Things Pondered, part III

(For the first two "Things Pondered" posts, click here and here )

At 3:29pm today, my sweet Evelyn Joy turned 3 years old. With Matthew's arrival last week, I have been even more aware of how big she is getting. Seems like just yesterday she was a little bundle like her brother. Now she is a fairly independent little girl who loves life and brings us so much joy. I really can't imagine life without her. I have cried quite a bit today. Happy tears that she is healthy and growing physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And yes, a few sad tears at the fact that she is growing up too darn fast!

Here is a recap of my big 3 year old's day!

This was Thursday night. She feel asleep a 2 year old....

...and "I woke up THREE!!!"

We started with her favorite.. cinnamon rolls! With a candle and singing of course!!

The rest of the day was spent playing with her presents, playing multiple games of Candyland with her daddy, and plenty of birthday fun. She had many phone calls today, too.. which she thought was the coolest!

For dinner, we met my mom and her husband for dinner at Evelyn's favorite restaurant, Red Robin. Seriously.. she loves the place. We don't go out much.. but when we do, its her number one choice! She had fun opening up all of her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Doug.. and of course getting sang to by the wait staff and eating ice cream were the tops, too!

Looking thru her new Tinkerbell sticker book! (while Grandma loves on Matthew!)

Lovin' every bit of that sundae!!

One last picture. So.. many of you know that my sweet pea loves, and I mean LOVES Fisher Price Little People. Well, my mom got her a small set as one of her birthday presents. We told Evelyn she had to wait til tomorrow morning to open it as was late when we got home from dinner. After we got her to bed, I came out and found this:

The box is the new stuff... she put those 3 other people just like that.. as if they were either window shopping or keeping and eye on her new loot! She cracks us up!

Evelyn Joy... we are so thankful for you. You make mommy and daddy smile, both on our faces and in our hearts. We pray that God blesses you this year in many ways, and that all your dreams come true. We love you!!


"... and Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" Luke 2:19

Oh, BABY!!.

A week ago today I gave birth to the most beautiful baby boy I have ever seen!! It has been quite the week of adjustment for all of us, but we are SO thankful for Matthew's arrival! Many of you have asked "So... how was it?". Well, it was full of many blessings from the beginning. God's hand was truly on us the entire time. So, without being too graphic.. hee hee... here's the basics of what happened December 2, 2009.

Let's go back to Tuesday, the 1st. I was SO ready to be done being pregnant I was becoming cranky about it. It was a nice afternoon so Evelyn, Jody and I go for a walk.. hoping that maybe some good exercise will bring on labor. And wouldn'tcha know.. it worked!!

Wednesday, December 2nd:

1AM: Got up to got the bathroom and my water broke. Contractions started getting pretty intense right away, but manageable. It took a little bit getting things into the car, getting Jody settled (she came over to watch Evelyn), and saying goodbye to my sweet pea (she woke up briefly.. I only cried a little bit! heehee). I knew I had some time so we weren't in a huge rush.
2:15AM: Arrived at the hospital. Realized I should have had something to eat before I left the house.. only liquids from here on out. I wasn't hungry at home... of course, I was starving when I got checked in! UGH!
5:30AM: Epidural in... WOOOHOO!!
6AM-10:30ish: Spent time sleeping, making phone calls, getting sick (my own fault.. I secretly chugged some water cuz I was thirsty. Bad idea...), chatting with my AWESOME nurse Sue, etc.
10:30AM: I was fully dilated.. but was too numb so they turned my epidural off and we had to wait until I had a bit more ability to push.
11:30AM: Time to push...
11:53AM: After a few pushes, the AWESOME Dr. Dalke pulled Matthew Donald out and onto my chest. What an amazing moment!!


Stats:
Matthew Donald Morris
12/2/09 11:53AM
8 pounds, 3 ounces
20 1/2 inches long

He looks A LOT like his sister did!

Evelyn 12/06

Doug and I have prayed, first and foremost, that Matthew would be healthy, which he appears to be. Then, we prayed that he would eat and sleep! :) Many of you know that Evelyn did NOT eat and we had many struggles with her gaining weight and growing. And most of you know that my sweet pea didn't sleep thru the night until September of this year!! God has been SO good to us in that Matthew both eats AND sleeps well. We couldn't be more thrilled!


Evelyn LOVES her brother and is slowly adjusting to sharing her mommy and daddy. She is a big helper and loves to pick out diapers for us and get the pacifier for her brother (which, ironically, he doesn't care for most of the time!). She loves to talk to him and calls him "handsome" quite a bit. We are thankful for this and hope their relationship only blossoms.

Time is scarse these days... we live life in segments between feeds... but life is good. I am starting to feel good and am not nearly as sore as I was with Evelyn. We are SO SO thankful for this amazing gift of our son. I hope to blog more soon... thanks so much for you who have been praying for us!

Oh my... I have TWO kids! :)

March 26th Seems like forever ago...

That's the day I got surprised by this:

.. and what a AWESOME surprise that was!!

39 weeks and 3 days ago I found out I was pregnant! There are days when it seemed like December would ever get here, then there were days when I wished I could just stop time and enjoy each moment just a little more. But everyday I was so thankful and excited to meet this little child!

So, Matthew is almost here. I wish he was here already. First off, I just want to see his little face and welcome into this world with lots of love. Secondly, I have not particularly enjoyed the past couple of weeks, and the rate its going, I might have another week left to go. I have been having contractions off and on.. and they are getting stronger... but nothing consistent or anything that I am getting excited about. It's also getting more and more difficult getting around, up and down stairs, out of bed, etc. I am glad it will be over soon!

