Welcome Finley Ernest!

HE'S HERE!!!
Finley Ernest was born October 17th, 2009 at 11:27am, at home, in our bed, with a midwife attending.
Total labor was 5 hours. (I plan to post a full birth story soon.)

The meaning behind his name:
Finley is Gaelic and means "Fair Warrior or Fair Hero."
(We all liked it because it is unique, we'll call him Fin for short, and it was a given that he would be "fair" regarding physical features.)
It was important for us to include a family name, and we knew that the person we wanted to name our child after was David's Mom, or "Grahamcracker", Ernestine. Ernestine was named after her father Ernest.
Ernest is German and means "serious, determined."
We couldn't be more blessed and thankful for this perfect little boy...

40 Weeks

I don't know why, but I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to actually get a 40 week belly shot...those feelings were obviously wrong seeing as TODAY I am 40 weeks 5 days pregnant! (just look at the ticker to the left!) ahhh! We're trying to be patient...he's not THAT late. I know everyone here is anxious to hold him!
My Mom has been here almost three weeks now! We're praying he makes an appearance this weekend!


At 40 weeks pregnant, it's important not to lose your sense of humor! I'm trying really hard to be positive!
Hopefully the next post will be all about our little guy's arrival! :)

36 Weeks

I posted these over on Facebook, but forgot to put them here. :) Actually the last two I think are in a private album over there on Facebook....ah, well...here is my baby belly in all it's 36 week glory!



Mom Experiences Creamer's Field...

Last Sunday we took the opportunity to take a little outing to Creamer's Field.
We knew the weather was beautiful and it would be one of the last times to experience all the incredible leaves of Fall.
Sure enought, today we have snow! Only a couple inches, but some nonetheless.
I was so excited to have mom see the incredible fields. I think she had a good time too, and of course we got some good photos too! :)

















busy..


We've been pretty busy around here lately. Major nesting going on, and having a good time reconnecting with my Mom.
This next week should be much more mellow compared to her first week here with us.
I hope to share more photos tomorrow from our trip to Creamer's Field last week. The picture above was taken that gorgeous day!
Also, we're down to 10 DAYS to D-DAY! I've been feeling really emotional, and on edge that last week or so. (God bless my little family for putting up with me!) A little bit of cramping and general discomfort as baby gets lower and lower. We're really excited to meet this little man! :)

She's Here!

ticket to ride

Conversation at dinner tonight on how our lives are about to change once the baby arrives...

she says... "It’s going to be SO different...I always thought it would be just you and me and Daddy...”
I say:.. “It’s going to be one wild ride...”
she says... “Yeah...one I didn’t want tickets for!”

oh. boy. where does she come up with this stuff!?

(disclaimer: she is really excited to meet her baby brother, but I am sure things will be different and new for her for a while. I KNOW she’s going to be the most excellent big sister EVER!)

5AM

Today I have been up since 5AM...bleh! Not by choice...I think this baby boy is re-wiring my internal clock. I predict he will be awake around 5AM every morning once he joins this world, because that's usually when I am laying in bed wide awake these days!
I figured if I was up I may as well make it as enjoyable as possible.
I came downstairs while everyone was still sleeping and dove into all my cookbooks and magazines to prepare this weeks menu. I also wanted to get a head start on meals I would like to prepare while my Mom is here, and for when the baby comes in about 3 WEEKS!
I prepared my breakfast of choice these days: toast with butter and jam

I have received many fabulous homemade jams from friends lately. Alaskan Blueberry Spice, Alaskan Raspberry, and this one just yesterday from a sweet new Momma friend:
Alaskan Lowbush Cranberry and Banana. Boy, was it YUMMY!
I prepared a steamy hot latte as well, and enjoyed digging through my books and planning many yummy meals.

As I was sitting in church yesterday, I was suddenly struck with a bit of panic, realizing that our baby boy is due to join us in LESS THAN A MONTH! 3 weeks! We're ready to meet him, and as ready as we can be for a newborn to come and live with us!
Happy Monday!

first day

Scenes from our first day of 3rd Grade...



I got up early to prepare for the day...I set out all the books, and G.'s favorite freshly sharpened pencils. I was super excited to set out Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School
I had bought it weeks before and kept it hidden away in anticipation of the first day of school. :)

When she sat down to eat her breakfast, she saw the book and "did a gasp" (as Junie B. would say) She said "Did you buy THIS?!" She has had her eye on it for a while. hee! hee!

It was a successful first day. I have quickly discovered G.'s favorite, and least favorite subjects already.
She LOVES Math and Science and whizzes right through her Math work. Spelling and Composition on the other hand...not so great! She despises taking her time to produce correct, neat handwriting. It is absolutely beautiful when she puts the effort in though. I'll have to share some of her compositions sometime.

