The Miss K update

Sorry for the long gap between posts -- now that I'm back to work, it's hard to find time to write (much less read, etc.). Any time I'm not taking care of Kira, I feel like I'm only getting ready for the next time I need to take care of Kira (washing bottles, flipping laundry, taking a shower, etc). It's like being a step ahead and a step behind all the time.

But here I am, writing while Frank entertains K on the exersaucer. Kira is growing up so fast! Today, we went out to Sunrise Grill, and she was just not having any of the car seat. So I put her on my lap and she stared at the tabasco for a few minutes. Soon, she was hitting the edge of my plate, which I had wisely kept out of (what I thought) was her reach. All of the sudden, she had my parsley, and was waving it around! It was very cool.

The picture here is our test run of the Moby wrap in anticipation for the midwest tour. You can see she likes it very much, and that she likes to hold on to her toothbrush, eventhough she has no teeth.

Well that's all the time I have -- Miss K is hungry again!

More Pictures!

In an effort to find increasingly annoying toys for Miss K, we found the "Jumperoo"!

More pictures to the right!

"If this is the worst thing that happens to her.."

UPDATE: VIDEOS are now in the three month album to the right.

Kira is growing up so fast! Sometimes I look at her and realize that she's not a newborn anymore.

Last night, she found a cardboard box and could not stop feeling the edges with her hands, leaning forward on it like she wanted it to support her weight. It occupied her for about a half hour. This morning, she was fascinated with a rattle, and finally was successful in grabbing for it. When she got it in her mouth, though, she was so angry to find out it was hard.

In trauma news, while trying to tame her "talons" with the baby nail clippers, I took a little bit of Kira's finger out. She was very very upset, but probably not as upset as I was -- all I could think was "look at me, I'm a terrible mother, cutting off my daughter's fingers". As I was apologizing tearfully to my screaming baby, all these awful scenarios kept going through my head about blood clot disorders, blood poisoning, emergency rooms and stitches. Perhaps that was a little bit of an overreaction considering the wound stopped bleeding within 10 minutes, and Kira gave me a huge smile. By the morning, everything looked great and by today (48 hours post-trauma) you can hardly notice a thing.

In non-trauma news, we have a garden again this year! Lots of beans, herbs, strawberries and raspberries will be on our menus this summer. We are definitely in summer now, with our long nights. This morning, we even had one clap of thunder, which is really unusual for Alaska.

We've already got a good crop of rhubarb, and I'm busy making weekly deserts to keep up with it. This week, we're going to have rhubarb-berry crumble pie.

I also know that the link below doesn't work to youtube, and am working on it :)

Have a fantastic Memorial Day weekend!

Baby talks back

(more pictures too on the right...)

Back to the Grindstone

I know I haven't written this week, but we all are still getting used to my new work schedule and all the juggling that's required.

Frank is doing a fantastic job with Kira and is really enjoying his time with her, despite some "setbacks":


In addition to our hectic schedule this week, we got the news yesterday that my grandmother died. To say she will be missed is an understatement. I'm not very good with words or feelings, but eventhough we live far away, I can feel her missing in the world, and that makes me sad. I'd sit here and write some "but on the other hand, it happens to all of us" stuff, but I don't feel like writing about that just yet.

Photoshop fun!

Dwight the Bobblehead, I'm awfully fond of you...

Meet Miss K's new business associate, Dwight Schrute the bobblehead. She discovered him in the bathroom mirror yesterday, and was fascinated by what I can only guess is not only his bobbly-headedness, but his good looks and charms. I know this because she totally ignored Michael Scott the bobblehead, standing right next to Dwight. Maybe it's the glasses?

In other news, the bumbo seat has become a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing, as Kira can have fun watching us do things, like eat, for more than 10 minutes at a time. However, this peacefulness comes at a big stinky price. You see, something about the bumbo seat's configuration makes Kira poop. A LOT. So much so that it's magic made us dub it the "Sit and...well..."Poop"". After this set of pictures, we had a blowout so massive that baby got a complete wardrobe change, and mommy almost needed one too.

Anyways, more pictures for you all at the rgiht. I've got the video camera ready for the next time Kira gets talkative.

Houdini

At night, Kira is currently sleeping in her crib completely swaddled. When I went to wake her up this morning, she greeted me with one of her grand arm waves. She had "escaped" from the swaddle enough to get her right hand out, and, I think, was waving it in the direction of the mobile. I'm actually not sure how she got her arm out -- I put those swaddles on pretty tight. To add to the mystery, she was lying diagonally in the crib, with her feet up in the air along the bumpers. So, not only did she get out of her straightjacket, she managed to move herself around as well.

In other news, it "might" be spring here -- there's still a chance of rain/snow all the way through the weekend, but it's beautiful and sunny. The days are getting long enough that the sun just seems to be up all the time. As soon as "the leaves on the birches are as long as a squirrel's ear", we'll start planting our garden.

Have a good weekend!

Guess who is two months old?

More pictures on the right...

The cost of stuff and Kira update

Juneau lost her power lines to the Dam last week, causing a five-fold increase in the cost of electricity to the town. In response:
"Now members of the Graves family eat dinner by candlelight, do dishes by hand, plan to dry their clothes on a rack by the wood stove, and limit their time on the computer."
Can you imagine what it's like? It's got me thinking about the amount of electricity we use on a daily basis, and what we'd do if we had something like this happen.

