and she is huge

halloween

modeling a new outfit


directing an orchestra


a day at the spa (well, her little whale bathtub anyway)

So Amaris has gained 3lbs and grown 2 inches since her 1 week check in. She likes to eat, what can I say? She's doing really well...has her days, but for the most part, is a good little baby. From the start she was going 3 hours between feedings at night, and now she's doing anywhere from 4-6 first, and then 3-4 hours from there on out. So we're feeling more rested these days, though she's WIDE AWAKE nearly all day, and ends up quite fussy at some point because she's overstimulated and often boycotts naps. She looks like she's taking in everything she can, which shouldn't be too much at this point, but she's determined to watch soccer games, ice skating and skiing on tv whether she can see it completely or not. She loves meeting new people-forget napping when new people are around...she just wants to sit there and listen to everything they have to say. She has smiled at Jonathan several times, and smiled when she heard Nani's (my mom) voice on the phone, but for me? NOoooo...just associates me with milk right now apparently. Which is a nice association, we all love food, but I hope to be a human instead of a cow to her one day soon and receive some gracious smiles. Sure would make it easier to hack the frowning days.

Anyhow, her nap (YES, she napped, a rare gem of an event during the day) is about to end and I will be called upon for food, so that's all for now.

to clear things up about the name "onyn" (notice, NOT spelled onAn)

just so you all know, if we had a boy and named it ONYN, it is quite different than the biblical name of ONAN. does not mean anything nasty. its turkish and means "prosperous". recently i've learned that many people were under the impression that our boy name was the same thing as the crappy biblical name of onAN. so.......though you're all quite relieved that amaris came along instead of onyn, just wanted you to know were not THAT stupid and wouldn't name the kid something with a poor meaning. sorry, slightly offended that it seems everyone thinks these things and no one asks us about them directly. GLAD we had a girl or apparently the entire world would think were thoughtless parents...

pics and updates

These are some initial pics of Amaris Helen. Lounge time with daddy (soccer game of course)...at birth in the hospital...all bundled up in the hospital..and weighing in at a hearty 8lbs 15oz (they round up apparently). It takes FOREVER to upload pics to this blog, so they may not be in abundance. Facebook is much faster.

At any rate...current updates...all is well really. She's doing quite well breast feeding, despite the annoyance of over-full breasts, yay. She's quite easily contented so far, for the most part-especially if she's sitting in her little vibrating infant seat. Those things work magic for awhile (until true hunger or some other valid discomfort takes over). The cats are adjusting, some more easily than others. Mommy and daddy are having fun learning what on earth to do to take care of our little Padawan Learner (and yes, still citing Star Wars)-actually, speaking of Star Wars, a principle in Jedi training has come in quite handy for helping us to keep our sanity. Anikan Skywalker is constantly warned throughout his training to not think of the future, but to live in the present. Thinking of the future can lead to fear, which is the path to the "Dark Side." I definitely subscribe to this motto. This is a time when the "future" is something Jonathan and I can't quite even grasp-not only because today holds enough for us to try to understand and experience, but also because in difficult moments fear does take over, or discouragement or whatever. Of course, we can think of fun times to come when she smiles on purpose instead of involuntarily, and she starts to see the world and ask questions...all of those things. But otherwise, yea, those Jedi are smart. Stay away from fear of the unknown, the unpromised, the possible but not probable, all of these things. Then I guess we can add the biblical principle of thinking on things that are lovely and true, pure,noble, good, etc...and casting cares on the Lord instead of getting overwhelmed by what we feel we can't handle.

sorry, inpromptu speech on how we're handling the trademark stresses of not getting much sleep and trying to learn this new way of living and satisfying someone who can't quite talk or clearly communicate. It's going well...pray for our persistence and energy of course.

That's all for now...Padawan has decided it's time to eat.

If you want the details of how it all went down...

I'm so amazed at how God works outside of our expectations and creates better situations than what we can imagine for ourselves. When they told me I was scheduled for induction, I was glad the end was in sight but sort of upset. The anticipation of the surprise moment when labor begins is just fun...and even though we had gone through the week of being past-due and were becoming almost indifferent to "waiting", we were still sort of disappointed that there would be no surprise and we had an official date set for this birth. Turns out, I'm SO GLAD it worked out this way. We got to enjoy our last night "alone" together Monday and Tuesday morning as actually fun...waking up knowing what was going to happen that day. Plus, I think it put me in a sort of "surrender" mode and made me much more flexible. I wasn't "set" on a natural delivery...just wanted to see how far I could go naturally and experience the pain because well, it's just part of it right? Knowing I was to be given pitocin I had mentally prepared to have an epidural because I knew there was a possibility for some unnaturally intense contractions, at least from what I had heard. My docs turned out to have a great perspective on inductions-take it super slow and don't create an artificially intense situation. At any rate, I was much more open to, actually was counting on, the epidural, instead of being determined to hold it off as long as possible.

My nurse was superfantastic, I had met her earlier in the week actually during some non-stress testing. Had the perfect balance of historically working with midwives but bridging over to the hospital setting, so she was a great match. Pitocin started at 815 am and progress, regarding dilating, was pretty slow until they broke my water around 1-1:30 (I think this is what time it was???). Throughout the morning I was allowed to do yoga, sit on a birthing ball, walk around as far as my cords would let me, etc. We worked and breathed through contractions as they grew. Contraction just before water breaking was minor....contraction immediately following water breaking was ridiculously more intense. So crazy. They say that's what happens...I just wouldn't have believed how drastic the change was without experiencing it for myself. They just got increasingly intense from then on, and rapidly...the monitor just looked like a bunch of waves with no breaks in between. They dropped my pitocin level, which was already very conservative, but by then I had realized that I was not interested in going through this pain for what could potentially be several hours. Since things had been moving slowly all morning, I figured I could go on like this until late that night, which just didn't seem sustainable for me. I was already on IV because of pitocin so I opted to try Statol (no idea if that is spelled correctly) first, which was supposed to "take the edge off." Well, I felt like I was half asleep, which was sort of entertaining, but it doesn't do much to help with pain from contractions. They intensified and I decided to call in for an epidural since the anesthesiologist isn't always available right away. Fortunately, she came up within like 20 minutes. The Statol was a great help here..I HATE needles. I've always dreaded an epidural, even when I said I was never having kids. The statol had me so drugged up in the head that it took away the anxiety and allowed me to just focus on my breathing to steady myself through contractions while they did the epidural. Again, the nurse was amazingly helpful here, and the whole process went off without a hitch, even through some major contractions.

