I am pretty sure that this is the only post I have ever made on the blog. Well there is a first time for everything. Christie needs to rest right now so I thought I would do the first post to let people know that Isabella is here!
I got home from work late last night because I had to make a trip to Baby's R Us to get another baby gate and a new baby monitor. When I got home Christie was having contractions. They were not that intense and they were coming at random intervals.
As the night progressed the intensity of the contractions increased and so did their consistency. By 10:00 PM she was having contractions roughly every 7 minutes and they were beginning to bother her enough where she thought we might need to head to the hospital.
We made it on the road by 10:30 PM and it was a good thing that we did. The weather was bad and the roads were very slick. It took us twice as long to get to the hospital as normal and by the time we were settled in our room, Christie was already at 7 cm.
Christie's epidural worked this time and she started to push at 2:28 AM and Isabella was here at 2:41 AM. I was amazed at how fast she pushed Isabella out, it was a record time, 13 minutes.
We just thank God for how His plan comes together! Despite the weather, all the key players made it to the hospital in time, the anesthesiologist got there in time to place in a working epidural and our God send of a doctor, Dr. Dawn DeWitt made it here safely to deliver Isabella.
The coolest thing for me was being able to deliver Isabella and lay her on Christie's tummy. I also got to cut the cord and take the pics right after she was born. It was surely a night to remember and proof once again to Gods everlasting promise and to His awesome plan and design! I feel like the luckiest man on Earth right now!
The link below gives a few photos to check out, I am sure Christie will post more later on, but this is a start anyway.
Isabella's Pics
Until later,
Gary, Christie, Anna & Isabella
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Happy New Year!
Another year has begun whether you wanted it to or not. I'm ready for a new year with new challenges and a growing family, along with new goals for the year. I am still with child, due on the 18th and could be induced on the 19th or before, depending on what the doctor says today and my ultrasound this week. As with Anna, I'm done being pregnant. The shots are fine up until I switch to twice a day. These hurt more, create a lot more bruising and hemotoma bumps so I run out of places to get a shot. There's a breaking point, at least for me, in a pregnancy where I'm ready to be me again. Don't get me wrong, the baby aspect of it all is beautiful and amazing and we're so excited to meet this little person, but the end of the pregnancy for me isn't fun.
Anna is doing well. She's still enhancing her little personality each day, some days are more trying than others, but I think she feeds off how our days go which compounds the tears and whining sometimes. She still amazes us with what she figures out, what she remembers and her capabilities. She's in the phase of not wanting to eat what we give her for dinner sometimes. She whips her head away if we bring something to her mouth or she plays with it and it ends up on the floor in her fury. She also knows where the snack cabinet is and even if we look at it, she runs up to it and goes "uh uh" with her hands up in the air so that we can fulfill her need of a cracker in each hand. We're working on teaching her that she can't have a snack anytime she wants. Oye. She says "yeah", "hi", "awww", "this", "da-dee", "dada", "mama" and what sounds like "pup-pee". She understands a lot more, but there's that selective hearing/understanding things she's really grasping on to. She likes to bop to music on occasion, read herself a story, lays with dad on the floor, hugs our legs and knows where everyones nose is when you ask her. The last few weeks we've told her where mommy's baby is and pointed to my tummy. She points sometimes. I point to her tummy and say Anna's baby (while daddy glares at me, hehe) and also where daddy's baby is (a bigger glare from daddy). She knows there's another fun room upstairs and loves to go in and point at all the animals. But otherwise, she's got something coming when the baby does get here. I'm sure it won't take long to want to help and love on the baby, but in the same right, she's a strong little girl who's figured out how to throw and hit too. Should be interesting to say the least!
Our holidays were wonderful, filled with lovely Michigan/Midwest weather, a lot of junk food that was over-indulged on and being surrounded by all those you love. We spent the weekend before Christmas doing our own family (ask Gary why, hehe) Christmas and also with Gary's parents and sister. Then Christmas Eve morning we headed to Chicago to spend Christmas and the most of the week with my family. It was great to see everyone and all be together! New Years was just Gary and I. We dropped Anna off at Grandma and Grandpas, did some shopping and went to a movie. We finished the night at the in-laws watching HGTV and the ball drop. A different New Years, but a nice slow paced one as well.
