The old-fashioned way is getting old.

Our new place doesn't have a functional dishwasher, the kitchen is pretty raggedy and needs some attention on the sooner part of sooner-or-later. I did about 3-million dishes yesterday. Because we don't use plastic baggies in the kids' lunches, etc., we have all sorts of little re-usable containers with little tops that are very difficult to clean. By the end of my marathon dish washing session I had swollen feet from standing and tender, red hands.
Here's my new plan: http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02213349000P?vName=Appliances&cName=Dishwashers&sName=Drawer%20Dishwashers. Anyone know how to get that for free?
Things continue to go very well otherwise, especially considering only one of our toilets is working. As you may recall, no job is too big or too small for my husband so I expect that toilet will be blowing a head gasket (is that even possible?) once he gets around to it in January.
We get our cable services today, I will be able to start posting pictures again very soon.

Shakey

We had an earthquake just a few minutes ago. I acutally felt this one. Some stuff fell off our shelves onto me! I shouted out "a bus has hit the building!" Everyone busted out into uproarious laughter, shouting back to me that it was an earthquake. I remembered something about getting under a table, but then the shaking stopped. Wowee! We've had them before, but I've never felt one. I think the epicenter was just north of Santa Ana (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsus/Maps/US2/33.35.-118.-116.php), but we felt it way down here. I was standing next to my boss, she said "oooh, this is a good one." Lars felt it too, and he's coastal right now (I'm pretty far inland). That's some crazy stuff.

Now that I've done tornadoes, torrential rains and floods, droughts, ridiculous blizzards, wild fires and earthquakes I'm going to go out on a limb and say I've had enough of weather drama. I recongize that there's the whole hurricane and tsunami bit to experience, count me out.

Please send good vibes to poor little Maggie, who may or may not have woken up out of a deep Bassett Hound sleep to howl at the fault line gods.

I hope we got earthquake insurance.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080729-1153-quake.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale

What's done is done.

Our friends the Magnificents (Jeff, Karah, Kaitlyn and Maddie), the Fabulous' (Greg, Kristen, Chase and Taylor) and the other Fabulous' (Mike, Janelle, Conner, and Jared) came over to the crack house on Saturday and worked like worker-people. About 2/3 of our stuff made it over, most was unpacked. Lars' boss made it over in the afternoon, he's sort of muscley and so was excellent for our cause. We spent our first night at the house on Saturday night. On Sunday, we did some Home Depot runs, then Mike and Janelle and the kids came over again and helped us finish the job. Janelle took on our kitchen, it's amazing. She's a whiz at organization. I made my way through the garage, which Petra decided we should call the basement since no cars will be parked in it. Maggie has learned how to use the doggie door. Smart puppy, she is.
Of the things that are still at the crack house, one of them is our computer. We won't be set up for cable modem, phone or TV until Thursday. If you need us, try our cell phones. I can get on-line while at work, but sometimes my schedule doesn't allow for catching up.
Once we get on-line at the new house I will try to post some pics.
Yay!!!!

Keys in hands, really, really.

We closed last evening. Kristen called to tell us as soon as she got the call, 5:21 pm. I was in shock to tell you the truth. Since then, Lars got the garage all epoxied. Petra, Soren, Annike and I cleaned the place top-to-bottom. Then, Petra and I moved all sorts of stuff. Lars is upset with me about all this because he thinks I'm out of commission now. Needless to say, we've had our first new house arguement. My mom and step=dad don't call us the Bickersons for nothing I suppose. Lars rented a truck for tomorrow. Friends have pledged to help, as well, so hopefully I won't give birth lifting a washing machine. And, miracle of miracles, we hired piano movers for our Steinway (just kidding, it's not a Steinway) which actually seemed thriftier than putting it on our 3-skateboards and rolling it the mile or so to the new house. I kind of thought the skateboard idea was a good one and it certainly seemed like Lars was considering it, the kids were very much in favor of that plan.

