Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice

It’s true, it’s a girl! Or at least “likely” going to be a girl (medicine these days!!). We had our 2nd Ultrasound yesterday and asked the tech to write down the sex of the baby and put it in an envelope so we could open it on our own. Since we couldn’t wait, we went to Gar’s favorite coffee/doughnut shop, had a bite to eat and opened the envelope like giddy kids on Christmas morning! We are thrilled. Although, Garett is still trying to work out if he is going to have to go to Pony Shows and Princess Parties but I don’t think he has to worry—my guess is that she will love playing in the woods with her papa!

Pics from the yesterday morning (sorry about the quality, they are from my phone!)

Great Ma!

A couple of weeks ago my mom came to visit me way up here in Seattle. We had a great time hanging out, getting lots of “tasks” done and talking about her first grandbaby! She brought all sorts of goodies for me & The Pickle (thanks mom!) but my favorite thing that she brought were these 2 pictures (8 month pregnant and with me at 4 months). A few things to note:

The Hair!
The homemade maternity pants with scraps of leather
The suspenders!
Her pure joy being a mom!

Mom, thanks for a great visit. I hope that I can be as good of a mom as you are!

Whose belly is that?

Almost 18 weeks and look what happened?! I must admit that this shot was taken after a very big dinner and late at night so take it with a grain of salt. But oh my! 5 more months?! No telling how big this pickle will be!


And next Wednesday we find out the sex of the babes.

Stay tuned.

The Pickle goes to the snow!

Last weekend we rented a cabin near Mt Baker with some pals to get away from the city and get in some snow time. We had a great weekend hanging out, eating lots of food and playing some intense games (or was it gambling?!)

Anyway, the girls were nice enough to forgo a great day on the slopes to snowshoe with me. Despite the blisters, it was a perfect romp! Sunshine, PB & J sandwiches, lime chips and beautiful views. A few pics from the trip.

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Ryder!

On Friday, I got to officially meet and hold sweet baby Ryder. He is doing well and even has a good little grip!

Do you think he will ever know how much we all love him?!

February 13th- What A Day!

Yesterday Garett and I had our monthly doctor apt with Dr Levine. After the dr. admitted to looking Garett up on Google (he was so impressed that he used to ride his bike professionally!) he checked the baby’s heartbeat and said all is well and we were on our way. Great. As we walked out into the lobby, we were surprised to see our dear friend Kelly in a wheel chair (our doctors are in the same practice and she is 34 weeks pregnant). We were all so stunned to see each other and confused about what was going on. As it turns out, she was going into early labor and her husband, Jesse, was trying to get on a flight home from Boston. I called work to tell them that I was not coming back and Gar and I rolled her over to the hospital, which is next door.

I wont write all the details here but what was a regular Wednesday afternoon turned into an emotional, amazing & intense day. Kelly is so strong and extraordinary and tried like crazy to get the little babes out naturally but alas, she had to have a c-section. Sadly, Jesse was still in flight and missed the birth by an hour. However, because Jesse was not there, I got to go into the OR with her. What an amazing thing to witness!

Sweet baby boy Ryder Kimball Grissom graced us with his presence at 9:19pm he was almost 5 pounds-pretty good for 6 weeks early! Mama, Baby and Dad are all together now and all is well. Again, I am reminded that you can’t plan life and that having a baby is such an wonderful marvel.

What an honor to be a witness to the miracle of life!

Where's the Beef?

I woke up this morning and the very first thing I thought about was….beef jerky. I am not kidding. I don’t want any store bought jerky, I want Riley’s.

I spent many summers in Greenville, CA (population 1,160) attending summer camp (I miss those days!) and eating the local delicacy of Riley’s beef jerky. Now, you can imagine that Riley’s is not set up with a slick e-commerce website or a website at all for that matter but this was a pregnant girl on a mission. So, I called them (not easy to find their phone number!) and pleaded my case. And guess what is coming my way, 3 bags of Riley’s jerky—oh, and an invoice b/c they can’t run credit cards.

I hope it is as good as I remember it to be!

Apples!

Week 15 and the baby is the size of on apple. Funny enough, I cant get enough apples (with peanut butter, naturally) these days. Not a lot to report this week. While I am feeling better, I haven’t had that 2nd trimester burst of energy yet (ie I spent all day on the couch yeasterday.) Maybe next week?

In other baby news, my dear friend Kim Henning (Bulkley) had a sweet baby girl, Ella. Check out Ella and her dad Alex! Welcome to the world Ella!