sunriver wedding

last weekend we drove down to central oregon for the weekend. we stopped in bend to see b, c, & j, and had lunch with them. my j had lots of fun playing with little j... he's going to be a great father! c & b gave us lots of baby clothes & a bassinet, so we're all set for junior to arrive. after lunch, we drove to sunriver. we were sharing a house with two other families, all there to celebrate our friend c's wedding. there was a bbq on friday, and the wedding was on sat. here are some pics... little j on the run with his stroller, a poor injured deer we saw on a walk (one of three - they're all over the place in sunriver!), little baby k on the run, some pics of the married couple, my handsome hubby, us, and our friend k.

g.d. update

i haven't been blogging much, because i haven't really been doing much. just teaching, trying to organize the new school teaching schedule (have included half hour breastfeeding breaks for after baby mothra arrives), & get the baby stuff in order. weekends have mainly been filled with chores or movie watching. i had a midwife appt last thursday, and she gave me the go-ahead to just check the blood sugar once a day, at varying times. she also said i could be a little more lenient with the diet. i'm measuring normally, so the little monster isn't getting too big. a friend tipped me off this week about a diabetic bakery in town, and i immediately checked it out. they had huge napoleons that had 4 carbs, and cream puffs that had 11 carbs, so i picked up a few to try. so far they haven't affected the blood sugar levels, so i guess they're ok to eat. they're really good, although a little cream heavy, and will help get me through the end of the pregnancy. 5-7 weeks to go. he's due oct 18, but i bet he'll come on nov 1, just to make me as uncomfortable as possible...

italia

here are my parents, before their trip to italy. they just returned on tuesday from a rick steves tour to venice, florence, and rome. it was their first time to italy, and they had a fantastic time! their puppy, pepper, was really happy to see them when we picked her up.

g.d.

this is my glucometer. the test strips are in the container on the bottom, and they go in the thing with the screen on the top. the thing in the middle is what pokes my finger, and on the left side are replacement pokes. it's fun.

burgerville

this is how i eat hamburgers from burgerville - with fork & knive, as the buns (& ketchup) are illegal on my diet.

...

so i saw a dietician today, ordered by the midwives, for the gestational diabetes thing. she gave me a machine for reading blood sugar levels. i have to prick myself 4 times a day - when i first get up in the morning, after breakfast, lunch, & dinner. if the readings are fairly normal after a week, i'll only have to draw it once a day after that. and i have to eat a low carb diet. i'm allowed 3 servings of fruit a day (as snacks), and have to limit breakfast to 30g carbs, & lunch & dinner to 45 g carbs. basically the atkins diet. and i thought dieting was bad when pregnant.
i can't sleep right now, and am starving, but i can't eat anything because it will throw off the readings for the first blood draw - i'm supposed to have fasted for 8 hours. and i don't want to have to do this 4 times a day thing for more than a week. still super mad about it. not happy one bit.

:(

i have gestational diabetes.

i am not happy.

glucose.

i had the test this morning. got there around 7:30am, after fasting for 10 hours. had blood drawn, drank the yucky stuff, then had my blood drawn 3 more times, in hour increments. my left arm didn't fare too well, and it was bruised to begin with, from the first glucose test on monday. :( right arm isn't as bad...

glucose.

boy, oh boy, do i love being pregnant.

because i'm pregnant, i get to fast for the next 10 hours, then have my blood drawn, down 100 grams of straight glucose in under 5 min on the lovely empty stomach, hopefully not vomit (or else it will all have to be repeated at a later date), and then have my blood drawn 1 hour later, then another hour later, and then ANOTHER hour later. blood drawn 4 freaking times. and i'm not allowed to walk around. i have to just SIT there. fun oh fun.

and the possible outcome of all of this?

no f$%!ing vices left.

no sugar.

and to imagine, after their wives go through multiple pregnancies... some guys still have the gall to complain about vasectomies...

