State Fair Hijinks.

What a great Labor Day weekend! Why? Because 1) we had some pretty awesome visitors and 2) it included a trip to the Minnesota State Fair.

That's right, Brother Boo and Girlfriend-of-Brother Boo visited us for a final hurrah as autonomous human beings (i.e. before the tiny dictator makes his appearance in the next few weeks). Games were enjoyed, fetch was played (with Clyde), and lots of food was eaten. Especially at said Fair:

Sadly, I didn't make it to this trip to the Fair given the super-pregnant status. BUT, I did get to enjoy some Fair festivities earlier this week when Man Boo and I did a trial run one weekday evening so that I could see if I would be able to manage a hotter and more crowded trip with the whole crew. Ultimately, we learned that I couldn't -- it's really hard to strike an appropriate balance of hydrating enough not to trigger Braxton Hicks and not having to waddle to the bathroom constantly -- to make the trip enjoyable for all. Don't worry though, because I definitely got to satisfy some really strong cravings for Fair food -- one of which may have included chicken in a waffle cone. So good.

Besides, I also got to partake of cheese curds through the magic of Snapchat.

(This may have been my petulant response to all of the pictures of food being texted to me)

Clyde found two new best friends and was basically at "11" all weekend with the energy. Scott was a sucker when it came to caving in and playing fetch with him for much longer than Jamie and I could ever endure. And Ruth, was the Clyde whisperer...Jamie and I basically didn't exist for Clyde this weekend. Since they left, he has been a sad former shell of Weekend Clyde. Moping around listlessly and giving intense puppy dog eyes in the hopes that we will bring back his friends.

(Puppy dog eyes intensify)

We even had a surprise visit from our beloved friends, the Weitzes, who were in town and hijinks were had. I'm not sure I'm allowed to share video sample of that hijinks, but it was a great way to end our weekend.

And finally, we're almost to the finish line at 36 weeks and 4 days! Less than a month to go...which is pretty good news since this is starting to get pretty uncomfortable...

Not So Innocent.

Clyde's latest service dog trick?

Crafting a shiv from his favorite chew toy:

I'm sleeping with one eye open tonight. This is clearly the face of a killer.

(Blep.)

I should cut those talons too...

Don't Break the Baby.

It's a perfect day outside! 72 degrees, nice breeze, and sunny skies. Of course, that means that I am currently obsessing about what it's going to be like in the Winter.

We know it gets really, ridiculously cold here in Minneapolis. Factor in the latest prediction from the Farmer's Almanac that it's going to be a particularly rough winter for us this year and I'm not so sure Abuelo and Abuelita are going to want to extend their stay very long.

I've spent the last hour researching the internet in one window and browsing Amazon in another window to figure out what I should be adding to my baby shopping list. How on earth do you "winterproof" a newborn who is unable to regulate their own temperature? I hear/read layers...super-warm car seat cover...hats...but is that enough for a Minnesota-rough winter? Also, is pajamas + sleep sack enough for baby not to be cold at night when he can't use blankets? Will it be too hot?

As California natives, Man Boo and I are totally ill-prepared for our first Minnesota winter as parents. Help us Mid-Western and East Coast friends...advice requested!

The big silver-lining here is that we recently insulated our main floor (no more frost on the inside of the front door!) and the presence of tiny human means that Man Boo will allow me to turn the thermostat up past 55 degrees. I made sure he heard the nurse when she said that newborns need room temperatures between 65 and 72.

Not Throwin' Away [His] Shot.

All of you know my ManBoo, Jamie. You also know that he is one of the most optimistic and perpetually-happy people out there. It's glorious and is one of the many reasons that I adore that man. As his wife, the one teensy downside of this near-constant contentment is that I always feel the need to bump him up from "happy" to "deliriously happy" which can be challenging when he doesn't really want for much. So, I settle for those short little bursts of delirious happiness that come when I surprise him with his favorite candy from the co-op or give him a little back scratch.

Earlier this year, before we knew about Baby, I was given the opportunity to make Jamie deliriously happy to the umpteenth degree. Like, 1000x peanut butter cup happy. I was able to buy tickets for us to see Hamilton in New York. Mind you, these tickets weren't free -- they were pretty pricey, actually -- but before this opportunity came up we couldn't even find any tickets for cheaper than $1,000 each. Needless to say, I bought two tickets and Jamie was deliriously happy and the Hamilton soundtrack blared triumphantly from our speaker systems.

