Ida-who?

Hannah, Jennifer, Riley & Brenden

Martin, Nolan and I drove all the way to Idaho for Thanksgiving this year to celebrate with my sister's family. We did the drive in one day; 16 hours. My sister bragged to a friend, "My pregnant sister and her husband drove here from California in one day with their 20 month old son." To which he replied, "Are they superhuman or just crazy?

It actually wasn't as bad as we thought. We had some very good travel advice and rest stops recommended by our good friend and neighbor (thanks Steve-o!). The worst part was the meltdown that Nolan had during the last 2 hour stretch. He decided that the only movie he wanted to watch in the car was Nemo. When we said "no" because we had just finished watching it and had a slew of other movies to chose from, he went ballistic! Now we couldn't say "yes" for fear of rewarding such a response, so instead we listened to him cry about Nemo for two hours.

It was so awesome to see my sister & her hubby and all the kids. We were thoroughly spoiled by my sister's gourmet cooking from breakfast to dinner. My parents flew in as well so they all had their hands very full. I'm sure Nolan must now think that his home is sooooo boring after all the fun he had with his cousins. They were all so amazing with Nolan and he couldn't get enough of them. They are all growing up so fast it is amazing. I love them and miss them so much! When we left I did the "ugly cry" in the car for a good 20+ miles. Here are some pics of our amazing trip:

Nolan and Brenden going on a walk. Nolan insisted on going for a walk despite the freezing cold, he cannot stand to stay inside. I, on the other hand, would have been happy to stay inside.


At the Children's Museum: Jennifer, Nolan & Martin blow gigantic bubbles.

Okay, so it may be cold but the colors of fall were beautiful!.

My sister's family is very cool about just sitting around as a family and doing "family things". For example:

Brian with Nolan doing "Old Fashioned Daddy Night", a series of events that Nolan is tossed around with amusing sound effects. This is "shotgun baby".

They also make homemade ice cream by putting all the ingredients in a ziplock bag and then surrounding it with ice and wrapping it up in a series of plastic bags. Then they spend 15 - 20 minutes chucking the bags at each other's heads until the ice cream is thoroughly mixed and then put in the freezer. I was honestly waiting to have to explain this one to the doctor at the E.R. As you can see, even Nolan got into the action.

After Thanksgiving dinner everyone participated in a Talent Show. This was Nolan's final proof that the Weaver family was officially the coolest family he had ever been around. I think this dance was choreographed to a Veggie-Tales song.

Nolan and Daddy playing in tunnels at the Kid's Zone

We also decided to celebrate Christmas while we were there in order to save on the cost of shipping presents to each other. Nolan's favorite gift was his Baby Gigi, his baby doll that we are using to help him prepare for the arrival of baby Gabrielle.

Auntie Fur-Fur & Nolan (Nolan's name for Jennifer)

Turbans and Thriller...Does it get any better?

Ok, so earlier I posted about my best friend's Indian Wedding Reception and mentioned the very cool dance that 10 guys performed for them and how badly I wished I had a video of it. Well guess what just popped up on You Tube!? You really haven't lived until you've seen guys in turbans dancing to an Indian version of Michael Jackson's Thriller. So so super cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ofpO-jtMg

And The Ultrasound Reveals....

It's a foot! Yes, a very cute and adorable foot followed by.....


a spine... as though any child of ours will ever have to prove they have a backbone!

Oh, this is the best part ...

the top of the baby's head with the hand on top. Can you see the little fingers?



Okay, okay ... so the suspense is killing you. It's a.....

smiling tadpole with huge teeth!
No really the big circle in the middle is the the body, the small black hole that looks like the tadpole's eye is the stomach and then if you move up and to the right you can see the Skeletor face with the nose part and and two big eyeballs.

And finally...


a picture of the baby's "girl parts"! At least an 80% chance according to the ultrasound technician. She was very cautious to explain that nothing is 100% but she feels pretty confident that .... It's A Girl!