paulina lake '08

last weekend, we drove down to paulina lake in the newberry national volcanic monument for some camping. some friends of ours were supposed to come to (along with some friends of theirs), but one ended up getting sick. at the time we left, they were going to try to show up on saturday, but they weren't sure. as it turned out, they never ended up coming, because our sick friend had a fever & ended up in urgent care on saturday, resulting in antibiotics. they were going to bring wood, so we had to buy some extra wood when we got to the campsite to supplement the small amount of piano wood we had left to burn. one of the pieces we purchased wasn't quite split small enough, so here are a couple amusing videos of j deciding how to split it in two pieces.
unfortunately, i forgot any & all reading material, and j forgot to bring the slack line, so there was lots of time for idle amusement. this forgetfulness resulted in our making a list of things (which is now on our computer) to bring camping, to hopefully avoid this situation in the future!

paulina lake '08

this is dinner #1. i was concerned about many things before going on this trip, but one main concern was being able to eat well for baby mothra. i think we succeeded. we still had mozzarella & heirloom tomatoes left from the caprese salad we took to a bbq on wed, so i brought along a mini-baguette with which to finish off the last bits. it was missing a spot of olive oil & balsamic vinegar & basil, but was still pretty gourmet camping eating. we also had chicken skewers & red peppers. lots of veggies & protein for the baby!

paulina lake '08

this is a self portrait of my belly, which is housing baby mothra for the next 11 weeks. i took it to show how far my thermal smartwool shirt fits over the belly. the top shirt (white) actually did fit all the way, as it was a maternity t-shirt, but i pulled it up to show the shortcomings of the long underwear, and just how rotund i am! scary!
i discovered the 2nd night that it works much better putting the white shirt on first, and then the black thermal one. didn't ride up nearly as much that way.
our trip to paulina lake last year was a much colder one, because i wasn't the proud owner of such high quality thermals, nor did i own at that time my puffy down jacket. i came prepared this time, and it made a huge difference in comfort!

paulina lake '08

this was the absolute last of the piano wood - left from the destruction of the broken piano in our basement - and we burned every last bit of it. a symbol of the end of our lives without kids, perhaps...

paulina lake '08

night #1. marshmallows roasted over an open fire, j as meisterroaster.

canadian p, aren't you proud of us & our canadian booties you got us? see? we're using them! they're perfect for camping at paulina lake.

that's where the fun ended. night #1 was hell. at first my air mattress wasn't full enough, so i had to wake j up to do the honors. i tried sleeping, but soon got sore, because a pillow between the legs did not fit in a mummy bag. i was up at least every two hours, having to use the latrine & simply because the pain in my hips got too bad. and it was freezing out when i had to get up. i was so thankful to have my (down) puffy jacket, and thankful i had gotten a large enough size to barely fit over my belly. i finally got up around 5am & went for a walk. when i came back, j was up & starting a fire, worried about where i was. we ate breaky, & then i tried sleeping again. j smartly suggested i try putting his folded up sweatshirt between my knees to make the sleeping more comfy. it wasn't quite as nice as a pillow, but was good enough, allowing me to get a decent 3-ish more hours of sleep. i woke up in a MUCH better mood. earlier in the morning, i was ready to make him drive me home. i was a trooper, though, & toughed it out, & things got better. i think i earned some wifey points with this trip...

paulina lake '08

wow! i just discovered that vertical pictures will now post vertically here on blogspot! yay! anyway, on saturday afternoon (after my nap), we made the hike around the lake to the hot springs. it was actually pretty warm outside, and the springs were hotter than normal, so i could barely put my feet in. it was still worth the hike, though. really slow goin'... at 6000+ feet, i got out of breath pretty easily in my prego state. poor j had to keep stopping to wait for me. i was just doing my best...

paulina lake '08

here's dinner #2, in all its beauty - rib eye steaks & roasted red peppers. we also had carrot sticks, sungold tomatoes, & cherries left from the previous day. of course, we roasted marshmallows over the fire for dessert. it was our last night camping as a family of two. sad, but exciting at the same time.

