Sarah's new toys

While Mike was gone last weekend, I went on a huge shopping spree. This is pretty unusual for me, as in general I'm pretty cheap, but there were some things we needed for the baby, and some things that were nice to have for the baby, and I may have gotten a few things for myself. In fact, I got 2 pretty cool toys. They may appeal to very different crowds, but you can decide which is cooler  :-)

Toy #1 feels a little cliche, but please understand that, after giving up my iphone birthday present for a blackberry that was compatible with McKinsey's security software, I have been waiting for the day I could switch back. What that means in practice is that I have been using a cell phone that is over 4 years old so I didn't have to sign a contract to get a new one. It was literally held together with scotch tape for the last 4 months of it's life, and the little track ball would only roll to the right about 50% of the time. So my dear husband reminded me on the day they started taking pre-orders that it was time to sign up. I got my phone a day early and it has been so much fun! I don't know that it is that much better than the last model, but it is soooo much faster than by 4-year-old phones, both the blackberry and the iphone.  If I were more techy I'm sure I would appreciate the differences, but I actually offered to trade Mike for his, because I think he would appreciate it more. He hasn't taken me up on it yet.



On to Toy #2. For anyone who has been to my home, you know that besides a few throw rugs, every single floor is a hard surface. This means either a lot of mopping,  or some really dirty floors. I'll let you guess which you find more of in my house. But it's getting really hard to bend over, and the dust bunnies under the beds are planning a riot because of the overcrowding. The Scooba is amazing! It's not perfect. It doesn't do edges well, and sometimes misses large spots in the middle of the floor. But it gets most of the dirt, and I can do touch-up work. Or not. Let's face it, having some dirty corners is a heck of a lot better than having a colony of dust bunnies under the bed.

In summary, yes. I may be a little bit spoiled :-)

Other babies at the Andersons

There is a little robin's nest on the fence by our sidewalk. About 2 weeks ago there were 4 eggs. Now there is one little bird, about to take flight. It is amazing how fast it has grown! I tried to take a picture of it, but every time I get near, the mama and/or papa bird buzz my head. I don't blame them really. I would probably buzz them if they perched right next to baby Anderson. Still, it has been really fun to watch him hatch and grow. Yesterday he was alone in the nest, and a bee was buzzing around him. He would snap at it and try to catch it, but I don't think he's that self-sufficient yet!

If you look closely, at the top of the fence you will see a little nest with some fluff in it. That is the robin. And yes, the fence is only about waist high. It is amazing any of them survived!

Tired. . .

. . . is the word of the day. I cannot get enough sleep! This post will be short.

Pretty much I woke up a little before 7 and had breakfast. Then I took a nap. I went to yoga in search of some energy, and then went to a coffee shop for lunch and to get some work done. By 1:00 I couldn't keep my eyes open, so came home for another nap. A little more work, then dinner, followed by, you guessed it. Another nap! More food - at this point I was insatiably hungry as well. Then I watched a video on soothing your crying baby with Mike. And now it's bedtime!

Something more interesting tomorrow - I promise!

36 weeks today!

So far, I've done an abysmal job of documenting the pregnancy. My goal, between now and when the baby comes, is to post something at least 6 days per week until it arrives. Since I have 8 months to catch up on, I should be able to do this without even getting too boring :-)

This picture is me at 36 weeks (today!) Technically there are 4 weeks left, but I keep hearing that I should be mentally prepared to go about 10 days overdue.

According to babycenter.com, the baby is now about 6 pounds and 18.5 inches long. According to my doctor, they will no longer try to stop me if I go into labor. There has been a pattern with the baby where he gets really hungry for a day or two (at least I do), and then I get incredibly sleepy for a day or two. Yesterday was a hungry day. I had no fewer than 4 snacks between dinner at 6:00 and bedtime at 10:30. Today after about 4:00, I couldn't function any longer and took a nice, long nap. I think it's bedtime again, so I'm going to go cuddle with my 4 pillows (no, there is no room left after the pillows are wedged in to also cuddle with my husband), and go to sleep!

