It's a GIRL!!!

What a whirlwind the last 40 hours have been! There is so much to share but I'll save that for next time. For now, here are her stats and, of course, what you care most about: pictures:). 

Clara Joanne Hook

May 3, 2009 (2:29 am)

7 lbs., 19 3/4 inches

Much more to come...

Jono turns 28

Today is Jonathan's birthday. He's the big two-eight. Sadly, as I sit here typing this he is asleep in bed. He has been there for about 3/4 of the day. Yesterday he started feeling yucky and is definitely still in the process of recovering. I don't think there is such thing as "good timing" when it comes to getting sick, but I can't think of much worse timing: birthday, full work schedule, less than two weeks before the baby comes (maybe?). If you feel so inclined, pray for a speedy recovery for the Jonnycakes. Poor guy!

We did get to go out and celebrate on Friday night together, though. We went to a steak place in Couer d' Alene and enjoyed a great meal. It's wild; every date we ask ourselves, "will this be the 'last' time before our lives change forever?!" I know we will have many date nights in the future, but it's just really weird to play this waiting game. Over dinner we came up with our semi-final baby names for both sexes. I suppose it could change but we are 99% sure:). We brought the camera and somehow this is the only picture we managed to capture...

This afternoon, despite feeling under the weather, we made it up to Jonathan's parent's for a family gathering. Again, we failed in the camera department and didn't take any pics of our time together. On the way out the door, though, we took a quick prego pic of me & Anna. Anna (Jonathan's sister) is due in September and just had her ultrasound on Friday. They are having a girl! Will there be girl cousins, or boy/girl cousins? Only time will tell...

Amy -38 weeks Anna -19 weeks

I had another appointment Friday and I'm 1 cm dilated & 80% effaced. Although I haven't had an ultrasound since 18 weeks and have been nervous about a breech baby, my doctor said she could feel the head -so we're hoping she's right:). I guess all of this means I could go into labor tonight or I could walk around like this for another three weeks. We shall see:)!

Leavenworth Weekend

I have lived in Spokane for most of my life but have somehow made it thus far without visiting the darling town of Leavenworth. It is pretty ridiculous given the fact that it's only a three hour car trip away. This past weekend, the last weekend of my spring break from teaching, my family went on a two-night excursion to the Bavarian town. It was a glorious weekend of SUNSHINE (which has been a long time coming), family, food, and fun!

We spent two mornings on the 18-hole miniature golf course. In true Vaughn family form we played for caramel apples and ice cream. I am sad to say I won nothing, even on the second day when we had both male and female winners (my sister ousted me from the top by a good five strokes). Sad. My mom, though at the bottom of the list, got the only hole-in-one. We definitely celebrated:)! Here we are on hole #8, her lucky hole...

We also enjoyed some swimming (my first time since being pregnant - it was great), shopping, reading, napping, eating, March madness basketball games, and some pretty intense raquetball (the boys). It was a lovely break - especially after my week of cleaning!

As you can see - I am getting humongous! I can definitely tell that the baby is running out of room. Less than a month now to go (maybe. hopefully). At 35 weeks...

Spring Cleaning/Nesting

This year marks the first Jonathan-less "spring break". We have been in mourning many times this year over the reality of a non-teacher/student work schedule. Since we both grew up with teachers as parents, we were very much used to the winter break, spring break, summer break thing. Sadly (but for good reason, I suppose), physical therapy does not follow this pattern. So...this past week of break for me involved lots of cleaning (or you could call it nesting, I suppose). I did all kinds of silly things like: deep clean every square inch of the bathroom, scrub the refrigerator/freezer + reorganize all food products, move ALL our clothes to our closet and out of the baby room, etc. It was tiring, but in the end, it was a great feeling. I am still feeling a ways away from being "ready" to bring this baby into the universe, but I feel much more ready now. Since I haven't really ever posted many house pictures, here is our newly cleaned & reorganized home:)...

A Year Ago Today...

I woke up before sunrise to climb Mt. Coolum for this view...

Then Andrea and I (she visited for a week during her spring break) enjoyed breakfast on the beach with this view...

And then we took a walk and saw a koala in the wild ...

and then we spent four hours on the beach...

Today is not my "golden" birthday like last year. It's just number 26. No, I will not be taking any sunrise hikes or enjoying breakfast as the waves crash right in front of me. I definitely won't be sunbathing in a bikini at Noosa Beach. Instead, I will drag my very-pregnant self to school where I'll teach 25 squirrely 6th graders for a half-day and then have a few parent-teacher conferences. A lot can change in one year!

On a good note, however, my amazing husband woke me this morning with breakfast in bed before he had to take off for work.  I'm also looking forward to catching my brother's tennis match this afternoon before heading up to the Hooks for a family dinner w/ both sides of the fam. Life is not that bad:).

Family Weekend

We just got back from a great weekend away with the Hook clan. We went up to Sandpoint, Idaho and stayed at a beautiful condo on the lake. Jonathan and I actually were up there a few weeks ago (just the two of us). It was wonderful being with family this time around. 

We spent a lot of time just resting and relaxing. We also went shopping downtown (in a snow storm), went out for a delicious meal on Saturday night, played games, slept be the fire, went to the spa (I got a pedicure and Jonathan got his first ever massage), went xc skiing, and most of all enjoyed quality time together. 

Now I'm just trying to gear up for another crazy week of work, after school meetings, birth classes, and get togethers (the best part). Why do Sunday nights always feel insane?

Back from Africa!

After thirty-some hours of international travel (bus rides from northern to southern Uganda, flights from Kampala to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Seattle, and Seattle to Spokane), Leah and Travis are home! Horrah! 

We met them at the airport tonight and celebrated with a little mud pie gathering afterwards. Mud pies (oreo crust, ice cream, fudge & cool whip) have been a tradition in our family for all special occasions since the beginning of time (as I've known it, at least), so we had to welcome them home with the sweet taste of tradition. The sad part: Leah and Trav were the only ones not quite able to finish them. I guess the lack of dairy in their diets over the past six months made our giant helpings of mud pie a little hard to handle!

We got to see an awesome video that they made highlighting their time in Uganda. Then we all received hats & scarves! My hat was made by Doreen & my scarf was made by Teddy. I love them! I guess the hats are in the new line of products to come out soon & the scarves (made from Kenyan yarn) will soon hit the website too (www.krochetkids.org). Here is a picture of Jonathan sporting the newest garb.

Here are the amazing traditional African outfits that were made by KKI's seamstress. Tom has a shirt that matches Claudia's and my dad has one to match my mom's (my dad was out of commission tonight w/ strep throat. Bummer!). Pretty incredible, ay?

And for a finale pic: all of us sporting our Ugandan goods. Ah, home sweet home!