heart attack

I have always known she was a performer. but this took it to a new level!

Rubies are a girls best friend

The day after Alomae was born, my dad drove down from Seattle to meet his new girl!
My dad (aka Papa Jimmy) has always been the sentimental type and brought her a pair
of real Ruby earrings for when she was ready to get her ears pierced. (the ruby is suppose to represent her birthstone which is really garnet- but it is a little more brownish red in color and my dad didn't think that was little girl pretty)

Anyways, today she was talking about Rubies and I pulled down her earrings from their special hiding spot and let me tell you, girl was in HEAVEN. Immediately she started telling Andy and I how much she wanted her ears pierced. I knew this day would eventually come, but I waited a little while to see if she would drop the subject or forget altogether. She did not.

So off we were to the piercing studio to transform MY baby into even more a little girl.

They were so so good to her! If you live in the Portland area, the people of Adorn are so amazing with little kids.

I could go on and on about how it went but mama had her phone handy so here is how it went down!

having Andy there was the best! He wanted to make sure she really wanted to do it so he read each line of the consent form to her, had her initial, and then sign her name at the bottom!

posing of course! 

cleaning off her ears

still happy

nervous! best daddy ever!

initial poke

oh that face!

hands!

realizing he was coming for the other ear

but its gonna hurt!

getting the other side done! I was afraid we were gonna walk out with just one!

seeing them for the first time!

the finished result!

wow! what a day. I feel like my baby has grow up so much...

the birth of Poppy. video style!

So, Poppy is two now... but I feel it is never too late to help the fight to normalize birth!

When I was pregnant with her I had all these grand plans of how my home birth would go. A beautiful lit room, warm tub, light music, candles lit. All setting the tone for a beautifully edited video that would capture the moment we got to meet our sweet girl! Well...candles were lit and the music was playing... :)

Poppy Grey just came too darn fast! from my first contraction to the last was one hour flat! There was not an extreme intensity that told us her birth was near either. Nope, just some easy breathe through contractions and me chit chatting away and then BOOM!

Andy did have his iphone handy during this anticlimactic (or so we thought) time. So now today, these clips have given birth to my very own, badly edited, poor quality, birth of my sweet baby girl into our tiny, shallow, luke warm tub!

by far one of the best days of my life!

Enjoy :)

disclaimer: I am having a baby here but nothing overly graphic is shown(that is her head sitting there for awhile) . Oh and, do not try and watch in full screen, it makes the quality even worse!

you can read my entire birth story here

out of this funk. hope restored

I am kind of in a funk. a little rut. a place where everything feels just a bit blah. Maybe a slight state of confusion, a uncertainty of the unknown. I don't know, but whatever it is. I want out!

I know who supplies my Joy and my Hope. I know who holds my future and I love Him well. Sometimes though, it takes awhile for what you know in your head, to catch up to what you feel in your heart.

Sometimes life is just a bit hard.

Uncertainty and unknowns are hard; but in true Jesus fashion, just when those feelings become suffocating and too much to bare, he gives you a glimmer of hope, a glimpse into whats ahead, and somehow all light is restored! He just gives a little though, enough to bring peace but not so much that we start moving forward on our own accord.

I am sharing all this because I know I am not alone today in the need for a little bit of Hope. Look for Him and answers in all the obvious places, but don't be quick to write off the people He has placed in your life and in the mundane. Quiet your mind, reach out to friends, and don't push away what you know and feel to be true.

He is up to something. I promise.

4 going on 25

someday this little girl is going to be a real bride...

but for today, pretend is about as much as I can handle!

Halloween 2013

it was not even 8:00 am before Alomae was begging my to put her in full Dorothy costume

Poppy was suppose to be a cute little Munchkin but would not keep a single part of her costume on...

So by evening time, Dorothy was still Dorothy of course (though she did have a few wardrobe changes throughout the day)

and my munchkin became Punky Brewster!

Sometimes you gotta just throw all plans out the window and just work with what ya got.

Fun was had by all. Now I just need to make all the candy disappear (and not into my belly!)

two weeks of rest

we were able to take two and a half weeks off in October to rest and restore.

fot the first week we snuck off to Sunriver for some adventure!

Adventure came to us in an unexpected way when Andy decided to drive the Land Cruiser out onto the bank of a river which in reality was very deep, thick, quick sand like MUD.

we got stuck here for 3 hours in 25 degree weather and finally was rescued by an Angel of a white truck!

a pumpkin decorating contest happened

and a couple beautiful hikes

We had a great morning of corn mazing, horse carriage-ing, cotton candy eating, pony riding and the most AMAZING pumpkin donut I have ever had

there were plenty of moments at breweries and coffee shops as well

and of course lots of PLAY

During the next week Andy and I snuck to the Oregon game. it was such a treat to have an evening kid free!

Vacation was Awesome and I cannot wait to do it again. Taking that much time off back to back was LIFE GIVING and so very needed after a long and busy year!