insert clever title here

yee haw!

2011-02-25T15:29:00.000-06:00

it's time for my first ever conoco phillips rodeo run. i'm running tomorrow morning with an old friend i haven't seen since...oh i think before tallak was born! i haven't had much time to run lately, we had family in town and tallak has been busy with daily swim lessons which has made getting to the gym or getting outside to run difficult. so, i really don't care how long it takes me to finish, but i just don't want to walk. i often get these annoying stitches in my side that make running difficult. not sure how to avoid these, but i often have to walk for a minute or two until they subside. i still think i can make the 5K in under 30 minutes though. i'll have my trusty Garmin 405 on to help me keep pace and make sure we don't fall too far behind. it's really just for fun, i think there's something like 15,000 people signed up to run the 5K and 10K. it's going to be a mad house, so i imagine we'll just hang back a bit and let the real competitors start first.

wish me luck!

34

2011-02-17T13:30:00.001-06:00

in less than one month i'll be turning 34. it's weird, i don't feel 34. i don't think i even look 34, but then again, what does 34 look like these days? why is it that the older i get the less i care about celebrating my birthday? are birthday parties really more fun when you're young?

last weekend we attended william's 3rd birthday party the Houston Gymnastics Academy. all the kids seemed to have so much fun. it was relaxing for us parents because we didn't have to entertain the kids - they were actually entertaining us! the gymnastics instructor that worked with the kids was super cool and let all the moms zip line into the pit of foam cubes too! unfortunately HGA doesn't host birthday parties for the 30 and up age range. but, i'm seriously considering being very unoriginal and copying laura and hosting tallak's 3rd birthday there too. And perhaps after things slow down with swim lessons enrolling him in gymnastics classes.

he was smiling the entire time we were there and had no fear of anything. i literally had to remove him from the gymnastics area to force him to go potty - if i hadn't he probably would have just gone pee in his underwear, not wanting to waste a second to actually go to the restroom.

it really is pretty amazing - the things that kid chooses to fear vs the things he actually fears boggles me. large swimming pool and potential drowning - nah, just jump right in. balance beam and jumping off large structures - no problem. letting the ENT doctor look in your ear - not happenin'.

so, for this year, for 34 i think i want to plan or do something different. i was looking through the Competitor Running magazine during tallak's swim lesson last night. i think i may sign up for a competitive run for my birthday. no so much fun that i'll pee myself, but it's something different and i can reward myself with a shit ton of cake and ice cream - guilt free.

i can't believe i'm doing this again

2011-02-17T12:08:00.000-06:00

i thought i was through with blogging, but then my mom sent me a sweet email telling me how much she missed my blog. now's as good a time as any to get back into the swing of things i suppose. i don't know who else besides my mother will actually read this though...

i'll have more time to post later this evening.

peace.

goodbye 6130 briar town lane

2009-07-24T21:58:00.000-05:00

sadness. we're leaving our first house together as a family. the house that i brought my adorable little boy home to. our PODS is out back waiting to be filled. emil's coming over in the morning to help jergen load the big stuff. bird and i will take the babies to the mall to stay out of the way.

we've decided to stay with bird and emil as long as they can stand us. we're paying to board the kitties, whom we couldn't find a temporary home for. we'll have to go visit them every once in awhile, as tallak has become rather fond of them.

tomorrow will be our last night and then we'll have a few days to clean up and closing is set for 9 am on wednesday. weird. we're home owners no more.

i'm kind of looking forward to sharing a room with tallak. he's a crazy little sleeper. sometimes standing up in the middle of the night and "talking" for a minute or two, then falling back over into a deep sleep.

tonight while i was emptying cabinets in the kitchen i found a toy hammer that tal stashed in the back of one of the cabinets. it made me smile so much. he's so cute and funny. he does the cutest things. today he very seriously put his sippy cup in the left cup holder on his highchair tray, then thought about it and decided to move it to the right holder. he seemed very pleased with his decision, especially since he seems to favor his right hand.

here's my big boy getting into the q-tips. you turn your head for 2 seconds....

i suppose it's about time

2009-07-16T21:22:00.000-05:00

i really need to get better about my blog postings. i haven't posted since march, shame on me! and so much to share. i've been to germany and back, to minnesota and back and we sold our house in a record time of three days! my little man turned one and his friend sammy is one today. tallak says dada all the time, but still no mama. he walks on his own and can get up on his own, the next step is climbing, which i'm sure he's days away from. he's learning from the best, william.

little louise is already 5 1/2 months old! she was set back a bit with a stupid harness for her hips, but now her mommy is working with her to bring her back up to speed. she's been packing on the weight while in the harness, so now she's got a lot more to move than before!

i'm sure that most of you who actually read my blog have already seen most of these pictures, but here are a few of my favorite from the last couple of months.

tallak and jergen in the grass in fredericksburg, texas.

tallak and jenna at canal park, duluth, minnesota.

this is from just the other day. tallak laughing at a silly little monkey that claps and makes noise. he loves it. it's the simple things.

my sweet boy is so sad today

2009-03-11T19:14:00.001-05:00

today was a hard day for my little man. he woke up with a high fever that hardly broke all day. he was so not himself. very lethargic and pathetic all day, just wanting to be held and cuddled, which of course i loved. but seriously, the kid was on fire. i had him sitting around in just his diaper for awhile because he was so hot. he took a 4 hour nap this morning, which hasn't happened in...oh....nine months or so. then he was up for a while and went back down for another nap and it's 7:15 pm and he's already in bed for the night. poor booger. if the fever doesn't come down by tomorrow morning we're heading to the dr.'s office. :-(

i can't have a tallak post with out a tallak picture. so these two are from a play date in the park last week. he's been walking with a walker for about 2 weeks now. such a big boy!

little lou is three weeks!

2009-03-01T21:21:00.000-06:00

check out the bed head!

all snugly with daddy

look at those lips! awe...

bye bye leila rose!

2009-03-01T20:54:00.000-06:00

tallak and i had a lot of fun over the past few weeks spending time with little leila rose santos. they are six months apart to the day. i like to think of leila as tallak's first girlfriend. he's already showing his love by patting her on the forehead! don't worry lia, i made sure he was gentle.

2009-02-13T18:50:00.000-06:00

Learning to pull up on furniture.

All cute and clean after a bath.

Showing off my teeth!

Do I want another baby?

