19 1/2 Weeks - Any Gender Predictions?

Well, for those of you who missed the gloriously informal and sort-of hasty Facebook announcement, we're pregnant with Baby #2!

Funny how things change. Last time around, we shared our exciting news with close friends and family via email. And then proceeded to update those people every month with belly pics. We also sent out what we thought was going to be the Famous Koenig Pregnancy Poll for people to weigh-in on guesses of gender, weight, birth date, etc. etc.

This time around? I fear Baby #2 has gotten the shaft. Between the campaign, added work responsibilities, and a toddler that closely resembles the Tazmanian Devil (the cartoon one, not the real one), week 20 has completely snuck up on us! In fairness (ahem, unfairness), the belly has been present since roughly week 8. So wish I were joking. Nothing like having to tell close friends and colleagues about a baby that we're not quite ready to announce because I've already had two meltdowns over how "fat" I looked while trying to hide things. I never thought I'd be so happy to see my maternity clothes again, truly.

All that said, we find out bright and early tomorrow morning if we're expecing a boy or a girl. Here's how folks are weighing-in:

David: girl
Carter: says both "girl" and "brother" when asked. So, your guess is as good as mine.
Jackie: no clue. I do have this nagging feeling at the back of my head, though, that I'm destined to a life of boys.
Judy (mother-in-law): boy
Joyce (mother): boy
Sasa (recent bride at wedding): girl

Anyone else want to play before tomorrow's appointment?

Our Return & Camping With Carter

Well hello! We know it has been an inexcusably long time since the last post (going on 6 months, or so?), and we truly apologize. It's been quite the whirlwind half-year for us, though, really.

Jackie, our most frequent author, was promoted to Chief of Staff for her boss, Assemblymember Pedro Nava, in December of last year. A wonderful opportunity, to be sure, but it came with the shared management responsibilities of a statewide campaign -- Assemblymember Nava is vying to be California's next Attorney General (insert plug to not only remember to vote on Tuesday, but Vote for Pedro! while you're at it). The holidays were their typical whirlwind, full of much fun, family, and laughter (and far too many presents to count -- Carter still has some in their boxes in his closet). We also found out we were pregnant with our second child in February, which has meant several months of exhaustion and nausea on Jackie's part, and double-duty household/Carter responsibilities for David.

Alas, we have finally resurfaced. The Primary is within sight, Sacramento has officially entered summertime (today it was 95 degrees!), and we have much to catch you up on.

We'll start by sharing pictures from a camping trip we took last month to Lake Comanche. This is actually a quite fitting post, when you think about it, considering the ane before was a wonderfully relaxing (albeit funny) camping trip with just the two adults. It should juxtapose nicely with this one, no?

We took advantage of the first warm weekend of the year to head to Lake Camanche (Amador County) for a three-day camping trip. While we've been camping with Carter before (see Easter 2009), he was not yet mobile. We figured that for this first real "camping with child" experience, we should stick close to home -- that way we could pull the escape hatch if needed. Lake Comanche was the perfect choice.

We booked a site in the Family Campgrounds, a little bit further from the water than some of those that were lake-side. Figured that would give us some lead time if Carter decided to take an impromptu swim. As it turns out, "Family" = non-alcoholic. This really wasn't a problem for us, but it had the strange benefit of allowing us to be the only campers in the entire vicinity. We could see lights and hear music (if it was loud) from the rest of the sites, but truly, it was though we were in our own little world -- which actually came in handy mid-way through Night 1.

Apparently the weekend we decided to go, there was a full moon. Probably wouldn't have noticed it elsewhere, but it had a strange consequence to those of us camping. Carter and the geese surrounding the lake woke up -- at 2am. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. David and I couldn't figure out why we were so tired. Until we left the tent to use the restrooms. Ha ha. Took us about 2 hours to get Carter back to sleep (although the birds never really seemed to get the message). Luckily, camping allows for late sleeping and no alarm clocks, so all was still well the next morning when we slept in until 9:30am.

We spent our two days there riding bikes, kayaking, and napping. The perfect combination for all of us, really. We (ok, just Jackie) were nervous about taking Carter kayaking for the first time, but really, I guess we shouldn't have been. He found it so relaxing, he napped. He is super cute in his life vest, though, and every time he sees it he says "mine" and "boat."

