2 Months

Where is time going?! Grace is almost 2 months old and growing like crazy! I just went through and packed up the newborn clothes that no longer fit! I had no idea she woudl grow and change this fast.

Momma loves those bright blue eyes!

Im not sure which I love more - the flower headband or the cloth diaper cover. :D

We have her 2 month check-up (and all the shots..eek!) next Friday. So excited to see just how much she has grown!

All Smiles Around Here

There is no denying it now - Grace smiles all the time!

I had her on the counter here while I was cooking and couldn't help but snap a picture of her all giggles playing. She is such a happy baby!

Our 2nd Anniversary

April 22, 2009

Happy 2nd Anniversary my Love!

So excited we are able to spend this anniversary together, with family and our beautiful little blessing, Grace.

I can't wait to see what God has planned for us this next year!

I love you!

A Little Behind

So the new momma thing is catching up to me - I'm a little behind on my blogs! I will try to do better. :D

Here is Grace at 1 month. She is so expressive now! We love watching how her features are changing and she is starting to look like her own self. Sometimes we see all momma, and sometimes she looks just like papa. Watching her grow is so fun.

Grace at 6 weeks. She loves her paci. And I swore I would never give a pacifier to my babies. Ehhh, I have broke lots of my own rules so far. She doesn't sleep with it though, just during awake or fussy times. We compromise. haha.

I LOVE this photo. Grace and Papa relaxing. I love that their hands are folded the same. I love that my beagle had to intrude the photo and is the only one paying attention. Grace is Papa's girl!

Happy 50th Grandpa!

Grandpa Duane turned 50 on the 20th of March and Grace celebrated in style - sleeping!

Notice how Momma and Papa wish they were sleeping in this picture too! Oh all the joys of being a new parent! :)

Happy 50th Birthday, Grandpa!

10 days old!

We took some photo's of Miss Gracie at 10 days old.

March 14, 2011

Not too bad for a Nikon and a Snuggie for a backdrop!

She's our little angel for sure.

We have survived the 1st week!

Grace is amazing! We sleep way more than we expected we would as new parents.

She had her 1 week appt today and now weighs 7lbs 2 oz! She is a big, healthy eater!

She loves to be swaddled, and Papa is the best at it.

She currently has beautiful blue eyes. We will see if that stays that way.

Our dogs seem to love her. Especially Reagan the Boxer who has become a bit of a babysitter and follows her around. (whomever is holding her)

We are so blessed!

Living with Grace

I have started a second blog. This one will remain about my family life. The new blog will focus on my journey and joys of motherhood. I have two Graces - my baby Grace and God's Grace. Follow me on both!

http://coffeeformomma.blogspot.com/

Happy Birth Day!

Grace Olivia

6lbs. 13 oz ~ 19 & 3/4 inches ~ 8:17am

March 4, 2011

We welcome our beautiful baby girl!

Just a few hours after she was born.

Proud Papa. He was a great labor coach for me.

Momma and Grace

Her first bath in the hospital. She was not happy about this!

On our way home the next day. So thankful we didnt have to stay longer! I asked if we could go home the night she was born, but they told me they like to observe babies for 24 hours.

We cannot stop praying and praising the Lord for her and her arrival! She is far more amazing than we spent the last 9 months thinking she would be. We already cant (dont want to) remember life without her.

I am working on a second blog that will focus just on my life & journey as a momma. I will post the full (amazing!) details about the birth on there for those who want to know. I will share that link later!

The Blue Toilet Seat Mystery

I thought long and hard about whether I was going to post this. I decided to, since I feel I must contribute to the other women who will one day google this and feel comforted by my story. At the very least, it will make for a good laugh for everyone else. Read on and you will understand....I will give you every detail so you fully see the picture.

About two weeks ago I decided to take a mini-bath and shave my legs (this is a rare occurance 9 mo preggo.) Then I stood up and took a shower. The bathroom had a good cleaning a few days before. No new cleaners. I also use soap while I shower, also not new. Not surprisingly I had to pee once I was finished showering. I dried off and went to the bathroom, then headed to my room to get dressed.

