Growing

Ok, so many of you have asked for it. Here is a picture of my growing belly, at week 17. I can really tell it's growing and my clothes don't fit any more but for some people it's still really hard to tell. What I call my extra padding has disguised my "bump". I noticed other (skinny) women at my prenatal yoga class who were the same weeks along (19), had what appeared to be much larger "bumps". I have always just had a little extra around my middle :-)

Yesterday I went out and bought my first maternity clothes. I was down to only having 2 pairs of jeans that fit. Now I have a pair of pants for each day of the work week, with stretchy bands no less. I find most typical maternity shirts a little much right now, they make you look extra big. So I am sticking with a few longer and just stretchier fabric. We will see how long that lasts, I found I now have to hide that funny band around all the jeans:-)

I am still a little overwhelmed by the whole baby room thing. I don't really know where to start of when I need to start. I feel like I still have a ton of time, although I know it will go quickly. So for now, I am just waiting and leaving it empty. It's already painted, it just needs stuff. Baby stuff.

Bend and Sore Legs

Although it took us a long time to drive through the snow in Oregon, we loved the snow once we got to Bend. It provided us with some great cross country skiing with the whole family, age 90 through the yet to be born baby Shaffer.

Here we all are at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park.
It was awesome to have a place that groomed and was FREE! We skied there for 3 days. Adam got private skating technique lesson from a former Olympian, Jed Hinkley! I got to ski with my 90 year old grandpa, Dan Bulkley and my mom. It was quite the family affair.

I tried out my dad's fancy fast classic skis that let me fly down the hills but my recreational technique was a little off. Luckily Jed and dad came to my rescue with a little more wax and a quick lesson on how to make them work a little better.

We also got to do a day of snow shoeing with Kevin, Meghan, Susan, Brindzi, and Mom. It was pretty cool snow shoe through the woods, over the lava beds, and up and down some hills. We ate lunch in a little shelter. Brindzi had the best time. She attempted to "swim" through the snow that was deeper than her. She was one tired dog!

Here we are. Almost the whole family. We were just missing Gryffin. I don't know if he would have liked the snow as much as Brindzi. And Baby Shaffer got to go along for the ride.

Here we all are. The snow was so deep it tired us all out. Adam and Kevin had some pretty good snow fights.

The bearded men of my family!

My mom and I ski along on this gorgeous day that allowed us to finally see the Mts.

The last day of skiing we decided to go into the back country. Only a few people had ventured back there, so the snow was pretty deep and soft still. I fell down and had trouble getting up because the snow was too deep to hold my poles. I also blame it on being pregnant and that my center of gravity is off;-)

We had to try to get a shot with the Mts in the back ground. On this one, Adam made it back in time. It's hard to get from the camera, precariously propped on a tree, in skis.

Pretty amazing day to end our trip to Bend, Oregon! We had a new years eve game fest, cheered in the new year, slept and made the trek back to Bellingham. Next year's trip might be a little different but we already started checking out what kind of cool contraptions there are to ski with babies!