Some random pieces of our lives...

• Apparently Bethany is actually learning something in Sunday School! I don't know if she is learning what her teachers are teaching or if she's creating her own lessons, though... On Sunday I asked her what she had learned, and she said, "The Bible!" On further questioning, I discovered that she learned about Noah's Ark. What about it? "There were two monkeys. And two flamingos. And Noah changed the flamingos' diapers!"
• Kiersten is a snuggle-y bundle of rolls! I love how fat her thighs are (don't worry, I won't say that when she's 13!), and the dozen comments a day I get on how big her cheeks are. I also love her great big stretches and snorts when she is just waking up, how totally calm & chill she is (sometimes we don't know when she wakes up... she just lays there quietly), and her huge grins. She is such a love-able baby!
• Bethany and Kiersten are "getting along" better. In other words... taking away a favorite toy every time Bethany squishes/pinches/kicks Kiersten is working! She is VERY motivated by the threat of losing her new dollhouse or train set.
• Speaking of Bethany's toys (which almost always come from garage sales) - I cannot express how big a fan I am of garage sales!! If you read my last post, you know that I even went out garage sale-ing while I was in labor with Kiersten. I just can't help it - it is the PERFECT answer to my love for shopping and my extreme discomfort with spending money. And this is a hobby that pays for itself! Last week I found an almost-new double Medela breast pump ($300 new)... for $10. I felt like I was stealing it! It is now going up on craigslist for $100. Umm - you just can't beat that. Recently I've found everything from new nail polish to a down-filled toddler-size comforter to an Old Navy corduroy jacket in great shape (for 50 cents, I might add). I think I'm a candidate for becoming a garage sale addict.
• Todd dropped a class! This might be the first time in his life... I'll have to ask him. We both realized that going full-speed for the past year (4 classes every quarter instead of the typical 3, two summer classes, a September intensive class...) and no end in sight for the coming year was driving him to the point of burn-out. I think the "overwhelmed" in his brain finally got big enough that it beat out the "high-achiever" side of him. Whew! It still won't be an easy quarter, but at least he'll have time to breathe... and maybe even eat meals. :-)
• I miss my Pittsburgh friends & family! Almost every night after the kids are in bed and dinner is cleaned up, I think about calling someone back home - but because of the time difference it's too late. Wish I could see you all and hang out with you randomly (or purposefully ;-)! 
• Living in a 2-bedroom apartment is very different from living in a house. And I think I'm past the "I'm on vacation" state of mind now... I'm now reaching the "Oh my - we will be in this apartment for at least two more years" stage. In a small space like this, it's hard to hide messes - and even harder to hide from the messes. The clutter - and the migrating toys - just seem to reappear as soon as I banish them. Aside from that... how in the world do people manage to put two kids down to sleep in one room? We are experimenting, but I am very afraid of the results! What if I end up with not one but two screaming kids in the middle of the night? Sounds scary. 
• The travel in our lives never seems to end! From our month-long cross-country trip this summer to a week in Des Moines for Labor Day to my work travel (4 days in Colorado next week) to weddings and holidays... It feels like there is little "normal" life. But at the same time I am so grateful that we are able (financially and time-wise) to travel as much as we do and to see family so often.

The Birth of Kiersten Grace

We just passed Kiersten's 2-month "birthday", and since time is flying by so quickly, I thought I should probably record Kiersten's birth story before I forget it! ;-)

I was so impatient for K to arrive that I had honestly been praying for her to arrive earlier. Days kept passing, and she showed no signs of arrival. But on the morning of my due date (June 17th), I was woken up by some strong contractions. To preface this, keep in mind that I was induced with Bethany, so I had no experience of going into labor naturally... so I was unsure what my body would do when given the chance to "do it's thing." Anyways, I knew enough to know that I was having contractions. But they weren't super strong, and they were 7-8 minutes apart - so Todd and I decided to go ahead with our plans for the day, which included garage sale-ing in the morning. I LOVE garage sales, and we've gone to a lot of them, but I think this day of garage sales will stand out in my memory. Pausing at a table of baby clothes to breathe a little deeper, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to let a contraction pass, pulling out the stopwatch in the car between sales to make sure the contractions weren't getting closer together, and of course, answering the question "When are you due?" and getting shocked looks from strangers.

The day just kept moving by, and my contractions didn't seem to be getting any stronger. I even took a "nap" that afternoon and my contractions slowed down to about 10 minutes apart, but continued. My parents-in-law decided to go ahead and make the trip to our house, assuming that the baby would be born sometime in the coming day or two. We ordered pizza and rented the new Sherlock Holmes movie that night (both were probably poor choices for a mom in labor, but still fun!), and I sat on the couch and squeezed Todd's arm during contractions.

