Easter!

So, this video is long, but it's Hazel's egg hunt, and I feel (as her first true egg hunt) everyone should be privy to her excitement. Mom spread eggs out all over Hangar 52, so you'll see the adults battling some metal and equipment, but Hazel has eyes only for her lovely eggs...

[Nevermind about the video. For some reason Blogger is no longer allowing me to upload videos. I guess they want me to upgrade my blog but I really don't want to.]

I carried the camera around with me on Easter, but still managed to walk away with very few pictures! These are a couple shots from home, just before taking off for church. I was excited about the book in Hazel's basket - I like the Bernstein Bears, so when I saw the "New Baby" book I thought that would be fun for Miss B.

We started the day out with church in our brand new building. Athey Creek has held its various services at a nearby middle school for the last 11 years. This past year or so it became very clearly the time to move our church body to our own building. As far as I know, we don't outright own the building we're using now, but we have alot of leniency when all is said and done. We've built out a warehouse to suit our needs, so there are offices and classrooms along with the main sanctuary and the kids' hall.

Perhaps it's cheesy but I was so emotional at the service. It felt like such a blessing to be spending our first service in our new building talking about the resurrection. Here's a picture I took with my phone of the back of the sanctuary:

I'm not sure if you can tell or not but by the time we got to the service, it was packed. There was only standing room available...and we were 15 minutes early! ACCF went from three Sunday morning services (8a, 10a, 12 noon) down to two (9a and 11a), so I'm sure that, combined with it being Easter, is what filled up the sanctuary so fast.

When the kids were dismissed for their church, several seats opened up, but still not enough for everyone standing around the outside of the sanctuary. It was incredible. The sanctuary seats 1,200!

After church we headed straight to the hangar to meet Mom and Dad for lunch. I felt very mean to poor, tired, teething Hazel, but she did okay. She slept in the car for maybe 40 minutes and then we arrived at the hangar and she woke up.

Hazel was excited to run around the hangar and ride the tricycle Mom and Dad keep there. She fell in love with the little bell. We had lunch and Hazel opened a basket of gifts from Mom and Dad and chased down all the eggs scattered around the hangar. We ended the afternoon with lemon meringue pie and coffee before loading back up into the car to head to Nate's parents' house for the evening.

Just before heading out, though, I had Nate take a couple of belly pics. They're not that great. My hair is an absolute disaster, which I totally blame on pregnancy. Once I become pregnant, my hair (which usually grows more than a foot a year) stops growing almost completely - this round, I have fringe around my face trying to grow in after giving birth to Hazel. I'm all a mess these days!

I am 21 weeks pregnant with Baby Girl #2 in this picture. Still nauseous most mornings, tired every other day or so, but able to eat pretty much whatever I want now! I struggle with soup - I can't have that too many nights in a row - but it's been okay with me that that seems to be my only real problem. Oh, and I can't cook raw chicken or ground turkey from start to finish. Nate usually has to step in and help (I gag like crazy and then can't eat the meal).  Oh, and I want pop, like, all the time; either that or a really good nectarine. Pop is year-round, while it isn't quite nectarine season, so you can guess which one I pick when I have the option.

This picture is bad, but not nearly as awful as some of the others. I was facing the other direction for most of the pictures and my hair is crazy poofy, which no one told me - I spotted it in the mirror later that night. Excellent.

The baby moves like crazy these days, which has been so fun! Nate has felt some of her big movements and I've watched her kicking - I look forward to reaching the point where it's easy for him and Hazel to feel her and see her right along with me.

Karen sent me some photos from Easter with them, so here is Hazel playing at their house. The headband was in her basket - it's so cute! She loves to have things on her head, especially headbands, hats, and a plastic Burger King crown that Rae Ann's girls left at Mom's house.

So I think that sums up our day! We made it home in time to put Hazel to bed in her own crib - she spends the first couple hours of her bedtime on Monday nights sleeping over at Rick and Karen's so that Nate and I can attend BSF. I try to not mess up her sleep schedule too many nights in a row...

Hopefully I can figure out how to attach videos again! I have a growing pile I'd like to share! Soon, soon.

Another anniversary.

We left Hazel with Rick and Karen and took off for Twin Rocks Friends Camp on Friday, March 12th. It is incredible how much less I had to pack for just Nate and I...

We took our time leaving the city, running errands on our way to the coast. We checked in around 9pm and I craved bed immediately. We emptied the truck of our bags and coolers quickly and then went to bed.

