Gearing up!

Who knew you needed so much stuff for such a small human being?
Diapers, blankets, strollers, car seats, booties, onsies, wash cloths, bibs, binkies, cribs, bedding, changing tables, baby powders, diaper rash creams, diaper bags, baby wraps...
And then the stuff for mom: nipple creams, nursing bras, maternity clothes, Santa slippers (for when your feet don't fit in your regular shoes), lotions against stretch marks...It never ends.

With all the stuff you need to be prepared (at least gear wise) for the newbie, it sure is nice to have the world at my finger tips. No chasing around to BabiesRUs or any other baby specialty stores to round it all up. Just a few well-aimed clicks around Google and it will all come to my front door for me to just drag into the house.

Life is good.

All terrain stoller: CHECK

Car seat: CHECK

Stuff: CHECK

Crib, bedding, changing table (maybe not a must-have, I know, 
but it DOES have storage space), chest unit: CHECK

















Diaper bag: CHECK





Baby wrap: CHECK




I think I'm ready but then, I've never done this before so I can't know for sure until I'm standing there needing something I don't have.

Due date in 2 weeks. I sure hope I don't have to wait longer than that. I've had a long serious talk with my offspring and we've decided that being on time is better than being late.

I'm bored with the waiting.

Babies will get anyone excited

All the baby shower parties are over and now the only party I'm still waiting for is a BIRTHDAY PARTY for the little gremlin tickling my insides.

The baby showers were lovely and friends and family have been so supportive and generous with their time, love and good advice, not to mention fabulous gifts.

Home made quilts, diapers, toys, butt creams (for the baby). Gifts gifts gifts galore. 

Creations of the talented Ashley Simmons

Grandma Donna's quilt

Baby momma

My lovely Temple Square Family
Left to right
Back: Jessica, Liz, Keala w/ baby Vise, Karina, Elena, Sheena
Front: Danielle, Yours truly, Courtney, Lauren

My wonderful family!
Left to right
Back: Whitney, Kristin, Ashley, Megan, Katherine, Gina, Becca, Mary, Hailey
Front: Ian, Myself, Abigail, Emma

Party favors. Children's books with a Thank You.

It's getting heavy and 2 days ago the baby dropped another inch and a half.
Talk about weird sensation!


I'm ready already.
The midwife is bringing the birthing pool kit and all the stuff over this week. I'm getting a little nervous about birthing mostly because I've never done it before. It's like deciding to sky dive out of a plane. The leap is the hardest part because you've never done it before. But once you're out you're flying. And then you know you're going to reach the ground no matter what.

I can do this. It may be first for me, but it certainly isn't for womankind.
I am the mother wolf, the lioness in my own den, by my own conditions and by my own determination.

Lobster, real estate and a Mustang

MEXICO is the place to be!

We took one last trip before due date to check our time share in Rosarito down the Baja, some 40 min from the border.

Flight to Long Beach (the airport consists of a bunch of trailers and a chicken wire fence...) and rented a Corolla that we upgraded in San Diego to a Mustang convertible. Posh. 

Driving around Rosarito made us almost regret it. All Mexican cars have dents and scratches from their distinct driving habits.

Kimball wanted to chase some real estate of course, so we found an agent named Blanca who showed us around the area and took us to some sweet lots. 

Hanging out with a real estate agent really is one of the best ways to get a feel for a place and check out the local scene.

The place is also apparently famous for the fresh lobster so late lunch consisted of lobster with beans and rice. And tortillas. 

The Mexican border is crazy. Getting in is a breeze. A couple of guys with flash lights checking your face, the backseat and the trunk. I have no idea what they're looking for. 

Americans we're trying to smuggle into Mexico?

Getting back to the U.S. is tedious. 

4 hours and a couple of rude officers later we finally got through (I didn't go the the restroom the WHOLE TIME).

There are a ton of people trying to sell you stuff that only look good in Mexico. Sombreros, hand carved wooden crosses, pictures of natives, clay pitchers with matching cups.

Then there's the stuff that doesn't look good anywhere. 2Pac blankets, Hello Kitty piggy banks, statuettes of various saints, grotesque statuettes of Jesus Christ complete with blood and rolling eyes.

The resort La Paloma is lovely. Right on the beach and very lush with lots of flowers, shrubs and trees.

On site restaurant with excellent food and fresh home made juice. That was I call living it up!

Kimball frolicked by the sea.

Deserted beach

Lava rocks

Explorer

Classic pose

Prego feet

Mustang Sally

Kitty litter is for wussies

Wouldn't you love to walk in on your pet reading the paper while using the porcelain throne?
Introducing:
The LITTER KWITTER
....

Note the degree of concentration on the cat's face
as it squats over the edge..

History repeats itself

My mother and I have a lot in common.

She served as a missionary.
So did I.

She successfully dated someone across the Atlantic (without Skype, Gmail or long phone calls!!).
So did I.

She married a foreigner.
So did I.

She left her family, country and language for her love.
So did I.

