Bye-Bye Camping

Goodbye my camping friends. That's right, we've had our last camping trip for the summer. Gone are the days when Jesus and I could decide that we wanted to go camping last minute, throw the cooler, tent & dog in the car, and head off. I just dont have the energy anymore! Do you have any idea how hard it is to roll your big fat self over in a little sleeping bag? It's hard enough to roll over in my bed at the moment, not to mention trying to keep the sleeping bag from rolling over with me, not waking up the dog (or husband), or to keep from rolling off the air mattress onto the cold hard ground. I've given it up for now, my friends.

This last weekend, Jesus and I, the dog, and my parents headed out to Barview for the weekend. When we got there, the weather was nice, though windy. Purdy blue sky 'n ever-thing! Saturday morning was beautiful as well. Jesus & my dad went out crabbing & fishing while us girls spent the morning walking on the beach. Chica had a blast. As soon as she was off leash on the beach, she headed straight to the ocean. The tide was so far out, and there were small puddles that were perfect for her to lounge in.

That afternoon was not so hot. The wind picked up by the time my sister & her family arrived. It's hard to keep sand out of a one year-old's face when he's only 2 feet from the blowing sand. But fun was had by all, and it was a pretty relaxing weekend, all things considered. We had to stop by Tillamook Cheese Factory on the way back, of course. Baby wanted ice cream, and what baby wants, baby gets! I'll miss not being able to camp for the rest of the summer, but it'll be worth it in the end.

Baby Shower!

My wonderful cousin & sister threw me a baby shower on Saturday, and even though we had to move it to the church last minute because of rain, it was so great! They didn't make us play any dumb baby shower games where everybody guesses how big around my belly is and so forth, plus they had Ding Dongs and cupcakes and swiss cheese! The cheese was another friend's doing, but they recruited her, so they get some of the credit.

Jesus crashed the party, which, I guess since he did have a hand in the whole reason for the shower, it was okay. He helped me open presents, and we got all kinds of wonderful stuff. Among other things, we received adorable, tiny little clothes, all kinds of bath stuff, a bunch of cute teeny socks, awesome hand-made afghans and quilts, and a book in Spanish about Walter the Farting Dog.

I have a feeling that this book will be a favorite in this household. While I have read the book before and kind of know how it goes, it's in Spanish so Jesus will most likely be the one to read it to our little sweetpea. He'll be more fun with it anyways. He'll probably make sound effects. Not real ones... hopefully.

Bye-bye Road Trips

I have officially hit the stage where I can't go on my long road trips to cell sites anymore. I've decided it's more efficient for somebody else to go that doesn't have to stop every 35 miles or so to pee. It takes so much longer to get to places now! I'm also starting to feel every tiny bump in the road, and it only makes it worse. Not to mention that a majority of the cell sites that I have to go to are along winding logging roads in the middle of nowhere. Ever had to pee so bad that your teeth are floating, while you're on your way to a cell site along a twisting, bumpy logging road? Sure, you say, just stop on the side of the road and go. It's in the middle of nowhere, right? Yes, it is, but there's also the chance that the architect, or the surveyor, or the cell company people will drive by while I'm squatting there, bare-butt and all. That's be lovely!! I don't really want to attempt to squat anyways. I'd fall over into blackberries or something fun like that.

So I've handed over the torch to the other gals in the office. They complain that they don't get out of the office enough anyways. I have a feeling I'll get rather tired of being stuck in the office though. But that's a sacrifice that I'm willing to make for my little wiggle baby.

Speaking of wiggle baby, she's running out of room in there. I don't think there is one position that I can sit, stand, or lay in without feeling like my guts are being squished. She moves so much, and seems to be pushing on the same exact place, that I'm convinced she's turning me black and blue from the inside out. Her tiny little heels are so stinking pointy & pokey!! Ow! Stop that little girl!! She's already stubborn, just like her father.

Prego Camping

This last weekend, the 3 1/2 of us (that's me, Jesus, Chica, and the little bean for those of you counting) went camping out at Fisherman's Bend outside of Mill City. It was soo relaxing! We did absolutely nothing all weekend long. The campground wasn't too full, so that was nice. Our campsite was in a pretty good spot as well. We didnt realize when we reserved the spot that we couldnt park at our site. We had to park about 100' down the road in the parking spots. But it wasn't that big of a deal. It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but about 20' behind our tent is the mighty Santiam River. The river was high, fast, and cold, so no swimming for us. There weren't any fish being caught either, much to Jesus' dismay.


We spent a lot of our time doing this:


I think we played a bazillion games of Phase 10 (which Jesus kicked my butt every time), and other card games like "Knock" (or Golf), "Kings Corners", and "Speed" (which I kicked his butt at, so we only got to play it a couple of times. Whiner!). It was nice to be able to just sit back, enjoy life, and not worry about anything. We had nowhere to be, nobody to answer to, and nothing that had to be done. We made no specific plans for the weekend, other than relaxing and hanging out.

