More Pictures!

Slowly but surely we are getting adjusted to our "new life" with our little girl! She is really quite a good baby, as long as we burp her well and rock her to sleep after feeding her, she is a happy camper! Most nights she gives mommy and daddy at least three hours of sleep between feedings to, so we can't complain much!

She is growing so fast already, which is exciting and sad at the same time! I just don't want her to be big yet, while at the same time i would really like for her to be old enough to sleep through the night (or at least for a longer chunk of time). She has grown 1/2 inch already and at her two week check up she was 10 lbs! (so i am sure she is at least 11 lbs now!) All her little rolls are getting bigger and her arms and legs are getting filled out and chubby!

Now she is starting to coo and smile at us! She recognizes mommy and daddy and nana's voice and face and will smile when we talk to her! We take tons of pictures of her and here are a few:

two weeks old

One day old

One day old

One day old

Life (or something like it)

She is finally here! Our little girl arrived after 17 1/2 hours of labor on December 2nd, 2009. She is beautiful! She weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 21 inches long and boy, did she not want to come out! We had to coax her all the way, and eventually had to "pull" her out after a fashion. But she is here and she is healthy and now mom and dad are just trying to get adjusted to life as it is now. I knew it would be crazy and i knew it would be different. I didn't know how much i would love it though! I have always wanted to be a mom, but this has just been the most amazing experience in my life. In spite of the lack of sleep and sometimes frustration just not knowing what to do for her or what is bothering her, i am loving every minute. I could stare at her all day and tell her how beautiful and loved she is. I still look at her and can't believe that she was inside of me (or that she fit!) and that God saw fit to gift us with such a beautiful daughter. It is just overwhelming! God is so good!

Daddy getting to hold you for the first time: we thought you would never get here!

Look at those chubby rosy cheeks!

Her first real bath and she loved it!

Picture Update

Thanksgiving photos:
The Boys _________________________________________

Our little family ____________________________________________

The pregnant girls!__________________________________________________

All the girls__________________________________________________________

Rodeo volunteer appreciation dinner (boy was the prime rib GOOD!)

39 weeks pregnant_______________________________________________

40 weeks pregnant______________________________________________

38 weeks and 2 days!

No, i am not hiding a basketball under my sweatshirt. That is my daughter, 38 weeks and 2 days old and making her presence known!

The Waiting Game

This week I am 38 weeks pregnant and on the countdown! We have 13 days till my due date (though i am having to constantly remind myself it could be more like 20 if she is a week late). I get that feeling that everyone is watching me like a time bomb about to go off. I find people taking in a deep excited breath when I call them, only to be disappointed when i don't announce "I am in labor!"

Believe me, i am right there with them.


If i did not FULLY believe that it is in the best interest of me and Gwen to wait until nature starts this thing on its own, then i would be begging for my doctor to do SOMETHING! In the meantime i am doing everything humanely possible (or plan to in the next week) to help nature along, naturally!

Top on my list is:

Lots of walking and being upright!
I plan to squat rather then sit (we will see how that goes...)
Introduce natures naturally occuring prostaglandin (which is a hormone that gets the labor juices flowing) as much as is humanely possible. :)
Staying rested
Drinking fluids
And there isn't much else i can do. :(

As i said, this is a waiting game.

In the meantime, i am focusing on the positive. Our little girl is doing well, healthy and good heartbeat. She should be around 7 ish pounds by now and completely equipped for life outside of me. She is still nice and wiggly too and head down! I have had no signs of bad scary complications like high blood pressure, strep B, preeclampsia, etc. And now that my massage therapist is back from hunting, i am not feeling quite so sore and tight! I was amazed at how much getting regular massage had been helping me until i didn't get one. And i am a massage therapist, i should know these things! But i can seriously say i had not really hurt during pregnancy until i didn't get a massage. It helps that much!

So i am hoping with all these things i am planning on doing and with my massage and eternal optimism :) that next week we will see a much bigger change. This week all my doctor said was that she had dropped some more, i was still only dilated to a one, but that i had thinned out a bit. She also alluded to the fact that i probably wouldn't have her before thanksgiving. :( So we are praying and hoping for more change by my appointment next week, because we are tired of this waiting game.


I hate waiting.

Why now?

So, we have been getting ready to have a baby. I am sure that much is obvious! :)

Went to birthing class
practiced relaxation techniques
doing labor exercises, when i remember
trying to be good and get lots of sleep (works about 50% of the time)
went MAJOR grocery shopping, hoping it last through delivery and beyond (Star Trek theme music anyone?)
Nursery is complete and put together
All baby clothes and such are washed, folded and put away
Diapers are slowly getting sewed (thank goodness we won't need them right away!)
Diaper bag is packed
My bad is almost packed
WE ARE READY!

I even went a little gangbusters and really cleaned my house yesterday. Now i am wiped out. And what had to happen?

