look pregnant. Seth says there's a little change. I can feel a change, and sometimes I think I see a change, but that tiny bit of thickness around my waist still seems like an optical illusion to me.

Still coughing.

Hi, everyone.

I went to the doctor yesterday because Sunday, I was absolutely miserable with this cold. While I'm waiting for my appointment, I strike up a conversation with a woman sitting across from me. Turns out she was waiting for a biopsy (Pray for her please. She isn't inclined toward prayer herself). I'm sitting there trying to think of encouraging things to say, and she's looking at me with concern. "Are you sure you're alright?" she asks. "You don't sound so good."

Now I've got a doozy of a cold, but all I have is a cold. The doctors (I got a doctor and a medical student.) both agreed that there was no reason for concern. They gave me some Benadryl (which is about as pregnancy safe as medicines get. You can pass that information along.) and a cough suppressant, let me hear the baby's heart beat (strong and fast, just like it's supposed to be), and sent me on my way. But I still have to laugh over the fact that a woman who was weighing the possibility of cancer found my symptoms severe enough to distract her.

Being as sick as I am, I once again have to thank God for my wonderful husband who came home from two days on the boat and offered to wait on me hand and foot so I could rest. He must have been raised well. Very considerate. And I am also grateful for my friends and family who have offered all manner of advice (stewed carrots! Who'd have thought?) and assistance. Speaking of which, I haven't taken my vitamin C yet today. I'd better go do that.

Love to you all.

Jennifer

Hello, all.

I've been dying to update my blog, but I haven't really had anything to write. I'm getting tired of regaling people with the ills and woes of pregnancy. (I know something's getting old when I'm tired of complaining about it.) In that regard, I am slightly better. The constant feeling of nausea and regurgitation is gone. Mostly now, I'm just tired, and in a week or two that's supposed to go away too. Lately, I've been managing to cook and clean and generally maintain the house. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I have energy again. Finish all the projects I meant to do this summer maybe.

On the other hand, I have a cold. I am not happy with my cold. It's probably what's sucking up all my energy. And I'm worried that if I sneeze too hard, I might blow the baby right out of me (Alright, the joke is in bad taste, but if you've ever heard me sneeze, you know why the thought occurred to me).

Max has a new friend outside the fence. There's a big black and white dog with a Harley Davidson collar running around the neighborhood. I've been thinking that if I take Max for a walk, he might follow, and we can find out where he lives, but he's already been chased home once, and he came back, so there's probably no one at home to receive him. It's a shame. He's a beautiful dog.

My neighbor dropped by with a book from the library reject pile. It's called Expect the Unexpected When You're Expecting. It's a parody on all those pregnancy books. Now I haven't read any of those pregnancy books. I've contented myself with some Internet research, but they're so well known and so infamous for making mothers-to-be paranoid out of their minds that I am sure I will enjoy it.

Love to you all.
Jennifer

I'd like to know.

Alicia tagged me a while ago. The rules of the tag are that I have to list ten random things and then tag ten people. I'll worry about tagging people later. But for now, here are ten random things.

See I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and while I enjoyed it immensely, I felt that the dennoument (the wrap up where everything gets explained) didn't explain enough. So I'd like to know

1. What happened to Luna Lovegood? She plays a prominent role in the last three books and then disappears in the epilogue. Is that fair?

2. What do Harry, Ron, and Hermione do for a living 19 years later? Seth says that maybe they're independently wealthy. I want to know if Harry ever became an auror. Or maybe Trelawney hit it on the head for once, and he did become minister of magic.

3. How did Hermione's parents handle a wizarding wedding? Or did Hermione have a muggle wedding, these things being planned by the bride?

4. Do wizarding mothers get morning sickness? (Okay, that is totally an extrapolation of my own imagination. I would in no way expect her to put that in the book, but I have been wondering.)

5. Who is minister of magic, if it isn't Harry? 19 years would be a little long for Kingsley Shacklebolt to hold the position. Maybe Mr. Weasley got the job for a while. Wouldn't that be a hoot?

