Good News! FINALLY.

So, Tim and I are delighted to share the news that we're expecting! The due date is February 17th, 2008, so I'm technically 15 weeks along at this point. Tim and I had been trying for a few months (following a previous "few months" of trying back in Provo in 2005), but it was a total and complete shock when a home pregnancy test came back positive a couple months ago. I just didn't think I could get pregnant, and I was at the point of being utterly clueless as to how women were possibly conceiving, when it was so elusive to me. I didn't think I was ovulating, because I'd been tracking my basal body temperature for awhile, and it was ALL messed up. (Sorry if that's TMI! I'm assuming that most of this blog's readership is female, because we've only gotten like two guy comments so far.) Anyway, I was about 9 or 10 days late, which has happened before, and slightly hopeful, but also knowing that I'm just not that lucky, I took a pregnancy test and was stunned by the result. (My journal entry that day reads like this: "HOLY FREAKING CRAP IT'S POSITIVE." Haha!)


I told Tim later that night, in the form of a homemade card that said "I Love You" on the front, and on the inside had a picture of a stick-figure Jean with a close-up to the tummy of an oven with a little bun in it. (I decided to convey the news in his preferred language of art.) He was shocked but really excited, which made me a little more excited too. That was June 22.

Nowadays, I'm in my second trimester, and honestly, not a whole lot has changed. No one ever told me this, but I've learned that the whole first trimester and part of the second is just one big long tease, with no changes in my body and, in our case, no one else even knowing. I still look exactly the same, although I feel like I might be on the cusp of maybe starting to show a tiny, tiny bit. However, since I have kind of a tummy already (let's be realistic here), I've read that I won't really start to look pregnant until 18 to 20 weeks. So, a little while longer to go... Fortunately, my first trimester was marked with only mild nausea (e.g., a breakfast burrito one morning had me lying on the floor muttering, "That was a bad choice..."), but I guess it's been going well so far. My chestal area was pretty sore, and I had some cramping, but nothing out of the ordinary. I have to go to the bathroom more now (which sucks at night), and I keep forgetting that there are certain things I'm not supposed to do (like eat lunch meat and hot dogs often -- which is tough because we have all these frozen corn dogs -- and sleep on my back or stomach -- which I love to do). I told Laura W. from church, who is also pregnant, that I'm not really sure how important all these little things are right now, but at least I'm minding the big things, like taking prenatal vitamins (which I've been doing for awhile anyway) and skipping Space Mountain and Indiana Jones (which is so very sad).

Anyway, we've seen many of our friends rejoice in parenthood, and we feel so blessed and so grateful that we have this opportunity ourselves. It'll still be a few weeks before we find out the gender, so in the meantime we've been calling the little tyke Tadpole-Leonard, because I think that Tadpole is a cute little nickname, while Tim insists on calling it Leonard. Oy. Even today, I still can't believe that I'm really pregnant... the whole thing is so crazy-weird! I've had two OB appointments so far, and also a first-trimester screen test. Everything seems to be going well so far. (But that doesn't keep me from worrying anyway. I mean, they don't really KNOW what's going on down there, y'know?) My first ultrasound at 10 weeks doesn't really even look like anything, and my doctor did it pretty quickly:

However, when I went in for the first trimester screen test a couple weeks later, it took about an hour until T-L was in the right position, and I got to stare at that little one on the screen the entire time!! It was all big-headed and wiggly and boingy. The doctor also let me hear the heartbeat, so that was a really special appointment. At my next appointment, they're going to do the AFP test, and at the one after that, another ultrasound and the gender-check.

So, that's our news. We're pleased as punch and tickled pink right now. If you'd like to share any advice or pregnancy stories (whether your own or someone else's), I'm all ears! I love all you guys. :-) Oh, and if you live in Pasadena, sorry if I've lied to you. We wanted to wait a smidge before sharing the news, which put me in the unfortunate position of becoming secretive. I'm so glad to be able to talk about it openly now!!!!! (Contented sigh.)

Rio Ride 2007

This post is dedicated to all the Rio addicts out there.

So, Tim and I have a weird tradition of doing stupid, fun things together. Case in point #1: during the summer after our senior year of high school, we spent an entire day doing a Pizza Survey in our hometown, going around to a number of pizza restaurants, buying a slice of pizza, and then thoroughly rating the experience (quality of the cheese, crust, etc., size, taste factor, decor, service, etc.). Each pizza place received a rating of 1 to 10. We were extremely proud of ourselves when, following our very scientific research, we discovered that Giuseppe's is intrinsically the best pizza place in Lansdale (as of 1999, that is).

