Pictures from the beach

On this trip, Odin taught us that we need to live on a beach, wherever we end up, it has to be on the ocean-front.

Beach Trip 8/21

Another fun day!

Yesterday we took a day trip out to Roseburg for Great-Grandpa-George's 84th birthday. We all had a nice meal at Coyote Jack's and then took a tour of Linus Links, the new put area George designed for the property he lives on. When we got back to town we hung out at Grandma Paula's for snacks and then headed home to relax. It was truly a fun day hanging out with family.

Very fun day

We had an awesome day today.

In the morning we met Zaideh for Cafe Yumm! breakfast and had a great time with him. Then we went out to a bunch of garage sales and found tons of cool toys for Odin and lots of great clothes for Freya. Then we picked up Grandma Paula and she came with us to a few. I manged to find a really sweet guitar amp for super cheep and I'm going back to pick it up tomorrow! I'm so happy because I thought I'd never get one and I'm at the point that I need one or I can't practice properly. Then we went to a baby-stuff re-sale shop and found even more awesome clothes for both Freya and Odin, and Grandma Paula also bought Odin a really cool Thomas the Tank Engine backpack for when he starts school and a perfect pack-and-play crib for Freya. It's really high-quality, in great condition, and a very nice pattern. We were so happy, we felt really lucky we had found so many good things all day.

Afterwards, we went to Grandpa Paula's house and had a very lovely dinner; ships off the barbie, delicious salads, ripe grapes, bread and butter, and coconut cream cake for desert! We all just hung out for a while and then Paula let me drive her new truck around while we ran a last-minute errand so I'd be used to it for the next time we all took a trip together.

Tomorrow morning, Zaideh is coming over for pancakes with fresh-fruit and then we're taking a trip to see some family! It's been/going to be an awesome weekend.

Beach

We went to Lincoln City to spread the ashes of my Nana at her favorite spot. The drive up was excruciating, but I'm glad I went. Steve talked about saying goodbye and letting go and it helped me cope a little and I felt better leaving the ceremony. Odin played with Jake and Grandpa Mark on the beach and had too much fun for it to be legal, and I've never seen the weather that good at the beach. We all had fun eating out together and just spent the day having a good time, it was a nice Friday afternoon.

Tension

Yesterday we went to MFM to get some better shots of what's going on inside Alyssa and figure out where we stand. Right now the doctor said that it looks a lot better; the placenta is higher and it doesn't appear to be a serious Accreta. It does still look like it's stuck in one spot so that could mean they only have to cut out a tiny chunk rather than do a whole hysterectomy. The bad thing is that this is still a major operation in which Alyssa would have to be uncouncious and I wouldn't be allowed in the room, and that would be the birth of our daughter. We don't want her to come out with nobody to hold her and nobody to hear her cry. Plus, a pregnant woman has 20% of her blood in her uterus and there's risk of bleeding out. We left really upset, to say the least.

We're going back in 3 weeks to see if that little spot looks any clearer. With luck, it wont be so serious that they can't try a normal c-section anyway (in which Alyssa could be concious and I could be there), and just have everything else at the ready. That's what we're hoping for. If not, they'll have to do it early to get Freya out before more progresses and so we'd have a baby in the NICU. We're trying to stay optimistic, but we've left almost every OB appointment of the last 2 terms of prenancy with bad news...

In other news, we did have some fun over the weekend. Alyssa, Dad, and I took Odin to the Scandinavian festival in Junction city. It was pretty cool; music, dancing, tons of good food. In fact, the only downside was the aepleskiters. It's a tradition there ever since the festival started and it's apparently the whole reason anybody goes to the festival. They're small, golfball-sized pastries that people wait in line for over an hour to get (and I had to as well). What sucks is that when I bit into one it was basically a german pancake/waffle type thing which I'd had at my mother's house every weekend growing up, and I had just made for myself that morning! So I waited in line for an hour with everybody telling me that I wouldn't regret it and I get up there and it's nothing special. I guess everbody else doesn't make that too often, but I have german pancakes almost every weekend.