SO-- upon returning to the bathroom I noticed (I am very detail oriented so yes, I did notice right away) that suddenly my toilet had a light blue tinge to it. NOT there 10 min. prior. So I investigate. I look at the skylight for a possible shadow, I move the seat in different angles, I try to rub it off. I call in Steve. He looks at it, runs through all the things I just did and we are perplexed. Now a few minutes later, the seat is getting a darker and more noticeable blue. I bust out the Clorox wipes and scrub away. Nothing. Steve leaves and assumes we just have an old toilet seat and it must have been gradually fading. I however am not convinced. I then sit back down and notice that it is in the perfect shape of MY rear and thighs. GREAT. It is my fault and I dont know why!! You better believe I then went back to my room and looked in the mirror. There was no blue on my hiney. So obviously, my husband must have used something in the tub that I sat in that didnt come off with soap and reacted with the toilet seat. Negative. Now before you all make assumptions let me remind you. No new cleaners, no new soap, no new jeans or clothes, I had just got out of the shower! (and I have used the bathroom right out of the shower plenty of times!) I run through all possibilities for a couple hours (this doesnt just happen!) and then I decide to Google-it. Steve thinks Im nuts and says just leave it alone and we can go get a new one. Ignoring him I type in "toilet seat suddenly turned blue." THE FIRST HANDFUL OF HITS WERE ABOUT PREGNANT WOMEN TURNING THE TOILET SEATS BLUE!! Now I am in shock, and so is my husband! So I am a freak who is not a freak alone! What the heck is going on!??! Now I am captivated by my magical talent and afraid to use any other toilet ever again. Here is the concensus...it has no medical backing, it apparently happens to pregnant women past 30 weeks, there is no explanation, but considering there are multiple women that this has happened to, it is not a fluke! The only slight explanation I came across (again nothing scientific or medically proven) was a sudden surge or drop of hormones. (It also has been reported to change the seats a pinkish-purple too.)

I call the consulting nurse and first off tell her I am not giving her my name or ID number because I do not want my following question in my file. I prepped her that this was going to be the strangest thing she has ever been asked. She doubted me. Then I proceed. After she was finished laughing at me, she said it was the oddest question and she asked around the office, more laughter, and couldnt help me. I then called my mother in law to check her bathroom since I had been there the night before. Totally normal. And now two weeks later, I have had no other problems. It must have been (totally an assumption) a possible drop/surge in hormones, my damp skin and whatever hangs out on your toilet seat all reacting together. (I was praying it was a sign, but considering Im still pregnant, it wasnt.)

So if there is anyone else out there whom this may have happened to, please leave a comment! Or leave a comment of humor. (I have already heard all the smurf and blue baby jokes possible so you can leave those out.) Feel free to pass this link on/repost it so others may be informed of this phenomenon, or at the very least get a good laugh at a 9 month pregnant woman! :)

38 weeks Q & A

Here we are at 38 weeks! (2-17-11) I am SO ready to be done!

Here is a fun little pregnancy survey I came across... enjoy!

1. After we have this baby, Steve will surely have to... help change diapers!

                        2. the thing I am most worried about the delivery is... needing a C-section.

3. the food that i have been craving the most is... turkey sandwiches.

4. the best part of being pregnant has definitely been...feeling her move. And morning sickness suddenly made me find nail bitting gross. I have never had such beautiful hands!

5. The most ridiculous thing I cried over was...Steve not taking me to get a cheeseburger late one night.

6. How long I could wear regular clothes... about 20 weeks.

7. ...came up with the name Grace. Steve. I came up with Olivia.

8. I've been nesting by... I made a huge house to-do list for the month of February. And her room has been done since the weekend after my showers.

