Saturday, November 1, 2008

halloween sans baby


First of all, the cute little Baby Ticker at the top of my page now just serves as a reminder that I am PAST DUE. But I'm trying to remind myself that we have a little time to take it easy before she arrives, and to be grateful for every second of peace and quiet I have for now. It's going to get crazy any day now! I am terribly uncomfortable, and I am really anxious to meet our little girl and give her a name, but other than that, I really cannot complain. I have been blessed with two uneventful pregnancies, and I am so thankful for that!

One of the bonuses of Baby Sister still being in her cushy little home is that I got to go to the mall for Trick-or-Treating with Daddy and Rachel. It was going to be a special Daddy-Daughter night, and I was planning to be home with Baby, but we got to go as a family instead! It is unfortunate that Baby has two very cute Halloween bodysuits that she won't get to wear, though. At the suggestion of a friend, I dressed her up anyway. We got lots of points and chuckles. Rachel was Little Red Riding Hood, and her best friend Wolfie was her Big Bad Wolf. I checked out a really simple (and not-scary) version of Little Red Riding Hood at the library this week, and we've been reading it every day. Rachel was very excited to get dressed up, and even agreed to TWO ponytails like Red Riding Hood has in the book. On a side-note, I was very proud of myself for making the basket liner to go in her Easter basket for her costume

I took Rachel to the mall last year and she had such a fun time. I didn't remember it being too terribly crowded, but I remembered terribly WRONG. It was a mad-house! We will not be doing that again. I guess I failed to consider that 16-month-old Rachel stayed content sitting in front of the candy store sorting a big bucket of gum, and then helping hand out candy the whole night. We never even ventured into the big part of the mall last year. It was almost unnerving how crowded it was this time. I was very thankful to have Jarrad there!

On the pregnancy side of things, I will be going back to see the midwife on Monday. They will give me some sort of stress test to be sure it's safe to continue. I think 42 weeks is the max they will let me go, and then they will try one drug-free option to get things started before ultimately sending me to the hospital to be induced with Pitocin. I will be really out-done if I end up in the hospital to have this little girl. I have been looking forward to trying a water birth and being in a home setting, letting my mother-in-law catch the baby, and just generally being supported in a different kind of way. I am trusting God that she will come how she comes, though, and I'm trying not to get stressed out about it...anxiety can't possibly help move things along.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

bags & bellies


I have had an itch to sew lately, but the room that houses my sewing machine is a disaster. While Jarrad was home and occupying Rachel yesterday afternoon, I cleared a path, and last night, as soon as my little precious baby went to bed, I hopped online to find a bag I could make out of an upholstery remnant I bought a long long time ago. Here is the finished product. It was SO much fun! I used this tutorial, and I think I'm going to modify the dimensions a bit and make a good sized diaper bag for our next baby. I also might venture into making some fitted diapers soon too, but we'll see!

As for Rachel, here is a better picture of her post-haircut style. See her bouncy little curls in the back?? I love it! She isn't exactly showing them off in the picture--she was turning from the camera so I couldn't take her picture. Silly girl...here are some random funny Rachel sayings:

  • "Calm down, Mommy."
  • "One more cookie, Mommy--that's all."
  • "Bother you, bother you," (when her undies are riding up)
  • (After singing an unknown song with unintelligible lyrics),

    "Know that song, Mommy?"
  • "Ohhhh, how cuuuute!"
  • "Spiderweb, eat the 'squitos. STAY OUTSIDE!"

As for the new baby...well...she's a'growin.' I hate this picture of me, but, in case you were wanting to see, here's my big baby belly, at almost 28 weeks (my hair is at 7 weeks; I had to sadly cancel my appointment last week because Rachel was sick). Rachel is fascinated by it, and is constantly asking to "see Mommy's baby." She talks to my belly, hugs it, kisses it. She says, "snuggle heeeeer," and then rubs her nose on my belly button. It's nice that she's so interested. When we ask her "What should we name our new baby, Rachel?" she always replies, "Baby Sister!" Not much help, but cute, all the same.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

a few days later

I have been a completely uninspired blogger lately, but I'm sure I'll be back on track soon. Rachel stays so busy these days, and she's doing a pretty good job learning to entertain herself for short periods of time, which is a big relief. She also understands a lot now, which makes rules a lot easier too. All-in-all, the days aren't as long as they once seemed, and I'm having the most fun yet!

Here are a couple of pictures of Rachel in her Easter dress (which I made!). I was pretty exhausted on Easter Sunday because we were traveling the day before, so I didn't even get out the camera, but, thankfully, one of my friends snapped these shots at church that morning. This dress was really easy to make--and much less sophisticated than the smocking and ruffles many little girls were sporting that day--but we got a ton of compliments on it, and I am convinced that it's because the fabric is so so cute. Why don't they sell kids clothes made of fabric like this??


As you can see, Rachel was none-too-pleased about the photo op, but she was in a generally good mood that day, so I can't complain.

I am really looking forward to next year, when I think she'll be able to understand a lot more about Easter (beyond finding plastic eggs lying around everywhere). I can't wait to explain to her the sacrificial love of our GOD, displayed through His only begotten Son, Jesus, who died on the cross and then defeated death in His resurrection. What an amazing and humbling event to commemorate.