It's A Dry Heat...But So Is A Bonfire

Santa!

2010-11-12T16:59:00.001-07:00

We had an impromptu visit with Santa today. Isn't this cute?

Follow the Yellowbrick Road...

2010-11-12T16:36:00.005-07:00

Alex and Josh dressed up as Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz this year. Alex was uber excited. She loves the movie, she loves Dorothy, and she loves loves LOVES her red sparkle shoes!

Josh, on the other hand, wasn't in love with the idea of wearing a lionmane on his head but he perked up when we started trick-or-treating.

And he REALLY perked up when he secretly stole a chocolate bar out of his trick-or-treating bag and stuffed it in his mouth when Mommy wasn't looking. He's got more of an "oh, crap, you caught me!" look on his face in this picture, though!

There were several great memorable moments that evening. Meeting the crazy lady down the street who hands out soda instead of candy because soda supposedly won't go to your thighs like candy does was quite memorable.

I have to say, though, that my absolute favorite moment was when Alex thanked our neighbor for the candy and then yelled at him "You're stinky! Go take a shower!"

They Still Call Me Trouble....

2010-10-18T14:00:00.004-07:00

Guess What We Just Got Installed!

2010-10-14T17:54:00.002-07:00

Now let's put some of that Arizona sunshine to good use!

The Love of a Sister...

2010-10-09T18:54:00.003-07:00

I don't know which picture is better...

This:

or this:

Any opinions?

Hugs

2010-09-09T09:20:00.008-07:00

Remember the hugs Alex used to give Josh when he was really little?

Like this:

Well, she still gives them. And now he likes them!

Alex's New BIIIIIIIIIIIIIG Big Girl Room!

2010-08-23T09:36:00.007-07:00

We recently decided that it was time to upgrade Alex's bed to a full-size mattress, which prompted us to also decide to switch her room with the bigger room. Sadly, dear future visitors, that means the Desert Beachside B&B has downgraded to a smaller, more quaint location.

The positive side of this whole move is that Alex is very happy with her new biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig big girl room (her emphasis, not mine!) and the new guestroom is conveniently closer to the bathroom...which is great for those of you who can't see in the dark and make it a habit to run into walls on your middle of the night potty breaks.

Last night was Alex's first night in her big girl bed. You can see her if you look carefully in this picture! She looks so tiny in that big bed.

Anyone feel like helping us remodel the new guestroom???

Josh Turns One

2010-08-18T13:05:00.018-07:00

Well, it's official...we are now the parents of TWO toddlers! Josh turned one on July 31st while we were vacationing with Nana and Papa at their home in Idaho. Our little man celebrated by smashing a rocketcake designed by his Mama and decorated by his exceptional Dada. I had no idea Scott was so talented with icing!

Scott also added his own little flare to the cupcakes...

Josh demolished his cake after a jolly good rendition of "Happy Birthday to You"...ok, maybe it wasn't jolly good but at least we didn't make Josh cry with our terrible singing!

First taste....

The cake didn't have a chance!

This month has been a very eventful one for our family. Josh started walking, Josh turned one, we spent two fun-filled weeks in Idaho, I turned 30 (aaaaaaah!), Alex started a couple of classes at our community center, and she will soon be getting a really big big-girl bed in her new bedroom (pictures soon, I promise!)... I need to find the pause button, because this is all going to fast for me!

Hap-Bird-Day Ba-Yoons!

2010-07-19T19:15:00.007-07:00

Look at what we got today!

In Alex's words, "Oh, look! It's Hap-Bird-Day Ba-Yoons! Ohmagoooodness!" The English translation of that is "Look, Mommy! You and Joshy got Happy Birthday balloons from Granny! That's so cool! This is the best day EVER!"

And Joshy agrees. This IS the best day ever!

Look Who's Walking!

2010-07-09T22:47:00.002-07:00

Click below for the HD Version:
Look Who's Walking! from Scott and Melissa on Vimeo.

Yay, Joshy!

2010-07-09T18:03:00.006-07:00

Well, I think our crawling days are numbered. Josh is now standing and taking occasional steps (and clapping for himself every time he does it!). He took his first steps two days ago and now he's practicing as much as he can. Too bad he won't let me get video of it! Maybe that'll be my goal this weekend. In the meantime, this picture will have to suffice!

RetroRocket

2010-07-06T15:55:00.007-07:00

Look at what my little man got in the mail from Granny and Grandpa today! I know it's not his birthday yet, but I couldn't resist putting it together and letting him play.

I bet you can almost hear the squeals of joy just by looking at his chubby little face.

It's great for riding and for pushing around the house!

I think Joshy likes his new toy. What do you think?

They Call Me Trouble....

2010-07-05T12:26:00.004-07:00

and this is why!

Mostly Harmless....

2010-05-12T14:19:00.006-07:00

Now that Josh is crawling, pulling himself up to standing, and cruising (yes, he started cruising yesterday! aaaaaaaaaaaaah!), he's also getting into everything imaginable.

I thoroughly enjoy this age. I mean, I like all the other stages of infancy (duh), but there's nothing like a giggle from a baby causing trouble. It makes me giddy to see him having so much fun exploring the world!

He discovered the tupperware cabinet. Lots of fun plastic thingies to throw around and wooden spoons to chew on...

Perilously holding on to the playhouse and making it play music over and over and over and over and over again....

Josh thinks the flashy lights and the little fan whirring in the computer are awesome! Good thing we tied down all of those cords....

Nom nom noms....

Josh loves to climb on top of this baby chair, hold on with one hand, and bounce up and down. He does this all by himself! Crazy little man. And for some reason, he reminds me of a cowboy when he does this. I can just hear him saying "giddyup, chair!"

I wonder what he'll discover next!

Mommy's Day on the Farm

2010-05-10T09:43:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was a very special Mother's Day for me. It was the first one as a Mommy of two children. And it was a blast! Scott let me sleep in (a rarity in this household!) and then he and the kids brought me breakfast in bed. Alex kindly helped me eat the breakfast and then we all got dressed for a fun afternoon at Superstition Farm.

This was a great way to spend Mother's Day. Both kids had a great time. Alex got to feed a horse and some goats and pet bunnies, baby cows, a donkey, and a sheep. She even held a chicken!

Then we ate ice cream made with milk from the farm's cows and made it home in time to put both kids down for a nap. It was a good day!

Joshua

2010-04-22T15:33:00.002-07:00

Alexandra

2010-04-22T15:23:00.003-07:00

What A Mess!

2010-04-22T15:15:00.001-07:00

New Videos!

2010-04-18T15:10:00.002-07:00

We've got more videos to share of the kids... these are all off the Christmas DVD "Tot Story" (can you guess the theme?). We'll be uploading more soon. Click the photos below or navigate over to our Video page to see the movies. Enjoy!

My New Favorite Picture...

2010-04-05T20:22:00.002-07:00

Isn't he adorable?!?

Hoppy Easter!

2010-04-05T13:53:00.010-07:00

(Bad pun, I know. I couldn't help it!)

This year's Easter was quiet and spent mostly at home. We originally had a lot more plans for Easter, but they fell through mostly due to Alex's cold...and then Mommy's cold and Daddy's cold. Either way, it was a good Easter and I think Alex and Josh had fun. Papa and Nana were visiting, so they also got to join in on the fun this year.

First we played approximately 17 rounds of "dunk the egg in the dye and watch Daddy pull it out again." It was a fun game!

And then Scott and Alex decorated the thoroughly dyed eggs with stickers.

Here was the end-product:

Alex and Josh both got overflowing Easter baskets on Sunday morning. Later in the afternoon, Papa and Nana hid some plastic eggs in the backyard for Alex to find. It was hard to snap pictures because she was so quick! (Notice the blurry hands in the photos.)

Josh played in the grass while Alex hunted for eggs. He is the cutest little Easter Bunny you'll ever see!

Food!

2010-03-30T09:21:00.002-07:00

Why do I feel like my son is ALWAYS eating???

Cuddle Time

2010-03-30T09:02:00.004-07:00

Josh had a long day last Friday. He wasn't feeling good, so he was tired and irritable. By the end of the day, all he wanted was some cuddles.

That worked out great until Alex noticed it was cuddle time!

She couldn't resist joining in on the fun.

Offroading for Toddlers

2010-03-14T20:18:00.002-07:00

That's my girl! I knew she'd eventually want to rock crawl with her ATV!

Pudding Paints

2010-03-11T13:11:00.010-07:00

I decided to try out a fun little activity with the kids today - Pudding Paints! I thought, what's not to love about this? It's pudding, so it's yummy. And it's painting, so it's fun! Not to mention that it's also messy, so that's an added bonus.

Alex seemed to think it was a great idea.

I know Josh is probably a little young for fingerpainting, but I thought he might have fun with it, too. I only put a little bit of the paint on a plate for him. He loved it.

I mean, he loved the plate!

In all fairness, he did get a LITTLE bit of pudding onto the paper...before he ate the paper, too!

Peanut was gracious enough to do the cleanup for me.

Stuck!!!!

2010-03-10T09:33:00.006-07:00

A while back, I had left the playroom for a few minutes for whatever reason that I can't remember now. (Why do these things happen every time I leave the room?) Not long after leaving, I heard a blood curdling scream followed by "STUCK! STUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! STUCK!!!" Of course, I thought something terrible had happened. I abruptly stopped whatever I was doing and raced back to the playroom to rescue my screaming toddler....from the baby's bouncer?!?

I couldn't stop myself from snapping a few pictures of this even though Alex was whimpering for help. I know, bad Mommy! But it was funny!

Gimme that!

2010-03-10T09:24:00.005-07:00

Josh is showing a lot more interest in the camera these days. It's getting harder to get a good picture of him!

TAKE 1

TAKE 2

TAKE 3

TAKE 4

Herb Garden Rework

2010-03-04T09:27:00.016-07:00

The days are starting to warm up in Arizona. Actually, they never got really cold, but that's beside the point. The days are starting to warm up from our slight dip in temperature. Winter (if you can call it that) is over. So, our little family has been spending more time outside in our backyard. Since we (and by saying "we", I really mean "Scott") get twitchy if we sit around too long without a project, we've decided to take on some backyard beautification projects.

First on the list was the herb garden. The garden had become a haphazard gathering of whimpy herbs. We felt like it needed more structure and we wanted more of an overgrown look to it. We also wanted to pack in a lot more herbs, especially ones that are known to grow quickly and basically take over a garden, because our little girl loves to spend her afternoons picking the leaves off of herbs and eating them. We want to encourage her to play in the garden (maybe she'll be Mommy's little garden helper someday?), so we added her own little mint patch. Scott also decided to add some more boulders, flowers, and other structured rock garden spots to the gravel areas around the herb garden.

This is what the herb garden used to look like. It's basically just a patch of dirt. Boring, yet functional. (Don't ask why there are tiki torches burning in this picture...I still don't know the answer to that!)

