The Power of a Good Fly

You know your bored when a fly that some how got into your hospital room can keep you captivated for at least an hour. We hunted that fly with our eye balls commenting on how he was flying around the light fixture with Padon's little "see-um!?" and wiggling his fingers jabbering on about how it had many legs wiggling all over the place because it couldn't roll itself back over. Surprisingly to both Padon and the fly the flash of the camera was enough the get the fly up and moving again. Can you see the black dot on the floor about 8 inches from Padon's hands?

The Bestest Husband Ever!

Walter is the best husband ever for making sure to come and spend time with me everyday if not almost every night; for taking Padon on fulltime with no gripes even though Padon's schedule was totally out of wack; for making sure I had anything and everything I needed, for driving back and forth betweeen Bellevue and Stanwood everyday making sure the cats didn't poop all over the house; for bringing to me and letting me open all the Christmas cards first cause he knows I love opening them; for cleaning the house top to bottom (including mopping all the floors) so that Sophia and I would come home to a clean house; and for having my back as I deal with a bunch of nurses and communicate my wants with Dr. Graham; among so many, many, many other things.

Still a Good Christmas

Granted my Christmas was spent in the hospital but it was still a good Christmas. Because Padon was staying with us in the hospital I was able to see him in his Christmas PJs (something I make for him every year and this year he chose the fabric) and that was awesome. My family came to the Hospital in the morning and brought my stocking, cinnamon rolls, orange juice, chocolate moose, and my Christmas presents. I was able to see Padon open up his Buzz Lightyear and Woody figures, and give Greg and Billy their presents. That was what I really wanted for Christmas and what originally made me want to cry when I first learned I was here through the holiday and thought I might not get the chance to be a part of those activities. I was also really glad for Walter to have the opportunity to go back to my parents house to a really wonderful meal, festivities and good drinks. I didn't get the same magnitude of "wow" out of Padon over Buzz Lightyear and Woody as I did from his Spiderman winter boots which light up when he walks. But he was excited to get them and I watched him hug Buzz and ask Walter for Woody because he needed both, and that was what I wanted to see. It totally fulfilled my months of fantasizing about whether Padon would think this was a great gift. This was the first opportunity to buy Padon something that he wanted, not what I thought he might want, and that just tickled me!

The rest of the day I spent watching Angel, reading one of the People magazines that my Mom brought, napping, and eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's. I guess the way to approach it is what Mom wouldn't relish a day of silence and solitude with a pint of ice cream? Ha!

Group Health Rocks!

Oh, have to mention that Group Health rocks! I had been lead to believe that after the 1st of the year I would have to get another OB-GYN but found out this morning in talking to one of the benefits customer service reps that Group Health has a Transfer of Care Request Form where you make note of your immediate, and not Group Health Doctor, and have him fill out what your treatment and diagnosis is and you can continue to see your immediate Dr. for your immediate needs and care. So cool! I can still have Dr. Graham deliver Sophia after the 1st of the year, well if that was the route we were going to go. I have been so impressed with Group Health's customer service. They have been nothing but overly helpful to me and have never treated me like a number or a system. I love that!

Trying to Make it to Dec 30th

So it looks like we might have Sophia on Dec 30th, one day after the hoped for 36 week date. Now I think I feel a little more paranoid we won't make it. It both seems much closer and still too far away. I can feel Sophia a little more clearly and I'm afraid that my water will break before the 30th. We also have Padon with us in the Hospital now and not only is that a little more stressful but makes Walter's flexibility go down. It's really tough to throw a major holiday into a thrown up in the air birth. I think it might be a little more relaxed after Christmas. It's been interesting trying to grab and wrap gifts and my hospital room is filling up with more and more odds and ends. It's going to make going home a little more difficult. I'm sure we'll figure something out. Sigh, why can't I have my babies like an average person. :) Can't wait to hold little Sophia.

Tributaline and movies, movies, movies...

Moving into week two of the hospital stay I'm still going strong but gradually getting bummed. It's hard to have your food messed up on a regular basis (foods tasty, service not so much) have the same questions asked of you again and again, be woken up late at night to fix the baby monitor and sometimes administer more Tributaline (stops the contractions), and to know that not only will we miss Christmas and Padon but that Dr. Graham keeps inferring we will induce Sophia on or close to Christmas. I'm just really not ok with that. It's pretty freak'n awesome to have your own holiday and you just can't mix it with Christmas. We're going to sit down with Dr. Graham, hopefully tomorrow, and a get an actual confirmation on an induction date. As much as he jokes about having Sophia on Christmas he can't really think that that would be a great thing for her. It's a romantic idea, but no.