Cake and Sharing

Despite all the parties Odin has been to, and all the times we've brought home cupcakes or tiramasu, Odin hadn't really tried cake (even on his own birthdays) until this evening when we were out for a walk and gave him a slice of the angle-food cake we'd bought for my birthday. As soon as he had a bite, he inhaled the rest and really loved it.

In other news, we've done up Odin's room a bit by getting him so Thomas the Tank Engine stickers that can be re-applied as many times as you want. We followed his explicit instructions as to their various locations and now his walls are nicely decorated. We also cleaned off his toy wall and moved most of it into an organized array in the closet so that he can share that wall with Freya. We moved her pack-and-play into his room and there's space still for the dresser we want to get her. Of course, she wont be sleeping in it for some months after she's born, but we wanted to get Odin used to the idea and he seems to really like it.

We've finally managed to get Alyssa's music up and running. It's on the social networking site Facebook for the time being because they allow us to store and play the songs for free. I'm not sure if you have to have an account to listen or not, but when we get a chance, we'll also store the songs in another location that should be easier to listen to or download from.

Alyssa Aska | Promote Your Page Too


Alyssa's planning on using her time off this summer to finish a portfolio and start looking for studios and production companies who want to hire her.

I've changed my classes around a bit lately. My major requires me to take two history courses that are only offered in alternating years, so I need to stay an extra year. I had planned on doing second-year Latin, but since I am staying an extra year, I'm starting this fall with first-year Greek and then next year I'll take second-year in whichever of those two I like more, or both, and I also plan to start first-year Italian in that second year. I'm also focusing my studies on some Scandinavian culture and history to link to the idea I have for my Thesis in the history or Rome (more on that later).

Progress, kinda

Alyssa's placenta has been low for a while, and our OB keeps taking pictures to see if it's moving. So far, not enough. It's not over her cervix which is good because that almost forces a c-section (we want to do a VBAC), but it's still not high enough. Also, it seems to be settling on her old c-section scar which is what's making it stay in place. This can mean that it might not move much more, and worse, that if she does need the c-section, the placenta can end up in the scar or in the cut and get caught. This is very dangerous and can cause the need for a major surgery; an OR with prepped blood transfusions and multiple surgeons and nurses, rather than just the standard c-section crew. In dire circumstances, it can also mean she'd have to have her uterus removed if they can't get it out safely.

It left us with a sour taste in our mouths, but the doc said he doesn't think that's going to happen and he's having a specialist take more pictures to make absolutely sure. We'll see how it goes.

Locomotives Anonymous

So Odin has a habit classified as an addiction; his Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railway trains. These trains are interfering with his family and social life, as well as his health. He frequently avoids us to play with the and he has lately not eaten meals, taken naps, or gone to bed nicely because he gets distracted and would prefer to play with them. It's beyond the level of a normal 2-year-old, it's gone too far.

On another note, we're taking him to the doctor tomorrow because he keeps complaining about his back for some reason. It might just be because he wants a back-rub, but it's been consistent in it's location so we're just checking while we ask about behavioral stuff.

We took Odin to Unity School today. It's the preschool he'll be attending and we've been looking into it for months. We got all the paperwork and by Monday he'll be signed up to go starting September 8th. Alyssa and I will be out of school by that time so we'll have 3 weeks of summer with Odin going to school all day. We're already lamenting his absence and it hasn't even happened yet.

Fun times

We went hangin' out at Brandy and Jon's place yesterday and Odin got to play it up with Ryder and June. Tons of fun. They all played in a kiddie pool and threw things around the yard and had a great time. We also got invited to Jon's birthday dinner which was very nice.

Brandy totally snapped this candid shot of Alyssa and it's one of the most beautiful pictures I've seen of her (along with a few others in our albums).

From Random Shots 8/1