Daddy To-Do List

Keith has been working frantically for the past few months, trying to get everything ready for the big upcoming (pending, looming, intimidating, etc) events. The largest project has been getting our Pullman house ready to place on the market. It has been super stressful, as he has completed so many projects around the house, cleaned it tirelessly, and now is moving things into storage.

Keith is one amazing man. I have been very little help, as this phase of pregnancy has rendered me a walking zombie most of the time, due to the severe exhaustion I have been going through. Now that I am mostly over that (I think) I am working overnights at the hospital, which leaves very little time except sleep and work. Nevertheless, Keith has forged ahead and has been doing so much of the work on his own. He never fails to amaze me at his work ethic, determination, and most of all love for this crazy woman he has married.

This is all in addition to the full-time job it is to take care of me. I often forget things now, and he looks after me and the little poppy seed to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves and being careful. He is the best husband and best daddy.

I am so glad I got to help a little today, and hope to be able to do more as I learn to work through the exhaustion and around this new figure I'm obtaining (it's harder to carry boxes with a baby bump). But really this post is a big THANK YOU to the love of my lives, my soulmate, my dear husband. None of this would I love you Keith!

A Special Thanks

This week has been a crazy hectic one. Keith and I have been stressing about...well, everything: packing, moving, selling our house, finding a new place, figuring out Keith's work situation, and of course all the unexpected surprises with the lemon poppy seed.*

We have started packing and working on some of our anxiety-driven to-do list. But it's been hard to be super productive during the week, as Keith and I both have to work. And I get tired pretty quickly (actually, extremely quickly!), so my new bedtime is around 9pm. Pretty early, especially for this night owl!

Thankfully my dad came out this week to give us a much needed hand. He painted all the rest of the kitchen, which included all the cabinets and drawers. Keith's mom, Beth, had painted the walls a while ago. The thought was that I would finish up the kitchen. But since I'm always tired and am not supposed to be around those paint fumes, that plan had to be scrapped. So my dad came to the rescue! We are so lucky to have such a wonderfully supportive family.**

Now the kitchen looks fantastic and much more finished. The extra bonus: we got to celebrate his birthday together! His birthday present this year was a DVD (Rockford Files...I used to dance to the theme song when I was little) and a WSU Grampa t-shirt. His birthday dinner was at the wonderful Tokyo Seoul, where I was allowed to have some California sushi. Thanks FuPo!



*In my 14th week, the baby is the size of a lemon. So the new temporary name naturally has to be lemon poppy seed, the same name as my favorite scone!
**This includes all of our wonderful friends, who have been nothing but encouraging as we learn to grow-up.

First Official Sonogram

Okay, so we have already had an ultrasound...but this is the first official one. We met at the clinic, since since I was leaving the VTH in the middle of the day to go to the appointment. Thankfully I was on neuro/ortho rotation, and all I had to do was bring back a picture of the baby (Duh! I was going to make people look at it, even if they didn't want to!).

The hardest part of the appointment was preparing for it. I had to have a full bladder, which meant drinking an abnormal amount of fluids before the exam.* Now this may not seem to hard, but as my pregnancy progresses I often need to use the bathroom. I don't think I have ever been so well-hydrated in my life. I was definitely ready for the exam when I got there! I can also tell you there are a lot of unnecessary bumps on the road between the VTH and PFM. And then my appointment started 10 minutes late. AH!**

As for Keith's reaction to this situation, it was a mixture of laughter and pity. He said I was more excited to be able to use the bathroom than for the ultrasound. I was so happy that half-way through the exam they let me use it. I think I literally lept off the exam table!

In the end it was worth it - a great picture of the baby.*** He/she was less active than before, although did move around during the exam. I wonder if that means our baby has the Tamura sleep schedule already - sleep during the day, awake at night. I hope not, otherwise it will make working and raising a child very difficult. And I know Keith hopes not, since he does not function well as a nocturnal creature.

The blood draw wasn't too bad either, just a finger-prick and 5 drops blood. Not too bad! Now we just wait for all the diagnostics results...if I could only remember when they said we would find out...