Our hot water heater quit.

No hot water. No laundry. No showers. No baths. Nothing.

It is probably just something minor (thank you Lord!) but right now it feels like the straw that broke the camels back. Or the first thing to go wrong of many. Like, will tomorrow it be our furnace? Or our car? Please tell me i am not jinxing it by saying that, but i am starting to feel a little worried that something that major could go wrong while i am also trying to cope with having a baby!

At least one thing will go right today: i get a massage. Thank you Lord for that!

A Place Like Home

I was so excited yesterday to report on all of the baby stuff happening that i forgot some things! (imagine that! It seems my cognitive reasoning skills have flown and continue to regress as my due date gets closer)

According to my weekly updates, our little girl should be nearing 6 lbs and 18 inches long. She might have hair, and she can survive outside of the womb!

One of the best part about yesterday though, was i got to tour the birthing center we have chosen to labor and deliver at. Since i had never been there, it was really exciting! It may seem strange to you that i chose my delivery place without seeing it, but i had heard many good things about it and had several recommendations from friends, and it is one of the few places nearer to us that really works towards helping you achieve a natural birth (our goal).

So i was super excited, and a little nervous, to finally see the place i had chosen to birth at, that i will probably be headed to within the next several weeks.

Would i like the atmosphere? Would it be everything i hoped it would be?

I was greeted first by one of the nicest and friendliest people i had ever met. It was one of the nurses, and i immediately felt like she was my long lost aunt. She was very kind and easy to talk to and excited for me and to show me the place. She proceeded to show me around and answer any questions i may have had. I was so pleased! They have several beautiful rooms, or "suites" with large comfy-looking beds and large jetted tubs to relax in. They provide you with juice and snacks, one-on-one nursing (where else do you get that! ?!), birthing balls, emotional and physical support, Direct TV (yes!) and many other things. The atmosphere was homey and relaxing and i knew i would be able to relax and do my thing while there. They have much of the emergency things you may need should something go wrong, all cleverly hidden away and right within their reach.

As i was being given this tour i just felt such an immense sense of relief! In the last couple months, and especially the last weeks, i had been lamenting my choice against having a midwife and a home birth. I absolutely love my doctor and she is very good at what she does, but i had found myself yearning for a more one-on-one approach. I also had been dreading that point where you have to decide "Is it time to go to the hospital? Am i far enough along? " and then having to pack up all your stuff, and ride in a car probably while in active labor (that can't be fun) and go some where that is not familiar or relaxing because it is not home.

You can imagine my relief when after finishing the tour and leaving to run my other errands, i found myself excited to come back. I am excited to go to the birthing center and very confident that it is a place i WANT to go to. It is very welcoming, homey and relaxing and i am looking forward to laboring and birthing there. Thank you Lord!

Now I just have to find some patience for the wait ahead....

20 days to go!

We are officially full term! Yeah! Wednesday we were officially 37 weeks! Now it is okay for her to be born. Her lungs would be fully developed and she would be big enough to survive without having a NICU stay! Yeah!

Today i had my first once-a-week checkup. My doctor said i won't be going into labor soon :( but that i was about 1cm dilated (!) and that i would probably be having some contractions now (and i have! yeah me!). So now i am feeling so much closer! This has just been an exciting week: I get to go to the doctor again next week, we have our birthing class on saturday, i shopped and purchased the last of our baby "essentials" today and i had some contractions! Yeah!

Did i mention she is head down and dropped a bit? I just can't wait to see her and hold her :)

Here i am now, 37 weeks, 20 days to go!

Here i was last week, 36 1/2 weeks.

And as a final note, here is how we dressed up for haloween (can you guess what we are?)

Anxiously Awaiting

The time has come, now i can number the days, not the weeks, not the months, until our little girl will be here! Approximately. We only have 23 days until my due date! You can imagine the excitement and anxiousness permeating our home and family. Everyone is on the edge of their seats just waiting for the show to start!

I am anxiously awaiting my first contraction (what will it feel like? will i have a lot before i even start labor? is it bad if i don't have any before labor? will i be able to handle them? etc.....), my water breaking (will it break at home? at work? in bed? while at the hospital? will it be gross? etc......) and just how all of labor and delivery will go (will i tolerate it alright? will Gwen tolerate it all right? will it go fast? slow? will i need medical intervention? will i be able to do it without drugs? will my hubby be alright? will we make it to the hospital in time? etc........)

I am feeling that i am as prepared as i can be, having never done this before it is hard to know what i might be missing. But my house is clean, the nursery is ready and now all i really have in the way of projects is diapers. Yes, i still have 22 diapers to sew. And i better hurry up and get on it! I am running out of time! Because i am sure that once she grows out of her newborn size diapers and needs these that i am sewing i will not have the time or the energy to sew them if i wait that long! I will be taking care of Gwen for crying out loud! So i need to get a move on....

