Baby Boy

ohhhhh! I can hardly wait! I am so excited to hold this baby boy in my arms!
We have had a great day today! Merit tried out for All Stars and made the team! His try outs were this morning. Will and Hazel have been pals running around all day. Those two have quite the relationship and friendship. It makes me smile. Vance has worked outside, he cooked a steak dinner, I folded and smiled over all the onesies and sleepers and put them in the baby boy's dresser.

I am washing sheets, rugs, baby boys things... but with a family of five, soon to be six, the laundry is never really DONE. ;)

My camera card is not being recognized by my computer.What a bad time for that to happen when I KNOW I will want to blog pictures over the next week!

Willem and Merit would really like it if our baby boy came this weekend! He might... but otherwise it looks like Monday.

God is good and this journey has been WONDERFUL! I feel very blessed!

Prayers for a smooth C-section and healthy little guy would be so appreciated.

Raising Boys... and one super sweet girl

Raising Boys

I love the ages of our boys. To be honest, when our boys were 7 and 4 I couldn't imagine they would be just as fun at 10 and 7 - but they are. :)

And now adding a baby boy to the family seems really wonderful.

I have been washing the sweet little onesies and sleepers in Dreft. My doctor appts are weekly. I am thinking a lot about about bringing a newborn home. Preparing for the arrival of this little guy.

Thanking God that he will have two awesome big brothers and a super sweet sister!

Boy, boy, girl, boy - what a great combo!

Looking back...

 ohhhhh and he will be so blessed to have THIS GIRL for a sister!

Weekend Fun

This past weekend was busy but a lot of fun. Papa Stan and Gramma Adie came to town.

My brother Matt and his buddy Garrett were also here for the weekend.

Saturday we watched two great games of baseball. Between games we had a

BBQ here. It was fun to hang out, visit, enjoy the weather and watch baseball!

Sunday, three more games and three more wins.

Merit pitching

Five games, five wins -- it was so fun!

Willem and Fischer

Friendships, Tea Party Fun, Being Encouraged

I have been so encouraged by friendships over the past few weeks.
God is good and certainly provides encouragement through friendships!
Also, Hazel enjoyed her cousin Kendal's fourth birthday party/tea party last weekend. Hazel thought it was incredibly fun! Very pink, very pretty, the perfect party for little girls.

Kendal and Hazel chatting it up!

Time for tea

Kendal Grace

Last week I spent an evening at a dear friends celebrating another friend's 40th birthday!

It was a really great night of conversation, tears and laughter. I left smiling and so incredibly thankful for these women.

My friend Katie hosted a wonderful lunch in Royal City a couple of weeks ago, when three of us April birthdays got to chat and laugh. Hazel played with Maddie and Maddie's new kittens and had a fantastic afternoon. Yesterday, Aubrey hosted brunch at her home and again I had a great afternoon with wonderful women.

While loving this time I think too on those whose lives are sort of on hold right now or are at a difficult place. My friend Heather's daughter Lilly is battling leukemia. She is only five. My heart breaks daily for this sweet girl and her mama, for her whole family. I pray and pray and take comfort in knowing God hears my prayers. Saturday, Heather and my paths crossed and I had a good visit with her. She is amazing. Please pray for them.

I think of my sister Natasha whose life is sort of on hold right now. She is just having to get by day by day with some pain and discomfort and not being able to use her left side much at all. A family really depends on the mom/wife to be there, be strong, have energy... Right now she is limited. I think everyone feels a bit misplaced. I hope her recovery just goes smoothly and that her family is patient while she recovers. I rest a bit easier knowing she has this ICD. I am sorry that this defective heart gene is a concern to our family. But no one ever said life would be easy.

This baby boy will be born in 18 days or less. We are SO EXCITED to meet him!! I am ready in some ways, but yet, I have a lot of things to do before he arrives!! It hardly seems real that he will be here so soon! I get winded easily, I pee a lot, I LOVE to feel him move and I thank God often for this pregnancy! :)

My mom's birthday was on Tuesday. I miss her always. She was so fun and EASY TO BE AROUND. She was prayerful, encouraging, funny. I really want an afternoon with her. I think of how much she enjoyed her kids and just really invested in us. She was a great example and I think one of the reasons I love being a mom so much is because of her example and attitude. I want to have five children too! (Okay Vance, that was for you) I really should give a shout out to my husband. I am so random, kind of messy, we were "done" after three kids and now here baby #4 is almost here... because he loves me so much. I am not only encouraged by friendships. I am encouraged by my husband and my children too.

Prayers for a smooth delivery and a strong baby boy would be appreciated.

I am feeling so, so blessed.

36 weeks

Oh how I love this sweet girl!!