Gary is doing well. Fully recoved after toe surgery. He had a nice vacation over Christmas and New Years and is back in the swing of things (only to be interupted by baby coming). We're still in the midst of finishing the basement along with getting the baby's room ready and everything else that goes along with every day life. Oh yeah and we have a new addition to our ever growing family - a mini-van! We got a 2006 Silver Chrysler Town and Country Touring mini-van on the 30th. I didn't want it at all, thought I'd go down kicking and screaming, but practicality took over and will admit that I love it. Everything fits fine, it's easy to get Anna in and out, it drives really smooth and it's all automatic! So needless to say, I don't regret it. :)
With all that said, here are more pictures. Sorry I don't really put them in the post anymore, it takes so long! I'll try to be more dilegent about posting pictures and videos more again while on maternity leave.
The painting in the baby's room is done!
Snow Days!
Our Newest Addition (last picture in the bunch)
Happy Holidays from Michigan and Chicago!
Stay tuned for the news of #2! It's not far away. :)
Love to you all,
Gary, Christie and Anna
Anna is doing well. She's still enhancing her little personality each day, some days are more trying than others, but I think she feeds off how our days go which compounds the tears and whining sometimes. She still amazes us with what she figures out, what she remembers and her capabilities. She's in the phase of not wanting to eat what we give her for dinner sometimes. She whips her head away if we bring something to her mouth or she plays with it and it ends up on the floor in her fury. She also knows where the snack cabinet is and even if we look at it, she runs up to it and goes "uh uh" with her hands up in the air so that we can fulfill her need of a cracker in each hand. We're working on teaching her that she can't have a snack anytime she wants. Oye. She says "yeah", "hi", "awww", "this", "da-dee", "dada", "mama" and what sounds like "pup-pee". She understands a lot more, but there's that selective hearing/understanding things she's really grasping on to. She likes to bop to music on occasion, read herself a story, lays with dad on the floor, hugs our legs and knows where everyones nose is when you ask her. The last few weeks we've told her where mommy's baby is and pointed to my tummy. She points sometimes. I point to her tummy and say Anna's baby (while daddy glares at me, hehe) and also where daddy's baby is (a bigger glare from daddy). She knows there's another fun room upstairs and loves to go in and point at all the animals. But otherwise, she's got something coming when the baby does get here. I'm sure it won't take long to want to help and love on the baby, but in the same right, she's a strong little girl who's figured out how to throw and hit too. Should be interesting to say the least!
Our holidays were wonderful, filled with lovely Michigan/Midwest weather, a lot of junk food that was over-indulged on and being surrounded by all those you love. We spent the weekend before Christmas doing our own family (ask Gary why, hehe) Christmas and also with Gary's parents and sister. Then Christmas Eve morning we headed to Chicago to spend Christmas and the most of the week with my family. It was great to see everyone and all be together! New Years was just Gary and I. We dropped Anna off at Grandma and Grandpas, did some shopping and went to a movie. We finished the night at the in-laws watching HGTV and the ball drop. A different New Years, but a nice slow paced one as well.
Gary is doing well. Fully recoved after toe surgery. He had a nice vacation over Christmas and New Years and is back in the swing of things (only to be interupted by baby coming). We're still in the midst of finishing the basement along with getting the baby's room ready and everything else that goes along with every day life. Oh yeah and we have a new addition to our ever growing family - a mini-van! We got a 2006 Silver Chrysler Town and Country Touring mini-van on the 30th. I didn't want it at all, thought I'd go down kicking and screaming, but practicality took over and will admit that I love it. Everything fits fine, it's easy to get Anna in and out, it drives really smooth and it's all automatic! So needless to say, I don't regret it. :)
With all that said, here are more pictures. Sorry I don't really put them in the post anymore, it takes so long! I'll try to be more dilegent about posting pictures and videos more again while on maternity leave.