This is what it looks like now. There's a cute little path down the middle, which makes it easier to reach the herbs at the back.

And we added an Alyssum border.

Here's Alex's mint patch. I think there's spearmint, apple mint, chocolate mint...and a couple of others...Yum!

Alex tried a bite of Oregano. I think she was a little surprised that it didn't taste like mint!

There are a few other outdoor projects that we might tackle before this summer. The BBQ island is one project that we've been meaning to do for years. Maybe we'll add a rock path from the backyard gate to the sidewalk in front of our house. Scott also wants to rip out the shrubs by our front door (Noooooooooooooo! I like those shrubs!!!) and also redo the gravel in the front yard. The wishlist is never ending....

Some Kids Hate Peas

2010-02-27T18:24:00.002-07:00

Peekaboo!

2010-02-26T15:46:00.009-07:00

Alex and Josh played peekaboo with their playhouse this morning. I think it was one of the cutest things I've ever seen them do!

"Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby Joshieeeeeeeeeeee! Look! Baby Joshieeee!"

"BOO!"

And playtime ended with cuddles. I'm not sure what Josh thinks of the cuddles, though....

All Fours!

2010-02-18T18:03:00.002-07:00

Well, it looks like Josh is going to crawl soon! He's been able to get up on all fours for the past week and can now stay up and rock back and forth for a couple of minutes. I bet he'll be on the move within the next couple of weeks!

And if you zoom in on this picture and look closely you can see his two bottom teeth!

Rocketman

2010-02-09T17:02:00.005-07:00

Elmo Junkie

2010-02-09T17:00:00.002-07:00

I left the room for literally 30 seconds and came back to see this. Apparently the couch was too far from the tv. You have to sit on the coffee table to get the full Elmo experience!

So Big!

2010-02-09T16:40:00.004-07:00

Both kids had checkups with the pediatrician yesterday. Alex had her 2 year exam and Josh had his 6 month. I was really dreading this appointment because both kids had to get checked and consoling two kids at the same time can get overwhelming. So, Daddy came along with us and the appointment actually went really well! I learned that my children are so different from each other. I knew that already, but it really hit home when I saw their measurements on paper.

Alex's stats:
She weighs 25 1/2 pounds. Such a tiny girl! She's still in the 25th percentile and is just now getting into 24 month clothing.
She used to be short, but now she's considered tall. How'd that happen???
And, of course, she still has a huge head! Rocketscientist in the making!!!

Josh's stats:
He now weighs 19 pounds. BIG boy! He's in the 75th percentile for weight and he wears at least 9 months sizes in clothing.
Josh is short. He's in the 25th percentile for height. So, he's short and very round, which makes him look like a Michelin baby! I love all the rolls on his chunky thighs.
Oh, and just like big sis, he has a huge head. I have TWO rocketscientists in the making!

I was really proud of Alex yesterday. She didn't freak out. Even after one vaccine and a finger poke to check her iron levels. We did bribe her with an oreo cookie, though. ;-)

Dear Bountiful Baskets,

2010-02-06T08:34:00.003-07:00

I think I love you!

Two Years Ago.....

2010-02-03T09:02:00.004-07:00

...Alex was born.

I can't believe it's already been two years. Happy Birthday, Alex! You are such a blessing and Mommy and Daddy are so happy that you're our daughter.

We love you!

Some Kids Love Broccoli

2010-02-02T09:10:00.005-07:00

Helping

2010-01-31T10:31:00.003-07:00

Alex's Birthday, Part Zwei: Family Mini-Party

2010-01-31T10:12:00.005-07:00

We decided to have a small family birthday party for Alex yesterday. It was a special day involving cake, squirt guns, presents (Alex's new favorite word!), and lots of playing outside. We'll have another mini-party and probably a trip to the zoo when Alex's cousin Wynne visits in a couple of weeks!

Alex LOVED the squirt guns!

Alex's Birthday, Part Eins: The Playset!

2010-01-27T09:44:00.003-07:00

This is something we've been meaning to do for a while. Alex thoroughly enjoys being outside. What toddler doesn't, really? Anyway, there wasn't much for her to do outside except pick all the leaves off of Mommy's herbs, run through the dog poop infested grass, and throw rocks. I tend to frown on all three of those options. So, enter option #4!

The Playset

I think she likes it.

This is the view from our office window now. I love it!

Brutal

2010-01-27T09:20:00.008-07:00

Last week our little home was bombarded with the strongest storm we have seen in a long time. We had a few days of really good rain and we were thrilled, but then the big storm hit on Thursday. We weren't so thrilled on Thursday. The storm brought 60 mph winds, flooding, tornado watches (I think we might have even had a tornado warning in the Scottsdale area), and tons of rain...

During this, we realized two things:

1. Our windows are definitely not weatherproofed.

2. Mesquite trees are resilient. Case in point:

This is the mesquite tree in our backyard after the storm on Thursday. Yes, that's a ladder holding it up.

This is the view from the backdoor:

Scott did manage to get it to stand back up, but it took two days of muscle, a hi-lift jack (meant for changing tires of lifted vehicles), some 2 by 4 planks, and a lot of ingenuity.

Playtime

2010-01-27T09:18:00.002-07:00

Christmas in Pictures

2010-01-11T16:30:00.015-07:00

Josh is sitting!

2009-12-03T23:50:00.004-07:00

He's only four months, but he's decided that it's time to sit on his own! Only for short amounts of time, though. ;-)

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-03T19:53:00.010-07:00

We decided to have a quiet little Thanksgiving at home this year. Just the four of us! We cooked a small turkey dinner and just enjoyed our little family.

Here's Alex's Thanksgiving meal:

and all of ours together:

And here she is tempting Jezebel with her milk sippy, even though Jezzy was more interested in the turkey:

Josh spent most of the meal in his bouncer, but he did have his first bite of mashed potatoes (who could resist that little face begging for potatoes?!?)

And he smeared the rest of the potatoes on the seat of the bouncer and spent the rest of the meal sucking the potatoes off. I have a feeling he's going to be a meat and potato type of boy!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Turkey Day!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T13:54:00.005-07:00

I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Alex had a lot of fun helping Scott carve the pumpkin and inspecting his Halloween decorations in the front yard.

This was Alex's first year dressing up and trick-or-treating. She did great except when Daddy took her to the scary house. But, he paid the price for that. Alex made him carry her through the rest of the neighborhood to trick-or-treat.

Here are a few pictures of my little fairy (or butterfly, according to Alex) and pumpkin.

This last picture makes me laugh because I don't think it's possible for Josh to look any more annoyed than he does here! Poor kiddo.

Everything Baby

2009-10-30T16:22:00.010-07:00

I'm often asked how Alex is dealing with being a big sister. Does she like the baby? Is she jealous as all? Is she ok with me carrying the baby around all day? And what about Josh? How does he feel about Alex?

Alex is a fabulous big sister! She is not jealous of the baby at all. In fact, I think she's fascinated by him. Alex is now interested in everything baby related. I recently bought her a doll with clothes, bottles, and a bed. Now I catch her randomly feeding stuffed animals, trying to diaper and undress her babies (her babies are nudists, by the way), and not-so-gently shoving her babies into a stroller for a ride around the house or possibly a thrilling rollercoaster ride down the stairs!

She loves her baby brother. She loves him so much that I can't keep her off of him. A lot of people don't believe me when I say I have a hard time putting Josh on the floor because Alex tries to cuddle him in her own special way. She loves her baby brother so much that she tries to hug him and she'll lay right on top of him!

Josh, on the other hand, is still not sure about Alex. He's getting better about not freaking out when she "cuddles" him. I keep telling him that it'll get better. Eventually, he'll be bigger than her and he'll be able to "cuddle" her back!

Alex also loves to share her toys with the baby. She has no idea that he doesn't know how to play with toys yet.

My kids are so precious.

Sunday Picnic

2009-10-16T11:04:00.003-07:00

Our little family had a picnic at the park last Sunday with some friends. It was such a beautiful day! Everyone had fun. Josh napped a little and Alex fed the ducks, ran as much as her little legs could take, and then had a big chocolate chip cookie with extra chocolate chips. What a wonderful day!

Here are a few pictures.

Night 1: Big Girl Bed

2009-10-09T22:13:00.004-07:00

So, she finally fell asleep after 2 hours of playing in her room after we converted her crib into a big girl bed. Not long afterward, we heard a big THUD. This is what we discovered soon afterward.

No, she's not dead. She's sleeping. On the floor. We'll see how the rest of the night goes. Don't worry. We've tucked her back into bed.

What A Big Girl!

2009-10-09T12:59:00.003-07:00

I finally decided to convert Alex's crib into a big girl bed today. I wasn't sure if she was ready for it, but I wanted to try just to see how she'd do. I thought she probably wouldn't like it. I imagined putting her into her bed without the crib railing and leaving the room and hearing her fall out of bed, cry, or completely destroy her room over the baby monitor. My goodness, she proved me wrong! I am so completely surprised. I put her to bed the way I usually do and 10 minutes later I went in to check on her. This is what I saw:

She's not a baby anymore! I think she was ready to be a big girl.

Chunky Monkey

2009-10-05T19:17:00.005-07:00

I can't believe that my little man is already 2 months old! He's really not little anymore. I took him to his 2 month checkup at the pediatrician's office last week and he weighed 12 pounds 7 ounces. Can you believe it? He already weighs a whole pound MORE than Alex did when she was THREE months!!! He's my adorable chunky monkey with lots of little fat rolls....I think he has at least 4 rolls on each thigh.

Anyway, his 2 month stats put him at 75th percentile for weight, 50th percentile for height, and 75th percentile for head. In other words, he's average height, chunky, and has a big head.

We are so grateful to have a happy and obviously very healthy boy. Maybe someday I'll get around to writing his birth story....not that there's much of a story since it all happened so fast!

Cute Photos

2009-09-26T13:21:00.003-07:00

Father and Son... awwwww
Alex all dressed up with a new haircut! (at Uncle Kevin & Aunt Stephanie's Wedding)
Straight pimpin yo... it's a G thang.

3 Weeks Old Already!

2009-08-23T17:18:00.005-07:00

Little Josh is already 3 weeks old! Seems like it has only been a few days... probably because the lack of sleep tends to blur days together. The little guy is over 8 lbs now and is doing really well. He still hardly ever cries, only when he gets really hungry. His big sis' used to wail her head off (and still does occasionally), so we're glad he's so mellow! Melissa is feeling much better now, and hardly looks like she even had a kid just 3 weeks ago. Alex is getting along with her little brother very well, loves to run up to him and give kisses. She's also growing up so fast and is looking more and more like a little lady that a little toddler, as you can see.
We uploaded a lot of new photos to our photo album, so make sure to go check them out.
New Joshua photos:
http://kimbrel.relativelycrazy.com/album/Joshua/index.html
New Alexandra photos:
http://kimbrel.relativelycrazy.com/album/Alexandra/18-21%20Months/index.html

Introducing Joshua Patrick Kimbrel!

