Merry Christmas from Burke, Julia, and Jubu!
We had a lovely Christmas and hope that you all did too! We loved receiving all of the wonderful Christmas cards, letters, and photos which we have up on our mantel now. We didn’t get around to sending cards this year but wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and an amazing 2009!
Here is a link to a photo gallery I created with some of the year’s highlights. We packed a lot into the year, especially Burke with his successful summits of Mt. Hood, Mt. Baker, and Mt. Rainier!
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (2)SNOW and Week 37 belly shot
Whew, what a week!! We are going on day #9 of extremely unusual winter weather. We have more than a foot of snow and it’s not melting anytime soon! Last week really wasn’t so bad compared to what arrived this weekend, but I ended up having to work from home two days and Burke’s office was closed one day. Friday was my last official day of work before maternity leave began but I still have a project I am finishing up so hope to make it into the office a bit next week. Burke’s office was closed today and we are hoping tomorrow, too. After being very cautious about venturing outside the house with my big belly, I finally had enough and convinced Burke to take me out on a walk today. We walked for about an hour and a half (slowly!). It’s so beautiful out! I loved seeing all the people out skiing and snowshoeing and sledding and walking. There are hardly any cars on the roads. If Burke stays home tomorrow, I hope that we can take another long walk and enjoy this snow before it melts. They say the last time Portland had this much snow was 1980, and that this might end up ranking in the top 10 snowstorms of all time. My mom has been in Denver with Jennifer and Mike this past week and was supposed to get back Sunday evening. No surprise that her flight was cancelled. She’s now scheduled to arrive Tuesday night and we really hope it works out so that we can celebrate Christmas together. Otherwise we will put off our Christmas festivities until she is back!
Here are some more pictures of our backyard and our neighborhood from our walk today.
Christmas tree and Week 36 belly shot
Burke after placing the star on the top!
We were debating getting a tree this year, but last Thursday we decided to go ahead and get one. Burke promises to put all the ornaments away after Christmas! 🙂 As for the belly shot, well, let’s just say that Jubu AND Julia are getting bigger! I’m glad that the photo is dark!
Nursery preview
While we were at the beach last weekend, Bonnie painted the mural on the nursery wall. We love it! Now we are working on getting the rest of the room put together. We are still working on a rug, curtains, framing some art for the walls, painting the bedside table, etc. but here is a sneak preview for now! We will post more pictures when it’s done.
Snow!!! and baby shower photos
We are having snow and wind and cold in Portland today! Burke and I have been being lazy…reading on the sofa in front of the Christmas tree, watching all the birds come to our backyard birdfeeders, and of course watching the snow and listening to the windows rattle in the wind!
My friend and boss Martha posted some pictures of my work baby shower in mid-November to her flickr site and I thought I would link to them here. It was so much fun and so many of the “big” things we needed (car seat, stroller) were purchased as a group gift. Be sure to check out the black mary jane shoes that my friend Sue knitted. So cute! I’m going to miss all my fabulous coworkers when I am out on maternity leave!
Filed under miscellaneous | Comment (0)Another kayak update…
The kayak has finally reached the point where you can get a good idea of how it will look upon completion. The deck is still full of wires (click the pic to get better detail), and it’s not actually attached to the hull yet, but once I get some epoxy on the deck it will really start to look like a boat that’s ready to hit the water. Looks are deceiving though. I still have some work to do.
Week 34 update!
We had our third childbirth class last night…the first in 2 weeks due to Thanksgiving. We noticed how much larger all the women in the class seemed, so we decided we’d better take a picture when we got home! Whoa, we can really tell a difference in me too!
We had an ultrasound on Tuesday (my doctor is closely monitoring the baby’s growth due to my Graves’ disease) and it was perfect. They estimate that Jubu weighs about 5 pounds 4 oz (within 5%) which is about the 57th percentile. This is good news that she is on the bigger side because the worry with Graves’ disease is that she could have issues with not growing appropriately. So, good! We saw her lips, her tongue, and even some hair on her head! We don’t have any pictures because at this stage of pregnancy, she is so big that the ultrasound shots are VERY fuzzy.
Then, I had my regular OB appointment today. I found out that the baby has “dropped” in my pelvis and my cervix is starting to thin. My doctor says this doesn’t really mean anything except that things are really starting to happen! At our next appointment on Dec 18, we will start having weekly non-stress tests. Apparently, the risk of having a stillborn infant is much higher in women over 35 after 36 weeks gestation, so by doing this test hopefully any potential problems will be discovered early. By week 40, the risk of stillbirth is double that of women under 35, so she will induce me if I have not delivered by then. So, if Jubu doesn’t come BEFORE January 12, she will likely come ON January 12!
Our Thanksgiving was really nice. We had an early breakfast with my parents before they headed to the wine country for a few days, and a delicious Thanksgiving dinner with Bret, Regina, MomJan, and Chuck. We got to talk to Bill & Linda long-distance too! On Friday, we had a nice day driving back roads, birdwatching, taking the Wheatland Ferry over the Willamette River (!), and exploring Willamette Mission State Park before meeting my parents for an early dinner in the wine country at the Joel Palmer House (great restaurant known for cooking with wild mushrooms). The four day weekend was excellent, and it was hard for both of us to wake up and go to work on Monday!
We loved seeing the comments from the Missouri Stoll clan and are glad you are all reading the blog! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving–sure sounds like you did!
We’ll try to stay up on our postings as the big day approaches!
Filed under belly shots | Comments (2)