That precious sound

, 2 comments

On one hand, having a baby growing in your uterus feels like the most safe and secure thing possible.

On the other hand, if you think for a second something wrong with that little one, you feel totally helpless.

This little girl certainly likes to keep things interesting. Most of the time, she is a little jumping bean in there. She is a distraction during church – for both Rafa and I – because she makes my whole midsection move so much. She usually gets the hiccups around 10 every evening and gives me plenty of reminders she is there as I fall asleep.

On Saturday, we went non-stop all day. Lunch out at a restaurant, final baby item prep, some extra cleaning, shopping and laundry. When I finally sat down at 10 p.m. to fold the last of the clothes, I realized I hadn’t felt baby girl kick in forever. I really couldn’t think of the last time I felt her move.

At this stage in pregnancy, the docs tell us to do “kick counts,” which means to count how many times the baby moves in an hour. If it’s less than five, they say to call. I drank some juice and laid down to feel my baby move. Nothing.

Nada.

Deep breaths. I placed the call to the on-call service and laid back down. Another half hour passed and still…nothing. The doctor said to come in, so we did. She apparently likes to sleep for long stretches – everything was absolutely fine.

There is nothing more beautiful than that precious sound of your baby’s heartbeat!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SHldqGSf4E

We had a follow up visit today and here is our beautiful girl! We’re ready to meet her any day now 🙂

 

 

Goodbye to Hawk

, 0 comments

It’s so hard to believe that Hawk won’t be with us anymore at this time tomorrow.

He has only been sick for two weeks; it’s all happening so quickly. He went from not eating, to a bloated belly, to shaking and labored breathing. The vet told us yesterday that he has an aggressive cancer in his intestine and there is nothing they can do. The vet is coming to our house tomorrow evening to put him to sleep.

Hawk has given us so much peace around making this decision. We have tried to give him a special last few days, but he can’t even enjoy a walk into the grass. His head is down, telling us he is done. It doesn’t make it any easier, but there is peace is being sure that it is time. We relaxed on the bed together for a lot of the day.

It all seems too soon. Hawk is only 10 years old. He’s a small breed, hearty rat terrier – he was supposed to live another five to 10 years. I thought maybe I would even have him when I turned 40. (That seemed like a long way away when I got Hawk as a 9 week old puppy back when I was 23.) I had just graduated from college, so it seemed fitting to name my first pet after the mascot of my recent alma mater, The University of Iowa. I picked Hawk out of a litter of nine puppies on a farm near Allison, Iowa. He was so small that he could curl up in the palm of my hand.

I couldn’t have imagined all that Hawk and I would do together. He was a constant friend during some turbulent years of change. He lived with me in seven different apartments/townhouses/homes across three states. He always adapted quickly. He has always insisted on two things his whole life that stem from that first apartment that we shared, just the two of us. First, Hawk has to sleep in the bed. I was sure I didn’t want a dog in the bed, so I tried to keep him in a box by the bed that first night. His pitiful crying wore me down and I brought him up to cuddle with me, and that was that. Second is that he always has to bark when someone is at the door. He rarely barks any other time. That first apartment was in a sketchy neighborhood and I lived alone. I encouraged my little puppy to bark when someone came near my door because it made me feel protected. Even though we don’t live in the hood anymore, he still protects me and our house.

I’m so glad Rafa has been able to share more than half of Hawk’s life. When I moved to Minneapolis and met Rafael nearly six years ago, Hawk was one of the things that brought us together. I had to travel for work occasionally. Rafa knew I had a dog and that I didn’t really  know anyone else here, so he offered to watch Hawk for me when I had to go away. Once I determined he was trustworthy, I agreed. He would send me pictures of Hawk cuddling with him while I was away. I guess Hawk was smarter than me and fell in love with Rafa first. Rafa has taken so much good care of Hawk since we all moved in together.

Giana has been sweetly trying to feed him treats and trying to get him to play with his bone. She insisted on sitting up on the vet’s examination table with him as they were delivering the prognosis. She has been calling out for him (“Awkie!”) when he doesn’t run into her room when I go to get her out of bed after nap time. I’m not looking forward to telling her that “Hawkie went bye bye,” but I’m also glad that I don’t have to explain any more to her just yet.

He will be missed. He was a great couch companion for Gilda, especially when Rafa and I were out of town. My mom called him her “grandpuppy” and made many sacrifices over the years to help me with him, such as driving for hours to pick him up. He has many friends from many stages of our life. So many happy memories.

Hawk was a loyal friend and a good dog. I am thankful I got to spend a decade with him. I will never forget him. Please say a prayer for us as we all say goodbye.

Fun in Target

, 0 comments

Giana enjoyed seeing herself in print this past weekend. She loves the “baby” on the in-store signage:

After Giana was done signing autographs, we went over a few aisles and saw some projects Rafael worked on a couple of months ago. We checked out his art direction on the tags attached to these lovely beach towels.

And he was very happy to let me take his picture by the packaging of the bedding he worked on!

Okay…embarrassed might be a better word for what he was feeling, but he let me take the picture anyway. I’m so proud of both of my Target superstars!

 

Goodbye to O.J.

, 0 comments

Rafa made a hard and sad decision this week. He decided to sell the livestock in the fish tank and shut it off. Within two days, he received a generous offer from a self-described “coral fanatic” to purchase everything. He came over tonight and they took it all down.

We were all really sad to see everyone go. Before Giana went to bed, we all hung out to say goodbye. Giana said “fish” and “wow” several times. Then, she surprised us when she pointed and said “O.J.” and we all shed a few tears. Even though she loves her fish (or “psssshh”), Rafa just felt like he couldn’t devote the time needed for maintenance. And when choosing who to spend time with, Rafa said he will always choose his girls over fish…or any other hobby, for that matter.

