Super Crazy Month

Hello again, friends!  You are probably thinking to yourself, "Karissa went and got herself knocked up, and now she won't even blog about it so that we can see her preggo belly."

Well, I'm back.  It's been an insane month!  Between baby things, and travel, and amazing Portland weather, we've been running non-stop.  So this is hopefully the first of two blog posts with a ridiculous number of photos.

Speaking of the weather-- it's been an AH-MAZING summer in Portland so far.  Like hot.  Almost too hot.  It's funny the number of Portlanders that complain about the heat, just as we're getting over too much rain.  Myself included!

The other thing that's funny about Portland and sunshine is that it's almost like it takes the town, which normally runs relatively slowly (everyone being hung over or in various stages of caffeinating), and turns it into this psycho whirlwind of activity.  Everything that anyone ever wanted to do in the summer has to be crammed into just a few months of sun, so people go beserk!  Barbeques, camping, water sports, bike rides, parks, festivals, farmers markets... it's mind-blowing.  Last summer Jason was a little confused by the never-ending stream of barbeques that we'd get invited to.  This year, he's taking off his shirt at any and every opportunity to take advantage of the glorious sunshine.

So, it's been full-tilt, and probably will be for another several weeks, at which point I'll be thankful for the rain so that I have an excuse to sit inside and do nothing instead of run around like crazy to fit it all in.  :)

So of course there are a ridiculous number of Jason-isms about me being pregnant/ us having a baby.  If you don't really care about baby stuff, you should probably just skip ahead for a while.

The most ridiculous so far is that he's been telling people he's "80% sure it's mine".  He's even told co-workers, who I've never met!  What must they think?

But in reality, that just makes me wonder-- does that mean it's 20% possible that this baby is from an immaculate conception with Channing Tatum?  I mean, seriously people. 

Jason is also concerned about my never-ending sugar cravings-- they were there before I got pregnant, and I'm not sure if they've gotten stronger, or if I'm just caving more often since I'm growing an actual human.  Anyway, he has regularly requested of me, "Please don't give our baby diabetes." 

He puts his face right next to my belly and asks, "Can you hear me in there?"  Actually, you'd be surprised, but he's really not the only one who not only wants to touch the belly, but wants to get up close and personal with it!  It's a really rather entertaining sight.

Oh yeah, it's a girl!  Exciting, right?  I totally cried when the ultrasound technician told us.  Sadly, this does mean MLM (Michael Lary Marshall) is out in terms of names.  I haven't yet come up with one as totally awesome for a girl.  We're working on it.  :)  Check out the ultrasound photos!

So the ultrasound-ologist also got some awesomely creepy baby photos... check these two out:

Predator baby!  Jason's so proud.

Scary, right?  Haunted baby.

My dad is convinced she has red hair.  He recommended for realism's sake that we draw the red hair onto the ultrasound, so everyone would really know what we were dealing with.

Jason has also said that we're not giving the baby any toys.  Also, not giving the baby any money.  He has already instructed her to get a job, so we'll be working on that pretty dang early.  :)  Good financial sense is a priority for him, clearly.

We haven't found a name yet-- we haven't even settled on a couple of options!  Or should I say, I haven't settled.  Jason apparently already has several names picked out, but he won't tell me, because he's afraid it's too early.  I need to get saying 'no' out of my system, so he's throwing out all kinds of random names, and then eventually he'll slip the real ones in there.  His other tactic is to name the baby after whoever is in the room at the moment, often combined into one long name.  Jessica Lara Cheryl Ashlee Dunbar Marshall, or SuzAngelaAntoinette Dunbar Marshall...

When I'm at work, he sends me messages: "Tell the baby hello!  Tell her I miss her."  It's extremely cute.

I've really been able to feel her movements more lately, which is exciting.  Every hour or so she wiggles around, or kicks the bladder.  But it's such a cool reassurance that all is going well, I really don't mind when I pee my pants a little.  :)  Just a few days ago, Jason felt her moving for the first time, which was AWESOME.  How crazy is it that there is a whole different human inside this human?  Really crazy.  Seriously.

Here's a preggo shot from mid-June:

And check it out now:

5 1/2 months exactly!

