1/2 Way!

We were talking on the way home from dinner tonight about how we were half way there. Not half way home but half way to having this baby. It is crazy to us how time just flies, it seems like just yesterday that it was December and we were just finding out that we had a second child on the way. Now what is crazy is knowing how quick the next 20 weeks will go! Are we ready? Sure. Do we know what we are having? This Thursday. Does Ev comprehend? She says hello to Annie's tummy and gives it kisses but we don't know how much she gets yet. Do we have names picked out? Yes. Will we share these names? Nope (you know the drill). How is Annie? She is doing good, this has been a much more challenging pregnancy than the first but the last few weeks have been easier for her. The morning sickness has subsided and she has had more energy to get through the days and evenings. Traveling? Not much. We are fortunate to have a number of visitors lined up this spring and have a weekend planned to go to North Carolina in June to spend a weekend with a group of OHSU friends. Annie is also flying to NC to give a talk at UNC Chapel Hill. I have a show in Chicago at the end of April and hope to have a business trip to the NW sometime in summer. Other than that we are going to try and visit some destinations within driving distance to take advantage of our time here in the south. Pregnant in the south in the summer? Thank the Lord for an AC unit the size of a school bus that keeps our house as chilled as we want it to be!

Speaking of weather, we have been blessed with an amazing run of 70+ degree days, no humidity, no bugs and many opportunities to be outside enjoying family time and life. Ev loves to blow bubbles and run around the yard and we love to watch her. Often I get to quietly watch my beautiful pregnant wife and beautiful 2 year old daughter sauntering about the yard, discovering new and interesting things.

We will keep you posted on the news from Nashville and especially whether the new baby Powell is a he or a she!

(pics of Annie and Ev this evening while waiting for a table at the restaurant)

Rained out.

More follies from running and training in the summer in the South!

I was scheduled to run 11 miles this morning. 8am. Checked the weather: 80 degrees, 90% humidity, 30% chance of showers. Typical.  I decided to do 14 instead, since I missed out on some of my running this week, due to my travels to Cincinnati. I've got 18.6 coming up next weekend and I wanted to feel ready. 

We made it about 4 miles in and heard the thunder.

At 4.5 miles in, we saw the lightning.

At 5 miles, it started to POUR rain. (For you westerners who have never lived in the middle of the country or the south, I would say you have NEVER experienced rain like it can rain down here! -Stand in your shower running luke warm water while fully dressed in your running clothes and shoes. While under the water, run in place for about 15 minutes.  This is what it felt like.)

I couldn't look straight ahead because it was raining so hard into my eyes. So, I looked down at my shoes at 6 miles and saw large amounts of water squeeze out of the side of them with every step. The thunder was so loud! It was actually sort of surreal. 

We put up the hood in the BOB over Ev who was now rather upset and scared by the thunder, but it didn't really help, as we didn't tighten down one of the back straps, so we actually accidentally created a funnel for the water, which made it run straight down her back. We fixed it, but she was soaked already. (Of course, we have a rain cover that fits perfectly over it. And of course, it was in the car.)

The way our running loop works, at 6.2 miles we actually run right by the car.  

And by the car we stayed. I was not about to continue in that and get 8 miles worth of blisters!

Well, besides a wet kid and two drenched parents, and besides being bummed that we had to go home, there was some other fallout.

Brendon's keys and iPhone were in a pocket in the BOB. A pocket that created a perfect air-tight bowl of water, where is phone drowned.  He is currently trying to do the self-fix. We shall see.  Of course, we are counting down the minutes until the new iPhone comes out, since ours are over 2 years old now, so we were  just hoping to have our phones make it until then!  Brendon took a pic of me completely drenched with his phone before it died.... I'll post it if he gets his phone running again. 

I am now desperately trying to dry my shoes so I can attempt 14 again tomorrow. Hopefully with less rain!

What an adventure running down here in Nashville has been!

Ev completely soaked and ready to head home.

Yet another use for the red flyer wagon.

Handy pocket to put your stuff in.

Handy pocket that fills with water!

 B attempts the self-fix.

 Ever seen the inside of an iPhone?

 Yet another use for my hair dryer.

Vietnam.

A shot this video a couple of weeks ago when Brendon was giving Evelyn a bath.... and apparently reading her the Patagonia catalog. So funny.   Hey Brendon, where was that made again?

Happy Father's Day!

