The Swarrell Life

So this will be my last one for a while...

Or maybe I am just easily entertained by shiny objects.

Why the greeting from paradise? Since you called, I'll tell you. It is Hawaiian for Hello, Goodbye, and all kinds of other things. The main reason I am using it today is that according to the update newsletter that get from the Baby Center, our little girl is about the size of a pineapple! It is really amazing to see her move in Autumn's belly. Instead of little pokes, now it looks like she is running an elbow across Autumn's abdomen. It is pretty darn cool. At the doctor last week we heard her heart beat again. Amazing stuff. We went to Seattle last weekend for a shower that my sister put on. What a great time, Coleen pulled off a great party! It wasn't a typical baby shower, more like an open house so that family and friends in the area can see us. I have not seen some of the folks in a long time and it was great to see them! I'll post pics soon at Picasa and put a link on the right side of the blog. Our friends Nathan and Lindy Labunski just had twins and this w...

Autumn and I have been involved in YoungLife for a few years now and that includes some crazy stuff. These guys are way beyond that. If you have ever been blobbed into the water, you know how much this hurts...enjoy!

My wife and I have had two yard sales this year. Two yard sales. The second one had more stuff to sell than the first. what does this say about the state of our stuff? It says the obvious: we have too much stuff. How did we get this stuff? We bought it. We went out and decided that these were items that we wanted or needed. I think that we need very little, so I am more inclined to think that these were mostly just things that we wanted. Wanted. Then we got them. We took them. We exchanged some paper promises for them. Now we don't want them, so we got rid of them. The funny thing is that we did not even have to haul most of the stuff away. People came and took some of these things away for us. They even paid us for it. Weird. I do not pay for cable and I will do my best to never do so. I would watch it too much. I know that I would because I have done it before. I watch too much television when I am given the opportunity. I want to be entertained. I want to enjoy myself without do...

It was observed recently that I have not written here in a while, and when I have it has been quick notes and not much personal content. It is true. I have not written anything of substance recently and it really is something that I should be doing regularly, for my own sake as well as family. Stuff is happening. Things are going on and I am not really updating anything. Well, here goes nothing. We are about than two months away from officially being parents. I think that Autumn is already a great mom. The way that she has changed her diet has been pretty incredible considering how many foods that she really likes are now contraband. I love her a lot. The baby is now about the size of a jicama. What's that? It is a root. It is sweet and crunchy and VERY tasty. She is a big girl now too! Some friends of ours just had twins yesterday at 30+ weeks and the boys came out at 3 & 3.5 pounds. They need help breathing, but they seem to be doing great! The crazy part is that our little ...

I like Jon Stewart.

My sister-in-law sent this video to me today...pretty funny! http://video.xanga.com/Spoon601/451f6846419/video.html

It's almost six in the morning now and I've been awake for a few hours. Not by choice--I just have this tendency to wake up a little early sometimes. Before Pregnancy (BP) it happened occasionally--maybe a few nights every few months. During Pregnancy (DP) it is happening much more frequently--probably 3-4 nights every week or two. For the most part, it's not that big of a deal. It's amazing how much you can get done in the wee hours of the morning! I hadn't checked my Facebook account in over a month so I was able to do that this morning and catch up with some old friends. The internet is great for that. Aaron and I have spent the past few days in Portland celebrating our 3rd anniversary. We both worked a half day on Wednesday and drove to Hood River where we ate a fantastic dinner and stayed at a cool little bed and breakfast downtown. On Thursday, we stopped at Bonneville Dam to see the sturgeon (that is one ugly fish!) and then went on an 6 mile hike to...

My wife is pretty goofy sometimes. I even have her permission to publish these pics on the blog. The first is a great shot of her ever-expanding belly. The second pic has her doing a little horse...er...dog riding. Ride 'em cow girl! The third is a shot of all the women in the house for now. In a couple of months I'll be outnumbered three to one instead of two!

So, this week she is the mass of four navel oranges. Wow. She is growing like crazy and now so is Autumn. I think that this anniversary weekend (it's been THREE years already!) we'll be celebrating with some new mommy clothes! Mostly we'll be having a couple of fun days and then Autumn will be working in Portland on Saturday. I guess I'll just sit around and be bored. Ho hum. Are you kidding?!?!? Portland will be fun to explore! I'm gonna drink so much coffee that they stop serving me cuz I have the jitters so bad! Woo hoo!

Well. Here we are about 30 weeks into this pregnancy and we are almost settled in our new house. And then...we decide to have a yard sale. This will be our second one this year. We have even more this time around! Of course, we have gone through much more of our stuff this time around and a ton of little stuff shook out that we do not need. I hope stuff sells well. We also have a football game to go to, the art walk is this evening...so MUCH to do...So LITTLE time... Oh well. All will be well. Our daughter is about the size of a head of Cabbage (see photo: that's BIG!). Wow can she move now. I guess she is big enough now that she will not kick as much, but like a Muy Thai Kick boxer , she'll be throwing a lot of knees and elbows. Sorry Autumn!