Okay, other news stuff . . . hmmmmmmmm.
Went to Mr. Doctor OB on Wednesday. So wierd seeing a doctor, not to mention a hairy man. He's purdy nice, though, as such I've done my best to get past that contentious XY bit. The rest of the practice is comprised of women doctors, who are average to good. Obviously, and this almost goes without saying, none one of them stands up to a good midwife but what can you do when the midwives risked you out of their practice? See an OB -- though I did consider doing my own darn prenatal care considering I owe UofM $88K for the training in the aforementioned specialty.
The shocker of the visit was the weigh-in. I came in at 130 lbs, which isn't so bad because it's just a number and I'm still a good person whether it's high or low or in between. The terrible part is that the 130 is much, much higher than my weight at the last visit, I'll spare you the details. Mr Doctor felt it was fine, but I don't think they feel they're in the position to criticize considering the collegial aspects to our relationship. Everything else was good, but can't get the weight out of my head. I shouldn't be surprised, since my last prenatal visit I believe I ate 2-dozen donuts, 1-tub of Ben and Jerry's and probably had french fries several times. The trip to San Fran was also very yummy, I imagine some damage was done there.
Today was the fetal echocardiogram, done secondary to Soren's heart stuff and the 3-benign murmurs that I have (diagnosed only once we moved out here). Mostly it went well, but I did have to recline almost flat for an hour while the tech jammed the tranducer into my belly button causing me to shriek with laughter throughout the testing. The perinatologist noted that the interface between my placenta and uterus looked fairly reassuring, hopefully we can avoid some of that placental drama that happened with Annike's birth. Ultimette's heartrate was a bit irregular during the exam, they noted my was, too. They thought there may be a correlation. I'll start antenatal testing in about 2-1/2 months and continue with monthly scans of little Ultimette, I'm not worried about missing anything given that schedule of 'surveillance'.

Petra's smokin' gymnastics coach, Lalo, wants to move her up another level. He said he was hoping to assume the coaching duties of that level so that he could keep "his girls." Have I ever mentioned that Lalo and I attended undergrad at the same time at U-M? Didn't know him, but sure is a small world, huh?

Okay, I'm going to try and find a piece of furniture to sleep on.

Why I love the no-cell phone while driving law . . .

I lead a busy life and rarely have time to return phone calls. I used to make all my calls during my commute, but now CA has a new law restricting cell-phone use in cars. I really like the restrictions. My drive is a lot less pressure-filled and very peaceful. I get to listen to NPR without any interruptions, though I have to switch to my iPod when I'm driving through the mountainy things. I learned two important things today, see below:

In the news: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/23/dontask.donttell/
You can listen to the podcast on NPR, it was really good. Doesn't sound like much is going to come of it very soon, but at least it's being talked about. Plus, it sounds like both Dems and Reps are for change. Good job all you dopey congressfolks!

If you're trying to sell your house http://www.snopes.com/luck/stjoseph.asp this may be worth a shot.

We went out with some visiting Ann Arbor friends to a restaurant called the Melting Pot. It's a fondue restaurant, I think I may have lined my blood vessels with all sorts of debris in a single sitting. The dessert was divine, plus everyone knows that dark chocolate is good for you and may play a role in controlling blood pressure in pregnant women (http://www.medindia.net/news/Dark-Chocolate-Protects-Pregnant-Women-from-High-Blood-Pressure-Study-36037-1.htm). Good enough for me. Our Ann Arbor friends have a daughter Petra's age, the girls went to The Best School Ever together (see side bar). They were overjoyed to see each other. It was wonderful to watch them catch up last night, their two little heads pressed together whispering and laughing hysterically. Today the girls are together again, hitting the town with Julia's parents. It warms my heart to see Petra so happy, but then it also makes me a little sad that they're not together. My heart feels big and happy all the while it feels like it's breaking a little. Good-bye's are not my forte, I don't look forward to tonight when we send them off.

Signed house papers yesterday. There was one little glitch, Lars and I declined to sign a document that was a bit shady. Lars got it all taken care of today and now all of our documents are in. The closing is supposed to "record" today. Keys-in-hand? Not yet. I'll believe it when I see it. I'll let y'all know more when I do.

A beautiful work story: I saw a patient for her fist visit of the pregnancy today. She had 3-miscarriages in a row, then a healthy baby girl. Then this February she lost another pregnancy, and to make it more heart wrenching it was a twin pregnancy. Today I just skipped to the chase and put the Doppler right on her belly, we heard a steady heartbeat of 168 BPM. The patient started crying, her 5-year old daughter started crying, and I had myself a good cry, too.

