Guess who these kids are!

For those of you hankering for a bit of competition, here's a lookalike quiz for you!

Voice Lessons--this Child Loves to Sing!

I'm a Little Teapot


Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree


I am Like a Star Shining Brightly

First Tattoo



This is what happens when a toddler knows nobody is watching that very second.

Lucky Boy

Adrienne pretending she's going to take a nap.

Not many kids get a visit from his or her great grandparents--and Ajay got to meet two of them!

Great Grandpa Call

Great Grandpa Webster

Hanging out in the backyard singing Easter songs

Dad and Grandpa Webster came to visit us for a few days to meet Ajay and to help Jaime complete his taxes. Those taxes kept getting away from him! With appointments all day, it was hard to motivate us to work on taxes in the middle of the night when patients and kids were no longer awake and needing anything. We were grateful for extra hands to get it all over with!

Wheels on the Bus

Grandma and Grandpa Webster gave us a DVD with over 25 songs for toddlers. It's been a great babysitter! (Not that I leave her in front of the TV all day--only when I'm nursing Ajay..well OK, I nurse all day, so yes, that means she watches it all day.) But at least I'm sitting on the floor with her singing along with it to try to keep some quality time in our day.

Easter

Our town had its annual Easter Egg Hunt. Adrienne would walk up to an egg and set her basket down to pick up the egg. She'd insist on making one of us help her open it right now; open the candy wrapper; help her eat it. Only then would she move onto the next egg, but by then the other kids had cleaned up the site in 19 seconds flat. She does not yet know that the objective is to get the most eggs or the egg with the biggest prize. :) That's perfectly fine with us. No hurry to correct her philosophy of game-playing: enjoy the moment!

New Little Boy!

Can't believe this fuzzy haired little baby has been on Earth for one week now. I'm still reminding myself that I'm no longer pregnant. I tied my shoes with ease and was actually surprised until I realized, "Oh yeah. I had a baby! That's right." (Obviously)

Dad's Little Football

Getting the House clean for Sunday

It's so sweet when you see your child learning to be helpful. I hope this never goes away. :)

We gave birth to a human this weekend; how was your weekend?

Can't Believe He's Here!

Fast and Natural is the Way to Go!

You know it's 2012 when you're in labor and your husband is texting at the bedside minute by minute changes to all the family. :) So now most of you knew the birth story before I was even wheeled out of the L&D room and into recovery. I sit here and wonder what to write that isn't a repetition of what Jaime has already said.

We had gotten massages that morning (oh yeah, it was great to have a back rub by a professional while in the prelabor stages--only I didn't know it was prelabor then). I drank a lot of water and thought relaxing for an hour on the table would make the fake contractions go away. Two big contractions happened on the massage table. I was confused now. After all, I still had 3 more weeks to go.  So if this painful contraction was fake, then the real thing was gonna kill me, I thought. I started texting my brother, Scott, to "discuss" what was happening. Suddenly, all I wanted to do was go home and curl up in the fetal position.

Still Daddy's Princess

My neighbor, Julie Ayer, sent me a text asking me if I was ok. I told her I was feeling "weird." She came over with her cell phone in her hand and sat next to me to visit for a second. She wasted no time and asked me what the number was for the labor and delivery nurse. I told her it was on our fridge. She finished the phone call for me and firmly told me, "I think you should go now." I told her "ok." (But first things first--what's for lunch?) Jaime and I ate a brunch of breakfast burritos, during which I had to stop twice to breathe through contractions. Ok, now I'm ready to go.

Turns out, it was the real thing. In the car (still 20 minutes away!), the contractions hit me with full force and I almost screamed at Jaime to let me out of the car so I could push this baby out. I honestly started wondering if we were gonna make it. In front of the hospital doors, I sprinted on foot in short spurts in between paralyzing contractions. Jaime was going to get a wheelchair for me, but I was NOT going to wait for the elevators and go the long way around. NO way! No time for that now. It was faster to run down the stairs right here--a shortcut. The nurses could tell I was not trying to be dramatic--thankfully they believed me when I said, "I can't wait any more." Nobody had to touch me to examine me--our baby's head was already crowning and that was all they needed to shout, "Call the doc!"

