quick update

Just a quick update while waiting to get pictures off my mom's camera (and because Mel specifically requested it).

Esther's 2nd birthday was yesterday. We celebrated by spending a few days at White Oak Campground which is where i spent several days while in labor with her. It's right around the corner from the Birth Center (which is like 2 hrs from our house). My parents drove Esther up in the Camper (or "Bus" as Esther calls it) Miah and Ces met us there. We ate pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing, sang happy birthday, gave her lots of presents (including a Dorothy doll that my mother stitched by hand and her very first train set!!), snuggles, and attention. We bought lots of things at the Amish markets (food mostly). And then we came home thoroughly exhausted and not particularly happy about an end to our little family vacation.

We had our 30 wk check up with the Birth Center. All is well with baby #2.

Ben and I have removed the TV to storage and have decided to go on a TV/movie-free diet for a couple months.

The addition is coming along nicely. We hope to be moving in around Thanksgiving time. If anyone has any leads on cheap/free building materials or a not-so-ugly rug let me know.

And a little Esther story to finish off the post:
She's bouncing around on the bed a couple weeks ago watching me get dressed. As i'm changing my shirt she stops bouncing, looks at me and says "I like your nickles ma."

Pictures From Casey's Wedding

My sister, Casey and her husband, Andrew.
Ain't she so cute?

My adorable brother and my adorable daughter .
My some-day soon sister-in-law, Cecilia, my brother, Jeremiah, Sister Casey, New Brother-in-Law, Andrew.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!!

Pilgrims' progress

Our trip to Prescott, Az was good. Esther is such a good traveler. She is so good on the plane and something about take off makes her conk out for about an hour. So that's nice for all of us.  She was pretty good during our stay.  Normal tantrums, that is to say not more and definitely not less, and sleep patterns (or lack thereof). We got to see all those we desperately miss (Hi Mel & Ted, Uncle Mikey, Uncle Steve, Sarah, Corbin, Mason, Aunt Heidi, Tele, and Aurora!!!! We miss you!!!!) .  We got to stuff ourselves silly with mexican food (and yet it was still somehow not enough, what i wouldn't give for some Hugo's right now).  I got to go to our old hang out bar and feel awkward about being pregnant in a bar even though I was only drinking gingerale (I loudly anounced it several times just to make sure that I didn't seem like such a dead beat). And we got to reminice about how much we loved it there... I think in many ways Prescott was Ben and my 3 year honeymoon...

It's very weird how much Prescott still feels like home to me. Lots has changed since we've been away but also hardly anything. I miss it so much. It's feels like the same homesickness I get when I go to brush my hair after cutting it all off and end up brushing my neck... I hope that some day this place will feed me the same way that Prescott did. It'll be three years since we moved here this December. We spent a total of three years on Prescott... when will this place start feeling like home home and not some home left a life time ago.  Why is it so hard to come back?

In true slacker fashion, we failed to take any pictures of our trip at all whatsoever. I know, we suck.  I have attached a few pictures with this post though for those of you who can't do without. Hopefully, these pictures adequately depict our progress on the house, the belly/baby, and our growing munchkin (who says to me the other day in the sweetest possible voice, "Mom, eat my butt." I think she's been hanging out with my mother too much). 

getting better...

Thanks for all the love and sympathy!  I'm slowly getting better. Still on crutches but not in so much pain. My knees are all bashed up and covered in oozing rug burn from the fall.  Esther says, "Aww mama! your poor legs!!" and kisses them.  It's super hard to follow around and play with a toddler while on crutches... whodathunk??

Anyhow, tonight is Wicked Wednesday Dinner with j&i. We've decided to order Indian food rather than make something (at the request of the fetus). 

Other than being gimpy things are ok.  My godfather died last week.  We were pretty close for a long while but lost touch in recent years each doing our own thing. He became pretty ill the last two years and i never made it down to see him... though we chatted once in a while.  I think he was pretty ready to go... no sense in hanging around on this planet while in emense pain and varying states of conscousness.  So lastnight, rather than a funeral we had a big bonfire at our house and a lot of his old friends came, my parents' old hippy crew. It was neat seeing everyone again. These are the folks my parents hung out with when i was a wee one.  I do miss John though. I always thought I'd see him again before he died. It's just weird not being able to remember the last time you saw someone you'll never see again. 

