New Toy

Not sure if it's a good thing, but Anna's sure having fun waving her new baby food spoons around. A preview of messes to come?

Busy Anna

Here you can see Anna's operatic range and ability to sit for long periods of time. Ok, so maybe this video is not the best example of the latter skill... :)

Anna and the Christmas Lights

Computer Time

A few weeks ago I tried showing Anna an interactive music app I have on my iPhone called Bloom. This is what it looks like:

Anna is not that coordinated yet but I think she was having a good time playing with the app this morning. See the end of the video below:

Face Time

You really only catch a glimpse at the beginning of all the smiles and cooing Anns's been doing.

Play Time

Baby Anna's starting to be able to control her arms and hands.

Noise Maker

Just a video of how Anna is spending her mornings now. You might think she's going to fall asleep in the middle of this video, but no!

She's learning how to make all sorts of happy noises.

Cute Baby Anna

Cute baby Anna!

Cute baby Anna ear tuft!

Cute baby Anna fingers!

Cute baby Anna toes!

Welcome Baby Anna

Today we and our families welcomed baby Anna to the world. She came out screaming just enough to know she was healthy and quickly settled down to being a great little lady.

Everyone says that she is super cute and of course we agree!

Who knows what the future will bring? We are excited to find out.

Anna Elaine Young

6/22/2011

8 lbs 8 oz

21 inches long

14" diameter head

Still Waiting

So we're still waiting. Its only a few days past the estimated due date but it feels like an eternity. I could bear it with good spirits if the little one would stop trying to push his/her feet up outside my rib cage...ouch! I guess it must be getting pretty cramped in there.

As part of the effort to enjoy these last few days as a couple we went for a stroll up a trail north of Arroyo Verde Park. It was beautiful and I even made it up a fairly steep hill, if very slowly! And we went for a leisurely stroll on the beach. Ben thinks I don't really look pregnant in this pic, more like the wind is blowing out the shirt.

Just about as pregnant as I'm going to get! Seems like the baby's just exploded in the last few weeks.

Nursery

So we're finally getting around to setting up the nursery/corner. One crucial element was picking up the crib, sheets and mattress from the Y-Grands'. The crib is just the right size for our space and a size that is impossible to find in any store. And the really cool thing is that Ben, his two sisters and his father and aunt all were babies in this crib. We wanted to take a moment to commemorate this and so we scrawled the information on the bottom of the crib. The ultimate child-safety certificate!

I had a preggy-brain moment and mis-remembered Tom's middle name... Sorry! Ben had a good laugh though. (I love that lime-green color on the bottom, wonder who had that color for the crib?)

We picked out some pretty wild fabrics for the sheets that Nicki was kind enough to cut down to size for us as well as custom fabricate a mattress of the right size. (waterproof too!) And she also made the cutest little remnant quilt!


We also broke the clothing and diapers out of their packaging and did the inaugural washings. We only bought the recommended minimums but what a pile!!

We're favoring colors that could go either way because we are not 100% sure of the sex. We trust the ultrasound tech, but were not convinced...

A cute little onesie from my Mom.

Tiny baby socks!! They're doing a little dance which is why they're blurry.

All in all, everything's starting to come together.

Final Countdown

So now I'm officially full term and the baby could arrive any minute.

Here's a flashback from my architecture school years. We'd play this song in studio at 24 hours out from the final review of our studio projects.

Just for fun I did this online predictor. We'll see how accurate it is!

Catherine Young is expecting a baby!

Her due date is Thursday, June 16th 2011.


we predict that she will have a

Boy!

on

Saturday, June 11th 2011

at

5:08 am

weighing

3750 g ~ 8 lbs, 4 oz

Get your prediction at Spacefem.com

36 Weeks

I guess it feels bigger than it looks! Only 4-ish weeks to go and I'm really having trouble imagining how I'm going to fit more baby in there. Monday was kinda rough, as in baby was rough-housing something spectacular. I think I scared my co-workers because one particular maneuver made me yelp. As far as I can tell the baby is still head down like it has been since late Februrary/early March because those feet keep poking out my right side. Now it's getting so that you can see a bump where the butt is too and not just when the baby's straight-legging it. But my energy and focus are still pretty good. Not 100% but still in the normal range. And thanks to Mom, I'm staying comfortable at work all day (stockings to keep the swelling down and comfy shirts like the one pictured).

P.S. Ben has fun resting his head on my right side to spend some quality time with little Young (read, getting kicked in the face...).

