Go Hawks!

Yay!!! As most of you (the 5 people that probably read this) I am a Seattle Seahawks fan. I'm not really big on pro sports in general, but Seahawks football is my team. I have a favorite team in almost every sport, but out of all the sports and all the teams, I would say I actually follow the Seahawks and have since I arrived in Seattle. 

Lots of people say "Aren't you from Nor Cal? Why aren't you a niners fan?". Well, thats simple. I never watched football until I came to Seattle. So I was never Niners fan. Clearly, they are a good team and it would be easy to jump on that bandwagon, but no. Then I always wonder... what makes someone a fan of a team? I don't think you have to have some huge bond with a team to be a fan. If you enjoy a team, you're a fan. Just because I wasn't born and rasied in Seattle, and I have only been here for 6-7 years, doesn't mean that I can't be a fan. 

I think it's silly to have to justify enjoying a team and the people that do that are just taking it too seriously. It's a game.. its for fun. It's small and completely unnessicary to make a bad or negiative thing. 

The other thing I don't agree with, unsportmanship like conduct, among players and fans. Saying "my team is better than your team, and your team sucks..." again... its JUST a game!!! Why do you have to put someone down.. there are so many other ways to hurt people, why find another. 

I just think it's silly and I try hard to not be that way. I'm sure I may slip when someone particularly upsets me though. But I prefer to just cheer for my team and not cheer against another. I think it goes back to the time old saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all."

I have a lot of niners fan friends, and last time was a big game (Seahawks v. Niners) so I was expecting a LOT of rude comments about the Seahawks. The Seahawks don't typcially win against the Niners either, so I wouldn't have been too surprised if they lost. But from the start of the game, the Seahawks had a good night, played a good game and won. I cheered for my team, and I was very excited for their win. I simply added to my fb "yay! Go Hawks!" 

But had the game gone the other way, I had to expect many people not only posting on my wall, but all over my news feed about how the Seahawks could "suck it" and how the Niners always beat them, and ruder comments. I guess I just don't understand that kind of mentality. Why make someone feel bad even in fun? 

Well.. enough of that. My point is, its just a game and the name calling and rudeness between fans of pro sports(or even non-pro sports) is ridiculous and ruins some of the fun in the game :)

On a side note, Merry Christmas Eve!!

  

cravings

soo.. This picture is at 8 weeks.. and I realize I should have 1, looked at the picture after I took it and 2, worn a long sleeve. 3. no flash...theres a glare on the frame that says 8 weeks. 4. remove elyse's toys from the picture.

Note: I will NOT be making those mistakes again :)

Last time I didnt take pictures of my face, I may do that again this time.

So pregnancy is starting to show. And I dont mean my stomach. Although in the picture I have a bump, I can assure you, its not baby. Its food. I am not a thin girl(at least not anymore) so I have a little tummy I have to fight with. But also, I just started getting really hungry. 

Last time, I didn't have any strong cravings or weird typical cravings like fried pickles or ice cream at midnight. But this time.. it's different. Cole and I went to dinner at Mongolian bqq one night. Within hours, I was SO hungry for a pancake. Being the amazing man he is, he made me a pancake. Then the next morning, I had a bad craving for a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese. Its like I can't eat anything else besides what I'm craving cause it will taste disgusting. It's so bad.

So needless to say, this is all new to me. I also became REALLY bloated this week(10 weeks). So I look like I'm 25weeks pregnant and I'm not. It's deflated as little today but I have a pouching belly :( I mean, good thing I'm pregnant, but if someone asks how far I am.. I get embarrassed. I do know some of it is my uterus because I get little feelings, not exactly painful, but noticeable feelings were my c section scar is. The baby is a Lime this week so thats definitely bigger and if I was a smaller girl, would be showing. Instead Im "showing" my belly fat on top of my baby. 

oh well, we weren't all built with small frames or the strength to stay thin.

This Pregnancy

So far this pregnancy has been very different than the last one. I am now 10 weeks, 1 day. As I mentioned before, being high risk has changed things a lot. But even if I wasn't high risk, everything feels different.

