Our neglected baby

Did you know I'm pregnant? Sometimes I forget. I just get so busy with Isaiah that I don't really think about it. People will ask me how far along I am and I never really know. (I just looked at the calendar so I can let you know I'm 18 weeks along). With Isaiah I could've been like "Oh, I'm 17 and 4/7 weeks. The baby is starting to develop fingernails now!" or whatever happens at that stage of development. I'm thinking once the kitchen remodel is done I'll think about it more. At that point we'll have to move everything out of the office since the office is going to be Nursery II. If this one's a boy they'll share a room but not until it's like 6 months old or so and sleeps through the night. But for now I just don't really think about it. I switched my closet from Regular Clothes to Maternity Clothes, I take medicine for my near-daily pregnancy headaches, and other than that it's just life as usual.

At one point when I was a teenager I became convinced that I was adopted. There are very few pictures of me as a baby and it seemed to me the only logical explanation was that my family didn't get me until later. In reality, my brother was the first baby so there are a million pictures of him. Then my older sister was the first girl so there are a million pictures of her. Then my little sister they knew was the last baby so there are a million pictures of her. Me? Just another kid. Anyway, I'm posting this ultrasond picture so that someday when this baby grows up and thinks he/she is adopted and I can have proof that he/she wasn't adopted, just neglected. Sometime in July we find out if it's a boy or girl. I really really really wanted Isaiah to be a girl but that didn't really work out. Now it sort of seems like it would be easier if this one is a boy because I haven't even packed up Isaiah's baby clothes yet (because he still IS a baby) and plus they could be bff and play together. So two boys, then my girl, then we'll be done. In case anyone wondered what our long-term family plan was. If this one is a girl, then maybe one more or maybe not. Either way it'll be a while--no more of this two babies at once stuff!

Zay playing the spoons

I'm not sure why we bother to buy toys for Isaiah. These plastic spoons have been his favorite play thing the past week or so. Jerel laid out some of the tile last night to see what the pattern will look like and this morning Isaiah sat himself in the middle of them and starting tapping his spoons on them and shaking his little bum to dance to his own music. He's a cute little guy! The tile guy is supposed to come today and lay the tile in the kitchen. Then wait 72 hours, then grout it. Then wait 72 hours, then seal it. I'm going to let him break the news to Isaiah that the kitchen will be off limits again.

Painting the kitchen

For some reason we never really thought about how we'd have to paint the kitchen as part of the remodel. We knew some walls were coming out, the light fixtures were changing, and there would be drywall work done, but none of these facts actually led us to consider the inevitability of painting. So last week they installed the cabinets, and then today they are starting tile. Once the painting idea struck, I decided I'd rather paint before the floors go down so I wouldn't have to worry about drips.

Jerel got to spend lots of quality time with Isaiah while I spent hours taping off the cabinets and such. We picked a nice beige-y color. Actually the guys at Miller Paint picked it. I took in the floor tile and the cabinet color and had them tell me what color to paint it. It turned out pretty nice I think. Isaiah was furious because he wasn't allowed in that area for two whole days. Of course now that he's allowed back in, he has no interest in being back there.

I had a major accomplishment with this project. I wanted to do the painting, but the guy who's going to patch the drywall wasn't going to come before I wanted to start. There was one 6" hole from the electrician, as well as some other smaller dings in the walls. I convinced Jerel to let me attempt to repair the walls, but save the ceiling work for the drywall guy. Actually I don't think I convinced him, I think I just did it and we both knew if I really screwed it up the drywall guy could always redo it when he came. Anyway, the big patch turned out great! If you know where to look you can sort of see it, but you'd never notice it otherwise. Even Jerel conceded I'd done a good job. Hopefully this does a little bit to redeem my handy-man (handy-mandy?) reputation after the electrical work mishap . . . I like attempting projects like this and it was nice that it actually worked out this time!

ZayZay's new hairdo

Okay, not really. Jerel just did this for fun. His hair is sure getting long! It's probably time for a trim but we haven't done it yet. He's sure changing fast these days. A couple of weeks ago he'd timidly take a few steps, then sit down and wait for applause. This weekend he's switched over to walking as his preferred method of transportation so we only see his silly little 3-legged crawl once in a while now.

Alaskan Cruise Pictures

In case you haven't seen enough already, I finally uploaded all of the pictures from our trip.  Next time you have a few spare hours, click here for the slideshow.

Kitchen Remodel

On the left is our kitchen before we left town.  On the right it what it looked like when we got back.

Here's our table-nook area of the kitchen.  Left is before, middle is when we got back in town, right is what it looks like now.  We'll have an island now, and then the cabinets under the windows will be a seating bench.  The table will be in the empty space next to the kitchen which will now serve as a dining room.

 Here's our sweet boy exploring the new cabinets.  We're looking forward to having the project completed, but we still have at least 3 more weeks to wait.  In the mean time we wash our dishes in the bathroom, and have a fridge in our living room.  I just keep telling myself it'll all be worth it in the end! 

A close call

I worried endlessly that Isaiah would fall off the boat during our cruise. It turns out I should've been worried about him getting eaten by the wildlife!

