Welcome Baby Cason!

My little sister, not really little anymore, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy on November 16th and this past weekend we were able to make a trip out to see them. It was an awesome trip. It gave Joo Lin and I some practice before our "Little Princess" is born.

Here are some pictures of us.

Check out that belly! Baby Seoul's Inside!!! CHEERS FOR SEOUL!

Here I am, getting some much needed baby holding time. Yes I do look awkward, hopefully Seoul won't mind too much.

She's got that crazy mommy look in those eyes!!!

We also got to go to the OSU - U of A game too!!

Future Christmas card 2008???

And what trip isn't complete without going to the local In-N-Out burger? We drove 30 minutes out of the way to go to this place and later we found out that their was one 2 blocks away! Silly us but we LOVE IT!

Saving Babies (Kelley's Job)

It has been awhile since I have posted on our blog. My wife has been doing a spectacular job of posting lately and I really apperciate her for doing so. She always seems to pick up my slack when I drop the ball on things. I guess that is why we are perfect for each other. I LOVE YOU JOO LIN!

Where to start? Well, things are going really well at my new job. It isn't really new anymore but a lot of you are probably wondering what I do and where I do it. I work for Legacy Health System (LHS) at their corporate office in downtown Portland. My official title is "Desktop Engineer" and I love every minute of it. LHS has five hospitals in the Portland and Vancouver area and when I tell people what I do, I tell them that I save babies. Ok, I don't really save babies but I work on computers for people that saves them! That counts, does it not? In reality, I am part of their Information Services department and I work along side their server team to provide a more user friendly environment for our end users. I am a doctor for PC's! Some of the projects that I am in charge of are secret but I can share a few. I am their antivirus guru, their image specialist, and third tier technical support specialist. Sounds cool doesn't it.

Everyday provides a new unique and fulfilling experience and I am grateful that through our many trials that this has turned out for the best.

no pics yet... but a pregnancy update...

Yes, call me a slacker yet again... no pictures to post. Yesterday I thought I looked cute and super prego so I wanted Kelley to take photos to post. Sadly, we can't find out camera anywhere.... so you will just have to wait. I must say that I've gained the prego belly! Every day I wake up and my belly is bigger and I think to myself - "Oh my goodness there is a baby in there!" She definitely doesn't hesitate to remind me with her movements... and I love it. What a unique experience and I'm so lucky to be having it. Kelley is envious of the experience I get to have. He still rubs my back and talks to Seoul every night. She will kick him the head sometimes when he tries to listen to her - it's funny!

We had a doctor appointment on Wednesday. I am healthy (sounds funny to say, yes?). Anyway, the baby's heart rate is good (beautiful sound!) and my tummy measures the right size for 29 1/2 weeks. I thought it was funny the doctor requested to see my ankle and pinched it to see if there was any swelling. Fortunately I gained enough weight this appointment so I didn't get in trouble (I was honestly worried). Kelley asked if it was safe for me to go to the OSU Football Civil War game and sit in the student section - he is a nut! The doctor said he took his wife took a Billy Joel concert during her first pregnancy so it should be fine. I thought that was a funny answer - we have a really nice, goofy doctor.

Needless to say we are getting more excited by the day! Time flies - I just realized how quickly the next 2 1/2 months are going to go.... trip to Arizona to see our future new little nephew, Thanksgiving, baby showers, wedding anniversary, Christmas, New Years... then the countdown really begins! I think I am lucky to have all these things to take my mind off the discomfort of the last months of pregnancy (so I hear).

Happy Birthday Kelley!!

Kelley has been super busy with work so no blog posts from him lately! I must say that we did celebrate his birthday early October - what a young, handsome man he is! His mom came up for the weekend so he had multiple birthday days and multiple birthday dinners - lucky man. He was spoiled as usual, which he most certainly deserves! (I admit that Seoul and I got presents that weekend, too - I have a sweet mother-in law!)

Happy Birthday to Kelley.... I'm so glad he was born!

I've been tagged...

Huh. Since I was named specifically on this tag I figure I better play along - ha! Simple rules but I am not that interesting... and I think most people that would read this know these things

Here are the rules: Write 7 random things about yourself. Tag 7 people at the end of your post. Pass on the tag.

