Grandma Sandholm is Here!

After arriving a day later than expected to avoid the second Denver snowstorm and having to wait for her luggage to arrive after it took the long route to Seattle via both Chicago and Denver, Grandma Sandholm finally made it to Seattle to meet Sullivan, her first grandchild. Sullivan has shown us that he has a little "Eddie Haskell" in him, turning into an angel whenever Grandma holds him, and fussing much more when Dad or Mom holds him. Little booger.

Sullivan also has shown Grandma his love of sleeping, having slept pretty much non-stop again today from 10:30 AM until 8:30 PM, getting up only because we were waking him to eat and change his diaper. I'm still not sure what his deal is, but apparently he likes to sleep through at least one day a week. I'll be sure to add this question to my list of things to check with his doctor to see if it is normal or not when we visit him in a couple of weeks.

Today we had a very lazy day and spent the afternoon watching Iowa play Texas at the Alamo Bowl. Well, I should say Gabe and Grandma Sandholm watched the game; I fell asleep for most of the third and fourth quarters, and woke up to see that we lost by two. Oh, well -- there is always next year, and we really squeaked into getting into a bowl game with our crap record, anyways, so I suppose we should be thankful that is was such a close game given how we ended the regular season!

The end of football season is always a little depressing -- we always look so forward to it each year, and it's a little like Christmas being over when the season ends. At least we still have the Sonics to watch in terms of sporting events, and then the Mariners will start up again, which means football will be just around the corner. Wow, I'm not sure if it's funny or pathetic that I chart the year by what sporting events we will be able to attend or watch on TV. I blame Gabe.

Sullivan's First Christmas

Sullivan celebrated his first Christmas yesterday. He chose Christmas Day as his day to literally sleep through the entire day, requiring us to wake him up to eat every three hours to ensure he didn't starve himself. We did manage to get a photo of him passed out with all of the great loot everyone sent him for his first Christmas. Nice haul, and he was never even conscious to enjoy it! Oh, well. There is always next year.

Needless to say, this trend of "all day sleeping" when he is not yet a teenager worried me to no end and resulted in two concerned phone calls -- one to the nurse's hotline, and the other to the doctor's office after hours service to see if he might be sick, hurt or what could be going on. Good news is that Sullivan is apparently absolutely fine, it's me -- his paranoid mother -- who has the problem. Oh, well. I would rather have it be that way than something wrong with Sullivan. As the doctor on-call told Gabe, "Babies just do weird things sometimes." Comforting.

With Sullivan's excitement for sleep yesterday, Gabe and I did take advantage of it and didn't get up until noon, opened presents around 1:45 PM, and had our Christmas dinner around 7:30 PM on TV trays while watching the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. We didn't get out of our pajamas all day long, but that is pretty much par for the course for me lately, anyways -- but even Christmas didn't result in a change in habit there. :) Other than the frantic calls to nurses and doctors, it was a very low-key Christmas, but nice nonetheless. And we have plenty of ham, green bean casserole and scalloped corn to eat for a few more meals, so no cooking necessary in the near-term for us -- just microwaving!

We Don't Have to Live Like Refugee-ees

We're home! Gabe, Sullivan and I made it back home last night. Gabe called the Clampett's yesterday afternoon and they let us know that the power came back on around 7 AM PT on Sunday morning, and by the time we got home in the evening, the house was warm and toasty. We stayed at Hostel Hennessey to watch football in the afternoon and had our last communal dinner of fajitas and Spanish rice, and then made our pilgrimage back to Seattle and gave the Hennessey's a night free of middle of the night wake-up calls from little Mr. Sullivan. And I also found myself referring to the Hennessey's as "home" a couple of times, so it probably was best we left when we did! I was definitely making myself quite comfortable. :) The photo above is of the first night at Hostel Hennessey with all of the "refugees" -- the Folgedalen's and Sandholm's -- along with our littlest host, Alistair.

When we got home last night, we discovered that Jack and Jinxie survived the freeze-out just fine, and today Gabe fixed our garage door (we had to do some messing with it to get it to open without electricity, and then when we got home to use it when the power came back on, it would shut and then immediately re-open), and we also took the opportunity of having an empty refrigerator to completely clean it out, wash down the shelves and clean out all of the weird condiments we haven't finished or looked at in over a year. So, I guess we can thank the power outage for our newly cleaned refrigerator!

Tonight the Popelka's brought us over dinner and hung out for a bit. It's so fun to see Claire as compared to Sully -- Claire is crawling, going up stairs, pulling herself up to furniture and actually interactive and loves to play! Sully -- although very cute -- has picked today to turn into a grumpy little boy, so I spent most of the time while the Popelka's were here trying to feed him at various times to calm him down. I'm hopeful this crying thing is short-lived and he's just chronically hungry because he's going through a growth spurt that started today or something, but who knows. We'll see how things progress throughout the week. At least for the past four nights he's been letting us sleep in three-hour intervals -- we'll see if that pattern holds for tonight!

In Case You're Wondering, We're Still Refugees

The Sandholm's are now in Day 3 at Hostel Hennessey. We are trying to find out if our power is back on yet today so we can make the return home and stop our Kato Kaelin-esque lifestyle and let the Hennessey's get their normal routine back. Seattle City Light is REALLY making me frustrated, noting on their web site that:

"However, after the weekend, a small number of miscellaneous outages will remain, or trickle in, due to the severity of the wind damage. Unfortunately, some customers may be without power for 48-72 hours, and others could experience extended outages of up to four (4) days. They should plan accordingly."

i.e. If you live in the "ghetto" areas of Seattle (as we do), get used to being a mooch and turning your friend's home into a homeless shelter, get a hotel, or got to an actual makeshift Red Cross shelter in your local community center. Sigh.

I also hope the power turns back on soon so we don't have two little cat popsicles when we return -- Gabe and Seth went to our house yesterday to check on things, and Jack and Jinxie are hanging in there, and they got more food, water and their litter cleaned -- it just is going to be a test of their mettle to see if they can handle the cold. It was supposed to get down to 28 degrees last night, but they have lots of blankets they can burrow under, they have each other to huddle with, and they are both pretty fat, so they should be OK. But is still too bad for those little guys. I'm sure they will each have a thing or two to say to us once the power goes back on, and we will have to give them a little loving to make up for their current struggles.

The Sandholm Refugees

The Sandholm family are currently refugees staying at the Hennessey house. The Hennessey's graciously took us in yesterday afternoon, and we Sandholm's -- used to the Midwest timeframe for getting power back online -- came prepared to stay for a few hours and then return home to a house with full power and heat in the evening. Well, that didn't exactly pan out as hoped, and we called the Clampett's (the Clampett's are our neighbors across the street -- FYI, their last name really isn't Clampett, but I can explain more about that some other time) to see if the power was back on yet, and it wasn't. Our power went off on Thursday night during "the worst windstorm in the Seattle area since the Inaugural Day windstorm of '93," and it is now Saturday, for those of you keeping track, and our power still isn't on.

Seattle is the most ridiculous place when it comes to severe weather response, I swear. I understand that the severe weather situations are different here than in the Midwest, but it is so frustrating to not see power lines covered with an inch coating of ice, a foot of snow on the ground, or some other indication that a very severe storm has gone through to warrant more than 24 hours with no power. Granted, there are lots of trees and power lines down around the area, and I am very thankful that none of the power lines or trees by our house fell and that the only exposure I've had to seeing the damage is via the news coverage, but it's still odd to me how long it takes a city to get everything back online. Oh, well -- thank goodness for good friends like the Hennessey's who have power and the space for us!

In addition to the Sandholm's, the Folgedalen's were also refugees at Hostel Hennessey last night, so we just had a big 'ol sleepover. It was very exciting, aside from the fact that I personally had a breakdown about imposing on the Hennessey's, thinking I didn't have everything we needed (i.e. a change of clothes and toothbrushes), blah, blah blah...I blame it on hormones. And now I'm fine today, warm and actually sociable, although I am a bit scrounge-y, in need of a toothbrushing, shower and clean clothes. Gabe, Sullivan and I will be headed home here shortly to check on Jack and Jinxie, make sure no one broke into our house or garage, and get everything we need to return to the Hennessey's for another sleepover. We aren't confident that we have power yet, but are keeping track of things via Seattle City Light and the local news.

Sullivan Update: Four Days Old

Here is the link to Sully's album online -- I just did a camera dump, so there are lots of duplicate shots, some really blurry shots and almost none of the pictures has a caption or title, but I think you should pretty much be able to figure out who is whom. :)

Also, some fun facts about what is now cool after being home for a couple days as a new Mom:

• Bendy straws are awesome. These things are the best invention ever and make it easy to drink your beverage while your hands are full, in this case, with a Sully.
• The vacuum cleaner is a great baby soother. We now keep the vacuum cleaner is Sully's room. When he starts freaking out because he is really hungry, doesn't like getting his diaper changed, or just generally mad, we turn on the vacuum cleaner and he quiets right down. Research has shown that the noise level in the womb is louder than a vacuum cleaner with all the blood and fluids rushing around, so apparently a vacuum in a room is just like being in the womb.
• Gabe and I have never been so happy to see a dirty diaper. Sully didn't make a dirty diaper for 28 hours straight, but now he is nice and regular, and we give a little cheer everytime Sully has a poop- or pee-filled diaper. And he's already peed against the wall! That was an especially exciting time. :)

Sully also had his first doctor's appointment this morning, and everything is tracking along A-OK. He weighs the same as he did when he left the hospital (7 lbs. 6 oz.), so he hasn't lost anymore weight in the past two days, and he isn't jaundiced, although the doctor said it would be good if we could get him in some natural sunlight to amp up his vitamin D intake. That ought to be fun to try and do what with our living in Seattle and it being winter, but we did manage to get him in the sun for about 15 minutes today, and apparently gray light even works, so we'll work to get him in front of the windows as much as possible!