Finally, congratulations to Cousin Rachel, my mommy hero. She's just announced she's halfway through her pregnancy with her 5th child. Her own pregnancy history is even more heartbreaking then my own so this is an absolutely wonderful thing. Yay for Rachel and Baby Cinco!

A friend in need of good thoughts.

Please send your good thoughts to Name that Mama. She and her family are in a complicated, potentially violent situation. Please send peaceful vibes her way and imagine safety for her family and her new baby on the way. Thinking of you Em, sending all my Ohm's your way.

Just a Day in the Life

I got home from work at about 9:30 this morning and then went to find Lars at Kristen's house so we could switch cars. We desperately need a second Honda Oddyssey, but you just don't go around buying cars right before you're trying to get financing for a SoCal house. Anyway, the car situation sucks and we have to do the car dance a lot because it's just not reasonable to put 3- gorgeous children in the back seat of a VW Golf hatchback. The Golf is our work car, so when Lars is primarily taking the train then he keeps the Oddyssey and I use the Golf but we've gotten to the point where the Golf has become an embarrassment to even us. Additionally, I'm starting to get to the point where I have a hard time getting in and out of that little bugger. I told Lars today that I wasn't sure I could take it much longer, I think that he secretly agrees with me.
Today was a Camp Kristen day, thank goodness because I was so darn tired after being up all night and then going to a short midwifery practice meeting. I had a very busy night at the hospital, though only got to "catch" two babies (Diego and Jasmin). By the time I got in the car to drive back home I could hardly hold my head up. Ultimette and the NPR Surf Report kept me company on the way home. The kids hung out with Kristen and Kristen's MIL. Kristen's MIL, Edith, made quite an impression on my little ones because they've been calling her Gramma Nanny.

I tried to sleep, but sleeping during the day is always hard for me. I hear noises, I have funky dreams, I tend to sleep walk, and I typically wake-up every 15-minutes in a jolt thinking I've forgot something important (like my children). It's really tough, and it seems to have gotten tougher even though I'm now into my 7th year of working at night at least one day a week.

After I gave up on sleep, I tried to heat up some stir-fry that Lars had made a few nights before. I made the mistake of leaving it on the edge of the counter, though, and Maggie ended up eating it all. I trudged over to Kristen's thinking I would just get the kids, but they weren't back from their Camp Kristen adventures yet. Maggie and I just waited in her yard for them to get back. Even after everyone got to Kristen's we ended up staying for awhile, despite the kids having spent the entire day with her and the kids. Eventually I summoned the energy to get them rounded up and headed back to the crack house, but as we rounded the corner near our street we met up with Jack and Charlie (buddies of the kids). Soren had a holy conniption so we played with them for a while until Daddy came home, riding up to their house on his big cruiser skate board. We finally made it inside when I was starting to feel like I could sleep for a millenia. I scurried to bed hoping no one would notice, but Lars and Petra noticed. Lars bounced down on our bed next to me, put his hands on my belly and for the first time ever felt Ultimette kick. I was so proud of Lars, usually he doesn't have the patience for waiting for kicks. Petra, on the other hand, will stake out my belly which probably explains why she was the first person to feel her move.

Lars made tacos, vegetarian, of course. Soren had the vegan version. Half way through dinner Lars blurts out "I don't know if I'm going to make it through the night without a beer." Seeing as we have no beer and no milk for our Honey Nut Cheerios, it was decided that a trip to our little organic grocery store was in order. But, as Soren pointed out, "driving is bad for the Orf." Lars thought he would walk, but I thought we should all go on bikes and then the kids could pick out dessert. We quickly threw the dishes near the pile of pots and pans that were in the sink and hopped on our bikes. Lars had the bike trailer with Annike in it (it's a double so someday Ultimette can ride with Annike). Petra rode her super sleek cross-country bike and I rode my bike with the tag-along/3rd-wheel attached, which Soren rode. Now, I'd like to point out that unlike my eldest, Soren isn't connected to his core and lacks balance and grace. I happen to be very pregnant, in case you've missed that detail in other posts. Plus, the tag-along is a little too big for him, though it's nearly a good fit. Finally, I would like to point out that I hadn't slept since Monday morning and here it is Tuesday evening on the brink of dusk. Every time Soren turns his head he sends the whole bike catapulting in the direction that he's looking so I spent much of the bike ride screaming at Soren to look in the direction that we were going as well as trying to keep us from slipping into the traffic on the left of us or the ditch to the right of us. Finally, we made it to Henry's. Lars and the kids went in while I sat on a bench with the bikes and finished having my coronary alone.

