Belly pics (finally, huh?)

Now, I'm not really big on the whole 'posting pics of my baby belly' thing...as I'm sure you can tell by the lack thereof. But I've been harassed about it for long enough, so I'm hoping these few pics will appease the masses of belly pic beggars out there.



No, there are not very many of them and yes, they are quite random...but at least a few exist! :)

18 weeks

20 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

34 weeks

Babymoon

Tre and I decided it would be a good idea to spend some time, just the two of us, before we become a trio. After pondering various exotic vacation destinations (Hawaii, anyone? Mexico, perhaps) we decided that given my increasing size, we should stick to something more local. We decided to go back to one of our favorite places...Discovery Bay, just outside Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.



Our 4 day trip began in Seattle on May 14th. We decided to make a small detour to accommodate Tre's love of baseball. The Mariner's played the Boston Red Sox on the evening of the 15th and he'd found some great seats at a very reasonable price. Now, baseball is not really my thing but knowing it's one of Tre's passions I was hoping I'd catch the fever! And after all, this will probably be the last baseball game we go to sans kid...so we figured we should take advantage! The game was amazing and Seattle beat the Sox (don't ask me the score). We had a good time and the weather could not have been more amazing for a night under the stars at SafeCo.



While in Seattle we were also able to catch up with some of my dear friends from long ago, The Mirich's, for a couple quick visits. Friday morning we met up with Shannon and their two youngest Abby and Sadie and we made our way to a WONDERFUL coffee/pastry shop. Now, I will never remember where this lovely little eatery is located, which is a shame considering we gobbled down some of the best pastry I've had in awhile and drank some equally good espresso! YUM! After filling our bellies, we went to the Woodland Park Zoo and walked around the exhibits seeing hippos, giraffe, flamingos, emus, penguins, lions... and so many more fun creatures! Post zoo we were treated to yet another culinary delight...Cuban sandwiches! We took our edible treasures up to a sunny Kerry Park and enjoyed the BEST sandwich I have eaten in my entire life with an amazing view of Seattle in all her glory. Such a wonderful day!



After a late evening at SafeCo field watching the Mariners, we met up with Jon and the 3 little Mirich girls for breakfast on Saturday morning. We enjoyed some waffles, strawberries, whipped cream, cantaloupe and coffee! Thanks Jon! It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and enjoy some time together.

Sadie and Abby at the Woodland Park Zoo

Tre at Kerry Park with the Space Needle in the background

Shannon and me enjoying some sunshine at Kerry Park

After brunch, Tre and I made our way up the Olympic Peninsula winding along the road by the Sound through little towns, admiring the beautiful day and the interesting houses along the shore. Due to the Hood Canal Bridge being closed, what would have been an hour and a half drive turned into a 3 hour drive. Luckily, the weather was nice and there was a lot to look at.



We spent the next couple days enjoying the serenity and peacefulness at Jenny's Cottage. We spent the first few nights of our honeymoon here and returned for our 6 year anniversary last year. This is one of the most special places to Tre and me...so quiet, beautiful and enjoyable. It's always hard to leave but we appreciate that the proprietor has kept this place simple and quaint.



This trip was especially poignant as we know our lives are about to change with the addition of Monkey. Even though we will return to our special little cottage, it will be a different experience for us next time because we'll have a little one with us. We were grateful to have had time to return once again to our special place to refuel and reconnect and prepare for impending parenthood.

Periwinkles...photo by Tre :)

Red Adirondacks...these chairs look out over the Bay toward the Olympics...beautiful!

Cottage Clematis



The view from the porch of Jenny's Cottage

Tulips, Lilacs and Pupcakes

Time to catch up on the Cl8n happenings in April and May...riveting, I assure you...


TULIPS
Tulips are without a doubt one of my favorite flowers. They are the heralds of SPRING and I love to walk out in the fields at the local farms. This year, the beginning of the Tulip Festival started on my birthday. Despite all the cold weather we'd had, I was still holding out hope that there would be some blooms as I asked Tre if we could go to the Festival for my birthday. Although my birthday was sunny and quite warm, there were very few blooms to be sniffed/photographed/admired. So, we returned 2 weeks later and the blooms were magnificent!