Last weekend, we also celebrated Brendon's second father's day. It's been SUCH a joy watching Brendon be a wonderful father to Ev and to see their special relationship develop. It's interesting seeing how she's learning that we are different and she will react to us completely differently, even if we are doing/saying the same thing. So fun.  I caught a picture of them this year, which you'll see below,  is a HUGE improvement over last year... Ev's still not smiling, as I caught her before she was about to head to bed, but it's better. I guess there's always 2012...

Father's Day 2011

(Father's Day 2010)

Fashion Friday

Almost naked baby. 

(Diaper: Target. Photo credit: Matt Smith.)

Well, it finally hit.

Evelyn had her first full blown head cold. We headed to the doctor yesterday after a weekend of snotty noses, goopey eyes and higher fevers than mama was comfortable with. The verdict? Doc thinks it was likely a viral infection that gave way to a double ear infection. Little Miss Ma'am is feeling much better after the antibiotics and the tylenol. We feel lucky to have made it 13.5 months without an unscheduled trip to the doc, but it still is no fun when it hits. What did we learn about our little one when she was sick?

1. She's a trooper. Temps were 101-103 for 36h before we went to the doc and she was generally pretty ok with it, it seemed. At least she wasn't giving us much attitude. (Which is a change for us, of course!)

2. She's much more cuddly than normal. She never wants to sit on our lap, generally preferring to walk around or chase the dog. Sick Evelyn = lots of lap time.

3. This girl is 100% all about the whole milk. Nurse suggested clear liquids and avoid the milk as it coats her throat makes her cough a little tougher on her. So. We tried pedialyte. We tried cold apple juice. We tried warm apple juice. We tried ice chips. Mama broke down and bought popsicles. We tried those. (Finally she did eat 1/2 of a popsicle.) We tried sippy cup. We tried glass and straw. We tried the bottle. We tried a big-girl cup. She wasn't having much of any of it. Whole milk? No prob. 24 ounces per day, without a fuss. Okie dokie.

4. Ever seen those shirts that say "I'd rather be in/doing/seeing _____?" For Miss Ev, she'd rather be in her wagon. Despite a a snotty nose and a fever, Ev was never happier than when she was riding in her wagon. So we rode. And rode. And rode. Up the driveway, round the house, down the driveway, up the street and back again. Thank goodness its been 75-80 degrees here, or we'd we wagoning in our house. No where near as fun!!

5. She continues to tolerate her rookie parents. We spent the weekend asking: Do you think she's any better? Should we give her some tylenol? Are her diapers drier than normal? How do you use this suction thingy? Where'd you put the syringe? Should we give her apple juice- what if she never wants water again? How bad do you think this sugary apple juice is for her? Should I call the doctor? What if we're just over-reacting? How high of a temp is too high? Lordy. We. were. a. train. wreck.

Thankfully, Ev was a trooper and the next time we'll hopefully have things a tad more sorted out. Quite sure we'll never have it figured out, but more sorted sounds possible. Maybe.

PS- The weighed Ev when we took her in. We were really hoping Ev would have busted into the 20lb range, having been so close at her 1 year appt about a month ago. Alas, 19lbs, 15oz. With her clothes and diaper on.

Sigh. Oh, well.

Fear

We are understanding the ramifications of 'fear' in the Powell household lately. As in, if I get upset because I don't want to go to bed at 8 and stand up in my crib in protest, then I'll just wail harder- not because I'm mad about going to bed- but because I don't know how to sit down. Good Lord.  
Insult to injury: I laid her down, left, she fell asleep. Awoke screaming 10 mins later. We left her to cry a bit, only to find (once we checked on her, suspecting the standing up thing again) that she'd gotten her leg stuck in the bars.
We unstuck the leg. 
She fell asleep to awake at 7a, like normal. 
What a night.
Insight into the toddler years??

Parenting follies

Parenting is a constant learning experience.
Example #1:
On our recent trip to Baltimore, we laid Ev down on the green blanket to the left of the orange blanket to go to sleep. We checked on her an hour later and she was where you see her now. Whoops. Time for some sort of traveling crib.

Example #2:

This morning, I was working on my computer while Ev was playing on the ground. I set my coffee cup down far out of reach. She's perfected the art of extreme scooting mixed with a couple of moves that one might recognize as crawling. She made her way over to my half full (but now cold) coffee cup and tipped it over towards her. I picked up the cup and set it yet again just out of her reach. She then dragged herself through the spilled coffee to get to said cup. Oye. Time to babyproof!