The painting in the baby's room is done!
Snow Days!
Our Newest Addition (last picture in the bunch)
Happy Holidays from Michigan and Chicago!
Stay tuned for the news of #2! It's not far away. :)
Love to you all,
Gary, Christie and Anna
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Anna Stories!
**Anna watching TV for a brief moment, looking a lot like daddy when he watches TV. Hehe.**
So I usually post about a few weeks in review and how we're doing. With Anna's personality really shining through from time to time, I'll post more stories of Anna that we can't help but find funny. :)
So last weekend, I was in the bathroom on the main floor. I knew Anna was by the Christmas tree and Gary was in the kitchen. I wasn't watching her at the time and all of a sudden she started to bawl! I thought maybe she broke an ornament and it hurt her. I look at her and immediately called Gary to go over and help her. Anna knows she's not supposed to take the ornaments off the tree or really play with anything on there besides some little trees with a bell at the bottom that I showed her. She took off a glass ball ornament and was holding it in her hand. She stood there, with her head down, fumbling the ball in her hands and bawling, like "oh crap, I know I'm not supposed to do that and now mom and dad are going to yell at me. Oh man, I don't know what to do but cry!" We couldn't yell at her b/c she'd had done enough damage to herself with just taking it off the tree. It was too cute!
This was a few weeks ago. So after Anna's bath, we let her run around naked in her room and in the hall way for a few minutes before she get's ready for bed. We'd been letting her do that for some time now and for some reason that night I had this thought "Crazy how she hasn't pooped or even peed on the carpet yet." Thought too soon. That night it was just me and I let her run to her room after her bath while I'll emptied the tub. I had that thought as I left the bathroom and the few short steps I took to her room, I saw her squatting by her toys on the floor. Her cute little naked butt up in the air with a small puddle beneath her and a little surprise coming out her rear. I wasn't mad and didn't really say anything b/c obviously we let her do it and what do we expect?! But I couldn't believe after that split thought I had moments before would I come into her room to find a little present for me to clean up. Too funny.
More to come! Stay tuned. :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
It's the most wonderful time of the year!
This Christmas time is certainly different for us than last year. We talked about it recently, how excited we were that Anna could hold her head up when she was on her tummy and how she could fit her entire body on a big pillow. We look at her this season, with her running around, mesmerized by the Christmas tree, it's lights and the fun little toys hanging from the tree. Amazing how much growing a baby does in 1 year! This year, she'll be able to open her own gifts and possibly enjoy them for about 2 minutes till she's off finding other things to play with. She can enjoy the wonderful food and goodies that Christmas brings, see all the lights and decorations, pointing at them saying "that", watch her eyes light up when we turn the Christmas tree on, playing in the snow in her giant snowsuit and boats - intrigued but unsure. Gary and I are so excited to start new traditions with her and with this little one next year. Going shopping together to find those perfect gifts for the kids, baking cookies at grandma's house, waking up on Christmas morning to see all that Santa brought, going to church, learning more of what this season means, singing Christmas Carols (and learning mommy's love of Christmas music 24/7 if possible). So many things that we can share with our kids that has only just begun! We almost wish they'd get a little bigger already to enjoy these things more, but I know, that time will come and I'll wish for them to be small again, to have all that childlike innocence.
Our biggest gift this year is this new baby that will make our family of 4. Eventhough it was a huge surprise to us, we know that God has given us this little baby for a reason and are so excited to meet this little person! It has been an uneventful pregnancy, so that may be why there's a lack of detail about this one as I've moved along. I popped faster, so I've felt pregnant for awhile now. I've gained a little weight with this one, but only a few more than I did with the 8-10 I did with Anna. My shots are going fine. I'm actually switching over to the heparin shots twice a day in about a week. This will allow me to get an epideral if I were to go into labor, otherwise they won't touch me with the Lovenox shots. I'm hoping it works this time - I know how it feels now, so I don't feel it this time, I'm very much cool with that. :) I'll be induced again, on January 20, if nothing happens by the 18th. I think I like being induced, so I know that I'll be having a baby that day instead of waiting for my water to break. For a planned person, this is ideal. :) Otherwise, baby is doing great. Moving and kicking all the time, so much more than Anna. I've been measuring 2-3 weeks bigger for a couple months, but I did with Anna too. I still think this one will be in the 7 pound range. We'll see, the time is quickly approaching! I've been slowly working on the baby's room and hope to have it finished in the next 2 weeks so it can be clear coated and furniture moved in.
