Sunny Sundays

Yesterday Casey and I went to Cape Cod to visit our friends Colleen and Cody and their beautiful baby Rowan. 

It was an absolutely gorgeous day and Colleen and I spent the better part of the afternoon just basking in the sun with the baby.

The boys, however, had other plans: they left us almost immediately for a day of fishing and alcohol consumption (I hear that these two things go hand-in-hand).

When they returned, they reported catching quite a few fish but had decided to throw them all back. They also appeared to have been successful at the drinking aspect of the day as well. 

All in all, it was a great day and we were very sad when we had to leave. As we were saying our goodbyes Rowan stretched out his tiny little hand and patted my tummy. Next time we see him he will get to meet his cousin outside the womb. 

It couldn't happen soon enough.

Some scattered bits

Recently I have been accused of slacking a little on the blog. The entry numbers per month speak for themselves... life has been slowing down a bit.

I guess it is hard to make things seem interesting in between traveling across the United States and having a baby.

Although I assure you, when the little one does arrive (2 more weeks!) the blog will pick right back up again and you will be flooded with so many baby pictures that you will not know what to do with them.

But for all of you that would like to know what we have been up to 

whether it is interesting or not, this entry is for you: 

Honestly, we have been doing a lot of eating.

See, the school where my mom works has a dining hall which is open most of the day and boasts some amazing food variety. Really, if you can think of it, they probably have it and, of course, it is free and all-you-can-eat.

It has suited us well. I think we have both put on quite a few pounds since arriving and only I can blame it on the baby.

In other news, springtime has finally arrived in the northeast.

To celebrate, Casey and I took a trip on his day off to visit my old stomping grounds in central Mass. It felt good to be back in the van.

And even better to be back in the central Mass forests.

We packed a picnic and spent the day hanging out by the river, watching the dogs swim, and enjoying the sun.

Later on, we met up with my father and my brother-in-law for a late afternoon walk and a scrumptious dinner. 

The dogs outnumbered the people on the walk. 

This is my brother-in-law, Andrew.

On Casey's next day off, we decided to go to the Boston Science Museum.

The museum is so big it is hard not to get lost, it is definitely the kind of place you need to go to more than once.

One of Casey's favorite exhibits was the make-your-own-mobile.

Later when we got home, he decided it would be a good time to finish the bird mobile for the baby. See how the designs are eerily similar?

We also moved the furniture around until we were satisfied that we had the best set up for the baby's arrival. Here is our crib nook, complete with mobile and Red Sox blanket.

Now all there is left to do is wait...

Don't worry, it shouldn't be long now.

Love you all.

Fenway Fever

The other day, Casey had his first real introduction to Boston: My stepfather took us all out for a night at Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox play (and, of course, beat) the Toronto Blue Jays. To prepare for the event, Casey put on his entire collection of Red Sox gear, which is currently quite substantial... including the receiving blanket I made for the baby (we figured that we could authenticate it by bringing it to the game)

Upon arriving at the park, Casey wasted no time in ordering his first famous Fenway Frank. 

He said it was the best hotdog that he has ever had. 

I trusted him on this but went for a piece of pizza instead.

And, of course, to wash down the hotdog and toast the occasion... a couple of beers for the guys.

We realized early on that this was probably the last big event we would attend together before the baby was born. We couldn't think of any place that we would rather be. 

The weather was beautiful as the fans filed into the park.

I had to include this picture in the blog, just because we thought it was so funny. There was a tiny beam of sunlight coming though the stands and it was shining right on Casey... he took  full advantage of the opportunity to look saintly.

The game was amazing. We got to watch David Ortiz hit a home run, a Blue Jay get picked off trying to steal second base, two unbelievable outfield catches, and our pinch runner get tagged out at home base.

Later on it got chilly, but it didn't matter because by the end of the game we were all on our feet anyway... it was tied in the bottom of the ninth. There were Sox on first and second with two outs....

Nobody could remember who smacked the ball into the outfield to send Manny home for the win. Details don't matter as much when you are yelling that loud.

All in all, it was a great night. We have made a pact to try to go to one more game before heading back to Oregon... this time with the baby outside my belly, although he was kicking and squirming around with the rest of us during all the best parts of the game,

which would make him quite possibly the youngest Red Sox fan in history. 

He clearly already has good taste.

Hope you are well.

Birth 101

Today Casey and I attended our birthing class. It was an all-day-long event at the Winchester hospital. Although we decided not to deliver at Winchester, we chose not to cancel our class there and I am really glad we didn't! Our instructor was great and we learned a lot about labor and birth, including different birthing positions, stages of labor, possible complications, the role of the coach, etc. The only part of the class that wasn't as relevant to our situation was the talk she gave on pain medication (you are not allowed any medication at the birth center), but we listened closely anyway, just in case.

