Karen

2006-08-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-07-25T23:30:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-07-24T13:34:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-07-20T11:41:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-07-20T09:24:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-07-13T14:59:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-06-13T22:29:00.000-04:00

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. :)

2006-04-15T20:09:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-03-08T16:38:00.000-05:00

There are only 10 more days until the baby is due! I have a sneaking suspicion that the baby will be late, but even so, we are still getting really close. The funny thing is how many people seem SHOCKED when they see me, ask me when the baby is due, and I tell them less than two weeks. Why is that? Everyone says, "You don't look like you're due in two weeks/10 days/fill in the appropriate length of time!" Why is that? I mean, maybe it is just me, but I honestly feel my stomach is pretty far out there.

I was thinking about it and was reminded of a trip we took to visit one of Rajeev's uncles about a year and a half ago, before he headed back to Nepal. Rajeev and I had been married for maybe a year and a half at that point, and had not seen him since our wedding. We arrived at his house and he freely proclaimed upon seeing me, "You look fatter than before! I have pictures from when you were much thinner and not so fat!" Great! He then insisted on going to get those pictures and showing everyone how, yes he was indeed right, and I was fatter!

In order to illustrate the story, and because Liz recently showed me how to add photos to my blog (we'll see if it works!), I will post one of the actual pictures he showed us of the time when I was "not so fat".

You see, in Nepal, it isn't a big deal for people to comment about your weight. People tend to think of it kind of like commenting on the fact that you're wearing a blue shirt or your hair is black. Of course, this takes some getting used to for those of us who feel a little awkward talking about weight. I still can't say I love this custom, but at least I know now that it isn't something that is ever done to intentionally hurt someone's feelings.

However, I can't help but think of what would happen if I ran into some Nepali people and they asked me when the baby was due. I have a feeling that instead of saying something like, "You don't LOOK like you're going to have a baby in 10 days" they'd possibly say something like, "Well, you have definitely gotten fatter than you were before!" And that would definitely be the truth. And since I've made it this far and I'm still holding up alright, I don't think I have too much to complain about.

2006-02-27T00:14:00.000-05:00

Today is the 26th of February, which means that this will be my second post in a month. Hey, I'm getting better at this blogging thing! Ha, ha. I think that the main problem is that I never know what to write on this thing. Liz said she was going to start giving me blogging assignments. That hasn't happened yet, so I'm struggling to come up with some topic of my own. I guess I could just give you an update on things.

Well, things are actually going pretty well! I had a good day. All of the sites that have branched off from our church met together today. There was a good guest speaker. He talked about when Joshua and others with him were supposed to cross the Jordan River. It was flood season, and they were told that they would cross on dry land once they stepped into the river. It wasn't going to dry up and then they'd start across. They had to start across and then it would dry up. Kind of scary when you think about it. We were challenged to look at our own lives and see where we should be taking those first steps that we think will kill us, but that we'll live through, and that will lead to others being able to follow us across the river on dry ground. It was really interesting. I am still processing it all so I don't really know what my current Jordan River is for sure, but it has been a good thing to get me thinking.

After church, Rajeev and I had lunch with some friends and then came home so he could study for his midterm exam which is tomorrow. However, we decided to take a nap first because it was just that kind of day. When I woke up, feeling nice and rested, I thought of how many people have told us lately, "Get rested up now, because you won't get much rest once the baby comes." So, instead of getting up and doing something "useful", I just stayed there on the couch relaxing and enjoying not doing anything else until Rajeev woke up. I justified it all, saying we wouldn't have many more chances for a nice Sunday afternoon nap like this for a while.

I remember hating when Mom and Dad would come home from church on Sundays and say, "Hey kids, it's time for a family nap!" I mean, who wanted to take a nap back when we were kids? Sometimes Mom and Dad didn't make us actually go to sleep during "family nap time". Sometimes we just had to play quietly, and in those cases I think we really tried to do just that - thankful that we didn't have to lay down and take some dreaded nap. It is funny how things change, isn't it? I love to take naps now. I rarely take them any more. (College was a different story, of course. Naps were a regular event in college!) But now, when I think about taking a nap, I usually feel like there are a lot more important and urgent things that I need to be doing. Often I get anxious and end up getting up and doing those instead of being able to just rest. But today wasn't one of those days. I really enjoyed my nap and I was determined to stay there and not get up and do everything else that was on my to-do list. After all, sometimes naps are just necessary. And right now, I can just blame it on being less than 3 weeks from the baby's due date and needing to rest up with my husband. That's a good enough excuse, right?

2006-02-01T15:29:00.000-05:00

Well, hello again! I probably don't have any blog readers left (if I had any to start with) since it has been - let's see - over 3 months since my last post. But, I figured I would try to give this thing another chance. (Plus, I now remember my login and password for this blog, which I had previously forgotten because my blogging is so inconsistent!)

So, what's going on these days? Well, we only have 6 1/2 weeks to go until the baby is due. That is really hard to believe. We refer to the baby as Anita. "Anita Karki" or I Need a carkey - get it? (Don't worry, we're not really going to name her Anita.) Anyway, Anita is a VERY ACTIVE little baby. It can be pretty entertaining to watch my belly do acrobatics as she moves around, especially in the evenings when she's the most active.