My pride and joy

So, our kitchen faucet has been leaking for at least the last year. Since we don't know how to fix it, and it didn't seem to be hurting anything, we just let it go, but finally enough was enough! But I am definitely a bit of a DIYer, and with my new-found free time I found a class through the local community ed that taught "home repairs for women." My theory is that, even if I never fix anything by myself, I at least will be able to use the lingo and not have to pay too high of an "ignorance tax" when we hire things out. The first of 3 sessions was on faucets and drains, and after that session, I came home with a burst of confidence at realizing the problem was likely just 2 little o-rings that needed to be replaced, and why call a plumber when you can just fix it yourself? HA!
I quickly found it absolutely impossible to get the faucet apart. I could get pieces off, but could not get to the part I needed to. After having a kitchen faucet in pieces for two weeks, we finally gave in. Our old faucet now looks like this.

 At the end of the day, my faucet that should have cost <$10 for the parts, and maybe $100 for the plumber, end up with $200 price tag for the new faucet, plus all the tools I had to buy (another $70?). After 7 trips to the hardware store, 6 hours of class, and many hours of frustration later, here is my gorgeous new faucet.

Now I just need to remodel the kitchen to match!

I have to give a huge credit to Mike, without whom there would have been a plumber involved. Apparently, while I can handle assembly just fine, I struggle with dismantling. After this three week project, I definitely will not be touching toilets or electricity, the other 2 modules of the class!

Seattle

I had a fantastic trip to Seattle to visit our friends Heather and Paul a few weeks ago. Mike, unfortunately, did not get to join me this time around :-( I didn't get a ton of pictures, but highlights from the trip included a shopping day with the girls, where we were joined by Carrie Householder, a brunch at Heather and Paul's full of Amazonians, lot of great food including fresh dungeness crab, and the inner city transfer station (see picture below)

Dungeness crab at Chinooks, where there were real fishing boats out front including a couple from "The Deadliest Catch." Apparently they winter over here. Also note the majestic Thor. If anyone knows the history of this boat, we are very curious! Paul's brother Mark, who just moved up to Seattle with his wife, was my stand-in date for the night as both of our spouses were out.

 The ferry to Bainbridge. That's Heather and Paul on the left, and me with the space needle in the background on the right. I swear that coat I'm wearing is green. Lime green.

The troll under the bridge and a giant Lenin in Fremont, where we had dinner on my last night. The picture is a little dark, but the troll has just eaten a VW bug. You can see the tire under his hand.

In spite of the troll and the Lenin statue, this wins the award for strangest sighting of the trip. It is half bus, half truck bed and roams Seattle collecting trash, and giving hair cuts. Such a combo! There is an additional sign in the back that says "no asbestos, chemicals, dirt, toilets," but it is unclear whether you cannot get rid of toilets or there is not a restroom in the barber shop. Maybe both?

On the last night, after dinner, we drove across town to buy the perfect eclair. The ordering process went something like this,
Heather - "I'll have a vanilla eclair, please."
Store lady - "No. We close in 10 minutes. We only have creme puffs."
H - "OK. I'll have a cookie cream puff"
SL - "No. We only have cookie cream puffs with green tea filling."
H - "Okay. A plain vanilla cream puff"
Sarah - as the lady goes to get Heather' cream puff, "Make that 2."
SL - "We only have one."
At this point, tired of playing the guessing game, and not really wanting green tea filling (which by default was our only option), we came home with one cream puff and split it among the 3 of us. It was delicious, even though the story may not be as funny in retrospect :-)

Valentines Day Part II

So, I actually did an embarrassing job on my 12 day of Valentines. Mental note for next year - do 10 days of valentines, and take 2 days to plan! A few of the highlights are below.

We made valentines for friends and family. Somehow I missed pictures of this, but we had glitter, construction paper, lace, and everything you would need to make homemade valentines!

I decorated Mike's car

A romantic evening, complete with fire and candles

Sent a box of Valentines goodies to my brother in Estonia (Garrett, if you haven't gotten this yet, there may be a chance it's still sitting in my car!)