2009-07-31T13:49:00.003-07:00

After much anticipation, I'm proud to finally introduce our son Joshua Patrick Kimbrel. He was born at home (on purpose!) this morning, July 31st, at 12:33am after only 3.5 hours of labor! He is a very healthy 7 lbs 4 oz and 20.5in long. Mommy had a nice breakfast in bed and is doing well. She's very much enjoying recuperating at home in her own bed. Joshua is an amazingly easy baby so far, very happy, mellow and relaxed. He didn't really cry when he came out and has been quiet and calm ever since! I hope that keeps up! We are all doing very well and enjoying the new addition to the family!

37 Weeks

2009-07-12T22:21:00.005-07:00

Joshua is almost here and Alex is wonder how he's gonna get out of there! Has something to do with the belly button I'm sure...

We've got more Pregnancy, Nursery, and Alex photos in the photo gallery!

What a happy family!

I'm a Rockstar!

2009-07-11T11:41:00.004-07:00

Don't you want to be super cool like me?

A Long Overdue Joshua Post

2009-07-11T11:11:00.005-07:00

Well, I've finally made it to week 37! Now we're just waiting....and waiting...and waiting for baby Joshua. I still have no signs of high blood pressure or pre-eclampsia. That's exciting for me because by this time in my pregnancy with Alex my head was about to explode from the high blood pressure, my feet and legs and face were almost as puffy as as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters, and I had to be induced to stop the illness from getting worse. I'm very thankful that this pregnancy has turned out differently so far!

Anyway, while we've been waiting for Josh to make his appearance, we've finally finished the nursery! Yeah! Here are some pictures:

A Wonderful Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T10:54:00.005-07:00

I had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday! Scott let me sleep in late and then served me breakfast in bed. Alex picked a small bouquet of flowers and drew a card for me. Then we had lunch at Taco Bell (I know, I know....but I LOVE Taco Bell!!!!) and then we did a little bit of mall walking and I got a box of Godiva chocolate. Yum!

And to top it all off, we spent the afternoon in our new backyard accessory....THE POOL!

Does it get any better than this?
I hope that all of my Mommy friends had a great day and feel as loved as I do!

Silly Girl!

2009-05-03T19:47:00.004-07:00

Had to share some cute photos of Alex, she's growing up so much lately, and getting into everything! She can climb pretty good and also likes to help mommy sort the tuperware.

She also really likes the fact that Dad installed drinking fountains around all the trees and bushes in the backyard... really comes in handy if you are thirsty!

And this is just cute...

27 Weeks

2009-05-03T18:57:00.004-07:00

I started my 27th week on Thursday, and do you know what that means? THIRD TRIMESTER!!! Yeah! Only 3 months left!

Here are some updated belly pictures. I know we've been terrible about taking belly pictures this time around, but at least we've taken lots of nursery pictures to share!

I have to say that this pregnancy has been very easy so far. No morning sickness, no huge weight gain, and I've felt great!

Joshua's Nursery, Part Deux

2009-04-28T10:57:00.008-07:00

We've decided on a name, Joshua Patrick Kimbrel, and we have been very busy with the new nursery. It's gone from an open loft to a whole new room over the past few months! I am so impressed with Scott's renovation skills and we are all happy with the outcome so far!

Here are some recent pictures of the new nursery:

It's a ....

2009-03-06T12:15:00.006-07:00

BOY!

We had our big ultrasound yesterday and the tech confirmed that we are having a little boy. He looks like a very healthy baby - 4 chambered heart, nice big brain, and he has all of the appendages he's supposed to have. We're very excited that Alex is going to have a little brother!

Daddy Did My Hair!

2009-02-28T12:23:00.005-07:00

I like how mommy does it better.

But Daddy makes bathtime fun! I love bubbles!

Big Girl Chair

2009-02-26T11:54:00.005-07:00

Since we are having another baby, Scott and I decided a while ago that we'd need to find a way to get the rocker out of Alex's room and into the new nursery without upsetting Alex. We only use the rocker for storytime right before bed because Alex doesn't get bottle feedings anymore. So, we thought a big girl storytime chair would be perfect for her!

Now she wants storytime several times a day! I don't think she's even noticed that the rocker is gone. Success!

New Addition!

2009-02-16T10:15:00.016-07:00

In our tried and true fashion of keeping ourselves busy with lots of projects, we've started yet another home remodeling adventure. We're enclosing the upstairs loft into a fourth bedroom. Here's the framing of the wall:

...and here's the frame for the closet...

...and here's the drywall being hung...

We've got all the drywall up now, and I'm starting the taping and mudding process this weekend. So far the project is going well. Ok, you're probably asking, "Why would you go through all the trouble to add a new bedroom??"

Well, quite simply, because Melissa said we can't keep the new baby in the tool shed. So I have to make the loft into a bedroom.

YEP, THAT'S RIGHT, WE'RE HAVING ANOTHER BABY! :-)

Surprised? Well, we were too! But now we're very excited about our new little "addition". Melissa is already a few weeks into the second trimester, about 16 weeks along now. She's doing really well. This pregnancy has been really easy on her so far. No morning sickness or bad side effects. We're thinking since it is such a different feeling from the last pregnancy that it may be a little boy... but we'll have to wait a few more weeks to find out for sure. Here's the little ones first photo, a 3D ultrasound at 12 weeks old:

Melissa is starting to show a little now! The little one is due July 30, which will be really fun in 120deg heat! I may have to buy a few more air conditioners for the house... :-)

We've uploaded photos of Alexandra (9-12M) here and birthday photos and 1 Year Old photoshoot here, and the rest of the Ultrasound photos are here.

Plus, there's FOUR new videos from her Christmas DVD for you to enjoy on our video page here! Hope you enjoy them!

Milestones

2009-02-10T10:52:00.006-07:00

I took Alex to her one year pediatrician appointment yesterday. She's still skinny, short, and has a big head! Her current weight is 19 pounds, 7 ounces, which puts her in the 25 percentile for weight and she is 28 inches tall, which puts her in the 10 to 25 percentile for height. Her head, however, is in the 90 to 95 percentile. I think that means she's going to be a genius. :-) She is a very healthy little girl and everything is looking good!

The other good news is that Alex is walking now! She took a couple of half-steps last week and then on Sunday she took her first real steps. She walked a few feet on Sunday night and now she can walk halfway across a room! Alex is very excited about her new accomplishment. We're having a hard time getting it on camera, though, because she stops walking when she sees the camera and crawls over to the camera to play with it instead. We will eventually get footage!

This has nothing to do with walking, but I thought it was cute. Here's Alex on her Kawasaki atv that she got from her Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday.

Alex Turns One!

2009-02-05T14:18:00.014-07:00

Well, our little girl is officially a big girl now. I've been meaning to write a post about her birthday, but once again time has gotten away from me! Alex turned one year old on last week! We really can't believe that it's already been a year since she was born. It's sad and exciting all at the same time.

We celebrated her birthday on Superbowl Sunday this year. We thought it'd be perfect since she was born on Superbowl Sunday last year (not that she knows what the Superbowl is, but whatever). My parents flew in from Virginia for the occasion. We really enjoyed having them here and we can tell they enjoyed spoiling their granddaughter!

I made a small dark chocolate cake for Alex....

and she loved it!

Best Friends

2008-11-16T12:14:00.002-07:00

This is my new favorite picture. I just had to share it!

Moooooooooooo Cowseat

2008-11-13T14:39:00.004-07:00

I got my new big girl carseat in the mail today.

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa!

I LOVE it! Isn't it cool?

9 Months Old Already!

2008-11-09T15:48:00.006-07:00

How time flies when you're chasing an infant around the house... Yep, Alex is already 9 months old and crawling around getting into everything. Although I hear it gets worse when they learn how to walk (more like sprint). Alex has grown up a lot in the last few months. She has two front teeth (for several months now), is a pro at solid foods, can say "dada" (even when mom wants her to say "mama"), can crawl (very fast), and pull herself up onto just about anything. She still isn't 'cruising' yet, but I'm fine with that. She's already enough to handle!

She just had her 9 month check-up and she's 16lb 15oz (in the 10-25% percentile), she's 26.75in long (25% percentile) and her head size is in the 75-90% percentile. So she's skinny, short, and has a big head! Of course that is just what you would expect for the daughter of a rocket scientist hobbit. :-)

Ok, so on to the good stuff... we have uploaded a ton of new photos, you can find them under Alexandra and 6-9 Months, or just click here for the new photos.

We also have TWO new movies for you to enjoy on our videos page. Click here to see the new movies.

Here's some of our favorite new photos...

6 or 7 Pieces is Enough

2008-10-28T13:55:00.008-07:00

Alex learned to crawl a little over a month ago. Since then, my job has been to chase my little girl around the house and prevent her from putting anything overtly hazardous to her health in her mouth. I'm all for her exploring her surroundings and learning what is ok to play with and what is not.

Where do I draw the line between disgusting and risky? This has become a learning process for me just as much as it is for her. This weekend, for example, Alex found some dog treats. She popped one in her mouth, gave it a good chew, and decided it was gross and spat it back out. Ok...lesson learned. This morning, however, was a completely different story. Alex crawled to Peanut's dog dish, swiped it (mid-chew for the poor dog, too!), and started gobbling dog kibble. I thought she'd have the same reaction she had to the dog treat. Nope. She kept on eating. I eventually had to draw the line at 6 or 7 pieces. I thought if she had too much more she might get an upset tummy and then I'd have a whole other mess to clean up. Unfortunately, the only lesson she learned this morning is that dog kibble is a whole lot tastier than the sweet potatoes Mommy tries to feed her!

Know what else is yummier than sweet potatoes? Dirt...mmmmmmm....grass....leaves....beetles....pieces of carpet....Peanut's tail....dog toys....cat toys, too....power cords....kitty litter....those doingy things behind the door....Daddy's dirty sandals....oh, yeah, and little pieces of fuzz!

Here are a few more examples of mischief my crawling baby has gotten into:

Three Months of Smiles!

2008-08-21T20:16:00.004-07:00

We've finally got a new video out for you to enjoy! It highlights three months of video (about 4 hours of video I edited through!) showing all of Alexandra's cutest smiles, laughs and giggles. Quite possibly the 'feel good' movie of the year. The video is on our new video page.

Click here to see Alexandra's new video! No Worries - Three Months of Smiles

There is also a HD version of the video. Just click the link above the movie. Downloads fast!

We've also got new photos uploaded, click here to see them!

6 months

2008-08-04T11:08:00.004-07:00

I can't believe Alex is already six months old! Where does the time go?

We just got back from her six month pediatrician appointment. She's now 15 pounds 3 ounces and 25 1/4 inches tall! The doctors gave me her percentiles for weight, height, and head circumference, but I could care less about those. I'm just happy that she's healthy and growing. Oh, and she's so cute!