We're organizing our second bedroom, moving stuff around (and trying to get rid of stuff, which is hard for me to do!) so that we can actually fit the baby and all the STUFF that is bound to arrive with her.  We're almost there.  We've gotten a few gifts of adorable baby things already, though we haven't bought much ourselves.  Part of it is that I have no idea on earth what to buy.  What in the world does a baby really need?!?  Anyway, we'll figure it out.  We have a few friends in the area with baby stuff that just can't wait to pass it along to us!

Alright, enough of the baby stuff!  I swear I've been doing things other than thinking about babies.  Not that you'd know it from the first half of this post.

I helped to organize a totally awesome bachelorette party for Karen Darr, who is getting married in August.  We took Memorial Day weekend and spent it out at the coast, in a house we rented.  It was awesome-- there were three babies there, so it was definitely a baby-practicing weekend.  Hilary took lots of photos, so I'll post some of those here as soon as I get them from her.  The weather was beautiful, and it was a total blast.  Also, I have to say, I'm pretty good at planning games.  So there.

We went back to Knoxville!  Man, was it ever awesome.  I swear, about 20 minutes after arriving, it felt like I'd never left.  That wonderful warm blanket of humidity just swallowed me up, and I was home again.  We split our time between staying with Bentley and Jessica,  Blake and Ashlee, and Jonathan and Cheryl.  It wasn't quite the same without Biff and Lara, but we managed nonetheless.  It was everything I could have asked for-- great weather, wonderful friends, and of course we just ate and drank our way through the trip.  I think we both probably gained several pounds.  It was worth it.  Check out these awesome photos:

A few weekends ago, I had my 10th college reunion (seriously?  Am I that old?  And the answer is YES), and Jason took a  trip to northern California to hang out with the one and only Matthew Weiss.  We couldn't both be in two places at once, so we split the team to represent.  It was epic, of course.

First, it was awesome to see a bunch of LC friends again-- although to be honest, most of them I hang out with already.  I really did enjoy heading back up to the campus-- I haven't been there in AGES.  It's a pretty place.  And so it was awesome to hang out up there, reconnect with some folks, etc.  On Saturday of that weekend, we had the International Barbeque Symposium-- it's an annual barbeque that my friends started our senior year of college.  It's been happening every year since, and so this was eleventh.  It was perfect-- beautiful weather, tons of amazing food, just the right level of ridiculousness.  I have pretty cool friends, you know.  Here's some photos of the awesome:

And Sunday was Mikey's birthday.  Nicky, Dad, Carmen, George and I headed up to the property that George owns in Washington, and we had a barbeque to celebrate his birthday.  (Are you sensing a barbeque theme?  I'm not going to say I told you so.  But I did.)  It was nice.  That day is a little sad, always, but it's always nice to be able to spend it with family, and to remember both what we have now, and how much of Mikey we still have to celebrate.  And how much he changed all of us.

Milk fresh from the cow!

George's grill tools came out of the garden.

These dogs don't love my dad at all.

Family!

Sadly, we don't have any photos from Jason's epic California road trip, since I had the camera.  You'll have to ask him how it went.

We got invited out by one of Jason's co-workers who owns a boat, and spent the day on the Columbia River, swimming and sunning and living it up.  We ended the day with a delicious dinner on a houseboat converted into a restaurant, which was totally awesome.  We just motored the boat up there and parked, stuffed our faces and motored back.  It was such a gorgeous day-- it really reminded me of weekends spent out on the lake in Knoxville, which I miss terribly.  

We had a crazy air conditioner saga-- my dad really wanted to buy me an air conditioner for my birthday.  I was not so convinced I needed one.  So finally he went to the store and just picked one out, and brought it over.  The only thing was that it was broken.  So we had to return it, and by the time we went to return it, we'd had over a week of really hot weather, so almost every store in town was sold out of air conditioners.  I had resigned myself to more sweaty sleeping, and then we decided to stop at just one more store-- where we found the perfect air conditioner.  Of course, it was a window unit.  So we had to install the thing in the window, which is easier said than done.  After calling my dad over to help (who was all too willing), we got the thing in there, but I was super late for book club... anyway.  We got an air conditioner.  And it's amazing.  And I hate to say it, but my dad was right.  :)