The drugs took a bit to kick in, and then they had to add more here and there because it wasn't working in one spot (not a huge deal, but I figured hey, you wanna fix it and make me comfortable, go right ahead!), but wow..am I glad I decided to do that. Went from the pain of contractions to being able to relax a bit and just putting up with constant shaking. I got the epidural around maybe 3ish? I was 4 cm dilated at that point. They checked me at 5 and I was 9cm. Guess that's why they had to beef up the epidural dose...transition happened nearly immediately and I am sure I would have lost my mind in pain if I hadn't have gotten the drugs right then. It was really the only window of opportunity I guess in retrospect. My doc came in at 530, declared me 10cm dilated, and we started the pushing around 545ish....after a few minutes of "practice" pushing, I figured I may as well give it all I had and use my fitness to get this baby out ASAP! Jonathan got to help out by holding one of my legs/feet, which he was glad for. 25 minutes of hard pushing later, Amaris showed up and amazed the world with her unanticipated size-and sex.

All in all....again, I cannot complain. No screaming , yelling, freaking out-before or after the drugs kicked in. Everyone was calm and helpful. What an amazingly smooth pregnancy and delivery, and so far, awesome recovery. God is gracious. And now we have this "little" girl...I said when we came into the hospital a girl was my prediction, my doc said the same. But it was still a shock to learn that this baby was, in fact, a girl. The "odds were against" such a thing..from 25 years with no girls born on my maternal side, to 3 out of the 4 new Ruiz family babies being boys, it was pretty surprising to have a "she" show up. I think the moms (grandmoms) were pleased to not have to deal with the name "Onyn." Just wasn't meant to be!

Anyhow..time to go prepare to go home. Quite ready for that, this room is a boring place after so many hours. Ug. And its pretty exciting to be taking home our little "Padawan" (sorry, we are in a serious Star Wars phase right now...) and beginning new life as a family of 3 instead of 2 and having a human baby instead of only cats. Thanks so much, everyone, for all of your support and for sharing in our joy. Seriously, much of our own joy comes from seeing how excited everyone else gets and how a little baby lights up the world for everyone around her. It's a wild thing. If you're in the area and want to stop and meet Amaris definitely go for it. Maybe we'll try to keep up blogging again now that we'll have more exciting pictures and stories than "oh we're still waiting." !

The Waiting Game

Well...we're still waiting. Which sounds obvious because our "due date" is still a week and a half away. It's just such an ambiguous due date I have little confidence in its accuracy. And then even if it is "accurate", it's not like someone comes and knocks on my uterus asking the baby to make his way out on that specific date.

ug. Up until now, Jonathan and I have both been pretty good at just letting this take its time, come as it may, etc. Now that the "signs" are showing up and really the only "Sign" i'm still waiting for other than the actual contractions would be my water breaking-everything else has either happened or is in full progress-it's tough to just sit here and think hmm...how is this going to go down. I'm not nervous or anxious, I think I'm just becoming rather impatient. We're in that phase now of going to bed at night knowing we won't sleep much because every time I wake up I wonder and Jonathan either consciously or subconsciously wonders if its because I'm having contractions or because I have to pee for the 300th time. I don't know which little "pains" and cramp-feelings to pay attention to and attempt to time and which ones to ignore so I don't get excited....sheesh. Guess we have to somehow go back to being sort of apathetic and just letting things happen in their own time, trusting that we'll just "know". My next doctor appointment is scheduled for next Wednesday morning. MAYBE we'll at least go before then...our new friend Shemicka Asom from our small group study at church is a nurse in the "baby unit" at our hospital, and she works today during the day, so it would be nice to go today! Staci reminded us that Logan is still routing for the baby to arrive on his birthday, which is this Sunday, which would also be fun.

ANYHOW...that's all for now. Still hoping this will be the last post before the "birth announcement" but WHO KNOWS! :) Time to work on patience...

Likely the last...

This is likely the last post before this baby arrives, or at least we can announce labor has begun. 37 weeks and 3 days. I decided I should take a few last pictures of prego world (glad to be leaving this stage behind!) and added some of the nursery as well, since it's essentially finished.

I've gained about 35 lbs, whether the rest of the world notices it or not (aside from the bump), I do, and I'm ready to return to "normal". Ug...35 extra pounds on a bike is quite noticeable. The most I can hope for is that riding will feel amazingly easy once it's all gone! I will be able to climb small hills without knowing they're hills and hopefully be able to tackle large ones and just be familiar with the pain. Ha. No major swelling...my feet are still my feet, my hands are mostly the same, though I did take off my wedding band and engagement ring and am wearing Jonathan's engagement ring instead. I do not enjoy the feeling of rings being even the slightest bit tight, so his has been a relief. No stretch marks! Wohoo! At the beginning of this pregnancy, I realized that stretch marks were a likely possibility and simply unpreventable, so I resigned myself to the fact that it could happen. Needless to say, I am quite happy that they never showed up.

I guess I still look fairly normal from the back...which may be why I get shocked expressions when people walk past and then happen to turn around. Certainly not normal from the front...
The nursery is just about complete, aside from a few finishing touches like the wall above the crib, adding some fun pictures, etc. Oh, and a rug.

Little bookshelf to house the "library" we developed thanks to everyone who attended the baby shower. My mom sewed the valances. Rocking chair is essential of course...we went the route of using a classic old wooden one we inherited from family friends instead of the $500 gliders we've seen at Baby's R Us (though they do look quite comfy!).

Every child's room must have a rocking horse of course! My mom found this one at a yard sale. can't quite see it...but we also put a toybox in here that I had when I was a little kid. this room is an eclectic mix of "memorabilia" and modern necessities I guess.

This is our awesome mobile that Adam brought back from Kenya for us. Seriously, is this not THE coolest mobile you could possibly have? And it even fits with the "jungle friends" theme of the bedding. 3 Tiered mobile...I still can't get over this thing.

Crib...hamper...pretty self explanatory. Happy little jungle animals.

Ikea dresser with the changing pad. Hanging up are the slings my mom got us-she made the green one. The wooden calendar hanging on the wall was a prize that Jonathan picked out at our family reunion Bingo game. I haven't completely put it together yet, but it's a fun addition.