I have to take more pics of the addition. Ben has two of the three walls up. It actually looks like a room.  He's working so hard and fast. That man is sooooo my hero.  He took some time off so i could rest and not but up and about on my ankle and i think that was hard on him because he didn't feel like he was getting anything done.  But he's back at the grindstone today.  

With everything in varying states of upheaval and incompletion it takes a lot of patience and "ho-hum"ness to get through days of things not feeling like they're getting done but really they are just super slowly... 

Fell Down the Stairs

I fell down the stairs yesterday morning at 5am while holding a screaming Esther. My ankle is severely sprained/possible hairline fracture. I'm on crutches for the next few days or so... hopefully back on my feet in time to got to Arizona (Hi Heidi!!). 

Exhausted... feeling stupid... 

My Manly Man

Poor Ben. He's been working upwards of 12 hours a day, half the day with my Dad rebuilding a log cabin and half the day here on the addition.


Which explains his appetite...

The "Man Taco"

Venison burger, chicken breast, portabello mushroom, and no that's not a pigeon heart on top, it's a beet.

It's Been a Good Summer

But i'm ready for fall...

Faces of Esther

Although my voice is hoarse from yelling "no!" all day long, she is pretty darn cute.

Keeping busy

In the land of the under employed we are managing to keep quite busy (and happy i might add).
Ben's plugging away in the shop and on the addition. I am sewing food out of felt, spending lots of quality time in the kitchen, and thinking up creative things to do with a butt-load of tomatoes. And of course Esther is extremely busy. She has a million things to do such as draw all over the stairs with a crayon, throw up in the car for the 4th time this week, decide the compost is a fun place to go digging for treasure, and of course strategically place all her toys where we will step on them, trip over them, or break them accidentally. It's really quite amazing what she can get done in 24 hours...

This is our daily tomato harvest. It doesn't seem so unmanageable here but imagine getting that many every day for two months straight.
Here is where Esther spends most of her day. Just kidding. This is what will eventually be our bedroom. It doesn't look like much here but all that stone and block and concrete has been occupying more of my husbands time than i have.
These are the three little speckled frogs... Notice how the eyes on all three of them are pretty much the same size...
She is yelling "ribbit" at me

3 in 1 make up post

i'm such a slacker with the blog these days. I do apologize to all those who check this site regularly for updates and are constantly being disappointed. So to make it up to you here's a three in one post complete with pictures and everything!! I'd promise to be better about posting, but we all know that will only last so long and then we'd be back to the same old routine...


Post 1: The Esther Update
Not too much to report. She's honing in on two years old complete with emphatic "no"s and temper tantrums that leave me oscillating between hysterically laughing at her and furious. Here are some fun pics. Sorry if any of them are repeats from earlier posts, i just cleaned out my camera and i'm not sure what was already downloaded or not.






Post 2: Art of Motorcycle Misuse
As some of you may know, and some of you may not, i was supposed to buy a friend's motorcycle (hi Ivy!) a few months ago. However, upon return from Sri Lanka I decided to be a responsible adult and save the money since we're expecting another little one this winter. Also, it seemed less and less practical to go riding around on a motorcycle while pregnant, not to mention the baby on board sticker had no where to go...

Luckily though, the discovery channel guy that has been living at our house for the past month or so to assist in the project my dad has been working on and he brought his little 125 and I've been learning to ride it (just up and down the drive way so far but it's been good to get my jibblies out nonetheless). You also get a good view of the belly

Post 3: Annual LAT Reunion
Me and my two of the most amazing women ever attempt to get together at least once a year. We all used to live in the same town and barely a day would go by without us seeing each other. We had adventures and played tricks and were really good at chasing away the blues. Now we're all attempting to be adults in various parts of the country...