We took the baby to her first concert!  We went and saw Alkaline Trio on June 8th, and they were FANTASTIC.  I freakin' love that band.  Probably not as much as Jason, but still.  I have to say though, we were packed in so damn tight in that venue, and of course, it's Portland, so there is no air conditioning.  So it was hot as hades, and then the band was probably the loudest I'd ever heard a band in my entire life.  I thought I was going to pass out!  I had to leave every little while to get a breath of fresh air, it was so intense!  But they ended with probably my favorite Alkaline Trio song, "Radio", which is ironically probably the closest thing to a 'song' Jason and I have-- and it's about a guy hoping his ex-girlfriend will take the radio into the bathroom and electrocute herself.  What can I say, Jason and I just love each other.  :) 

We've gone camping, celebrated several birthdays at Antoinette's house with cake and ice cream and ridiculous-ness.  I'm still climbing, though I have definitely scaled it back a notch, since gaining a bunch of weight doesn't really make you climb harder, actually.  Bryan and Suzanne have moved closer to us, which is AWESOME.  Now they are only about 12 blocks away, which is much more convenient for games of Catan and having dinner.  I think this arrangement will work out just fine.  :)

Nicky got accepted to grad school!  All her hard work is starting to pay off!  She was really excited.  Well, excited, and then a little depressed at the thought of all the homework in her future, but mostly excited.  We went out to dinner to celebrate, had some twin time, which is excellent.  She's a total badass.  The math she has to take makes me want to vomit-- there's no way man.  But she is ridiculously motivated and psyched, which is amazing.  So she's killing it, as if there was ever any doubt. 

My job is awesome, although I did have to stop biking to work, which is sad. It just got really uncomfortable to be all hunched over with that package of baby getting squished up by my knees every day.  That, and it's also really uncomfortable to get out of breath after just about 5 minutes biking, and then having to huff and puff all the way home.  So now I'm busing to work, which is it's own adventure.  I'm working on being able to read on the bus-- trying to conquer the motion sickness.  And people watching.  Which is pretty dang quality.  And work helps with the purchase of a bus pass, which is pretty sweet, because it opens up quite a bit in the downtown area that I can get to quickly while on a lunch break.  Dangerous.  There is a lot of shopping down here.  And a giant library.  I'm easily distracted.

Anyway.  So as you can see, I have a good reason for it taking so long to write this dang post!  But, I have more.  Rather than run on into an even more insanely long post, I'm ending it here.  But I promise I'll be back shortly with more! 

Totally Not A Big Deal

Friends and family!  Man, I'm sorry, I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon here lately.  I promise there's actually a good reason for it.  Things have been a bit busy over here in the Portland region, and by busy, I mean...

I'm pregnant!

Ha!  Were you expecting that?  Maybe a little.  Well, it's true.  I will grow larger and larger in front of your very eyes, and then there will be a little mini-Dunbar-Marshall running around.  Well, drooling and crying at first.  But eventually running.

So yeah.  We're pretty psyched.  As you can imagine, Jason is really psyched.  He's already asked, multiple times, 'WHEN is that baby popping out of there?!?!'  He's already given the little thing several nicknames: Fut Babe (short for future baby), FB (even shorter), and Michael Larry Marshall, or MLM for short.  See, my dad's name is Michael, and Jason's dad's name is Larry, and the person that introduced Jason and I is our good friend Michael Lary.  This is a genius name combination, don't you think?  I think so.  I probably think it's so amazing because I thought of it.

Anyway, so now every day after work Jason asks, 'How's MLM?' or 'How's the baby?'  It's pretty cute, actually.  The family over here in Portland is pretty excited, and I'm pretty sure Jason's family is pretty excited too.  I've gotten a lot of early mother's day wishes, and a lot more questions about this little embryo recently.  Like, do I consider this the baby's first Easter?  And, seriously, when does it come out already???

November 21st is the magic due date, in case you were wondering.

Which is actually kind of special and a little bit emotional for me.  My little brother passed away on November 23rd, so that's been a hard date for the last few years.  My whole family recognizes it in different ways, but we all get a little sad right around Thanksgiving.  If all goes well, I'll be really excited to be adding a little bit of happy to a rather tough time of year for the fam.  It won't take away missing my brother, but a new soul to celebrate right around that same time seems like a really amazing thing.  It's like the universe is reminding me that even though tragedy isn't something we can avoid, beautiful things can be made that much more beautiful because of it.  And really, I'd like to think that there will be a little bit of Mikey in this little one. 