True Family Spirit

Man it's great to be near family and to have great friends! When Walter and I realized we were stuck at the hospital we started to scramble but our family and friends hopped to with no gripes and huge hearts to help us in everyway they could think of. Leo, Walter's Dad, took Roadie, Sarah and Wayne took Padon and bring him to us everyday to visit, Barb took over my desk at work where my position had yet to be backed up, Chris and Heidi brought movies and icecream, and our friends Dan and Lara loaned us their families laptop. We had offers from friends all over the place to bring us anything we needed and we were at a loss at how to express the huge gratitude and love we felt. All the help took an extreme load off Walter and I. We really didn't want to put anyone out but what were we to do? We are so priviledged to know so many wonderful people.

Through Christmas!

We made it to Thursday with almost no contractions, exactly what everyone was excited to see. So they extended their hopeful deadline; make it to 36 weeks and we'll have the baby then. Well 36 weeks is through Christmas. Walter and I blanched inside. It was totally doable but in the extremely traditional nature of the Christmas Holiday it was shocking to think I would be confined to a hospital bed and Walter lovingly next to me on a cot. Sarah sweetly said they could come in the morning and bring me my stocking and a cinnamon roll. I still cried silently about it. I had been looking forward to Padon opening his Toy Story toys in my parent's living room with an extreme anticipation. I was trying really hard to not be selfish but the tears kept coming.

Squared Away and Holding Steady

Thank you to Sarah and Jane for the pictures! I took them off their Facebook pages, but I love to blog with pictures.
Walter's handi-work. What's a Dad to do when a nurse sits there for a long time asking the Mom about her thyroid medication and the last time she went to the bathroom and on and on for 15 minutes straight?

They notified Walter and I that we were at Overlake to stay through the end of the week of not longer, assuming Sophia didn't jump the gun. When Walter arrived with Padon, Padon came into the room wide eyed and cautious. I would have thought he would be excited but he seemed more worrried to see me in bed. We positively and excitedly told him we were here for the baby and pointed out how we could hear her heartbeat and wasn't that cool?, and that made us happy! To which he replied "Scared! Scared!" shaking his head. I reassured him that it wasn't scary and that I wasn't scared so it was ok. It seemed to make sense because soon he was asking to watch the baby on the heart monitor and making his place in our room. My parents came quickly to check on us and took Padon home with them. In a super cute way Padon stopped to say goodbye to the baby as he went out the door, waving goodbye to the heart monitor and saying "bye baby!, bye baby!" Man I love him!

34 Weeks, 4cm Dilated, and Fully Effaced

So on Saturday I was standing in the kitchen making dinner and was wowed by the amount of pressure Sophia could put on my hip bones with her head. As the minutes went by my abdomen and back were killing me but at just about 34 weeks and 7 weeks from the due date I thought this must be Braxton Hicks contractions. I ended up on the couch breathing through the contractions, thinking if this was what the next 7 weeks were going to be like I was going to be miserable. Gradually the contractions petered away and I didn't think any more about it.

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On Sunday I went online to look up preterm labor and low and behold of the 7 things they had to say look out for I had a yes for 5 of them, but I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I just held out until then.

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Tuesday at 12 I went to my 34 week appointment and told them how I had felt on Saturday and they decided maybe it would be wise to take a look and see what was going on. Well what was going on was I was 4cm dilated and was fully effaced (meaning there wasn't much holding this baby back). Dr. Graham was surprised and he is a hard man to surprise. He was really concerned and sent me, pronto, over to Overlake Hospital to get a shot to jump start Sophia's lung development and to strengthen her blood vessels in the event she was born prematurely. Dr. Graham and the nurses made me promise if I had the slightest contraction I would come back to the office and that I would go back to Overlake at noon on Wednesday to get the second preemie shot. I went back to work, gave a few people a heads up, including my boss, and two hours later was feeling the back contractions again. A wonderful friend and co-worker, Barbara, drove me back to Dr. Graham and I was admitted to Overlake Hospital.

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This whole time I had been having conversations with Walter about what was going on and what my current status was. Worried, nerves frazzled, and probably a little scared Walter was a model of efficiency as he packed clothes for me, Padon, and grabbed necessary numbers to call family and friends.