2009-02-12T11:51:00.000-06:00

This has been a subject that I've gone back and forth with a lot lately. Usually the answer is YES. I think I can handle it. I've been watching Leila a few days a week for about a month, and though it's hard work, I think I could manage. I'd just need to master the whole getting out of the house thing more. It's hard right now because Leila still sleeps a lot and Tallak is still on two naps a day. But yesterday I was ready to put Tallak up for auction. He was being so naughty and wouldn't nap, and though I love him to pieces, I really need a break from him every once in awhile. He's just so active lately and it's hard to keep him from eating the cat food while I'm trying to feed Leila. This morning I sat at the kitchen table spooning food in Tallak's mouth while giving Leila a bottle. Would that be my life if I have another baby? Surely Tal will be feeding himself by the time I have another baby, right?

Okay, now comes the NO side of me. One baby is great. I can focus all my attention on him and obviously it would be easier on the pocketbook to have just one. And for the most part he's such a good baby, what if the next one is a nightmare? What if they have colic or sleep even worse than Tal (he's still up about twice a night, when will it ever end?!) and if I have two when will I ever have time for me?! Even though I've managed with the two babies a few times a week for the past month, I still doubt my abilities to manage two kids. But, surely it can't be that hard, there's so many totally clueless people out there with 14 babies, right? But would it be horrible to not give Tallak a brother or sister? I can't imagine my life without my loving, wonderful siblings.

Thoughts?

My Beautiful Boy

2009-02-08T22:14:00.000-06:00

We figured some hat was better than no hat, but Tal disagreed. He did NOT want to wear Louise's hat!

My handsome little boy!

Can you see his little teeth coming in on the sides?!

Lou Update

2009-02-08T22:08:00.000-06:00

Lou is doing really well. She's getting the whole eating thing down and is looking cuter by the second. She's turning a little orange on us, just like Tal, but it's nothing to worry about. They're taking such good care of her at Texas Woman's and she had two of the most loving parents ever.

Cake for Tallak!

2009-02-08T22:03:00.001-06:00

Tallak had cake for the first time today and man did he love it! Thank you Laura! And don't worry Emily, all the stains came out of that adorable shirt that you bought him. He's so fun to feed. He also love cantaloupe, toast, sweet potato puffs, pasta and pretty much anything else, so long as he can put it in his mouth with his own two hands.

"That's not my baby!"

2009-02-07T16:01:00.000-06:00

So, I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I've been so busy! But, with the arrival of my beautiful niece I figured now was as good a time as any to get back in business. Birdie is probably going to be pretty tired for awhile and so I'll do my best to post the most recent news and pictures, unless of course at some point I'm able to convince her to start her own blog!

With that said I have to tell the first funny story of little Louise's life. Yesterday afternoon when I went to visit Lou in the NICU I took this picture. When I went back to Birdie's room and showed her all the pictures I took and she saw this one she promptly said, "That's not my baby!" I said, "Yes it is! What do you think I did, take a picture of someone else's baby?!" She said, "That baby has a double chin!" Well, that's your girl Birdie. All big and rolly and looking like a grumpy senior citizen! To give Lou the benefit of the doubt, she had yet to have her first bath and was a little on the grumpy side. Today when I rocked her after she had a bottle she was much more adorable. Her lips were all red like roses and her skin looked so soft and beautiful. She's just like Tallak was and is, cuter by the second.

Please meet my beautiful niece Louise Johana Klein!

2009-02-07T15:38:00.001-06:00

Max, Emil, Bridget and John Klein shortly before Louise arrived.

Meet little Louise! Isn't she so cute!? She's got her daddy's head!

2009-01-03T21:57:00.000-06:00

cool highchair

2008-11-23T19:33:00.001-06:00

hey mom, this is the new space saver highchair we got for tallak. he seems skeptical, but i'm loving it. it tilts back and also converts into a booster seat. also, check out the big bowl of beautiful green peas i made for him! yup, i finally made some baby food for him with the little food processor you got me. i made peas and mangos. it was super easy and the peas are being received well, we'll try the mangos tomorrow.

pj's & parks

2008-11-23T19:14:00.001-06:00

these two pictures are for emily. emily bought tallak these pj's a long time ago, before tallak was even here. we kept waiting to put them on him because they looked so long and big. the other night after putting tallak to bed jergen told me i should go look at our little baby sleeping. that he "looked like he was ready to be shot out of a cannon." for some reason all the pj's he has from gymboree are skin tight. they looks so funny! they all make his butt look so big and adorable. these pictures aren't doing the fit justice either, because they are way tight, i swear. but we'll keep letting him wear 'em until he busts out of 'em!

my sister says my blog is boring. sorry gang, we've been busy. we were in minnesota for the first two weeks in november and have been super busy learning how to sit up, eating peas and mangos and getting lots of love from family.

we took a family day trip today and it was so nice to have my husband back. we ventured to stephen f. austin state park which had great hiking trails and access to the brazos river that you can see in the above picture. tallak talked is way throughout the woods scaring off any possible wildlife we might have been able to see. a lady who works at my local post office told me about 8 weeks ago that i'd get real sick of listening to him talk all the time. well, it hasn't happened yet. it still makes me smile every time.

rice cereal

2008-10-26T09:33:00.000-05:00

as you can see from the picture above, tallak still isn't so sure about the whole eating from a spoon thing. i think he's skeptical. but as you can see from the picture below, if anyone could get him excited about it daddy can.

mom, thank you for the wonderful bibs that wipe right up! they're perfect for these first days of experimenting with food, even if it does look like he's ready for a big ear of corn! :-)

i want that kitty!

2008-10-23T08:29:00.001-05:00

lately tallak has been increasingly aware that we have cats and really wants to get close. sometimes we hold the cats paws and let him pet them. mostly he just crabs them and comes away with a fist full of fur. he also seems to gravitate to their ears. they don't seem to mind though. selma actually fell at his feet yesterday and started rolling around.

6 months!

2008-10-22T20:26:00.001-05:00

well, tallak had his 6 month check up today (just a week early) and a bunch of shots. it was worse than last time. his pretty big eyes welling up with tears, the little tongue vibrating in his mouth as he wailed in pain, the stupid Band-Aids all over his chubby little thighs. thank goodness he doesn't have any shots at his 9 month check up. i can't take much more of it. my most sincere thanks goes out to birdie for going with me and helping hold and love tallak during the traumatic experience.

we got the green light on food! just rice cereal for the first week or two, then non sweet veggies, like peas and green beans. i'm excited, he's excited and doesn't know it yet! i promise to try to produce some good pictures from his first food experience, which will probably be tomorrow night.

i feel lame...

