one year ago

It is hard to believe it's already the 4th of July again! The 4th is one of my all time favorite holidays and not because of fireworks...

Every year we head off to our beach cabin for a few days with my dad and my sisters family and we just have so much fun! 

It's crazy to look at this picture and think one year ago that Poppy was just 25 weeks in my belly and now she is almost 9 months old.

And do not even get me started on my sweet Alomae. One year ago she was a sweet little toddler and now she has grown into a little lady, a big girl! 

7.4.11



6.27.12

So much happens in a years time! (babies, please stop growing SO fast)

I love my little family so very much and feel beyond blessed to call them my own...

to my girls...

God knew you before He made you

God has been with you from the start- in fact, from well before the start.

your existence is not random, nor is it an accident. God knew who he was creating,

and he has designed you for a specific work.

you were created "to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you to do"

~~~

I am reading "Crazy Love" by Frances Chan right now and when I read over the words

above he was speaking to me, I could not hep but think of you, my sweet girls.

I hope these words resonate in you from a young age. You were both a well thought out plan

created and put into form by the creator if the universe.

Your life has a purpose and has had one since long before you were growing inside me.

I am here to love you, guide you, and support you

but it is Jesus who knows the plans for you and who I will

always point you in the direction of.

Even as your mama I simply do not know it all,

not even what is best for you.

I promise to always seek Gods will for your life for I know you

were created by Him and for Him.

I feel so honored to get to share in that miraculous truth as

your mama.

I love you.

27 weeks & Mama got a new car!

I am 27 weeks today!

some would say the start of the 3rd trimester, but I am going with 28 weeks

for that (it will make it feel like less time)!

baby is growing and growing and growing...

(I will post a pic this weekend- I don't have one!)

every day I wake up a bit bigger :)

I am just now starting to feel really pregnant and have a slight back ache which I know

is just gonna get worse (bigger belly and lifting a 2.5 year old after all!)

Thank You Jesus for 24 hour fitness though!

I still feel so agile and am keeping up on my normal workouts

with only very minor adjustments, it truly is my sanity and is making

my body feel good.

Now that I am closer to the homestretch, I am thinking lots about my birth.

How I envision it, what I need here at home to make sure we are prepared.

I forgot all the supplies I need on hand:

extra towels

fish net

Large bowl

large ziplocks

straws

tarp

clean hose

faucet/hose adapter

sitz bath herbs

food for me

food for birth team

and these are just the things I could think of off the top of my head!

oh but it will be so worth it!

to get ready for baby, we traded in my Honda Element

last week and I got a Volvo V50.

I really love the look of them and have been eyeing them for awhile now. My Element needed new tires and some other work done on it so we decided that instead of putting more money into a car we knew we didn't want to keep- we would get

one we do want!

The Honda was great, but we originally got it for Otis, our 200 lbs

English Mastiff we had. It really is not the most practical car to drive with 2 kids.

those doors in a parking lot were the death of me!

so for now I will enjoy the newness of having a new-to-me car!

This Sunday begins the start of a busy time for me.

I go on call for 2 pregnant mama's due 5 days apart!

Oh how I pray they have wonderful, peaceful, smooth

births on 2 very separate days with some time for me

to rest in between!

I cannot wait to meet their babies!

Belly Dancing

our baby girl dancing!

26 weeks

it never grows old...

24 weeks

(this is what she does when you say "strike a pose!")

the sun was out again today,

and we sure do make a big deal about this in oregon!

alomae woke up from her nap and was ready to play!

as you can see, I did not make her change :)

just over 24 weeks now and caught a glimpse of my shadow while outside chasing alomae...

I am expanding for sure!

feeling great...yes

feeling pregnant...yes

have a long way to go... yes

getting more excited every day to meet this new baby girl.. yes yes!!

We love Alomae so much and I have to admit the thought of loving another

little person as much seems pretty much impossible...

but people say you do :) and I am going to trust them!

could I possibly get something as special as alomae X2!!

etsy baby

I just love etsy.

I have been able to find some great finds for the new baby!

just got this adorable boppy cover- though I had it custom made

in grey chevron with a grey minky back!

so nice to have one that does not scream "baby" when sitting on your couch.

beautiful burp rags. Alomae never spit up but they are nice to have around...

praying this baby does not either!

diaper clutch- at 2.5 I still use the one I got for Alomae

(though it is getting old and needed to be replaced!)

I am sure I will come across many more great hand made

things before this baby makes her debut in fall..

22 weeks

well, here she is!

(22 weeks 2 days)

the ever growing belly...

we are definitely having a growth spurt right now and I am waking up bigger every day!

