Nugget Update

The weeks seem to be going by even quicker now with no sign of slowing down. At our last appointment our little nugget was still right on track. Strong heartbeat and growing as she should be. Movement has definitely become more frequent and obvious. Last week Jake was able to feel her for the first time and it was so awesome to see his face when she kicked his hand. Now anytime I sit down at home and she starts to move I tell him to come feel. I get to feel it all day long, so I love that he can finally enjoy it a little as well.

Now that the heartburn is under control our next step was to do something about this damn pinched nerve in my leg. It was getting worse so Jake did a little research and found a physical therapy technique that has been used on pregnant women to help with this type of condition. A little more searching and we found two chiropractors that use this treatment and thankfully one of them is not too far away. I had my first appointment this past week and I can already tell it is making a difference. The hyper-sensitivity will take some time to fade as the nerve regenerates and starts working again, but being able to go for a walk and not notice my leg is a huge improvement!

I am super excited to be going back to Utah in a couple weeks for a shower with my family and some friends. It is double exciting because my sister is pregnant too!! She is about 5 weeks behind me, due in mid-November. It has been fun to go through this "together", as much as that is possible a thousand miles apart! Plus it will be so fun to have a cousin the same age.

In nursery news, we have all of the big furniture purchased -crib, dresser, changing table, glider; and we picked out colors. Now the projects begin as we want to paint the changing table and the dresser as well as get other decorations up.

Despite the few bumps along the road this pregnancy has been a good one (not that I have anything to compare to), but I am feeling good overall. Can't wait to meet our little girl!

Now, the real reason you come to our blog - pictures!

They say black is slimming, but I don't think that applies to baby bumps. No hiding this one.

Maternity dresses = best invention ever!

HEY! It's week 23!

The Big Reveal

The adventure of pregnancy continues! The last few weeks have brought a few new treats with them. Prior to being pregnant I never really had heart burn and can't even recall a time when I needed a Tums. Well that has all changed! It seems now that no food exists that won't give me heartburn. Thankfully I mentioned this to my doctor and she wrote down one word that has changed my life - Zantac! Seriously, it is a miracle worker. I curse myself on the days when I forget to throw one in my purse to take to work and end up eating Tums like they are candy. My leg has also taken a bit of a turn and progressed from just being numb, to showing me the whole spectrum of nerve related feelings - pain, stabbing, tingly, hot - at any given point in the day. I know it will all be worth it and after delivery I will probably look back and think "that wasn't so bad after all"!

We have also crossed a couple of pretty exciting milestones recently. We had the anatomy ultrasound and learned that we are adding a little girl to our family! She is doing well and measuring just as she should be at this point. We are both super excited, though I will admit I was convinced that it was a boy so I was definitely surprised to hear the technician say it was a girl. We also passed the 20 week mark which means we are now over halfway to meeting our little one! It has gone by quickly at this point.

The weather has been unusually warm lately which I have loved, but it is also making me wonder what the rest of the summer will be like if we were already in the 80's in early May. I am betting I will be glad we have air conditioning!

A little while ago I joined a Meet Up group for new and expecting moms and it has been great. We meet on Saturday's and go for a walk for an hour or so. When the weather was not as nice we went to the mall before it was open and did laps (that's right, I was a mall walker!) and now with the improved conditions we have gone to a couple parks to enjoy the sunshine. It has been nice to have other mom's and mom's to be to ask questions and compare notes with. What stroller do they like? What type of carrier? Do we really need a wipe warmer? All the things you don't really know until you have done it. Plus it will be great to have a group of friends with kids the same age in the future.

Jake has been so great through this process and I know that will continue to be the case. Whether I need something and just don't feel like getting up, or I break down in tears because I spilled a little salad dressing on the floor (thanks a lot of hormones!), he is there for me and I couldn't do this without him.

And of course no post is complete without pictures:

 

 

Little B Makes Three

It seems only appropriate that I am writing this blog before 7:00 in the morning on a Saturday because I couldn't get comfortable enough to fall back asleep.

