Time Slip.

As you probably know, a lot has happened since my last post.

This little bundle of precious was born at 2:42pm on October 5th, 2016. The 10 days that have passed since then have been a bit of a blur. Needless to say, Jamie and I are over the moon thrilled with our little guy and we think he's perfect in every way. Definitely well worth the wait.

I won't go into the whole birth story but for the headlines:

• Went to the hospital with strong contractions around midnight
• Active labor began around 4am
• Pushing phase lasted almost 4 hours -- it was definitely as painful as I feared
• It is so surreal to feel the weight of your baby on top of your belly instead of in your belly for the first time
• Born at 8lbs 9oz, 22.5" in length, and 14" head

The super-length (apparently the 100th percentile) make finding him clothes a little difficult. More than half of the newborn clothes we got for him don't fit as his legs are too long to fit in them if they have feet. He's not a particularly chubby baby so the top part of him swims in whatever we do find that fits his bottom half. It's super-cute, but also kind of sad when the "pants" are more like capris, or his legs are bunched up. Poor lil' guy.

And his feet were almost too big for the footprint paper at the hospital. Maybe he'll play volleyball some day...

Time is already flying way too fast for me. At his appointment yesterday he was already back up to birth weight and part of me was the tiniest bit sad that he doesn't get to stay this kissable mini-size for too long.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I go and kiss some baby cheeks...

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...

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!

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...

Wonderpup.

One of the biggest life changes since just before the hiatus was the addition of this little guy to our family.

Clyde is SO much fun and such a good boy -- if not a bit hyper at times.  I truly believe he is the most perfect dog alive: so friendly, so well-behaved, so smart, and just so damned handsome.

Anyway, a few weeks back I realized that I should start taping some of his training sessions so that I can remember how awesome he is long after he goes to be with his forever family. I stitched some of those videos together and made this quick video!

He's actually got many more tricks up his "sleeves"so I'll probably try to capture those in time too and make some mega-compilation (with real music) eventually. But for now, this totally warms my heart!

Boundary Waters

I won't pretend that my daily life is blog-worthy by any means -- most days are some combination of the same thing. So to keep things interesting and to jump-start the memories, I figured I would start blogging again by posting about highlights from my year of absence.

I'm going to start with our trip to the Boundary Waters (also known as my first-ever canoe trip).

Let me start by saying this: everyone should go to the Boundary Waters as much as they can.  It is such an intimate and glorious way to experience the wilderness and I cannot wait to get back out there again.

Now that I've said that, I also have to admit that our first couple of hours out there was pretty much a comedy of errors. Like, one of those buddy cop movies where things get worse and worse and you can only laugh.  See this?

Within a minute of taking this picture, both dog and husband were in the water. Clyde couldn't wait to get in the water, and in his excitement created a domino effect that ended with a big shove to Jamie much to the amusement of seasoned canoers around us.  By the time we got out in the canoe Clyde's excitement hadn't abated and a 60lb dog running back and forth on a canoe isn't the most fun for someone (me) who had never canoed before.

We "pulled over" and tried rearranging things a bit putting Clyde up front with me rather than having his way in the middle of the canoe.  This was much more successful as we quickly learned that Clyde had just been trying to get to me the whole time...once there he just went to sleep with his head in my lap.  

Once making it to land for our first portage, we strapped on our hiking boots.  I took my first step and the sole of my boot came off.  Incredulous, I took another step to get to a rock and investigate when the sole of the other boot came off.  I no longer had hiking boots and I had only taken two steps of an estimated many miles.  We forged on -- for the first time I was grateful for my thick-soled Incan feet.

The second important lesson I learned was to never trust Jamie when he told me it was safe to walk somewhere.

Shortly after this picture was taken, I was fully submerged in the water (Clyde jumped in after me because he's a good boy) because Jamie assured me that the grass on the right which is clearly floating ON TOP of the water, was solid ground. Despite my proving it was not to him with an oar, he still insisted that I step on it to get in the canoe. Those pants were wet for the rest of the trip. Jamie was sheepish for the next couple of hours.

Despite all of this, it was still an incredible day and totally worth it.

We spent four days out there, with each night at a campsite even more picturesque than the last. We had a whole island to ourselves in Lake Cherokee and I don't think I had ever seen Clyde happier -- he had a forest to run and lake to swim at his disposal.

We enjoyed the solitude together and took in the incredible feeling of being in a place so quiet and pristine.

We managed to make it the entire trip without tipping the canoe in a lake (the one time it did sort of tip was when we parked it and Jamie was about to get back in, but I'm not counting that) and without any of our gear lost to the lakes.  Clyde did lose some his treats from his treat bag, but I like to think that was just him sharing food with the fish.

Ultimately, we paddled and portaged SO many miles...

...but the incredible scenery made those miles fly by.  That, and the fact that Jamie carried the canoe by himself when we portaged. He assured me it was easier that way, but I'm not so sure...

Boundary Waters gets two enthusiastic thumbs and four fuzzy paws up!

Maximum Cuteness.

About this time, everyone has written about their year -- reflecting on the highs and lows.  I have so much to catch up on, I'd rather just share some of the memories from the past week.