9. the strangest/worst thing anyone has said during my pregnancy has been...Person: " Oh you dont look like you've gained any weight." Me: happily, "oh really, I've gained about 30 pounds." Person: "Ohh, well nevermind that's not good!" Seriously!?!?! Thanks. Steve was told "Good luck with that." when another guy found out he was having a "kid." lol

10. the food that i really haven't been able to tolerate is... chicken. Couldnt eat it for 1st tri and 2nd tri and sometimes cant stand it now.

11. I had morning sickness for... weeks 6-14.

12. the worst part of this pregnancy has been... stretch marks. I would honestly trade 9 months of morning sickness to not have a single stretch mark.

13. after Grace is here, i'm most worried about... 1) the stretch marks going away by summer. 2) getting my pre baby body back.

14. the thing I miss being able to do most since being pregnant...I really wanted to go snowboarding this winter. And I miss tasting the batter of my cookies. (raw egg) And occasionally a glass of red wine would be so relaxing.

15. the 1st thing I bought for Grace was... as soon as I found out I was pregnant I bought baby a yellow duckie blanket. Steve bought Grace pink baby Carhartt overalls.

16. during my pregnancy, the thing that has surprised me the most has been...how everyone has advice. I have strangers telling me all sorts of "medical" information. People at Walmart are my favorite. Lol.

17. the one quality that i hope Grace gets from me is... my patience

18. the one quality that i hope Grace gets from her dad is... his sense of humor

19. The weirdest craving I had was... lemons.

20. I completely underestimated this about being pregnant... the 9th month discomfort. It doesnt help she is already hanging out at 0 station!



My Favorite - Tortellini Soup

 

The photo does not do it justice here! This is by far my new favorite soup! I watched as a friend made it and took the recipe hoping Steve would like it too. It is a win all aound! (Our whole family loves it too.) I have added/changed some things to her recipe. Play with what suits your family! Here is the recipe: (at the bottom I added my other variations)

1 lb Italian sausage

1 c. coarse chop onion

2 cloves minces garlic

5 1/2 c water

3 beef boullion cubes

1/2 c. dry white wine ( I use 3/4c. Sutter Home - Sauvignon Blanc)

1 28oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1 8oz can tomato sauce

1 1/2 c. chop zucchini

8oz package (or more!) of cheese tortellini

3 T parsley flakes

1 c. sliced carrots

1 med. green bell pepper

pepper (to taste)

1) In large 5 qt pot (at least) saute onion and garlic until tender. In another pan brown sauage and set aside.

2) Add water, boullion, wine, carrots, tomatoes, basil, oregano,pepper, tomato sauce and sausage to pot.

3) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 20-30 min.

4) Stir in zucchini, tortellini, parsley and green peppers. Simmer another 30 min or until tortellini is tender.

** I do not measure anything but water and wine. I just chop to what looks right/tastes right. I love veggies and know that I put in way more - this is just a basis!

** I also add 4-5 chopped celery sticks (with step 2), and more zucchini.

** This freezes really well - but the tortellini doesnt. So I make sure to take it all out (or Steve eats it since it is his favorite part) and then freeze. When I reheat, I add fresh.

** I have also made this without the sausage and tortellini and used mini/small shells. Perfect Minestrone! (which was another hit!)

Now All We Need is a Baby

~Before & After~

I have to admit I am a little embarrassed to post the "before" pictures online. Yikes! This was our spare room/dog room/guitar room/throw all our extra crap room. We had some serious work to do when we found out a baby was on the way!

Notice all the old gross carpet. And the brown walls. And all the junk!

                                                                              

And done! The bookcase is full of mine and my siblings childhood books. Steve's mom made Grace pretty pink curtains. Grandpa and Nana Corrigan bought Grace and I the glider. I see many late nights ahead there!

My husband was busy repainting the walls, installing hardwood and trim. So much more cheery for a baby!

