Big Sur Trip

This past week, Grammy came to visit for her Annual Fall Trip.  During her and Uncle Dave's visit last year, we headed east towards Yosemite... this year, we headed west towards the coast - or more specifically Southwest - to Big Sur.  Big Sur is a stretch of the Central California Coastline that is known for its gorgeous views of the coast, and it did not disappoint. 





We left on Friday afternoon and drove for about 3 hours to the Big Sur River Inn.  The "Inn" had a very nice backyard along the river and a charming restaurant, but the room was more "motel" like than we would have liked.  Although plenty big, it just felt dim and dirty and definitely not worth the money we spent.  The website makes it seem very appealing if you can be there in the summer... but our room didn't look as bright and clean as the rooms shown there: http://bigsurriverinn.com/lodging-big-sur-california.html  I think I would recommend this place without a problem if the room was half the cost.  Oh well, at least we got some nice pictures of the backyard!

When we left on Saturday morning, we headed south towards a nearby beach the waitress had recommended.  The beach was hard to find and down a long, narrow road... I tried to check my phone a couple times to pull up a map, but had no service.  So, when we finally arrived at the parking lot, you can imagine my surprise when my phone suddenly lit up with a text from my mom: "Pfeiffer Beach"... the exact place where we had just arrived.  She was making a recommendation of where we should go while in the area - I swear, sometimes it's like she has a 6th sense. 

Not sure why Mike decided to do this, but Andrew loved it!

And then he insisted Grammy take a turn climbing the hill!

"I'll help you Grammy!"

I remembered this cool tree from being here over 10 years ago on our family vacation.

 

After Pfeiffer Beach, we headed south to McElway Falls at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.  The waterfall and beach were gorgeous - you could just imagine being on a deserted island and bathing in the falls - unfortunately, you aren't actually allowed on the beach and signs were posted everywhere warning of the cost of dangerous (and expensive) rescues for those who tried to scale down the cliffs to reach the beach.

After taking in the views, we headed into the park to eat a picnic lunch.  Luckily, there was a nice grove of redwoods for us to park ourselves at and enjoy our meal in the solitude of the forest.

After filling our bellies, we headed further south towards Hearst Castle.  We hoped to get there before the last tour, but as we approached we saw signs for an Elephant Seal Rookery.  Since we figured this would be a good stop for Andrew, we pulled in to the parking lot and were met with the most putrid smell of animals, urine, and seashore.  We forged ahead to see what could possibly create this smell, and we were met with the below scenes... hundreds of seals sunning their bellies.

After we had enough of the smell, we thought we'd at least drive up to see Hearst Castle from the outside.  Well, that's easier said than done.  As you start down the road into the Hearst Castle State Park (yes, the 167 acre estate is a State park), you discover that you actually cannot get close to the historic house at all... unless you pay to get on a bus and take a tour.  Luckily for us, we made it in time for the last tour of the day - the Cottages and Kitchen Tour.  We boarded the tour bus just in time for the almost ten minute ride up "La Cuesta Encantada" - the Enchanted Hill.  As you ride up the "hill", Alex Trebec gives you a brief history lesson on William Randolph Hearst and the land that you're travelling through... upon arrival, we met up with our tour guide for a 40 minute tour of 2 of the 3 "Cottages" where guests and the Hearst family stayed during construction of the main house, as well as the Wine Cellar and the Kitchen in the Main House.  Andrew was not impressed and we were unprepared... so poor Mike, being the wonderful father (and husband) he is, spent much of the tour trying to keep Andrew happy (read: quiet), so he did not disrupt the tour and get us kicked out.  I would NOT recommend bring an energetic toddler to Hearst Castle.

 

Grammy - at home in the Wine Cellar!

Casa Del Monte - LOVED the bougainvillea (reminded me of Greece!)

Casa Del Sol (look at those dahlias!)

This piece is over 3,000 years old!

Neptune Pool - Andrew wanted to go for a swim, but we asked and they said the fine was $375 and a misdemeanor.  Andrew's still a little too young for a record.

Ahh, the indoor Roman Pool.  This is more my style!

