The Last Several Days

Well, our little blog has been silent for a while...but no, the little lady is still inside. Here's a little update of life around here.

Friday evening, Stephen was involved in leading a young people's meeting at the chapel. That went quite well!

Saturday afternoon some friends, Stu and Linda, arrived for a stay at our house. When we first moved here, Stu and Linda were staying in the area for the winter and they were so very good to us and became great friends! Shortly after they arrived on Saturday we had them get back in a car (right when they were probably really hoping for a break) and took them to some other friends house for a chapel BBQ, which was a nice time!

Sunday we were at the chapel in the morning and afterward there was a potluck lunch. After lunch, a friend that Stu and Linda wanted to get to talk with some more came over to the house for a little while. In the evening our friend and neighbor, Karen, came over for supper and a chat.

Monday, our friends where out for quite a bit of the day and then treated us to a yummy Vietnamese supper in the evening. After supper we had a walk...but still no baby. :-)

This morning, Stu and Linda said goodbye and headed off for some more traveling. Thank you for the visit!!! Come again soon!

"Twins" And "Warming Up The Rocker"

This is another one of those pictures that Stephen took the other night. He surprised me with the rocker when I got home from the CA trip in March.


Twins! This was taken a few weeks ago. If I remember correctly, we hadn't been trying to match that day...it just happened. :-)


The appointment at the midwife's went well yesterday. Once again, they practically had me rolling on the ground laughing! They (the midwife and her student) are tons of fun! It was nice to have Stephen along! He's been to some, but not all of them. Once again, Miss Clara checked out well with her heartbeat.

Very Pregnant!

Here's another picture that Stephen took last night. Yesterday, by the way, was his official guess for when she would arrive! He still has a few days to win the contest though...until noon on the 27th!

We have an appointment with the midwife today. Due to having some car trouble, Stephen is going to take the afternoon off and plans to get the car taken in to the shop and them take me to the appointment.

Belly Shots

Aren't they beautiful!!! - Happy Husband, Doting Dad

Thoughts of a Victim

Take a good look at this picture. This beautiful, cute, pregnant woman managed to ambushed me as I drug myself into the house after a long, hard day at work! I rounded up all the things out to the truck that I had to bring in and then I was opening up the side door like I normally do, and then straight from behind *WHAP!* ...I was struck with a soaked paper towel. And then the cute pregnant woman takes off running around to the back of the house. Wait a minute, let me rephrase that, it was more like a duck shuffle on pure adrenaline. I was shamed, but I even more, I wish I could show you the instant replays that I can see in my mind. I often let out a spontaneous chuckle when I she gives me the big-eyed, over-the-top, stick-out-the-lower-lip, innocent look because I know she may have just finished brewing up another scheme. At the end of last week, I was opening the front door again, and then my senses heard the parallel door quietly open up and then I heard a very faint, but identifiable, duck shuffle moving to envelope on my left flank. I gave that would-be attacker a good suprise! To bad she didn't go into labor!

Lately...

Ok, here's a little news from the last couple days.

Saturday we got up really late, which may be one of our last Saturdays to do that during the next 20 years or so! :-) We did manage to get some work done around the house. Stephen worked quite long and hard outside on the wood he is planning to use to make the pool fence. Our friend Karen came over in the late afternoon and the three of us watched a video and we made homemade pizza together.

Sunday, we again got up late, at least in terms of how much time it left us to get ready, eat and get to chapel on time. And yes, once again, in may have been one of the very last times we can get away with that!!! We soon will have a little alarm clock that will likely insist we are awake bright and early! And even is she becomes a good little sleeper who will willingly sleep late...having enough time to get all three of us ready is going to be a whole different story! We spent the afternoon with some friends from the chapel. We had lunch at their house and spent time chatting. We ladies looked at baby pictures of their kids and the two guys eventually took off and played some tennis and went swimming. The ladies and kids stayed home, kept looking at pictures and watched a movie. We've been blessed with some great friends here!

Well, you never know...our next post on this blog might be baby pictures! Or it could be another month before that happens.

Well, the days keep marching on...getting closer and closer to whatever day it will be that we get to see our little girl for the first time. And it is only about 5 more days until Stephen's guess for when she will arrive! :-) We now have all of the delivery supplies.

It's been really warming up here, but not too badly and it makes for some lovely evenings. I'm so blessed to not have to go through the summer with the pregnancy!

Stephen usually stays pretty busy at work. He's looking forward to the week of vacation he's planning to take when Miss Clara arrives. It'll be nice to have him around more!

A New Look!

Yes, the blog has a new look, but it's still Stephen and Gracie!

Little Bit of News

It's been a while! Here's little bit of what's been going on lately in our household.

It was a pretty lazy, quiet weekend here and we spent almost the whole time together! Stephen spoiled me and took me out to eat too much. On Saturday, one of the things we did is go out to a recreation area and take a walk. It's really warming up here and the last couple days probably would have been REALLY uncomfortable at that time of day, but Saturday was still fairly nice. We did get some shopping done that day and we now have ALMOST everything we need for the home delivery. That evening we had dinner with Uncle Everette and Aunt Louise. Sunday afternoon we did some yard work, but despite being out there pushing a push broom and even carrying some water...no baby yet. One of our neighbors, who has really been becoming a friend over the last little while, came over to watch a movie with us, but she ended up needing to leave part way through.

I had an appointment with the midwife yesterday and it went quite well. My swelling wasn't looking bad at that point and, as far as I know, my pulse was also looking pretty good. Clara performed well for her heartbeat check up, as usual.

One of the funnest parts of my day was trying to get Stephen wet again when he got home from work (like I wrote about a couple weeks ago)...didn't work out so well this time. He ended up coming to get the mail and I had already come out of the entry area and we sort of came face to face at the corner. Oh well! It was fun anyway! :-) Made for some laughs and happiness!