6. Who is headmaster of Hogwarts? McGonnegal would surely have retired by now, and Neville is teaching herbology. It really should be someone we know. It's only right.

7. How is George doing in the Wizarding Wheeze business? Can he be just as creative on his own, with only one ear?

8. What happened to Dudley? He makes a big character turn around, and then he vanishes. I think it would be funny if one of Dudley's children turns out to be magical.

9. Were giants, house elves, and goblins more accepted in wizarding circles after the defeat of Voldemort? Maybe Hermione uses her status to become an activist on their behalf.

10. How is Albus Severus Potter ever going to live down that name? And what is James's middle name? Sirius? Remus? Arthur? Harry? Cedric? Ron? There are lots of candidates for that one.

Well, here "he" is.

Tada!

I went to the doctor's office today to check on some unusual symptoms, and they decided to take an ultrasound, just to make sure that everything is really all right. And here "he" is (what am I going to do if this baby is a girl? I already have a nickname for "him" which Seth has forbidden me to share because we don't know if "he's" a boy or a girl.). "YS" stands for yolk sack. I had completely forgotten that human babies have yolk sacks. And of course, "baby" is baby. You can't see much. "His" head is up top, and I think that's an arm extending to the yolk sack, but it's too early too tell. But I got to see "his" little heart beating. It was just barely visible.

My morning sickness is a little better. Frequent trips to the chiropractor have helped with that. I am still working on this fatigue. Fatigue makes it difficult for me to remember things like "Six small meals a day" and "Eat and drink at separate times." My chiropractor says exercize helps. I've heard that ginger is good, as is cold fruit. I've also had chamomile tea recommended. But I have learned that when the stomach wants to empty itself, it's going to empty itself, no matter what. On the other hand, I am well enough to post, and I made dinner tonight (just chicken soup from a can, but I also put on a pot roast for tomorrow).

Tomorrow is the Whaling Days Parade in Silverdale. My church always enters a float to advertise Vacation Bible School. Last year I passed out fliers. This year, I get to ride in the float. That's good. I don't think I could handle the whole parade route. Dan the Fun Man (from church) has been teasing me that I should take along one of Seth's sailor hats to use as a bucket. Apparently this is a long tradition among drunk sailors (no implications on Dan the Fun Man).

Announcement!

Well,
I suppose it's about time I posted the news: I'm pregnant. I am actually pregnant. It's a little hard to believe. In fact, if it weren't for the morning sickness, dizziness, and exhaustion, I'm not sure I would believe it at all (Maybe that's why God invented morning sickness).

I am currently five weeks along by the hospital count. We found out about a week and a half ago, although we had suspicions two weeks before that. It was kind of funny. Seth looked at me one day and said, "You know, I think you might be pregnant." What do you know, I was. Am.

I think we are both hoping for a boy. I've started referring to the baby as "he" already. Seth says that every girl ought to have a big brother. Now, I've never had a big brother, but I've always dreamed of having a big brother (cousins don't count), so I'll concede the point. Speaking of Seth, he is very attentive and makes sure that I never overdo anything. He did the dishes for me last week, and if you knew how I do dishes (I usually let them pile up until there are no more spoons), you know what a kind gesture that is!

I think even Max can tell something is up. For a while, he was sniffing every step I took, and he curls up next to me every time I lay down, like he's trying to make sure I'm alright. I think that's a good sign, though he might be a bit more hostile when the new arrival arrives and he has competition for making the most noise in the house.

One more Internet stop today. I've got to put this on my facebook for the people who don't know I have a blog. Then I'm going to lie down again. My only chore today is the dishes (see above) and I think it and this might be the only constructive things I manage. I'm so glad this part only lasts three months.

Vacation photos.

Here are pictures from our vacation in California. Seth and I drove the 101 down to visit friends who live in LA (Rancho Cucamonga specifically, but it all seems to run together down there. My picture taking was a little sporadic. Many more pictures were taken of the trip down than the trip up and some activities escaped picture taking completely. For instance, on Friday we went to the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit at the San Diego Natural History Museum, and due to the extremely fragile nature of the scrolls (yes, the real things were on display) no cameras or cell phones were allowed in the room. So much as I would like to share the experience of viewing 2000 year old relics that confirm the Old Testament Scriptures (note, these are not the Gnostic gospels. Those were found in Egypt, not by the Dead Sea. The exhibit said so.), I have no pictures of it.