More of My Favorite Things…

2008-07-28T16:04:00.007-07:00

I’ve learned so much this month! Next week I’ll be 6 months old. Pretty soon I’ll be crawling around the house and terrorizing my parents. Here are some of my favorite things to do now…

Bouncing
I still love to bounce, but now I don’t even need a phone book under my feet, I must have grown taller!

Sitting
I can sit all by myself now… just as long as I don’t get too distracted! These new toys are awesome!
Rolling Over and Sleeping on my Belly
I was visiting my friend Morgan, she’s 5 months old, and she showed me all about this rolling over thing. Did you know that if you rollover in your crib you can sleep on your belly? It’s so awesome! Ever since she showed me that I always sleep on my belly!

Sleeping with my Buddy
He is so great… his belly glows and he sings songs to me. He always puts a smile on my face and I love to fall asleep in my crib with him. When I’m cranky he’s the only thing that will calm me down. Only thing is he must get tired after about 10 minutes cuz he stops singing… but if I yell really loud Dada comes in a wakes him up for me.

Feeding Myself
Who needs parents to feed you? Honestly, this whole food thing isn’t that hard. Mama makes all my baby food for me now. Something about how it saves money cuz Dada’s gas is so expensive… must be from having to buy so much air freshener… and I thought my dirty diapers were stinky!
Raiding the Cookie Jar
Oh yeah! Oreos are awesome! Mama only let me try it a couple times and she says I can’t eat the whole thing, but I managed to twist it apart and get to the good stuff anyway. Mmmmm…. yummy!
Blogging on ‘The Internets’
If Bush can do it, so can I. I think I might actually be smarter than him! I got my own email now too. Dada still has to type a lot if it for me, but I figure I’ll have that down by 8 months or so. This time next year I’ll be a L33T HACK3R!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2008-06-26T13:56:00.008-07:00

I'm almost 5 months old now! My life is so much fun. I know how to roll over, I can almost sit up on my own, and I really like to talk. These are a few more things that I love the most about my life.

Bathtime

I have a rubber ducky named Daisy. I like to chew on her head.

Standing in my sneakers

I'm such a big girl!

My puppy!
She likes to give me kisses. One day I'll be able to pull her tail and chase her around the house. I know Peanut loves me because she always comes to check on me when I cry.

Green beans

.....mmmmmmm.....I also like squash, sweet potatoes, peaches and bananas!
Pears are yucky, though.

My rainforest jumperoo
I could bounce all day long if Mommy would let me.

There's only one problem - I can't reach the floor!

I wonder what amazing thing I'll learn tomorrow!

A Relatively Crazy Expedition

2008-06-11T14:39:00.007-07:00

We’ve been home for a few weeks now and neither of us has posted anything about our RV trip. Shameful, isn’t it? In mid-May we met up with Erin, Steve, & Wynne in Denver for an RV trip to Custer, South Dakota for the annual fishing trip. We thought it would be a good idea because the girls were only three months old and camping in a tent with them would probably be a bad idea. We didn't realize at the time that this was a completely insane idea! We spent several fun-filled days camping with friends & family in Custer and then drove to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to visit more family. From there we made the long trek from Sioux Falls back to Denver to return the RV (dubbed the “Love Boat” by our crew).

My favorite RV trip moments:

1. Being packed into a minivan UNDERNEATH the luggage. I think we exceeded the load capacity on that vehicle!

2. Donald’s fudge….yummy!

3. When Steve slammed on the brakes while Scott was in the bathroom. He peed all over the wall and had to clean it up afterwards.

4. Seeing Alex & Wynne together again – they’re so cute!

5. Scott getting passed by every semi truck on the drive from Denver to Custer…. Now we know how a 6-hour drive turns into a 9-hour drive.

6. Being chased by tornadoes from Omaha to Denver

7. Jeffie modeling his gimcrack fishing t-shirt, thanks to Erin & me.

8. The tick song.

9. Waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of two bears growling at each other…no, wait, that was just Scott & Steve snoring!

10. Mad Libs. I forgot how fun those things are.

11. Linda offering beer to underage teenage boys who camped nearby. They later asked if we wanted to play drunken volleyball – yeah, right!

12. Being catcalled by those same teenage boys on my way back from the showers.

13. Scott getting sloshed on martini night. When will he learn to pace himself on martini night??? At least he had the courtesy to puke in someone else’s campground this time.

14. Jeffie lulling two cranky babies to sleep so their parents could have a hot meal.

15. Women in waders….especially Miss October.

16. Getting shushed one rowdy night by the park ranger.

17. Did you know you can buy a pillow for $2.50 at Walmart?

18. Grandma offering me a glass of shampoo. I think she meant Champagne. ;-)

19. Running the heater in the RV on cold nights while everyone else slept in their tents….hehehehehe.

20. And, of course, burning blue Peeps!

Least favorite moment:

-Losing my toenail to a boulder on a river crossing. Note to self: Never wear flip flops while hiking!

I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot of fun moments. I might have to edit this as I remember them. We’ll also post pictures once we get some. Scott and Steve spent most of this vacation videotaping instead of photographing. Please, someone send us pictures!!! Stay tuned for camping trip video collaborations from Steve and Scott!

Bye, Bye, Maternity Clothes!

2008-06-10T14:55:00.007-07:00

Well, I've officially retired the maternity clothes! I'm back down to pre-pregnancy size and I decided it was time to unclutter my closet. It feels so good to get rid of those!!!

I also checked my blood pressure today - 103/67! I think it's time to start getting rid of the blood pressure medication! Woohoo!!!

A Healthy Growing Baby!

2008-05-07T17:20:00.004-07:00

I took Alex to the pediatrician this morning for her three month check-up. She now weights 11 pounds 7 ounces and is 23 inches long! I can't believe how much she's grown in the past three months...although, I think most of her weight-gain has been in her thighs. She almost has as many chubby rolls as the Michelin man! :-)

In other exciting news, Alex rolled over for the first time yesterday! I don't think she realized what she did, though, because she looked surprised when she landed on her back. And now she keeps correcting herself. She'll wobble to one side and instead of rolling over she'll tighten her muscles and pull herself back up.

Tummy time is exhausting!

3 Months!

2008-05-03T14:25:00.009-07:00

Our little girl is three months old today!

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Life after baby

2008-05-02T15:47:00.005-07:00

I feel like such a slacker when it comes to this blog. Scott and I have been promising that I will write an entry to discuss my feelings about motherhood and Alex’s birth and my perspective on everything else that has been going on in our lives. It’s taken me several months to get inspired to write again. I’m trying not to make excuses, but I’m sure you all understand how difficult it is to find time for yourself when you’re a new mommy. Anyway, here I am! I’m writing again and I promise I’ll try to do better! ;-)

Ok, so the birth….well, I still have mixed feelings about that. I didn’t have a bad birth…no c-section, epidural, or anything particularly tragic. But, it wasn’t the type of birth that I had hoped for. Scott already mentioned that we had been planning a home water birth. Most of you know that I am a scaredy cat when it comes to doctors. Let’s call it white coat syndrome times ten. Even thinking about going to the doctor, even for just a basic check-up, sends me into a panic. I don’t know why. It’s not like I can remember any particular medical incident from my childhood that started me on this path….this is just the way I am! Anyway, when I got pregnant I was terrified of a hospital birth. I had only been inside a hospital a couple of times and I was only there to visit family or friends who were there for treatment. So, maybe it was the fear of the unknown or maybe it was the hope that there was something so much better out there for a mommy-to-be that made me search out a midwife and decide that I wanted a homebirth. I wasn’t afraid of birth – it never crossed my mind that something could go wrong. I mean, if something did go wrong I was prepared to do what I had to (including go to the hospital), but that was a hypothetical scenario that I wanted to avoid. Everything in my pregnancy was going great until the last few weeks. I started getting high blood pressure readings and it started to get to the point where I didn’t know if it was actually high blood pressure or if I was just worried that my home birth might get taken away from me because of the readings that I was getting. Then I started swelling. It started out as minor swelling that seemed to be just normal late pregnancy swelling. It didn’t get bad until a couple days before I was induced. We realized that I had pre-ecclampsia after I had some blood work done. Personally, I think the condition was exacerbated by my nervousness. I was in tears the night that we decided to get induced. It was a very emotional decision for me. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to me or my baby, but I was so angry that my body had failed me. Lots of women treat their bodies like crap and don’t have anything go wrong during pregnancy – Why was I having the problems when I did what I was supposed to be doing? I still don’t know the answer to that. Overall, the induction actually went really well. The staff at the hospital were really understanding and helpful (I only had conflicts with one or two nurses who said things like “oh, your such a sick little girl – you could die from this.” WTF??? Who says that type of stuff??? Scott did a great job handling those dorks.) The positive side of the situation is I feel like I conquered a lot of my fears. The hypnobirthing really helped me and I am so happy with the outcome even though I didn’t get the birth that I wanted. I have a gorgeous little girl now and I feel blessed by that! I also did it without any pain medications….not even a Tylenol for afterwards!

Now, mommyhood….Some people have a hard time with the changes that a baby brings. They say that a baby changes every aspect of your life. That’s very true, but I feel like we came to a part in our lives where we were ready for a baby. Some aspects of parenthood have been hard on us, but overall we’ve made a pretty smooth transition. Scott and I did our traveling when we were really young and since we bought our house we’ve become homebodies. So, not much has changed for us there. We haven’t felt like we’re missing out on much outside of our house. We still go out to dinner and shopping like we’ve always done and we still get projects done around the home (it’s a bit harder to work on projects, but we still get them done). I think the one thing that we truly miss is sleep. The lack of sleep is what made the first few weeks tough for us. Scott and I are night owls. We hate early mornings and used to sleep until 10 or 11 o’clock on the weekends….not anymore. Alex is a great sleeper now, but she still wakes up in the middle of the night and needs to be fed. And she wakes up at 7:30 or 8 in the morning ready to play. We’re still getting used to that. ;-)

I love my little girl. She’s a great baby! She has the greatest smiles and she recently discovered her feet. Now she likes to hold them up to admire them during diaper changes and she loves to kick the toys that dangle above her playmat. I’m glad she’s enjoying her feet now…she’ll probably hate them later in life because she’ll never find shoes that fit. Yup, she’s got my big feet with super long toes! What a lucky girl! And she also likes to mimic people now. If I stick my tongue out at her she’ll laugh at me and then stick her tongue out at me. I’m glad I can teach her such valuable things!

Alex also travels very well. She and I had to make a spur of the moment trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, because my grandpa had passed away. She slept on all of the flights. She only woke up a few times to fart. The other passengers were very impressed with that. Have I mentioned that my daughter has gas that could clear a room? She already cleared an aisle at Target before….of course, no one believed that it was the baby who farted…

Our trip to South Dakota went well. It was a sad occasion and also a happy one. I will always miss my grandpa. He was a wonderful person and he’s the reason I’m so fond of gardening. He always had the greatest veggie and flower gardens. It’s so weird to think that I’ll never see him again. I really wish he would’ve gotten to meet Alex. It was nice to see my family again, though.

