Arrival

God has given deep valleys. A wise bishop once told me if I regularly wrote in a journal I’d discover a pattern of spiritual troughs and peaks. Furthermore he advised that I should reflect on past peaks during present-day troughs and remain humble and grateful by musing about yesterday’s low points during today’s high times.
Nathanael’s birth is a peak, and how great it is! and how humbled and grateful we are after the past trough.

God has indeed given.
Thank you, all.

Birth story later. Much later.

It's a gamble.

As of today, December 29th:



Due January 9th, but after my "visit" to the hospital today (loooooong story) being induced is not out of the question due to my blood pressure. Anything can happen! Please place your bets on NH's arrival by commenting on the blog or my facebook status. No time required. There can be multiple winners.
Winner gets something cool*. Promise.

*Cool by my standards. : ) So probably a book or something.

Christmas Greetings, 2010

To Yours from Ours,

Merry Christmas!

AHOY!

Remember this post?
Yeah, well, about that…
You see, right before I attempted to stitch NH’s blanket, my machine went wOnKy while mending some sweatpants.
Darn sweatpants. Darn machine. Just darn.
But alas all is not lost! I have the best of friends out here in Massachusetts, ladies that let me borrow their sanders, and their books and they get me hooked on yummy recipes and also take time out to finish up my what-seemed-to-be dashed sewing project. And, well, just put up with me. ;)
Thank you, Marné. The blanket turned out wonderfully! :)

I had picked out the fabric for the blanket back in August. Aside from names, I am terrible at picking out things for my unborn children. I just don’t know if it will suit their personality or what. With clothes, you don’t have much of a choice. With newborn boys the trend is always blue, earth tones, sport-themed or patched-on public works vehicles. Not much to decide, really.
But, fabric... Ugh. Too many choices, unlimited choices, and I don’t even know the kid yet. Good grief.


Reasons unbeknown to me, I picked out this print:

Guessing that I figured it was fun and colorful?...
‘cause after the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie {gag}

I’ve sworn off pirates. (Haven’t you?)

Things are beginning to make sense though... : |

After Caleb was born and we started to tell people his full name, an institute teacher (guess who) told us that “Caleb Elias” was the best cowboy/mountain man name he’d ever heard. : ) Sometimes, you’ll hear me sing “Caleb, Caleb Elias! King of the Wild Frontier!” I really do love my children’s names.

Anyways. Coincidently, NH’s name sounds sorta, kinda, like a buccaneer, I recently realized.

He also has the tendency to kick out his heel and swish it around in a circle… making it look like my abdomen is shark-infested. That is why I fondly call him my little shark. ♥

So, for now, the fabric fits. Let’s just hope NH is more matey than scallywag, shall we?

Here’s the gist on how to create this easy-peasy blanket. They are the best instructions I could find online, sorry. Caleb and NH’s blankets are both “snuggle flannel” which can be found in many cute designs and on sale at Joann’s year round.

But you may be asking, what about Caleb’s rocketship kiki? Does that fit?... well… : )

PS Did you get our Christmas card yet? If not, I'll be posting it on the blog on Christmas so stay tuned.

All Aboard! (Updated)

Never complain. Remember when Caleb created towers? Ah, the good ol’ days…
Now he has moved onward to trains. Long, elaborate trains that span the length of a room. I snapped some shots of one yesterday- luckily it was in the dinning room and not in the usual kitchen locale where I trip over the dang procession.
Christmas cannot come soon enough.
(Grandma and Grandpa Kappes got Caleb a train set. Less than 30 pieces. Thank goodness, but shhhhhh… don’t tell Caleb)

Can’t wait for the day when my kitchen is no longer Grand Central!

After Caleb completes a train, it derails into a huge pile...
then construction starts all over again.

Civil engineering is in this boy’s future, I’m telling you.
Here’s some videos, not very exciting, mostly just posted for the grandparents.






Christmas is here!

Count on me.

37 weeks. Less than 20 days to go.

(Hopefully.)

DUI

At my baby shower a friend asked what I was doing to prepare for the arrival of N.H. in other words, how I nest. I responded, “Crazy things.”

This is me expounding on that given answer and giving you further insight into my last-leg of this pregnancy:

• On the eighteenth of October I borrowed a sander from my friend Maria. Let me back up further. A year ago, on a fourth Sunday of a month, on our way back home from church in our separate vehicles. Mike stopped to pick up some good ol’ New England curbed freebies, including this:

It had lounged in our entry way since then until we figured it would be more useful/cheaper as a dresser for Caleb. I DUI (decided under the influence of hormones) that I wanted to re-finish it. Early on in the project, like, after three hours of sanding, I felt like I had been Ben-Rogers-ed into this. Tom Sawyer being my hormones. WhatwasIthinking?! DIY projects should not be decided under the influence of hormones.

On the eighteenth of October I borrowed a sander from my friend Maria. And I am glad to announce it will be home for Christmas as I have finished the dresser as of Saturday. Woot.

Now all I have to do is shift all of Caleb’s clothes into the new dresser, wash the baby’s clothes and put them in Caleb’s old dresser. not-so Woot.

• Speaking of clothes, when nesting I become a laundry nazi. Usually I get two loads done a week but under the influence of nesting…. I’ll do a load a day. This habit has resulted in me buying more hangers since half of our wardrobe is no longer in laundry limbo. I usually make Mike lug a load down to the basement in the morning and then shove it back upstairs in the evening.

• I got all my Christmas shopping done several months ago. I had the presents wrapped last month. I made our Christmas card template, like, three months ago and just sent it to the printers last week. :P
  

• My freezer. My poor, poor, poor freezer. Freezer jam, freezer salsa, Asian meatballs, regular meatballs, Café Rio pork, half a roast, Italian chicken breasts, muffins, waffles, shredded chicken, French bread, breakfast burritos, regular bread, various frozen vegetables, hash browns, cake mix cookies, ice cream, bacon, hot sausage, brown n’ serve sausage, and among other things an apple pie from General Dynamics. Yes, my husband works for a company that gives you a free pie at Thanksgiving. He also gets a free bagel and smear on Thursdays. This, I am envious of.
  

Sure, I could buy my own bagels and cream cheese, but most bagels come in bags of six. So if I bought them on a Thursday, I’d be bagel-less by next Thursday. And if I bought two bags, I’d probably toss the second bag in the freezer which would cause my freezer indigestion at this point. What a bagel debacle.

• Just a warning, do not drive slow in front of me. If you are on 109 doing anything under 35mph, you are ruining my life with your existence. If it takes you more than 10 seconds to turn into a Dunkin’ Donuts at 5 o’clock in the evening, the same goes for you. I’d pay a severe increase in taxes if promised in return TURNING LANES on the cow paths you call roads, Massachusetts. My son says “Gosh, go, go!” when I pause for stop signs or wait at stoplights now. He has begun to repeat everything I say. Everything. Well, that’s not true, mostly just the unflattering things I say.

• I’d like to show you a picture of my bed:
  

This used to be my bed:

But this is now my bed:

The sofa offers me support that my bed cannot. It is really putting a cramp on our relationship… and my back.

Now before you go feeling sorry for the Moose, all alone in that bed. He has been spending the last two weeks of evenings downstairs anyways- working on his project until 2 or sometimes 3 in the morning. And sleeping briefly on our love seat before getting up for work at 5:30.

Now you can feel sorry for the Moose. : (

WELP, there you have it. With the semester and this pregnancy coming to a close and the holidays coming head-on, the Thomson household is on the brink of insanity, and I’m the one driving it under the influence.

{gosh, December, go, GO!}