*Ultrasound works better if things are surrounded by fluid. Wanna know more? Ask Keith. I'm too lazy to explain the physics of ultrasound.

**Hey, this may not be something everyone wants to read...but no one said pregnancy was pretty.

***You can also see my bladder, if you know how to read ultrasounds. Sigh...

Baby FAQ - The Addendum

That's right...we are adding to our hip baby-related FAQ! Here we answer some new FAQs that we have recently come across. If your question appears on this FAQ...well, you know what you did.

1. Are you excited?
Yes. Seriously. For real, for serious, fo' sho'. We are super, duper, awesomely excited. There was dancing and celebration (And there was much rejoicing. Yea!). But we are less excited to be constantly asked if we are excited.

2. What is the strangest response to the pregnancy announcement?
Applause. (But no standing ovation - tough crowd!)

3. What was the best response to the pregnancy announcement?
About three minutes of screaming through the phone.

4. Does Keith have a job when you move?
We are working on it. We hope to have this worked out soon.

5. Is Keith okay being the stay-at-home parent?
Heck yes! He is excited for the challenge/opportunity/insanity that is being a stay-at-home parent. And btw, please don't call him Mr. Mom. First of all, I am the Mom. Second, what is this...the 1950's?!? Please join us in the 21st century. Welcome to world of tomorrow!

6. How are you going to manage internship and having a baby?
Please see previous comment, made from the 21st century. We may not have flying cars (yet!), but we do have this thing called equality. Just an FYI. Actually my internship will last a little longer, so I can take some time off when the baby arrives. Hooray!

7. Any cravings yet?
Yes. Oh wait...you mean related to pregnancy. Not really anything different from normal cravings. Except for cashews or peanuts. Don't ask, but I am loving them right now. But I think it's too early to say there won't be in the future.

I do like to say the following to get what I want: "It's the baby who wants _________ (ice cream, pizza, cookies, etc)." This usually elicits an eye-roll from Keith.

8. Rumor has it that Liz has pregnancy brain (ie. no memory), is it true?
Look here...I have always been kinda flaky, but to say such a thing is...wait, what are we talking about?!*

9. How far along are you?
Please see the cute little side-bar gadget on this bloggy that tells you. It took me a while to find one that I liked that didn't have a floating sea-monkey.

10. Has Liz had any symptoms?
In short: yup. Please see previous FAQ for full response.

11. Do you want a girl or a boy?
I never thought this was a legit answer, but here it is as I'm living it: We just hope the baby is healthy. This baby is a gift and we only want him/her to be healthy and happy.

That being said, there are many precautions we are taking. I now call Keith my "FuPo"**, as in Food Police. He let's me know what I can/cannot consume. I am also no longer holding for radiographs and being careful around anesthesia (no more huffing...sad, I know. Actually, anesthetic gas gives me a headache. Don't ask how I know that).

Thank you for reading the updated FAQ. Please keep your questions coming, and we will try (or not) to answer them in a timely (and sarcastic) manner.


*No seriously. If you happen to see Liz's Cougar Card, please return it to her. She has lost it. Again.
**Pronounced Foo-Poh. Rhymes with Uh-Oh.

Our Ninja Baby

We finally had our first baby appointment with our OB/GYN, Dr. Guida. Apparently the first baby appointment occurs between weeks 8-10*. But Liz was gone to Western Washington for her month-long preceptorship**, so it waited until she got back home.

The appointment was fairly standard, with family history questions, physical examination, and some blood squeezed out of Liz. That part wasn't very successful and Liz had to return to give more blood. She also got a vaccine shot for H1N1 (swine flu), which was not too bad. It was pretty funny at the exam, since her doctor was explaining to a visiting med student about Toxoplasmosis (Liz is getting tested for since she works with kitties), something Liz has learned extensively in VetMed School. Goes to show you...veterinarians learn a lot more about zoonotic diseases than human MDs. (sigh!)

But overall, Liz and Keith were excited for the appointment. They had read in one of her many baby books that they would use a Doppler in this appointment (Liz is reading a frenzy of books, since this is like studying for Boards!).