I had called my midwife a couple of times throughout the day, and we both agreed that I was still doing fine laboring at home and that I didn't need to rush in to the hospital. But because I had been laboring all day long, I didn't pay as much attention as I should have to the fact that the contractions were slowly... so slowly... getting stronger.

And so, when I lay down to try to get some rest at 12:30 am on June 18th, my water burst. I seriously thought that Todd could hear it. I immediately knew that we didn't have much time, and labor suddenly went from bearable to incredibly intense. Before I could even make it out of the bedroom, my contractions were so hard that I couldn't move or breathe... which made it hard to get out to the car. I remember panicking as Todd started over the first speed bump and realizing how awful it was that I wanted him to drive as fast as he could - but to inch over those speed bumps (and there are quite a few on this college campus!). I was also keenly aware of how far we were getting from our apartment building, where we had a nurse friend who had promised to help if I had a home birth. I could feel the baby pressing down hard, and I just wanted to be somewhere where the baby could be born... either at home or the hospital, but not in the car! By this point my contractions were to the point that I was screaming and punching Todd's arm, and I barely opened my eyes except to see if we were getting any closer to the hospital. (Embarrassing fact: we had never visited this hospital before, and didn't even know where the ER was once we got there. Umm... now that we know how fast labor can attack, I don't think we'll make that mistake again!!!)

Anyways, we finally made it the hospital, into a wheelchair, and into the ER lobby - where we waited (Todd impatiently, me incoherently) for an eternal 5 minutes for the maternity ward nurse to come and take us to the maternity ward. When we reached the maternity ward at 1:20 am (which, by the way, felt to me like an extremely long and bumpy walk from the ER), the nurse said that she wanted to get a urine sample, and in my head, I said, "Are you insane?!? This baby is going to come out in the toilet if I do that!" She must have interpreted that from the look on my face, because she changed the plan to: "Let's just get you in a hospital gown and up on the bed." And it's a good thing she did. When I lay down, I was 9 cm and the nurse could feel Kiersten's head just a fingertip away. I pushed for six minutes, and out she came at 1:36 am. Ahhhhhh...... So nice to be done with that! I actually got to sleep that night!

Kiersten has been such a joy - so peaceful, such a good sleeper, and SO many smiles! Babies like her make you feel like parenting is easy!

Life with a toddler... and gestational diabetes... and a garden...

For the sake of time... yours and mine... I'm going to put some of our recent updates into an (unranked) "TOP 5" list.

1.  I've figured out a way to better describe Bethany... at least it helps me to better understand her. Here it is: she always has an agenda. I have to admit, she comes by it naturally - it is very hard for me to ever slow down and just "be" without a to-do list flowing through my brain or some urgent something calling me away. But Bethany's agenda, unlike mine, almost always includes someone else - usually ME. "Mommy, sit down! Play tea party, Mommy! Mommy, I wanna go outside. Listen to music, Mommy?" And on and on it goes. It is actually much, much easier to get the dishes done or the house picked up if we have one of Bethany's little friends over to play - because then there is someone else involved in Bethany's agenda besides me. I should enjoy being the center of her world, but it takes a conscious choice... especially when I have my own agenda pulling at me, too.
2. I am experiencing [slightly] the world of a diabetic. Yup. I beat the odds and became one of the 4% of pregnant women with gestational diabetes! :-) It has forced some good habits on my and my little family - for one thing, we have taken a walk together (at least Bethany and me, if not Todd) almost every day since I was diagnosed almost a month ago. And I have cut down on my sweets intake... although recently my sweet tooth has been killing me, so I have had to find a few splurging opportunities! I have to check my blood sugar (yes, by pricking my finger) four times a day and follow a low-carb diet, but I have to say that it really hasn't been as bad as I expected. Annoying, yes, but I can live with this modified lifestyle for another month! (Just feel free to send chocolate along with baby gifts when this little girl decides to make her appearance... ;-)
3. Yes, I am enjoying my job! And yes, it is still a balancing act between family, work, and "running the house." The "house" part of things often gets the short end of the stick, which bothers me a lot. I just can't think straight when there are socks and stickers and cracker crumbs all over the floor! But there isn't time for everything, so sometimes they just have to lie there. Let's see... it's only about 14 years until Bethany can run to the grocery store for me - but she already enjoys doing the dishes.... maybe I should be taking advantage of that more often?
4. 
   