Other then that i just want it to happen! So i am still here, anxiously awaiting....

Praise and Prayers

As i have been saying the last couple of weeks, i just love this time of year! It brings out the homemaker in me and i love all the things that go along with fall.

This fall, we have been so blessed i feel i need to share! My hubby was able to go hunting, even though i am large and pregnant, and got his deer on the first day! And it was a big deer, as deer goes. So now we have meat in the freezer! Yeah!

My hubby also got a much needed and appreciated raise! While so many people are loosing their jobs, jobless or taking pay cuts, we are so thankful for a raise at all.

We also have some very good family and friends and during this fall season have received 30lbs of potatoes, 1/2 bushel of apples (that i didn't have to pick!), 2 bushels (or more!) of tomatoes, a 5 gallon bucket of green peppers, 1/2 a bushel of peaches, 3 flats of raspberries, countless blackberries, 2 5 gallon buckets of pie cherries, a whole bushel of pears and all of the countless goodies we got from our garden. I look at our cupboards and shelves and we have a lot stored away for the winter, that didn't cost us a cent. Thank you Lord!

I also would be very remiss if i did not thank the Lord for all the wonderful baby gifts we have received! Our friends and family have been so generous and our little girl will be well-clothed. Now that we are getting close to the end i find we still need very little, and most things are merely a conveinience and can be lived without. We have only had to buy her crib, part of her car seat, a sling, stroller and some other small things that mommy will need. Thank you Lord! Because paying for her arrival is burden enough!

In the midst of all of these good things though, there is a lot to be prayed for. And God in his infinite mercy and wisdom has showered us with blessings to sweeten the hard times.

My job has become almost non-existent, a blessing when i am tired or need to get things ready at the house for the baby, but it makes things on the financial end more then difficult. I am eternally grateful that my job (and right now my lack of a job) enables me to be a stay at home mom. But it comes with MUCH sacrifice and heartache. When you loose a source of income you need and it is not replaced with another it is just TOUGH! But i feel i am where God wants me to be, and even if i were able to get a different job, once i paid for child care, i wouldn't be making much. But prayer is much appreciated as we juggle things and try to figure out how to make ends meet.

My mommy was hit with the news that she has (or had) melanoma skin cancer. She had a spot that had been needing checked, but you have to get a referral to the proper doctor and blah, blah, blah, so it has been almost 9 months since we first noticed it. Thankfully it was only stage one and is localized and will only require surgery. But because of where it is she has to have a skin graft, a very delicate procedure which will leave her immobile and with painful stitches in two places on one leg! So, all in all, the whole situation is a praise, but she will need some prayer in the coming weeks as she heals and for the future, that it does not come back.

I have also had several other relatives with some serious health issues. My aunt had a scare that she has woman cancer. Thankfully she didn't, but must endure another horrible procedure that left her unable to walk for a couple hours, again in December. My Uncle was diagnosed with diverticulitis and has to get some more tests done to make sure it is gone. My grandpa is suspected of possibly having colon cancer or colon polyps (which we are praying it is!) and it getting tested today. I am just hoping it is curable by surgery, as i know that it will be hard enough to get him to do even that. My sister has also been struggling with infected bug bites down in Peru, and due to the lack of good medicine down there has been having a hard time getting rid of them. She is doing much better now but it is a concern that she will get them again, especially now that she will be going deeper into the jungle to start her missionary work the first of November. So please, keep her in your prayers as well.

To end on a positive note, however, me and Gwen are doing fine! My doctor assures me she should be average size, she is still head down and both of us are healthy. I am fighting a bit of a cold, but that is all. Just pray i can keep from catching anything else and will be able to rest up and conserve my strength for the big day!

33 days! (or 4 1/2 weeks, whatever sounds less)

Here is my weekly baby update:

Gwen is supposed to be around 5 1/4 pounds now and boy do i feel it! (Imagine a average sized honeydew) My achyness is starting to show up in the afternoon now, and by evening i am usually fairly uncomfortable. :) All of her physical development is done, now she just has to get fat (and her momma with her!)

My doctor assures me she is head down and now to big to flip (we are crossing our fingers on this one) and that though i will NOT go into labor anytime soon, i should start having some contractions. So that is good. Contractions means the end! Yeah!

I also find out next week if i have strep B, a harmless bacteria we all carry in our guts but that can make the baby sick, which would mean IV antibiotics during labor (i am praying not, IV's are EVIL!)

She is still an active little girl despite her lack of space, she is just now encroaching on MY space. Like my rib space, my bladder space and numerous other things that hurt when she kicks them. :)

I must admit, i can not WAIT to get this little girl out of me, where she can kick to her hearts content and i don't have to just lay there and take it!

I think she is starting to recognize her daddy's voice. At least it seems like 50% of the time she responds to him, and she almost always gets excited when he comes home. :)

We are getting a bit anxious, though i feel like i have gotten everything done that i wanted to before the birth. Anything else is just extra! oh, except i do need to finish sewing those diapers.....

