20 months,and the Telling Game

February was BUSY. Busy busy busy. We started out with a visit from my friend Beth, who not surprisingly was ready to escape the Chicago winter for awhile, and therefore decided that the desert sounded like an excellent place to go. We were excited to have her, especially since she was the first friend we got to tell about Baby H2. The thing about telling people you're expecting is that with every person told the pregnancy becomes more real. Heady stuff. Oh, and earlier that day we had our first ultrasound to "meet" baby. Too soon to tell (I was just 12 weeks) girl or boy, though to my eyes Baby H2 looked exactly like Evan did in his ultrasounds. Go figure. And for those of you making predictions based on heart rate, Baby's heart beat at 161 bpm during my February doctor's appointment.

We took advantage of the tourist opportunities and trekked up to Sedona for the day; en route we saw Montezuma Castle and Montezuma Well. For those of you not in the know (like I was prior to my visit), there was no actual Montezuma anybody in Arizona; rather the Sinagua people, who lived there 600 years ago, built houses literally in the cliff-side, and then one day mysteriously disappeared. So Montezuma Castle is literally a ghost town, Arizona-style. But someone back in the early 1900's who first came across it decided it looked Aztecan, hence the name. The well is a natural phenomenon, a collapsed limestone cavern that has a spring running through it and is apparently incredibly unique and biodiverse. Enough of the history lesson; here are some pictures.

Then we went to Sedona, which happily had some snowy peaks, and Beth got to be enlightened by a new-age tourist information guide who was excessively into the vortexes of Sedona. Apparently many of the red rock formations have a vortex, or "spiraling spirtual energy", which is said to be able to facilitate prayer and meditation and healing, and an "energy flow that exists on multiple dimensions." The lady said one you get drawn into the energy, rumor has it you never leave Sedona..."I got married on vortex 8 years ago and I'm still here." Happily there were no nuptials in our little party that day, so we made it out of Sedona safe and sound. The red rocks are indeed impressive though.

We also took Beth to our favorite Phoenix tourist spot - Dobbins Lookout on South Mountain to watch the sunset and see night fall over Phoenix. Sadly there was no real sunset that day, but the stellar views never disappoint.

(This one is for Kristen, whenever you read this. The big yellow building in the middle of the picture is the PCH expansion. They're making lots of room for you to come back and work there someday):

Here's Evan looking at all the planes coming out of Sky Harbor Airport:

The day Beth left was Superbowl Sunday (sadly, no Cardinals to root for this year). Like much of the U.S., we rang in the occasion going to a Superbowl party, though unlike the rest of the U.S. we also decided to announce Baby H2 to my brother and Dad (why not make an already great day better?). Dave'd told his sister a few days earlier. I was about 12 weeks and feeling confident that all was going well, though it would be another week or so before we told the general population of family and friends. Needless to say the family was all very happy. We also announced Baby H2 to our friend Jackie and Brad, gracious hosts of the Superbowl party, and proud parents of baby Molly, whom Evan knows well because Dave and Brad get together fairly regularly to do stay-at-home-Daddy outings with the kids. But I digress.

Shortly after Beth's trip, my friend Brianne and her daughter Corinne came to town. Naturally, we met up for a playdate. Evan and Corinne were happy to see each other again and to play with someone exactly their own size (they're 3 weeks apart in age). Brianne was the third friend I announced my preggers to, which was funny because she also announced to me that she was preggers herself. This time I'm about a month ahead of her. I guess great minds think alike.

Then, Dave's friend Brent came into town briefly, so they could hop up to Flagstaff and go snowboarding for the weekend at Snowbowl, taking full advantage of the extreme amounts of snow Flagstaff got this winter. I know Dave wishes he could go snowboarding more than once a year, but nevertheless he was happy with what he got. In any case Dave was happy that finally he had a friend to tell our good news to.

That weekend was also Valentine's Day, and I chose that day to announce "to the world" the news of Baby H2. Ah, technology in the form of Facebook. Why would a lazy person like me go to the effort of typing a whole long email to family and friends, when I can type a simple one-sentence post and let the news disseminate from there? Facebook, you are my friend. (Though in hindsight I suppose it was a little rude not to at least call my closest friends and tell them specially...). This is how I announced Baby H2: "Apropos for Valentine's Day...My heart is going to grow soon...excited to add a new member to our family." At almost 14 weeks along, the news was finally out, and the congrats rolled in. Ah, how loved we felt. To give Dave his due, he also announced Baby H2 to the wider public on FB, with the post: "Ever so thankful - for a wife with whom I am still falling in love, for a son who brings me new joys daily, and for the miracle of a new life." Well just push me over with a feather...thoughtful and grammatically correct? Who couldn't love a man like that?

In the middle of it all were the Olympics, during which our little family became sports-obsessed and sleep-deprived, and even Evan started training for the snowboarding events...at least the gear anyway. Add to that a trip to the Phoenix Public Market downtown, the annual American Heart Association Heart Walk in Tempe, some more outside playtime with the favorite toys of all time..."CARS!", and that just about rounded out our month.

See what I mean when I said busy??