This year i flew down to Atlanta to be with them. We had an all-too-brief but albeit fantastic visit. We did nothing. We ate, we cuddled, we played with the cats and dogs, we saw a bad movie, we sat on the kitchen counter and bitched. It was, admittedly, a tame visit considering that i can't drink, or stay up late, or hang out in smokey bars... but it was just the right speed nonetheless and i came home sad but recharged, relaxed, and a bit more laid back than i've been in ages.

SO that about wraps it up. I was able to procure some part-time from home work (thanks Fred and Allison!!!). Ben is working away splitting his weeks between the shop and the addition. The 18ft crocodile has finally been delivered and will stop taking up the entire drive way. My sister and badu are coming to visit on friday. YIPPIE!!!!!!!!! i haven't seen them in about 3 months... and over all things are starting to calm down and fall into place. The next 4 months or so ought to be interesting to say the least, and we can only hope they prove fun if a little crazed.

Getting back on track

So, despite the fact that we have no money and lots of work to do we decided to spend a couple days getting back on track at the ocean. Here a couple pictures (compliments of Oma) of our relaxing weekend. Thank you Oma!!!

This is us eating lunch... one thing about being pregnant, your chest is always much larger than you think it is... i'm afraid i was a bit indecent all weekend, luckily it's the beach and someone always looks worse in their swimsuit than you do in yours.
This is our gregarious young-un makin' friends with the "big girls"
Ben taking Esther swimming. She's generally pretty scared of the waves, but once past the breakers she's fine. And it was cold which is why i'm standing like that.

Big things...

So, lots has been happening here with us. Namely, i quit my job. Yes, i know it was a new job and it was more money than i've ever made... and yes, i know that i was good at it... but it was sucking the life out of me which is not a good thing when you're pregnant. So without going into too much detail i felt like it was better for me and my family if i quit.

So now, we're a bit strapped for cash and figure out what it is we really want to be doing. Our insurance is running out the end of the month and i can't get more cause no one will cover me pregnant. So even though the money stress has us crazy we're much happier than before.

Other things, we're flying to Arizona in Sept. for a visit.

I've decided to try freelancing for little bit. We'll see how that goes, i have to figure out how to make time for it, and how to get my foot in the door...well foot and ever-growing belly...

What else... um.... Ben is doing a lot of blacksmithing, working on the addition, and helping my dad with the Discovery Channel thing.

And lastly, Esther is doing well. I need to post pictures of her soon. She is starting to look more like a little girl than a baby. She continues to impress me every day... she sings and talks constantly.

Thanks for putting up with my lack of posts these last few months. Let's hope with the advent of all this new free time i'll be able to post more.

and now...

So i finally got some time to write this. How, you ask? well i'm in Virginia for a training for work and suddenly instead of having my evenings full of half chewed hot dogs, a toddler screaming "somewhere over the rainbow!!!!!", and the seething mass of laundry that is slowly taking over the house and out pacing the growing pile of dishes I get a big empty hotel room with a big empty bed and complementary internet access.

I owe you guys quite a post I realize. I ought to have pictures to include here but i left them all at home... sorry.

So first things first:

1) you're probably all wondering how sri lanka was.
It was phenomenal! or as Richard puts it "Tha best 'oliday eva'" (he's australian) (Hi Steven!). Rache and Richard planned the trip perfectly. The booked the best hotels, mapped out the perfect routes, and above all made relaxation, visiting with each other, and low maintenance the priorities of the trip. Although we did a fair bit of sight seeing, I never felt pressured to leave the hotel room, brave the horrid humidity, and sweat my way around the Buddha infested countryside (although we did do it once or twice).

