Kelsi's Blog

baby got born!

2009-09-19T20:49:03+00:00

Well, it has been almost two months since I wrote here, at ~40 weeks pregnant. The baby is about 7 weeks old, and doing well. We're busy over here, but I hope to still post to this blog from time to time. Life is very different here; we run on cyclical 3 hours schedules of sleep, but still manage to get out to do 'normal' things like see a movie or visit friends; usually just abbreviated versions of these pastimes though. We just returned from celebrating our three year anniversary in Mendocino, with the baby and the dog. :) Other than that, not much to report.

I have been somewhat keeping up with the baby blog Drew made for our baby boy. However, it is private, so if you'd like to see what he is up to, email me your yahoo, gmail, or aol email address (or other openID account name). I'm way behind my other projects, and other little things I want to do. A running list:

Write to Kelsi blog

Make DMV appointment

Make a soft headboard for our bed

Store baby's newborn clothes and organize 3 month+ clothes for wearing now done, and repeated. 9 month old wearing 18 month clothing

Finish 'thank you' cards -I think I've finally done most of these. some were very embarrassingly late

Mail belated birthday present did it. I think she liked.

Make dentist appointment done 10/2009, but due for my next

Make protectant treatment for wood deck

Organize details for upcoming TX and east coast trips been to TX and East Coast with Ari

Look into daycare options for next year very happy w our choice

Go to a 'mother's club' event went with Jaime 1/2010; kind of a bust--but I love the babysitting co-op

Visit family in Chico visited 12/2009

Go to yoga regularly

Go on long (4+ mile) walks again

Major cleaning of house (not just picking up or light cleaning)...always

Research possible second car purchase love our second honda insight

Organize med receipt paperwork

Look into Kaiser baby group classes

Go to another empty movie theatre with Drew and baby and watch another movie uninterrupted we did this 5 times!!! I think these days are over now

Make plans to see friends in San Rafael

Make plans to have my favorite chinese food with an old friend in Berkeley

Establish a more regular daily routine for baby and me which involves us leaving the house every day

Write my masters thesis!

Take Apollo on more walks

....that's it for now. Here is our creation:

Belated Year in Review

2010-05-12T23:38:59+00:00

I know 'year in review' blog entries are a little trendy, but I like how it jogs my memory, and archives some events for the year. While certain months were more notable than others, I've tried to write something of substance for each month.

January 2009: I was secretly pregnant for the first part of this month. Mid-month, I finished my first trimester, so I revealed impending baby to boss man and coworkers. Pretty exciting times. My friend Janet, came from Austin, TX for a bay area visit.

Barack Obama inaugurated. Drew and I watched with neighbors at our library

February 2009: Drew and I had our first date 10 years ago. Drew surprised me with a nice picnic on our anniversary, 2/2. I flew to Texas to visit friends Janet and Karla--I had a great vacation.

Ten Years together

March 2009: We put solar panels. Monsters vs. Aliens was released by Dreamworks Animation--Drew and coworkers. We saw a special screening of it. We also enjoyed seeing Wicked! in San Francisco.

April 2009: Started the month with a fun trip to LA. Visited friends Ali and Max, trip to the Getty, and saw our friends Dave and Lisa get married on the beach. Later that month, I went with my mom to Portland, OR to visit my cousin, Karli and family. Friend Amanda painted Ari's nursery for me (I helped a little).

May 2009: This was a hard month. The hardest month I've ever had at work. I wanted to quit sometimes, but I didn't. Enough said.

June 2009: Friends Ali and Max got married at The Lair of the Bear. We took Apollo and stayed at a little cabin. I had to miss a different wedding for our friends on the east coast. Drew went, and I was sad. Worse, I was so miserable as the bay area seemed to have the hottest weekend ever, and I was mighty pregnant. Apollo and I laid around the house like beached whales.

Max, Ali, and me

July 2009: I had a birthday. As did my mother, my late great-grandmother, my nephew (his 0th), two of drew's aunts, his cousin, his grandmother, and our son Ari (his 0th). Ari was born July 31st at 7lbs 2oz, and 21 inches.

Ari, seconds old, and me

August 2009: Recovering from childbirth and related complications. Welcomed best-friend-lauren back from India, once again.

September 2009: Went to Ari's first wedding- actually, my cousin Gillian's wedding. Still recovering from various postpartum issues...slow, hard recovery. Quick trip to Mendocino for our 3rd wedding anniversary. We took Ari and Apollo-it was pretty relaxing.

With the whole family, 3 years of marriage

October 2009: I celebrate Drew's 30th birthday a year late. The baby boy seems to be growing well.