Beware: excessive flower pictures following! You've been warned!

LILACS

Lilacs are also without a doubt one of my favorite flowers (notice a theme here?). I love that they only bloom for a short period of time when Spring is in full effect. I adore the scent of fresh lilac blooms and take every chance I get to have some in the house when they are in season. Seeing as we don't have any lilacs in our yard that are mature enough to produce blooms yet, I have been known to take walks in the evening after the sun has gone down and 'thieve' blooms from alley-ways and city owned parking strips. I do not steal from people's yards...unless the blooms are hanging over the fence in the alley-way just begging to come home with me. Tre has been my accomplice on many of these late night excursions. I know he thinks I'm quite off-balance...but I think I give the blooms a wonderful home and spend time adoring them daily.

PUPCAKES

A friend introduced me to a fabulous cupcake shop here in PDX. She brought cupcakes last year for my 31st birthday party and I've been in love with them ever since. Cupcake Jones is in the heart of the Pearl District in NW Portland. It's a tiny little shop with the most amazing succulent treats. In addition to making edibles for humans, they also make tiny little cupcakes for our spoiled furry friends. I was in the neighborhood picking up cupcakes for a friend's birthday and thought I'd get a couple cupcakes for the pups. They are made out of carrots and oats and apples and all things that dogs love, I guess, and are topped with a dollop of cream cheese frosting. We decided to take pics of our pups enjoying their treats! SOOOOO hilarious to watch!

Tsavo and his cupcake

Ellie and her treat

Happy pups and cupcakes!

Memorial Day

I know I've been a bad bad blogger...but you can't say I didn't warn you when I began this blog last year. I did say that one of my fears was that I would neglect it...and neglect it I have! But this entry is not about self-pity or the petty crime of blog neglect...

It's about Memorial Day.

Many of us have been touched at some point by those who have served overseas in the military. Whether friends, acquaintances, family members or co-workers, in service both past and present and whether you support or oppose the current war...each of our lives has been touched somehow.

Today I've been reflecting on Memorial Day 2005. Tre was overseas in Afghanistan and I was embroiled in my role as an army wife. During his year long deployment, I worried EVERY SINGLE second of EVERY DAY we were apart, that he was safe and well cared for. While I will never really understand all he saw and experienced during his deployment, I do know he was changed during that time and our marriage was very shaky for quite some time after his return from Afghanistan. Tre was processing images, occurrences, interactions and cultural issues stemming from his time in the midst of a war-torn country. Despite that difficult year of separation and the year of painful rebuilding that followed, not a day goes by that I am not grateful for his safe return and for all that his deployment taught us. It's been 4 years since Memorial Day of 2005. Tre and I are solid now and we've been so very blessed with so much over the past several years.

For us, Memorial Day is a time of reflection. There are many military families who are missing their loved ones right now and my heart aches for them. So today, hug your people. Revel in the wonderful people they are and how they contribute to your life. And send a prayer up for all those who are remembering those they have lost today. May we all remember how blessed we truly are!

Colds and Vegas, Baby!

There have been many goings on in the Cl8n world over the last several months...but to try and relay them all now would take WAY too long so...

Here's a catch-up on late February/early March...

COLDS

~Another cold in late February/early March ( #4 since November, that is). Seems I've been sick every month since I was impregnated. Hmmm...pregnancy = poor immune system. Correlation? I struggled through just in time to catch our flight to Vegas and finally felt I was recovering from my bad cold juju...until another cold hit in late March/early April ( #5, for those of you that are keeping track with me!). After a 10 day course of heavy duty antibiotics to thwart the horrid sinus infection that accompanied the cold, I have been (knock on wood) healthy since and have not had another cold! I cannot even express what this means to me to finally feel somewhat 'normal' again after being under the weather for SO long. I do have to credit a singular AMAZING invention...the neti pot. I was wary at first...the concept seemed to make sense however it seemed weird to put stuff in one nostril hoping it would make an appearance out the other....GROSS! But, my skepticism quickly faded to adoration as my sinus problems vanished. I'm now a neti pot believer!