Introducing Sullivan Franklyn Sandholm

So, this is probably old news to many of you by now, but Sullivan Franklyn Sandholm is now here! He joined the world at 12:44 PM PT on Friday, December 8, 2006. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 19 inches long, so definitely not as big as the Brutus baby that we were expecting. :)

We made it home yesterday afternoon, and things are going pretty well. I'm still on the mend from a non-textbook like delivery...I'll spare you all the gory details, but bottom-line is that I lost a lot of blood and currently look like a vampire who hasn't had a victim in awhile. I'm working on getting my blood volume and blood count back up, so hopefully by the end of the week things will be better in that regard. The doctor is trying to keep me from getting a blood transfusion, but I really don't care if I get one or not -- I just want to get my energy back!

We also have been concerned about Sully over the past day -- he didn't provide us with anything interesting (anything at all, actually) in his diaper for over 28 hours. Things started to turn around today, but that was a bit concerning for awhile. He has his first "well-baby" check tomorrow morning, so the doctor should be able to help us determine what we need to do, what we really need to be concerned about and that sort of thing. Considering I've been doped up on lots of interesting drugs over the past few days, I wonder if any of those have affected Sully in any way...however, the doctors and nurses at the hospital knew I was trying to be a breast-feeding mom, so I'm sure (or at least hopeful) that they took that into consideration before piping all of these interesting meds into me through my wonderful IV.

So, anyways, enjoy the photos of our newest Sandholm and his parents (and yes, I'm the swollen, pale, tired looking one in the glamorous hospital robe -- just in case you were wondering)! If you are interested in seeing all of the pictures since his arrival, I'm currently uploading them, but will be sure to provide the link so you can check them out once they are done uploading (likely won't get that all sorted until tomorrow sometime).

Gabe's Company Christmas Party

We've spent the last couple of weekends getting into the holiday spirit and keeping ourselves busy waiting for Junior's arrival. This past weekend we went to Gabe's company holiday party at the Edgewater Hotel on the waterfront in downtown Seattle -- here's a photo of us at our table, and yes, I have two desserts in front of me. They were both pretty good, although I have had better creme brulee in my day. But I did manage to finish both of them, in case you were wondering. :) The other photo is of us before we left home for the party -- I suppose more of a "family" photo as there is a nice profile shot of Junior front and center.

On Sunday, the Hennessey's came over and we had a Christmas cookie baking extravaganza, but a bit scaled back one from last year. The "scaling back" part can likely be attributed to the fact that we were two men down, as the two "men" were firmly rooted into the couch watching football all afternoon while Kelly and I baked cookies -- including chocolate crinkles, peanut butter cookies with the Hershey's Kiss in the middle and gingersnaps-- and we also made Puppy Chow (or "Muddy Buddies" for those of you not hip to the Puppy Chow phenomena). And, to be fair, the "men" were also taking care of the "wee man" Alistair, so I guess they did have that going on as well.

At 5:30 PM the Seahawks game started, so Kelly and I then joined the guys to eat pizza and watch the game, so we didn't get to dipping pretzels and the peanut butter ritz sandwiches in almond bark, the last real treat-related project for the day. But both households have the supplies available to go ahead and get those treats made, so maybe that will be something Gabe and I can do this weekend, unless Junior decides to show up before then!

Snow in Seattle

So, I’ve been meaning to put up a post about the snow we’ve received in Seattle all week, especially since snow is such a rarity here and I am such a weather junkie and find all things weather-related exciting and interesting! I was trying to wait to put up a post until I could get a photo of our yard so you could SEE what I was talking about, but every time I wanted to take a photo of our snowy yard, it was dark outside. And, by Midwestern standards, the snow at our house wasn’t at ALL exciting – just an inch or two that really kept itself on the grass, trees and rooftops. We got the least of it for the area, though – check out the Hennessey’s! They live just north of Seattle, and they got enough snowfall to write home about (and the photos to prove it :)).

The weather for them was much more exciting than at our house – we were still able to make it into work every day, and the roads were just frosty or wet, depending on the temperature. The good news was that traffic was great, though, because a lot of people stayed home from work and school for most of the week, making our commute nice and quick! And we apparently broke all records for the wettest month ever in Seattle, and had almost every weather event that Seattle can have: flooding, wind storms, snow storms, and even sun. We’ll see how December shapes up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Sandholm's! We had a busy day yesterday beginning at 10 AM with Gabe participating in Cock Bowl 2006. This is a flag football game that some friends began inviting us to participate in about three years ago, and the MVP of the game gets his or her name engraved on a trophy which consists of a gigantic straw rooster (which I think someone got as a wedding gift or something) mounted to a wooden trophy base with engraveable gold plates attached to it. Despite Gabe's level of dirtiness, he did not make MVP status this year. But, that's OK -- there is always next Thanksgiving!

It was pouring down rain, really windy and about about 40 degrees for the game. So, it was pretty much miserable and freezing. Before he could get into the car to go home, Gabe had to strip down to his biking shorts, take off his socks and cleats, remove his muddy shirts and put on the only jacket he would bring along -- his Miami Dolphins pullover -- before he could get into the car. Needless to say, the guy was FREEZING. But, the car heated up fairly quickly and hypothermia did not become an issue. Talk about a dedicated flag football player, though!

In the afternoon we made our way over to our annual Thanksgiving dinner with the Haslam family, where we proceeded to play with the new Nintendo Wii gaming system that M-L brought along for us all to enjoy. Now, I'm not a big video game fan, but this gaming system was actually pretty fun. And, it's not your typical video game system -- you actually have to MOVE and not just be a lump sitting on the couch getting increasingly worse carpal tunnel or Blackberry thumb or whatever it is one gets from just exercising your fingers on the game controls. The game controls are wireless and have gyroscopes built into them, and you need to move them around in the exact same motions you would use to do things in real-life to golf, bowl, box, play tennis, spin cows over your head and throw them (don't ask), shoot some psychotic looking bunnies with plungers and do surgery on Japanese anime looking patients before they die. People were actually getting SWEATY playing this game. So, if we are ever to get Junior a video gaming console, this may be the one to get, so we can at least he can get some sort of exercise in -- even if it is indoors.

Then, after the couple hours of video game playing, we had a great dinner, which, in preparation for, we managed to catch the dinner rolls that we contributed to the meal on FIRE in the gas oven, setting off the fire alarm just as the new Haslam twins were about to be put down for the night. Good news, though -- Gabe came prepared and we had an "extra" couple dozen rolls on hand, so we just threw out the charred ones and made the new ones. Crisis averted.

I personally ate myself absolutely silly to the point of feeling what I think was the most miserable I've ever felt in my life. But, the feeling passed while we all sat down to play Trivial Pursuit and I proceeded to take up most of the couch as I basically sprawled acrossed the entire thing. Gabe's team won that game, and my team came in a close second, but the bigger point was that we actually FINISHED the game -- a rarity! Typically we all get too tired to keep going, so we just sort of end it. But this time, we actually powered through to the end. Definitely was a great time, and it's so nice that the Haslam family continues to take us in year after year to join them on Thanksgiving, even when we catch food on fire and take up all the room on the couch. :)

Don't Let a Crane Bring You Down

Just a quick update to let you all know that our office did open at 8 AM on Monday, and it looks totally fine on the inside. They must have worked 24/7 this weekend to clean up all of the carnage -- there were no broken desks or cubicles laying around, no dust or anything. It sounds like it will be 4-6 months before the holes in the wall will be fixed, but they have cordoned off the affected areas with temporary wooden walls so that you can't see anything. It looks just like an area of the shopping mall where they put up those big wooden walls with, "Exciting new store opening soon!" written on them. So, quite normal-ish. And Starbucks is also open in the building, so all is right with the world. :)

The building next door still looks like a bomb went off inside of it, though. They haven't gotten around to cleaning that one up yet -- a huge corner of the building is still open to the outside world, and you can peer inside and see people's desks and their computers just sitting there, exposed to the elements. You can almost envision a giant hand going inside of the building to set little people behind the desk and play "office" with them or something. Although the ripped off studs and exposed insulation definitely don't look as tidy as the cross-sectioned walls in a kid's playhouse!

Although the office is open, people are definitely really wary of all of the cranes that are still around the downtown Bellevue area. We had a thunderstorm go through today (which is a rarity in Seattle) -- and with the first peal of thunder, everyone looked around wondering what crane was about to crash next. Apparently when the crane fell, it felt like an earthquake, but sounded like thunder. I think everyone is looking forward to the long Thanksgiving weekend!