An Indian Reception

Sameer, Natasha, Me and Martin

Have you ever experienced something that afterwards you thought, "Wow, you really haven't lived until..."? That's how I felt after going to Natasha and Sameer's Indian Reception. There was 500 or so people there. Everyone looked amazing! The dresses on the women were dripping in beads and the most amazing vibrant colors but not at all gaudy, just breathtakingly beautiful. Food like you wouldn't believe, the kind that as you're eating it you know that you are forever ruined for all other Indian food because it will never quite be like this. A drink bar that Martin learned not to tip the bartender first because he had to go back for more soda because the drink was so strong. Dessert...oh the dessert. Tables and tables of dessert. There was a photo booth where you took a picture and then put the picture in a scrapbook with a message to the bride and groom. I seriously want to find engaged Indian people and make friends very quickly.

The Benesch Family

The coolest part of the whole thing was the dance, let me tell ya ... Indian guys can dance! A big group of guys had a whole dance choreographed that they performed for everyone. It started out to Michael Jackson's Thriller and then morphed into this very cool and hip Indian take off of Thriller. The guy in front was moon dancing and everything. I so wished we had gotten this on video!

Dancing to Thriller

In high school Terah, Emily, Natasha and I were tight. It was so cool to see everyone again since we all live pretty far away from each other. We still manage to get together every so often one way or another. It was awesome getting to share the whole experience with them.

Dancing it up together ... just like in high school!

Martin and I enjoying really got some good time together out of all this. Nolan stayed at my parents Azusa house with a babysitter while we got to live it up. There was a woman, Rosalina, who lived with us and helped to take care of us while we were kids. It was the first time we had left Nolan with someone he didn't know. Normally, that would have been out of the question but there is something extremely reassuring about leaving your child with someone that you know how they treated you as a child. Even when my sister and I had pushed Rosalina to the end of her rope the most she ever lost it on us was a deep sigh followed by, "Aye, Chiquitas!" As expected, Nolan fell in love with her instantly and spent the whole night leading her around from toy to toy and even talked her in to watching a movie. When we came home they were snuggled up together .... he didn't want to go to sleep without her.

There was also a kind of cool side effect to all of this. It really got me out of "mommy mode" for awhile. All these days of hair, makeup and beautiful clothes were hard to give up. I think I did my hair, makeup and dressed nice everyday for a whole week when we got home! Well.... that insanity is over now ... well almost.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Me, Natasha and Sameer's mom Surinder

On the second day of wedding events, Natasha and Sameer had an Exchange of Vows ceremony in Laguna Beach. Again, everyone looked absolutely beautiful. Sameer had shaved his beard and was looking very handsome and Natasha looked like she stepped out of a bridal magazine.

Like any gaggle of girls getting ready for something as important as a wedding, we were running just a tad bit behind. Natasha gets into her dress and all we have to do is zip her up. So I do my bridesmaid duty and start to zip her up. The zipper only gets about half way up her back and then stops ... and doesn't look like there is anyway in hell it is going to go any farther. Me and another bridesmaid silently look at each other in horror! Natasha has 0% body fat ... there is nothing to suck in and I do not want to be the one to strike fear into a hurried bride as we are already 15 minutes into the ceremony time and still at the hotel room.

Thank god I remembered Natasha telling me how the bridal shop kept insisting that she buy a bigger dress and "just pay the alteration cost". Natasha insisted that is was a waste of money and the rack dress fit ... perfectly. Natasha is not one to be wrong about this sort of thing so I called her sister Jessica over. I tried to word it as calmly as possible so I didn't bring any attention to the problem to Natasha. "Jessica, have you zipped this dress up on Natasha before? Would you mind helping me?" Sure enough, super Jessica to the rescue. Jess told Natasha to suck it in (like only a sister can) and Jess pulled and zipped like a pro. I had never felt such relief in my life.

For a lot of Sameer's family and friends this was their first American wedding so it was very cool to see so many people really taking it all in instead of just wriggling in their seats waiting for some champagne. It seemed to make it all the more special. Natasha's in-laws found a lot of similarities between some of the reading from the Bible and their own. I love how taken every one's faces looked at each word read. Many of them said they were surprised at how short it was but really liked the simplicity of it all. The girls loved the American wedding dress as much as I loved all the beautiful Indian dresses.

Grandma & Nolan

What happens when you take an 18 month old to a wedding. Thankfully, he was actually very very good 99% of the time. He just didn't want to sit still for any photos. True to form, he followed the flower girls around trying to hug on them. (He's been very interested in hugging girls lately .. and putting his arm around them ... and holding their hand ... and kissing them) He was also very interested in the quartet and spent a lot of time with Papa talking about the different instruments and listening to the music.