We are so excited to have a little one on the way! I am currently 17 weeks and heading toward an October 2nd due date. So far my pregnancy has been pretty uneventful. I was lucky enough to not really have morning sickness. There were certainly days when I was not feeling 100% and went through a whole sleeve of Ritz crackers, but overall I was mostly just super tired. It turns out growing a person is hard work! Over the last few weeks I have definitely started getting my energy back which is so nice. Bed time is still about 9:00 (9:30 if I am lucky), but that is basically normal for me. The only complaint I have is the joy of a pinched nerve  near my right hip which has caused the majority of my right thigh to be numb for about a month now. Thankfully they say it should go away soon after delivery. As if having a baby weren't reason enough to look forward to my due date, now I am also looking forward to having feeling in my leg back!

This week we will find out the gender and I can't believe that we are already to this point. On one hand, late January when I took my home test seems like so long ago, but it also seems a bit crazy to think that in just a few weeks we will be half way there.

We are looking forward to getting the nursery started and narrowing down the seemingly endless options of things to buy for a baby to just the things it will actually need (and maybe a few extras just cause they are so cute!).

We have been good about taking weekly pictures, but I have been slacking on getting the blog done to go along with them. With less comfortable sleep in my future I am likely to be up more and might as well use that time to blog!

Nugget's first picture - 10 weeks

Getting harder to hide!

Jake wanted in on the weekly picture action too!

YAY for week 14!

Working the jazz hands for week 15.

Enjoying the stretchy pants at this point!

Moved

So this is long overdue, but figured for posterity sake I should probably post about it. We had actually started looking for houses back in April 2012, but when we didn't find anything quickly, the search was put on hold while Jake went to Chile for the summer. We picked it back up in September and by early October we found the one we had been looking for and put in an offer. After settling all the details and writing that big check, we finally received the key to our first home on November 17th. We were leaving town a few days later for Thanksgiving so we decided to just move after we returned. Thankfully it is only about 3 miles from our old apartment to the house, so the actual moving was not too bad.

I feel a little like we are still settling in. There are more rooms and many more walls here which means there are still empty spaces and decisions to be made about decorating. But slowly we are making it our own. It didn't take long to believe what everyone was always saying about owning a home - there is always something to do. From upgrades inside, to decorating, to yard maintenance it is certainly true. The yard will be the biggest surprise in the coming months. Since it was winter when we moved in, we don't know what to expect this spring when things start blooming and growing again.

More pictures will come as rooms get finished, but here is the view from the front, including one of the many fountains that we acquired with this purchase (craigslist here they come!)

Backpacking Central Oregon

September is by far the best month of the year. The heat of summer lingers, the crisp nights of fall begin to slowly take hold, leaves are changing color, fish are biting, and last but certainly not least it is the month when I celebrate another 365 day journey around the sun (Jess if you haven't caught on by now this is Jake).

 For the past two years I have been wanting to take Kari on her first backpacking trip. But, as life goes other things often took priority and it never aligned. However, with my work schedule cooperating, and deciding to forgo my annual birthday fishing trip, 2012 looked promising. We tentatively blocked out an extended weekend in September before I left for Chile and then let the idea sit idle for the months I was away. The winter of Chile proved to be a great motivator and I returned full of planning vigor and ready to explore Central Oregon's Three Sisters wilderness.

With only a few days to go, I happened to be checking the national wildland fire situation report (old habits are hard to break), when I noticed a large fire reported near where we had planned to go backpacking. Further investigation revealed the Pole Creek fire to be burning very near our intended location and precautionary closures were in effect that prevented us from reaching the trail-head where we had planned to embark on our adventure. I was more than a little bummed to say the least. Enter Google, and within a few hours I had identified a Plan B. Reason #1,576 why Oregon is awesome, Mount Jefferson wilderness and Three Fingered Jack; all was not lost! We ended up hiking in and camping at some meadows near the base of Three Fingered Jack (TFJ) on the first day. The second we based out of our camp and climbed as high onto TJF as you can go without technical gear, then after lunch connected with another trail and checked out some nice lakes in the area. Day three we hiked out, finishing the loop, and headed home.

Below is our trip in pictures. We had a great time, although I might have damaged my chances of getting Kari to do another trip like this. Seems a 20+ miler, with 3 solid days of hiking might have been a little bit too much for a first timer. But, she is a champ and stuck it out even through the off trail scrambles and steep climbs. But now that she has done this one, the next will be that much easier!