 

After ooo'ing and ahhh'ing at the amazing pools and gardens, we boarded the bus pack to the Visitor's Center and hit the road for our 4 hour drive home.  It was a lot of driving for a one night stay, but it was well worth it for the landscapes and the company.

Scaredy Cats R' Us

Witches and werewolves, spooks and skeletons... 'tis the Halloween season and Andrew has developed a new trick, that is not so much of a treat.  He is trying out a new emotion - fear.  This particular emotion has evaded us so far, and we have often secretly prided ourselves on how brave he has always been... especially being a child of mine - the Queen of all Scaredy Cats. 

He has not, however, learned the emotion of embarrassment yet. 

Yes, I am willing to admit it.  As a child, I had the most overactive imagination you could imagine, and I frequented my parents' bedroom floor in a sleeping bag for far longer than I would like to share.  I was constantly convinced that someone, somewhere, was trying to get me.  I eventually learned to adapt - by turning the channel at the first 2 seconds of horror movie previews, by being border line OCD with locking doors and windows, and by developing the ultimate sign of maturity - the understanding that the world does not revolve around me and not all evil people are trying to "get me" at all times.  I would also add, that moving in with Mike and sharing a bed with a strong man every night has helped comfort me as well.  ;)  

But, enough about me and how crazy I am... this is about Andrew and his newest idiosyncrasy.  Some of it, I hope, is his desire to see our reaction and his testing of our ability and willingness to "protect" him (almost like another form of testing boundaries and limits, which he has also started doing more and more, as normal toddlers tend to do).  He used to love slides, carousels, baths and the vacuum.  Now, each of those things seem to suddenly make him nervous.  For example: the vacuum.  He will go get it for me from the closet, plug it in, and then as soon as I flip the switch, he runs for Daddy to pick him up.  This from the child who just months ago cried because the handheld vacuum he insisted on playing with died while he was still vacuuming.  (It just dawned on me, maybe I should have been more worried about his peculiar fascination with the vacuum then I should with him being afraid of it.) 

These bath pictures were taken about a month ago, but now we have less smiles
and more arguments about bath time, despite bubbles, colored water and markers.

"So, what? Lots of kids are afraid of vacuums," you say?  Well, just within the past couple weeks, he all of the sudden starts saying, "Run! Monsters are coming!"   Due to my craziness, I have been careful to only expose Andrew to the Sesame Street monsters... so I can only guess one place where he learned to "run" from monsters.  Daycare.  I don't know why this upsets me so much, but I think I am just honestly surprised by how much fear is a learned response.  If you think about, its an obvious thing I guess... take Amanda. 

I told her a story about how Andrew started squealing the other day because a pincher bug crawled out of his toy and across his hand.  Her reaction was that she would have done the same thing (as most of us would, I think).  But, when this happened to Andrew, I tried really hard not to match his squeals, because I didn't want to upset him more by showing just how much the bug freaked me out too.  Amanda said, "You don't want him to like bugs, do you?"  Yes, as a matter of fact I do.  But then, I had a flashback to when Amanda, Liz and I were little. We were playing in the driveway one day, when a poor caterpillar dropped out of a tree on to the back of Amanda's shirt.  Well, Liz and I shrieked in terror, pointing at cute little Amanda's back, but not helping her (she couldn't have been more than 5 years old).  Thankfully, Mr. Blanchard came to the rescue, taking the caterpillar off her shirt and comforting Amanda, while Liz and I giggled nervously out of fear.  Maybe, if I had not been afraid myself, and just gone and removed the caterpillar, showed it to her and explained that one day it would be a beautiful butterfly, just maybe, little Amanda would not have developed this fear of creepy, crawly bugs herself.  Perhaps, I had taken away her innocent curiosity of bugs that all kids seem to have, until someone teaches them not to.  Sorry Mandy! Just one of the many things you can blame me for and don't need to pay a therapist for now!  Happy Birthday! 

And for that reason, I was frustrated that Andrew had already learned this new response of fear to things that don't really need it.  Do I want my child to be a dare devil that doesn't understand his own mortality or have a healthy respect for things that could do him harm?  Of course not, but I do want him to not live his childhood like I did... on his parent's bedroom floor. :)

Andrew is not afraid of haircuts (thank goodness)! 
It may be due to the endless supply of lollipops they give him.

