If this is spring....

.... I'd really hate to see winter!

As I'm typing this, we're under a winter weather advisory until early TUESDAY morning (it's Sunday evening right now). It started snowing at about 4 yesterday afternoon, and hasn't really stopped since. Apparently it's not going to until Tuesday, and we can expect anywhere from 8-20 inches of snow. Yes, 20... 3 days after the official start of spring. The good news is that, on the vernal equinox, we actually had MORE than 12 hours of daylight - 12 hrs and 14 mins officially - so at least we have plenty of light to see all the snow!!

I blame myself, though. We're dog sitting this weekend for Brad and Christina's dog, Tok. When we got the first few inches the other day, I told Jason I hoped it would stay around so we could just keep putting the dogs out in the backyard to play without having to worry about them being all muddy and gross. What I meant was for the temperatures to stay cool enough that the existing snow wouldn't melt. What Mother Nature thought I said was "we need more." As long as it stops before Jason leaves again on Wednesday, I'll be ok. I just need him around for keeping the driveway clear!!!

Speaking of our houseguest, we've had a puppy in the house again, which is... interesting. Especially when the puppy is 75 lbs and actually physically bigger than Fred. Poor Fred has waged a war in his own head between wanting to play, too (he so misses his doggie daycare play time, I swear!), and wanting to slink off into the corner to sleep. He just doesn't have the energy that Tok has. I don't think the energizer bunny has the energy that Tok has!!! For those who don't know, Tok is a husky/malamute mix and comes from the Burnt Paw Cabins/Kennels in Tok, AK. The people who own Burnt Paws have a history with the Iditarod sled dog race (we actually stayed in the Iditarod cabin when we stayed there), and these pups are bred to be mushing dogs. So you can only imagine the kind of energy "little" Tok has. Luckily, we've been able to let the boys play in the backyard, and we've interspersed that with walks in various places. Yesterday it was just on the base since Jason had duty and there was NO way I could walk both myself. But the day before that we went out to Ft. Abercrombie, where we hiked and then let the two boys play a little. Here they are in action!

You can see that Tok is actually taller and longer than Fred, though Fred weighs about 15-20lbs more. I have to say Fred had a bit of an advantage the other day because we left Tok on his lead, and let Fred off his. Sorry, Tok!! They're pretty well matched at home, at least, though Fred does enjoy rolling Tok onto his back and showing him that he's at Fred's house. And, of course, the one major advantage of having Tok in the house is that he's teaching us what parts of our house are not baby/puppy proof. We don't necessarily need the baby-proofing for a while, but his curiosity is funny to watch. Fred just leaves everything alone now, but to Tok, everything is new and fun. The most inane things catch his attention, which is just hilarious to watch!

Oh, and when Fred got a moment to himself at the Fort, this was his other fun thing to do. Actually, this is one of his favorite things to do in any kind of snow.... head goes down and he just starts plowing. Crazy dog. (Oh, notice his skinny spot on his tail? He had a cyst removed over a month ago and it's just now finally healed up completely. Sadly, he had a good chunk of tail shaved, though, and I'm not sure how much is going to grow back. Hopefully the hair around the surgery site will grow over whatever doesn't come through the scar!!! He looks a little silly!)

As you can tell from the pictures of the dogs, I finally brought the camera out with me on a hike. I chose only two lenses to take with me, though, and lightened the load as much as possible! But my extra effort was rewarded with some great shots of the dogs, Jason with the dogs, and, of course, the beautiful Kodiak winter/spring scenery. We were out before the newest snow, on a crisp (less than 30 degrees) day, and it was just gorgeous as long as we stayed out of the wind!
Here are a couple of my favorite scenery shots from the day.

