pottery barn kids

I've officially become a pottery barn kids website stalker!

Mike and I have been looking at bedding forever. It's really hard to find something that's neutral that isn't cutsy-tutsy baby giraffes. Anyway, we really love quilts, in fact, the comfortor on our bed is a quilt. We finally found some bedding at PBK that we love, that is very much like a quilt!

However, it's crazy expensive, because, well, it's pottery barn. It looks like they tend to have really good clearance sales though, so I think we'll wait and see if anything goes on sale.

I've also been checking ebay...

anyone have any experience with pottery barn in this department?

registry

well.. we finally registered! :) hooray hooray hooray! :)


we actually had fun doing it as well. we went to the Toy House, which is a locally owned business here in town and did basically all of it there. We had so much fun, and it really wasn't too stressful, I think because we had been there a zillion times looking at things!


some favorites.

marathon car seat... we will use this from the beginning as you can use it from 5 lbs. the safety ratings of britax are UNMATCHED by any other company, and from what we've read, really truly stand behind their products. oh and we're not getting cow print, it's a tan with little swirls on it. :)



chicco stroller... we struggled with strollers. we are still not "in love" with this one, but we decided to register for it, be happy with it, and keep looking for "the" stroller that we do love. we do love the adjustable handle on this one. you wouldn't believe how few strollers have adjustable handles! i found found most strollers uncomfortable at 5'2". the fold is decent, and the storage is nice. i'm not in love with the smaller wheels, but for now it'll suffice.





tripp trapp high chair.... while it seems silly to register for one now, we figured why not, and we LOVE this chair. it's a european company, and their whole focus is that we bring the child TO the table, not set them apart at a different chair. there is no tray attached, it is designed that the child from the beginning eat at the table, which we LOVE! this chair also grows with the kid. the seat moves, the foot rest moves, and eventually you can use it as a normal chair. we also love it, because it comes in basically any color you want. we are getting walnut to match our dining table.

so for now... that's it.... we haven't decided on bedding. we are throwing a few options around right now... we'll see what we come up with! :)

sick sick sick

so, i desperately need someone to tell me that i'll forget everything when i have this kid....

today has been miserable....

this morning i puked. had absolutely no control, and managed to pee and poop at the same time...i'll give you a hint, we only have one toilet.... and i was puking into that... yup, so that was this morning at 6:30...

i got dressed went to school, because today was my scheduled day to accompany. i must have looked awful, the director, after two hours said, you need to go home...

i came home.... decided to go to the store to fill my prenatal perscription, and buy some lemonade, which i heard might, just might help... i was on my way to the store, and oh you guessed it.... managed to puke, while driving in our van... i got into the parking lot, finishing puking, into my shirt, i might add, to try to avoid it being all over our van, and then drove back home.... changed, cleaned up the van, threw my clothes in the washer, and now am just feeling completely miserable...and it's only 11:30

so yeah, i'm off to just lay comatose for a while.....

and try to tell myself that it will be worth all of this.

political rantings

Normally I avoid all things political on my blog..

it's easier that way.. I have my opinions, you have yours,

and I don't see much point in debating them....

however...

I am so tired of all of this bail-out by the government. While, I know I don't understand all that happens and the inner-workings of stocks and trade etc etc, I DO know that there are THOUSANDS of hard working Americans that invest literally everything they have to start up a business, but don't have the capital to wait for 5 years for it to turn black for them....

It bothers me that just because these big companies are deemed "important enough" by the government, they get bailed out. And why some companies and not others? Why AIG, but not Lehman Brothers?
In the last week, I've seen 2 small businesses go down in Jackson....no one is bailing them out. Mike and I do our absolute best to buy from small locally owned businesses, but we can only do so much. I firmly believe in their value and importance in the economy. I just feel frustrated for the little guy...they are the ones who will lose everything they have and I certainly don't see the government deeming their business worthy of saving....

And worse yet, we, the tax payer, have to foot the bill for this outrageous trillion dollar bail out....


and while i'm at it... do me a favor and vote..... i dont' care what your political views are, but in my opinion this is one of the most important elections we will have as a country, not to mention historically significant election...

we have a republican woman running for vice president,

and a democratic black man running for president....

that, folks, is history in the making....

alright, that's my political post of the year... :)

amnio update

We just wanted to let you know that we received the results of our amnio yesterday and everything was a-okay.