2008-10-20T10:17:00.000-05:00

i don't feel very inspired to post on my blog lately. i'm kind of hooked on facebook and spend far too much of my precious free time searching for old friends, reading nonsense and looking at pictures of people i haven't seen in 10 years.

with that said, i can't have a blog post without a tallak picture. so here's my most recent favorite.

this picture was taken yesterday at the waltman's house. they've got a great swing set with a slide in their back yard that i'm sure will get lots of use in the years to come! nathan and tal will probably be fighting over this swing!

we're still going to the Y a lot and tallak is finally able to sit in the exer-saucer and doesn't have to sit in a swing the whole time i work out. it's fun to be able to see him on the tv monitors in the fitness center too. i can see him jumping around all excited.

i got tallak's 6 month check up bumped up to this wednesday so we could get it out of the way before the 1st. more shots for poor tallak and hopefully the thumbs up to start some food! he seems very ready. i think we both are!

we're heading to minnesota on november 1st for two weeks. jergen will come up on the 7th after his next actuary exam. peder is home (or will be tomorrow, i think) and we're all so excited to see him. it's been over a year since we've seen him and of course he hasn't met tallak.

i promise to try to do better with blog posts for the two of you who actually read my blog.

xoxo - ali

for emily

2008-10-15T18:10:00.000-05:00

TexAsia Festival

2008-10-11T17:56:00.000-05:00

2008-10-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

stroller strides!

2008-09-29T14:50:00.001-05:00

i'm so excited to be a part of a new group called stroller strides. we meet several times a week to exercise with our babies a memorial park. i love being outside and have felt so cooped up all summer, so now that it's cooling down it's such a great time to be able to get outside, get some exercise and meet other moms with similar interests.

i've been doing so much cardio lately, and not a lot of strength training, so i'm sure to be sore tomorrow!

if you know anyone who is interested in joining share the link above with them! or forward them this blog link: moms living fit

i'm probably...

2008-09-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

...going to have to pay for some serious therapy for this kid someday. but, i'll blame everything on his dad. it's never my idea, i swear.

i suppose it's time...

2008-09-20T10:13:00.001-05:00

for a new post. i just feel like my life isn't that interesting these days. who cares about what i do? my days are pretty uneventful. wake up. feed baby. go to Y. feed baby. change poopie diaper. fight to feed baby who wants to hold his own bottle. nap. walk to grocery store. see, pretty boring, huh?

well, we obviously survived ike. we just had water come through a few windows, but other than that everything was fine. oh', minus my wind-chime. we brought it inside but it still managed to get broken somehow. most of you probably already know we evacuated to fredericksburg. our power was restored by wednesday, but as of today bird and emil are still without power. i guess it's a good thing they left for colorado today.

the days have been a bit cooler here in houston lately, so tallak and i have been able to get out for walks most mornings. only about 10 more pounds of baby weight to work off. must get into winter clothes by november. do not want to buy more "transition" clothes.

i finally joined facebook. loubel said i needed to get with it. it's been pretty interesting. i've found a few old friends. it's fun to see what people look like these days. emily, join too!

not much planned for the weekend. hoping to get together with karolyn while john's in college station for the a&m game. jergen probably needs to study for his november exam.

just to make this post a little more interesting i'll put a couple of misc pictures.

super cute picture of tallak

this is our cabin for christmas! i can't wait for tallak to spend his first christmas in the great outdoors! (he'll also be spending his first thanksgiving in the same style, only at black rock park, not buescher state park.)

are you sick of seeing sad tal? here's sweet tal...

2008-09-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

notice how he has his hand in birdie's pocket and how he's holding my thumb...awe. i think he's comfy on birdie's new big cushy chest! i know his outfit is a bit of a miss match, but i was trying to get him to go down for a nap and i always throw whatever pair of pants i can find on him...which explains the olive green pants and baby blue onesie.

sadness

2008-09-02T20:09:00.000-05:00

tallak had his 4 month check up and more shots today. i think he's about had it with the shots. he cried louder and harder today than ever before. it was horrible.

the good news though, our little guy ain't so little anymore. he's 26 1/4 inches long and 14 pounds 4 ounces! he's in the 90th percentile for height, but only the 50th for weight, so we're working on that. he's never been the greatest eater, but he's getting better and almost always finishes his bottles these days.

life isn't all that bad for tal though, i just heard him giggling while getting his evening massage from jergen. must be rough, huh?

fredericksburg

2008-09-01T21:02:00.000-05:00

we spent the weekend with the kleins in fredericksburg. max stuffed us with the worlds best oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies on earth and john made us some awesome fish tacos and shrimp with fettucini. i think i've put all the baby weight back on in just two days! oh' and donuts, i can't remember the last time i had a donut and i had 2 1/2 this weekend! they were sooooooo good.

tallak proved to be a great little traveler yet again. he's really discovered his voice and is "talking" all the time now, it's pretty cute. this is a picture uncle emil took in the car on the way home today. jergen was making farting noises and tallak thought it was the funniest thing ever. such a boy.

also, when tallak sleeps in the car his fat little cheeks shimmy. it's so cute.

2008-08-23T18:39:00.000-05:00

giggles for dad, never for mommy :-(

2008-08-23T09:16:00.000-05:00

tallak being tickled and giggling for jergen

watching his first baby einstein dvd

tallak, once again, with random stuff on his head. compliments of his dad.

don't you love the sheet?

2008-08-16T20:35:00.001-05:00

now that tallak can roll over it's always fun to go into his room when he's sleeping and see where in the world he's managed to roll to, or what type of strangely comfortable position he's worked himself into. this morning he was taking a nap and rolled to the side and sucked his fist until he fell asleep. it's only a matter of time before he finds his thumb. yup, i think he'll be a thumb sucker, he's never cared for pacifiers. these days his hands are always sloppy and wet from being stuck as far into his mouth as he can get them. but it's way cute, because he seems to enjoy it so much and every once in a while he smiles through it - it's so adorable.

notice the chubby little thighs...ahhhhh, i'm so in love.

i made an appointment for professional photos at 4 months and they suggested naked pictures and i got soooo excited. i can't wait to have naked photos of my little nugget.

tallak's first hockey game

2008-08-12T09:54:00.000-05:00

Jergen's team won. Jergen got a 5 minute penalty for elbowing some guy in the chest. For some reason, I think he was kind of happy about that. Real tough guy, huh?

watch out! i'm rollin' over!

2008-08-08T19:35:00.000-05:00

tallak has started rolling over, back to front. no more leaving him on the couch or his activity mat, this kid is on the move! and look at those cute little thighs! oh' my word! he's such a joy. he has a pretty easy going personality, he almost never cries. he gets a little fussy when he's overtired, which i'm still working on. he's become a lot less portable. he really prefers sleeping in his crib, so it's hard to get out of the house some days because he wants to nap at home, not in his car seat. two months ago i could go anywhere with him and he'd be asleep in a matter of minutes, not any more. i'm getting better at my new "job" as he's getting easier to read. i know not to push him too much, he needs his naps. he's a different baby when he doesn't get his naps.

yesterday at our baby group he weighed 13 pounds, 5 ounces. he's getting so big! a few more weeks and we'll go in for his 4 month check up and more shots. i suspect he's grown several inches, everyone always comments on how "long" he is.

it wasn't my idea!