And, finally, in baby news... all is still going well. I overdid it a little last weekend (6 hrs of cleaning out the garage!), and have been having some trouble sleeping, so it was a long, tired week, with a lot of anxiety. It's finally hitting me that there will actually be a baby at the end of this pregnancy journey! YIKES!! Sometimes I still think we're crazy for getting ourselves into this - I'm not 100% sure I ever really thought it would happen - but I'm also still so excited! Now, if only I could stop being so freaked out about the baby part!! Mom made me stay home from work on Wednesday, though, just to relax and take it easy, and that helped a lot. (Yes, she can still make me do things even though I'm almost 32 years old and live 5000 miles away.) I had a hard time just making myself rest (imgaine that... just like my mom!), but it was a much-needed day. We also met with our doula on Wednesday, which, I think, helped to ease the anxiety a little bit. It's nice to know we'll have someone around to help us out with getting ready for Green's arrival and labor/delivery itself. She'll also be around for some post-partum help, which will be wonderful!

Al that leads us to the latest...

BUMP WATCH 2009

This week you get my face and everything. And Jason used the flash on the camera so I look way more washed out than I really was. I swear. Not much change from last week, I don't think. Though, I did get stuck in a chair today. In my defense, it was in what we call the "puff chairs" and the things suck you in anyway. But I sat down to talk to Ryan on the phone and then couldn't get back out again. Not funny.

What is funny is the difference between the very first bump picture I posted, and this next one. If you remember, in the first one I posted, I was wearing a brown Bella band, and said something about needing that because my pants were getting tight. Well, I was wearing the same band the other day (I need it to keep the maternity pants up.... they're a little TOO stretchy), and I had to laugh at the difference. Go back here to see the first one, and then scroll down...

Now it just looks like I ate a big meal in the first one!!! I can't believe I thought THAT was a belly!!! And I still have so much more growing to do... ACK! The good news is that it's all in front, and I'm pretty much right on track for how much I've gained. As long as I can manage the dumb chocolate and sweet cravings, I should be able to stay that way!

That's all from here. I have to go see if Tok feels like comin back inside now! Hopefully he didn't get buried under all the snow... though I think he's probably enjoying it MUCH more than anyone else in the house!

Bye for now!

It's been quiet in Kodiak.

It's been a while, huh? Well, not much has been going on around here. Everything's good, just a little boring... work, church, class, hockey for Jason, some duty, dinner with friends... not much to really talk about. It's actually kind of nice.

The other nice thing going on these days is that we're getting more and more light every day! We're at the time of the year when we gain about 5 mins of daylight every day, which is a welcome treat, especially when it's actually sunny! We're now seeing sunrise around 8:30am (thanks to daylight savings time... we were seeing it at about 7:45 right before that!), and tonight, at 8pm it was finally dark enough to have to turn some lights on in the house. Unfortunately, the weather is not paying attention to the calendar, and we've had temps in the 20s (you saw that right... 20s) the last couple of mornings, with some pretty brisk winds. "Brisk" is relative, by the way.... we were gusting to 55mph today. That's brisk! I've heard a rumor that some crocuses are popping up around town, but the lingering snow (and the snow in the forecast this week) says it might be a while til we see actual spring. *sigh*

Luckily, we have EXACTLY the thing we need to stay warm through the rest of the winter. It arrived in the mail this week after spending some time up in Anchorage at a furrier. That lovely piece of fur is the remnants of this year's caribou (the rest of which is in the freezer!!). Jason sent it off to be tanned up in Anchorage, and now we have a tanned caribou hide....... though I have no idea what we're supposed to do with it! As I told Mom, my decorating sense goes more toward Pottery Barn than "hunting lodge" so it could be a while until the hide finds a home, but we have it, and Jason seems to be happy about it! Maybe the next house will have a man room and he'll hang it on the wall or something! For now, it's mostly freaking Fred out (he MUST go check it out everytime he walks by one of the spare rooms, where the hide is currently laid out on the bed).

That's about it around here this week (or so). My camera has been staying at the house during hikes and walks because it's enough to haul around the 15 lbs of baby I'm carrying so I've left the extra 10 or so pounds of camera equipment behind. I might have to start bringing it in the car with me again every day, though, since we've heard rumors of Orca sightings in the channel and the eagles continue to amaze me!