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In the hospital they gave me Terbutaline to slow if not stop the contractions while the nursery prepared itself and our room for a preemie. I continued to contract every 3-6 minutes through the night but we made it to midnight when they could give me the second preemie shot, and I swear the whole staff sighed with relief. The hope became I would make it three more days.

Padon Gets There is a Baby!

Ok, maybe he always got there was a "baby in there" but he hadn't ever shown he cared until about two weeks ago. Now if you ask him if he can hear the baby he will get his blanket and rest on me and listen and pat my stomach. Don't think by any means this happens often but when it does it sure is cute.

Annual Calendar Pictures

Last year I discovered that Vistaprint.com has the best priced personal calendars and they do a pretty nice job of it too. You upload your images to one of the many templates available and they ship you the calendars to then, as we do, mail off as stocking stuffers to grandparents. I usually end up waiting until after Thanksgiving to finish compiling the calendar so I have a nice chronological image gallery of Padon for the previous year presented. I didn't do half bad this year in getting a nice harvest picture of Padon in our backyard, but getting the "Christmas/ Season's Greetings" picture has been painful. Padon won't smile for the camera anymore like he used to and thinks it is funny to say "Noooooooo..." (shaking head and looking at you out of the corner of his eye smiling in a crooked evil grin), when you ask. I think I will see if I can't get a free picture out of Picture People or Sears, I think he would smile for them. It's too late for the calendar, but not for the Christmas cards...

The Harvest pictures came out great:

This picture, above, is the one I used for the Calendar for November.


This was a good picture, albeit blurry. The smiles come from the fact that the Santa in his lap is a dancing Santa, is dancing, and has been crammed between Padon's legs. So, dancing, Santa is forced to stand up as his arms pump up and down. Padon found it hysterical that Santa would right himself, only so Padon could cram him back down in his lap.

So after taking Santa away in an attempt to get a clear picture the blanket had to be introduced or tears were going to ensue. Sigh...
And in my last ditch effort, before I started to cry out of frustration, I got this picture as Padon laughed hard saying "I bonka my head in da tree!!!" This is the picture for December in the Calendar.

Sigh, I miss the days of easy smiles and camera friendly moments...

Great Thanksgiving!

It was a great Thanksgiving this year! The food was fantastic and I couldn't stop eatting it. I was sorry to see the holiday come and go so quickly. It's amazing it's only 3 weeks until Christmas!

What a Ham!

Last night I came home and as usual was greated by Roadie and Padon at the baby gate that keeps them in the dining room and out of the kitchen as Walter makes dinner. Padon was telling me all about the punching balloon he received at Ivor's Birthday Party on Sunday, and how there was a fish, in the fish bowl, in the water, on the wall. He then climbed up on the chair ,that is jammed against the gate to insure that Roadie and Padon will stay out of the kitchen, to explain the fish in closer proximity. I happily listened to his explainations and then asked him to get down so I could get out of the kitchen (typically I would step over the gate but at almost 8 months pregnant I can't anymore). He started to get down quickly and then stopped, half of his body hanging of the chair, his legs kicking and his arms flailing. Smiling he started yelling "Help, help, I'm falling, I'm falling, help, help!" As if he was on the edge of a cliff. I laughed and told him to get off so I could get out.

When I finally did get out of the kitchen I went in the bedroom to put down my stuff and get out of my work clothes and into more comfy clothes. When I came back out Padon was at the TV watching the rolling credits from the movie Ice Age. He had his fingertips hooked on the TV where the screen glass meets the plastic of the TV monitor and he had his chin pressed against the TV stand. Suddenly he started making gobbling gestures with his hands and making gulping sounds as the credits rolled down toward his face. He was eatting the credits! He looked so funny and these acts of creativity and imagination were just too funny to experience. I'm so glad I got to be there to see it. Walter said he hadn't seen Padon do either of those things before and I think he was bummed he was making pancakes when it happened.

I Have To Find A New OB-GYN When?!

So PACCAR just had their once a year Open Enrollment period where you are given the opportunity to change your health insurance and update your flexible spending account for the new year. This year I took a long hard look at the three insurance options that PACCAR offers and found that while Group Health and Premera Blue Cross are nearly identical in coverage, Group Health's monthly premiums are $100 cheaper! Well, dang-it, I could really use that $100! Not to mention Group Health caps out at $4,000 a year and Premera does not. I figured it out and by not having that cap with Premera I was looking to spend about $2,600 more this coming year then I would if I was with Group Health. Phenominal! So I had to make the tough decision and change our health insurance to Group Health.