We've been getting the nursery ready. It is all painted and I really like the colors. Two walls are pistachio green and the other two are striped with pistachio green and a nice warm, yellow color. (Yes, we learned how to paint stripes!) Rajeev is getting ready to put the trim back on (since we took it off to paint).

We've been doing quite a job of rearranging the house. We're doing lots of switching things around, and trying to clean things out and get more organized! We made what used to be our home office into the nursery, and have been moving the home office in with the guest room. This weekend, Rajeev's mom came down to visit, and that was quite a motivator to get the office/guest room in some sort of order. After all, she needed a decent place to stay! For a little while now, the guest room/office had been hard to even walk through since we had moved everything from the old office into that room so we could paint the nursery! Now we actually have it looking pretty nice in there and I am thrilled about that. By the way, if any of you need a twin bed or a coffeetable, we have those available! Just let us know if you need either of them!! The guest room/office just isn't big enough for 2 twin beds, a coffeetable, a desk, bookshelves, files, etc!! It is not what you would consider a big room!

Today, during lunch, mom and I went up to the fabric store and found some really cute fabric (which has big, bold, green, yellow, and pink stylized flowers and there's also a coordinating small print flower fabric). She's going to use it to make the nursery bedding and curtains. We also found some great coordinating fabric that we're going to use to re-cover grandma's old glider/rocking chair. We were so excited when we found it, because it coordinates so well with the other fabric. It didn't appear to be on sale like a lot of the other fabrics, but we had them check the price and it rang up as being half price! Woohoo! You know I love a good bargain!

Rajeev and I finished our preparation for childbirth classes last night, and we even got a little card that says we successfully completed the class. Now we know everything there is to know about childbirth. Ha, ha. Actually, we just know the basics and we successfully viewed a number of videos that helped us to know what to expect in some different situations! We both felt like the classes were helpful though, and the instructor was very thorough and answered tons of questions for us. I can't believe that in such a short amount of time, Anita will actually be here (and she'll hopefully have a much more appropriate name!). It is hard to believe that she is going to be our child, and that we'll soon be able to hold this little baby that we've felt moving but never seen. We get a little nervous sometimes, but I think that we are both getting really excited these days.

Well, I guess if it takes me as long to post the next message as it did this time, I will definitely have given birth before I write again. I'm going to see what I can do to be a little more consistent though. Wish me luck!

2005-10-28T18:25:00.000-05:00

This morning, one key thought kept running through my head, "Wow, I am so thankful to not be sick." I had the stomach flu the day before yesterday (and my first blog post was actually done from the couch while I was trying to recover from that). It didn't last that long - only about 36 hours. In previous times, the 36 hours of the stomach flu may have seemed longer than it does now. After all, I now know all about being sick.

I think it was 5 weeks, 2 days into my pregnancy that I threw up for the first time. After about 2-3 weeks of throwing up an average of 2-3 times per day and feeling nauseated most of the time I was awake, I told my mom I didn't know if I could take much more of this being sick thing. She told me, "You'll be surprised at the things you can do that you didn't think you could do." Well, I was surprised. I made it through a good solid 10 weeks - that's 2 1/2 months - of that dreadful stuff they call morning sickness (even though it lasts ALL DAY LONG). And now, I've been feeling really good for about the last 4 weeks - with the exception of my little stomach flu episode (and a bad cold that I had the week before that).

But, seriously, how often do you think about how great it is to not be sick?

I went to throw something away in the bathroom trashcan the other day, which sits to the side of the toilet. As I leaned across the toilet to toss in my piece of trash, I recalled all of the lovely times in the past few months I spent leaning over the toilet vomiting. And here I was on that day, feeling perfectly fine. I was reminded to be thankful for that.

And now, even though I felt like I was sick for a near-unending amount of time, I really don't even know what it is to be sick. I mean, some people are sick or suffer from chronic pain for years on end. Some people don't know what it is like to have a day when they actually physically feel good.

So, hey, I guess I have it pretty good. I'm a rather healthy person who gets an occasional flu bug or a cold, who has a little once-in-a-while asthma, and who experiences totally normal sickness during pregnancy. I'd say that is pretty do-able.

Now, if I can only remember not to forget how lucky I am.

2005-10-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

For quite some time, nearly all of the other members of my family have had their own blogs. My siblings have repeatedly asked me, "Karen, when are you going to start blogging? and "Karen, why don't you have a blog?" I replied with answers like, "Even if I had a blog, I probably would be terrible about writing regularly and then you would all be mad at me anyway."

Yet, for some crazy reason, I recently told my sister Liz, "Fine. Sign me up for a blog. I'll see how it goes." (Wow, I sound like someone from the dark ages who doesn't know anything about the internet. Sign me up for that crazy thing, Liz!)

So, here I am with a blog. It has probably been a week and I still haven't posted anything - until now. But, what do I want to say? So much pressure! I was thinking I should probably come up with something really important and though provoking to discuss for my first post. However, instead of worrying about finding something great to write about, I'm just going to let the fact that I've started writing something be good enough for now. So, to my family who has for so long insisted that I join them in living the life of a blogger, "Look! I'm here! I've entered blog-world!" Wish me luck!