Elephant Seals

Last Monday, Brian and Julia were both off for Martin Luther King Day. It did rain, but we still went on our outing. It stopped just after we got to the beach where the seals are, thankfully! Here are many of the seals. They come to this beach every year to mate and give birth.


A baby seal nursing


A male elephant seal: see how their "nose" is kind of like an elephant's trunk? Only the males have that. This guy also looks like he has some battle scars or something! ???? There weren't many males on the beach this day, mostly females and babies. I think I read the males come at the end of February/beginning of March to mate again. The male elephant seals can dive very deep in the ocean, 5000+ feet! I think man can dive 437 feet. That seems like a lot as I type this, but I think that was right. LOL There was a chart that showed how deep different mammals can dive, and the male elephant seal can go much deeper than the one right above it (maybe a whale? I don't remember).


Miss Ants-in-Her-Pants, up and down the fence, wiggle wiggle wiggle around, dance and wriggle around the people.


This beach isn't a state park or anything (not even any restrooms!), but it is a bit maintained, with charts and info, and the fence. A guide was there and told us this female was about to give birth! That was very interesting and quite the surprise! You can see the baby coming out in this picture.


Immediately after the baby seal was born, MANY seagulls, and even a pelican, descended in the area. The guide told us the birds know when the mothers are about to give birth, and that is how people watching can tell too--look for the seal that has all the birds around it. The birds eat the placenta. They were totally fighting over the afterbirth, lifting it up in the air, pulling it, etc. Here you can see it in the bottom left corner, the red thing the two whiteish seagulls are standing on/by. There was no way you could see the placenta in the height of the birds fight for it, there were SO many birds! Also, you can see the newborn baby seal. Julia was really interested in watching all this, too!



Brian brought his new binoculars he got for Christmas; it was neat to watch the seals through them. This is on the way back to the parking area.


After seeing the seals we stopped for lunch at Linn's in Cambria. We were kind of disappointed in their new restaurant. Their former one burned down about a year? ago, and they rebuilt in the same location. The menu has changed some, I said more gourmet, and Brian said more frou-frou. Hee hee. On the drive back home we stopped at this beach in Cayucos and let the kids play on the swings and run around for awhile. There was almost no one else there, which was nice. It was very chilly, though--probably in the low 50s, and then windy on top of that. It would have been fine without the wind. Lauren was fascinated with the kelp pods (bubble things) she found on the beach and had the greatest time squishing the bubbles and waving around the long kelp pieces. In the first picture you can see Morro Rock in the background and the three smokestacks in Morro Bay.




Julia found a large rock (Austin is holding his) for each of the kid. She called them crystals, because parts of them sparkled with bits of quartz in them. She brought hers to school the next day to share with the class. Lauren slept with her "crystal" several times last week--treasure from sister and all! ;) Julia also collected the shells in her hand, here.




Julia had a substitute teacher the entire week, because Mrs. F had pneumonia. On Thursday Julia told me, "I don't know if Mrs. F is coming back. Maybe she died." That thought had actually crossed my mind, as she is elderly (I found out she is 76!). But I am sure the school would have called or something! Anyway, when I left Julia at school yesterday morning, all the kids were lined up as usual, when Mrs. F walked out to get them. It was so cute--all of the kids had big smiles on their faces, and many were calling out to her. She gave each of them a hug as they walked past her to their class. Julia was so happy she was back, too!

Kookaburra

Today as I did Lauren's hair, we sang the Kookaburra song, and Julia said, "Do you have kookaburras in your hair, Lauren?" Lauren had to think about that for a minute.....as did I!


Then I realized Julia was talking about these birds! Kookaburras indeed... Though I did think that was pretty clever of Julia to come up with! I changed the words to the Kookaburra song to: "Kookaburra sits in Lauren's hair, building nests and making tangles everywhere..." Hee hee. Some things Lauren has been saying recently: Sometimes I will call her "Chickadee". Well. Out of the blue, completely on her own, she's started telling us, "I a ticken. I tay tuck tuck!" (I'm a chicken. I say cluck cluck!) She tells us this at the funniest times, always out of the blue! I'll be working in the kitchen, and she goes on to tell me that she's a chicken. Sometimes I ask her in response, "And what do you say, Little Chicken?" To which she always replies, "Tuck tuck!" The other day I gave her some Crystal Lite to drink. She said, "Mmmm....dis tastes wike trystal!" (This tastes like crystal!)


