Earthquake

Late last night, after I went to bed in a very tired state and still hadn't fallen asleep several hours later I went into the living room to sleep on the couch. For those who haven't been pregnant or haven't experienced this, it was the total need to have my upper body higher than my lower, and my pillows weren't cutting it.

I didn't fall asleep right away, but eventually I did, waking up off and on through the night/morning to change position. It's a loveseat, so it can get a little cramped. At one point, I thought I felt the couch move, and at another point I heard something that sounded like a pot falling and rolling outside, it was quick though and it crossed my mind that it might have been an earthquake, it didn't do anything dramatic like make the walls or things on shelves fall over though so I went back to sleep and didn't think about it.

My plan was to call in sick today, because I'm exhausted and really need sleep, but I did decide to come in when I saw the meetings scheduled for today. I'm glad I did because I saw a co-workers chat 'status' as having slept through an earthquake!

Turns out that yes, there was one, it was a 4.6, what a trip! Better get to work now...get ready for those meetings I mentioned.

Getting better at the hair...

I read the book "Curly Girl" a few months ago and it's become soo much easier to deal with Kenzie's hair...especially the brushing part!

Her hair is getting so long, and it is beautiful, she doesn't want to get a hair cut and so it can get overwhelming really fast when it isn't in braids...last night though after her bath I'm pretty sure it took less than an hour which is a new record. She still fusses a bit but I can totally tell the tangles are not anywhere near as bad as they've been in the past.

Her 3 braids in this picture were at her request, she wanted, "Three braids because I'm 3" is what she said. She is growing up so fast, and she amazes me every day.

:-)

MS Walk 2009

The time has come once again to create a team for the MS Walk for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society!

I've had a team almost but not quite every year since being diagnosed, and this year I was pretty torn, because my due date is almost the exact same day as the walk!!

My original due date was 4/4/2009 and then the ultrasound said it was 4/1/2009. If you know me at ALL you know that I greatly prefer to tell people it is April Fools Day though officially it is still 4/4/2009 in the medical books...this will keep them from trying to induce me if Hazel hasn't come within 2 weeks of that date which I do appreciate!

Anyway, back to the walk. I decided that I should indeed still organize a team because I know so many wonderful people through all of the different groups that I am a part of, Hip Mama's, LLL, MS groups, Knitting groups, etc. that I know are interested in participating in this kind of event. It helps that in Seattle there has been a pretty big ad campaign letting the general public know that the Northwest has more than it's share of people who live with this Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. I've already been thanked for giving people a way to support people they know who have the diagnosis and I am really honored to be a part of that.

Plus, back to my personal life, I remember clearly that weekend I was in labor with Kenzie almost three and a half years ago when I walked (through contractions!!) up to 125th street from Mt. Sinai on 98th street and back which was for sure more than 4 miles. So I know that if I have NOT had Hazel yet, walking will be a welcome way to encourage her to join us. If I HAVE had Hazel though, another lesson I learned from Kenzie's birth is that I should NOT walk that much right after having Hazel.

Either way I will be very actively participating to coordinate and introduce the people who will be taking my place as a group leader on the day of the walk if needed.

You can see the link over at the top of the links on the right side of this page just under my picture to see the MS Walk pages that I've put together so that you can join or contribute as you so desire!

Thanks for taking the time to read this...I'm flattered every time I get a comment that lets me know someone actually took the time to read something I wrote!

Delivery Dream

Picture was taken during the week of the snowstorms (and Christmas) and depicts me, belly, and Kenzie taking the time to relax on the couch.

I have had a Baby #2 blog up for a little while and realized I've only posted about 5 times...I just have to share this post that ironically I wrote on September 16th...which was my due date for Kenzie three years before, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have:

September 16th, 2008
I had a dream last night that was very very vivid...I usually dream but forget them right away, last night was funny because it took FOREVER to get to sleep and when I finally did I was having this dream...basically I was with my daughter, at some kind of birthing center, and I knew my sister was having her baby (she's not pregnant) and I felt like I would be soon too (but no pain) and upon walking into the building (clean place, no where I have ever been) I found her lying in bed peacefully with her new baby. I calmly walked back to another room thinking "it's my turn" along with my daughter and we got into a little tub/pool thing, very shallow, like a wading pool. I had a feeling like I should push and I heard someone tell me basically if you can feel it with your hand, it's ready, and in my dream it was like I felt down between my legs and the head was RIGHT there! (still no pain strangely enough) and so I peacefully reached down with my hand, and pushed/pulled the baby up to my breast. I remember in my dream my daughter watching with with joy as the wrinkled little newborn hungrily latched on for the first dose of mommy milk.

