Happy Birthday to MOI

Lucky me I got to hang out with some of my most favorite people on my bday: My mom, my brother Ben, sister in law Chantal and the hubs too. The first three all originally came to California to support Matt and his family and go to his dads memorial service which was on Saturday, but they arrived on Thursday and it just so happened the day of my birth a whopping 25 years ago was on friday. We decided the night before to go to Santa Barbara for the day and roam around. The weather was beautiful! It was mid seventies with a nice ocean breeze provided just for me (that was the theme of the day: hey it must be for your birthday!)

First we visited the Santa Barbara Mission which is one of the prettiest ones in southern california.
Matt made such a good monk that they offered him a job there.

The fountain with pretty lily pads that they placed on the water just for my birthday I'm sure.

Then we went to Stearns Wharf to walk on the pier. First we took this pic with just Ben and Chantal, then one with them and Mom, then I was added to the mix and finally we got brave and had a stranger take one of all of us together. But when mom asked the guy to take a pic he thought we meant with his camera and was a little confused. He didn't want a snapshot of random strangers to take home with him? why ever not?

Lastly around 4 we went to the beach. We slathered on the SPF, but as you can see by my noticeably red chest we were all already toasted from walking around beforehand! We had a great view of the crashing waves, probably the "breast" view on the beach. Yes indeed just for my birthday there was a lady smack dab in front of us whom we couldn't help but notice thought her bosom needed some vitamin D from the sun. And some sun she got! I'm a girl so I was allowed to look and that foreigner was gonna need more then a little aloe vera later on that night. My mom sewed some nursing covers recently for Chantal and I, or hooters hiders as we call them, and we thought maybe we should offer one for that lady to use. :) It made for quite the shocking, but funny beach trip!

After our fun filled day we decided to extend the party and went for Thai food in Simi. It was deeeeeelish. The thai iced teas were delectable and we all shared pad thai and garlic beef. Mmmmm. Then to top it off, after dinner we jumped in the hotel pool where they were staying.

The day from start to finish was perfect just hanging out with family, laughing and making memories. Thanks for making my birthday a memorable one!

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What are those you ask? Those two unsightly things would be cankles. Cankles: noun. The point at which the calf and ankle have joined forces and it cannot be determined where one ends and the other begins. Thanks to these lovelies we opted not to go to Disneyland on my birthday since it was going to be in the upper 90's and standing on my feet all day no longer sounded glorious (even if it was to see Mickey). Instead we spent the day with Ben, Chantal, and my madre in Santa Barbara where the weather was perfect and we got to hit up the beach. Pictures soon to follow and a much needed blog update.....that is if I don't get sausage fingers in the mean time.

Disclaimer: So no one gets the wrong idea, I'm not complaining about being pregnant. I do thoroughly enjoy the miraculous process, but figure you have to laugh at all the crazy things that are happening to your body! And there are definitely some bizarre things that take place, but this isn't an anatomy 101 so I'll spare you the details on some of the other unpleasantries :)

Ed Koprowski

Matt's dad Ed went home July 12, 2009. He was the best father in law a girl could ask for and the best dad that his two boys could have ever had. This last year was really hard for him health wise and complications from his diabetes kept making him return to the hospital. We would go visit him there and although he would be in pain, on lots of medications, and undoubtedly uncomfortable in those hospital beds he never voiced any of the above complaints. He was always cheerful and upbeat and didn't let his situation get him down. Last Saturday evening on July 11 we got to visit him for a few hours at the hospital. He seemed like himself despite all the pain he was in and even gave me a biology lesson midst our conversation (he worked in the biology department at CSUN for 28 years) He was an incredibly intelligent man and was a great teacher, so we thought it was suitable for him that even on his last night he was teaching! The next morning we got a phone call saying he most likely wouldn't make it through that day. We went back down to the hospital and spent the day with family around his bedside and an hour or so after we went back home we got the call saying he had passed. He will be missed everyday, but at the same time its comforting to know that he is in a place so much better than any of us can fathom and that he finally has a perfect body. We look forward to the memorial service where we can share our favorite memories of him and celebrate his life.

Bizarro

Some of the many strange dreams I've had recently:

• Last night I dreamt that the baby decided to come out for a surprise visit. All of a sudden I was holding him and he was only half baked. One side of him was normal, but the other half was missing an arm and an eye and hadn't been fully formed yet. He could talk though and informed me he didn't like the name we've chosen for him! In my dream I went and woke Matt up and told him he had to take me to the hospital so they could put the baby back in me since he wasn't fully cooked yet.
• Dreamt I was breast feeding and chocolate milk was coming out. Which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a kid a suppose! I do remember I ate a lot of chocolate that particular day.
• In another my water breaks and a girl I used to work with tells me I'm fully dilated and going to have a baby. I'm upset in my dream because I know he's not supposed to come out for another 3 months, but I'm even more upset that I don't have my bag packed to go the hospital!
• I've had "husband nightmares" too where Matt does things that would be totally out of character for him. In one dream I went on a trip and when I came home Matt had gotten 4 tattoos while I'd been away! I was so mad that I went and got a big skull tattoo on my belly. what?! In another one he was dating my cousin and didn't think anything was wrong with that. Both times I woke up and was angry with him and the poor guy in reality hadn't even done anything!
• In some I've reverted back to my high school days only I'm going to all my classes pregnant and am shocked because I thought for sure I'd already graduated! Now that's a real nightmare!