Thank goodness for the gym... really!

it had made me hardly feel pregnant at all by helping me

stay flexible, moving, and strong! Even despite the

growing bump!

*note- I thought andy was taking belly shots which is why I am staring off

into space in some of these! I had no idea my face was in the shots :)

5 months

20 weeks!

in theory,

I am halfway done...

(alomae was born at 38+2 but I know this baby could be very different and

show up much later!)

and I am feeling good!

just now starting to feel some lower back aches and pain

from my growing belly

(and my is it growing...)

I am still maintaing my active lifestye and working out 4-5 days a week

which I must say has made such a difference this time around!

It feels good to watch my belly grow and the rest of me stay somewhat thin

(for now anyways!!)

I think we have pretty much settled on a name for this little girl as well!

She is moving all around all the time which is so fun and never gets old.

I cannot help but stop what ever I am doing and just put my hand there and

feel her kick from the inside and out!

20 weeks

(Andy is out of town so I had to take the photo myself...not easy!)

and here I am at 20 weeks with Alomae!

I think I look a little bigger this time around!

the girls room

wow,

that is weird to say!

So we have been looking for a house to rent but we are so darn picky when it comes

to location that I think it will be awhile to find the right place for the right price...

Not to mention we love love love our current location in NW portland and it's hard to leave it and move to a more suburban-ese neighborhood.

that all said,

I have been trying to figure out how to do the girls shared room!

back in september we switched rooms with Alomae and gave her

the big room (which was the best decision ever! she has much more

stuff then we do! ) so it makes fitting two in the room a pretty easy task!

Here is what we have come with so far...

(note: I did to not go super girly to balance out the fact that Andy is going to

be living in our small little place with three girls!)

The furniture we already have

crib, dresser, chalkboard table

as well as the white paper lanterns...

So now we just have to get

a twin mattress

west elm duvet

west elm pillow

grey pouf

petit collage mobile

and white crib bedding

and a neutral color bunting i can make with no problem

it should be a pretty easy transition!

the great thing is this room will totally blend with the rest of our place,

when you live in such a small space like we do, you really want the colors and

feel to blend well from room to room!

I'm excited to see how it all comes together...

19 weeks (and a sick house)

i'm 19 weeks today and it's been a crazy (sick) week in my house...

Monday night alomae got suddenly sick and threw up while

we were watching andy play basketball at our

friends barn... It was beyond sad! poor little thing

had no clue what was happening to herself!

i got her all cleaned up (with the help of my friend/super mom britta)

and she was off and playing again.

I figured it was a fluke...

well that evening about an hour and half after she went to bed

she was throwing up again, all over her big girl bed :(

Andy cleaned her up while I stripped her bed and lined it

with towels in case it happened again. She slept the

rest of the night and woke up a little off but was pretty good

from there!

Then Wednesday night came! I had a dinner with some

girlfriends of mine and even before dinner was on the

table I knew i was not feeling so good. I stayed for an hour though

chatting (i did not eat though because my tummy was feeling progressively worse)

by 8:30 I was out of there and called andy to tell him I was

really getting sick...

here is where it gets ugly...

I prayed the whole drive home that I would not throw up in my car,

and i didn't, but I did in the courtyard outside my door (while neighbors

watched- seriously beyond embarrassing) and i mean a lot! Andy heard me from inside and quickly

came to my rescue and even cleaned it all up while

i went and hung out in the bathroom

***note*** Andy is SUCH a good man, he cleaned up alomae and myself with

no question or hesitation! not many men would do that...

That said, I spent all day yesterday in bed feeling dead.

alomae went to my moms house for the day/night

and I just slept (and felt like total yuck!)

Feeling better today though and alomae is too :)

Just in time for this baby to turn 19 weeks!

She is growing growing and kicking a lot!

I think we have a name for her, but we are still

exploring our options...

she is bigger then average because of tuesday she was almost 10oz

and all my reading says 8oz is about normal...

excited for a big healthy girl!

I was wrong...

it's a...

Healthy

Wiggly

Baby Girl?!

yep, we are having another girl...

my intuition was totally wrong :)

even while having the ultrasound I swear I saw little boy parts a couple times...

Nope!

alomae is going to have a "baby sister!"

a little shocked i am, but excited to know

that God has the perfect plan as to how this

little girl will fit right in and complete

our family of four!

17 weeks

i am actually 17 weeks 5 days,

but alomae and I spent the weekend in Seattle with my

family!

it was a great weekend!

my sister and I went and heard the amazing Ina May Gaskin

speak about normal birth on mothers day

and it was more then i imagined.

She is so smart, witty, down to earth and real!