The Coolest Company!

Stephen's got to work for one of the coolest companies!!! I went out there for a little baby party today, not really knowing what it would be like. From what we had been told, it sounded like they were going to get some cake and do a little thing. Well...they had pizza and salad and cake and a whole bunch of people! A couple individuals gave us gifts and then there were a ton of gifts from the whole group. A whole bunch of them had contributed gifts of money and then a small group of ladies had been sent out on a shopping spree...and I'm telling you, they went on a SHOPPING SPREE!!! They got us a bunch of smaller stuff...from a first aid kit, to blankets, to outfits, to a bath robe...even little sun glasses, baseball cap and sandals! Lots of cute, girly stuff! And on top of that they got us a big thing of diapers and a bunch of wipes AND a bouncer type seat AND a sweet, pink travel crib (it's like a basinet)!!! They really out did themselves! This is one of the most well provided for babies! That's three showers now that we have been blessed with and I even have a neighbor lady that's talking about doing a neighborhood one after the baby is born!

I've been having Braxton Hicks (spelling?) contractions, so we're getting there! The visit with the midwife went pretty well yesterday. The little lady had a good heartbeat. Her mother (me:-)) got in a little bit of trouble because I haven't been drinking enough liquid and my swelling, and I think it may have been my pulse as well, were telling on me. So, I have to drink more.

Baby News And Tortillas

Well, we've made some progress lately in the baby's room. Not all ready yet, but getting there. To our regular blog reader who gave us the lovely letters that spell CLARA and go on the wall: Clara's Daddy hung them on the wall above her crib a couple nights ago and they look very nice! Thank you!!! And another note to the same reader: please tell your wife that I made tortillas last Friday and they turned out fairly well. And thank her again for teaching me!

This afternoon I have an appointment with the midwife. We are now 36 weeks along and starting weekly visits. Getting so close!

Tomorrow, some people at Stephen's work are doing a little baby party for us over lunch hour. Isn't that nice of them??!! He works with some really great people! His boss has already approved him getting a week off after Clara comes! In the evening we have a new parents introduction and information type of event at a pediatricians office. So, all in all we've got a few baby events coming up today and tomorrow. And she is so unaware of how very much of this has to do with her!

May The Competition Begin!

Stephen and I have made our official guesses for when Miss Clara will arrive. Even though she's a first baby and first babies usually come late, we're both guessing early. She is due (according to ultrasounds) on May 7th.

Stephen says April 22nd...and if he wins he wants an ice cream cake or log from Dairy Queen.

I say May 1st...and if I win I want cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (Stephen says I might even get a full meal out of it). :-)

If you think we're both wrong and want to make a guess feel free to leave a comment! Or maybe you just want to let me know you think I'm right! :-)

Baby Update

We just heard this morning from one of our friends from birth class that they were about to head to the hospital with contractions 5-6 minutes apart. Yay! The little guy is coming about 20 days early! I better get with the program! I've got some things around here that it would be nice to have done BEFORE Miss Clara makes her appearance! Yes, I do realize that first babies usually come 7 - 10 days late...however, you never know for sure!

We had an appointment with our midwife and her student this week, which went quite well! They are both so much fun and give us tons of their time and are very willing to explain and discuss things quite extensively. Clara had a good heartbeat and also had a good heartbeat reaction. They checked that by shaking her a little bit a couple times and listening to see if the heartbeat changed and it did. She is also currently NOT in breach position, which is good!

For those of you who haven't heard, we changed our plans, which were to have the baby with a doctor and in a hospital. We are now planning a home birth with a very experienced midwife and her student (who is the mother of six kids!). Provided Clara doesn't come really fast and really early, my Mom (who had the last three of the nine of us kids at home) is also planning to try to be here. So, between the midwife, her student and my Mom we will be surrounded by lots of support and experience!

Determination or Insanity?

We have a couple birds around here that are either very determined or insane. A month or two ago they started trying to build a nest at the top of one of the columns that hold up our back patio roof. Well, nest building wasn't their talent, and the area they had selected wasn't very large, and they ended up with a big pile of sticks at the bottom of the column and very few on top. When the egg was laid it was only a matter of hours before it too landed on the cement below and was broken. Well, they appeared to give up the idea after that. However, as of a few days ago, they are now back at it. "Dad", I'm guessing, is busily bringing sticks, most of which are ending up on the ground. Some would say it's determination. Others might say it's insanity...continuing to do the same thing over again but expecting a different result. The birds can seem ridiculous, however, do I not do the same sort of things is life when I don't learn my lessons? When I do something stupid, irrational, unwise, yet again, after having done it many times before and it never producing some great, beneficial result, am I not being very much like those birds?


"Dad", I presume, and the growing pile around the column.

"Mom", I presume, sitting on the "nest".

Score!!!!

I'm telling you, this was fun! Today when my dear hubby got home from work he was greeted with a surprise! :-) Stephen always comes in one of our doors from the car port. Well, today, after hearing his truck arrive, I got a bowl with water in it and put two paper towels in it, then snuck out the double door front entry. We have a walled entryway, so he couldn't see me from where he was at. After hearing the truck door and waiting / listening a bit more (thankfully, he didn't go check the mail, because he would have walked right by the entry area) I proceeded out the gate and around the corner. There he stood with his back to me at one of the doors from the carport. Though he may have noticed that I had not come out to meet him, as I often do, as to what was really coming, he was completely unsuspecting. I got a soaking wet paper towel, took aim and fired. One shot is all it took. SPLAT! Then off I went! What fun!!! Stephen said later it was worth it to see a fat, pregnant lady running away from him! :-)