I've always had vivid dreams, but so far these ones are getting more and more strange as the weeks go by. I know supposedly in REM cycles the moment you dream is usually in the few minutes right before you wake up and since I'm waking up 7-8 times a night to use the bathroom that could definitely explain the increasing number! Matt gets to start his day off by hearing what weird happenings were going on in my head all night, I'm sure he thinks his wife is crazy! But then again, he was already aware of that.

Uh Oh

Looks like we already have a case of sibling rivalry on our hands. Moxie thought her future baby brother's clothes looked better on her. I leave her in a room alone for a second and the next thing I know she's sporting his new duds.

Babymoon

We left for our vacation on a Tuesday after work around 5:30 and thought for sure we would make it to our arizona destination by midnight. Wrong! We rolled in right around 3 in the a.m. I tried to be a good co-pilot and stay awake on the way there, but car rides tend to make me narcoleptic and I kept dozing off only to suddenly pop up alert and wide eyed every 10 minutes or so and blurt "you're awake, right?!" to Matt the lonesome chaffeur. The next day, our first full day of relaxation was spent indoors moping around in a state of zombie-ness due to our lack of sleep hangover.

After catching up on our Zzzzz's, the next day we made an impromptu trip to Mesa to visit Ben, Chantal and their budding baby boy. My dad had requested a belly to belly pic so we bellied up for him. Mind you, Chantals due date is Sept 18 and mine is Oct 5. Although you would think they were reversed in belly comparison. I'm predicting our boy is gonna come out looking like a tank.
We brought Moxie over on a playdate to meet their new dog Buddy (yes, like the Elf who walked through the candy cane forest and the sea of swirly twirly gum drops) Only this Buddy didn't seem too amused with Moxie and her crazy antics of bouncing all over him and sticking her paws in his mouth over and over again. Luckily Buddy didn't find her paws to be snackable.

I had to throw this pic in only because she looks so cuddly and squeeezable! I used to always wish I could have my own pet Ewok when I would watch Star Wars. Moxie I think is as close to getting to that as I'll get.

Friday we went to the Grand Canyon even though our expectations were low since after all we figured it's just a big hole in the ground and we had just found out it cost $25 to get in. When did it start costing to see God's creations is what I want to know. Once we saw it, I think our jaws dropped, it was pretty incredible! It almost looked fake because of how big it was. We were there walking around for almost 3 hours taking pictures.

Matt went bouldering around on some of the riskier parts where I'm sure I would have looked like a bad mom if I had ventured out with him considering the obvious bun in the oven. So I stayed at a safe distance and took pictures of him being reckless instead. This picture doesn't do it justice as to how high up they were, or how far of a drop that would be with one slip. I started to get a little anxiety just watching. Matt got to mingle with the hippie sitting on the end who said he had been dreaming of coming to this exact spot to sit and contemplate life. I'd venture to say the lady I saw with the long dreadlocks and the two kids she was letting climb all over the rocks near the edge were his wife and children. Just a guess though.

Another pic of the the Moxie monster thoroughly enjoying her vacation and the warm weather.

Our last day we went to a lake in town to walk around. Moxie is showing her best side in this

pic.

On the way home we had to document the temperature outside on our way through Pheonix. Seriously??! I'm melting just thinking of how hot that is. At one point when we were almost to California and it was still 106 outside we nearly ran out of gas. A sign lied when it said the next gas station was in 60 miles, ending up being some shack that looked like it had been closed for 10 years. We had only 25 miles or so left on our tank and Carmen the Garmin (our trusty GPS) said the nearest gas station was over 40 miles away, way off the freeway. YIKES! I started picturing us standing on the side of freeway: Sweaty man and pregnant lady holding melting dog with thumbs in the air pleading for a ride. It could make for a funny story later, but I wasn't in the mood at the time for such an adventure. Thankfully a Chevron appeared on the horizon like a mirage in the desert. Our GPS wasn't so trusty after all. Thank you Chevron for saving us even though your gas prices were ridiculously ridiculous.

All in all it was a fabulous vacation. 5 days and 6 nights spent at our own private resort (or technically Uncle Steve and Aunt Rosie's house they so kindly lent to us while they were away on vacation). It was the perfect babymoon. And one we hope to do again with our new addition in tow next time.