Other than that, life is moving along in the Kimbrel household. I’m exercising everyday now, losing the baby squidge, and working on the blood pressure. I’m still on blood pressure meds. I want to get off of those as soon as I can! So, yeah, life is good and getting better and Alex is a darling.

I think that concludes this book for today. Alex is waking up from her nap, so I have to go now. I’ll write more soon!

New HD Videos Online!

2008-05-01T18:20:00.002-07:00

We've got some new High Definition videos online to share with everyone. I know they're home videos, but we try to make them pretty entertaining! Just click the links and they'll open up a new window for the video. You can also watch the video in Full Screen mode by clicking the icon on the bottom right of the video before hitting the Play button. Enjoy!

New HD Video Updates:

Alex's First Two Months Photo Slideshow
http://www.vimeo.com/944713
Some cute photos of Alex from our gallery put to music (Leanne Womack - Hope You Dance)

Dirty Diaper Bomb
http://www.vimeo.com/945916
An off-duty rocket scientist meets his biggest challenge, to diffuse a biological terrorist attack before it wipes out an entire city. (A hilarious take on Daddy's first BIG poopy diaper change)

Desert Botanical Gardens in Bloom
http://www.vimeo.com/962920
Alexandra's first Discovery Channel Special! A beautiful look at the desert in full bloom in exquisite detail at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens. Music by Sting - Desert Rose.

Alexandra Rose - Her First Two Months
http://www.vimeo.com/908472
(Just in case you missed it last time...) Relativelycrazy Pictures presents its first official high definition production, a rockin collage of videos from Alex's first two months. Music by Guns n' Roses.

Hope you enjoy the videos!

Alex Photo/Video Update plus New Landscaping Photos!

2008-04-21T16:55:00.007-07:00

Time for another long awaited photo update! We’ve got new photos of Alex as well as a brand new high definition video collage of her first two months. Being a new parent really takes a lot of your free time, so sorry about the long delay in posts! I’ve been busy with a few projects around the house as well. The big news is we’ve finally finished the backyard landscaping! We decided to go with a dry creek bed instead of a working stream, but we did add a neat ceramic pot water feature. We’ve got some new photos of the backyard landscaping for your perusal.

We’ve also finished editing our first DVD of Alex videos, and we’ll be sending that around to a lucky few in the next week. However, for everyone else, check out the new HD video we put online. We’ve even come up with a very professional looking logo and intro for our movie studio “RelativelyCrazy Pictures”… for those of you who know us, you’ll know that cypress trees have been a running joke between us every since we started hanging out with Erin and Steve back in California. During one of our first road trips together up the California coastline, I apparently could not come up with any good small talk and decided to point out the neat cypress and eucalyptus trees that occasionally dotted the coastline. However, for lack of better conversation or who knows what other reason, I took it a bit too far and starting pointing out all of the cypress and eucalyptus trees I could see (mostly the cypress ones though), even when everyone else couldn’t see them or missed them. Erin and Steve quickly noticed this hilarious trend and to this day joke that I only have one classification group for pine trees… they’re all cypress. :-P Anyway, my lack of botanical knowledge has been a source of jokes for many years (“Damn it Jim! I’m a rocket scientist not a biologist!”). So what better logo than the lone cypress tree on the Monterey coast. As for the production studio responsible for all of Alexandra’s videos, “Mostly Harmless Productions”, is a double reference to Alex, and of course, the complete and updated entry for the Earth in the intergalactic bestselling “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”.

So without further rambling, let’s get to the good stuff!! Click the links to see the goodies.

VIDEO UPDATES:
New HD Video: Alexandra Rose – Her First Two Months

PHOTO UPDATES:
New Photos of Alex. See the “2-3 Months” and “South Dakota…” folders

New Landscaping Photos of the Backyard. Click the link, scroll down for the new photos, and there's more on next page.

Enjoy!

More Alex Photos!

2008-03-03T21:23:00.006-07:00

We've survived the first month of being new parents! Woohoo! Alex is doing well and growing strong. We've uploaded lots of new photos. Click here to see ALL the new photos. Some of the best are shown below. Melissa is going to write later about how we survived the first month, so stay tuned!

Alexandra's Birth Story

2008-02-09T13:19:00.000-07:00

Melissa, Alex, and I are all back from the hospital now and everyone is doing very well. We were able to check out on Tuesday, so we've had a few days at home to recover and rest (in between feedings and stinky diapers of course!). Alex and Mommy are doing great. Alex has a good appetite and has been feeding well. Mommy has lost a lot of swelling and is quickly getting her old body back and recovering well from her ordeal. I'm sure everyone wants to see more photos of Alex, so here they are!

See All of Alexandra's Photos Here!

NEW! See Video of Alexandra at One Week Old if Full High Definition!

Click the link above to view a video of Alexandra in HD! Once the page loads, click on the photo of Alex to start the video. You can hold your mouse cursor over the video to display the controls. Click on the "FULL" icon on the bottom right of the video to see the video in full screen mode. Click the Play arrow to start/stop the show. If you have a slower connection and it is taking a long time to download, hold your mouse over the video again and click "HD is On" once to enable the lower resolution playback. Althougth the HD version is worth the wait! Enjoy!

Alexandra's Birth Story

Alexandra's birth has been a roller coaster of emotions, along with a lot of unexpected twists and turns in our birth plan, but overall, we have a happy healthy baby and mommy and we are very grateful. Our original birth plan was quite different than a traditional hospital birth, in fact for the last 8 months, Melissa and I have been planning to have the baby right here at home as a waterbirth (birthing in essentially a portable hot tub). We were planning to have our midwifes there to take care of everything, and allow mommy and baby to relax and have a beautiful safe natural birth at home. For a healthy mommy, this approach is actually very safe, and the midwifes are extremely experienced. The peaceful environment keeps mom relaxed, and the waterbirth helps take a lot of pressure off from the baby, with the warm water helping mom and baby stay calm and relaxed. Up until the last week before birth (about week 37), Melissa has been in perfect health, and really looking forward to her calm peaceful homebirth.

Well, about a week before Alexandra's birth, things started to take a different turn. Melissa started getting high blood pressure readings, which began to get harder and harder to control. Melisa knew full well that if she could not get her blood pressure down it would mean that the midwifes could not support the homebirth and we'd have to go to the hospital. This put a lot of pressure and anxiety on Melissa, and did not help to make the blood pressure any lower. With two and a half weeks to go, it looked very much like our entire birth plan was turning completely upside down. In fact, that is exactly what it did. Despite a huge amount of effort on Melissa's part to relax and release the anxiety, her body had different plans, because she was suffering from a metabolic hypertension disorder called "pre-eclampsia", which only shows up occasionally in pregnant woman, especially towards the end of pregnancy. Not much is known on why woman sometimes get this disorder, or what causes it, and the only known cure is to have the baby. It is a rapidly progressing disorder whose main symptoms are high blood pressure, extreme swelling, and high amounts of protein in the urine. By Friday, Feb 1, after we got some lab work back, it was clear beyond a doubt that Melissa indeed had pre-eclampsia and would have to go into the hospital as soon as possible and get induced.

This of course was devasting news. Melissa has always had 'whitecoat hyptertension', and has never been fond of doctors and hospitals. Until the lab results came back, she was sure that her high blood pressure was just being caused by all the stress and anxiety that was getting dumped on her. We always knew that if something were to happen to put baby and mommy at risk we would definitely transfer to a hospital, but on top of that she knew she would have to be induced, which means being constantly hooked up to an IV with a Pitocin drip which stimulates contractions. Induction is typically a very painful and difficult way to have a baby, especially when the body isn't ready for it. It can also mean a very long drawn out labor (ie, days). This was a lot to take in on Friday, and both Melissa and I were feeling pretty devastated and robbed of our peaceful homebirth. We tried instead to push past the fear and grieving and focus on the fact that little Alexandra would be here soon. We decided we would check into the hospital on Saturday morning and try to make the best out of this crazy situation. I called my parents on Friday night, and they were on the first flight out in the morning and arrived Saturday evening, which turned out to be a huge help.

Saturday morning, Feb 2, we got up, after a restless night, packed our things, and headed to Banner Gateway, just 10 minutes away, where we checked in and were escorted to triage at about 11:30am. We spent about 2 hours in triage where Melissa got hooked up to an IV and started on magnesium sulfate to control the high blood pressure (which given Melissa's anxious state was already through the roof). We met our midwife's OB, Dr. Brass, for the first time and she confirmed the pre-eclampsia and said we'd be induced right away. Luckily for us Melissa was already 2cm dialated and 50% effaced. I think her body already knew that it needed to deliver the baby as soon as it could.

About 2:30pm we were wheeled over to our own private delivery room, which was actually pretty large and nice, since this was a brand new hospital less than six months old. Connie, our backup midwife, had driven across town to stay and support us through this ordeal. It was nice having that support there. Around 3:00pm the nurses came in and started Melissa on Pitocin, we had officially started the induction. We knew it could still be days of lying there strapped to machines and IV drips before this baby came out, and we prayed that this would kick off labor soon. For the next several hours, Melissa was actually having regular contractions, but still not really feeling any of them. My parents had arrived from the airport and stopped by for a short visit before heading back to the house. They showed back up before the birth and were able to be there for the delivery.

After 7pm the night nurses were on shift, and they were very nice, allowing us to focus on our Hypnobirthing technique in private. Hypnobirthing is a relatively new method, which takes some effort, but it is very effective. Basically it teaches you to go into a deep state of relaxation, or self-hypnosis, and uses long slow breathes for most of the labor. The idea is to get the body to relax and start producing as much endorphines as possible, which actually are 200% more effective a pain killer than morphine! The method really focuses on using the subconcious to control the body and make the contractions, or "surges", as they call it, much more effective and as pain free as possible. So once the nurses left us alone, we were able to dim down the lights, put on some relaxing background music and zone out. It was during these next several hours that we really got things moving. Despite all the other stresses and anxiety that was happening, we were able to accept our fate and focus on the labor. The Hypnobirthing really helped get Melissa relaxed, which was just what she needed, and helped to keep all her lower pelvic floor muscles loose and limp so that the surges could do their job, nudging baby lower and lower and dialating the cervix. All this time, Melissa was constrained to the bed and could only eat ice chips. But we made it work for us.