Austin wanted his picture taken too. He saw it on the camera screen and said, "It looks like Shamu is jumping out of the water!" Not more than a few minutes later he got busy playing and ran out of time to make it to the bathroom and had an accident. He told me, "I have water in my pants! It's like the ocean!" Then, the other night before bed he told me he needed a Kleenex (he has a tiny cold). He went on to tell me in all seriousness, "I don't put my boogers on the wall anymore. I put them on my dinosaur picture now." He has a large National Geographic dinosaur poster on his wall next to his bed, and I guess this is his new solution--after his big talking-to when I found them stuck on the wall and had to scrub them off! Oh my oh my... It has rained here every day since Monday. Austin told me one of the days, "I hear rain on the sunlight!" Meaning skylight. :)

A New Year Begins

New Year's Eve we went to our friends' house, to have dinner with them and one other couple. We had a good time visiting and playing Apples to Apples (the Bible edition). Brian and I hadn't played that game before, and really liked it--there were a lot of times when everyone was laughing! There were 7 kids there, including ours, and the older ones got big ideas to put on a "haunted mansion" in the garage. They pretended they were ghosts and hid under towels, banged things together to make funny noises, and tried to scare the parents! It was very funny, seeing what they had come up with, and that they thought they were sooooo scary!! We stayed at our friends' house till about 10:30. The kids went to bed when we got home, but Brian and I stayed up to watch the ball drop. January 1 we spent at home, taking down our Christmas tree (very dry by then!), and the other decorations.

January 3 Austin asked what we were going to do that day (he asks every morning), and I said go to Mommy's doctor. Well, we did, a perinatologist who did an ultrasound for me. The kids had no idea what we were in the room for, but the doctor asked Julia, when he had the image up on the screen, "Do you know what that is?" She said, "Well, it looks like a pinto bean shape...I think it is a baby..." He told her she was right, and she got a huge smile on her face. It took a few more minutes for Austin to realize what was going on. After the ultrasound, I asked Julia if she knew before the u/s about the baby, and she said, "No. I don't know when it got put in there!" Austin said in the car on the drive home that he was going to teach "him" how to play ball. And that is how we told the kids that we are expecting a new baby this year, due July 12!

I am now 15 weeks along (37 1/2% there.....!) and feeling well! It is so nice to be able to say that, too! From weeks 6-10 I felt great in the mornings, but got tired in the afternoons and took naps when Austin and Lauren did, almost every day. Then around supper time I would feel blech (lovely description, huh? :D), continuing a few hours, sometimes, sometimes not, until bedtime. I felt ok as long as I ate, and never got too hungry, and I never did throw up. The only time I threw up with any of my pregnancies was once with Lauren, and I think it is b/c I let myself get too hungry. But I have been tired with them all, and more tired with each one. Brian said it is b/c each time I am taking care of another kid, and I think that is true! This baby was not unplanned, and I had thought ahead a little, months earlier, freezing leftovers when I could. I very much suspected I wouldn't feel well at dinner time, or feel like cooking, the first few weeks, as that has happened with each of the other kids. Week 11 a felt a tiiiiiiiiiny bit better. Week 12, a little better yet. Week 13, almost normal, just tired yet. And Week 14 I was pretty much back to normal. I told the dr. that at 13 weeks, and he said if I continued at that rate, I would be getting super powers soon. LOL I doubt that. BUT, it is so nice. Seriously. :D

Strange strange things: I am a big water drinker. I drink water all day long, and like it, and usually order it in restaurants b/c I prefer it. However. Until about last week, water has not set well with me! Plain water made my stomach gurgle! I would pour lemon juice in it by the tablespoonfull just so I could drink water without feeling blech. There are 189 servings in a bottle of lemon juice, and I finished off two whole bottles (plus some from fresh lemons!!) in 7 weeks. Crazy. Now my sour water is starting to taste, well, sour. Also, I have had excess saliva--too much spit! It is gross, and makes me queasy to swallow it. So I have been chewing gum and sucking on peppermints a lot so that doesn't happen!

