Rattlesnake sighting

This morning we went up to Ojai for a morning hike in the mountains at what has become our normal spot. We walked in, threw rocks in the river while Angus swam, and ate a snack picnic on the bank. On our way back, Y - walking in the front with Q on his back in a backpack - spotted a rattlesnake lying across part of the trail! The majority of its body was hidden in the brush, but its white rattle and the end of its red-and-black striped body were available. Y adeptly cleared the kids and dog from the area and then threw a rock at the snake to get it to slither off the path and into the bushes. It was amazing to hear the sound of the rattle - its volume and consistency. It reminded me of a battery-powered electronic child's toy, and it went on for a good three or four minutes consistently. I had never seen a rattlesnake before so I found the whole encounter fascinating.

We then had a discussion with J about rattlesnakes, why Daddy threw the rock, whether the animal was hurt (we think not), and how this situation was different from others involving animals (i.e., God made animals and we are are care for them; we don't ever hurt animals unless we are hunting them and plan to eat them; etc.)

Week & weekend recap

The last post was photo-full and content-light, so here are a few not-soon-forgotten memories from our trip to WA last week:

• J and Jackson squealing "buddy" to each other over and over, hilariously, in their carseats at the back of the van (something evidently hysterical in that word to 3-yr old boys)
• Q pulling J's Sesame St underwear out of our suitcase and walking around the Noonans' house with them on her arms as if they were purse-style accessories... a recent favorite pastime of hers (see photo below)
• An outdoor evening fire with Jo Ella and Jeff in the backyard of their lovely home, talking politics and end times
• J and Hans repeatedly throwing various items up into a tree to see if they could get them 'stuck' after an accidental lodging of a toy up there that was retrieved
• (Less fun but still memorable): getting pulled over going 75 mph on the highway in our rental car, which evidently was not equipped with a registration card, just a few exits away from my destination -- after listening to J rage loudly and tearfully in a highly irrational manner for the better part of an hour in the backseat. Who knew that they enforced the 60 mph speed limit in northern WA so diligently?! Thankfully we only received a verbal warning.

We recuped from the trip over the weekend and then had an order-in-pizza dinner party on Sunday night with our Boston-originating gang of local pals, which was great fun. Monday morning Y went surfing with Dan who'd slept over, as is the custom, and next-door neighbor and friend Chuck joined them. Just before the surfing expedition ended, Chuck had a bizarre accident and badly broke the tip of his finger - protruding bone and all - which left him in the ER all day on Memorial Day and ultimately in surgery (pin in his hand, 4 - 6 weeks of rehab time. Poor guy.)

We're back to life more or less as usual now... The kids and I managed to come down with a cold yesterday, so there is more resting (and a bit more crankiness) than usual though nothing too major.

Scenes from Seattle...

...or really, to be more accurate, from Tacoma and Bellingham. But you get the idea.
We had a lovely trip, enjoyable and worthwhile in every way. The kids did great overall and handled the travel better than I hoped. Today we are all exhausted and recovering! Here are a few pics to convey the general idea:

A Starbucks stop on a rainy Tacoma walk (Jackson with Q)

Alexis points out animals to J and Jackson at the Tacoma zoo

Baby Judah, 5 months, with Alexis

J and Q watch farm animals in Bellingham with Aunt Jo Ella, Hans, and Charlotte

Tractor play!

Q and Charlotte put their 'babies' in the swings in the Eriksen back yard

Male-bonding tubby time for J & Hans!

Thanks to our dear and generous-spirited friends for being such wonderful hosts!

And we're off...

The kids and I leave early tomorrow (the house: 5 AM; the airport: 8 AM) to head to Washington for a 5-day visit to visit our dear friends, the Noonans and the Eriksens... First Tacoma,then Bellingham. It's been three years since we saw both families, and each family has a youngest child not yet met by the other(s). I am very excited and naturally a bit nervous. Travelling alone with two kids is always an adventure, and throwing in pregnancy and the fatigue that can come with it is an added new dimension for me. We are sad to leave Y home but thankful that he is able to drive us to and from the airport. [My previous trips with the kids I have driven myself which makes packing and luggage issues more taxing.]