Honestly, we feel as if we just jumped through one more hurdle,

and now it feels like we just sit and wait for the next.

We are however, very thankful, and feeling extremely blessed that this

little one seems to be doing just fine..

Pregnancy has been emotionally challenging for us on many levels, and sometimes we just have to laugh and the challenges we have faced...

so for now...

we sign off with a good report,

and continue to await the arrival of our precious baby.....

Logan David

A huge congratulations to Mike's brother Dave, and his wife, Liz.

They gave birth to a beautiful baby boy via emergency c-section

yesterday at 4:30.

Logan David 8lbs 9oz, and 20 1\2 inches long....

everyone is doing well...

strollers, bedding, and sickness

sad to report that the pukies are back in full force... so frustrating.. i had about 3 weeks where i was only getting sick once a week... and the last two days now i've gotten sick, and i've been feeling queasy all over again.... so i'm thinking it's back.... so frustrating.... i just want to feel decent.... ya know??

we are going to mike's parents this weekend. we haven't been up there in quite a while, so that will be nice. it's always nice to go up and enjoy small town life. :) my mother in law called this morning to find out if we would be willing to play piano and bass at church... such is small town world! :)

we've been looking and looking at bedding. trying to find one we love. i think maybe we've finally found it... i love the simplicity of this one. the price isn't terrible, and i like that we could accent with the chocolate brown color, and then if we wanted add pink or blue....

We've also been looking at strollers.... who knew it could be so difficult...

we've been leaning towards a jogger lately, purely for camping and going for walks. the bigger wheels are just so much nicer and smoother to push.. we found one that we like pretty well. http://www.dreamerdesign.net/parkave.cfm

we've also been leaning towards the chicco cortina.. i LOVE the adjustable handle mostly... i'm short and most strollers are uncomfortable for me to push....the storage space is nice as well. http://www.chiccousa.com/product.php?productid=272&cat=5&page=1 i'm not in love with the small wheels though.... it just seems like it would be so bumpy....

but just in the past couple of days, we've been wondering about for-going a big stroller. we want to get a sling to use when the baby is young. since i'm due in january, i HIGHLY doubt there will be lots of walks happening... so we're wondering about just doing a sling and then perhaps a umbrella stroller, like the maclaren later.... who knows... so many decisions to process...

anyone have any brillant thoughts on this one?!?!

shoes and baby

a couple of you have asked how i'm feeling. i'm feeling MUCH better these days. i'm only getting sick once, maybe twice a week, which, compared to once or twice a day... i'll take that gladly! :)

we are still waiting on our amnio results. yesterday my dr. said my alpha-feta-protein came back negative, which he said was good. i'm not really sure what that is, but he said it was one step in the right direction. we're just kind of waiting now. we've really come to be at peace with it. i know there isn't anything we can do to change the results, and we just have to deal with it. i think it also helps that we have such great, close, friends who have a daughter with downs. we've talked with them a lot, and it just helps to know that side of life. lexi, their daughter, will always be different, but we've learned to communicate with her and understand her in a different way. she doesn't say hi, or talk yet (she is just turned 4 in july), but she gives you kisses by licking you :)... she's special and lovely in every way..

second and way more fun! i went shoe shopping yesterday because apparantley my preggo feet have grown! who knows.... anyway... this is the shoe i want...

it's pretty and fun green... but i'm thinking green is not very practical.. but how CUTE is it?? so that's the shoe i'm trying to talk myself into NOT buying.... but boy oh boy do I want to buy it! :) and it's only $20 at payless.. not too shabby!

appointments, sales, and bees

crazy day..

i had an appointment this morning, which went well. i was a little concerned as i had some spotting again, but the dr. said as long as it was once and i haven't had any since not to worry. it was the "per usual" appointment. he tells me the same antecdote everytime about how his mom made him play piano etc... :) blood pressure good, weight was fine, i really haven't gained much.. 3.5 lbs since the start of my pregnancy. he measured and we found the heartbeat which took forever, which made me incredibly nervous. it's still very hard for me to lay still and stay calm in those few moments... anyway, he finally found it and all was good.