And, finally, the camera's one main use these days - documenting my growing belly. Here's the next installment of

BUMP WATCH 2009!

You get another headless shot this week because I have to say I looked TERRIBLE by midweek when we took this picture. I'm not sleeping very well and I just looked tired! But, this is me at 22w1d. I'm now WELL over the halfway mark, and actually approaching 6 months! It's amazing to me how fast the time is going... which also helps cause the sleepless nights with the shear terror of the fact that there's a baby at the end of this part of the ride! Everyone says everything will come to us once she's here, but I'm not fully convinced of that yet!!!

That's all from here for now! I'll try to bring out the camera a little more often and share some of Kodiak's beauty again soon!

Green's a GIRL!!!!!!!!

Maybe I just used one too many exclamation points considering the fact that I kept telling everyone I really didn't care whether we were having a boy or a girl. Hmmm, maybe I really did care after all!

I was so totally and completely convinced that this baby was a boy. I had no other reason for believing that other than the fact that I have had a girl's name picked out for longer than I care to admit (luckily Jason agrees with it), and we have spent the last 20 weeks trying to come up with any boy names at all. So I figured we'd end up with a boy just based on the fact that we'd be driving home from the hospital, post-delivery, still trying to come up with a name!

Imagine my surprise when, about an hour or so into the ultrasound last Wednesday, the tech declared the baby is a girl, at least in the 90+ percent accuracy range. Her actual words were, "If it IS a boy, he's doing a really good job hiding his parts." My next words were, "Alright, Jason, I'll buy you lunch." Why would I say that? Because, as convinced as I was that the baby was a boy, Jason was equally sure Green's middle name would be Pink. He was right and he got a lovely Japanese food lunch out of the deal!

As far as we know, everything else looked good at the ultrasound, too (the hospital didn't send the results over to the doctor in time for our appointment on Friday). She still has all her arms and legs, is measuring just about right on, and, eventually, the tech was able to get all the pictures she needed to get. Little Miss Green was as squirmy as ever (she was moving all over at our 11 week one, and regularly kicks the doppler monitor at regular visits when the doctor listens to her heartbeat), and made it more than a little difficult for the tech to get all the measurements. We heard a lot of "Ok then... we'll come back to that one again" as the appointment went on. She was being especially stubborn about letting us know her gender, daintily keeping her legs crossed at the ankle to prevent any peeks. Her daddy is happy about that already!

So, without further ado, here are Miss Green Pink's latest pictures!


So, do you think that nose is small? Maybe not hooked and Italian looking like mine?? Have I mentioned yet that we're hoping for Jason's nose and my ears, and not the other way around?

She kept her chin firmly tucked into her chest for a good part of the scan. She make look all cute and peaceful here, but I can assure you that she was kicking and punching the whole time.

Finally, this one is my favorite. This was after I got up and moved around a little, and we were finally able to tell she was a girl. She got a little more active and started moving around a TON. See those two bright white lines directly over her head? Yeah, that's her leg. She slid down and kicked her legs up over her head for a few minutes. We had a good laugh watching that, and luckily the tech was able to grab a picture. Apparently we have a gymnast on our hands!

There she is... Miss Green Pink! And before anyone asks... we will NOT be sharing her name until she's born. Since we couldn't manage to wait til 12 weeks to share the pregnancy, nor could we keep the gender from anyone (including ourselves), this will be the one surprise we'll have after she's born.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Bump Watch 2009 - coming sometime this week if I get around to it!

Ah, sunshine and warmth!

It's too bad we're now back in Kodiak...

Well, not too bad, so much, but it's probably fair to say that we're both missing that warm dose of Vitamin D we got over the past week or so. Back from where, you ask? From Florida and the Western Caribbean - a couple days at sea and port calls in Grand Cayman and Cozumel to be exact. I'm convinced cruise ships are the greatest invention ever - all the good parts about being underway without any of the work!