Here are a couple of excerpt pages from Junie B.'s Essential Survival Guide to School
I read a few pages aloud from it one night at dinner to help G. finish her Lentil Soup (she was having a hard time eating a new food as per usual) I could not contain my laughter and was in tears at one point! Hilarious stuff! These are three pages we all cracked up at. I hope you can read them, I know they are a bit small.
love 'Cause your mother will buy the cheapest backpack in the store and there is nothing you can do about that situation' bit. :) 

The bit about the potato she found on the way home one day is hilarious. David and I could not stop laughing! :) 
Oh, and she finished her whole bowl of lentil soup that night! YAY!

my favorite day

Thursdays fast became one of my favorite days of Summer.
Thursday was our vegetable farm share pick-up day...

And the location we pick up at is near many yummy things...
Since pick-up is between 5-6 PM, it was always right around dinner time...
PERFECT! Because my favorite little pita shack is open that day! ONLY in the Summer though! This place prepares and serves their food in the most traditional style possible. It's the best Middle Eastern falafel I have ever had! The menu is small which enables them to prepare only "perfect" dishes! They even shipped the "perfect" pita oven from the Middle East to here, just to make those perfect pockets of yumminess! They even have Baklava! Mmmm...My favorite place ever! It closes for the season this weekend! :( BUT I bought two packages of pita bread to put in my freezer, and am contimplating getting two more today! :)

And since my favorite coffee shop is on the way as well...we might as well stop in there too! :)

Then across the street from our vegetable pick-up is the most popular ice cream place in town, also only open during the Summer... Mmmm...Chocolate Chip ice cream with chocolate sprinkles in a fresh waffle cone...G. and I shared this one. David's favorite flavor was Rum Raisin.

It became a tradition to eat our pitas at the ice cream place (G. brought a packed lunch since she hadn't developed a liking for pitas just yet...) and after we finished our delicious ice cream we would take G. to play at the park adjacent to the ice cream shop.
Much to G.'s dissapointment, the park was under construction the last night of our veggie pick-up/pita tradition! :(
This is one of the many things we will miss when we have to move away from here...
And for those curious...we STILL do not have word where we are moving to yet. We're down to approx. 90 days now, and hope they will let us know soon!

11 Years

(photo taken last month on a blueberry picking adventure)
Today marks 11 years I have been married to my best friend! This year is a little unusual in that we have no plans to celebrate. There are a few other things on our mind I guess...like my Mom is coming in a week! And we're going to have a BABY in approximately 25 days!!! 
We hope that once my Mom is here, we can at least go out to dinner somewhere nice.
I couldn't have asked God for a better 11 years. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend, and after 11 years, he is still the first person I want to see at the start of my day, and the last to kiss!
Yesterday he was super sweet and came home from work, picked up G. and the small grocery list I had made, went shopping and let me stay home and rest. And he brought me home one of these:

3rd Tooth

GONE! :) She lost it 3 weeks ago, and I've been meaning to share these photos ever since!

today...

I am...

menu planning, and making a grocery list...


Scheduling G.'s school work...we start NEXT WEEK! :)


writing a school year routine, to be loosely followed...


paying bills...


sprucing up the downstairs half-bath...(free art HERE)


Wishing for one of these... (don't you just love that coffee cozy!? I got the pattern HERE)

Angel Baby


Yesterday marked the day that we would be expecting our second baby to be born...
Last year, after two months of actively trying to conceive we were successful in December.
Two weeks after a positive home pregnancy test, I miscarried. Those two weeks were so exciting and happy! Because we learned right before Christmas, we thought we would wait a little bit to tell Gwyneth and others the happy news.
On Christmas morning Gwyneth opened her very last present that was merely a small note inside a little box that read:





Some of my family received an email with only the first picture in this post attached. Some got the message right away, others had to think a little about it...

Looking back, we realize we shared our happy news too soon. You never expect this to happen to you...
It was very hard for me, for two weeks or so. I didn't want to do anything but sit on my couch and watch mindless TV and movies while knitting. This is what I knit during that time...



I cried a lot...I didn't eat, shower, cook, clean. Nothing for about two weeks. (Well, I did shower...)
I am thankful that David was patient with me and let me be sad...
I never told myself I couldn't cry...I just let it out. I had random outbursts but was able to hide them from Gwyneth.
It about killed me having to tell my girl that we were not going to have a baby after all... She was confused...still is a bit to this day and occasionally remarks that she just doesn't get it, "Why did the baby die?" I think the same thing sweetie...
We will always remember that time and we trust that God has a great purpose for us going through something so sad...
We are also SO very thankful and happy that we did not remain sad...but that God blessed us with another positive test the very next month!!! We are excited to welcome our newest blessing in only 5 weeks!