This may be exaggerated, but Liz and Keith are reading a lot of baby books!

For those who don't know, a Doppler is used to listen to heartbeats. So Liz was excited to finally hear the baby's heart! After much trying, Dr. Guida just couldn't get the heart beat on the Doppler. Liz was crushed...but wait! Dr. Guida decided to warm-up the ultrasound and just take a look to reassure these first-time parents that everything was okay. This was wonderful, since this pushed the appointment into after hours for the clinic. Did we mention how wonderful Dr. Guida is!?!

So Liz and Keith got to SEE THE BABY! Liz and Keith got to see the heart beating, and the heart rate was about 170-180. Of course Liz stated, "That's just like a cat!" The baby was moving around so much, it was no wonder why the Doppler didn't work! Dr. Guida could barely get pictures, since the baby was swinging arms and twisting around so much.

The black sac is the amniotic fluid and the white thingy at the bottom is our baby! To the left is the heart, but it's hard to see in this picture since the little one was so active.

At one point, it looked like the little poppy seed*** was doing the Twist! This made Keith exclaim, "How can you not feel that?!?" Of course he knew that movements cannot be felt by the Mommy until 20 weeks, but it was incredible that so much movement could happen without Liz noticing.

Here you can see the head to the right and above the head is a tiny cute hand. If you look closely, you can actually see the baby's little digits!

It was such a wonderful experience and incredible that the baby is already so active. Dr. Guida called it our Mexican Jumping Bean. Liz called it the Ninja Baby - moving around without detection!




*Pregnancy is measured in weeks because the development changes from week to week. I never knew that before, since it's always talked about in trimesters. So I'll be talking about it in weeks, just because that is the standard.

**At Burien Veterinary Hospital, which is an awesome place! Loved it there!

***We call our baby poppy seed (for now), since at the beginning we were amazed that since a poppy seed-sized creature could cause such profound GI effects on Liz.

A Gift from Santa - Based on a True Story

So now it's time to tell the story of how Daddy Keith found out his new title. It's a few days after Christmas and Liz wakes up at 7am on a Saturday*. (Already this sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it?). Liz takes the pregnancy test and see's this:


In her heart, she screamed with excitement and did a little dance. Liz wanted to wake Keith up by leaping on his sleeping lump, screaming with joy, and beating him with the pregnancy test. Instead she held back and waited**.

After what feels like forever, Keith woke up and they walked down to their favorite little coffee shop in downtown Pullman. (The day before they had planned a leisurely day, including getting some morning coffee. And Liz didn't want to tip Keith off that things had changed.) This day Liz declined coffee, stating she wasn't in the mood*. So she got an iced drink, which was quite refreshing when outside temperatures were around freezing. Keith offered to do some window shopping with her, and Liz also declined. She was anxious to get her secret plan into effect!

They returned home quickly afterward. Liz went on her own to run some errands*. Liz snuck off to the store and bought some gifts to surprise Keith. She returned home and placed the gift under the tree.


Keith quickly found the gift; Liz told Keith that Santa must have left a late stocking stuffer. Of course he didn't believe her! He opened the gift and said nothing. First he saw the WSU Dad shirt, then the WSU baby clothes...but he kept digging through the bag. Then he found the positive pregnancy test.


There was instant jumping, hugging, and dancing! As Keith states: He thought Liz had purchased the wrong shirt on accident. But as for the baby clothes, he was in a happy state of shock.

What a very Merry Christmas!




*All the starred behaviors are so unbelievable and out of norm for Liz that this story seems unreal. But they are true! Interestingly, Keith didn't notice how weird she was being. Yea!

**This meant waiting 5 entire hours to tell Keith. This is the longest she has ever kept a secret from him. Amazing.

Big News!

Have you heard the news? From a friend or family member, perhaps? Or maybe from our very mouths? Well, its all true! Liz is finally graduating (pending she continues to fool the clinicians). That means she is finally out of school!! Amazing yet true. Could it be that the life-long student is finally ready to grow-up?! Probably not. But oh wait...that isn't the biggest news.