However I did get pictures of historic 101, literally. The road was so curvy that I had to take a picture because I knew I would be telling my kids about it some day. Seth laughed at me for watching the road through our viewfinder, hoping to find a section of road that showed just how curvy the road was (actually, I got a little sick in the process. Have you ever had the whole world rushing up at you?), but I think it was worth it.

We drove down through Oregon on the first day and stopped at Depoe Bay for dinner around 7:00 (late start, Seth had to work until noon). We ate at the Sea Hag and took a walk to the smallest harbor in the U.S (or maybe the world, I don't remember). This is a picture ou Seth outside said harbor. It really is tiny. I kept looking for the rest of it, but there wasn't any more.

We also stopped at Historic Hughes house in Port Orford, OR, just above the OR/CA border. This house was built in 1898 by Irish immigrants who had quite the dairy and shipping industry around the turn of the century (Alicia, you might be related.) The size of the house was impressive for the day, not to mention the fact that most of the windows, stoves, ceilings, etc were original, and that three generations lived in it at once. I got a teapot there, and Seth made me get the matching cup and saucer as well.

We crossed the California border about halfway through our second day and camped among the majestic redwoods. The whole drive was nothing but redwoods, spectacular ocean views, and your odd seaside community. By odd seaside community, I mean both picturesque little towns that pass so quickly you can't get a good picture of them and monotonous little "developed communities" for people who want oceanside property and don't care whether it's pretty or not. We stopped at the Chandelier drive through tree (below) and just barely made it through. I think cars have gotten bigger since they cut that whole in the tree. But the tree itself is awesomely huge. If you look very closely at the picture, you can see the person in the white sweatshirt at the bottom of it. That's how big it is.

When we got to Carol and Alan's ( I didn't think to take pictures of their house), we took a much needed break for an afternoon. Then we decided to take in Southern California. Now, note to would-be tourists. Everything in Pasadena is closed on Tuesday: the museums, the special events, everything. Most of their tourist attractions open on Wednesday. We still had an enjoyable time wandering around and taking pictures of the picturesque old buildings.

This is us trying to find our way around with an internet self-guided tour.

City hall.

There are a lot of churches in Pasadena.

One of the aforementioned closed museums.

We finished up Tuesday with a couple games of bowling in which I scored my highest score ever: 83. I seemed to jinx everyone else though because Alan says that he hasn't bowled that poorly (120+) in years. Still, we had a lot of fun, as evidenced by Seth's expression to the right.

Wednesday, we went to Laguna Beach (yes, The Laguna Beach) and jumped in the waves and built sandcastles and did all the things that people who haven't been to the beach in a long time do. We didn't get any pictures of wave jumping because we were all in the water. But here are our sandcastle pictures. (The good thing about being the designated picture taker is that noone gets a picture of you sunbathing).

Thursday, we hung around the house and did stuff that we'd been wanting to do for a while, like bake cookies, or play hours of computer games. I really should have gotten a picture of the guys, each on opposite couches with their laptops, completely absorbed, but I was rather sticky, and the eggs wouldn't stay beaten (very important for Carol's cake recipe). We rounded off the afternoon with Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (good movie, good ending). And Friday, we went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. We were going to take in the zoo as well, but we ran out of time.

I only took two pictures on the way up the I-5 (we had a deadline getting back. Don't ever take the 101 if you have a deadline. You won't get there on time.) This is Mt. Shasta, and it sits in some of the most beautiful country I have seen. On the right is Lake Shasta, which seems to go forever because it goes in five different directions at once.

We made it home around 6:30 on Sunday evening, and boy, were we tired. Seth had a sunburn (he's still peeling), and I am a lot more freckled than I was (yea, sunscreen). I was the only one who didn't get burned. It was a good vacation.