I'm a winner!

A few months back (or more...time seems to be melding together) my friend Alex sent me a link for a photo contest through Kolo (they make scrapbooks and other photo storage items, so of course I love them). I entered and then promptly forgot about it. I got an email a week ago or so telling me to check out the winners, which I did, and didn't see myself there. I didn't think about it again until today when the UPS man brought me a package from Kolo. I thought, hmm, I'm sure I didn't order anything from them. I opened it up and saw this letter (sorry if it's blurry, I took a photo of it without the flash and it's super gloomy outside so my house isn't so bright):
So I went back to the website and saw that there were prizes for the runners up, which I missed last time I checked out the winners! Here's the link. And a photo of what I won (a large album, a small album, a photo CD album, and a beautiful photo box that will probably hold baby #2's mementos):
Thanks for sending that link, Alex!! So to date, my photo contest winnings include these Kolo items, a 50-print photo card from Snapfish, and a photo in the Duke HR 2008 calendar + $25 to Harris Teeter (love free groceries), plus two first prizes at the Alameda County Fair from back in high school. Not too shabby, I think! :)

A beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Between all of the showings of our house (five already, and it's only been for sale for about ten days), eating all the time, and chasing Benjamin around, I've had a hard time keeping up with anything else. But there's a lot going on around here. First, it's a GORGEOUS day today. I am sitting here in my living room with all the windows open and I can smell the fresh flowers outside and feel the warm breeze coming through the house. This is the kind of day that puts a smile on my face - not boiling hot, not freezing cold. It's fantastic. Second, my friend Laura is taking her licensure exam in two weeks, so pray for her! I'm sure she's going a bit crazy at this point. Third, since our house is for sale we've been cleaning up a storm. A wonderful mom at MOPS gave me a priceless piece of advice about shower cleaning: Mr. Clean Magic Erasers do wonders. I bought the Target brand erasers since they were about half the price, and barely had to scrub to get all the gross soap scum off the glass door and floor of the shower. Wonderful! Plus they don't have any fumes, so I wore gloves and scrubbed away and didn't feel like I was poisoning myself or my unborn child. (Sidenote: It's kind of sad when you're so excited about the cleaning product you purchased that worked wonders on your shower...) I'm 16 weeks pregnant today, so the kiddo is the size of an avocado! I've felt movement starting very sporadically a couple weeks ago, but beginning four days ago I've felt a little something every day. Earlier today, the little one was doing all sorts of things in my belly for a good five minutes, and I've felt a few taps here and there the rest of the day. It's so wonderful and reassuring to feel the baby moving around in there. In three weeks we get to go in for the BIG ultrasound where, provided the munchkin is cooperative, we'll find out if we're having a boy or girl. Nope, we can't wait to find out. Go ahead and guess. I have no prizes for winners though, just bragging rights. Have a beautiful weekend!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our family! Benjamin enjoyed his basket (with a bathtub frog, book, and three basketballs - doesn't take much to make a two-year-old happy!). We had a great day with our friends Bill, Danielle, Jeremy, and Alisa (and ate too much food, of course).

my, how you've grown.

Alright, apparently with your second child your internal organs jump into action, saying "WAIT! I know what to do now!" and make your belly pop out much faster than with your first child. In all seriousness, I'm enjoying the pregnancy, and I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and all is well.

With Benjamin at 17 weeks:

Baby #2, 9 weeks:

Baby #2, 12 weeks:

Baby #2, 15 weeks:

two moms, two blonde boys, and one science museum

a butterfly on benjamin! (look closely at his jacket)

It was Benjamin's friend Sam's birthday yesterday, so the boys and their moms went to the Museum of Life and Science (quickly becoming my favorite hangout) to celebrate! We got there early and it was pretty empty, so the boys ran around inside for awhile, then we went to see the butterflies and for a train ride! The boys had a great time, even though it was a bit chilly.

birthday hugs

jen and sam on the train

Benjamin and I on the train

the boys on the train

sunny with a high of 75

It was a beautiful day today (or buh-day as Benjamin said), so the three of us went to the Museum of Life and Science this afternoon! Benjamin LOVED the lemurs (they're in the photo to the left), the butterflies, and playing with the balls. We played with sailboats, chased the butterflies, watched two turtles playing (one of the funniest things I've ever seen), and talked to the alligators. It was great, and we can't wait to go back! (thanks to na and ba lucas for the membership!)