paulina lake '08

sunday morning, true to form, i woke up again around 5am, but this time, i had slept straight through! i stayed in bed for about an hour, trying to sleep more, but finally decided to get up & go for a walk. the lake was misty & beautiful, and lots of fish were jumping. by the time i got back, j was up & starting a fire. we ate breaky, & then went back to sleep for a couple hours, before packing up camp & leaving. i'll never go camping again in the 3rd trimester of being pregnant, but i am glad i went. paulina lake is always beautiful, and the air at 6000+ feet is always clean & clear. despite obnoxious neighbor campers, we still had a great time.

paulina lake '08

it seems like each time we go camping at paulina (and most times we're in central oregon), we make a stop at the deschutes brewery in bend. on sunday, we left camp early enough that we hit bend a little before noon. neither of us was particularly hungry, so we decided to keep going & eat dinner out somewhere in portland after getting home & unpacking. deschutes now has a brewery in the pearl district in portland, which we had never been to, so we decided to check it out. the food never tasted so good!!!! j had a pork sandwich, i had a cobb-type salad, and we split the berry bread pudding for dessert. i swear it was one of the best meals i've ever had!!!!

good luck!!!

dearest n-pickle,
good luck tomorrow night! i hope your body is doing well, and hope you enjoy yourself in the saint-saens performance! i'll be thinking of you!
xox,
asil

anniversaries & birthdays

happy anniversary to my mom & dad (which was yesterday), and happy birthday ace (today)!

tomorrow, happy birthday to dad-in-law, and on saturday, happy birthday to c, mom of l! lots of birthdays in july...

yesterday i went berry picking again, and got more raspberries. i only had an hour to pick, with all the other errands, between my teaching. i want to make a berry crisp or coffee cake to take with us camping this weekend. i'm nervous about camping... i'm worried about bringing enough healthy food & keeping it from breaking/spoiling, and worried about sleeping at night & my nightly trips to the can. also worried about bears, as they're out in droves this season (supposedly) due to a bad berry crop. we're camping with friends at paulina lake, which is near sunriver & bend in central oregon. i've really been looking forward to it the whole summer, as it's one of my favorite places to camp, but i'm just getting a little nervous. i'm so tired, and there's all the grocery shopping & packing to be done...

i didn't get any pictures, but last night we were invited over to friend p & a's house in southeast portland for a bbq to celebrate our friend u being in town for a visit. it was great to see the symphony friends, and there was lots of great food, including an amazing tres leches cake. my contribution was a caprese salad... nice to have an excuse to buy fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes. today, in my semi-comatose state, is a day of teaching, laundry, grocery shopping, & planning, and i'm going to try out the prenatal dvd for the first time. i hope i don't hurt myself!

mr. commuter

j just got a new road bike. he's been biking to work frequently, but had been using his mountain bike, which slowed him down considerably. now he's one of the cool kids, & can easily keep up with his friends! isn't he such a cutie???!

this week is going well, but i'm so tired these days. i don't know if it's just from a busy weekend, or because i'm in the 3rd trimester now... i wake up so tired! and i still wake up about every 2 hours to pee. i think the baby is starting to take up more stomach room, as i can't eat quite as much comfortably as before. i'm still really hungry, but am finding i have to manage how much i eat at one time. it's easy to push it too far, and then i feel sick... :(

i took the kids in for their yearly checkup visit with the vet. poor things - they had no idea what was coming when i put them in their pet carriers all sleepy & early in the morning. all is well, except for the fact that they're really FAT and need to lose weight. they refuse to exercise, so we're beginning to limit their food intake slowly. i hope it helps. they slept the whole rest of monday & all of tuesday, probably not feeling too hot from the vaccinations.