Fearing an impending volcanic explosion, and bad Kodiak weather, we took advantage of our first class tickets and changed our reservations at the last minute to head out a day early. This gave us a day of shopping in Seattle, and a guarantee of actually making it down to Florida on time. That was fun, but that wasn't the real reason for the trip.

The real trip started in St. Petersburg, FL, where we spent a couple nights with Ryan and Gina before heading out on the cruise itself. It was awesome to get to see them - we hadn't seen Ryan since about this time last year, though we'd at least gotten to see Gina last fall when we were at Disney. Call me sappy, but I missed my brother! From St. Pete, we were dropped off at the cruise ship terminal in Tampa, where we set out on the Carnival Inspiration for a 5-day cruise. The weather was perfect, I didn't puke (Woo-hoo! This was a major worry since I couldn't take seasick meds due to my "condition."), and we enjoyed time with a good chunk of Jason's family. We cruised with his Mom, Jim, Peggers (his grandmother), Margie (aunt) and cousins Meadow and Megan. The cruise was the perfect format for a family get-together because we had the chance to do some of our own stuff, but enjoyed plenty of time together, especially our dinners! I think our table had the most fun in the dining room!!! After the cruise, we got another couple days with Ryan and Gina, with Ryan winning the brother of the year award for carting me around to the best craft store ever and all the maternity places he could think of. What a guy!!

I'm going to take the cheap way out on the pictures for this one, because I couldn't decide which ones I wanted to post. We didn't take a ton on the trip, but came up with some decent ones anyway. So here's a slide show for ya...
Kodak slideshow link that I hope works!
(My apologies for the cut and paste method. I'm having technical difficulties with my normal Slide show method of sharing things. This is the only other thing I could think of.)

The other exciting thing that happened over the vacation was that I sort of popped during the course of the week. From trying on clothes in Seattle to doing the same thing in St. Pete a week later, I saw a major difference in how they fit. Let's just say I didn't need the little pillow in the dressing room at Motherhood the second time around!

So here's the latest installment of...

BUMP WATCH 2009

These were just taken this morning at 19 weeks and 6 days. I swear I look a lot bigger when I look down at myself, but I know I'm actually looking pregnant these days because my seamstress commented on it when I picked up some stuff from her today. Besides looking pregnant, I also have the pleasure of feeling pregnant... specifically feeling Green bounce around in there. Unfortunately, it's too early for Jason to feel anything on the outside, but a 5-hour flight from Seattle to Orlando taught me that I can pat my belly and get a response. Too funny!

Finally, in baby news, the big ultrasound is Wednesday - we'll finally know whether Green's middle name will be Pink or Blue for now! So, hopefully Green will cooperate and show the parts! I'm sure we'll have more pictures to share on Wednesday or shortly thereafter!

That's all from here. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Has it been that long?

I honestly didn't realize until I logged in tonight that it's been so long since I last posted anything. I'm going to blame Jason on this one since he said he'd update with his exciting deployment out to St. Paul. So, if he'd done that when he got home, about a week and a half ago, I'd only really be another week and a half behind. Oh well...

I have to make this quick since it's getting late and I've been running around all night trying to get my stuff together to get out of here tomorrow. We're definitely looking forward to our trip, and bumped the start up a day to try to stay ahead of the pesky volcano that's been threatening eruption for a couple weeks now. Mt. Redoubt is up on the mainland, not too far away from Anchorage, and could seriously hamper air travel if it actually blows. So we've been watching it diligently for the past week+ just hoping it wouldn't come between us and vacation. If we can get as far as Seattle tomorrow, we're good to go!

I don't really have much to say this week.... we've just been chugging along with work, school for Jason (he started another class about 3 weeks ago), class for me (I'm taking EFM through church), walks for Fred, and enjoying the sunshine when we can. We did have a minor glitch a couple weeks ago when a cyst on Fred's tail decided to get infected and scare the crap out of me (while Jason was gone, of course). A few hundred dollars later, and the cyst is gone, the stitches are out, and you'd never know there was anything wrong with him!