The price of food has really risen due to rising fuel costs -- ten percent during the first three months of this year. Luckily, if it stops snowing and raining, the farmers and families like us can start growing our own vegetables to keep costs down.

In Kira news...our little chicken slept for 8 HOURS last night! In total I got the most contiguous hours of sleep I have had in two months! Anyways, very exciting for the Moore household today, and almost makes up for the fact that it's snow/sleet outside today.

22 inches! 64wpm!

So, as I said, perhaps the sunhat is a bit premature. We got 22.5 inches at last count last night! Poor Galileo was really stumped this morning, considering the snow is as tall as he is.

In other news, do not try typeracer. It's addictive, although on the other hand it's fantastic to keep up your typing speed.

Perhaps getting the sun hat out was a little premature...

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees. I went on a walk without a jacket, and started working on getting the jog stroller in shape.

Today we have big wind gusts, icky cold rain, and...snow! They are predicting 2-3 inches. So Miss K and I are retreating to the water park., where we can pretend it's spring for a little while.

By Popular Demand...

More pictures on the right-hand side!

In Kira news, she went to the pediatrician, which was great, because we found out she was growing just as expected. She also had her first round of shots to keep her safe from all sorts of diseases. She then proceeded to sleep (it feels) for three days. Then, all of the sudden on Monday, she woke up and frankly has not had a real nap since.

It's beautiful outside here in AK, and I think it's time we run some errands. But I wanted to make sure I first got some pictures up since people were looking for them...

Kira update

Kira perfecting her Elvis impersonation

Kira's had a very exciting day! On Wednesday, she went back to the water park and sat in the water without crying once! In fact, she smiled at everyone and everything (especially the four year old that came up, touched her feet, and said "Where are the baby's socks?").

She also spent her first few hours at the neighbors (Thanks T!) while Frank and I went out to the opera. Miss K did us proud by being very very good and not throwing one fit.

Then, to top it off, she slept -- get this -- for six hours straight. That's after two nights of getting up every 3 hours, being irritable, and not sleeping hardly at all during the day.

Today, she is sleeping a lot, but in her awake moments, she did play with the bouncy chair (pictures in the gallery at the right) and also played with her keys, but this time, she suprised herself by putting them in her mouth. It sounds like a little thing to you or I, but it was pretty startling for Kira and I, since she's not supposed to be doing that for a while (I thought).

Now, we are off to the pediatrician for our six week visit!

And for my next trick...

Look, I can hold stuff! So that's what these hands are for....

In other Kira news, we went swimming on Wednesday! Ok, well I went wading into the kiddie pool holding Kira. When I tried to get her into the water, she was pretty upset, but she loved be held near the water -- so much so that she fell asleep.

It was probably all for the better -- the swim diaper didn't fit her very well anyways. But next week, we are going to try again..this time with a swimsuit!

More Video!

Here

Six Weeks!

Dear Kira --


You are six weeks old! Can you believe it? It went by so very quickly -- first, you were just a little peanut of a being, and now, you are more of a butternut squash-sized being who is starting to display a personality.

So far, you are not a morning person. Around 7:30am, you wake us up with a wail that seems impossible to come out of your little body. Your little eyes are scrunched up so tightly on your very angry face while your tiny fists are crunched up, and you remain that way until you are fed. Diaper changes, baths, and waking you up when you do not want to be woken up ellicit a similar response.

You like to be held as much as possible, and love to sit while mom and dad type on the computer. This is probably because it reminds you of the womb. Right now, you are leaning on my left hand while in your sling and making cooing sounds and grabbing for my hair. Closets, especially messy closets, are also fascinating to you probably due to the bright colors.

In particular, your favorite object (other than us) is the Matisse poster in our living room. You can stare at that for ten minutes at a time. Your second favorite thing is the skylight in the living room -- I suspect this will continue to be a source of interest especially since the sun is starting to interfere with bedtime.

You continue to sleep (mostly) through the night, with one feeding around 4am, although occasionally you decide to be wide awake at the 4am feeding. The problem is, you don't like sleeping in your crib and also sometimes want to stay up until 1am. Although I would prefer an earlier bedtime (like 9, please!), your dad and I are still very grateful for the sleep we do get, and realize it could be much much worse.

In the last week or so, you have learned how to smile and coo! It still is pretty infrequent, but when you do smile it is fantastic! You look so much like your daddy, especially in the eyes (and, as I usually joke, especially when you're angry :)).

The other big news this week is that you are consistently hitting things with your hands! You aren't grabbing yet, but the fact that you can hit things seems to please you very much.

Today, we finally let the nursery at church take care of you for an hour, since they have been begging for it. In the nursery, you proceeded to pee, spit up, and poop (a cornucopia of baby goo!) all over your clothes, requiring a complete change. Of course they didn't care because you were so gosh darn cute doing it :).

All in all, you are a good girl!

Love,
Mom

Bullwinkle's demise

It's a sad day in Anchorage as our beloved moose is no more.

For Your In-car-sideration...

Today I came upon a slew of inconsiderate drivers in Anchorage. I'm usually pretty calm about these things, but certainly today I just hit the jackpot.

It all started when I walked to my car after lunch to realize that some ginormous SUV had parked so cocky-swabbled and close to my driver side that I could not get the baby carrier into the car. So, I had to get the dog out of the car, crawl through the passenger side with a big old car seat, get the dog back in the car, wedge myself into the car, and drive off. As I'm wedging myself into the car, the SUV lady walks right past me, scales the Mt. Everest of her car, and drives off without any acknowledgement of the situation she put me through.