On Saturday, we spent the morning reading (I napped, too) before heading toward Cannon Beach. We decided to keep this trip pretty simple, just hitting up the places we are most familiar with. On the drive I called Rick to check in and see how things were going with Hazel. I had to laugh at what he told me: Rick said that Hazel had made sounds throughout the night and every time she did, he got her up, like out of bed to play with toys. He was exhausted, as was Hazel, because they had spent so much of the night playing in the living room! I told him he might have just set himself up for trouble.

Cannon Beach was packed with people from all over - turns out that our weekend to celebrate Nathaniel's due date (3rd anniversary) was also a wine tasting tour weekend! It was okay, though - the little town was super busy but there was a ton of good parking because most of the tourists had been shuttled in.

Down on the beach I found a great stick to write in the sand with, so I took some time to try it out. As soon as Nate saw me writing this message, he took off - apparently I embarrassed him...So I snapped this picture of him fleeing the scene of my silliness:

So we wandered the beach, ate lunch at our favorite pub in Cannon Beach (truth be told, the only pub), had coffee at the Sleepy Monk, and then headed back to our little cabin for the night. We had dinner and watched a few episodes of "30 Rock" before finally being tired enough to go to sleep.

On Sunday we started the day of fairly slow again: Nate read and I napped (all that extra sleep was marvelous - even though my morning sickness seems to be diminishing, I'm still so tired). He woke me up around 11 so that we could pack up and head back home. We loaded up the truck and then parked at the camp entrance; we crossed the pedestrian bridge over Hwy 101 and walked to Twin Rocks beach. Ready for this? It's my 18 week pregnancy picture:

I'm wearing a thick sweater but I think the baby bump is still plenty visible. There hasn't been a real moment of "popping" like I experienced with Hazel (17 weeks, in Exeter, California, the morning of my cousin's wedding), but more of just a thickening and then "plumping" outward. I'm very much in the I-feel-fat stage, but I think that things will begin to change fairly drastically pretty soon. This kiddo is getting bigger by the day!

Speaking of the kiddo...

We found out yesterday at my 20.5 week ultrasound. Wahoo! We're pretty stinking excited! I can hardly believe we're already this far along - it's crazy how quickly time is beginning to pass.

Nate and I drove from Twin Rocks to Cannon Beach for more Sleepy Monk coffee (it's just that good). We tried to take a good beach picture of ourselves with Haystack Rock in the background, but, alas, no real luck. Here's what we did end up with, though:


Very typical beach self-portraits!

Nate wanted to finish our trip with a lunch at our favorite seafood place at the coast, so he treated me to fried deliciousness! I can't usually say that - my stomach does not handle fish and chips well, except from Ecola Seafood and Restaurant! I don't know what they do differently but it doesn't make me feel sick for hours afterward.

We got to Rick and Karen's just in time to pick up Hazel and get her home to bed. It was so wonderful to walk through their front door and have her squeal at the sight of us! She was so excited! She wanted to show us everything she'd been playing with. When we got home, she was asleep in no time. Nate and I were able to unpack and decompress before bed.

Even though I was a bit emotional on Nathaniel's due date, it was so good to be at the beach. It was so fresh there that I just stood on the sand and breathed as deeply as I could for as long as possible. It was invigorating and renewing. Nate and I treasure our time together every day, but there's something to be said about our special beach getaways. We've been so swamped lately that this trip shone as a wonderful reminder of what good friends we are, besides being husband and wife. Oh man, how I love him.

Totally annoyed.

I have a little post that I've been working on for like 2 weeks, but it won't post! I think there's something about the attached video...I'll keep at it until it works, but for now you're stuck with this: a very bland, picture-less update.

Hazel is officially 16 months. I was thinking today about how well I know her when it hit me: There's actually quite a bit to her that I'll never know. She's her own person and I might understand some of her tendencies or desires in any given situation, but there's a lot going on in that little head and heart that I can't even pretend to understand. She floors me every day with how smart she is.

Last Friday she added snake, rabbit, and fish noises to her list of animal sounds. The day before that she added lion and bear. On Monday she added rooster and chicken sounds, and today she began to include quacking.

This past Sunday she began to walk unassisted - FINALLY. Wahoo! She's flying now, practically. I lock her in the bathroom with me whenever I'm in there, and as I was doing my hair yesterday I kept seeing her head zoom past me in the mirror. She's her own biggest encourager, too - Nate and I can clap and cheer as much as we want, but it's her own clapping and laughing that keeps her going. She's currently pulling moves out of the bag that I didn't imagine she'd even conceived of. I'm impressed.