The Sandholm's: 37 Weeks Pregnant

Here we are -- the Sandholm's at 37 weeks pregnant! This means we are now full-term, and Junior can show up at any time without causing great alarm within the medical community. I'm still not due for three more weeks, but Junior can no longer be considered a preemie if he makes his way into the world now. You'll notice a few different angles pf the Pregnant Sandholm's this time around; a couple different angles of me so you can truly appreciate me in my full gigantic-ness, and a couple different of angles of Gabe so you can appreciate that he's, well, not pregnant, I guess. In all honesty, I actually put up both pictures of Gabe because he told me to -- I was just going to put up his "pregnant" photo, but he said, "What, you aren't putting up my tough pose, too?" So, here he is -- both pregnant and "tough." Me, I just get to be pregnant. I can't suck this gut in, even if I tried. The indignity of it all.

More fun facts on the pregnancy front -- my cankles have gotten bigger, and they now resemble elephant legs and feet. Just huge, fat stumps. Not at all attractive. I went and got a pedicure a little over a week ago, and the pedicure ladies were super funny. I got a lot of the following comments from all of the little ladies working around me (note, none of these cute little ladies speak English as their first language):

"Oh, you ankles are vewy big."

"When you due? Oh, you have vewy big baby."

"What you having? Oh, a boy! He a vewy big boy."

"You sho you have just one baby in there?"

These ladies were too cute to get upset with, and the pedicure and leg massage felt very nice, so it was an hour and money well spent. And my toes -- for when I can see them -- look good as well, so I really can't complain.

I now also appear to be an unwed mother; I can no longer wear my wedding rings because now my hands are too swollen. I was getting to the point where I had to use either soap or lotion to get my rings off, and I realized that I was about to get them stuck on my finger in a big way -- which wouldn't be a big deal if I weren't worried about losing circulation to my finger and either having to get the finger amputated or my rings cut off. So, instead, I just appear to be an unwed mother. I think I can handle it for another three weeks or so. Again, as far as the potential drama that can happen in a pregnancy, not being able to wear my wedding rings is really not that big of a deal, but still sort of bothersome nonetheless.

And, that's the Sandholm's at 37 weeks pregnant. I'm looking forward to being done with work on December 8 and soon being able to focus just on Junior's arrival! We're looking forward to meeting Junior, and are almost prepared for him to show up. Still a few last minute things to get done, like loads of laundry, getting the car seat checked to ensure it's installed safely, finding a pediatrician, and putting a few more things away in his room...ok, maybe it's more than a few things, but they are doable. Good thing it's a short week this week so we can take the time to do these things this upcoming weekend if we want!

Update: "A Crane Crashed Into My Office"

Here are some photos from where the crane knocked into our office. The first two photos are from the 6th floor of our building which was someone's actual cube and desk area; the third photo is from the 7th floor, which is a conference room. The latest I heard is that they still think they are going to get us back into the office on Monday. I'll believe it when I see it.

A Crane Crashed Into My Office

At 10:23 PM this evening, the telephone rang. Not only was it weird that someone was calling that late, but when I checked the caller ID, it wasn't a wrong number like I anticipated, it was actually a work colleague calling. I almost didn't pick up the phone, but then did, and then had a conversation that went something like this:

Colleague: "Hi, Ranae?"
Me: "Yeah?"
Colleague: "Um, I don't know if you've heard, but a crane crashed into our office building tonight, and it hit the 6th and 7th floors [which are the floors of our office], so just wanted to let you know that you likely won't be able to get into the office tomorrow."
Me: "SHUT UP! You are lying. This isn't real."
Colleague: "No, no -- it really happened at around 7:15 PM tonight."
Me: "Oh my god! Is everyone OK?"
Colleague: "Yeah, there were a few people in the office at that time, but everyone is fine. They were obviously pretty shaken up, but they are all OK and accounted for. But, apparently someone in a nearby apartment building did die when the crane crashed into his apartment."

Apparently our servers still work (I think they are located in our Portland office), so I will still be able to log into the network and work from home tomorrow, but how random is it that a crane crashes into your office building? The stories will likely continue to come in, but some of the current coverage is in the Seattle Times and on KOMO-TV. The building that is really crushed is next door to the Civica Office Commons, my office building; I can't tell from the pictures or stories how badly damaged our building is, other than to read that it has been "red-tagged" and isn't currently safe to be occupied. The local Bellevue police and fire departments are also conducting a search and rescue mission in the damaged building to ensure there are no people trapped. Also interesting was that the crane operator was in the crane as it crashed, and he rode it all the way down. He is injured, but expected to make it through fine.

Will let you know as I get more details!

The "Guess Junior's Arrival Date" Sweepstakes

I was e-mailing with Ms. Sarah Popelka this week, and she asked if we had started a pool yet or were accepting wagers as to when Junior Sandholm would be making his introduction to the world. I hadn't even thought about that, actually, but it sounds like a fun idea! So, we are starting the "Guess Junior's Arrival Date" Sweepstakes. We're going with the sweepstakes model rather than the betting pool where everyone chips in $1 to place a bet because, well, those who may want to participate could be from a number of places, and I don't feel like trying to figure out how to implement PayPal to take $1 bets for a simple little baby due date wagering pool. So, we have a sweepstakes instead.

If you would like to participate, please note what day you think Junior will make his arrival in the comments section of this posting, including date and time. The winner will be the person who picks the right day (obviously), and if more than one of you choose the same day, the person who chooses the closest time to Junior's actual arrival time will be the winner. We will be allowing guesses to be submitted up until Junior makes his arrival, and please only one guess per person.

What will you win, you ask? Well, probably nothing that exciting :)...but, since gift cards are easy to mail, we can probably swing sending a $20 gift card to such amazing retailers like Starbucks or Target. Thrilling, huh? And, no -- Ed McMahon will not be making his way to your doorstep with balloons, video cameras and a large cardboard gift card if you win. We just don't have that kind of budget for this sweepstakes.

And, in case you were wondering, my official due date is December 10. Let the sweepstakes begin!

Showing His Hawkeye Pride

Ok, so maybe Alistair doesn’t understand that he is wearing the venerable black and gold of the Iowa Hawkeyes, but doesn’t he make a cute model? This jacket and hat were a shower gift Kelly (also pictured here) and her mom whipped up for Junior Sandholm. In addition to the hat and jacket, Kelly also made him a super warm Hawkeye fleece blanket, so Junior is definitely set for this winter! There will be no confusion that he is a University of Iowa Hawkeye, and I can’t wait to see him sporting his Hawkeye gear.

And, don’t worry – Gabe and I will continue our recruiting efforts to ensure Alistair understands that being an Iowa Hawkeye is pretty much one of the coolest things in the world to be, and he would be SILLY to not want to make his way to Iowa City for his collegiate education. Well, for his collegiate education, football, booze, girls and the calzones at Sam’s Pizza. But I think that probably all falls under the category of “collegiate education,” don’t you? :)

Preparing for Junior

The past week has been busy in terms of getting things ready for Junior’s impending arrival in approximately six weeks. It’s crazy to think that his due date is just a little over a month away! Gabe and I are now in the thick of things; we have our last birthing class on Monday night, Gabe is taking a “conscious fathering” class tomorrow (doesn’t that name seem a little dramatic?), and we’re taking a tour of the Swedish Hospital Birthing Center on Sunday afternoon. After all of that, we still have a newborn care class, infant safety and CPR class and a breastfeeding class yet to take. I’m not sure if we’ll remember anything we’re hearing about and learning, but we can at least say we tried and will have some good resources to turn to if and when we forget!

We’ve also been lucky enough to have two baby showers already, too – our buddies threw one for us last Saturday, complete with good food, good company and actually pretty fun games to play as well – although the gift bingo game was really a mind-boggler for many of us, funnily enough. None of us could think of enough baby items to fill our bingo cards to even start the game. And then, yesterday afternoon, Gabe’s entire office threw him a baby shower, and I was able to go as well. His office was WAY generous, and we also got to eat some really good chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, vanilla ice cream, and this punch that I think maybe also had ice cream involved in it. Talk about a sugar high!

And then, on top of the classes and fun things like showers and parties, we have the doctor’s appointments that are increasing in frequency. We are still on an every two-week schedule, about to go to a weekly schedule for check-ups. We had an appointment this past week, and the doctor let us know that I’m measuring two weeks ahead of schedule. I asked if that meant I was going to potentially go two weeks early, and she said, no, it just means that you are likely going to have a big baby. So, we might be having a little Brutus on our hands. Thank god for pain medications during child birth.

