Thursday, February 25, 2010

99 Things I Ought to Have Done...

**Just came back to edit this because I found three other things I needed to bold that I overlooked the first time.

Found this interesting from Minivan Mom and thought I would give it a try.

Instructions:
Copy the list, bold the ones you've done (with explanations if needed), share with friends.
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (that's on my list of places I want to go!)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (land but not world)
8. Climbed a mountain (grew up in East Bay outside of San Francisco. Used to go with my dad all the time)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped (not scared of heights--terrified of falling)
12. Visited Paris (many times. Studied at the Sorbonne in 1998)
13. Watched a thunder and lightning storm (I live in TX. 'Nuff said)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb (raised two in high school--Stewart and Trouble)
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (did a half)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (one of the best vacations of my life with our great friends the Kriegers)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (four)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
(college)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (2008 vacation)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (stealing her response--if those caricatures count)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Snorkled in Grand Cayman and then again in Ketchikan, Alaska)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (well, a nonprofit)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (one of my all time favorite childhood memories. Drew a whale's tale for about a year or two after all the time in art class. We went again in Alaska)
63. Got flowers for no reason (Andrew sent me roses once in college)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I have tried, but my veins are so weak that I have been unsuccessful).
65. Gone sky diving (See #11)
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (my childhood doll, Honey, is sitting on Katie's shelf)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (With Deanna last fall! Awesome, awesome trip)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (broke my arm rollerskating in the 7th grade)
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle (rode on my mom's cousin's motorcycle once and it scared the hell out of me)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (when we were moving from California to Texas in 7th grade)
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican (2001 trip to Rome)
82. Bought a brand new car (most recent--my minivan! Love the VW Routan)
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (many times actually because of Allie and Heroes for Children)
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (met a guy from the movie Blazing Saddles when I was a waitress at the Black Eyed Pea)
92. Joined a book club (miss being in one)
93. Got a tattoo (nope and won't)
94. Had a baby (three gorgeous girls)
95. Seen the Alamo in person (we were young, poor, and my dad was terminally ill, so yeah, we went to San Antonio for our honeymoon. Stayed at the Menger Hotel, right next to the Alamo)
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
(smacked dab between the eyes)

Looks like I still have a lot to do.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Three Weeks

How has it already been three weeks since our baby was born? Time goes way too quickly during the newborn stage! Katie is growing like crazy, taking after her oldest sister and becoming a "chubalub." She left the hospital weighing 7lbs 12oz. At her two week check up, the little chunker weighed in at 9lbs 6oz! That's a decent weight gain in two weeks. Maggie didn't even regain her birthweight until three and a half weeks, still weighing only 7lbs 3oz at two weeks. Oh, my peanut. Katie was in the 90th percentile for her weight and 75th for height and head.

I remember another baby that had those kinds of numbers.

Katie's resemblance to Allie is unmistakable. Same nose, eye shape, round face, hairline. Same belly shape, chin, same sweet and easy disposition. They could be twins. It has been both wonderful and scary at the same time to look at this new baby and see her sister. It's made me tear up more than once, but it's had me stare at her with more love than I ever thought possible.
How did I get so lucky to have three such beautiful girls as my daughters?

I'm loving being with Katie and Maggie. I love curling up as the three of us in my bed or all together on the couch. Watching Maggie look at her sister then go in for a hug and a kiss brings me so much joy. Maggie is the sweetest big sister, always wanting to be with Katie. She picks out her outfit with me each day, helps with diaper changes, and constantly hugs and kisses the baby. There is no jealousy whatsoever.

Katie is my last baby. I know this. I've known it since I was early on in my pregnancy. Since she was an unexpected C-section (little stinker flipped last minute and had her head in my rib cage!), we were given the choice of having my tubes tied. Of course, since I've been pressuring him for months to schedule an appointment for a vasectomy, he immediately perked up when the nursed asked me if I was interested in having my tubes tied. "Well, that would certainly make MY life easier," he responded. Can I tell you there is a part of me that still wants him to do it just so he could go through something with HIS body having to do with the reproduction of our children? I know, a bit mean. Knowing this is my last baby (yeah, I got the tubes tied, he dodged a bullet. Translation--he owes me!), it's made this experience different. I hold her more, smell her longer (omg I love newborn smells!), coo louder, and generally try to soak up everything about this. I teared up when she got out of the size N diapers and into the size 1. This is the last baby I will put a tiny little diaper on.

I'm just trying to enjoy every minute.

Here are a few pictures of my sweet Katie from yesterday and the sisters together from the other day. LOVE.MY.GIRLS.