i love you my sedu

this just arrived in the mail last week. a birthday money purchase. it doesn't catch my hair or pull on it. love it, love it, LOVE IT! maybe i'll actually do my hair every once in a while now.

the new husky

sorry for the delay on the husky report. thanks for all your great suggestions! we gave joel the new husky about a week ago yesterday. in the end, we decided not to lie to him about the fact that this wasn't his real husky. here's basically what happened:

me: "mommy and daddy have something for you joel." ben pulls out the husky from behind his back.

joel: "i don't want a NEW husky! i want MY husky!" he takes it and throws it aside.

ben and i look at each other like, "crap."

me: "this is husky's brother. husky sent him to keep you company."

joel: "but i want carter to bring me MY husky from the beach." (carter is joel's cousin, just 3 months older than joel, who was very concerned when he heard about husky being gone. he offered joel to come and help him look for husky. very sweet, but he lives in washington.)

me: "well bud, i'm really sorry but i don't think your husky is coming back. it's husky's brother or nothing." (this is breaking my heart!)

kadin: "i want him!"

joel: "NO! he's MINE!" (joel grabs the dog)

nice. that's all it took. the prospect of his little brother getting the new dog instead of him. and he hasn't parted with it since. i took this picture about five minutes after the introduction. notice how beautiful and shiny and fluffy and plump husky is? it won't last for long. it's only been a week and he's already filthy. also, notice that kadin has his blue doggie with him, too. we need to start investing in TY stuffed animals. this is ridiculous.

RIP husky

it finally happened... on our trip to the beach this past labor day, joel lost his beloved husky dog. husky has been a constant in joel's life since he was born... a precious friend that he has toted along almost everywhere and cuddled with every night for almost four years. he's been pretty sad, but i almost cried when ben repeated what joel had expressed in his prayer one night last week while i was at yoga:

"dear heavenly father, we thank thee for mommy and daddy and kadin and joelie. please bless the toys and the food (this is the exact prayer he says every time, no matter the time of day, despite our encouragement for variance)." he pauses. "please bless husky that he can be not scared at the beach. bless carter to be safe when he brings my husky to me. and bless husky that he can have fun in the surfing. in the name of jesus christ, amen."


seriously tragic. so we just HAD to order another husky... and it's on the way to our house as we speak from those folks at amazon. but i'm a little worried how he's going to take to a brand new husky. obviously joel's going to notice that it's not the same dog. he's no dummy. any suggestions on how we should handle it? what we should say? how to introduce the new husky?

a quick question

so has anyone else who's been pregnant before had the distinct feeling that your baby is about to fall out while you're, say... blowing your nose? or maybe while pushing your poop out?

just wondering.

maybe it's time for some kegels.

we're having...

a boy!

crazy huh? i guess ben and i are just meant to have little dudes. i sure love our little guys, though, so what could be better than to have another? he looks really healthy and is measuring right at 18 weeks.

details

thanks for all the conrats you guys! so i'm 17 weeks along and i have an ultrasound scheduled for this wednesday the 27th. hopefully we'll have a cooperative babe that day so we can find out the gender. we are hoping for a girl, but we're pretty partial to darling, little boys... so, of course, we'll be elated either way. my due date is january 28. kadin's birthday is january 21 so they'll be almost exactly 3 years apart.

as for the half marathon i ran.... i was 5 1/2 weeks along at that point and it was the weekend before i started getting tired, sick, nauseous, etc. if i ran it a week later, it wouldn't have gone so well. :) i'm running another half marathon this weekend and i assure you that it will probably take me a good 15 minutes longer to finish this one. but i'm grateful that i've been able to continue running and push through my yucky, sick weeks... i have my running buddies to thank for that. running has helped me to feel better, though. on the days that i didn't get a run in, i felt MUCH more pukey. but i'm feeling pretty good now. YES!

i never took pictures of myself pregnant with my first two babies, so i decided that i'm going to take a picture of my budding belly every month this time around. here's 4 months along:

take a gander at kadin's "special" shirt

see whitney run

on may 31 i ran the all women's "see jane run" 1/2 marathon in alameda with a couple of cute girlies, maren and kristen. it was an absolutely perfect running day in every sense of the word. it was nice and cool outside... it was a fast, flat course with a fantastic view of san fran and the golden gate across the bay from us... and best of all, i felt incredible. i love those kind of runs. i just wanted to post a sub-2 hour race and i did just that, finishing in 1:56:35. note to self: screaming and waving while running by does not make for a good picture.

the victorious finishers. kristen on the left, maren in the middle.

santa cruz sweet santa cruz

it's a long standing tradition for our family to camp at new brighton beach near santa cruz over memorial day weekend every year. this year was as fabulous as ever... lots of catching up with old friends, tons of beach time, a visit to the monterey bay aquarium and, of course, gobs of yummy food and campfires galore. we took lots of pictures of the kiddos. they're the good lookin' ones anyway...

joel and kadin snuggling together on their air mattress.
jellyfish.
checking out the hammerheads.
"i'm a whale mom!"
tearing it up on the longboard.
best brothers... with a hammer.
cutie pie boys.

oh yeah

anybody else watch the americans upset the french relay team in the mens 4x100 meter freestyle swim last night?!! absolutely incredible. it was almost midnight and i was jumping up and down and screaming at the top of my lungs with my kids sleeping in the next room. man, i love the olympics. you HAVE to watch the replay here.