So, all in all, it feels like Gabe and I now have another full-time job -- preparing for Junior. I guess it really is just preparation for the fact that we WILL have another full-time job once he arrives! I'm going to work on getting as much sleep as I can now. :)

The Traveling Sandholms

Gabe and I are ending a week of traveling for work -- me to Portland, and he to Reno. And, yes -- Gabe really did have work to do in Reno. It wasn't a "work" trip. :)

I got back last night from Portland. Barbie and I made the trek early Tuesday morning, and I got into the office down there around 9:15 AM. It was a very rainy drive, but Barbie handled wonderfully, and I had my Starbucks beverage and new Mountain Music Lounge Volume 12 CD to keep me company. It was great to spend three days down there with all my teammates that are based down there -- they are a good group of people and it's amazing how fast the day goes by when you are surrounded by fun people (and I was still able to be productive, to boot!). I also got in a little bit of shopping -- nothing crazy, but is always nice to pick some things up down there since there is no sales tax.

Gabe is coming back from Reno tonight -- he flew down there on Wednesday night. He stayed at the Golden Nugget (really, this was for work!), got to test his luck at video poker, and it sounds like the people in that office are quite nice, so that's good! But, will be nice to have him home again.

And, I'm very glad the work week is wrapping up, too! TGIF!

Malibu Barbie

We are now a two car family. Last weekend we purchased our family sedan, a 2005 Chevy Malibu Classic with 26,000 miles on it. I've named her Barbie, even though Gabe thinks it's stupid and acts like he doesn't know what I'm talking about when I mention "Barbie." But, I think it's clever, so I will continue to call our car by that name. :)

We've driven Barbie for a week now, and she has proven to be a comfortable commuter vehicle, and she gets almost 10 more miles to the gallon than the Jeep does, which is nice! As for her history, before becoming a part of the Sandholm family, she was a rental car in Hawaii, her Carfax report came back clean and she is a "certified pre-owned GM vehicle," which means she still has a full powertrain warranty up until 36,000 miles or something like that. All in all, we are (so far) happy with our purchase and glad to have another car option in the garage! Plus, the trunk is huge. Good room for putting in lots of baby crap, like a stroller and such.

Gabe Does Denver

Gabe left last night for Denver. Good news – he now has a fancy-schmancy camera phone with a full QWERTY (i.e. typewriter-like) keyboard, so if he sees any more two-headed girls or other interesting things while he’s on his business trips, he can photograph them for us so we can all be a part of the experience. Isn’t technology great?

I’ve e-mailed with him a few times today, and it sounds like things are going fine in Denver. I think the big crappy part so far was that he didn’t get into Denver until about 11 PM mountain time last night, had to take the shuttle to the rental car place, get his rental car, and then drive 40 miles to his hotel. And then he had to be to work at like 8:30 AM. So, not much sleep to be had, but tonight he is going to catch up with one of his high school and college buddies that lives there, so at least he’ll be able to have something to look forward to! And, he’ll be back again tomorrow night, which is nice.

In two weeks, Gabe has to head out again – this time to visit the Albuquerque and Reno offices. I will be heading down to Portland at the same time he’s gone to those places. Hopefully that will be the last of the traveling for me for awhile (and I don’t think Portland really counts as “traveling,” necessarily, since it’s only a three-hour drive), but it sounds like Gabe may have to be out on the road a bit more in November. I think we’re definitely going to be ending the year on a pretty busy note across both work and home activities!

Oh, and it also sounds like there have been snow storms and other cold and crap weather in the Midwest this week…just thought I’d let you all know that it is currently sunny and 67 degrees here in Seattle. Fall and winter still haven’t kicked in here yet, that’s for sure! Usually it’s 100% cloudy now – even it isn’t raining every day. So, we’re lucking out, for sure. Hopefully all the Midwestern trick-or-treaters won’t be making their way in a snowstorm!

In Profile: Junior Sandholm

We had our ultrasound this morning, and the Junior Sandholm is doing well! According to the doctor, he is moving around fine and is growing according to plan. He is approximately 4 1/2 pounds now, and likely around 15 or 16 inches long. When I asked the doctor how long he is, he let me know that -- since they can't stretch him out like a rubber band to measure him (No! Really?), that the best rule of thumb is to divide the number of weeks pregnant one is by two, and that is the baby's length. So, with that highly scientific method, we conclude he is 15 to 16 inches long. So much for the advanced ultrasound technology to help determine specific measurements.

Anyways, here is a photo of Junior for your viewing pleasure. Looks like he has all his parts, and the sonographer confirmed that he definitely is a boy. So, feel confident in purchasing any boy-related items should you have been hesitant! We don't have any photos to provide you with evidence (no need to start embarrassing him THIS early :) ), but believe us -- we know he's a dude.

The Sandholm's: 30 Weeks Pregnant

Here we are -- 30 weeks (well, I think I'm now really 31 weeks -- was a little slow at getting these photos taken) pregnant! As you'll notice by Gabe's much smaller belly, his "baby" is apparently growing much slower than the one I'm carrying. But, I suppose that really is for the best. :)

Although a full pregnancy is 40 weeks, the medical community considers a woman full-term at 37 weeks. So, if Junior decided he was ready, he could make his appearance in six weeks without upsetting anyone very much. Although I would like him to wait a bit, as we still haven't started our birthing classes, haven't taken the breastfeeding class -- all those sorts of things. Oh, well...he will show up when he shows up, and I'm sure we'll figure things out as we go along, even if we miss all of those classes.

We have our last ultrasound tomorrow to make sure that everything is going well with Junior. This was the ultrasound that our doctor scheduled since I said that I didn't feel him move around much. The good news is that I think that he is probably moving more now and is doing well, but it will be good to have the last ultrasound to get one final peek at him before he enters the world.

In other Sandholm family news, today, I went with the girls to Issaquah's Salmon Days -- I believe this was my sixth annual Salmon Days excursion. It is really fun; we got to walk around and check out all of the craft stands, eat fair food (I had the King Corn Dog and a caramel apple -- very good!), and watch the salmon make their way upstream to the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery to spawn and die. Although the "spawn and die" part might sound like a weird thing to celebrate, it's actually really cool to learn about and see the salmon fighting upstream, and talk to the F.I.S.H. (Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery) Docents and have them explain what is happening, what they are going to do with the fish and that sort of thing. This is also the event where I have been getting a Sandholm family Christmas ornament every year; however, the Ornament Lady failed to make the event this year for some reason, so my tradition apparently has ended. There are a couple other craft fairs coming up, and I can see if Ornament Lady is at any of those. This isn't just any ornament -- it's a hand-painted, homemade-y looking wooden ornament that the Ornament Lady writes "Sandholm's 2006" on...really hope I find her again. I might have to adjust the tradition a bit this year if I don't!

On Big Bellies and Cankles

I'm ending week 29 of my pregnancy, and I'm really getting to understand the joys of having a big belly and gigantic, fluid-filled flesh sacks at the end of my legs, also known as the "cankle." I was fine with the growing belly, and even the sort of big belly, but I am now getting some interesting reactions when I walk down the hall at work. Some comment samplings (note, some of these people I don't even know the names of -- they are just people that I recognize and say hello to in the hallway or kitchen when I see them):

• "You just really got huge, didn't you? It seems like one day you were regular, and then just huge. It happened really fast!"
• "So-and-so co-worker called and asked how you were doing, and I told her that you were just huge."

The only thing I can think of to say when I'm told this -- because it really is a bit of a shell-shocker to hear -- is, "Um...thank you?"

Gabe has tried to explain to me that the people saying these things don't mean them in a derogatory way and really are just making the point that it seems like one day it I didn't look pregnant and then the next day I looked really pregnant, which I get; however, couldn't they maybe just say it differently? Being called "huge" on a regular basis just isn't fun. Ok, ok -- maybe it's a karmic payback...I have been known to call my fair share of pregnant ladies "ginormous," "huge" and "the size of a house," but I never actually called them that directly to their FACE. So, I guess I should decide which is worse...being called "huge" behind my back or directly to me? It's a tough call.

Maybe I should just suck it up, not worry about it so much and understand what goes around, comes around...but it's sort of like that situation where it's OK for you to make fun of your family, their quirks and eccentricities; however, it's not OK for anyone else to say the same thing about your family because, well, it's your family and you know even if you identify their weirdnesses, you still love them dearly because they are your family. But, if someone else says the same things, well...it's hard to think that they are saying those things with the same level of unconditional love behind them, because they really aren't nice things to say. So, I suppose this is my stance on the "God, you're huge!" issue. If I know you aren't being mean to me, you can say it to my face. If I can't tell for sure if you are being mean, feel free to share it with your friends (I can appreciate the good gossip fodder of ginormous pregnant people), but I'm cool not knowing.

Another big belly fun fact -- it gets into everything. For instance, today I go to work wearing a clean shirt. I get out of the car, take the elevator up to the office, get to my cube, look down, and see a black streak going across my belly. Good thing I have SHOUT wipes at my desk! No idea how that streak got there. I've also managed to get frosting on my belly, as well as get water on it from both the bathroom and kitchen counters. Good times, good times.

