Bracing for Impact!

That pretty much sums up our life right now as we await Matthew's arrival! As much as we are SO excited to meet him, we also know it is going to be a life-altering event for all of us. We have been busy getting the final things done to be "ready" (not that one can EVER be ready for this kind of thing....LOL) when its "time". The nursery is done (except for finding a rug for the floor), clothes are clean, the cupboards are mostly stocked with food. We're good.. right? :/

I am 37+ weeks now. I had a bad night of contractions on Thursday night, but as both Doug and I suspected, it was just "latent" or pre-labor. This is not our first rodeo with this kind of thing. I had nighttime contractions for an entire week with Evelyn... painful!... so I knew it proabably wasn't much. I've only had a few contractions since, and thankfully in the day time!! The little dude has dropped A LOT, tho.. which is good news. At least something is going on! I know he will come when he is ready. I, of course, have some preffered times I would like him to arrive, but I know it's out of my control. My biggest concern is that he will be late. His due date is exactly one week before Evelyn's birthday. I'd rather their birthdays be a little farther apart than that. I would like to start planning a party for Evelyn, but if he is late.. its gonna cut it close. Again.. it'll be what its gonna be... right? :/

How am I feeling? One word can some it up: "uncomfortable". In many ways. I am really trying hard not to whine.. I am really SO thankful for this little baby. But seriously, I cannot wait to be able to sleep, sit, walk, eat, ANYTHING.. without being uncomfortable! :) Thankfully all of this will be quickly forgotten when I see my son's sweet face!

There isn't a day that goes by that Evelyn doesn't say, "I am SO excited for my baby brother to come!", which I think is just precious. She truly is excited.. I hope that excitement continues after he really shows up! :)

That's about all I have... I am tired and my brain is mushy. Hopefully the next time I blog I will have pics of our little man!! Stay tuned!

What's in a Name?

I can vividly remember when we chose Evelyn Joy's name. Both Doug and I were in tears.. happy tears.. it was just "the" name for our sweet girl. No doubt, no second guessing. Evelyn means "Gives life". Gives life Joy.... she has certainly done that over the past almost 3 years!

For some reason this time around picking a name for our son has been SO hard!! It's not that Doug and I are disagreeing on names.. in fact we usually like and dislike the same ones. Finding the "one" just hasn't happened. Since Evelyn had been calling her baby brother "Bill" for the past, oh, 3 months, I was eager to pick a name so she could put that to rest. :) But nothin'. I was just praying for God to just reveal the perfect name.. more happy tears, etc. Again, nothin'.

We started getting serious about picking a few weeks ago. After careful thought and consideration.. we narrowed it to two. We both at that point knew what we were to name our son. No tears, just complete agreement and contentment. So.. after one last phone call to friends who have a older son with the same name to make sure it was okay with them (I wanted to be sensitive to that)... it was decided.

So.. without further adieu.. in a few weeks we will be so excited to meet our son:


Matthew: "Gift from God"
Donald: My amazing dad's name.. ever since he died I knew if I had a son he would have this as his middle name. It is also the name of Doug's brother, which is cool, too!

Of course, I will still want to see his face when he is born to make sure Matthew fits him, but for now we have a name. Evelyn has been very accepting of the name and it is SO cute when she calls his by his complete name. "Good Morning Matthew Donald Morris!", she will say to my belly in the morning. Precious! I think having a name has made her more excited for his arrival as well.

We invite you to pray with us for MATTHEW.. that he would continue to thrive as he prepares to make his entrance into this world in about 4 weeks. We pray he leads a long and healthy life and that he would be a man after God's own heart.

We are already so in love with our boy!!


FYI... I am NOT posting a link to this on my facebook account or announcing his name there. It's not a secret, but I wanted to post it here first AND I usually don't want to use my kids names on facebook.. just their initial. Just for privacy sake, I guess. So enjoy being one of the chosen few who know his name!! :) And thanks for reading my blog!

Halloween 2009

Like I have said in my two other Halloween posts from 07 and 08, we aren't big Halloween people, but feel like we want to make it a fun (not scary) day for our kids.

This year Evelyn got to choose what she wanted to be. "A PUMPKIN!!" she exclaimed very confidently. So.. that's what she was. I had great aspirations of making her something, but ended up finding a BRAND NEW costume on Craigslist for $10. Couldn't pass it up!

Here's my sweet, adorable Pumpkin all dressed up:


We usually go to my mom's work, the hospital where I used to work, and to Doug's office on Halloween. Since the 31st is today, Saturday, yesterday was the day to make our "rounds". However, with the flu epidemic and all, we stayed away from my mom's clinic and the hospital and just went to see daddy at work and brought "the guys" (as Evelyn calls his co-workers) Halloween cupcakes, which was lots of fun!

Evelyn laughing with Daddy

Going trick-or-treating around Doug's office. She was SO shy at first but warmed up toward the end of our visit!

Last year Evelyn wanted nothing to do with trick or treating on our neighborhood. This year it was the same thing. Not a big deal to us... we know she'll go eventually! She once again stayed home and helped Daddy pass out candy to the kids.


AND.. if you look closely at the last two pics, you will see Doug's project of the day. He put in a new entry floor and it looks AMAZING! He is going to grout the tile in tonight after the kids stop showing up. Mouldings are going up soon, too! I love having such a handy AND handsome husband!!!