2008-08-05T20:35:00.000-05:00

but, i sure did laugh. tallak was such an angel today. i'm not sure if it was the rainy weather, or if he's just going through a growth spurt, but little man was sleepy today. jergen's upstairs getting him ready for bed. he's only up once a night for feedings, usually about 6 1/2 - 7 hours after he goes down, which is wonderful. everyone kept telling us it would get better and it so does. he's just so much more fun to hang out with all day. smiles galore and lots of cooing and giggles. he still loves his baby einstein activity mat (thank you uncle casey and aunt lei!) and is really into these colorful rings these days.

3 months old today!

2008-07-30T21:17:00.000-05:00

the tongue thing is new. bubbles and an active little tongue. it's so cute. here are a couple of fun ones from earlier this evening.

it doesn't get much better than this.

2008-07-29T19:14:00.000-05:00

mornings are our happy time. this kid smiles more first thing in the morning than any other time. i have to give jergen full credit for these pictures. thank you sweetie.

burn after reading

2008-07-19T21:18:00.000-05:00

a new movie from joel and ethan coen! looks hilarious. great cast. check it out here.

burn after reading

thanks mom!

2008-07-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

in houston, never order flowers from anywhere other than river oaks plant house. they are the absolute best in town, hands down.

thank you mom!

swing baby, swing!

2008-07-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

why did it take me 10 weeks to get this kid a swing?! he loves this thing, i love this thing. everyone kept saying, "do you have a swing? you need to get a swing." mom sent this one last week and he's been napping in it daily since. thank you mom! and i know he may not look comfy, all slumped over, but i swear he is. he sleeps better in a more upright position than any other we've discovered yet. last night, after a horrible gas episode that lasted for almost one hour (picture quivering lower lip and lots of crocodile tears, it was awful, he's NEVER cried like that) and a quick car ride to calm him down he slept for 6 hours straight! in his car seat, of course. but hey, i'm not complaining. we're hoping for a repeat tonight, but my guess is part of his long sleep last night was due to the complete exhaustion from crying for an hour straight.

mean aunt birdie!

2008-07-10T21:02:00.000-05:00

aunt birdie thinks it's more fun to make a baby sad than to give them what they really want, food. birdie took this picture on monday while babysitting. tallak was hungry and rather than feed him, she took the time to take his picture while he was crying. as mean as it seems, i have to thank her. we so love this little pouty face too and love that she captured it. it makes us giggle a little, look at that lip, and the furrowed brow, as if we'd let a face like that starve! too cute. our little guy is packing on the pounds, on tuesday he was 11 pounds 11 ounces! birdie said she thinks he has dimples in his thighs now. that makes me so incredibly happy.

baby's first trip to minnesota!

2008-06-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

well, we're heading home to minnesota on saturday morning. we can't wait for everyone to meet tallak and to see all our friends and family. we're excited for some cooler weather, we can't even take tallak outside between 10-4 on most days, it's way too hot here. pros and cons of living in such a hot state. we don't have to spend tons of money on winter clothes for our kid, but we can't go outside with him in the summer - at least not at this age. i'm sure before we know it he'll be doing cannonballs in the swimming pool, but for now we're indoors listening to baby einstein music and watching sesame street.

i probably won't post until we return on the 6th. have a great 4th everyone!

i smile!

2008-06-21T18:43:00.000-05:00

why do all men think it's funny to put random things on babies? this morning emil was piling blocks on my kid while he peacefully played on his baby einstein activity mat. this afternoon jergen puts baby nail clippers on his forehead. i have to admit, it's pretty funny that tallak knows something is going on. these are two pictures of a happy baby with a full tummy.

poop like cement

2008-06-17T00:05:00.000-05:00

well, little tal seems to be on the mend. no more seriously poopie diapers in the last 24 hours. our pediatrician did set up an appointment with a GI specialist at texas children's hospital just in case he has another flare up. i guess those GI specialists are hard to get in with so at least we have the appointment just in case. yes the formula is crazy expensive and it makes everything smell like french fries, but he seems much more comfortable, less moaning and groaning while sleeping, so it's all worth it. he doesn't poop at often as when breast fed and the poop is seriously like cement in color and texture, but i guess that's normal.

here's a picture of tallak with grandma barb from her recent visit. he does this adorable O thing with his mouth. perhaps he's practicing saying his last name. and yes, that's a bib. i now have one of those babies that wears a bib all the time. well, it's better than changing him out of a french fry covered onesie nine times a day.

i don't know where to start...

2008-06-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

the last couple of weeks have been really challenging. we've had lots of trouble breastfeeding and last weekend ended up in the ER. last saturday morning tallak had a couple of really bloody poopie diapers. after a visit to the pediatrician we were told to go straight to texas children's hospital. after a terrible 10 1/2 hours in the ER they still didn't know what was wrong. first they thought he could have a twisted colon, so he had an ultrasound and was given an IV for fluids. i don't know who it was more traumatic for - him or me. we stayed overnight for observation. we stayed in a tiny room with a giant crib and chairs for us to sleep on, though i didn't sleep at all since it was like a meat locker in there and tal couldn't be swaddled because of the IV in his foot. i just held him all night long. we kept each other warm. at about noon on sunday we were told they believed that he had a protein allergy. i was instructed to eliminate all dairy from my diet and that things would improve. until my system could work some of the dairy out we needed to supplement with formula for babies with protein allergies. it's crazy expensive and smells like french fries. everything has been fine over the past week, but today we had another projectile vomit and the heavy amounts of blood are back. after speaking to our pediatrician again, we went to texas children's hospital again for blood work. they called with the results and his hemoglobin had dropped since the blood work last week and it was already low to begin with. we're monitoring him closely and the dr. has been calling to check on him regularly. if nothing worsens over night we're just going to the dr.'s office in the morning, if it gets worse we're supposed to head back to the ER. we just don't know if it could still be a protein "sensitivity" or something else. his overall health seems fine. no fever, no strange fits of crying, no real lack of appetite and his coloring is good.

i'll keep y'all posted.

cutie pie

2008-06-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

awe...

2008-05-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

my sweet boys

2008-05-24T02:47:00.000-05:00

today is his due date!