Then, as someone else was turning into the parking lot, I turned on the main road. As soon as I did that, a lovely suited gentleman in another huge SUV is on my bumper, honking, flicking me off and of course talking on his cell phone. He had flipped into my lane without turning on his signal while I was turning. Now granted, I am not getting a lot of sleep these days and fully acknowledge that I may be a slower-than-normal, but I don't think I was so slow to warrant such an awful response.

On a good note, at the next parking lot I went to, a raven was sitting on top of the car next to mine, picking at something on the top of the car. Now that was cute.

However, while I was trucking my baby carrier from the very back of the parking lot, I got to see a solo burly guy get into a huge SUV that was parked in the "Expectant mothers and families with small children" space. Argh.

Usually I find driving in Anchorage to very non-stressful and full of relaxed but generally friendly drivers. Frank found a poll that said 43% of Anchorage drivers at any time are on drugs -- maybe the lunch crowd today is taking a different cocktail than the normal afternoon crowd? If so, we should change their meds.

Rocking the Vote at one month old...

 

Kira got her first sticker yesterday from the voting center!

In other news...this is funny!

Kira says...

 

"Hey, I think this label says there are more pictures up!"

Quick wisdom for the day

If ifs and buts were fruits and nuts, the squirrels would all be fat.

In Non-Kira news...

Every time I see John McCain I think of this youtube video which is sad because I spend a lot of time right now in front of the TV breastfeeding:


In Kira news, today is a five (yesterday, by the way, WAS an 8) she finally started hitting the lower objects in the rainforest, and has discovered the dangling cow on her snugride. Unfortunately, all this newfound excitment makes her fussy sometimes :)

Yesterday was a 2, Today looks like an 8

Ever read your horoscope in the paper? They rate your day on a scale from 1-9 (is there a 10? I've never seen it). Yesterday, if you had looked at Kira's horoscope, it would have looked like this:

Today is a 2. Today is a good day to be generally and vaguely irritable to those around you, but only in short bursts. When you make a huge smile afterwards, everyone will forget until you startle them with another wail, which is fun. Today is also a good day to strengthen your vocal chords by screaming for Mom (a-LAAAAAA, a-LAAAAA) any time she is out of your nearsighted eyesight, because that really helps everyone relax.

Today, luckily, is so far turning out to be a good day (I'm projecting an 8) -- Kira slept somewhat through the night (I got 3+3 hours of sleep), and she is actually dozing right now in-between feedings. So, to celebrate, despite the fact that there is a lot to do, I am taking a "sanity holiday" by writing this blog entry while having an actually healthy breakfast omelette and checking email.

All in all, Chikin is a great baby, and yesterday was totally mild compared to many newborn's regular days I hear. We are so very lucky that we can still count on our hands the "two" days she has had.

Video!

Hey, don't you know there are more pictures up?

Eyes of...Blue?

You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but Chikin still has dark blue eyes! Considering the very strong "very brown to black" eye dominance of the Lohrman clan, and the fact that blue is generally recessive, it's pretty amazing that Kira somehow managed to come up with blue eyes with a little ring of light blue/green in the middle. I realize they can change color at any point up to 4 months, but man, those eyes sure look like they are staying blue to me.

We also discuss her hair color a lot. Her skin tone is very much a redhead skin tone -- and by that I mean pale (might as well stock up on sunscreen now, kid). Her hair has a lot of red in it, but, like any redhead, it's definitely it's own shade of red mixed in with blond and brown. It changes color depending on the light, but one thing is for sure -- Kira has a LOT of hair already, and it's not falling out.

In other Kira news, she has mandated her own schedule. At night, she requests a feeding at 11pm, 5am, and 8am. These times are not negotiable, and any attempt to alter these times is met with "aLA! aLA!" wails and high pitched screams until the allotted time for the next feeding.

Once she gets what she wants, however, she is still a very calm baby.

There are other things going on in the world, other than Kira, I hear. For one, we have the NCAA basketball champs happening soon, and Greg our groomsmen is in space, literally. In ANC, we got a beautiful dusting of snow but it's pretty clear that the days for skiing are numbered.

Also, my "little" brother Will(ie) has a birthday today! Happy Birthday Will!

More Pics!

Kira says have you looked at the new pictures yet?

Kira and I are having fun feeding, changing diapers, taking photos and playing with all the fun gizmos we now have in the house while Dad is at work. I am amazed at how much time it takes to take care of such a little thing, even if Kira is a very good baby. Between the two-hours start-start feedings and the diaper changes, everything just takes so much time. To add to the challenge, I am mentally impaired -- whether it's sleep deprivation or just post-partum baby dementia, I am not sure. All I know is that to concentrate or remember anything for more than two minutes is just not happening like it used to.

As for Kira, she is fantastic. In the last few days she has learned to spit bubbles out of her mouth, pee and poop specifically during a diaper change, and grab hair. She is wearing out with the rainforest excerciser -- she babbles to it and waves her arms and feet at it. She's not sure about the bouncer and the bumbo chair yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time.

Happy Friday!

More Pictures here...

7 days!

Can you believe that Kira Marie is 7 days old today? I can't. It's amazing how fast she is changing. She spends more and more time awake and alert, and we're slowly getting to know her better.