I've enjoyed coming up with new ways to decorate for Christmas, with all the blog reading and inspiration I've seen over the past years, I've done things a little differently. The Christmas shopping was done a lot online, handmade or in short order this year. It seems a little less stressful. The cookie baking with Gary's mom will be this Saturday - we make the classics that Gary grew up with along with a new recipe or 2 that we like to take on. The weekend after that begins the festivities of Christmas! We have a lot to be thankful for, our home, our jobs, financial stability in these tough times, Anna and the new baby, our family and friends, cars that run most of the time, food for each meal, the freedom to celebrate the birth of our Savior with other believers, our health, the good news that Gary's grandpa's test showed that a lot of the cancer is gone or has shrank tremendously and so much more! We should reflect on this more throughout the year instead of just during the holidays. God does provide for us 24/7/365.
Gary and I are doing well. Jobs are good and keeping us busy. Gary's been in charge of the majority of the IT projects for the new arena Calvin has built. So he's been very busy and very proud to be a part of such a big project! We're going to try and take advantage of the free sports tickets Gary can get and see some basketball games this winter. My job is going fine. There are moments of frustration with learning new things, but they get worked through and all seems to be going alright. We've been in the midst of holiday planning, baby preparations and watching the endless snow fall. Gary had toe surgery last week to cure some ingrown toenail issues, so he's been on the road to recovery. I'll spare you the gorry details. :) We were given tickets to go with our friend Jenn to the Grand Rapids Symphony Holiday Pops concert on Saturday. It was an amazing gift and we really enjoyed it! It truly sets the tone for the Christmas season with beautiful music and singing.
Otherwise, all is well at the Tidd house. Anna is getting bigger, making us laugh, be amazed or seeing our parents come out in us with getting after her for something. :)
ENJOY THE NEW PICTURES TOO! Here are some of the crazy girl and some holiday photos.
I hope this finds all of you well, having a stress-free or close to it anyway, Christmas season so far!
Love,
GCA
Our biggest gift this year is this new baby that will make our family of 4. Eventhough it was a huge surprise to us, we know that God has given us this little baby for a reason and are so excited to meet this little person! It has been an uneventful pregnancy, so that may be why there's a lack of detail about this one as I've moved along. I popped faster, so I've felt pregnant for awhile now. I've gained a little weight with this one, but only a few more than I did with the 8-10 I did with Anna. My shots are going fine. I'm actually switching over to the heparin shots twice a day in about a week. This will allow me to get an epideral if I were to go into labor, otherwise they won't touch me with the Lovenox shots. I'm hoping it works this time - I know how it feels now, so I don't feel it this time, I'm very much cool with that. :) I'll be induced again, on January 20, if nothing happens by the 18th. I think I like being induced, so I know that I'll be having a baby that day instead of waiting for my water to break. For a planned person, this is ideal. :) Otherwise, baby is doing great. Moving and kicking all the time, so much more than Anna. I've been measuring 2-3 weeks bigger for a couple months, but I did with Anna too. I still think this one will be in the 7 pound range. We'll see, the time is quickly approaching! I've been slowly working on the baby's room and hope to have it finished in the next 2 weeks so it can be clear coated and furniture moved in.