Feel free to breathe a quick prayer for us - for sleepful nights and good-natured kids (and mom!).

Language explosion

Q is on a roll. Over the past few days she has picked up one or several words every day and has turned into our little miss chatty. The past few days have brought us "bottle," "chair," outside," and "diaper." She is putting together three and four word sentences like "More yogurt please Mommy" (frequently said, in fact, as yogurt is basically her favorite food). It is all very cute and endearing.

She adores the clips on her little high-chair style seat and clips them up every time they are left open. Often she pretends she's pinched herself and holds up her "inger" to indicate as much. Most fun of all is to place her little doll into the eating chair and say "baby, chair." Today, as I was organizing clothes bins in her and J's room - while J and daddy were out at a knife show - she sought to put a diaper on the baby for the first time. It's actually rather fascinating for us to watch this imitation-play geared toward girly activities unfold - as these activities were not those her brother undertook at this age. Nor did he enjoy "helping" me unload the dishwasher, as Q delights to do.

I wish I could see these developments came along with a decreased resistance to ANY activity involving personal care of Q... diaper-changing, hair-brushing or styling, face/hands-washing following meals, nail-clipping, towel-drying post bath. But alas, they do not. She remains as irascible and obstinate (read: tears, flailing, and fury) in these activities as ever - much to my chagrin! Clearly the girl likes her personal space and has no intention of mellowing at the prospect with others sharing it with her at close quarters.

The week in photos

It's been a busy week... Y and a colleague of his spent all day and half the night on Monday addressing a work incident, and then all day and evening Tuesday in Los Angeles dealing with follow-up. He slept just a couple of hours on Mon night (which meant I did too). Long daddyless days on the homefront, exhausting all of us by mid-week... though happily we're on all the up-and-up now.

So - perfect time to post some photos of our smiley moments in the past week...!

What better place to play and giggle than Angus' crate?

"Helping" Daddy make Saturday night pizza

Angus's new favorite sunning spot - the bigger better backyard sandbox that Y built

Look what J caught in our new butterfly catcher...!

Monday the kids and I will fly to Washington state for 5 days to visit some friends - two dear families whom we haven't seen since 2006. So prep work and packing for me to tend to in the next few days. I'm very excited but also a little nervous. This will be my fourth trip flying solo with the kids, but my first doing that while pregnant (and sharing a room with both kids while away). Should be interesting!

Moms and milestones

A year ago today - on Mother's Day - I was here with my mom house-hunting in anticipation of our late-June move. It was my first time in the town (barring a one-day stay in fall 1997 with my dear friend Lora when we were doing a cross-country road trip), and my suitcase was littered with maps, Craigslist ads, and realtors' numbers. My mother, who has herself moved internationally eight times, was an indispensable asset. Together we battled jetlag in our 3-day turnaroundt trip, acquainted ourselves with the area, visited a dozen plus houses in this and the surrounding towns, and visited the rental office to put in an application on the house in which we now live.

It was a memorable trip, and my mom was a gem for making it with me. With Y gone for nearly six months during that time period and unable to be here with me, I can't imagine having done it without her. It was a well-timed coincidence that the trip overlapped with Mother's Day, and I was able to express my gratitude to her for this - and the innumerable other ways she supports me - in person.

So my children were with my (also indispensable, highly supportive) mother-in-law rather than with me last year on Mother's Day. This time around Y took J out at 7 AM today to load up with flowers, a balloon, and some donuts to commemorate the occasion. J also made me a little "I love you Mommy" wreath in Sunday School this morning... And I have felt amply celebrated and appreciated. And feel, still more, enormous thankfulness to God that he's given us now 10 months together as a united family in this house, our new home.

My first earthquake

J and I were sitting on my bed reading books before his nap when I heard a noise that sounded as if someone had slammed our large plastic trash containers into the side of our house. (That was my first thought - what item just ran into the house, and how?) Everything was vibrating back and forth, but not wildly or worringly so. It lasted for maybe 15 seconds. I called next door and Chuck, who was in the driveway with his kids, hadn't felt anything. J was unphased so we carried on reading.

Kim called me about a half hour later to congratulate me on my first earthquake (that I felt... I was driving with the kids during the one we had in Sept '08 so wasn't aware of it). Apparently it was located northwest of us in the Ojai region as was a 4.2!

