Happy New Year's Eve!!!

Happy 28 weeks!!!!!!!

Thanks for all the prayers helping us reach this first goal! The new goal is 32 weeks :)

But today, we're celebrating!

We hope 2014 brings happy times for all!

  

Chronicles of bed rest.

This post has been a work in progress. Additions made slowly over time. It has been and continues to be a journey. Some days good, some bad. Some pass fast, some drag on.
Thank you for all your prayers. Please continue as we are hoping to make it quite a few more weeks before delivering.
Here is a little glimpse into life for the past 2 months. 

I broke my streak of having never stayed the night in the hospital.
We went in for our anatomy scan of the little peanut (It's a Boy!), and landed in the care of perinatologists for an overnight stay. I was being monitored for early contractions and some other high risk factors they discovered during the scan.

Here is my last meal from my short hospital stint.
I had to order the chocolate milkshake. I had it on good authority from my grandma that is was good, and in fact, it was delicious!

 

NOV 7

These little munchkins came to distract as well! They were quite content once they found this rocking chair.

When home, I was struggling to adjust to being idle while Steve grocery shopped, cleaned house, did laundry, changed sheets, and made dinner and a cake. 

See we were supposed to reveal to the family via a cake surprise the gender of our peanut. But in all the other excitement, I just went ahead and told everyone what the gender was. 

Grappling for some good news as I struggled with my bed rest sentence. 

Steve made the cake still, but he brought me sprinkles and goodies as my craft project for the day.

NOV 9

The end result!

Surprise!

It's a boy!

A little boy that needs to stay in my tummy and cook for quite a while longer. 

Right now I'm on modified bed rest, and we're hoping to keep it that way. If you have to be on bed rest, it's the best kind to be on. I can get up to use the restroom, make quick meals and do QUICK outtings out, but no heaving lifting like groceries or laundry. 

I have been delivered lots of books, magazines, movies, Netflix ideas, and craft projects. 

Thank you to all who have offered a helping hand, emailed, called, or stopped by. 

It means the world! It's brings the world to me as I don't get out these days.

These two came to visit and entertain me. And entertain they did! Little musicians in the making.

NOV 12

Then just as I was settling in and working on an "at home resting schedule," this happened again.

Much bigger room, but bad view of the parking garage.

NOV 16

Then back home again.

I had thawed out some salmon to cook before all this mess started happening and it needed to be cooked! I felt bad having, what I thought to not be a beginner cook's meal, need to be made. But I explained the steps and timing once, and Steve went with it and created this delicious meal!

NOV 18

My little caregiver. 

It's hard work. 

He's doing a great job!

We're back home again and hoping to maintain a pattern of boring weekly check ups with no exciting news.

Until March that is.

Now it's Dec and here is what we have been up to. 

 DEC 1

Well, this is pretty much the extent of our Christmas decor this year. Steve did get lights on the outside and a wreath on our door. I hung our stockings at the fireplace, but all in all, it's minimalist Christmas around here to reduce the burden on Steve some. 

 NOV 30ish

Mom sent me home with some Thanksgiving leftovers to enjoy. Bailey wanted to enjoy them too. This has become a common scene at lunch time here. Mama eats and Bailey wants her treats. 

 DEC 5

I pretty much live in the bedroom. It's easiest to get up and down from the bed. Steve moved a TV in the room and bought me cable (we have more channels now and our bill is $15 less, go figure) to keep me entertained. This was the scene on one particular night. I was crafting on holiday pillows. Bailey was reveling in being allowed to cuddle on the bed. Steve was working on his model airplane. 

This is how our family does bed rest. 

 My life kit. Everything I need to get through the day within arms reach. 

DEC 9
More of the holiday pillows I was working on. They are finished now thanks to the help of my mom and mom's friend Eunice. She is a sewing queen. I'll try to get a pick of all the finished pillows for you. 

DEC 13
Another crafty project. I made the stockings last year, but never got the letters on them. Now seemed like a good time. 

 Steve continues to impress in the kitchen. This is turkey tetrazzini using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman. It was fantastic and made a TON. 

 We managed a few Christmas traditions this year. We made it to Christmas Eve dinner for a short bit at Uncle Rick's. Christmas morning was spent at mom and dads. Really I was just couch surfing. Thankful I was able to get out a bit, but I struggle to know how to balance the right amount of up time, so outtings can sometimes be blessings and struggles. All the same, I'm grateful to be on bed rest at home, not in the hospital. 

Here is our "Christmas Dresser" this year. It is where I staged Christmas as we decided to forgo the traditional tree this year.

 DEC 25

A breakfast treat. Some of the most delicious pancakes EVER. I good cure for when I just want to go out to breakfast but can't think of a restaurant that has a couch for me to lounge on. 

Steve spoils me.

 I finally decided to start preparing things for the nursery. Since we really have no idea when I will deliver, I thought it may be good to get things done early. I went ahead and ordered some bedding but am saving up most of the work for the new year. Not only so I will have a bit of a distraction and something to accomplish day to day, but as a celebration for making it to 28 weeks! (In 5 days that is. Lets hope all remains quiet)

Here, Bailey is breaking in the new bedding for baby.

Well, it's a long post isn't it. A long post about quite a bit of nothing! 