She married fair skin and light eyes.
So did I.

Now my feelings and thoughts about my pregnancy mirror hers from the time she carried me. She told me she recognizes everything so well she can't believe how fast time has passed since her first (me).
Her excitement over the first grand baby is obvious.

I've never been closer to my mother than I am now.

Who is the little person in my belly?

There's a feeling everyone has at several points in their lives. That special feeling of inescapable realization. Like when one day you wake up and realize a lot of things all at once.
That you're not 15 years old anymore.
That Spice Girls never really where cool.
That the boy you had a crush on in junior high is now balding and working at Domino's.
That you're having a baby...!!!!!

I know, it's a lot to take in all at once.

So now that I've spent months anticipating the birth of our first mini-me (let's face it, my genes are stronger) with only a few more weeks to go, it's finally starting to dawn me:

I am going to have a baby.

Have it, hold it, feed it, love it, wash it, clothe it, cuddle with it, sleep with it and so on and so forth. It's an overwhelming feeling to anticipate the responsibility for a little person that one day will grow up and with all hope to goodness turn out fine despite your faults as a parent..
It's not like a pet turtle (that ran away and dried up in the summer sun), or a kitten (that accidentally ate rat poison and died), or the dog in your backyard (that is lacking in people skills because you don't know how to train it properly).

But, who is in there?
I don't even know if it's a he or a she! It feels rude to call the baby an "it" so I just say "he" for simplicity's sake. I don't know what he'll look like (although like I said, Mexican blood is strong). Dark hair, light hair? Dark eyes, light eyes? Tall? Short? Easy-going? Energetic? Funny? Amazingly smart?
The weird thing about it is that you don't get to know right away.
You have to wait till they get older.
MORE WAITING??!

It's like a movie, or a puzzle where you only get one piece at a time. You want to know the whole picture at once but puzzles that are already laid out are no fun and movies you already know all the details of are boring.

All I know is that I can't wait to meet our little miracle. And I feel ready to explode what with all the stretching of my belly and all the rib kicking. I don't know how women who get bigger than I manage the discomfort of it. But seeing as the outcome leads to considerable joy it must be where the secret to endurance lies.


The anticipation is nearing it's climax. "I love being pregnant" I think to myself when I feel the little life I don't yet know wriggle around somewhere under my shirt.

I am HGTV personified

Or at least I want to be.

The house we're building is now basically ready for the interior.
I'm the designer.

The house is close to 6800 sq ft.

Picture taken 2 months ago.
The exterior is by now 90% done

Current status

I'm a little overwhelmed and very excited.
I'm relying on Martha Stewart and every single magazine, book and website with good ideas to carry me through this.

Let's break it down shall we?
Top floor: 
craft room, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 loft type area overlooking family room
Main floor:
master bed+bath, kitchen, 1 half-bath, family room, multi-purpose room, laundry, entry, office
Walk-out basement:
bedroom+bath, gym, sauna, steam room, mudroom, 2 storage rooms, kitchen, family room


.....

I want to get cable just so that I can watch HGTV nonstop.

There's a mouse in my house. Really.

A few weeks ago I went to feed Atlas and stuck my hand in his big sack of dog food. In the darkness of the garage I felt something soft against my hand. I dragged the bag into the house to confirm my suspicion.

There was a mouse in the dog food. And it was alive.


Kimball who loves little critter was excited to find out about the mouse. I didn't know what he wanted to do with it first. I thought maybe he was going to kill it or let it go in the backyard or something. But he disappeared into the kitchen and when I went to see where he'd gone to I found him searching the cabinets.
It then occurred to me that he was looking for a small bowl...
In fact, the smallest he could find.

I should have known.

Kimball decided he wanted to train the little mouse, teach him tricks and put him in a teeny tiny tuxedo.
He put him in a large box in the laundry room, gave him a condiment bowl of water and a baby carrot. He explained that it's important for little critters to not be bored so he put an empty kitchen towel roll and a piece of crumpled up paper bag in the box for the mouse to play with.

A day or so later there was a fairly good sized hole in the the cardboard box and no mouse to be found.

Well, the mouse resurfaced yesterday as I was eating a pizza on my bed (don't judge me)! The little stinker has been living in my bedroom all along and came out from it's little hideout when it could smell the deliciousness of my Domino's pizza.  So I put some cheese and mushrooms on a napkin on the floor and watched the mouse run out and snag the goods faster than you can say "There are no cats in America".

Now it imagines that we're good friends and has even dared to get up on the bed right next to me while I'm sitting here browsing and typing!

Too close for comfort. I'm getting a trap tomorrow.

Like getting a new journal

Oh boy, oh boy! Fresh new blog! There's not END to the possibilities! I just want to write and write!
The more exclamations the better!

Seriously, how many times have you decided to keep a journal and bought a new oh-so-nice-leather-bound  journal only to realize half way through April that you've written in it...twice?

BUT only a quitter is a loser they say. And I for sure am not a loser.

And that's all.