Haley's new hair

In case anyone is wondering. Here is what Haley will look like with her new hair style.

Unfortunately I don't have Photoshop (if anyone wants to donate a copy that would be great) so I did what I could with the lame Paint application that comes on every PC. Don't tell Haley I did this either.

Gush

I'm a lame blogger, I know. First I don't update, then my updates aren't that interesting. Things are going to get worse before they get better, so just be warned. This post is a random assortment of things that in themselves don't make up a whole post, or maybe they do, but I haven't posted on them yet, and I'm going to get it out of the way with one massive post. Here we go.

Ian has finally achieved the height necessary to open doors. He has been watching us do it for forever and I'm sure has planned on what exactly he's going to do once he can close his whole ham fist around the doorknob. This isn't a real problem, but it means that when Jesse goes into the bathroom and closes the door, Ian runs right after him and throws open the door with a certain triumphant flourish. It makes me laugh.

Ian has three molars that have broken through his gums, and has at least two more that are really close to coming in. I've been giving him Ibuprofen every once in a while to help with the pain, and I think it makes him drowsy. He slept from 9 p.m. last night to 6:30 a.m. this morning. Drugging the little lamb may become a nightly ritual.

We went to see the Christmas lights downtown on Friday. Some friends of ours organized it, and I went in a little early to meet Jesse's new coworkers and Justice Ginsburg. Then we walked over to meet our friends, but they ended up getting stuck in traffic. By the time they got there, we had about five minutes of peace before Ian started screaming. We took some quick pictures with the Capitol Christmas tree and booked it over to Union Station where we found that Ian's hands and feet were freezing. Poor kid.





Here is a picture of me six and a half months pregnant with Ian:


Here is a picture of me six and a half months pregnant with this next baby:


Weight gain was a problem with Ian and is even more of a problem with this baby. I'm starting to get worried, but what more can I do? I don't even eat more than one fruit or vegetable a day to save room for the more calorie-dense foods, but I can't keep that up indefinitely. That causes problems. And I feel like I look stupid. I look like I'm pretending to be pregnant by sticking a basketball in my shirt. Oh, and sorry for the slouchy clothes. I don't have any excuse. I just didn't feel like changing for the picture. At least both pictures are equally hideous.

In other news, I'm going to get my hair cut. I'm going to cut it short, maybe three or four inches, and I'm going to just slap mousse in it after I get out of the shower, some wax on the ends, and maybe some hairspray at the roots. I'm going for purposefully disheveled, but not quite spiky. I like having longer hair better than short hair, but there's no purpose in keeping the hair if I don't have time to do it every day, and with two boys under two years...pretty sure hair is going to be the least of my worries. But if it only takes ten minutes I can afford to worry about it. Here are some pictures I have of hair cuts:


This first woman's face is totally Photoshopped. It's like her head was turned, and they worked on some of her features but lost the appropriate angle. Or maybe her face is shaped like a flounder's head. This is probably the closest to what I want, maybe, but a little longer at the bottom...
And done more like this woman's:


Or maybe like this, but maybe an inch shorter on the ends and a lot shorter in the front.


What's up with these hair models? This last one can turn her head better than an owl.

And finally, choosing baby names with Jesse is impossible. If anyone has any baby names suggestions, please suggest. Jesse likes Gabriel, and I like it too, but I hate to subject a kid to always being called "Gabe". What if he doesn't like that nickname? People will automatically assume that's what he wants to be called. I like Carson, but Jesse says it reminds him of Carson City, Nevada. I don't even think he's ever been there. We don't want really common names or really popular names. Those are the two stipulations. So, if you suggest the name we finally choose, there will be some sort of great prize. I'm not sure what yet, but it will be great. Maybe a whole post thanking you or something.

Oh, and one more thing. This baby is kicking SO HARD. I don't think I'll end up going into labor--he'll just eventually kick a hole in my side and climb out. Will that be more or less painful than labor, I wonder?

For The Grandparents

We haven't really taken that many new pictures lately. Jesse's camera has been eating the batteries. If we put new batteries in, it takes about two or three pictures before they're drained. We do have some pictures and videos, though, and I though I'd post them for the grandparents.

Ian doing what he loves the most: trying on shoes and digging through drawers.

And of course you always need the spaghetti-face pictures.

Jesse's Birthday!

Jesse's birthday was on Thursday. He turned 3o--I can't believe it. What a geezer!

