little monkey

Little monkey can make a mess.
little monkey can crawl
little monkey finally laughs!

click on the photo to see the videos. (and turn your sound up :) )

she can sit!!

From 2010-03-02

this is a video.

Rocker baby

This is a longish video - about 2 min. But I found out this is what Jason and Indigo do all day when I'm at work. Rockin out and having fun! I'm so jealous! My little peanut is going to be a dancing fiend when she's older. Now I'm debating what style of dance to channel this movement energy towards. Who knows..maybe she's the future winner of 'So you think you can dance'. :) Jason says this is the only song that gets her moving like this.

Out little gal is 5 months old! Can't believe it! She is chattering a ton, squirming a lot, and is just so so happy! She is already learning how to manipulate Jason and is really developing a fun personality. Everything belongs in her mouth and everything within reach is fair game.

On Dasher! On Dancer! On...Koa?

From KOA

All I can say....sorry Koa. But Noni and Bumpa sent it to you....you gotta wear it. :)

three babies

From 3 kids

this was just too cute. River, Amelia and Indigo - can't you tell they are going to be the best of friends?!?

Oregon to Minnesota- it's a long trip

2.5 days of packing
36 hrs of driving
6 hrs of flying (with baby)
2 days of unpacking
a mad dash to Cedar Falls IA for Indi to meet Grandpa and Grandma Schoneman
Desperate dig to find warm clothes for Indi
and a lot of help from family
and we are here.
aaaaahhhhhh.....big deep breath.

now go find a job!

Leaving Paradise

We are in the final days of living on the Oregon Coast. I know it's a start of a new adventure, that we are heading home to be with family, and we're leaving for all the right reasons...but it's still hard. We have learned, lived and loved so much here. Since we've been in Oregon, Jason and I have gotten engaged, married, Koa came into our lives, Indigo has changed our lives and we've discovered the joys and overwhelming love of parenthood, we've been to Octoberfest in Germany, I've learned that I am a good fit in the hospitality world, Jason has brewed award winning beers and been under the mentorship of a world recognized brewmaster, we've made amazing friends, seen the most stunning sunsets over the haystack rock, learned to love and crave the sound of the ocean, I've learned to truly appreciate the world of craft beer, we've hiked breathtaking trails, been snowboarding and xcountry skiing on beautiful mountains, seen the night sky filled with stars, hiked the dune in the middle of a hurricane, rescued a pelican, played millions of uno games over great conversations with friends, and and and and and. We have worked with some of the most inspiring people we've ever met (Darron, Jeremy and Kim - we mean you!), we have been challenged, we have found great success, discovered all encompassing love in our new family and we are leaving with full hearts, full memories, and a huge desire to come back again soon to visit. Pacific City, Oregon has been our best adventure yet.

Oh silly Indi

Strike a pose you smiley girl!

Jason and I are debating...in the 'pose' photo - is Indi pointing out her next home run, posing for a future body-building competition, getting ready to take flight, or trying to be 'fierce' for America's Next Top Model? :)
She loves her 'Granny love-butt doll' - it's an instant smile every time. Thanks Great Granny! ...is that right..Great Granny? I like the sound of that.
The photo of her in her pink hoodie is actually a video - so click on that photo to pull up the video of this happy little gal!

wiggle worm, peanut, sweetie pea & fussy pants

all the nicknames that we come up with for Indi for each mood. Wiggle worm when she's squirmy... peanut when she's just chillin or being funny...sweetie pea when she's smily and ridiculously adorable...fussy pants for the obvious reasons.
She is cooing and smiling back at us now! So so cute!! And it's not just gas when she smiles! She really means it. She only wakes up once or twice at night (Thank you thank you thank you!!), can't stand pacifiers, can blow out a diaper like a champ (and she gets the biggest grin on her face when she's doing it too!!), she LOVES being naked - bum out is best!, and just has the sweetest personality! Sooo...I think we'll keep her. :)

Indigo at 1 month old!

On the 21st, Indi turned 1 month old!! :) She's starting to show her personality more and more!