Some things today about Kira -- yesterday, she started taking interest in stuffed animals. She can track them with her eyes (they still cross), but she now will stare at them for a while and wave her uncoordinated hands at them. She still likes to have her hands up around her face (like the picture) and have her feet crossed, but she's slowly learning to stretch out her legs more often. When she's alert, she likes to mimic our faces and is very interested in her mommy's hair. She is also very warm-blooded (maybe due to all of those ski sessions?) and is unable to keep socks on her feet. She likes to sleep all early evening, which is great for going to dinner, but awful for staying asleep at night.

Sorry everyone for the awfully late responses to emails and well-wishes -- I cannot believe how fast time seemse to fly at the moment! Anyways, more pictures here.

Kira Update!

I thought I'd give a quick update on Kira's first few days. She is wonderful as you can expect. I'm amazed at how much work a little baby can be -- between feedings, diaper changes, and sleep deprivation, it's astonishing how fast time flies!

We call Kira "squeak" now...she does little bird noises and squeaks a lot when she's uncomfortable. She also talks in her sleep sometimes, which is cute.

Pictures are updated...sorry for a lack of pictures, but half of the pics I need to fix on photoshop (sleep deprivation again) and I haven't had the time yet.

Thanks for all the well wishes,
Lori

Leap Year Surprise

 

Kira Marie was born on February 29th at 2:51 pm. She was 7lb, 6oz, and 19.6 inches long. Baby, Mom, Dad and Grandma are all at home enjoying our new little bundle :)

I'll list pictures here as I can...
Pictures Updated!

Running of the Reindeer!

Sunday was the first ever Fur Rondy Running of the Reindeer! Enjoy via the wonders of youtube:

Triage!

It was such a beautiful day today! The sun was out, the temp was a tropical 32, and the snow was sure to be fast fast.

In fact, the weather inspired this 37.5 week pregnant woman to waddle with sticks on her feet (i.e. ski). After going to a fantastic lunch at Kinleys (where the eggs benedict special was great and the desserts were even better), Frank and I took to the trails. We decided to do the first half of Besh together, then Frank would do hillside while I finished up Besh. For me, everything was pretty smooth, and I enjoyed taking my time enjoying being outside.

When I finished, Frank wasn't back yet, so I decided to take Puppy on his usual walk. During that walk, I noticed that it was a little slippery, so I was taking really small steps. At one point in the walk, I called for Galileo to turn around and the next moment I was in the air flying backwards, like I'd slipped on a banana peel. My head hit the ground hard enough that it bounced. Galileo stared at me as I curled up into a little ball and swore a few times while I took stock.

I was OK, other than my head and pride :) I got up and walked back to the car to meet Frank and explained what happened.

Now when you are pregnant, there are different rules than normal. Normally, I would have waited out to make sure my head was OK, but of course with Chikin it's most important to make sure she is OK.

Which is how Frank and I wound up in OB Triage on Doctor's orders this afternoon.

Triage was actually very nice. They checked me in (all my stuff is already preregistered) and got chikin hooked up to fancy monitors. They asked a bunch of questions, which is good because I think some of them I won't have to answer again since they are now in my chart. They also asked me a bunch of questions, I think, to make sure I didn't have a concussion. It was kind of fun to listen to Chikin trying to kick off those monitors too - I do not think she is very fond of them. After about an hour of that (and of watching college basketball), we got an ultrasound. Kira is still sitting in a good amount of fluid, with her hands right around her eyes. After that, it was back on the monitors for a little bit and then the doctor discharged us all.

All in all, it was a good experience, except for the massive headache that I will have for a while. Chikin is doing fantastically and so is my uterus. Frank and I now know how to get to the maternity ward and are all prepared for what triage is like. Oh, and I should be careful and not fall again :)

Monopoly: World Edition needs an Anchorage

Anchorage apparently has a real chance to be the Baltic Avenue of the new World edition of Monopoly! Help us out by voting today!

Sunday is Baking Day!

For this week, I made Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake with Buttermilk Frosting. A little disfigured due to an unfortunate bundt pan to plate transition, but otherwise pretty successful (and a lot easier than banana layer cake). I haven't tasted it yet, but it smells good. Apparently it will be best three days from now, but I suspect it will not last that long :)

Alaska News

From ADN today:
Iron Dog: Our Governor's husband Todd Palin is the returning Iron Dog champion. I guess he took a pretty nasty spill in the race yesterday, but he is OK.
Moose News: Buzzwinkle, the aptly-named moose who during the Christmas season got stuck in town square's lights after eating too many crab apples, was seen with a big bruise on his leg. They think he was hit by a car, but he will be OK.
Ski Time!: It is a very exciting few weeks for skiing up here. The high school conference nordic ski championships are this weekend! Who will get the coveted title of "skimeister" this year? We also have coming up the Tour of Anchorage on Mar 2, which is the second largest ski event in the US, and the Junior Olympic Cross Country Ski Championships on Mar 9-15.

In personal news, you can see we have a projected 26 days to go until showtime! At this point, I'm pretty tired of being pregnant, so am looking more forward to getting on with the whole thing. Kira, as well, seems quite restless. She doesn't seem to like it when I set things on my belly (I mean, what's the use of having a belly if you can't use it as a shelf sometimes?) -- she kicks off magazines and tivo remotes.

Anchorage is just beautiful at the moment. The sunset last night was spectacular. I think if the snow lets up (we've got maybe five inches of snow on the ground, and another inch or so being dumped at a moment), I just might try to go ski again. It's horribly cruel that when it's the hardest to ski for me Anchorage decides to have warmer temperatures (mid teens, lower 20s) and lovely fluffy snowfall.

