Giving Thanks

So much to be thankful for this year, as every year. 

Baby time!

Today's my due date, but Della Suzanne arrived October 29 at 4:31am! Talk about a crazy fast birth! I woke up 2am Saturday with mild contractions, we got to the hospital at 3:45 and she was out 45 minutes later. I will write a more detailed post soon, but for now enjoy these pictures of our sweet Della Sue.

38 weeks

I'm officially "full term"! My due date is still 2 weeks away but baby can come anytime now and all would be okay health-wise. Each of our kids have been somewhat early. The earliest was Amelia born right at 38 weeks. Wesley was born at 38 weeks, 4 days; and Caley at 39 weeks, 2 days. Last weekend and this week I was having some major contractions and backache and we almost went into the hospital, but I tried to rest some and ended up falling asleep and the contractions faded so it must not have been the real thing. I'm very nervous to go in because of consistent contractions, even if they're painful, since I did that with Wesley and they sent me home twice because I wasn't progressing "enough." It's like torture. But at the end I get a baby, so it's okay. The baby WILL come. No woman has stayed pregnant forever, but there are times I'm SURE I'll be the first case of a woman who does. Haha.

Wesley at 20 months

In another month Wesley will be a big brother! For now, he's still the baby brother. I think he knows something's afoot. A few weeks ago I put the pack 'n' play decked out in pink in his bedroom. It also has a baby girl outfit laying in it. He points at it and says "baby." The blue blankets and burp rags in the basket on the floor have been replaced with pink blankets and burp rags. Wesley now only has one drawer of clothes, the other is filled with tiny pink clothes. The same goes for his closet. His boy clothes now only fill half. The other half is hanging floofy dresses and pink ruffles. All the same, I think he's going to get a rude awakening when he becomes a big brother.

Wesley is all over the place, all the time, unless he's sleeping. Oh how I live for Wesley's afternoon nap. It makes life so much easier, just for those few hours. When Wes is awake, he's into almost everything. I'm not trying to complain, just being honest. At the same time, he provides endless entertainment and enjoyment. He loves his sisters and Daddy, playing chase or dancing to music. He knows where his nose, eyes, and mouth are. He can say "Elmo" and today spent the morning with the Elmo backpack strapped to him. He can feed himself adequately with a spoon and fork and we have gotten rid of the high chair, he now uses a booster seat like a big boy. He's also getting proficient at coloring and stacking 3+ blocks. He makes dinosaur and car noises while he's playing. It's so cute!

What would life be without our dear Wesley?! If we're only going to have one boy in this family, I think we got the best one. :)

Wesley Eating Blackberries

We discovered a treasure trove of blackberry bushes behind our house by the garden and now there are tons are ripe, soft berries to pick. Wesley was uninhibited by the thorns and went for it. He didn't put any in the bowl for later, but it made for a nice post-dinner snack for his tummy.

Caley's first blog post

This is Caley's message to some regular readers of our blog- enjoy!
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Dear Papa and Grama,
I had fun at your house. And swimming at the pool. Someday you can come to our house and swim in our hot tub. And we can go to the beach.

Love, Caley

Amelia is 4!

Amelia turned 4 on August 6th. It is now September and I just realized I never posted a birthday blog! Silly mommy...I hope Amelia can forgive me. On her birthday we were in Lynden for the weekend and had a fun cupcake party with her Gerlach cousins (all 9 of them).

Amelia, you are 4! We love you so much and you are such a light to our lives. You are so sweet and cute and we just want to hug you all the time. You really love your mommy and daddy, and especially Caley and Wesley. We know you will be a great big sister to the new baby girl. You are so girly and love wearing dresses and having accessories such as headbands, hairclips and necklaces. You love your purple blankie and stuffed bunny. We are so thankful Jesus put you in our lives and hope that you will come to faith in Him in your own time.

We love you Amelia Diann!

Amelia the Cutie Pie!

Amelia is a Mukilteo Cutie Pie finalist this year! You may remember 3 years ago Caley being a finalist. Tomorrow we are walking in the Mukilteo Lighthouse Parade. It should be fun! The kids are so excited. Wesley's mostly excited to ride in the wagon.
Visit http://vickiderksphotography.com and email Vicki to vote! Amelia is #2. Or, come to the festival and vote in the ballot boxes!

This is the photo we entered!

32 weeks

32 weeks today. 8 to go. Hopefully fewer than that, but I'm trying to keep my mind and heart open if this labor and delivery doesn't go according to the previous ones. That is, I could be a week late, have a C-section, and this baby could pop out and surprise us with boy parts instead of girl. I don't really think those things will happen, but I'm trying to be prepared for anything.

She moves a lot and sometimes gets the hiccups. She is especially active at night. I have loved being pregnant for the most part. It's an exhausting time, but each time God has worked with me on something. This time has been no different. I feel like He is working in my character and especially in my patience. Pregnancy is a time to draw back and not feel like I have to do everything, like I'm allowed a bit of a break, and I don't have to be running every day or working out all the time. But God continues to work and I have more time to myself to really figure things out. During pregnancy I've felt God's love very closely, how He has everything planned out down to the smallest detail. And I can look back and instead of asking, "WTF" be able to go, "Oh, I get it now."

Here's what Little Miss may look like now. We still don't have a name, but we're working on it.

The Garden!

We have the coolest garden this summer thanks to Bill's hard work and the help of our neighbor Norman John. Norman is English, loves gardening, and has a lot of time on his hands. He also plays soccer twice a week. He's amazing! I hope to be so spry when I'm pushing 80.

 The area behind our fence used to be overflowing with blackberry bushes and garbage (literally, the former owner dumped siding back there). It's an easement that is also a driveway. We asked the owner if we could put in a garden, and he said as long as we didn't build a permanent structure, it'd be fine. Bill told Norman about the idea and he got right on digging and sifting the soil, separating the rocks and "rubbish" from the good dirt. This was back in February when it was freezing!

They also did a second garden, which originally we didn't intend on planting in this summer, but Norman is like a sifting maniac so we had time to do a second crop! Here it is pre-dug/sifted.

They put a border around the good dirt and then Norman brought in some manure and roto-tilled it. Bill made a Jack and the Beanstalk bean trellis, we bought some seeds and started planting. Look at some of the progress!

 We made signs!

 The second garden! Bill planted kale and spinach, Norman did some radishes, turnips, carrots and about 6 rows of potatoes.

 Our first crop! (above) They got a lot bigger after a few weeks! (below)

 We also put in some berry bushes!

Bill is also getting some "Victory Garden" posters to laminate and put on the fence! Check out some of the images here. 

It's kind of like a bit middle finger to the economy having this garden to rely on! Thanks Bill (and Norman) for all your hard work.