Back in the saddle again . . .

Happy New Year!

Time for a check-in, ya think?

We are doing fine up here in newbabyland. It's been freeeezzing. Like -20. And we aren't in Alaska, we are in Wisconsin!

We are about 3.5 weeks post baby's birth day. Dad is back to work. Boys' birthday has been celebrated. The twelve days of Christmas have passed (the tree is still up). We only have one freezer meal left (ack! what will I do?). Grandma has visited.

I guess its time to figure out how this new life is going to work. So this week we are slowly beginning to figure out how this might all work. The calendar for the next month is quickly filling up, so it appears life won't be exactly slow all the time but we'll take it as slowly as possible.

So how is the transition going? Well, I can't exactly say because transition can be a loonngg phase but I can say so far . . .  okay. I am overwhelmed much of the time and I have no clue as to how I will keep up with everything. Hence my theme, "And Abraham Went Out."

Nutmeg with our babies. Mine seems to be growing more quickly.

But at the same time, I think I will say that it has been my best transition yet. I see glimmers of hope. I do. I think if I take it slowly and not have high expectations or jump back to "normal" too quickly, we'll be okay. Even now, I catch myself wondering why I'm not fitting back into my regular jeans yet. getting frustrated that things are disorganized, or wondering why I can't keep up with the laundry. But then I stop and remind myself "You are only 3 weeks postpartum. It's okay. Slow down. You'll get it."

For now I am thankful. I keep thinking of how blessed I am to have had a healthy pregnancy, a beautiful birth, and now a thriving baby. He's beautiful, healthy, and just plain wonderful. I amthankful for so many other blessings as well. Too many to name now.

Here are pics from our lessons today and a few from the last few weeks.

The boys are still enjoying their grammar lessons.

We had a good day working on multiplication and division for 2' and 3's.

And what is baby doing during all this? Right here. As long as he's right here, so happy. 

We were all happy to hang out again with Mr. Rob at artforkidshub.com.

The boys did a great job drawing birthday cakes. 

Friday afternoon Grandma drove up from the Chicago area. Then on Saturday we all made the trek up to the Wisconsin Dells to do some more celebrating for the boys' birthday. The boys decided this year they would like to visit the Tommy Barlett Science Exploratory. We had a great time! As you can see from the pictures, they aren't the only ones who enjoyed themselves. ;)  

stopping for a self-portrait in the mirror room.

Grandma, I'm glad you are having a good time but the electric shock machine with the baby?! Um . . 

getting his groove on.

I don't know if you recall but that first week I was nervous because I had to take all four kids out for baby's doctor visit. The kids did great!! So I took them to a date at the coffee shop. And a lovely time we had too! 

Ready for Liftoff?

Tomorrow is the big day. My first solo flight with these four kiddos. I don't really have a flight plan for the week. Maybe a few thoughts. Get to bed earlyish, a few meals in the freezer, house is somewhat tidy, get some math lessons in, keep the kids alive. Ya know, the basics. Mace does have his two week well child check-up in the morning. So, I get to take the four kiddos to the doctor's office tomorrow. Wahoo. Talk about hitting the ground running. I may just bribe them with a cookie at the bakery if they do a good job. Shameless, I know.  

Anywho, here's a few pictures from the past week. Sorry I didn't get any pictures going to church for Christmas Eve. It was a lovely, beautiful evening. We have such a great community here!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Meals by my gourmet chef. He's even making his own salad dressings.

Decor by Sage. Classy, huh? 

Talk about "tearing into" a package. 

New magic set

Who's the Cutest Lil Reindeer??

Well, Baby Mace is, of course! :) 

Mama was able to get out and do a teeny bit of shopping today. It was nice to get out of the house for a spell. The prices at our outlet mall here were great with all the last-minute great deals. I could have gone nuts but thankfully the car was full of the rest of the clan, so I had to hurry. I found a couple of cute little Christmas things for baby.

Yes, so we ALL went out today. First time. The house leaving part was a not-so-smooth exit. Yikes. But the rest of the day went fine. Four hours in the car. Groceries fetched. A few clothing purchases made by mom for the family. And we survived. Yeah us.

So speaking of our littlest reindeer, Mace, I had the sad feeling my friends and family are not as taken with the screen name as I am. I like the spice. It's a spice for sweet foods but is also versatile for a variety of foods. And my little babe is so sweet! I didn't really think about too much that others may just think of the spray for bad guys. 

**sigh**

So, hmm. I'll have to let it perculate to see how things pan out. Thank goodness its just a screen name! I guess one can botch that up. ;) So sad. 

His Name

I got it!!  Wahoo! (its about time!)

Now introducing . . . .

Mace!!!!

(ya'll understand this is the screen name, right?)

:)  

Our littlest sweetie!! What a guy! Mace is an old English name with one translation that means "Gift of God." And that he is! I prayed for this little guy. I prayed for the right timing of his conception, a good pregnancy, and a beautiful birth. God was gracious and good to grant me all three! 

Here's a little bit about the spice:

http://www.thekitchn.com/from-the-spice-cupboard-mace-99715

ZZZZzzzzz . . . .

Here He Is

The night before

Just came out. 

A happy,  happy man.

Joyous Sunday!!

Welcome sweet little boy!!  We are so full of joy to have you in our arms!!!!