For his birthday I made turkey pot pie (it was actually sort of a punishment. he bought a 23 pound turkey and we had tons of leftovers. i figured the least he could do was sacrifice a nice birthday dinner and choke down some more of the turkey we had.) and a red velvet cake for dessert. It was the first time, really, that I had made a home-made cake--not that it's that big of a feat--and also the first time I tried to make a baked good look nice. It was a success, if I do say so myself, even though the pictures don't really make it look that great. And the cake didn't look wet like it does in the picture.


Here's Jesse, looking as excited as if he were five years old:


We only put nine candles on the cake because we didn't want to set off the fire alarm.

Too Lazy To Be Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Kathryn and my sister-in-law Audree about two weeks ago. Maybe more. I tried to fill out Kathryn's tag, but I couldn't think of things to say, but today I need a break from babies, so I'm going to sit here until I have both of these filled out. Sorry, guys, for being a tag jerk. And, Kathy, you don't have to read this.

8 TV Shows I Love To Watch...
What Not to Wear
The News (any old channel--I love feeling informed, even if the feeling is a false one)
Seinfeld
The Office
Daria
Spongebob Squarepants
Zorro
I Love Lucy

8 Favorite Restaurants
Olive Garden
Cafe Rio
The Bombay House
Asahi (mmmm...sushi)
Zip's (a Washington fast food place with awesome fries--dip them in tartar sauce and ketchup to achieve maximum caloric intake)
Red Robin
J-Dawg's (this is more of a road side hotdog stand)
Wendy's
Um...I think it probably says something about me that half of these are fast food places. And it probably says "I'm poor".

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
Wished I hadn't slept in and gone swimming instead
Ate red meat for dinner
Checked Kathy's blog
Took a nap with Ian
Rocked Ian for 45 minutes
Picked up the house
Tried to do my calling and failed
Kissed my husband

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To
Going to Washington for Christmas
Going to Utah when we get the chance
Snow! (of course, this won't happen here....)
Being able to see my feet again
Retirement
French fries and a greasy burger
A date with Jesse next Saturday
Having a child old enough to leave in charge so we can go out whenever we want

8 Things on My Wish List
A "career" job for Jesse
A child that cleans up after himself (yeah, right! this is on every parent's wish list)
A permanent move back to the west
My own house
A pepped-up world economy
More adoptions and less abortions
A (tiny bit) edgier look so I don't look like such a mom
A trip to Canyonlands

And I'm not going to tag anyone, because I barely got around to doing this myself. But if you really want to be tagged, go read Sarah and Robbie's blog--I think she tagged anyone who read her tag.

Okay, Audree's tag:

5 FAVORITE PLACES I’VE LIVED
1. Cheney, WA
2. Provo, UT (yes, I liked it)
3. Anchorage, AK
That's it.

5 FAVORITE SNACKS

1. Swedish Fish
2. Ben and Jerry's Pistachio Pistachio (though calorie-wise it's a meal. at least, if you eat the whole thing)
3. Chips and salsa
4. Cheese and apples
5. Lil' Smokies

5 JOBS I’VE HAD

1. My uncle's vet clinic
2. Dakotah Direct--call center
3. BYU Nursing Advisement Center Secretary
4. BYU Creamery
5. REI

IF I HAD A MILLION DOLLARS I WOULD

1. Buy a house
2. Buy land in Montana
3. Invest
4. Give some to family
5. Go to LA and have one of the star's stylists give me a makeover

5 THINGS I LOVE

1. My family
2. Holding a sleeping Ian
3. Hanging out with Jesse
4. Wilderness trips
5. Feeling put-together (you know, looking like you spent more than five minutes getting ready)

5 PLACES I HAVE LOVED VISITING

1. Utah
2. Montana
3. New Hampshire
4. Where ever we would have gone to on the honeymoon we didn't take
5. Europe, when I get there

Babies are crying. Gotta go!

How Much Can One Take?

I wonder...how many nights of interrupted sleep and abbreviated slumbering hours would it take to stunt my ability to sleep deeply for twelve hours in one stretch? I've always considered my ability to sleep anywhere for any length of time one of my best qualities. However, Ian has only slept through the night three or four times in his life, and I worry this habit of his is going to impact me permanently.

Some people reminisce about the early days of their courtship, or fun college times, but more and more I find myself remembering how I used to be able to sleep in until eleven o'clock on Saturdays....