And His Name Is...

Resting at Home

Since we thought we had three more weeks to brainstorm for that perfect name, we were caught with no definite answer when the nurse asked what we should put on the birth certificate. Jaime was inspired to honor both of us by suggesting we name our son Ajay. I'm glad I trusted him because now I love it and I think it's perfect for him!

Last Few Days of Being an Only Child

For about 3 weeks before Ajay was born, we were lucky enough to have Jaime's mom come stay with us to help me rest up before the big day. Plus when you're almost ready to have a baby, you don't feel like you can bend over any more, etc. It was so nice to have a live-in playmate and babysitter for Adrienne so I could go to my weekly OB appointments or do whatever last minute stuff I had going on before my life was about to get a lot more demanding.

She and Adrienne had several tea parties that looked like so much fun!

Littlest Valentine

February in Washington is rainy, gray...oh wait, that's been the case for the last five months--so never mind. :) The bright spots in winter for us is Christmas and Valentine decorations--splashes of red and glittery paper things hanging up really does wonders to break up the grayness. I put up more Valentine decorations more for our mood than for the 14th day of this month.

Jaime came home from work early that day and we ate a nice dinner here at home (I started cooking at 2 in the afternoon, hoping to be done by the time he got home! I can't keep that up every day. But for this once, I was willing to give up my afternoon for a good meal ready and on the table.) With Adrienne, I had to keep breaking up the process into small steps and do it here and there when she'd let me. So in the end, that was different enough to be a treat for us. ha ha. Adrienne kept asking for a balloon, so Jaime brought one home for her and then once she saw it she decided she was afraid of it. We got a laugh out of that.

Adrienne got this Valentine in the mail from my parents. It's the only video we caught for our most recent happenings.

33.9 Weeks!

Can't wait to evict our little tenant. Starting to get impatient now! But at least we're more than halfway and can look forward to preparing more for this little one's arrival.

Adrienne is just happy to play with anyone who has one on one attention for her.

i n d r e a n e

I gave Adrienne 8 hearts with letters on them that spelled her name and handed them to her in order. Instead of putting the hearts up from left to right, she randomized the places. No worries yet; it's a good start!

Yes, that is a Christmas wreath in the backyard still up. We're using it as a bird feeder at the moment. Figured we'd do our part to "recycle, reduce, and reuse."

That's It Folks...For Now

The last post was about a year ago! Where does all the time fly? (With the baseball sky high in the air?) We've gotten an unanimous vote from all you viewers saying "UPDATE!" So in an effort to do the right thing, we'll summarize the past year here--yes sort of like a Christmas letter rehashing the year's happenings--only Christmas isn't in June. That's all right, isn't it?

Leavenworth

Ms. Noordam

13 days in Europe with Jaime, Jake, and Mom. Where do we even begin? Since we've been back, the thing we keep bringing up in fond remembrance repeatedly is the FOOD! Plentiful, artistic, sensational culinary expression can't get any better anywhere else; if there is a better place to obtain scrumptious unlimited food than on a cruise ship, do tell--we want to be there! We're taking in votes starting now. :)

Turkish dancers entertaining us during lunch. This was just one teensy bit of our experience in 4 different countries. For a comprehensive travel log, it would be best to direct you elsewhere (see below).

Well, what did you think of those 800 pictures?! Oh, you haven't looked yet? Ok, I'll be patient...

LinkClick to see more pictures in web album. Look for Ms. Noordam folder 1 and 2.

Coast to Coast--Piracy is Still Thriving

Ms. Proctor here is from the Florida Keys. In a past career, she dove for treasures hidden in the famous Atocha with Mel Fisher. You can take the girl from the island, but you can't take the island from the girl--that instinct is still thriving and look what we got here! (Thanks to ye, Mom!)

Captain and First Mate comandeered the ship from Leavenworth, WA. What? No body of water nearby? Doesn't matter, it rains enough up here--we just floated down the street like we did in the Miami flood 2 years ago.