So yeah.  My dad has started calling Jason my baby-daddy, which is hilarious.  He mostly uses it to try to get me to do things he wants me to do-- as in, 'I'll tell your baby-daddy!'  Ha.  Ridiculous.

So, it's not really an excuse for not blogging, but at least it's awesome.  Take that!

What else?  We've pretty much been doing the usual around here!  A few weekends ago we went to the Japanese Gardens here in Portland, which are gorgeous.  Here are a few photos to show you just how cool:

Amazing Japanese maple.

This is one of those views you think is fake until you're actually there.

Turns out, Portland CAN look like this!

Starting to look like there might be a baby in there!  I don't normally stand like this.  I just figured you needed an obligatory 'I'm totally preggers' photo.  So there.

And this past weekend we went hiking with Shane, Julia and their two kids, Eliza and Emory.  It was a gorgeous hike, and the kids are so cool-- Eliza would probably just hike all day with us, if we let her.

Eliza, Julia, Shane and Emory

Eliza watching a slug

What a cute group we are!

Julia and I

I'm still biking to and from work, except now I'm headed to my new job!  Which is totally amazing.  I work for a place called United Fund Advisors.  They do financing for green energy, historic renovation, and building in low income communities.  The work is basic, but the office is great, and the people are really cool.  And the company is great-- they've already taken the entire office fishing for a day, and out to a Timbers game.  They stock the kitchen full of snacks for all the staff every two weeks.  The office is certified LEED Gold, so we compost and recycle and have recycled rainwater to flush our toilets...so yeah.  I feel spoiled.

The weather has been getting better and better in Portland, teasing and taunting us at summer yet to come... I'm pretty sure that when the sun comes out, I get sun-induced amnesia.  I completely forget that the rest of the year is rainy and cold and gross, and all I can think about is how amazing this place is.  It's how Portland puts a spell on you, I'm pretty sure.  The first strawberries have arrived at the farmer's markets, the roses are blooming, and outdoor patios all across town are freakin' packed.

My new bike ride is pretty sweet in this amazing-ness, though.  I'm on bike streets for about half of it, and the 2nd half is on the Hawthorne Bridge and through the Waterfront Park.  It's gorgeous in the morning!  I'm sure it's gorgeous in the afternoon, too, but it's much harder to enjoy, as all this mild weather brings all the Portlanders out of the woodwork, and my commute home is mostly me trying not to run into people.

Seriously-- it's like people get on the waterfront and lose all reason.  I have to dodge groups of friends walking 6 abreast (I mean, make room people!); hippies with didgeridoos; skateboarders looking at friends going, 'Watch this!'; punk kids smoking pot (they are all over waterfront); runners of all types; casual bikers who only come out when it's sunny and bob and weave all over the damn place (these might be the worst.  I mean, just move to the side, and ride in a straight line!  How hard is that?).  The other day I had to dodge a girl dressed up like Snow White.  And I'm pretty sure there's a unicyclist who either lives or works near me (or both), cause I see that guy all the time.  Unicycling looks like hard work.  And geese-- there are geese everywhere.  They are not afraid at all.  Sometimes, I gotta slow down and hope they waddle faster.  Anyway, my commute home is basically a refrain of 'Get out of my way- move people- watch out!' until I cross the bridge.  And then it's zen, once I get into the lovely rose gardens of Ladd's Addition.

I just couldn't put up another blog without a bike rant, now could I?  I've got to keep up appearances here, friends.  Here's some poached waterfront photos:

It doesn't always look like this, but sometimes.

That's totally me.  Except not.

My bridge commute.

I eat lunch out here when it's sunny.

Panoramic view of the Hawthorne bridge heading into downtown.

Waterfront Park.

I ride right along the river there!

So anyway.  Two excellent weekends coming up that I'll post pictures of after the fact-- Karen Darr's bachelorette beach weekend, and then 5 days in Knoxville, TN!  Yessssssssssss.  I literally cannot wait for the smothering wet blanket heat of the south, because I get to see my friends!  It's going to be awesome.

There you have it.  Until next time, amigos, and yes, I will totally post more pictures of a growing belly.  Jason and I can tell it's bigger, but it really just doesn't seem like it in photos yet.