I've enjoyed coming up with new ways to decorate for Christmas, with all the blog reading and inspiration I've seen over the past years, I've done things a little differently. The Christmas shopping was done a lot online, handmade or in short order this year. It seems a little less stressful. The cookie baking with Gary's mom will be this Saturday - we make the classics that Gary grew up with along with a new recipe or 2 that we like to take on. The weekend after that begins the festivities of Christmas! We have a lot to be thankful for, our home, our jobs, financial stability in these tough times, Anna and the new baby, our family and friends, cars that run most of the time, food for each meal, the freedom to celebrate the birth of our Savior with other believers, our health, the good news that Gary's grandpa's test showed that a lot of the cancer is gone or has shrank tremendously and so much more! We should reflect on this more throughout the year instead of just during the holidays. God does provide for us 24/7/365.
Gary and I are doing well. Jobs are good and keeping us busy. Gary's been in charge of the majority of the IT projects for the new arena Calvin has built. So he's been very busy and very proud to be a part of such a big project! We're going to try and take advantage of the free sports tickets Gary can get and see some basketball games this winter. My job is going fine. There are moments of frustration with learning new things, but they get worked through and all seems to be going alright. We've been in the midst of holiday planning, baby preparations and watching the endless snow fall. Gary had toe surgery last week to cure some ingrown toenail issues, so he's been on the road to recovery. I'll spare you the gorry details. :) We were given tickets to go with our friend Jenn to the Grand Rapids Symphony Holiday Pops concert on Saturday. It was an amazing gift and we really enjoyed it! It truly sets the tone for the Christmas season with beautiful music and singing.
Otherwise, all is well at the Tidd house. Anna is getting bigger, making us laugh, be amazed or seeing our parents come out in us with getting after her for something. :)
ENJOY THE NEW PICTURES TOO! Here are some of the crazy girl and some holiday photos.
I hope this finds all of you well, having a stress-free or close to it anyway, Christmas season so far!
Love,
GCA
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Time is ticking...
**This was a post from a couple weeks ago that I never posted, so sorry about the abrupt end. I'll post a new one tonight complete with pictures and videos.**
We're about 8 weeks away from #2 to make an appearance! Crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. It's different this time b/c the anxiety of all these new things isn't there this time. I had my 32 week check up today. Baby's heartbeat is still in the 140's, measuring about 35 weeks but I had that with Anna. I would imagine this baby is a little bigger than Anna was, but who knows. It's definitely a mover! I thought Anna moved, but this baby does flips all day long. On one hand this pregnancy has gone by so fast, on the other hand I'm ready for it to be done. I popped a lot faster and have felt pregnant a lot longer than I did with Anna..... could this be because I only had 6 months between having Anna and getting pregnant again? :) I'm very thankful for a very uneventful pregnancy and that all looks wonderful, but I'm ready to have my body back and be able to bend again! :) The baby's room is coming along. Hopefully over this long weekend, I'll get the baby's room finished so we can clear coat it and get the furniture in there. Yay! That'll make it feel more real and make me more prepared.
Anna is doing great. She had her 12 month checkup/shot appointment last Thursday. She's a huge 20 pounds 6 ounces. Her height and weight are in the 35% and her head is in the 75%. Hehe. She got her MMR shot, chicken pox shot and 1 of 2 flu shots. She did really well, it was the next day that she got crabby. So we gave her ice cream that night and she went crazy! She was banging her head on the lazyboy, running between Gary and I to get bites and was just running around being goofy. It was hilarious. Otherwise she continues to eat and sleep really well, she loves having books read to her. We've even memorized Dr. Seuss' ABC book! She moved to the middle room at daycare and loves it! She has a lot more room to move, eats at the table sometimes, takes naps on the mat sometimes and does crafts! She's growing up so fast!
Gary and I continue to do well. We had the basement about 40% and the best thing right now is that we were able to move our cars back in the garage! We got rid of a lot of stuff, packed things better and now have brand new shelves to load up with stuff. :) Working on the baby's room, Thanksgiving preparations, buying Christmas gifts, decor and cards and keeping track of Anna is our duties right now. Gary's doing a lot right now as I'm not able to bend very well anymore or do any lifting.
Hope all is well with you!
Love,
GCA
We're about 8 weeks away from #2 to make an appearance! Crazy how fast this pregnancy has gone. It's different this time b/c the anxiety of all these new things isn't there this time. I had my 32 week check up today. Baby's heartbeat is still in the 140's, measuring about 35 weeks but I had that with Anna. I would imagine this baby is a little bigger than Anna was, but who knows. It's definitely a mover! I thought Anna moved, but this baby does flips all day long. On one hand this pregnancy has gone by so fast, on the other hand I'm ready for it to be done. I popped a lot faster and have felt pregnant a lot longer than I did with Anna..... could this be because I only had 6 months between having Anna and getting pregnant again? :) I'm very thankful for a very uneventful pregnancy and that all looks wonderful, but I'm ready to have my body back and be able to bend again! :) The baby's room is coming along. Hopefully over this long weekend, I'll get the baby's room finished so we can clear coat it and get the furniture in there. Yay! That'll make it feel more real and make me more prepared.
Anna is doing great. She had her 12 month checkup/shot appointment last Thursday. She's a huge 20 pounds 6 ounces. Her height and weight are in the 35% and her head is in the 75%. Hehe. She got her MMR shot, chicken pox shot and 1 of 2 flu shots. She did really well, it was the next day that she got crabby. So we gave her ice cream that night and she went crazy! She was banging her head on the lazyboy, running between Gary and I to get bites and was just running around being goofy. It was hilarious. Otherwise she continues to eat and sleep really well, she loves having books read to her. We've even memorized Dr. Seuss' ABC book! She moved to the middle room at daycare and loves it! She has a lot more room to move, eats at the table sometimes, takes naps on the mat sometimes and does crafts! She's growing up so fast!
Gary and I continue to do well. We had the basement about 40% and the best thing right now is that we were able to move our cars back in the garage! We got rid of a lot of stuff, packed things better and now have brand new shelves to load up with stuff. :) Working on the baby's room, Thanksgiving preparations, buying Christmas gifts, decor and cards and keeping track of Anna is our duties right now. Gary's doing a lot right now as I'm not able to bend very well anymore or do any lifting.
Hope all is well with you!
Love,
GCA
Monday, November 17, 2008
Had to share!
Last night, while perusing Facebook, a friend from highschool posted about a Britax car seat on sale at Target for $42.99. I couldn't believe it. So I checked it out. Sure enough, the same (different pattern) one we just bought for Anna with $75 off for the bargin price of $225 was on sale at Target for $42.99. On top of that, it qualified for free shipping, so we got a $300, highest rating car seat for the mear price of $45! Who knows if it was a typo or a clearance sale, but we got in just before they were sold out. Hind site, we should have purchased 5 of them and resold them for a huge profit! Dumb hind site. :) Either way, we scored a new seat for our other vehicle for Anna to use now and to be used by #2 in a year. Now that's shopping friends!
New Seat at $45
Anna's seat at $225
UPDATE: Target sent out an email saying the cancelled my order b/c the price was wrong. Well poo on them! Apparently it says they can do that in their help section. Blah.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Pardon the dust!
Well, we're at 30 weeks. Baby is moving all the over a lot of the day and making me slow down just a bit. We've been in the midst of finishing the basement, one weekend at at time. My dad started by framing it in and my cousin came up last weekend to put in lighting and electric. He has a few little things to finish up, then the heating and cooling guy will come in and put in some vents to keep the basement warm. Next comes insulation, dad coming back up to do dry wall, a mud and taping guy will finish it up and we'll take it from there with carpet, painting, trim work, etc. This is all being done right now to create a new guest room as baby #2 is taking over our current one. So as you can see time is running short with baby getting closer to making it's way into our family.
