3 years and 6 months!

Even though she's closer to 3 yrs. 7 mos., we lost a month back there. Once the new baby arrives, we likely won't have time to update every month, but we'll try.

Overall, these are magical days, the kind of long summer days that are filled with butterflies and blueberries, picnics and painting. This summer is especially bittersweet since it will be our last as a fearsome threesome, but we're all excited to welcome baby Sammy into the family. (I am sincerely hoping that he will be as easy as Olivia was--not to compare or anything--but I loved the summer when she was a baby and we lounged around the yard listening to music.)

So, Olivia is quite the character. It's become apparent that she is very expressive in what she wears and what she likes. For instance, the other day, I was in the kitchen making dinner and when I came out to check on her, I found her like this:

To wit, please notice the water wings, goggles, and weird robot game on the iPad. I love that she's got her own thing going on.

She also really loves painting and drawing. Much to my chagrin (and for cleanliness sake, only, not because I want to limit her artistic impulses) but Chris buys her a constant supply of washable markers. Crayons just will not do, evidently. But she uses her washable pens to reenact the entire "Harold and the Purple Crayon" story. It's pretty amazing how she has memorized that story, and I mean the whole story which she can recite.

Here she is next to one of her paintings yesterday:

Another favorite thing to draw is faces and their many expressions. Here's a whole dry erase board full of faces:

One of her favorite games is "Mamma and Baby" and I love when I get to be the baby because then I can nod off. But usually, her babies are her stuffed animals that are tenderly put to bed, this time under comforting but ill-sized wet wipes:

Of course, Olivia loves to "read" and knows a few books by heart, especially "Monster At the End of This Book," and "Llama Llama, Mad at Mama" which she's reading here:

Such amazing days and many more to come!

What's the Fourth of July without a firearm?

Completely un-PC photo of Olivia at Oaks Park last night. We tried to make it until the fireworks but everyone was too tired. Olivia and Chris went on at least five rides, though. Next year we will see fireworks if it kills all of us..

Our Eastern Oregon Adventure

Here are some of my pics from our trip to E. Oregon. Chris has some great ones on his iPhone, but I'll let him post them. But first, here's a map of where we went (G: starting point from home, B: Mitchell; C: Fossil; D: Ritter; E: Pendleton; F: Maryhill and Stonehenge in Washington.)

First stop: Mitchell, OR, only a few miles from the Painted Hills, but another world altogether. Here's a pic of one of the many crumbling businesses on Main Street:



Out at the Painted Hills:



An awesome swimming hole on the John Day near the Painted Hills:



Nature baby testing the waters:

Down the street from our cottage in Mitchell:



On the porch of the cottage:



Public art in Fossil:



Chris and Olivia digging for fossils behind the Fossil High School. We found some pretty neat fossilized things in rocks:



At the Ritter Springs Hotel. This was an incredible place. A former stagecoach stop from the turn of the 20th Century, out in the middle of NOWHERE and with no one really in charge when we were there. Payments for swimming in the hot springs-fed pool as well as overnight stays in the rooms are made by plopping cash in a box in the general store:



We started out in a room that was a little too hobo for my taste (we ended up renting the big cabin for $80/night) though it had a very cute exterior with a clothesline to hang our wet swimsuits:



The exterior of the general store that doesn't actually sell anything but ice and soda:

Inside the general store:



Olivia considering her next dance move:

Oh, there it is:

Moments before Olivia kicked her sparkly Sketchers into the John Day River. We had a hard time explaining to her that they were gone. Really gone.



After Ritter, we spent two days in Pendleton.

Our $99 view out the window of the Pendleton Red Lion!:



And of course, we did some shopping:



Chris, enjoying what he deemed "the best steak ever" at Hamley Steakhouse:



On the road again to the Stonehenge memorial near Maryhill on the Washington side of the Gorge:



It was really windy there:



So much fun, it was almost hard to come home. Almost.

Along the John Day River

Here are some pictures from our week-long trek through central and eastern Oregon.  These are from the Painted Hills, part of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument near Mitchell, Oregon.  As you can see from this picture, hot and dry are major themes of this trip and everyone has done surprisingly well under the circumstances.   Alisa being so far along with the baby and Olivia being, well, three. Of course, along with the sun comes swimming pools, which Olivia can not get enough of.  

Baby Preparation: T-Minus 9 Weeks

So, this is the sum total of our baby preparation at this point. A changing table and two baskets of clothes for newborn. Well, one basket has clothes and the other has a variety of hats. For some reason, we have lots of hats from when Olivia was a baby. I'm glad that we've gotten this far because now we know that we need more clothes than just three onesies for the little guy. We do have other necessities at the ready, for instance the infant car seat Chris pulled out of the garage, but other decisions we've put off: do we want a bedside-sleeper or a mini crib? A single or double breast pump? (Not coincidentally, these are the big ticket items that we're leaving to the last minute...)

Then again, I think placing the changing table in our room is a big deal for us, psychologically speaking. It says, "This shit's for real!"

(Me, at 30 weeks.)

3 Years and 5 Months

A couple days late, but here's the latest update on Olivia.  

Has there ever been a little girls so in love with dresses?  The first thing Olivia says when she gets out of bed is "I need a dress."  She toddles bleary-eyed to the closet and tugs on her favorite.  She must have her dress before the day can proceed.  

So many dresses, so much pink, so many magic wands.  Considering myself a liberal-minded father who tries to beware of  gender bias and all, I wanted to avoid placing too much emphasis on such girly things.  But what are you gonna do.  The kid likes pink.  She loves her dresses.  I'm not about to force a pair of overalls on her in the name of gender equality.  Let her be what she is and love what she loves.  

I suppose my role is to make sure she has exposure to as many things as possible, without coloring too many things as "bad" or "yucky."  I take it as a point of pride that Olivia can pick up an earthworm without getting squeamish.  That she loves to run an jump.  She's told me a few times that her favorite color is black.  I can't wait to see if that sticks.

26 Weeks Preggers

At the photo shoot for work...The balloons just seemed appropriate for my "condition"....