Her physical therapy has been going well. Now that she's walking I don't think we'll be seeing either therapist much longer. One of them told me that her walking was likely delayed because she was focusing so much on her talking skills - well, I'm not so sure now. She's on a roll with her everyday vocabulary, and she's walking now. I don't see one being sacrificed for the other currently. He said that once she starts walking, I'd likely see her speaking skills slow down, so I guess we'll see what actually happens down the road. For now she's a good walker and talker!

She began singing just a couple weeks ago. She has a little kid Bible with a picture of Jesus on the front; she points to the picture, looks at me, and starts swaying and humming/singing, so then we sing "Jesus Loves Me"!

She has quite an understanding of her body, too. Catch her at just the right time and she'll show you her bellybutton, elbows, knees, neck, cheeks, toes, fingers, feet, eyes, head, hair, forehead, hands, mouth, tongue, and teeth. She also understands, "Close it," "Open it," "Put it down/back," "Go under,""Turn it on/off," "Turn around," "Feet first"...and others.

She says:
dad
doggie
kitty
duck
milk
water (waa)
up
keys
cheese
juice
pop
hi
buh-bye
this
hot
poppa (for my dad)
socks
bottle
tickle

She signs:
milk
water
more
please (but only for her dad, the stinker)
and a variation of help

And now I can't think of the others! Nate needs food, so I should probably start dinner! He stopped at Trader Joe's for wine and lettuce tonight and the guy behind him in line paid for his stuff...What a small, thoughtful, wonderful blessing.

Okay, before I go, the new baby is doing well. I feel the kiddo moving all throughout the day and it's so comforting. We find out in less than a week whether we're having a boy or a girl. Crazy...Time is flying!

Because it's been a month.

Nate just noticed that it's been awhile since I last posted, and when he notices that's a call to action. (And he just told me to go back to school because he believes I misspelled/made up the word "awhile." I love having him watch me blog. And I guess I just laughed at him too hard - he's walking away...)

Hazel is doing good, growing leaps and bounds every day. She's starting to take steps, hesitantly but at least the desire is there (finally!). On Monday she started sporting spots all over her little body. I took her to see the pediatrician - turns out she has Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. Awesome. Poor kid is pretty uncomfortable right now, and she's not up for many pats and snuggles from us. She was super needy on Monday so she did cuddle some that day, but that gene generally isn't part of her make-up. I knew something was wrong on Monday when the clock hit 9:20am and she was still asleep, she who wakes up promptly at 6:45am. I finally just got her up - and then I started noticing the spots. Sores popped up inside her mouth (one or two around her mouth), on one thumb, and on her bottom. I know it could be worse, but I'm sad she's having to deal with this right now. Especially since she's working on cutting two or three teeth at the same time.

Nate is staying busy with his work. He's been doing a lot of organizing in his office, which is a very good thing. I don't say that because it's physically messy - it's not at all (except for my corner). He's working to streamline his processes. I don't know how to say that better...Cody (the black lab that joined our house a few weeks ago) adores Nate, does everything he says. It's been fun having a dog around, although a bit overwhelming at times. Cody doesn't listen to a word I say until I "dominate" him, aka throw him to the floor and lay on him for awhile until he settles. Following that he behaves quite well.

We had an ultrasound last Wednesday night - and I suddenly can't remember why. Peace of mind, I think. Anyway, it was so good to see the kid! It was wiggling like crazy, showing us all its fingers and toes. It was good to see its pumping heart and full bladder. We got a good picture:

The next day I saw Peggy and she answered many of my questions regarding VBACs. I'm not up for saying quite yet what I'm feeling on that front, but soon enough. It's taking a lot of prayer and thought to figure out what's best for this baby and for me. I love this kid already, and all I really want to do is bring it into the world in one great big healthy piece.

My nausea is improving every single day! I'm on Zofran to help curb the harsh edges of my morning sickness, so that's been wonderful. Some days I wonder what it would be like if I wasn't on Zofran - I'd probably be kneeling in front of the toilet. My energy is also coming back, so I've had a much easier time making dinner (aided by my lack of nausea, so now I can eat dinner every now and then, too!) and I've begun baking again. It's nice to take control of the laundry again, too.

My belly is sticking out. I'll show you soon.

OH! And Rae Ann, Stella, and Ivy are in town for five weeks! Much family time taking place these days - it's good to have them close again.

Must run! Spaghetti is calling my name!

Ahem.

