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...

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.

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.

Day Two and Three: Mount Cook.

Welp. My big dreams of updating from the road didn't really pan out given a combination of "technical issues" with our WiFi hotspot (i.e. the rental company forgot to switch it on before we took off) and just plain tiredness after a day of exploring.

Fortunately, Jamie and I took quite a few pictures which can help me retroactively blog about our time on the other side of the world...

From Christchurch we headed south towards Aoraki (also known as Mt. Cook).  We knew going into our trip that it would involve a bunch of driving considering how much we wanted to see in 13 days.  We were also counting on these drives including lots of picturesque stops on the way.  New Zealand delivered.

These are all from the FIRST DAY of driving. Seriously...so much incredible scenery.  We drove through "Pelennor Fields" (or rather, right by it and through land that looked pretty much the same as it) and ended up at Minas Tirith -- or at least the hotel at the base of the mountain upon which they superimposed Minas Tirith. I neglected to take a picture of it, but it was like this minus the CGI castle and Gandalf.

I should note that Man Boo and I had not planned on geeking out on Lord of the Rings while we were in New Zealand, and we actually didn't realize we were passing or staying in these locations until after the fact when we found a book on the Lord of the Rings locations and skimmed it in a souvenir shop.  Still, it was pretty fun to learn about.

It was pretty rainy, but Man Boo braved a trek in Hooker Valley to see Mt. Cook -- the highest peak in New Zealand (also known as The Lonely Mountain in LotR -- again, something we didn't know until later).  Sadly, it was too cloudy to actually see Mt. Cook, but the hike itself was pretty photogenic...

(This one's a panorama shot so you should click it if you want to see the full picture)

(These suspension bridges were all over NZ -- they were scary wobbly)

(Glacier!)

 Because of the rain and clouds, we weren't able to take advantage of the area's designation as a Dark Sky Reserve, but it was a risk we took booking a NZ trip in the off-season. Hey, we got 70% off our hotel and campervan rental and a bunch of free upgrades so I think it was a pretty good trade-off.  We've got stars in Minnesota.

Next stop: Queenstown!

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!

Last Month, Tonight.

I'm so out of practice with this blog thing.  Here's a quick recap of the last month...

Los Angeles.  When we left off, I was in LA doing work during the day and spending quality time with my parents at night.  We even made a trip to Las Vegas over the weekend for a mini-vacation and to take advantage of a free room with a Las Vegas-y view.

Thanksgiving.  After a quick trip back to Minneapolis, I hopped back on a plane for LA again...this time for Thanksgiving festivities.  Managed to pull off a pretty tasty Thanksgiving together with the whole family.  Man Boo came through with the brave and skilled lowering of the turkey into blazing hot oil...

...and 56 minutes later we had a delicious spread.

As usual, it was great to be with family.  Of course, we played a Calvinball-esque version of ping pong.  Needless to say, Man Boo lost 318 to 0.

Got older and baked a lot.  Flew through Minneapolis to get to Boston for work the next day and celebrated another year of life.  Never mind that I totally forgot how old I was turning.  That's what happens once you pass thirty...Upon coming back home I immediately set out to BAKE for our annual holiday/birthday party the next day.  I think I made enough cookies.

Clockwise from left: glazed lemon cookies, sweet and spicy nuts, chocolate crinkle cookies, and peanut butter blossoms.  I should note that this is not even half of the cookies I baked.  Jamie insisted that I bake 142 peanut butter blossoms because apparently every single person at our party would want one or two.  That, folks, is how much I love my husband.

Work, work, work.  Throughout all this has been some really busy work time.  Still loving the job, but it's sort of kicking my butt these days.  After weekly travel for the last month and a half, I really enjoyed my first full weekend at home and am looking forward to my first full week here too.  Minneapolis has been accommodating by giving us some 50 degree weather.  

Next post: PUPPY UPDATE!!

Helping Paws.

So here's something!  After a lot of deliberation, Man Boo and I made the decision to foster a service dog!  Crazy, right?

We have always wanted a dog.  Despite having two cats, we're both "dog people".  Sadly, the kind of dog that we wanted (i.e. the frisbee catching-type) was never a realistic option because we did not feel we had the time and space to provide a good home for one.

The stars began to align when we moved to Minneapolis and purchased a home with more space and a backyard larger than a postage stamp.  They aligned further when I realized that working from home provides me the time and flexibility to provide care for a puppy.  And finally, when we met Tango...

...at the Helping Paws demo at the Minnesota State Fair this year, we really began to think much more seriously about the possibility.  After plenty of research, sitting in on training classes, and conversation we took the leap and put our application in.  