dad-in-law's b'day

on sunday morning, j & i made blueberry pancakes with berries we picked friday night (while grilling) from our backyard, before going to church. afterwards, we headed to pf changs for lunch with j's family, to celebrate his dad's birthday. his dad's birthday is actually tomorrow, but he'll be out of town for a race, so we celebrated last weekend. j's brother b & his wife c were there, along with their adorable son j (the new nephew!). he's really getting big & strong!
after lunch, i tried my first prenatal yoga class. yoga isn't my "thing," but i've been feeling so sore that i thought i should try it out, to see if it helps with the pregnancy aches and pains. there were only two of us there, besides the instructor. i was really sore the next day, but i don't think it was enough to really injure me. i purchased a group of 5 more classes, so i'll try it at least 5 more times. it only meets once a week. i also borrowed a dvd of prenatal yoga from a friend, to use during the week. i think i need to do something besides the walking i've been doing. i haven't been swimming much because the lap schedule changed to early early morning, which isn't so convenient for me. after yoga, i got busy cooking dinner. my dad & brother came over to help j move the rest of the big furniture around, to accommodate the nursery. the moving part went really fast, and it was nice to have more time with my brother. i was really tired by the end of the weekend!!!

hiking

my brother was up here last weekend, visiting from san francisco, and so saturday was a flurry of activity. j went climbing at beacon rock, and we all went hiking in the gorge. first we stopped & hiked to bridal veil falls (see first pic). then we drove to horsetail falls & oneonta gorge to do the triple falls hike. in the 2nd pic you can see the fam in front of horsetail falls (i think...), and then a pic of my dad & me (plus baby bump) in front of triple falls in the bottom two pictures. the hike was a lot for me to do. i felt fine, but my heart rate kept going really fast, faster than felt safe, so i kept having to slow myself down. it was weird. anyway, it took a long time because i was so slow, so when i got back, i had a bit of time to take a shower & pick up j before heading over to my parents' house for dinner. a fun, but long, day!

hancock

last friday, i had a pedicure (thanks, mom!) with my mom, lunch with my parents, and had a haircut later on the same day! so much pampering! my hair is shorter now, just at the shoulders, and it feels healthier. it had been a long time since the last trim...
despite being free from teaching, it was still a pretty busy day. went grocery shopping for the weekend. j & i saw "hancock" early that evening, before grilling dinner. the movie was ok... nowhere near as good as iron man, but still watchable. we still have 5-6 free passes left (per person) to use before the baby comes, so on my list is wall-e & the new batman movie.
it's been a long time since we touched our netflix movies - we need to get watchin! (we've just been a little occupied with getting the house ready for this whole baby thing...)

more picking...

sunday night, for whatever reason, i didn't sleep very well, and was up awake in the middle of the night for four hours, so i slept in late until about 10. i don't usually have any teaching on mondays, so i decided to go pick raspberries, as the ones in our neighbors' yard (that overhang the fence) are ripe. it took me awhile to get organized & up and ready, so i don't think i reached the orchard until high noon. it was really hot out that day, and it took me two hours to fill the two buckets i had. i think it's near the beginning of the season, and it took a bit of searching to find properly ripe berries. anyway, i picked around 12 pounds, & spent the rest of the day washing & freezing them. i was so so sore the next day, so i think it'll be a while before i pick again. i still need to get blueberries, and it would be nice to have lots of peaches or nectarines...
i LOVE summer fruit!
the rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. i've just been busy with teaching, and trying to get the rest of the house set up for the nursery. i tried out the chocolate chip cookie recipe last night, the one that was recently published in the new york times. the cookies turned out really well, but they're huge! 3.5 ounces of cookie dough per cookie - looked like a lacrosse sized ball of dough, but the texture is great. the key is letting the dough sit for at least 24 hours in the refrigerator before cooking, along with sprinkling each cookie with sea salt before baking.

today i have no students, and it will be a pampering day...

