Oh, happy day-- Austin's here!

i'll let the new parents do the bragging and photo sharing (most of it, i mean), but, couldn't you just die?!

My sister is a MOM!!

And i'm an aunt!!
So theres a brand new little lady being swaddled right now. Baby girl archabal was born about an hour ago. I don't know much, just that all is well. thats all i need to know.
more to come soon!
oh and a new birthday to memorize, Sept 30 =). She's inheriting a great birthday, isn't she lindsey?

Exciting day(s) for the fleming/archabals!

My sister erica is well on her way to being a mommy! If you read my blog, chances are you read hers too, but its

www.littlearch.blogspot.com

if you'd like to check out her blog. My brother josh is posting the labor and delivery (he he) news on her page so if you'd like a status check, he's updating as the news comes in. Erica is a little busy, you see.

This is so fun, so exciting. Makes my day seem a little uneventful, but i'll tell you about it anyway =). im so excited and my fingers want to keep typing =)!!

Brooks took us, me and bgg, to the doctor this morning. Everything looks good (weight, bp, baby's heart beat and size..).. Everyone is healthy. Best part: The doctor told us how to identify her little parts. so, RIGHT now, i can find and pat her on her little bum! ha ha. what's happening on the right are her little feet doing the hustle. AND she's head down, ready to go....Thats nice to know! hopefully she'll stay that way. And in the mean time, i get to feel her moving around and know where and what she's moving!

The OB NURSE asked me if i was having twins. I said the OB nurse, the one who checks in pregnant ladies day in and day out. Thats lovely. "twins?" "no?" "aye, you a little girl...but you so big--you sure just one? ha ha ha." She hadn't opened my chart yet, so she didn't even know how far along i am.... "yep, just one baby". Thats the best response i could think of. Its amazing how i lack the ability to respond to the things people say to me these days. I love how everyone tells me how big i am.... responses i want to give are things like

"yeah, wow, i am. i hadn't noticed that"
"yeah, i'm huge-- so are you!"
"thank you"
"we expect her to come out fully grown and typing 60 words/min"

All of these seem pretty rude so usually i just stand there and smile.

i think i'm going to have a new neice by morning-- just MY prediction... i will go to sleep with the phones near, waiting for updates.

I am currently munching on a homegrown watermelon. it is DELICIOUS!

Its baby time!

A new Record

I hit a "personnal best" last night.
5, i said FIVE, trips to the bathroom. I've been averaging 3, rarely hitting 4 interruptions of my non sleep each night. But 5?... come on...

a sad little part of this pregnancy, for a cat at least. Chester officially has no lap to lay on. For the past couple of months, he's gotten very creative with a new rapidly growing obstacle on his turf. he would lay in a "C" formation around the general lap area. He's very agile. Recently he's been digging his claws into anything he can, ouch, and sortof lays slanted (i can still sit indian-style- for now), defying gravity. i have blankets for the claws. Can't help him with the slant really, except in some cases, wedging him in with a pillow opposite the shrinking lap. But with the development of issue one (bathroom visits), by the time we're all set up and he starts off into snooze land, i'm disturbing his slumber yet again. the nerve of me. ramble. sorry...

anyway, this morning, no claws in the world could keep him on his perch. 2 failed attempts, then he laid down next to me. Don't tell him, but i'm much more comfortable with this arrangement, at least for now. Personnal space ha NEVER been more valuable or seemingly impossible than it has lately.



Meanwhile, baby girl is dancing like crazy in here. Its the most amazing an indescribable feeling to have this going on. For you moms out there, you know what i mean. But for you men, boys, dads, i'm sorry you can't experience this. (of course, i DO consider it my reward for the frequent back spasms and unmentionables that you dont know about either, and that i'll spare you from). I think though even cooler than feeling these movements might be seeing them. It sometimes looks like the "belIe" (brooxie's name for home girl's home) has been taken over by some mechanical... thing. My tummy literally changes shape before our eyes. from second to second, we can go from perfectly pumpkin round to unknown gourd type non convex form. i wish i could describe it better. But it is drastic and more entertaining than any movie i've ever seen. i DO keep imagining that scene in Space Balls where the alien comes out of the guys stomach in the diner singing and dancing "hello my baby, hello my honey..." Thank god though, i have faith that our little one will greet us in a less shocking manner, and a whole lot cuter.


first of all, i CAN'T believe I found this. Secondly, i didn't remember it being so scary... i'm not scared of her....very excited actually, but here's the scene =).

anyway, these are my morning thoughts.

a maui birthday

As I said, we have our Jeff visiting from minnesota. It was his birthday yesterday. For the occasion, we went to our favorite sushi place (no raw food for me though-- getting a wee bit tired of that...) and then we came home for desert. I made "dirt" (one of my all time favorite Cathy Block creations, thank you cathy) to celebrate jeff's big day, and it was a hit, even with us all feeling as full as thanksgiving night. Today he is going to oahu to spend a little time in waikiki and see some famous surf breaks. i promised him there'd be dirt waiting for him for when he got back. I hope i can keep this promise. i have to admit, i had a little for brunch =).




if you look to the right of this photo, you will see pregnancy corner. This is my haven. Brooks set it all up and its where i live =). Books, arts n crafts, lotion and tums...i wont for nothing...except maybe a baby.

