The Walkers

It's weird how quickly the last two weeks have passed. Everything has been such a blur. Now that my family has gone back to Washington and Brad has gone back to work, Kaiya and I have just been able to hang out for the past couple of days and I'm loving it. I've finally gotten around to taking some pictures of my girl (luckily my sisters are on top of things). Anyway - here is a sampling. Kaiya is seriously such a well-tempered baby. My only complaint is that she either peed, pooped, or spit up on FOUR outfits today. And she only has three that really fit. She is hilarious. I put her on her back but apparently she prefers her side, since she keeps rolling over to her left shoulder. Isabel was giving Laurel and me knuckles today and kept trying to give them to a sleeping Kaiya . Fine holiday fun. I love her big brown eyes; she looks so much like her daddy. I saved the best for last! p.s. Thanks for all of your kind comments! I'm so grateful to have such a great suppor...

K a i y a W a l k e r ! December 18, 2008 9:29 am 6 pounds 13 ounces 19 inches long Laurel here. Michelle and Baby are now doing awesome, and are both amazingly beautiful!!! (Like we'd expect anything less from Michelle...) Sorry for the sub-par pictures from my camera phone -- there will be more to come when either Michelle or I aren't doing this from a work computer. :D LOVE this family!

I don't know if it's the pregnancy hormones, anxiety getting sub stuff ready, the prospect of being able to ditch them soon, or if it's just my impatient, bratty self... but I seriously want to strangle all of my students.

Everybody keeps telling me I need a "belly pic" (why anyone wants photo documentation of their fat selves I'll never know)... so here's Michelle in her too-tight shirt, encroaching on week 39 of the pregnancy. Enjoy.

I'm too lazy to take a picture of the real thing... but I feel the need to show off our latest, and theoretically final, baby purchase. I was so psyched to go pick up our car seat/stroller Saturday night. I was worried that it looked a little boyish, so I got a pink BundleMe to go with it. Fun stuff! I figure my stroller and my diaper bag (which I LOVE - thank you Becca and Anjalee) will pretty much be my identity for the next couple of years. It's funny - we walked into the store intending to buy a different travel system, but changed our minds when we saw - and actually agreed on - this one. It's really the first thing Brad and I have agreed on in a long time. Too bad we're still working on that baby name.

Okay, so this is not a cute - nor a recent - picture. Sorry, Alicia. (The rest of you, lay off, we were roadtrippin'.) I'm posting it because this is my favorite view in the world. It's the Columbia River Gorge just outside of Washougal on Highway 14. Throughout high school, whenever I was sad, frustrated, or just contemplative, I'd go for a drive. I'd usually make a big loop around the Washougal River Road and end up heading east on Highway 14 until I found my happy place. This happy place. Even now, I usually make Brad take the "long way" to I-84 when we're heading home from my parents', just so I can see this view. Now, here's my point. Check out the opening shot of the Twilight trailer. (Pause the video at 7 seconds to get the full effect.) Hello?!? Pretty cool, right? There are actually a couple other shots of the gorge throughout the trailer... a fact which gets me anxious to see the movie. At first I was super-excited to see my h...

I'm aware that Halloween was over a week ago. I swear, I had the best of intentions to post pictures promptly. Oh well. Just in case you still care, here's our tribute to knocked up brides everywhere. And yes, Brad insisted on making that face for every picture. Memories of his hair and teeth still haunt my dreams... but it's all about attention to detail. Also noteworthy: Brad's socks and Tivas, my butterfly jewelry, Brad's pegged pants, and my hairdo that Megan thought was a wig. I don't know whether to be flattered or offended. I had to include this picture to showcase my tights and boots.

Keep in mind this is an alien posing as a presidential candidate... which makes it even better.

I think that I’m one of five Americans between the ages of 15-30 who doesn’t own an ipod. Therefore, I still like making mix CDs… and naming them, of course. These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill “Michelle’s awesome mix” and “Michelle’s radical mix” titles, my friends. A lot of thought – and alliteration – goes into the naming process. Anyhoo, I’m trying to create a CD with good, happy baby songs...not for the baby to listen to, but for me. (As if I’m not emotional enough already, let's stick 20 sentimental songs in the CD player and see what happens.) Here are some ideas that I have so far: Tim McGraw-“My Little Girl”, John Mayer -“Daughters”, James Taylor-“Sweet Baby James”. Does anybody have any other ideas for me?