With all that, I'm getting the baby's room prepped for some painting and other fun things to be installed in it's room. It's a bright shade of sherbert orange (which surprises some of our guests) but will be really nice when all the furniture is in and the elements have been painted on the wall. We felt the same way about Anna's room, but it all worked out really well. The baby's is getting a big tree like Anna's, some critters of various sorts, fun colored mirrors, an alphabet print and some script on the wall. We're going to swap rocking chairs in the room, so Anna will have the small black one and the baby will get the big wooden one (it matches better and we don't use the rocking chair for Anna much anymore). I have to freshen up the changing table with a coat of flat white paint and put together the crib. Anna's getting some mirrors in her room as well ( reusing our IKEA frames from back in the day) painting light blue with clouds. She's already seen the baby's mirrors and loves them. So that'll be cool. Much to do, but I'm finally able to get to it!
We also have some projects to work on for Christmas presents this weekend (more on that after Christmas of course) along with shopping for other family members. I've already started picking up things for Anna and Gary and have ideas for the most of the rest of the family. Which leads me to the Christmas Card. Gotta do that yet. It may be a condensed version this year as most of you read my blog and see our lives more indepth than a card can get, plus there's that time thing. :) Don't worry, it'll still be designed and not store bought. Christmas decor will go up hopefully over Thanksgiving break and we'll see how Anna takes to a trinket filled tree with sparkly lights. She listens pretty well, so hopefully not too many meltdowns of us saying no to her. Hehe. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year so that should be fun - never made a turkey before! But I can't wait for turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Maybe I can convince the fam to do some bowling that day - bring out the back home tradition.
I'm excited for the holiday season, I'm already gearing up my Christmas music selection to start up right after the big eatin' day! I'm excited to have Anna start to see what Christmas is, what we do and what it really means. I'm excited to decorate (hopefully with some new things) and to make Christmas cookies. Despite the dreaded snow, I look forward to this season every year. It's so magical and will only become more as our kids get older and create our own traditions and experiences. Making cookies with grandma, heading to Chicago to see if Santa followed us to Grandma and Grandpa Tiemens house, going downtown to see the windows, maybe try out ice skating, making gifts for family, getting gifts for those less fortunate, waking up Christmas morning to see how good they really were that year and going to Church to sing in the kids choirs, to hear the beautiful music that surrounds such an amazing Gift.
The Boog is doing well. She had a rough week with not being quite herself. Very moody and some not so great diapers if you know what I mean. We changed up her diet a little bit and the past couple days she's been in a great mood. So hopefully we're on our way back up. She's probably teething too and that probably is giving her pain, which she turns into clinginess and an upset tummy giving her those lovely diapers. She's starting to chatter more with forming new sounds, saying "hi" when she sees us and when she puts a phone up to her ear. So cute! She's really learning her limitations with us saying no and her not pushing as far. But even when daddy gets stern but a quiet voice with her, the drama turns on! Our little drama queen.
Gary and I are doing well too. Work is going fine - keeping busy as usual. Still working on side work projects of wedding invites, logo design and web design on top of our own projects we would really like to get to. We're enjoying the things in life that make it a little simplier or manageable. These might be frivilous or a no brainer, but a welcomed changed in our house. We purchased a Tivo for a combo birthday gift and love it! We program our shows for the week and when we have a moment, we can watch them and fast forward commercials, rather than trying to be by the TV at the time of the show. This gets us away from watching things that fill space and watch more of our interests. We've also instilled a "clean up all the dishes right after dinner." As some of you know, dishes are one of the jobs we both really despise doing. We got sick of dishes piled up for days, stinking up the house and then spending an hour trying to get them somewhat clean to fill the dishwasher. Now we take 20 minutes to load the dishwasher and clean off the counters. It brings just a little more weight off of our weekend chores. There are others we'd like to become apart of our daily routine like laundry, my "organized piles", filing, cleaning, etc, but slow and steady wins the race, right?
Otherwise all is well in Tiddville. Bracing ourselves for another cold Michigan winter, but thankful we can have heat and the money to pay for it. Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the pictures (finally ones of our painted rooms)!
