Time flies when you've got two kids!

 4 grands all in one place!

  

 

And there, friends, is a brief summary of 5 weeks!  Happy Holidays!

There's a new bundle waiting to be Moby-Wrapped!

Here's Bryson Arno Zosel!  Born 11-15-2010.  8#6.6oz.; 20.5" long  Very snuggly and welcomed with enthusiasm by Toriana and his parents!

Blogging ... is it "so 2008"?

Thanks to facebook, it seems like blogging is becoming a dinosaur ... how sad!  But given my lack of posts and the lack of post on many sites I follow, I daresay some of the novelty has worn off.  Hurrah for those of you who keep up to date with your blogs - I enjoy following them even if I don't do the same with mine!

Some musings:
If an Art Museum has art work on display, a Flight Museum has airplanes and such on display, usually behind glass walls, why oh why do they call a very interactive, fun, indoor place of learning a "Children's Museum"??  (There wasn't a child one displayed behind glass, for which I was very grateful!)  I have to say the Seattle Children's Museum provided an excellent rain-escape for us this morning - it's fun to see Toriana exploring so heartily, listening so intently at story time, participating so fully in art time, etc.  Almost-three is a wonderful age!!  I also give 2 thumbs up to the Everett Imagine Museum - we've enjoyed exploring it with Emily and Jonathan and we're glad for the Savvy Source half-price discount on membership that means we'll be going there fairly often over the next year!

 In the baggage area of the Boeing Jet

 Water room with Emily!

The Italian Restaurant - serving up pizza and ice cream

A little friendly game of chess on the rooftop play area
And at the Seattle Museum, Clifford was making a guest appearance!

Musing#2
So, my body clearly does not tend towards kicking out a growing child at an early date ... it's hard not to wonder how necessary bed rest was.  My only peace comes from trusting that the experience was good for us all in at least some ways.  And from realizing that there's no way to know - perhaps we would have a child in the NICU if we hadn't taken the recommended precautions.  For all that modern medicine knows, I have to say it's fairly clueless about many things ... this was really a guessing game all along but the docs insisted on erring on the side of caution, with no alternative option offered.  I cannot go back and re-claim any of those 14 weeks and so we just move forward.  I am slowly building some strength back and am enjoying my Toriana time.  But I'm also VERY ready to be non-pregnant and so I hope desperately that little Mister will come this week rather than next ... or the next.  Technically, I will be at 39 weeks tomorrow.  And unofficially, my abdomen will likely burst if it has to expand any more!

I'm not sure I've heard Toriana read a story from memory with this much accuracy before ... she was busy playing "Miss Patti" ... We have been going to story time at the Kenmore Library and she quite adores the teacher, Miss Patti.  I love to see her developing a love of books!  Lately she's been insatiable - wanting us to read her story after story ... it's wonderful to witness/experience (and sometimes a bit tiresome, to be honest - 6 page lift-a-flaps were a lot easier!!)  But, a love of reading is such a gift and I do hope that Toriana will continue to love books and reading!!  I recall how many magical worlds were opened to me through books ... from Beverly Cleary to Anne of Green Gables to Encyclopedia Brown to even the twins of Sweet Valley High.   And I have such wonderful memories of gathering around Grandma's LazyBoy with all the cousins to hear the next chapter/s of Little House on the Prairie. 

Adios until next time, when I hopefully introduce you to Mister XYZ!

Table manners...

So, we've been working a bit on table manners:  "May I please have some more ___ ?"  Sometimes there is something lost in the translation.  For example, last week Toriana wanted Monica to take her for a tricycle ride around the neighborhood.  Often we will look for cats as we go on these little jaunts and occasionally our scouting is rewarded with a glimpse of a cat through a window or on a front porch.  When admonished to ask Monica politely if she would take her for a ride, Toriana came out with "May I please have some more cats??"  That night she was begging her daddy to pick her up and he reminded her to ask nicely.  She promptly responded "May I have some hold please?"  Chuckle chuckle.... gotta love it! 
Two little transitions we've recently made: 1) She is no longer "Torna" but "Toy-ee-ah-na" and 2) "Why?" is definitely firmly planted in the vocabulary!  She is the #1 participant in music class these days, singing all the words, dancing, drumming and singing - I got to witness this today after hearing reports from her sitters .. where oh where did my little shy girl go?!  I think she's still there, but it's thrilling to see her come out of her shell a bit!
I've enjoyed almost 2 weeks of "lesser" bedrest now - my next appointment is Thursday and we hope, hope, hope that things will still look good and my restrictions can stay the same or be lifted even more!  9 weeks til baby is due - I'm really not sure there's any way I can expand much more without popping.  So I'm voting for 6-7 more weeks ... but the lesson learned with Toriana was that I didn't have a bit of say in the matter!
It's definitely starting to look and feel like fall around here ... time for football, mochas, rainboots (sniff, goodbye flipflops!), and figuring out how to entertain a 2.5 yr old indoors!  No pics b/c my computer consultant hasn't quite got my download program working on my "new and improved" computer.  Next time ...

