End of the World?

Well, it seems like the end of the world outside. It's dark and ominous and smokey. Today is a bit better than yesterday, I can see the sky a little! Clark and I are okay - we are not really near any current fire and have not been evacuated. Of course we do keep a list of our precious, irreplaceables just in case we have to pack quickly. Our friends in Malibu at Pepperdine were evacuated to the gym/cafeteria areas but have been back in their homes for a couple of days. The church that my sister got married in has burned down. My family in San Diego is taking the brunt of this. Thank the Lord we have not lost any people or property but one sister has been evacuated and the other is on constant watch just in case. She is actually housing another family with eight dogs and four puppies! Isn't she a saint? My mom is doing fine along the coast. We are all trying to stay inside and not breathe in the yuck, especially me for the sake of Baby B.
The wind is the worst part for our area. When I drive to work I pass the Santa Clarita valley area and the wind just whips my car into the other lanes. I have to use all my strength and both hands! Guess that means no cell phone, no pretzels and no chapstick! The wind actually took down part of our friends' tree and lifted the entire tree up like six inches at the root! But so far it is still standing...
I hope that you are all doing well, my friends! If you need a place to stay please call me. We gotta stick together in SoCal!

Most Requested Blog Item

Okay friends - here's the fatty! I'm at 20 weeks and this picture was taken October 11th. All kinds of things are expanding. In fact, I'm not fitting into my maternity clothes anymore but that is not b/c of my belly - I'll let you figure that one out! Clark took a closer up picture below so you can see my "maternal glow" aka the flu that I have gotten this week from the flu shot - go figure! So if I look a bit peakish, that's why. I'm a little intimidated by my friends who are further along than me who are not nearly as large - I guess Baby B is gonna be a big boy or I'm gonna have A LOT of weight to lose next spring :)

We registered this week which was fun and a bit overwhelming. I cannot believe how much stuff you need to prepare for a baby. It's more than backpacking and I thought that was a lot of equipment! We've picked initials for the baby - CAB. Clark's initials, his dad's initials and his great grandfather's initials (I don't know what happened to his grandfather who's name is Don). Anyway, the middle name will probably be Hawaiian so this honky kid of mine will know his roots! And that is all the name info we've agreed to give out at this time. We are halfway there now and things are moving along more quickly. The first half felt like 5 years rather than 5 months because of all the sickness and pains. Things are a bit better now, praise the Lord! We are excited to meet this boy and see what in the world he looks like.

Expanding

Okay, people - I'm finally posting a belly picture! This is actually from a few weeks ago when I was at 18 weeks. I'm going to post another picture right away that is more current so you can compare. You might notice the chaos in the background - we have completely turned our house upside down to get ready for Baby B. Lots to do!