i went shopping today, because none of my shoes fit!! i hadn't noticed because i've been wearing flip flops all summer, but it's starting to get cold and they all are too tight.... i didn't find any i loved today or at least that i was willing to spend money on, but hopefully tomorrow. but i did get 20% off of make up today through a sale at elder beermans, which i was really excited about! they have a goodwill sale every year. for every item you bring in you get a coupon for 20% off one item.. i had no idea this sale was happening, but they gave me coupons anyway... i felt kind of schmucky for not donating, so i may try to take a bag of clothes later this week!

i started teaching lessons again today, so that was kind of the big thing...

but the bigger story is my bee story.

i was on my way to work, talking to mike on my cell phone. he had just gotten home from work when i was leaving. so we're talking, and all of sudden i felt like my seat belt was pinching my neck or something.. i pulled down the mirror, only to see a little bee, with his stinger stuck in me, and he was stuck.. circle around his stinger. i of course freaked out... i finally managed to flick the bee off of me, but the stinger stayed. i couldn't really pull over where i was driving, so i drove the 4 blocks to work. mike hung up the phone and said i'm on my way. i went inside and by this time my entire neck was red and it was starting to swell where the stinger was. i walked into the office, and liz, the office manager looked at me, and said.. what happened?!?! i said.. um.. a bee stung me, i need to get the stinger out. she pulled it out, and we went in search of something to put on it. meanwhile, mike came to see if i was okay... i had calmed down by then, but it was still red and swollen... we found some baking soda and made a paste and thus i began teaching lessons with baking soda smeared all over me!!!! how lovely! :)
bless his heart, mike was really concerned about the baby. i said i think it'll be okay, but he was really worried and i told him he could call my OB if he wanted... well he drove to my OB's and asked them... :) which... just for the visual, he was wearing his work clothes, greasy shorts and a red polyester shirt, sweaty and gross, (so studly) :) and he threw on his leather flip flops because he was trying to hurry! :) he said they were very kind, but did want to know if i was a patient before they answered his question! :) they said as long as i wasn't having any major reaction, everything should be okay... too funny....

so that was my day! :)

teaching was good, and it's nice to be back to what i love!

rain, rain

rain rain go away come again another day

we've gotten 4 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and it's still raining...

it's nice, because we haven't had any rain for about a month and a half....

and the grass was very dead

but it's tiring being inside constantly....

the grass is greener than it's been a while though, so that's nice...

i suppose we better enjoy it before winter sets in...

the leaves are starting to change here, i can smell fall in the air

(which i LOVE)

and that means old man winter won't be far behind...

i do enjoy seasons.. i can't imagine living somewhere where there wasn't 4 seasons... i love how it ushers in the new and sends out the old...

how every few months when you're just getting tired of said season,

a new one shows up on the horizon...with new promises of fun and adventure..

for now though... we'll enjoy the rain, and the leaves beginning to change and dream of orchards, apple picking, cider, hayrides, and corn mazes...

overwhelmed

so it begins...



fall is always a busy time of year. mike is back in school now and again learning to balance 40+ hours of work a week, reading, papers, and being a husband. i always feel like there is a transitional phase for us as we both readjust to life in school. i'm so proud of him for pursuing his dreams though. we have two years left of his degree. just feeling exceptionally proud of him today for working towards his goals.



starting this next week i will again begin teaching full-time. i will teach 5 days a week for about 3 1\2 hours a day. it's a busy schedule, but one that i do enjoy. this year will be different though, as i will be taking a break mid-year to have the baby. i am still uncertain of how things will work out. ideally, i would just take off the rest of the year, financially, it's just not possible for us to do that. so, for now, the plan is to take roughly 8 weeks off before teaching again. i'm just struggling with how i'm going to balance work, being a mom, a wife, and everything else.


we are also hoping to move. we live in a small 2 bedroom duplex right now. we do enjoy it, but the second bedroom is where i teach piano from, which makes it slightly complicated for a baby. so, we've started looking, and the choices, well, they aren't that great...

just been feeling overwhelmed this week with all of the decisions we are making, and the time i feel is slipping by ever so quickly. **sigh** i suppose that's life sometimes....

a baby update

I've been debating posting this for a while now, but we finally decided to go ahead with it and let everyone know so they can be praying as well.