While I was waiting for them to come out of Henry's, I was watching a very aggravating scene unravel. I could hear someone coming out of the store yakking very loudly on her cell phone in an obnoxious East Coast accent. I turned around and saw this 30-something looking young woman with bleach blond hair blabbing away about "imbibing on some quaint vino with the girls" while wildly pushing her grocery cart in every direction. She looked to be about 5'2", maybe 105 lbs, but monstropolous boobs that were ridiculously large (and perky fake) for her frame. She unloaded her groceries, still yapping like a chihuahua on her cell, and then started to push her cart over to the cart corral but evidently changed her mine -- apparently 3-parking spots away was just too far for her boobed-out frame to manage. Guess what that woman did? She took the cart and shoved into the middle of the handicap parking spot that was right next to her. Not returning carts to the cart corral is one of my hugest pet peeves, I always return my cart, and I see no reason why a fit, healthy, young woman shouldn't do that same. I was absolutely stunned that someone would do something so heinous as to leave a grocery cart in a handicap spot of an organic grocery store, who the Hell does that? Ergh. Then she got in her car, still talking on the celly, and pullled out of her spot. The new California state law stipulates that it is now unlawful to drive while talking on the cell phone in the absence of a hands-free set. The yapping woman was not using a hands free set. She put her cute little Lexus into drive, chatted on the phone with her vino girlfriend, and then tried to drive out of the parking lot via the entrance-only (very clearly marked) side. Fortunately for her, I didn't have time to get her license plate number because Lars came out with the kids, a gallon of milk, a box of Haagen-Daz bars, 2-watermelon popsicles, a bottle of water and a six-pack of beer. We got on the bikes, headed back to the crack house in pitch black (sun sets early here) and arrived back safely. I plodded over to the shower, very excited to loofah with my Burt's Bees Ginger Energizing soap when Annike hopped in with me. Annike and I got super gingery, but not anymore energetic. Lars helped her get her lotion on and got her jammied. Petra and Soren brushed teeth and Listerined (that's a verb). Everyone kissed me goodnight, Ultimette got several kisses too, clothes were laid out for tomorrow and then all family members under 31-years old got into bed. Lars' laptop was nearby, so I've grabbed it to tell you what life is like without sleep when you're working, pregnant and parenting. I think I heard the vacuum going, good man my husband is. But right now, I'm sitting here in the middle of our huge queen size bed alone (weird, huh) missing the company of little snoring bodies and very much craving the beer that Lars probably has in his hands right now as he's sitting in front of the TV.

The rest of the week promises to be equally tiring, though I hope more sleep is involved. Tomorrow is a beach day, gymnastics, and a prenatal visit with a blood draw (my OB practice is comprised of a bunch of vampires), and then signing of all paperwork related to the new house. Thursday is a long clinic day for me and a curing cancer day for Lars, kids are away at Camp Kristen, and (hold your breath) our new scheduled keys-in-hand date. I suppose we'll start moving our stuff over that night. The rest of the week will be spent moving. We're moving everything ourselves, except the piano. Ugh. If everything goes well, we'll be property tax paying Californians by the end of the week. Unbelievable.

Trying to keep my mind off things.

Annike and Soren lovin' on a baby doll.

I'm trying to keep my mind off the house (presently stable) and my pregnancy (also presently stable).

My Aunt Michele called the other day. She thought it would be a good idea for Soren to do Ultimette's first feeding of the morning since he's already up. Soren doesn't mind baby puke either, so I think I could trust him to handle any burping messes as well.

Soren's response you ask? He looked at me like I was a complete whack-nut and then said, "but Mommy, I don't have any boobies yet!" He's awesome.

And a quick belly update.

