pod: fun with markers

I call this design: Hitler Harry Potter + Goatee

But them I had to let him do it to me...

He tried to get Daddy, but he wasn't in the mood

and that made him sad

pod: jumping jacks

Jackson has a very adventurous neighbor friend who does some amazing tricks on this ramp with his bike. Jacks has been practicing jumping this ramp with his bike too, but first he likes to warm up by doing it on foot.

pod: mount hood on a clear(ish) day

Mt. Hood is the closest 'big' mountain to us - it's about 30 miles away. Today was beautiful, sunny, and fairly clear...kind of rare around here, but it makes me appreciate the nice days so much more! (I can be an optimist!)

shout out

Steve has started his own blog, which is so much better than being a guest-poster, right?

Check him out at http://onegear2wheels.blogspot.com/ and decide for yourself!

p.t.a.

I have diagnosed myself with a disorder I call public transportation anxiety, P.T.A. for short. Anyone can suffer from this, but I am especially predisposed for reasons including:

:: I have ridden public transportation about 6 times in my whole life, always while visiting friends/family, and always with a guide.

:: I operate from a belief that I owe it to people to know what I'm doing (in just about any situation). Therefore, I am extremely embarrassed when it becomes clear that I am clueless. Let's not get into how ridiculous of an idea this is...that I'm human...etc. I'm fully aware of my issues.

:: When I get flustered and am in the middle of a situation where I clearly do not know what I'm doing, I tend to loose all logic and common sense. It's like I'm in situation overload, and I now longer have the brain capacity to be logical.

The one very positive thing I have going for me is that deep down I really want to learn how to use public transportation, especially the bus. So, I'm actually a good person to have P.T.A. because I am willing to overcome!

In the first month we were here I only rode on a bus 3 times and a tram 1 time, all of which had been experienced with Steve. Steve's presence cancels out the effects of P.T.A. because he suffers from the opposite disorder. It doesn't have a good acronym (and it's too bad, because he is in the business of acronyms "I sent the S.O.W. to the C.I.O and he sent back a P.O.S." that's what I sometimes wake up to, since his office is in our bedroom.) but it's called something like 'uber-confident-in-every-possible-situation so much so that he never appears to be clueless.

During my mom's visit, she, Jackson and I took a walk to a coffee shop one morning. It was a normal day, meaning that it was kind of grey and there were a few rainy clouds out, but I knew we wouldn't be gone long, so we left our raincoats behind. (I have since learned that to ensure dryness, one must always carry a raincoat.) After the coffee shop, we decided to walk up to Fred Mejer, aka Freddy's, aka the grocery store we like to frequent.

On the way to Freddy's it began t0 gently rain. Nothing we couldn't handle though. So we were a tad soggy by the time we got there. While we were in the store, for all of 10 minutes, a torrential downpour ensued. The type of downpour which a certain northwest-bred friend of whom I will not mention here (you know who you are, and you should be ashamed!) assured me I would not experience here in the northwest.

There happens to be a bus stop right in front of Freddy's. And Freddy's is roughly 10 blocks from our house (about .8 miles give or take). I had taken the 14 bus two times already, and I knew exactly where we could get off about 3 blocks from our house, and I also knew that if you were staying in the same zone (which we were) the cost was $1. So we decided to take the bus for about 6 blocks to avoid the rain.

I'm sure I looked cool and composed, and really what could go wrong? I mean, we did almost get on going the wrong way, and it was my mom who realized that maybe we needed to cross the street and get on the bus that was actually heading the direction we needed to head. But once we got that minor detail figured out I thought we were golden. I had my two one-dollar bills out and facing the correct way to slide into the machine, and there was even enough room for us to all huddle under the bus stop to avoid that rain that was coming down sideways and from underneath us. I felt so Portland!

So as much as I seemed to have all my ducks in a row, what happened next seems to be classic. It's classic in the sense that I am unable to avoid awkwardness, especially in situations where I am the most anxious. (Which perhaps contributes in bringing them about.)