Sweet Victory!

The Canning is Done! May I Repeat: THE CANNING IS DONE!


Yeah! I am so excited to be done with that part of the fall season! Wednesday i made and canned the last two batches of applesauce and now there is no more to can! Please, no one give me any more produce that may need blanched, peeled, pureed, frozen, processed or pressurized! I DON'T WANT IT!

Now my cute little built in shelving unit in my cute little dining room (that we never use) is full of all kinds of good things to eat that i have slaved over this summer. They sure are pretty and it gives me a nice feeling inside to know we have all that food stored away! Yeah for a cheaper grocery bill! (no wait, more like, yeah we have money to spend on our little girl! :)

Even though this process of canning and preserving all of this summers many produce blessings, i must admit i don't hate it ALL!

I have been feeling very domestic lately, and making applesauce just soothed that domestic part of my soul and made me feel good. I actually really enjoy making applesauce! We have an applesauce maker, so it is not really messy or labor intensive. All you do is quarter the apples, cook till they are soft and then run them through the applesauce maker! And WaLa! The applesauce comes out the middle and all the "yuckies" come out the end. So, like i said, not a ton of work. But i love how it makes my whole house smell so good! I love mixing the cinnamon in and watching it turn colors and i actually really like eating applesauce to. It is so yummy and it is just so.........FALL!

I have also been really enjoying, and almost NEEDING to bake. I think this also nurtures my "domestic" soul. As i was thinking about it and trying to figure out how to explain how.....happy baking and making applesauce was making me feel, i decided i think it might have something to do with how God made us.

I know not all women would agree with me, and that is fine, but i think that because God made us to be homemakers that when we do some of those "domestic, homey" things, it just rubs us right. Because God put that desire in us. Some of you might be "soothed" by doing the laundry or cleaning. I am NOT one of those people. For me it is baking and making applesauce. And i do really LOVE my evenings of sipping hot cocoa and knitting. Though i would never wish to be living in the pioneer times, i do envy their simple life. And the fact that they didn't have to "make time" to do some of those domestic things that i crave doing. I am sure they did not like it all, but i bet that each one of us could find at least one domesticy type of thing, that just for some reason, makes us happy!

"Fall" ing thoughts

Fall, how i do love you. Let me count the ways;

I love your beautiful colors! The greens and oranges, brown and yellows and golds.

I love your beautiful weather. The crisp mornings followed by perfectly temperate days and cool nights.

I love the bountiful harvest! Bringing in the garden produce, gathering potatoes and onions, apples, pears and peaches.

I love your smell. The wood-burning fires, the crisp leaves and steaming spicy apple cider.

I love getting out "new" clothes that haven't been worn for awhile: nice cozy sweaters and slippers, scarves and hats.

I love the end of outside work. To spend a quiet evening sewing, knitting or reading.

I love your decorations! The corn stalks and cobs, pumpkins and leaves, scarecrows and nuts!

I love your holidays! Halloween for the fun of being a kid again and dressing up, Thanksgiving for all the good food, good family and the reminder to be thankful, my birthday (!), Labor day (one whole day off!) etc.

I love the feeling of satisfaction and well being that comes from having harvested and preserved your own food and to see your shelves full of food for the winter! To come into the newly cleaned out house to rest for the cold winter months. The hunting season bringing in fresh meat to fill our freezers, that is good too!

But most of all: I love fall in the 21'st century! The leaf blowers, apple sauce makers, canners, vacumms, rotatillers and already picked orchards to visit!

I have started to read the Laura Ingalls Wilder book series. It is a series of six books about her life that she wrote, and they are old time favorites of mine! I love the simplicity of their lives, but this year i was also struck by how HARD they had to work and how thankful i am that i do NOT have to work that hard!

Everything they wanted to eat they had to grow, trap, make, preserve, dry, pickle or can. They made their own cheese, soap, pumpkin pack, smoked bacon and ham, hats, clothes, and more! It is charming to read about, but i am sure it was not so charming to do all that work.

This year i feel especially nostalgic: we are on the verge of a huge life change, one that will change our lives forever! This is our last fall, just the two of us. We are both so excited (and a bit nervous) and this fall i have had a bit more "preparing" to do. But now that it is mostly all done, i feel i can just sit back, anxiously awaiting this wondrous change. It feels weird to not have a list five miles long to accomplish, but it is a good weird and the same time. And i am sure that soon i will have my hands full and not be wanting for things to keep me busy! Only five weeks to go!

Wonderfully Made

Our women's group at church recently started a new bible study on Esther. I am loving it and the book we are going through. Every other week i have something to do in our bible study book, so on the off weeks i have found myself using the "crack open your bible and read where it falls" method of study. It has led to some unexpected gems but none quite so much as what i got from my study this morning.