Starting with these two...

Can you believe how much they have grown??  Can you believe how beautiful they are???  The picture cannot capture how smart, sweet, and hilarious they are so just trust me when I say they are pretty incredible 6 year-olds.

Of course, we capture a lot of video during our holiday with the family.  Unfortunately, we haven't been able to edit it together yet -- stay tuned.

In California, we were busy with our families, eating good food, enjoying our gifts, and sharing quality time with our loved ones.  We even had time to take a quick trip to Big Bear for some skiing!  

We headed back in to "chilly" Minneapolis last night and woke up bright and early to pick up little Clyde.

Our little service dog-in-training has been a great addition to our household so far.  He's super-smart -- he already gets that outside is for potty and has consistently gone within 10 seconds of us taking him out.  The frigid cold air may have something to do with that, though. We also hear that he already sleeps through the night.  Time will tell.

He doesn't quite seem to get how dog beds are supposed to work yet, but I'll chalk it up to first day fatigue.

Happy New Year everyone...

The Move (Part 1).

It has been an eventful week but we are emerging from the other end of it as Minnesotans.  It was a pretty bumpy ride though (literally and figuratively).

Through this move I learned quite a few things:

1) Always check your flight information as soon as you get to the airport.
Jamie attempted to fly to DC on Friday evening after work.  His flight was scheduled to make it in around 12:50am.  Sadly, that late hour turned out to be much earlier than he actually ended up making it into town.  Perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't traveling with me, but he took a much more laxed approach (I tend to be a bit of a worry-wart).  This meant that upon arriving to the airport early, he grabbed dinner before checking the gate information for his flight.  (Edited to add: Jamie wanted to make sure I let you all know that we had checked his flight status on the way to the airport and it was on-time -- lulling him into a false sense of security)  By the time he arrived at his gate, he learned that the flight was delayed an hour and a half and that they had been calling him to board an earlier flight direct to DC.

This turned out to be the first of many bumps in the road.

Jamie figured that with the delay he would miss his connection and would therefore be stuck in Chicago.  Instead, he booked a flight to Newark (the only other flight going to the East Coast) and I rented a car for him online.  This would get him to DC around 4am.

We later learned that the flight from Chicago was also delayed and he would have made his connection and gotten in a few hours earlier.  Sad times.

2) We are leaving behind some pretty generous people in DC.
Working off of only a few hours of sleep, we got started packing and loading our house bright and early Saturday morning.  Our friend, Leah, had been graciously holding a ton of our stuff in her extra bedroom and Scott agreed to meet us there.  We were joined for some seriously heavy lifting/packing by Dan, Garth and Andrea, Katie and Matt, and Dave and Tracy.  Needless to say, we could not have gotten it all done without all those extra hands and big hearts.

Scott actually was with us for a marathon-esque 16 hours.  (We got a little loopy around dinner time.)

That crazy amount of devotion and lifting/packing/organizing more than makes up for his part in the next bump in the road...

3) Never ever leave the key in the lock.
Around 1am we put the last items in the truck.  The sound of that door sliding down was music to our ears.  The latch closing was even sweeter.  We awaited the satisfying click of the padlock...but it never came.  Rewind several hours earlier when Scott told us casually that he left the key in the lock so that we wouldn't lose it in the chaos.  Strange, I thought, did he mean the house key?  Sadly, that question was answered when we didn't get the satisfying click.  In the time since that the key was left in the lock, the sliding door had been opened and closed a few times, breaking the key off in the lock in the process.

We were stuck, at 1am, with no way of locking our truck with all of our worldly possessions contained inside, in the middle of the District of Columbia, and no means of purchasing another lock that would fit our truck.

We hit the internet looking for solutions, we WD-40'd and banged that lock, we broke out the needle-nose pliers.  No luck.  Instead we just had to laugh at how ludicrous the situation was after so many hours of labor.  To me, it was the perfect way to end our time in DC with Scott.  Scott who -- let's be honest -- is the hardest part about leaving DC.

Jamie and I pushed our air mattress up against the open window so that we could hear if someone opened the truck and took turns getting out of bed to check on it throughout the night before our 7am departure.  In the end the truck was fine and the next day, Jamie and I hopped into our GIANT moving truck and set off for Minnesota.  We learned a few more lessons along the way...but I'll save them for the next post.

It's a weird perspective, but this is Jamie's last time walking down our steps...

Lima.

Yup.  Man Boo and I went to Lima, Peru.

It had been 7 years since we last went to Peru and it is incredible how much has changed.  The economy there has been doing great and it is reflected in how clean the streets are, the free WiFi in the parks, how many restaurants have sprung up, and how many more cars are on the road.  Apparently, Lima has more Pinkberries than Los Angeles...go figure.  And I'm sure the American Pinkberries don't sell Lucuma froyo.

Of course, Jamie and I had changed too.  The last time we came to Peru, my dad cornered him in a bar (I was not invited) and had the whole "what are your intentions with my daughter?" talk.  A few months later we were engaged.  Needless to say, I have fond memories of our last visit.

This time, we only had a week to spend, so we stayed in Lima.  And had a blast.  Here are a bunch of pictues (in no particular order)...