Martin & I (and baby Fletcher part 2)

Insights on an Indian Wedding

Natasha & Sameer

The weekend before Halloween, my oldest and dearest friend was married in a series of the most beautiful and elaborate ceremonies that I have ever seen. I felt as though my senses were being assaulted and I simply couldn't take all of the beauty in. There were so many events leading up to their wedding that the whole process seemed to last for weeks rather than days. Each one was amazing in their own right but here is just one part...with more to come:

Disclaimer: I'm sure that the majority of the information I am about to share with you is probably slightly confused if not just flat out wrong but hey... it was a lot to take in, really fun and if I know Sameer friends.... I'm sure they had fun messing with the "whities" too.

Anand Karaj - The Indian Wedding Ceremony
It is very cool how much attention the groom gets, his entrance alone was at least 30 minutes long. Sameer looked totally different. I had never seen him in a turban and he had grown a full beard for the wedding ... he looked so regal! First he rides out on a horse and all the guest greet him by dancing all around the horse. In India, the groom normally comes out on an elephant but unfortunately Santa Ana has a city ordinance against elephants. Please note... the problem was the city ordinance ... not the elephant! This will begin to give you some insight to what I mean by "elaborate".



The young boy standing next to Sameer also rode in on the horse with him. Traditionally, the boy is a nephew and I guess way back in the day the boy would have to stand in and marry the bride if the groom decided to bail.

The bride's family and friends had the job to stand outside the temple and greet people. There was a prayer and ceremony outside the temple where each member of Natasha's family greeted and welcomed the corresponding member of Sameer's family into their lives by placing a lei around their neck. For example, Natasha's brother greeted Sameer's brother. I greeted her Sister-In-Law because it was "sister-like" greeting "sister-like". There was an incredible amount of inclusion of the two families during all the rituals. It really felt as though the marriage was much deeper than just the bride and groom and was a marriage of the two families.


The Reception of Barat... I think ... It's during the prayer just before we greeted family.

The ceremony in the temple was beautiful and very moving. Everyone sits on the floor, men on one side and women on the other. When Natasha walked in I was stunned, she looked like royalty. The bride and groom do not speak during the ceremony. They walk in a circle around ... um something ... four? times and it symbolizes the journeys in their lives to come ... um, I think. I was pretty overwhelmed by this point.

Jessica (Natasha's sister), Me, Natasha, and Sweta (old college friend and very generous girl who lent me all my Indian garb).


Natasha was adorned with so much jewlery. The bangles are amazingly difficult to get on. You need tons of lotion to slide them on and it still feels as though your hands are going to break by from trying to squeeze them through. The henna on her hands was on the front, the back and even on her feet. Somewhere on her hands is her groom's name and he is suppose to find it before the night is through.
She also has huge cymbal type things hanging from each wrist that we tied as tight as possible so it would be incredibly difficult for Sameer to take off. "It's a game between Natasha & Sameer" I blurted out as I got some funny looks from the people at the table. An Indian woman kindly, and quietly, explained to me what exactly "the game" was. Apparently, in the days of arranged marriages when the bride and groom did not meet until AFTER the actual wedding ceremony, the bride would tie her jewelry on very tight so when they were undressing for their wedding night the groom would struggle to get her jewelry off and the nervous bride could have more time to get to know her husband.


I could not stop staring at how beautiful she looked. I would have thought she was some kind of Indian Princess Royalty if I had not know her.

I quickly ran out of battery on my camera and missed the extravagant departure. Natasha was carried out in a carriage that looked eerily like something straight out of Cinderella. It was the role of the men in Natasha's family to carry her out on it but they were a little light on young men that were in any shape to carry the whole thing. Martin helped to "carry" (read: roll) her out as family and friends walked behind them throwing at least one hundred crisp dollar bills at the carriage. All the little girls present ran behind the carriage gathering up the money, it was very cute.

The final piece of business that we took care of at the cerimony was the tradition of the groom buying back his shoes. Upon entering the temple, everyone removes their shoes. It is the brides sister/brother/close friends job to steal the grooms shoes and not return them to him until a full out bargaining war between the two families is settled. Jessica did an amazing job! Sameer bought back his shoes for $300 AND each of us girls received a gold ring with a row of 6 saphires or emeralds. CRAZY!