Three Things

Item #1: We had four or five pears that were really ripe so Jesse decided to make pearsauce. The problem was that he didn't look up how to do it; he just mashed up the pears and added some spices, so now we have this mush (pear skin included) that tastes like rotten pears.

Item #2: If you're a hairstylist, you should never ever admit that you once worked at a hardware store. It doesn't inspire confidence in your beautician abilities.

Item #3: No matter how "cool" the music you're listening to is, it always sounds horrible and really lame from the next apartment over.

In other news, we had a beautiful autumn day. It was so nice to spend the whole day with Jesse and Ian. I'm so excited for the holidays so we can all spend more time together.

A Whole New World

Yesterday I went grocery shopping and got there a few minutes before the store opened, so I did something I have been meaning to do for a long time: I switched Ian's car seat from rear-facing to forward-facing. When we got back in the car he was so happy! He was looking out the windshield, kicking his feet, and dancing to the music I had playing.

Grocery shopping is usually such a chore, what with heaving myself in and out of the car, trying to keep Ian entertained, and listening to him grouse in the car after we've been out too long. I should have switched his car seat a long time ago. Shopping yesterday was like a dream.

Pretty Please??

Does anyone have a really good pumpkin bread recipe? I would prefer one with cream cheese swirls, but I can also make cream cheese frosting, so if you have a good recipe, could you send it on over either way?

Our neighbor brought over some pumpkin bread and I told myself that I would let myself eat it all if I made Jesse some tonight to compensate, but I can't find a recipe.

I know there must be a lesson I could learn from this, but what could it be??

Time For The Old Stand-by

I'm no great dog lover. I don't like the way they smell, or shed, or lick your hands. And I don't like petting a dog unless it's on my own terms and there is a way to wash my hands right after. When I was in high school I would pretend I was afraid of dogs so their owners wouldn't expect me to want to pet them. I guess I felt the pressure to admire dogs a lot, or something.



Now that he can appreciate them, Ian loves looking at animals, so I try to always point them out to him. He might even enjoy petting them, I don't know; I don't let him go anywhere near them. If there's one thing I've learned from working in a vet clinic and having a vet for an uncle is that no matter how well you know an animal, no matter how long you've had it, you can never trust it around small children. Animals just aren't predictable, and neither are young children. The combination isn't a good one.

Example: Our family friends had a dog they had raised from a puppy. They've had this animal for a long time, and they have a lot of rambunctious kids who I'm sure, like all kids, mauled it to near death, and they've never had a problem. They just moved down to Utah and stopped along the way to let their dog stretch his legs. A little girl ran up to the dog to pet it and the dog turned around and bit her in the face.

The problem is that oftentimes people will bring their dog up to us and invite us to pet it, or bring it up expressly to show to Ian, or come up to see him and bring their dog with them. I've decided I need to have a reasonable reason to keep Ian a safe distance away (I can't really say I'm afraid their dog will go ballistic, can I? A lot of dog owners would be offended by that).

Here's where I need to make a choice: should I say we're allergic, or should I use old faithful and say Ian's afraid of dogs? Clearly lying isn't a problem for me, but which would make the better excuse of why I don't want Ian too close to their dog? Maybe I should just say I'm an overprotective mother....

My post yesterday made me remember walking into the bathroom (at my parent's house) and catching my littlest sister Jaymee just finishing up a cupful of someone's retainer water, Efferdent included. There was no mistaking it for something else, either, because their retainers were in the bottom of the cup.

And that memory made me remember walking into the bathroom on a much earlier occasion and catching Jaymee licking condensation off of the toilet tank.

There seems to be some kind of connection...is she so neglected that she has to scavenge for nourishment and drink?

It's Time

You know it's time to start wearing your retainers again when you have a dream that your teeth are so crooked you can't close your mouth.

High Chair Shenanigans

Here is a picture that my brother, Jaron, took when he was staying with us (since Haley wasn't able to post one with her previous entry on extreme feeding).


And while I am at it...Here are some other pictures from my brother. Thanks, Jaron.

Arachnophobia

Earlier this week (Tuesday, I believe), I diligently woke up to go swimming (I slept in Monday, so I definitely had to go Tuesday) only to find that I had been bitten by a spider on the top of my foot and on the back of my calf. Annoying.