Kayaking with Dad

Some sort of condor or raptor we saw while kayaking.

And...done.

Inadvertently, Jackie managed to wind up on the news during our weekend. While biking, we happened upon some news cameras who asked if they could speak to us. We agreed. Unfortunately, this left Jackie to do the talking, as David rode a little ways away to appease a cranky nap-needing Carter. I (Jackie) suspected the topic would be the "first camping weekend of the season." Sadly, I was mistaken, and caught only slightly off guard when the anchor asked me what I thought about "the park's proposal to deal with the geese 'overpopulation' problem by rubbing an oil on their eggs so they don't hatch." Sigh -- enter policy guru/animal nerd. Click here for your viewing pleasure/hilarity.

All in all, our trip was a huge success! We had a blast (including Carter). Although, we were mildly excited to get home to stop repeatedly using the question "what's that in your mouth?" with Carter.

Lake Tahoe Camping

We know, we know, it's been quite awhile. That said, we -- oh, ahem -- I am back with a renewed resolve to blog more regularly so we can keep people up to speed with our activities and Carter's growth!

We thought we'd share some pictures from Dave and I's most recent camping trip in mid-August to Camp Richardson in Lake Tahoe. We spent three awesome days and nights biking, hiking, and relaxing. We also rented wave runners for the afternoon. By far, though, our greatest adventure was what we like to call "The Kayaking Trip from Hell."

The Friday of our camping trip, we decided to kayak from Camp Richardson to Emerald Cove on Lake Tahoe's western shore, 7 miles away (per Google Maps). Seems benign enough, no? Little did we know...


View Larger Map

We headed out at roughly noon on Friday with a packed lunch, towels and reading materials. Our plan was to kayak into Emerald Bay, eat lunch and hang out for a bit, and kayak back. An hour into our trip, with relatively little of the scenery passing by, it became very obvious that we had failed to account for currents and waves on the lake (quite different than leisurely paddling down stream on the American River near our house). We reached the point to the Bay at roughly 2pm and decided to beach the kayaks and have lunch (needless to say, we were somewhat grumpy by this point).

Dave enjoying a swim after lunch

We ate and relaxed and decided that it was too late to kayak back to camp. But how, then, to get back? I called the Lake Tahoe Transportation Authority and was told that a shuttle encircles the lake and that it picks up from Emerald Cove Trailhead every hour on the hour with the last stop at 8pm. Perfect. We decided that we would kayak to the island in the middle of the Bay to explore, then we would beach the boats. I (Jackie) would stay with the kayaks and equipment while Dave grabbed the shuttle, returned to our camp, picked up our car, and drove back to get me and the boats. Again, seems innocent enough, no?

We kayaked to the Fannette Island (another hour, which is hard to believe) -- FYI, Emerald Bay and this island are the most photographed spot in all of California, above and beyond even Yosemite -- pulled our boats up onto the rocks and hiked to the Tea Room built on top. We had a great time, but I was anxious to set our plan in motion as my hands had blisters and my arms were killing me. Needless to say, I was D-O-N-E.

(Yes, that's me -- D.O.N.E - DONE)

Inside the Tea Room at the top of Fannette Island

We then beached the kayaks in front of Vikinsholm, a BEAUTIFUL Swedish home built on the coast of the Bay (finished in 1929). Shortly thereafter, a woman on the beach informed us that no cars are allowed down to the Bay (ixnay-ing our idea of bringing the car down to pick up the kayaks) and that the Trail Head we were looking for to catch the shuttle was a one mile hike up switch backs. YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING.

Our options?
1) Kayak back.
2) Ask some boaters to tow us back.
3) Carry the boats up the trail.
4) Stow the kayaks for the night and come back the next day.

After much angst and laughter, we stowed the kayaks for the night, partially shielded by some shrubs. We took the oars, though, thinking that if someone wanted the boats badly enough, they would have to tow them out or paddle with their hands.

We hiked the trail up the coastal cliff, caught the shuttle and headed back to camp.

Fannette Island and Emerald Bay (from the top of the hike)

Our options in the morning?
1) Rent wave runners, head over to the Bay, and tow the kayaks back. or
2) Drive the car to the trail head and haul the boats up.