About 9pm, Melissa heard a "pop" and a felt a lot of downward movement... several minutes later we realized that her water had ruptured...we were well on our way! By 10:30pm the nurse check Melissa and she was already 7cm dialated. The next hour was pretty tough, as Melissa and baby transitioned and became fully dialated. Through out all this I never left her side though, and continued to coach her through it all. After 11:30pm Melissa felt the urge to start pushing, or "breathing down", as we do in Hypnobirthing. This part seemed a lot easier for her, and I was there holding her hand through each push. A little over a hour later, a saw the first glimpse of my baby girl, starting to crown. At 12:41am, on "Superbowl Sunday", Feburary 3rd, after some intense pushing, little Alex shot out into the world "sunny side up" (or face up, which is the hardest way to have a kid!) and was placed on mom's chest, were she promptly decided it was time to pee all over Melissa. Although at that point nobody cared. Our little girl was finally here! We got a good hour to bond with the baby before the nurses had to do their routine checks. But the baby never left the room or our sight.

Although the circumstances were out of our control and totally opposite of what we had planned, Melissa was still had a fully natural, beautiful and empowering birth. Even after the birth she never took any pain medications. I am so impressed with the way she handled the situation. She is an amazing and brave woman and I'm so proud of her. She made one heck of a cute kid too! We are both very happy to be back home now relaxing and spending time with our adorable new baby. :-)

SHE'S HERE EARLY!

2008-02-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

Today has been the most memorable day of our lives... Our little daughter arrived early this morning, Feb 3, 2008 at 12:41am, Weighing 6lbs 13 oz, and 18.5in long! She is in wonderful health and is so adorably cute! She's also a bit early! We actually had head to the hospital and induce labor early because late last week Melissa began showing signs of pre-eclampsia, which is metabolic disorder which causes high blood pressure, among other things, and can come on suddenly late in pregnancy. Rest assured, the perfect cure everytime is having the baby, and Melissa is doing just fine and is quickly returning back to perfect health. It's been quite a rollorcoaster ride of emotions these last few days! Melissa still had a beautiful natural birth, as close to her orginal plan as possible. For an induction, it went very well, we started inducing about 3pm on Saturday and really starting decent labor about 6pm, so overall it went quiet fast. Anyway, I've only had about 2 hours of sleep in the last 24, so I'll leave all the rest of the details for another post. Just wanted to get some baby pictures out now so everyone could meet Alex! We'll probably be in the hospital (Banner Gateway) until Tuesday as Melissa recovers. Enjoy the photos!

More Belly and Baby Photos!

2008-01-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

We've finally got around to uploading our photos online! We've got some great new black and white shots of Melissa and myself that we took and then edited in photoshop to look really professional. They came out really nice. Melissa's belly is growing bigger and more beautiful everyday. Alex is doing wonderfully. She is very strong and wiggles alot now. Over the Christmas break (at 31 weeks) we got our last set of 3D Ultrasounds done and we've also posted some of those pics. Alex actually smiled at us several times! She was even practicing her pouty lip too, just for me I'm sure... geez I'm in trouble! You can see her sucking on her little thumb too, she's gotten pretty good at that since the last ultrasound. Her head was down pretty low in the placenta, she was kinda wearing it like a hat, so it was hard to image her entire face. You'll notice that one side of her face is hidden.

Anyway, onto the good stuff! Here's a sample of the black and white photos:

Click Here for MORE NEW Melissa and Scott photos at 32 and 34 Weeks...

Here's a sample of the last 3D ultrasound... what a cute smile!

Click Here for MORE NEW 3D ultrasound photos....

Let's see, other big news, Melissa had a surprise (and I mean no frickin clue) baby shower last Sunday. Erin conspired with Lauralee (Melissa's old college roommate that just happened to move to Arizona as well!) to pull off a surprise baby shower for Melissa. I'm horrible at keeping secrets but I managed to keep this under wraps for almost two months and she never suspected a thing! I took her out for brunch on Sunday and then we she walked into the house when we got back she was greeted by a whole bunch of her girlfriends. We really got her good! From what I hear it was a great shower, everyone had lots of fun, and we now have all the baby stuff we need... but no where to put it all! I didn't stick around for the all the "ooohs" and "ahhhs" and "how cutes!" and all that girly stuff... I went to a friends house, drunk some beer and played video games... you know, manly type stuff! :-) Thanks to all you ladies that helped out with the shower, it was very much appreciated and Melissa feels very well loved! Once I get some more shower photos from the guests I'll upload some.

Well, it's only 5 weeks to go until I'm a daddy! I can't wait, it is getting pretty exciting now. I'll try to keep up the posts as best I can before all my spare time is spent catching up on lost sleep!

Meet Alexandra

2007-11-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time between posts, and a lot has happened since then! Alexandra has grown a lot! We've also had the unique experience of seeing Alex in 3D during our last ultrasound. You can see the ultrasound photos here. Melissa is doing wonderful, and her belly just keeps on getting bigger and cuter. You can see new belly photos here. And to top it all off, we finished the nursery remodel! We've got a "Classic Winnie the Pooh" theme going, with white wainscotting on the walls and light purple paint. Melissa even made some adorable letters and hung up Alexandra's name above the crib. See the new nursery photos here! We are both doing very well and we're getting more and more excited about meeting our adorable baby. Below are some photos of Melissa, and Alex, along with a shortened video from her last ultrasound. Enjoy!

It's A Girl! (we peeked)

2007-09-29T22:36:00.000-07:00

I've known for a while that our local municipal utilities add helpful ingredients to the water supply, like chlorine to keep it clean, fluorine to make our teeth stronger, but now apparently they are adding estrogen as well to turn everyone in our home into a girl. My wife, our two cats, our dog, and even the goldfish are girls... I think I'm growing a uterus as I speak. And of course I also married into a family with a rich heritage of girl power feminism that was recently discovered in the Human Genome Project to be stored in the gene "Soldatke". This gene gets passed from generation to generation, and often causes such side effects as stubbornness, strong will, free thinking, and unusually powerful females.

So it came as no surprise (seeing that the guy is suppose to determine the sex of a baby) that my little swimmers were a bit intimated when they met head on with such powerful genetics and decided to make a girl instead of getting their tails handed to them by a couple of onery looking RNA chains.

Yes, just last week, in between drinking my usual eight glasses of estrogen water per day, we found out that we are going to have a little baby girl! It wasn't so much the fact that you couldn't see any twig and berries in the ultrasound that really convinced me that it was girl, but more the fact that it took 25 minutes of wiggles, pokes, back flips, and other utural gymnastics before she would even give us a peek! I knew before they even said anything that this little stubborn baby was going to honor it's family heritage. I am so excited about being a father, and I'm sure this little one will have me wrapped around her finger from day one. She'll be daddy's little girl, and it will be very difficult not to spoil her! I'm looking forward to the day I can hold her in my arms.

So, with that, I'd like to introduce Alexandra Rose Kimbrel. She's a very happy and healthy little wiggler, and both she and her mommy are doing well. You can see a fun video of the ultrasound below, or you can click here to download a larger (16mb) wmv file, so you can view it full screen.

And of course, we can't forget photos! We've got a full update of preggy photos here! Here's Melissa's 18 week belly shot (we're at 19 weeks now). Almost half-way there and starting to look very pregnant! Oh, and we've also uploaded several photos from Erin and Steve's recent visit and our trip to Sedona, and their trip to St. Louis to meet up with the other pregnant cousin Randi. Yes, all three cousins are pregnant together and all carry that "Soldatke" gene. I'm guessing we're in for a whole new generation of little blonde girls!

Oh, and for those who are interested we currently have our baby registry at Target. We are decorating the nursery in a "Classic Pooh Bear" theme, with white wainscott and light purple walls. We'll post photos of the nursery as we work on it. That's all for now!

Martian Babies and Other Musings

2007-08-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

I should’ve written this blog entry a long time ago, but in true Melissa fashion I’ve avoided it until I feel guilty. So much has happened in the past month and at the same time nothing much has happened. Anyway, here’s my attempt to update you on the more important happenings of our lives.

Work or the Lack of it

As Scott said in his post from June (June?!? Has it really been that long???), I got laid off from General Dynamics. It’s unfortunate, but at the same time I’m really happy about it. The company’s plan was to lay off both of the receptionists and offer us our jobs back through a contract security company. It doesn’t seem like such a bad idea until you get into the nitty-gritty of the details. The job would be the same exact thing we’d been doing and at the same payrate, too, but there were absolutely no benefits. No sick leave, vacation, holiday pay…nothing. And we’d most likely have to wear a uniform and sign up for a guard’s license. I was very tempted to accept the position and I originally did. But, after a lot of stress and talking it over with Scott we decided that it wasn’t such a good idea and the only good reason to take the job would be the money. That reason obviously wasn’t good enough, so I have been a stay-at-home Mommy-in-training for a little over a month now. I am a very lucky woman to have that option!

Baby Beeblebrox and the Happiness of Staying Home

A lot of you are probably wondering how my pregnancy is going. I am due on February 19, and I am almost starting week 13 - The first trimester is almost over with! Woohoo! Here are a couple of ultrasound pictures from when I was 9 weeks along. As you can tell from the gigantic head, Scott and I are making a genius. And in the first picture you can count all five toes on one of the feet. I’m so proud of myself! I have a genius child with at least one normal foot!

I am very happy that I have decided to stay home through the first trimester. I didn’t realize that making a baby would be so exhausting! Unlike my dear cousin Erin (she’s a few weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy!), who I’ve discovered has made a new habit of catching up on her sleep in the strangest places, I have the luxury of taking naps anytime I want.

Let’s see….other questions…..

Morning sickness – I have had a little bit of that. Usually it’s first thing in the morning before I’ve had anything to eat. I’m really sorry for gagging in your ear if you’re one of those unfortunate people who call me early in the morning before I’ve had breakfast!

Yes, we plan on finding out the gender of the baby. We probably won’t know until late September or early October…whenever they decide to schedule the ultrasound, really.

We do have a few possible names picked out. For a girl: Alexandra Rose or Madison Rose, for a boy: Alexander Paul (or Alexander Blake) or maybe Bryan but we can’t think of a good middle name to go with Bryan. But until we know the gender, our baby is nicknamed Beeblebrox after everyone’s favorite President of the Galaxy (Zaphod Beeblebrox) from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I think it’s appropriate since Scott seems to think we’re having an alien child! Of course, unlike Zaphod, we are really hoping it doesn’t come out with two heads and three arms.

I’m starting to show a little bit. Right now it looks like I’ve just had too many bowls of ice cream, but Scott and I can definitely tell that I have a baby pooch! I have made the switch into maternity clothes. My pants were all getting too tight and uncomfortable.

I haven’t had too many cravings. It’s been for sweets mostly. The baby definitely likes ice cream. In the beginning it was neopolitan flavor and now it’s mint chocolate chip. Beeblebrox likes Mexican food, too. Not spicy, just the cheesy kind.

Other symptoms – Smells have gotten a lot more intense! Things like moist cat food are especially nauseating and I can smell them all the way from across the house! Poor Scott is stuck feeding the furry children for the time being and he has to make sure that all pet food bowls are put away before I can venture downstairs. The kids really like it when Scott’s on overnight work travel, though, because they get REAL people food instead of pet food. Lol. Other than that, I haven't had many symptoms. I don't have mood swings and I don't cry very often....I just feel sick sometimes and like I'm getting fat.

