It's a.....

The Quiet Time

I'm sure I've written about "The Quiet Time" before on here.  Most moms (or dads.  Or caregivers in general) will know what I'm talking about: the quiet before everyone wakes up.  The "Me Time".  Some moms get it early in the morning before everyone, some get it late at night after everyone goes to bed.  It's the time you take for yourself, to organize your mind, to recharge, to wind down from the day (if it's the evening) or wind up for the day (if it's the morning).  

This is one of my favorite times of day.

I have this mug that I got around my 25th birthday.  It's a small mug, perfect for a smallish cup of coffee.  I got it from the Boeing Factory when Corky took me there for a tour for my birthday.  It's all the way up in Everett, WA, which is like a 4 hour drive.  So we loaded up along with a friend of mine who also loves airplanes and off we went.  OH MY GOD.  I will never forget that day.  We saw airplanes being built and then a really unusual thing happened.  Even the tour guide was surprised because she said usually they don't do this during the day, but a brand new baby Boeing 747 was being towed out of a hangar to a different location.  It was awesome - literally.  You know that 747s are big, but when it's ten feet away from you and its massive wing is going right over your head, looking so close that you think you could jump up reeeaaallllyyy high and touch it?  Yeah.  It's really big.  Anyway, I bought myself this mug to remember the day by, and it's my favorite mug to this day. And it's what I'm drinking my coffee out of right now. :)

Today is Wednesday, which means that it's "Mara & Mommy Day."  Mara doesn't have preschool on Wednesdays, so we usually do something fun in the morning such as going to the zoo, to the Children's Museum or to the mall to play in the play area.  If the weather is nice, we sometimes pack a picnic and go to a park (there are hundreds to choose from).  Corky's mom comes over in the afternoon after work every Wednesday to see Mara and hang out with her.  I usually save my errands for that time so that Mara and I have the entire morning, and sometimes part of the afternoon if she doesn't nap.  She didn't nap yesterday and she's been sleeping since 8:30pm last night (it's 7:08am now) so I'm not sure if she'll nap today or not.  It's always a crapshoot.  So we'll see.  Lately she's been really into "reading books" which is possibly the cutest thing ever!  She makes up the stories and it's usually an interesting conglomeration of bits and pieces of other books that we read to her regularly.  Oftentimes they rhyme since Dr. Seuss is a big thing in this house.

Mommy's lil' bookworm reading an Anna & Elsa book.  Note the suitcase 

in the foreground.  I was packing for our upcoming trip and Mara decided 

she needed to pack her own suitcase.  I believe there are about 

ten pairs of pajamas in there! Lol.  Funny kid.

So speaking of our upcoming trip.... I finally got our itinerary written down.  My mom and dad have been doing all the planning for this trip and it's going to be CA-RAZY!  I am beyond nervous - less nervous about Mara and more nervous about me!  I'm never comfortable.. sitting too long makes me ache, standing too long makes me ache, walking too long makes me ache.. I have to lay down often and put my feet up to alleviate the discomfort in my leg veins and the pressure in my pelvis from baby sitting waaaaaay down there.  A 7+ hour trans-atlantic flight?  Umm... doesn't sound like my cup of tea.  

However.  This is the time to do it.  My dad's health is good right now.  Mara is verbal and somewhat able to be rational.  She's potty trained.  My sister doesn't have any big horse shows until August this season (usually she'd have them every month from May to September) AND I'm still early enough in pregnancy that I can travel.  So really, this is the time.  Go big or go home, right?

We'll be flying to Connecticut on July 20th and staying there, visiting family, until the 25th.  My cousin's birthday is on the 23rd and mine is on the 24th so we'll celebrate together while there.  Then we fly to Amsterdam on the evening of the 25th, arriving early on the 26th.  On July 28th, we'll fly to Oslo, staying there until August 3rd and then fly back to Amsterdam.  The reason for Amsterdam is that it has more convenient and less expensive flights to the USA than Oslo does.  After staying there another day and a half, we'll fly to New York.  Stay there for a day and a half and then board a nonstop flight from JFK all the way back home.  

Eighteen days, seven airplanes, several thousand miles, two ocean crossings, two septuagenarians, a twenty year old, a thirty-something dad, a pregnant lady and a two year old.  God help us all.

On a slightly related note, I'll be 20 weeks on Saturday and our anatomy scan is scheduled for Monday the 17th.  Hopefully baby will cooperate (i.e. NOT keep his/her legs closed!) and we'll be able to find out the gender.  Currently taking bets!

I would say pardon the messy house in the background

but I'm kind of past the point of apologizing for that. Mara

photobombed me. Lol! 19 and a half week belly pic.  Man I look

fat!  Oh well.  Body image has been hard this time around. Life goes on.

Happy 4th (and other things)

I've really been giving some thought to abandoning this blog and starting a new one instead. The theme of this one (the name, for example) just doesn't seem to fit with my life anymore. But at the same time, the metamorphosis of me as a person is documented here - and it's not done yet! - so I'd hate to erase that and lose it all.  This blog has a history, that's for sure.  It's established and I have followers here, so why change that?

Yesterday was the 4th of July everywhere, Independence Day in the USA.  We had a pretty low-key day.  Corky worked in the morning, I ran a couple errands, made some patriotic rice krispie treats.  

Then in the afternoon, while Mara napped, I worked on a scrapbook of my best friend's bachelorette party which took place last Saturday (7/1/17).  Just a couple more pages to go.

At 4 o'clock, we went over to my parents' house for a BBQ.  They have a big trampoline, a bunch of very prolific blueberry bushes, a pet rabbit and a giant yard for Mara to play in.  We brought her water table, filled it with the hose, put her in her swimsuit and let her play to her hearts content.  She jumped on the trampoline, picked blueberries and played chase with Grandma and Papa for hours.  After dinner, Corky, my dad and I took my dogs to the dog park while Mara hung out at the house with my mom.  When we got back, it was after 8:00pm.  My mom made coffee and we all waited for it to get dark so we could light off some small fireworks.  Mara liked them but she wasn't a fan of the big ones going off nearby.  We didn't make it home until quarter to ten!  Luckily Mara had taken a long nap earlier in the day.

This morning, unfortunately, Mara woke up at 6:15am, after a super late bedtime.  So this morning has been fun, to say the least.  She's incredibly irritable and blows up over every little thing.  Her ears seem to not work when she's tired so listening has been a problem.  She's been in time-out half a dozen times and it's not even 9:00am yet.

I have been feeling really sick the last couple days.  Baby is kicking fine, but I have a pain in my belly.  It seems too high to be baby related but I'm not sure, so I'll call the nurse line when they open at 9.  I thought maybe I had a stomach bug but now I have no idea.  Better safe than sorry.

Mara posing in front of a statue in Tualatin, OR

Mara and her dinner.

Life is good when Grandma and Papa have a trampoline!

Mara on our back deck playing with her water table

Me and my 18 week baby bump