Queen for a Day

Before we got ready to head home this morning, I enjoyed my breakfast full of carbs: Cheerios, grapes, a whole bagel and cream cheese, and a glass of orange juice. DELICIOUS!!! With the other hand, I fed Kayla. Meanwhile, Jason sat there patiently (they didn't bring him breakfast). We're not sure what he's doing in this picture...maybe chewing a grape...but it's a hilarious picture and I laugh out loud every time I see it.

The Day After

Our daughter arrived yesterday. She's perfect, beautiful, and tiny. We love her. Which is the understatement of the year, of course.

It's the first grandbaby for Jason's mom, who was thrilled to be able to be at the hospital when Kayla was born. She loved holding her today when visiting the hospital. This is the blanket she cross-stitched for Little Miss (there are matching booties, too, and Nauna - Jason's mom - is going to do matching bib and afghan soon):

Little Miss: Revealed

Before...

...and after!

Welcome to the world, Little Miss Kayla!

The Day Before

Today Ruth and Jason and I decided to go to Black Cup to celebrate the REAL last day before baby. Unfortunately I locked my keys in my office and couldn't leave until someone let me back in to get them, so they went without me. They were kind enough to purchase my Italian cream soda for me - Raspberry Vanilla. Yum! Then we chatted for a few minutes before we all went back to work. (Yes, I went to work the day before being induced. What else was I supposed to do - sit around and be bored at home alone?)

I did, however, take the afternoon off. I went home and relaxed on the couch for a couple of hours, then went to the hospital to visit Jacob and Merrie Beth...and CHLOE!!!! She was over 8 pounds and was delivered by C-section at 7:39 this morning. So exciting! They'll most likely still be recovering when we're there greeting Little Miss, so we'll have some people to say hello to down the hall. Congratulations, Mom & Dad!!!

Tonight I decided spur of the moment to call up a couple of pregnant friends for a "going through some hand-me-downs" party. We had carrots, peanuts, cookies, and juice, and went through quite a pile of clothes, as you can see below. (And that's not all of them.) I'd gotten them from a couple of friends whose little girls had outgrown their clothes, and they were passing on the wealth. It was so much fun! Here we are chatting after finishing going through the stacks.


And here we are, lined up in order of due date (and almost height, actually):

Me (July 26)
Cas (September 30)
Damie (November...1?)
Adina (November 13)

Baby Belly 6

It probably hasn't changed much, but because there's not much time left, I thought I'd grab one more shot of my first baby belly. I might get one more at the hospital, but we'll see. Speaking of the hospital, we had our final prenatal visit today. The doctor said he doesn't want me to go more than 41 weeks with Little Miss, since there is quite a bit of calcification on the placenta and she's only getting bigger. Unfortunately, 41 weeks is this Sunday, and it's also the first day of my doctor's vacation. Since we really want him to deliver the baby and not whoever's on duty, the scheduling works out that we'll be having Little Miss on Wednesday...unless she decides to start things on her own between now and 6 a.m. Wednesday. Here's to hoping!

For reference:

Baby Belly 1 - May 12
Baby Belly 2 - June 7
Baby Belly 3 - June 23
Baby Belly 4 - July 13
Baby Belly 5 - July 21

Weekend Purchase

I know, I know...it's uber exciting. We had to get a replacement fan for Little Miss' room. The ugly pink one in there when we moved here stopped working randomly last week. Which was rather convenient because it was...ugly and pink. So now we have a pretty white one to replace it with. (Today was kind of uninteresting...sorry.) And no...no Little Miss yet. Hopefully tomorrow!

Delicious Distraction

Ruth came over yesterday (as noted in yesterday's post), and spent the night. We didn't end up going to church, since our church is having a campout this weekend and there wasn't a church service. Instead we relaxed at home, reading, blogging, talking, laughing...and baking! This afternoon Ruth made chocolate chip cookies. She and my mom make the best chocolate chip cookies in the world. I use the same recipe and mine never turn out this good. Very frustrating. Anyway, we very much enjoyed making the cookies...which always includes sampling the dough before we fill the trays.

While she was waiting for the cookies to bake, Ruth also left us some "Happy Baby" artwork on our whiteboard on the fridge. She's such a creative lass.