Aubrey, thank you for getting some pictures of me and Hazel together!

AND my baby belly!!

Hazel's kisses and interest in this sweet baby makes me feel so good.

I am very thankful for this pregnancy.

I feel so blessed to be doing this again!

Baby #4 is an amazing blessing!

I thank God for this journey.

My friend Mylanta, "take me home" outfit ...

I have had heartburn that is kicking my butt. Seriously annoying and really tough to get rid of. I bought Mylanta yesterday. The tums weren't cutting it. Last night I slept well. No aching hips last night and no heartburn, wow... it felt like some sort of pregnancy miracle! So here I am, raring to go. And that is good -- it will be a busy day today with lots of things that need my attention.

Yesterday at Target, Hazel and I bought a baby stroller and a "take me home outfit" for this baby boy. Ohhhhh... the sweetness. This little take me home outfit is precious. Hazel's excitement over all this baby boy stuff is pretty heart warming too. :)

Last night Merit had a baseball game. He has two a week right now. This child showed us very early on that he is a pretty intense kid, I think we saw this when he was about six months old. Channeling that intensity has been a process. I love it that he loves baseball, but sometimes it is too intense, he is too serious. Aren't a bunch of kids just supposed to go out, play ball and have fun? I think too much pressure is put on Merit and maybe a lot of the pressure comes from within. He is in a hitting slump. I think he would feel a lot better if he could put the bat on the ball a few times. :)
He has a coach who is constantly helping the kids learn and who expects a lot, this is good.
Overall, it is a lot of fun... but I do want to be sure HE is having FUN.

Willem and Hazel love the baseball games. They don't love watching baseball :), but they sure enjoy the socializing, playing on the playground, enjoying the weather and running off energy! Hazel sleeps like a rock the nights after the games. It has been a good activity for our family.

Natasha is on my heart and mind like crazy. Just saying lots of prayers for a smooth recovery and good rest.

The sun is shining, it looks like a gorgeous day! Hope to get outside with Hazel after appts and errands and enjoy it!

Catch Up

We bought a camper/5th wheel trailer last week. I think our family will make a lot of memories camping. The kids were so excited to take it out this past weekend, Willem probably being the most excited! There's lots of storage, lots of room, a toy hauler for our bikes, motorcycles or golf cart. We ended up "camping" at Grandpa Vic's.

Fun in the 5th wheel!

Back at home...

So fun to have green grass again!

Natasha has her ICD now. She is in the process of recovering. Prayers for a speedy recovery would be appreciated! Also, her throat feels raw from the breathing tube and she is having some muscle spasms. She is brave. She has proved this time and time again. I ams so thankful for her and although it makes me sad she is faced with these heart issues, it is good she now has this life saving device.

I have been looking through garden centers lately. This time of year I just love browsing through these centers, looking and planning a bit. Hazel likes this activity too. :) We need to keep things pretty simple this year with planting and gardening. With a May baby on the way, we know we will be busy with a newborn and with other busy kids. But it is fun to look and so often I am reminded of people when I look at plants and flowers. Fuschias always remind me of my Grandma Dorothy, tomatoe plants remind my of my Grandma Ken. Geraniums and full, thriving hanging baskets remind me of my Grandma Alma and my mom. Nasturims, petunias and marigolds also remind me of my mom.

Papa Stan and Gramma Adie always have a beautiful garden.

Gramma Kris always has fantastic succulents and fun grasses.

When Lesha and I were little, our family lived on the Sunrise Road in Custer, WA. My mom didn't plant much then, but I do remember her planting yellow and orange marigolds.

Different flowers remind me of different "seasons" of my life.

The last weekend I saw my mom we bought tulips together for a bridal shower she was hosting.

She was looking forward to making her front porch cheery and full of spring and had plans to plant lots of flowers again.

Flowers always provide some cheer.

Yesterday my friend Katie gave me a fun spring bucket of flowers! Again, a piece of cheer!

When I have this baby boy, I would love for my mom to be able to be at the hospital to meet this new bundle and to help watch over these three great kids of ours! I wish she could be in Kodiak right now taking care of Natasha's kids as Natasha recovers from her difibrillator procedure. I would love it if she could celebrate her 58th birthday this month... but really, deep down I know - God knows what He is doing. Trusting Him is the best plan. I also think that being faced with loss and hardships makes us stronger and more appreciative, or at least it can. THINGS don't matter, PEOPLE and RELATIONSHIPS do.

And I need to be thankful that God always places people in our lives that can help us get through what we are going through. Natasha's mother in law is in Kodiak now with Lane and Estelle - it is great she could go up there! And I have been so blessed to be offered lots of help when baby #4 arrives.

We have a busy Tuesday in front of us... I better run!