It's a... Boy!

Anders Lloyd Halvorson came into this world at 8:40am on Friday, June 22nd, 2012. He will forever be the baby brother and completes the family I lovingly call "My Boys." I have the utmost reverence for the miracle of birth and family, even in a state of sleep deprivation, sore boobies and recovery. I will write more about the experience as time provides, but here are some photographs in the meantime of our "little old man" Anders.

 

 

The View From Over There

This is the week. We can't wait to meet you, Piglet. xoxo.

XY vs XX

Well it's official: Erik and I have preferences. He wants a boy, but thinks it's a girl. I want a girl, but think it's a boy. I guess in some roundabout way, that means we are cheering for each other...?

I feel there is so much sensitivity in claiming preferences, primarily because people feel that you will be upset if the gender doesn't turn out like you desired. But how I could be upset with any healthy baby in my arms? I feel like if it is a boy, I will need to unnecessarily scream "I do love that baby boy I do! I dooooo!!!!" throughout the hills. Because I really do adore the idea of having a set of "my boys" around the house, playing and being brothers. [Although I question if my senses can handle another set of male farts in the household... I might need to buy a gas mask if it goes that route.]

What tipped me towards girl? I'm still working through that in my head. I suppose the easiest point to conclude is because I'm part of an older-brother-younger-sister duo. [Shout out to my brother Jamesy, what what!]. I think my brother and I were granted a chance at being well rounded, having seen the triumphs and tribulations of each other's species. I like to think that, at least. 

Does painting my toes pink help at all? [PS - Thanks to the crop feature for editing out the nearby cankles. Much love.]

In a show of solidarity, Grandma Marian also goes pink!

As far as a mother-daughter relationship? Well that would be an interesting journey. I have pieces of my mom I would most certainly would carry through, but there would be a lot of emotions with that since our dynamic was awkward many times. Distant, even. She was a such a unique individual and that rolled over into our everyday household lives. She had rules about some things and yet was so contrastingly laissez-faire of others. If I compare it to what I see with other mother-daughters, I could feel bereft, but I don't. More than ever, I respect that wholeheartedly. I would just pick up what I learned from her and pepper in other mothering tips I have observed from friends and family across the years. And hope for the best.

Okay, this is getting heavy so let's move on, shall we? It may all be a moot point, anyways, as I may be saved from the one-day drama that inherently comes with raising a female. I mean, have you seen Mean Girls? It's all true!

The mystery will be solved on FRIDAY! [Oh crap, cue annoying Rebecca Black song in my head in 3, 2, 1... blergh.]

Everyday I'm Puzzalin'

Landon's favorite toys these days are from the puzzle department. Shape sorters, latches, good ol' plain puzzles... he is a true nerd in training. In fact he gets upset if his puzzles aren't on his puzzle table for the day. Creepy. But I love him for it.

I went to put away his puzzle the other night and crudely realized "Ho.ly. Shit. He just did the alphabet." I guess I should look up more often from browsing Pinterest on the iPad to see what he is up to.

Disclaimer: I'm not sharing this because I want to brag in some hoity-toity obtuse way that I have a genius in the works. Because I've watched the kid eat Elmer's glue, too. To each his or her own.

Piglet Party

This past weekend, my dear friend Emiry-chan and her hubby opened their doors to host the Pig Out Piglet Party Potluck, which was a wonderfully relaxed baby shower. We had a chance to catch up with so many great friends while we all stuffed our faces. The rain blessedly stayed away so all the kiddos were able to enjoy the side yard while the dads enjoyed cold beers on the deck. All the ladies segregated themselves inside to chat away and nibble, taking inventory of kids and hubbies once in a while. It was awesome that it was relaxed and there were no pressuring games or spotlights... just a nice evening celebrating Piglet.

With the amount of people and kids (read: slightly chaotic at times), we didn't open any gifts there but Landon did help us the next day. Everyone was so generous with diapers and wipes and even great little gifts for big-brother-to-be, which was so very thoughtful. It was just what we needed to get a head start with this little piggy.

"What are they doing to my lawn?!"

"What are they doing to my toys?!"

Well before the yard was annihilated by the hands of children. Sorry, Sergio!

"Yep." "Beer." "Yep." *Fart* "Yep."

A favorite these days - the water table.

 

The ol' Japan crew! Becky, Abby, Mari, Emily, Moi, Sarah, Tanya

Traci and Liz

"Can someone explain to me what this is all about again? Guys? Hello? Is something happening?"

Yes, hurry up Piglet!!!

"Oh Landon, you're always getting smushed banana in your hair. Seriously, you are a mess. What am I going to do with you?!"

We can never thank our friends enough, especially the hostess with the mostess:

Emily, you will forever be the Jersey to my Pennsylvania. Boop.