1. Last time the morning sickness was miserable. I felt like death all the time, and missed work a lot. Oh and I worked.

1a. This time, I don't work but I have a toddler to chase constantly. I;ve been more sick with colds, and not as much morning sickness. I'm actually pretty okay when it comes to morning sickness this time around. Maybe cause this last year and a half I have been operating in a bit of a haze anyways, that I've gotten used to it.

2. Last time I was constantly thinking about the pregnancy and how big I was getting, what I'm craving, what the baby is doing, how big they are on a daily basis, etc.

2a. This time, I often forget I'm pregnant. I think part of it is that I have a lot of people around also pregnant but for the first time and I feel like that is more exciting and special and I don't want to make a big deal of my pregnancy and take away from anyone elses. I know its more exciting the first time and I want my friends to stay filled with that excitement.

3. I felt bloated really early and snuck into maternity clothes out of comfort early. Probably around 10weeks? I dont remember, I just remember it felt early.

3a. Although I feel bloated and any kind of pressure on my stomach makes me sick, I feel like I am expecting it more since I hear you tend to show earlier on the second baby.

4. Last time, eating made me feel better from morning sickness and I wanted to eat all the time. (and I did, and didn't really watch what I ate. I just ate what I felt like)

4a. Food doesn't sound good. Particularly chocolate and coffee. I tried a piece of chocolate the other day and almost threw up. But once I see a warm meal in front of me, then I'm hungry. I'm still relaxed about what I eat but I make more of an effort to eat more vegetables.

5. I wasn't tired really. I just laid down because of morning sickness. But once that stopped I had lots of energy and could do lots of things.

5a. Im fairly tried, all the time. Which makes my job as a SAHM VERY difficult. It's not like I get to take a break(I barely even get bathroom breaks).

6. I never had sudden cravings at weird times or strong cravings for something.

6a. Last night at like 930pm I was suddenly SOO hungry and needed something hearty. So cole warmed me up a slice of pizza.

I'll stop there but thats the jist of it so far. It's kind of nice things are different and I'm glad Im not so sick. I don't know how I would possibly keep up with Elyse if I had bad morning sickness!

Drumroll please...

So the news is...

We're expecting!! We are only 9 weeks(almost 10) along, and its a little early to share the news to the general public. But I figured very few people read this blog in the first place(and I am waiting to announce it on facebook for a at least another week so please keep the secret) and also, if something unfortunate would happen, I will probably blog about it anyways. Plus, when I was pregnant with Elyse, I announced on my blog at about 8 weeks, so I waited a whole week this time!! haha

Actually, a few months ago, while we were in Philadelphia, we were unfortunate enough to suffer from an early miscarriage. We found out we were pregnant at about 6 weeks and a few days later, while we were in New York City, we had a miscarriage. There was nothing to be done, so we continued to enjoy our trip the best we could and went from there. It was a sad time, but we weren't trying and it was an unexpected pregnancy. Due to that, I think it wasn't as upsetting as it could have been.

After that we realized we were ready for our family to expand and began to try to get pregnant. The next month, we had a negative, and then the following month(NOV) we had a positive pregnancy test. Of course, It was a little hard to be too excited with the somewhat recent miscarriage, but it was still exciting to get a positive.

Luckily we were back from the east coast and I could see an OB I was comfortable with. Although I liked my previous OB, I liked her practice partner a little more. Partially because her partner ended up delivering Elyse and partially when I was in the hospital for 3 weeks, I felt like I saw her more than my own OB. So, I've decided to switch.

So my new OB is the OB that delivered Elyse, and since I had a C-section, she is even more familiar with how she cut me and all of that gory stuff. She's also very pro active and I really like that.

I went to see her for a Pap a few days after I found out I was pregnant. Which thinking back on it, why did I schedule a pap when my period was suppose to be there? no idea.

Anyways, I went to see her and told her about the miscarriage. She told me that with the recent miscarriage and the early pregnancy with Elyse, that I am considered high risk and she would like to monitor me a little closer. Unlike last time, this time, I had a blood test done to see that the baby was progressing, and at 6 weeks we got to have an ultrasound done. When we did the 6 week ultrasound, we saw the flicker of the heartbeat which was a HUGE relief.