So, we are set. Not featured in the pictures are the stroller, pack and play, etc, which are also ready to be used. We even put the carseats in this week, that felt bizarre. I have this fear of carseats being insanely complicated, but was glad to learn that they've either been simplified over the years and aren't that difficult, or I was just living under false assumptions. Either way, it wasn't that hard to figure out, though...it's weird having them there, especially when we're throwing bikes in the back and it's not quite as easy to fold seats down!

I have a doc appointment at 11:30, so I guess I'll post any news from that if it's important. Otherwise, realistically (since we just don't blog much!), the next post will probably announce whether this baby is a boy or girl and have more entertaining pictures from his/her arrival.

maybe there is something wrong with me...

This was not me. Just wasn't. It was more like wow, this is going to change things, but never scared (take note this also wasnt jocelyn, she had a few choice words).
As great philosopher's of my childhood, DC Talk, once said, "Now we come to the pay off."

DC talk by the way looked like this back in the day...
Now, as in about 10 years ago, they looked like this...
Sorry, getting back on track. "Now we can come to the payoff." As in now, we are coming to the end, or beginning, depends how you look at it. So I was not scared when I first heard about the baby. And now, as we go into this final month, well a little over a month, heck this blog will serve me until we get into the final month and I'll feel compelled to write again, but as I said as we go into the final month, I feel less worried than ever.

Actually, I don't feel worried at all. It seems normal or as some may say natural. I feel as though something is wrong with me. Am I suppose to feel disconnected, afraid, and scared of the responsibility. Well I don't. So ha. Well not even ha...Just, this is going to be great. In a truly awesome way. We did by the way go to the hospital the other day for our "tour":

They showed us a powerpoint and we learned a few things then got the see the various rooms we will go into. I must say, it is EXACTLY what I always imagined. Maybe I remember being born or something, (I do have better photographic memory than jocelyn who couldnt remember where the bike shop was today...love you sweetie or as some may say schaweetie!), but truly the delivery room, hospital area all "looked" how I thought it would look. No surprises there, just more excitement for me and then boredom as we went from one room to another. There will be no boredom once it begins!

Boy or girl, it is going to amazing. I guess I cannot believe that there are dads out there who would not want to see their child be born. The odd thing is, I think that is my greatest concern, the delivery, not so much for me or queasiness, but rather for Jocelyn and all the pushing she has to do. I must say that is probably my greatest "worry" or something along those lines. And breastfeeding as well. Also, as a husband I get quite confused as to why some dad's see the breasts as less sexy because there is a baby nibbling on them. I think it is a pretty simple distinction between when breasts are suppose to be sexy and utility. I'd like to think of a witty analogy but I have been writing for way to long. But as Yoda would say, "search your feelings" and you will know it to be true.
Furthermore, as a dad I am just excited to be around the baby and learn more about life. With each new experience, comes well, new experience. The baby's room is ready, so bring on the baby!

O, o, o WE HAD AN AMAZING BABY SHOWER! IT WAS AWESOME, thanks again everyone! you guys rock! It was quite funny, Jocelyn walking in going, 'huh' (even though I didnt see it) and me going "what?!? I knew it but not at all" Again thanks much!

In other news, our cats are enjoying the new house and I do believe that they wish they could go outside and one day may even try, but let's hope not, but in the mean time, they are doing this:
More in reference to the squirrels and birds outside that taunt them. Also, just for fun:
Continuing on, I hope Jocelyn gets this...
Actually, I don't at all, it looks unsafe and looks like it is hurting the kids neck for crying out loud!

Lastly, are baby will be beautiful and amazing and a gift from God, and well, more than I ever could have imagined. But just as I can recognize my wife's beauty, I also know that the baby will probably look like an alien (yes it will mom), but at least we will be able to laugh at it:



Lastly, my wife is awesome. What a champ she has been, and how fortunate we have been to not have any complications!

Final normal doctor appointment...

Well, normal frequency anyhow. As of now, I see the doc every 2 weeks until we hit 36 weeks, then its every week. This means we are nearing the end. (!). How bizarre! I can't quite wrap my brain around the fact that in 8 or so weeks, a little human baby will be in our house. It's just too weird. I'm not exactly getting nervous, I guess it's just a strange feeling of reality settling in. Until now, it's been a sort of distant thought because we've gone through the busy months of buying selling the houses, moving, settling in, vacation, etc. Now, it's 2 months of just pure waiting, or something akin to it anyhow. I surely don't have much else going on. Jonathan will start school in a few weeks so he'll be semi-occupied with that. Otherwise, no distracting events on the horizon. Just waiting to get the last details into place before the baby arrives.

It appears that guesses on gender are nearly split down the middle in the family. I think both sides are secretly routing for a girl, since it's been 25 years since a girl has showed up on my mom's side, and all the other pregnant cousins in the Ruiz family are having boys. My cousin and his wife had their baby last week, which we thought would be a girl, but it was a boy. So "the pressure is on" to break the boy-spell in the Rohrbach clan and birth a girl. I'm nervous to have a girl, honestly. Those reasons may be fabrications in my brain or just the reality that little girls are a handful, but I'm still sort of hoping for a boy though I think I'm setting myself up to be disappointed. Well, not disappointed, that sounds terribly selfish to have an opinion on the gender of my baby...but you know. It will surely be the most spoiled little girl ever, so we'll have to work double time at making sure she's disciplined and doesn't become bratty! At least everyone seems to like the girl's name, contrary to the popular opinion on the boy's name.

I guess I have to count kicks now. This seems ridiculous, as most of the things they've made me do so far...I swear, the stupid hoops you must jump through with the medical world just to have a baby. So stupid. and we wonder why healthcare costs are through the roof-they keep adding ridiculous "necessary" procedures! Anyhow, the kick-counting particularly seems ridiculous because at this point, I'm pretty familiar with this baby's "habits" and it's rather active, so I would notice if an entire day went by without any movement. I mean geez, there's not a lot of room in there so I do notice every little foot and elbow that's moved as it situates itself "comfortably". So yea, two times a day, I have to pay attention for 2 hours and record if there are less than ten distinct movements. I'm lucky if I remember to pee in a cup the morning of my appointments, so we'll see how this daily assignment goes.

I received my first massage ever yesterday, which was specifically tailored to pregnant mothers. Quite relaxing. I could probably use a massage once a month when I'm NOT pregnant because my back muscles just become disasterously knotted, so they're especially a mess right now. It was nice to have those loosened up a bit. Apparently my feet are the most stressed out part of my body, which I am not surprised by other than the fact that there's no visible swelling, really no swelling of any kind in my legs or feet. I'm quite thankful I've been spared that. Of course, it could still happen in these last couple of months, but so far, nothing. Guess I drink enough to cleanse my system and avoid retaining a lot of water?

Anyhow, that's a brief update for now. Not much else new...

30 weeks...

...is a lot of weeks. Let's all give Jocelyn a round of applause for an amazingly easy pregnancy thus far...

....woooooooooooooooooooohooo
....goooooo teeaaaaaaaaaammmm
....yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay
...yippppppppppppeeeeeeeeee.....

I must say it has been quite easy to have a pregnant wife. It's almost confusing after hearing all the difficult pregnancy stories when we haven't had anything really happen. So that is something to be thankful for.

At this point in the pregnancy I am ready for the baby. For multiple reasons:

Impatience
I need to learn to work on my patience, but I am just ready for the baby. I would also like, for Jocelyn's sake, for her bowling ball that is front of her body to be gone.
dsa
Surprise
I needed more "points" so instead of impatience, I can't wait for the surprise of this baby. Boy or girl? Hmmm Jocelyn often refers to it as "he" so maybe it is a boy. And if not, she will still be a good mom. In addition to the desire to be surprised I just am excited for whatever it is. Onyn Luis or Amaris Helen, we shall see.

Excitement
Wow! This is excting, we are about to have a baby. It is going to be fantastic. We are about to be parents. Our house is all set and the room is ready! As awesome as it has been to have cats, yeah I know it's sad, I know it will be an infinite amount of joy more to have a child. Callicky or not, it shall be great.

In other news, my pregnant wife is quite sexy.

vacation

wow, so last vacation without a baby i guess. camping seemed so simple this time. next year i have a feeling it won't exactly be "simple", however, we won't get bored at all. it'll be fun having a little human to teach things to...see the wonder in their eyes, all those sorts of things.

at any rate, this baby has had quite the "in utero" experience with cycling. first night we arrived we went out on bikes to explore the area. next morning happened to wake up at 5am and decided to ride out to an overlook point to see the sunrise. very much fun. plus, we were at the beach by 8am and enjoyed the solace that comes with an unoccupied shoreline. we left by 1130 because the crowds closed in on us and just ruined the magic of being there without any company other than dolphins. since we started that day out so early, we had the whole afternoon to entertain ourselves with nearby attractions, including Jonathan's childhood favorite (and his dad's i think!) "Funland." Now, first year we were married and went on vacation here, we had a huge conflict over playing boardwalk games, wasting money, etc etc. Clash of values and how we grew up...what else happens the first year of marriage? anyhow, we've developed a habit of throwing spare change and small bills into a piggy bank, literally-well, now that the pig's ear broke Jonathan bought a fancy jar that counts the change for you...but before that it WAS a real piggy bank. the piggy bank change is used for fun on vacations/daytrips. so a few rounds of the "Funland Derby" AKA "The Horse Game" were already funded. I enjoyed beginner's luck and won a "medium size" horse on my first try. Jonathan came around later on and won a white one as well. So now we have horse siblings that will um...sit somewhere in our house and freak out our cats I guess. they HATE the horses. They're still terrified of the Jumbo sized one we brought home awhile ago (won at the previous trip to that boardwalk but it lived at my mom's for the past 2 years). I guess it is the size of a 3 year old at least...maybe 5 year old.

(jonathan's early morning "pose")

the horses. and jonathan's aviators. whoa.

anyhow...hmm...yea that was tuesday. eventful. just fun to have a bit of friendly competition and enjoy doing silly things together. wednesday we slept in a bit-EVERYONE stays up so late at this camp ground! so weird. at least to us. usually...we camp at state parks or national parks. these campers have an agenda-and it involves waking up early to hit some trails or whatever at full force. people do NOT usually stay up super late. cape henlopen, we learned (though its common sense) is the beach-variety of campers who stay up until all odd hours of the night, children and adults alike. so with the early morning tuesday, and staying up late with everyone that night, we were tanked and slept in wednesday. spent some time at the beach and then went out for dinner at this amazing little mexican place in Lewes. somehow, the fact that DE is full of history, Lewes in particular, did not dawn on us until after we at dinner here and found ourselves wondering through a cemetary with gravestones from the 1600s. there were some prominant early political figures buried there, which was interestin to learn about and just think about. kind of extended the "Independence Day" theme contemplating the crazy time these people lived through and the immense amount of courage and passion they had.


We also determined on that dinner trip that I must learn to play poker. i hate gambling, betting, whatever...complex reasons that extend beyond "Christian Morality." has more to do with the socioeconomic impact it has on so many, but i needed to know. so a trip to Rite Aid proved successful and we came back with a set of cards. our piggy bank of change served as chips. and the lessons began. we took a break and went mini golfing at some point as well, which was quite fun. i won. yes. i did. its my secret talent. not really, i just had a small baby helping me win. it was fun regardless.

went for a rather long bike ride this morning-return trip was fully into the wind of course as we were traveling towards the coast. my legs (and entire being essentially) are quite tired, but it was good fun and i'm just thankful to be able to continue to ride and do physical activities even though i'm getting rather large and moving along in this preganancy. i think our waitress at the diner we stopped at for breakfast thought i was sort of insane wearing cycling knickers and a work out top, not to mention riding a bike, but o well. at least i burned off MY omlette. sheesh.

actually from our first day there....when we went out in the evening to explore.
looks uncomfortable, but i felt great for the most part.

well..we're home and unpacked. and i'm wiped out. more pics are on facebook. i just tried to find some that fit the paragraphs above. peace out.

growing things

i've always wanted to plant a garden, well, "Edit" that....to "successfully grow a garden full of vegetables." i've planted things in the past but never followed through and reaped a harvest. in the city, i tried to plant things in our backyard, but quickly found out that it was more work than i had bargained for. now...i have the whole summer, so i'm hoping to be a bit more productive with my free time. my seedlings are a bit late, though. i should've had this thing planted and ready to go a month ago. o well. sets the stage for next year. i think my peas will pull through at least.

in other news, i have not gotten used to nor do i think i ever will get used to seeing pregnant pictures of myself. sheesh. its just too weird. i feel fairly fit and able when i'm out working in the yard and then see a picture and think whoa...i have not accounted for the changes that are taking place physically! don't worry, no overworking. jonathan is quick to jump in and take over when things get to be too much. plus, having a garden means about 24 square feet less of grass to cut, so he was willing to help make that happen.

summer vacation mode is a strange thing. we do manage to keep busy for the most part, little yard projects and what not...but its a weird thing to get used to for me. i'm terrible at sitting around doing "nothing." or what i see as "nothing." i can if i have to, but for the most part just feel lazy right now or something. trying to at least be productive and read some good books, journal here and there, and be a good "home maker" by cooking and cleaning much more than i ever have. next year at this time, jonathan will be planted in front of the TV 24/7 balancing watching the World Cup and the Tour de France throughout the entire month of July teaching the baby abotu these sports, and I will be free to go ride my bike until my heart's content. So, I guess I can find things to do this year.

next week the baby will be 28 weeks along...which is crazy. 7 months, third trimester. yikes. i know i'll appreciate having all this time off at that point. i managed to track down a mercury free rhogam shot for next week, so if you know someone who is pregnant and has a negative blood type, it IS possible to avoid the serious overdose of mercury in the typical rhogam shot. its a bit of a hassle/run around, but i'm convinced that if docs want pregnant women eating less fish while they're pregnant because of mercury, there's no way a heart dose of it in a shot can be healthy.

well here are some pics from the day. they're on facebook as well.

FINALLY

We haven't posted all week because we've been settling in. For the first several days we didn't have internet. We finally have all of our furniture in place-have a few things to square away yet but with several closets and some empty drawers in every room, that shouldn't be a huge project.

I don't have any fantastic stories or recent thoughts to post...so I'll just put up some pictures I just took. I didnt' take any of the upstairs, just not quite exciting yet. While most things are "in place" we don't have pictures up on the walls up there yet and the baby's room is still being decorated as well. Soon enough...

The first two (red walls) are the dining room and the rest are the living room. more to come.

Numb3rs

24x7=168

It's true. It's math. It's also the amount of episodes of the tv show 24 we have watched since January. Wow. To give a relation to that, so far there have been 167 days this year (not including today). That is sad. Although it has been great sharing in those goofy nights of 8 episodes of 24 with Jocelyn and talking about the various issues that come up in the show. If nothing else we have watched EVERY episode together. That is something special in and of itself.

2 Years 1 Month 13 Days

When putting away laundry I forget which stuff is mine and what stuff is hers. Some days it feels as though I don't actually exist and she is me and I am her. Sometimes she is an alien too, but overall, more than just overall, marriage is amazing.
There is a song I have heard in my recent country music kick, called--well I am not sure what it is actually is called, but with the lyrics, "I thought I loved you then." This is very true. Love grows, reshapes, remolds, and simply gets better. I really thought I loved Jocelyn when we got engaged or married, but with all the days that have passed, I realize that that is only the tip of the iceberg. In 10 years, I am pretty sure this will feel like just the tip, but that is the joy in marriage.


2 Years and 5 Months-ish

The amount of time we have spent in our house in Philadelphia. It's odd to leave a place you call home. There is an obvious comfort there. Although it was only a short time, you get used to all the crazy noises and sounds and it what you call "normal". That being said, it was a place that I always knew we would leave. A place that would serve a purpose. Where Jocelyn and I would grow together. Learn the meaning of marriage--well, at least part of it. Where I learned to teach and Jocelyn learned she is a business woman. Seasons come and go.

5

The number of cats coming to our new house. In case there was any confusion since we have had easily over 20 stay out our house in some capacity over the past 2 and half years. They are the following: (some pictured in the previous post)

Marvelea (long hair short tail), Otto (orange), Landa (mut laying on the ground sprawled out in pictures below), Jaya (tortoiseshell, which basically is black with some odd spots, she looks like a "secret agent" or a thief), and finally Pequena (gray, scared of life)

It is exciting to bring them to the new house as they are part of who we are and we are super excited to bring them along.

25

When Jocelyn and I go out to the city or anywhere people of our age (post college) gather or something like that. We are always thankful even more so that we are married. We would not in anyway want to be part of that seen. That weird, awkward seeking of who you are or some ridiculous quest like that. Part of it, probably all of it has to do with the fact that we believe in Jesus and who he is and living life with purpose as opposed to getting drunk for "fun" and partying for "kicks" or sleeping around "to find someone" or buying fancy cars to look "cool" or to use "quotes just for fun because you are bored" oops i am doing that. Anyway, we have tried to live with purpose. Not for gain. We are not staunch republicans who believe in making money because God "blesses" us with stuff. Rather we have tried to live with purpose in where we live and follow his "calling" or "nudges" or "some words that don't make Jocelyn make fun of me".
And he we are at 25 on house number 2 and car number...oh geez I dont even know.

102

Potentially the number of days left until a baby is added to our life. It is a beautiful thing to have nine months to work through the range of emotions. We are so pleased to be moving where we are because there is so much to be said about living in community with family. There will also be so much to be said about how crazy it is, but we will adjust and all be better from it.

10

This is the number of cars we have had, I decided to add it after thinking through it a while.

DAD I AM COMPLETELY BLAMING THIS ON YOU. (not because you are a car dealer either)

When my dad and mom were engaged my dad had two cars (before he was a car dealer) and he gave my mom one to use, heck I don't even think they were engaged.

So Pops you are the reason i did it, I wanted to be like you. Let the record show.

I sold the Audi (#0) and when Jocelyn got back from Fiji and it was clear we were going to get married (at least to me) I gave her a Jeep(#1) to drive while I had a Mazda truck (#2) and then a Mazda Millenia (#3) for about a week. After the Milenia was a Mazda 626 (#4) and we also got a Hyundai Accent (#5) instead of the Jeep. We drove both of those for a while into marriage and eventually went to a Forester (#6) instead of the Mazda and a Saab (#7) instead of the Accent. Someone ran into the Saab, sad, soooooo sad, and we got a Subaru Legacy to replace it (#8). We sold the Legacy and bought the Passat (#9) and finally we are going to get a Vue (#10) instead of the Passat. Whew. Just wanted to document it somewhere.

28

The numbers of hours until we will be on the road to a new place of residence. It has been an insane journey. Better than we could have imagined.

quick pics...

Since I'm always told that pictures are exciting and people don't like to read long blogs...I thought maybe these would help to balance out my long entry below. Obviously, our cats have enjoyed the moving process.


Yes, they chose these spots on their own. An empty box is just waiting to be made into a bed.


Clearly, Landa has no concerns whatsoever about the move.

The final countdown

We are in our last few days here in Philadelphia. It doesn't quite feel real yet, perhaps because we've been anticipating it for quite some time now. I do have a bit of that last minute hesitation tugging at me, of course. I guess that always happens right before a big change is coming. We've been expecting this, but it's still "unknown" and slightly bizarre, and the Philadelphia house surely brings a flood of memories across the emotional spectrum to mind. It's hard to leave behind in some ways.

I can't even begin to describe the changes that have taken place in us as individuals and as a married couple since we rooted ourselves in Hunting Park 2.5 years ago. We were only engaged when we bought the house, excited to own something together, to being a new life after Eastern/college life and move forward.

Jonathan will likely post about his own reflections-from teaching at Fels and what not, so I guess I'll just share some of what's gone on in my brain during our time here. When we moved in, I was a fresh graduate from a sociology program where I had been challenged to look at the systems in place in our society-both the good and the bad. I tend to take up rebellious causes, goodness knows why, I have a feeling its my blood...so I was coming from a perspective of feeling like the government sentenced these inner city folks to death essentially, and we "middle class" white americans had much to do to make things right. It was wrong to amass wealth, and quite a righteous pursuit to spend life toiling in the inner city hoping to bring about change. It was rather self-righteous to say the least. Over the past few years of living here, I've been on a humbling trip of learning about the full color of life-especially of that specific inner city environment and where we find "our place" in the midst of it. It's been liberating to discover the truth, or just the "rest of the story" and really learn of the fullness of redemption and change. It'd been amazing to rediscover the truth about God's people responding to poverty and injustice, and the broad spectrum of humanity which those things infect. "Rich" people who are emotionally and spirtually barren, doing all sorts of stuff I used to say was "Evil" and yea...still think is pretty messed up but I can now see their own unfortunate circumstances as well. They need specific ministry and redemption in their own ways. I've lived on the block with the "poor" people who I used to think couldn't help themselves. I still think there are unequal starting points in life for everyone, and certain populations face ridiculous challenges that the rest of us just don't...but I've also seen evil at work in holding these people back from making the many changes they ARE able to make. I've seen them repeatedly make choices that impede their progress and they willingly accept the level of life they are at. It's impressed upon me the truly radical task of not being a "rescue mission" but living life with people-whomever the neighbors are-and sharing a challenging example.

I don't know how else to put everything into words. In many ways, a black-and-white world has become not "Gray" but colorful in the sense that opportunities to minister and bring change are simply everywhere. I found myself in a business environment, working with both the white collor office folks who are generally "doing alright" in the sense of material success, and the below-blue-collar immigrant workers who are fighting to survive in the sense of material success. I've failed miserably in setting an example in so many ways-falling to the dysfunctional environment that exists here and lacking love for many people who need it...but the reality I've seen is that both "Sides" of this building are in need of some sort of love and redemption and no side more than the other. I've become intrigued by the possibility of impacting the "bigwigs" (as my mom calls corporate folks) and watching them consequentially impact the many people under their influence. Who knows WHY on earth this "DUH" idea hadn't made sense to me in college-probably because it's harder to love people who you feel are doing something wrong.?. Either way, it's ironic that my time in the city was not spent doing lots of "inner city ministry" as I had once thought it would be. It's been spent working through the realities of marriage, and renewing my mind through experiences in south jersey and elsewhere. I guess the ultimate irony is that we now find ourselves moving back to the suburbs, an environment I once swore to never revisit because of this, that and the other thing...and my experience in the city has prepared me to make that move and enter that community with a completely different heart and perspective. It's like my stay in a foreign world has prepared me to return home much more whole than I left it. I'm pretty harsh and judging sometimes, I can't say I'm suddenly "innocent" of those things of course, but I do feel like I have a much better understanding of "the way things work" and will not enter the suburbs with this self-righteous hammer banging people around until they "get" whatever it is I think is important at the moment. Well, I'm sure that will happen sometimes but I know better than to think I'll get away with it!

I know I have much to learn still, and hopefully always will, geez I'm not even a parent yet...that opens up an entire universe I haven't ventured into! But Philadelphia, you've taught me a lot that I never even knew I needed to learn. Most likely, no other environment would have taught me these things because I would not have been a willing student. The city teaches by force and I guess that's just my sad learning style sometimes, ha. Go through denial for a time and then finally realize ok, I have to figure this out...it's not what I thought it was and clearly, i'm not getting it. Ha, come to think of it I guess marriage has worked similarly...thankfully, we responded to the "forceful" instruction and figured it out!

So this house in Philly, I will miss it greatly. It has become a monument for so many "victories" we've experienced in life in the past few years. From intense fights where we thought the world as we knew it was ending, to watching a neighbor's house burn and poor little kids not knowing where on earth they would end up living now, to fun "Office Nights" with a variety of friends sharing food and laughter, to who knows HOW MANY cats being nursed back to health and sent to loving homes (or kept...and moving to Allentown!), to humbling conversations where we've peeled off layers of selfishness and callousness and opened ourselves up to the beauty of grace in marriage. And now...to the blank walls and a few peices of furniture we're leaving, hopefully carrying on the "legacy" of that house to serve the Lord (it's belonged to someone from the church for 10 years now). In many ways, I think this time in Philadelphia will feel like a dream, unreal. Lots of what we've seen and heard and experienced here are things you see on the news or in movies, but never in "reality"...I wonder how it will feel for those things to fade away as we leave them and for that line of reality to be blurred.

Well, this is FAR too long. But I wanted to write something or other that at least I can look back on in a year. And really it's the heaviest thing on my mind right now....the future is a step away, few days, but I'm stuck sort of staring at the past few years here and wanting to soak it all in and never forget what we've learned. It's been an amazing experience.

our empty house

well....we are currently sitting on a twin size mattress (that we're leaving here when we move) in our living room. we have a tv (no dvd player, so relatively useless), our queen size mattress and some rugs. boxes with clothing we need until next weekend...food...laptops...a dining room table we are leaving here (but only 1 chair) and that's really about all we have left. there are little things laying around here and there, but as far as furniture goes, we're down to the bare bones.

its kind of funny...we have a very similar set up to when we first moved in. i was here alone for the most part from late january of 2007 through the end of april. at first, well, for a long time, we had the same furniture laying around. the former owner had left a dresser, the twin size bed, and a wardrobe, so i had those things to work with, but otherwise...we sat around on folding chairs or our camping chairs and had blank walls. ha, what a naive point in life...engaged, buying the first house...about to be smacked by a reality i had no idea could exist.

i'll write more on that later when i'm bored at work or something. for now... just wanted to note that we have a nearly empty house. this is actually happening, really strange.

here's the thing

We are moving and antsy. We are upon the last two weekends on living in Philadelphia. It is a crazy time as well as an anxious one. As Jocelyn grows, we both wish she could be able to do more, but unfortunately riding along hunting park isnt really one of the options, at least comfortably. So we are excited to officially move and be able to be outside etc.