On Sunday, we decided to go to Olallie Lake. The sign in Detroit said that Olallie Lake was 38 miles, and we figured that wasn't all that far, so we headed out with lunch makin's and fishing gear. We estimate we were only a few miles away, if that, when we ran into this:



Sure, it looks like we could make it as long as we followed the existing tracks, but what you can't see is that those tracks don't go all the way through, and there's a log across the road that's been cut so there's just enough room for a vehicle (not slipping and sliding on snow/slush/ice) to slip through. So we chickened out and pulled over to make lunch. There were a couple other vehicles that came up while we were eating lunch, but none of them made it all the way through, though there were a couple of attempts. Jesus walked up to the top of the hill hoping the lake was right there, but there was just more road, and more snow.

Chica, our weird dog, has a penchant for finding any bit of water and laying down in it. Apparently snow is no exception. She jumped out of the car, sniffed around a bit, and promptly laid down in the snow. I won't even begin to try to figure that one out. She's just strange.

Jesus took this picture of my making him sandwiches. I had forgotten how hard it is to spread extra chunky peanut butter on really soft white bread! But those sandwiches were oh, so yummy! For some reason peanut butter & jelly sandwiches always taste so much better when you're camping, or pulled over on the side of the road for lunch. This picture is also doubling as a belly picture. You'll have to ignore the fact that there's a battle going on for my middle earth, and both my shirt and my pants are losing. Until I saw this picture, I hadn't realized how big I've gotten. I guess from my perspective I can't see it all.


This camping trip made me want to go again while I can still get off the air mattress in the morning with minimal help. Maybe we'll go to the beach next time. Or somewhere I can go swimming. That should be interesting!

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Little Lily is going to be a very busy girl, I can tell. I've recently been able to feel little knees, fists, elbows, and whatever else poking at my stomach. It's a weird feeling to have a little creature moving around inside your body. I can feel little hard spots that move around, especially when I push on them. Those spots poke back! I recently read a little blurb online somewhere that at about 25 weeks, her little hearbeat may be able to be heard if Jesus puts his ear to my stomach, depending on her position. We tried, she kicked him. He coudn't hear her hearbeat, but it was almost more fun just to have her kick him. His new game is to tap on my belly to see if he can get her to kick. It works sometimes.

A lot of the time, Jesus will put his hand on my belly to feel for kicks, but since he's also watching tv, he forgets to pay attention. So when she kicks me so hard I feel it in my toes and it makes my eyes water, he barely notices. Must be a good show on tv! The other day I got his attention long enough to feel her moving around just below the surface. He thought that was crazy. I agree. Now I know to hit the pause button. I love the pause button.

Life Without Waldo

It's been about 6 weeks since our beloved Waldo went to pee on the big fire hydrant in the sky, and Jesus and I have discovered subtle differences in how we do things at home.

For instance, we havent had to buy any dog food since. The dog food tub doesnt even look like the dent has gotten deeper. Instead of going through 6 cups of food a day, we're only going to 2. And that's if Chica eats all her food. What's the point of giving her more food if she didn't eat what was in her bowl in the first place?

Also, we've noticed that we're getting rather lax about leaving food on the counters. Waldo was tall enough that his nose would reach the counter and he'd snag anything he could get ahold of. If it was too far back and he really wanted it, he just had to hop up on his back legs and Voila! within reach! So we kept the counters fairly free of food. Chica's a lot shorter, but she can still reach the counter, as we learned yesterday. We came home from the monthly doctor appointment yesterday morning and discovered Chica looking really guilty by the back door and a chewed on bag of pepperoni on the floor. When we had left, the bag was full and on the counter. When we returned, there were 2 sticks left and it was in the middle of the living room. The fun part is that last time Chica got a bunch of meat, she left a really bad, stinky mess. I dont think she's had carne asada since. So Jesus watched her closely all day yesterday, and put her outside everytime she looked a little green. So far, we've avoided any messes. I havent been out in the backyard, and I dont plan to. Ignorance is bliss when it comes to that!

We also dont fill the water bowl nearly as much as we used to. When Waldo was around, we had to fill the water bowl a few times a day. Chica doesnt drink nearly as much water, so she only empties it once every couple of days. So usually when I do refill the water bowl, it's to dump out the old water and give her fresh stuff. She's so spoiled.

People keep asking if we'll get another dog, but as much as I would love to have another dog, I dont think I can deal with a new dog and a new baby at the same time. One is time consuming enough without the other. Maybe when Lily's 5 or 6 we'll think about getting another one. In the mean time, Chica's our girl.