7 Random things about me:
1. I've been skydiving and I loved it! I will go again someday... when there is not a baby in my belly.
2. I've always wanted to get my pilots license.
3. My 3 siblings and I were all adopted - brothers were born in Oregon, my sister and I were born in Korea (not biologically related, though.
4. It's a given that I'm a nerd, but freshman year of college I chatted online daily. Looking back I have to wonder why...
5. I am scared of the dark and get spooked super easy. However I enjoy scary movies and haunted houses and corn mazes.
6. I keep an (almost) daily journal and I love to go back and read it. Please note it is also helpful when your hubby thinks he remembers one thing but the truth has been documented - haha!
7. I could possibly be classified as a "neat freak" because I love things to be orderly, whether it's at my desk at work or at home. I like to clean, all but showers. [Kelley teases and tells me I have OCD].

Who to tag? Do I know 7 people that read our blog? I will guess... Michelle, Brittney, Jessica, Annie, Jerilee, Kristy, and Rhanda. Ready, set, go!

Book Tag

I got book tagged so here goes... ya caught me reading a book about vampires and werewolves. Can you guess what it is? Yep, not generally my style but I gave in to peer pressure and read the Twilight Series.

Rules:

1. Get the book that's on your nightstand (or whatever you happen to be reading).
2. Open it to page 56 and find the 5th sentence.
3. Post the next couple of sentences on your blog, along with these instructions.
4. Do not go and find your favorite book; it has to be the one you are reading now!
5. Tag five other people to do the same. [I pass, but people can do it if they want because I'm always looking for recommendations for reading]


Book 4 - Breaking Dawn, Page 56, sentence 5 (and a few more) read...
"The music changed, and Charlie tapped on Edward's shoulder. It was nearly as easy to dance with Charlie. He was no better at it than I was, so we moved safely from side to side in a tiny square formation. Edward and Esme spun around us like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers."




Nothing terribly exciting or inspiring but they are good books to read for some light reading.

oh my goodness!

We've now made it into the 3rd trimester officially! Time flies and we are so excited. My health seems good and my belly is poking out more and more. The baby kicks around and has a good ole' time in there. I think she had the hiccups the other day, which was kind of neat. I will post a picture of me sometime this week when I have Kelley take one.

Here is our new crib bedding set, thanks to Sherril! We got the 3 piece bedding, the mobile, lamp, and diaper hanger. We have a light oak crib, which we haven't set up yet, compliments of my bro and his wife. Lucky us!
















As for a "color scheme" we have decided to go with an all color theme and not limit ourselves since we don't have a "nursery" at this time. Maybe we'll settle more on a color once we figure out where we will settle.

She moves!

If you haven't figured it out yet, our baby girl's name is going to be Seoul Elizabeth. I was born in Seoul Korea so we think it's a beautiful name to remember my/our heritage.

She moves on a daily basis now and I love it! It's amazing to me there is a little human inside me that I'm taking care of already. She seems to have a routine of kicking most days. Sometimes I think she's taking after me and loves kickboxing already - ha! My tummy physically moves now and Kelley was able to see and feel it for the first time Tuesday. He looked over while we were watching tv and saw the movement so he put his hand on my tummy. There have been a couple times that he thought he felt her in the past but this time we're sure. Plus it's been a few times since then. Exciting!!

Here is a photo of me from a couple weeks ago I never got around to posting (22 weeks):



















Here is a photo of me tonight - I think my belly is finally getting bigger so people can tell I'm pregnant! (24 weeks)

Long Awaited Post: Our Home

I know I promised photos of the interior of our new place many moons ago. Here they are!




We still love it and will miss it when we move (whenever that happens). Kelley's favorite feature is the garage for the extra space, which includes increasing our food storage - yay! My favorite feature is still the stairs... I think they're doing wonders for this prego mama's bum and metabolism.

As I mentioned before it's nice to live in a neighborhood without the traffic of people and looking for an open parking space. It is quiet around here and we don't see a ton of the neighbors. However, there are some funky nighttime happenings around here....

There are howling dogs across the street. I think we're finally adjusting and tuning them out.

One night we woke up around 2 AM to the duplex neighbor woman crying in obvious pain, including moaning and talking about her pains coming faster. My first thought was "go to the hospital if you're in labor" - then I thought it must just be the pregnancy on my mind since we had not seen any pregnant women over there, just a teenage girl very non-pregnant. (I won't mention what Kelley's first thought was - haha) The noises continued for a couple hours. At one point we heard an ambulance and we were excited that they were coming to take her away. Nope, it didn't come near us. Either she left on her own or we tuned it out because we finally got a couple more hours of sleep before getting up for work. Come to find out a week or so later the woman did have a baby. Good, I'm NOT crazy thinking that she was in labor but we still hadn't seen her... or the baby... hmmm...

