Happily Halfway Home

I flew back from Florida with my brother very early on Friday morning. I managed to get a H1N1 flu shot from the county health dept folks (who were so nice to appreciate my situation and offer to help). I received the shot on Tues afternoon so I felt much better flying on Friday. I was still extra careful in washing my hands and using sanitizer. My brother is doing much better and is able to walk around on his own. He had to take a break while walking from one terminal area to the other at the Houston airport, but otherwise made the trip without problems. His wife and kids were really happy to see him returned safely. He wore compression stockings during the flight, got up and walked around and also did leg exercises. I managed on the last day and during the flights home to get him hooked on Heroes Season 1. I also got a nephew hooked.

I feel out of touch as blogger was blocked by the hospital wifi and I have spent the last 2 days in the wifi void at my grandparents house. I am currently typing this entry on my Palm Pre cell phone, so please forgive any blatant errors. I plan to fly home to Seattle on Friday. I will ask for an appointment with DocO first thing since I had to cancel my first ultrasound that was supposed to be today. :-( I am sooooo curious and anxious to find out what is happening and whether or not I am still pregnant. I think I am. Here's the symptom list:

* Occasionally very sore boobs
* Slightly darker hue/sensitive nipples
* Weighty full feeling in uterus
* Crazy tired falling asleep in a chair even after 8 hours sleep

I've had no spotting or total loss of symptoms. Part of me would feel better if I had some nausea spells, and I have felt a little queasy from time to time but it has always been after I ate way too much or made a bad combination choice. So I dunno. However I am only 6w3d. I hope to soon regret ever typing my barf envy -- but I don't mean YOU Invitro Veritas. All kidding aside, I hope you are feeling better sweetie. I hope I will be able to catch up very soon. Sending love and IF Optimist vibes of support and hope to all on the four winds.

Many improvements

My brother is getting much better.  He is young and strong and recovering quickly.  He has been able in the last few days to get up and walk around the pulmonary ward.  We are waiting for his blood work to come up to the levels that the doctors would prefer before being released, so he is still in the hospital.  He was able to shower and shave today and was taken off of supplementary oxygen all day long.  We hope he will be released on Tuesday and we will try to fly back some time on Friday, taking things in short 2-3 hour trips with a 2 hour layover in between.

I’m glad to be here supporting my brother, but I would really love to be home, where it is fall and the leaves are orange and red and yellow.   I asked my brother today, “Why couldn’t you get sick in late November or February when I am fed up with all of the rain and the short days?  Why did you have to do it during my favorite part of fall?  I insist that you don’t do this again.”  He agreed.  We’ve been having fun playing cards and watching TV and movies.

I got the seasonal flu vaccine on Sunday and have arranged to get the H1N1 some time on Tuesday.  The local health department was very understanding of my situation.

I miss MrBeep very much.  He checks on me and the monsters, he sends me texts and emails and photos.  Today I got this one with the message “lovely clouds for a lovely girl”. 

 

The water is Puget Sound.  How I miss the smell of wet mossy earth, I miss my MrBeep. 

Fabulous Fotography Friday: Portland Adventure

I had a great time on Monday because I got to take the train from Seattle to Portland. I hopped on the 7:40 am Amtrak train near the Seatac airport (free parking dude!) and rode my way for a visit to fabulous Portland. I was heading down to meet up with my bloggidy twin Liv and her husband "Marvy” from The Life of Liv. She was visiting the Pacific Northwest and offered to drive a couple of hours to meet me in the middle of Washington for a lunch. I suggested instead that we meet in Portland and it worked out really great because I got to take the train and they only had to go 20 minutes from their hotel.  I love it when things work out like that!

Taking the train is really fun and costs RT about the same as a tank of gas ($56). I sat in the dining car, drank coffee and looked out the window at the gorgeous scenery. Here are a few shots out of the train window. Some are dark and have dirt because of the window. To see any picture in a larger view, click the image.

The view was absolutely marvelous, the trees are very lush and green. We rode over rivers and bridges. I arrived in Portland and it was already getting very hot at almost 90°F (30°C). The Portland Union Station was very pretty and I had to snap a few photos.

