Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Now the waiting game!






Well, I am in week 40...and just waiting, waiting, waiting! I am completely off work, and the house is reorganized and ready again after the craziness of the fire. Now what? My company gave Patrick and I the jogging stroller we wanted (which was a GREAT surprise!), so we put that together last night. This week I have also cleaned all the floors in the house, vacuumed all the furniture, organized a few dresser drawers...and this moring I baked banana bread!

Doesn't this baby know she is supposed to arrive this week???


Tuesday, November 18, 2008

New slide show through week 38.

Week 39 update



Well, I am officially off work this week, but today I worked for a few hours to prep for a board meeting I'll be attending tomorrow, so I am still plugged into the office. I felt like I was taking plenty of time off to prepare with some extra relax time, but it already seems to be going quickly!



Today I had an appointment for a car seat safety check, they helped me install the seat safely and showed me how to buckle the baby in securely. It was difficult enough with the practice doll, I can only imagine how it will be with a real baby until I get used to all the buckles and straps!



The next few days I'll be organizing the baby's stuff, her changing table, getting her crib situated, etc. I'll take and post some photos. Over the weekend Patrick and I had a date...possibly our last one for a while. Here are a few pictures of us, plus some of the dirt in our house from the fire.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Back at Home!!

Whew! What a crazy few days!! Patrick and I packed the cars and went to Maynard and Linda's Thursday night. Thursday and Friday the fire burned over 100 homes and got within a half a mile from our place! Saturday during the day the evacuation order was lifted for our neighborhood...but we are less than a block from the mandatory line and the air quality was so bad that we decided to wait one more day. We had a Saturday night date planned, so we went out and had a good time and tried to relax.
We came home this morning and were relieved to find the air relatively clear and most of the ash had stayed outside. Patrick hosed down the outside of the house and deck while I vacuumed around all the windows and doors inside. Fire crews had been up and down the street making way for equipment and removing brush, the evidence they were here is both strange and comforting. The worst thing today is the heat! It is about 90 degrees out and the house has been closed for days so it is HOT in here, but we can't really open up without letting tons of ash back in.
I feel good, no early labor or issues with the baby or anything. Patrick has done a great job of taking care of me and making sure I was out of the smoke and not working too hard. We're super happy to be back at the house and to know that we'll be able to have the baby here.
Everyone on the block seems to be coming home today and is cleaning up and settling back in. It feels strange to be back here and thankful for our good fortune when there are people so close to us who lost everything. There will be a lot of things to think about this year at Thanksgiving!
Thanks for all the calls and emails checking on us, I'll be posting pictures soon!

Friday, November 14, 2008

38 weeks...and Evacuated!!!

Around 5:45pm last night the "Tea Fire" broke out in the canyons between Santa Barbara and Montecito. Patrick could see the flames and smoke from his office, so he called me and told me not to panic, but to pack a bag. I got Suzallo (our cat) in his carrier by the front door, and put our fire safe box with papers in the car, and then kind of wandered the house trying to figure out exactly what the "necessities" are when you have to just grab them and go.
From the street in front of the house you could see the glow and smoke from the fire just over the hill, the neighbors were all outside talking and making sure everyone was getting organized and getting ready to leave. It was scary, but I felt reassured that everyone was looking out for each other.
Patrick came home from work (after what felt like ages!), and we had time to pack some larger bags (with two weeks left before my due date I was torn between my maternity clothes and my regular ones!!). We grabbed baby stuff and personal stuff and headed out to Goleta to stay with Linda and Maynard. Our neighborhood was officially put under mandatory evacuation a few hours later. We're safe, we have everything we need if we have a baby before we can get home...or if the worst happens and we lose our home.
As scary as it was, the fire looked spectacular crawling across the hills in the dark. I'll try to post some pictures soon...and promise to keep everyone updated on what is going on.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Week 36 update.

I have always been ankle challenged (thanks Grandma Buzzell), but I have officially transitioned into "cankle" territory this week. The ankle/feet swelling symptom all the books talk about has finally come my way. Thankfully, not many other troubling symptoms have bothered me and I have had a pretty great pregnancy. I am both scared and excited to be 4 weeks away from my due date...but mostly excited.

I'm slowing down a bit and have finally replaced my weight training classes with more prenatal yoga. I'm still as active as I can be, it is hard to get comfortable enough to sleep at night...so it helps to be really tired! I have also given up the scooter for the most part. It is actually more comfortable to drive than trying to fold myself into my car...but it is dark so early now and I'd hate to be out somewhere with it and go into labor and be a bit stranded. At least with my car Patrick can bike over to meet me, throw the bike on the roof, and drive me home!

Patrick and I are fully "educated" on this birth stuff now...we finished our childbirth class series this week and this morning we attended a Baby Basics class. We brought along some of our cloth diapers and got to show the class how cute and easy they are...hopefully we inspired some converts! This afternoon we installed the car seat (thanks again Grandma Andrea and Grandpa Dave!) it seemed pretty easy so we'll definitely be dropping by the fire station to have the guys there give it a safety check!

Other than that we're just trying to enjoy the fall weather in SB by hiking, going to the beach, and baking lots of cookies. Here are a few recent pictures...


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