About 3 or so weeks ago now, I had a quad screen testing done for the baby. This test screens for genetic disorders such as spina bifida, down syndrome, cystic fibrosis etc. The test IS optional. Mike and I talked about it, and decided to go ahead with testing. We wanted to know if we needed to be prepared for any special needs we might face as parents.

Last wednesday, I got a call from the doctors office. The nurse explained that my test results had come back "abnormal" with a high risk of having a down syndrome baby. 1 in 200. The typical risks are 1 in 5000. 1 in 200 in still pretty high, but obviously it's higher than the "average joe."

My dr. immediately wanted to refer me to MSU for genetic counseling as well as to have an amniocentesis done. I talked with a friend who has had genetic counseling done and she said, since we didn't know anything right now, it would probably be best to wait, so for now, we'll wait on that, but we decided we wanted the amnio done.

The next day, I spent part of the day on the phone with the insurance company and learned that neither MSU or UofM takes our insurance. That was more frustrating than anything. UofM offered to do the procedure for a mere $1500 + lab work. (yeah right) Again this test was optional, but we desired to KNOW what we were looking at. We did weigh our options though, as there is a small precent chance of miscarriage, which obviously rings close to home for us. My dr. really wanted to send me elsewhere for testing, but in the end agreed to go ahead with it here at our hospital in town since we're "in network" here. The next step was the amniocentesis. They basically stick a large needle through your stomach, into your uterus, and suck out fluid. (sounds fun, right?)

This morning, at the grand hour of 7:30, Mike and I were nervously waiting at the hospital for the procedure. I was nervous for a variety of reasons, and Mike did his best to keep me calm. We went in, and got all set up. They did some prep stuff, and then starting looking for a "sac" of fluid. They found one pretty quickly and got started.

The needle went in, and to say it hurt is an understatement. I was doing my best to lay still and just pray that it would get done quickly, but it HURT! They wiggle the needle as they go in to see where it is on the screen, and I could feel it moving inside of me, and my muscles spasming around it... well.. then.. the baby moved, and they had to pull out and find out a new location...
I was even more nervous the second time because I knew how much it hurt! They did it again and it didn't hurt quite as much, but it was still pretty uncomfortable. As soon as they penetrated the uterus, the baby started to grab at the needle, which was kind of cute to see.. in a weird way.. :) I would imagine it would be exciting... nothing too fun happening in there normally! :)

They finished up and got everything back together. I said something to the nurse about it hurting so much the first time and she said.. well..... the dr. got a little ahead of himself and forgot to numb you.... yeah... so mystery solved as to why it hurt so much. It took about 30 or so minutes total and we were home by 8:30.

The results will take 2-4 weeks to get back. They have to extract the skin cells from the fluid, grow the cells, and then test the chromosomes from that, which is pretty amazing that we can do that, I think!!

We feel strangely calm about all of it, and know that God is in control of whatever we may face. I have been home today, with my feet up, drinking lots of fluids. I've had some soreness and cramping today, but they said that is completely normal. Mostly, I am completely bored, but thankful that we were again able to see our precious little peanut today.

We will keep you posted as we know more..
for now we wait, and trust that God's hand is in all of this....

slings, diapers, and more

yesterday mike and i went to a store in ann arbor, called tree city diapers. as you may have guessed, they have diapers, just about everything you can imagine. we talked with the employees and tried to narrow down what kind of cloth diapering we'd like to do.
we've been leaning towards fuzzi bunz for quite a while, that is, until i found out they've changed their styles. the smalls are too small for a newborn, so you would have to buy a different style, then switch, and they've also gone up in price.
so now we are kind of leaning towards bumgenius. it's still a pocket diaper, but it's one size fits all. i'm a little hesitant about the one size business, but after talking with the women there, i really think we might go this route. they are cheaper than fuzzibunz, and the reviews i've read tend to be much higher than the reviews on fuzzibunz. check em out! their website www.bumgenius.com

also, we spent some time looking at slings. i've been leaning towards a mobywrap, but only because i've actually been able to use one.
yesterday i tried on a meitai carrier. they actually had a kind of dead weight doll that would be like a baby you could use, so i had an opportunity to hold the doll, and put it on. it was really comfortable, not to mention super cute! :) the only problem is that they are really expensive, however we are planning to register at this store, so i figure, it can't hurt to register, right? their website is www.meitaibaby.com or it's also called a baby hawk as well..
i also tried another sling that i really liked. it was fleece, and warm and fuzzy which would be great for winter, and it was really easy to throw on, so it would be good for quick trips to the store or whatever.