This gave us the comfort of telling our family a little early too since seeing the heartbeat drops the possibly of miscarriage to 5%. We told our family at thanksgiving or as we saw them. Elyse even got to wear a fun new onesie.

Also, it looks like Dutchess Kate and I are due around the same time. Since they announced it, I guess   I can to? But don't worry, I've been sent such wonderful articles as "6 way your pregnancy will be different that Kate Middletons" to remind me that we may be due around the same time, but thats were the similarities end. I particularly like the 1st difference if you decide to read it. 

http://www.parentsociety.com/parenting/kate-middleton-pregnant-6-ways-her-pregnancy-will-be-different-than-yours/?utm_source=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=121012

Lastly, I have been experiencing some morning sickness, but not too much. Mild stomach discomfort and vomit. But I'm not dizzy as much as I was last time. Only when Im in the car and not driving. Food hasnt been as exciting as it used to be and the most I crave is salad(strange), fries, and soup. 

Elyse doesn't know what going on yet but someday she will. Hopefully before the baby comes :)

Leavenworth Tree Lighting

  

So since we've been sick, I haven't been out of the house much and most contact I've had with the outside world is via text or online. A little sad, but it's not really fun to get other people sick. So we've really kept to ourselves and tried hard to get better.

Thankfully, we have all been starting to feel better. We recently paid for a part of a trip to go to Leavenworth with some of our friends for the tree lighting there. Leavenworth is a cute bavarian town in the middle of Washington. Cole and I had been a lot before the baby. We really enjoy camping near Leavenworth in the summer. Breaks up the trip, camp a little, then go into town and shop a little :) Needless to say, it is one of our favorite spots of visit in the summer. We have a lot of memories there.

This was the first time we went in the winter time! Very different! (much much much colder) We weren't sure if we were gonna make it because we were all sick, but as of friday we were starting to feel better and went as early as we could saturday morning. I'm glad we went. It was great to see friends and get out of the house! Plus I love to stock up on my christmas stuff there. For a tourist spot, it wasn't too expensive for gifts!

Anyways, the lighting took all of 10 minutes and was great. I loved it. It got right to the point. The tree lit up and then the businesses behind us did as well. It was a great way to start the christmas season :)

Thanksgiving!!

So I am still sick, but getting better! Now Elyse is sick and Cole is getting over a cold. So the Van gundy household has been a miserably germ filled place. ugh

But after a month of being sick, I'm hopeful that we will get better soon!!

Updating from my last post, although I was sick, I did make it to the alumni dinner. It was nice to get out of the house and be among the living again. Also, we won a free trip to Victoria! So thats a plus!!

Oddly we won that trip 2 years ago and never went. Just never found the time. But this time we want to go. Its only a trip for two people so we have to wait till my mom or Lenny has the time to babysit for a weekend. 

I finally got a dr to give me some meds and it helped a little, but Lenny helped me more by getting me a Z pack. I was much better when I was in California. Maybe its the weather, but I got all sick again on the way home from CA. And my stomach is all off again.

But I'm getting a little better everyday. I'm also exhausted. There is a good reason for this, but I have an idea(okay and idea I stole from pinterest) of how to "announce" it so I'm waiting for that haha. Although if you're reading this you already know, or can easily guess what I'm getting at. But this is what we've been up to!

Halloween!! Mr and Mrs Mouse and Snow White. Cole was such an AMAZING husband for getting dressed up with Elyse and I. Keeps the holiday fun :D

Frends-giving Dinner 2012! Love these girls! They will always be in my heart and know me so well. We went around the room and said what we are thankful for and I think the main theme was that we were thankful for each other after all these years. 

Baik/Duckworth/Lee/Johnson/VanGundy/Bauman/Demant thanksgiving!! Lots of Turkey and kimchee!!