Case in point #2: Yesterday, Tim and I drove four hours to Las Vegas just to go to the newest Cafe Rio restaurant, which is finally within a "reasonable" drive-time of Pasadena. Like I said before, we fell in love with the Rio while in Provo, when within our first week there people were already telling us that we had to go.

So, yesterday, we decided to make a little road trip out of it. Since our car Cloud is frail and occasionally requires hundreds and hundreds of dollars of repairs, we opted to rent a car, which we picked up at 9:00 AM and had to return by 10:00 PM. Tim compiled a bunch of music CDs, and we drove into the hot, hot, 100+ degree weather that is California's I-15 corridor.

Cafe Rio is on Sahara Avenue, about 7-8 miles from the Strip, and when we finally saw it, we were just tickled pink. This restaurant is slightly larger than the Provo establishment, and it was MUCH less crowded (we waited in line and ordered our food within 5 minutes, rather than 35 minutes). It was DELICIOUS. Let me go so far as to say that it was even SCRUMTRILLESCENT. We both got salads for lunch, and oh! That creamy tomatillo dressing... how we have missed you.

Afterwards, we decided to visit the Shark Reef exhibit at the Mandalay Bay, which was really interesting and well-designed (it was sort of like a Disney aquarium, rather than a science aquarium, so that was fun). Finally, in the late afternoon, we returned to Cafe Rio to get two more meals (which we devoured for lunch today), and then drove back home. It was splendid.

So, here's the final breakdown of our visit to Cafe Rio:

1-day car rental: $24.65
Diet Coke for the road: $1.56
Gasoline: $27.89
2 meals at Cafe Rio (eat in): $16.27
2 tickets to Shark Reef: $31.90
2 Blizzards at the DQ: $9.14
Water bottles and Diet Mountain Dew: $3.97
2 more meals at Cafe Rio (take out): $16.54
Gasoline: $27.41
Visiting Cafe Rio again after a full year of withdrawal: PRICELESS

And here are some fun photos from the adventure:

Chillin' Out, Maxin', Relaxin' All Cool and All

Actually, any "chillin' out" and "maxin'" that we're doing out here is definitely NOT "cool and all" right now. IT'S HOT!!! Temperatures have gotten into the high 90s, and perhaps low 100s, in Pasadena over the past few days, so we've got our A/C chugging away in the living room all afternoon and evening. Fortunately, it becomes pretty pleasant outside after about 7:00 PM, so Tim decided to take advantage of it this week by rigging up his old hammock from Brazil in our front... er... "concrete area." (We don't actually have a front yard. We have a concrete and brick walkway, and then a concrete wall. Charming, yes.) So, here are some photos of Timmy in his awesome hammock, reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and eating peanut M&Ms, and looking very much forward to the end of classes this week. (I'm always so impressed when he does handy-man type things. I don't really remember how I used to manage before I got married. I think I used to be a heck of a lot more self-reliant, though.) You'll notice our periwinkle-colored car, Cloud, parked along the street in the background.

I'm off to Girls Camp this evening for the last two nights of it. Hooray!! My responsibility is to act as one of the official photographers, but I've heard that all the other unofficial photographers are taking tons of pictures anyway, so I'll probably mostly just relax and enjoy the trees and the mini-vacation from work.

Oh, and Tim and I have an exciting adventure coming up on Saturday the 25th, after I get back from a business trip to the Black Hills: we're making the four-hour trek to Las Vegas to visit the newest Cafe Rio establishment!! Yes, a Cafe Rio finally opened within a somewhat reasonable drive-time of Pasadena (the next closest restaurant is five hours away in Arizona). Tim and I fell in deep, eternal love with Cafe Rio during our three-year stint in Provo, and we've missed it ever since we left Utah. Alas! Come next Saturday, it'll be Cafe Rio or bust!!! I can't wait. This has the makings of becoming the highlight of my month. (Is that sad?) Tim always gets the pork burrito, enchilada-style with red sauce, and I always get the Cafe Rio salad. Mmm... delicious, warm, cheesy tortilla... creamy tomatillo dressing... lettuce, tomatoes, rice, beans, oh my! And those perfect little tortilla crunchies... :-)

Photos of Baby Kailyn!