If you're checking in here for rumor control, then I am happy to tell you, yes, it's true. We are indeed having another kiddo. Wahoo!

I've been praying since Hazel's birth that the next pregnancy would be totally uneventful, but no luck so far. I felt pregnant almost immediately, so 4 failed EPT tests were just frustrating. I finally called my midwife two weeks into feeling pregnant and she had me go to the lab for a blood draw to test my hCG levels. At about 5 it's safe to assume that you're alive, but you're definitely not pregnant. My first test came back showing a level of 12. The nurse in Peggy's office called me to tell me the results and went on to say that she'd never seen that number before - it felt very low to her. That left her with two assumptions: 1) I was days pregnant or 2) I had been pregnant and was miscarrying so the hCG level was going back down.

Well, that was awesome news. I freaked out; the nurse was totally morose and led me to believe that I was miscarrying. I did a bad thing. I texted Peggy and told her I was panicking, and I asked her what she thought of such a low level. She called back and reassured me that it probably meant I caught the pregnancy early. She scheduled me for a blood test the next morning.

hCG levels should double every 48 hours, so the 12 I got on Tuesday should have been 24 on Thursday - I stubbornly prayed it would be 48 and felt that that would be some major reassurance. It came back at 52. The next test, on the following Tuesday, came back in the high 300s. And a week after that, the hCG count was 8,591. It had skyrocketed. Nate and I began to feel hopeful and expectant.

When we heard from the nurse that the level was at 8,591, she told me to go into the office for an ultrasound. I told her that, by my count, I was barely six weeks along and we wouldn't be able to see anything. She said that the level was high enough my counting was probably off...Yeah, um, not a chance.

We went in for the ultrasound and it was awful. I regretted every second of it. First of all, the tech was the same lady who performed Nathaniel's first ultrasound in June of 2007. She didn't like what she saw at the time and classified me as high risk. And then he died. So I just associate all that baggage with her (sorry, lady - totally unfair, but true).

When I first got into her room she asked about my idea of when I conceived. She interrupted me as I finished saying, "Well, I ovulated on..."
"You can't know when you ovulated."
"I do, though."
"How?"
"I know my body."
"Yes, but how?"
"Um, I've been tracking my ovulation for two years..."
"Well, okay then."

Gee thanks. I guess she gets a lot of idiots in her line of work. Anyway, she spent the rest of the ultrasound being incredibly condescending. She never lightened up. She kept telling me that I was very premature in having an ultrasound done so early - and I answered that with, "I didn't want one, they told me to come in," every time. She told me that she couldn't even tell me much about the pregnancy. She pointed to the yolk sac and said, "Well, there's a cluster of cells. And there's some fluid. That's all I can say about this."

I walked out of there miserable. She wouldn't even meet me in the middle and refer to my cluster of cells as a baby. And she couldn't even tell me it was a viable pregnancy.

Leaving her far behind, since it's been several weeks since that memorable encounter, I have NOT miscarried, and, at last count, I'm 10.5 weeks along, due August 18th. We were going to wait to tell everyone until we were in the second trimester, but then I found myself having to straight up lie when people asked. I wasn't comfortable with that, so Nate and I agreed that we'd tell our immediate family, and then whoever asked us straight out after that we'd tell them, too. The other morning Nate told met that his State Farm agent had asked...so now he knew before any of our grandparents. It was time to tell everyone. Hands down.

So now you get to journey with me through another pregnancy! It's not very exciting...I feel pretty yucky most days so I lay on the couch and watch Hazel (Miss Independent, so no one worry - she's fine) play on the floor. She crawls over to show me things and hollers at me when she can't see my face from the other side of the couch, but that's about it. She has no idea what's going on in our little family. Oh, mealtimes are a joy. I can hardly cook for Nate and I - he's been making dinner the last few nights. Everything makes me gag. Feeding Hazel is such a chore. It's become a balance between holding my breath, breathing out of my mouth, and never looking at her food straight on. Yeah for pregnancy!

Happy Birthday - YOU'RE ONE!

Hazel's big day was November 22, so at this point she's already 13 months. I'm terrible.

She started the morning by enjoying nursery time with her little friends at church. The ladies who work in the nursery love her (I'm not even kidding - they tell me how much every Sunday), and whenever I check on her during the service she's happily shaking the baby gate or taking toys from little boys.

The catch here is that we celebrated her birthday on Saturday, November 21st, because Mom and Dad took Nate and I to Trans Siberian Orchestra on Sunday night. I was so bummed to not spend her whole day with her, but Hazel did alright with Nate's parents.