Now, the cankle is another issue entirely. I have been having this phenomenon happening off and on since I became pregnant, but it has been pretty gross the past couple days, and it got really bad when it was hot for that one week this summer. The cankle happens when you really can no longer tell where your calf ends and the ankle begins (hence, "cankle"), but I also get the added bonus of having these huge and disgusting balloon-looking feet that appear to no longer have bones in them with Little Smokie sausage toes sticking off the end. I had Gabe take photos of my cankles to post a photo to share with you all, but we both decided it really was too gross and there was no reason for anyone to have to look at them for an extended period of time. But, I think you get the idea. :)

So, this is my manifesto on the big belly and cankle experiences I'm having as a first-time pregnant lady. Granted, my pregnancy issues could be thousands of times worse, and I really shouldn't complain. But, just thought I'd share. And, because these issues aren't that serious, I think that makes them inherently more comical. So, once I get over being offended and disgusted, I expect that I will look back at this whole time and laugh. Which is a good thing.

The Doctor Will See You Now

So, today my doctor decided that she would see me today. Gabe and I showed up to my appointment 30 minutes early, and we were shooed away from the check-in desk because there was an elderly woman sitting in a wheelchair at the front desk with what appeared to be a broken leg and a neck brace on, and – in addition to being very curious about what a 70-odd year-old woman with a broken leg and neck brace was doing at the OB-GYN – I was also a smidge annoyed that I got shooed away for a SECOND time from checking-in because there was only one reception-type person in the whole place. This happened last time, and I was not in the mood for a rerun.

However, everything worked out – I got to go see my doctor, found out that I don’t have the ‘betes (that’s short for gestational diabetes, in case you were wondering), my blood pressure is fine, and Junior’s heartbeat is good and strong. I did let them know that I was concerned that Junior didn’t seem to move around much, so I get to go have one more ultrasound to ensure that everything is A-OK. I’m pretty sure that everything will turn out OK, but will be nice to have that confirmed and to get to see him one last time before he enters the world!

Oh, and the 70-odd year-old lady in the wheelchair with what seemed to be like medical needs that had nothing to do with being at an OB-GYN? The transportation service that dropped her off managed to take her to the wrong doctor’s office. So, she remained parked in the lobby until the transportation service could come back and retrieve her.

If It’s Your Happy Anniversary, Clap Your Hands!

I’m clapping, I’m clapping!

Ok, not really. But, it is our wedding anniversary today – four whole years! Very exciting stuff. It seems like the actual wedding part happened a long time ago, and in looking at our wedding pictures, it LOOKS like it happened a long time ago. Gabe and I look so young in those photos. But, it doesn’t feel like we’ve been married that long at all and we are still the goofy people who got married on the first day of fall in Readlyn, Iowa and crammed entirely too many people into a limousine with a set of cow horns mounted to the front a la Boss Hog, and made our way to Waverly, Iowa to enjoy a gigantic buffet of food while my sister proceeded to light her bouquet on fire at the head table with a candle. In the meantime, others of the wedding party (who will remain nameless) proceeded to go around and single-handedly finish-off any bottles of champagne that still had something left in them, while others decided to jump off the second floor hallway in the hotel and into the indoor pool which it surrounded, well after the “official” party was over. Meanwhile, Gabe and I made our way to the “honeymoon suite” which—no joke—actually had mirrors on the ceiling. Classy.

Now, four years later, we don’t have mirrors on our ceilings (thank goodness) and instead of spending our day getting our hair done, ourselves dressed to the nines, photos taken and seeing lots of friends and family at church and a reception, we instead started the day off getting to sleep in because I had a doctor’s appointment, which was great! However, traffic was awful, and this was Gestational Diabetes Testing Day where I had to drink some really sweet, gross, fruit punch-style glucose beverage and then have my blood taken EXACTLY ONE HOUR after having finished it. Needless to say, we showed up at the doctor’s office one hour and five minutes after I drank this crap, had to wait another five minutes to get anyone to help us, had to wait for the blood-taker lady to get done with whomever she was helping at the time, and then explain my situation to see if I could still get my blood drawn since I think I missed the blood-taking window. The blood-taker lady felt sorry for me and said we would take it anyways, and if the doctor didn’t like the results, then I would do it again, but we would try this first. So, hopefully the doctor will get what she needs. However, my doctor THEN wouldn’t see me for my actual appointment because I showed up eight minutes late, so we had to reschedule the entire debacle for next week. So, the morning of our fourth anniversary started out really dumb. However, we have dinner and a movie to look forward to tonight, let alone the season premieres of The Office and Grey’s Anatomy, and I did get free pizza for lunch, so it really isn’t that bad. But the whole doctor situation still makes me mad.

And being married for four years is pretty cool. Just in case you were wondering.

I Hope I Didn't Just Give Us All E. Coli

Big news today in the produce world -- don't eat pre-washed, bagged spinach. There has been a rash of E. Coli outbreaks, and medical officials believe they are all tied to eating the fresh, pre-washed bagged spinach. More information on this can be found here.

And, on that note -- Kelly and Alistair came over to have dinner last night with Gabe and me. And what did we have, you might ask? A lovely salad with spinach (among other things that haven't made the "don't-eat-it-because-you-might-get-E.-Coli" list) and this yummy, one-skillet chicken pot pie recipe I love that we found in Cook's Illustrated. However, I don't get points for originality for this dinner -- this is the second time that Kelly has been subjected to the chicken pot pie meal. However, I had a big hanker for it; it is prime pot pie weather right now as things are getting cooler and rainy around here. So, warm stews, casseroles and comfort foods are definitely things I'm hungry for -- and I think these foods are one of the reasons that fall is my favorite season ever. Well, that and football. And the leaves turning colors. And the sweaters, jackets and jeans that we get to wear again (I'm not a big fan of summer clothes).

So -- back to the spinach issue -- be warned. Don't buy the pre-bagged, washed spinach unless you want to potentially subject yourself to diarrhea, bloody stool and--worst case--kidney failure and death. And, if you have already eaten it (as Gabe and I have, and our poor dinner guest, Kelly), keep an eye on yourself! Washing the spinach before you eat it won't even help as the E. Coli is apparently so attached to the spinach. So much for trying to be all healthy and finding a way to conveniently eat your dark, leafy greens. Good thing Popeye keeps to the canned stuff -- he would be one sick sailor if he was into the pre-bagged, fresh spinach right now.

High-Fives for the Sweet Hook-Ups

Today, M-L invited me along with her to a Mariners game. She recently started her new job at Nintendo (Congratulations, M-L!), and her manager offered her his seats for the Mariners' Sunday game against the Texas Rangers. Now, for those of you who don't know, the president of Nintendo is a primary owner of the Mariners organization, so both M-L and I were fairly confident that the seats would be pretty good. But, whoa, we had no idea HOW good these seats were going to be.

M-L and I hadn't caught up for quite awhile, so we were yammering away while we were walking to our seats, found the section, and started walking down to the appropriate row. Where did we end up, you may wonder? IN THE FIRST ROW DIRECTLY BEHIND THE MARINERS' DUGOUT. M-L and I were sitting directly behind where the players walked out of the dugout to go to the warm-up circle before their at-bat and behind Mike Hargrove (the Mariners' manager) as he was standing up on the dugout fence. Talk about primo seats. What a very cool experience! Although M-L and I continued to yammer throughout most of the game and pay attention to what was going on with half an eye and ear, it was still very cool to be that close to the players and to get that perspective of the field.

So, thanks to M-L for the invitation and for the sweet hook-ups on the tickets! Although the Mariners didn't win, it was still a great way to spend a sunny Seattle Sunday afternoon. I would have added in a photo of our location to give you all a better idea of what I'm talking about, but, well, I'm still sans camera phone (and didn't think to bring a regular camera to a "run-of-the-mill" Mariners game). Maybe next time. In the meantime, if you ever watch highlights of any Mariners' games at Safeco Field in Seattle, take a look at the first row behind the Mariners dugout. That was me. Section 124, Row 5, Seat 12.

I wonder if M-L and I'll be on TV tonight?

T-Minus 3 Months Until Junior's Arrival

According to the doctor, Junior Sandholm should show up exactly three months from today, on December 10. It's crazy to think that he will be here so soon! Gabe and I have started to get in gear and have begun preparing for his arrival by finally getting our registry going (it's at www.babiesrus.com if you are interested in checking it out); thinking seriously about what names are going to make the short-list; and signing up for pretty much every baby class the hospital offers. Starting in October, I swear we are going to have at least one, if not two, classes a week! From the birthing class to the newborn care class to the infant safety class to the breastfeeding class -- I think we're going to be (hopefully) well-educated when this wee one joins the world! I'm also hoping that all the classes means I have to read less books. The books are fine, but lord, can they be boring. It's like reading an encyclopedia sometimes with some of these pregnancy texts!

This past week has flown by with Gabe and me getting back into the swing of things after being gone for a week on vacation. Catching up at work, catching up on chores around the house, Gabe catching up with coursework for his MBA class, college football starting, professional football starting...it's been a busy few days! Each of these can be blog posts in and of themselves (For instance, did anybody else find the Iowa v. Syracuse game very hard to watch?! Good lord...), and maybe I'll get to them later this week. However, right now I have babies on the brain, and still am getting used to the fact that in three months, there will be three Sandholm's who live at Sandholm Ranch, not two. Well, and two cats. We can't forget Jack and Jinxie. Exciting times!