Wednesday night I fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up I had been bitten (is bitten correct English? It seems wrong.) twice on my back and three times by the band of my pants. This attack was worse than the first; not only had I been bitten (bit? bitted?) a total of five times, but this time the spider was in my shirt and was trying to crawl down my pants! I'm pretty sure it was thwarted by the thick, tight band around the top of my maternity pants, thank goodness.

Thursday passed uneventful, besides all the itchy bites I had.

Friday (today) when I stood up from giving Ian a bath my foot itched terribly. I thought it was the first bite I got on Monday that was more itchy because my foot had fallen asleep. Wrong! I had another bite on the top of my foot, only I was wearing socks. How did the spider bite me? Did it bite through my sock or was it in my sock??

I have only seen maybe two spiders since we've moved in in May, and we're on the second level. It's not like we're a basement apartment. I never saw any of the spiders after they bit me, which makes me wonder if I don't have fleas or something and am oblivious to it.

Either way, I feel like I have spiders crawling all over me now because I'm so paranoid. Or maybe I do have spiders crawling all over me. Maybe I never see them in the apartment because they're on my body.

Official Statement

After my post about swimming, Kathy asked what I do with Ian while I swim. I appeared to have answered with a statement about how I let him play next to the pool while I swim. This comment was not made by myself, but by my husband. Letting Ian play next to the pool would never work for several reasons. I apologize to those who thought I was endangering my child.

In other news, I had an ultrasound and we've found out we're having another boy! Yippee! A nice, mellow girl would have rounded things out nicely, but at least they'll be able to play well with each other.

Note: Sometimes I'll be talking to a person and they'll say, "Well, aren't you excited about having a baby?" My answer, if I were to be blunt, would be, "Yes. I am excited. I love babies. Being a mother is great. It's just that I know how much work boys are because I already have one. A girl would be a wild card.

I'm just tired--Ian has used up all my energy. So, excuse my not sounding insanely excited. I'm transferring all the energy I had to be excited to my legs, so I can sprint after Ian and stop him from taking off his diaper and dropping its contents on the kitchen floor for the second time.

Feeding Ian Is Turning Into An Extreme Sport

That is, if your definition of "extreme" is "difficult and/or challenging", and your definition of "sport" is "activity of a nature that requires physical prowess".

Here are some of Ian's favorite ways to spend a meal:



Before the picture below was taken, Ian was standing on his tray doing some kind of dance. Then, he slipped bottom-first back into his seat; that's how his foot is up by his wrist.



I didn't even get the best pose, which is where he places his hands on the edge of his tray and puts his feet against the back of his seat, in a push-up position. That's usually when I give up on the meal. In fact, I'm disappointed with the pictures I do have of mealtimes. Obviously I'm too busy doing other things to have time to snap away. The only way to capture the true feeling of how his meals go would be to take a video, and nobody wants to see that. Even I don't want to see that more than I have to.

The Truth

I've been swimming now for the past two weeks and I've rediscovered why I love it so much. I love the feeling of pulling myself through the water. I love the feeling of a full-body workout. I love letting my mind go blank while I work, as opposed to the mental concentration I need when I run. But most of all, I love that I'm hungry all the time, and because I'm hungry, I love that I can eat all the time.

I guess it all boils down to gluttony.

It's Like Magic!

If you want to feel like you just remodeled your bedroom (or any room in the house), let piles and piles of clothes build up. Let them sit on your floor, bed, hanging over anything you can drape them over, and dresser. Put them all away after a month or more. Presto! Brand-new room. You won't believe your eyes.

We just remodeled our bedroom--it feels great. I don't even recognize the room!

Pumpkin Soup Time!

I'm glad it's autumn now and I can make pumpkin soup and have it be in season. Not that the thought of making something out of season stops me from ever doing it. I just feel uncouth doing so. Anyways, I am going to post this pumpkin soup recipe I have because I love it. Credit goes to Lucca's Restaurant in Chicago, IL and to Bon Appetit for printing the recipe.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

1 1/2 T. butter (I substitute canola oil)
3/4 c. chopped carrots
3/4 c. chopped celery
3/4 c. chopped banana
1/2 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1 whole clove
5 c. low sodium chicken broth
2 c. canned pumpkin
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa nut milk (can sub cocoa nut cream--add milk to 3 T cream to make 1 cup--or you can use 3/4 c plain yogurt for a low-fat option)
1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. coriander
/2 tsp. sage
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. curry

Heat oil/butter in saucepan; toss in carrots, celery, banana, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Sauté until tender. (I add 1/4 to 1/2 c. water so the banana doesn't stick.) Remove bay leaf. Blend until smooth-ish. (The original recipe says to use a food processor, but I'm lazy and don't want to wash more dishes, so I just add some of the chicken broth here and blend it in the blender.) Return to saucepan and add the rest of the ingredients. Boil for 15 minutes to combine flavors, then cool slightly. Blend in batches in blender. (Don't be lazy and bypass this part. It's disgusting unless it's smooth and frothy.) Season with salt and pepper (I love using a four peppercorns mill for this soup) and garnish with cilantro, if desired.