A couple interviews, references, and a home visit later we were invited into the Helping Paws family as foster parents to a puppy from the upcoming litter of Labrador puppies.  "Our" puppy was born on November 5th...

Mommy dog gave birth to 10 puppies and while we don't know which one will be ours (for the next two years or so) we do know that he or she is somewhere in that heap of adorable.  

I'm probably going to obsess over this puppy for a while, so I hope you all are alright for puppy overload in the next months.

The next question, of course, is why a service dog?  I'll save answering that question for another post...

Living Teddy Bear.

Oh shoot.  I said every other day, didn't I?

You see, I had big plans to take a bunch of pictures of our house to share today, but got sort of swamped with work. Instead, I will share some Cody stories.  Because everyone* loves a good Cody story.

You may remember when we got Cody.  Since we adopted him as an adult cat from the animal shelter we don't really know how old he is.  I'm guessing he was probably around a year or so when we got him, so that would make him 8 or 9ish.  With age, he has become more and more of a teddy bear.

Yes, that is what I wake up to most mornings, yes his head is on my pillow, and yes his arm is around my neck in that picture.  Sadly, also with age he is taking it slower up the stairs and is no longer able to jump as high.  That may have to do more with the fact that he is a BIG cat than it does with age, but he still can be quite spry when he is chasing after Junior or the laser pointer.

One of the most initially-endearing/currently-annoying manifestations of his age is that he will paw at my butt when I'm working so that I will lift him up to the desk.  That's right.  My cat can no longer jump onto my lap or the desk without assistance.  I have a video of this phenomenon so you can truly see how annoying it is, but to be honest, it's not the best lighting.  Since he does it every day I will see if I can get a better shot of it tomorrow.

Another manifestation of his age (or sheer laziness) has thankfully ceased.  But, while we were in our first digs in Minneapolis and there were ample sunbeams to lay in, Cody picked up this lovely habit.

Glad to report he no longer does that and can be bothered to stand while he eats now.

Finally, as I am now working from home and spend a good chunk of my day at the computer, Cody has found a way to ensure that he is getting the attention he craves.  That is, of course, after he pokes my butt incessantly until I lift him onto the desk.

I love my crazy cat and Jamie can confirm that I tell Cody as much on a daily basis.  I love him even more for knowing that I don't like him sitting on my keyboard and that he has the good sense to sit behind the monitor.  

He's a pretty great cat.  And in case you're worried about him, he has a teddy bear of his own...

*"Everyone" is being used very loosely.

The Move (Part 2).

I had every intention of following up with another post much sooner than I did!  Hopefully, I will still be able to have some kind of coherent narrative despite writing about something that happened a couple weeks back.  Still, I definitely want to capture it here -- just to remember this milestone some years down the road.

Jamie and I left DC in our big yellow truck filled with all of our worldly possessions.  Or should I say: we attempted to leave DC.  The city seemed to be conspiring against us and blocked our path out with road closings or vertical clearances.  In the end, the extra 45 minutes of driving through the city was actually a nice way to say goodbye to the city that had been our home for nearly a decade.  We said goodbye to the monuments and memorials, marveled at the sheer number of Harleys in town for the rally, and slowly lumbered our way away from the city.

Originally, Jamie and I had planned on splitting up driving responsibilities -- that is, until I saw the sheer size of the truck.  22 feet long + a trailer for our Prius.  It was terrifying to even sit in it while it was in motion, much less be responsible for the well-being of the people inside it and the other cars.  Jamie drove that whole thing to Minneapolis.

That truck went through a LOT of gas.  The first fill-up was something like $120.  Not long enough after, we stopped for our second tank.  We were pretty pleased that it was an even $100 to fill it up.  What are the chances!  we thought smugly to ourselves.  Then, on another gas stop, we hit exactly $100 again.  Pleased as punch that we hit it again -- it softened the blow that we were going to spend over $700 in gas by the time we were through.

It wasn't until we hit $100 the third time that we realized that it wasn't a coincidence: the gas station capped the charge at $100.  That makes sense. It also meant that we were stopping for gas much more frequently than we needed to.  D'oh.

Still, we made it to our destination after 18+ hours of driving, plenty of gas stops, some caffeinated drinks, a Home Depot stop for a new lock, and the the fastest motel stay ever.

Here is the moment our big, yellow truck first crossed the Minnesotan border.  We had some hired college guys meet us on the other end and they unloaded our truck at super-speeds.  By the next day, this is how our new (temporary) home looked:

It felt like home pretty quickly over here.  (The cats agreed).