The Booger
Paint Jobs
Baby #2
Love to all,
GCA
With all that, I'm getting the baby's room prepped for some painting and other fun things to be installed in it's room. It's a bright shade of sherbert orange (which surprises some of our guests) but will be really nice when all the furniture is in and the elements have been painted on the wall. We felt the same way about Anna's room, but it all worked out really well. The baby's is getting a big tree like Anna's, some critters of various sorts, fun colored mirrors, an alphabet print and some script on the wall. We're going to swap rocking chairs in the room, so Anna will have the small black one and the baby will get the big wooden one (it matches better and we don't use the rocking chair for Anna much anymore). I have to freshen up the changing table with a coat of flat white paint and put together the crib. Anna's getting some mirrors in her room as well ( reusing our IKEA frames from back in the day) painting light blue with clouds. She's already seen the baby's mirrors and loves them. So that'll be cool. Much to do, but I'm finally able to get to it!
We also have some projects to work on for Christmas presents this weekend (more on that after Christmas of course) along with shopping for other family members. I've already started picking up things for Anna and Gary and have ideas for the most of the rest of the family. Which leads me to the Christmas Card. Gotta do that yet. It may be a condensed version this year as most of you read my blog and see our lives more indepth than a card can get, plus there's that time thing. :) Don't worry, it'll still be designed and not store bought. Christmas decor will go up hopefully over Thanksgiving break and we'll see how Anna takes to a trinket filled tree with sparkly lights. She listens pretty well, so hopefully not too many meltdowns of us saying no to her. Hehe. We're hosting Thanksgiving this year so that should be fun - never made a turkey before! But I can't wait for turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Maybe I can convince the fam to do some bowling that day - bring out the back home tradition.
I'm excited for the holiday season, I'm already gearing up my Christmas music selection to start up right after the big eatin' day! I'm excited to have Anna start to see what Christmas is, what we do and what it really means. I'm excited to decorate (hopefully with some new things) and to make Christmas cookies. Despite the dreaded snow, I look forward to this season every year. It's so magical and will only become more as our kids get older and create our own traditions and experiences. Making cookies with grandma, heading to Chicago to see if Santa followed us to Grandma and Grandpa Tiemens house, going downtown to see the windows, maybe try out ice skating, making gifts for family, getting gifts for those less fortunate, waking up Christmas morning to see how good they really were that year and going to Church to sing in the kids choirs, to hear the beautiful music that surrounds such an amazing Gift.
The Boog is doing well. She had a rough week with not being quite herself. Very moody and some not so great diapers if you know what I mean. We changed up her diet a little bit and the past couple days she's been in a great mood. So hopefully we're on our way back up. She's probably teething too and that probably is giving her pain, which she turns into clinginess and an upset tummy giving her those lovely diapers. She's starting to chatter more with forming new sounds, saying "hi" when she sees us and when she puts a phone up to her ear. So cute! She's really learning her limitations with us saying no and her not pushing as far. But even when daddy gets stern but a quiet voice with her, the drama turns on! Our little drama queen.
Gary and I are doing well too. Work is going fine - keeping busy as usual. Still working on side work projects of wedding invites, logo design and web design on top of our own projects we would really like to get to. We're enjoying the things in life that make it a little simplier or manageable. These might be frivilous or a no brainer, but a welcomed changed in our house. We purchased a Tivo for a combo birthday gift and love it! We program our shows for the week and when we have a moment, we can watch them and fast forward commercials, rather than trying to be by the TV at the time of the show. This gets us away from watching things that fill space and watch more of our interests. We've also instilled a "clean up all the dishes right after dinner." As some of you know, dishes are one of the jobs we both really despise doing. We got sick of dishes piled up for days, stinking up the house and then spending an hour trying to get them somewhat clean to fill the dishwasher. Now we take 20 minutes to load the dishwasher and clean off the counters. It brings just a little more weight off of our weekend chores. There are others we'd like to become apart of our daily routine like laundry, my "organized piles", filing, cleaning, etc, but slow and steady wins the race, right?
Otherwise all is well in Tiddville. Bracing ourselves for another cold Michigan winter, but thankful we can have heat and the money to pay for it. Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the pictures (finally ones of our painted rooms)!
The Booger
Paint Jobs
Baby #2
Love to all,
GCA
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