The bus stops and we rush to get on, at the same time realizing that no one else under the bus stop is rushing to get on (hmm? that's strange) to then realize that they are politely waiting to first let people get off the bus (clearly I've already lost my common sense at this point). When we do get on I send my mom and Jackson to the back and begin to insert my two dollars. I tell the woman I'm paying for me and my mom (Jacks is free). She says "it's four dollars then" (might I say she didn't say it very kindly. I think she added a silent "you silly, white, suburban moron" at the end of it).

Of course, I didn't have any more dollars on me, because who carries cash when you're with your mom? So now I'm yelling to the back of the bus for my mom to give me more money, at the same time trying to explain to the ever-so-kind bus driver that I've ridden this bus before, and isn't it only one dollar if you're staying in the same zone...ie: only going 6 blocks?! Did the rule just change. Or are you just trying to mess with me?

She wasn't having it. She wouldn't address my questions and just kept insisting that it was FOUR DOLLARS!

In the end, we only rode 4 blocks because I accidently got us off too early. So we paid a dollar a block. And we obviously got soaking wet on the 5 blocks that we had left to walk home.

So to work out my p.t.a. angst Jackson and I went puddle jumping when we got to our street.

boys in the hood

I'm still surprised but the ultrasound definitely proved that I'm carrying another boy! It took us all a few minutes to get our heads around, because all three of us thought it was a girl, but we are psyched to have another boy.

My due date is April 12, and right now (at 19 weeks) the baby weighs 9 oz. Just a tiny little guy. Jackson has decided to name him Sharky-Shark, for now. The ultrasound took over an hour and he was getting a little impatient, so we started joking that maybe I was growing a dinosaur, or maybe a baby shark (currently his two favorite species).

I had two different ultrasound techs, both of which were males! I've had a handful of ultrasounds in the past few years and have never had a male. My experience with ultrasound techs has been that they are all business - they have specific info/measurements to gather, so please don't slow them down by asking questions. It's so hard because I'm so curious!! And I want to ask a million questions.

The first tech, Kirk, was still learning so he did the first half of the ultrasound. He was very laid back and talked a lot. He talked to Jackson, he answered all kinds of our questions. (He also guessed it was a girl.) And then his supervisor, Brian, was just as friendly and accommodating. It really was a different experience than any other ultrasound I've had before. It seems to take a trained eye to really understand the way an ultrasound works, and there is so much that shows up on the screen that seems indecipherable - but they each told us so much about what they were looking at.

We were able to see all four chambers of the heart, and even to see the way the blood was flowing in and out. We saw all ten of the baby's toes and fingers (we got a good thumbs-up shot). At one point Brian kind of tapped on my belly with the ultrasound wand. I inquired and he explained that he was checking that the baby's skin continued from the back of the neck all along the spine, and when he tapped my belly it pushed the baby away from my uterus for just a moment to get a good view of the baby's skin.

They both had a little trouble getting the head measurements because little Sharky-Shark was doing acrobatics like he was on speed. I was surprised because the other two ultrasounds I've had (where I could see the whole baby) he's been totally chilled out (another reason I thought it was a girl). But he was seriously moving. I started feeling him kick at 17 weeks but still his kicks seem small. I only actually felt about 10% of the movement that I observed on the screen during the ultrasound.

I'm so glad to know that it's a boy, to start thinking about what we will name him, and even just to finally call it a him. After watching him on the screen I realized how crazy it seems that he's a full baby right now! He has every body part that a baby has at birth. And yet, he still has 5 more months of growing to do before he could live outside of me. It fascinates me, how something is alive within my own body.

Steves p.o.d

This was the tough skier look...be ready slopes, action Jackson will soon be coming for a visit!

pod: key letters

Jackson snapped this shot just before heading off to bed. Ever since we got a little point and shoot camera he loves to grab it and fill the frame. In this shot he was trying to capture as many of the letters from his name as he could. Not bad, eh? I mean, can your kid do that? Yeah, I'd like to see it!