Snow Blast PDX Style

Upon checking weather.com this morning our 10 day forecast was rain...all rain...everyday.



(Front Yard)

(Side Yard, by Driveway)

Joe is working on a shoot downtown for the day. I got a call from him around 2p.m. telling me that it was snowing there. Well I looked out the window here and NO SNOW. I was bummed. But then ten minutes later. SNOW!!! I immediately checked weather.com in order to not get my hopes up that it would snow for the evening. Weather.com still stated rain, there was an advisory in effect stating that we might get a wintery mix. Two hours later and it's still snowing. Very exciting for me b/c all I want every winter season is snow. Our weather advisory at this moment says 1-4 inches (we have about 1 inch right now!) If it continues I'll try and take some morepictures! (Mud & CB watching the snow)

14 weeks to go!

Can it really be that soon?

So far I have experienced so many different things...

Nausea
Vomiting
Sleeplessness
Insomnia
Severe Leg Cramps
Weight Gain
Random pains in the stomach
Round Ligament Pains
Baby Girls Movements

EDITED FOR JOE: being HOT all the time and forcing Joe to sleep with the fan on AND the windows open!!!

I'm still curious as to when I will feel the "glow" of pregnancy :)

Things have been well in PDX. 1 more week of school until Christmas Break. And am I so ready for it. This week could not go any faster.

22 weeks!

So according to my little pregnancy ticker we have 17 weeks and 6 days until our little Garbonzonette enters the world :)

Time really has gone by so fast so far. And all we have gotten are a few outfits from family, some hand me downs off of CL and a BUMBO from one of Joe's Co-workers. We painted the nursery when we first moved into the house and put up some gender neutral curtains. My question is, When do you actually start furnishing the nursery? We were planning on waiting til January. That would give us a little shy of three months to do everything. Does that sound about right?

Yesterday Joe and I went to the local cloth diaper store in North Portland. We had visited the website many times and have watched a few videos on cloth diapering. We knew we wanted fitted diapers and covers. But we figured it was time to actually see the real thing! It was def. fun going into the store and looking at all the teeny tiny diapers. It was also very overwhelming!

And for those that are still hanging around and reading my blog, YES I'm still getting sick. What's the most annoying is reading other "pregnancy blogs" and finding that they ALL stopped getting sick between weeks 10-12. What, that was 10 weeks ago for me :( Granted, it's not everyday, but this past week, it was 4 days :( And to top it off, I woke up Friday morning with a horrible Sinus Infection. Coudn't swallow, felt like my eyes and nose were on fire. But before I could relax I had to get through a stressfull Friday. My para wasn't going to be in, so I knew I would have a sub. Which is sometimes way more work than not having anyone. Many people don't understand the kids we work with, and you just can't talk/treat them the same way you would regular students. To top that off I had an observation by our principal in the afternoon. It's not that the observation is a bad thing, I just stress over it because I want everything to be perfect! And the an added bonus, is I had an IEP meeting after school on Friday. (at this point, I just wanted to go home!) The said IEP meeting last 2 1/2 hours. When I left school, I had been there for a whopping 11 hours! Let's just say when I got home, I CRASHED!

So here is hoping this week goes better. We take a red eye flight to Cville on Wednesday night. I'm just hoping that my sinuses feel better (because I hate flying in the first place, and flying while SICK and PREGGERS is not the best combo!)

Fall Crafts

So I thought I'd show some pics of the crafts I've been up to....Above is a twig wreath from Michaels, pack of leaves, A wooden "s" which I painted then Mod Podged with some fall scrapbook paper. It's on our front door, however the leaves have been drenched. So next year I'll rethink what I put on it!

Got this bucket at GoodWill for 3 bucks. I spray painted it and then filled it with random branches, etc. from Michaels.

My Fall Letters (more painted Wood Letters with Scrapbook paper Mod Podged on afterwords. Still thinking of what I'd like to do for Christmas. Any ideas?
Not crazy about this, but I figured I'd give it a shot. It was a scratched silver serving tray which I spray painted a blue, then used chalkboard paint to paint the inside. I've got to remember to grab a piece of chalk from work and write on it!
And last but not least, my Paperback Wreath. Try to ignore the horrible white wall behind it (we haven't decided what to paint the downstairs yet, I think it will look awesome with a brown behind it! If you want to know how to make it, email me and I'll send you the tutorial I used (not sure of the name off the top of my head!)

Listen to this song....

Normal Man by Duff Dugan

Unfortunately it can only be found at http://www.myspace.com/duffduganmusic

I'm in love with it :)

It's a Girl!