6 weeks

12 weeks (starting to show!)

A New Family Member – Xavier

A couple weeks ago, Scott traded in his 350z for a Nissan Xterra. It was a hard decision to make, but I think I was more upset by it than Scott. When we left the 350z at the dealership and drove away in the new Xterra I was bawling my eyes out. Scott didn’t shed a single tear. That’s kind of weird since the 350z was Scott’s car and I never drove it! I blame it on the pregnancy hormones. But, I think the transition was very smooth only because the Xterra has every option Scott wanted and more! It’s a 2007 midnight blue Xterra SE model with the stereo he wanted and it has so many other add-on packages that I can’t possibly name them all. I’m sure Scott can provide a more thorough list later on. Needless to say, Scott is very happy with Xavier and likes to blast the stereo loud enough to vibrate the seats. I’m happy that he’s so enamored with his new toy!

Ummmm…I think that covers most of it. Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything! And hopefully there won’t be such a lag between posts from us!

Life, The Universe, and Everthing...

2007-06-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

To quote the most useful book in the universe, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about space:

"Space," it says, "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly,
hugely, mindbogglingly big it is. I mean you may think it is a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space. And so on..."

You see, space, it seems, is almost as big as the gap between our blog entries, but not quite.

I have several explanations for the long gap in writing, so please choose whichever one you feel would make a valid excuse:

I finally perfected my Warp Drive engine, and thought we'd take sight-seeing trip around the galaxy. Due to Einstein's theory of relativity, what was only a few days for us was about 6 months on Earth, hence the lack of blog entries was not really my fault, but a consequence of the physics of the universe.

Due to circumstances beyond our control, while doing some routine gardening we were sucked into a rift in the Space-Time Continuum, in which we were transported to another dimension, etc, etc, physics of the universe, Einstein's relatives, yada yada, not our fault.

I was kidnapped by so called "representatives" of the fledgling Qatarian Space Agency and forced to built rockets against my will for the last 6 months. I just barely managed to escape last week when I tied myself to a Acme rocket I made and launch myself back to the desert. (Credit to Mr. Wiley E Coyote for that genius escape plan). Hence, I didn't have blogger access.

I'm lazy... and we've been busy... oh well, that's life.

Life

Speaking of life... I bet you are wondering what has really been going on with us in the last 6 months. Well, the biggest news has just happened in the couple of weeks. According to some test Melissa took, either she's been implanted with an alien lifeform on our 6 month tour of the galaxy, or we're gonna have a baby! I am really hoping for the later, but according to some photos in books we've seen, that "baby" looks a little too much like an alien at this point to be really sure. At any point, we'll know for sure about mid February of next year... when she's due.

So our life right now is full of excitement, happiness, with a touch of shock and anxiety... you know, all the usual mix of feelings you get when you realize you're going to bring a new life into the world, or possibly be the parents of a half-human, half-alien being with ambitions of world domination. Either way, it is going to be an exciting year!

The Universe

I'll have to admit that my Warp Drive engine project is actually going slower that previously planned, and so far I have not been able produce a viable engine to tour the galaxy. And now with Melissa pregnant, the doctors highly recommend I keep her away from Di-lithium crystals and anti-matter... something about health of the baby and all. So I've cleaned out the garage and put that project on hold.

I figured I need to keep my day job, and the satellite business at General Dynamics has not been going so well, so last January I started a new job at Orbital Sciences in Chandler, this time building real rockets. Now I'm a "genuine" rocket scientist.

And in another twist of fate the universe threw at us, General Dynamics has decided to lay off all their receptionists (hence Melissa) in a brilliant ploy to save a bit of money by replacing them with outsourced, incompetent, underpaid, security guards. What they forgot was that ALL external calls come through the receptionists (no direct dial unfortunately), so that when they leave in a few weeks and are replace by drooling idiots, the company, quite unfortunately, will grind to a halt and implode. At which point they will have to come crawling back to Melissa, beg her to come back and be forced to pay her twice what she was making... ok, well, maybe not, but we can dream. Anyway, it looks as if Melissa will be taking the maternity leave a wee bit earlier than expected. Stay tuned, we'll let you know how that goes...

And Everything...

So with a baby/alien on the way, Melissa out of a job, and me without a viable Warp Drive engine to sell for millions, I've been forced to come to the age old conclusion... babies and sports cars don't mix. Yes, I have finally admitted defeat, and realized that I'll have to sell my beautiful 350Z. I guess it dawned on me when I realized that Melissa wouldn't ever be able to even ride with me after the baby arrives, since we'd have to leave the baby at home with Peanut as a baby sitter. Although Peanut is great with kids, it's a bit of a weak reason to keep the car. So I've been shopping around for a hip SUV, and at the moment my favorite is the Nissan Xterra.

Anyway, we've also been busy with the backyard, and half of it is already done! You can see all the new photos here. We've added a beautiful courtyard to the side of the house, complete with a fountain and bistro set. We also got a new tool shed and even grass!

So as you can see, there is a lot going on in our lives, and we're very happy. Stay tuned for more updates on Melissa's alien baby... unless we get abducted in the mean time... or happen to fall into a spontaneously created wormhole and disappear for the next 6 months... weirder things have happened.

Crazy Christmas

2007-01-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

[Shameless Plug: Blogger finally updated their software, so now we have Categories (also called Labels) for all the posts! View all of our posts by topic now! (see menu at right)]

What a wild Christmas we had this year! We had a jam packed house. Erin and Steve flew half way around the world (from Qatar) to visit for the holidays... then Melissa's brother Kevin showed up, then Erin's sister Randi showed up with her two kids! It was definitely an exciting Christmas time, packed with activities and crazy fun. Check out all our Christmas photos here!

So the first day after Erin and Steve got here, I decided it would be fun to shoot Steve. So we went off and played indoor paintball for the day. I never did get to shoot Steve, but during one round I shot about 12 guys, then right at the end of the game, came upon the the very last player on the other team and shot him with my very last paintball to win the game. Talk about a good round! I got wapped in the head each round after that though... oh well.

We had a jammed pack week... Christmas day was very fun... and packed with all kinds of fun gifts. Everyone and their mom mailed us presents, since we had Erin, Steve, and Kevin here for Christmas day. I never want to stand in line at the post office again... when they started recognizing me and calling me by name I think that was the point when we had way too many gifts! Erin and Steve decided to give us some very "cultural" Qatar gifts... I got a traditional head wrap and some traditional Middle Eastern cologne... which was very nice, but I made the mistake of opening the bottle. Let's just say, that if you happend to watch the local News that night... that story about the toxic chemical cloud wafting over Gilbert and the emergency Hazmat teams being called in... well, that was my new cologne... sorry about that. I also got some full length head-to-toe pajamas complete with a butt flap...sessy! Anyway, everyone got great gifts, and it was a wonderful Christmas.

The girls (all three of them) got to go shopping, get spa treatments, and have some rare bonding time while us boys took care of the little ones (Ali and Corban). We also all got to go the Phoenix Zoo for a day. And of course there was the traditional late nights and board games. We even got all dressed up one night and had a very nice dinner at the Tapino Wine Bar in Scottsdale. Since this was the first time in a long while that all four cousins (Erin, Randi, Melissa, and Kevin) were actually in one place at the same time, we did a cousins photo shoot... it ended up looking like an album cover for a Christian rock band... "The Virgin Marys" ...

...of course Kevin protested that he was neither a virgin nor a Mary... and insisted he was a hip rockin drummer for "The Flaming Blue Peeps"... but as tradition, he was over-ruled.

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas and we loved having everyone here. Next year we're charging admission though. :-)

Landscraping Update

2006-11-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

I know... it has been another long gap between updates, but we've been slaving away at our projects... and we haven't been on many exciting safari's lately, or been hit by any trucks ;-) ...but at least we've got some more neat photos to share.
...ok, no, they don't have any lions in them... (do kitties count?).

So just about all our spare time has been tied up into working on the backyard, and I'll have to say it is looking great so far. We've installed pavers, a retaining wall, and have a working [huge] fireplace now... and soon we'll have grass! Ok, that is a big deal in the desert, if you couldn't tell. Oh, and we planted these "snail vines" at the posts of the pergola... so apparently it was named after the flower and not the rate of growth... I swear they are on a mission to take over the whole house... they grow at least 6 inches A DAY! No joke! ...well, at least it is green!

Ok, without any further nonsense from me, see for youself in our gallery...

Dear Diary

2006-09-05T19:01:00.001-07:00

PEANUT'S DIARY

7 am - Oh boy! A walk! My favorite!
8 am - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 am - Oh boy! The cats! My favorite!
Noon - Oh boy! The yard! My favorite!
2 pm - Oh boy! A car ride! My favorite!
3 pm - Oh boy! Neighborhood kids! My favorite!
4 pm - Oh boy! Playing ball! My favorite!
6 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home, Mom! My favorite!
7 pm - Oh boy! Welcome home, Dad! My favorite!
8 pm - Oh boy! Dog food! My favorite!
9 pm - Oh boy! Tummy rubs on the couch! My favorite!
11 pm - Oh boy! Sleeping in my people's bed! My favorite!

This is the BEST day of my life!

JEZEBEL'S DIARY

Day 1183 of my captivity. My captors continued to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from clawing the furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded - must try this at the top of the stairs.

In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair - must try this on their bed. Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body in an attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear in their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was. Hmmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More important, I overheard that my confinement was due to my powers of inducing "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. She is obviously a half-wit.

For now, I wait; it is only a matter of time.

Our Life

2006-09-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve noticed that our blog updates have been about our house remodeling and a few little trips that we’ve taken. We haven’t really said anything about how we’re doing or what we’ve been up to on a daily basis. So, here we go….

Work
Our jobs have been keeping us busy. Scott’s days have been completely hectic lately. He’s had lots and lots of meetings and deadlines to meet. He went on a trip to Seattle to test his propulsion system a month or so ago. By the sounds of it, though, he did more golfing and eating than work. So, Scott’s been very busy and we’re hoping that it’ll stay that way. I think it’s terrific that he’s enjoying his job, and he is just so great at it. I am constantly hearing praise about his work from coworkers.

My job is also going well. For those of you who don’t know, there are actually two receptionists that handle all of the incoming calls to the company. I am one, and my coworker is the other (duh, right?). Well, lately my coworker has had a lot of stress. Her grandson, who was born in February, was diagnosed with three congenital heart defects. So, since he’s been born he’s had two open-heart surgeries, an angioplasty, and countless doctor appointments and medications. I’m very happy to say that he’s been doing a lot better and is growing like a normal baby now.

