Saturday, September 6, 2008

stinkin' cute

Okay, this is the tiniest puppy I have ever seen- she deserves a post! My dear friend Jenn just got her yesterday as a birthday present. She's never had a dog before!! Naturally, Matt and I had to go pay them a visit. Well, how can anyone not fall in love with this little darling? Rusty's the smallest dog I've ever had, other than a shitzu when I was really little, but they're probably about the same size. This little teacup makes Rusty look like a giant. She had the cutest little... um... noise. I'm not sure if she was barking or whining or just letting herself be heard - but it was adorable. She doesn't have a name yet. I couldn't put her down. :o)

okay okay, one of my fir baby: we don't want him to get jealous!
so spoiled.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Baby Shower #2



I had my second (of two) Baby Shower last Sunday. I would have posted about it earlier, but I don't have any pictures and I was *hoping* some people would send me some... (hint, hint) but haven't gotten any yet! So I figured I'd at least document that it did in fact happen, indeed, and was a blast! My little sister came up with a super creative idea to have a bunch of scrapbooking supplies out and to have every guest create a page of Rowen's baby book. So cute. So now I have a scrapbook that's nearly complete, except for pictures (of course!) and a few pages of special things that might happen that I didn't get pages of. How nice will it be to plug in pictures and have a beautiful baby book with such little effort? I love it!
Of course there was lots of yummy food, and SO many wonderful presents!! Baby Rowen is a spoiled, spoiled little guy already.Thank you everyone!!
My college roommates, Sarah, Lindsey, and Tia came into town from Medford and Corvallis and we got to spend some time together Saturday night (at Insomnia) and Sunday morning (at Athey), which was such a blessing. The last time all four of us were together was Tia's wedding nearly two years ago. Too long! (I love you girls and miss you so much!!)

Well that's enough dilly dallying- I've got some more freezer meals to make today and I'd better get busy! If I get any pictures I'll add them later. :) Toodaloo!

Monday, September 1, 2008

8 Month Belly

No way- Am I really in my last month? Holy cow!!
I can't believe it. Here it is, September already, and we've got about 4 weeks to go. Just a week and we'll be full term. We are so excited!! Saturday afternoon we got some pregnancy portraits taken and I can't wait to see them- and then afterward we spent about 4 hours SHOPPING for all of the little things we still "needed," spending gift cards we got or exchanging a couple items. There wasn't all that much left to get- we've been sooo blessed- but we went to Mother Nature's, Baby's R Us, Segals, and Target- because we had a couple things to get/exchange/spend at each place, so it was quite the day! We were tired and sore by the time it was over, haha. But we're glad we got it all "done" in one afternoon/evening so there will be no more last minute trips for this or that. We're all stocked up! I got my baby laundry soap (not specifically "baby"- it's Charley's Soap- natural and gentle- should be safe for his skin (and sensitive Matt's, for that matter!) and good for his diapers.) So all last night and today I've been doing load after load of laundry! All his bedding, diapers one more time (making it the magic "three" washings you're supposed to do to prepare unbleached material), blankies, clothes, etc. There's quite a lot!! Piles and piles! And he's not even here yet! Of course, there probably wont be a day when I have to wash every single thing he has. ;) (at least there better not- that would be one heck of a day!)
We picked up the New Native carrier Matt wanted, he decided on a black one, (ooh look, it's even the same one Brad Pitt has, lol) a couple of bottles for Rowen to try, one glass and one adiri nurser,
which I think are the neatest things as far as bottles go, but who knows what baby Ro will think, eh? :o) And a whole bunch of other things: cozy flannel crib sheets, a mattress & sheets for the cradle, a baby gate, a couple little sleep sacks, a diaper pail, two fancy pocket diapers to take him out in public in (easy to change for nursery volunteers, grandparents, etc,) a night time CD, some toys, a boppy cover, a little bathtub recliner, etc. He's one well stocked little bundle of joy. Now if we could only get rid of the desk and office chair, we'd have room for all of it! hahaha.
Well, without further ado- here's the 8 month shot:
wowza!
the progress:
pre-pregnancy: 102# 24"
one month :100# 24"
two months :101# 29"
three months :104# 32"
four months: 108# 32.5"
five months: 114# 35.5"
six months: 118# 37"
seven months: 120# 37.5"
eight months: 124# and a whopin' 40"! Grow baby, grow!

At our last prenatal appointment (last Tuesday) my belly was measuring just a little bit big, and we've been right on track all along, so he's had himself a little growth spurt in the last month! Which is great- all we want is a healthy little guy! No other progress as of yet, which is also great, because we don't want him too early either. Next Tuesday we'll be "full term" at 37 weeks so as far as I'm concerned he can come at any point once we reach that mark! I'm not too miserable yet, it's been nice that the weather has cooled down a bit, but I wouldn't mind a couple more hot days so we could hang out in the pool some more. :) My back is starting to feel the weight, and my feet as well, but I'm still not having any swelling and NO BED REST so I couldn't be happier! I finally caved and asked for some (safe) prescription heart burn medication, and that has REALLY helped on the bad days. It was non-stop on Tuesday. From when I went to bed Monday night until my doctor's appointment at 4:45- so at that point I was like - please, prescribe me something! But I'm still looking forward to when he'll "drop" and I'll have some more room in my stomach! Of course the trade off is less room in the bladder, which I don't see how that's physically possible, but whatever :) It's 1-5 weeks left at this point so I'm going to try and enjoy every last bit of it that I can!
Wow, this is becoming a novel. Ramble ramble- I'd better stop now :) I'll keep you all posted with any changes! Enjoy your Labor Day!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Happy Birthday, Honey!!