This morning my bible fell open to Psalms 139, a familiar psalm but it became new to me this morning.

"For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because i am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when i was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Psalm 139:13-16

As I read those words this morning the awesomeness and the magnitude of what they actually MEAN just hit me full in the face. To think that God knows our little Gwen's face, even though we have not seen her. That he has carefully orchestrated each part of her body and is still watching over each little area of growth to make sure it is perfect. That he knew she would be born, or even created, before we had even gotten as far as wanting children! To think that he knows and can see the lenght of her days here on earth, right now, before she is even born! What an awesome and comforting thought! God has had her in the palm of his hand from the beginning!

So I am looking at this growing bump with a different eye today, and some very big thoughts about what my God may have in store for our little girl:

34 1/2 weeks, 10-16-09

It has just reinforced the idea of doing a baby dedication. I had never been to something like it until we started going to the nazarene church we are going to now. But i love it, it is such a beautiful gesture, giving our children back to God for his safe keeping. And i feel i more fully understand why now. They are never ours in the first place. And our children can not be more better off then in the hands of God!

Another verse i have really "taken in" as my own lately is this:

"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can i flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; If I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you."

It is just amazing how scripture, that you have read many, many times, can just jump off the page and speak to your heart anew! Thank you Lord for being so real to me, and giving me such awesome verses to remind us that we are not alone. Even in the darkest and hardest times, when we feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and no way out, even then you are there, and you have a plan.

"The Best is yet to Come!"

So today I am officially 34 weeks! Yeah! Hopefully a baby bump picture will be soon to follow. :)


Now our little Gwen is approximately 4 3/4 pounds and 18 inches long! My pregnancy update email compared her to an average sized cantaloupe (which must just be the weight thing, as i have never seen a cantaloupe that is 18inches long!) Her bag is packed and now it is just a waiting game!

I have started preparing myself mentally and physically with a whole array of exercises recommended in the wonderful book "The Birth Book" by the Sinclairs. I am doing exercises to strengthen my legs for squatting and pushing, strengthen my back and abs to continue to carry Gwen for the next 6 weeks, prevent back pain and give my strong muscles for pushing, and a couple more exercises that are supposed to help prepare your body for labor and all it will demand of me.

I am beginning to feel the effects of carrying an almost 5 lb baby in your abdomen. I am now fighting fatigue again daily and i have found that i am beginning to hurt during the day and not just at the end of the day. So far though, no heartburn! Since i really want her to have some hair, i hope that old adage about heartburn and hair is wrong, though i am not sorry i don't have it. :) Her movements are starting to feel ...... weirder and more uncomfortable. But we are on the down hill stretch!

My lists are still not completed, but the nursery is done, bags are packed and i have accomplished SOME things on my lists.....

I am resisting the urge to install the car seat now, as i think having it installed six weeks in advance may be a LITTLE too soon. But i guess you never can be too prepared. :)





This weekend was a very busy one for us! We were able to go up to Placerville to my husband's uncle's cabin and enjoy the company of family! I got to take care of my new little nephew for a WHOLE DAY! He is such a pleasant little guy to be around and SO EASY! Though we did have a little incident that left me feeling really unprepared for motherhood.......

It started with me forgetting to change his diaper after every feeding. So after his first feeding, i laid him down to sleep (seriously, he doesn't even hardly cry when he is hungry, or any other time. As long as you feed him every three hours, the rest of the time he just sleeps or entertains himself! Please Lord, let my baby be like that.....) Well, after about 5 hours on one diaper, i picked him up and he was wet from butt to neck. All the way through his cute little jammies and his blanket! Okay, mistake number one, no big deal. So i take him in to change him. As soon as i get his jammies and diaper stripped off him he proceedes to pee. All over himself. Shoot! So now i have to wipe him and the changing table down with baby wipes, which doesn't make him too happy cause they are cold. Mistake number two - little boys pee on themselves a LOT! Always have a diaper as a shield just in case! So i finally get him and the changing table all wiped down and am hurrying to get a diaper on him so i can get him in his jammies cause it is cold. He proceedes to barf all over himself (at least the top half). Repeat the cold cry-inducing wipe down. Finally he is clean, has a new diaper on and i can start dressing him. I have to snap him up three times cause i mess up the first two. Now i can get him into his blanket and put him back to sleep. After about what feels like 20 minutes just to change a diaper, i am feeling in need of just a bit more practice. YIKES! Am i really cut out for this?!?

Anyway, this weekend was such a blessing because it was the only time my dear hubby could go hunting. Normally he goes with my dad and younger brother, but they go about the middle of November. And there was no way i was going to let him be that far from me that close to delivery. So he had manly given up any hope of hunting this year. I know he was sad, but Gwen and i are more important. So we were both SO excited when we realized he could go this last weekend! And because his uncle has a nice cabin, with a phone and heat and all that and only 1 hour from Boise, i could go to. That would prevent him worrying about me and me worrying I might go into labor while he was gone. And then, thanks to God, he got his deer! One day for hunting and he got his deer! It was a beautiful 4X4 and will put quite a bit of meat into our freezer for this winter! We were both so excited and thankful for God's provision!