we spent a couple of hours there and rather enjoyed our time. it is funny though, because the women often say, well just buy a whole bunch of everything, and then you can decide what you like the best!! it makes me laugh, maybe mike and i are crazy, but we want to do our research and pick 1 diaper to go with, and invest in that. we don't have a zillion dollars to be floating around!

overall, we had a really great time, and hoping that maybe we are moving a bit closer to a decision!

canning

canning, freezing, dehydrating...

hours of work, but it's all worth it...

16 quarts of stewed tomatoes

5 pints of salsa

4 packages of deydrated zucchini

10 quarts of frozen peppers and onions in the freezer...

there is definitely more to come of all of that..

but it feels good to know that we're saving money

and will have fresh veggies in the winter!

an interesting offer...

So, today I got a call from one of the directors I accompany for in the area. He is more than likely going to be hired at a church to be their choir director as well. They apparantley are looking for an accompanist and asked if he knew of anyone. He said of course he did, and gave me a call!

The gig is this:

Thursday nights from 7-8 + drive time, and Sunday mornings 2 services...

18k a year..

AMAZING OFFER!

My two major concerns:

1) We have a group of friends we meet with on thursdays. We love them dearly and I hate the thought of having to miss group every single week.

2) We LOVE LOVE LOVE our church family right now. We're just now starting to get involved, and especially with a baby on the way, I have to uproot right now. Also, I hate the idea of going to a church simply because I'm being paid to be there. I've NEVER done that, I"ve always thought of my piano ability as more of an opportunity to serve, rather than to make money.

HOWEVER:

I'm really struggling with wanting to go back to the symphony this fall and we've considered me not going back several times, however the pay cut is just too significant to take, especially with peanut coming. This job would allow me to stay home, teach just 2 days at home, and keep accompanying....

So many decisions... if you think of us, pray that we will be able to make a wise decision regarding all of this!!!!

s'mores, tents, trees and bikes

ahhh.. camping!

for as long as i can remember, my family has gone camping in the summer. as kids we tent camped, as we got older, we "upgraded" to a fifth wheel, though, my sister and i often protested and slept in a tent anyway. over the years, camping fading as we went to college, were gone through the summer etc.

last summer my parents, april and brian, and mike and i went camping for labor day weekend. we had a blast and immediately decided we would go again this year. so on friday, we packed up and headed out for the lake.

we had such a great time, we ate tons of good "camping food". pancakes and bacon, egg sandwiches over the fire, pizzas and grilled cheese over the fire, hobo pies for dinner... so many great fun foods!
we also spent a ton of time relaxing, walking, and reading. mike and i particularly reveled in our last camping adventure without a kid... my how it will be different next summer!

we enjoyed evenings around the campfire roasting marshmallows, s'mores, and my new favorite s'more: minus the chocolate, add peanut butter!! MMMMMMMMM! :)

only one MAJOR event was a little girl totally wiping out on her bike in front of our site. we've camped at this site many times, and it is really inevitable that someone takes a fall. It's a huge hill, they come down it super fast, and often can't stop. Well this girl lost control, fell off her bike and just laid on the ground for a second, we really thought she has knocked herself out for a minute. Brian and April were closest and jumped into action. The girl got up okay but her entire face was blood. Brian grabbed the car, April picked the girl up, and Mike and I grabbed the bikes, and the shoes and off we went. We figure she lost about 4 or so adult teeth in the front of her mouth. We were only able to find one, so we took it back to them before they, we assume, headed to the hospital. It was BY FAR the bloodiest encounter we've ever had... I suppose she'll have one heck of a story to relive to her friends this, the first week of school! :)

so.. yeah, that was camping. a good fun weekend had with family.... we have one more camping trip planned this fall yet, which is for brian and i's birthday's, the first weekend in october... though that time we will be up in my favorite place.... heaven on earth... Empire, Michigan..