As O.J. and Tanji prepared to go to their new home in a plastic bag and Rafa worked on scooping out 100+ pounds of wet sand, we tried to get used to the new silence in our living. No filter, no pumps and no soft gurgle of water moving – our house was quiet. Suddenly, Rafa looked at me.

“You know how I like to see the face of God in everything?” he asked. I didn’t know where he was going with this. “Yes?” I said expectantly. He held up the electric cord that looked like it had started burning.

So today was the ending (for now) of a hobby, the start of less guilt for Rafa because he doesn’t have time to take care of the tank, and filled with thankfulness that a fire hazard was eliminated from our home.

Training and attitude

, 0 comments

Training a child requires careful control of attitude.

Do you think I am talking about Giana’s attitude? No. I’m talking about mine.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Rafael and I spend a lot of time talking about Giana’s training. We discussed it before she was born. We went to conferences and studies the behavior of parents we respect. We read books. We prayed. And now that she is aware enough, we work on various training exercises.

  • No touch. 
  • Come here. 
  • Blanket time (playing quietly on a blanket for a short amount of time).

When Giana obeys the training we have worked on, I am happy. When she obeys in public or in front of an audience, I swell with pride. However, when we are at the grocery store and she pitches a fit about being told she can’t grab at the glass on the shelves, I am not happy. I am embarrassed by her behavior. 

Neither of these responses should be the motivation for why I train her though.

It’s not about me. It’s about her. We train her for her sake – not ours. Training her now sets her up for a way she won’t depart from when she is older. Teaching her not to touch things helps her learn boundaries. It helps her learn to obey someone telling her what to do (me, for now) so that when she is older, it will be able to obey God. Teaching her to “come here” when told forces her to put her own desires aside and submit to authority. By training her on blanket time, we are helping her develop the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, “which is of great worth in God’s sight,” according to 1 Peter 3:4.

For clarification, I don’t it’s necessarily wrong to not want to be embarrassed by your child in public. Actually, it’s probably a fine motivator. But what happens if no one is looking? Or if you are too tired (or too pregnant) to care? How do you find the strength to train through the hard times?

Training my daughter is not about me being proud that she came running to me when I asked her to. It’s about setting her up to be ready to run to God when the day comes that He calls her.

Here we are…

, 0 comments

31 weeks! If this little girl comes a week early like her older sister did, that means we are only eight weeks away from meeting her. We will see!

She is measuring right on track and not giving me any problems besides some occasional heartburn. I definitely don’t forget she’s in there though – she loves to make my belly bounce with her dancing!

The instinct to finish preparations is getting stronger. I started planning for freezer meals. I prepped two pasta casseroles and made plans to add some meatballs next week. Now that I have to tools, I can also just prepare double of some meals coming up in the regularly scheduled meal plan and freeze half.

Now I need to start mentally preparing. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that we will soon be a family of four!

La La La!

, 0 comments

I don’t think there is anything cuter in the whole world than the way Giana says “la la la” while helping me read her current favorite bedtime book “Moo, Baa, La La La” by Sandra Boyton.

See for yourself! She helps me read the whole thing 🙂

Giana says, “Weeee!”

, 0 comments

Our girl loves to say “Weeee!” The very sight of a swing or a slide  makes her sound like that little piggy from the Geico commercial – “Wee Weee Weeeeeee WEEEEEEEE!”

Giana’s papa loves to spoil her. He loves to give his little girl good gifts, so he was thrilled when I found a slide on Craigslist that looked perfect for her to have all for herself.

We went to check it out…and realized there was no way it would fit in the car. No worries! A quick trip to Home Depot for rope and Rafael had it rigged up on the roof in no time.

We made it down the highway and still had all the pieces when we got home. Papa put it all together and we had a very excited little girl! She said “Weeeee!” a lot tonight.

Chocolates and kisses

, 0 comments

As I lay in bed this evening, eating the last of the Godiva chocolates I received for Mother’s Day, I realized I never wrote about how very blessed I was while celebrating my second Mother’s Day. I got to spend the whole weekend with my two favorite people near me at all times.

We started on Friday with a trip to the park before church. Giana got to do her new favorite thing – “Wheee!”

On Saturday, we drove down to Iowa and met up with Gramma Lisa, Bumpa Rod and Aunt Jennifer in the grandstands to watch Uncle Michael race. He did great in his heat, and then he WON the feature! We even got to go down on the track to watch him receive his trophy!

We spent the night at Uncle Mike and Aunt’s house. Somehow, Giana must have known it was Mother’s Day. She woke up earlier than usual, so I brought her into bed with me and her papa. She snuggled up into me and went back to sleep! She has NEVER done this before. Our busy girl is not usually a cuddler! It was a Mother’s Day miracle 🙂

We went to Uncle Mike and Aunt’s awesome church and then to Clear Lake for fun times at the cabin. Giana gave me chocolates and even a flower.

On the way home, we stopped for a snack. I had an amazing Mother’s Day!

No Pinterest fails!

, 0 comments

I have been feeling crafty lately…which is definitely unlike my usual self. However, inspiration strikes occasionally and I’m very happy it has lately.

For the first project, I made books for two very special babies soon to enter the world  – Giana’s little friend, Connor, and her cousin, Baby Girl M. I printed Bible verses that started with A, B, C, etc. on some cute paper, added stickers, and put the pages in cute albums. Giana received a similar gift before she was born and it was very special to me, and I wanted to do the same for these sweet babies.

The second thing is the very first thing I ever pinned on Pinterest: a recipe for salt/flour dough. Mother’s Day was the perfect occasion to try it out! Giana and I mixed the dough and had fun kneading it. We shaped it and made it into handprints and thumbprints.

After baking them for hours, we had a finished product! Giana loved giving them to her grandmas for their special day.