Then Monday we had the exciting priviledge to move my GREAT-Grandparents from Kansas to live with my grandparents here in Eagle. They were so excited to be here with family and just could hardly believe it was there new home. We are so excited to be able to see them much more frequently and this also means they will get to meet there first GREAT-GREAT-Grandchild. (I can't wait to get pictures!) God was so good and they got here safely and without getting too tired.

God has been so good to us, and the best is still yet to come!

Fall lists and ONLY 49 days!

As the time for meeting our little girl draws closer, we are increasingly finding ourselves unable to contain our impatience! We just can't wait to meet our little Gwen! And now we are down to only 49 days! Yeah! I have one two week appointment left and then will start going every week. And i only have 2 weeks until i pass the mark that if she was to be born, she would be ok. Whew! I can't wait for THAT date to pass! Then another two weeks beyond that and she would be considered full term! Who hoo! I REALLY can't wait till that day passes! That will soothe my mother heart and calm the ridiculous worries that have surfaced recently.

She is now about 4 lbs and 17 inches long! (about the size of a pineapple apparently). I am feeling an increased urgency to clear my to do list of all the things i need to do, coupled with increasing frustration on how little i seem to be able to get done! There is always more things to do! Though, i feel like we are ready for Gwen at least. The nursery is complete (save a changing table we need to pick up), all her clothes are washed and folded and in her drawers by size. Diapers and wipes are readily available. We have the diaper bag mostly packed for the big day and i am starting to gather things to pack in MY bag for the big day! :) All we truly would like now is a bassinet mattress for the bassinet we have in our room. But fortunately if that doesn't happen, her room is so close to ours we could just put her in her crib.

I can hardly believe how i am growing every day. I am trying to take pictures every week, though i am finding it difficult to keep up posting them since we no longer have internet at home. Such a small thing, but such a pain to not have! ARGGGHHH! I am finding this weather is making me want to bake, which is good and bad. Good because i find it very therapeutic, bad because i am trying not to gain more then is necessary! And lets face it, with the holidays coming up, i have an uphill battle!

So today i am pondering making pumpkin bread and probably soup for dinner. I love making soup! It is so easy and it makes you look like a culinary genius because it is always good, and once again, i think therapeutic.

I have also taken up knitting again and forgot how much i enjoy it! Unfortunately i am not knitting cute baby hats like i would like to be, instead i am trying to clear my needles of a project i started two years ago and realized i was in over my head. So i am trying to finish it so that i can hopefully purchase some yarn and start some adorable little hats! :)

And last but not least i am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel in my canning saga. I now only have applesauce to make, and hopefully i can accomplish that in the next couple of weeks. I am also hoping and praying that my grandma's applesauce machine still works, that way i don't have to do it the old fashioned ( and long! ) way!

So my next seven weeks are full to the brim in getting ready for winter and our new little one. I just hope i can get it all done!

New baby bump

So this week I am officially 32 weeks preggo! This picture is actually 32 1/2 though. She is growing like a weed!
I am finding that at times, TIME is seeming to speed up a little bit. The two weeks between each doctors appointment seem to go pretty fast. And after tuesday, i only have one more two week appointment! Yeah! Then i go every week, which i know will go fast. And i know you only get to go every week when you are close :)

It's all fun and games until......and other bits

It's all fun and games until.....

someone pokes their eye out

you get hurt


you get in trouble

you loose a limb


I am sure we all heard that phrase at one point or another in our childhood, or maybe even recently. :)


Well for me it has all been fun and games UNTIL this cute bump started making me hurt.

Let me remedy that sentence, until Gwen started making my back, neck, shoulders, hips, belly, knees, legs and heart hurt.

The fun and games are gone, now my body is starting to rebel at having to carry this extra weight!

So now added to the fact that i am over-anxious to meet our little girl, i now just want my personhood back! I want to sleep without pain, walk without running out of breath, bend down without having to groan, eat without wondering what it might do to be later and roll over in bed with a minimum of effort and no dizziness!

I guess i had it coming. My pregnancy has been EASY! And by all accounts, i really have no right to complain now. For the most part, during the day i feel good, have a moderate amount of energy and am pain free. Plus, i do have the blessing of getting a massage once a week..... And i guess if it got real bad right now, it would just serve me right for having it so easy up till now.


But i am now just finding myself praying that for many different reasons (mainly cause i want to meet our little girl so bad!) i hope Gwen is just a TEENY bit early. Not to early for her to be too small, but earlier. Please?