Hail to Kristen

Got a call from our buddy, Kristen, about 15-minutes ago. She says she's got it all figured out with the other bank, same terms and hopefully same close date. What a champ!

Talked to my friend Mike this morning, he said to me that it isn't real until those keys are in our hands. That's right, brother! Keys in hands.

I guess that it wasn't totally Countrywide's fault, when they did the initial title search nothing came up. Well, that's what they say. I'm still feeling irritable about it, you know, not being the water-under-the-bridge type.

I'm about to go sign the new purchase agreement. Keep your fingers crossed.

It's hittin' the fan! Warning: Progressively Offensive Language as This Blogger Unravels and Loses Sight of the English Language more so than usual

When our offer was accepted by the bank that 'owns' the foreclosed house, they made us sign all this paperwork that we would not hold them liable if anything should go wrong prior to and including closing . . . even if it was THEIR fault.

Okay, the bank that owns the foreclosure shall here on out be known as Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards, also known to the general and yet to be screwed public as Countrywide.

We're coming up on closing (July 23rd), a random date of their choosing. We were ready 2-weeks ago. We've packed our crap. Haven't renewed the lease on this crack house we're renting (thank you very much).

Got a call from the realtor, she's a good guy. Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards only had a small percentage of the title. They had no right to foreclose on it. Another bank actually owns more of the title than Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards. As of 0000 hours on August 1st we are no long tenants of aforementioned crack house. We're about $6K in non-refundable money to the Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards scam. We signed the stinkin' paper work that we wouldn't hold them accountable if they screwed me.

I seriously need a spot on 20/20. Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards needs to see me working my butt off with a baby in my belly, 3-kids in need of a home and a husband who refuses to live in an RV park.

Don't email me or call me or any crap asking me what is going on. I don't know. All I know is that Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards tried to sell me a house that they don't own. If you want to say something to me about Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards then it has to be about what dirty rotten scoundrels those son-of-maggoty-dog-poops are or about how cute my kids are or how you happen to be an amazing lawyer and can get us that house by July 23rd and can arrange for a pain-and-suffering payout in the sum of $14million dollars. Ooooooooh (that's the sound of me shivering and gritting my teeth and looking REALLY passionately mad -- as in crazy pregnant woman on the edge). Aaaarrrrrrrrrrrr (this is the sound of me getting so frickin' fed up with stupid donkeyholes and other stuff).

Great. Just great. My uterus is contracting it is so mad -- as in crazy pregnant uterus trying to grow a baby with no place to flippin' live when it comes out.

@&%%&*Y*^&$%EHV%$*(*^($#%@^!!!!!!!!!!! (translation: really, really bad as in very bad words)

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Repeat the sounding joy! Repeat the sounding joy!

I hate Countrywide!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - Lars wants this said, but not by me, cause there is no sunny side -- this is all coming from HIM (not Those Big Countrywide Lying Cheating Bastards but Mr Glass is Half Empty (that would be Lars)), okay now he says I should say something about my use of double brackets coming from my stellar algebraic, ummmm, thinker. Okay, back to Mr Glass is Half Empty and his untimely sunny perspective: (wait a minute, he's laughing cause this is really funny shit -- you know) (OMG he won't stop) (get a grip) "This other bank should recgonize that they have the opportunity (big ass fart, fo' real, there was a real fart and it wasn't mine or Ultimette's) (okay I'm laughing a little now, too, maybe a little tinkle too -- Ultimette's NOT mine) to sell this house that had a ffffffff, ahhhh, open market offer (is that like a farmer's market) and will hopefully by tomorrow morning, ummmm, accept our terms (you know because we're the motha friggers in the howse y'all)." Lars = normal font "no, no I'm not normal", Kelly's train of potty mouth thoughts are actually in normal font. Oh, help! I'm lobbing right now (laughing and sobbing), oh man, I need some booze or a magic mushroom or a special brownie or maybe just a Xanax and an Ambien (both in my medicine cabinet).
Our realtor, dearest buddy Kristen, also has a potty mouth. She says "I'm on it like stink on shit." Oh, it means so much to have folks who try to cover your big, wide, corn-fed, Midwestern donkey (or, how us Michigan folks refer to our own asses -- big swing on my back porch). Any other good synonyms for butt out there?