Smells that have bothered me: flowery soaps, perfumes, etc; dirty diapers and wiping bottoms (SO thankful when Daddy is home to help out with that! LOL And actually he has been a big help with dishes, etc.); browning hamburger; sweet peanut butter (Jiff, Skippy, Reeses peanut butter cups, etc... :P)--I eat the natural peanut butter anyway, but usually like the other stuff ok, especially Reeses candy!--but not now. I try not to even smell the PBJ sandwiches I make the kids, b/c the jam makes the peanut butter smell sweet! :P

Foods that I have been eating a ton of: cheese!!! More cheese!!! Any kind of cheese (well, almost...)!!! Oranges and grapefruits. Just doing my part to support the citrus and dairy farmers. :) The weeks I felt bad at night I would eat and suck on pretzel pieces. I've also eaten a lot of other fruits, though the watermelon I bought in December was only ok. :( But then, what should I really expect from a watermelon in December? I've also really wanted strawberries, but the ones in the store just do not look that nice! Will have to wait for those. No foods seem completely unappetizing to me, except sweet peanut butter. Keep that far far away.

Julia and Austin want the baby to be a boy. Everyone I talk to who has an opinion on the subject thinks it would be nice for it to be a boy--their reasons being: Austin will have a brother, or "It would be so fun/cool to have the order go girl/boy/girl/boy. We shall see. Brian and I don't have a "feeling" what it will be, as I have felt pretty much the same with all my babies. The *only* thing that would give me a clue *maybe* is that Austin moved more than the girls in utero. But we plan to find out the gender on Feb. 19, so won't have to go by how much this one moves! Hee hee.

Anyway, on to the rest of this post. We celebrated Christmas with Brian's mom the first weekend of January, and went down to her house, also shared our news (above ;) ) then. The last week of Julia's Christmas break we did a lot, but most of it was around the house. Stuff like putting away and organizing their Christmas gifts. I couldn't even clean the house b/c their stuff was all over! Now things are pretty much how they should be. ;) This picture was taken the night of Jan. 10. It is not unusual for us to find Pongo like this.


Jan. 11


Austin's racetrack he got for Christmas. Why it is on the boxes? Good question--because he likes to rig things up!!


Julia playing on the Webkinz site. Austin and Lauren like watching her do her daily activities. :)



Jan. 12 Thought this was a sweet picture. They were woring a puzzle together.


Julia with sweet Pongo. He's getting big!


Jan. 13 after church (and the annual business meeting/lunch). Lauren wore braids for the first time. While I was braiding her hair, she looked in the mirror and said, "I wook wike Deeya!" (I look like Julia) Don't you love her dimple? I love it! And love that it came from me, and my mom has the same dimple too, in the same cheek. How fun is that? When she was a baby, I would ask Lauren, "Where's your dimple?" along with asking where her hands, nose, eyes, etc. were. She learned to point to her cheek--though she doesn't realize it is just on her left cheek! Ha ha


These were not the pictures I had in mind, to document her first braids ;), but thought they were cute--and typical of her age!! She goes scampering off right out of the picture, who wants to pose?? In the last shot, she was chanting, "Run in circles, run in circles," which indeed, she was doing.


It's been a week since I took any pictures, I think! I was so busy getting that huge print order together, and then I didn't want to take a bunch, and have to think how I could have waited a day or two to print those with the same order. LOL Yesterday I defrosted the freezer in the garage, and Brian helped a lot with that. We have had it for 9 years and it had only been defrosted twice before! Once by my mom when she came to stay with us when Austin was born. And again when she stayed with us when Lauren was born! But now it is all cleaned out and looks so roomy without all the ice hills inside!! Today was church, and we went out for lunch afterwards, to a place right by the beach. The road literally ends right there. Brian and I both had fish tacos which were delicious! We hope to go on an outing tomorrow since he and Julia are both off, but it might rain. :( Guess we'll see!

Wonders Never Cease

Some of you probably wondered when I would get back to posting, if I would get back to posting, it has been so long since I updated. Well, Julia's last day of school before Christmas break was Dec. 21. Then she had 3 weeks off, and I was tired of all the "to-dos" with Christmas, doing this, doing that, going there, etc, that I put myself on vacation! I had every intention of posting Jan. 14th, when school started again, but things happened! ;) I worked on getting together a gigantic prints order to upload to Scrapbook Pictures, as they are having a New Years sale of 12 cents a print, and I didn't know how long the sale would last. I haven't printed pictures since Labor Day, so it really was a huge order. Thankfully most were edited and ready to go. I save the ones I want to print in a separate folder, so they are easy to keep track of.