What about this: We are moving to San Diego! Liz scored an internship at the fantastic Veterinary Specialty Center of San Diego. Nope, while true, not the biggest news either.

Okay, this has to be it: Liz and Keith are GOING TO HAVE A BABY! But wait, you say...they have a cat named "Baby." And they do consider their cats as their "babies." And they are lame enough to post something like this as a joke. So let's rephrase it: Liz and Keith are GOING TO HAVE A HUMAN BABY!!

It's true! We are expecting in early September. To field questions please refer to the following FAQ (that's right, our baby already has an FAQ. We are so hip. Do people even use the word hip anymore? Maybe I am already ready for being an out-of-touch parent!)

1a. Is it a boy or a girl?
We don't know yet, because it is too early to tell. While God and the baby knows, we are still left in the dark. We have heard some predictions, and maybe I'll post a poll to see what is the consensus. But remember, this is not a democracy. So your vote doesn't count here.

1b. Are you going to find out the gender?
Heck yes! Liz can barely wait to open presents for Christmas or birthday. Do you think she could really wait to find out!?! Plus having a baby is enough excitement and we figure we don't really need to be "surprised".

2. You are moving and having a baby? Have you lost your mind?
Probably. Or maybe not. Who knows, but either way we are doing it. If you are really concerned, please contact Keith as he will basically be in charge of moving since Liz has so conveniently become pregnant and won't be able to help lift heavy things (ha ha...doesn't seem so dumb now, does it?)

3. Are you excited?
YES! YES! YES! YES raised to infinity!

4. Was this planned?
First of all, what a weird question. Seriously. Second of all, as much as these things can be planned.

5. Will you name your baby after me?
No. By asking, you have actually help us cut your name off our list. Thank you.

6. What can I buy you? Can I mail it?
We are registered at Babies 'R Us and Target. We also accept cash monies, preferably in unmarked bills.* We are sure there will be a baby shower or something, please stay tuned. And please wait until after we move or the shower, due to the circumstances in #2.

7. How will you find an OB/GYN in time if you are moving?
Our doctor in Pullman has assured us that people do this all the time. And we will be at the beginning of the third trimester when we move, so there will be time to get to know another doctor. Be assured, this question has already crossed our minds. Thank God for Google!

8. Why didn't you call me/email me/sending a dancing gorilla telegram when you got the news?
Liz and Keith sincerely apologize for not personally telling you their fantastic news. However, due to time and financial constraints they have opted for the old-fashioned word of mouth to spread the good news**. As for the dancing gorilla, Liz is still lobbying to use that to announce something...although at this time it is unclear for what.

9. Natural childbirth or the evil drug-ridden way?
Drugs. Liz did not going through all that medical training, organic chem and biochem to shun the ways of drugs. Plus she is a wimp.

10. What are you going to name him/her?
It's a secret. No, seriously. Please don't ask us, because we won't tell you. Actually we aren't sure, but we aren't even going to disclose our potential names. We have heard too many horror stories of people ruining names for couples, and have decided that we will let everyone know when the baby arrives. Please know that it is unlikely to be Twilight-related, Harry Potter-related, or based off fruit.

11. How did you tell Keith?
That is a story for another post. It's a good one though. Also a good story, is how Liz and Keith told their parents.

12. Are you still going to call your cats your babies, since you are having a real baby?
Yes. Deal with it. Liz is going to be a veterinarian. All animals are babies, cutie-pies, or sweeties.

13. Is Liz having any pregnancy related symptoms?
Yes. Morning sickness is a cruel misnomer and the person who coined that phrase was clearly a man. Or a pregnant woman who was trying to dupe her friends into thinking only part of the day would be spent nauseous and sick. Either way, these people should be brought up on charges of slander.

That's it for the baby FAQ. Please feel to post any other questions, which will be answered in a timely manner (maybe).


*note: Liz doesn't even really know what that means, but it's in all the hip movies.
**Be proud that Liz refrained from inserting some door-to-door religious joke. Must be the maturity kicking in. Nah...

Our First Christmas Alone

This winter has been an interesting one. We are continuing to mourn the loss of our cat, Echo, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly (see previous post). Another interesting time has been spending our very first Christmas with just the two of us! Keith and I have always been blessed to spend it with our family, either mine or his, for Christmas. We actually had already celebrated Christmas with my dad the week before, when we was out visiting. And thankfully he was able to fit all of our gifts into his Prius to drive back over to Western Washington!

A wall of gifts to send westward, they didn't fit under our tree!

Even when we moved down to Tucson, there was traveling done. However, this year with my senior vet school schedule, it was not possible to go back to Port Orchard to see our family. So it was just us two and our kittens celebrating in Pullman.

Tavia examines the presents to find any for her (her's were in cats' stocking!).

Bun is ready to have some Pocky, like a good kitten!

So what did we do? Well, we waited up until midnight on Christmas Eve and opened a single present each. Then we went to bed and slept until 9am on Christmas morning. This was a rare Christmas treat, as we knew our nieces would have the rest of Keith's family up no later than 6am. I made breakfast and we started opening our presents. We definitely missed the traditional sausage fondue that Keith's mom makes for special holidays! Presents were fun to open, as always, but we definitely missed watching our family's reaction to the gifts we picked out for them.

Keith loves Oriental things! Yea anime!

At around 10am, we Skyped Keith's family and got to see his parents, his sisters, and our two nieces. It was so wonderful to see them, even though it made our hearts ache to not be able to be there in person. Even still, it was so good to see them and talk to them for a little bit.

One of my presents from Keith - it's what I've always wanted. Too bad he beat me in the first game, but I came back and won the second one.

After cleaning up around the house, I took a nap while Keith played with his new toys (a GPS and a new PS3 soccer game). We are very thankful for the GPS, which should be very helpful in our anticipated move to undisclosed location. We haven't tried it out yet, but have already figured out how to work it (for the most part!)

Keith learning to use the GPS.

Then I called my dad and got to talk to him for a while, which is always great. It was so much fun and I did so much baking! I got some fantastic new baking toys, for which I was super excited. (I also got some super cute herb markers, but Pullman weather doesn't really allow for winter gardening)

Cute pocket pie molds from Williams-Sonoma...now I just gotta figure out how to not burn them! At least they looked good going into the oven.

Even though it was sad to not spend Christmas with our families, it was still nice to have time together and celebrate Christmas in our home. Keith and I especially like to take advantage of the time we get together, as our disparate schedules keep us busy! Although my dad's Christmas present will definitely help keep us connected - new Blackberry phones. Texting has never been easier!

We love you Echo

This morning our sweet kitty Echo (aka. Big Guy, Little Man, Nekko Wafer, Spectrospkitty, and many others) passed away.  It was definitely unexpected.  



We love and miss him, every moment.  We thank God for all the time we got with him and being blessed to have him as a part of our family.  He will always be our little boy.

Busy Working on the Basement

Quick update: We were so fortunately to have Keith's parents come out last weekend to help us continue working on our basement finishing project (pictures coming soon).  So a big THANK YOU to them!  This has been espeically helpful since Keith has injured his shoulder on this project and is seeing an orthopedic surgeon this week for an evaluation.  Keep your fingers crossed...

Lanai at the Cove

On our anniversary trip, one of the thing that was very memorable was our hotel. First of all, we weren't really sure why it was called Lanai at the Cove, but it sounds exotic and nice. I had found it online via Trip Advisor, and they had a great website. I am a snob about websites, if a business is going to be online (and they should these days), then they better take the time to make it look professional.

Well, they had pictures of all their rooms and of the views for each room. Then I got to make reservations for the room I wanted. Well...the pictures were nothing compared to how great our room was. When we opened the door, Keith and I were amazed (astonished, awed...you get the idea) at the view we had. We knew we had a view of the beach, but this was spectacular. The ocean was practically at the backdoor! We could hear the crashes of the waves and the smell of the salty sea air.

