Playtime with Lake

Now that we've mastered eating and sleeping, we are trying out the swing and Lake's toys, music, and books. The fun continues!

Christmas Day

On Christmas Day the Wanak family of three checked out of the hospital and went home. Mommy and Daddy gave Lake the tour of her new place -so filled with love. Our dear friends, the Buchanans, brought over Christmas dinner and joined us for a lovely Christmas celebration topped off with a birthday cake for baby Jesus. We are filled with such joy--remembering the Christ child's birth and grateful for the safe birth of Lake Wanak.

Meet Baby Lake Mahal

New Mommy and Daddy with baby Lake.
Lake Mahal was born December 23rd at 8:37pm. She is 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 19.5 inches. What a peanut! We are in love.
Merry Christmas.

Here's Daddy holding his Christmas Angel.

Going to the Hospital

Finally, the day has arrived! So we grab our bag (and Sherlock too) and head out the door for the Salem Hospital.

More SNOW and ICE

As we continue to await baby Lake's arrival, the snow and ice continue to accumulate here in Salem. Due to the weekend ice storm, thousands of Salem area residents lost power. We lost our power late Sunday afternoon (ironically, on the darkest day of the year). Jer and I enjoyed reading Shelock Holmes by candlelight and even made gyoza on our camping colman stove. Happily, we discovered Monday afternoon that the heat worked in the little apartment above our garage. So we camped out up there enjoying the dark adventure through Monday night. Today the snow continues to fall and Jer is shoveling our driveway (something we thought we'd never do here in Salem!) so we can get out to our next doctor's appointment this morning.

Snow in Salem!

This week, with our baby due at any day, snow and cold has hit Salem -a rare event for us here in the Willamette Valley. Jeremy and I took a few pictures of our home all dressed in white fluffy flakes. Then we went to work rescuing several plants out of the snow and into our toasty home. We also took a few walks and saw cars spinning and sliding all over the roads. For now we are happily tucked away as Jeremy is enjoying the second day of cancelled school. Check out his snow angel!

Notice that I even found an old winter coat that covers both Lake and me. :-) I wonder if she'll prefer to stay warm inside my belly until after this chilly week passes?? Time will tell! For now, we've got our hospital bag packed and Jeremy is ready to put the chains on the car a moments notice.

Snow day #3 for Jer: The flakes are falling again and Jer made a snow family. :-)

Sherlock Studies Up

Here is Sherlock, studying up about babies. He's getting all ready to be a good pup for little Lake. He can be quite a guard dog when needed.

Sherl has been with Jeremy and Angel since February 14th. Isn't he a bundle of love?!
He's quite a character. Each day he tries out a new look -from yoga poses to pyramids with his pals to playing dress-up with Angel's clothes. He always keeps the Wanaks guessing! :-)

Our Babymoon

While reading through literature for expectant parents, we learned of the term "babymoon." It is a last hoorah vacation -just the two of us- before the arrival of our first baby when the two of us become three. :-) Jeremy and I took two nights out at the Oregon coast enjoying the cool sea breeze, touring lighthouses, and relishing the time of sweet togetherness. Jer guided us along a tour of an old growth coastal forest and Angel navigated the way down the coast to Coos Bay and back home. Notice Jer relaxing on our purple bed at the Grand Vitoria Bed & Breakfast in Newport -he sure knows how to enjoy a vacation! Check out Jer trying out a new style at the best gift I've ever seen in Oregon (a great spot for sighting whales too!) Though we didn't spot any whales on our trip, we did view the shooting water from windy Cape Perpetua.

The Book Worm Shares a Word

As our dear friends who helped move our posession into our new home discovered, the Wanaks have a few books and a passion for diving into new ideas. Here's a list of winners recommended by Angel who has had a little extra time to read during summer break from grad classes:

The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawkins. The title may not grab you imediately, but the first page will, as Hawkins is a fabulous writer and thinker who challenges our very ideas of economics and good living considering nature's systems that sustain our livelihood. Though the broad scope of environmental concerns Hawkins discusses are overwhelming, the practical and achievable solutions he advocates offer hope and inspiration. Here's a quote: "We have the capacity and ability to create a remarkably different economy, one that can restore ecosystems and protect the environment while bringing forth innovation, prosperity, meaningful work, and true security."

Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus. Yunus is the Founder of the Grameen Bank, an organization which provides small loans to the poor in Bangladesh so they can provide for their livelihoods and pursue their dreams. In 2006 Yunus and the Grameen Bank received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to alieviate poverty and thus significantly contribute to world peace. In this book, Yunus describes a new type of entity: a Social Business, which shares some similarities with for-profits businesses and non-profit businesses. Yunus envisions an organization that provides a product or service for the sole purpose of achieving a social good (rather than pure profit aims). Yet, the social business is not reliant on donations and grants in the way that a non-profit organization is, therefore a social business can spend all its energy and resources working towards its social goal rather than fund raising. Yunus' ideas for the world are truly inspiring and will interest every reader in starting their own social business.

Quote: "Peace should be understood in a human way--in a broad social, political and economic way. Peace is threatened by an unjust economic, social and political order, absence of democracy, environmental degradation and absence of human rights. Poverty is the absence of all human rights. The frustrations, hostility and anger generated by abject poverty cannot sustain peace in any society. For building peace we must find ways to provide opportunities for people to live decent lives"

A Visit from Mom and Dad Ortloff

This week Mom and Dad Ortloff visited from Minnesota. They have been a wonderful help in our efforts to spruce up our new place. Mom and Dad painted baby Lake's nursery -a cute yellow and green- and help to set up the room for her much anticipated arrival.
Mom and Dad were our first guests in the studio apartment. Thankfully, the murphy bed has not swallowed them up. They say it's a habitable place and that we should expect frequent visitors. We hope so!

Comment Page for Lake's Wish List

Friends and family have asked what little Lake will need when she arrives in December, so we've created a Lake's Wish List. You can see her list on the side panel to the right. We encourage reusing baby-stuff, so we'd be delighted with gifts from your storage bins or thrift stores. We will not be registering at a department store, but you may use this list as a registry. Please write in a comment in this page if you have taken care of an item on Lake's list. One place we do like to support -and therefore include as a suggestion- is the consignment shop called Reruns for Kids, which supports Family Building Blocks, a local nonprofit organization helping to prevent child abuse and neglect.

The Parade of Boxes

Today friends and neighbors helped us transport our belongings from our apartment of three years, one half-mile away to our first home. The boxes marched briskly out the door, winded down the maze of stairways to the truck, which, stuffed and happy, carried everything to our new place. Unfortunately, the former owners had not yet vacated as they were supposed to, so we were delayed an extra day. Thankfully, another crew of willing workers helped Jeremy unload our belongs and a team of friends helped to clean the mess that was left in the whirlwind of the move. The unpacking and putting away will drag on for a few days yet as we settle in and begin to feel "at home." A special thanks to Ruth for cleaning our bathtub. Soaking in those warm bubbles was just the thing after two days of moving. :-)

Thank you so much to everyone who helped -I know moving grad students with their many boxes of books is not a fun chore. We hope you'll all drop in and visit our garden home often!

The Big Day

Thursday we learned all about our little baby growing in my belly as the ultrasound technician showed Jeremy and me all her little parts and working organs. And yep, it looks like we've got a little girl. Jeremy and I are thrilled and anxious to meet our little Lake Mahal Wanak. Of course we are glad to let her grow a few more months before our first meeting in December. (I'm already singing Christmas tunes!) Isn't she a beauty! :-)

What's in a name?
Lake: As a gal from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, I can't think of a more special place than floating on the blue, clear waters -and this little girl is going to know about her Minnesota heritage.
Mahal: This is a word from the Tagalog language (official language of the Philippines) and means 'beloved, darling, dear, costly, valuable, noble, precious'.
Wanak: She's with us!

Home
On this same day the purchase of our first home was officially recorded. Angel is excited to prepare a little nest for Lake and take up her hand at gardening. Jeremy is looking forward to starting up his new 55 gallon fish tank in the living room. We hope the floor can hold it! House pictures will be forthcoming -when we get the place in ship-shape.