I think it needs to be just a little sweeter, so when I serve it I swirl some more sweetened condensed milk into the individual bowls.

Um...this soup kind of has an "international" taste to it, so if you don't like trying that kind of thing, this won't taste good to you. And it looks labor-intensive and time-consuming, but it's really pretty quick and easy.

My Dream Bed

My dream bed would have rails you could slide up, like a crib. I would take Ian with me to lay down on my dream bed, put up the sides, and let him crawl around--out of mischief and with me so he wouldn't cry, but where I could sleep and he could do whatever he wanted.

What a dream.

I'm Back In Business, Baby!

I finally broke down and bought a pool pass. It was $320 dollars and the pool is open 365 days a year, so it worked out to be a good deal. Plus, I shouldn't let $320 stand in the way of my physical fitness, should I? No.

I was going to go swimming yesterday morning but had the unpleasant surprise of finding out that none of my suits fit me even though they are really stretchy. Jesse was nice enough to stop by REI on the way home and get me a suit.

Anyways, I went swimming this morning and I feel SO GOOD! I feel ten times better than I do when I run, although I feel a lot less wimpy and out of shape when I go running. My maximum distance in one shot was 200 meters, which is embarassing, considering I was a distance swimmer, and my deltoids were screaming by the time I had swam my goal of 2000 meters, but it felt awesome regardless. For those of you out there who are worried I've lost my swimming abilities, fear not--I was by far the fastest person in the pool. I was also the youngest person by about eighty years, but I was fastest!

The pool also has a small weight room, so I am going to try to lift for about 15 or 20 minutes after I swim to help speed up my recovery from complete inactivity for the last four years.

And just so you know, the women's locker room exit heads directly into the men's locker room exit, and the side hall to get to the pool is a lot smaller than the halls from the locker rooms, making it unremarkable looking. Why it's designed this way, I don't know. I was speeding toward what I thought was the pool, but what was really the men's showers, when I noticed steam pouring around the corner after I was only about fifteen feet into the men's locker room. I was was able to do an about-face and save myself from a hideous surprise in the nick of time.

So, all in all, it was a great workout.

Justifiable Homicide

That will be my plea when I go on trial for murder. Someone who has a condo that shares a wall with us left their alarm on today, right around when I was going to take a nap. This isn't the first time it has happened--a few weeks ago we woke up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday to their alarm, and again on Sunday, and again on Monday. It goes off for well over an hour before it stops. I wanted to kill them at the time, and I won't be responsible for my actions if it happens again.

I'm excited for the weekend!

If I Could...

I would watch this movie today.

And I would make Jesse watch it with me, and he would love it.

A Memorial Labor Day

I guess I'll post about our Labor Day. We went into DC to see some museums. I really wanted to see the Lost Treasures of Afghanistan at the National Gallery of Art before the exhibit closed, so we packed everything up and took the Metro to the Navy Memorial station.

This is what we saw when we stepped off the elevator:


Yes! The Navy Memorial! Also the Naval Band (I'm sure that's not the official name. Maybe something like the National Naval Band, or something), playing a bunch of neat-o songs. We stopped and ate lunch because all I ever do is eat anymore. I also used the opportunity to feed Ian cucumbers, as captured below:

I felt pretty classy until I went to throw away a yogurt cup and saw human feces by the garbage can. Then when I went back to the stroller I noticed a woman next to us who kept eying the stroller and sashaying closer. That's when we headed off to see...