My lovely family. I miss them all so much. Not so long ago, we were the kids playing around...okayokay.. the boys were playing video game and sharon and I were making up a dance that our parents were wishing they didn't have to watch later. Their wish never came true :) With all the dancing and choreography Shayrone and I did when we were young, I wonder if our parents would have thought we would have done something in the arts? Well... Stay at home mom is still pretty awesome :)

Elyse met her baby cousin, Jerah!

Four generations of Baik. 

Someone's first candy cane!

Elyse, her dada and uncles getting a tree at Frosty Firs in Apple Hill!

And we got chili and apple donuts after... yum :)

Sick sick sick

So I've been a little MIA from blogging lately. Not because I just got home and I have too much to do. Its because a few days after getting off the plane from Philly, our whole family got a really bad stomach flu. At the same time, I caught some sort of cold as well. So every time I think I'm feeling better, I go out and do something. Then the next day I feel much worse.

So Im trying to stay home as much as possible till friday. ( We are going to our almuni dinner on friday). Unfortunately, this cold is a coughing cold so its a little difficult to hide. I cough so much it makes me vomit so I haven't kept anything down in about a week now. Except water and tea...

hopefully this goes away soon!!!

Thank you Philadelphia!

  

Today, is my last day in Philly. Im spending it packing since we've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff in three months. We have even already shipped 3 boxes of stuff back too!!

This trip, although had its hard times, was well worth it and I'm so glad we did it. So this post will be about my favorite things about Phillly, and of course, the things I look forward to coming home to!

Since being here, and knowing it was a temporary thing, I haven't made a huge effort to meet people in the city. A friendship takes a lot of work and traveling was enough work as it is. So I was pretty lonely while Cole was working. But on the weekends we had a great time. I will not leave Philadelphia thinking "thank heavens! That city was awful!". Not at all, I am leaving Philly knowing it is a great city, with a lot of great memories. I would be happy to visit again in the future, and would encourage anyone who was interested in history, to visit as well. 

Enough of that, on to the good stuff!!

First and foremost, my favortie thing about being in Philadelphia is the history here. Growing up on the west coast, the US history is limited. Here, its unbelievable! To walk in the streets that Benjamin Franklin and George Washington did feels nice! To picture the people that shaped our country going to church at the Christ Church or creating the declartion of indepenance under the roof of the old state house (Independance Hall) is surreal! I haven't taken a US history class in many years so I was a little rusty on some of the things that went on, but getting the refresher was even better when you can see where and how things happened. 

Liberty Bell

Christ Church

Secondly, the weather has been fantastic while we were here! Very hott and sunny most days! But when it was raining, it was like a downpour and it was fun to watch from our apartment. 

Thirdly, our apartment. It's a little outdated, but large! We were on the 23rd floor and overlooked Love Park. Every morning I could see the sun rising from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge! It was two bedroom, two bathroom and a pull out couch. so we could easily accomidate guests! (and Elyse had her own room!)

Here's the view from our bedroom window

Here's the view from our balcony

Third, I loved living in a city and walking! Even more than that, I love the sweets everywhere! unfortunately, they loved me back....

Lastly, I loved taking the train and traveling everywhere so easily! New York, Boston, New Jersey, Washington DC, Gettysburg. All places I wanted to go and never did. Now I can just go back and visit!! 

The thing I look forward to coming back to Seattle??

1. My dogs. I have already said how much I miss them, so I won't go into detail again. But our family doesn't feel whole without them. Also Elyse's favorite word is dog now. She sees a dog and the whole family says "dog! dog!" She is also starting to bark like a dog. I don't think that counts as words though. Cole believes that she doesn't even know she has dogs , but either way she will be happy to see them. 

2. doing laundry in my underwear. Unfortunately, this great apartment doesn't have a washing machine!! so we have to pay $2 a load to wash and another $2 for dry. I know some people are used to that, but not I. I did it in college and that was it. I enjoy not worrying about someone touching my clothes or getting my clothes out of the way fast enough from some one else to use the machine. Or worrying about my key not working when I try to get back in my room. (we had though cards that demagnetize easily). 