I finally finished painting and furnishing the nursery last week. And yes - I'm looking for compliments here, because Brad thinks the stripes are weird. I'm still looking for something to hang above the crib... maybe vinyl lettering? maybe three big, cherry picture frames? I don't know. p.s. Zoom in on the crib bedding... I have such a crush on it.

I'm going to have a baby. Soon. Why is this just hitting me? I'm kind of freaking out. Someone tell me why this is a good idea, again.

This is a bit belated... but I just need to express my sincere sadnesss over Butch Cassidy's death. I have such a crush on Paul Newman, that I often buy his salad dressing just to see his picture smiling at me from the inside of my refridgerater door. Here's to one of the good ones.

School starts at 7:55, but I'm supposed to be here by 7:30. Yeah right. I've been shuffling in at about 7:45 since I started at PHS, and for the most part I've gotten away with it. (I was in a portable, and I have a sneaking suspision that nobody would have noticed if I didn't even show up.) Except that this year, I'm struggling to get here before the tardy bell. You know - the one that I pretend is such a big deal when I'm docking my students' attendance grades? It's pretty embarrassing when 35 kids are standing in the hallway at 7:52, waiting for their hypocrite teacher to come unlock her door. When questioned by students in the past, I've been known to lie about morning meetings, making copies, etc. This morning, I worked so so hard to get here on time. I pulled in at 7:35, and I'm totally proud of myself. Because in my deluded mind, that's 20 minutes early. What's wrong with me?

Before you get too excited, this is not a post about the Olsen twins' classic Salt Lake olympics road trip movie. But I'll post a picture of that magical moment in cinematic history anyway. I'm here to boast about the latest accomplishment in my semi-finished basement. We have walls. It will be at least a year before we have cabinets, carpet, or furniture down there... but it's exciting to at least have some rooms. First and foremeost: The Billiard Room. Yes, that's what I will call it. Eventually this ginormous family room will house a projector, the computer, and I'm envisioning a play kitchen or something in the corner for the wee ones. Then we have the two bedrooms. The first one is bigger to accomodate a queen bed. Check out the killer double-closet! Finally... somewhere clean to store all our winter gear. And here's a crappy picture of the other bedroom. This one will have cool built-in shelves for toys and whatnot. (We're thinking this will be th...

I stole these pictures from Laurel's blog, since I'm an idiot and didn't take any pictures yesterday. Anyhoo - my big sister Alicia had her little boy early yesterday morning and he is perfect! I wasn't weirded out being at the hospital (being due in 3 1/2 months myself) until Markelle mentioned it... thanks :) Blaine, Alicia, and Jake. And how cute is my mom with her two grandkids?

I have a student named Thor. Really. I can't say his name without thinking of Sara from Adventures in Babysitting , with her official Thor helmet, cape, and hammer. I'm urged to write one of two things on his next paper: either, "Thor's my hero!" or, "Thor's a homo." I can't decide. Oh man, that's a fantastic movie.

Today is the first day of school. I'm talking too fast. I'm stuttering. I'm spitting. I'm running into my podium. I'm making jokes where I'm the only one laughing. I'm slacking doing actual "work" during prep and blogging instead. And I'm loving every minute of it.

So, I realized three things yesterday: 1) I officially can't fit into any of my pants. 2) I cry over hymns. 3) Apparently I pee a little bit when I sneeze. Excellent.

Wow - these last couple weeks have been crazy. First, I went to Washington for a week. The day I got back, we had our 20 week ultrasound. Then Brad and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary yesterday! Let's go in order. Here's my mom and me at Cape Meares near Tillamook, Oregon. And this is me having a "razzle dazzle day" at the lighthouse. (Megan, my mom, and I were having way too much fun reinacting Pete's Dragon .) Then Mandy and Michael's big day was the 26th! The reception was at Fort Vancouver; I thought this carriage was so cool. It was so much fun seeing all the girls. I'm bummed I have to miss Rachael's wedding next weekend. Gotta love Jacqueline and Mandy gettin' down. Red drink. White dress. Very careful sips. On to item number two... it's a girl! I think this picture is hilarious. How can that possibly be comfortable? But she refused to move from that position the entire time. (Of course I get the lazy baby... wonder where she gets t...