After donning my sun hat and walking through the lovely old station, I found a bicycle taxi and told the gentleman driver, “I have an hour to kill my good man, how about a jaunt to Powell’s?”

He and I chatted about the bike and the weather. After about 6 or 7 minutes of biking we arrived at Powell’s Books which is a truly remarkable place and everyone should go there. I lust Powell’s. It makes me miss all of my old super awesome bookshop haunts from when I lived in San Francisco. Powell’s in Portland is so awesomepants I am jealous baby, wah!

I perused a few of the sections at Powell’s and then realized I needed to hit Whole Foods where I picked up a couple of bars of Theo Chocolate’s 3400 Phinney bars - my favorites are “Bread and Chocolate” and “Nib Brittle.” My friend Andy is the Chief Operating Officer at Theo. The chocolate is fair trade, organic and out of this freaking world. If you ever come to Seattle, I highly recommend their factory tour.  For $5 you get the tour plus chocolate nibbles and samples (unfortunately there are no Oompa Loompas).

So with chocolate bars and book gifts in hand, I walked several more blocks and met Liv and Marvy for a fabulous lunch at Jake’s Famous Crawfish. I had a wonderful lunch. Liv and Marvy are as terrific as you imagined. Both are funny and vivacious and clever and warm. Marvy had clam chowder, then hazelnut crusted wild salmon. Liv had crab bisque, then a blackened salmon salad. I had crab bisque and a Dungeness Crab and Fresh Oregon Bay Shrimp Louis salad. YUM!  We talked about infertility and how hard it was to get through it.  We talked about her pregnancy and how they let a few more family members know about the little frijole. We talked about how we met our significant others, our work, our vacations, blogging. We talked a lot about photography and travel. I took out The Nikon for Liv to check it out. The time just flew out the window. We ended our meal with dessert. Marvy and I shared a hard-shell chocolate bag filled with white chocolate mousse, fresh wild berries and berry coulis. Liv had a banana cream pie. It was decadent and rich and I was stuffed full for the rest of the day, but it was worth it.

After our lunch, we walked over to Powell’s (they had never heard of it) and perused a few sections together. We wandered to the travel section and Liv pulled out a travel book on Guatemala and showed me photos inside. She told me how wonderful a place it is, how amazing the people and history and architecture are. We talked about the ruins and the hieroglyphics. I told her about this awesome documentary I recently watched on PBS called “Cracking the Maya Code.” It was truly fascinating. I would love to visit Guatemala some day. You could tell how much she loved it and how proud she was of her wonderful heritage. We said our goodbyes, Liv let me pat her belly and wish the frijole well. Marvy took a special photo of us that I converted into a short movie.

Thanks again Liv and Marvy for lunch and the great conversation.

I was also in Portland to run an errand for my girlfriend Alli. She is giving us wraps made in gorgeous Cambodian Silk for her wedding in October.  I took many photos of the material and color options they had available.  We are choosing a lovely copper color.  The matron of honor is having her dress made at this shop.  I am soooo jealous!  The shop is called Cocoon Silk.

I perused a few other shops for my remaining hours. Did I mention that Portland has NO SALES TAX! The temperature got up to 102°F while I was walking around. Whew!  It was really hot and I was glad when 6:00 pm rolled around so I could head back to the Train station and be on my way in air conditioned comfort.

On the way home I relaxed in the dining car again. I enjoyed a bottle of Black Butte Porter and watched the scenery drift by.

I also got to watch the first disc of a series everyone has been recommending, The Gilmore Girls. I enjoyed the first four episodes and thought the writing was very fun and witty.

I had a truly spectacular day. The train ride, meeting Liv and Marvy, shopping at Powell’s books, walking around in Portland, enjoying the terrific shops. Wow. I was smashingly tired by the time I got home (around 10:00 p.m.) but I got to tell MrBeep all about my day and he was happy that I had a good time. 

Fabulous Fotography Friday: Surf's Up!

Well it’s another Friday and I’ve been saving these photos up special. As I mentioned in my previous post “I’m a leaving on a jet plane,” I wanted to make sure my vaycay to SoCal included a trip to the beach to play in the waves with my nephews and niece. I absolutely love those kids. Each one is such an individual spirit, they have been since they were very little. I get to spoil them rotten and a visit from Aunt Optimist is always a hit. Well, I got my wish!

