Merry Christmas (we miss you)

Woof woof, woof whimper woof.

Woof woof bark woof woof bark woof woof woof grrr. Grr.

<waggle>

While the cat's away, the mice will...

Build.

You read it. Build. Karen's in the Lou, leaving me time to construct!

Why? Well weeks ago we added a new hole to our house and now it isn't as much of a hole. See?

As is usually the case when someone is out of town, it was a gorgeous [winter] day in Seattle, and I enjoyed my time outdoors! (now I just hope I remember the screwdriver and utility knife that's just slightly visible on the fence!)

Whatever... Happy to Holidays to everyone!

Our First Baby Gift - A Sushi Bib

In last night's mail we had a package addressed to "Future Mom and Dad Pinkard." Neither of us could figure out what it could possibly be.

Inside there was a small notecard that said "Congratulations! Your child will like sushi. Love Stef and Jonathan. " It was a baby bib, decorated with different styles of sushi. We both laughed so hard, and we absolutely love it.

Thank you so much Jonathan and Stef, for your thoughtfulness (and bonus points for creativity!!)

(Dan says he only gives bonus points if you actually deliver one of each type of sushi shown.) :)

It's Official!

We are officially engaged! I know we set a date for the wedding and all, but I was hoping for an honest, down-on-one-knee proposal and today I got it.

Dan and I drove down to Leavenworth to go snow shoeing. The drive down through the Cascade Mountains was amazingly beautiful, and Leavenworth is a very quaint, Bavarian style town. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life.

On the ride down Dan had mentioned he didn't want to propose without a ring. Yesterday we spent the morning looking at rings and dresses, and found the rings we both like. But we are waiting for a quote from the jeweler before ordering them (and giving ourselves time to make sure they're what we want). The downside is even if we order the rings tomorrow, they won't be ready until mid-end January.

Anyway, after a few missteps in Leavenworth, we found someplace that sold the necessary permit, and coincidentally beautiful "engagement" rings - for $1.99. I had run in by myself to get the permit, so I picked a ring, ran back to the car and gave it to Dan to give to me when he was ready. What I didn't know is he was already planning to propose today sans ring - we sure do think alike sometimes :)

We arrived at Lake Wenatchee - and it was breathtaking. One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. A gorgeous, serene mountain lake surround by towering pines and covered in snow. It was cloudy, and they hung heavy over the tops of the pines helping to silence the entire world. The next thing I knew, Dan was on one knee, asking me to marry him. The moment couldn't have been more perfect - or more us. A $2 ring with a million dollar view, and a man worth 1000 times that.

Perfect.

Monkeys at Keyboards

It has been said that enough monkeys given enough time would be able to recreate all of Shakespeare's blog entries, and here's proof:

Karen said I should post that we've narrowed down a date... and that date is....

I'm really surprised by how many people ask "how are you feeling about this?" or "are you going to eat those french fries," or "is Otis okay?" The obvious answers are "thrilled, no, and he's showing his age but doing OK!" Really, I couldn't be happier or more terrified. Or more elated to be sharing this experience with Karen. Seriously, there's just not time just yet to deal with more than that. Of course I'm concerned about building a local support structure for Karen and a baby, Karen's health during all of this, the financial stress of a family, the possibility for a problems, the general opportunity cost of it all, but let's take those one at time.

We've got a wedding to plan. And we're going to aim for....

But to be perfectly clear, I'm excited to be in this position and it's a lot easier to be here, on the sofa, unburdened by constant nausea and coping with fatigue. Still, we've made a good start at continuing our efforts to eat smart and work out. This evening, in fact, we hit the gym. In my case it was moving hazily between stations hoping to gain some ounce of fitness from my gram of effort while thinking, "Wow. We're umm.. wow." Karen gave it her all, and returned home to go to bed...

But not before pulling out a calendar....

I'm particularly fortunate in all of this as I'll get to have my parents here - for a wedding as much as a birth - but as much as I wish my grandparents were still around to share in the moment too, I'm oddly excited that Otis will be. It isn't the same thing, of course, and they're not interchangeable, but that furry beast has been through so much with me. Yay! (Can we have dogs in the ceremony? The cats could provide a choir!)

How about March 16th? Ish? It won't be much more than a pause to honor our union - the reception party will be in the Lou at some later time - but we'll find a way to include as many people as we can. More details to come!

One Sonnet down....


Oh, and this stuff is FASCINATING!
http://www.revolutionhealth.com/healthy-living/pregnancy/forty-weeks/first-trimester/fetal-development

It's True

It really is true - this was not some elaborate hoax we cooked up. Dan and I really are expecting a baby! We are both so excited about it. Nervous, scared, happy and excited all at once. Crazy - I still feel like a teenager playing house - not someone in their 30s running a household and soon to be mother.

I'm guesstimating how far along I am, but it's about three weeks. I have my first doctor appointment on the 9th, so that will hopefully narrow the time frame.

Best guess as of right now - there will be a Baby Pinkard in mid-August.

Somewhere in the next few months there will also be a wedding. We'll keep you posted as we figure things out.

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday, and what a wonderful gift I received.

Nothin' But Class

Life with Dan will always be an adventure. For dinner last night, we went to the high class establishment known as the taco bus.

It's literally an old bus.

The front two-thirds (complete with drivers seat and steering wheel) has tiny counters that run length-wise under the windows on both sides with itty bitty stools for you to perch on. The back third is the cooking area.

Surprisingly the food was amazingly good. The tacos are to die for, and the burritos were pretty tasty too. And it's within walking distance of the house (well, walking distance for Dan and I - about 1.5 miles). I see us heading back there as the weather turns warmer (and dryer!) for some yummy lunchtime vittles.

Decorating for Christmas

We spent today putting up Christmas decorations. Dan and Otis are experiencing their first ever Crazy Karen Christmas. So far both seem to be taking things well. Dan and I decorated the tree together, and I decorated the pets :) I love Christmas so much. Dan says I may even manage to chase the bah-humbugs out of him. And yes, we'll both be in STL for actual Christmas day, but there's a whole month leading up to that! And it's our first Christmas together, in our house.

Mother Nature went all out in helping us get into the spirit. We got about two inches of snow dumped on us yesterday. We took the dogs and went to the dogpark to play in it. Everyone had a great time, and we were thoroughly worn out and slightly chilled upon our return. The snow was very heavy and wet, and quickly soaked through even water resistant clothing. By this morning though, all traces were gone.

We spent last evening with Kai and Christine at their holiday open house. It was a nice evening, and great to see some of the people I'm meeting again. I'm hoping some bonds of friendship are beginning to form.