The Chipmunk in our Laundry Room

Last Wednesday, I saw a chipmunk run into our laundry room. This really caught me off guard! I shut the laundry room door and have tried to avoid the room as much as possible since then. When I go in, I wear long pants, shoes, and usually carry a broom just in case the chipmunk has gone mad and tries to attack. There is a screen in the top part of the door so we have been able to look in and monitor the chipmunk when it is on the move.

We borrowed a live trap from someone at Ontario and had continued to reset it since Thursday, but had been unable to catch anything. (Apparently, the chipmunk was too small to set off the trap. It just went in, ate all of the peanut butter, and came back out of the trap again.)

As a few days have passed, I was getting nervous that the chipmunk would nest somewhere, so our desire to catch it has only grown stronger. (It had already gotten into the recycled bin and torn some cups into a million little pieces on the floor.) Tonight, Rajeev went to Menards to get a different trap, but all he was able to find was a glue trap. We put it in the laundry room and in less than an hour, we had caught the chipmunk.

You'd think I'd be thrilled, but while I'm glad that there is no longer a chipmunk in the house, it was incredibly sad when we looked in and saw the helpless little creature caught in the glue. In our eagerness to remove the little animal from the house, I guess we hadn't really thought about that. And once it was caught, there was nothing we could do to free it. I guess I will probably think twice about using a glue trap in the future.

A lot can change in a year...

It was just one year ago today that we found out that Arya was on her way into our lives. Now she is 4 months old, and I can't imagine not having her with us.

I've told the story of how we went running last year on July 19, and how I came back and got sick but thought I'd just pushed myself too hard. Well after feeling sick for the rest of that week, I was starting to think maybe something else was going on. That weekend we bought a pregnancy test and I took it on Monday morning, July 25.

It came out positive, but I kind of didn't believe it. I had just been to the doctor for a physical and they'd done all sorts of tests trying to find out why I had been having dizzy spells. (Hmm? Maybe because I was pregnant!) They'd given me a pregnancy test too, and it had come back negative - and I thought there was more of a chance that my home test was wrong than the doctor's test! Well, it turned out that my test WAS right, the doctor's test had been just a little too early for the hormonal changes to show up, and the dizzy spells were all part of early pregnancy too!

We were happy to know I was pregnant, but still nervous about getting really excited since I'd miscarried earlier in the year and we worried about that happening again. Thankfully, there were no problems this time, and our beautiful daughter Arya arrived healthy and strong on March 24, 2006. She is such a gift and we are so blessed to have this precious little one in our lives.

So here's to the anniversary of finding out about Arya and here's to her Uncle Philip whose birthday is today!

See anyone you know?

Rajeev, Arya, and I watched the final stage of the Tour yesterday. We excitedly cheered as Floyd Landis won his first Tour de France... and guess which famous Floyd fans we saw captured on OLN's coverage? Look closely (the quality is bad because I took a photo of the tv!), but you'll see Sara on the left holding the "Go Floyd" umbrella, Dad behind her with his hand in the air, Liz in the middle holding her camera, and Mom on the right waving the American flag! Who would have guessed we'd have such a great view of the fam among the thousands and thousands of spectators there in Paris? How fun is that? Maybe someday we will get to be there to witness the race in person! Anyone up for a trip next summer? You never know - we'll have to see what happens.

Floyd takes the stage!

Update: Floyd won the stage and is now only 30 seconds behind the overall leader of the race! (That is amazing considering he was 8 minutes and 8 seconds behind the overall leader at the end of yesterday's stage.) He still has a chance at taking the yellow in Paris! Woohoo! Even Arya is cheering!

Tour de France!

Mom, Liz and Sara are at the Tour de France and we've been getting the updates from them and online about the developments in the race. However, the night before last we found out that we have mysteriously had a bunch of cable channels added at our house. So, now we have OLN, which is following the entire race!

Yesterday Floyd Landis (who we're cheering on to win the whole thing) had a really bad day and went from 1st overall to 11th overall. He lost 10 minutes or so, which is not good. I have OLN on in the other room and have been checking in periodically to see how things are going today and I'm so nervous! Floyd has gained about 5 minutes, but they still have around 40 miles to go. I could just go over and check www.olntv.com and find out the final results (since this isn't airing live), but I'm trying to wait and not spoil the whole thing. Anyway, here's to Floyd! Keep up the hard work! No matter how it turns out, you've done great!

Well, I think trying to post regularly on Arya's site has kept me from posting regularly here. Oh, that's just an excuse - I guess I'm just bad about posting in general.

Things have been busy though.

Arya is doing great. If you visit her blog you can stay updated on all of the things she's been up to lately! I'm trying to start adding photos there more often too.

Rajeev's been working really hard at Ontario and on his side project with his friend, Matt. (If any of you need a great software that makes it quick and easy to keep your church or ministry's website updated without having to know how to write code or be super computer savvy, let us know. Similar software for specialties other than churches and ministries are coming soon - that is just the first phase of the software to be realeased.)

I've been taking on some freelance projects and trying to get my portfolio in order so that I can do more photography. Check out my new online portfolio at my website, www.karenkarki.com! Rajeev helped me set up this nice viewer. I still need to add more photos (I haven't even put any of my design work on there yet!), but it is coming along. If you know anyone who is looking for a photographer for any upcoming events, feel free to pass along my name and website!

Mom, Liz, and Sara are in France for a month, following the Tour de France. Oh, I wish we could be there with them! I miss them a lot. I normally hang out with them often and I don't quite know what to do with them all gone for so long!

Well, that is the basic update on what we've been up to lately. I won't promise to post again really soon, but I'll try to do it again at least in the next month or so! (That way since the expectations aren't so high, I won't feel like I'm letting you down!) Until then, take care!

Having a baby does some funny things to you (and your body)...

Yes, we're all familiar with the usual things that people talk about, like how it makes you feel like you have to go to the bathroom all of the time, or how your belly button just keeps getting more and more shallow the closer you get to being full term. However, no one told me about something that happened to me last night.

Arya is 2 1/2 months old and last night I decided to give running another shot. I haven't been running since July 19, 2005, so that's nearly 11 months. I remember the date because my cousin got married on July 22 last year and the Tuesday before his wedding, Rajeev and I went running and did 7 miles. We were still planning on trying to run the Chicago marathon at that point, and we were attempting to stay on track with training. But when we finished the 7 miles I threw up. I thought I'd just pushed too hard or run too fast, but it turns out I was experiencing the first of a long bout with morning (or rather all-day) sickness.

Anyway, morning sickness lasted a long time and I gave up on trying to train for Chicago. Then, as my belly got larger, running seemed even less appealing. Then Arya was born and life became pretty busy. And that brings me to yesterday when I finally decided the time had come to give running another try.

So, I put on my shoes and found some running clothes that still fit, and headed out the door. I didn't expect much, but I actually made it all the way around the block, which is about 2 miles. I was tired by the end but actually felt okay. The surprise came later that night and this morning though. I was expecting some sore muscles - legs/calves/thighs, etc. But guess what was the most sore? My lower abdomen. What in the world? They tell you that your stomach muscles get stretched out and lose their tone when you are pregnant, but I didn't realize the extent to which they were talking about. I mean, I never expected (or realized) that apparently my muscles are now completely missing from my abdomen. (I don't remember having them removed.) But how else can you explain the fact that running makes your stomach muscles more sore than your legs? Maybe I'm the only person this has ever happened to and right now you're all laughing about what an odd person I must be. However, I'll choose to believe that this is just another secret post-pregnancy side affect that no one talks about and just be proud of myself for actually giving running another try even if I am slow and muscle-less. :)

Welcome to the world, Arya.
Arya Caroline Karki was born March 24, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. She weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 22 1/2 inches long. We love you, little one.