Drew at "30", Ari at 2 months

November 2009: I was still having postpartum complications, but getting better for the most part. Drew had work in LA, and I decided to go with him, and bring Ari. I caught up with good ol' friend, Paula, from Iowa. And we went to the Adam Carolla and friends benefit for Bald Bryan. Drew's sister and brother-in-law came up from San Diego, and met Ari for the first time. Overall, a very nice trip.

Aunt Stephanie and Ari

December 2009: We take another roadtrip-this time to Oregon- to visit cousins and friends. With my return to work the following month, we scramble for some childcare for Ari. After a somewhat lengthy search, we find a daycare we are pretty happy with. Close out an emotional and eventful year. Ari continues to grow and be amazing. For more details on Ari, one can subscribe to the super secret Ari blog. But you have to email me to get an invitation.

Cousin Karli, Ari, and me

two days past due date

2009-07-30T11:08:54+00:00

Not much new here in ~3 days, but I did sell my car. It was a two seater (Honda Insight Hybrid), and not very practical for carrying a baby around. I'm quite proud as I owned the car for ~6 years, and sold it for not very much less than what I bought it for. But really it was just luck-I bought my (used) hybrid when gas was ~$1.60/gallon. Not expecting to be as lucky on the next car purchase.

I talked to my doctor yesterday. We decided to hold off on inducing until after the weekend. If nothing happens on its own, I will go in Sunday evening to begin the long process. But I'm *really* hoping something will happen before then. I'm still not over my cold, so hopefully the extra time will give me a chance to get better. Also, I'm still feeling relatively okay, though definitely more tired; and in need of a nap everyday. In the meantime, I'm continuing to do a little tidying and organizing, and watching the great show "Battlestar Galactica" on DVD.

Me last night, with the Apollo who doesn't fly Vipers very well:

estimated due date-July 28

2009-07-27T23:35:24+00:00

My due date begins in less than an hour, but as of today, I have not 'progressed' from 3 weeks ago.

I am feeling alright and am taking the extra time to get chores done. In fact, I had a ridiculous spurt of energy this weekend and got the following accomplished (some with drew's help):

Rented carpet cleaner
Cleaned all three bedroom carpets
Washed Drew's car
Cut drew's hair
Took ~6 old computers and misc electronics to computer recycling center (ok-drew did most of this)
Fixed car stereo problem-phones now sync with bluetooth and I can listen to my tunes and phone calls with the stereo; which I totally love.
Washed my car (to prepare to sell)
Bought tools for fixing bench and keeping deer away
Fixed hanging bench in front patio (drew also did this)
Sprayed hydrangeas with deer repellant
Bought some last minute baby needs on Amazon
Washed some more diapers, crib sheet, and mattress pad; everything in baby's room washed and put in its place
Finished packing hospital bag
Walked Apollo (3x)
Washed Apollo
Made a google voice phone number; primarily to screen craigslist ads (see below). My name is in my phone number.
Placed ads on craigslist for my car and two of drew's two giant CRT monitors
Cleaned out fridge
Cleaned out pantry
Finished last set of 'thank you' notes

On top of all of that, drew did some fancy hacking into our palm pre phones which I'm sure he will blog about soon. We will have a baby blog soon; drew is making it and it will use openID, which (I think) uses gmail and yahoo mail IDs to authenticate users. So if you're interested in reading about the baby, email me your gmail or yahoo email address and we'll add you to the list.

I'm taking a break now; trying to rest as I got a pretty bad head cold and want to be better by the time I go into labor. If I have no signs of labor by Thursday, for various reasons, my doctor will probably have me induced that night at the hospital. But hopefully something will happen before then. My mother gave birth three times within a day of her estimated due date. Maybe the same will hold true for me.

In other news, my brother's wife is far into labor as I type this. She wasn't due for another ~10 days or so, but baby said otherwise. I wish I could be there, but Sacramento is too far to go at this point in the game. She is lucky as my sister's mother-in-law is the head maternity nurse at that hospital, and making sure they get great care. Lucky them!

We're taking a lot more photos with our phones now that we have fancy palm pre with nice cameras.

Giving apollo a bath:

How I look from Drew's perspective, who is 1 foot 3 inches taller than me:

on leave

2009-07-09T23:23:14+00:00

Today was my 29th birthday and, coincidentally, my last day of work. I have a 6 month maternity leave. I thought taking ~2 weeks before the due date was extravagant, but I really think it is best. I was starting to have a pretty hard time getting through the day.

Not much else is new. We get a lot of questions about names; we have a list of many names but aren't spending much time thinking about them now. Rather, we just add to the list whenever we hear names we like and figure we'll figure it out when we need to. It is hard to imagine what to name someone we've never met. I'm not worried about it being hard to choose once we see him. In the meantime, if you have boy name suggestions, please pass them along.

I'm at a loss for more to say. Hope to have some sort of 'nesting' instinct kick in soon, as there is still a lot that could be done. But nothing critical. Except have a baby. Holy crap.