2008-05-22T22:24:00.000-05:00

man it's been a rough couple of days. we met with a lactation consultant yesterday for 4 1/2 hours and found out we have thrush. so, i guess my nipples aren't supposed to hurt this bad. the positive was that i think we've learned to latch on a bit better.

today is the actual date that tallak was due. it's hard to believe he's been with us three weeks already. everyone says he looks bigger already.

the highlight of my day - i got out of the house for the first time since monday and went to the mall with birdie. i took victoria's secret up on two free pairs of panties and scored a dress from the gap for 12 bucks. too bad it's a size large to cover my ass that is currently the size of the state of texas.

birdie is so smart. i was complaining about not being able to use my BOB (baby jogger) because it's way too hot to be outside with tal right now and she suggested walking in the malls - you know like senior citizens do. we'll i'm all about it, i need to get out and get some exercise so if it has to happen at the mall then so be it.

no great pictures today. tal wasn't feeling photogenic today.

oops i crapped my pants!

2008-05-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

are all babies this cute when they sleep?! perhaps i'm a bit biased. another question, do all babies make as much noise in their sleep as tal? he's always grunting and moaning. oh' wait! he just crapped his pants in his sleep! it sounded like a juicy one too! i think i'll give him another 10 minutes to finish his business then clean him up. otherwise he'll just give me the rest of it while i'm trying to change his diaper. maybe i can get a quick shower while he finishes working this one out. i don't think i've brushed my teeth yet today....

7 pounds 2 ounces!

2008-05-19T12:09:00.000-05:00

we're up to 7 pounds and 2 ounces! whoo hoo! not bad, considering at one point he was down to 5 pounds 11 ounces. it seems the breast milk is doing its job.

the hospital has a lactation support group that meets every monday and we've gone the past two weeks and found it very helpful. they have scales so you can weight baby at the beginning of group and again at the end after feeding so you can see how many ounces he's eaten. on thursday we'll go to the new parent support group. i'm all about support groups at this point. :-)

bath time!

2008-05-18T21:21:00.000-05:00

he doesn't seem to love bath time yet, but he doesn't hate it either. here's a picture of dad working him over in the tub tonight. jergen is so much less timid with this child than i am. he just gets right in there and scrubs his little tushie.

p.s. tal does have a weenie, but for some reason the angle of this photo does not show his manness, so please believe me when i say tallak is not a girl.

sometimes...

2008-05-16T18:49:00.000-05:00

i just can't bring myself to wake him up and take him out of the car seat, he looks so happy, and he sometimes makes this little sound like he's giggling. maybe he's dreaming about puppies and frogs, or big boobies.

even with feet this big...

2008-05-14T11:59:00.001-05:00

these socks don't fit.

check out the size of these feet!

2008-05-11T21:58:00.001-05:00

what does a baby need to have such big feet for? those are my hands, and i have pretty big hands for a girl, but would you look at those things, they're so big! i love kissing them and tickling the bottoms of them to try to wake him to eat.

i love this picture because it also looks like tal is smiling a bit, i'm sure it's just gas, but it's still cute as all get out.

his umbilical cord fell off on saturday, it made me cry, i'm not sure why. i'm glad to be rid of it, it made diapering a pain, but still, i was sad to see it go. our little life connection. :-(

meet tallak richard oase

2008-05-06T19:32:00.000-05:00

hello everyone! (all two of you readers)

we're please to introduce tallak richard oase. he was born on wednesday, april 30th at 4:48 pm. he weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds 3.7 oz and measured 20 1/4 inches.

since friday we've just been trying to figure things out day by day. some days are easier than others. we've had to monitor is bilirubin levels with daily blood tests, which is why he might seem a little on the orange side. (his auntie birdie has nicknamed him cheeto, but we're kinda hoping that doesn't stick.)

we're going back into the pediatrician in the morning to make sure he's putting on weight. we've been feeding the kid nonstop, so lets pray it's been working and he hasn't lost any more weight.

man, the things you start to worry about as a mother, it's very intense. i think i've cried a bit every day thinking about this little guy. i heard a story on NPR this morning about a mother who lost her son. it was terribly sad and before i knew it i was in her shoes thinking that i could never go on if something happened to tal.

i'll try to do better about posting, it's just a bit hectic around here lately, i'm sure you understand. :-) my only sanity lately is having jergen here to help and birdie. she's been by every day to help out. thank goodness for family. jergen did go into work for a few hours this morning and i got a bit nervous being left alone with tal. it went well, he slept the better part of the morning, but jergen is always the calm one, i'm the one always convinced that he's choking or not eating enough.

wish me luck, i need it!

how swell!

2008-04-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

notice how the feet on the right have bone definition and you can see the veins? now, the feet on the left...not so much. and look at those cankels. yeah, it's pretty bad. lots of swelling lately. and every time i go into the doctor at 7 am and they check my swelling they're like, "looks good, no swelling!" and i'm like, "it's 7am, of course i don't have any swelling, give me a few hours!"

stress test and ultra sound tomorrow morning. we're getting an estimated baby weight again, so that should be nice. this kid better weigh at least 7 or 8 pounds, no way am i taking the blame for all this extra weight. it's really a good thing i'm not working right now, as nothing fits but stretchy black maternity exercise pants and big ugly maternity t-shirts. it is so sad. but at least my belly balances my back side a bit and my ass doesn't appear as out of proportion as it normally does.

if this kid doesn't make his entrance in the next week or so i'm gonna have to get jergen to trim my damned toe nails for me.

2 more weeks?!

2008-04-22T15:17:00.000-05:00

okay, i'm really seriously ready to have this baby. i feel huge and have put on more weight than i'll ever admit to anyone. (you'd put on weight too if you were put on bed rest and sat around the house all day with nothing to do but snack.) i'm ready for this kid to be outside of me and not having full control of my body anymore, my daily life i'll understand, but if i can just sleep on my back again and not lose my breath going up the stairs, that would be a great start. oh' and i'd love for my legs to not look like tree trunks anymore too, that would be nice.

i'm bummed because i'm not dilated either. my fluid levels dropped a little bit since last week, but not enough for my doctor to want to induce yet. the stress tests shows he's still happy inside my belly. she said that if i haven't gone into labor naturally in another two weeks she'll probably induce.

no belly stretch marks, but plenty in places you can't see.

hooray for bed rest!

2008-04-11T13:25:00.000-05:00

baby oase passed his stress test this morning and my amniotic fluid levels are on the rise! maybe this bed rest business isn't so stupid after all. we're going back once a week for the next two weeks though for the same procedures to make sure everything continues to improve. i can't begin to tell you how relieved i am.

i'm going to lay down (on my left side!) and take a nap now. :-)

she's so strange

2008-04-10T08:49:00.000-05:00

have i ever mentioned to any of you how our little cat catie likes to walk on top of doors? well she does and here's proof. all you have to do is be standing near an open door and scoop her up in your arms, put her head up around your shoulder and she goes right for the door! it's the weirdest thing ever. but that's why we love her, she's not normal. she makes my currently boring life somewhat interesting.

and today, someone put some catnip or something out for selma, because in a rare event of activity i've been watching her play with a tiny paper ball for the last five minutes. she's sure to bore of that soon. i tried to get proof of the unbelievable activity, but she's now shoved the ball too far under the couch for me to get to. i'll just have to fashion another high end paper ball for her soon.

how random?

