Ferry Boats & Chocolate

So yesterday I started my long journey home from my last outing with youth. Let me just start by saying I barely want to write this because I am going to get a wrath of "I told you so" messages, but chalk it up to honesty. So yesterday morning I was in Duncan, B.C. and decided that it was time for me to head home. Nothing was really happening in the baby department, but I just felt the urge to be home. So I headed down to Victoria to catch the ferry after calling them 6 times to see what the chances of getting on were. The first sailing at 10:30 was a no go, so I parked my car (1st in line) and walked around Victoria for an hour or so and then got back into the car. You have to stay in your car due to some customs rule. The next sailing was at 3:00...fast forward to 2:30...I have made friends with all of the ferry guys and I am sure that I am going to get on the next ferry. Then I watch semi truck after RV after semi truck get loaded on the ferry. Still optimistic, but a little worried I start eating the chocolate bars I had purchased as gifts (why not right?). 3:00 ferry pulls away from dock, Molly still in car on dock, 2 chocolate bars down the tears start to fall.

Side note: I am not a movie star crier...I am a snotty nose, red face, can barely breathe or talk crier.

The young ferry guy comes over and I don't want to roll the window down (for obvious reasons) and he genuinely looks like he might die when he sees me. I am a mess! He is trying so hard to be nice and all I can get out of my mouth is "I am 91/2 months pregnant and I just want to go home." He calming is trying to figure out where I am from (true: I can't verbalize where I live) via hand signals and guessing. He then suggests that I drive to Sidney B.C. to catch the ferry to Vancouver B.C. that in all honesty it is my best chance of making home. So I heading for Sidney, took the ferry to Vancouver drove to Tacoma last night and stayed with my family, then drove the rest of the way this morning. There is also a bad gas station story and me finally getting to work and realizing I left my car keys at home in McMinnville. A fantastic trip home.

I really wish I had pictures of myself for comic relief.

37 weeks

This is my view of the bump!

I am feeling great in my 37th week of being preggo. I was kind of expecting to feel totally miserable, but things are going well. My doctor appointments are every Friday now, and last Friday she said that things look good and that she thought things would start happening right around my due date, probably not earlier. Which is really okay because I have a lot to get done between now and then. Last week when I had the ultrasound, the tech said that it looked like baby had hair! Sweet.

5 Years!!

5 years ago today Ty and I were married! We have had a crazy 5 years filled with football, living in several cities and another country, a few different jobs, buying our first home, and getting ready to have a baby. There are many other things in between those big items, but those are the major events. Last night we headed out to dinner to celebrate and we ended up talking about the "highlights" of our last five years. Here is what we came up with:

1. Traveling in Europe together, specifically just the two of us trekking across Italy for a week.

2. The night that I told Ty we were having a baby.

3. Moving to Bellingham with absolutely no plan of what we were going to do.

4. Our honeymoon!

5. Ty's sister Erin's wedding week (we had an absolute blast!)

6. Walking in Ty & Jenna's wedding together.

7. Any vacation we have taken...we decided that we are both alot more fun on vacation, and we both love to travel.

Celebrating Sweet Pea

My friends Jenna & Lyn threw me a wonderful shower last Friday night. It was so much fun and filled with my friends and family from near and far. People were so amazingly generous...it was really overwhelming. Above are a few pics. It was also Baby Brad's first big outing with "real" clothes.

Update

Sorry for the lack of posting over the last few days. I just returned from a 4 day trip to the San Juan island for work. This week and next week is the annual Canoe Journey for the youth canoe club that I oversee. It is a really amazing journey that the youth take from north of Olympia to north of Victoria, B.C.. They paddle a traditional canoe for about 150 miles over 9 days and then spend a few days at the end sharing with other tribes and youth from around the northwest coast. Everybody thought I was crazy to go camping, but it was a blast. I am actually planning on heading back up for a few days this weekend. Being outside and near the water was so relaxing and the youth and others we are traveling with have been so good to me.

I will try to keep the blog updated and add a few pics tomorrow when I get to the office.