Anyway, that is not new news, Jocelyn likes to be outside and hates being cooped up, not new. Let's see, I think we are set on Onyn for the boy and Amaris for a girl. So that's that.

..........

Told you we have writer's block.

We just have moving going on and organizing while we are up there. So lots of fun.

I am getting ready to be a father. It is an exciting time in life. Actually I am ready to be a father. The waiting is somewhat annoying especially for my wife who continues to grow against her wishes and is simply waiting to start pushing, or something like that. Anyway, I got nothing today, so I will stop writing just to write. More to come soon.

The baby's room is almost complete!! Pictures to come soon.

This is Landa with writer's block. Jonathan caught her deep in thought but unable to pick up the pencil and start jotting things down. This describes us lately as well...lots going on in the minds, but just don't seem to be able to get it down on paper (aka, on the blog).

a few things:

1) The baby is a hyper one...I feel like I have constant digestion issues or something with all its' rumbling around. Jonathan has felt it kick now, and when it's really kicking strongly there are obvious little "blips" visible under my shirt. It's bizarre. This thing isn't even sizable yet...I can't imagine it being a full-size baby. That's like...shoving one of our cats (well, Jaya, as I believe she is the smallest) inside me! Ug this feels like real life science fiction...though that's contradictory to itself, yes.

2) We officially sold our house in Philadelphia today. Settlement went well and we're so glad to be passing the house along to someone we know, trust and respect. We're excited to see what all it is used for, as so far it looks like there are plans to potentially house summer ministry teams, give temporary housing to whomever may need it, who knows. It will surely be used for great things, and it's awesome to feel like the "investments" we've made into the house are being used to serve others.

3) I have 12 more full days of work left! Unless you've heard stories about work from me consistently, you can't possibly understand how exciting it is to imagine being done with Monarch. Just...yea. I love to work-to do meaningful, challenging work, that is. It's not that I want a summer off (though I'm super excited about that as well, it's something I never really imagined having), it's moving on from a hmmm...dysfunctional? No, that doesn't even work, all work environments are dysfunctional in some way...I don't know how to describe it anymore. I've had some amazing experiences and learned from some wonderfully skilled and bright people, but also had some of the most confusing and unethical experiences. So it goes. I'm just ready for a break from the drama.

Hmm...I'm not sure that there is much else at this point. We're so caught up in moving and what not. Free time has been spent relaxing, reading, watching 24 of course, and getting out to enjoy the city a bit before we head out. Last weekend, we "miscalculated" the date of Jonathan's friend's wedding and wound up having some unexpected free time-which was fantastic. Feels like we barely see eachother on weekends anymore because we're generaly on separate floors of the house accomplishing our own separate projects. SO...we went to the zoo, and I'll post some of those pics to make this long entry more interesting.


Flamingos. Obviously....


Sloth Bear... we think Marvelea is related to this species somehow...which will not make sense to you unless you've met Marvelea, but trust me, there's a resemblance both in appearance and in personality.

Penguin, again...obvious. Oh and a dead fish. Appetizing.


Me watching penguins. WOW. so this is not a maternity dress...it's just a chill summer dress I got last year but turns out it's nice and stretchy and fits-for now-though isn't quite as flattering. I will never get used to these pictures...

This is the story of our lives at home right now. If you're wondering what a random snap shot from our weeknights would look like, this is it. Packing packing. I'm proud to say that this room (the study) is now very empty and clean. And running shorts are super comfortable because they sit so low, beneath the baby.

So..hopefully that's a semi-entertaining update for now. We have to take some more pics of the house this weekend, as it is slowly coming together. Then unclog our writer's block and post them next week.

something to talk about...

You would think I had something to talk about. I have been trying to think of various happenings, but there haven't been many going on.
In case you didn't know (but you probably do), if it's a girl the name will be Amaris and if it is a boy his name will be Onyn (Oh-nin).

I know they are both such great names.

You may be asking, "Jon and Jocelyn, how did you think of such great names?"

Our answer: "You would think many hours of discussion and reading various baby name books and thinking about the names we don't like. You would be wrong."

"If it wasn't that, then what was it?"

"The girl's name we thought up of ourselves. We literally made it up. We are that good."

"That's pretty ama--"

"We know."

"As I was saying, that is amazing. So how did you think of the boy's name?"

"Well first we thought let's pick out a normal name, like Matthew, Jonathan (Jr.), Paul, or even popular names like Wyatt, Caden, Sawyer, or something along that nature."

"All good names."

"Yeah so we thought. So we had pretty much decided to name is Austin Jordan in honor of Jocelyn's brothers, but then we realized that if we did name it that then Jordan would be jealous of Austin's name being first and vice versa."

"True."

"Finally we decided to go with Sawyer because it is popular and cool."

"So is that going to be the boy's name?"

"No."

"This suspense is too much"

"You should have been in our shoes, it was crazy. Finally, after a long discussion one day, Mom Rd (aka Nonni) said NO. No normal names, you must think of ORIGINAL names. I have the perfect name. We waited."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah we waited for multiple days."

"No, I mean are you serious you are going to make me/us wait any longer for this ridiculously drawn out story."

"Yes, just a little bit...................................................................."

"Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Yes, we are. Finally, Nonni suggested only names with vowels, and we found the name ONYN (oh-nin)"

"Wow that is a strong name. It was worth the wait."

"Told you it would be."

"What does Onyn mean?"

"Strong or something like that. We weren't sure if we were going to like it, but Nonni assured us, 'It will grow on you and you will like it'"

Chillaxed

I FINALLY got around to scanning our ultrasound pics. I only included the 2 most entertaining. The others you could probably use for an inkblot test and have everyone come up with what they think the image actually is. Well, they aren't quite that ambiguous, but the two below are certainly the best.