The Last Day?

Well, supposedly today was my last day of work until the end of October. Okay, okay...my last day of being in the OFFICE. I do realize that having a baby is not work-free. (That's to parry any comments to that effect.) Here I am, attempting to finish up last-minute tasks just prior to getting off work. Note my constant companion: milk. It's been my best friend since fruit juice and pop were stricken from the menu. Those peaches are for Sabbath breakfast, courtesy of my student worker, Sarah. They smell heavenly!

When we got done with work, Jason and I took Ruth with us to run some errands, and then headed home to do chores. Ruth volunteered to take the cardboard to the recycling place (just because she wanted to drive) and she somehow got lost at Safeway and the Dollar Store on the way. Which ended up working out because we needed wasp spray anyway. While out, she also bought Jason and I a "Happy Baby" gift:


So after we put those in water, Ruth and I set about making cupcakes - yes, from scratch - for small group tonight. Unfortunately they didn't turn out well...I'm sure they turned out "right" it's just a gross recipe. The frosting was nasty, too - cream cheese and white chocolate. Sad waste of chocolate, really. Fortunately there wasn't a whole lot in the recipe - just some unsweetened cocoa powder and a few chocolate chips. And...we were entertained by making the frosting. When we were done mixing the cream cheese and melted white chocolate, I saw a hippopotamus, and Ruth saw a frog. What do YOU see in this completely accidental "frosting blot"?

Last Time For a While

Tonight our brother-in-law, Lorin, came over to play some games after dinner. We haven't seen him in a few weeks, and he was here in town staying with his parents and visiting friends while he waited for his wife, Jason's sister, Katrina, to finish up her 2-week class at University of Oregon in Eugene. Tomorrow evening they'll meet up at the train station in Pasco and head to their new home in Indiana. We're all sad they're moving so far away, but this is where God led them, and it's probably the best place for them to be right now. Hopefully we'll see them at Christmas. In this picture, Jason is showing Lorin his nerdy-ness on Google Earth. Lorin was so interested because he wanted to see if Jason's nerdy-ness outdid his own. I'd say it probably did.

Also, I decided it was time to go on a "clean out the cobwebs" rampage around the house. Here's what I found in the living room window tonight:

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, I know, it's been a few weeks since my birthday. But Jason never actually got me anything (not sure how that happened, but we both kind of forgot about it)...until now! And this is what he bought me - a brand new, shrink-wrapped and everything copy of "Planet Earth." I am SO excited! This is going to be one of the first things Little Miss watches, I think. If you haven't seen this, you MUST. Check your local library for it. You'll like what you see so much you'll want your own. It happened to me.

Baby Belly 5

This week doesn't look any bigger, but I did notice something different between this photo and Baby Belly 4: I'm definitely carrying her lower now. Only five days until Little Miss' due date...still no sign of her arrival. We'll see what the next few days hold. If there is still no change in dilation or effacement by Monday, we may be scheduling an induction. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point. Meanwhile, I'll continue to be amused by my shrinking belly button.


For comparison:

Baby Belly 1 - May 12
Baby Belly 2 - June 7
Baby Belly 3 - June 23
Baby Belly 4 - July 13

The Final Pre-Baby Date

Tonight Jason and I went on our final pre-kids date. It was a lot of fun, though we didn't really do anything original. We went to a nice dinner, which we realized when we got there we hadn't done in quite a while, and then to a movie. The Italian restaurant is the only one in Walla Walla - Italian Bistro. Though their food isn't the greatest, and their wait staff deosn't necessarily dress the part, they do have amazing fettuccini alfredo. Tonight I tried their vegetable gnocchi and I was kind of disappointed. It wasn't bad, but next time I'm getting fettuccini alfredo. Jason got vegetarian lasagna (i.e. cheese lasagna). Then we got a creme brulee to share for dessert, and it was delicious. I voted for the chocolate gelato, but Jason wanted the creme brulee, and really - how many times in your life do you get to order creme brulee? (Okay, so maybe other people do it all the time. We don't.)