3. My friends. I miss talking to people, in person. Not on facetime or via email. Although email is nice because you can say everything you want to say.. then they say everything they want to say. So I like email, but I miss the face to face honesty too. :(

4. Lastly, I miss my stuff. My cookware, my bed, my kitchen, my closet, and my car!!! I have barely driven a car since Ive been here. I am a little afraid of city driving here and we also only have one car and cole needs it for work. SO, I've probably gotten behind the while for like 4 hours total. Okay maybe 6 hours, but that includes me helping Cole drive back from Boston. 

I've also realized, I have WAY too much stuff at my house that I don't need because clearly, we live three months without it. So I will be doing some "fall cleaning" when I get home.  We actually haven't really been home since the beginning of June, so we've gone longer without need some of that stuff! haha

So now that the trip is over, I look forward to restarting our lives back in Issaquah :) Love you Philly!! Thank you for the amazing time that we'll never forget :)

 

Big Bus Tour - Philly

  

When Cole and I first arrived in Philadelphia, we knew we would be here for two months, later finding out it would be three. One of the things we knew we should do is purchase a city pass. The city pass was about $70 each, not including Elyse, and granted you admission to a variety of places in Philadelphia. I know Seattle has one as well so it was something we already knew about. It was a good investment because we went to every single place the pass allowed, even the places it only gave us a $2 discount. The places included:

 the Please Touch Museum 

Eastern State Penitentiary

Academy of Natural Science

The Consitiution Center

The Philadelphia Zoo

The Adventure Aquarium

The Franklin Insitute

Last but not least, the Big Bus Tour. We waited on going on the BBT because we didn't think Elyse would be able to handle a 90 bus ride. But after doing the tour we wished had done it first to learn about everything and extra tid bits of places to visit. But we are glad we did it. Elyse did just fine and we got to sit on the top on a nice and sunny day. 

We learned a few facts that I wanted to share. Of course it was really hard to take a picture and take notes, so the bext I could do was to take the picture, and quickly upload it to instagram so that I could write a caption. That way I wouldn't forget what was so interesting!! (thats what the iphone needs, a place you can add a caption to your photos right away) There are a lot of places we already visited and posted about so I tried to only take photos of the facts we just learned. 

One of the first stops was on Race Street. The streets were named with numbers north and south and trees or things in Nature from east and west. Although race street had a different name before, but races occured on the street which made it named Race street. There is also no 1st street since William Penn was a Quaker and to the Quakers believed that the number 1 had to do with God and that they shouldn't make anything equal to God. Some examples of streets named after trees or things in nature are "Locust street, Chestnut Street, Walnut Street." 

Below is a picture of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. It was painted blue and now (as the tour guide claims)the philadelphians claim it as the longest blue suspension bridge in the world :) 

Since Benjamin Franklin was clearly the most famous resident here in philadelphia there are so many statues of him and places named after him around the city. This one was interesting since one of the things he is famous for was his  lightening  experiment with the key and the kite.  There are a few statues showing a  kite, lightening rod and a key. This  picture of a  bust of Ben was particularly interesting because it is completely made of keys! Its  hard to tell from the picture, but up close you can see the keys very well!

Since I was trying to type that caption I missed taking a picture of Ben at the fire station with a fireman's hat on! The reason for that is that he was a big advocate to advance the fire fighting ablities in Philadelphia. 

Above is a picture of the Philadelphia police headquarters. The building was made to look like handcuffs from up above. 

below is a picture I found off the internet of the building from above. I think they missed the mark a little, but good effort! looks like a phone to me. The tour guide thought it looked like a coffee cup and two donuts.

On our way to Chinatown, we could see the Comcast Center. Its' the tallest building in Philly. You can see it straight ahead in the picture below. Our apartment is the building right next to the Comcast Center, but its small so you can't see it from the picture. The tour guide asked us "what new technology was the building shape built after?". Turns out, its a flash drive, or jump drive. Pretty neat! 

Here is the friendship gate in Phillly. I feel like I see one at every chinatown I've ever seen. But the TG tells us that this one is particularly unique because there are no bolts or screws. It supports itself simply by its own weight. Also the read paint on it is dyed in boars blood.