This day, 27 years ago, I was crawling around in the summer grass with no idea that my world was changing for good. I bet the air smelled sweeter, the sun shone brighter, and everybody's smile had more warmth and meaning.

what happened?




Matt was born!!


I got to take him lunch today at work (jalapeno chicken salad at his request)
and we had an hour in the park to picnic and relax. It was nice! A little chilly, but that's okay! It's always nice to spend time together :) And we have a feeling that that time will be more rare & precious in the coming months...
We're going out on a "dinner date" tonight thanks to a giftcard from my step-mom- but that's the extent of our birthday adventures being it's a Wednesday and I'm quickly loosing steam!

Honey, I hope today is a great birthday! And even more than that- that this year will be your best yet! See you in a couple hours. <3 <3 <3 <3

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Preparing the Phone Tree


People are starting to mention that they'd like a phone call when Rowen is born. I want to make a call plan so that Matt doesn't have to do all the work and can enjoy his new son! (you know, Matt calls parents, parents call siblings, siblings call all sorts of random people, and so on!) So- if you're one of those people who would like to be on the list (and willing to call someone else you may or may not know), let me know so I can start putting it together. Keep in mind this could happen at any hour of the day- so I think we'll also send out an email as soon as possible for those who'd like to know but would rather not be woken up at 3am, haha, and of course it'll end up on the blog fairly quickly! So leave a comment if you want on the phone list or the email list! Can't believe how close it's getting :) :) :) :)

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Plant for Adoption

We got a couple of really nice house plants not too long ago. They were perfect in the living room in the Condo on either side of the TV- they hid all the cables & wires- and then we moved. To a much smaller apartment. Where there is no room for giant house plants. :( I think we can keep one, but two is just not going to work. We need to make room for baby stuff. Houseplants are so great for adding life to your living space & cleaning the air we breathe- I'll be sad to see them go- but if anyone has a good home for some luscious green life let us know and it's yours. Plants this size are pretty costly! I may try to sell them on Craig's List if no one is interested, but I wanted to check with all of you guys first :)

Baby Shower!

It was so nice to get together with a bunch of gals and celebrate our coming little bundle of joy! We were SO blessed with gifts- holy cow :) Thank you thank you to everyone again!! Look at all this loot! He's going to be a spoiled little man!We got blankets, towels, fun toys & practical necessities, all the diapers & covers we'll need in the smallest size (which I promptly washed, re-washed, and folded the next morning with glee!) My mom made a baby book of ME (since I didn't have one, which was so sweet and I cant imagine where she got the time,) a rocking chair (to be delivered) and the pack-and-play; which of course Matt had to set up and take down as soon as we got home.
yay!
Of course I forgot that I had my camera during the shower, so I failed to get any pictures DURING the party- hopefully I'll see some that other people got! But here are a couple afterwards.

Four little friends-to-be: Baby Bustamante, Rowen, JJ, and Riley!

Matt (Craig) saved the day when Jen's tire went flat! Oh no!
All in all it was a very fun time with yummy treats and great fellowship! I'm so blessed by everyone that came- and thanks again Tracy for hosting! What great friends I have :)

Thanks, Marilyn, for sending me this photo of my mom and sister and me!

Family Beach Trip '08

Every year, my family takes a little trip (to the coast for the past several years) to get a family portrait. Yes, we're still getting family portraits. Why? Because it's pretty stinkin' funny.

Funny? Family portraits?

oh yes, for those of you who don't already know, we get them done at an Old Fashioned Western Photo place. That's right- there are about 17 western photos hanging on the wall at my folk's house. It's a fantastic display. ;)

Matt and I decided to continue the tradition and have gotten our second picture done this year. With my laaaaarge belly - pretty funny stuff :)

It ended up being the perfect weekend to go since it was 104 here in Beaverton, and I did NOT want to hang around for that. At the coast it was maybe 70 degrees tops, and overcast. I wore a sweater all day. Aaaahhhhhh. After lunch, our picture, and a little walking & shopping on the prom (including ice cream of course)
we headed to Gearheart where you can drive on the beach. This is what it looked like- I'm probably 50 feet from the ocean- can you see it?We couldn't either. We never got out of the car!!
So we headed home and had a yummy dinner at the spaghetti factory before calling it a night. mmmmm...... mushroom and mazithra....

Me and Matt-


Mom & Pa-

Lindz & Trev-

Brit & the PDA-
;)

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Announcing: Evan & Jackie Happel!

We had quite a weekend in Seattle! We drove up last Thursday and were there through Sunday for all the festivities. My camera took horrible pictures, and then ran out of battery early on in the reception, so.... go figure :) Here's a few shots I got that aren't TERRIBLY blurry or otherwise awful. Guess I need to figure out how to work my camera!
Anywho- congrats Evan and Jackie! We love you!

Rehearsal:

wow, look at all those ladies! (And one poor dear is even more pregnant than me!)
And all those boys- it was quite the wedding party, for sure.
ah, love.
Rehearsal Dinner at Bucco di Beppos (sp?) There were so many people! And sooooo much food! We had calamari appetizers, Caesar salad, garlic bread, chicken Parmesan, fettuccine Alfredo, lasagna, and cheesecake. Holy cow!







Wedding day: aren't Bob & Sue lookin' good?

Best Matt - er - Man and Maid of Honor, Martina
Jackie & her two brothers- she looked so pretty! I didn't get one good picture :( But I'm sure they did, and that's all that matters :)
awwww....

Okay, this picture is beyond horrible, but it's the ONLY ONE I got of us! So.... here you go. Ugh.

Matt givin' a toast-

Mmm.... cake

hehe :)

Again, congrats you guys! Hope the honeymoon has been awesome so far!