32 Weeks


So...I'm really pregnant now! ha! It's undeniable. Everyone can tell! There is no hiding it. Not that I ever wanted to! :) I am asked often when our baby is due. I find great pleasure in people noticing and asking! :)
  • I love being pregnant.
  • I love feeling our baby boy move around
  • I love shopping and registering for the baby!
  • I love buying new cute maternity clothes that are often not even maternity, like the shirt in this photo. ha!

What I don't love...
  • the lack of sleep I am already experiencing because I cannot get comfortable at night.
  • The muscle aches in my back from carrying extra weight in front.
  • The sore ribs from baby boy kicking me!
  • The constant need to empty my bladder...3 am walks to the restroom are not fun!
  • Heartburn, because there just isn't enough room for all the food I wish to consume! :)
  • Not being able to put socks and shoes on very easily.
We had an appt. with the midwife today and we discussed homebirth as an option. We are set up for a home visit a month from now. In the meantime we are weighing the pros and cons of each, a birth center birth, and a home birth.
It's amazing to think that we will have a little infant in our house in approximately 48 days! WOW!
And Mom comes in "29 sleeps!" G. and I are going to make a count-down paper chain tomorrow! We can't wait to see her!

Sidenote: These two photos are the regular run-of-the mill "document the month" photos. We got a little creative and took some more artsy photos that show a bit more skin. G. was in there chatting with us while we were taking them, so they aren't risque or anything...but I am hesitant to share those ones here on the blog. They are actually some of my favorites though...I might come up with a way to share...maybe. :)

28 Weeks

I've been such a slacker documenting this pregnancy. Apart from a photo every 4 weeks, I have not been keeping any records, or journaling.
That pretty pregnancy journal I made sits untouched. I know I should document things while they are fresh in my mind and before life gets so crazy with a newborn...

Anyhow...here are the 28 week photos...so late! But they were in fact taken when I was 28 weeks along unlike the most recent 32 week shot that was taken a week late! ha!
I do remember that I started to really feel pregnant this month. The belly was definitely getting bigger, and in the way sometimes. I would try to squeeze by objects or people, only to discover, "oh yeah...I have a big belly now!" ha! It's amazing how quickly it appears! :)

Prepping For Baby

So I shared in a previous post that I had a mini-nesting session a while back. The pictures that follow my babbling display the results...

We live in a three bedroom townhome. The extra bedroom has been the computer/scrapbook room for a while now. It's also the "catch-all" room. There really was no way, without a MAJOR purge, that we were going to be able to put baby in there if we were not moving. We are moving, and are hoping to find a place to live that will accommodate our need for space. Until then, baby will be rooming in with us.
That said...my Mom is still coming to practically live with us soon. (She is staying a WHOLE six weeks!!! I'm so excited!) So we needed to provide space for her. She is insistent that she doesn't need much, but being who I am I am trying to provide her comfortable accommodations. :)
Her and G. will be sharing a room, but Mom will get G.'s big full sized bed. We are planning to get a twin sized bed to stick mostly in the closet. We'll see if that works...
G. has had her old changing table in her room all her life. :) It's been great for storage.
I am re-using that for baby boy. I cannot remember how we got it into her closet here when we first moved in...I believe it may have been put together inside the closet. It was kind of tricky to get out...and I was doing this all by myself...six months pregnant! I pulled out my pretty pink tool bag, and David's power drill and went to work. I removed the closet doors, and moved the changing table out. I moved some storage drawers from my scrapbook table in and created a nice little reading nook. A couple lanterns, and her favorite wall hangings completed the nook.






I moved the changing table into our bedroom. Convenient for those late night diaper changes.



The beige sweater and blue baseball onesie were David's when he was a babe...and the new sleeper is the first item of clothing we purchased the day we found out we were expecting a baby boy. G. picked it out. He will most likely come home from the birthing center in that outfit.



The first of the cloth diapers...more have been purchase and gifted to us since I took this picture.



The two blankets on the bottom of this bundle were David's when he was a baby, as well as the little jumper that is folded and the beige hat to go with the beige sweater. I made the grey hat and booties on the very top of the pile. :)



These are our most recent purchases for baby boy...David and G. went to Sears one day to look at tools, and came home with the adorable lion towel. The other items were total impulse buys...G. asked to go to the toy section of the store like she always does, and the only way to get to them was through the baby clothes...and they were on SALE. :)



We got a car seat a week ago, and have been driving around with it in the backseat ever since. It's so exciting to see! :)



David and I like to read a bit before bed sometimes. Here we are both reading up on childbirth...Him: The Birth Partner Me: Childbirth Without Fear
Still so much to do in the remaining 10 or so weeks...but it's nice to be nesting a little. :)
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