2008-04-05T20:21:00.000-05:00

i saw this article today about a new "green" reality show with ludacris and tommy lee. check it out here. i guess it's going to be aired on a new cable channel called planet green that's set to begin in early june. what do you want to bet my lousy cable company, tvmaxx won't have planet green? they don't even have a dvr service.

baby oase thanks you all!

2008-03-29T22:06:00.000-05:00

i had such a wonderful day. my beautiful sister and our dear friend lia hosted my baby shower today and all of my wonderful and supportive friends and family were there. i couldn't have asked for a better baby shower, thank you birdie and lia! baby oase is such a lucky little guy, he'll be well clothed, entertained, bathed, and fed thanks to all the wonderful gifts from everyone.

thank you!

baby oase update

2008-03-25T15:37:00.000-05:00

well, i had another ultrasound today and the baby looks to be around 4 pounds 11 oz already. my doctor was surprised because she said i didn't look very big yet and i'm not measuring quite that big, but that often happens with taller women, we "hide" the pregnancy better than little gals. so nothing to worry about there.

the not so great news, my doctor thinks that my amniotic fluid level is a tad bit lower than she would like to see. so, i have to go back in two weeks for another ultrasound. this one will be just to check the fluid levels, no fun baby watching at that appointment. if the fluid levels have dropped any more then they might consider inducing me at that point. if the levels stay the same they'll probably do yet another ultrasound after two more weeks and then see what the situation is at that time. by then i'd be 36 weeks and comfortable with being induced. i'm not so wild about being induced in two weeks, it seems so soon and it seems so far away from full term.

my actual due date is may 22nd, so having the baby in four weeks is around april 22, it seems so early, but i suppose it happens all the time. i guess it just wasn't in my thought process yet. i've felt so good and the pregnancy has been so easy that i just figured i'd sail on through to the end of may, but i guess nothing ever really goes as planned, right? better get that overnight bag ready just in case.

doctors orders are to take it easy, no more weight lifting classes or strolls (because that's really what they are at this point, strolls) around the park. and here i had already registered for the blue bell fun run (what?! i was planning on walking!) and am now being told to just go for the free ice cream and t-shirt. boo! i'm still gonna go and take pictures of my big belly in the bluebonnets! that is, of course, unless the baby is already here by april 12th! if so, karolyn i apologize for making you drive to brenham solo, but at least bird and emil will be there for the run.

i'll keep y'all posted.

xoxo - ali

it's unbelievable!

2008-03-21T09:23:00.001-05:00

this is sad, but the most exciting thing to happen to me lately was this: i only got up ONE TIME last night to pee. other than that i slept through the night and it felt SO AMAZING. that hasn't happened in months, so i felt it necessary to comment on it. it's the first thing i thought of when i finally pulled myself out of bed this morning. only one time! fantastic!

buffalo bayou regatta

2008-03-10T12:37:00.000-05:00

we participated the the annual buffalo bayou regatta on march 8th. the weather was a bit chilly in the morning, but it turned into such a beautiful day. i just keep humming that willie nelson song, blue skies. i love that song.

i like to think we're usually pretty prepared for most of our adventures (mostly thanks to jergen) but this time we forgot the sunblock and ended up with burned ears and hands! of all the places to get some sun it had to be the ears and hands. dang it!

the race results just came in the other day and we finished 41st in our division, not bad considering, huh? (in total, there were over 250 boats participating) it was fun and i had a great feeling of accomplishment, knowing i was seven months pregnant and still able to paddle 15 miles, with only one pee break! we watched so many people tip their boats (i can not imagine submerging myself in that water!) and struggle the whole time, guys that looked like they should have had a clue as to what they were doing, just zig zagging down the bayou, it was so humorous. and i was able to just keep smiling and paddling, the whole time thinking to myself, thanks mom for sending us off to summer camp every year!

the day after the regatta i turned 31! not too exciting, i know. but, we had a nice day. we went to cypress to spend time with the waltman's and the chew's. then jergen and i had dinner at one of our neighborhood favorites, mezza grill. though the joy of eating isn't as great as it used to be, portions have to be a lot smaller and even though it tastes great i can't finish everything on my plate or i'll surely pay for it later.

tums are my new best friend.

caucus craziness

2008-03-05T09:52:00.000-06:00

so maybe this picture isn't exactly what it was like at our caucus last night, but it's pretty darn close. i guess the news is reporting that election officials weren't prepared for the turn out at the caucus' last night, which was pretty obvious. we got so much miss information right from the get-go. first there was this ancient old man trying to make an announcement with a non functioning microphone, everyone yelling at the poor guy that they couldn't hear him, and then when you could sorta hear him, you couldn't understand a darn word the guy was saying. then they asked for volunteers to get everyone signed in and a flood of people just started running up to help. then we were told NOT TO LEAVE after signing in, as our vote would not be counted. THEN we were told we could leave if we wanted to, that yes, our vote would be counted. ugh. we didn't get out of there until 8:30pm! i really just wanted to go see what it was all about and try to figure out why states still caucus, but i can tell you right now, that was my first and last caucus. and i still don't see the point in a caucus. they're stupid. i'll still vote in future primary elections, but feel no strong need to go through that again.

good people watching though.

i totally had jergen's help

2008-03-02T16:21:00.000-06:00

i love this picture

2008-02-28T10:18:00.000-06:00

i've got the keys and i'm not letting you out!

2008-02-28T10:13:00.000-06:00

it's been too long...

2008-02-26T08:22:00.000-06:00

howdy! sorry it's been so long since my last post. busy, busy, busy! barb and rick made it down last wednesday to spend a few days in more tolerable weather. we had a non-stop, action packed couple of days. we drove all the way down the coast to rockport and port aransas. we stayed overnight in port aransas at the cutest little place called the balinese flats. we were all able to stay in one apartment with a queen size bed and a pull out couch, kitchen and amazing deck for only $60 bucks! on the way down i think we saw more minnesota, wisconsin, michigan and iowa license plates than texas ones! i kind of became a little obsessed with pointing out all the mn ones, sorry family. all the signs at restaurants welcomed all the "winter texans!"

i can't begin to describe how lucky we got on the food front. (actually, it probably wasn't luck, seeing as how jergen pretty much guided us everywhere with one of this trusty off the beaten path guide books.) we ate SO WELL. in particular, i think barb and i are still dreaming about the food at shells pasta and seafood in port aransas. it was incredible. the crab cakes were the best i've ever had and the key lime cheesecake was so good that we took some to go and devoured it on the beach the next morning. jergen was licking the styrofoam container, but if you know jergen that isn't too shocking.