The Girls
The kids are doing well. We’ve taken Peanut to the new Gilbert dog park a couple of times. Last time she actually jumped in the water to fetch her toy. We were really surprised! Come to think of it, she looked miffed that Scott had thrown her toy in the water. She dove off a platform once, but she wouldn’t do it after that. I think she had scared herself. Maybe she’ll be braver next time. Penelope has been her normal lazy self. She has found a box that she won’t let me get rid of. I had put it on the floor while I was putting other stuff away, and now she won’t let me move it. She sleeps inside of it a lot and has a conniption fit when I try to put it away.

Jezebel pretty much keeps to herself except when it’s time to get fed. She has started waking us up an hour or so before the alarm was supposed to go off. So, we’ve been trying different things to get her to stop. We’ve tried kicking her off the bed, throwing pillows at her, and locking her out of the room. Now we’ve stopped feeding her right after we get out of bed. She has to wait until we’re done showering. She really hates that, and she makes sure that we know how she feels about it. I have never heard such a vocal cat! I also got another goldfish a while ago. It’s one of those fast little comet goldfish. I named him Shitake.

Free Time
We haven’t been doing much in the evenings. It’s still way too hot to go outside. We had a minor reprieve from the heat last week after a huge storm swept through the valley. So, we took Peanut for a walk to the park next to our house. The valleys of the park had collected a lot of water from the storm so Peanut and Scott had a lot of fun running through the water and chasing ducks that night! Other than that, we’ve been watching a lot of movies in the evenings. We’re really excited for the temperatures to go down. We love going for walks to the park in the evening, and we really want to get started on the backyard landscaping.

Backyard Landscaping
The backyard still looks like a minefield. Maybe in the next few weeks, the heat will be bearable enough to get some work done. We had trees installed back in May, but while Scott was in Seattle the California Pepper tree died. I swear it wasn’t my fault. I initially blamed it on Peanut, but since he didn’t believe me I told him the heat had killed it. We’re going back to the nursery tonight to pick out a new tree. Luckily the nursery said that they had a lot of problems with California peppers this year, so we’ll be getting a different tree (a mesquite tree, this time!) for free. That will be our exciting trip for the evening.

The Heat
Summer is starting to dwindle down for most of the rest of the country, which makes me a little jealous. The temperatures have been typical for a summer in Phoenix. It’s 109 degrees today….Erin sent me a quote a while back that perfectly describes our Arizona home in the summertime:

If there is, in fact, a Heaven and a Hell, all we know for sure is that Hell will be a viciously overcrowded version of Phoenix...
Hunter S. Thompson
(1939 - 2005), Generation of Swine

Need I say more? I think the daytime temps may start getting below 90 at the end of October, and then the fun will begin!

Kitchen Remodel
The biggest news of all is that we have finally finished the kitchen! We started tiling the backsplash a week ago, and we finished it late Sunday night. It looks stunning! I still can’t believe that we have finished it.

Dream Home

2006-08-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

One great way to have the home of your dreams is to just design it yourself and build it from scratch. Well, that is just what my parents are doing. They are about half way through building their retirement home in the wilderness of Idaho... with a lot of help of course. You can see photos of their progress here.

Romantic Train Rides and Wild West Hookers

2006-08-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Melissa and I set off on a fun adventure for her birthday. We took a wine-tasting trip on the Verde Canyon Railroad (click here for pics!), a romantic evening getaway where we tried all kinds of wine, munched on appetizers, and enjoyed the views of the very scenic Verde Canyon. The Verde Canyon is located kinda close to Sedona, and has some of the same beautiful red rock features, but also has the Verde River running through it. The terrain is pretty steep, and the only way to view the canyon is by train.

So we lined up to get on the train, and I noticed someone that definitely stood out in that crowd. I glanced a pair of black high heels, black panty hose rolled down to about mid thigh, a skimpy short black skirt (woo-hoo!), and then she turns around and I see a plunging V-neck top with some sagging cleavage (woo-huh?), and then, to my dismay, the face of a rather homely looking middled-aged woman with frizzy black hair (woo-warf!)....oh, and a very happy middle-age man next to her. Yep, I'm pretty certain that was a bonefide $10 escort! We nicknamed her Suzy... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As we made our way to the first class cabins, we were seated on a couch facing a small table and another couch. Two very nice ladies sat across from us. As the train chugged its way through the canyon, and the wine and appetizers started flowing, we chatted away with the friendly ladies. Eventually we discovered we weren't the only ones that noticed someone had, well, hired a "friend" for the evening. After that the poor woman found her way into just about every joke for the evening, so much so we had to nickname her! Not that she didn't bring it on herself, not only her looks were entertaining. Some of her drunken antics that evening included sitting up on the side railing of the open air viewing car (while the train was moving), nearly giving one old conductor a heart attack. She also tried to convince the catering manager to hire her as a waitress... we were certain the real reason for which was to find new "customers". Later, once we'd arrived back at the station, she, well, um.... "mounted" the side of the train for a photo op. Quite entertaining! One thing we wondered all evening is where one could purchase such "quality"... um... companionship...

The following day we found our answer. We stopped at a nearby old mining town, now turned tourist trap, called Jerome (click for pics!). One of the "historic" buildings there was the House of Joy... once famous brothel, now supposedly just a historical brothel gift store. Come to think of it, they never did let us go upstairs... hmmm.

Photo Updates!

2006-07-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, I finally got around to updating the photo gallery (so stop your sniveling!) :-) We got our kitchen almost done, just have to put in a tile backsplash. Checkout the pics so far (click photos). Some of my favorite features are the massive lazy susans in the bottom corner cabinets, pull-out trash and recycle bins, and the awesome granite.

Peanut had some fun last night. We took her to the grand opening of Gilbert's new doggy park. There were thousands of dogs there! It has a nice lake the dogs can play in, obstacle courses, and lots of grass for making poopies. :-P

Waiting for Noah's Ark

2006-07-26T18:51:00.001-07:00

Remember how we said we live in a "desert"? Well, sometimes the weather tries to make up for months of 115F heat and not a drop of rain. Last night Mother Nature tried to make up for the drought by giving us half a year's worth of rain....... in 30 minutes! Have you ever been sprayed with a garden hose at full blast? Well, that's what it was like! The massive thunderstorm lasted most of the night, but at it's peak it was unlike anything we've ever seen before.

So how did we deal with this torrential rain? We went out and played in it of course! After about 2 seconds standing outside I was completely drenched! After about 10 minutes of this the streets had turned into rivers, with about 6 inches of water racing down the whole road. Melissa had the great idea of driving the Jeep around the neighborhood... so I got my swimtrunks on, grabbed Peanut, and we all went zippin around the neighborhood in the Jeep... sending walls of water flying over us! What fun! Later on Peanut and I ran through the flooded streets, splashing and having a great time. Peanut loved splashing around! Remember, we haven't seen rain in ages... it is quite a novelty... especially at firehose flowrates! After a little while the lightning got so intense it started looking like a disco club. We had lightning strikes about once per second! Last night there were over 6000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes recorded in our area, not including cloud-to-cloud strikes! Unbelievable!

It was hard to get a good picture of exactly how massively it was raining, but here's a try. There is so much water coming down at once that there was about 1 inch on rain on our flat patio... the yard turned into a pond, with about 3-4 inches of water all over it.

Thank you!

2006-06-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

We just received a disk full of South Dakota trip pictures from my Uncle Larry, and he had a picture of Erin, Steve, Scott, and me toiletpapering Derek's car. I just had to share it. Thank you for the pictures, Uncle Larry!

A Very, Very, Very Long and Overdue Update

2006-06-25T20:14:00.000-07:00

I thought that since it's almost been a month since our last post, maybe I should provide an update. So, here you go!

Our Trip to South Dakota:

The first part of our trip to South Dakota was spent visiting my grandparents and other relatives who decided to fly in for my cousin Derek's graduation. Of course, none of us actually got to see Derek's graduation, but we had a heck of a time at the party afterwards. Erin, Steve, Scott, and I lovingly toiletpapered Derek's car (I'm hoping that someone got a picture of that!), and then we got all the mothers together for a mother's day dinner at Olive Garden. I really loved seeing my Mom again! It's not very often that the Soldatke women get together. The one sad exception was my cousin Randi, though. Unfortunately she wasn't able to make it...which is understandable. She just had an adorable baby boy a month before the trip, so life was too hectic for such a big trip.

The second half of the trip was spent camping in Custer State Park with Erin and Steve and relatives from Uncle Larry's (Erin's dad) side of the family. We saw Wall Drug and the Corn Palace on the drive to the campsite...anyone who has ever traveled across the state of South Dakota knows what those two fabulous places are! I was surprised that a couple of my coworkers knew what those were. Anyway, the camping was fun. We fished, we drank, we stank...actually, it was a lot more subdued than I was lead to believe. Erin had told me that this fishing trip was more about the beer and relaxation than it was about the fishing. Scott only got sick twice. Once from booze, and once from Erin's driving. That's not bad for a week with that crowd. Oh, and I caught my first fish.

The Kitchen:
The kitchen is almost done! I am so glad to say that. Our cabinets got installed a few weeks ago. It only took the contractors a couple of days to get around to installation after the demo. We got the linoleum pulled up, and once the cabinets were mostly installed we spent a weekend putting in a new tile floor. This was actually the easiest part of the whole kitchen renovation. Approximately a week after the cabinets and floors were done we went out to the quarry to pick the granite slab for our countertops. That was really exciting! We ended up choosing a Venetian Light/ Brazilian Gold color. The quarry has already templated our countertops and hopefully in 2 more weeks we'll have the countertops installed. I'm glad that we have a functional kitchen back in the mean time. We were getting really tired of eating out all the time.

The Floor:

The Granite:

Our Trip to Sedona:
Scott and I spent last Thursday and Friday in Sedona celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary. Our anniversary isn't until the 29th, but we wanted to do a trip before that because it falls on the 4th of July weekend. It was an incredibly romantic getaway. We spent a couple of nights at a very nice bed and breakfast called The Lodge at Sedona. On the first evening we both enjoyed a deep-tissue massage and the next day we took a drive in the 350z through Oak Creek Canyon and up through Flagstaff. It was a very beautiful day and it was very nice to escape the heat from the Valley. We also had a very nice dinner at Rene's at Tlaquepaque on our last night. On a side note - I'm upset that the whole area is on fire right now. I guess the day after we left Sedona someone started a campfire in the Oak Creek Canyon area and now it's a couple thousand acre forest fire. So sad!

Arizona Weather:

It has been a balmy 112 degrees for a few weeks now. And, we had our first haboob of the season. Isn't that a funny word? It sounds like it should mean something kinkier than just "dust storm." Here's a picture of it. You can usually see some houses from our backyard, but in this picture they're just blurry little blobs in the distance. The picture really doesn't do the storm justice. I was racing the storm home from work in my jeep (which, by the way, has no doors or windows - Fun, right?). My teeth were full of grit by the time I parked in the garage.

Well, that's all that I can think of at the moment. We'll have to post more updates as we think of them.