Achtung! It's soap box day.

We're out of the woods, but Soren had a creepy vaccine reaction the other day and it's making me feel a little angry. For those of you with children, maybe you can relate. The minute your baby is born, someone is poking them with a needle for one sort of injection or another. This needle poking doesn't slow down until they are 2-years old. It rears its ugly needle point again when they're 5. Plus, if you even have any questions about the efficacy or value (just polite questions mind you) your pediatrician gets really defensive and spouts some quackery about vaccines and their paramount importance. So, out of guilty feelings for possibly offending a pediatrician that you love, you go ahead and agree to turning your little Muffin into a pin-cushion. You have no sound evidence as to why you're agreeing to this procedure, but you do it because you don't want Dr Nice/Home Boy to look at you like that again. Never mind that there is presently an outbreak of chicken pox out here among children with documented vaccinations (all the boys are now at risk of future sterility). Never mind that as a child my parents dutifully had me vaccinated for childhood diseases and I STILL got the mumps (VERY painful, I remember).

I continue to vaccinate my children, largely because I want to be polite but also because my husband loves inactivated viruses and the fact that my health care dollars go into pockets of scientific researchers like him so that they in turn can feed their babies and vaccinate their children with the same methodical quackery that the rest of us rely on for rationale.

Now to the story. Soren went to the pediatrician last week. He got poked 5 rotten times, cried like a baby pterodactyl undergoing eyeball extraction unanesthetized and was very traumatized (he did that I'm-in-shock-breathing for about 2-hours). Then for the next day and a half he became febrile, lethargic, extremely irritable and arthralgic. Then his skinny little arm blew up to the size of my calf, became red, hot, and very tender to touch. The whole thing was scary, and to think I consented to this procedure, on behalf of my non-consenting son, just because I so dearly loved our pediatrician BACK IN MICHIGAN!!!! What the heck is wrong with me? Why didn't I stick up for my baby Drama Prince? It was scary and angryfying. I don't even care so very much for the pediatrician here, not nearly as good as Dr Home Boy (who was kind of cute in his bald sort-of-way). Dr Pale Skinny Californian isn't bad, she just isn't interesting. Her response? "Well, he's definitely had an allergic reaction." Ya! Sure! Ya betcha! She also confirmed what I already knew, again, that he's now done with his vaccination series so no worries about future exposures. The vaccination probably responsible was MMR, which is more often guilty of allergifying children than most other vaccines.

Can't be sure.

Thanks Dr Pale, I'm glad science is working for us all. I feel like Dr Home Boy would have humored me a bit better.

Well, anyhow, whether we like it or not Soren is now 'done' with his childhood vaccinations. The fact that he was this close to anaphylactic shock (by my own very esteemed clinical opinion) is a risk I'm just going to have to take, you know, for herd immunity's sake (my son the cow). I'm feeling very cynical and I'm feeling like I should probably just go ahead and blame this on George Bush, my #1 most favorite scape goat. He he he.

My little man is well now, totally alert and oriented. It was a near miss, I tell ya. The picture above depicts him post-reaction. You can see that his right arm is still a wee-bit bigger than the left, but at least it has returned to white boy flesh coloured (spelled the British way because I'm mad at George Bush). I'm thinking the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and the CDC&Prevention should just give me their lawyers' phone numbers now cuz if this little man gets anything less than an A+ on future report cards we'll all KNOW why.

In other news, stuff is sublime with Ultimette -- a name change I know, but Grandma Debbie renamed her from Ultima (in honor of my, er, Mexican heritage), I suppose in homage to my Frenchiness and I like it better . . . durn it.

Apparently there is some drama with the house we're are purchasing for $7986645312 billion dollars. Our realtor found out that another "party" is staking claim to the title . . . whatever that means. I don't see how this is my problem, this would be our good friend Countrywide's problema (soon to be BofA). And if those donkey-wipes don't get it revolved STAT, yo, then someone is going to pay because a cute little family with 3-gorgeous children, a hound dog cum sea lion, pregnant human cum hieffer and gorgeous man-daddy will be homeless. Now that is travesty, or is it tragedy (one is for after you're dead and one is to represent your limitless suffering . . . no?).