Royal Christmas Atmosphere in Leavenworth, WA

 

Leavenworth was voted as one of the best places for a Christmas celebration. We definitely felt festive here and loved it!

This was in the lobby of our hotel. Later we went to the Gingerbread factory (more like a bakery). 

Thanksgiving with Leon and Connie and Mom

Last year I was sick, so Jaime ate Thanksgiving with the Roldans. This year I had to work a 12 hour shift; that meant Jaime and Mom went over to the Curtis home to eat the traditional dinner there. It seems I am fated to never cook my own meal on Thanksgiving day. Let's see what 2009 offers. :)

Hot Pie on a Chilly Afternoon

After we brought back the pie from the Cider mill, we put it in the oven and went for a bike ride for an hour. Fall is a favorite season of ours!
This pie is none other than Huckleberry Pie! (Our Huck is looking a little concerned; oh, no, Sweetheart, we're talking about the tiny navy blue, purplish berries that grow in the wild in the northwest.)

Lattin's Country Cider Mill with Mom

We brought other guests here to the Cider Mill and we had to do it again with Mom because she had never been here before. It's a Washington experience everyone's got to have. :)

Mom came to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with us. Jaime and Huck are showing her around the capitol.

Day 2: Biking in the Serenity

The Chehalis Western Trail leads from a few miles north of us going south quite a ways. We decided to ride as far south as we could before trying to loop our way around back home. The problem was I didn't print off a map, so we were unsure of any alternate routes if we ran into any closed roads (which we did). We wasted a lot of miles going way out west and then coming back around to end up only a few yards away from our turn-off point. You can imagine the crushing blow when we realized all that sweat did NOT bring us much closer to our destination.

We drank malted milk shakes when we got home.

The scenery was spectacular! These are fields of daisies. They are gorgeous, but the air wasn't very "perfumey." Daisies don't have a knockout smell, I guess. (Not like lilacs.)

About 2/3 down to the end of the trail, we passed this interesting house that was actually an outdoor art exhibit. New artists apply to be able to live here and take care of the sculptures, creating a few pieces of their own to display and sell. Beth and I parked our bikes to walk around a bit.

River Raiders

We tried to pedal down the Deschutes River. It doesn't work because: a) The water is resistance in all kinds of directions. b) The rocks move. c) Tires have zero traction.

Just another sculpture we saw today.

Sequence

My sister, Beth, came to visit us for a few days. After a day of doing errands all the way from the airport to Olympia and finally arriving home Monday night, she, Jaime, and I played a game of Sequence. Beth had never played before, but won the very first game! It's quite obvious when there's a determined player (see game face in photo), chances are that player is going to win.

Jaime won the next game. I, however, couldn't put on a poker face and lost just barely. Yes folks, that game face does make the fraction of a difference between winning and losing!

Doggie Olympics and Beach to Chowder Run

The three of us had vouchers for a hotel and a restaurant in Long Beach, WA. Last month, Jaime looked at a web site for that town and discovered they were hosting a Beach to Chowder Run and a Doggie Olympics this weekend. We planned a trip out here to Long Beach and really enjoyed the getaway!

It started with a 5K run for Huck and me. Jaime opted for the 10K run instead. When he ran the opposite direction as Huck and me, Huck got terribly concerned about Jaime. He planted his feet and I ended up pretty much dragging his deadweight for my own race. He was so convinced we had to turn around and find Jaime! The race was on the beach and ended at the finish line where runners picked up a certificate to go get a free bowl of chowder. It was a nice hot lunch after being in the cold where our sweat made us chill fast.

At noon was the Doggie Olympics. There were 12 events. We participated in one of them--the Babe Ruth Home Run Obedience event. Next year, maybe we'll do more. At the end of the day, all three of us were so sore and cold that the fireplace in our hotel room and the hot tub were heaven-sent!

Link Click to see more pictures in web album

Dreams Finally Replace Reality

It's the middle of June and the sky is still gray. Temperatures hover around 41 degrees. It rains every day still. So uh...last night I had a dream...

It went something like this: