Out with the old. In with the new.

http://kindredfolk.posterous.com

leaving wordpress because i have to pay for media files and that is super duper lame.

Christmas Time

Christmas was nice and mellow. It was our first Christmas in Washington and as a new family. Christmas eve was spent with Jakes whole family at the parents. Christmas is the best when everybody is together. Christmas morning we had our own family partay and then spent the rest of the day at the parents.

It was SO nice to have Jake home from work and school. He is busy with his MBA program and work so this was a huge treat.

Crusty Old Blog

I don’t know how much longer I can handle this blog. I don’t like looking at it and I have to pay $40 to upgrade a template just to change the font on my links or add a video of Aaker. LAME. So I will try this post from my email and if I like it, a lot, I may be staying here after all.

Aaker continues to be a fabulous baby. It is unfathomable how much we love him. I think he likes us to. He probably doesn’t like that we are letting him cry it out at night. He is almost there. We are down to 10 min and then out (only in the middle of the night). It is surprising to me how much unsolocitited advice you get as a new mom and how much pressure people weigh on you when they don’t even mean to. “Is he sleeping through the night?” “If you rock him now you will be rocking him for 2 more years” “Why doesn’t he nap longer? Why does he wake up so early?”. Blah blah blah. I am going to do whatever I want…and feel bad about it. So just let me feel bad about it.

I have come to like staying home with the babe quite nicely. I will be subbing one day a week (or a few days a month) starting in January. We got a new car, Rocky, a 2003 Honda Element and she is awesome. I want to have a little more savings and play money and subbing a few times a week can do just that.

Just for my own personal history: Aaker is super smiley (at home with mom and dad). He laughs and giggles. Doesn’t really like loud noises or huge gatherings of people. Duh, he is home all day with just mom. He is already potty trained. Just kidding. He had a huge explosion that went all the way up to his hair once. He LOVES LOVES LOVES standing. It is his favorite past time. Instead of hitting his toys that hang over he just yells, laughs and coos at them. He only cries at the appropriate baby cry times. He enjoys being naked. He cries in the car until he falls asleep. He likes light and going outside. He is a good eater. He is busy. He likes to kick his feet and wave his arms.

A Bum Load Of Photos

Double Chin

I just want to eat it off his face.

Sorry Kid…

You got your mothers demon eyes.

Mas Fotos

Just some more photos from the phone. The posts will get better soon. We are home and doing really well. Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes.
Do you see his adorable dimple? It is one of my favorite things about him, besides everything else.

Aaker Nuke Folkman

Aaker arrived Thursday night at 11:30 pm after 25 hours of labor. The first 24 were at The Puget Sound Birthing Center with my midwives. We had few minor setbacks and drove down the street to Evergreen hospital and 35 min later Aaker Nuke Folkman arrived. He is dreamy. I have never been so overwhelmed with love. It us such a great feeling to have our little family. Seriously so blessed.
He was born 21 inches long and 8 lbs 3 oz.
Aaker- city on the island of Bornholm, Denmark where Jakes ancestors are from.
Nuke- One of Jakes favorite books, Melal, has a character named Nuke. Jake thought it would be pretty kick butt to name a son that and it grew on me after a few years.

My belly is poppin’, my belly is coo’

If you can tell me the original lyrics to this song leave your address and I will send you a prize!

House Tour

We have 10 more days to go until Aaker’s due date. Due dates are never reliable so I guess we are just playing the waiting game until he feels ready to come. I am feeling how most women feel towards the end of their pregnancy, craptacular. I don’t feel like posting any photos of me being huge so instead I will show you the condo. We moved back into our same complex in Woodinville but into a 2 bedroom. I love where we live and happy with the way things are turning out. We still have a few more things to hang and wires to cover but for the most part everything is done. Come visit!

I don’t know how to use Jake’s nice camera so I had to take these photos with our underwater camera. Sorry folks!

Take Me Out To The Ball game

We are currently watching the two worst teams in MLB play. The Mariners and the A’s, my two home teams (and the Giants of course). At least we are in good company.

I LOVE AMERICA

We are home. We made it back, barely. We have been in the U.S. for about 2 weeks. Just got phones yesterday and internet last week. We are still settling into our new place but everything is splendid so far.

I will post some photos of the new place as we finish each room. I will also post photos of the womb-mate who is currently fighting with me over my own abdomen. I will show him who is boss.

TTFN

29 Weeks

Feeling bigger. Getting bigger. Going home the day I mark 30 weeks. Dreading the flight but happy to be going home.

Shaping the bump

For Brittany Wilson, The Thinker

My arms are what have changed the most. I have been lifting light weights a few times a week but am not getting the results I want. Please tell my arms will go back to normal.

Since I seem to be into self incriminating photos, why not?

If I saw the post below I would think to myself “Oh that poor girl. Pregnancy has not been kind to her.” Well, hopefully this will have some redeeming value. Pregnancy has been kind to me. I love the way the bump looks in t-shirts.

Manila Baby Shower

My friend Sunny hosted a baby shower for me today. I am so grateful for the people we have met here. Jake and I have not been home for 11 months and we are done with being here. Right now there is almost nothing I am going to miss about this place, except for our friends. I am REALLY going to miss the great people and friends we have made here.

Anyway, the shower was great. One of the perks of living in Manila is the cheap spa care. Sunny hired spa technicians to come and give us all manicures and pedicures while we chatted, ate, opened gifts and played games. I am so grateful for the amazing women who I have grown to love this year. Living abroad you realize how small the world really is. I have no doubt I will see many of our Philly friends again.

Kim, Me, Karen, Jen

Mattie (Kims most amazing daughter)

Sheralie, Me, Rebekah

Fattie, Sunny, Tiger

Sunny, Karen, Rebekah

spa ladies

I really like the blouse I am wearing but it makes me look like a bulky marshmallow. That was in going in the closet until I am back to pre body. I tried to be deceiving and make the pics smaller. Hopefully it worked.

Independence Day

The Fourth of July is one of my absolute favorite holidays. Holidays have been kind of hard here so I did not have super high expectations and I was blown away by how much fun we had. Our friends here are what made it so awesome. We got together with a bunch of families had a barbecue, played games and had our own personal fireworks show. We went to the river bottoms in Marikina and our friend Jared lit off a heaping amount of fireworks. It was awesome. All the locals were standing around enjoying the free show as well.  Thank you to the Morisons for hosting an amazing night.

The Jacksons, Morisons, Blaylocks, Folkmans and Jensons.

For Fun

One of the reasons I love Fourth of July so much is because we get to pull out all our Americana gear and spend the day being grateful for the country we call home. I seriously love America. God bless America.