 

Last weekend, Andrew was really sick with a high fever.  It turned out to be yet another ear infection (first in 8 months), but he definitely gave Mommy and Daddy a scare!

 

 

He learned how to take his temperature though!

The Circus Comes to Town!

The Foster Family headed to Stockton to see The Greatest Show on Earth... the Ringling Brothers Circus!  Andrew did a great job sitting through the show, despite my rookie Mom mistake of buying Cotton Candy at the very beginning of the show.  He watched the excitement with an almost pensive face, as he just seemed to take it all in.  I had to restrain myself from constantly redirecting his attention to something else going on (as in, "Andrew, look what that tiger is doing!  Andrew, look at the man riding a bicycle on the high wire!") and just let him watch whatever he darn well pleased.  The circus can be over-stimulating enough without my incessant noise in his ear! 

The hardest part of the show was actually waiting to get into the arena.  It began raining as we walked up to the show, which we got to 2 hours early because they offered a chance to see the animals and then be on the floor during a "pre-show".  Unfortunately, due to the rain, they cancelled the part to see the animals and said we'd have to wait 20 minutes for the doors to open for the pre-show.  Having fully adapted to our California lifestyle, we were not at all prepared for rain (no jackets, no umbrella, no ponchos... my mother would have no sympathy), and we assumed it would stay light and be gone in a few minutes. So, we decided to wait in line, outside, in the rain.  Dumb idea.  It rained more in that 20 minutes than it has since April, and we got soaked.  A very nice family in front of us shared their older son's sweatshirt with Andrew, so he at least stayed dry.  Mike, on the other hand, had to wring his shirt out in the bathroom.  But, by the time we got on to the floor for the pre-show, and Andrew saw his first clown (and I got my cotton candy), the rain was forgotten and we had a great time!

My cotton candy and Construction Hat...
the theme of the show was "Built to Amaze" and had a building/construction theme.

Andrew wasn't sure what to make of this guy...

The elephant was kicking beach balls into the crowd!

My hair was straight prior to the rain... :(

The Grand Finale

Baby Blogging... Half Baked!

This blog should catch us up to current status!

Week 12 continued - July 12^th – Your father and I went to the Perinatoligist today to see you on a big TV screen and check up on how you are progressing.  I’ve been so nervous for the past month, that this trip was very reassuring and such a relief… because you are perfect!  Although, you may be either a little shy or stubborn… you would not move your hand out of the way for the nice technician to get a good picture of you!  But, that just meant we got to see you for longer and they even showed you in 3D!  (Although honestly, I think I prefer the black and white images better.)  We could see all 5 fingers on one of your hands, both of your legs and feet, all 4 chambers of your heart and both hemispheres of your brain, and of course – the most amazing part – your perfect little face.  The technician said that you are measuring at 6 cm, meaning your due date is 1/17.  They will keep it at 1/21, but he said the measurement is much more accurate.  The doctor was very happy with how everything looks, and we will go back at 20 weeks for another ultrasound.   We are very anxious to find out if you are a boy or a girl, so we may opt to go in at 15 weeks just for that purpose… and it’s really just another excuse to see you. 

Week 14 – You are the size of a lemon this week!  I’m now officially in my second trimester and with that is supposed to be a boost of energy and a decrease in nausea (which again, I’m fortunate to not have had much of). My one pregnancy book even called this trimester the "golden" stage. Unfortunately, my indigestion and restless leg syndrome have suddenly set in… only 6 more months to go!  ;)

Week 15 – This week, I flew back to PA for work and your Daddy and brother joined me later in the week.  This was the week we shared the news with friends and I told work about you.  So, now everything feels really "real" and even more exciting.  We can’t wait to find out if you’re a little girl or boy next week!

Week 16 – You’re a girl!  I’ll be honest, I really thought you were going to be a boy… and I didn’t adequately prepare your father for the idea you may not be, so this was quite a surprise to both of us!  I am now getting super excited for tea parties, ballet, and planning your wedding someday… but I think your father is hoping you like camping, play soccer and throw rocks too.  The best of both worlds sounds good to me!  We took your brother with us to find out if he would have a baby brother or a baby sister… I’m not so sure he understood it all, but he was very well behaved at the doctor’s office!