VEGAS

~Went to Vegas at the end of Feb/early March to visit our dear friends Ben & Jen. I went to college in Tennessee with Ben & Jen, did theatre with Jen and even roomed with her for a short time.

Jen teaches yoga on Friday morning to people with MS, so I went with her to check things out and try out my sad yoga skills. She's done amazing things helping these individuals regain mobility, strength and stamina through the yoga moves she teaches them. It's SO cool to see them and hear their stories!

We only went down on The Strip one night. Tre and Ben rode a rollercoaster at New York New York and then we went out to eat at Lawry's Steakhouse. YUM! After that we headed out to Planet Hollywood to a show that Jen had gotten free tickets to. It was called "V - The Ultimate Variety Show". Tre was pulled as a "contestant" for one of the acts and basically we laughed at him and 3 other individuals for about 10 minutes. He got a souvenir postcard and tickets to another show at the same theatre. We had such a wonderful evening.

We soaked up some of the gorgeous Vegas weather...sunny and in the 70's from the rainy high 40's weather in PDX. Drank tea on the porch and ate and ate and ate.

We went to Hoover Dam, took the tour down into the bowels of the dam (a 90 second elevator ride...and I HATE elevators) to then realize we had thousands and thousands of gallons of water rushing over our heads and could be crushed at any moment. Worth every penny of the tour fee! Plus, the never-ending surplus of "DAM" jokes, made it even more worthwhile! If you haven't been...it's one of those places on the must-see list! It's quite a marvel to think how such a huge structure was constructed with 1/8 the heavy lifting equipment used now-a-days. Quite an engineering feat, to say the least! Plus I'm a huge fan of art deco...and the Hoover Dam is art deco heaven!

Turbine room at the Dam, see the fella on the left side in his khaki jumpsuit...yeah, the turbines are HUGE!

The view of the Colorado river after it leaves the Hoover Dam. In the upper left you can see the arch to the new bridge they are building to span the crevass.

The Hoover Dam in all its glory!

You can't read it from here...but below the clockface it reads 'Arizona'. So technically, we were in Arizona AND Nevada all in about 1/2 a second!

The art deco stairs to the parking structure. I love art deco!

Ben & Jen

Tre and me (and I'm 5 months along with Monkey in this photo...look at that belly!)

Jen and me goofing off in the Dam giftshop!

Claire Adalia

Well, since I'm laid up with yet another cold/flu, I thought that while I have enough energy to be up and about, I'd get some "work" done. Sure there are dishes to be washed, clothes to be laundered, vacuuming, dusting and general organizing...but I'd much rather NOT be doing those things!

So, I blog.

Last week on Valentine's day we went down to Eugene to visit our dear friends Nate and Laura who added a sweet little girl to the family on Feb 3rd. Claire Adalia is absolutely the most beautiful baby ever! And she's sweet, sweet, sweet! We had lunch, played a cardgame, snuggled with little Claire and loved on Nate and Laura. It was wonderful to hang out with them. They live about 1/2 mile from us here in Portland, but are down in Eugene for the year while Nate attends U of O's architecture program. Thankfully, they'll move back to Portland in June...and then life will be complete again! ;)

Anyway, just wanted to share pics of baby Claire so all you blog stalkers out there can see just how gorgeous this little one is! What a cuddle bug!

Tre holding little Claire...I think she's amused by him!

Ok, I know she was only 11 days old when this pic was taken, but I swear she's smiling!

Check out those big beautiful blue eyes!

The Streib Tribe...albeit an unhappy Claire, but she's still sweet! ;)

Monkey update

So Tre and I had our BIG ultrasound today. The one where they check out all the baby's structures, take tons of measurements and where you may be able to find out the gender ...all over a L-O-N-G half an hour, made more agonizing by the fact that the mom-to-be's bladder is FULL. What a treat! Aside from the unpleasantness of having someone intentionally press on your full bladder, it was amazing to really see Monkey for the first time! Monkey now looks a bit like Skeletor from He-Man, but we're sure that will take care of itself as the baking process continues over the next few months.