Top Reasons to Vacation in Central Oregon

Here is Gabe and me at Crater Lake. This was an awesome thing to see -- we didn't hike down to the lake to take the ranger-guided boat tour of the lake (the only boats allowed on the entire thing), but we did drive around the rim of the lake, took photos and had dessert at the Crater Rim Lodge. It was absolutely beautiful!

In addition to going to Crater Lake, we went fishing at East Lake in the Newberry Volcanic Monument, but we didn't catch anything. Apparently they had just stocked it the day before with 2500 trout, but none of them were interested in our worms or corn. Oh, well. It was still nice to sit by the lake, even if nothing was biting! But, it would have been nice to have gotten at least a little nibble from something. Maybe next time.

After we got done fishing, we drove to the top of Paulina Peak, a 7,000 ft. or so peak that we had to drive up on a one lane, steep drop-off to the side gravel road to reach the top. Not a super fun drive up the peak, but it was very pretty once we were up there! Good views of Mt. Bachelor, the Three Sisters and Broken Top mountains, in addition to Paulina Lake and East Lake. Very pretty.

Gabe and I also rented bikes in Sun River one day and rode around the trails there. Sun River has a great, paved trail system that takes you from the shopping area, through the resort area, meandering down by the river and through the golf courses. It was a nice, flat ride and LOTS of fun. I now want a cruiser bike! They are very comfortable to ride.

And, finally, we spent a lot of time at our cabin -- it was very cute, although the beds were VERY uncomfortable. Gabe and I ended up sleeping on the futon in the loft for most of our nights there because it was the most comfortable mattress in the place. Other than that, though, the cabin was great -- huge fireplace (which we actually got to use!), good kitchen and DirecTV when we didn't feel like doing anything in the evenings but watching some TV. We also went to Bend quite a few times -- their downtown is really nice, and we had great food at The Pine Tavern, El Jimador and the McMennamin's Old St. Francis School. We also caught up with our buddy AnneMarie in Redmond where we had dinner at the Kayo Steakhouse and ate ourselves absolutely silly with the peanuts (whose shells we threw on the floor), gigantic sampler platter and steak dinners (or in Gabe's case, the French Dip sandwich).

So, this leads me to the top reasons to vacation in Central Oregon:

• No sales tax. Everything costs as-marked!
• You are not allowed to pump your own gas. The little gas attendant guy has to do it, by law.
• The weather--no humidity! It's really warm and sunny during the day, but cool enough to require jackets in the evening.
• The stars. You can see TONS of them there.
• The people. The people that live in Bend and Sun River seem quite nice, although some of the other tourist-y types can be a little annoying.
• Gorgeous landscape. There are mountains, river, old lava (now obsidian) flows, lots of pine trees and pretty lakes.

We got back home around 6:30 PM on Saturday night and have just been spending the last couple of days hanging out at home, watching football, doing laundry and trying not to think about having to go back to work tomorrow! If you would like to see more of our photos from this trip, click here.

The Sandholm's: 25 Weeks Pregnant

Well, here we are -- the Sandholm's at 25 weeks pregnant. Although, with the size of my stomach, you would think that I would be ready to deliver any day now, but no. There are still 15 weeks or approximately three months left to go before Junior makes his way into the world. Yikes.

And, no -- Gabe isn't with child. He's just being very nice and agreeing to have his profile photo taken as well so I don't have to do it alone.

We'll see if we can handle making this a regular update now as I'm only going to get bigger from here on out! Everyone can enjoy a good laugh at the pregnant lady's expense, and I hate to keep that opportunity away from you all. :)

Sandholm Vacation

On Sunday, Gabe and I leave for a week-long vacation in a cabin on the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon. This is our first vacation on our own since our honeymoon almost four years ago, and we're really looking forward to having a mellow week checking out the central Oregon area with Sun River, Bend, Mt. Bachelor and whatever else there is to see. We're also going to see if we can try our hand at some fishing, golfing, and maybe some canoeing. As you can tell, we don't have a hard and fast itinerary set -- we're going to play it more by ear and see what we find to do while we're there. And, the good news is, if we really like it and didn't get to do all the things we wanted to do, we live close enough where we can try again at another time!

I leave tomorrow morning for another two days in Portland. This time I'm driving rather than flying, but I did still have to go to the airport tonight to pick up the rental car that I'm going to drive down tomorrow morning and back on Friday night. I'm not looking forward to the three-hour trip each way, but still is better than having to check my one bag for an overnight trip and deal with the lines and hassles at the airport! Should be a quick trip -- going down for a team offsite tomorrow and then to hang out with some colleagues on Friday in the Portland office. And then, vacation! WOO!

Gabe is currently working on a 18-20 page paper for his Compensation class at the kitchen table. I'm so glad I don't have to write papers, take mid-terms or do finals anymore! Maybe if that was ALL I had to do, it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm entirely too lazy to go to work, study, take tests and write papers at the same time. There are magazines to be read, TV to be watched and people to be talked to every now and again! I guess I wasted all of my academic drive and motivation during my 16 years of school. Gabe, on the other hand, has gotten three different human resources certifications and is -- what did he say...5/16 maybe? -- finished with his MBA. He's been quite busy since he got his bachelor's degree!

Speaking of TV and magazines, I think I might go check out what's on. The Yankees are in town playing the Mariners, so I'm sure I could check that game out. I can't wait for fall TV to start again, and -- of course -- football season! The Hennessey's came over on Sunday night for dinner and to watch the Seahawks pre-season game. Although the Seahawks didn't win, I still love football in general, and Gabe bestowed Alistair with the "Super Fan Award" as he came fully decked out in a Seahawks onesie and Seahawks bib. If it were a Miami Dolphins game, I'm sure Gabe would put up a mean competition for the "Super Fan" billing with all of the Miami Dolphins jerseys, t-shirts and sweathshirts he owns. Although he doesn't have a Miami Dolphins onesie. Now, that would be a sight to see -- Gabe in a Miami Dolphins onesie. Nice.

The Churchies

When turning on our two-block long, dead-end street, drivers are greeted on their left side with a sizeable, sturdy, one-story, windowless brick building that is surrounded by a parking lot and a driveway blocked off by a waist-high chain link fence. There are no signs or markers as to what this building may be. When we first moved to the street, I thought that maybe it was a minimum-security halfway house, or maybe a really depressing community center. However, there weren’t any police cars, vans or other vehicles around to help identify what might be going on at this building.

So, I began doing what any nosy neighbor would do – I started quizzing our neighbors about what the story was behind that building. Our neighbors let us know that it’s actually a church, but the only way one can attend that church is to be born into it or married into the family who attends. Also, the houses all around the church belong to church members, and apparently some members of the church had gone up and down our street some years back offering to buy up everyone’s house so that all of the church members could live together. Nobody really took them up on that offer, so they apparently have had to make do with the three or so houses they own around their brick fortress.

After living on the street, we started to see the type of people that actually attend this church. They are an interesting group of people who all show up to church during random days of the week (I still haven’t figured out a pattern to their arrival – they aren’t even there every Sunday) in their Audis, Volkswagens, Volvos and vans full of people. All of the women where skirts, have long hair and head kerchiefs; all of the men are wearing dress pants or khakis, white button-down shirts, are clean shaven, and typically carrying around Bibles. Gabe and I play guessing games as to what their faith might be. Are they some sort of Mennonite? A Mormon cult? After watching Big Love and reading Under the Banner of Heaven, I have to say I lean toward them being part of a splinter sect of the Mormon faith, but – although there are lots of women and children running around – there are also quite a few men, and I can’t yet tell if the man-to-woman ratio is greatly skewed to provide one man many wives or not. That will require some additional observation.

Anyways, all of that background is to say that Gabe and I almost ran us over a TON of Churchies this morning. There was a Starline tour bus parked at the end of our street, and there was – I don’t know, maybe 100? – Churchies carrying their suitcases and looking excited to be going on some sort of pilgrimage to somewhere. And, these people are COMPLETELY OBLIVIOUS that we are coming down the street – or, they really didn’t care – and they are all lining up in the middle of the street in their church clothes, happy as clams, excited and not at all aware that anyone else lives on this street who may need to be driving down it to get to work. Thank goodness for the bus driver (a non-Churchie) – he shut his bus door so that no one could board with the hopes that the people would get out of the way so we could drive through. However, those damn Churchies stayed standing in the middle of the street, just chatting and not even making an effort to move. Gabe and I were about ten feet away from them at a dead stop in the Jeep, just staring at them incredulously. Realizing they were making absolutely no effort to get out of the way, we inched forward. Slowly running them over or gently ramming them out of the way seemed more polite than honking at this point – plus it was 7:30 AM, so no need to honk and wake up the non-Churchie neighbors – and they finally parted and got out of our way. Maybe they were really working for the whole “Moses and the Red Sea” effect on purpose? Regardless, it was annoying, and I didn’t feel we needed to be a part of the bon voyage scene for whatever little trip they were about to take.

And, that’s one look at the life on our street with the Churchies. I’m sure they are nice people, but until they learn to get out of the middle of the road, they definitely get a top spot on my “annoying neighbors” list. And weird neighbors list, too.