This is the picture we used to announce to everyone that you were a girl!

Andrew loved pushing his baby doll in the stroller!

He even let the baby doll drive!

Although it may look like he's upset about having a baby sister,
Andrew is actually crying because he thought we were leaving the baby doll at the store.

Week 18 – Finally!  You are making yourself known!  You like it best when I’m sitting quietly at night, typing away on my laptop or watching TV.   I’m not sure if it’s because I’m so on the go during the day and don’t get to just sit and relax, but your Dad thinks it’s because you’re a night owl like he used to be.  I may have felt you randomly a couple times earlier, but don’t trust that it wasn’t just bubbles in my belly.  Now, I’m certain that the little popping sensations that are over and over for minutes at a time are definitely you stretching your little limbs. 

Week 20 – We’re halfway there!  I headed to Walnut Creek this week to go see the perinatologist again for our 20 week ultrasound.   This time, they did a complete anatomical scan of your body, measuring everything and anything he could!  I preferred when he showed me your complete body or adorable face, but he spent a lot of time sizing up parts I couldn’t figure out!  Every now and then he’d label what he was seeing – kidney, bladder, forearm, etc.  He re-confirmed that you are “definitely a girl” and I noticed you still played shy by covering your face with your right hand a lot of the time.  After the technician was done, he printed up a CD of the images for me to take home and then got the doctor.  The doctor came in, did a quick scan and deemed you a Perfect Kid.  J   He asked if your father and I were going to have more children, and I said I think we can stop now since we will have one of each… he told me to come back and see them with our “whoops baby”.   I’ll explain what that joke meant someday.  In the meantime, I’m crossing my fingers that he didn’t just make some sort of prophetic statement.

Hi Mom!

 

Week 22 – 125 days to go!  Although that sounds like a long time still, preparations for your arrival are well under way.  Gram, Pop and Aunt Amanda have booked their flights for their visits in January to meet you.  I’ve finally picked out the fabric for your bedroom decorations and started “de-boy’ing” your room.  (Once it’s all ready, I’ll make sure to take pictures!)  And, we also got two new cars!  Daddy had a Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck that we couldn’t get two car seats into, so that was the first to go.  We traded that in for a Subaru Forrester SUV, which I love!  My lease was up on my Nissan Altima, so we leased another new car – a VW Passat.  I’ll promise you right now, we are never car shopping with a toddler again!  When our lease is up on the Passat, you and Andrew can stay with a baby-sitter!

 

Baby Blogging - First Trimester Re-Cap

During the first trimester, while we were still keeping our pregnancy a secret, it felt strange to blog about everything else going on, as if this amazing little miracle wasn't even happening inside me... so, I kept an old fashioned diary instead!  Well, as old fashioned as a Word Doc on my desktop can get (which I Googled out of curiosity and Microsoft Word goes all the way back to 1983... pre-Amanda!).  I wrote this for our unborn bundle of joy, not with our normal Blog following audience in mind, so please excuse the "Mommy" talk.  ;)

Week 4 – Wow!  What a surprise!  We found out we were expecting you the day after Mother’s Day (5/13), and I couldn’t have been more giddy with excitement.  Your brother took a long time to come, and we were hoping to be blessed with you sooner than later, but neither of us thought you’d come so quickly, and boy are we glad you did!

Week 5 – The secret had to be spilled a little sooner than we would have liked… we are going to the Outer Banks with the Elston family next week, and they will know something is up if I’m not sharing in the adult festivities and avoiding the hot tub.  So, we told Aunt Amanda, Gram and Pop in anticipation of the vacation.

Week 6 – OBX – We spent this week (5/25-6/1) in North Carolina and it was a very nice break from work and our usual routine.  It also gave me a little bit of a chance to relax with the extra help from Gram, Pop and Aunt Amanda with Andrew.  I was very tired and had a few bouts of not feeling so hot, but otherwise it was a great week.

Can you tell I'm pregnant yet?