At my last appointment I was just slightly dilated and slightly effaced, nothing to indicate anything was gonna happen soon. BOO! She also informed me that she thinks he is about 8 pounds. 8 POUNDS!!! AHHHHHHH!!! That is TOO big!! I so enjoyed birthing a small child last time.. I am actually a bit frightened about pushing out this big boy! OUCH!! I am hoping she is just a bit off and he is smaller than that! On a positive note, he still is head down and hasn't flipped back to breech... that would NOT be good!

I am trying to keep up with house things so I don't have to come home to laundry, dishes, etc. I usually don't mind cleaning... but now I would LOVE to have a housekeeper, cook, etc (picture Alice from this Brady Bunch... I wonder how much she charged?). Evelyn and I have enjoyed playing Candyland and other activities that aren't so hard on me. She has been quite considerate of my limitations.. I heart her!!

Evelyn, tho, has been a bit more clingy lately.. I am sure she is sensing a "disturbance in the force" if you will. We talked with her last night about me being gone for a little while when I have her brother and that I will come back. She was very matter of fact about it and was quite agreeable. Me, on the other hand... I couldn't stop crying. I wanted to be strong for her.. but no, I was a teary mess. I am NOT looking forward to being away from her.. that is probably the only negative thing about Matthew's arrival! I wish she could come visit me... but I am just holding on to how sweet it will be when I DO come home and get to see her and introduce her to her brother!

So.. really, overall I am doing fine. Hangin' in there. Not much else I can do about it! :) God has been SO good to us these past 9 months, carried us and blessed us beyond measure. We trust that He has Matthew, me and all of us in His hands and will hold us close during this time.

Hoping to have a smaller tummy and sweet baby photos in my next post!!

The Quick Christmas Tree Hunt...

I really wanted to get our Christmas tree and get the house decorated before Matthew gets here. I can't imagine trying to do it with a newborn! So my goal for Thanksgiving weekend was to do just that. Thankfully I didn't go into labor beforehand and we "got 'er done!"

Last year we took our sweet time at the farm and enjoyed all it had to offer. This year, with me being SO large and just wanting to, as I said, "get 'er done", we knew we were going to make it a quick trip and hoped that Evelyn wouldn't be upset about it.

Well, about 5 minutes after we piled out of the truck and got our boots on to go tree hunting, Evelyn totally face-planted onto the muddy, rocky road. Poor thing! She was fine, only scraping her knees and hands up a bit, but she was SO upset. It took a while to calm her down, but she finally was ready to go look for a tree. We knew at that point our quick trip wouldn't be an issue with her!

We love Hagg's Tree farm, and as usual, found our tree pretty quickly. Doug and the "Chainsaw Guy" as Evelyn calls him, chopped it down and off we went. (FYI... Evelyn doesn't like the sound of large power tools... it scares her. Of course, she can be yelling at the top of her lungs and not understand why we don't like that! Sheesh!)

Here are some of the very few pictures I took!

Love this place!!

Evelyn hiking up the big hill with daddy!

I SO love her!! Isn't she the cutest?

Evelyn and Doug on the hunt!

The obligatory tree marker! ;)

We made it to the farm and back within 2 hours.. a record for us, I think! Our tree is up and looks beautiful, the house is decorated (just a little.. I don't want to have to put a shload of stuff away later with Matthew around!), and I am ready for Peppermint Mocha's and Christmas music!! WOOHOO!

MERRY CHRISTMAS SEASON!!

"I got TWO bottles!!" : Thanksgiving 2009

That's what Evelyn just told me when I went to "re-tuck" her into bed (she was singing to herself and sometimes has to be reminded when its time to settle down and go to sleep!). She is exhausted but still a bit amped after a very busy but fun Thanksgiving day.

We first headed to Doug's aunt Mary's to spend time with his family, and to have a birthday celebration for Evelyn. It has become a tradition that will probably be had for BOTH our kids, since it can be hard to get the whole family together this time of year besides today and Christmas.

Evelyn had SO much fun playing with her cousins. In years past she has either been too timid to be in the basement with them by herself (the boys usually set up trains or other toys in the basement to get away from us adults..heehee) or just has been attached to Doug or myself. Today, tho, she was downstairs laughing and playing trains with the boys and enjoyed every minute of it! (Of course, these pics are with Doug and his dad with the kids in the basement, but I promise most of the time she was by herself with the cousins!!)

After a lovely dinner (we tried to eat just a small portion since we were going to be eating again.. that is HARD to do!) and relaxing for a bit, it was time for presents and singing. My in-laws got her some baby doll accessories and a Grandma made her a mini-diaper bag to match the one she made me for Matthew. The two bottles were apparently the bomb, hence the comment in the title of the post!My sister-in-law's sister Erika reading the book she got for Evelyn. Its a cute book.

TWO BOTTLES!! And the mini-diaper bag looks just like the one my mom-in-law made for me... LOVE IT!

Then it was time for the birthday "pie". Here is the video of the Morris family singing the birthday song to my sweet pea.. it brings me to tears every time they sing it!



We then left Mary's and went to my mom's and ate another amazing meal there. My mom's husband's sister is in town from Florida, so it was fun to visit with her as well as my sister and family. Evelyn got more cousin time with Cole and Regan. She loves them so much.. as do we! "Grandpa Doug" (mom's husband) was the favorite for the kids tonight.. he ran them hard, played magic tricks and made them laugh hysterically. He is terrific!

Louise (L) and Mom prepping the meal...

Cole and Evelyn were so active I seriously couldn't get a decent pic.. but here they are with Grandpa Doug!

My niece Regan... look at those curls!! Love her!

ALthough it was a rather crazy day, we enjoyed every minute of it! So tonight we are SO full.. in so many ways!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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!!