Next time you see Steve thank him for doing ALL the laundry, housekeeping, grocery shopping and meal making. He does it all with a smile on his face and no complaints. He endures my emotional roller coasters, seemingly unscathed... no easy task.

He's simply the best. 

Thank you to ALL who have helped or prayed in any way over the past 51 days (not that I'm counting or anything). Continue to pray for peace of mind, boring reports at doctors appointments and enough time spent in my tummy so this little man can be born healthy and strong.

Need a Haircut?

Life has been busy, but it's slowed down recently and we hope to keep it that way for a while!

In the rush of "stuff," every day life stuff got missed. 

Like haircuts. 

AND Steve's barber retired! 

Ahhhh!

He needed a cut, and proposed we just get clippers for me to cut it.

Excuse me?

I haven't done that, like, never ever. 

But he insisted.

Worst case, he told me, we would just shave it all off and say it was in support of a cancer cause.

Was that supposed to be comforting? Encouraging?

Enter YouTube and "How to give a guy a haircut."

(Now, I know he's not smiling, but that is something we're working on. It does not mean I did a bad job or that he doesn't like the end result!!! Just had to say that first)

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

 The mop of hair that was on his head, is now on the floor. 

Now it's not perfect, but it is better than it was! 

And I don't think I ruined him.

It was a fun diversion for me :) He's happy to have short hair again.

 Now back to resting!

Fall: Part II

October has been full of activities. Here is a random sampling of what has kept us busy!

Steve graduated from Beaverton's CERT program. 

He indulged me and gave me a fashion show modeling all the goodies he was provided at the end of the course.

I don't have any pictures of our finished drain line from the last post, but that project is complete and Steve reported we actually had water making it to the street during the last rain. It's probably been years since that happened.
 

My October was busy with a lot of volunteer work for Compassion First. There were many many work parties to get all the last minute details in place! I helped mostly on the Silent Auction team wrapping baskets, displaying signs and in the end, setting up the auction. 

Here's a picture of the end result :) 

The big raffle item of the evening was a trip to Hawaii including airfare.

I was BEYOND shocked when my best friend's little sis WON!

She was sitting right next to me and she was shocked out of her skin, but it'll be a great honeymoon trip after she gets married in July :)

Early reports appear that we earned just under $175,000 that evening!

A great success!

for more info go see

http://www.compassionfirst.org/

 The night before the banquet, we took a girls trip to OSU for Homecoming. 

All the dads were out hunting for Elk!

We stopped by our old sorority house and I found my hand print in the hallway:)

Pretty darn good seats at the game. 

Sadly, we didn't win.

And it's pumpkin time again. 

I always go for the happy pumpkins.

I don't like scary things. 

And it's just NOT right to have anything but 

Old fashioned donuts and apple juice for breakfast on Halloween.

And Mac n Cheese and hot dogs (kielbasa this year) for dinner. 

 It's what I've ALWAYS had growing up on Halloween and I just can't break the tradition.

We had some adorable trick-or-treaters stop by too!
A beautiful ballerina


A fireman


Fireman with his fire-dog

And a group shot. Mama Lisa was a pirate at work.
Grandpa was Grandpa, but extra scruffy (from just getting home from Elk camp!)
 



Stay tuned. We find out this week if we will be
pretty in pink
 
 or boyish in blue.

Any guesses?

Fall

Well, it's been quite the absence from the blog. Partly because August consisted of not much happening beyond gardening, chores and just normal life stuff. September, I was busy studying for a certification exam, which I passed! and Steve was busy going to CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team) training.

I did manage to get a bit of Fall decorating accomplished.

Re-vamped the chalkboard art. And the mantel above is pretty much the extent of Fall decor this year.

I try to keep candy corn around, but Stephen likes to munch. Time to restock.

 We discovered our winter project this past weekend when we had a downpour. Steve checked the crawlspace and it was anything but dry.  Thus began our (really his) digging quest. 

This is some of what we found inside the downspout drainage system.

This root was a little more substantial. 

I wonder why the water wasn't draining to the street?

Some of the progress. 

Steve's helper. 

She attracted quite a bit of attention from passers by, neighbors and neighbor's visitors. Everyone wanted to come pet her, and she was more than happy to oblige and get some love and attention. 

 Confession time. While Steve was hard at work, I abandoned him to go on an adventure. 

I drove up to Hood River with a friend and we drove the fruit loop. 

As you can see, it was a GORGEOUS day. 

We stopped at many many fruit stands with so much beautiful fruit. 

 More bountiful fruit.

*yummy*

I got to play with the fancy camera while we were out and about. 

Mt. Hood with corn

Mt. Hood with apple trees

So so many different kids of apples and pears to chose from. 

The loot I made it home with. Bartlett pears. Gravenstein apples. Macintosh apples. Honey crisp apples. Apple cider. Brussel sprouts.

I have big plans to make apple crisp and applesauce. I also have big plans to ask Steve to bake an apple pie. Brussel sprouts will be consumed this week and pears with lunch all week.

This last picture kind of explains a lot of August and September away. 

I was napping. 

All afternoon and then begging for more sleep at bedtime. 

The minimal Fall decor is because I'm trying to play catch up with household chores and didn't have much brain power to be creative.

I left Steve alone to do his drain project, because I couldn't help dig.

 

 Changes are coming.

March 25, 2014