Some people...

...have a little more time on their hands than others.

Rondy Time!

Late Feb/Early March in AK where the additional sun, the slightly warmer weather, and the snow all combine to make people just a little bit lightheaded and ready to have a little fun.

Of course it's the perfect time for the Fur Rondy! It's a lot of fun, with lots of strange events, like the outhouse races, the first ever running of the reindeer, snow sculptures, world championship dog sled races, a foot race and a parade. It's just a lot of fun, and a good excuse to get outside and do something wacky.

Look, there's even funny ads this year.

Of course, it's also time for the Iditarod to start. Despite being pregnant, I am still itching to get out on March 1 to see the ceremonial start. It's such an event, and just in general impressive.

Now of course, there is a downside to Fur Rondy, and that is that during or soon after these festivals are over, we all hold our breath for breakup, and then the drying up of the icky post-breakup mud and trash left over from months under snow. This is when people get cranky and irritable. It doesn't especially subside until the last traces of ice and snow fade. Suddenly, usually in June, the town goes into tourist mode -- the pickup crews, the sand people, the empty princess buses that slowly turn into full princess buses.

Oh and the joy of the tourist season. We enjoy watching giddy people in oversized colorful parkas with ALASKA written on it wandering around downtown looking for moose and bear. They will fill the local tourist restaurants we enjoy in the off season and now will avoid during the summer. They will walk into our grocery stores shouting "MARGE, LOOK AT HOW EXPENSIVE THESE TOMATOES ARE!". Some of them, I'm sure, will be out late basking in the midnight sun. And sometimes, they will watch us, trying to determine if we are "Real Alaskans".

But I'm happy that these people come -- they are here because it's a once in a lifetime adventure. Seeing AK through other people's eyes makes you realize how incredibly lucky you are to be living in someone's vacation.

Sunday is Baking Day!

Baking a three layer banana cake with cream cheese frosting? Not trivial.
Baking a three layer banana cake with cream cheese frosting while pregnant and attempting to get the frosting to stick to the sides? Next to impossible.

This is actually my first attempt at a layered cake. I've made angel food cake before, and sheet cakes, but never an actual layered cake. After one attempt, I decided just to lump all the extra icing on top and not mess with the sides.

32 days!

Is a month a long time? To me it's a little fast. That's 30 days of inturrupted sleep to savor, but I also have, if I'm lucky, 8 more mornings of being able to sleep in without an alarm clock. Kinda scary.

So how's the pregnancy going?
On the other hand, I am looking forward to quite a few things. Like being able to eat like a normal person -- currently I keep dropping food onto my belly, which is gross. I would also like to be able to wear clothes in my closet again, now that I have to wear a lot of Frank's clothes (my shirts tend to pop out, exposing my lower belly to the elements--not good). I'm also looking forward to wearing socks again -- which I have banned except for skiing. It would also be very nice to be able to pick up things off the floor in a non-comical way.

One of the things I miss the most is being able to taste things "right", or the way they used to taste. Everything has tasted completely different for about eight months, and not in a good way.

On the positive side...
Hey Anchorage Museum has a pretty awesome exhibit starting up, all about native Alaskan technology. To survive out there in the frozen north, certainly one has to be clever.

I also caught Clinically Wild: Alaska last night -- the show Galileo is supposed to be on. All the action takes place within miles of our house. As usual, it's very weird to realize that others think that Anchorage is this weird place with weird outdoorsy people, moose, guns, and dogs. So far, no Galileo sightings, but there was a pretty fantastic set of scenes where the vets got to pull porcupine quills out of two dogs.

Hope you had a good weekend!

Galileo's TV Debut

Don't miss Galileo's TV Debut in Clinically Wild, an Animal Planet series which was shot down the street at the PET Emergency Center in Anchorage

Now, I don't know how they are using him, but we had to sign a waiver form, so we'll all just have to wait and see :)

Super Tuesday in AK

For a hoot, I looked up how to vote here in AK in the upcoming Super Tuesday ruckus. Because our state is SO BIG, voting kind of becomes an issue.

The democratic party (let's face it, it's small) has a caucus on Super Tuesday. In order to be a part of the fun if you reside in Anchorage/Eagle River, you have to get to Begich Middle school, which is way over on the other side of town, during rush hour. Of course, I am complaining about a small thing. Imagine you want to be involved, and you live in one of the interior villages, a HUGE area? You have a choice of Ft. Yukon or Nenana.

The republicans hold a "preference vote", and you have to drive downtown to the Egan Center, unless you live in district 21, which is meeting in the How How restaurant.

UPDATED: More information on Tuesday in AK here.

Does the world really need a biopic on...

...Falco??????

In other news, it's a beautiful, sunny, and rather cold day here in the good land. Skiing is plentiful but the cold really makes ski waxing tricky. I waxed all of our skis with special green as a base, and with blue as a top layer (after struggling with special green and having a minor pregnancy-induced hissy fit, it was just better this way).

I am slowly counting down the days to delivery, and have just started thinking about how nice it will be to be able to run. At the same time, Kira gets stronger and stronger everyday, and so do her kicks. I think we are all ready to get this whole delivery thing over with.

Speaking of delivery and labor, childbirth class has been a lot of fun. Not only do we get to meet a lot of new people in our same boat, but also we get to watch the "real baby story" -- real people in graphic detail going through labor. Once again, all data points suggest that there is pain involved, and drugs are starting to look mighty good. I keep reminding myself that, despite the societal pressures surrounding pregnancy and birth, that delivery is not a competition, and there is probably not a gold medal involved.