Speaking of enjoying the sunshine, we got out for a great hike at Ft. Abercrombie yesterday afternoon. It was only about 20-ish degrees, but the sun felt great and we got the chance to walk across Lake Gertrude, following the cross-country skiers who showed us the lake was, in fact, frozen under all the snow. Even though I hauled my camera around, there wasn't much to take pictures of, except, of course, my favorite subject: Fred.

I also let Jason take a picture of me... I had to show off one of my best Christmas presents! (A hint: it's on my head....)

I did manage to get a few neat shots of the trail, too. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that they're paying us to live here. Kodiak in the summer, when everything is lush and green, is probably the best way to see Kodiak. But, Kodiak in the winter, on a sunny day with fresh, crisp, white snow, is a very close second.

And, of course, beyond the outdoor scenery, is the indoor scenery that probably no one but my mom wants to see... so.....

BUMP WATCH 2009

This was taken last Friday, at 17 weeks, 3 days. I'll hit 18 weeks tomorrow!! I have to say that, looking at this picture sort of surprised me! I had no idea that I was actually looking that pregnant. Huh. Go figure... must be a kid in there or something!

That's the news from here! Hope everyone's doing well!
Becca

As seen in Kodiak this week(ish).

I say this week(ish) because the first couple of pictures are from last Friday, a little over a week ago. I had to dig a little past just this week since there's been nothing to look at, really, around here this week. That is, unless you enjoy muddy streets, gray skies, and rain... a lot of rain. So much for all that snow - we got our normal Kodiak winter weather back this week and it's not pretty. And, of course, it leads me to do my blogging today while sitting on the couch under the bright glow of my SAD lamp. Ah, light therapy!!!!

Anyway, before the weather turned really bad, we took the chance to get out in the snow for a walk at Ft. Abercrombie last Friday afternoon. We put on snow boots, snow pants (for me), gaiters (for him), and bundled up against the cold; then headed out knowing Fred would be VERY happy to get the chance to play in the snow. Sometimes I think he likes the snow almost as much as he likes the water. Here he is trying to get the stick before Jason had a chance to throw it. (My apologies on the blurry photo - I had just finished taking a nice scenery picture and hadn't set it for action!)
After a brief break to play with Fred, we headed back down the trail to finish up our hike. Now, as I go along through this pregnancy, one of my goals (besides only gaining baby weight and not any extra) is to try to stay as fit and active as I can. I've never been one to really work out, so our nearly-daily walks with Fred are my normal form of exercise. I have found, however, that they aren't as much of a workout anymore because I'm just SLOW these days. I try really hard to move at my old speed, but it just doesn't work that way. Poor Fred gets frustrated, and Jason generally ends up about four steps ahead of me. I just end up breathing really hard, like I'm running a marathon instead of walking on a level trail. I learned last Friday that I become especially slow while trying to climb a hill in too many layers of clothes, snow boots and 5 inches of snow. Luckily, I had my camera with me, so I could use the perfect photo op as a reason to stop and catch my breath when I needed to. Excuses aside, the clear, cold afternoon provided ample opportunities to snap a few beautiful pics. This is one of my favorites of a winter moon.


I'm hoping, now that I'm firmly in my second trimester, that my body will start getting a little more used to its extra cargo and I'll start getting some of my regular energy back. I can't complain about how I've been feeling, though - other than the physical exhaustion, I'm having a pretty good pregnancy so far! Speaking of which, this next picture is for my mom. I honestly can't believe I'm going to put this up here, but whatever... This picture is from this past Friday, at 14 weeks, 3 days. Pardon the unbuttoned pants... I'm trying to stay in my regular clothes a little bit longer, though they're quickly getting too tight. The brown thing around my middle is the world's best invention - the BellaBand. These little pieces of stretchy fabric are the trick to keeping my old clothes on longer! So I've decided that I look much bigger to myself when I look in the mirror, and especially when I just look down, but this is my beginning "baby bump." I've been about this size for the past 3 weeks or so, so change is slow to happen, but I guess there really is a baby in there! With as good as I've been feeling, it's reassuring to see this, at least, since I don't feel pregnant. And, looking at this picture, I feel like I just look a little pudgy. *sigh*