My Dad bought us the crib as soon as he could! He wanted to make sure he was the one to give Grace her bed. :o)

I have a bit of an organization problem. All of her clothes (look at them all!!!) are sorted by size and labeled in bins. I was worried about how to make this little closet work and Steve creatively built in all the shelving for me. He is so handy! He makes all my visions come to life!

Toys that grandparents couldn't resist!

Less than a month until my due date! We will see if she lasts that long. Momma has a feeling she will surprise us all a bit early. :o)

35 weeks

35 wks 1 day ~ 1.28.1

So ready for Grace! I just got to that point. She can come early. The belly is getting in the way, I hurt, sleep is a memory and I waddle. I have apparently "dropped" which may explain all the discomfort and have a variety of other pre-labor symptoms. I would like for her to wait at least till 37 weeks, but by all means at that point I'll be praying her along! :)

I had one of my baby showers this past weekend too thrown by Grandma, Great-Grandma and Auntie to be! It was so special and fun to talk with other mommas. Grace was given so many goodies! We are so beyond blessed! God provides so much for us. Thank you everyone for coming and showering baby with so many gifts!

How did I get here?

This is a question I have reflected on a lot lately. How did I end up here in my life? There is a simple answer to that question. Gods plan is far greater than mine! Let me explain "my" plans for myself.

3 years ago: January 2008 - I was a junior in college, single, and absolutely loving life. I had no intention of "settling down" for a few years. I was going to graduate the following year, become a full-time teacher, buy a house myself (this is my favorite - on a teacher salary!), then maybe consider a husband. Children were not in the picture until I had accomplished all of these things and at least worked for a few years. Toss in a Master's degree and I was going to be set. (Not one of these played out.)

2 years ago: Student teaching is in full swing and I absolutely adored it! Teaching is my passion. I was also now engaged and going to be married in April. (so throw my plans from last year out the window!) My fiance already owned a house, so I still was becoming a homeowner, just not on my terms. We decided together to not even bring up the idea of children until our second anniversary (April 2011). I was still going to teach for those couple years and live my dream.

1 year ago: The September after we were married something was weighing heavy on my heart. I tried to ignore it for a while, but God doesn't let you ignore Him. I wanted a baby. When I finally sat down to talk to  Steve about it, I was not the only one God was working on. (This is 5 months after our wedding having this convo, definately not 2 years!) With budget cuts and layoffs, I was not teaching full time, but rather substituting. We prayed. And prayed. What did God want!?!?! Steve was set to leave for Japan in January and so we decided to take that time to really pray for understanding and re-evaluate "our plans."

Now: 8 months pregnant and just waiting for Baby Grace to get here. How I wouldn't want life any other way! She will be here just before our 2nd anniversary and I cant imagine just starting to have the conversation. How blessed I feel to have been obedient when God called upon our hearts! Life really isn't up to us. We make great plans and dreams and have discussions, but we forget that God needs to be remembered in those plans. He must think our plans our crazy! Surely He laughed at me 3 years ago as I told Him exactly how the next 5 years of my life were going to be. The beautiful things is, is that God is giving me the desires of my heart because I fully trusted Him and he changed my desires. He has far greater plans for me then I could have imagined for myself. I am married, I joyfully take care of my house and make sure it runs smoothly, I am having a beautiful baby.I am tremendously blessed! All these things were not in my plans, but each of them is precious in the sight of God - especially when He calls upon us and we listen!

When making plans our first thoughts should be: How can I glorify you best? What do you desire us to do? Show us wisdom and lead us in our decision making. We trust in you and want to follow your lead. Change the desires of my heart to match up with yours. All easier said than done! But by faith and obedience this is what we should do. Especially since it is abundantly clear that His plans are far greater than mine.

Grace in 3D

Not as good as the real thing, but close enough for now!

We had a 3/4D ultrasound done at 34 weeks to get a glimpse of Baby Grace. What a personality she has! Here is the visual story:

She started the ultrasound with her hands in her face. Great picture of both hands up close! But really hard to see what she looked like.

 After some poking by the sonographer, she was forced to move her hands down, and she was NOT happy about that! This is when she decided to get ulrtra serious and pout!