Sorry it took so long to post this. I've been swamped at work with three IEP's, Progress Reports and Report Cards. But all I'm doing today is relaxing.

Almost two weeks ago we went to the Doc for our "sex" test! We had no idea what to expect. But we were both pleasantly surprised with the knowledge of our sonogram expert. She went slow and explained all the parts of our little darling to us. I'm attaching a few pic's (sorry they didn't come out as well as hoped!)

I tried to load the one from FB that shows our pumpkin, but Joe has it saved in a way that I can't flip it, so I'll load that one later.

My favorite is the last one, where she looks like she is sucking her thumb!

So you know you are a _________.

One of my friends just posted this, who works in the "social work" area. So what I do is basically like a social worker. Every single one of these ring true!

Pay close attention to these numbers! The are SO very true!

#8, 16, 21, 23, 24, 25

You know you're in social work when....

1. You think $40,000 a year is "really making it".

2. You don't really know what it's like to work with men.

3. You know all the latest lingo for drugs, where to get them, and how much they cost.

4. You've started a sentence with 'So what I hear you saying is...'

5. You've had 2 or more jobs at one time just to pay the bills.

6. You tell people what you do and they say "that's so noble".

7. You have had to explain to people that not all social workers take away kids.

8. You use the words 'validate,' 'appropriate' and 'intervention' daily.

9. You spend more than half your day documenting and doing paperwork.

10. You think nothing of discussing child abuse over dinner.

11. People have said to you "I don't know how you do what you do".

12. You've never been on a business trip or had an expense account.

13. You know a lot of other social workers who have left the profession for another.

14. You've very familiar with the concept of entitlement.

15. Staying at a job for 2 years is 'a long time'.

16. Your phone number is unlisted for good reason.

17. Your professional newsletters always have articles about raising salaries...but you still haven't seen it.

18. You've very familiar with the term 'budget cut'.

19. You can't imagine working at a bank or crunching numbers all day.

20. You've had clients who liked you just a little too much.

21. Having lunch is a luxury many days.

22. You've been cursed at or threatened...and it doesn't bother you.

23. Your job orientation has included self defense.

24. You have the best stories at any cocktail party.

25. Your parents don't know half of the stuff that you've dealt with.

Few things...

1) Glee is F-ing hilarious :) I finally watched the first episode and why haven't I watched this yet!!! I mean really...if you haven't watched yet, DO IT! Then we can talk about it!

2) Tomorrow is the big day! (or should I say one of the big days). We have our 18-20 week ultrasound in the morning. Everyone always ask what we think we are having. I honestly don't know. Based on my characteristics, I would guess boy! But I have never been preggers before, so how do I know!!!!

3) First Thunderstorm of the season :) And hail.....We live in the NW where there are NEVER thunderstorms, so I get super excited when we have one. Especially one that comes out of nowhere!

4) I'm hoping to post some of my Fall crafts soon! So stay tuned!!!

Mud Mud's Talent (and Mine)

Our Mud Mud loves to sing! Even more if we have the harmonica out :)

Out the Window

I went 4 days without being sick...this has to be a good sign right? Last night I started feeling queasy on my way home from boxing. I made it home, had a bowl of granola and then just played around on the computer. I had to pick Joe up from work around 10. When we got home, I was having trouble sleeping and just not feeling well at all.

I finally got to sleep around 11:30, but me being an early bird I was up by 6. I should add that I use the restroom about every two hours during the night (Just God's way of preparing me for when the baby comes!) Anyways I woke up and felt pretty crappy while taking a shower. I got dressed and as I was putting on my jeans, BAM there is was. I quickly rushed to the sink and dry heaved for a good five minutes. Of course this woke Joe up (He is so good to me, runs to me, grabs my kleenex and water and rubs my back). I finally made it out of the house but about ten minutes later on HWY 30 I start heaving again. Let's just say it wasn't pretty! I had to pull over to the side and spent a good ten minutes just me and my cup of puke.

To top it all off, another rough day at work....I'm finally standing up for myself.....I'm so emotional with what I think is right, sometimes I just have to leave meetings. Maybe it's that red head thing, but when I get mad I GET mad :)

Oh well, tomorrow is always a new day and here's hoping for the best!

On a side note, Joe and I are headed to Rockaway Beach this weekend and for a hike on Saddle Mountain....I'm ready to get out of town (even if it is for only 1 night!)