Our route, hiked counter-clockwise. We camped near the camera closest to the name Three Fingered Jack.

The first day was a 9+ mile hike mostly through an old burn.

Old burn = great views. TFJ peaking over a ridge.

Old burn = very little shade. Kari taking a break in the shade provided by some skinny snags.

The Pole Creek fire continued to burn, reminding us we made a good decision to not try an alternate route into that area.

On the lower slopes of TFJ. Looking south you can see Mount Jefferson. A small moraine lake is visible below us.

Some of us can't resist going where others will not dare.

Mount Jefferson

TFJ catches the morning light.

Kari kicking ass and taking names as she powers up the slope to the ridge line. Part of the trip involved some off trail trekking to get from the meadows at the base of TFJ to the PCT on the ridge.

From the ridge top, TFJ in all it's glory.

Chile: Part 3

I was a bit disappointed when I went through this last folder of pictures. The area of the island where they were taken is called Plazoleta El Yunque. El Yunque is the name of the highest peak on the island that rises abruptly behind Cumberland Bay where the town is located. The translation then is roughly "small plaza (think town square) of the mountain". Plazoleta is spectacular old growth native forest, latticed with small streams that gently trickle through the ferns and around the giant roots of the ancient trees. This area also houses the highest concentration of hummingbird nesting known on the island. I tried taking pictures of nests and females on the nests, but that really didn't work so well. Turns out tiny birds that nest in the upper canopy are hard to photograph with a point and shoot.

The lighting was horrible the day I was taking pictures and thus washed out the colors. Couple that with a camera lens fogging internally due to passing showers that brought large swings in temperature and humidity, and my pictures just do not do justice. But, I will share nonetheless and at the very least you can get a sense of the uniqueness of the flora and the beauty of this island.

This is the best picture I took of the old growth, just doesn't do it justice though.

To get an idea of the scale of this plant look at the upper left corner for one of our local partners with a red backpack.

When large trees fall and leave openings in the canopy in riparian areas this plant takes off.

Chile: Part 2

As promised, round two of pictures. Some of the pictures below were taken by my coworker, as noted. There apparently will be a round 3 becasue I haven't even got to the folder with the old growth forest pictures yet! Enjoy.

This was the first island I have worked on with a permanent year round community. It was certainly a different experience than being on an unpopulated island, especially given most of our work was being conducted in the small town. The main "industry" there is artisanal lobster fishing, which like other places in the world with commercial fisheries (think AK), leads to a seasonal influx of activity and people during the fishing season. I was there in the off-season, when lobster was closed, so the fisherman that were still around were spending their days repairing boats, building lobster traps, and/or doing odd jobs to get by until the lobster season opened. There is also alot of subsistenance fishing that goes on and I certianly enjoyed the fresh fish and octopus!

I will not go into detail here, but the people there are hardy and have lived through tragedy. The large destructive earthquake that hit Chile in early 2010 created a tsunami that directly impacted the islands, killing many and destroying a large portion of the town. It was certainly moving to hear the locals tell of their experiences. This link is to a short slideshow one of our conservation partners put together shortly after the tsunami to help spread the word about what happened and raise funds for the community, it gives a good overview of the event with before and after pictures as well as some great pics of the boats/lobster traps. I highly recommend taking a look: JF Tsunami

Cumberland Bay today; you can see the on going construction in the foreground.

We joined our local conservation partners for some outreach at the 'Dia de los ninos' event. These girls were adorable, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch the better angle showing the dog under the table eating the crayons they were dropping.

Chileans love to BBQ. (Photo: Erin Hagen)

What is the best appetizer at a BBQ....why Chori-pan of course! (Photo: Erin Hagen)

Even though it wasn't lobster season, they decided I couldn't visit without having some. Although it wasn't fresh, it was certainly delicious. (Photo: Erin Hagen)

Locs.  (Photo: Erin Hagen)

The dogs there made me smile. They came in all shapes and sizes and seemingly infinite combinations. This little guy looked to be golden retriever and corgi. He liked to follow me around and chase off any other dogs that came by.