Finally, we'll get back to the good scenery.... Jason and I were both off during the afternoon last Monday, the last day when there was even the slightest hint of a blue sky around here. After grabbing some lunch at a local sandwich shop, we went out in search of some good eagle photo ops. After being doused with slush and mud by a passing truck while I was standing on the side of the road, I actually got my two best pictures under much more benign conditions. The first one, I took while sitting in the truck on the side of the road (warmer and much drier!), and the second was just down the road from our house.

The eagles are back in town in full force now, so it should be easy to get some more good pictures as the winter goes on. They hang out through the early spring, scrounging for food downtown near the fish processors, and then move back away once food is more plentiful outside of town, usually by the end of May.

As I said at the beginning of this post, unless you like muddy gray roads, and gray skies, there hasn't been much else to look at around here since last Monday. Hopefully this latest round of bad weather will clear out sooner than later and I'll have some more of beautiful Kodiak to share. If nothing else, Jason just left for SAR duty in St. Paul for the first couple weeks of the Opilio crab season, so, once he gets back, we'll probably have more dead caribou pictures to share! I'm sure everyone loved that one from last year!

That's all for now - I'm off to stare directly at my SAD lamp or something! (Just kidding!)

Becca

Who am I, and what have I done with the real Becca?

Anyone who knows me, knows that snow has never been one of my favorite things in the world. I was always the first kid to head back inside the house during a day of sledding because of the snow under my cuffs and down my collar, or numb feet, or whatever (and also the hot chocolate we'd get when we came in!!). Snow's always been great for a snow day, or to have a pretty white Christmas, but, beyond that, it's never been my favorite thing. Well, actually, I pretty much don't like it at all.

That was, until the last couple weeks. As I watched the reports of all the snow on the east coast, I couldn't help but be a little envious of their White Christmas, and, well, winter. When all the major snow hit the east coast before Christmas, we were having temperatures in the mid- to upper-30s, and rain. A lot of rain. Rain just makes it messy around here, and it made it feel not like winter, and not like Christmas. Then, on Christmas day, it turned sunny, and over the past couple of weeks, it's been sunny every day! YAY! Except that the temperature slowly crept down into the single digits, the wind kicked up every so often (serious wind - like 40-50mph winds), and it just became miserable to be outside. So, it was sunny, and it was cold, but then the ground stayed brownish (and gray, can't forget the Kodiak gray), and I was still jealous of the east coast snow.

And then we get to today. *sigh*

As I was listening to NPR on my way into work this morning, with a few flakes falling along the way, I heard the forecast - 2 to 4 inches of snow by the afternoon (my first thought: shoot, I only wore my hiking shoes, not my boots!), with more possible overnight! And then, when the sun finally came up this morning (at 9:50am, by the way), the sky was overcast, and more than a few flakes were coming down. As the day went on, the snow started falling faster, and, by 1:30, while I was sitting in the dentist chair, they were closing the base for a blizzard warning! Woo-hooo!!! SNOW!! (For the record, I still left work at the same time as normal, so it wasn't like an actual snow day or anything...)

Of course, said blizzard has not really materialized, but, still, I'm actually happy to see the snow! This is a strange thing for me. I don't remember, other than a cancelled school day, EVER being happy about snow. And yet, I put on my new bomber hat (I'll have to share a picture another time), my extra warm coat, my longjohns and ski pants, and headed out on a walk in the snow with Jason and Fred. And I was happy.

Huh. Who knew? Apparently, I don't hate snow afterall!