Ball to the Balls

Pregnancy insomnia is no fun. It is spurred by a number of things, although the typical culprits belong to the heartburn and bladder departments (frustration mounts when you're thinkin' it's going to be a Niagara Falls situation, but your body in reality produces puppy tinkles... "I got up for this!?!"). 

These days I'm also awakened by random thoughts of worry, excitement, etc - the whole gamut. During those restless wee hours of the morning I find myself meandering across the most random websites to help redirect my thoughts to useless brain space. Which in turn leads me to feebly attempting to control laughter as I come across pictures like this:

At 3:30a this morning, I thought this pic of a dog getting hit in his groinal area with a ball was theee most heelarious thing on the planet. I had to exit the bedroom to continue laughing so I wouldn't wake up the hubby. Which then led me downstairs to watch a random show on Scandinavian cooking on a PBS affiliate. Which then made me hungry so I found myself reheating a slice of pork tenderloin at 4:03a. More puppy tinkles by 4:27a.

Piglet, please come soon. If you want to show up early, I'm all good with that at this point. Seriously. Think about it.

For more pictures that are probably at their funniest when reviewed during insomnia sessions: 50 People You Wish You Knew in Real Life

Geocache Win!

After our zoo escapade on Friday, we spent the rest of the weekend bopping around the homestead enjoying the sunny weather with friends and even finding ways to entertain ourselves when the sun sadly went away.

I spent some sunny time at the park with my boys:

(Landon likes pointing his finger for the "1, 2, 3 wheeee!" countdowns these days)

And I spent some cloudy time at the beach with my boys, looking for a geocache:

Landon wasn't a fan of his feet sinking in the pebbles and eventually just plopped down to inspect each rock, one by one, tossing them over his shoulder after each individual analysis was complete. It bought us some time to look for the geocache, which was listed as a "micro" size and "difficult" find. Landon ironically probably found it in his pebble party and tossed it over his shoulder while we searched and searched.

Goecaching is a phenomenon in which you search for little caches, or treasures, based on GPS coordinates. You can read more about geocaching in this wikipedia link. We never ended up finding the one on the beach nor another one on the route home, but we did get finally find one later in the day near our house. It was a much needed win at that point. I think it is a wonderful family activity and we wish we knew about it sooner as we traveled around!

Tired-looking Mom brings home the win when she finds a cache stuck in a log in the bushes!

Let's All Go to the Zoo!

We tried out the zoo again with Landon over this holiday weekend and overall I'd say it was successful. We paired up with his bestie Vivian early on Friday morning to head to the Woodland Park Zoo on the north side of Seattle. It was a great place and we actually lasted about three hours there, much to my surprise (coincidentally this is also the same amount of time to make preggo feet double in size). 

Our last attempt was around 11 months and it turns out Landon still loves gorilla sculptures. Sure, the real things were cool, too, but there's nothing like a stationary ape to get the little guy's attention!

Landon @ 11 months at zoo in Brownsville, TX

Landon @ 19 months at zoo in Seattle, WA. "Oh my gosh, I totally know you! How have you been?!"

Real thing = meh

This was also the first time we tried out a "leash" on Landon. I know, I know - are we really those parents? Yeah, I guess we are. We have an active boy on our hands and it was actually a really helpful tool - plus, I think the little lion backpack leash looked pri-tty darn cute so it was all good.

Daddy and Landon walking peacefully restrained amongst the paths.

Lastly, here is a video of Landon playing with the statues. I'm sure you wanted pics of him playing with actual animals and stuff, but attention spans did not allow for that. Turns out we don't even need to take him to a zoo; we should just find a sculpture park and save ourselves the zoo fees.

The View From Up Here

4 weeks to go! Solar eclipse in progress. [Despite appearances, Little Batman was not injured in this photo.]

The Piglet Update: Part Deux

Well I suppose I jinxed it by putting it in writing the first time around, but Piglet's arrival date has changed. Instead of June 20th, we are now going on Friday, June 22nd. So not too bad - only a couple more days than originally anticipated.

The reason for the change? The state of Washington is pushing an agenda to no longer have any elective c-sections prior to 39 weeks. If I had Piglet on the 20th, it would have been 38 weeks and 6 days. (We had been trying to do it a little earlier to avoid going into labor on the weekend and to accommodate the OR and doctor's schedules.) Anyhoodles, the state ends up withholding payments for the hospitals and doctors while the cases are reviewed. The doctors are fighting it since we technically live on an island and it's better to plan for c-sections prior to weekends when resources are limited, but nothing is gonna' happen in the next month. 

Big woop. I'll still have Piglet in my arms the same week I planned for so it's all good! Unless... did I just seal my jinxing fate by writing this out? Stay put, Piglet! Stay put!