Our happy baby

Some nights at dinner they would have animals for people to meet. Here's Isaiah with a dolphin. The introduction didn't go too well and they ended up having just a brief, rocky relationship.

The Whole Family

Here's the whole family on the cruise--27 of us! At one point my grandma looked around at everyone and said "Did I really create all this?!"

Family Photo

Here's our second-ever family photo. The first one is a snapshot someone took of us when Isaiah was 2 months old...We had this one taken on the cruise. You'd never know that Jerel threw up just before and just after the picture was taken--it was a very rough day at sea and about half the people on the boat were sick. When Jerel saw the picture he said "Isaiah's not even smiling" which I think means he wants to go have our pictures done somewhere again...

When I went to buy the picture it was a full-length shot. I wanted it to not show my pregnant belly because we don't have a family picture where it's just us and Isaiah, so I wanted it to be just the three of us. He'll be plenty neglected when the next baby comes and I want him to have pictures to remind him that at one point it was just him. Anyway, I was asking the picture guy if they could crop it down so my belly didn't show and this lady in line behind me got all upset, "You're just going to crop your baby out of the picture?!" Yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. She grumbled about it and I really thought it was none of her business, but I never know what to say when strangers are annoying like that. Rick later suggested I should have told her that it didn't make sense to have my pregnant belly showing when I had already scheduled my partial-birth abortion....Rick always knows what to say to make people shut up. It will probably get him killed some day, since he actually says things like that to people, but it's still entertaining. And lest there be any confusion, there is not any abortion in my future, and I am not trying to crop the baby out of my life, just out of this one picture so that Isaiah can have his time in the spotlight.

Lots of ice

Here's our little family in front of a big glacier. I'd love to tell you the name of the glacier so that I could sound very informed and educated, but I really have no idea. It was cool to see it, and we got pretty close. I was surprised that it was blue. Jerel was surprised that (once again) I stopped a stranger and asked them to take a picture of us. I told him that someday he'd be grateful we have all these pictures together, and he said that probably someday he would just look at them and remember how annoying it was to keep getting his picture taken all the time.

handicapped eagle

Or should I say an eagle with a handicap...I can't keep track of the pc way to say things. Anyway, at the top of the tram ride we went to see this bald eagle. We were looking for a ramp to use since we had Isaiah in his stroller. I saw this sign which indicates the route for people on wheels, and then I thought "Hey, that's funny, that sign makes it look like it's pointing to where you can see a handicapped eagle!" and I pictured an eagle riding around in a wheelchair. Apparently this wasn't just a thought I had, it was something I actually said outloud, because the ranger guy responded with, "Yes, she is blind in one eye and missing a foot" or something like that. So it really WAS a handicapped eagle, which made it less funny (or more funny?) that the sign made it look like it was directing you to a handicapped eagle...Anyway, I hope I didn't make the eagle feel bad about her disability, she looked a little ferocious.

Also, on the topic of bald eagles, when I was a kid my grandma and I took painting lessons together. One of my masterpieces was a painting of a bald eagle. I gave it to my mom as a gift. I forgot about it until one time I noticed it hanging in her closet on the wall behind where all her clothes hang, so it was completely hidden. She tried to convince me she hung it there because then she could see it every morning when she picked out her clothes but I was too smart to buy that. In truth my paintings weren't any good, but I still think she should've hung it somewhere a bit more prominent.

Juneau

Here we are at our first stop, Juneau, AK. We rode a little tram to the top of some mountain. I am afraid of heights so I wasn't particularly excited. The only other time I've ridden a tram we were way up high crossing some kind of canyon. This one wasn't as scary because the whole time up the mountain you were just a little ways above the trees. Of course, if the cable snapped we all still would've fallen to our deaths, but it would've been a shorter fall...

My cute boy

Not Isaiah, the other one. This is the kind of happy face Jerel makes for Isaiah all the time. I thought I should post it for those of you who think Jerel's always serious and quiet and calm. He's such a fun dad for Isaiah. When Isaiah hears the garage door opening in the evening he gets all excited because he knows dad's home and Boring Mom Time is over!

Playing outside

Zay loves to play outside. He doesn't really "play" much yet, but he likes to sit outside in the grass. He's been pretty upset with our weather lately--it's been raining every day for over a week now. This morning it looked fairly dry so I took out a blanket for him and bundled him up. It didn't work out too well--our yard doesn't drain well from the rain so it was a bit swampy out there, but he still enjoyed himself.

He's getting so big. I had Jerel weigh him last night. In reality he's smaller--I think 22 pounds or something--but he seems bigger. He crawls in his weird way--on both hands, one knee, and the other foot pushing along like he's on a skateboard--and is pretty fast. He's starting to take a few steps here and there. He also likes to dance to music and his Baby Mozart video. We've watched the video at least 8 million times...I can't wait for the rain to stop!

We're so classy

You know those loser parents who let their kid run around in nothing but a diaper, and don't even provide toys--they just let them play with whatever's handy? That's what I've become. Isaiah played with the contents of the tupperware drawer for a good hour the other day. I don't remember why he didn't have any clothes on, although I'm certain I had a legitimate reason. Oh well, he's happy, I got the dishes done, and that's what matters!