One more -
One night we woke up in the middle of the night to a loud noise. To me it sounded like a car had hit a garbage can and then dragged it down the road a couple blocks. Maybe a major part fell out of the car while they were driving? Is that possible?

Things have calmed down a bit at night and everything always seems perfectly normal in the morning. Fun times, that is for sure!

Tribute to Bruce

It is with great sadness that we say good-bye to our dear family member Bruce (Kelley's Honda Accord). He lives on through the Disneyland charm hanging in our new family member Shark Bait Oo-Ha-Ha (2006 Honda Civic with ALL the options). I never thought I'd say this but I truly felt sad when we cleaned him and left him behind at the dealership. I hope he's happy wherever he is... there was plenty of interest in him so I hope he found another good home.

As for Shark Bait, he is Kelley's new love and he is such a great addition to the family. We will have many good times together, I think.

Jasmine & Shark Bait Oo-Ha-Ha - new BFF














Bye Bruce - we will always remember you!

THE BESTEST HUSBAND EVER!!!

So, I LOVE this show with my whole soul (since season 2)! Needless to say when the season ended I was bummed and already looked forward to the next season... come once a year only *sigh*. To cheer me up during some rough times Kelley surprised me with TICKETS to the concert!! Yep, we are going to see SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE on Sunday night! I have been counting the days and there are not words to describe how excited I am :) I'm not a huge concert person whether it is music or anything else but THIS brings a smile to my face!

THANKS KELLEY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Addendum (I got permission from Kelley before adding this)

Think back to August 21st. Kelley calls me at work and tells me that he has to go do another pee test for his new job... up in Portland.... by 7 pm that night... and that he'd wait for me to get off work so we could go up there together. I said "sure" while thinking: "why is he waiting for me to go, that is cutting it close." I get off work and rush home thinking we had a time crunch. Kelley is unloading the dishwasher and tells me to relax a bit and then we'll leave. Another thought in my head: "why is he not worried about leaving to get up there in time" but I trust he knows what he's doing. We head out... he's not excessively speeding and we're just chatting. I finally ask the question - why do you have to do another pee test? He made up something and I seemed to buy it. Closer to Portland I am starting to get worried that we're not going to make it to the place by 7 pm, but again, Kelley seems unworried. About 6:45, not close to our destination he asks me to get a paper out of the middle console. I pull out a card, flip it over, see my name on it, and ask if it's something I should be seeing (I'm a dork!). Kelley then has a huge grin and says "yes, open it". Inside is one of the best cards I've ever gotten (yes, I read everything before looking inside)... and inside are folded TICKETS!! It doesn't register at first but then it dawns on me - he is NOT going to do another pee test - we are going to SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. RIGHT NOW! We pull into the Rose Garden, park, and meander over to the entrance. In the open area there are skateboarders and BMX bikers with various booths. I thought it was kind of a strange crowd to be going to this performance, but cool, whatever, I AM GOING. We get inside, the girl scans our tickets and it rings up as "invalid date" - what does that mean? Kelley leads me back outside thinking maybe it's at the Coliseum. As we walk outside I look at the tickets again. Yep, right place. Yep, the 21st... but wait, it's not SUNDAY today. The concert is SEPTEMBER 21st... a month from today! Kelley is super embarrassed but I think it's totally hilarious and cute of him!! He completely surprised me with these tickets and then we get an extra memory tacked on because we get to go to the actual concert in a month. Good times in the Rice family!!

We are having a......

....well...we aren't having twins! Kelley is really taking that one rough. He says that he is going to pump me full of fertility drugs until we have twins. Silly man!

Well...did you figure it out yet???

Tuesday is the day...

...that we find out what our baby will be. We are really excited and we don't know how much sleep we will get tonight...hopefully we won't forgot to post something tomorrow evening.

Settling

We are moved and settled - yay! We absolutely love our new place... it already feels like a home. We love looking out the window and seeing a neighborhood rather than apartment buildings. I think we are 95% unpacked and organized for what we are unpacking. Unfortunately we are without the internet until Tuesday next week so we've felt out of the blogging loop. Expect some pictures of the inside to be posted Tuesday or Wednesday, though! (oh, and I love the stairs - call me a dork!)