People have been asking what my official due date is....August 12th. We shall see. Absolutely no signs of baby yet, which is fine by me. I think sweet pea needs to grow a little bit before making his/her big entrance.

Fantastic Fridays!

I know that I have mentioned this a time or two before, but my new life of no work on Fridays is fab! I get to do all of the things I never have time to do during the week like laundry, grocery shopping, dishes, Dr appts, watching random shows that only I would love (mostly food network/travel channel), and even walking around Ross with nothing but time on my hands. I absolutely love that store. One it is the only "real" store in MacTown, two I always find something great, and three it is cheap. Today's finds were a new recycled aluminum water bottle, some work out shorts that fit, and a few pair of newborn pants for baby.

Ty & I also went to the doctor today. We always go first thing in the morning and get in right on time, not today...our appt was at 11:15 because we needed to see the Dr. not the midwife and they were running 25 minutes late. Ugg. At my appointments lately they have noticed that I am not growing enough, so today I measured pretty small and the Dr. decided to do an ultrasound. I was pretty nervous about it, but everything was fine. Baby is 5 lbs and 11 ounces according to the ultrasound! Pretty crazy to think that sweet pea will be fully cooked in just a few weeks. We both were really happy to see that baby was growing fine and looking good. And I know that you are wondering if we got a peek at the goods....no! We have waited this long it would have been like cheating.

4 Weeks Away

I suppose every expectant dad goes through this, but it clicked today that we are literally 4 weeks away from parenthood. [Insert word here for panic]. It started at work today, as I was sitting talking with a client. Through our conversation it came up that Moll and I are going to be parents, and when I told her that we were 36 weeks along, she nonchalantly said, "Wow. Any day now, huh?" My hands started sweating and my mouth went dry. It was the way she said it, as if it was expected that we were 100% ready, had the gas-tank full, first outfit picked out, hospital/diaper/emergency/extra-food-for-husband bag packed, and car seat installed. We don't even have the hospital bag.

After sticking my head between my knees, I relaxed and realized that when I was born, my parents were living in a trailer in The Dalles, Oregon, where I slept in a drawer. It happened to be that I had coffee with my friend, Clancy, this morning, and I think this was God's way of bringing me clarity. Clancy is the wisest man I know, and the topic of conversation this morning was Paul and the Galatians, and to put it relevantly, freedom from rules. I think when it comes to being ready for Baby, there are no rules. You're going to be as ready as you're going to be. (The hospital bag would help this.)

This is life on Birch Street. I hope life on your street finds you all well.

36 weeks!

So I am officially one month away from my due date. It is really hard to believe that so much time has passed and the big day is so close. I am trying to train myself to not think of my due date as the end...because we all know that really isn't likely. Things are starting to feel very real in my pregnancy journey. Here are a few new side effects of being invaded:

1. Weather that I use to absolutely love 85+ now makes me feel a bit like a blow fish.
2. Waddling....due to aching hips...enough said.
3. Rolling over in bed...interesting, comical, and almost a two man job
4. My roundness... it is hysterical!
5. Several things too gross to mention on a blog that boys read....

Aside from all of that, things really are going well. I have felt myself slowing down (literally) and I know that I need to embrace that, but me being me is fighting it every step of the way.

Here is an update on Sweet Pea:

Growing like a weed at almost 6 lbs (or so the websites say) and about 18 inches long, and is one week away from being considered full term. Moving like crazy, last night Ty read baby a book and then played a little DMB and it was pretty funny to watch baby move around with the music and talking. I am so curious to see what baby looks like...really hoping for Ty's lips and ears...I don't have much of either and my ears are really crooked. We are also needing to narrow in on a few names. It is such a big decision that the baby will have to live with FOREVER.

That's all for now. Just spent the last 8 straight hours in budget meetings... Budgets + Molly = Death. Numbers are not my thing!

Heaven and Raspberries

Here are a few (more) pics from the weekend at Loon Lake, and our first official batch of raspberries, ever, from Birch Street. I (Ty) am rather excited about this, as my father was the one that got me started on planting raspberries. Not quite enough to do anything with, but good little desserts for the summer time...