These are photos that my mom took of Kailyn at ages 5 days and 6 days, being held by momma Karen and grandpa Jim (my dad). ADORABLE!!! :-)

Kailyn Has Arrived!

HOLY COW! Not three weeks ago did we become an aunt and uncle to little Killian, and now we've become double-aunt and double-uncle (duncle?)!!! Kailyn (pronounced KY-lin) was born on the evening of Friday, August 3rd, in Maryland, at about 7 lbs. and 19 3/4 inches long. We hear that she's "very, very cute" with a head full of dark hair.

My half-sister Karen and her husband Jon started the adoption process perhaps 1.5 or two years ago, and were finally able to adopt Kailyn this weekend. Although the final paperwork still needs to go through (which will take another week or two), the sweet birthmom relinquished Kailyn to them outside the hospital (which boded very well), and the adoption becomes quasi-official today. HOORAY!!! Karen and Jon are staying with a friend in Maryland, and last night was their first night "home" with baby. My parents are going to drive down from PA to visit their granddaughter this week, and give her lots of coos and cuddles.

CONGRATULATIONS, KAREN AND JON!!!

I'll post pictures as soon as I get some. Now I have a nephew and a niece!!! I STILL HAVEN'T MET THEM, THOUGH!!! I can't wait. :-)

Scrumtrillescent!

Tim is the coolest. He's long been using his art skills for the greater good, but this weekend he helped me create a totally cute logo for Girls Camp 2007, the week-long church camp for young women that I'm helping with, and that's coming up this month:

How cute is that??!! He thought a compass rose would be a good idea, since most of MY ideas included whimsical rainbows and stars (clearly I'm NOT the creative one in the family). The theme of the camp is the title of the famous Dr. Seuss book, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" Hence the compass rose.

Okay, I know, it's not one of his super-intensive works that takes weeks, nay, months, to create and perfect (although some of these will probably be available for viewing on his website once his term has ended). In all truthiness, he didn't even want me to post it, because he said it's "embarrassingly bad." Whatever, I love it. He's just so sweet for coming up with this for me. Yay Tim!!! I wanted to celebrate his coolness by having a Tim Party, but he had too much homework to do.

This has been a pretty fun weekend so far, food-wise. Yesterday, Tim's club at Art Center (called Working Title) hosted Mark Goerner, an entertainment artist who has worked on films like X-Men 2 and Minority Report. Afterwards, the club board took him out to dinner and invited me along (these are some of the perks that I get for sleeping with the guy in charge). We went to Barney's Beanery on Colorado, which you would think is a coffee shop, but actually turned out to be more of a bright, loud, upbeat Irish restaurant / sports bar. The menu was basically a newspaper with a million items on it -- all kinds of weird variations of typical foods, like burgers with egg salad on top. Our meals turned out to be mediocre, but the coolest thing was the fact that Barney's sells a $10,000 burger (which you have to pay for in advance), and that they also offer the most insane PB&J sandwich conceived by man: peanut butter, jelly, banana, and marshmallow, and rolled in Frosted Flakes. Anyway, it was great to go and meet Mark and hear all he had to say about getting started in the entertainment industry, putting up with nutty, raging directors, and enduring inane requests and suggestions for alterations to his artwork. All very, very interesting, and he's a good storyteller, so it was fun to listen to him.

Then, today Tim and I went to lunch at Big Mama's, a southern restaurant about two blocks from our apartment that we've been meaning to go to for months. We were one of two tables, so it was pretty quiet; the interior had bright colored walls, but a black ceiling with low lighting, so it was sort of understated-trendy. There's a big portrait of big mama on the back wall, and I salute her. It was GOOD. I'm talking hush-puppy, collard greens, BBQ pork good. Yeah, I love southern cookin'. My mom lived in Alabama for the first eight years of her life, and the indelible mark that southern food made on her must've passed onto me (although I still don't like grits... blah). Anyway, Tim ordered the jambalaya, which was great too, and he got pecan pie for dessert, which turned out to be the best pecan pie that we've tasted in years.

Tomorrow evening (Sunday), we're having a couple couples over for dinner for baby shower planning (the girls) and video games (the guys). I love planning parties! Yay for babies!