So on Saturday, Day 1 of her birthday celebration, Nate and I scrambled to clean everything and prep food. I spent about three hours just dipping pretzels in chocolate. They were so good, but I really didn't budget that much time! The pictures I've posted here are from Mom and Dad's computer, so when I have access to mine at home, I'll add a few. I mostly have pictures of the spread before guests showed up.

The party started at 3pm, but folks started showing up around 2:30. We had several helping hands as we put finishing touches on things, so I slipped away to get Hazel up from her nap and dressed for her party.

The kid did awesome! She never acted overwhelmed by the amount of people in the house or the incredible, constant, hands-on attention she received all night. We all mingled for awhile until someone alerted me that Hazel was very ready to rip into presents.

She helped me for awhile, but then she became totally focused on some curled ribbon. I began to open all her presents for her and just hand them to her as I opened them. She was thrilled with each one. As a guest in our house, you might not have seen the "thrilled" aspect, but she was. When she devotes total attention to something, she's quite taken with it. The hollering comes when she finally feel she understands what she's holding.

People were so generous. She received many toys and dolls and books, most of which she visits several times a day in the family room. She has full on conversations with her dolls; she stacks, knocks over, and restacks her blocks; and she talks to the pictures of little boys and girls and baby animals in her books. We were blessed in a huge way by the attendance of so many friends and family.

After presents, Hazel got a chance to dive into her cake. She was interested in it, but not sure what to do with it. Finally she found her groove and started delicately shoving handfuls of chocolate cake into her mouth. Her legs were going crazy (whenever she eats a meal, she kicks the entire time, I think in anticipation of the next bite).

We had such a fun evening! The girl did amazing. She finally showed Nate she was pooped around 7:30, so he slipped away with her to put her to bed while I chatted with the few remaining guests. It was an excellent way to end the day!

Nate and I hosted Thanksgiving for both our families a week later, so I'll post about that next...and then Tree Killin'...and then Christmas.

Hazel's Last Few Months in Pictures.

9 MONTHS:

Hazel spent a Friday with Mom while I worked. I got a frantic call in the afternoon from Mom, telling me that Hazel had been stung on the head by a yellow jacket. We weren't sure if she was allergic or not, so I called the pediatrician as I raced over. They told me what to look for and wished me luck. Hazel was just fine. Mom, on the other hand, was freaking out. She covered what she thought was the bite with a mixture of water and baking soda, so Hazel looked a little freakish when I got to the house. We decided to rinse out the baking soda so that we could see whether or not she'd actually been bitten. She was fine - completely unfazed and unharmed! But the best part of her day was this fancy hairdo, compliments of the baking soda...

This was the best family picture we got in Magone, and it's too bad it's from my phone (all these pictures in this post are off of my phone - I'm very sorry).

And here is Hazel gnawing on our coffee table in the family room! Still no teeth, so I wasn't at all worried about damage. Hah!


10 MONTHS:

Hazel is becoming a big girl! This was one of the first times I let her sit alone, without hovering too much anyway. She was enthralled with this rocking chair, and even more thrilled by her own ability to rock it...


There are quite a few "eating" pictures on this post - just enjoy them. They're good for a chuckle.


I call this one, "I Love My Hat!" My friend Linsea made it and it's the only hat without a chin strap that Hazel will keep on. Sometimes I catch her in her carseat with it half off, but that's to be expected - she has a hard time not playing with it.

I snapped this one as we were getting ready to leave the house. I don't remember where we were heading, but I think it's a cute picture.

CHEESE! The kid loves cheddar.

Making espresso with Dad.

Eating steamed apples. They went absolutely everywhere.



11 MONTHS:

I can't resist her baby behind! I was lucky with this picture, though - the first time I set her down to watch the tub fill up, she peed where she was standing. But not this time! Whew.

I took this picture after we spent some time at the pediatrician's office. Bronchiolitis. Poor kid! Her cough has been awful! She's such a trooper, though. She's really only been fazed by it once, but that was because it was exacerbated by an ear infection.


12 MONTHS:

Tree Killing! We climbed a steep hill. And then crawled back to the car with nothing to show for it. I'm going to get a few better pictures from Mom and Dad and do a separate post on this tragic event, so I'll leave it here for now. I'll tell you this, though: Nate was not involved this year; Hazel nearly lost an eye...twice; I thought I was going to die; my lips lost feeling.



