Three days of hail in the row.

It's good that Von Zobel has fully installed the greenhouse: the loss from last night's hail was minimal: a pot of young basil and a pot of flowers.

Interestingly enough, I remember being way more impatient when expecting Arthur - by week 38 I could not wait to meet him in person :) Now I almost don't think about having a baby (and not looking forward to the actual process either), as I know this is something that will come around soon anyway. On the contrary - I caught myself saying a couple of times last weekend when talking to somebody at a party: "Oh, there's no way I can have my son in the next few days, I'm way too busy this week!", "Too much going on, and all the unfinished stuffed in the condo... I definitely can't have the baby before my due date" :) The attitude does change. Now it is - "what goes around comes around, I just need to make sure in the next couple of weeks I'm done with my prenatal-bucket-list and do not become more sleep deprived than I will anyway become... in a month".

In a month I will be able to wear my regular clothes again. I will be able to go to sauna, have all-I-can-eat raw fish sushi rolls, resume running, boxing and long walks with audio courses in my ears, ankle weights and a stroller to push...

The lane lines in our swimming pool are light-blue and white. So are the little flags stretched above the center of the pool. When swimming back and forth becomes too boring and annoying, focusing on the colors and ignoring sounds can help imagine I'm somewhere in Bavaria :)

The difference between the first and the second pregnancy is that the second pregnancy is much more... empowering!

Having some experience with pregnancy diet already, now there is no need to refer to the "safe foods" guidelines on bookmarked Babycenter page. No need to count calories consumed and calories burned on a phone app either; when expecting the second child the deal is - when you have a chance - you eat!

The first trimester of the first pregnancy feels like 10 hours of sleep nightly would not be enough; during the first trimester of the second pregnancy I could function on the usual 6-7 hours just as well. At the same time I could also manage my mood swings better (especially if Arthur was nearby), and... ignore hallucinations.

I was generally able to maintain same level of physical activity throughout both first and second pregnancies - say, at 37 weeks I still do prenatal yoga twice a week and swim twice a week - but certain things that seemed impossible 2 years ago just happen now! For instance, 2 years ago I stopped jogging around month 5, when my belly started showing, and by month 8 whenever I had to cross a road running I was literally holding my belly with my hands, and yet it was still shaking and jumping up and down, making me worried about the baby and convinced I physically can't run or jump anymore at that point of my pregnancy.

Ha-ha-ha.

3 weeks till the due date - whenever Arthur sprints away from me in the street at an unpredictable trajectory, I chase him at a speed faster than a car coming our way and before a single thought of whether I'm supposed to be running crosses my mind. If I have to run - I will :) If at a playground I have to climb up a few steps to help Arthur get on the top of the slide and then - to jump down and run to the bottom of the slide to catch him - I will. I will also lift or carry around these 26-27lbs of pure awesomeness: if that needs to be done immediately - all out of sudden I can do that! :)

I am also one of those lucky women who never suffered from morning sickness throughout their pregnancy, but I can speculate that if I were prone to it, my nausea experience during the second pregnancy would have been much less brutal. Of other significant differences - this time I am much less swollen than 2 years ago, however my lungs gave up on jogging after month 2.

As for the remaining few weeks, the actual big day and the time of recovery - I am even more curious how things will work out this time. I'll have to wait just a little bit more until I actually have the right to compare and make conclusions :)

I should definitely resort to my own methods more often.

Rather than having unlimited patience with a potential tenant whose actions for the past 2 weeks were contrary to what he claimed his intentions were - I put an end to what turned into a time waste for both of us, and promptly got into a 3-year lease agreement on good conditions.

Rather than continuing searching for good and inexpensive team to do wall painting in condo - painted the walls that needed it most myself, spending not more than an hour on this (please do not attempt on week 36 of pregnancy though!).

Since the HOA could not have provided neither any information on the faucets and trim sets used in units in our buildings, nor - on who the builder was - jumped on ordering the new item online. Our condo's HOA have only been in a lawsuit with the builder for the past... 5 years, but I've been through too much with them already not to start hitting my head upon the wall when the customer service tells me they - unfortunately -  have no information about the builder.

Having realized I outgrew my current UN projects, applied for and got hired as part of the Grant proposal writing team. Although that's a totally new experience for me, I have a feeling of certainty that this is something I can and will do well and easy, and - that this is something that will become very useful in the future.

Life keeps proving it over and over again - as long as I stop beating dead horse and clean up the space  - new bigger better options will come up. I should have more faith in my own methods and strategies :) As long as I stop wasting time with insignificant things -  plenty of time will be created for successful carrying out of big projects, as well as for smaller but nonetheless - very pleasant accomplishments and moments with important people.

