"Otis! You're not stupid!" - Brian

Sometimes, we have to trick our dog Trudy into eating. One nearly fail-safe method is to play catch with a few pieces of kibble. After about three she will begin eating out of her bowl. I'm not sure if she gets the idea that she should eat or if the taste of a few pieces whets her appetite. Either way it gets the job done.

Every time I throw food for Trudy Otis comes and sits expectantly, so I throw food to him too. Usually the kibble hits him somewhere in the face and he scrambles for the rebound. However, yesterday morning after the usual "Otis, ready ... catch" he actually opened his mouth in an attempt to catch on his turn. Excited I praised his effort as he scrambled for the missed food.

After Trudy's turn, I decided to try Otis again, hoping to reinforce his attempt, but not expecting much. This time Otis caught it! I was overjoyed and gave him lots of praise! Brian overheard the commotion from the stairs, confirmed what he was hearing was true and wished he could have seen it. Then he too praised Otis with some pats and said with delighted surprise, "Otis! You're not stupid!"

This morning Trudy required another round of kibble toss. And as Otis waited for his turn he had the same kind of crazed look Trudy gets while fetching at the dog park, quivering with excitment. I paused a little too long after saying ready and he sprang up directly in front of me. Hilarious! He missed that one, but was able to catch the next. A light bulb must have gone on. So our boy may be slow, but he's not stupid.

Bingos!

As many of you may know, Brian and I enjoy playing games. We don't play as much as we used to, but we try to play something while we are eating dinner together. The game of choice lately has been Scrabble.

Scrabble is great because it can be paused at any time. Or one player can take their turn while the other is not there. Lately, our schedules have not matched much, so it may take us a few days to finish a game. It is always fun to come home and see what word Brian has added.

We allow each other unlimited access to the Scrabble dictionary, under the pretense that we are "learning," though most of the words I look up I don't remember. Brian is good about asking what the word means; usually I am just excited that I got a high score. We probably will be those parents that do make their kids learn the meaning. But for now, I'm just trying to keep up with Brian.

Usually our games are pretty close, right around 300 points. Earlier this week Brian had a great game and nearly broke 400. So, of course, he wanted to start a new game the next night with the mission to break 400.

The game started normally, but then on his third turn he got a bingo (using all of your tiles and earning a 50 point bonus) on a triple word score. On the subsequent two turns, he got two more bingos. By the seventh turn he was already over 300 points! All in all, he got 4 bingos and 4 triple word scores. He didn't even have all of the good letters. I still had a pretty good game ending with 274 points. Brian, however, finished this epic game with a score of 526! The picture above is a photograph of the now famous game.

Bring on the Scrabble championships...

Tip: If you can't get a high score, keep the letters on your tray that spell the word Starline, and find a place to get rid of anything else.

Name List

Shannon and I have been talking about potential baby names for years, narrowing down to a short list of first and middle names we both love, so when baby pops out naming her should be no harder than a multiple choice question. I like our long incubation period, because a name is kind of like a tattoo--do you really want a mermaid on your butt cheek when you're 83?

Maybe.

But we're not discussing tattoo's here. Or my butt cheek, left or right.

Anyways, Shannon and I keep telling ourselves we're not settling on a single name before the birth because we know several people that have had to change their mind when they saw their baby. My brother just did it last spring and Shannon, bless her little bisyllabic self, was supposed to be a Jessica. Despite our best efforts though, one name is leading the nominations.

It's perfect. It sounds beautiful but shortens well. It's not too common and not too weird. It looks pretty on paper and feels good to write. It's versatile. It has a suitable manifestation for whatever life pursuit little *BEEP* pursues. Etc. Etc.

And we're not going to tell you, or anyone, what it is. It's too easy to criticize a name before it's a person. And we'd rather not spend the next four months defending, persuading, or second guessing.

But--to appease you ravenous vultures--I present you with a shortlist...

...of names we will NOT be naming our child:

1) Brianrietta - although a personal favorite, this one didn't pass Shannon's rigorous screening process.

2) Kwanesha - NB. that does NOT exclude its variant: Qwanesha.

3) Hairb - even though a new surname may be in her future, there were a few tangles to work out with this one.

4) ???

Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments. The list is short but it's not closed.

I Felt Her!

The other night Shannon told me to put my hand on her belly. Man, we have a strong little lady in there. There was no question of whether or not I felt it. It was definite. I just hope it's not one of these! ----->

It's a GIRL!

Kinda creepy...but she's smiling or maybe just practicing swallowing.

Here is a foot. I am starting to feel this cute like thing often now.

Isn't she cute? :) Maybe praying or sucking her thumb?