Our ultrasound went quite well. Walking into the room, I was more nervous than I thought possible. I never really think I am "immune" to anything. Not that I don't hope for the best, I'm just a realist and I know that there's always a chance that something could go differently than I expect. As a teenager, I don't think I suffered majorly from the "immortality" complex most teens have-they think they're untouchable, nothing would ever happen to THEM, etc. Guess bits of that have carried into adulthood and the world thinks I'm a terrible pessimist. O well.

These ultrasounds are rather involved-at least an hour in length. Bones are measured, cavities of the heart, kidneys, stomach, it's rather insane. During this time of measurement, the baby originally stayed in one position with its feet over its head, sleeping. At some point, it woke up, and was going nuts for awhile. Rather uncooperative. Of course, all this happens while she's trying to measure things and what not. Eventually, the baby settled into another position to sleep. This position, is rather unprecedented. I've never seen a picture of a baby in the womb laying like this. It's something I'd expect from a cartoon or something. Anyhow, the doc was trying in vain to get a measurement of the skull, and here's baby Ruiz, laying in the "hammock" of my uterus, hands behind his/her head, as relaxed as can possibly be. Unfortunately, this position did not allow the doc to easily get the measurement she was looking for. In effort to make the baby move, she jiggled my uterus around a bit by pushing on my lower abdomen (not cool, bladder was filling up), and this kid...go figure, shakes his head as if to display his annoyance, and goes right back to his chillaxed lounge position. Thank you, you're just o so cooperative. Mind of its own already.

Eventually she managed to get the measurement she wanted, and then took these fun 3-d pics.


I tried to stretch these out as much as possible but they're still kind of small. Essentially, you're looking at a semi-abstract clay sculpture of Baby Ruiz, laying in the womb with his/her hands behind the head. The second one is a bit more obvious, and you can even see a little hand with curled fingers near the left side of the head. Technology is nuts. Simply nuts. Robots will take over the world some day.

So that's the first glimpse of baby Ruiz, and since we had no problems at all, it should be the last glimpse until this baby enters the world. The doc said everything looks fantastic, and the baby is right on target growth wise for its due date of September 27. Only other notable details we laughed at were that the technician said Jonathan was an unusually calm father-I guess they often pace around the room or jiggle their keys out of nervousness, and at one point, the doc was pressing hard to find something or other, and scanned across my bladder and says" Whoa, looks like that's quite full, sorry about all the pressure...I'll try to let you go here in a minute." That sounds like the story of any pregnant woman-full bladder all the time, but it's pretty characteristic of my bladder my entire life. I always dreaded dealing with my bladder during pregnancy because I'm already prone to stopping for a pee break with a mere 1-2 hour drive if i'm not super careful about what I'm drinking. It's been slightly more annoying because it's a bit more uncomfortable when it's full, but all in all, I'm glad I've been "trained" well for such things.

Anyhow, that's the latest. We're headed to Atown tomorrow for a Mexican birthday party to celebrate all three of the Davco siblings-all the birthdays are within 2 weeks of eachother. Homemade pinata (gracias Austin) and all. No idea why we're generally obsessed with Mexican food and party activities. Otherwise, just a few things to do with the house on Saturday. Hopefully it will be a more relaxing weekend than not, we sure could use it. Oh-and thanks to those of you who sent FB well wishes and prayers. Whatever food poisoning or 36 hour bug I had was completely gone as of last evening. came home from work early and managed to get a few more solid hours of sleep in before dinner...woke up to feel essentially normal. Phew. It's amazing how wonderful it feels to wake up with energy and an overall sense of wellness after being sick...I have to keep that in mind, it's like an extra level of feeling great and set for the day, we just normally overlook it.

Peace.

weekend progress

The fam was out in full force this weekend helping to paint the new house. We 5 rooms to do, but since I have a thing for darker colors, some of those rooms were receiving 3 coats of paint...so, it was no small job.

Jonathan's parents came up with their van loaded with goodies and supplies on Friday morning and worked straight through the day, only to barely get sleep that night on an air mattress. Woke up Saturday morning and were at it again once coffee and breakfast sandwhiches were passed around.

My dad stayed for the afternoon to help out, which was great because he doesn't need a step stool to paint the high spots. With some classic rock in the background, he was quite content.

My mom continued to clean clean clean, floors, windows, doors...and we continued to make messes here and there.

Jonathan was a painting madman, picking up my slack due to trying to stay away from fumes, as well as helping his dad fix some of the basements steps, and doing other random things on the to-do list.

Saturday we went to pick up our new furniture near the Lehigh Valley Mall area...managed to fit the new couch and new chair/ottoman in the massive van Jonathan's parents brought up. Turns out we have a fascination with the color "Cheyanne Rock" (it's Behr paint) not only for our walls, but for our furniture. We didn't mean to pick a couch and wall color that were so close in color...I was getting tired of thinking of what color to paint the living room when Jonathan pointed to a color in a picture (on a Behr pamphlet) and said that one is nice. It happened to be a color I had circled hoping to use at some point in life, so we figured eh, this works. We love the color, we'll just have to spruce up the couch with some vibrant pillows or somethin so it isn't quite so camouflage.

Hmm...that's a basic update of the work and progress, with some pics below. Jonathan's mom has some great before (and after) pictures on her facebook, so check there to see the comparison.

We had a fun ultrasound Friday as well...but I will wait to post about that until I scan in the pictures tomorrow. The baby is doing well, growing perfectly, etc.

Time for bed. We're both rather wiped out after this weekend. Thank you SO MUCH to our families for your help this weekend-we enjoyed spending time with you, too!

view of our backyard through our dining room window. YES TREES!!!!! 7 of them in our yard actually.

this is our dining room. it's not quite as orange as it looks in this picture..it's called "mexican chile" and is sort of a reddish terricotta?

this is our bedroom. again, the pic doesn't quite do the color justice. this was our random leap of faith color.."garden view". we're happy with it. quite energetic for the mornings (and um, odd hours of the night to feed the baby)


and the living room. do not be mistaken, jordan is not exhausted from working hard on the house...he was out at a graduation party last night. actually, we made him lay on it to see if his whole body could fit (he's 6'3"). yay, our new couch is big enough. and this is the cheyanne rock color we're obsessed with. fantastic with the beautiful, shiny, clean hardwood floors (thank you mom!)