In particular, crossing off the main action items this week's to-do list got topped off with:

• finally ordering a good Russian ABC book for Dr Chill - and it shipped immediately, 
• picking a new prenatal masseuse - she's the first one not afraid to apply quite a bit of pressure along my spine and not treating me like a crystal sculpture; 
• having a great date night dinner with Von Zobel, trying new dishes at Le Central (usually we can't move past the mussels selection), tasting new wines (yes, in plural), and chit-chatting through the whole dinner;
• discovering that I will not need to bother with CO unemployment tax payment until June. Yay!
• attending a big birthday party of a close friend, and bringing Dr Chill with us. The courageous little Chinchilla survived over 3 hours of a noisy party full of adults and older kids without making a scene (I wouldn't if I were 20 months old);
• buying and assembling new crib for Dr Chill Jr, as well as a new mattress. 3 weeks till the due date sounds like time some preps for the youngest kid needs to be done :) The crib is now in our bedroom, which gives me a very... weird feeling (and makes appreciate those 6.30 hours of sleep I can now get).

And now, after being done with all this - the rest of Sunday afternoon will be spent in outdoors all-family pregnancy photo-shoot directed by Liz, cooking cabbage with beef and eating up our first-of-the-season cherries and apricots.

Using our first weekend in-town together as a family in a while

we went to give Dr Chill his first haircut. Never thought a toddler can be so good about having a stranger do something to his hair: as long as he could look into the mirror from time to time and figure out where the buzzing or clinging sounds come from, he would continue to sit patiently without a single whine, and Von Zobel's and my responsibility would boil down to keeping various toys in front of him so he kept his head straight (something even I am not always able to do during a haircut).

With an accurate trim all over his head, Dr Chill started looking 4 months older and acting at least a year more mature  :) with a serious look, he courageously took 3 trips in store carts around 3 different stores that day; became extremely hungry after the haircut but survived to get a snack pouch at a store (although not to upset him too much, I, for the first time in my life, allowed him to start eating the puree from the pouch before I paid for it at the check out.

The next hour and a half was spent looking for a plastic bucket, and - using the bucket - deep cleaning carpets in our condo - a real all-family activity. Sr. Director Chill was grabbing my hand and  pulling me from a room where the carpet was being cleaned to the bathroom so I could fill the bucket with hot water and solution, and then was pulling me back so I could replenish the water in the cleaning machine. It's amazing how he just picks up what's going on in a matter of seconds!
He was also trying to paint the walls in the bedroom using the new brush and roll I'd just bought, for "Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?"(c)

Nearly made it on time for the afternoon nap, which gave me some time to study and catch up with my to-do list stuff. The guests arrived at 6 for a nice big pot of beef and veggie roast, portobello mushrooms, bacon wrapped artichoke, green salad and a cheese tray, blueberry cake, macaroons and fruit. The next few hours were filled with great warm conversations and watching Dr Chill and his lady guest play together - and he was really great about playing with her, sharing toys and even crawling with her around the house! A real gentleman at his 20 months!

Later at night - quick clean up and nearly passing out with a movie, drinks and cheese and berry left overs. Another month to live a productive and intense family and social life. And then - we'll see how it all goes and what I make of it. But for now - that's what May 9th should definitely be like. 

There is something about relationship with other people I probably notquite understand.

 Or maybe not following the proper pattern in the right way. Or maybe unconsciously following a completely wrong one.

Tenants submit rent check that bounces back, apologize, convince me it'll never happen again,  once the check bounces back second time - say due to the payroll error they're out of disposable cash for the next 2-3 weeks. That is, until their  move out date :) And point at their security deposit I can keep for the last month rent.  Is it worth starting a scandal with them already?

Patiently refer the tenants to the lease agreement for the rent payment terms and late fees, explain that the security deposit can not be used towards rent.... And the tenant goes MIA and I receive no reply for another two weeks. Is it worth showing up at the condo without warning and starting a scandal now?

Since starting eviction process 2 weeks before move out is ridiculous, I focus on the condo showings.  Shortly after get an email form the tenant describing all sorts of problems in all areas of life she's been through recently and how (surprise!) they will not be able to come up with any  cash for me. But that they do absolutely need to stay in the condo for 1 more night past their lease end date. Tell them to go to hell? Prorate the rent for one more night to be deducted from the security deposit? In my turn, write a detailed email describing all the problems I have been through recently?