Awana started back up Tuesday, and choir for Julia started Thursday, but she ended up not going. She wasn't feeling well (just tired) Tues. night, but we had her go anyway, thinking she was tired from adjusting to going back to school. However, Wednesday morning she woke up with flushed cheeks and a 101.2 temp., so she stayed home from school. She was extremely tired that day, and rested and slept for most of it. That night Brian got his haircut right after work, then I went to get my hair cut and highlighted as soon as he came home. Julia stayed home Thursday too, though she was feeling a bit better, just coughing a lot. She was disappointed to miss choir, but I said if she couldn't go to school, she couldn't go to choir! I started this post Thursday (as I think it will be dated the 17th?) but then Blogger wouldn't let me upload pictures! Argggggh.... Friday Julia went back to school and Austin, Lauren and I went to Mervyns and Costco. We were at Costco a looooong time and got a lot of stuff! We hadn't been there since 12/31, plus I had a bunch of their coupons to use. I bought one of their Rotisserie chickens for $4.99 for supper last night, and we all really liked it! I'll be buying that again. Julia and Austin each got a drumstick and ate them nicely. I remember I used to have to always have a drumstick when my mom made chicken, when I was little, and I did not like them! The meat was fine, but I hated chewing around the gristle and "slimy" stuff. ;) Last night Brian and I watched "Pure Country", which we have on DVD, but haven't watched in ages. I like that movie. Anyway, here are some pictures from the rest of December. I have lots to share from January too, but I will wait to post those, as there are so many right here, for now!

Dec. 21 Brian and I went to an open house for one of his customers. The kids made this gingerbread house with the babysitter. We ran out of time this (last?) year to do everything I wanted to do with them. I asked them if they wanted to make the house or make and decorate Christmas sugar cookies, and they chose the house. Julia said we had plenty of cookies from our friends anyway, which was true. My breakfast group had had our cookie exchange on Dec. 17th. I made Peppermint Fudge, Gingersnaps, and White Chocolate Cranberry Gems. We each had to bring 5 dozen cookies to share, and ended up with 5 dozen from eachother.


Dec. 22


Dec. 23, after church. One of Brian's customers, a potted plant grower, gave us the two poinsettias.



Dec. 24--Christmas Eve! The kids were soooooooo excited and wound up this day! My sweet neighbor offered to watch them in the morning, so they gladly went to her house while I made food for the next day. I made a coffeecake for breakfast, scalloped potatoes and a fruit salad for our dinner, and an Ollallieberry pie for dessert. That was all that could be done ahead of time. That night we went to the Christmas Eve service at church, which was very nice. Austin sat with us and held a candle for the first time this year. They light the candles at the end of the service while everyone sings Silent Night. He was a little apprehensive about holding that fire in his own hand!! Julia had said she was going to wear her red dress on Christmas Eve, and well, she did. :)




Christmas Day--It was just us this year. Brian had to work the day before and after, so we stayed home. It was nice to stay home and be together, after the **craziness** of the weeks before. We ate breakfast and opened our stockings before this picture. The kids were soooooooooo ready to open gifts!!!!


Brian gave some new drinking glasses. I've wanted them for a few years, just the tall ones, not the short ones, in this particular style, which were not easy to find. But this year, he did find them! :) I think they are called pint glasses.


Julia gave Brian this present she made at school. The kids made a pasta wreath, and the teacher sprayed it gold. Julia also made the wrapping paper. She got her own bunny suit PJs for Christmas and loves them! You can see our wall of Christmas cards in the background. Do you see your card? ;) Tiny as they are...... Julia also received her very first WebKinz pet for Christmas, this reindeer, whom she named "Fluffy" because he has fluffy brown fur. :) She enjoys playing "with" it on the computer, on the WebKinz site, to some extent, but has enough after awhile. Brian and I (and she does some) sometimes play games to earn her more Kinz cash, which she does not want to spend!! It is so funny to me, because it is all pretend money. I guess she comes by it honestly though, with her banker father, and like-minded mother! ;) She also received Littlest Pet Shop toys, a new umbrella, clothes (thrilled with those, of course...LOL...not), a Lite Brite, etc.


All the kids got new slippers, these are Austin's. He likes to go speeding along wearing his Lightning McQueens! He got some more Thomas track and a couple pieces for his Thomas stuff, a HotWheels racetrack, a rescue holicopter, little planes, etc. Here Lauren is playing with one of her gifts, these little babies with snap-on clothes. She also got that wood food she can "cut", and those boots, by her feet. She looooooves her boots!!! You will see pictures of her with them in the next post. She got some clothes, a new baby doll, coloring book, etc.