Tre and I have decided to let the gender be a surprise at delivery. Despite the fact that I've long been a firm believer in letting this part of the process be a true surprise, I've been quite the waffler when presented with the option. Originally, long long before I was pregnant, I firmly believed that the gender of the baby was the 'last true surprise' in life and should be kept as such until delivery. Fast forward to NOW, where most of our friends have found out before the delivery and thus call him/her by their name and buy appropriately gender specific clothing and decor items. I've found myself feeling left out. I DO want to know who's in here...who's been kicking and doing acrobatics, making me crave grapefruit in a way that is completely unnatural...but I also want to enjoy that complete surprise at the end of all the hard work that is labor and delivery. So, after many discussions on the matter, delving into the why's, what ifs and complicated parlays on the use of too much technology in our day and age. With Tre's help, I have remained steadfast in being surprised in July. And so this babe I carry will continue to be a she-Monkey/ he-Monkey until the grand unveiling!

Anyway, on to the good stuff...some pics to share.

A view of Monkey from behind. You can see the head on the left and the vertebrae shooting to the right. I was a bit alarmed by the twisted spine, but it seems Monkey is quite the mover and shaker and was doing some form of "The Twist" in utero.

Here's a pic of Monkey showing some leg. It's kinda cool to see the pelvis at left, the thighbone (which is actually the thin bit more on the left side) that then connects to the calf (the thicker part more on the right) and finally some little toes at the end. The ultrasound tech tried to get a pic of the toes, but the printouts are so small they just look like smudges.

Here's a pic of our little Skeletor darling waving. You can see their hand up along the side of their head towards the top of the pic. Seems that Monkey keeps their hands up by their head alot. Maybe drowning out daddy's singing?

We also got to see the little beating heart, the full bladder (Monkey's, not mine...although the tech did show me my full bladder near the end of the scan...which made me want to wet myself even more), toes, fingers and we watched in amazement as Monkey darted around, swinging arms and legs. Must like to shake their booty like Tre does! ;) It was pretty cool!

I'm continuing to feel good. I still don't have a ton of energy, which I blame on my long and stressful days at work, but I'm usually able to stay awake till at least 10pm, which is an improvement from my nights of falling asleep at 7:30-8pm.


I've also started getting a belly. I was convinced for awhile that I wasn't really pregnant and that everyone was just lying to me. But my little belly started popping out just this week. The jeans that fit completely last week are a bit snug this week (but still wearable thanks to hair rubberbands that I don't have enough hair to use). I think next week I'll have to graduate to elastic waisted items or maybe just buck up and wear the Bellyband...which I find uncomfortable and quite exposing since I never seem to be able to keep the little band around my hips thus the barn door is perpetually open! HORRORS!


Basically, nothing is fitting well these days. In a week's time, I've gone from having a scant but still usable wardrobe, to having a frighteningly scarce amount of acceptable attire. So, this weekend was quasi spent maternity clothes shopping. And if you know me, you know that shopping is just NOT my thing. I dislike the whole process quite a bit, thus the reason I'm really not such a fashion plate. Despite my reluctance to shop, it's a necessity so I've started by hitting the maternity resale shops here in Portland, of which there are quite a few! I hate shopping but if I feel I can get a good deal, it takes some of the ache away.


I'm trying to find things that will work ok now, but will also be somewhat usable when I'm the size of a small country, closer to my due date in the summer. Dresses seem to be a good option for that and I've already picked up three! I'm not really a dress-wearing girl, but they really appeal to me right now. Probably has something to do with the ample fabric and tent-like coverage they provide! Viva la dresses!


So, that's a Monkey update. Due date is still predicted for July 19th which means I'm just over 18 weeks now. It's hard to believe I'm already about 1/2 way through this whole process! Can this be?