The ultrasound went well. Both of us look really healthy.
She almost ruined our party by hiding behind my belly button. It was like a censor ball.
But in the end we got her to move.

Gender Release Party

I think we've contacted everyone we know in Bellingham. But in case someone will be in Bellingham tonight that we are not aware of or in case anyone feels like making a trip to Bellingham this weekend or for all of you that like a good laugh on a Friday, the following is our invitation for the Sex Party we are throwing tonight.



P.S. If you have any funny stories related to this invitation, please post them under comments. We will be adding ours soon.

P.P.S. The creativity in the invitation is all Brian's! But we need to credit my sister Allison for the original idea.

P.P.P.S. For those of you that will not be about to make the party, I will be posting pictures from our ultrasound and the offical blog announcement tomorrow.

Surprise!

My sister has been knitting since she was really little. In high school, I worked at an espresso bar. Next door there was a yarn shop. Allison, my sister, would come to work with me and knit with the elderly ladies that ran the shop. As she has grow older she has kept the habit and made it a tradition to make a baby blanket for friends and family.

A few weeks ago, I started teasing her about the blanket she would be making for us (has she started, what color will it be, etc.). Smiling, she responded "How do you know that I'm making you a blanket?"

A week ago Sunday, my dad's sisters threw us our first baby shower since my Aunt Tami and Grandma were here from Georgia and Florida. We had brunch, then opened presents and played one shower game in the lobby of a hotel on the Seattle waterfront.

We opened Alli's present first, and were very surprised! Inside was the cutest, softest baby sweater and felted shoes you have ever seen! I've attached a picture but if you ever come over you need to feel it!

My mom pretended it was her baby grandchild and cuddled for quite some time.



My family blessed us with so many cute baby clothes, soft blankets, and stuffed animals. Grandma continued her tradition of buying the first high chair for each family.We are really excited about all of its features.


Almost everything was in neutral colors since we don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl yet. All the yellows, tans, and greens mean that we won't have a closet full of blue or pink.


We moved everything in to the nursery this week. It is fun and seems strange at the same time to have all of this baby stuff in our house.

Butterflies?!?

I've been waiting for weeks to be able to feel the baby move. Since I am not feeling sick any more it would be nice to have some reassurance that my baby is still alive and well. It would provide some proof that the baby is growing like he or she is supposed to be doing and I am not just getting fatter for not reason.

The nurse asked me at my last appointment at the end of August if I had felt it yet, but I had to say I didn't think so. Everything I've read has said that you start to feel the baby between 16 and 20 weeks, usually toward the end of that window for your first. I was only 15 weeks then, so I didn't worry. But as time went on, I started to pay more and more attention to every little feeling. I have heard it described as feeling like hiccups, gas, butterflies, fluttering...all of which didn't really help me know what I should be expecting.

Almost every mom has told me that feeling the baby move is what they miss most about pregnancy. Some gave me advice to help me feel it for the first time. I tried their different techniques, but nothing. Then last night in bed I did feel this kind of flutter. It was very short, but different than anything I've felt so far. I thought to myself "Maybe, but maybe I am just wishing it so hard I imagined it." Then today while taking attendance 5th period I felt it again. So I'm thinking my time has finally arrived.

Bella Bands - Five Star Rating

Just before school started my normal clothes started to get a bit uncomfortable. I think it was my friend Emily that tipped me off to this great product called a Bella Band. It is a band of spandex that allows you to transition more easily in between your normal clothes and your pregnancy clothes. I got two, one black and one brown with lace. They look like the bottom of a camisole showing below your shirt, which is currently in fashion. Boy, were they life savers! Today was the first day I didn't have to wear one to hold my maternity pants up. :)

August Pictures 1 - Grandparents' 50th Anniversary

The great chef Louie prepares our scrumptious food.

He did have many sous chef though. This is my cousin Sam.

Grandma and Grandpa's long time friends, Guy and Joy joined the party! Joy and Grandpa went to kindergarten together, and Guy and Grandpa were good friends in high school. We had a lot of fun getting to know them and learn a lot from them!

Uncle Mike created a trivia game. This is team La Tigre. They lost, but were stylish and had a good cheer.

G.G. and Orville enjoyed watching all the games. It was great to see them again!

Grandma and Grandpa Robbins...still in love after 50 years!

Brian and Shannon Rush...still in love after 5 years and looking forward to the next 50!

My mom's family: Aunt Becky, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Grandpa, and Mom.

My family: Me, Brian, my sister Alli, Mom, my brother Jeremy, and Dad.

Jeremy and his girlfriend, Lauren - They flew in from Hawaii for the event. It was great to get to know Lauren and celebrate Jer's birthday with him.
The whole gang!