Whitney's new glasses

Whitney got new glasses and is very happy to wear them!
I used to love this book-- it was surprisingly difficult to find a picture of the cover but i didn't want to let my readers down. I even got to go downtown by myself to pick them up; quite an adventure.
Anyway, that's my news. i can see clearly now, the rain is gone....

big baby

This is what they say you look like at 33 weeks...


This would be me at 33 weeks. I'm thinkin' our girl might be a big 'un. (not sure why, but i can't get this picture horizontal--sorry)

I'm gaining the right amount of weight. But what is going on? maybe every pregnant woman feels like an elephant, but... come on here. I have the belly button popping out like a turkey thermometer and have started using band aids and stickers (thanks dad).

We have our wonderful friend chizmar here visiting. Every time i get up or down (a process, mind you), his eyes just widen and sometimes a laugh comes out. i think that says it all.

(tip) over and out.

Its beginning to feel a lot like baby...

WE GOT A CAR SEAT!!



This is fun. We're starting to amass a lot of pink around here, so we both liked this sporty throne for our little miss. We also picked up some diapers, cause you never know when little miss might make her appearance and make other things we should be ready for.
Thought i'd practice with the monkey. His name is murry and brooks got me this for my first birthday with him =). He's wearing a diaper under a onesie that asks, "does this diaper make my butt look big?" (love it) from dear aunt sandy and uncle peter =)!

And yes, I know what a nerd i am, thank you.

I LOVE this

I'm sure you all have heard of this or seen a clip, but here's the whole thing =). enjoy

talk about a "bump watch"

i very much hesitate to post this-- its a little weird. but, i don't have much else going on these days and i spend a lot of time staring at this, so i thought i'd share.

so ok, i never really thought anything about my belly button. its fine, its mine, it lives here. it took me getting pregnant to realize, though, that i am an off-centered girl, as evidenced by the alignment of the navel. See, the vertical line is called the linea negra...meaning 'dark line', that occurs in lots of women that are pregnant. Actually its "in" everyone, but the pregnancy hormones darken this linea thing, making it visible. thats why you see it, you see. Oh seester of mine, can you see yours?

so as this line was surfacing, i realized the belly button gods may have sewn me up in haste. this is outwardly (pun intended, more with each passing day actually) NOT midline. I like it though. Yet another thing that makes me special, right mom? anyway, im blaming the assymmetry on the navel, not the negra, cause when i look in the mirror, the negra looks exactly centered. anyway, you may also notice the horizontal line. i do too. That is, as far as name (in english or otherwise), purpose, or incidence, anyone's guess. Maybe i'll be bored enough to look it up. it is fascinating though because these lines are the only fringe "benefits" of pregnancy i can think of that dont hurt, hinder, or happify (i made that up for alliteration's sake, in thinking of those fun and frquent kicks). They are just there.

more updates-- no news is filler news?

I got a pedicure, from the best intown of course. It might me difficult to read, but the pigglies say "# 15 MVP". I am DEFINITELY on the bandwagon for dustin pedroia (redsox 2nd baseman, AKA the little big man, "pedroia the destroy-a") to be this years MVP and am wearing it proudly on my dogs.


i'm convinced that things taste better when you grow them yourself--great for the carbon footprint too. i made a killer sauce with these guys shortly after they smiled for my camera.


could he be any cuter?

....aye

i mean this in the most excited, elated, grateful, and gracious expecting motherly way:

Can someone please get her outta here?

This week in whitney news.

Happy Septamber.  Happy Labor day.  I had a REALLY happy birthday!  Thank you for all your calls and well wishes.

So, I'm going to stop apologizing for being an irregular blogger.  Thats me, take it or leave it.  My loyal readers are never forgotten though.  whenever i think of something "blog worthy", i take a picture of it.  So even if i can't provide you with witty daily musings about life on the rock, i can catch you up periodically.

Here's what's been going on around here.

Chester killed this, after playing with its half-dead struggling self for a few brutal hours.  Normally, we put things out of their misery, but this guy just sort of scared us.  We called it 'dinosaur bug' and tried to ignore its slow death (i still feel bad about letting it go this way, but come on, look at that thing--i wasn't about to get any closer than this.)

 Zoom lenses are good.  

This things body was about the length, if not longer, than my middle finger.

I made brooks some monkey cupcakes.  

With all this time on my hands, i've been trying out fun little things.

My sister is awesome.  sewing valences and quilts in preparation for her baby.

I am playing with candy.

A monkey family.  i only made 4.  these guys took some time and patience that i quickly ran out of, but aren't they cute?

Brooks got me out of the house this weekend (twice actually!!).

Here "we" are taking pictures at poli poli in the eucalyptus tree forest =).

I'd like to say i went with brooks for a hike in this forest, but i'd be lying.  i didn't stray too far from the car...

What with rough terrain and not being able to see my feet and 5000 feet elevation and my pelvis splitting apart, i was proud of this much.

Back in the car, i consulted the whitney survival bag (which is always on hand in the jeep).  It includes juice, snacks, and a variety of books.  During this adventure, i did some crossword puzzles and enjoyed the COOL air!!

What did i ever do to deserve this guy? 

He spoiled me all weekend with movies, home cooked everything,  and shopping sprees at local nurseries (to acquire some new  friends) and even expanded this veggie garden.  He claims he's going to enlarge the other smaller garden tomorrow. I can't wait to fill 'em up!