We have had other exciting things going on in our lives though BESIDES our little Gwen (i am sure you would never have guessed that :)

My Great grandparents (yes i said GREAT) are coming to live with my grandparents in two weeks! They have lived in Kansas their whole lives and it is just getting too hard to take care of them when we live up here. So now we will get to see them MUCH more and they are very excited! I think this will greatly improve their quality of life, their health and probably extend their years on earth. Though we know they won't be with us too much longer, this is just going to be such a blessing to spend these last years or months in such close contact as we have been apart most of our lives. And maybe (hopefully!) we can squeeze in a 5 generations photo! Wouldn't that be cool!

WWW

You would never think that not having internet at home could be such a big deal. Well let me tell you, it is!

We have not had internet at home for a little over a year now (trying to save money) and now today we finally got it again! I am so so excited! It is amazing how often you use the internet every week and how much of a pain it is when you have to go somewhere else to get it. Now when i go to my parents house i won't be spending 80% of the time online and i can actually visit with them! Yeah!

63 days to go!

Yesterday i was officially 31 weeks pregnant! Here is a belly bump picture:

My doctor assures me i have more room left, but i sure do not feel like it! I finally took some pictures of the newly decorated nursery too so here they are!

I must admit, even though i am down to 63 days (or 9 weeks whichever you prefer), i was feeling like that is still a VERY long time! I mean, 9 weeks! That is more then two months! And i have to get bigger and a lot more uncomfortable during that time! But then i realized: I only have two more bi-weekly doctors appointments and then i go every week! Wow! I mean, you don't go every week until you are almost there! And i must admit, that since i have started going every two weeks, it has gone pretty fast. I just went on Tuesday again and it felt like i had just went, even though it had been two weeks ago. So that got me excited! Because i am so anxious to meet this little person inside of me! (and to get my mobility back! I swear i feel like i have gained 50lbs instead of just 28! I just can't move very fast anymore....)

My hubby is getting very anxious as well. When we went to see my new little nephew he was excited, but he said to me "I just wish it was our turn!" Don't i have a cute husband?

Oh, and i have a funny story to tell you! Throughout this whole pregnancy thing, my hubby has been pretty involved. He usually does not tune out when i start talking baby stuff, he has wanted to be involved in all the decisions we have had to make and he has taken care of me quite well. But, he has never been super excited to feel her move. This just does not make sense to me, because i think it is the most exciting thing in the whole world! But i really can't complain, he has been great in all other aspects, and it isn't like he doesn't like my new shape. So when we started talking about car seats and what we should get, i could not believe how excited he got! It was kind of weird! Once we settled on what to get and i went to get it, as soon as he got home from work he asked me "Did you get the car seat?" and then proceeded to rip open the box and scrutinize my purchase! Don't get me wrong, i was excited about the car seat because it is just a visual reminder that we get to take home a little baby in november and that it is getting close. But i couldn't believe that my hubby was THAT excited! I really thought he was going to rush out to the car and install it right then and there! So here is a picture of the RIVETING car seat:

Next time i will post some pictures of the clothes we had so much fun picking out for her to wear home from the birthing center!

I'm an Auntie!

This last weekend the exciting event finally happened!


My sister-in-law had her baby!

His name is Saige Gavin, he is 8lbs, 2ounces, 21 inches long and born with a moderate bit of dark blonde hair. He is absolutely adorable!

As we have been anticipating this for awhile, i am so excited now that he is born!

The really unfair part is that he has to live with his parents in Gooding, which is too far for me to see him much. :(

I am afraid it would just give me "baby fever" though. I already thought "this is not fair, i want it to be my turn!"

Well, i still got 9 weeks to go (and i do want her to stay for most of that time, i don't want a half-baked baby). But we are both getting anxious, and it was exciting to think that it WOULD be our turn soon and I would be in the bed smiling holding a new little baby and accepting everyone's congratulations and oohhs and ahhs about my perfect child and how adorable she is. :)

And then i realized, i am an auntie! Wow! I forgot about that part!

This is the first time i am an aunt, and i REALLY like it! I think it affords me certain priviledges like:

If you are a "lower ranked relative", i get to hold the baby first :) just kidding
I get to show pictures around like he is half mine

And i am sure i get some other priviledges as well, i just haven't figure it all out yet. :)

These are a few of my favorite things....

I have just been looking at these, and thinking about them, folding them, washing them, unfolding them, looking at them, showing anyone who comes to my house........you get the point! So i thought i would share a few of my favorite things right now with you. :)

My week

This week our little Gwen is 2 1/2 lbs and 15 inches long! Her brain is growing bigger and her bones are solidifying. Here is a picture:

My tummy is now 31 inches, so i guess that means she grew!


And here is the reason why i have been wiped out this week and haven't blogged: canning!