Family Surfing

Here are some great shots of my rockin sista Beth and my devilishly-handsome-in-a-wetsuit-husband Jason surfing in the mighty ocean in PC. They were the only two brave enough to venture in the fridgid waters (a wet suit helped.....but it was still COLD!) They did a great job! They got up on the boards, they got washed out by some waves, they ate sand, they laughed, and they looked good doing it. The rest of the fam (Nani, Bumpa, Joe, River, Indi and I) took photos, laughed hard and cheered them on from the safety of beach. The we ran to the pub to grab a beer and toast the surfers (while they were still surfing...we let them know that we were up drinking for them eventually) :)

Her name is Indigo Summer Olney Schoneman.
She arrived at 10:05pm Friday August 21st after 3 days of labor.
8 lbs 11 3/4 oz; 22 inches long
head full of blond hair and big blue eyes.

The countdown

The countdown has begun. The point of 'no return' has been set. Due date is tomorrow, but if I don't go into labor by the 17th, we are going to induce on the 18th.
Little nervous here.
I hope that I can do this on my own terms. That I can go for the natural goal I have for this labor....but I understand the need to induce if we get to that point. It's just so....so....final. Life as I know it will be changed no later than the 18th. Period. No room for discussion. And it's going to be fantastic, exciting, nerve racking, exhausting, and and and. I can't wait to meet this little tot. I just keep hearing the chant in my head - 'healthy healthy healthy'. That's my only hope right now.
I am ready for labor to suck and be amazing at the same time, I have pre-appologized to Jason for anything that I may say, we have painted, purchased, read books, sought advice, sent (most) thank you notes, and understand that we are still completely unprepared for this.
All I gotta say now...bring it on.

Belly laughs and custom chopper bikes

So, every morning when I wake up....groggy, uncomfortable, feeling like a watermellon....I head to the mirror in the bathroom and look at my belly. First thing. Every morning. Why? Because it makes me laugh. It's ridiculous. It's huge. It's so out of proportion with everthing else and it looks so very odd. It is the best way to start my day and it puts EVERYTHING in perspective. I mean...come on....it's funny looking. I do get more belly laughs in during the day to...when I don't look quite so 'good-morning-sunshine....errrrr....you look greeeeaaaaatttt...', and I'm finding it's a great way to handle the not so great things during a day...just hold the belly and laugh. :)

Jason, my ever so talented husband built himself a chopper bike out of an old beat up Schwinn beach cruiser. He welded, he cut, he bent, he bought new parts, he OBSESSED, and viola!! I have a new bike to steal and cruise around on!! Pretty hot eh?

Cheerios, naval rings, and donkey lines

So, as this belly continues to expand...I am learning a lot of things. First off, I am utterly determined that this child of mine will continue the great tradition of being a 'chee-chee'-maniac (that's 'Olney' for Cheerios). We get a breakfast of Cheerios and soy milk just about every morning, and if that doesn't work, my featured attempt at chee-chee osmosis thru the belly button outa do the trick. :)

One of the other items I've learned is that I do have a twinge of regret for being such a stubborn brat in college with keeping that stupid naval ring. The thing never healed right, was infected constantly (gross, I know), and I kept it in believing with all my heart that is was the right (I mean cool) thing to do. So now, I have this lovely scar above my naval, and it looks a bit like I have 2 holes - belly button hole and top of the navel ring hole. Now if this turkey button ever pops....i'll have 3 holes once the lower naval ring hole shows up. I never invisioned being a 3-holed pregnant gal. hmmmmm....maybe I can put chee-chees in those holes too....more osmosis.

The last item I've learned is that I have a donkey line. And that my sister is happy about it. She actually THANKED me for having this line. This odd odd line that runs down the off-center of my belly. Off-center? what? Yes....either that line is off center or my belly button is. I'm leaning towards the line being off by about 1/2 inch to the right. So much for the human body being a mirror image of itself.

The bean is kicky, very kicky, and becoming much more demanding about lunch time. She is to the point that if I have a meeting over lunch, and havent' eaten yet - everyone around me gets to witness to my stomach convulsing with full bean-tantrum. It's quite impressive and uncomfortable. I never knew little feet had such power!

The days are warmer now at the beach and we get out to play as much as possible...so life is lovely and good.

Kicky and squirmy

26 weeks along and my innards are under a full hostile onslaught of fierce punches, kicks, pokes, grabs, and tantrums. The little bean found my ribs the other day and decided to use them for a spring board to push off of to hit something (some internal organ that didn't feel so good to get hit). This is going on day and night...and I love knowing that she is having the time of her life...but if this is any indication of how bonkers she is going to be when she actually gets out into the real world...I am totally screwed!