The other funny part of childbirth class is the practicing of labor positions and what the partner can do to help. Since many of the positions involve hanging on your partner or the partner bending over to massage you, Frank's back started aching. We decided he may also need some drugs to get through labor :).

What else can I say? We've got a jam-packed weekend coming up...a UAA hockey game, concert tickets, and the super bowl of course on Sunday. I would say the Ski for Women (the world's largest women-only XC event) is also on Sunday, but I think maybe this is a good year to skip since it's kind of like a roller derby on skis.

Have a good weekend!

Random Notes

How cool to live in a place that you actually get to see on TV every once in a while :)

Yesterday we had a temperature inversion, meaning that the warmest weather was actually on the hillside, melting our snow, and the cold air wound up down near the water. It's pretty scary for us skiers because if it continues to be warm and rainy, we will either lose all of our good base of ski snow or everything will icy (icy trails != good skiing for the pregnant).

Otherwise, we're just enjoying a lazy non-working day. The US needs more holidays. Shouldn't we have more three day weekends? And shouldn't we have a holiday once every month?

It must be the salt...

During my cold, Galileo has developed a taste for used kleenexes. He especially likes the snotty ones. Luckily, he's afraid of the bathroom so I can put them in the wastebasket.

In other news, once again (suprise) the sun is coming up. The sky is a beautiful peachy/pink color, and the clouds usually mean that it should be a relatively warm (20-ish) day today. Good skiing weather!

We did go ski yesterday -- Frank is so nice, he patiently let me lead now that I'm pretty pregnant, just in case I fall and can't get back up. I'm still pretty good at looking ahead and am enjoying the little boost of speed I have on the downhills with the added weight.

Anyways, hope your weekend is awesome!

No rest for the weary

There I am, done with work for the day, sick with a fever and a cold, when Galileo greets me at the screen door. I had left him outside for maybe 20 minutes, and in that time, he had decided to dig down underneath the porch and get lovely muddy dark dirt under his feet.

My choices were pretty slim. Since I couldn't leave him outside in the balmy .1F to be a puppy-sicle, he had to come inside, but the carpet inside is a beautiful cream color made to show the black dirt. Usually I can get him to sit on his pad (really an old papasan cover), but to make it over to the bathroom is really difficult without getting some carpet mess that has to be cleaned up.

So, pregnant and tired, I picked up our 50lb austrailian shepherd and attempted to get him to the bathroom about 10 feet away. After an accidental dropping on the bathroom floor (which flung ice-mud across the linoleum--nice), we made it to the bathtub for the third paw-cleaning in two weeks.

Puppy was traumatized; I was traumatized. Pregnant or not pregnant, sick or not sick, something had to be done! I went out to the garage to grab a snow shovel and started shoveling snow under the porch to try to keep Galileo out next time. We'll see if it works.

In other news, I'm sick, but have discovered Tylenol is not only for reducing pain after a particularly brutal marathon training session, but it also reduces fevers really well. I'd always seen it on the box, but never tried it really until today.

And ear thermometers? Easy to play with, very very hard to get a correct reading off of of. Maybe this is because I am a hothead.

Also, I watched the Price is Right while waiting for my fever to come down. I'm not sure what I am more disturbed about -- the insanely high prices on the show (600 bucks for two mp3 players?), the very odd selection of prizes (water trike or a grandfather clock!), or the contestants that seem way, way to eager to be on the show. Either way, I think it may have contributed to my fever reduction by reducing the number of brain cells firing in my head.

P.S. for those of you wondering about baby Kira -- she doesn't seem to be traumatized at all by me being sick and is in fact entirely unsympathetic. She has taken this opportunity to perfect her kung fu inside my belly, and likes to give me an extra kick to the kidney when I cough or sneeze.

Starting off the year right...

Long time, no blog :)

The Northtoak clan just got back from a fantastic family holiday tour of the midwest. Although it was incredibly wonderful to see family and friends, I am just now recovering from the travel and excitement. Something about being seven and a half months pregnant makes me quite a bit less able to bounce back from travel.

However, with a 12 hour nap under my belt (not kidding), I'm feeling a bit more spry, so Frank and I took to the ski trails this afternoon. With three inches of hours-old snow, the skiing was a bit sluggish, but the scenery was beautiful. When we started, the sky was peachy-pink, and it was stunning against the snowy trees and the orange lights. There were no moose today, but the ski trails were showered by the shouts of encouragement from the local high school ski team, who were doing relay drills along the gasline trail.

All in all, it was a great first ski outing in a long while. Although I miss my family and friends already, it also feels really good to be home.

Update on comments: I *think* I fixed the comments for everyone who warned me they were not working. Please feel free to use it :)

Kikkan Wins!

Kikkan Randall, our Alaskan World Cup XC skier, won a world cup race! That is awesome!