"The Lake", as it has been called in my family for as long as I can remember, is my heaven on Earth. We have been going there as long as I have been alive, and I can't imagine life without it. I am pretty sure that I will retire there, even if the Wife doesn't know it yet! It literally has everything I could ever want: fishing (Uncle Sticky hauled in a nice rainbow trout right off the dock this weekend that we ate for lunch), boating and wakeboarding, crystal-clear water (it is heated by geysers on the lake bed that push the water close to 80 degrees by summer's end), Mom's food, and Four Corners. Those of you who know Four Corners know exactly what I'm talking about.

I can't wait for our new little Baby to meet this place, and to begin memories of his or her own. Can't wait! I love you, Mom and Dad-- thanks for letting us hang this weekend!

Baby Brad!

It is pretty fun to be an auntie!! Last night I heading straight from work to Natalie & Jon's house to hang out with my new little nephew. He is so cute...and he doesn't look so big anymore, although he only lost about 6 ounces (most c-section babies loose more than that in the first few days or so they say). Natalie reports that he is a pretty calm baby, and a really good eater. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Serenity

Over the weekend Ty and I made a quick trip to his parent's place on the lake. It is just about the most peaceful place to spend time & relax. We were able to celebrate his brother's birthday with dinner and a night of board games...what a way to ring in the big 25! It was the perfect weekend and so good to spend time with Mil & Ed (ty's parents), Brock, and Ty's aunt & uncle.

I'm an AUNTIE!!!

Welcome Bradley Eric Thompson!!!

9 pounds 7 ounces 21 inches long

Natalie went in this morning for a c-section after her appointment yesterday confirming that baby was over 8 lbs and not moving down. After baby was born this morning the doctor told us that there was no way she could have had him naturally and that the umbilical cord was loosely wrapped around his neck 3 times. Pretty scary! But Bradley is a really really healthy baby and hasn't hardly cried. My sister is doing well, but recovering from the surgery has been hard this morning because she is so groggy. Here are the first few pics, I will try to post more later this weekend. He is quite the tank! The first one is of Jonathan & Bradley, and the second is my grandma Judy.

Loves!

The Proud Auntie

My kids

So many of you probably wonder what it is that I do...good question. It is really hard to put into a job description, but basically I run a youth program for Native American youth in grades K-12. Here are a few pictures of the youth I work with at two of our events.

July

Is anyone else wondering how it is already July 1st! I am in approximately (now getting used to the idea of no exact due date, thank you little sister) 6 weeks I will be a mom. There are several things that have come together in our nursery over the last few weeks making me feel much more comfortable with the approaching timeline. I had a mild freak out moment a few weekends ago when for the first time I realize that our baby could be premature and we really weren't ready. I have mellowed out since then, but it does feel good to know that if it happened we would have the basics.

We are all still anxiously awaiting the arrival of baby B (Natalie & Jonathan's baby). She went to the doctor last Friday and he said that the baby wasn't moving down in her pelvis (at all) so there is a chance that she will need to have a c-section later this week. Baby B is already over 8 lbs and Natalie is so narrow that the combo is making it difficult for her to have the baby. I think that she is okay with the idea of a c-section and at this point just really ready for the baby to arrive.

I don't have anything really exciting to report on this week. Last weekend I worked at an event called "Paddle on the Willamette" where our youth and families paddled three canoes from Salem to Portland. It was really a great event, and it was definitely 100 degrees outside. It is pretty crazy how hot 100 is when you are +20 lbs. I didn't even know a person could sweat from the places I was sweating! Oh I know one exciting thing...the Olympic Trials! I don't know how many of you know this about me but I am obsessed with the Olympics. It is so fun to watch them and it is genuinely my only real show of patriotism. How ridiculous is it by the way that they only show a few things and often times it is from 11 pm-1 am. We can have every morally worthless T.V. show air when people are awake, but for the Olympic Trials we choose infomercial hours. Dumb.

Off the soap box...and getting back to work. I will post more tonight and some pics from the weekend.