The movie we went to was the new Harry Potter film. I was a little disappointed, actually. Though it wasn't terrible, it certainly wasn't worth the ratings it has received thus far. I give it half a thumb up. The other HP movies were much better in my opinion. Or perhaps my taste in movies has changed in the last two years (or however long it's been since the last HP film was released). I also discovered that two and a half hours in a movie theatre chair at 39 weeks pregnant is not necessarily the best idea.

Early Morning

Today my pregnant friend Cas and I did a joint yard sale. Really, it was her yard sale because she and her husband are moving, and are going to live on a tiny island next year, so they need to purge now. Plus, they have an extra little person coming to live with them in September, so they need extra room. They had a TON of stuff. So I brought over a carload and staked out my little corner. We started at 7:30, but got up around 4:45 a.m. I don't recommend that. This is Cas, about 20 minutes before we closed up shop, adding up our "winnings." All in all, she made over $200 and I made very close to $100. It was a good day! We took our leftovers to the Student Missions office at WWU so they could use them in their giant annual yard sale coming up in the next week or so.

When I got home around 4, I crashed. I slept for about two hours and when I woke up I still felt like I could've slept for another hour at least. There went any plans for going to Harry Potter. Oh well, there's still time! After dinner tonight I got my second wind (though it was much weaker than the first) and sat down and finished re-covering the glider chair. I'm not 100% satisfied, because it's not perfect. However, the impatient side of me doesn't want to sit down and try to figure out how to make it better. Here's what it looks like now: (If you want to compare it to the original, click here.)

100+ Degrees

Today it was miserably hot. I know, I know - it's summer. In Walla Walla. But it was horrible today, really. And it always feels worse to a pregnant woman. So just trust me. It was so hot even the dog didn't do anything but sleep under the fan.

For Dale

Today as we left the house for small group Bible study, I noticed the propane storage people had changed their signs. These big diamond-shaped signs usually have some kind of information on them for the transport trucks that stop by to fill up with propane for delivery. Today, they had a special message. Whoever Dale is, I hope he had a happy day!

More to Do

Tonight I did some more work in the nursery. I don't think this work is ever going to be done, really. I bought a little organizer thing this afternoon that hangs off the end of a dresser or changing table, or on the wall or the back of a door. It holds diapers, hairbrushes, diaper rash cream, wipes, clothes, toys, or whatever. It's handy, but because of it being just barely too big, I had to move the changing table (don't worry, Jason did most of it).

So after a bit of rearranging, there was room for the new glider I got last weekend at the yard sale. You can see it above. Obviously it's not pretty. The wood is in excellent shape, but I want to re-cover the upholstery. I'm going to the fabric store tomorrow afternoon to see what I can find. Someone gave me a really easy way to redo it, so I'm hoping I can figure that out instead of having to do any sewing. (The sewing machine is upstairs where it's really hot during the day.)

The nice thing about having this is that now I can put my mom's old rocker (which I also love) out in the living room so we have somewhere to rock Little Miss that isn't just in her room. Plus, I think the rocker will be an easier place for some people to hold her instead of just the squishy couch and the green chairs that suck you in that we have in our living room. So that will be nice.

Hopefully sometime this weekend I'll have photos of the newly covered glider chair. Stay tuned!

Dessert & Dancing

Tonight we went over for our second regular Game Night with the Lees. Yes, it needs a title such as that. Because it is super fun and definitely something to be remembered. We had dinner first, which was delicious and healthy: Lentil Nut Roast, a wonderful veggie-ful salad, and amazing bread. Mmmm! Then, Summer pulled out all the stops and brought forth the most decadent dessert I'd seen in months: Cherry Cheesecake. Oh man. SO yummy. I had to take a picture to remember it always.

After dinner we played a couple of games: Word Blur, Loaded Questions, and Scattergories. It was a lot of fun. Around 9 p.m. I started feeling super tired, so we decided to head home. But not before Summer and Michael entertained us with their mad dancing skills. (Believe me, it's better than Michael's Monkey Dance.)

Alexandra

This is Alasdair. He's a colleague and friend of mine who also works in the communication sector. Several months ago in the course of an email conversation about work, we discovered that his wife was due with their first child only two days after I was due with ours! Then we found out that they were also having a girl, and had chosen the same hospital we had. We exchanged emails every week to check on each other and how things were going.