Then we found out about our little stowaway and of course we both were deliriously happy about that piece of news. 

But now about those Hamilton tickets...

Jamie is still optimistic (as usual) that we are able to make it out to New York with a 1-2 month old baby and somehow find someone to take said 1-2 month old for the evening while we hit the theater. I think that's a bunch of hooey. I have since looked into selling our tickets and found that we could actually make a nice chunk of change by selling our tickets because seats that are not as nice as ours are selling for five times more than what I paid for our awesome seats.

So if there is anyone reading this I must know...what would you do? Sell the tickets and continue the regular grind of trying to survive life with a newborn within the safe and comfortable confines of our home? Go on an adventure and bring Tiny Long to New York and go really big for our first post-baby date?

To sum up...

• Pros of Staying Home
• Save (and even make!) money which would be more wisely spent on expensive baby
• Less stressful
• More sleep for all involved parties (which I hear is the most precious commodity)
• More time to hone our parenting skills before taking the show on the road
• Don't have to inconvenience a New Yorker friend to take care of a very young baby
• Pros of Going to New York
• Jamie's dreams will come true and we'll see a great show
• Get out of the house (not sure if this will feel like a pro at this point in time)
• People say it's easier to travel with a young infant than an older child...
• We have lots of friends in NYC that we'd love to see

I'm sure there are more on either side but those are the major ones. Tell us what to do!

Baby Crash Course.

Man Boo and I attended a crash course in childbirth, breastfeeding, and newborn care yesterday. It had the intended effect of making things feel "real" and giving us a more accurate picture of just how much we didn't know we didn't know.  The good part of that is that we now know lots of those things.

While I anticipated feeling somewhat panicked about how ill-prepared we were for baby, I actually felt pretty good walking out of the full-day class because I realized that as ill-prepared as we were, there were so many other people in that class that were just as ill-prepared, if not worse off. Now that I type that, it sounds pretty schadenfreude-y of me...but it's totally true.  At least I knew that a cesarean section doesn't involve removing several of my organs and storing them in Pyrex containers whilst delivering baby. I'm not kidding. An adult -- and soon-to-be mother -- asked that question including the Pyrex detail.

All-in-all, money and time well-spent. And I'm very glad that we didn't enroll in one of those class series that involved several nights of information. With one day of high-level overview, I could attend with Man Boo at my side and feel really confident that while there really is no way to fully prepare for raising a tiny human, at least I have the very best partner going into this with me.

We're at 32 weeks and change, folks!

(Yes, it bothers me that I'm facing the other direction in that last picture)

I am officially restricted to maternity pants and get winded climbing up to the attic. A few days ago, Jamie told me with a note of wonder in his voice: "my book says your stomach is in your boobs now!" Not exactly, but pretty close...it's getting crowded in there.  Respect.

Hail to the Man Boo.

A lot has been going on in the last few weeks. Probably the most exciting part since my last post was the Democratic National Convention. While I'm not usually all that much of a political nerd, this year, I watched pretty much the whole thing each day through the magic of online streaming. Granted, the stakes of this election are especially high given the horror that is The Donald, but the primary reason I felt so engaged this year was because Jamie was so involved.

Not only did I get a virtual "front seat" to the convention hall, but through frequent texting, I was able to have some running commentary with Jamie throughout. I felt sort of like the two old theater guys (Statler and Walder) from The Muppet Show, except more patriotic.

(SO MANY BALLOONS!)

I don't often get to see the fruits of Jamie's labor, so it was so energizing to see it for three days straight. There were times while I was watching (particularly when the glass ceiling was shattered) that I felt my heart racing as if I was watching the final minutes of some high-stakes sports play. Jamie even got to meet Kareem Abdul-Jabbar...

...and while he did solicit a picture from KAJ for his boss, Jamie didn't ask for a selfie.  Apparently, KAJ doesn't like having his picture taken. That's fair.