A quick birth this morning at 9:51am

December 15th

8 lbs, 5 oz

22 in. long

strawberry blonde hair

Screen name to come . . . not too late to share your ideas 

(I have a few in mind)

Email me for the strong, big name.

****Sorry no pics. We forgot the cord to load pics on the computer. 

Week 38

Hmm.. . . can't see the belly too well but the kids are cute, huh? They are always coming up to my belly and hugging baby. 

Anticipation

Our Advent tree. It will be a bit sparse until Christmas. 

Today was a big day for us. A much anticipated day.

For the last month everybody in the family (including Dad!) kept trying to sing Christmas songs but Boss Mamma outlawed it until Advent. December 1st. Oooh, I was mean and strict! :)

But on the way home from church today, I stuck in a Christmas CD and let 'em all go at it! Oh, how excited they all were!

Not that its Christmas . . . yet! Advent is still about waiting, preparing, anticipating. . . So we'll continue to hold back on some of the festivity and joy. . . until the birth of Jesus!!




I had also been anticipating today because today marks my 37th week of pregnancy and the day my doctor is back from her vacation in Georgia. I had been lying around as much as possible making sure I did my part not to go into labor. But full steam ahead! Doctor M is back and baby can come whenever. That could be tomorrow or it could be closer to Christmas.

So now we continue to prepare our hearts and our home for a number of things. We spend Advent thinking and pondering how to prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ. Will we be found ready? We will spend the month preparing for the celebration of his first coming, the nativity. AND we will also be spending the month preparing and waiting for the coming of our own baby boy!!  What an Advent and Christmas!

We read our first chapter of "Destination: Bethlehem" tonight. LOVE it! 

 It struck me to day that if Jesus were in fact born on December 25th, then I would be about at the same place in my pregnancy as she was at this time (our baby's due date is December 22nd). Pretty cool to think about. Although I cannot imagine riding on a donkey right now!!  But I suppose she was probably a teenager and more fit than I.








Well, I'm off for my beauty rest. Have a blessed week!

So excited about this teeny cloth nativity set I made for Nutmeg.
I'll put them in her stocking for St. Nicholas day on Friday. 

See the tiny baby Jesus?

LoL! Doug must have taken this one.

Sage and Dad on a walk on our "trails" this afternoon. Maybe snowshoe trails for the winter!? Ooh, I can't wait!

Week 35

Again not the best picture of me but you get the idea. 

Things are going okay. I'm not a pregnancy superstar but we're getting by. My goal right now is to just make it until December 2nd. My doctor (have I already said a million times how happy I am to be working with her?!) is on vacation the last week of November, so I'm laying low the next two weeks to try to hold things off until then. They say we don't really have a choice in the matter of when baby arrives but I'm lying low anyhow. After that, whatever happens . . . happens. Knowing me, I'll spend the next two weeks assuming I'll go early and then be late anyhow.  

Let the Count Down Begin!

30 weeks! Yeah, so I'm pretty big. Yep. I'm guessing this is going to be a good sized boy.

We had an absolutely gorgeous weekend! I'll share pics just as soon as I can find some time. A busy week ahead. Of course, every week seems like a busy week these days. :)  

I hope you are thriving, content, and counting your many blessings. We all have so many to count, don't we?

Lots of love from our clan to yours!!

A Few Assorted Thoughts

Hello There Friends and Family,

My posts haven't been as frequent just due to busyness and just plain lack of energy. Don't get my wrong, I'm doing great. Absolutely best pregnancy for me so far.  I thought it would be nice to do a brief check-in with ya'll because I do think I have a few friends and family that check this on a frequent basis.

Today I'm fighting the blues. Really not bad at all but just mentally telling myself to chill out. It's all cool, dude. No prob. I just have a plate full of to-dos and would like to-dos and think that I must conquer them all. I had plans for today. Good plans. And they've dropped. I'm not sure why. I'm tempted to think that I've accomplished nothing and am wasting my time. Maybe I am. But I keep reminding myself that not all fruitfulness if from what I intentionally try to accomplish. Sometimes my fruitfulness can come from just being. And most of all, it can come from what God is doing without me.

I'm growing a beautiful baby in there. He's wonderful. I'm providing a place for three really great kids to grow. They are running around in the fresh air and are thriving. They are reading like fiends (my husband's words) and are adding big numbers. They are excited to do grammar and can tell you random cool things about Greek history and insects. I'm being a wife to one, friend to a handful, and sister to another handful.

And look what my garden is still producing in the middle of October. With no help from me!!

So take the pressure off, girl. It's all good. Relax and enjoy life. What really needs to get done will and the rest might happen sometime.

What about you? Do you feel like a failure sometimes and need to just chill out and be thankful? November's coming and I'm stoked! The thankful month. Let it roll!!

Oh by the way, about that baby in there. I had my last visit with the high risk doctor this week. My last visit because things are looking good with mama and now I can move forward with this "normal" pregnancy. Our little guy is doing well too. Not too little actually. 80th percentile. About 3 pounds, 9 ounces.

I was thinking that life might slow down ever so much since I don't have to drive into downtown Madison to see the specialist but I think no, things won't slow down too much. I think that I'll be working with a chiropractor weekly to straighten this back and neck up. That should help this pregnancy to feel better and be super helpful for labor and delivery as well.

Okay, off to "accomplish" something!  :)