we also renewed our state park pass while at mustang island state park and put it to good use over the next two days. we walked the beach at mustang island, tossing jelly fish around (using sticks, of course) and picking out shells for barb.

we also went to goliad state park and misson and got another little texas history lesson. it was somewhat late in the day, and we really need to get back to the houston area, but we were all hungry and decided we couldn't pass up checking out the goliad town square with all of its rich texas history. we ended up at the hanging tree restaurant, right across from the goliad county courthouse. the restaurant aptly named after a large tree in the courthouse yard where they used to hang people. here's your texas history lesson for the day:

Hanging Tree (Cart War Oak): Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. Between 1846 and 1870, this live oak tree served as the site of court sessions. Death sentences pronounced by the court were carried out immediately. During the 1857 Cart War, during which Texan freighters perpetrated a series of vicious attacks against Mexican cart drivers along the Indianola-Goliad-San Antonio Road, this tree was also the site of a number of unauthorized lynchings, before the Texas Rangers brought the conflict under control.

yup, they named a restaurant after a tree of death, but we couldn't help wanting to eat there all the same.

then we headed to aunt margie's (rick's sister who lives in cypress, tx) house to visit with family for a few hours. i felt terrible because we ended up being almost two hours late. everyone was waiting on us with tex-mex that was probably really fresh and delicious about two hours prior.

on saturday morning i had a breakfast date with a friend that was in town for the day, so jergen took his folks to our favorite park in the area, brazos bend. i'm a little jealous because i guess the alligators were out in full effect, jergen said that there had never been so many out of the water and wondering the trails before. man, i always miss all the fun.

later in the day we headed back out to aunt margie and uncle larry's house. we picked up some t-bone steaks, hamburgers and crawfish along the way and made a nice mess of crawfish on the their patio. here is a cute picture of jergen eating more crawfish than a human should.

also, some of you might already know this, but jergen's cousin kari is also pregnant and about four weeks ahead of me. we're such a novelty, people couldn't stop flashing light bulbs in our faces. kari insists she looks like a "cow" but i think her belly is adorable. me on the other hand, i look like a linebacker. note to self: must remember to keep arms away from body when posing for pictures, especially when very fat and pregnant.

kari is also having a boy and will deliver via c-section probably in mid-april. i'm going to let her learn how to deal with the whole circumcision business and then school me.

we took barb and rick to the airport on sunday morning. dropping them off with tears all around. we miss our parents and siblings so much, but don't miss the cold minnesota winter so much. sorry guys.

foux da fa fa

2008-02-18T15:40:00.000-06:00

my favorite flight of the conchords song is...
it makes me happy. today, i need to be cheered up.

artista

2008-02-17T21:51:00.001-06:00

jergen and i went to artista for dinner last night. the food was wonderful. i wish we could eat like that every night. it was my valentine's day present from my sweetie. in addition to dinner i was instructed to go to the mall and buy a nice dress (don't be surprised if you see this dress again in photos from my baby shower) - nothing from old navy he said. but, aparently i didn't take long enough at the mall and he didn't get to finish my little surprise. he was planting and sprucing up our patio. awe. you're so cute jergen. sorry i didn't have anyone to shop with and just ended up in and out completing my mission. we cleaned up pretty nice. our sweet neighbor janet took this picture for us in her patio. thanks janet!

lucy

2008-02-17T21:38:00.000-06:00

we went to the houston museum of natural science today to see lucy. i think we'll probably end up buying a membership next time we go to see the CSI exhibit. my kids are going to hate me because we're totally having their birthday parties at the museum of natural science and not some stinky bowling alley.

we had more beautiful weather so we had a little picnic in the park with the klein's. wednesday night barb and rick oase are coming for a few days and i can only hope that we have weather half as nice as today, though i think the forcast calls for some rain. even with a little rain, i'm sure they'll be glad to get out of the frozen tundra for a few days.

happy day before valentine's day!

2008-02-13T14:34:00.001-06:00

i feel bad, i want to have a great, funny and original post every day, or at the very least every other day, but just don't lead that exciting of a life. unless you consider getting all new door knobs in your house exciting, which to me it really was. i was down right giddy.

valentine's day is tomorrow and to my amazement my sweetie (who called me 20 minutes ago and i just remembered i was supposed to call him back!) actually has something brewing. not sure what yet, but it should be fun. i truly do love surprises, though i'm sure jergen would disagree with me. it's just i'm somewhat of an impatient person (thanks mom) and have a problem with spoiling my own surprises. at any rate, i can't even really begin to guess what he's cooking up since he's being so vague. it'll just be nice that he made an effort.

i had my monthly checkup yesterday and everything looks good. i've put on a whopping 22 pound over the past 26 weeks! lordy let me get all this weight off after the baby comes! (i now officially weigh more than jergen, which really isn't hard to do. that man is so genetically blessed when it comes to his metabolism. it's so friggin unfair.)

i guess i'm at the point now that my appointments move from every four weeks to every two weeks. which is fine with me. i always look forward to the appointments. i get to hear the baby's heart beat and am reassured that everything is going well. yesterday i had to do the glucose screening, which is kind of gross. you have to drink this nasty bottle of wannabe tang (that needs to be way more watered down that it is) and then wait and hour and have your blood drawn. it's a test for gestational diabetes. my doctor said she's be really surprised if i didn't pass the test. results on friday - keep your fingers crossed.

stop the madness!

2008-02-07T10:00:00.001-06:00

i cannot even begin to explain how horrible and stressful some of the dreams i've had during this pregnancy have been.

last night i had the baby home for the first day and when he woke up in the middle of the night i took him downstairs only to realize i hadn't remembered to change his diaper even once since leaving the hospital. his diaper was so full it literally fell off him and he peed all over both himself and me. next thing i know, there's a bright light shining into my front door and it's a cop car. they're looking for jergen. apparently he's been in some bar fight, (and if you know jergen this is so not even possible) but as far as i know jergen's upstairs sleeping. the cop comes in and sits down on the couch, the whole time i'm trying to clean up the baby and can't find any wipes, diapers or ointment. my house is a complete disaster because i've been in the hospital with the baby for two days and in the mean time jergen's just let the place go (sorry sweetie, i think the message behind that one is, PUT YOUR DISHES IN THE DISHWASHER, it's two inches from the sink!)

next thing i remember is changing the diaper again, only this time with jergen. but, one of the baby's legs is missing! oh' my word, it's jammed up into his diaper and all dirty and soggy! what am i going to do with this raisin of a limb?!

i'm not even going to start about the time i had a dream that the baby was a hermaphrodite.

this american life

2008-02-06T10:21:00.000-06:00

i can not even tell you how much i love this american life. i've been listening for years. and this year they had a tv program on showtime (i think? i downloaded the episodes on itunes) that was wonderful. unlike the one hour radio program, the tv program was only 30 mintues, but well worth every penny spent (i actually didn't pay for them, i had a itunes gift card, but i would have!)

at any rate, go to the site, check out the little clip from ira glass and either buy the dvd of season one at borders, or rent it. and if ira glass is ever in your town, go check him out. his shows are a great time, guaranteed.

oh' and what made me think of all of this in the first place was sylvia's blog entry totally random bizarreness. i heard a story on this american life about something similar a few years ago. a group called improv everywhere makes a "mission" to give a band called ghosts of pasha their best night ever. it's kind of mean and sad, but at the same time fantastic. listen to that episode here: mind games. i think that improv everywhere is responsible for the totally random bizarreness too.

thanks cuz!