The super buff guy beating a horse outside the FTC building! I took a picture for my friend Josh, even though he doesn't read this blog and will never see it. And just so you know, this sidewalk we were walking down was lined with benches that all had an overwhelming smell of urine around them. We decided not to sit and enjoy the day but to hustle off to see my exhibit. Afterward we headed next door and saw some kind of other stuff Jesse wanted to see. We also stopped and saw the impressionist rooms (you know, Monet, Renoir, etc.). Jesse wanted to get some cool pictures but by that time I was ready for my dumplings Jesse had promised we would get. We walked over to Chinatown and bought them and then walked all the way back to the Mall because there were no good benches. We finally stopped to eat in the Sculpture Garden. After that we decided Ian might be ready for bed soon, so we headed home and finished off the day by making manicotti. Well, actually I finished off the day by falling asleep at nine o'clock on the couch.

Here's a funny picture of Ian and Jesse.

It's A Good Thing

I normally drink a lot of water. Maybe four quarts a day, I dunno. It's really hard to get my quota on Sundays, though. Going without water for three hours makes me so dehydrated, and I hate drinking out of water fountains. The water is always too cold and hurts my teeth, and it's uncomfortable to bend awkwardly over and keep your hair out of the stream and try to not slurp a ton. Usually I get, at most, half of a cup before someone else is waiting, my teeth start screaming, or whatever. That is NOT enough water to last me three hours.

To make matters more complicated, when I'm pregnant I am approximately ten times more thirsty than when I am not. (At least that's what the pattern seems to be--we'll wait to form a firm theory until I've had a few more pregnancies.) Needless to say it is asking too much to expect me to survive through three hours of church without a good, solid drink of water. What I have to do is bring a 16 ounce water bottle to church. It's small and cute, and I just keep it in my purse until I need it.

For some reason Jesse thinks this is both embarrassing and eccentric. He reacts the same way that I used to react when my friend Kathy would sit down in the middle of the floor at the mall while we were shopping: Can't you wait? Are you trying to embarrass me? You are so embarassing! I don't get it--it's not like I'm carrying around a hip flask with rum in it so I can get drunk during church. I'm very discreet. I drink quietly and quickly. The worst thing that ever happens is that I drip water on my belly, and that's bound to happen with something or other.

I know Jesse is being ridiculous, so I ignore him when he starts whining about my water bottle, but it makes me question whether I'm getting more eccentric as I get older.

Tipping Makes Me Nervous

Are you required to tip if you get take-out from a restaurant? I would say no, but I was reading on Applebee's website that they have a designated server for take-out. That makes me think you should tip, because it sounds like they get server's wages, but the purpose of tipping is rewarding good service. I would feel like a jerk not tipping, but...I'm cheap. I'm not giving someone money to reward good service that was never there.

Tipping is awkward anyways. Not for sit-down restaurants; you know it's expected there. But for a haircut? It's their job--they get paid well! Or a shuttle bus driver? They only do as much as a city bus driver, but you don't see them getting tips.

I can see how trying to figure out if you need to tip would become an anxiety.

Oh, and just so it's clear, I go to a hair place where tipping is not allowed. Takes away the stress.

Mmmm...Ice Cream

Read this article here. I'm sure PETA's letter will be ignored, not only because the idea is disgusting and unrealistic (how on earth will enough obliging women produce as much milk as an army of dairy cows?), but also because PETA addressed their letter to the wrong people. According to my two second's worth of research Ben and Jerry sold their company in 2000 to Unilever. I'm unimpressed with PETA's unprofessional approach to such a pressing concern.

New Hampshire and Vermont

Jesse's mom, Karen, has much better picture of Vermont, but if I don't post this now I never will.

So...here it is! When we were in New Hampshire we went to the beach, Lindt Chocolate Factory, climbed a mountain, relaxed, and picked and ate a ton of cherry tomatoes. It was great.







While in Vermont we mostly just relaxed and investigated the little tourist shops in North and South Hero.




Then we came back to New Hampshire, hit the beach once more, ate some lobster, and came back to Maryland!

Surprise! Again!

Yeah, I'm pregnant again. I was kind of scared in the beginning because Ian will only be 19 months old when the baby comes, but now I'm really excited of course. I think I can handle it. I'm due in the middle of March, I think, so that means I'm a little over 15 weeks along. In five more weeks we can find out if it's a boy or a girl. I personally think it's a girl, but I would NOT be surprised if another boy is added to the Horrocks clan.

I waited so long to post this because something kind of unusual happened in the beginning and I wasn't sure everything was okay, but it's pretty obvious I'm pregnant in the pictures I will be posting from here on out so I decided to come clean. Plus it really struck home lately that I'm pregnant for two reasons: 1) I'm pretty sure I've been feeling the baby kick for the last few days and 2) I slopped a bunch of juice from the orange I was eating onto my belly--the ultimate sign of pregnancy.