For the last several weeks, Jamie had been working incredibly hard every. single. day. on the Democratic Platform. Staying late at the office, writing proposals, calling Bernie and Clinton folks, and traveling all over (i.e. Orlando, St. Louis, Phoenix, D.C.) for the Platform Committee meetings. Seeing the Platform win the support of so many at the convention was rewarding for me, so I can't imagine what it must have felt like for him. 

(Jamie in his default DNC stance)

Upon his return home, Jamie took three naps and then we went into baby-prep mode. Stuff got done! Nursery furniture was purchased, car seat was installed (and then promptly removed to preserve as many weeks of full back seat as we could), closets were organized, baby spy cam installed, etc. 

(Clyde for scale)

While we haven't really decorated per se, we have the necessary items in place for baby survival. Plus, I had the blinds installed while Jamie was in Philly so I think that really ties the room together. Exciting stuff!

Jamie's Latest Cinematic Masterpiece

So I probably shouldn't have promised that I wouldn't post about New Zealand again before Jamie finished up his latest video of our travels.  Hope you forgive me, because I want to share it now!  Please excuse the geekiness.

Back to non-New Zealand news soon...

It's Getting Real.

The pregnancy so far has been delightful. No nausea, no weird pregnancy symptoms, no weird cravings, and no cramps/muscle soreness etc. Really, aside from being sleepy all of the time and a couple bouts of moodiness (e.g. shedding a couple tears because a restaurant ran out of apple crisp and uncalled for shouts at the poor hubs) I haven't had any of the dreaded pregnancy symptoms yet.

This week I'm entering my third trimester and my first "uncomfortable" pregnancy symptom hit: I'm so HOT all of the time. I may even have taken a couple of my video calls sans pants.  It's not even hot over here (a very pleasant 72 degrees) but I've parked myself in front of the fan.

I'm not looking forward to when the real summer weather hits and I'm actually sprouting a big, uncomfortable bump.

Baby Bear.

Last post about New Zealand, I promise!

It's been a recent "tradition" to buy local yarn when we travel and knit something using it as a memento of our trip. This trip wasn't an exception and there was an abundance of great yarn stores all along our route through NZ.

There are a lot of sheep in New Zealand, so I was surprised to find that the "true" New Zealand yarn is actually made from possum.  At first, I pictured the possums that we have in the U.S. and was kind of grossed out.  Fortunately, New Zealand possums are a slightly more palatable and look like this.:

So, I bought some possum yarn and knitted our way from town to town.  My favorite project for this trip was this little hat (modeled here by "Wolfie").

Why so little?  Because it's my first knitted project for this little guy coming in the Fall!

My mom has been a bit more industrious and has already made multiple baby blankets, some booties, and I think she's working on a sweater.  Needless to say, he'll be plenty warm for his first Winter...

Day Thirteen and Fourteen: Taupo to Auckland

Man Boo and I were quickly coming to grips with the fact that our vacation was rapidly coming to a close.  There was a lot to see on the North Island, but we opted to call some audibles on our itinerary and re-routed ourselves a bit so that we could go to Waitomo Caves (glowworms!) and then do an ultra-touristy trip to Hobbiton.

I couldn't take pictures while we were in Waitomo Caves for obvious reasons (it needs to be super-dark in there to appreciate the glowworms) but here's a professional picture so that you can get the idea. It was like that, but less blue.

This ended up being another one of my trip favorites.  It was a very touristy thing to do, but it's popular for a reason.  It's pretty spectacular.  At one point we were floating down an underground river in pitch darkness, we turn a corner and suddenly GLOWWORMS. 

 In the same vein, Hobbiton was also surprisingly fun. For most of the trip we hadn't planned on going, but as we started getting closer to it, Jamie started to mention that we could try it. It wasn't until we missed out on a chance to go on Day 12 (they were sold-out) and Jamie was genuinely disappointed, that we realized that we needed to get there before we flew back,  Just think about all of the campy pictures we would have missed out on!

For those who don't know (I'm looking at you mom and dad), Hobbiton is a movie set used in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. It was built as a temporary set for the LOTR and when they went back to rebuild it for the Hobbit, the farmer upon whose land it was located stipulated that they must build it to be more permanent and maintain it.  A savvy farmer.  So now it's a fully-functioning farm (mostly for sheep/wool) and a cash cow (no pun intended) of a tourist attraction. 