Hazel can ask for anything and I'll give it to her if she's just wearing this outfit at the time. I can't resist her in it.
*Oh, and do you like all the kleenex in the fireplace? Yeah, Nate and I have been sick, so we toss our used tissues in there. It's quite the build-up at this point. I don't plan on having any company over any time soon, let me just say.*

And this last picture has nothing to do with Hazel! Survivor came to our town to host a casting call for an upcoming season. I wanted to join the line, I itched to join the line, I almost joined the line, but I didn't. Nate had somewhere to be, so I would have been standing in the cold and rain with Hazel two hours past her bedtime. Even though I didn't join the line, I plotted my interview and felt convinced they'd cast me, knowing I'd be the highlight of the game for all of eternity. Ah well. Their loss I'm sure.


So this post clears my mind when it comes to my phone pictures. I've uploaded them all and now they're posted. What a relief! Nate and I are staying at Mom and Dad's for a few days (oil furnace is not working and we're out of wood; our house is sitting at a comfortable 50 degrees - and dropping - as I write this), so I'm utilizing their excellent wireless connection and my free time to get some blogging done! Seriously, it's like a vacation. I'm not distracted here. I'm taking care of Hazel, cooking for my family, and getting some laundry done, with naps tossed in there for good measure (for both Hazel and I).

I'm super delayed in posting about Hazel's birthday, but there's a good reason for that. I personally have six pictures of her party and they're all either blurry or dark, or both. But I discovered a wonderful, enormous variety of pictures from her party on Mom's computer, which elicited a huge, "Wahoo!" when I found them. So I'm going to post those next. I can hardly believe my little one is already 13 months old. Weird. But she's a genius. Have I ever told you that? And she's growing teeth like you can't believe. She waited until the timing was just so, as she does with all major developments in her young life. And she's just shy of walking. It's unbelievable.

So I'm off to finish making my chicken parmigiana. Nate is with some of his extended out-of-town family tonight, enjoying a martini and appetizers. Hazel had a super hard night last night, waking up every hour - she just wasn't used to sleeping in her play-pen all night (tonight will be better) - so I thought it best she go down on time rather than having Rick and Karen babysit her for a couple hours (sleeping at their house and then being woken up to come home). That can be quite disruptive to her poor little tired and sick body.

Nate's missing out. I make really good chicken parmigiana.

SUCH A WONDERFUL DAY

May your stuffing be tasty,
May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
May your pies take the prize.
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs!

Halloween 2009

She's pulling herself up to standing! And she's doing it so well! It shocked me the first couple times she did it, I was so surprised. Really, I was looking at her, looked away for a second, looked back, and there she was, standing like she's always been doing it.

She has a lot of interest in her own movement. It's fun to sit back and watch her figure things out on her own. Boy, it's been quick progression between crawling and standing - walking isn't too far off.



Halloween was fun. We decided to be brave and forego traditional trick or treating and instead venture out to Canby for our church's harvest festival. It was so fun! I'm so glad we made the trip. We don't know many people at church (completely our fault, although lately I've been really trying to reach out and connect with folks), but we had a blast. Hazel had her face painted to match her mouse costume...which she hated (the costume, not the face paint).


See? What did I tell you.



We had a fun time! There was a photographer there who took a really fun family photo, but I don't like it at the same time - it toys with my self-image. I don't think I'll be posting it here. But maybe. Perhaps. We'll see. Let's leave it at that.

(And how many times can one say "fun" in a post as short as this one? I dare you to give it a try. Really. Go ahead. I can't be beat.)

Big Move

Tom made the move to Baltimore part way into October, but Rae Ann and Stella and Ivy stayed with Mom and Dad in Portland for a couple more weeks. It was so good to have them close for awhile longer!

Suzi came into town, too, so Mom and Dad had quite the houseful of guests. AND everyone was sick. I still, to this day, have no idea how Hazel managed to avoide, well, everything. I prayed and prayed she'd manage to not catch any bugs, but with pneumonia and bronchitis floating around (along with swine flu, although no one at Mom and Dad's had that as far as I know), I didn't think there was much chance of escape. Praise God, though, she avoided it completely!

The following pictures are from the drop-off at the airport. It was so sad to say goodbye. One of the hardest things, I think, was that Stella and Ivy really didn't understand what was happening. They probably just thought they were going on a trip - "move" meant very little to them. They'd lived in the same house for three years, all of their lives, practically, so "across the country" and "not coming home" mean nothing.





So Rae Ann and the girls were off! October 30th, 2009, and they made the big transition to Maryland.

I'm sad.