So, now, its 8:30. Evelyn is asleep. Doug is up handing out candy. The cat is whining because we won't let him outside (he is all black... we usually keep him inside on Halloween night). I am blogging and watching my Ducks TROMP USC!! What a great Halloween!!

Hope you had a good one, too!!

Evelyn's FIRST Haircut

... wasn't the momentous moment I had hoped, with laughs and pictures of my big girl sitting in the chair getting her hair cut for the first time. Instead it was a tearful, wing-it moment, but we got thru it and got almost 3 inches cut off. The good thing is you really can't tell, AND her hair is SO much healthier now!

She has been excited about going to get her hair cut for a while, but we wanted to wait until summer swimming and fall swim lessons were over. I decided that Wednesday was the day. She was SO excited on the drive over there. She wanted to wear her halloween costume... which was fine. Well, we got there and she did a complete 180 and wanted NOTHING to do with sitting in the chair or getting her hair cut. She actually ran and tried to hide in the corner! I tried bribing her with M&Ms from the candy machine but even that didn't work. Thankfully Joanie, one of our favorite stylists there, was SO patient and accomidating. She ended up cutting Evelyns hair in the lobby while Evelyn stood in front of me with me reading her books. She was really amazing, and the cut is great!!

Here are the few not-so-great pics from the outing!

Tears.....

.. but cooperating as long as I was reading to her!

By the end she was letting Joanie cut and was standing still.

Finishing up, costume on and M&M's on her face!

Sadly I have no "after" pics.. she didn't want to have the camera on her the rest of the day. It doesn't look that different, but like I said, it looks healthier and is SO much easier to comb thru.

.... And that is the story of Evelyn's first haircut. Heehee!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Last year we had SUCH a fun time at the Pumpkin Patch and were looking forward to going again this year. My sister and her family invited us to meet them out at Lee Farms in Tualatin. We thought we'd give it a go. To be honest, I think I like Baggenstos better, but that could be cuz this 33 week preggo momma isn't a fan of big hills and walking around large acreage these days!! Evelyn had SUCH a fun time, tho.. we all did!!

My sis and her cute family!

This place has EVERYTHING....

Pumpkins, of course.. a big hit with Evelyn!

Really yummy and warm kettle corn...

Pony rides... her and her cousin Cole had a BLAST!

A big slide Evelyn and Doug braved.. it went really fast and Evelyn look SO frightened most of the way down, but started laughing and wanted to go again when she was done!

A "jumpy thing", as Evelyn called it. She had fun jumping. Doug... well, the jury is still out! ;)

The obligatory "How Tall am I this year at the Pumpkin Patch" photo op...

And a pretty lake that her and daddy had some precious time looking at. "It's SO pretty, daddy!"



Needless to say we all were pretty tired when we got home tonight, and my sweet girl was asleep before 7pm. Overall a very fun fall afternoon with family!

What to do..

... when your little girl is asleep before 7pm, your husband is helping out at a church event until late and you are too tired to do much of anything (despite having a LOT to do...)? If you are me, you apparently get a blog post done!

Of course, being tired, I am not very creative either! Here are some pics from the past few weeks...

Evelyn doing a project with daddy in the shop. Notice the goggles... safety first!!

Evelyn LOVES to go out and find puddles to stomp in after it rains.. she giggles and squeals and jumps "so high into the sky"! I love the post-rain walks we get to take!

Its hard to believe that a week prior to rain and puddles.. it was warm enough to wear short and help daddy wash the car! She was COVERED in soap.. and had a blast!!

I tried to get some cute pics of her in one of her favorite summer dresses.. but she wasn't really in a picture mood. Her face is still sweet tho!

I realized when posting them that most of these shots are a bit blurry. I REALLY need to work on my camera skills... UGH!

That's what I have for you all tonight... I just might have to follow in my daughter's footsteps and head to bed myself!

Goodnight, all!!

33 Weeks...

... and counting down! I am so excited to be nearing the end of this journey, although I know it means the beginning of an entirely different yet equally exhausting one!

First of all, the baby is fine. I haven't had any more spotting since last month (they still don't know what was causing that.... weird!) The last ultrasound showed he was growing fine and looking good. Except he was breech. Not too excited about that, but my doc says most babies turn after 34 weeks and she is not worried. I actually think he turned a couple of days ago (yeah.. that didn't feel good!) .. we'll find out at my appointment next week. He is measuring small like his big sister, which is fine with me. I liked birthing a small baby! I am curious just how big he will be since I feel so huge this time around.

And yes, he is very much MALE!! The tech just laughed when she saw his "things". "No doubt you got a boy in there", she said! It was nice to have confirmation, since the first ultrasound "looked like" a boy but the tech didn't seem to sure. No tears this time either.. I am fully excited to have a son and look forward to the many joys having a boy will bring.

I am feeling about the same as I did the last time I updated on the pregnancy: large, clumsy, and tired.. oh, so tired! I am not sleeping well and its starting to take its toll on me. The last few days Evelyn has not napped, which has made it a bit more painful. I remember feeling this way when I was pregnant with Evelyn, but it certainly was not this early on. I just really need to get over myself, stop whining and keep chuggin' along!

We are busy getting things ready, getting out all the baby "stuff" and getting the nursery together. I get more excited as things come together!!

So... that's about all I have. 33 weeks down, who knows how many left to go!!

Happy Friday!