(It's Bag End!)

(Sam's house...and also the final shot of the entire LOTR trilogy)

As a little bonus, the ticket included a free pint at The Green Dragon so we enjoyed a nice drink and a scone to finish out our mini-adventure.

Then, we had to pack up our things (including several boxes of Tim Tams) and headed to Auckland to catch an evening flight back home. Three things I learned from this trip:

1) New Zealand has such fascinating geological history. It was originally part of Gondwana Land so parts of the South Island looked just like the rainforests of South America. But, at the same time, the huge tectonic shifts created these big mountains and it's far enough south that it can get quite cold.  So you'll have rainforest-like jungle juxtaposed with snow-covered mountains in the same view.  

2) New Zealand only has one truly native mammal which is a type of bat. Most of the other quintessential New Zealand fauna are birds because they somehow made the journey to New Zealand thousands and thousands of years ago from elsewhere. Many of those birds (like the now extinct Moa and the Kiwi) became flightless after a time on New Zealand since there were no mammalian predators.  The only reason the bat survived as a native mammal was because at some point, New Zealand was largely underwater which wiped out most of the land-based mammals that originally lived on the New Zealand chunk of Gondwana.

3) It was way harder to get my head on straight coming back from New Zealand than it was flying to New Zealand. We left Auckland on Saturday evening, but got back to San Francisco on Saturday afternoon.  For the next two weeks, I kept on thinking we were a day ahead.

And of course, the best way to end a trip across the world is to have a layover in San Francisco to see the family...

(Riley showing Tio the new hammock)

While the nieces didn't seem fazed by the beard Tio had sprouted after almost two weeks, I kind of liked it...

Day Eleven and Twelve: Wellington

I need to get through these a lot faster! The good news is that we have made it to the North Island!

After a pretty comfy trip on the ferry across Cook Strait and ended up in lovely Wellington -- one of the most pleasant surprises of the trip.  After spending so many days in the quiet and sparsely populated western coast of the South Island, it was nice to be in a bustling city.  Especially one that was as beautiful as Wellington...

We walked to the "eat street" and grabbed a delicious meal (note: eating out in New Zealand is incredibly affordable!).  The next morning, we walked over to the awesome Te Papa, the National Museum and learned a ton about the Maori culture, the geological history of New Zealand, and even saw the "colossal squid" specimen with eyes the size of soccer balls...it totally looked like something out of Independence Day.

(This thing was HUGE)

Being in NZ's capital, we had to make the trek over to Parliament and Man Boo was in political geek heaven. We took a tour through the different government buildings and learned a ton about NZ's political workings.  We even learned that one of the sitting members of Parliament was a former Minnesotan by way of California.

(Lunch at a Chippery near our hotel which was awesome. And L&P, the "Inca Kola" of NZ)

Stopped at Huka Falls which was pretty spectacular -- a huge volume of water flowing through a pretty narrow waterfall.  Apparently the water flows at such a fast rate that it could fill an Olympic-sized pool in 11 seconds...

Day Nine and Ten: Abel Tasman and Kaiteritiri

Our day in Abel Tasman National Park included some of the best highlights (in my opinion) of the entire trip. We got up bright and early and headed to the north side of the park. While the south side is usually the most popular, the best hikes were only accessible by kayak and the weather was iffy.  I loved the tramps we ended up taking -- Jamie and I basically had the whole trail to ourselves and the weather cleared up just in time for our adventures.

We did a lovely tramp alongside a river, across a couple suspension bridges, and landed us at the base of a pretty great waterfall.

A day hike like this in the States would have been completely overrun by visitors...

We decided to head over to Takaka and Kahurangi National Park to check out Te Waikoropupu Springs (a.k.a. Pupu Springs....heh).  Ironically, the water in Pupu Springs is considered among the clearest fresh water in the world.  It was officially the clearest fresh water on inhabited land until a few years ago when it was "out-cleared" by another lake in a more remote location in Tasman. Still. It was pretty incredible.  It was hard to capture with my amateur photography skills and equipment, but trust me, you could see all the way to the bottom through the springs and it got pretty deep.

And of course, the drive along the coast back to our "bach" (i.e. NZ AirBnB equivalent) was gorgeous.  We had to stop and take a stroll...