Pregnancy? Piece of cake....

Talk to any woman that's been pregnant - or a man that's been around a pregnant woman, for that matter - and you'll hear stories upon stories about morning sickness, swollen ankles, endless cravings, and worse.  For those of you with first hand knowledge of things of that sort, don't hate Sara, but she has no idea about any of that.  Even when she was pregnant with Cameron, she never had any morning sickness.  She was plenty tired and was always hungry, but nothing that couldn't be cured with  an early evening nap and a health snack.

As good as that sounds, it's been even better this time around.  Personally, I think it's because she's in tip top shape, but no matter the reason, this pregnancy has been a breeze.  (relatively speaking) She really wasn't crazy tired, hasn't had to keep a bag of pretzels or grapes especially close by, and has even managed to shave her legs from time to time!  Don't get me wrong, she's at 24 weeks now and is starting to get a little uncomfortable now and again, but overall, things are going well.

Most importantly, TBG (Tiny Baby Green) has been healthy and happy from the word go and is kicking and punching her Mother's stomach from the inside as I type.  She's always had strong heart rates, measures out correctly at every appointment, and seems to be on schedule for early February.  It's coming along fast, but it also can't come soon enough.

heartbeat is as strong as ever!

 15 weeks

19 weeks 

22 weeks

Long Lost Hurley Buddy

Many of you probably remember a few posts ago (but almost two years ago in real people time) when I wrote about the newest 4 legged addition to the Green family, Hurley.  Well, Hurley buddy is a 75 pound goofball that wiggled, licked, chased, and played his way into our heart and we love him like none other.  We really think that he's the perfect dog; he's amazing with Cameron and lets her get away with just about anything, he sets an amazing pace when Sara or I take him on runs (and never gets tired - he ran 10 miles with me last weekend!), he's very well behaved at the dog park, and he's just an all around great dog.

Our typical M.O. when we're at work is to put him out in the garage and he can come and go through the dog door as he pleases into our fenced back yard.  For the last two and a half years, this plan has worked flawlessly until last Tuesday.  I came home from work at around 5, walked into the house, and expected to see him staring at me through the back door.  No Hurley.  Okay, I figured, he must be still in the garage.  I walk over and open the door, but still no Hurley.  The panic started to set in as I realized that we didn't loan him to another family, take him to the dry cleaners, or any number of crazy things that I could think of.  I immediately set out on foot walking through the neighborhood.  I was that guy whistling and shouting up and down the street.

Sara came home from swimming lessons with Cameron and we went into rescue mode.  What had happened to Hurley?  Did he jump the 4' fence that he's never even seemed interested in during all of his years?  Did he dig under the fence - no, only the beagles next door do that when they come into our yard.  Would someone try and steal our buddy?

In any case, all we knew was that he was gone and we were devastated.  I drove around the neighborhood until about 10:30 that night and Sara stayed home with Cameron making up excuses about why Dad wasn't home and hoping that she wouldn't ask about her buddy.  On that note, as far as Cameron knew, Daddy was making the longest trip to the store in the history of Safeway.  Luckily, we never had to break the bad news - not that we could have without losing it anyway.  Our neighbors across the street - whom we really only know enough to say hi in the driveway - even jumped in their car and spent a few hours driving around the hood.

Still no luck and no sign of Hurley so I came home and Sara and I concocted every worse-case scenario that we could come up with.  We finally went to bed and planned a big morning of searching and hopefully rescuing.  There was obviously no sleeping going on (Sara was up at 4 and I was up not long after 5) and we quickly decided that I would go to work and Sara would stay home printing and putting up fliers.  About the time that she spent $80 on non-refundable lost dog fliers at Kinkos, the home phone rang and it was a guy saying that he found Hurley!  Any guesses as to where he found him?

At the DOG PARK!

Looking back on it, we think that Hurley was able to push the bottom of the gate open and he somehow made his way 3.5 miles from home to the dog park.  We typically go there a few times a week so I'm sure that he got far enough away from home to realize that he was lost and found his way to another familiar place.  In any case, a nice couple got our phone number off of his tags and gave us a call.

Sara went to pick him up and he came home and slept for about 36 hours straight.  We were a little concerned because he wasn't eating or drinking for the first day and a half that he was home.  We took him into the vet and received a clean, albeit worn out and a little banged up and bruised, bill of health.  Three out of four of his paws were pretty torn up and one of his back "ankles" was a little swollen, but he's on the mend.  He's getting back to his old ways and I think I may even take him for a run tomorrow.

We'll never know exactly what happened to him (it's not that we didn't ask, but he's a dog and can't talk) but we're happy to have him home.  Maybe next time it will be one of the cats that goes missing.  (just kidding)

It's a......

Girl!  Based on all of the "old wives tales" that we had ever heard of regarding pregnancy, babies, and pregnant babies (Wait....what?) this little Green was supposed to be a boy.  The heart rate was always on the slow side, (but still completely healthy) Sara was feeling very different from last time, and even that palm reading and needle-on-a-string test (that was really a shoe lace with no needle) that our new friend Patricia did for both of us all pointed to a "Jesse Jr."

Now, don't get me wrong; I know plenty of old wives that know lots of things, but apparently determining the sex of a wee one in the womb is not one of them.  Although to be fair, that needle test was performed on the back of a boat bobbing around in Lake Washington so take that for what it's worth.  I'm sure it would have been completely accurate if we were on dry land.