The belly is out enough that more and more people are getting bolder and asking to touch it. The walk towards me with hands outstretched mouthing 'BBAAAABBBBYYY'. I want run in the opposite direction screaming, or slap their hands away, or at least just want to say: 'Really? You want to touch my belly? Why? What do you expect to have happen? Is the kid going to give you a high five? Do you expect me to grant you 3 wishes if you rub my belly a certain way? Or are you just curious to see if I have a squishy or firm prego belly? Can I touch YOURS?'
My belly button is still an 'inny' and I am so happy about that. Being that I have never seen the inside of my belly button and I have always been secretly proud that I have (in my opinion) a good-looking 'inny', I am not sure how I feel about it turning inside out. I'm worried that the little bean is going to have a perfectly placed kick one of these days and my 'inny' will be suddenly shoved out unceremoniously into the light as an 'outy'!

No Boy Bits

Jason and I went in for our first ultrasound last Tuesday. It was fun. It was exciting. It was very impressive that the tech could decipher what she was looking at to on the screen. I could see the hand, the foot and the face,...but to be able to tell and arm from a leg, or the organs, or the orientation of where she was looking...I was impressed! We were given just a couple of quick spread eagle shots and we didn't see any 'boy bits', so it looks like we are having a squirmy little girl. On that day the tech calculated that she was 1 lb and 21 weeks along, just about right on track for what we had be estimating. She has 2 arms, 2 legs, 1 head, finger and toes look accounted for, and she was moving all over the place. Jason and I are happy and nervous at the same time, pretty typical I would guess for new parents. Jason is already prepping himself to be the lone male in the house and is readying himself for his heart to get wrapped around a little tiny pinky. We had a good talk about how even though this little gal is coming into our world, that I am still the first lady in his life, and that our relationship still comes first. I still hear my dad's words to Beth and I..."I chose your Mom, you two are a byproduct of our love, and if necessary, we can have other byproducts." :)
My belly is to the point now that people think I MIGHT be preggers....or I might just have a pooch. I like to let them squirm and decide on their own what to think and not offer give them any help in the decision. The best is when they get up the nerve to v-e-r-y tentatively ask if I'm pregnant. It brings a daily smile to my face. I don't know why...maybe it's just my way of having hormonal justice on the world. haha!
The next two days will be on pins and needles as I wait for the phone call or email from Beth and Joe with their impending labor with their little boy. Come on little monster-trout...you can come out and play any day now!!

I get to rub baby bumps!

I get to rub baby bumps with my sister in 5 days! Mind you, her bump will kick my bumb's butt (it's the first time in her life that she's kicked my butt in anything physical, so I will take the beating graciously!). I am heading to Minneapolis on Friday, which yes, is the 13th, but I haven't been superstitious since Beth admitted to moving the weegie board when we were little, so I am uninhibited in my excitment to travel on that day! Mom will be there too...so it'll be a reunion of 3 generations, with one still in utero, unless I can shake/bump the baby out of Beth while I'm there (which I am still very tempted to do, so watch out Beth!!)
The bump...the bump is growing. I lost my first pair of pants yesterday. I got them buttoned in the morning, but by afternoon they had to go. I even had Jason try to rebutton them at lunch and the failure to get them to close up was met with a look of glee on his face and tragedy on mine. So, now I am in my 'big' pants, the ones I used to have to wear with a belt cinched down, which now no longer require the cinching or even the belt. I really am excited about the growing bump, but I am still mourning the loss of a waistline. I do have a pair of mama-pants from Beth already...and they are 'oh so ridiculously and sinfully' comfortable, and I have 5 more on order...but I am not quite ready to admit that I need to wear them.
On Tuesday we will be at 18 weeks. yeah!! I am hungry alot, until I eat, and them I am full pretty quickly (I think the booger is standing straight up and down with all it's 5 inches of glory pressing on my stomach). I am craving fruit still with the occasional veggie attack. A fantastic meal to me is: a couple celery stalks with peanut butter, cheddar cheese slices, saltines, and a braeburn apple cut up....oohhhh yummy yummmy!
:)