Update: Gabe, Chicago and a Hot Dog Guy

Gabe just got a text message from Saupe. FHM Magazine got back to him and said that Gabe's photo with Hot Dog Guy will be in the magazine if they can figure out how to increase the photo resolution. The one downfall of camera phones -- they don't always produce high-resolution photos appropriate for print publications. We'll keep you all updated as to how things progress! Freaking hilarous to think that the Gabe and Hot Dog Guy photo may be in a national men's magazine.

Birthday Parties, Mid-Terms, Work (Work?!) & BBQs

This past weekend was a fun and relaxing one for one Sandholm (Ranae), and a busy one for the other (Gabe). We had a great time on Saturday in Mill Creek celebrating our friend Mara-Lisa’s birthday at her sister and brother-in-law’s (Jeff & Meghan’s) house. We managed to eat ourselves silly with grilled chicken, salmon, salad, s’mores and birthday cake. There was a rousing game of croquet played on Jeff & Meghan’s beautiful green backyard (Green grass is an anomaly in Seattle in the summer…every yard here is brown and dead-looking unless people are REALLY good about watering it. The cheap bastards like Gabe and me just put up with having a dead, brown yard until the fall rains green it all up again.). After the croquet and eating ourselves silly portions of the evening, we then partook in a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament where seven of us paid our $10 to have Jeff ultimately win the tournament in a very exciting last hand of the night where he beat Gabe with the LAST CARD put on the table (the “River” card). So, Gabe won $20, which was great in that it sent us home without losing anything!

On Sunday, Gabe had a 10 AM mid-term to take for his current MBA class, and then he went into work until 5 PM. It’s always hard to catch up with work when you have to travel for a week, and Gabe is feeling the pain, for sure. Combine that with colleague vacations and whatnot, it means he’s pretty busy right now. I managed to do some laundry, clean the bathroom and get in a nap (very busy Sunday for me :)), and when Gabe came home we went over to Mike and Sarah Popelka’s to help them “Eat the Beef.” As Sarah said, it’s similar to college when you have a kegger and then need to call people over the next day to help you kill the keg…in this case, it was to eat the leftover food from their barbecue the previous day. So, Gabe, Kevin, Laura and I all went over and helped to eat up the hamburgers, brats, chips and potato salad that were left. Gabe invented a new sandwich that he dubbed the “Barnyard Special”; it consists of a hamburger, topped with cheese, topped with a bratwurst sliced down the middle and capped off with ketchup and mustard. Kevin was quite impressed by this invention and made one of his own. Apparently it was pretty good – feel free to try one at home if you are feeling iron, fat and protein deficient!

Oh, and Christian and Claire were at the Popelka’s, too, but they stuck to drinking from their bottles. Although, Gabe did feed Christian and then have Christian proceed to projectile vomit all over him pretty much everything he had eaten. That was pretty funny. Always good times with the wee ones – never know if and when you will be puked or pooped on. Or smiled at, for that matter. I much prefer the smiling.

Monday has been a bit of a zoo for both Gabe and me at work today, but my day has wound down a bit sooner than Gabe’s. Looking forward to going home, having dinner and just relaxing a bit. There is TiVo’d Miami Dolphins pre-season football to watch! It’s very exciting that football season is almost here. I can’t wait until the Hawkeyes start – three more weeks until the Iowans will begin their tailgating and get to enjoy the newly remodeled Kinnick Stadium. Wish we could go to a game, but we’ll just have to take comfort in watching them at home. Thank goodness for the ESPN College GamePlan.

Monday, Monday

Gabe made it safely home last night from his week-long tour of the Midwest visiting friends and his various work offices in Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis. I picked him up from the airport, and when we got home, Gabe got out of the car and said, "I hear something hissing." I said, "Maybe it's the air conditioner winding down." He said, "It sounds more like a tire losing air. Oh, well -- we'll check it in the morning." That sounded good to me, and we left it at that.

So, this morning rolls around, and boy, was it hard to get up. We amble our way out of the house around 7:45 AM or so (approximately 30 - 45 minutes later than when we really SHOULD leave), get in the Jeep, start it up, and then realize that the Jeep is tilting quite dramatically toward the front passenger side. At that point, we remember there was potential for a flat tire this morning, and -- sure enough! -- that's what we had. Our poor little Jeep has its entire weight resting on the rim of the front passenger side wheel. Thank goodness the Jeep has a full-sized spare (which we've never had to use until today), and I graciously offered to call AAA to come and change the tire (aren't I helpful? :) ), but Gabe noted that he knows how to change a tire and can handle it just fine.

After taking out the REALLY crappy jack from the Jeep, finding the lock nut remover piece to get the spare tire off of the back, figuring out how to put the jack together, loosening the lug nuts on the flat tire, putting a block beneath the jack, beginning to wind the jack up, realize it is tilting quite a bit and not looking super sturdy, getting the flat tire up off the ground, taking it off, putting the spare in front of the hub, realizing that the Jeep isn't high enough to get the spare tire on but the jack won't GO any higher, putting the flat tire back on, lowering the jack and Jeep, putting ANOTHER block under the jack to get the Jeep higher, RE-winding the jack up (this time high enough to get the new tire on), taking the flat tire off AGAIN, lining up the spare tire, putting the spare tire on, lowering the jack, tightening the lug nuts, and putting the flat tire on the back of the Jeep -- we were done. Well, I should say Gabe was done. I just did a lot of standing around for moral support. And to watch the jack should it look any more precarious or wobbly than it did. Very important.

At this point, Gabe was sweating buckets, so a re-shower and change of clothes were in order. Oh, and I did I mention that the spare tire was only at 16 psi, when it should be at 33 psi? We didn't really think our bike pump had the oompf to make up the deficit, so we ran to the Safeway gas station where Gabe filled the tire up with air and I ran into the grocery store and got Gabe a Nesquik strawberry milkshake and myself a latte from the Starbucks. All in all, we still made it to work around 9:30 AM -- only an hour to 90 minutes later than we really should have been there. And, we got some yummy beverages out of the deal. So, not a super bad situation. Oh, and Gabe took the flat tire to Discount Tire to be repaired, and they fixed it for free! Again, not such a bad deal. Just a little bit later start to our Monday. Thank god neither of us had meetings that we needed to get to first thing today!

Ranae & Portland

I got back from Portland last night after a quick trip down there. I left on Thursday morning on an 8 AM flight (which, of course was delayed by about a half an hour), got into Portland, picked up my rental car and made it into the office about 30 minutes late for the client meeting I went down there for. The good news is that I wasn't an imperative participant to this meeting, but I always feel a little sheepish when I walk into a client meeting late. Oh, well. These clients are nice people and didn't seem to really mind one bit.

This is the first time I've ever gotten my own rental car when traveling for work; I try to avoid it whenever possible and just take cabs (or town cars if I'm hosting clients on the road) because I am VERY directionally challenged. One pleasant surprise I had when I got into the burgundy Ford Taurus that was to be my rental car in Portland was that it had a GPS navigation system sitting in it, ironically called "Hertz NeverLost." Hmm. Right. We'll see about this "NeverLost" business. I was still very excited to use it, though, because I thought what would be better than having both the written directions and the navigation system to help me get where I want to go? I got from the airport to the office fine, got from the office to my hotel fine (the hotel was literally across the street -- if I messed that one up I was in more trouble than I thought), but I struggled getting from the hotel to downtown Portland for the client dinner on Thursday night.

First, I missed the freeway exit by the hotel -- which really should be hard to miss, but I managed to do it; I then found a way to get on the freeway, traffic was VERY thick, I exited into downtown Portland and then found out that the road both my print directions and GPS wanted me to take was closed for construction. At this rate, I'm already 5 minutes late for the dinner at the Portland City Grill, and I still really have no idea if I'm anywhere near it or not. So, I went over a bridge across the Willamette River -- which is the exact opposite direction of where I needed to be -- made a U-turn, called my colleague who I was meeting with the clients at the dinner to assure her I was still coming but just lost, and then the GPS lady (it was a woman's voice that kept directing me from the GPS unit) worked on recalculating the route, and -- with some guessing and luck -- I found the place, but again about 20 to 30 minutes late. Oh, well. The views of Portland from the restaurant were great, the food was really good, and I got creme brulee for dessert. I LOVE creme brulee. Yum.

After dinner I got lost trying to meet up with some friends for First Thursday in Portland's Pearl District (the GPS was basically worthless to me in this adventure). But, I found them at the Tiger Bar and we went across the street to one of their boyfriend's gallery showings. He's a cartoonist, artist and the comic strip writer of Too Much Coffee Man, and I felt very hip and trendy to be in this tiny, one-room comic gallery with his sketches on the wall, dyed-hair and tatooed hipsters wearing black and piercings milling about, and two cats who just roamed the place amongst all the people. Good news was that all of this was a walking experience, so no reason for me to get lost this time.

Then -- later when I was trying to get back to the hotel -- I got going the exact opposite direction on the freeway from where I needed to go. But, I just exited at the first exit, turned around, and got going the right way again. So, the bad news is that it took me much longer to get places than it should have while I was in Portland (and when I was trying to get back to the hotel I was really tired at that rate); the good news is that at least I know I am really bad with directions and expect to get lost, so I don't lose my patience once it does happen. I just need to learn to pad my travel times a bit better so I stop being LATE to everything. Or, just take a cab.