This was a full on tantrum! Obviously her frustration shows in her face. We just laughed at how cute she was! She also would whip her head back, smashing her nose against my uterus (so that's what that is!) and the back of her head hits my bladder (so that is what that is!) You can still see her hand, but now she is hanging on to the cord.

 After we were done laughing at her fit, Steve started talking. As soon as she heard his voice, we watched her face soften and relax. That was amazing! She actually started to smile and calm down. So he just continued to talk about nothing so we could get some cool shots! She is smiling.

Side shot of her smiling. You can really see her chubby cheeks and little double chin here. (that is from her father! lol)

Eventually she was tired and starting to sleep again. These last two were her most "relaxed" face pictures.

We are so happy we had a chance to do this and take our family along with us! She had such a huge personality! We keep looking at both our newborn pictures and comparing facial features. She has a little of both of us for sure! A little less than 6 weeks until my due date!!



32 weeks & 3 days

I think I am definately ready to STOP growing. She can continue as long as I dont have to, haha. About 7 or so weeks to go!

* I am definately a lot more tired lately again.

* Putting on my shoes, socks, or even touching my feet is now an aerobic workout. I live in flip flops. Solves all problems.

* We toured the hospital and birthing area this week. Getting pretty realistic!

* I am SO excited for upcoming baby showers. I cant wait to celebrate her with other family, friends and mommas! (Some of my random pregger facts may be good to know....) :o)

* Pregnancy cravings have pretty much subsided for now. The thing I craved most while pregnant was definately sandwiches. The weirdest thing was lemons.

* I dont want to even talk about weight gain. Or stretch marks. Ever. Im ready to hop back on the treadmill and run.

*One of my favorite parts of pregnancy is feeling her move around. And shopping for her little itty bitty things. Babies R Us is my new favorite store.

* We have anywhere form 5-8 weeks until she is here. That is crazy and exciting all at once!

Our Year in Review

We have had such a wonderful and extremely blessed year of 2010! We are so excited for 2011, but here's a recap of our busy year.

January, February, March - Steve left for Japan right after the new year. He was away January to the beginining of May. I found many ways to occupy my time. I substituted a lot, created our wedding scrapbook, redecorated our house, started a garden, took both puppies to obedience classes and hung out with family.

April - We celebrated our First Wedding Anniversary. It just happend to be half a world away from each other. Time flies so fast!

May - My hubby came home! Memorial Day weekend we were busy replacing our roof. We had a lot of fun doing it ourselves and happily saved so much money! I love my handy-man!

June - My 23rd birthday and we found out were expecting! Life changed from this month on! We prayed a lot for God's timing and were so excited to share the news with everyone!

July, August - Morning sickness in full force. Suddenly being pregnant wasnt so "glowing." Steve drug me out one night to buy an AC unit. I swear that saved my stomach! He turned 26 in August and spent the summer building a deck in our backyard and playing on his new favorite kayak. We did manage to have one family day at the ocean with our pups.

September - busy wondering what Baby was. Steve had another away work trip to Everett for a couple weeks. I was just getting over my morning sickness so it was okay he was away for that time. By the time he came home though I was healthy, starting my 2nd trimester and getting a little bigger!

October - It's a Girl!! Baby Grace Olivia was officially named and the shopping for her began!

November - Steve went on his annual hunting trip to Montana and had a great time with friends and family. I was eagerly awaiting the fresh meat and excited to not have to buy meat at the store anymore! We had a wonderful winter storm that knocked out our power for four days, but thankfully returned just in time for Thanksgiving!



December - absolutely flew by! I joined a mom's group at our church and am starting to meet other momma's. Grace got lots of presents for Christmas. We envisioned our Christmas mornings from next year out. I was 30 weeks pregnant at Christmas so we kept things low key. We rang in the new year at home, I was sleeping!

We cant wait for 2011 and to meet our little girl in two months or so!