We packed our food and swimsuits and headed off to Huntington Beach. I had a truly great and memorable time. I bought the kids new boogie boards and we hit the waves. There were some gnarly rip tides and the life guard asked us to stay in the first two sets of waves. He had 18 rescues that day. I could tell it was a bit harsh once I felt the surf and I kept a close eye on the kids. Even the smaller waves were very fun and you could easily catch and ride a wave for about twenty feet to shore. We played in the water for hours and didn’t get out of the waves until sunset when the life guards kicked everyone out of the water.

I rode a few good waves in honor of Jill and Clare and Sprogblogger as they were all waxing poetic in comments about playing in the waves. I didn’t bring my Nikon to the beach (too much sand) but I did use my little compact camera. I think I snapped a couple of good photos. Enjoy a day playing in the Pacific Ocean with us!

Here we are all at the beach. We just arrived and the kids bolted straight to the shore to play in the sand. I have 3 nephews (ZMan, Kenz & DrJ) and one niece (MissD).

ZMan had to bury DrJ and was “making him into a mermaid” which must include really big ta tas. They were both giggling like crazy. Why are b00bs so funny to boys? Oh wait. Nevermind. ;-)

I stayed close to the youngest two (9 and 11) and we really enjoyed playing on the boogie boards. I taught my nephew DrJ how to tell which were the best waves for riding versus skipping. He may have drank about a gallon of salt water before he got the hang of jumping to the top of the wave to ride it instead of letting it crash onto the top of him. He got pretty good after a couple of hours.

My older nephews Kenz and ZMan were naturals. They had a great time and bugged me to take them back to the beach in a couple of days. Unfortunately we couldn’t swing it, but I want to go back soon!

Here’s my niece MissD bringing it home on a nice little wave. We found a really cool sand sculpture of a turtle on the beach near our blankets.

ZMan had fun in the water. He wanted to go out to ride the back set of waves. I was concerned about the rip tides and asked him not to. He was really great and stayed in where he could keep an extra eye on his smaller brothers and sister. Kenz was having fun buried up to his waist in the shore. What a clown. He has decided he wants long hair like Uncle MrBeep. I sure love that kid.

The sunset just got better and better as the evening went on. I really wished I had my good camera to get the some really fabulous hi-definition shots, but these turned out pretty good.

My SIL took a picture of MissD, Me and DrJ as we returned from the waves at sunset. I have a special message if you look closely enough. I was sooo happy. I had a great time. We stayed until the last hint of the sunset faded from view. It was absolutely marvelous.

Thanks for spending a day at the Pacific with me and my favorite kids.

Burritos and melting in the WiFi void

I am enjoying my visit with friends and family in LA for the most part. I am at my grandparents house in the desert. It is great to see them both. Gramma is 85 and Grampa is 87. They are the sweetest and most caring people I have ever known and being with them is warm and soothing to my soul. My only minor inconveniences are that it was 105 degrees on the outdoor themometer in the shade. Whew.

Did I mention they have no air conditioner? Only fans and a swamp cooler. I took them out during the hottest part of the day for lunch. My other inconvenience is that there is no internet or WiFi. I am writing this entry via my cell phone interface. I can't catch up on your blogs beyond a quick view. It is driving me a bit crazy being out of the loop but I'll be back Tues eve.

I wanted to say thanks to those who offered very valuable advice for talking about the IVF cycle with friends/family IRL.

**Updated**  I enjoyed my lunch with Mom.  I got my awesome breakfast burrito. We headed to my favorite local diner as soon as my rental car hit the driveway. Their fresh salsa was the best I've had so far this year. I love salsa in the summer! I’m waiting for the good tomatoes to come into the farmers market so I can make mine for the year. 

I couldn’t figure out how to add a photo from my cell phone but now that I am on a computer I can share in the deliciousness.  I always get eggs (no meat!), mushrooms, peppers, salsa and hash browns on the inside.  For the outside I get extra salsa and hot sauce too. Mom had french toast.  I love it! 

Stay tuned for The Big Beach Adventure posting on Friday!