We came to this one stop light near the reading terminal for a long time so I took a photo of this clock that I liked. But behind it (not pictured) is Philly's Hard Rock Cafe. The TG noted 3 things about it. (I didn't know there were things to know about the HRC) 1. It has the second largest HRC guitar in front of it, with Vegas having the first. 2. Every HRC has a burger or sandwhich in it to try to mimic a famous food from the area, and the one in this one has a Philly cheesesteak type burger with provelone,  and sweet peppers. Even though traditionally the cheesesteak is with cheese wiz. 

Also in Philly you don't call it a Philly cheesesteak, it's just a cheesesteak.

If I hadn't mentioned it before, Reading Terminal used to be a large train station, but now is an indoor market with lots of cheesesteaks and amish food. Also a train stop in the game Monopoly. 

This was a hard picture to get because I was on the otherside of the bus, but this is a statue in front of the Rodin Museum. It is the statue of the Thinker. Behind him, is also by Rodin called the Gates of Hell. I guess people always wonder what the thinker is thinking. Turns out (according to the TG) a speculation is that the thinker was made after one of the parts of the gates of hell, so the thinker is thinking about hell. You can't really see the Gates of Hell in this picture(its past the gate you see). The gates of hell in Philly is one of 3 originals. The Thinker is a cast of many around the world. 

So I kind of forgot what this mansion is called but it was in the sixth sense. M Night Shyamalan was from the Philadelphia area and shoots a lot of his films here. 

Lastly, here is City Hall. I've taken SO many pictures of city hall because it is near Love Park(you can see the top of the fountain in the picture) and our apartment is next to Love Park. On the top of city hall is a statue of William Penn the founder of Philadelphia. This is the largest masonic building in the world. Which means instead of steel, it is made of granite, marble and limestone. It was once the tallest inhabitable building in the world, but for a short time. It was suppose to be the tallest building in Philadelphia so that William Penn was always the highest point in the city. 

The TG told us a fun story about this though. I don't know of the truth behind it, but its fun anyways. 

This was the tallest building in Philly for the longest time until the One Libery Place was built which is the really pointy one in the Philadelphia skyline. This started what the TG called "William Penn's curse"! Which was believe that Willliam Penn was very angry with the people of philadelphia for not withholding the gentelman's agreement that no building would be taller than City Hall. 

One liberty place was completed in 1987. Before then all the Philadelphia sports teams were winning sports chamionships. (Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and 76ers. After one liberty place was up, all of the teams didn't do as well and continued to have bad luck winning a chamionship. But once the Comcast center was built in 2007, the workers affixed a small statuette to the final beam of the building. Making William Penn, once again, the highest point of Philadelphia. A year and a half later, the Phillies won the World Series. There is more about it on wikipedia if you are curious. 

Since the public can't go up the building this is a picture I also had to take from the internet. But this is apprently a picture of the statuette in the comcast building.

Ok, well that was a lot of info!!

Happy Birthday Coulston!

  So a few weeks ago was our anniversary and I did an entry on how amazing my husband is. But, today is his birthday, so I want to say how amazing he is again!!! But I'll keep it short and make this entry more of a photo entry of my man :)

He is really amazing and humble and I can't picture my life without him. He gave me a beautiful daughter and a wonderful life and I am so grateful. Happy Birthday Honey!! I love you with all my heart!

Our first picture together - Seafair August 2006

One of our many boating trips - Seafair 2007

Seahawks game! Our yearly tradition

Valentine's day 2008

St Patrick's Day in New Orleans - 2008

Our First vacation to Kauai - 2009 (and many more to follow)

Braces!!!! 2009

Honeymoon, London Tea Time at Harrods - 2010

Being an amazing new father - Feeding preemie Elyse

Hanging with baby at the state fair - 2011

Cole and all his little babies - 2012

Elyse's Birthday- 2012

Philly 2012

And of course a fun one!!

HAHA

And lastly, his birthday present from Elyse - Pug shirt and pug boxerbriefs