How about here?  What's Pop's excuse?  :)

Week 7 – I’ve been feeling very, very tired.  Part of that is due to recovering from our long travel back from NC, but I definitely don’t remember being this tired with Andrew.  Daddy keeps reminding me that the first time around I could sleep when I wanted to, and Andrew doesn’t exactly let me take naps!  J

Week 8:

June 11^th - First doctor’s visit and first time seeing you!  Daddy and I met with our new doctor in California today, and we both really liked her and the office.  Dr. Salata is super nice and fairly young, but seems very knowledgeable.   (Your father liked her because she laughed at his jokes and was impressed by his degree.)  We did an ultrasound and saw your tiny little body and flashing heart beat – you looked like a gummy bear!  It was the doctor’s first time using their brand new ultrasound machine – so you were her first baby on that machine!  They gave us a little care package and sent us on our way with my blood work papers and a referral to see you again at 13 weeks. We can’t wait! 

The two plus signs are measuring head to "tail" of the baby.

June 13^th – Dr. Salata called with news that my thyroid is hypoactive – meaning I am not producing enough of a certain hormone.  Although this is an easy fix of a daily pill, it was scary getting the call that she had to talk to me about my blood work.  She referred me to an Endocrinologist, and I will need to get blood work done every month to make sure my levels are okay, but its all worth it if it means you are healthy!   (This also explains why I was soooo tired!)

Week 9 – If you can believe it, I already pulled out my maternity clothes to find pants that fit better!  They say that with second babies, your belly pops sooner… I just didn’t expect it this soon!

 

 

June 20^th – I met my new Endocrinologist today – Dr. Kaur.  She was very nice, but did scare me a little because she gave me the actual numbers of my thyroid levels… and I didn’t really ask what they meant or just how bad the numbers are.  Apparently, the hormone should be within 2-2.5 range, and mine was at 4.7.  She ordered more blood tests to see if I was getting another Free Form hormone that would help counteract the levels of this one and said she’d see me every month to test my levels and make sure no adjustments to my medication are needed.  So, after my blood test, I of course, went home and Googled… bad idea.  I called Dr. Salata the next day and left her a message saying I was concerned and hoped to chat with her, and she called me back within an hour.  She was very reassuring and told me that she has had women with levels at 25, so 4.7 is not a big deal.  She also told me that she sees this quite frequently and all of the bad things I was reading were for women with uncontrolled thyroid issues.  Later that same day, Dr. Kaur called and said my blood work showed I was getting the other hormone, and my levels are already back to 2.8 since being on the medication.  What a relief!  I already feel less tired and weak too, so this is good news!

The Endocrinologist had an ultrasound machine in her office...
I was so hoping it meant another chance to see you, but no such luck. 

Week 10 – So much for feeling less tired and weak - I had a 24 hour stomach bug this week!  I was so healthy with Andrew, that I’m really thrown off by these issues and just can’t wait to hear your heart beating and see you on the ultrasound again.

Week 11 (July 2nd - 8th) – You are the size of an apricot this week!  Although my belly is getting so big, I’m sure I could convince someone that you are at least an avocado, if not a grapefruit!  I’ve actually had cravings for food with you, which I really don’t remember having with your brother… but let’s just say your Dad is lucky that we live so far from the grocery store, I think he’d be making frequent stops!  The first 9 weeks I lived on Goldfish, cheese curls and lots of junk food!  Now, I am finding that I crave junk less, but do get very specific ideas of what sounds really good at that exact moment… last night was pizza (specifically Italian Delights Pepperoni Pizza from Doylestown), other times its watermelon, popsicles, or cupcakes.  Ok, maybe it’s not any less junk food... no wonder I'm popping already!

Week 12 - July 9^th –  You are the size of a lime this week!  I saw Dr. Salata this week for my 12 Week Check-up, and got to hear your heartbeat!  We could hear both of our heartbeats at the same time – mine slow and steady, yours fast and strong.  We then found a place to hear yours where mine wasn’t interfering, and she said you were well within the normal range (which is quite a range, and no, she didn’t give me a specific number) and sounded great…. I couldn’t agree more!