Casey and I got to practice all different types of breathing for the different labor stages and both took a turn on the birthing ball (they are wonderfully comfortable... I might get one for our living room, just for fun). Casey even got to play the role of the neonatal nurse in a skit the instructor had the coaches do to teach us about cesarian sections.

During the lunch break, we headed down to the emergency room to see my stepfather. He was very happy that we had come to visit and gave us a full tour of the ER unit, introducing us to all of the nurses along the way. It was fun to see him in his element... he is a great doctor.

During the second half of the class we watched a movie with three different births. One of the couples in our class was so squeamish about labor that they left so they wouldn't have to see the movie! I hope that they do okay... they are due before us! 

The only trouble I had with the movie was that every time the nurses placed the baby on the mothers chest after birth I got teary-eyed. I don't think anyone noticed because the lights were dim but wow am I an uncontrollable sap! Casey, who has watched hundreds of episodes of "A Baby Story" since day one, was less affected. I am confident that he is going to make a great coach.

Well, that is all we have to report. I can't decide if life is moving really slow or fast right now. We have three more days until we enter the window of "term." Pretty much, the baby can come whenever he wants after that. I think that we are going to have a party on Wednesday to celebrate the milestone.

We will check in again soon. Hope you are all doing really well!

Love and hugs.

Back to the World of the Working

Great news! Casey has just found out that he got hired at Whole Foods Market! He is really excited... it was the only job he had any interest in. It is less than a mile from our house, so he is going to be be able to bike to work on nice days, he gets a good wage, full benefits (starting soon), 401K, and 20% off all groceries. Also, he will probably be able to transfer to a Whole Foods in Oregon once we get back home and the people that interviewed him told him that they thought he would move up in the company very quickly. 

He starts tomorrow.

Tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate. Then maybe we will go grocery shopping with our new discount... 

Hope you are all well. XOXOX

Where in the world are we going to put all this stuff?

Sorry I have been neglecting the blog for so long. I guess I should go back to the last entry for a full update.

Last weekend, we went to Cape Cod to hang out with Colleen, Cody, and their super cute son Rowan. I had brought my camera with high hopes of taking tons of pictures of the new baby, but after only one shot, it ran out of batteries and shut down (I forgot to charge it the night before). I was crushed.  Now you will have to wait until our next visit to see up-close bubbly baby pictures. 

Casey finally got to go fishing (he and Cody went while Colleen and I talked about baby stuff). He caught his first east coast large mouth bass. He wanted me to tell you all about this in the color orange.

On Monday, baby stuff began to arrive. The first thing that came was our "Bum Genius" cloth diapers. For those of you that don't know, cloth diapers have really changed over the years. The kind that we got is called a "pocket diaper". It has a waterproof shell, soft fleece lining, and a pocket on the inside  where you stuff a liner. There a various sizes of liners, depending on the needs of your baby (overnight versus daytime etc.) In addition to the inside liner, you can use a flushable liner on top of the fleece to catch poop. We ordered some of those as well. In the box with the cloth diapers, we also got two BPA-free, all natural pacifiers.

On Tuesday, we began our search for the perfect car seat. We had originally intended on buying a convertible car seat that would last 5 years, but there were quite a few people that told us this was not a good idea: we apparently need an infant car seat for the beginning stages of life. Because we are pretty pinched for money, buying a new infant seat that would probably last 6 months and then a convertible, did not sound too appealing. But luckily for us, there is Craigslist: the best invention since stackable tupperware. 

After an enormous amount of research and a flood of emails, we found a lady with a really great quality infant car seat. We made an appointment to pick it up on Wednesday morning. However, on Wednesday morning before we left for the pick-up, another man called... he had the same car seat, so I told him we would stop by to check his out after our first appointment.

We got to the first house and fell in love with the car seat. The lady was super nice and right away asked us if we needed anything else. She didn't want money for any of it... she just wanted it to find a good home. She brought out a swing and a bouncer, then disappeared again and came back with a infant bath tub and an entire box of toys. It was all really nice stuff and we just couldn't resist... we took everything, justifying our actions by deciding that we could give it all away before we left MA or leave it with my mother who believes strongly that she needs "grandmother toys."

After such good Craigslist fortune, we decided to go to the other house anyway to see about their car seat. Infant car seats come with bases that you clip the seat into and it is nice to have more than one base, so you can leave them in different cars. Just the bases for these car seats cost $75, so we decided maybe we should get the other seat so that we would be able to exchange bases. So off for another adventure, to meet more really awesome people and buy another really great car seat. It was a good day.

Later that night, Casey and I headed off to our "36 week meeting" at the Birth Center. There were about 12 other couples there and we were all briefed about pre-labor, labor, and post-labor. 3 months ago, I would have been scared about some of the things they told us, but at this point I am so excited to have a baby that I don't even care about anything else. Our entire apartment is filled to the brim with baby stuff... it is really becoming so real now.

But I have even more exciting news that is not baby related. However, it deserves its own blog.