Skipping ahead to Milltown ...

So we were able to get all of Milltown 2, thanks to Trevan's hard work, wonderful  help from John&Linda, and support from lots of others as well.  It was great to be there and get the focus off of our little world and it's current challenges.  Thanks to Travis E. for ordering a reclining wheelchair that helped maximize "reclining"time.  As it turns out, those grounds aren't exactly w/c friendly, but we made it and we have new appreciation for those who undertake convention in a w/c every year!  We stayed in a hotel but set up our tent for a day spot to gather/relax/store things ... so from that spot we had a front row seat to lots of the kid action.  I'll include some video clips and pictures, as seen from my recliner chair ... One minor complication of convention:  Toriana decided on Tuesday that she was ready to buy and wear her long-discussed Hello Kitty underwear and there's been no turning back.  Only 2 small accidents since, but lots of nervous moments (a waterproof pad for my lap provided some peace of mind when we remembered to bring it with us to the mtg room!).

Going off to pick blackberries, as Toriana requested in the video clip below

Cheese!

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Toriana and Emily enjoyed my chair very much

Lots of young'uns running out some energy!

Cute little Zoe in her dress from Auntie L.

We 3 and 3/4 ... Toriana feeling for "little brudder kicks"

We heard about the hymn "I Need Thee every hour" ... could we also honestly sing "I Heed Thee every hour"?  God can say "I feed thee and I lead thee every hour."  Also heard about going "through" to get "to".

Too "busy"?!

This bed rest business is keeping me so busy that I haven't had a bit of time to update my blog! Well, so now we know that there are ALWAYS excuses ... I do have down time and to spare, although it's easier to read a book than work on the computer in a reclined or lying down position. For those who haven't heard, I was put on bedrest at 21 weeks ... so now this active, on-the-go gal has mostly been still for 4 weeks and counting. At the worst, I have 12 to go. I'm super thankful for all the wonderful help we've gotten and also very thankful I don't have to be lying in bed all the time.

We're all adjusting! Toriana has learned there's more to life than Mommy - a good lesson before brother arrives. (She's picking up quite a bit, told us out of the blue on Saturday "Mommy doctor say 'more sit down'"). We've gotten to have lots of snuggling and reading sessions, but she's had a great time playing and playing with "Gamma", "Nana", "Mah-i-ann", and "Sa'ah", who have all graciously donated time and energy to us these weeks. Trevan's learning that he's glad I USUALLY do most of the house chores and meal prep since doing that plus his full time job leaves little time for R&R. And I'm learning ... oh, so many things. (Things about myself: not so pretty, things about others: beautiful)

With no further ado, let's dive into a sampling of photos all the way back to just after our VA trip. First some pictures from "normal" life and then photos mostly depicting the views from my lounge chair....
Visitors from Virginia! We enjoyed a downtown Seattle day with Don and Glenda!

Waiting for lunch at Pike's Place Chowder Toriana and Gwyndolyn at Chelan And for "Auntie Julie", Gina, and others, here is an update on some Seattle kidlets! First, Iliana and Ezraylah

And then, Emily, Toriana and Jonathan

Chefs at work!

Oh, here was a hike at Carkeek Park, off to have a picnic of Manna's BBQ on the beach!

Having cupcakes with Danny

Toriana eats her cupcake...

And, Danny eats HIS cupcake! What a boy! And there's Joe with a lawnmower in the background.

Here is the scene after Wed. mtg. - Toriana checking out Henry and Max ...

Yep, our rhubarb did really well with all of our rain this spring! An umbrella!

Off to Oroville to start bed rest and celebrate the 4th with all the brothers. Katarina read lots of books to her little cousin.

Toriana and Jakob had lots of fun together!

Happy Birthday USA!

Uncle Andy's boat full of cousins

Playing in the cold lake

The whole clan

At Lake Cavanaugh, relaxing around the fire pit

Sliding with Daddy!

Happy 10 years! (Maybe we'll celebrate next year ...)

Sarah reads the Poky Little Puppy to two happy listeners!

So, I can recommend the "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" as a super fun book for light summer reading. I've read quite a few more but am on the lookout for suggestions. Have any? I know it'll be years before I have this much time on my hands again so I might as well catch up on all the must-reads now.