   
5. I can't wait to meet Baby   - ooh, I almost gave her name away! This pregnancy isn't quite as mysterious and exciting as the first one (I can only imagine that it gets worse the more kids you have), and I have been getting anxious to meet this little girl for the past month or two. I had a bad case of pre-partum blues before Bethany was born - I was nervous about becoming a mommy and grieving the loss of my "freedom". But so far with this one I'm just excited and impatient! Maybe because I don't have much "freedom" left to lose. ;-)
6. We are officially gardeners this summer! (Although some crazy frost has been trying to kill our corn and tomatoes the last few nights). We planted plenty of perennial flowers and bushes in Pittsburgh, but we didn't try any vegetables. But the Seminary Village has fenced-in 15x20 garden plots for seminary students to use, so we decided to give it a try this year! I'll keep you posted on our spaghetti & butternut squash, peas, green beans, lettuce, corn, tomatoes, and herbs... it will be a fun experiment! And if you live nearby, you may be able to taste some of the "fruits" of our labor.
7. Oops, I said this was a top 5 list. Oh well, make that 6. Since we are on a quarter schedule here (not semesters) Todd still has 4 weeks left of school. He will be taking a couple of distance courses over the summer, but hopefully he will be able to take something of a brain-break... he has been working hard all year, and has had an especially hard quarter this spring. It's about time for a rest!

New home, new jobs

I guess it's about time to post some pictures of our new place... I keep telling people about our incredible view, but I think sometimes you just need to see it!

From the entry:

The cute little bistro table we bought just because of the view... and because I needed a home for my YoungLives computer. Yup - this is my office! :-)

Here's the view that keeps me distracted while I'm trying to "work"... (the white that you see behind the trees is actually the snow-covered lake)

And this is what Bethany has been up to these days...

Coloring at her new little table & chair set from Grandma A.

 

And sticking little things in little holes. 

Yes, I just found these headphones hanging from the bathroom keyhole earlier today. 

Todd is at his new job right now, doing taxes only 10 minutes away! He is working two afternoons a week through the rest of tax season. I just "officially" started in my new YoungLives position this week (although I just got back from a 10-day trip to PA, DC, VA, and WV for a couple of YoungLives-related meetings and retreats. By the end of that trip I had no idea what state I was in anymore). So far work is going really well for both of us - although we are discovering that the downside to having baby-sitters who have kids is that there's no guarantee who will ACTUALLY be able to watch Bethany from day to day! This week two baby-sitters and a back-up baby-sitter had to cancel because of sickness. Thankfully, Todd had time to watch Bethany so that I was able to get some work done! Well, we're off to look at a toddler bed that we found on craigslist, so that's all for now...

Christmas in pictures

Four "Christmases", three cities, two and a half weeks at grandparents' houses, and one redecorated house in one wonderful month-long break. Happy times!!

Reading with Uncle Peter

I love my Nana!

There's a story behind this repainted & redecorated dining room... I have always joked about wanting a chance to redecorate my parents house, since I love planning inside spaces, painting, shopping, and rearranging everything until it's perfect. So for Christmas, my dad asked me to "de-clutter/simplify" their house a bit... and it turned into three very full days of painting walls, cleaning kitchen cabinets, replacing light fixtures and cabinet handles, shopping for new lighting, side tables, curtains, etc, taking down valances, getting rid of old furniture, re-doing Mom's famous (and ever-growing) "picture wall" in the dining room, and on and on. Until Christmas came and we just stopped and enjoyed our work! Unfortunately, I was so eager to get started that I didn't take "before" pictures... I'll have to dig through Mom's pictures sometime to see if I can find some good "befores."

 New storage bench to replace the old china cabinet...

new lights... new paint color... new curtains

You can sort of see the bench... modeled by my sister Emily...in front of our lovely

new curtains (minus the dated valance!)

"Christmas Eve" (#2) at the Aspers - flanel-boarding the Christmas story.

Doesn't this scene looks so peaceful? Good thing it's not on video!

Watch out for toddlers with flanel animals...

 

My baby grew up... her hair is long enough for pig tails!

Studying baby cousin Timmy... I think she'll be a good big sister. :-D

The cousins take some floor time

Two days after we got back from Des Moines, we found out that the University is turning our apartment building into undergrad housing. Because of the timing of school, new jobs, and new baby, the best time to move turned out to be... this Saturday!! So Todd and I have begun to take apart our "old" apartment in preparation for moving into our "new" one. Didn't we just move here?! We are very sad to leave this building... we have great friends here, and it's probable that we won't live in the same building as them anymore. But God is good, and we found a new apartment (still in Seminary Village on campus) with a wonderful lake view and on the same floor with other friends (and with Bethany's little red-headed buddy, Aleah). We'll just have to be intentional about getting together with our "old" neighbors!