Sadly this means, because my doctor's office doesn't take Group Health HMO, I can't use my lovely, empathetic, and understanding OB-GYN come January. January 1st I need to find a new Group Health OB and luckily there is a nice list of providers even closer to my work then my current OB-GYN's office. Phew! I already checked and Group Health's local Bellevue Hospital is Overlake so luckily I can still go back to Overlake with Sopha.

This transition totally made my stomach flop when I realized this very late in the pregnancy change we were going to have to make, but then I realized that we never got a tour of Overlake with Padon because he was early, a strange doctor delivered Padon because Dr. Graham was on vacation and wasn't available, and they only keep you for 24 hours anyway so who can't suck it up for 24 hours; especially when all the doctor does is come in and catch the baby and isn't there for most of the delivery anyway. Really, it will be pretty much the same as having Padon. I still hope the doctor is cool though.

A Pregnant Christmas Gift

I can't find a picture that can do City Flowers' (a florist shop on the 1st floor of the Hyatt, here in Bellevue) Christmas Display justice. Imagine a floor to ceiling Christmas display in Neiman Marcus smashed into a box about 9 ft wide and 20 ft long and you will have an idea of what City Flowers' shop looks like right now. It was beautiful and intimidating all in one breath and the store was so full that you couldn't lift your elbows away from your waist without fear of knocking something down. The cheapest something running no less then $100. Okay, they had tiny olive ornaments for less then $100 but even they were almost $10 a piece.

So I was in this florist shop waiting for my order of a dozen long stem roses for my Bosses' Wife, for their proposal anniversary, and I was weaving my pregnant self in and out of the opulence, gawking over prices, and how beautiful some of the artistic sculptures, ornaments, and chocolates were. As I was looking around and listening to the clerks and a customer discuss flower displays and how pink tea roses were $25 each, a gal came in wanting to look at their decorations and Christmas items. Turned out she was doing her Christmas shopping early and just had to see what they had. She had that really rich lady air about her but she was super nice and turns out super gracious. I had stepped out of the shop to allow her to circulate around the tiny aisle and when she came out she said excitedly gesturing towards me up and down "Oh, it looks like you are expecting, possibly a Christmas baby?!" I said "I am!" with as much exhuberance. She said "That is wonderful! When are you due?" I told her January 26th and then she said "Oh, that is so exciting and you just look so lovely and so skinny! You must work out! Do you work out often because you look so lovely and slender!" The whole time she was talking with a look on her face like "you just can't be 7 months pregnant and look so good!" I just about fell over. I said "Oh, no, I don't get to work out; just try to walk around often" (a total lie). She said "Well you just look wonderful and congratulations!" And she made to leave. I was gracious back to her, thanked her for her kind words and wished her a great day and good luck on her shopping.

I was just about wowed out of my Alice Crocs and thought, "now that is how you talk to a pregnant lady!" Just about then my flowers were ready to be picked up and paid for. What an extremely nice gesture! The one thing I like about being an admin; being able to go places and meet people you would otherwise never have the opportunity to go into or approach.

Great Giant Pumpkin! That Was a Great Halloween!

This year Walter, Padon, and I were invited to a Halloween Party with the theme "Come As Your Alter Ego!" Walter and I were stumped as to what our alter ego would be but if Padon had an alter ego, one such ego would definitely be a puppy and a puppy costume I could do! I also already had the fabric for it and was in the mist of sewing Padon some new pajamas, so using the pattern I had already created for the pajamas, I made him a Puppy costume and it came out awesome!

Poor Bean! I didn't realize how tried he was until after I took this picture and took a good look at his face.