2008-02-06T09:08:00.001-06:00

my cousin sylvia has a great blog: carpe lucis you should all bookmark it. did i mention she's also super smart and taught me this little trick! thanks sylvie! xoxo - ali

under pressure

2008-02-05T16:09:00.000-06:00

so, i'm feeling a little stressed out lately because my boss keeps pressuring me about what my plans are once the baby comes. i think it's too soon to tell him that i'm probably not coming back to work. what if he goes and replaces me before i'm ready to leave? and if i tell him now, he'll make comments nonstop until i do leave about how horrible it'll be once i'm gone, guilting me into staying. i mean, i know i'm good at what i do and i'll be hard to replace (not to toot my own horn or anything, but it takes a certain kind of person to do what i do and to deal with my boss) and i still hope to propose to him that i work about 1/4 time, but from home. i doubt he'll agree to it, but i figured it was worth at least asking. needless to say, i'd love to be able to work just a little bit because going from two incomes to one ain't gonna be easy, but would i really rather run errands and work on his kids talent show projects more than i'd want to spend time with my first born child? nope. hands down, no.

i do think that if i've decided not to come back to work i'd like to at least help him find a decent replacement, rather than go on maternity leave for 6 or 8 weeks and then tell him. replacements are so much better when adequately trained and i wouldn't want to try to come back and train someone once the baby is already here.

FYI - because we're considered a small company FMLA doesn't apply to me. they don't have to give me any time off for the baby.

i was thinking around the end of march i'd tell him if i wasn't planning on coming back, giving me plenty of time to interview and train a replacement by the end of april, so i can cut out of here and relax for the last few weeks of my pregnancy. am i really going to want to be returning his latest purchases to sak's or nieman's when it's hot outside and i'm 8 1/2 months pregnant?

suggestions? help? anyone know of a replacement for me?

this is for you emily. you need one.

also, check out the great post on my super smart and gorgeous cousin's blog regarding blogs, also cute picture of us on new year's eve.

24 weeks and 2 days

2008-02-04T11:40:00.000-06:00

for those of you who want to keep an eye on my growing belly here it is, in all it's glory. last night at our birthing class mine was the smallest, but that's because i had the farthest due date. also, weird side note. of the 14 couples we were the only couple having a boy!

the class was interesting to say the least. we had a tour of the hospital so we know where to go on the big day, it was more for jergen than me because apparently i'll probably be in so much pain when we get there he'll need to lead the way. they have valet though, so that's nice! we got to check out the LDR rooms (labor and delivery) and they're nice. tv's with dvd players, lights that dim and lots of privacy. you labor and deliver in the same room, then after the baby is born we'll move into another room for recovery. we plan to pay extra to have a private room for recovery too. i don't want to experience all this with some family on the other side of a curtain.

while on the tour we saw a few newborns...awe, it was so great. they were pushing them down the hall in the little carts and they were wailing away. of the two babies we saw in the nursery one had the fullest head of hair i've ever seen and the other had just had his feet printed so they were all black and messy. both babies were screaming their adorable little heads off. i'm sure if baby oase were in there he's just be smiling - like his dad. :-) (funny story about jergen and smiling, barb took him to the doctor when he was little because she thought he was "retarded" because he never cried, just sat and smiled all the time. could i be so lucky?!)

we watched a video of a birth. it was actually a little hard to watch, so i think i'm more scared now that i was before. we learned some breathing exercises and massaging techniques to help with the pain. next week we'll learn more about different situations that can arise during labor and more about pain medications. i think up until now i was so sure that i'd try for a natural labor and not use pain medications, now....not so sure. i'm really nervous. at least i have another 12 or 13 weeks to get used to the idea, right?

oh' soo!

2008-02-01T13:59:00.001-06:00

my sweet friend soo (no, that's not a typo) is heading back to korea this month. i'll miss her dearly, as she's one of the sweetest people i know. soo, thanks for the hook up on the new vacuum for my sister and the great asian style drying rack and all the sweet ikea dishes. i promise to eat lots of ice cream out of the bowls over the next couple of months.

white hawk

2008-02-01T13:39:00.000-06:00

troy (the hawk) and siobhan had a baby boy yesterday! his name is gavin and he's beautiful. he was 8lbs 2oz and was 20.5 inches long. we're very excited for the new parents! check out the meaning of gavin.

originally the due date was february 13th, so i guess you never know...those due dates can change a lot. i've read only 5% of women give birth on the estimated due date.

burnt tacos

2008-01-31T16:12:00.000-06:00

here's a picture of my beautiful twin sister, birdie. my stunning cousin sylvia in the middle is the one who started it all - this blog business i mean. and me, in the pink. ugh. this picture taken in birdie's backyard back in the end of october. i've been so lucky to see my wonderful cousin a few times in the past few months. she's in s.c. and i'm in texas, so we don't get to see each other as much as we would like.

as for my sister's back yard. great story. last night i was over at her house and we made tacos. i put the hard shells in the toaster oven to warm them up, and she switched the toaster from toast to bake. 2 minutes later the house smelled like burnt popcorn! it was horrible. they were black. we had to take them outside to the back yard and leave them. the best part is, birdie forgot about them and this morning when she remembered that she left the tray with the burnt shells outside and went to get it, the shells were gone. SOMETHING ate those nasty things. perhaps a creepy possum.

Copy (Ali) Cat

2008-01-31T15:52:00.000-06:00

i'm such a super copy cat. sylvia has one and hers is super cool. karolyn told me she started one, so i just had to create one too. i couldn't come up with a great witty name for my blog, and i figured karolyn wouldn't want me to copy with a TEAM OASE, so for now it's just OASE. perhaps something wonderful and magical will come to me in time. it's great though, a fun and easy way to stay (somewhat) connected. though i'm super paranoid that everyone will finally realize that i have really poor grammatical skills and i'll forever be exposed as the fake that i am!