It was a WONDERFUL dream...and I hope I have it a few more times at least...I think just thinking about the dream will help me sleep tonight.

Third Trimester!!

Wow how time flies...looks like I shouldn't have bothered with having this as a separate blog since I really don't seem to update it much (ever).

I'm in the third trimester now and am getting pretty big!!

Floods!!

Apparently I've been living in a bit of a happy bubble in my blissful TV-free life for the last few days...when I saw headlines about 'lots of rain' I thought maybe there just wasn't much other news to talk about, I thought "Rain in Seattle? Big deal...". It started when a woman I have plans to meet up with sent me an email that she might not be able to make it due to the flooding on I-5 in between us. I'm so glad she reached out to let me know because WOW...I'm totally off making an ignorant statement like that!! Floods are serious wherever they are...

I listened to part of a KUOW show today (The Conversation) and read in their email that there was 20 miles of I-5 flooded!! I looked at the pictures on the PI website and there were 'drowning' houses, floating hot tubs and men in water up to their chest!

I also heard that a good friend of mine...who is even closer to having a baby than I am had to leave her apartment. I can only imagine how many horror stories are out there, and of course of all days I can't find my phone.

I'm kind of in shock now regarding the flooding, I haven't seen any flooding evidence around where I live/work (Alki/Downtown Seattle) but wow...

Passions

I'm reading a couple of great books, the one that has made the biggest impression on me is definitely one called "The Passion Test" which has excercises in it that while not entirely unique are presented in a concise followable fashion that allowed me to define what my top 5 passions in life are:

1.) Owning my time (being the one to decide how to use it)
2.) Keeping my body and mind healthy and beautiful
3.) Spending time with my daughter(s) and husband
4.) Sharing my stories through word and art
5.) Helping people to get through the struggles they face

I'm now running every decision that I need to make through these passions to make sure that the outcome is inline with what I believe is important in my life.

So far it is working really well, and actually really both simplifies decisions as well as makes the outcome much more satisfying...lunch is almost over but I will be continuing to write on this topic.

Community. . .

Holiday seasons are always an interesting time of the year, for me, especially the one that just ended.

I feel like it's been kind of thrown in my face that community is lacking. I've always been driven to be a part of as many groups as I can, mostly because it is a fast way to meet people which is important to me as I'm so busy and have moved a lot, so feeling 'connected' to where and who I am is very important to me. It led to me joining a single mom's group, knitting groups, MS groups, and started my own local Hip Mama group, graphic designer groups and I'm sure plenty more in the past that at this point I don't remember. Being the organizer of a group though, I'm starting to see more and more of a need for a better community organizing system....it seems most are either too digital and don't lead to much of the real 'human' connection that is so important especially during hard times, OR the groups are so based on who you know that they are intimidating to newcomers.

Anyway, my measure of the holiday season and my expectations as to what would make it a 'successful' season were blown out of the water after I sent out my pretty generic 'Happy Holidays' email to one of the groups I manage. In the message I asked that anyone who might be having trouble because of the snow storms out here in Seattle should let the group know so we can work something out.

I got a phone call within minutes it seemed, of an urgent medication related situation that was definitely a 'real' problem that needed someone with the heart of an angel plus 4-wheel drive to solve.

I felt honored to be able to call upon the group of people, of which there are over 220, that I'm grateful to have the honor of organizing to see if anyone was both willing and able to help with the situation.

I was amazed at how fast I was getting phone calls and eventually a person who saved the day by picking up the needed medicine and transported it to the person in need.

My plans for 'fulfillment' over the holidays had been based more around the time I'd dedicated to helping with a 'Family Promise' program that consists of a kind of moving shelter for homeless families, I dedicated myself to three times on three different dates Christmas week to help out there. I found that while it was fulfilling to be able to help with that organized program, my real joy was when the almost out of nowhere emergency was solved after our group worked together to make it happen.

It will be a great year...