I think i took a bit more then i could chew at once! A dear friend of ours had tomatoes coming out their ears, and so i was able to get some from them, since our dogs are eating all of ours. Both boxes were full and so is the five gallon bucket. Needless to say, i didn't need that many! But after two days hard work, i now have 24 quarts of spaghetti sauce in my pantry, and a five gallon bucket of tomatoes that i have to figure out something to do with!


Making spaghetti sauce sure is messy!

Here is the finished product! All of my hardwork so far this year in the canning department.

Motivation!

Today is going to be a good day. I can already tell!

Throughout this pregnancy i have found it weird that i have a few days, spaced out way too much, when i have boundless energy and am super motivated. On those days i want to get my whole house clean and get all my projects done and i feel like i can! These wonderful get lots of stuff done days are interspersed with WEEKS of "i don't care what my house looks like or what i need to do" days when i am lucky if i get the laundry done (usually when my husband tells me he doesn't have any underware) or even get dressed.

Although, getting dressed is something i do rather infrequently now. I mean, i always have clothes on, but they are more along the lines of basketball shorts and a tank or t-shirt. Nothing beats the comfort and lets face it, when i am home all day, why should i bother to put on jeans?

Any way, back to the crazy motivatedness. I think it is weird that is happens that way. I wish i had more motivated days, but maybe this is God's way of teaching me to be self motivated? I have also just FELT motivated before, so i never really had to make an effort to BE motivated. Until Gwen entered my life.

But from personal experience, i also know that even though i may FEEL like super woman and that i can cross everything off of my list today? I can't. I will crash and burn about 3pm if i even try. So i have made some moderate goals for today:

Clean the house - just the top part, and all i really have left is the bathroom and the floors, all the picking up i got done this morning.

Finish the laundry - i have one more load to wash, shouldn't be too bad

Get that done in enough time to sew this afternoon!

Oh, and our little Tank puppy is doing better this morning! I am so glad, it was just so sad to look at him. You could tell he was really sick. He has been my little buddy this morning, following me around wherever i go! I am so glad!

Sad Day

I am very sad.


Our little puppy, Tank, is very sick.

Last night he was throwing up every couple of hours so we took him to the vet this morning.

And they told us he has Parvo, which is really bad for dogs.

So now we have to give him shots and fluids and they say he has a 90% chance as long as we keep him hydrated. But he just looks so sad and sick, it breaks my heart.

:(

Work and Work but NO WORK!

So far this year, massage has not been doing so hot. Not only have i lost about half of my clients due to their financial issues, but i do not seem to be getting new ones. It has not been good. Though i was thankful for the slow times this spring when i wasn't feeling my best, i am now very concerned that it may never pick up, at least not for a long time.

I have been praying for direction for the past couple of months, but i am still not feeling a move from God to look for another job. Several problems would present itself in getting a new job anyway:

1. Could i get a full time job?
2. Would i have to travel to my job? Vehicles?
3. Would i be able to make enough to make it worth having a job after paying for daycare?
4. Could i really put my child in day care when i believe it is not the best for her?


After running some numbers through my head i have come to this conclusion: I would have to make at LEAST a minimum of say $17 dollars an hour to make it worth paying for daycare. Because it would take such a big chunk out of my income that it would put me back to earning what i do now, and right now i am only working 4 hours a week and could raise our daughter myself. I am just not finding it likely that i could get that kind of a paying, full time job in this economy.

And quite honestly, the fact that i am not feeling that getting a new job is what God wants me to do just reinforces to me a couple of points:

1. I do NOT want someone else raising my child and that is OK! I just can't think of having children only to hand them over to a day care to do the most of the raising.
2. God ideally WANTS me to be able to be a full time mom, that was his original plan and that is why i feel this way.
3. Which must mean that SOMEHOW even though i can't see even a tiniest glimmer of hope as to how our financial situation can improve, that God MUST have a plan for me to be able to do just that: be a mommy!

Inspite of all this "non-working" i have still been keeping plenty busy! Besides cleaning, cooking, weeding and all of that general household and yard upkeep i have also been working hard canning! This was my friday project:

My wonderful husband went and picked me WAY too much corn, but at least i wouldn't run out of it! Now here is the finished product along with some other canning i have been doing:

So far i have canned 10 quarts of corn (which by the way i hope to never have to do again. You have to pressurize each batch for 85 minutes!), 9 quarts of green beans (from our garden!), 12 quarts of beets, and a bushel and a half of peaches (split between my mom and me gave us each 14 quarts of peaches!) I am SO proud of myself for doing most of this by myself and in my EXTREMELY hot non air conditioned house. My project for this week? Tomatoe sauce!

I have also been working hard sewing and doing all those fun baby things! My mom and mom-in-law where wonderful last week and helped me get my nursery put together. In the meantime i have sewed several blankets and one diaper, with lots more to go!

I have also been needing to add these other ultrasound pictures on and i just haven't gotten around to it so here they are!

What a big yawn for such a little girl!