The Wednesday before Halloween our friends Joel and Stacey invited us to come with them to the annual Trick or Trunk party at their church. It sounded like a lot of fun and a great way to introduce Padon to Halloween. Stacey was amazingly helpful as we went through the festively decorated rooms where there were games to play and prizes to win. There were small children running in and out and helping Padon while maneuvering my pregnant self was proving to be really difficult so for the most part Stacey took Padon through all the activities: musical Halloween cut outs, bobbing for donuts, feeling for body parts (Padon ate the spaghetti intestines and so we stopped there and left the room), haunted hallway (too scary, we turned around and went back), putt-putt golf, bowling, pin the nose on the Jack-o-Lantern, and a bean bag toss. At every station Padon got a prize no matter how he did and that was just so cool.
About an hour into the rooms everyone evacuated the building to start the Trunk portion of the Trick or Trunk party. In a portion of the parking lot there were roughly 20-25 cars with their trunks open (most decorated in a Halloween theme) and in the trunks sat someone handing out candy. It was like hitting a bunch of houses but in 20 minutes flat. Padon was super cute, walked up to every car said "trick or treat", said "thank you", and then ended with the most adorable little 2 year old voiced "Bye!". By the 6th car or so Padon threw out the need to say thank you and just said bye but everyone thought he was so adorable. And he was so caught up in the large amount of candy being offered to him that he kept pausing at cars and staring into their bowl of candy just mesmerized which often awarded him another piece of candy from the awwwwwing and touched candy holder.

I think Padon was a tad overwhelmed but went with it in a state of "wow!" with Walter from car to car.
The Trick or Trunk Party was a great introduction to Halloween. I had already decided that instead of attending the booze fest that would be the Halloween party Walter and I had been invited too I would stay home with Padon who would sleep better in his bed and where I wouldn't feel so out of place not being able to drink the booze offered (Walter went to the party as a Vault 42 Fallout character). Everett Mall was having their annual Trick or Treat sponsored by KMPS and I thought that would be a great thing for Padon and I to do. He was more than happy to get back into his Puppy costume on Saturday, and off we went. We both were overwhelmed when we arrived. We entered through Sears and hit a wall of people circulating the mall. There was no real starting point and so we just joined the line of people shuffling from store to store collecting candy. I kid you not! Every single store in the mall, including the food court was giving out candy with the exception of maybe 20 stores.

Even the cleaning staff was dressed up! I thought this guy was great!

Padon had a great time looking at the other kids, commenting on their masks and costumes, and he did a great job of moving through the grade school kids to the candy gifters, saying Trick or Treat and collecting his candy. After I explained that you shouldn't touch people who haven't asked you to because it makes them feel funny, Padon stopped touching the other kid's costumes and would point at them and say "Don't touch!" and then elaborate about what he thought was neat about their costumes (Incredible Hulk's teeth for example). Too cute! He was really impressed with the plastic pumpkin trick or treat buckets (for the life of me I hadn't been able to find one to buy him in time for Halloween) that were a multitude of colors including orange, yellow, and blue. He was most impressed with one that looked like Elmo's head.
Padon ate some candy while we were walking in the line and just when I thought we had, had enough, and was about to propose to Padon that we get out of line I saw Sears again. We had actually done the whole mall! To end this trick or treat excursion properly we plunked ourselves down in a big open patch of floor in the middle of the mall and I let Padon go through his bag. We went through 5 lollipops (opened at the same time and passed off as one was sampled after another), one Smarty (he gave me the first one, aaaaahhhhhhwwwwwww ), one box of nerds, one piece of gum, and a package of chewy life savers before Padon got bored and got up to play with the gumball machine island stationed near us. The lollipops were so reminisent of Patrick having found Jane's stash of lollipops and being caught with them all in his mouth.

Padon and I ended the night eatting popcorn and watching "The Nightmare before Christmas." Padon sweetly treated Romeo (cat) and Roadie (dog) to some popcorn which I tried to inforce was only ok because it was Halloween and we didn't do that on any other days.

He had a really good time and Walter and I have created a small candy monster. Eh!, was bound to happen sooner or later.

Note to Self

Don't play Dance Dance Revolution when 6 1/2 months pregnant. I have always loved this game and when we had more money and the Playstation was our exclusive game station I told Walter I thought he should buy it for me (you can get a mat that goes on the floor with the game disc and you dance on that mat) for Christmas, or my birthday, or whenever. He just laughed, didn't believe I would really play it, and I have never gotten it or really tried it for that matter. So last weekend when some friends took me to GameWorks for my birthday I thought, darn it, I'm going to try it! The minute I stepped on it though I thought, oh what the heck am I doing, I can't move that fast and jump?, yeah right! I tell you I tried though. So I had to hold onto my protruding belly and I got thoroughly boo'd by the game for not hitting the steps hard enough or jumping at the right time but it was still fun and I learned I suck. Ha! I still would love to go again, it was fun, but next time not pregnant. Funny enough a 4ish year old girl stood their staring at me half the time with a look on her face like, "what the?!...."I think Sophia slept through the whole thing.