Ho, Ho, Ho, Happy Monday

Hey, Anne filled this out today and in the spirit of "Happy Monday" I'll do it as well...
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hmm I don't think I've ever had Egg Nog. Any drink with "Egg" in it is unappealing to me.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa wisely leverages his E2E supply chain capabilities and right-sources the wrapping deliverables to elves so that he can concentrate on his core competencies.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I like white, but since we always travel for Christmas it's been a few years since we put it up. Maybe next year :)
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up? We usually travel, so we haven't put them up for a few years now. If I did put decorations up, I think I would start about the first weekend of December. In Anchorage, it's not unusual for Christmas lights to be up in October since it's already beginning to look a lot like Christmas (snowy and dark) by then.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Hmm. Christmas Pizza? Cookies?
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Putting up the "Ugly ornaments" on the Christmas tree. Mom always would avoid the sixties macrame ornaments that were actually very pretty, but we loved them and always put them in a place of prominence.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I think I figured it out eventually...what I really remember is Mom explaining Santa as "the spirit of Christmas" and thinking, well that makes a lot more sense.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No
10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Frank came into our marriage equipped with a fantastic hallmark christmas tree assortment. I came to our marriage with a small box of handmade ornaments (like glued construction paper scribbles). Both have their positives and negatives.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? In Alaska, I love the snow. Studded tires and skiing make it more fun. In the midwest, I don't like the snow because that means slippery roads, bad snowplowing and no studs.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes! Although now I'm not sure I could get back up if I fell at the moment.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Aren't they all great?
14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family is probably the most important thing.
15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Cookies.
16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition? Almost every year when I was a kid, we travelled for the holidays. Christmas at our house was frequently rescheduled until we got back. In order to get the presents under the tree, my parents devised a scheme to "forget" something at the store, which someone (including us kids) would have to go get. When we got back, the presents would be under the tree, like magic! And we got to eat frozen pizza while chanting "Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho, Ho Christmas Pizza!".
17. What tops your tree? I *think* Frank has an Angel.
18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving? Giving. Now really, is that a question? Who wouldn't say Giving?
19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Angels we have heard on high, because of the Egg-Shell-Sees-Day-O part.
20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum, but in moderation and bad on the veneers.
21. What do you want for Christmas? Oh, I've already sent my list off to Santa :) Seriously pregnancy mind lock makes it hard to think of a list without thinking of all the stuff we need for Kira.
22. Favorite Christmas movie? Scrooged, probably.
23. Ever been caroling? Yes.
24. How many days are you off for the holidays? Lots.
25. Traveling for Christmas this year? Yep, a midwest tour.

Sunrise thoughts

I woke up in a field of pink today. The "morning show" was just getting started and the sky was warming up to a pretty hot pink color. While I was getting breakfast, the color moved from hot pink, to peach, to a pale ice pink color, and finally to white. It's pretty breathtaking and always worth a look.

In the winter, if left to my own devices, I will sleep until the sun gets up. I hear of people having natural internal clocks that get themselves up at 6am every day, but that's something that I don't have. I had to get up at 5am on Friday for work, and the only positive I could see about it was watching a moose eat my neighbor's tree. If I do the math, I have maybe 28 potential sleep in days before Kira's ETA.

So I'm enjoying the sunrises and sunsets while I can :) On the positive side, I only have to wait about five more hours until the "evening show" starts.

Moose on a Bender

Bullwinkle the moose is a little too much into the holiday spirits.

Thankful

Hi Everyone --

Hope y'all are having a great Thanksgiving day! In the spirit of the day, I thought I'd list some things I am thankful for (and these are in no particular order):
1) Real Teeth: Last year during the holiday season, I had four fake front teeth. Every time I ate something (like fudge) I had to worry about breaking them apart.
2) The Great Alaskan Shootout: We saw the UAA women's team win another Shootout, in two nail-biting matches. Our seats are on the floor right next to the benches, so we get to see everything. On the men's side, we got to watch Michigan (more coaches than players) lose to Butler (who has a really good guy with a very small head), Virginia Tech (really good guy with unbelievably skinny legs) win againts Eastern Washington (smallest Coach in the tournament). Up today is UAA vs. "Bobby Tech", and Gonzaga vs. WKU. Should be a good day :)
3) Happy Pregnancy: On a more serious note, a relatively uncomplicated pregnancy. Not only is Kira doing great (and has now graduated from kicking my kidneys to my ribs, thanks kid!), but I've only had minor gripes about the whole process.
4) Friends and Family: A cliche, sure, but the love and support I've received this year has been tremendous. I'm really thankful to be lucky enough to have such wonderful people around me, even those that are far away physically.
5) Recovery: Galileo, our TV star in residence, wants you to know he is very thankful to have his stitches taken out on Monday. He also likes his new stuffed rhino toy and his spider.
6) Repairs: We had a garbage disposal that could not grind up apple skin. Frank replaced the garbage disposal to a new, fantastically quiet and powerful, one. Way to go Frank!!!!!!
7) Future Snow: We did have really beautiful ski snow, but a chinook came in and melted most of it, which messes everything up. Alyeska got all of our snow -- 45 inches -- and is actually closed until they can figure out what to do with it. Suddenly, however, this is our first Thanksgiving weekend up here where we can't go skiing. So I'm going to just give thanks to the future snow, because it may be late, but snow is inevitable.

I'm sure there are a lot more, but those are the ones I can think of at the moment :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Frank and Lori vs. Baby Bjorn

How hard is it to adjust a Baby Bjorn? Plenty hard. We figured it out though :) Here's Frank practicing with a bag of sugar.

Muppet Monday!

Doesn't everyone need some silly happy fun on a Monday?

Kira/Galileo Update

Kira: A personal update on Kira. She now has enough amniotic fluid to bounce around in, has a gall bladder, and weighs 12oz. At this point, we speculate that she has a larger than normal nose (a "Bohannon" nose potentially) and that she has rather long toes and legs. When I was at the ultrasound, she was hiccupping, which is a good sign because that means she is using her diaphragm.