And Nancy, Kathy's sister is pregnant too! It's fun to have someone else pregnant at the same time as you are so you can compare notes/horror stories.

Checking In...From Hell

We're back from our vacation, and DC has never looked so bad. I'll try to post pictures of the trip soon.

Shine-y New Phones

Our wireless contract expired, so Jesse did some shopping around and signed on with the same carrier (AT&T) but through a local company. For the same price we've been paying, we got 150 more minutes and free LG Shine phones. They're really nice, especially when you compare them to the free phones we got last time. We used to try to dial out, and nothing would happen. Or, our phone wouldn't notify us of a new voice mail. Sometimes they would shut off for no reason. Lately mine has been shutting off every time I got on a plane. It was pretty bad.

Our new phones came on Saturday (note: when you order a package, try to see if it's in good shape before you sign for it, even if the UPS guy is still holding it. I signed for the package and when he handed it to me it was all beat up and bashed in, and there was tape around the top that said "Do NOT sign for package if box is damaged". Whoops. Good thing nothing inside was damaged).
For some reason AT&T deactivated our old SIM cards as soon as we received the package. Unfortunately, they are imbeciles and didn't consider the fact that you have to charge a new phone for 24 hours before you get to use it, so we were without our phones for 24 hours. Jesse was pretty mad, but his was an impotent rage--he couldn't call to complain, so what was he going to do? He had a voicemail he needed to listen to but I finally calmed him down by convincing him it probably wasn't that important (how often do you get a message that you have to act on immediately?). Turns out it was important, though--it was the missionaries wanting him to give someone a ride to church. They came up to us on Sunday and said "Hey, did you get our message?" It was all I could do to keep from laughing....

So, anyways, the Shine phones are pretty nice. They take pictures almost as good as Jesse's digital camera (it's on the older side), and you can download songs. The only problem we've seen with them so far is that the instruction manual says not to talk on the phone while it's charging because it could short out or catch fire. Do they all say that, or are these phones special? I'm kind of curious because I often do have to talk on the phone while it's charging. Should I risk it?

Of course, now that I have a nicer phone I'm really paranoid someone will steal it. I guess with all things considered, our phone situation has maintained equilibrium. We got way nicer phones but they could catch fire or be stolen at any moment. Good thing we've kept our old phones around. Which still work as good as ever.

Sometimes...

...actually, a lot more frequently than sometimes, I forget to brush my teeth in the morning because I am so busy taking care of Ian and the little girl that I watch.

REI Fans, Pay Attention!

If anyone needs anything from REI, they are having their Super Clearance Sale, which starts today and ends September 1. They have things on sale, but anything that has a price tag that ends in .83 is an additional fifty percent off that price. So it's a pretty good deal. I'd head in sooner rather than later, because all the good things will be gone. Sale prices are also available online.

Oh, and I'm still bummed about big foot. I guess I thought, "Hey, if Phelps beats Spitz's record, maybe this is the year big foot can be real." I guess made-up things can never be real.

Finally, Jesse and I are headed to New Hampshire, with a side-trip to Lake Champlain in Vermont! I can't wait--it will be nice to see his family, have Ian meet the rest of his great-grandparents, and to get out of this stinky state. We really haven't done many summer activities, so it will be nice to just hang out at the beach (even though it's the frigid New England beach) and the lake. We don't leave until September 6th, and we'll get back on the 16th, so it's not coming up for a few weeks. But I'm still excited.

The big foot thing was a hoax. What is this world coming to when you can't even trust in big foot?

Two Years!

Today is our second anniversary! Yay. Unfortunately, Jesse has to work tonight and I have to go to enrichment, so the celebrations are limited. We'll do something when we go up to New Hampshire to visit Jesse's family in early September.

Here are some pictures of the memorable day, courtesy of Kathy.

Right after the sealing:

Kathy and I:


It's not obvious who's family this is, is it?


Jesse's family:


Rebecca, Jenni, and Brigg (foreground), who all drove a long while to get there. Brigg was having a great time....


So, there you have it. Our honeymoon was nonexistent, because we had to move here in a short amount of time, our one year anniversary was celebrated with a two-week old infant, and you know about this one. Maybe next year will be better.