Have to Remember!

Oh, I have to blog about this because it is too precious to forget and I will if I don't write it down.

Some where or maybe even more than once Padon has noticed it has gotten hard for me to get in and out of bed, and to get up out of a soft chair like the couch and bless his little heart he tries to help me get up. He comes over quickly when I am starting to get off the bed (usually after changing out of dress clothes to regular everyday clothes after work) and grabs me around the leg or with a hand on each hip, my middle and with over exaggerated grunting attempts to lift me up/ help me up. Sometimes I am already standing and he will run over with an "Oh!" and then grab me around my hips and again make a lifting motion with a helpful grunt added in. This has been followed by a smaking of his hands, like "job well done", and a important "there!" motion of his head and body as he turns away. I was shocked out of my stripped socks the first time he did it and am so incredibly touched everytime he does. I may not be able to get a kiss out of him but he loves me in so many other wonderful and surprising ways.

I also don't want to forget that: blanket in 2 1/2 year old Padon speak is "gangkie" and a motorcycle was, until recently, "Gak, gak, gak, gak" in quick succession. Now I believe it is just "zoom!" All animals and items have come with a descriptive sound word instead of an actual noun name; "Mooo!" for cows and "MUH-huhuhmm" for horses, for example. I don't want to forget that Monkey Cheese means Macaroni and Cheese and that Niplets are nipples.

Just Cute

Art Projects

We needed some pumpkins in our house because tis the season but don't really have money at the moment to be buying pumpkins and so I came home with paper plates and the thought that maybe Padon and I could make our own pumpkins while Walter had friends over for a game night.

For Padon's first birthday he received finger paints and until now he had been way to oral, and impulsive to consider passing off paint to, no matter how washable they were. I set up his table, laid paper underneath, got paper towels ready, laid out the plates with the pumpkin sketch, put his smock on, and opened the paints. It was fun. He was interested in the paint but was concerned that it was "yucky" and that maybe he wasn't supposed to stick his hands in it. So I went first and the project was on. I wasn't fast enough to keep the two table spoons of orange finger paint from making it in his mouth and down into his stomach (which you could tell didn't taste good) and did have to remind him probably another 8 times to keep his hands out of his mouth (I think each color inflicted a need to taste it again and again) but it was fun. He went hog wild on the plate and I made a mad dash to his room to grab the canvas that had come with the paints on his birthday so he could keep going. Once he started drawing in the paint with his fingers I wished he would keep going but the fact I had kept him focused for about 10 or 15 minutes in one thing was already a great achievement and I lost his interest in showing how he could now draw pictures in his colors. I got a couple good scratches in the paint on the canvas out of him and then it was a dash into the kitchen to wash off the paint before he touched anything or anyone as he said "all done!" and tried to run away.
I think it is a lovely piece of artwork and a fantastic gift idea. I scratched Padon's name and the year on the canvas in the lower right hand corner and set it up to dry. I look forward to asking him tonight where he thinks we should hang it. I'm really tempted to turn a portion of the right hand side of our hallway wall into the family artwork section.

I Love You Woody *Sigh*

I don't know how many times during the day Walter gets asked to watch Toy Story but I get asked every night. Always followed by Woody? Buzz?. Until recently this was also followed by Woody! Woody! Hello Woody! (enunciating every syllable as well as Padon can). Super cute we have totally indulged Padon in his love of Woody and Buzz and plan on surprizing him with his very own Woody and Buzz for Christmas. I got this great picture of Padon after I tried to pass Aladdin off on him and 5 minutes later had changed to Toy Story2 because he woulnd't stop begging for "Toy Story 2" (showing 4 fingers). Two mintues later he was like this on the couch watching Woody be concerned about being shelved because his arm had torn. I loved the look of complete adoration on Padon's face. "Ahhhhh, Woody, I looooovvveeee yyyooooouuuuuu. And you too Buzz."

Toy Box?

So I was pregnantly sitting on the couch in a my-hips-wont-ache-this-way position and had one leg up which on a two year old level left an open doorway to the couch on the other side. Before I knew it I had, had, through that little triangle space, shoved one dinosaur, 4 books, two dog chew toys, a toy piano, a rubbermaid tub, two XBox styrofoam spacers, a couple Fischer Price people, a Winnie the Pooh, and a My Pet Monster. There may have been a couple other items but I can't remember anymore. As it seemed that Padon was loosing interest in my toy pile (I felt like the lady in the junk heap in the movie The Labyrinth) I unpiled myself when Padon was away but when he saw that I was no longer stacked high with the toys he repiled me in the same way. It seemed very necessary for a picture.