Is this what my child looks like?

My favorite thing to do every week is to see how big our new addition is (according to babycenter.com, anyway). I enjoy this because the little one is always compared to some sort of food: a poppy seed, sesame seed, lentil bean, blueberry, kidney bean (this is 8 weeks, which is when I had my first ultrasound and is remarkably like what the kiddo looked like at the time!), grape, kumquat, fig, lime…and this week is a medium shrimp!

When asked where the baby is, Benjamin will pat my belly, but I don't think he understands that this baby will soon be loud and want to play with his toys. We'll see how things go with that. I'm starting to feel better, though still nauseated at times and my energy level is still quite low - I'm looking forward to getting that back! And I've been craving McDonald's cheeseburgers like crazy, but thankfully not too much in the sweets category, so that's helping me quite a bit!

Tim is in San Antonio at a math teaching conference until late tonight - he got in early enough yesterday to walk to the Alamo where it was "Alamo Re-enactment Weekend"...He says he has now sufficiently remembered the Alamo. Benjamin and I have been playing and he's been "helping" me pack up some books and photos to get the house ready to sell. We're getting quite excited and know that the next few months are going to fly by with all the things going on.

I could live in a house by the beach

For those who haven't known Tim and I long, you should know that we are a couple who likes to fulfill enormous milestones all at once.

some examples from our life...
We graduated from college on May 19, 2000. Our wedding (it was a glorious, fabulous day) was June 10.
We then proceeded to move 3000 miles from everyone who knew and loved us (and most of them still love us), from wonderful California to muggy North Carolina to begin a new adventure. Durham has been good to us, to our marriage, and we will always have good memories of this place. I had a great job at Duke, did a master's degree at Carolina, and worked as a high school science teacher here. We have met friends who will be friends for life. Tim enjoyed being a Duke student (more for the math or basketball? tough to say.).

Then, we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in 2005. We found out we were expecting our first child shortly thereafter, decided that we weren't going to leave Durham in the near future, so we bought a house! We moved in on December 1st or 2nd (tough to say...there were key issues. It was great fun.). And we love our house. Benjamin was born (ten days early) on February 20, 2006, after 36 hours of labor + pitocin + the best epidural ever. And we LOVE our son.
Tim worked so hard to finish and defend his dissertation in August of that year, meaning that I could begin my new career as a stay-at-home mom (which I love more than I knew I would), and he began a post-doc in the department of computational immunology.

That brings us to now.
It is March of 2008. Tim applied for jobs in the fall, and has been interviewing and praying that the right job would come along. And it has. We will be moving to Malibu, California (nope, not next door to Britney, but maybe I can take pictures of the the salon where she shaved her head for you) so Tim can begin his career as assistant professor of mathematics at Pepperdine University. We couldn't be more thrilled to leave the humidity and several hour drive to the beach for a short walk to the Pacific Ocean. (And you're all invited to visit us!) But what other big things could be going on? Well, after a generally rough year with lots of transitions going on, we're expecting our second child! Benjamin's little brother or sister is due on September 12th. And we couldn't be more thrilled. Oh, and we're celebrating eight years of marriage on June 10th (and already looking forward to the Alaska cruise we're planning for our tenth anniversary!). So if you're bored and want to pack a box or touch up some paint on the walls, we sure could use the help...

January 8, 2008:

February 6, 2008:

February 21, 2008:
(this t-shirt was made by carolyn. check out her creations here.)

xoxo.