In any case, we couldn't be more excited to have another girl and for Cameron to have a little sister.  She's very excited to teach her how to do all sorts of girly things and share her favorite toys....we'll see how long that lasts.  We often ask Cameron what we should name the new baby and she kept telling us "Cameron" for a while and now she's moved on to the names of some of her friends at school.  "Cora" is the latest one and while I'm a sucker for old-fashioned names, "Cora" brings up too many memories of a certain former Mariner's second baseman that I was never too fond of.  Back to the drawing board, I guess.

One of my favorite things that Lesley (Sara's Mom) has told me that Sara said when she was little happened not long after Sara's little Sister Kristen came home from the hospital.  Kristen was particularly fussy and Sara turned to her Mom and said, "Mom, how long do we have to keep this baby anyway?"  I imagine that we'll get a similar reaction around here.

 This is looking up at her baby bottom and her left leg straight out in front of her.

 10 tiny baby toes!

reaching up to her mouth

Cameron gets some big news!

H-Dawg

In thinking of things that have happened in the past year since my self imposed blog sabbatical, I realized that most of you haven't met the newest member of our family.  No, I don't mean baby #2, I'm talking about doggy #1 - Hurley!  Or as he's more affectionately known as, Hurley Dawg, Doggy boy, or (on the mean streets of Tacoma) H-Dawg. 

Hurley is a 75 pound Labradoodle that seems more like a mini horse in our small house.  We got him as a 3 month old puppy when the people that bought him from the breeder had to give him up because they lived in a condo in Seattle that only allowed dogs up to 30 pounds; Hurley was 20 pounds at 3 months!  In any case, most people honestly asked if we were crazy for getting a puppy when we had an 18 month old human and, for the first few weeks, I was starting to think that we were.

It wasn't too long though, until we started to get into a rhythm.  Hurley figured out the idea of going outside to do his business and we got used to his needs to and now we're a big, happy family.  The cats have even learned the art of tolerance and now live in peace.  As long as Hurley gets his daily exercise and doesn't look to burn off some energey by playing a game of kitty tag.

I loved having a dog growing up and the whole point of this was that I wanted the same thing for Cameron.  I also just wanted to have a dog for myself, but that's just between us.  Cameron and Hurley were instant friends and as they both grow older, the bond continues to grow stronger.  He follows her around - usually because she has the leash on him walking him around the house - and she will often go over to him when he's sleeping and lay her head on him.  He's even become part of the night time routine and she usually wants him to sit at my feet as I read her a story.  He happily puts of with all of her kisses, pats, and grabs and always comes back for more. 

We realized that he was the perfect dog one time last year when he was still pretty young.  Sara was sitting on the couch and he was in his usual position of lying between the couch and the coffee table under Sara's legs sound asleep.  Cameron walked over and starting talking to Sara and after a few minutes, Sara realized that Cameron was using Hurley's head as a stepping stool!  She was standing directly on his head with all of her weight (not much really, but still....) and he didn't so much as bat an eye.  Once Sara moved Cameron, Hurley just got up and moved to another spot.  What a good doggie boy!

Hurley at 3 months - how could we not take him home?

BFF's

In need of a haircut!

We're back!

It's been quite a while, but the blog is back with some big news!

Baby Green #2 is on it's way - ETA is July 6, 2011!

I've been thinking lately that I wanted to start the blog again, and this is as good a time as any.  I'll try to do updates every week or so, but we'll see how that goes.  Cameron is two and a half now and very loquatious and full of curiosity, so that takes up quite a bit of time. 

It's pretty refreshing to see the world through her innocence.  She couldn't be more excited that Mommy "has a baby in her tummy" and often tries to pull up Sara's shirt to show it off.  Last night she asked me if I had a baby in my tummy too and seemed pretty disappointed when I explained that only Mommies get babies in their tummies.  I asked her if Mommy's baby was a girl or a boy and she said confidently that it was a girl that that it was two like her.  I can't wait to hear what names she has picked out!

Sara recently ran her first marathon and is feeling pretty good in these early weeks of pregnancy; just a little extra sleepiness, but nothing that a 7pm nap can't fix.  She's continued running 4-5 times per week - nothing to the marathon level but she still leaves me in the dust - so I think that will help her to feel great as things progress.

Take care and stay tuned!

-Jesse  

I'm taking over this show

Hi everyone-

I've noticed that my Daddy has been getting a little lazy with the blog, so I've decided to take over this show to keep you updated on how fast I'm growing! After all, I'm a big girl now so I should be able to handle it.

As most of you know, I turned 1 on April 28th and had a great party with my Parents, both Aunties, all of my Grandparents, and even some of my Great-Grandparents! It was kind of strange though, because everyone just sat around and looked at me as I played with my new toys and just generally tried to be as cute as possible. I did get a million kisses so I think I was doing something right. Great-Grandma Bert gave me a new doll that my Mom and Dad named "Baby" (they're pretty creative) and she goes everywhere with me! She sleeps with me, goes with me in the car, eats with me, and always seems to be following me throughout the house. I love her!


Here we are shopping with Mommy

My language skills are getting better and I can now say Momma and Dada and actually know who I'm talking about. I'm also getting really good with my sign language and can use 5 signs really well - more, all done, food, milk, and help. I'm also learning to point at what I want so I can sign "more" and point at the strawberries (0ne of my new favorites) on the counter. Mom and Dad are very happy that since we can communicate, I don't get frustrated and scream. "Help" works the same way - I'll usually try something myself first, but if I can't do it, I'll ask for help and they're right there to get my book down or grab my toy.

I'm getting better at walking too. I'm starting to get much more brave and worked my way up to a max of about nine steps. I'm sure I'll be running around soon enough!

Love, Cameron Elyse

Helping Aunt Katie and Uncle Mark blow up balloons


Look at my pretty Birthday dress!


Bring on the cake!


mmmmmmm