Little did we know how great our view really was. Every day we saw sealife from our lanai, including: Whales (3 out of 4 days), a sea lion, pelicans, seagulls, surfers and 1 crazy kayaker. The most exciting thing was when we saw our first whale. Keith and I were just enjoying watching the ocean when Keith spotted something large and dark stick out of the water. He kept watching, and then it happened. Keith saw the telltale sign of a whale, the spray from the blowhole. It was pretty exciting. I am pretty sure I jumped up and down when I finally saw it. We couldn't believe that they were so close to the shore, probably only 100 yards away! We think they were feeding, since there were multiple whales and tons of birds in the area. The fun part was they came the same time every day, around 5 pm. I called it the whale dinner time. We also saw a spunky sea lion, who was swimming around the surfers. We also took the time to walk the beach a lot, enjoying the ocean and the beautiful beach houses beside us.

Our room even had a little mascot, a wooden seagull I named Marcus. Our room had a general nautical theme, but he was super cute where he sat our little dining table. I wanted to take Marcus home as a memento, but Keith wisely convinced me that he would be happier by the sea and making other couples happy. Seriously, isn't he cute!?!

One of my favorite parts of the trip was falling asleep listening to the crashing waves of the ocean. We slept with the patio door open every night. The first night I had a nightmare about Keith and I drowning due to a flood that was overwhelming us...and we were at the top floor of a three story building! I woke up crying and had to wake up Keith. Then we realized it was the sounds of the waves that had crept into my dream and scared me. How embarrassing! But after that, I found the ocean sounds relaxing and fell asleep without hesitation!

*note: this is a video of the ocean and its wonderful sounds taken from our lanai. It's probably not that exciting, but we took it as a reminder of what we fell asleep to everynight. So please don't watch the whole thing, since there isn't anything exciting happening in it. Unless you also love the ocean. Or are super bored. Or you don't trust me. Fine, whatever.

I know this sounds like an advertisement (pronounced in the British form, please) for this place, but it was seriously the nicest place we have ever stayed. And I have to admit I am pretty proud that I picked the place (hotel and Seaside) by myself. Usually Keith does the travel plans, so it was definitely a relief that I didn't mess it up. Whew! I especially love that Keith loved the trip so much, it definitely makes all the planning worth it! Mostly, it sums up how much we both love the ocean and beach!!

Celebrating the Passage of Time

Our ninth anniversary:

Reconnect, review, and renew
Remembering the past
Enjoying our time now
Making plans for the future
Hand in hand, together side by side
Promises & commitments
The life we build together

It is amazing how quickly time can pass. This summer Keith and I celebrated our NINTH anniversary and twelve years of couplehood. Amazing. Not amazing that we are still together (at least I don't think it's a surprise), but amazing that it has only been nine years. It seems like we have been always together.

We celebrated our anniversary by taking our first trip out to the Oregon Coast. It was fantastic! Before driving down to Seaside, we went to a Mariner's game. Sadly they didn't win, but it was still lots of fun to spend some together enjoying some very Washingtonian food (Ivar's!!). And of course, I took pictures of our food at the game! Even though the Mariners didn't win, we had a great time and as always I had fun people watching.

The drive down the coast was beautiful. Most of the drive was on a 2 lane road through a bunch of little coastal towns. We actually stopped at one of those scenic views, which we never do, just to look at the gorgeous landscape. This was my first time to the Oregon coast, and I was definitely impressed. It was breathtaking to see the sand beaches up against the high rock cliffs. There were beautiful pine trees growing at the top of the cliffs, which were amazing. It is hard to believe that one area could have all the parts of nature we love: the sea, beach, and forest. As we traveled south, we became more and more excited to spend some time on the beach.

Keith and I traveled up and down the coast, from visiting the Tillamook for their cheese factory and airplane museum...

... to a lot of time exploring Seaside and the Promanade. It was the first time paddleboating for me, which was pretty fun once we figured out how to steer the darn thing.

The best part of the trip was just the time we got to spend together. We love having adventures together and exploring. This trip was a wonderful time for Keith and I, as it allowed us to spend time together without the stresses of the house, work, and school. We always have so much fun together, which I suppose should be expected since I am married to my best friend.