Somewhere in Middle America

We got back from Nebraska Tuesday night...well, Wednesday morning technically, since we didn't get home until 1 AM. A long day, especially considering that both Mike and Mateo had a bit of a cold (Mike more than Mateo - who's the bigger baby?). Mateo's first cold - didn't seem to be too bad, he just had a runny nose, and sneezed a lot, and seemed generally out of sorts. All better now, though, thank goodness. Anyway, the plane rides were fine. I tell you, the boobs are an excellent secret weapon. Mateo pretty much nursed and/or slept the whole way, while I clutched Mike for dear life during the bumpy parts. I'm not sure why I hate flying so much - perhaps it's because every time I get on a plane, I think I'm going to die? And now they want $7 for a freaking gin and tonic (not that I had one, but it was tempting).

Regardless, we got there and back unscathed, and had some fun adventures in between! Mateo got to meet his Great Grandma Fitle, and his uncles Matt and Chris. He went on his first boat ride (which I think he would have enjoyed a lot more were it not for the life jacket, but safety first!) and enjoyed playing with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. The visit seemed to go by quickly, but it always does - especially with a day of travel on both ends.

Mateo is almost crawling - he can sort of army crawl for a few feet, but then gets tired, or distracted, and stops. It's not the prettiest movement, but it's something. I'm excited for imminent mobility! And also a little wistful for the blob stage, let's be honest. But I should get to experience that again soon - Catherine is due any day now. I can't wait to hold a newborn again! Uh oh, is that my uterus throbbing?

Anyway, here are some pics of the trip. Blogspot only lets you upload 4 at a time, so if you want to see more, let me know and I'll e-mail them to you!

Party!

Our party was, if I might say so myself, a smashing success! There is nothing I like better than seeing all of our friends, together in one place, having a good time. We hosted about 40 people (and at least 10 dogs that I can remember!) Most of the old Portland crew was there, plus some Provvista folks, people from Mike's work, and a bunch of moms from my mom's group (including their significant others and babies, of course). Mike was a maniac at the grill(s) - he had 3 going at once. Smoker for the tri tip, and 2 webers for the corn and chicken. I baked a boatload of potatoes, and everyone brought a dish to share. There was a ton of food and drink and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves! The only drawback to the day was the weather - I think it reached over 100 degrees on Saturday. Oh well, better than rain I guess, and people took advantage of the air conditioned interior at various intervals throughout the day. Lucas and Rae even camped out in our backyard that night! If we're here again next summer we will definitely have to make the Smith Family Farm Party an annual event.

I'm sure you'd love to see pictures - but of course, we didn't take any. Sorry. I just get so caught up in everything that I forget to take them! Hopefully some of our friends will send us some pics - I noticed Martin shooting quite a few, so I'll get him to send them to me.

We're getting excited for our trip to Nebraska! We leave in 2 days. I really hope that Mateo enjoys flying more than I do :/ Hopefully, I'll be so concerned with making sure that he is happy and comfortable, that I will forget to be nervous. Wish me luck. We change planes in Salt Lake City with a 3 hour layover, so hopefully that will give us all time to regroup. I just want to get there, already. Mateo is getting close to crawling (at least I think so - he's scooting backwards, in circles, and doing lots of push ups) so it would be neat if he took his first "crawls" while we're visiting Grandma and Grandpa Smith!

It's raining today, which is refreshing. Makes me want to knit, or read, or something.

Crisis Averted

I thought that we had run out of coffee this morning. But we had some! Stashed high away in a cupboard, some really cheap Italian stuff that came with our stovetop espresso maker. It's not good, but not bad either. I am an addict.

Today is Mike's birthday! I am going to make BLT's for dinner (his choice). Fine with me. I am not sure why he likes BLT's so much. I'm going to have a BLTA. Yum.

Went to Eugene Tuesday to visit mom and dad and to watch some of the Olympics. The Olympics is about the only time when I really miss not having TV. I love to watch the gymnastics, and of course anyone who knows me knows about my secret crush on Bob Costas! It wasn't the same without Katie though...she and I always have fun making fun of the leotards, and counting the number of clips in the Romanian gymnasts' hair. Although they didn't really show too much of the Romanians...in fact one might have assumed it was just a competition between the US and China. Sigh. It was still fun to watch, and there was one Chinese gymnast who might have been wearing about 20 clips, so it wasn't a total loss. But boy were the leotards ugly!

As you can tell I think I am losing steam on the blog. Please help me to get back in the game! i just get bored easily. I do have some photos I need to upload, so maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

I'm excited for our party Saturday!

Oh and Mateo! He can sit up unassisted all the time now. He can't crawl quite yet, but when he's on his stomach he scoots around and around in a concentric circle. Sometimes he scoots backwards. He does push ups too. But so far no forward motion...Ah well, everyone says I should enjoy it while it lasts! ;)

I hear the babe a-stirrin' so I should go...maybe I'll write more tomorrow, but maybe not.

Camping photos, finally

I finally have a free minute to post some pics of our camping trip. We all had a great time - I think now was probably the best time to go camping with Mateo, before he starts crawling, because I've heard that camping with a crawling baby is pretty crazy...especially since the terrain up here is usually very dusty in the summer. I think Maisie thought she died and went to heaven! Mike took her out in the canoe and got some great photos of her and Mt. Hood which you will see. (We went to Lost Lake, which is on the north side of Mt. Hood. Kinda far from where we live now, but totally worth it!)

I'm still trying to figure out blogger's photo tools so forgive me if the pictures show up in a weird spot...

Sorry for the short, vague post but I'm just not in a chatty mood right now.

Enjoy the photos!

We're going camping today!

Woo-hoo! I promise to post pictures when we return...really I will.