Agree to push back move out by 1 day and 1 hour, given the circumstances. The deal is that the tenants will clean out completely the condo prior to move out, and that we have a walk through together so there is a chance to point out at  any damages or missing items, and discuss or dispute them if needed.

Showing up for the walk through, I find the tenant there not quite ready. Fine. I agree with her to be back in 1/2 hour, walk back to the car, open my agenda, get on the phone... Come back in 35 minutes to realize no one opens the door to me. After a few minutes of waiting and knocking on the door louder, I open the door to find the condo empty. The tenants gone. The garage door key missing. The dishwasher not starting. A few items missing. And what's more fun - the condo in such a condition that would require cleaning services and disposal of personal items (I was surprised not to find any dead cockroaches in the fridge, and the small bathroom looked like there was a dog washed in the toilet bowl and then dried up in the dryer).

Still in the condo, leave a voice message to the tenant, follow with an email. Needless to say, I will not hear back neither the same day, nor the next day, not the day after...  I certainly am on the smart side requesting additional security deposit from tenants when I have a gut feeling I might need extra protection as the condo owner, - and it the extra security deposit cash just turned out to be useful... 

But there is something about the people relationship I am not seeing correctly. Or certain type of other people's intentions i do not have gut feeling for.

While driving to prenatal yoga class today, I had a thought

(and the view of mountain from County Line rd when approaching Broadway delivers all sorts of philosophical thoughts :) )  on how I'd describe the way most people are using social networks and media. I'd compare the quality and quantity of their original posts, reposts and pictures - to their  cooking abilities. And the way they express their thoughts and show their emotions - to use of spices when cooking.

It's not just that too many people seem to have the very same way of seeing life, very same goals and priorities  - and even ideas of what they need and how it will change their lives once they get it. The world they use to describe it - are so very same. And - this has never occurred to me before - their feelings and emotions, or at least the words they use to translate their feelings and emotions are often out of place or exaggerated. Any banal object must be magical, amazing or adorable. Any life event or situation, from a weekend hiking trip to a workout session  - awesome, or at least wonderful. Any problem gets blown up 10 times bigger, any joy or success - gets projected as phenomenal. That does leave a thought of emptying a whole jar of cayenne pepper into a pot of soup, instead of putting just a pinch. Or when baking chocolate muffins - doubling the sugar in the recipe, adding caramel and topping the whole thing with double layer of chocolate frosting. Or adding Tabasco to every dish or every meal: whether it's chicken , beef or fish; because without Tabasco "it has little taste".

On the way back from Santa Fe we stopped for lunch and got some broccoli cheddar soup, after tasting which I grumbled to Von Zobel that nowadays it is impossible in F&B industry to mass sell something unless it's too salty, too spicy or too sweet. Just now I thought that this might as well relate to mass selling of self online.

Santa Fe leaves an impression of one extended cozy and clean arts & shopping mall.

At least this is the view from the city center. It would probably be nice to just hang around the city for a day or two, dropping into various stores and then sitting on balconies of street bars at happy hours with live music...  Don't see many more potential activities there for... travelers with no commitments :) But as 3/4 of our gang were non-drinkers this time, and Von Zobel would not allow us all to suffer live music on a balcony of a bar just for his sake, we had to adapt our travel program.

One thing I started admiring Santa Fe and the near suburbs for right from the start is the well preserved and perfectly maintained style of architecture. I don't think I saw just nearly as many adobe buildings and houses in AZ; nor did I have a chance to see such good examples of Spanish colonial architecture yet (or something a little more unusual).

Even though we managed to visit a museum or see a sight during every 1/2 day: either before or after lunch - it still feels like we did not see much. Maybe because we're spoiled by Denver and local museums and botanical garden looked bigger and more existing on the internet when I was making the trip agenda. Or maybe - the reason they were not too big was that we managed to visit at least one point of interest in 1/2 day. :)
El Rancho de las Golondrinas though was a nice exception - we came there for a Civil War event, and despite the heat and large distances we had to cover without stroller (yes, it's great to have sportive husband!) we did not want to leave.

"Dad, cover your ears, aim, fire!"

And of course we all found the mill to be the coolest place at El Rancho! Dr Chill wanted to come back there 3 times:

Another thing that was literally knocking me off my feet in Santa Fe was lilac. It's abundance, the lush bunches of flowers in various colours and smell! I haven't smelled lilac so flavorful since probably my childhood, and  now couldn't walk past it: the smell seemed to have its very own body and texture, soothing and relaxing. Too bad no one came up with a digital smell picture technology yet :)