Here is a brief synopsis:
We left BWI at around 6:45am and flew on a VERY tiny puddle jumper up to JFK. We flew on Emirates Air (which i highly recommend by the way. We have decided that all our international flights will from now on be with them) from JFK to Dubai. This was, by far, the longest flight (14 hrs). Esther did very well for the most part but missed a nap toward the end of the flight and had a bit of a melt down on the decent. We arrived in Dubai haggard and completely unprepared for the chaos that is the Dubai Airport. It is basically a duty free shopping mall. So in order to spare all of our nerves and my increasing nausea we splurged on a very expensive but extremely worth-it hotel. For 6 hours Esther slept, Ben and I showered, stretched, relaxed, watched Esther sleep and finally slept ourselves. Fully renewed we hoped on our final flight from Dubai to Colombo.
Rache and Richard picked us up at the airport in Colombo at around 11pm. We made the short trip north to Negumbo and stayed two nights in a hotel on the beach. Palm trees right outside of our patio. The sandy beach and raving Indian Ocean greeted us the next morning. We regrouped, waited for our lost luggage, and did a bit of shopping for entertainment.
We then drove to Kandalama. We stayed in a beautiful hotel/resort. The Kandalama Heritage Hotel was designed by a guy named Bawa with the unique intention of making you feel as much a part of the landscape as the jungle itself. One wall of the hotel room was completely glass. Vines entangled themselves into a curtain before the glorious landscape of jungle, mountains, and Kandalama lake (a man-made tank). Monkeys cavorted everywhere. The hung around on the patio being lewd and sometimes cute. A team of them stole Esther juice from the pool patio while our backs were turned. From Kandalama we explored Sigiriya, a rock butte covered in ancient ruins, and Polonnaruwa, once a great city. We spent three more nights in this paradise stuffing ourselves stupid at all three of their splendid daily buffets, lounging around in one of their three pools, and soaking in the in-room Jacuzzi.

From here Richard drove us up to the Knuckles mountain range where we stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast style bungalow nestled among the tea plantations.
I would like to pause here to draw attention to Richard’s magnificent skills as a motorist. The traffic in Sri Lanka makes the Chaos of the Dubai Airport (or for those of you who haven’t experienced the Dubai Airport, the chaos of Christmas shopping at FAO Schwartz) look like just another walk in the park. He yawned in the face of the constantly swerving tuk-tuks, the giant marauding buses, the rampaging elephants, and the potholes that could only be made by science fiction-sized meteor showers. Richard, we owe you our lives.
In the mountains we enjoyed a nice reprieve from the craziness of sight seeing. We swam in the beautiful pool, walked amongst the fields of tea bushes, allowed ourselves to be catered to by the in-house cook and lazed around enjoying the cooler weather. We made one day trip into Kandy where we shopped, ate, and interacted with the culture (which really just made me feel whiter than I’ve ever felt before, and this from a girl who grew up thinking her name was “gringa” until she was three).
By way of the Elephant Orphanage we left the Knuckles mountain range and came full circle to Colombo. The Elephant Orphanage was wonderful. We met the elephants down by the river and watched them frolic. Esther and I attempted to commune with a mama and baby and then the rest of the time we all spent turns attempting to keep Esther from diving head first into the heard of elephants and trying to ride them around town.

Back in Colombo we enjoyed the hospitality of a friend of Rache and Richard’s. We also did a bit more shopping and a lot more eating. After two nights there we found ourselves back on the various flights bound for the U.S. The flights home were relatively uneventful. We had a menacing 11 hour lay over in Dubai which we attempted to wait out in a lounge but found hard to do and were a bit insane by the end (especially Esther).

All this said, this doesn’t even begin to describe the experience itself. The people there are so kind and friendly (minus the touts whom I found to be extremely annoying, persistent and in one particular case murderously irritating). The landscape is so unique as to be exquisite. I still cannot fully believe that just a week and a half ago we were there. Surrounded by Buddhas, saris, temples, crowded streets, insane traffic, jungles, elephants.

And here we are back again… hardly believing our own memories and trying hard to re-assimilate to our own culture unsure of just how much we really want to be home.


Second things Second:
We're pregnant again. We are due January 4th-ish. We're excited and nervous and have begun the Oh-SO-necessary addition onto the back of the house. I'm looking forward to and day dreaming about how this will make our lives easier. I am kinda hoping for another girl but everyone is telling that it's going to be a boy. So far i've been extremely nauseas. But it's slowly subsiding. I have gained a little over 5 lbs so far which is fair bit more than i had gained with Esther this far along... I'm also beginning to look pregnant to myself, though not really to others. I have a buddha belly which i suppose is appropriate considering where we just were. Esther doesn't understand the baby in momma's belly concept yet. But we're introducing it to her slowly.

