the humming refrigerator

mae has met so many family and friends in the last two months.

after maggie and jackson and den and brie came to visit, her omi and papaw (darek’s parents) came for a 10 day stay while i went back to work for 5 days. 

then christina and manny showed up from portland.

the following week, katie, greg, jon and joy arrived (also from portland).

so much love a baby brings.

now we are off to the east coast for a week to meet all of the folks who live there.

photos to follow soon.

maggie and jackson came through town and mae got to meet them…..

uncle dennis and auntie brie are visiting from hoboken….

some photos of mae. she arrived june 30th, 2012.

my mom arrived on tuesday and that day lightning struck flagstaff mountain and created a forest fire about 2-4 miles from our house. for two days we were on pre evacuation warning meaning, we packed our bags and set them by the door, ready to flee at any moment. oh baby renso….what a week.

it also happened to be record breaking heat- 5 days in a row of over 100 degree temperatures. our tiny house has no A/C so we had to buy a portable one and a few fans to make our living situation bearable for all of us.

needless to say, darra lost it. between the heat, the mother talking about the A/C situation and the husband talking about the wildfires, the stress and pressure just got to be too much!

here are some photos of the fire…pretty beautiful. 

here we are at 40 weeks…..

just a few pictures of our living room pre-baby.

my camera phone is not very good…but we get the idea…i.e. no baby gear to be seen and a calm and quiet space.

i finished this quilt last october and gave it to my friend for the birth of his son. i finally now just got a picture of it….

it’s been incredibly hot here….and just keeps getting hotter. i suggested to darek that we take a little car trip so i could indulge in the A/C since we don’t have any in our apt.

today i am going to look into buying fans, an A/C unit or, a swamp cooler. i can’t sleep in this record breaking heat.

our day trip yesterday was down to manitou springs which is right near colorado springs— about 2 hours south of boulder. first, we drove through the garden of the gods, which, has become quite a bit more touristy since i was last there 11 years ago. then we walked around manitou the city, which is also touristy— but a good kind of touristy…located around town are fountains that dispense a sort of soda water that is filled with powerful and healing minerals. i drank some, but did not want to get sick so, i stopped after a couple of sips…darek did the same.

2 weeks until my due date of june 29th. mmmmmm. just patiently waiting the arrival of baby renso…….mostly feeling good but the heat is definitely sucking my energy….

driving through garden of the gods….the red rock out croppings are pretty amazing. this is just one of the things we saw……

belly/ baby at 38 weeks……downtown manitou springs.

clocktower

mineral water fountain in downtown manitou springs.

the river that runs through the city.

another view of the city.

http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

a fantastic article on recognizing the signs of drowning…..

since it has been so hot here, i have been obsessed with making homemade ice pops or- as some of you may know them, popsicles….

so far i’ve made 2 different batches of mango, strawberry yogurt pops and one batch of avocado pops…today we have strawberry lemonade made with fresh strawberries, fresh lemon juice, and agave syrup…with a little honey thrown in…

i know baby renso is about to arrive anytime in the next few weeks. as hot as it has been here, i have been trying to stay cool and keep up with my socializing….socializing during the day mostly, because i tire out pretty easily by the time 5pm comes around.

my social calendar this week included lots of great new lady friends i have been making over the past few months. i appreciate the summer so much for its long days and relaxed pace……winter can be hard. days are short and people are just doing their work/ life thing.

as a teacher, summer is a welcome respite that i wish all working people could enjoy….

sorry all you 40 hour a week year round jobbers….i am so appreciating waking up with an empty head and no daily stress. darek even commented on how much happier and relaxed i am when i am not working…aren’t we all?  i love my job, but i also love having time away from my job. for me, it is the perfect balance to life.

so this week i got to hang out with all of my teacher people…pool on monday with ann marie and aliza (aliza lives in denver and teaches art at metro state, she’s also an artist), pool on wednesday with katie the Speech Language Pathologist that i work with. friday, a lunch date in lyons, colorado at my other friend katie’s house (she’s a 3rd grade teacher i work with), whose backyard is just enchanting…and her two sons are pretty adorable too. then it was on to the public pool in the afternoon where i met up with my friend ann marie again (she is a teacher looking for a job, she substitutes in my classroom). she takes her daughter to the pool almost every day so i can count on her being there….

last night darek and i went to the wedding of the occupational therapist i work with out at chatfield botanic gardens in littleton….it was her bachelorette party i attended last weekend! it was a beautiful evening and darek and i got to meet some really nice folks from places like STL and PDX, so we had a lot to talk about.

on our way home, a pack of coyotes crossed our path…there were two adults and about 5 pups….we were in our car as they crossed right in front of us..one little guy was too scared to cross and got stuck alone on the one side of the road while the others made it to the other side, it was a pretty phenomenal sight….

this morning i woke up early and went to a yoga festival http://hanumanfestival.com/ with the sister of a long time friend who now lives in denver, and her two friends. we did an hour long yoga session outside in the sun and wind (felt phenomenal- i randomly got asked by a LULU lemon employee if i wanted to test a yoga mat, i did, and then they gave it to me for free…it’s a beauty!), and then went to brunch at a vegan- organic- gluten free hippified restaurant (it’s boulder of course!)…..we then went back to the festival where the other ladies shopped and got henna tattooed and i, talked with all the new mommies i could see, about what strollers, car seats, and adapters they find work best for them!! i came away knowing exactly what we want….

tonight darek and i head out to chataqua to meet up with aliza and her husband for a picnic before they go to the indigo girls concert….

as i said before, i am so glad to have this time to hang out with all of these women/ friends….i truly get energized from my interactions with them and the tales of their life adventures….i just hope they stick around once i become a mamma!

this past sunday i went down to denver to celebrate the impending marriage of one of my co-workers, barb, the occupational therapist i work with.

she is a fantastic co-worker: she’s great at what she does with the kids, she is well versed and articulate when it comes to being part of the team at IEP meetings, and she is just plain, funny and down to earth.

we did one of those pedal bike, bar hopping tours. i just sat on the back while the other ladies did the pedaling. it was really fun and i got lots of mommy to be advice from all of the veteran mommies. i also got to see the five points section of denver which has changed soooooo much since i last lived here, 10 years ago. it is teeming with restaurants and roof top patios. it was a perfect, but hot, summer sunday.

i’m sitting there on the left, hunched over like a weird-o.

my family said good bye to the best dog ever today…..