Today, July 14, at 11:05 p.m., little Alexandra was born to pleased parents Alasdair and Holly. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 0.5 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Mom, Baby, and Dad are doing fine.

Welcome to the world, Alexandra!

Now, My Little Miss - take heed! It's your turn now!

Baby Belly 4

Is it just me, or is my belly HUGE?!? Seriously, it's ridiculous. It does NOT look this big from above. Crazy. I guess this is normal at 39 weeks, eh? And check out my belly button - it's turning into an outie. Which is weird, because I've always had an extreme innie. It makes me giggle.

And look - it even has a little bump!

Click to compare my other baby belly shots:

Baby Belly 1: May 12, 2009
Baby Belly 2: June 7, 2009
Baby Belly 3: June 23, 2009

Thirteen days and counting...

5:01

This is what time it was when I got up today...which is about 30 minutes LATER than when I woke up in the first place. I have no idea what happened, but at 4:30 I woke up, sat up in bed, and was ready for the day. I wasn't tired, wasn't sleepy, wasn't annoyed I was awake, I just...was. After half an hour of trying to get comfortable and trying to go back to sleep, I finally gave up, got up, and went into the living room. The odd thing was, Jason was awake, too. He followed me to the living room shortly after I left. I went outside and enjoyed the cool morning, then went inside and sat on the couch for a couple of minutes, then decided to lay down. The next thing I know, it's 7 a.m. Weird.

Anyway, as for other things I did today...I went yard sale-ing with Cas, my pregnant friend who's due in September. She needed a chest of drawers for baby clothes and I was looking for a boppy and some kids books. (A boppy is a nursing pillow, for those who don't know.) We both ended up with old glider chairs we paid $25 for. Awesome! They didn't come with ottomans, but they were glider chairs! And they were a FRACTION of the cost of a brand new one at the store. All we have to do is reupholster them. Which I'm told is easy, but...we'll see. Plus, Cas did find a chest of drawers and I did find a Boppy. Awesome!

This afternoon Jason and I went over to Jacob and Merrie's house. They're the couple we met in childbirth class. Jacob had very kindly offered to fix our computer (he's a computer engineer), so we took our computer there, and hung out with them for several hours. And now our computer works. Whoo-hoo! Here's Jason installing it when we got home tonight:

And of course, then he had to test it out and make sure it worked at home. Thankfully, it did. He spent about an hour and a half "checking it out" before coming to bed.

An Organized Mess

Tonight I spent a couple of hours working on Little Miss' scrapbook. I have about 7 or 8 pages done, and don't have a whole lot more to do until after she's born. I told Jason that I hope I have the time, energy, and ability to do one of these for each of our kids. I don't want to be one of those parents whose oldest kid has everything - all the keepsakes, all the cool stuff - and the younger kids get a half-filled photo album with only a few things labeled. We'll see!

So when I scrapbook, I pretty much take over the living room floor. I don't like sitting at the table, so I spread all of my supplies out around me. In the bottom left-hand corner is the trash pile. Next to that are the empty pages, then the mementos such as shower wrapping paper, papers from the birthing class, ribbons, etc. After that is a pile of paper, some of which were chosen to go together and it's a challenge to remember what I bought to go with each sheet. The book itself goes right in front of me, with the completed pages above it (I use the back of the book as a hard surface for creating the pages). Next I have all the photos I want to use (some of which don't ever make it in), and then all the cards we've received, and little creative elements I purchased at the scrapbook store (rub-on designs, etc.). The cards are great for phrases ("Baby Shower," etc.) and for poems or quotes to use to decorate pages. And they're meaningful because they were meant for us for Little Miss' birth. I'm looking forward to adding pictures of her to the book.

Step by Step

Okay, this first picture is technically cheating because I took it last night, not today. But I wanted to wait until the whole project was done before posting any photos...and besides - Ruth wanted me to be on my own blog yesterday.