"Hold Your Head Up"

Hold Your Head Up by Agent

And if it's bad
Don't let it get you down, you can take it
And if it hurts
Don't let them see you cry, you can take it

Hold your head up, hold your head up
Hold your head up, hold your head high

And if they stare
Just let them burn their eyes on you moving
And if they shout
Don't let them change a thing what you're doing

Hold your head up, hold your head up
Hold your head up, hold your head high

So this year I've decided to stand up for myself a bit more. I'm normally the type of person that will say yes to anything work related. I'm a push-over. I'll serve on more committees, I'll take the extra student, Sure I'll take the student no one else wants. Well I'm finally going to try and actually stand up for myself.

It's going to be hard. Especially in my school setting. For those of you that don't really know where I work, here's a short synopsis.

I work on a residential treatment facility for kids K-12 that have emotional, mental and psychological problems. These used to be the kids that were sent away to hospitals, facilities and even jail. Most of our kids have severe aggression issues. We are trained yearly on proper hold techniques. If you work in schools, think about the Behavior Classroom. Now times that by 20. That's what I work with on a daily basis. I really do love my job. It's stressful and I often break down (granted this is at home and not where my kids can see me!) I'm verbally and physically assulted often. But I know what I'm doing will make a difference. These kids don't have stable families, they don't come to school with name brand shoes. It's normally clothes from the Center's attic, with their initials black inked on. Not many people will stand up for these kids and actually think they can make it in everyday society. I think every teacher should spend a day in a setting like this, so that they can appreciate what they have so much more and start to make a difference in their student's lives.

I should also mention that my classroom is the one where the "bad" kids are placed. I tend to get the more difficult kids, and I welcome that challenge with open arms. I learn something daily from this and am very thankful that I can.

So now that you have an idea of my school, I'll let you know about our staff. We only have 6 classrooms, which means 6 teachers. A very small setting. And it is amazing that all of our teachers want what is best for their kids. However we have some that are so stubborn in their ways that they always get what they want. This is where I get put into a really awkward position. Again, 6 teachers, we all have a cap of 10 students. 4 male teachers and 2 women (Different I know, but I think it coincides with our setting. You will never see a preppy, prissy teacher here!)So I'm already at 9 kids. The two classes with younger kids are holding steady at 5 and 6. The upper middle school class has 6 kids and the H.S. class has 3. Yes, you heard me, 3. So based on that, do the numbers look right? I'll start by saying that we do try and keep kids together based on grade levels. However in the past two years, I have had a range of 4th through 12th graders in my class at 1 time. Now that is the deal with Special Ed. You differentiate, you scaffold. You learn to teach everyone. But right now I feel as if we have certain teachers that could care less about what is fair and right. They think they should get to pick and choose what kids are in their classroom. I'm tired of it. When one of my 9 kids because aggressive int he classroom, throwing things, cussing, hitting, it sets off all 8 of my other kids. I want what's best for my students and cramming them all into one room isn't working (Oh, it might be a good idea to mention that I have the smallest classroom on campus!) I want other teachers to start standing up as well and saying "something doesn't look right here."

I know this is turning into more of rant than an explanation of my feelings. I apologize for that. But Hell isn't that what Blogs are for?

Okay I'm done for now. I'm not even going to read over what I've written. So if you find a mistake, well done! :)

Update on Updates!

We are now at 14 weeks :) Woohooo!

This is a recap from our 12 week appt with the Doc.

On the 8 week appt, we met our nurse practitioner. She was incredibly nice.(and I'm assuming we will see more of her) This time we met our doc. He was awesome, so informative and funny.

Everything looks good. Apparently my blood type is O- which only 15% of the population are. Thought that was interesting. So near the due date, I'll have a shot that insures that my body won't fight off other blood types. Apparently the little beano will be a positive (Either O or B like Joe) and sometimes the kids blood can get in my blood, so they need to tell my body to not fight it if it does. He said that the first birth normally doesn't cause problems. But this shot will help the second birth even more.

He also explained that I am not immune to Rubella, and right after the birth I will need the vaccine for that. He was surprised that I didn't get it again b/c I work with kids. I have never heard that, so that's interesting!!!

He tried to listen to the heartbeat, but didn't have much luck. The baby is still tilted towards the back and all he could hear was movement. So we got to have a quick ultrasound. It was pretty cool. The little guy was sitting up and had these hiccup like movements. We saw his left hand stretched out and you could see all the bones! He was definitely waving at us :)

We are scheduled for another ultrasound and blood draw next week for some additional tests. Hopefully those will go well!

It's Official!!!

We are having a baby :) Due date March 27, 2010.

I'm currently 10 1/2 weeks. Here is our ultrasound picture from 8 weeks exactly!

Hopefully I will be able to post daily about our trek through pregnancy!

