Appendicitis

Pre-op Jude. Sweet camera phone quality pic.

Poor Jude!! He came home from work on Wednesday feeling sick. Thursday morning I talked him into going to the doctor. The doc told him-- it sounds like your appendix, go to the hospital. He said, "Can I meet with the tax guy first?" So, he did that and then drove himself to the emergency room. But, not before packing a bag with his computer, the whole first season of 24, the ipod, earphones, a big fat book, and probably some other stuff. No toothbrush or change of clothes, but plenty to do! They admitted him and hooked him up to an IV and took his appendix out Friday morning. He was so funny because every time I talked to him he acted like he was having a fine time. He didn't want me to come to the hospital or do anything. He was just hanging out. Sad that this is the only way Jude gets a break! It was like a vacation for him. Just Jude and his electronics--no kids, no doing dishes--he was loving it. Until he woke up post-op on Friday, of course. It's no vacation anymore, but he is doing much better. Still walking around hunched over and very slowly. Poor, poor Jude!!

It's a Girl!!

Well, what more can I say? July twenty something we'll be having another little girl. Ivy is very excited. It was such a disappointment to her when Lane was not a girl. (She went storming out of the ultrasound yelling, "But, I wanted a GIRL baby!") Now it's Lane's turn to be upset. He still thinks he can make it into a boy baby. I'm so happy that Ivy will have a sister. I can't imagine life without my sister, Al--who would I talk to about everything? I hope that Ivy and this baby can have a close relationship even though they will be 6 years apart. Lane's enough of a boy to hopefully balance out all of the girl attitude and sass that is going to be flowing through our house. It's already at dangerously high levels. Wow.

I wanted to put an ultrasound picture, but the only ones she gave me were creepy. I got a picture of one open eyeball and a shot of her yawning straight on. It would have maybe been cute if it were a profile, but straight on just looks...well, creepy. I'm sure she's very cute in person, though. You'll just have to wait for the real thing.

I took a picture of me pregnant. Since I am never doing this again I thought I should at least have one picture of it. I took it myself with the camera propped up on the couch and set the timer. And then it fell off onto the wood floor and broke. Totally not worth the one awful picture of me posing like a dork. I was too embarrassed to actually post it because it's too dorky. I just hope we get our camera back for the baby's birth.

This is the Place!

We just got back from a trip to California and we have found it! The place of our dreams. Seriously, we are so excited. We found this town that is so close to so many cool things. We drove about an hour to the coast and saw this...

About twenty minutes away is this beautiful lake...


The drive was gorgeous. You go up through a canyon with a little creek where you can fish and camp and then it opens up to the lake. We drove through towns that seemed to be all orchards and farms. We were told that in the summer time you can get wheelbarrows full of fruit and veggies for super cheap and a lot of them are organic.

These pictures are through the windsheild so they are not very good, but you get the idea.

About 3 or 4 hours away is Yosemite which is amazing and beautiful. San Francisco, one of the coolest cities I've ever been to, is a short drive. Snowboarding at Tahoe is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. This place has it all!! We met some people at church that told us it is basically spring from February through June and you can go to the beach or go skiing- take your pick. Or you can just hang out at home and enjoy 70 degree weather! Seriously, what could be better than this??

The town itself is perfect, too. It is small enough that there is zero traffic and you can get anywhere you need to go in 10-15 minutes max. Jude hopes to have his office close enough to ride his bike to work. But, you still have a Target, Costco, Nugget health food store (very important), Rubios, Jamba Juice and some of the best little taco shops here and there with authentic, we have missed it so much since San Diego, Mexican food. There is a cute little downtown with restaurants and parks and a town square. It's not much, but it's cute enough. Every Friday night in the summer they have a free outdoor concert in the park downtown.


One of the best things is that there are beautiful rolling hills that are preserved which you can have in your backyard. Here are a couple of pictures of backyard views from some houses a realtor showed me.



We are so excited!

Lane is 3!!!

For Lane's birthday we let Ivy ditch school and went to the Please Touch Museum of Philadelphia. Jude even ditched work and came with us! It is by far one of the best children's museums we have ever been to. It was so much fun!

Lane's favorite-picking up balls with the tractor

Ivy and Taylor at the new music exhibit

Alice in Wonderland exhibit.

Fat face setting in already

The museum is in one of the coolest old buildings in Philly. It was built in 1876 as the first philadelphia museum of art. At one time it held the world fair.

Opening presents





Lane wanted to go to Chuck E Cheeses for his family birthday party. I'm pretty sure Jude had just as much fun as the kids. Video games and pizza...there is nothing better than that! It was great fun, it really was.






After a fun filled day of Chuck E Cheeses and childrens museum it was still time for cake. Lane was hamming it up. I love that face!

We did a playgroup birthday party on Wednesday morning with "the guys" as they call themselves.

Here are a couple of the guys:

Shane

Jackson

Renaissance figurines and a tough face to match

The best present of all-candy! Look at that face. He is so excited about a bag of Sixlets.

Ice Storm

I wish I could get better pictures of this because it is really cool. We get these storms and everything gets covered with a layer of ice. It is very beautiful. Not good to drive in, but really pretty.