Ay caramba.

Questions on life's greatest mysteries.

1) When will I get to start taking showers alone?

2) When will my sleeping Bassett Hound no longer resemble a sleeping Sea Lion?

3) When will my 5-year old little boy stop waking up at 5:15 a.m.? When will his bike/roller blade helmet no longer be a "must" in his all-day/every-day outfit?

4) Do Shrinky-Dinks ever get old?

5) Will I ever get to stop packing and call a place a home for greater than 11-months?

Camp Kelly

Lars and I are co-oping with a group of friends for childcare this summer. In addition to YMCA camps, each family is taking a turn hosting "camp". It helps cut down on the costs associated with paying for 3-kids' summer camp tuition for the entire break. Anyway, this week was Camp Kelly, chez nous at the stinky rental.
Annike gave up her shi-shi this week. It was a tearful event. Lars did the ceremony solo because I was working (of course). They took the one remaining shi-shi that we could locate and put it in a box for our new baby. Annike has asked about it several times since, but has done quite

well without it.
So far so good with the foreclosed house. We have done everything on our end, we're just waiting for the bank that presently owns the house to finish on their end. We're still planning on a July 23rd close date. Cross your fingers for us!
I'm trying a new way to post pictures, click here for a slide show of the above events. Click on the picture for the caption. If you can't get it to work, blame my sister, Our Crazy Life, she's the one who gave me step-by-step instructions.
In other news, we're working on baby names. Her middle name will be Margaret after Grandma Peg. If she was going to be a boy, her middle name would have been Paul Bruckert after my great-uncle. For those of you who know us well (or those of you who can deduce from the other children's names), Lars insists on solid Scandinavian names that can be found on ancient Viking inscriptions. I, quite obviously, would love a beautiful French name, but Lars complains that all French names are like their cheeses . . . stinky.

A year and 6-days

We've been here a year and 6-days now. I'm feeling sentimental, a little sad. I miss you all you home people. I miss you a whole lot. Things we left behind:

Fellow Scandanavians

People who made cakes for us.

Very good friends (Jess, Alex and Ella - left; Carolyn, Brian and David - below)

Loving parents (right).

Thorne (L) and Mira with Baby Mya (L-above), very good people

BFF's Soren and Jai

Lea and Petra, buddies

I know life is good. I live a charmed life that I'm grateful for. I'm lucky to have so many wonderful people in my family's life in so many places.

Back home?

4th of July

We arrived back to San Diego late last night. It was a great weekend. On the way back, we drove through LA on the 101. Lars and I both yelled and screamed with joy as we passed the Hollywood sign. Then we got equally excited when we passed the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre (yes, spelled the French way), it was a big high rise building labeled with a bright green neon sign. Anyone find that a bit silly?

The wedding we went to was very interesting and very fun. As we were leaving the wedding, Petra turned to Lars and me and said "this is the funnest time I've ever had in San Fwansisco." Nothing like going to an old boyfriend's wedding to show your daughter a good time. Lars had a great time catching up with old friends. The kids and I were mesmerized by the number and diversity of tattoos at this wedding. Wish I had pics. It was very impressive. Oh, and the temperature in Oakland was a lot warmer, I was actually sweating.

My sister just found out that her baby #3 is a girl, you can check out her blog (see link: Our Crazy Life on right). Congrats Jamie!

At the entrance gate to Chinatown.

Taking my sweet time.

My friend Kjirsten warned me the other day on the phone about summer in San Fransisco, she even quoted Mark Twain -- something to the effect of "the coldest winter of my life was the summer I spent in San Fransisco."

We are presently in San Fransisco for a long weekend. We drove out yesterday on the most boring stretch of highway I've ever been on (I-5 North). Down in SoCal you go through pretty scenery, have ocean views, etc. But once you get past Camp Pendelton it is just LA blechy sprawl and then ginormous feed lots filled with doomed cows. Lars said he had never heard me gripe so much before. I am planning on taking the Pacific Coast Highway back.