Martin & I posing for pictures with Princess Natasha.



Martin and I outside the temple.

Halloween...A 3 Part Series

This is Nolan's second Halloween and we could not believe how into it he was this year. I had expected a lot of tears over scary costumes and decorations but he braved it all like a champ. He did have 3 Halloween's to ease into it & I think that helped.


Halloween: Take 1
On Tuesday we went to Parent Participation class where they had a costume parade. Nolan loved all the attention he got from his bee costume and was a great poser for all the pictures. He regularly checked to make sure his antenna were firmly in place and wings still on his back.





Halloween: Take 2
Our Mom's Group met up for the 2nd annual Howl-o-ween Hoopla at Montse's house before heading down to Farmer's Market.


Farmer's Market 2008


Farmer's Market 2007

The kids had a blast eating Montse's gourmet mini cupcakes and then running races in the living room on their new found sugar high.

Is it a bird? An Airplane? No, it's Super Urban.
Brody and Nolan look at each other in amazement as Superman Urban takes off at "On Your Mark".

Once we got to downtown, Nolan was ready to go! He well .. beelined ... through the massive crowd of costumed kids and parade of Yes on Prop 8 / No on Prop 8 demonstrators. Martin and I dressed as Bee Keepers and we could hear the chuckles from the crowd as first a little bumblebee zipped through the streets with a bee keeper close on his stinger. It was nice to get so many compliments on our theme costume and we even got our picture taken by the San Luis Obispo Parks & Rec. Dept.

We finally got him to stand still for the games.

Nolan throwing a ring on the sticks.

Nolan playing Pumpkin Bowling

Halloween: Take 3 ... The Real Deal

Nolan's 1st Pumpkin Carving Lesson. He was very helpful and added a decorative touch with crayons and highlighters.

We have a very awesome neighborhood and they usually have very creative themed group costumes. Once again, Steve & Melissa took the cake with Spencer as a Bumblebee, Loralai as a Butterfly, Mom as a Black Widow and Dad as the Orkin Man.

Here we are as the Bee Keepers and Bumblebee

Grandma and Grandpa Joyce joined in on the festivities and helped us pass out candy as we took Nolan out on his very 1st Trick or Treat run around the block.

Senorita Julietta Islas Martinez Maria Velasquez Jimenez Charita & Monkey Man Ted

Nolan Trick or Treating with our neighbors The Tin Man Dixon and The Courageous Lion Grayson. At one of their first houses, Dixon and Grayson politely knocked and when no one answered Nolan took one look at his friends and charged at the door with both fists knocking. He was going to get some candy if he had to break the door down to do it...that's my boy!

Nolan spent the whole time running at a full sprint in between houses and waving his arms like he was flying.

When we returned to the house we found my dad scaring small children by gnawing on his arm through the gorilla mask while he buddied up to the scary skeleton. My mom instructed the kids to make their way past the monsters to get the candy. You know, I kinda of dig that they're old school and not very P.C sometimes, it's refreshing.

After a hard day of pumpkin carving, bee flying and trick-or-treating, Nolan enjoyed his first piece of candy, Reeses Peanut Butter Cup, and some milk. All while watching his favorite movie, Nemo. Yes, my parents did ask several times if someone had taken over my body. Okay, so we're pretty strict on those things on a daily basis but I firmly believe that not giving a child candy on Halloween can be classified as a mild form of child abuse.

Bee's Bite

Today is Columbus day, despite all the differing views on whether or not Columbus should be celebrated, I am grateful that my hubby had the day off today. He got a chance to take Nolan to his swim lessons and see all the progress our little polywog has made. I saw my chance to go on a bike ride out to Avila Beach in the middle of the day when the sun is shining, the cars are few and the wind is almost non-existent.

I'm on my mtn bike and staring at my skinny tires, they look so foreign on my bike. I'm wondering ... How fast can I go and for how long? My cat eye is reading 16 miles per hour so I up my gears...17 mph...up it again 18mph, 19mph. The adrenaline is kicking in and I'm starting to warm up. I have just turned on HWY 1 and start thinking about some of the hills I'm going to be tackling coming out of downtown Pismo Beach. BAM! That's when it happened. Somehow a bee made it past my ever growing pregnancy boobs and straight down my shirt. It got trapped when it hit my belly and decided to sting it's way out of my shirt. It's been about 15 years since I last got stung but I still know a bee sting when I feel it.