New Baby Things

A generous friend at work has been giving me all her daughter's clothes that no longer fit and Padon and I have been enjoying going through the bags of goodies alot. I would totally have more pictures of Padon sampling the fabulous wares but he has passed his smile for the camera phase and often either tells me he doesn't want his picture taken or won't stand still for it. It's like he has suddenly realized that he might be embarrassed by these pictures later. But I did get this smashing picture of him trying on the baby sized Cherry sunglasses which he LOVED.

When I brought home this latest treasure Padon was so excited that he kept shouting "Ooooo!, Oooooo!" his arms pumping out at his sides the whole time with the anticipation of pulling out the next great thing. The best part after finding the glasses and needing to wear them was that Padon would oooo and ahhhhh over every little tiny hat, outfit with a ruffle, flower, or butterfly and go and show Walter, who was at the computer; Padon never taking off the glasses. It was so super cute that I had to ask him, as we were talking about the baby clothes, how cute they were, and how they were for the baby in me, "Wouldn't it be nice if we had our own baby?" He responded back with a "yeah" that elluded at that time and moment it would have been wonderful to dress a baby in all these fun clothes. I think 10 minutes later that moment had passed but it was super sweet in anycase.

Wow! Happy Birthday To Me!

I had a really nice Birthday. A few people in my office bought me a cake for my birthday. It was so nice, and really a delicious cake, go Safeway!
This graciousness was followed by a lovely breakfast of Crab Eggs Benedict on Saturday (my actually B-day) at the Stanwood Cafe, a day of spinning Alpaca for a hat for Padon, a long nap, and a fabulous dinner at the Spaghetti Factory in Seattle. Padon loved the Spaghetti Factory and I felt full of squishy yummy love having such a wonderful dinner with my two great guys.

And then, the following weekend, I was so lucky to have Sarah and Wayne take Walter and I out for an all you can eat crabfest at the Muckleshoot Casino and awesomely Jane and Jason could come along (man that was good).

The weekend after that I went out shopping for baby blanket yarn for Sophia with my Mom and Jane and had a wonderful brunch at the Portage Bay Cafe!

And then the second to last weekend in October my friend Nick, his boyfriend Andy, and their friend Jeff took me out for a delicious brunch at 22 Doors on Capital Hill and then down to Game Works where we played shooting games, tried Dance Dance Revolution (yeah, dumb idea pregnant, but oh so fun), and a really fun Japanese Namco Bandai drum game a lot like Dance Dance Revolution but with drum sticks (Nick, Jeff, and I totally got blisters playing that game).
Man it was a really lovely Birthday. Who could ask for more then a whole month of people celebrating you; I wish I could do this for all my family and friends!

Cuteness Extreme

So Walter, Padon and I made an excursion to Walmart on Friday looking for a particular can of spray paint and while paroosing the microwaves (ours is trying desperately to kick the bucket) we passed by the bed and bath section. Padon is going to get his very own big boy bed come January and I have been dying to see what kid of bed spread he will pick out. The long store aisle passing the bed section had four bedspreads at the end of one of the bed linen aisles (there were many more to choose from down the bed linen aisle but from the end this is what we could see); one Batman, one Spiderman, one Transformers, and one Disney Princess. I stopped Walter and said "I'm dying to see what Padon will do, Padon what blanket do you like?" Padon stopped looked at the blankets and with about 20 seconds of thought hugged and tried in vain to get the Disney Princess spread off the shelf. He asked me to get it down and Walter said "Show him the Spiderman" (Padon had tried to take a Spiderman doll home from the Pike Place Market the week before). So I pointed out Spiderman and Padon looked at it with less enthusiasm but also tried to pull it down. But because he couldn't (they were snug) he went back to the Princess spread again asking if he could have it, trying to pull it out. I pulled it off the shelf and and he tried his darnedest to walk off with it even though it was almost as big as he was. Luckily he was understanding when I told him we couldn't buy it today and I was totally tickled that of all the bedspreads he wanted it was the Disney Princesses. When we actually go to buy a spread I wonder if we will truly be coming home with a princess spread. I will totally buy him one if that is what he really wants, but I can tell you I will be documenting it with a ton of pictures!!!!!


