Christmas

This last Christmas was spent with my mom, dad, sister and family. But! Because Brad left in the beginning of December, we had to decorated the Saturday after Thanksgiving so he could have some semblance of a Christmas. 

We got our first real Christmas tree this year! Brad's family traditionally goes to a tree farm all together the day after Thanksgiving to pick out the perfect 14 foot tree. We, of course, do not have vaulted ceilings in our cute apartment, so we settled for a 6 footer instead. I actually have to say... the small trees are much easier to handle. 

So, guess what? My mom made me a beautiful Christmas tree skirt. It made me so happy inside. 

Here she is! Isn't she a beauty? The picture doesn't do it justice. It's ivory, gold, red and glorious.

And here it is all put together! Gold and red and green.  I am so proud of our work of art. Fully decorated for less than $40. Other than the tree skirt, of course. I mean, it was free for me, but not for my mom...

Here are our stockings, with the countdown in between. 

I sort of love these reindeer stocking holders!

Nativity set. 

This is our first Christmas tree! We keep it for sentimental reasons. Well, that's why I keep it.  Brad keeps it, cuz I keep it, and we live together and everything, so we BOTH keep it. 

And this is me after I got home, with all my Christmas booty.  New boots, a diaper bag, nursery set, and a Groupon for a  massage and a mani/pedi (thanks Bradley and Mom and Dad!).

Anyway, Christmas with my parents and sister/her family was really enjoyable. I did, of course miss Brad, but it was so nice to be able to spend time with my fam. We had great food, played fun games, and were able to reflect on the gift of our Savior. And, we of course read once again Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. 

Thanks Brad, for sending me home for Christmas, and thanks Mom and Dad for spoiling me, and thanks Robin, Nels, Calvin and Oliver for being there too! Love you guys!

Shower in a suitcase

So, my mum is pretty excited about us having a girl. I was able to spend some time with her, as well as with my dad, and my sister and her family over Christmas. That was my birthday present from Brad, by the way. A trip home for the holidays, since he left for Florida on December 6th.

Anyway, while I was there, my mumsy "showered" me with things she has been treasuring and holding onto. Things for baby Claire. So, when I got home I took some pictures of my shower in a suitcase.

My suitcase overfloweth.

Top view. 

I thought it would be fun to put everything underneath the tree. Look at it! Bibs, outfits, udder covers, blankets, a hand made "quiet book" for church, toys, and more. 

My Dad's contribution! It's a ball he made, and it's for the game "Potato."
We used to play it as kids. Definitely a tradition to carry on. 

This is a children's lullaby my mom
stitched and hung in our nursery.

Receiveing blankets galore

Funky/fun bibs. I love the bright colors. 

Little monster toy.

Smocked dress. I love these things. 

More smocked outfits.

Hand crocheted by my mom. 

Thanks Mom and Dad! Love you guys!

Um... hello, again.

So, I have been ACHING to blog for awhile now. I have a few picture to post, and some things to say. Mostly pictures, really. Here is my excuse this time: My computer broke. Actually, both my phone and computer broke right about at the same time. I have been without a screen larger than 2"x3" for over a month now, as well as without a keyboard. I hear you can blog via a smart phone, but that is way too complicated for me. Plus, I mostly like to put pictures up, and I can't do that through my phone unless they are just cell phone pictures. I think. Anyway. Too much effort, in other words.

BUT. Guess what? I finally, today, have a functioning computer. It's quite a little beauty, too. I didn't feel bad about getting it either because mine actually broke. I took it in to the Genius Bar and everything, and it was the logic board that stopped functioning. I don't know a lot about what that means, but from what it sounded like, it was gonna be a pain, and expensive to fix, all for a 6 year old computer. No thanks. I took it as a sign it was time for me to upgrade.

So, here is an update on my stomach:

11 weeks! I'm doing good, going strong! Still very nauseated. Still no throwing up.

 Baby is the size of a lime at 11 weeks. Apparently. All the food comparisons don't make sense to me. I mean, what peach is smaller than a lemon? I must have only ever seen tiny lemons or huge peaches.