Anyway, this is Jason working on the 3-drawer chest I got at Wal-Mart as part of my $1.50 trunk-full on Wednesday. It was pretty simple, but there were a couple of nondescript, non-labeled pieces we had to identify by process of elimination. We ended up finishing it today rather than last night because we started too late last night to feel like finishing. So...here's the finished product:

And, of course, once it was finished, I had to organize it. The baby clothes were all either hanging disorganized in the closet, or folded and organized by size...but in grocery bags. So this afternoon after Jason and I finished the chest of drawers and moved it where I wanted it, I set about organizing and filling it. Here's the end result:

This is the "Newborn to 3 Months" drawer. The second drawer is the "3-6 Months" drawer, and the bottom drawer is - I kid you not - all sleepers. We have so many she can probably wear a new one every night for the first six months of her life. Okay, I may be exaggerating slightly. At any rate, I decided I'll just change out the clothes as she grows. I'll move the 3-6 month clothes up to the top when she outgrows the really little stuff, and put 6-9 months in the second drawer, etc. Now...my next big dilemma is what to do with her shoes.

A Funny Face

When I went to say hello to my sister in her office this morning, she noticed I had just had my hair done. She thought it was cute and rifled through my purse until she found my camera. Mission accomplished, she snapped a photo of me with my freshly trimmed and styled hair, and said, "Now you can be on your OWN blog today!" So, in honour of Ruth's request, here is me, on my own daily photo blog. (For the record, my tongue doesn't normally stick out of my mouth for photos, but I was just about to make a face at her.)

Celebratory Day

WE GOT OUR HIGHLANDER BACK TODAY!!! After $6,100 (give or take a couple bucks) worth of labour and repair, nearly two months after the accident, we have a beautiful new-looking, freshly cleaned vehicle. It's so great to have it back. Mostly, though, I'm glad to be done dealing with that nightmare of an insurance agent at the other insurance company. They will do ANYTHING not to actually pay, won't they?!? Good gravy. Anyway, while I was conducting business at the counter and being an adult, Ruth and Jason were over on the other side of the lobby...doing what you see above. Okay, Jason really did stand at the counter with me until we were done. But it still makes a fun story and an even "funner" photo.

Secondly, Ruth and I went shopping. There are (were) several things that we still needed before Little Miss made her grand entrance, and since I had five (yes, FIVE) gift cards to Wal-Mart, we went there. We got a lot of stuff: Plastic bibs, "rubber" coated spoons, bottom-wipes, bottles, a lamp, a 3-drawer chest, burp pads, light bulbs, a diaper pail, and an umbrella stroller. The total out-of-pocket expense for me? $1.50. That's right, a dollar and a half. Hooray for baby showers and gift cards. We are so appreciative of all of the thoughtfulness people have put into wonderful gifts for us, including gift cards so we could get things we need and don't get at showers. Here's a look at what I brought home tonight - my $1.50 trunk-full:

A Hiscock-St. Clair Sabbath

Tonight we had our friends Damie and Jared over for dinner. Jason had offered to help Jared with his senior outline (the final papers you turn in your senior year to show you'll have completed all the requirements and qualify to march at graduation), and Jared and Damie were going to work on music with me. I had already asked Jared and Damie to do special music with me this Sabbath, and we were planning on it. Then I got a call from this week's chorister asking me to fill in. So I asked the Hiscocks and they were very happy to help. So Damie is playing piano while Jared and I lead song service and do special music. This is the song we've chosen for special music. It's number 606 in the Adventist Hymnal and it's absolutely beautiful. The words are a bit heavy, but it's a lovely song. You should give it a try. Better yet, come hear us sing it on Sabbath at the Milton Church!

Down to the Wire

Tonight was THE NIGHT I had planned on packing the hospital "go bag." I had a list that I'd printed out about two weeks ago; I'd gone though and crossed off the things I didn't want to take - things such as family photos (why the heck?!?), massage oils (just not into that), and other random stuff. So tonight I got the duffel bag, grabbed the list, and started packing. Only trouble is, I'm still using my toothbrush, so I can't pack that until we're headed out the door. Same for face wash and other misc. toiletry items. So once I'm completely done with everything I can pack ahead of time, I'll stick a note to the bag with the few remaining items that need to go in once I've started having contractions. Unfortunately I didn't finish tonight, but I have high hopes for tomorrow night! The best part of all of this will be picking out the outfit for Little Miss to wear home from the hospital. Jason and I are going to pick it out together. I'll post a picture once we decide which one it will be. First, though...Mommy and Daddy's necessities. Save the best for last, I always say!