Downy Woodpecker

I have a bird feeder outside my office window.  I love to watch the birds while I work.  I usually see lots of cardinals, towhees, Carolina wrens, chickadees, and titmice.  Ever now and then I see something new, and I reach for my "Birds of the Carolinas" book to try to identify them. 

Today I saw a downy woodpecker.  It was a female, because she didn't have the red feathers on her head.  I didn't get my own picture, but she looked something like this (without the red):

I love living here with all the wildlife.  We see bunnies in our front and back yards very frequently this time of year.  Almost any time you go outside in the morning or evening, there will be 1 or 2 bunnies nibbling on our weeds (which should be grass).  In the back yard, which is mostly woods, we have seen foxes, deer and rabbits, not to mention a wide variety of birds.

Goodbye, Bradford Pear!

My parents came to visit this past weekend from Georgia.  Whenever they come here, we always have a long list of power tools or devices that we ask them to bring with them.  And they generously always bring them.

This time, they brought along a chain saw and other various cutting mechanisms so that we could remove the Bradford pear tree from our front yard.  This tree was about 10 years old, probably would not last much longer, and dramatically blocked the view of our house from the street.  For some reason, the developers put it right in the middle of our front yard in the middle of our house.

Here is what our house looked like before the chainsaw:

Here is what it looks like now:

I think Jason really enjoyed using the chainsaw.  I was admittedly jealous that I could not participate.  This is exactly the kind of activity that I usually really, really enjoy.  But, alas, "pregnancy" and "chainsaw" do not belong in the same sentence...

The first limb comes down.

I think maybe we pruned that tree a bit lopsided...

Jason likes the chainsaw.

The last limb comes down.

I think the yard is going to look great once we get the drainage problem fixed and some sod put in.  Our yard is really a total mess right now.  You can't tell from the pictures, but I'm pretty sure that none of that green stuff is actually grass.

They took that tree out in a couple hours on Friday night.  On Saturday, Mom took me to get pedicures (which were FABULOUS), then we went to eat lunch out together.  By the time we got home, Dad and Jason were drenched in sweat, slightly sunburned, VERY dusty and had taken down three smaller trees in our yard (silver maples that were planted about 8 feet from our house - not a good idea) and had somehow taken out a gigantic tree from our backyard (that surely must have been at least 40 or 50 feet high).  Jason said it involved an extension ladder and a chainsaw... I just don't want to know the details...

While we hate to kill trees, we don't want very large trees growing close to our house.  The large tree in the backyard was coming very close to touching our house with 3 or 4 very large limbs.

With my dad's chainsaw and labor, we saved ourselves about $500 of tree removal by professionals, I'm sure.  Today, we had someone grind all the stumps.  It feels so good to have this taken care of.

Thanks, Dad!

Welcome to the World, Elizabeth Anne!

I feel like I'm so overdue to post.  It's been an exciting weekend.  My parents have been here visiting.  The big news is that my gorgeous baby niece, Elizabeth Anne, was born to proud parents Brian & Mary, my brother and my sister-in-law.

All is well with baby & momma.  She weighs 7 lbs 9 oz and is 21 inches long.  Here are some pictures of the most beautiful new little Smith.

Elizabeth and her beautiful mom.  You know where she gets it from.  =)

She looks slightly concerned about something.

Proud Daddy. 

Tired little girl.  It's been a long day...

We love you guys and can't wait to meet her!

"Hi. My name is Leslie. And I have a problem."

I'm clearly a Chipotlaholic. I went to lunch at Chipotle today, and the checkout guy said,"You're in here so often - today it's on us."

Wow. They give me free food because I am such a dedicated supporter of Chipotle. I clearly, clearly have a problem.

There is actually an "Addicted to Chipotle" group on Facebook. I'm thinking about joining, just for the support...

30 Weeks!!

Whoohoo! We have hit a landmark week - week 30! We're at 30 weeks today. It feels good to be in the thirties. I was talking to another woman yesterday, and she was talking about how at the beginning, you just want to get past 12 weeks, then 20 weeks, then 27 weeks, then 30 weeks, then 34 weeks... always another "week" mark that you're aiming for after you reach the next one. But I'm glad that we're officially in the 30s now. Less than two months before our babies are here!

The babies should weigh about 3 pounds now, about the weight of a head of cabbage. Our babies are starting to build up their subcutaneous fat, and they should be about 16 inches long. Their eyesight is developing, but it's about 20/400 right now, which means that they can only see a few inches from their faces. That's not surprising, considering that there is nothing around them that's further away than a few inches, I suppose.

They are kicking up a storm lately. I can feel their little legs moving and their arms punching lower in my belly. I think they actually push on my bladder sometimes with their hands, and that feels really bizarre (and makes me need to pee!). I can often see one of their feet move clear across my belly. I'm going to try to get some better video in good light and post it.

Joy With a Bit of Mourning

Jason and I have wanted to have babies since we got married. It took us a little longer than we thought to get pregnant, which included some scary tests and one outpatient procedure. (I will eventually get around to writing about those things, because I think it affects a lot of women, and I would love to share my experiences with anyone else who is facing the same thing... you're not the only one.)

Don't get me wrong - I am overjoyed that we're having children. And not only are we having one baby, but we're having TWO! I just cannot wait to meet them, and I love them to pieces already.

However, I was emailing a dear friend recently about some mourning that associates all this joy. While I'm thrilled to have these babies, there is a small piece of me that mourns the end of this part of my life. A new chapter is opening, but that means that a chapter is closing. Jason and I have been married for three wonderful years, and it has been wonderful to share my life with him. We have already had many great adventures - Hawaii, Yosemite backpacking, 4 Ironmans (him racing, me cheering him on in Arizona, Idaho, Lake Placid), two half marathons (where we actually did run together), moving across the country, buying our first home together. It has been an amazing time in my life, and I have loved every day of being married to him.

There is a part of me that is sad to lose that. These babies are going to change our lives forever. I know that these changes will be mostly wonderful things, but I recognize at the same time that I am also letting go of something.

Of course, the loss is definitely worth the gain in this case. As one chapter closes, a new one begins. Our great adventures will just have to take a new shape now...

Another Good Doctor's Appointment

We had another doctor's appointment this morning. We have them every other week now. Everything looks great.

They did a finger prick, and my iron looks great. The doctor said that lots of her twin moms show signs of anemia at this point, and my iron is wonderful. My blood pressure was 118/something. (I can't remember the diastolic.) So no problems there. There wasn't any protein in my urine sample, so pre-eclampsia isn't an issue right now.

The babies are at the 35th percentile based on their size estimates, but she said that that's on the smaller side of what's considered normal, so she's not concerned about it at all. She wouldn't have even brought it up if I hadn't asked her about it.

All in all - great appointment! I'm so blessed to have these two healthy babies. Now if we can just name these little guys...