Thursday, November 26, 2009

An Aloha Thanksgiving


Greetings from Waikiki!

As I sit here in my bed, Ian is watching 'Curious George' and practicing breathing through his snorkel. Without the luxury of my mother and grandmother's cooking today, we decided not to even attempt to cook a traditional Thanksgiving for ourselves....but rather, we'll be spending the day firmly rooted at the beach--giving thanks just the same.

We arrived here in Honolulu on Tuesday afternoon, after 2 very long flights, 1 night in a very mediocre hotel in Los Angeles, and many, many visits to the airplane lav. (Bridget, you'd be so proud of me. I hadn't used an in-flight toilet since the beginning of this decade--no exaggeration). But being nearly 6 months pregnant, and not wanting to die of deep-vein thrombosis, I was able to overcome my distaste (understatement) of airplane lavs. And you know what? It wasn't that bad. By the end of it all, my ankles still looked liked knees and my shoes didn't fit, but whocarescauseIjustlandedinhawaii!!

It took me less than 5 minutes on the roads to realize that my goal for this trip was to simply relax. That's the Hawaiian way, you know. No one's in a hurry. No one breaks the speed limit. Heck, no one goes the speed limit. =) And even though there's a significant bit of aloha that courses through my veins, I apparently did not get the relax gene. At least, not to this degree. BUT...being Hawaiian can also be a learned behavior, I think. At least I hope so.

On the docket today: snorkeling at Hanauma Bay and relaxing at Kailua Beach. And lots of swimming. And eating. And playing in the sand. You know, intuitive Thanksgiving stuff.

And while we realize that no amount of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts or Hawaiian sweet bread can make up for missing out on my mother's rolls and pies, we're happy to be here...

Friday, November 20, 2009

October Review

In October, we were so excited for Shara and Jackson to come visit for a week. Apparently, the brisk Wisconsin weather decided to follow them here, but we had a FANTASTIC time. It was a great Boston-in-the-Fall week together. Below are some fun moments from our visit to the Boston Children's Museum.








Here are some other October highlights---------------

Apple season was in full swing at our house--which provided Joe and Ian with some fantastic cooking opportunities. For the record, Ian owns two aprons.


A family in our ward had us over to carve pumpkins...it was quite impressive....


...and then Ian found the trampoline... =)


For Halloween, Ian was a "silly green monster." I thought he was adorable...but once again, we got our annual cold/ear infection at Halloween (it's the third year in a row), so he wasn't as into it as I'd hoped. Here are Ian and Joe at the ward Halloween party.


...And it wouldn't be right to show pictures of our family without pictures of Chester. =)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Okay, Okay

Joe thinks I should post this picture. I think I would rather not. But I think Joe wins. And believe it or not, this is the compromise. =) (He wanted it to be on the Christmas card). HA!


Yeah, you can tell that I wasn't totally prepared and/or thrilled about this picture. But you know, we have to document the process, right?

So, as a baby update (and I'll be posting more pictures of our recent adventures soon, I promise) I'm about 23 weeks and feeling....good. The slight hesitation is for my new-found tension headaches, which you know...well....yeah, they're not fantastic or anything...but definitely bearable. Other than that, I'm doing far better than I was up until about 20 weeks. Who knew a person could throw up that much!!? =) Food is finally looking good (great!) again, and I'm back in the kitchen cooking.

For the record, Joe stepped it up big time in the culinary department. I didn't cook for a full five months, and he didn't once complain. I even caught him in the kitchen one night with three batches of cookies going all at once. "You don't bake anymore," he said, "I'm having withdrawals." And many people were the beneficiaries of Joe's withdrawals. In fact, our freezer is still hosting quite a few of Joe's withdrawals.

As far as we know and have been assured by our doctor, our baby boy is doing well--and measuring about a week big. (But when you consider his genetics, that comes as no surprise to me....I'm talking to YOU, Mr. Joe Jackson I weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces). I wasn't much lighter, to be honest.

As for Ian, he's well anxious to be a big brother. In fact, he's so excited that he loves to insert himself into the Great Name Debate of 2009. At least 4 times per day, he'll turn to me and say, "Hey, Mom, what do you think of the name [fill in the blank]?" So far, his favorite name suggestions are Trotter, Kotter, Totter, and Motter. I am not making that up.

In all seriousness, we're starting to hope that this little boy is born with a name tag. So any name suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Really. Keep 'em comin'.

Pictures coming asap.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009