On Sunday we went to Macy's with Walter's Dad, Leo, after a breakfast date, and I was waddling behind Leo, and Walter; Walter pushing Padon in the stroller. I was totally thinking about nothing and wasn't really paying attention to where we were when I got snapped out of my daze as my mind realized that Padon was calling and calling me, looking around for where I had gone. He was trying to get my attention and saying again and again "Mommy, Mommy! Shoes! Mommy, shoes!!!? He was trying, with a lot of excitement, to point out to me all the women's shoes we were passing in the shoe section. For a second I thought, "why does he think I care about the shoes" and then I realized, "well, why not?" Who else in our household almost always has a land mind pile of shoes on their side of the bed threatening to break ankles in the middle of the night, but Mommy?! I was so touched that I came to mind as we passed by a rather large selection of "Chloe" type shoes. I tried to be just as excited back at Padon, thanking him for thinking of me, and letting him know that yes I did really like all those shoes!


Two year olds are wonderful!

And The Baby's Gender Is...!

We are so excited to announce the up and coming birth of Sophia Nanci Warren!

It’s a Girl!!!!!!!

Due January 26th! Well most likely! Yeah!!!!!

Fresh Apple Pie!

In a quest for farm fresh apples to make a delicious apple pie for a good friends b-day party we made one of our treks down to the Pike Place Market to sample their goods. The day was beautiful, sunny, and warm. The fountain in the square in front of Westlake Mall was going and I was dieing to see what Padon would think. To my surprise, with no problem, he followed me down the steep step inside the fountain and was excited about the really loud and very wet path we had to walk down to get out the other side. It was a spray you in the face and constantly get you wet sort of fountain however, so when Walter called me back so he could snap our picture Padon started to act concerned. I'm a tad bummed that he wasn't looking at the camera because he really did think the fountain was fun and we had a whole happy conversation about how his shoes, and my shoes, and Daddy's shoes were wet and how our pants were kind of wet but that, that was ok because it was so sunny and warm we would be dry soon.

Padon plopped into the stroller we made our way to Pike Place and I was surprised at how hospitable people seemed to be to the stroller (I wasn't pushing it mind you, so maybe I missed the hassle) and Padon seemed to enjoy himself and asked to be in the stroller. Until of course he found this sweet ride while we waited for Walter who had gone to the bathroom. He was so excited to be on it and while rocking on it would point out the large selection of eggs in the window.
We did find some nicely prices apples (apples suprisingly weren't in season enough to find a deal at most stands where they often were $2.99/lbs) and I even got a whole apple to sample. Well I got two bites, and Walter one, before Padon confiscated the rest of it. We then went down into the underground portion of the market to check out the eclectic stores and stopped in the pot smoker store where Padon happily let us try fun hats on him and where I found the coolest cat fleece hat (for me!) but knowing the price of a yard of fleece wouldn't spend $21 in a million years on it.
I got so close to getting Walter to try one of the scrumptious crumpetes at the Crumpete Shop but in his denial to ever eat one (at least I got his foot in the door) it became aparent that it was very necessary to hit one of our regular spots, Kells Irish Resturant, a couple blocks away, down Post Alley. Padon now eats enough that sharing a meal and drink isn't always enough so after out crumpetes we did share a sandwich but he got his own soda and I got one for me. It was his first glass bottle of soda and he was tickled pink and drank half of it before he indicated he could drink no more.
Passing the time I let Padon take pictures with my camera. "Why won't it take my picture when I click on the camera button about 20 times in a row really fast?"

After alot of pleading I finally got Padon to lay down on the bench we were sitting on. When Padon was 6 weeks old we made out first post birth excursion out of the house and went to the Pike Place Market and to Kells for lunch. At a point he fell alseep and we laid him down on the bench. What a difference two years makes.

2 years and 3 1/2 months

6 weeks old

After we were done with lunch and had gone past the remaining crafty vendors, drooling along the way, we made our way back towards Westlake Mall and our bus stop where we passed by a large group of pigeons and a couple people feeding them stale bagel bits. Padon was overwhelmed by the number of "chickens!" and after exclaiming loudly to him more than once not to eat the bread himself he tried very hard to get the chickens to eat out of his hand.
It wasn't happening (smart chickens) and so with proding we got him to throw the pigeons the bread. He had a really good time and the people thought he was cute.

It was such a nice day; and Walter and I agreed we loved laid back days like these!