Exciting day in this neck of the woods, where fires in Santa Barbara are raging 30 miles up the road...

Cornhole game, neighborhood style

For his father's recent birthday, our neighbor Chuck built a cornhole game for his father. For those who may not know, cornhole is "similar to horseshoes except you use wooden boxes called cornhole platforms and corn bags instead of horseshoes and metal stakes," as defined by the American Cornhole Association (!). Alternate names for the game are evidently "Corn Toss, Bean Bag, or Bean Toss"... My brother, who bought the game on eBay last summer, calls it "Baggo"(to circumvent the word's slang sexual reference connotation. Chuck and Y made a conscious decision to call the game by its original name in an effort to 'take it back' and make it family-friendly.)

Y and Chuck became cornhole enthusiasts overnight and decided to make themselves their own set. Y, using the plans that Chuck had used for the gift he built his dad, whipped up a few cornhole boxes and Chuck's wife Kim sewed us some bags... And we were off to the races. Suddenly "distance markers" to ensure regulation dimensions appeared on the street in front of both of our houses in white paint, and overnight the game's become a neighborhood favorite activity. Chuck leads the pack in terms of skill - with myself near (OK, at) the rear. Y and I lost handily to Chuck and Kim this afternoon, 21-4. Ouch.

Sit-com life

Every once in a while when you're the mom of young kids, you have a day that makes you feel like you're in candid camera. One thing after another goes wrong till eventually you just think - is this really my life? The past 24 hours have been like that over here. You think - really , they should just make a sitcom about this because I'm sure the general public would find it wildly amusing.

It started with a marathon discipline incident with J in which he - totally atypically - patently refused to nap or even go into his room at naptime... And decided it was a hill worth dying on. After a 75-minute temper tantrum (but who was counting?), my "outlasting" efforts finally prevailed and he went in and slept like a baby. That evening I took Q's diaper off a few minutes before bath time to air out a diaper rash spot, and she proceeded to stand over my (only pair of fitting) pajama's and pee all over them. Lovely. This morning, in an effort to start the day off on a positive note with J given yesterday's challenges, I had an enormous lapse of judgment and let J bring his fruit smoothie onto the couch with us while we were reading a book. (I had my coffee with me, and he was trying to follow suit). Predictably, he spilled it. All. In a huge purple heap on the off-white carpet. All other activities planned for this morning were tabled so I could put an hour's worth of carpet-cleaning efforts into the disaster zone. The funny thing about a bad carpet stain is: painstaking removal work can cause the thing to look 90% better than it did at the beginning, and still look 100% worse than the unstained floor around it. This is the current situation.

I'll end on a high note by posting a few photos from our weekend, which was actually (otherwise) quite fun and relaxing. We went to the Santa Barbara zoo on Saturday morning where J surprised us by wanting to ride the zoo train for the first time... Q rode the baby stationary train- pictured. And then we did our second swimming session yesterday at the YMCA pool, where things are progressing nicely with the kids' water comfort. J adored it and no longer remotely resembles the kid who, last summer, was unwilling to even get into the water.

Running to (a) Stand Still

I've been pleasantly surprised by the fact that I can still run- much further into this pregnancy than I expected. In my second pregnancy I had to stop at 13 weeks... not because I had any cardio-related or muscular challenges but simply because I had to go to the bathroom every 10 minutes. So I stuck to the stair-climber, elliptical machine, yoga, and swimming for the remaining 27 weeks. And I figured that would have to be my m.o. for future pregnancies too.

So imagine my surprise and enthusiasm - especially since we don't belong to a gym here - that I'm still able to jog at 25 weeks! I take my standard route along the bike path that runs adjacent to our house, a span of about 3 roundtrip miles - though I've been cutting it a bit shorter these past few weeks. I guess "run" would be a generous word to describe me at this stage, in all honesty. "Plod" or "lumber" would definitely be more apt terms. Each week I get just that much slower so that, eventually, it will naturally evolve into a simple walk...

I scoped out some swimming pass options at a public pool and I'll probably try to quit while I'm ahead and transition to doing laps for exercise within the next couple weeks. Till then - lace up the sneaks...!