As a kid I got stung at least once a summer and probably twice every year. The bees loved me! My whole family would be walking out to the car and the bee would follow me and sting me for no good reason. My mom says that word got out among the bee community that I liked to raid the honey jar. Either way, my reaction to bee stings became increasingly worse and worse. Swelling does not describe what would happen to me ... ballooning would be more accurate. The last time I got stung I had stepped on a bee and my foot was approaching elephant size when we went to the doctor. The doctor warned us that my hyper-sensitivity was becoming increasingly worse with each sting and that we may want to look into carrying one of those scary shots around with me at all times. That was enough to scare me into staying away from the bright yellow slip and slide and raiding my sisters oh so cool United Colors of Benetton perfume. It must have worked because I stopped getting stung and instead of carrying a shot around I just carried two Benadryl tablets with me in every bag I own.

Gratefully, I had my phone with me and OBGYN on speed dial. I called and told them my predicament and asked if I could take the Benadryl that was stashed in my CamelBak. They said it was safe to take and to ice the sting. I was really freaked out at first since I wasn't sure how my body would react to the sting. I can't believe it, my body is reacting like a normal person got stung. It's just like a little bug bite. I don't think my body has ever reacted this normal in my whole life, I am so relieved! I'm still mad at the dumb bee, though. What kind of bee stings a pregnant lady in the belly. Evil Bee!

Highchair Adventures

The scene: Breakfast. Nolan sitting in his highchair with a plate of spinach & cheese eggs. Michelle eating yogurt and apples.

Nolan: Abble. Peazzz Mommy. Abble

Michelle: After you eat your eggs, Mommy will give you some apple.

Nolan: Takes a big mouthfull of eggs. Abble. Abble.

Michelle: Nolan, you have to eat ALL of your eggs first, then Mommy will give you some apple.

Nolan: Takes another mouthfull of eggs. Abble, abble peazzz

Michelle: Nolan, your eggs need to be all gone, then you get apple

Nolan: Places his eggs in another section of his segmented bowl & covers it with his hand. Bye! Abble peazz.

And this is what happened at lunch, two hours after an hour long battle to take a nap (a battle that he won).

Thump Thump - Thump Thump

Well, this is just a tad bit anti-climactic since EVERYONE knows but.... We're Pregnant! We were originally going to wait until we heard the heartbeat to announce it to the world but my belly announced it first. Let me tell ya, these stomach muscles have memory! It just came pooching right out. It worked out better that way since we didn't hear Baby F Part 2's heartbeat until Monday and I would have never been able to keep it a secret for that long.

I am due on April 4, 2009, just 5 days after Nolan's 2nd birthday. So far this pregnancy has been completely different. I feel nauseous, tired and totally emotional. The general consensus is that it must be a girl. We'll see.... Unlike the first time, this time we are planning to find out the sex of the baby. Murphy's law says Baby F will have it's legs crossed just because we want to know.

I'm now officially in the second trimester and feeling much better. I'm back to my regular swimming and hiking routine although the mountain bike tires have come off my bike and have been replaced with slicks for road riding. I still holding on to the hope that I may get just a few more mountain bike rides in before I have to hang Stumpy up for a year plus. (Yes, I did name my mountain bike...does anyone have a problem with that!?) So so sad! Good thing babies are so worth it!

P.S. Picture is not of my belly, it's just a very cool picture that I found.

The Big Boy Bed

We have another first: Nolan slept in his big boy bed overnight for the first time! We bought the bed over a month ago and let him just get use to it being in his room. I would put him in it for naps when he was really exhausted and that had seemed to go pretty well. Last night we were getting ready for bed and he climbed into his big boy bed all on his own, laid down and then asked for his binky and Jag (his favorite Jaguar stuffed-animal). We went through his normal routine and when I closed the door he lifted his head and said, "mommy?" and then just went to sleep. We had expected to have to put him back in bed in the middle of the night but he did great! He woke up crying once just after midnight and then again at 4am. Both times I went in his room briefly and let him know it was still night time, "I love you", "sweet dreams" and then left. The second time I went in there and found him lying on the floor. I asked him if he fell out of bed and he said, "Yeah" but was fine once I put him back in bed. He opened our bedroom door at 8 a.m. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. We are so excited!