Nearing the end of the 1st trimester! Finally. I thought I was going to feel 100% by the end of this week, but...

 Baby is plum size. In this picture, I was so excited that I was going to start feeling better! I actually kind of was feeling a little better, I thought.

13 weeks. This was by far the worst week. I lost 4-5 lbs this week, but you can't tell. :)

 But in week 13, when baby was the size of a peach, I finally threw up. It felt so good. I sorta wished I had been able to do that all along. Also, I had some kind of bug, so I happened to take off my one and only day for sickness during my pregnancy. So far.

14 weeks. Definitely a little bump!

 Finally starting to feel a little bit better. Baby is the size of a lemon. I'm also starting to crave carbs like crazy, and stopped having much nausea.

15 weeks. I forgot the 16 week picture. Actually,  Brad prolly reminded me, but I let it slide. Now I regret it. Oh well. 

No more nausea! Here I feel like my bump was starting to be a little more obvious, when baby was the size of a naval orange. However, now, I think I was just feeling bigger, and hoping people knew it was because I was pregnant.

17 weeks...

This was the week baby was the size of an onion, at 17 weeks.

18 weeks. 

The pictures just look worse and worse, trying to get that camera steady on the couch. Baby is the size of a sweet potato. Or, 5.6 inches. I feel like most sweet potatoes are bigger than that, but I could be wrong.

19 weeks. Can I just say, these pictures are really hard to take. I have to set the camera on the arm of the couch, and then run, but it's difficult because 60% of the time, once I have the camera positioned perfectly, as soon as I get up from the couch, it topples over. Brad needs to get back from Florida ASAP.

19 weeks: Mango. At 18-19 weeks, I had really awful sciatic pain for some random reason. It might have partly been because I set up the crib all by myself, but that didn't start it. It was pretty painful though. I'm hoping it doesn't return, because, um, OUCH.

Here I am at 20 weeks!!! Halfway done.

Yay! I made it halfway there! So exciting! Baby is as big as a banana! Honestly, the scariest time for me will be between 24 and 32 weeks. Once I'm at 32 weeks, I will feel slightly better. I'll feel even better once baby is 38 weeks, of course. At least, I'll feel less worry. I'll likely feel much more uncomfortable. Also, this is when we got our ultrasound. My mother-in-law came with me, since Brad couldn't be there, and it was such a cool experience!

21 weeks and 3 days. I seem to really like this shirt... Don't worry, I don't always wear it. For example, when I sleep, I wear something different.

And here is my belly at 21 weeks. Claire is the size of a pomegranate.

Our baby girl

Here is what Brad gets to do...

So, actually, the above picture is slightly misleading. Brad got to go out on a boat one time so far while in Tampa. Mostly he has to get up before the crack of dawn, go to a hospital, and work on learning anesthesia, which they make as difficult as possible for him. He's so great, and I'm proud of him for working so hard, and living in gross/tiny living conditions while there. 21 more days. Woot.

Running a (1/2) marathon while pregnant...

... is SO rad.
That's why I did it: because I'm rad.

The weekend before Halloween I went to Utah to visit with my sister and her husband, and to run with Lisa while she ran her first 1/2 marathon EVER. This wasn't any race. This race involved costumes, getting up at 5:00 to be bussed to the top of a ski resort so we could wait around for an hour in the freezing cold temperatures, only to start running once completely numb for 13.1 miles.
I can't imagine a better first race. However, if there was hot chocolate along the way, it could have been better.

 Lisa and I made our own costumes. We got super creative and made those tutus that are all over the internet right now. Lisa was a spooky ballerina and I was a spooky witch, as evidenced by our color choices, obviously.

Clearly the pink and white is for the ballerina, and the green, purple and black is for the witch. 

 We spent hours at JoAnn Fabric trying to figure out how much of what materials we needed, and wouldn't you know it? The line was also quite staggering. But, it moved pretty quickly, and then we got to eat some lunch. We went home afterward and made our tutus. Lisa sewed the elastic together, and I cut the fabric. Then we watched a movie while we tied the fabric around the elastic.