Latest Dispatch: Gabe on the Road

So, Gabe just landed at the Minneapolis airport and gave me a call to report a sight that he had never seen before...he just saw an eleven- or twelve-year-old girl at the airport with TWO HEADS. No joke -- completely serious. One girl body, two heads. Two faces. Gabe and I were discussing -- do you think she's one girl with two heads, or two girls with one body? Do you think each head is a totally different person with a different personality, or do you think that it is one girl who is governed by one brain but just happens to have an extra head on her shoulders? Gabe said she was with people, looked happy and like any normal person being greeted at the airport and getting hugs from the people who picked her up. So, that's good news -- even with two heads, she's a happy pre-teen. More than one can say for most normal pre-teenagers, I'm sure.

We have no photo evidence of this as Gabe doesn't have a camera phone (and plus, that would just be super rude -- she's a girl, not a freakshow), but just wanted to share with you the latest unusual sightings that Gabe has encountered while on the road this week. First, Hot Dog Guy, now, Girl with Two Heads. Wow.

Gabe, Chicago and a Hot Dog Guy

Gabe and Saupe encountered a Hot Dog Guy on their way out of Wrigley Field today...the guy is kinda little though, so maybe he's more of a Weiner Wink rather than a Hot Dog? You be the judge.

Oh, and props to random "thumbs-up-wearing-my-wifebeater-so-that-makes-me cool" guy. Gabe mentioned that there is a column in FHM magazine that talks about picture spoilers or all those random people that manage to get themselves into photos that aren't their photos, and he and Saupe submitted this one to the magazine to see if it will make it in. So, keep an eye out for future issues of FHM...you may see this exact photo of Gabe and Hot Dog Guy in that column. ;)

Weekend Update

Gabe made it safely to Chicago yesterday to begin his week-long work trip in the Midwest. I chatted with him this afternoon, and sounds like he's having a good time with Saupe, ordered in some good Chicago-style pizza from Giordano's and caught the Cubs vs. Cardinals game this afternoon at Wrigley Field. Not a bad way to spend a weekend, I'd say! Tomorrow he is at his company's Chicagoland office, then takes off tomorrow night for Detroit. He's in Detroit until Wednesday, and then that night he is off to Minneapolis where he will have more work-related things to do but will also be able to catch up with his buddies that live there and also drive over to Fargo for the weekend to hang out with C.J. Work trips that you can combine with fun things are the best -- especially when they are a week long, and you can get your employer to pay for the airfare. :) But, it will be nice to have Gabe home again, that's for sure!

I've been pretty domestic and lazy this weekend...I went to the grocery store yesterday to get things for the week, and it was our Safeway's "grand re-opening" celebration, which was a pain in the ass to say the least. The store has been remodeled and looks really nice, but I didn't make it to the grocery store early enough to beat the weekend -- let alone the "re-opening" -- crowd, and I had to jockey my cart through the aisles of people who had all their carts sitting in the middle of nowhere while they were off trying the many free samples that were available. I also think it must have been social security check day or something (do those come at the end of the month?), because there also were a ton of little old grannies and grandpas randomly stopped in the middle of the aisles, flipping through their coupon books and comparing what they had coupons for with what was on the shelves. I personally have nothing against the grannies, grandpas and their bargain shopping, but if they could learn to hug the side of the aisle instead of take up the middle, that would be just super. Or, I could just stop going to the grocery store on a Saturday morning and not have to worry about it. :)

But, one interesting thing that did happen while I was at the Safeway -- I also stopped by the Starbucks in the store on the way out and got a double, tall, half-caf, non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte (yes, I do say all those things when I order), and with that one coffee I scored a free DVD player as part of the "grand re-opening" promotion for the day. Oh, and I also got 10% of our entire grocery bill by shopping during the re-opening. So, all-in-all, not a bad little trip, despite all the poor grocery cart etiquette people.

I've spent the rest of the weekend being a domestic homebody. I made this awesome Lentil Soup with Beef that I saw Giada what's-her-face make on the Food Network's "Everyday Italian" program, and it was awesome! It was a good weekend to make it -- it feels very nice and fall-like here, and Gabe already let me know that he takes an anti-lentil soup stance, so he wouldn't have helped me to eat it, anyways. So, I've got about four Rubbermaids worth of soup in the freezer and one in the fridge, and I've already eaten three meals from it. So, if anyone wants some soup, let me know! Happy to bring a frozen bowl to you (but I won't ship it, you can probably just make your own).

I have to travel down to Portland later this week for a night or two; I'll have to figure out for sure how long I need to be there when I get into the office tomorrow. So, the cats are going to have to fend for themselves for a couple of days. It's so nice that cats are so independent -- all you have to do is make sure they have a clean litterbox before you leave and enough food and water for the time you'll be away, and they are set to go. Granted, that only works for two-to-three days max as after that point they will need someone to come in and clean their litterbox and feed them again, but is still a nice perk to choosing cats as pets!

Off to go finish up the weekend with some news watching, lunch preparing and maybe watch another movie I rented. I wish weekends were longer. :)

RAGBRAI Week in Iowa

Well, not much has happened here in Seattle the past week...it has finally begun to cool off (YAHOO!), and the 90s we experienced last weekend will be replaced by highs in the mid-60s this weekend. I have to admit, I'm looking forward to the cooling trend and the fact I may even have to wear a sweatshirt or a fleece item, which is the preferred sweatshirt-type staple of many a Northwesterner.

However, as quiet as things are on Sandholm Ranch this week, it sounds like things are hopping in Iowa this week with RAGBRAI! It looks like a fun year to do the race, what with the regular parties and beer drinking, along with the added notoriety of Lance Armstrong participating for a couple of days as he stumps for greater cancer awareness in advance of all of the presidential hopefuls making their way to Iowa for the 2008 election. I like to read the RAGBRAI news coverage every year, and it always makes me wish that Gabe and I would have got ourselves in gear to do the ride.

Gabe has participated in the past with his buddies as the support vehicle driver for "Team Hasselhoff," and it sounds like he had a great time doing that -- and everyone on the ride sounds like a great group of people to have fun with for a week. But, the main sticking point is that it would require an almost two week vacation in order to get to Iowa, do the race, hang out with family a bit, and then get back to Seattle...but, I still think it would be a fun thing to put on the to-do list! Maybe next year. We can put the Wee Sandholm in one of those little kid bike trailers so he can enjoy the ride, and I'm sure there may be a grandparent, cousin or aunt or uncle who may be willing to be part of the "support crew," which would include taking care of the little one in case riding in a little kid bike trailer proved to be too hot, too long or too boring of a thing to do all day. Maybe someone needs to buy a nice motorhome or camping trailer in advance of RAGBRAI next year for us all to sleep in -- air conditioning and showers required. Now, that would be nice. :)

I love a parade!

Yesterday was the annual West Seattle parade down California Avenue SW, and Mike, Sarah, Claire, Gabe and I took our camping chairs and a cooler with some drinks and snacks up to the route, found a shady spot to park ourselves, and watched the festivities. It has been REALLY hot here in Seattle (it reached 95 yesterday and was a bit humid, made even worse by the fact that nobody has air-conditioning here because it is very rarely so hot!). But, we were lucky yesterday morning and afternoon to be under cloudy skies for the parade, so it wasn't so bad.

This parade isn't like the typical Iowa parade that I'm used to...there are no tractors, combines, big farm implements or horses in this parade. And this parade has some other things that the Iowa parades I went to never had:

• various drill teams with names like "The Dangerettes, " "The Dolls," and their group of littler girls, called "The Baby Dolls" who do step routines at as they march down the route in their cowboy boots while getting spritzed with water by their moms and coaches to help them stay cool
• the Chinese drill team with the girls decked out in their long, red silk and gold robes, wearing big head pieces and pulling a big drum and other percussion instruments to keep the beat
• the Seafair Pirates with their boat on wheels walking down the parade route scaring the children with their big swords and warning people with babies and dogs as to when they will be shooting the cannon off on their ship (which is REALLY loud!)
• the motorcycle drill teams from both the Seattle Police Department and the Vancouver, B.C. Police Department weaving in and out of each other and zooming around on their Harley Davidsons with the sirens blaring

But there are definitely similarities to the Iowa parades I've been to as well -- there are the floats, marching bands, fire trucks, Cub Scouts and pretty girls sitting in convertibles and waving because they were nominated for or had won various pageants.

This is the third time that Gabe and I have gone to this parade; we started going when we lived in our apartment that was one block off of the parade route. We found out about the parade by accident when one Saturday at around 10 AM or so, I woke up to hearing someone speak over a loudspeaker. I immediately thought for some reason, "Hey, I bet it's a parade!" And, I woke Gabe up, we took our lawn chairs about 50 feet away to the street through the alley behind our apartment building and watched it. We missed the parade the past couple of years since we moved to our house (I always started wondering about the parade and looked into it after it had already happened), but it was great to check it out again this year and have a nice, relaxing way to spend an afternoon. And, we got to be part of Claire's first ever parade experience! :)