Okay, I digress. So, it's pretty chilly here. Down in the San Diego area I have footwear for 3 occasions - heels for works, Uggs for the morning (yes, Veggie-girl has Uggs . . . sorry) and flip-flops in a wide-assortment of colors that I wear for every other occasion. Being a numb skull, I packed myself a pair of heels and some flip-flops. I think at this point I have frostbite on my little toes from exposing my piggies to the Ice-Age air. Who knew? Never mind that Kjirsten warned me. I was wearing my favorite jeans, a knee-length dress, tank top, long sleeved shirt and sweater but the air here was rather Michigan-fall-on-the-verge-of-first-frost. Bad Mommy, too, I dressed the girls in matching red, white and blue Daisy Dukes and shirts and Soren in shorts and a tee. Before we left the hotel room this morning, we took plenty of pictures of our patriotic trio and then swaddled them in sweatshirts and jackets.

Lars' mom (Mary) and John met us downtown for a fabulous breakfast. John/Dieter and Aubrey, Lars' step-brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, came as well. It was so wonderful to see John and Aubrey, we don't get to see them that often and every time we do we say things like, "I wish we could have more time with them." Anyway, John/Dieter and Aubrey tapped into their inner-children and climbed the jungle gym chasing after our little pookies all over the place. John/D, my kindred spirit, even tried to gain us access to a closed candy store. Instead we all just tongued the glass. Aubrey and Petra got to doing cartwheels and back walk-overs in the park. I don't know where my darn brain is, but I think it left the day my placenta implanted. Anyway, I thought I'd try a few never minding the fact that I'm halfway through a pregnancy. After a cartwheel and a couple of headstands, my specialty, I got a little nervous that I might have done something stupid. Of course, when it comes to personal situations it becomes impossible for me to tap into my professional training that required 9-years of school at the University of Michigan and $90K in student loans. Good thing I have friends in high places. Poor Jess, a good buddy and fellow midwife, got an earful this morning as relayed my near level of panic to her. She talked me down saying she didn't see any problem with me inverting myself against the laws of gravity. She delivered Annike, you know, so she's my hero already. Such a good person.

Ultimo is fine, kicking me in the ureters and femoral arteries. I'm pretty sure this baby is part giant squid. I got on with my day post-cartwheel scare until I felt like the Elmer's Glue for School Children in a Non-Toxic Formulation that was sort of holding my pelvis together went ahead and gave out on me. You know, if my heart weren't so desirous and longing of a big, yummy, nutty family (sounds more like fudge, but I am talking about kids) then I might go out on a limb and tell y'all that I think my body is trying to say that my childbearing days should go the way of the Dodo Bird. But I'm not saying that, me wants lots of yummy, fudgie puddins' (again, I'm talking about children, but fudge doesn't sound so bad right now).

Anyhow, we spent much of the day with John Sr. and Mary, which was great. Rode the trolley. Went to Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39. Tried to track down the San Fransiscan sea lions, but they had all left for San Diego cuz it's too damn cold up here and ain't nobody got that much blubber, I tell ya.

You should know that I actually really like San Fransisco. I love the depth of the city. I really love the architecture. Mostly, I love the diversity of cultures. It's like being back in Ann Arbor with all the fabulous numbers of languages you hear with every group of people you walk by and all the human diversity but more cityish and urbany. It's so beautiful here. I like the weather and the beaches in San Diego better, oh and the better highway views with less cows headed to guillotine. If San Fran had more San Diego weather, I'd be here in a New York minutes. Yep.

Okay, Soren fell fast asleep in my lap at a Thai restaurant before we could manage getting to fireworks. We had a great dinner. Lars and Petra decided to go exploring, they just walked back into the room. They went out for sushi (I mentioned we just had Thai for dinner?), Lars says they only spent $38 (that, my friends, is the cost of a nice organic - read: very healthy - cake from Whole Foods). I'm in the hotel room with Soren and Annike. Annike is sawing logs like a 450lb man with sleep apnea, her head buried in Soren's neck, her arm flung around his waist. It's super-dog cute, a bit noisy, but very cute. I'm listening to the fireworks while typing this and scheming of ways to reattach my pelvis to, well, my pelvis.

I will try to post a picture of today's fabulousness soon.

Tomorrow we're off to a wedding in nearby Oakland. I have a sleeveless dress and open-toed heels. Wish this mama some luck.

Peace out.

K