To the side is a rather creepy widget that shows you how Kira is doing and how long I have to go :). If you click on it, you can actually see what she should be working on this week.

Galileo: Galileo is doing well and is back to wagging his rear enthusiastically. He is finally off his pain medication so he is a little less groggy. The back scratches are healing, and of course he's starting to pick at them a bit. The gashes are sealing up fine, and luckily so far he has not thought of pulling the stitches out. Stitches come out in a week and a half, so if he starts pulling them out, we will have to put him in the elizabethan collar that he really, really, hates.

Popular Pachyderm

Maggie's fans are overloading the elephant webcam in California!

Bad day for Galileo

Galileo got out of the back of the car, walked about five feet, then stared into space for two minutes.

It's probably the anesthesia. He had stitches put into his arm and groin this morning, and his back is shaved. He actually looks pretty normal except for his arm and back, which look pretty icky.

It started with a few nicks during a grooming session last night, but Galileo also kept picking at the wounds, making things worse. We took him into the PET center (Pet ER) this morning, and by 1 they had fixed him up.

In "good" news, they are filming a reality TV show for the Animal Planet in the ER, so it's possible that our little Galileo will make it onto TV. Frank also won an Ipod at the Grocery store, so that is all good.

Anyways, send good vibes to Galileo for a good healing, and I'll take some pictures once he's done sleeping off the drugs.

Darwin Strikes Again

Frank's talk is today on Evolutionary computation!

Bye Maggie! UPDATE

So Maggie the Elephant is on her way to California to live in an animal sanctuary, thanks to Bob Barker. This news is a culmination of a difficult struggle in Anchorage over the welfare of the elephant living in Alaska.

We saw Maggie last weekend at her goodbye party. Our little zoo was packed by children and parents braving the cold to see Maggie for the last time in her elephant house. The zoo has, I think, done everything they could to give Maggie a warm and healthy environment, and so it's sad for everyone involved.

The journey for Maggie includes a big crate in a huge air force plane, a 16 hour transfer from Air Force bases, and a rush to get Maggie to the sanctuary before traffic hits tomorrow. I wish her well in her new life and hope that California takes care of Alaska's favorite elephant.

UPDATE:
Maggie is doing fine in her new home -- here's a webcam where you can see for yourself. She is in the near pen.

It's a girl

So everyone, Chikin is definitely a girl! Those of you who guessed right can now lord it over all of those who guessed wrong :)

The amniotic fluid issue is improving, and Chikin/Kira is doing just fine. My AFI was 9 which is just on the edge of acceptable, as opposed to 7, which was most definitely not. It's likely I still will not be able to do anything but sit around the house and drink insane amounts of water until it improves, which sucks.

In other news, it's my birthday! I share my birthday with many interesting people, like Anne, Kevin Kline, Scot Peterson, and Levi Leipheimer. It's also Pear day in France, and the first snow day of the year up here in AK.

Crazy!

Here's an optical illusion that has been making its' rounds, and if you read the solution it's pretty insane our eyes work in that way.

In "Pregnant" news, the doctor says I can't go to pre-natal yoga today or any day until I get an ultrasound to see if my ogliohydromnios thing has been alleviated or not. I know I should not be self-centered and should be patient, but man, am I disappointed. Not doing anything strenuous for a week is turning me into a jigglypuff.

Contest Extension!

So everyone --

I've got great news and not so good news.

The good news is twofold:
-- Chikin is totally fine, has all of the parts that a fetus should have, including a bladder, kidneys, brain and heart. Chikin moves, waves hands, jaws, feet, etc.
The bad news is also twofold:
-- I'm sick so the amount of fluid in the womb was "abnormal".
-- Chikin was sitting on his/her feet with his/her hand over his/her parts. So, we couldn't tell if Chikin is a he or a she.
Back to the good news:
The contest below for chikin gender determination has been extended! Feel free to up the ante by putting your choice in the comments -- the reward will be the ability to say "I told you so" to all of my friends and family :)

Chicken Gender throwdown

Hi Everyone --

On Tuesday, we will find out chicken's gender to 85% accuracy. While we are waiting, we might as well run a poll, so here it is:

Reality Bites: Meerkat Manor

Frank and I watch Meerkat Manor on the Discovery Channel. It's a show that follows the lives of meerkats in the Kalahari desert. Despite your stance on anthropomorphism, strangely the meerkats provide one of the most compelling hours of television around, if you can get around Discovery channel's signature "post-commercial recap" tendencies.

So, one of the most beloved meerkats, Flower, died in the Sept 28 show. For meerkat fans, this was very traumatic. Some people have questioned why the scientists did not "save" Flower when it was clear she was dying. Personally, unlike most reality TV, I'm thrilled that the filmmakers actually felt an obligation to not intervene, in order to let nature take it's course. To see this on a show geared for kids is a brave move -- maybe the "grown up" shows will take a hint?

ETA: Of course, I'm not suggesting that, for example, Survivor let contestants die! However, we all know that producers are influencing results to make for good television.

Things I won't be wearing for Halloween

Umm, No.

Here are some other Suggestions.

Sunsets and Snow

As Fall finally draws to a close, Anchorage starts to get spectacular sunrises, like this one:
Once the skies turn pink, it's only a matter of time before the inevitable happens:

October 7, 2007 -- first snowing morning on Anchorage Hillside.