I'm an aunt again!

Wyatt Francis Manuel Barnes Brummer- Born 6/30/09 1:40am- 7lbs 2.3oz. 20.25 in. Congrats Aaron and Megan! More pictures to come once I get there- 4 more days!!!

A Letter to My Unborn Nephew (who is due in 2 days)

Dear Nephew,

I love you!

You have been in your mommy's tummy now for quite some time. I know it feels warm and safe in there, but trust me- it's safe out here too! Your mommy and daddy are going to take REALLY good care of you and you don't know it yet but you are one of the luckiest little boys in the whole world- your mommy and daddy are AWESOME people and you have a whole big extended family that is going to love you like CRAZY!

Your mommy has been working very very hard to get her work done so that she can spend lots of time getting to know you. She is one of the nicest ladies EVER and she's also very smart and pretty. She will no doubt take you camping, bake you delicious treats and teach you how to be a wonderful boy. She is really excited about meeting you and she is making you a nice room and even put in new carpet in your house! You are getting the star treatment- really, you should get out here and see for yourself!

Your daddy is the coolest. He will protect you, he will make you laugh, he'll cook you delicious food and he'll take you on adventures. He will also teach you lots of useful things like how to swim, how to fix things, how to build things and how to pick up chicks. Your daddy is really excited to meet you and trust me- you should be really excited to meet him too!

I'm your Aunt Rachael and unfortunately, I live far far away. The good news is that I am coming to visit in just 8 short days. I really want to meet you while I am in town.. You should want to meet me too because I am a very fun aunt and I am very serious about spoiling you rotten. Someday when you are bigger you can come and visit me in California and maybe we can go to Disneyland - where Mickey Mouse lives. You can eat cotton candy and churros and meet princesses and ride all the rides with me. It might not sound good right now but trust me, it will. Unfortunately, you can't do any of these things unless you come out of your mommy's tummy and start to grow big and strong.

My darling nephew, I know you're going to come when your ready. I just thought you should have all the facts so that you can make an informed decision about when you want to make your grand entrance. We love you so much and you are going to be so happy when you decide to show up.

Please come soon!

Love,
Aunt Rachael

The Anticipation is KILLING Me!!!!

Ten days from now I will be in Iowa City. Eight days from now we start our journey- we leave Santa Barbara Thursday night 7/2 and head down to Orange County where we will spend the night at the Marriott and then fly out of SNA bright and early on 7/3. We fly into Chicago where we're renting a car meeting up with our friends from Michigan- Amy and Charlie- and going to see the fireworks at the Taste of Chicago and then spending the night in another Marriott that night (thanks to my AWESOME bro for the "friends and family" discount!!). Then Saturday (the Fourth of July!) we're driving our rental car to Iowa where we will return it and be picked up by my family- at which point I will personally be feeling a mixture of elation and relief!

To top it all off we're going to be pulling into IC just in time for Jazz Fest! SO awesome.

My mind is REELING with all the things I miss from home....and all the things I plan to do when I'm there! I can't wait to see our families and enjoy the REAL summer weather. And of course, eat all the yummy food from all the places I miss that we don't have out here.

I

CAN'T

WAIT!!!!

More Softball

Lost another game last night. The team is 1-2 but we weren't there for the second game. Last night Justin had two great hits way out into left field. I hit one right to the pitcher for an out and then I got on base with my second hit, just past the shortstop. Justin also caught two fly balls in the outfield. Here are some pics from the game- just in case you're wondering why I'm reaching for my hit- I already had two strikes against me so I was swinging no matter what- even though it looks like it may have been a bit of a reach. :)

Audrey!

I realized that I was on blogging hiatus when Graham and Marie and Audrey visited and although I did post my Audrey pics on Facebook, they did not make it to my blog- BAD AUNT! :) Last night at bible study I got to hold sweet baby Jane (Stacy and David's little one) and it made me think of my sweet niece who is nearly 8 months old and who I will be seeing in a little over a month!

This first picture is one that her mom sent- I love her little curious face!
The next one is of she and I when they were here in March- look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

And one of my favorites- one of the days they were here we went to Borders and were looking at books for Audrey and it was SO cute- every book we showed her she would get so excited- she'd gasp and her little hands would tremble with excitement! We probably showed her every childrens book on the shelf! I ended up getting her one of my favorites- My Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton. We had a lot of fun reading to her and she did some studying with Uncle Justin too!

We love our niece and nephew- can you tell? And I can't wait to meet my new nephew VERY soon!

Gospel, SLEEP and BABIES!!!

That's pretty much my weekend in three words.

Friday night Justin and I had a date night and went to hear the UCSB gospel choir. It was fun- a little unusual, but fun. The unusual parts: it started 25 minutes late, hot dogs were sold at intermission (even though it was an actual concert, at night, in a recital hall), and the director took about 20 minutes of the concert to introduce all of his family and friends who were sitting in the audience...even bringing his wife onstage to give her flowers and to tell her: "Baby, flowers die, but my love for you never will".....hmmm, interesting! Not exactly what I expected but it was fun to see the students totally singing their hearts out and we decided it was still cool that we did something other than go out for dinner like usual.

I put SLEEP in the title because last week I slept like garbage-which is really unusual for me and I'm not really sure what caused it- but I was in dire need of some catchup sleep this weekend and ended up sleeping about 23 hours combined between Friday and Saturday nights. I am feeling very rested. :)

And of course BABIES: Got to do some baby shopping yesterday for a baby shower that I went to today for a friend of ours in the Philosophy department and of course I couldn't resist picking up some more items for my soon-to-be-here nephew (who, incidentally also had a baby shower tonight back in Iowa). I can't wait to spoil him but I need to remember that anything I buy will have to fit in my suitcase! Thanks to Stacy D. for the ideas- I emailed her this week to find out what she's gotten since her little girl was born (less than 2 months ago) and feels she couldn't live without. On her recommendation I got Baby-boy Brummer a four-pack of these awesome swaddling blankets that are really nice- she says they are the best ones that they have used and the best part is that they are really breathable and lightweight which will be good for a summer baby! Also they are supposed to reduce the risk of SIDS, colic and fussiness (not sure what kind of study proves that but I definitely will take the recommendation of new mommies!) Hopefully Baby-boy Brummer will like his fancy California swaddling blankets :)

Softshare Bat Pack

We had our first Softshare softball game last night. Unfortunately we lost 10-13 but the good news is that I didn't do anything embarrassing :) The bummer is that we actually only got to play 3 1/2 innings before time ran out- I really think if we had been able to play a full game we might have won.

I played out in right center and Justin played left center and third base. I was supposed to get to play 1st base later in the game but we ran out of time. I got on base twice (hit once, walked once) and Justin did too- even though he hadn't batted even for practice since we played in a church league in Michigan!

Here are some pictures that my co-worker Adam took:

Here we are pre-game (notice that my uniform is basically a mumu):

Trying to convince my nervous co-workers that we're just here to have fun:

Justin getting ready to bat:

My batting stance looks lame here, I think it's actually between pitches, so I'm not really "ready", just waiting for the pitcher to get ready:

I think it's going to be a pretty fun season!