I also just found out recently that I was hired as the Eastern Division YoungLives coordinator - which means working from home 20 hours a week, traveling some, and getting to work with all of the YoungLives staff back east that I have to come to love so much! Woohoo! Although sometimes I start to think that I'm going to have to provide for myself... God always does provide.

1 quarter down, 8 to go!

A couple nights ago I took out a "personality test" that I had done for Bethany when she was 4 months old. I was curious then - and still am now - how accurately you can tell a baby's personality, and whether it changes much as they get older. Well, guess what... 14 months later, I would answer almost the EXACT same answers for Bethany's personality! Kinda freaks me out a bit how much "personality" a baby has at only 4 months old. Maybe with the next kid I'll take it at 2 months and see how consistent THAT is a year and half later. :-) So here are a few of the most telling answers on the test, with quotations from the test that almost exactly describe her:

1) Activity Level: High! "She turns diaper changes into wrestling matches."
2) Sociability: YES. "She smiles and "coos" (now talks) at just about anyone!"
3) Adaptability: Nope, not so much. "She refuses to sleep anywhere but in her own crib." (Grandma & Nana's houses are the exceptions)
4) Intensity: Drama! "She makes her feelings known - loudly - with earthshaking cries."
5) Distractibility: Not easy. "It's hard to calm her down if she's not getting exactly what she wants, when she wants it." 

We had two doctor's visits today, one for each kid. We finally got to hear Baby #2's heartbeat, which was "loud as can be" according to the midwife! As far as we can tell, everything is progressing normally. Bethany, on the other hand, is still in the 20th percentile of weight - and 40th in height. She actually has not gained any weight at all since her 14 month appointment, which bothers me, but the pediatrician didn't seem too concerned.

Well, Todd has (seemingly) flown through his first quarter, and now he is off for an entire month! This is such a strange feeling - to have no school, and very little work, for a MONTH. Certainly different from the past several years, when he got 14 days of vacation for the entire year. We are so excited to be able to spend a week in Pittsburgh and then a week in Des Moines celebrating Christmases with family! I think we will be celebrating about four Christmases, between both of our families and extended family reunions.

In school news, I have decided that subbing in special ed classrooms is my favorite, hands down. There just is no comparison between a class of 30 rowdy 5th graders and a class of 7 sweet special ed kids. Plus, between the slower pace of the classes and the TAs, the teaching end of things is so much simpler - much more hands on and individualized. I think if I would have been exposed to a special ed classroom before I got my education degree, I would very seriously have considered switching from English to special ed!

And in other work news... Todd found a job doing taxes at a small CPA firm only 10 minutes from our house. And the amazing part is that the guy who is hiring him is willing to let him work only 10 hours a week, even though he originally was looking for someone to work full-time during tax season! (He probably will still hire someone else full-time... so now he's hiring two people instead of one).

The beautiful bunch of alstroemeria that Todd brought home for me last week... The green is a very welcome contrast to all of the white outside!

My favorite "Christmas spot" in our house. Since we're going to be gone for over two weeks, we decided not to get a tree this year... so every evening we sing carols around the nativity instead. Not bad. :-)

Bethany in her first Christmas-y dress of the season... which I think was given to us when she was a newborn.

Bethany Updates

Okay, it's time for some Bethany updates.

• Does anyone else have (or used to have) a moody-picky eater?  One day Bethany loves hot dogs, and the next day she won't touch them. The stand-by foods for her are mandarin oranges, plain tortillas, cheese pizza, and peanut butter (licked from a piece of bread or an apple - or just her plate). But other than that, I never know what will make it in her mouth and what will end up smashed on her tray or on the floor. I do know that meat will NOT make it in her mouth - even chicken only lasts for a bite or two before it gets spit back out. She does love any kind of "sauce", though - ketchup, spaghetti sauce, applesauce, or anything else dippable - and will happily lick it off of the food that it's on. 
  
• Bethany is imitating us like crazy these days! Even our voice inflections and non-verbals come back in her interpretations.  The other day she was talking to herself in her crib before I got her up, and I heard her asking herself one-word questions and replying to herself with "mm-hmm" exactly the way I answer her when she keeps saying something over and over. 
• She still mixes up sounds in words occasionally. The most recent one is "nos" for "snow." 
• I usually know when Bethany is doing something wrong, because I hear her quietly say to herself, "No, no, no!" I have to stop laughing before I go see what she's up to. 

Bethany & Co. 

Bethany (in her butterfly/fairy - you decide - halloween costume), with "Noni' and "Tay-tay" (our down-the-hall neighbors)

Bethany and Sam (our upstairs neighbor)

Why won't they both smile at the same time?

Stylin' in her "gasses"

Bethany and Aleah (born two weeks apart, both with red-ish hair)

My favorite pic... kiss, kiss!