weekend chores

on saturday, my mom & i went cherry picking in hood river, as it was the annual "cherry days" weekend. we picked for a couple hours in the morning at alice's orchards, which has dwarf cherry trees that made for easy easy picking. no ladders were required. we each got two buckets full. the pitting took me forever... i think about five hours to wash, pit, and slice each cherry in half. j went climbing in the columbia gorge on the washington state side with friends at ozone, a relatively new climbing area, for the whole day. when he got back, he started working on installing the shelves, but had trouble with the stud finders. for whatever reason, they weren't functioning, so finding where to drill took a long time. the project spilled into the next day, after a leisurely brunch with my parents & cousins s & d from seattle (who were in town via their bikes via STP, the annual seattle to portland bike ride) and required a second trip to home depot (and actually a third, with which jeff took the opportunity to try out a friend's road bike he's thinking of purchasing). we were more organized for the second trip, armed with an actual list, and purchased lots of things (and actually returned a bunch of items that had been sitting in the garage) for small projects around the house. (i can't wait to have the touch dimmer switch for the dining room - it will just be the highlight of the whole summer!!!) the shelves are now in place, and i think i like the setup even better than before. it's easier to access the filing cabinet & printer, and there's less clutter in the kitchen.

...

last friday, j & i went out to dinner at bleu, the restaurant at the western culinary institute, to celebrate our anniversary. you get a 5 course meal for just $25 per person. the only drawback is that the students are the wait staff, & the chefs, and some aspects of the dining experience might be a little lacking in polish. overall, the food was good, and of course we enjoyed the evening. however, my potatoes were barely cooked, and the waitstaff rushed us through every course, asking to remove our plates while one of us was still eating. our reservation was at 6:30, and we were out of there within an hour! we did have comment cards, so we each detailed our observations, and hopefully the students will learn...
anyhoo, being finished so early, i decided we should get an early start on the weekend's chores. we had gotten a bottle of wine at dinner, and as i can (or choose to) drink just 6 oz, j had polished off the rest, so i easily convinced him in his nicely buzzed state to go to home depot to purchase materials for the new kitchen shelves. we needed to move a filing cabinet into the kitchen, which meant that our old shelving unit had to go in the garage, and we had no place for all my cookbooks (at least with easy access), so we decided to install a couple shelves. there's no place like home depot on a friday night - life has gotten SO exciting!

prego.

this is my new pregnancy pillow. i've been having a lot of pain & discomfort sleeping, so i thought i'd give this one a try, as it was recommended by a friend. it came a couple of days ago. i've tried it for two nights, but last night just ended up throwing it on the floor & opting for normal pillows. i'm going to try it this way tonight, using my normal tempurpedic pillow at the top.... perhaps i need to be further along in the pregnancy for it to help. j isn't happy about the pillow - he's jealous. he calls it my new hubby. silly j...

belly pic

this is now just barely a full 26 weeks prego.

whistler '08

we purchased this canadian booty with our remaining canadian money. chocolate tastes better in canada, which is why we got the kit-kats. p & n claimed canadian oreos taste better, too, but we did a taste test, and i don't think they're as good as the newman's organics line. p said old dutch potato chips are amazing, so we got a couple bags to try, and of course i had to get a bunch of coffee crisps...

whistler '08

early in the drive home, we encountered completely stopped traffic (it lasted 2o minutes!!!) due to olympic construction, so we took the opportunity to snap some scenic pics.

whistler '08

here are some hotel pics - one of the hotel, and two of the view from our room.

whistler '08

goofy pictures...

whistler '08

here are the kids in front of our favorite place - the gelato stand. we went every single day. i converted p & n to gelato fans. the gelato came in freshly made waffle cones, which made it all that much more delicious. actually, i only ate it because the baby asked for it... not my fault...

whistler '08

the desserts at araxi were tiny, and n & i were still craving more sweets, so we stopped in the rocky mountain chocolate shop & picked up a couple caramel apples. mine was called "avalanche," with caramel, white chocolate, rice crispies, tiny chocolate chips, & marshmallows. the baby loved it, & so did j!

whistler '08

here's everyone at dinner at araxi with their beverages of choice. i'm not in the picture because i didn't have a beverage because i can't have them right now.... :(

the food was fantastic, and the service was wonderful. our waiter was a trip...