And Thirdly:
The Esther update. She is amazing. She weathered international traveling like she was born to it. She was pleasant and curious and sociable almost the whole time. We took her everywhere with us and aside from her nap times being screwy she loved it all and took it in more than i think any of us adults did.
She speaks in full sentences and to my surprise is thinking critically. She sings constantly and her three favorite things are digging holes in the yard with soup spoons, looking at bugs (and then coming running and yelling when it lands on her), and watching the Wizard of Oz (which she is totally obsessed with and can practically quote from start to finish). She will turn two just a few months before #2 is born and it will be interesting to see how she grows and changes from now until then...


So i hope that you find your way through all this text. I know that walls of solid text are boring for some and it's a little time consuming and tiring to read so much on a computer screen but hopefully you at least browsed and go the jist. All in all: we're well, we're busy, we're expecting, and we're loving and missing all of you!

I know, I know. I promise.

COMING SOON:
HOW SRI LANKA WENT
and
WE'RE PREGNANT! ...again...

Sorry its been so long.

Sorry for the long delay. With the advent of my new job, i had to give my wireless access thingie back to my old job. And I just now got around to buying a new one. So here I am, back on the web, wasting precious time i could be spending with my mullet-haired babe-zilla.

Lots has been happening. First and foremost, the job is going well so far. I'm settling in pretty well. I like my teammates, they're all young and three of them are just as book/word obsessed as i am. And the graphic designers are fun too. The work isn't scintillating or anything but I think that's a rarity in any profession.

Secondly, Ben's sister got married. The wedding was really beautiful. It was the perfect, picturesque small wedding. Jes was beautiful in her mermaid dress. Very 1940s. And Eric, you were beautiful too (I just want to say again how incredibly awesome your tie was. If you die before me can you will your tie to me?). We got to see lots of family that we usually only see around Christmas time. Hi Ryan, Stacia and Olivia!!! The happy couple is honeymooning as we speak in an isolated cabin in the woods. What better place to make loud-hot-monkey-love than that??

Let's see, what else. Ben is now a stay at home daddy. By far the cutest one i've ever seen. He and Esther play outside almost all day. Yesterday I came home to the two of them digging holes outback for the footers for the new addition. Esther armed with a soup spoon. And I guess that brings us to the next thing. We're building an addition, albeit a small one, but we are going to finally have our own room... yippie! I'm so excited. We hope to have it done by early fall. This winter promises to be an interesting one and more on that later.

New Job...

Tomorrow is my last day at the Crisis Center. I'm so sad. (Hi CRS FOLKS!!!) I have loved working here. And as some of you may know i have accepted a job doing something that is sort of morally questionable (my morals, not everyones...HI FRED!).

However, it is with the hope that I will gain enough experience and expertise so that i may re-enter the non-profit industry and make it count. I start on Monday and am knee-knocking nervous. I think if it weren't for my over-all fear of Alzheimer's I would buy stock in super wetness protection deodorant, as it is i'm going to have to stick a roll of paper towels under each arm.

That said, this job is a fantastic opportunity for me and my family (and my motorcycle, HI IVY!) and will help the Jones-Matthews trio finally settle into a place financial security. However, this also means less time with Esther, less time in the garden, less time in the woods, less time everywhere....

What can i say, i'm a whore.... please don't hate me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AURORA

My Hot Hubby

Oma's Pictures from the Weekend.

These last two are from Jes's Bridal Shower (Hi Jes!). I have to say that Bridal Showers are strange things to me. I, having never had a wedding myself, feel that even as sweet as everyone is to a bride and as generous as they are to the soon-to-be-newlyweds, it's not worth it. It's far too much money, headache, backache, organizing, and socializing for me. That said, Jes and Eric I'm excited to come to your wedding! Let me know if there's anything i can do to help.
(perhaps everyone should just elope in the far off reaches of Alaska...)