Funny Video

Joe and I have been laughing about this video for a few hours! I could totally see CB dreaming and doing the exact same thing (he actually runs into walls while he is awake!)

L.G.'s B Day Party

So as many of you know I started boxing around a year ago. Yes, gloves, mitts and hitting. I've grown to love it! I think it makes up for all those years that I swam and there was no physical contact! One of my friends (who we just moved about 10 blocks from and owns the gym) had her birthday party a few weeks ago. LG and Aurora decided to make Sumo Wrestling outfits for the party. What a blast!!!! I would totally recommend playing around with these if you ever get a chance!!!! There were also a few rounds of twister as well as dancing. Good Times.

4th of July Weekend

July 4th was here before we even realized it! We didn't really plan much for the holiday weekend. We ended up playing disc golf with a couple of friends. Then grilled out at the house followed by fireworks watching. Supposedly you can see fireworks from the Fort of Vancouver (however Vancouver city didn't have the money this year). So we settled on watching the fireworks of ALL our neighbors. I have never seen anything like it! Almost all the houses were setting off fireworks in the streets! (Under powerlines, trees etc.) We ended up stopping by "crazy Nathaniel's" house and watched him set off fireworks with his mom. They were quite impressive

On Sunday we ended up going to OMSI to see there CSI exhibit! We have yet to pay full price for this museum which is pretty cool. (We have gone free the last two times, and on Sunday it was the first Sunday of the month and it is only 2 bucks!!!) On our way home from OMSI we stopped at Next Adventure and picked up two disc's to play disc golf with! We then headed out to the Sandy River and Dabney State Park to play 18 holes and then float down the river. It was a perfect day. (I was worried it would be too crowded, but it wasn't bad at all!)

I'm going to try to attach some pictures, hopefully it will work! Stay tuned to see pic's from my friends BDAY party and SUMO wrestling outfits!!!

Slowly but Surely.....

I'll fill y'all in on what has been going on these last few months.

Yesterday my friend and I competed in The Great Urban Race (Portland). Have you ever seen The Amazing Race? Our race was loosely based on that show. It was a huge scavenger hunt that took us over most of downtown. You and your teammate had to dress alike. We went with simple iron on tshirts supporting our boxing gym Sweet Science! Other teams went all out, Mickey and Minnie, Two Peas in a Pod, TMNT, etc....




Our first photo-op :) Before our two hour trek through downtown.















They started by herding us all into a circle and going over the rules (No bikes, cabs, planes, cars, etc.) Then they handed us each team an envelope and instructed us to wait. Then the countdown began. We opened the clue packets and began. There were 12 clues (we are allowed to skip 1) Most of the clues we were able to figure out on our own. A few we used our "Call a Friend" (thanks so y'all!!!)






Clue: Go to the Smith Memorial Union building and recreate the sentence "Portland is a magnificent city to host the Great Urban Race" with letters and words cut out from magazines.









The Finished Project!















Clue: Take a picture in front of a larger than life Chinook salmon sculpture while making a fish face
















Clue: Take a picture posing with a real person wearing Chuck Taylors

One would think that being in Portland it would be easy to find a converse wearing fool (not so!!!)














Clue: Take a picture with the answers to two riddles:
(a)I opened in 1913 and was modeled after The Blackstone in Chicago and (b) I was designed by AE Doyle and the first of 20 of me is located at SW 5th Ave and Washington St. [Thanks to our lifelines for this one!]

(Notice the mask wearing woman in the background!)



Clue: Visit the restaurant that makes pizza "the way it ought to be" and take a picture of one teammate feeding the slice to the other teammate.












Clue: Take a picture standing in front of this statue. [The clue gave us a black and white photo of it]











Clue: Buy office supplies at Office Max and donate them to Schoolhouse Supplies

We had fun with this photo op!!










Clue: Take a picture of ten people flexing their muscles in front of the Skidmore Fountain.

Not a bad idea for this group. They had ten people waiting to flex and take a pic for a donation to Race for the Cure







Clue: Take a picture wearing either a saw, plunger, or golf club headpiece at Spoonman Creations at the Saturday Market.

I think we were getting pretty tired by this point and didn't take full advantage of where we were and our props!








Yeah we finished!!!! And no time penalties (You get a penalty if you take a picture of the wrong thing etc.)









All in all an awesome experience and I would totally love to do it again!

It has been way to long...

Not much time to write today (or ever) Not sure if it's cause I'm too busy are just lazy at time.

One big thing in our lives right now :)

We are in the process of buying a house. We've got a broker. We've got a lender. We just need to find a house. We are planning on staying in North Portland, an area we love.

So I will try and get better at posting and eventually put pics up!

Cara