Oregon

A couple of weekends ago I went down to Portland where some friends of mine live because some other friends from San Diego had taken a road trip up and were also visiting. It was a fun little reunion, and we did some sight-seeing on the coast. Here we are at Cannon Beach, Haystack Rock. A little trivia for ya: Cannon Beach was named because after an old war ship, the Shark, sank, some cannons from the ship were washing up on the shore. Wouldn't you think cannons would sink?




Next we went to Astoria, the place where Goonies was filmed!! Very exciting. We found the house, and down at the end of the driveway was a sign that said "Goonies on foot welcome, please no cars".


From the Goonies house we heard all these seals making a lot of noise so we went to go find them. We were amazed at how many were just chillin on the docks, sunbathing, swimming, talking... We wanted to get closer, so we bypassed the sign that said something to the effect of "Boatowners only". What? We could own one of those boats.


Also in Astoria they had "The Column" which was really more of a tower. There were about 200 steps on a tiny narrow spiral staircase that was nearly the death of me. But we made it and the view was amazing!

Here we are making our way up those dreaded stairs.






It was such a fun day and so good to see friends I hadn't seen in awhile! Miss you guys!

So I went to the physical therapist this morning, and surprise! I DO have tendonitis. Shocker. He gave me some exercises to do at home and wants me to keep icing it and come back next week and then probably one more time after that the following week. He says it will go away, and is probably due to the pregnancy and my weight distribution changing and all that fun stuff. He also recommended at least through the end of the pregnancy, that I continue wearing my not cute Nike running shoes, since they actually provide a little support. He also mentioned that my ankle ligaments are very loose (also probably due to pregnancy hormones) and that I am now prone to rolling my ankles. A little scary considering how off balance I seem these days anyways. So, I will just have to be careful and try to hold on to things when I can.

Steven finally felt her kick the other night!! I was laying in bed on my side and I was really feeling her on the side I was laying on. I put his hand where I was feeling her and rolled over a little so the weight of my stomach was pressing on his hand and she cooperated and he was able to feel a few good strong kicks. During this time I was also feeling more regular smaller movements, so I wonder if maybe she had the hiccups? Would I be able to feel that this early? She has not since cooperated for Daddy, but I know he will get lots more in the next couple of months. It's so exciting! I'm feeling really good, I love feeling her move and kick, people can tell I'm pregnant and not just fat, and it's almost Halloween. :) Life is good...

22 weeks

So this morning I went to the doctor about my right foot. I have been having pain on the top of my foot for over a week now, and it is not getting any better. She thinks I have tendonitis and referred me to a physical therapist, who I am going to go see Monday morning. She didn't want to do an x-ray (for obvious reasons) and said without being able to prescribe medication, she wants the physical therapist to check it out and see what kind of treatment we can do.

On a happier note, our little girl has really stepped it up with the kicking. I have been able to feel it all throughout the day, not just when I'm sitting really still or laying down. The movements are getting stronger and more frequent, and twice since yesterday I have been able to feel them with my hand on my stomach from the outside. Last night she was moving a little so we sat with Steven's hand on my stomach but he wasn't able to feel anything. I think this early on, she would have to be in just the right position to kick strong enough to feel on the outside, so we'll keep trying! I'm sure it will be any day now. I feel selfish enjoying them all by myself, and can't wait for him to feel it, too!

This picture is at 22 weeks.


A few days ago we drove up to Mt. Baker to check it out. It was such a beautiful drive, and wasn't far at all - less than 2 hours. We ran across Nooksack Falls, which was awesome! Here are a couple of pictures...

Slow progress

I wanted to share some house pictures with you all. Here are some before the movers got here...

The kitchen


Living room


Master bedroom


And here is what we are dealing with post-movers...

The kitchen


Living room


Master bedroom

This may or may not explain the Bejeweled addiction... Ahhh, well, it will all get done eventually.

Day 3 of our adventure

The drive is going well. The dogs seem a little tripped out sometimes, especially in the evenings in the hotel rooms. But overall, they are doing very well. The first day we made it to Santa Nella, where Steven got his Pea Soup Andersen's for dinner. Day 2 we made it to Redding, and were able to start seeing some trees and greenery! It gets prettier every day. We are in Eugene, OR this evening, and plan on getting to at least Olympia, WA tomorrow. That will make for an easy last day to Bellingham. So far, we've thankfully had a basically uneventful and relaxing trip.

JUST KIDDING!!!

So, we had our ultrasound at the doctor today, after he told me I was measuring big at the last appointment. Turns out, I just apparently eat too much ice cream. Everything is fine, and the normal size for 18 weeks, 4 days. :) He looked at all sorts of stuff like the left and right ventricular output tracks, and kidneys, diaphragm, stomach, spinal cord, and cerebellum, etc etc. The big news of the day is... It's a girl! He was 100% certain. He said they probably saw the umbilical cord before and assumed it was a boy.

Steven and I couldn't do anything but laugh when he told us that. In a way, it seems right this way. I've always thought it was a girl, and Steven is excited to have his Daddy's little girl.

I had started our registry online, and filled it with all kinds of boy stuff, and now I'm hesitant to go back and change it. I almost want to wait until she's born to make sure nobody switches things on us again...

Our new house

We spent the last 10 days in Washington on our house hunting trip. We found the house we are going to rent on our first full day there, so we had 8 days to just cruise around, check out the area, and relax a little bit. Sorry I have the worst camera in the world, but here is the front of our house...

It is in the town of Birch Bay, which is a small little tourist town. Our house is 0.2 miles from the water, and along the main stretch of road along the bay there are a couple of restaurants and cafes, a candy shop, and bike and kayak rental places. Very cute. We just got a new market in town, although it's a little expensive. I think we will do most of our bulk shopping at Costco in Bellingham (about 15 minutes south) and there is also a little farmers market just down the road. Hopefully they will have good (and cheap) produce there. That way we won't have to get too much at the market in Birch Bay. We'll see how we do with small town living! Steven and I got to take a tour of his new station, which was fun to see. He's going from a several hundred man station to a 40 man station, so it was just a little different. :) His coworkers that we met all seem very nice.

We spent our last full day in Seattle, and I got to play tourist! We checked out Deception Pass...

Pike Place Market...

the Ballard Locks...

and of course, the Space Needle!

Steven really liked the areas we visited, enjoyed the coffee houses and microbrews, and we're both excited to finally be there and start living our normal lives again. September is a month of suitcases, boxes, and hotels. We're ready to stop living like gypsies!