We chose Option #2. Too much uncertainty with #1. Sigh...

By the time we got to Emerald Bay in the morning, the area was packed -- we had to park 1/4 mile away. The best part? As we're walking down the trail (mind you, we had already walked UP it the night before), people were huffing and puffing and saying "wow, be careful, it's much harder to walk up then down." Ha ha, thank you. A) that's just a stupid and obvious statement; and B) you people don't even know the half of it.

Day 2. Heading down the trail to get the kayaks

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 4 and no...still not there yet.

See the red dot on the left? That's where we were. Still about 1/4 mile to go.

Turn 5

Shockingly, the kayaks were still there (although our food was gone). Slowly....oh....so....slowly, we hauled the kayaks up the hill. At one point, because my arms were so dead tired and the handles kept falling out of my hands, Dave carried one entirely on his shoulders while we jointly carried the other one. The best part of this journey? Not one person offered to help. Took us about an hour, but we got the boats to the top of the trail and back to camp. I was useless afterward. Dave was ready for another round. I hate him.

Still there!

Me: Taking a break. People:Not helping.

All in all, it was a Classic Koenig Adventure.

Summer's First Harvest

This year, I got my summer garden started a little late. As a result, our first harvest didn't come until about two weeks ago -- just in time, of course, for us to go on vacation. No matter! Our house/dog-sitter/friend Addie says the tomatoes and potatoes were yummy. The zucchini in the picture was so massive we had to break it up over three dinners: chicken burritos, lamb kebobs, and zucchini fries. At least that was a fun in experiment in How to Use Zucchini. All in all, for the summer we have: watermelon, cantaloup, jalapenos, potatoes, summer squash, zucchini and tomatoes. With my week alone back in Sacramento (see the post below about Dave and Carter still being in Newport Beach until tomorrow morning), it gave me a chance to start our fall/winter vegetable garden from seed. This time around, we're hoping for: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, collard greens, and beets. I've also planted three different types of flowers for the fall, including Aster. We'll see how that goes!

Newport 2009

Last week, we took vacation and joined Dave's family at a beach house in Newport Beach. Yeah, we know, life is rough. The Koenigs have generously rented a house for the past three years. We weren't able to make it last year due to my bed rest and Carter's impending arrival, but we more than made up for it this year. It was so awesome, in fact, that Dave and Carter are still there, through Wednesday or Thursday (depending on Dave's work schedule).

We had a wonderful time all in all -- we rode bikes (Carter included), took lots of walks/jogs, ate donuts for breakfast, spent every day on the beach, and did lots of hanging out with friends and family.

Waiting for Cousin Lilah to join us at the beach.

Utterly exhausted after a long day of fun in the sun.

Playing on the beach.

Playing with Dad.

...And He's on the Move!

We have been very fortunate in the last two years -- well, for multiple reasons, obviously -- we have quite a few great friends who have bestowed "hand me downs" upon us (furniture, toys, and clothes). One of the toys we got from our friends, the Carrolls, is a pushing walker. While Carter does enjoy playing with it, the majority of our house is hard wood. The toy moves medium/slow on our carpet, but then hits the hardwood and well, let's just say the result isn't pretty. Carter has taken quite a few face plants.

Just today, though, we pulled out the walker again and the results were dramatically different. Our little boy has developed enough balance and strength in the past few weeks to have control of the walker on the hardwood. He's now cruising all around the house -- and it's like a whole new world has opened to him! Now if only we could get him to steer it straight...

Parent & Tot Swim Classes

As another way to beat the heat, and do something fun, we enrolled Carter in Parent & Tot swim classes. The neighborhood next to ours has a wonderful park and recreation center. It's great to have a pool, softball field, basketball court, playground and tennis courts so close for use! So, for the last two weeks, Monday-Thursday, we have been swimming!

If you've seen any of our previous posts, you'll know that Carter is quite the water lover. He was the youngest baby in his class, but started laughing and splashing the minute we got in -- regardless of the fact that kids much bigger than him were screaming in fear. Our major goal each day was to keep him from drinking half the pool. You would think he was dehyradated or something!