Kelley starts his new job on Tuesday and we're very excited! He will miss his lazy days but being an inherent hard worker it will suit him just fine to leave those days behind. I just worked a few days this week and the commute (Salem to Corvallis) isn't bad at all. I just blare church music so I can avoid the road rage (which Kelley says is worse now that I'm prego). Haha - I don't think it's so bad but maybe...

The ultrasound happens in less than 2 weeks (Sept 2) - be excited!! Kelley is still hoping for twins - silly guy. Any guesses from you - boy or girl?

MOVING!!

Joo Lin and I are excited because we are able to pick up the key to our new place tomorrow. Then we get to move on Saturday. We are both excited and can't wait to move! If you are bored on Saturday, please feel free to stop by and help move some boxes. We will be starting around 10 AM on Saturday!

is it really there?

Well, i'm super excited to get a "baby belly" - just a tiny bump to right now... can you see it?? The left pic is 7 weeks and the right pic is 16 1/2 weeks. So maybe it's all in my head (and Kelley's) but we are so thrilled! :) I've gotten comments that I don't look like I'm 17 weeks along yet...I'll have to take their word for it.


I am eating better these days, although still not real hungry. Mostly just eating because I know I should. Smells are always there but I can control how I react. I can eat some chicken (not grilled so much) and simple salads now. Other than my little bump that's growing nothing else has changed. Of course there is lots I need to do... start exercising, stop worrying about what I can't control, and maybe sleep more...? Kelley still takes great care of me and talks to the baby every night.

I believe I've felt a few little movements but they were brief so I'm not positive. Kelley can't wait for the day that he can feel the movement too - he says I'm so lucky I get to experience this.

Kelley really liked the photo below as I am "bonding" with the baby by pointing out the little life inside me.



Every day is amazing and we can't wait until January when we get to hold the little baby we've created. I have to give a shout out to all the new mommies or mommies-to-be that I know - you are great and your kids are adorable!

New Home!

Joo Lin and I found out yesterday that we got into the duplex that we had applied for. We are both excited and we were surprised at how fast everything has gone. I found an ad for the place on craiglist (my new favorite site) on Thursday and we stopped by on Friday to have a tour. It is a cute duplex, two years old, and it has some faults but don't we all. The current owners of the duplex went a little crazy redoing the inside and I guess they ran out of money so they were not able to finish the yard. So the yard consists of mounds of dirt and spiderwebs. Joo Lin isn't excited about that but I told her that I would take care of the spiders. As I am not a big fan of spiders, this should make for an interesting experience.

We are going up to Salem today to sign the papers and if we have time, we will stop by and take pictures of it. Our tentative date for moving is the 16th. We are starting to realize that we have a lot of stuff so packing should be eventful.

UPDATED:
Here are some pictures of our new pad!

Exciting News

Joo Lin and I have some exciting news that we would like to share. We are moving to Salem! On Thursday, Legacy Health Systems offered me (Kelley) a position as a Desktop Engineer with their company in Portland and I will be starting with them at the end of this month.

I have been looking for quite sometime and I was finally able to find a position that offered me something that I was looking for, more hands on work and a better pay so that Joo Lin can stay at home with the baby(s). (I am still holding out hope that we are having twins, we should find out if this will be a reality at the end of the month as we will be having a 4D ultrasound.) Until the baby(s) is/are born, we will be living in Salem, so that Joo Lin and I can commute to our jobs. Once the baby is born, or shortly before it, we will be migrating up north to be closer to my work. We are both extremely excited about this opportunity and we can't wait to share in our new experience!

Prego Glow

This past weekend Joo Lin, Baby Rice, and I were able to travel to North Bend to visit my mother and my sister Klorissa. My sister has been living in Arizona for awhile and her and her husband made a trip back to Oregon to visit. My sister is also prego! She is about 7 weeks ahead of us and they already know that they are having a boy, which is exciting for them. They are having trouble coming up with a name but they still have time. I personally like George. Klorissa use to call our Grandpa George while growing up so I like that name. Below is a picture of the prego ladies together. I think they have a certain glow to them. It's cute, enjoy!

Favorite Things!

I have a number of favorite things in my life but one of them has to be little kids artwork. This piece of art was made during Sacrament meeting last Sunday and it was done by our niece Amanda. It's a picture of Joo Lin, also one of my favorite things. I hope that you enjoy it.