She reminds me so much of an older version of

my midwife Adele (no wonder I love Adele!)

Baby is growing growing growing...

we find out in 6 days what this baby is

(i still don't wanna!)

but Andy has never questioned my choices

to have home births and respects all my decisions

to do without so much when it comes

to pregnancy and the aftercare of babies

that i know i need to allow him the one thing

that is so very important to him.

I cannot imagine if Andy was not on board with my birth choices...

i am a lucky girl!

here are some photos my sister took at exactly 17 weeks.

18 weeks & some other stuff

getting closer to being halfway done!

Baby is now the size of a large sweet potato

about 5.5 inches long from head to bottom (not including legs!)

this baby has been moving around all day...

moving as I type this actually :)

it is so fun to feel more defined kicks!

4 more days until we know what we are having...

Speaking of babies...

here is the cute bunting I made for my sweet friend Amanda whose

baby Evelyn is due in just two weeks!

I had a lot of fun making it for Evelyn's nursery and was

so surprised when I took it to her yesterday and found

that she had a crib skirt made out of the exact same teal and red bird

fabric that I including in the bunting!

It looked so very cute in Evelyn's room!

come out and play Evelyn, we cannot wait to meet you!

Alomae wants to play with baby "eleven" as she calls her :)

(I reposted it below too so when I look back there is a photo! no need to remember my phone was broke!)

and here is alomae's big girl bed!

and she is fast asleep in it as i type...

17 weeks

i am actually 17 weeks 5 days,

but alomae and I spent the weekend in Seattle with my

family!

it was a great weekend!

my sister and I went and heard the amazing Ina May Gaskin

speak about normal birth on mothers day

and it was more then i imagined.

She is so smart, witty, down to earth and real!

She reminds me so much of an older version of

my midwife Adele (no wonder I love Adele!)

Baby is growing growing growing...

we find out in 6 days what this baby is

(i still don't wanna!)

but Andy has never questioned my choices

to have home births and respects all my decisions

to do without so much when it comes

to pregnancy and the aftercare of babies

that i know i need to allow him the one thing

that is so very important to him.

I cannot imagine if Andy was not on board with my birth choices...

i am a lucky girl!

here are some photos my sister took at exactly 17 weeks.

alomae's loves and a belly

boy does my girl loves herself some sushi!

she so is mine and andy's child...

it's so cute watching her poke her food with chopsticks

and pretend to dip it in soy sauce!

almost every day now when we say "what do you want to eat"

she responds with a very excited "sushi!!"

so cute!

her other 'love' is visiting the Goose up the street from our place.

anytime i even drive in the vicinity of it she says "see goose please mama!"

it's really quite cute... She has quite the sense of direction!

Belly update...

(not a good photo, i took it myself!)

so here I am at 16 weeks....

and below is me at 16 weeks with alomae!

i think i look pretty much the same...

man i get round fast!

oh well,

it's for a good cause, a very good cause!

4 months

16 weeks today!

and I feel huge...

(huge compared to where I was 6 weeks ago not where I know I'll be!)

it was hard last night to see my reflection in the bathroom window as I got ready

for bed and to see my waist not just disappear- but gone!

I know I will see it again someday but I already miss it so...

we made our ultrasound appointment for tuesday May 24th which is

just 3 weeks from tuesday... I don't want to know the sex this time,

andy of coarse does... So we'll see who gets their way!

If I get mine, then I will cancel the ultrasound all together

and keep all of my baby a surprise!

(for the record, I still think it's a boy...)

and andy wont even discuss what it is at all

he is very hesitant to get his hopes up for a boy.

I am feeling some more distinct movement lately- still few and far between

but when I do it's becoming much more obvious...

I am very excited to feel this baby moving all the time!

that all said, it's another week gone and another week closer to

meeting this little person, I so wonder who he or she will be!

dear baby & ducky fun

dear baby,

"and so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking

that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing the the knowledge of God."

~

we were at the park and alomae had a blast sliding with her rubber ducky!

andy would put it at the top of the slide and when she climbed up she would

push it down, laugh hysterically and then slide down after it...

she was seriously having so much fun

oh the simple pleasures of being two!

i love watching and trying to imitate her childlike joy, fun, & faith...

15 weeks

so I was wrong last week,

baby was a lemon...

this week it is a navel orange!

(so I went ahead and swapped the photos so that when I someday look back on this

i am not confused!)

15 weeks

I am feeling so good!

I am back to working out 5 days a week

(which can I say has made such a big difference compared to being

pregnant with alomae! I pretty much do the exact same stuff I did

pre-pregnancy with a couple adjustments)

nothing too exciting at this stage...

but I am just enjoying this point of feeling good, having energy,

and not being very big!