She's so excited to be all crafty, can't you just see it?

This is us before leaving the house in our finished costumes. I'm sitting on a broom, not just squatting. It's hard to tell. Lisa is posing as quite the fancy dancer. The ribbons lasted about 2 seconds.

Lisa, Jana (dressed as a baseball player), and I waiting for the shuttle to take us to the top of the mountain.

Again, still waiting.

Here we are, nearing the end of the race. We look happy, be we aren't. We want to be dead.

Crossing the finish line!!! (9 wks pregnant. Oh, and Lisa later found out she was pregnant, too!)

Here we are, dying at the end of the race. I could not walk for like 3 days after this. But we did it!!

Jack and I

The race was really fun! It was downhill for a large majority, but there was a sneaky uphill part in the middle that inclined for a good mile to mile and a half. By the end of the race, my body felt like rubber, and I could barely put one foot in front of the other. I supposed it really does pay to train appropriately.

Fortunately no one was injured. Except my toenails got a bit of slight bruising. 

 After the race was over, Lisa and I mainly recovered for the next few days. We did some fun things together two, with Evan, her husband laughing at us every step we took (because we walked like 9 month pregnant 85 yr olds).

I was lucky enough to see a couple friends while in Utah, and I'm so sad about the others! I will be back in Utah next summer, most likely, so try not to hate me until then, and I'll be able to visit.

Jack and Lisa. 

It was good to see my little sister. We missed Robin, as she moved quick as lightning to California as soon as she found out I was going to be visiting. I may have to pay her a special visit and drop in unannounced so she doesn't try to leave again.

Happy Halloween!

Kruger Farm family tradition

Last year one of the very funnest things we did in October was to visit the quaint little Kruger Farm on Sauvie's Island. We played in the corn maize, ate corn on the cob, had candied apples, went on a hay ride, and picked out our very own pumpkins for carving.
We thought we would do it again this year, only in 6 inches of mud and with friends!
We didn't really go through the corn maize due to possible mud pits to which one would lose one's shoe, but we did spend more time in the little farmer's market area. The produce was ginormous. Cabbage heads bigger than MY head. Not even kidding. We also went with a slice of pumpkin pie instead of a caramel apple this year. It was pretty good, but I like my mom's better.

I wasn't kidding about the produce!

Here I am, wearing sea bands, eating corn on the cob. It seems food was the only thing that helped at that point.

 We had planned this trip weeks ahead of when we actually went. We planned it when the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and by the time the appointed weekend came around, it was absolutely iffy.

 We (Bradley and I, as well as the Ashley, Nate, and their kids) decided, despite the high chances of showers to go to the farm anyway. As we were driving there, it started to kind of sprinkle. Oh well, we can handle a little sprinkling. As we got closer, it started to downpour. Rain cats and dogs. Buckets. Etc.
I saw a patch of blue sky, and we said, move on! We are Pacific Northwesterners, are we not???

Then, when we got to the farm, well...Look at the picture to the left! The weather was beautiful, right over the farm. We could see in the distances surrounding the farm the gross, gray clouds, dumping rain everywhere else. But we were in a little haven of loveliness.

Hay ride!

 This is Ashley, Nate and their baby. Ashley was my bestie in high school. Nate's her husband. He's ok.


The hay ride was pretty fun. Here are the highlights: We saw some people we knew, family friends (this is part of the tradition, because last year we also bumped into familiar faces), I got mud all over my sweater boots, the little girls both fell in the mud, and whilst someone was getting back onto the ride, they smeared their nasty, muddy boots all over me. It was a good time.

Love this boy!

A little froggy.

Aren't they the cutest???

 The girls found a cute little critter! They wanted to take it home.

Punkin pie.

butterfly face

She got a full on mask!

The girls also got to have their faces painted! They held really still, and took it very seriously.










Overall, we had a great time. It was fun to be with friends, planned and not planned, and it was cool to have the weather miraculously clear up, just so we could have a good day.

We'll probably do it again next year, only this time with Little Bean in tow!