No-'Poo

So a couple of months ago I saw a cool post in my RSS feed that talked about all sorts of alternative cosmetics products that used all-natural, home-made alternatives to things like face washes, shampoo, soap, toothpaste and anti-perspirants. I started with a face wash that worked great and then moved on to the shampoo alternative. I'd heard through some friends that it worked great. Basically you use a baking soda solution instead of the shampoo and a diluted vinegar solution instead of the conditioner. It's called "no-'poo" since you don't use any shampoo. I was skeptical but also very enthusiastic. The theory is that common shampoos do their cleaning too well, stripping the hair of oil so completely that it makes the scalp produce even more oil and thus requiring even more frequent shampooing. Plus most shampoos are full of detergents that can irritate sensitive people's skin. The really serious no 'poo-ers don't even use the baking soda and rinse with water only. People with curly hair especially swear by it.

The first few days seemed to go fine. The blogs say there can be a greasy phase. Mine didn't go away but my roots seemed to be relatively clean. My hair was shinier and easier to manage but I just could not get the greasy build-up. I knew I had to do some more research but only got the time a week or so ago.

It turns out that it wasn't the baking soda or the vinegar that wasn't working. It was the hard water. As Ben knows, hard water can make it tough to get things clean. Eventually I found a tip online that fixed everything. A lady had had a similar experience and stumbled on a solution. Somehow pre-making the baking-soda solution with boiling water makes it work even with hard water. Is boiling water supposed to fizz when you put baking soda in it? Well our boiling water does. The first washing with the new solution removed the greasy mess that had built up.

So no-'poo DOES work, it's just a little trickier with hard water. Yay!

Silly Kitty

I don't think there's supposed to be an opening there Odessa...

Is that really comfortable Odessa? (Extra points for figuring out which limb is which.)

Odessa

Just a picture of Odessa in her favorite place, looking cute.

Wreckerate for Easter

As is becoming a holiday tradition, we wreckerated a cake for Easter. The lamb formed cake pan is especially disturbing to cut into to start with and thus makes a fantastic foundation for any cake wrecking holiday event.

The end result this year was a stunning creation in orange, green and cream with black stripes, a heart monocle, a large (if poorly formed) mustache and a necklace of easter candy corn. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), someone had over beaten the frosting causing the butter to partially separate and when color was added, there were these fascinating swirls of color and white and when the frosting was applied it began to quickly run down the cake, creating a melty appearance which added greatly to the final effect. The green which was originally intended to become the stems of orange flowers on the cake really ended up looking more like slugs. And as the decorating went on, the heat from hands on frosting piping bags made the frosting even more sloppy and goopy. The results are as you see below. I don't think it is even possible to name what we created:

To see where we got the cake wrecking idea from, visit the Cake Wrecks blog.

Car Seat

Just to get it over with, we took care of the purchase and installation of the infant car seat. We've started the packing process but if the little one comes early, at least we won't have to figure out the car seat in the middle of it all! Will you look at all those stickers? It makes me nostalgic for the days when you could just carry the kid in you arms. Now the kid has to be in the back seat, facing away from you for 1 year. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a recipe for disaster!

Baby Bump

Finally got a bump to show off:

Being a first timer, it's taken quite some time for me to really show and things are really crammed in there. Baby's kicking and squirming ALL THE TIME. I got a nice cool muu muu like dress in Maui because it was so hot. Starting to understand why women have worn dresses through the ages. Without lycra (my new best friend) there would be no way to be comfortable in pants.

Craft & Commerce

This last Thursday/Friday our office went down to San Diego to work with our central office. While we were there we got to try a little of San Diego's night life. We went to a great place called Craft & Commerce which a friend was able to get us a table at. There are so many wonderful and just plain interesting restaurants in the city which Ben and I would never be able to find or get into on our own. The decor was entertaining and well done (earthy materials like brick, reclaimed wood and books) and the food was fantastic. A little butcher-meets-farmer's market-meets-night club. There seems to be a trend of young, hip, educated people starting concept restaurants that serve edgy, high-quality food at very reasonable prices and I know I'm all for it. Ben had a fantastic craut dog and I had one of the best house salads (with fresh greens, pickled onions and thinly sliced radishes and a fantastic vinaigrette and chicken) and absolutely the most divine sweet potato fries EVER. Just the right balance of crispy and tender with a kick from thyme and blue cheese. They make their own aioli dips and dressings and you can tell. Yum.