Christmas Tree!

Yesterday we went to get our Christmas tree. Not knowing for sure whether this might be our last year in Michigan makes me feel a little sentimental and attached to the traditions we've developed over the years, and "bagging our tree" is one of them. :) I was excited to share the experience with Carolyn this year. She was only 18 months old last year and it was a very snowy day when we went to the tree farm and she immediately fell on her face in the snow as soon as we got her snow suit and boots on and proceeded to cry nearly the entire time. This year had the potential to be really great- Carolyn has been really fixated by Christmas trees since the first ones started appearing in stores in... like August. :)
Unfortunately, we kind of squeezed too much into one day and ended up going in the late afternoon, Carolyn's worst time of day... so the suspicious look on her face pretty much sums up most of the excursion... this was the best "family picture" we got. :)
Carolyn is very TWO right now- she only likes to do things if it is HER idea. She was very upset from the moment we got there that her hands were cold, but she refused my suggestion to put on mittens until she was pretty desperate. Within minutes of putting on the mittens, she was much happier... though by then Papa and Daddy were already picking out the trees, so she didn't get to help much.
It turned out to be a very pretty evening for late fall in Michigan. We actually saw the sun! :)
In the end, we really had a great time. Thanks for coming with us, Papa! :)
Tonight we decided to let Carolyn help us decorate the tree. She really had a good time and we enjoyed showing her some of our special ornaments...
She needed some help to get the breakable ones up high.

Each year we try to pick up an ornament to remind us of significant things that happened or trips we took; it's fun to unpack all the different ornaments each Christmas and remember all the special times that make up our family story.
This year we got a little angel to symbolize the fifth member of our family who will meet us someday in Heaven.
We also picked up an ornament when we went to Virginia this spring, saw Mount Vernon, and fell in love with the history and culture in the Northern Virginia area. We still have no idea how prominently Virginia may figure into our geographical future... there are possibilities there, but there are also some options that would keep us in Michigan and close to family... and we're in the midst of the quandary of trying to figure out where God wants us to go!
No matter where we trim our tree next Christmas, I am so grateful for these sweet faces in my life- and Baby Nora's face, which I haven't yet seen, but I can't wait to kiss (and photograph excessively...)

The Doghouse

Check this out! I laughed so hard! I can't figure out how to embed this video into my posting, but you should follow this link for a smile- and for some advice for your husband!

Thanksgiving

We went home to my parents' for Thanksgiving and found that we have a new reason to be thankful! Laura and Jon are engaged!! The house hardly needs Christmas lights because they are just glowing. :)
Jon did a great job picking out "The Ring"- it is so beautiful and shiny!!
Carolyn is excited for her first wedding experience- she's been asked to be a flower girl! :)
I refuse to post any of the post-Thanksgiving pictures of my face because I just wasn't careful enough to hide the extra chin that likes to come out when I'm really smiling (and well, there's just not going to be any way to stop those extra holiday pounds this year!)- but I loved this one of Carolyn and her Daddy! We have many reasons to be thankful this year, but topping the list is the sweetness of family and the great expectation and hope of Baby Nora coming to join us in just a few more months! The end of this year comes with a lot of uncertainty for us as to what life will look like a year from now when the holidays roll around again- it's getting close to the time when decisions must be made about where to set up a practice when Brad graduates in just SEVEN MORE MONTHS- but the uncertainty itself makes me more thankful for the constants in life; the love and provision of a great God who cares for our needs and guides our every step as we seek His wisdom.

More!!

So exciting! Kasey put up a few more pictures on Facebook today- I can't help but put them all up on my blog- they are all so great!! :) Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! :)





PS: I've had a lot of questions about who did these wonderful pictures for us. Apparently my link in my previous post didn't work, so here's the link again for Posh Photography . It should work now. :)

Photo Shoot!

Yesterday we had our first ever professional family pictures taken!! I have always wanted to have this done, especially since Carolyn was born and just never got around to it. But thanks to my little seasonal side job writing in the fall, we had enough money to have my friend Kasey come and take some awesome pictures for us! She does incredible work, and I was so delighted to discover that she'd already posted a few pictures from our shoot and she said I could blog them. :)

It was the perfect combination set for our family at this point in our lives. She took some individual pictures of Carolyn, some of the three (and a half) of us, and some to highlight Baby Nora's coming into our family.
She did a fantastic job capturing the life and sweet 2-year-old spirit of Carolyn! The pink tutu was a big hit! She also loved being allowed to jump freely on the bed! :)


I know that as Baby Nora grows, I will, too, so we could have waited and gotten "bigger" pregnancy pictures- but this turned out to be the perfect time because I wanted them for our Christmas letters- and I look pregnant without looking like a cruise ship and my face isn't terribly puffy yet. :)
I loved that it's just Brad and me in a few of the pictures. Unlike Carolyn, Baby Nora will be joining a family of three where there already is a child, and so I am glad that many of the pictures include Carolyn because she is an important part of the family waiting for its newest little member- but Baby Nora all by herself is a miracle to Mommy and Daddy- really the process of pregnancy and the delight of carrying life loses none of its sweetness and wonder just because it's something you've done before. My mom once said that it was like re-reading a really wonderful, amazing book- you pretty much know the story, but you savor every little event that occurs and it is all the sweeter for its familiarity.
I loved this idea with the tiny slippers I found for her at a consignment sale! Can't wait to see her wearing them on her tiny little feet!
This is my favorite picture I've seen so far! We're waiting for you Baby Nora! Take a few more months to grow, but we are so excited to welcome you into our family!! :)

If anyone's looking for a great photographer in the Grand Rapids area, check out Kasey's website at http://www.poshphotographyonline.com . She did a fabulous job and I thought the rates were really reasonable! In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm getting the best end of this bargain. She's coming again in February to take newborn pictures with Baby Nora. :) I can't wait! :)

Growing!

I'm not sure why I manage to look so goofy in all these pictures, but I take them anyway because I think Baby Nora deserves to have a few pictures of what she looked like in Mommy's tummy. She is growing! We had our 28 week appointment this week and the doctor said that we're right on track. We've officially entered the 3rd trimester now, so we get to see the doctor every 2 weeks for awhile, then every week for the last month. I really like my doctor so I'll admit I look forward to the appointments. :) After Carolyn was born I remember feeling almost let down that she didn't need to see me anymore!

This was also the week of the customary glucose tolerance test where you have to drink this nasty fizzless orange syrupy stuff and then they check your labs an hour later to screen for gestational diabetes. I'll admit I was a bit anxious (despite the fact that Brad said that I have no risk factors for gestational diabetes)- because I am pretty sure I could not live through the next 12 weeks without cookies! Thankfully, Thanksgiving and Christmas do not need to be canceled because I passed the test! :) The rest of the family can breathe a sigh of relief- and so can the grocery store because most of the cookies and other treats that we have around the holidays come from my excessive baking! :)

Pretty

The in-between seasons don't last very long here in Michigan. We had a lovely Fall this year; the colors were some of the most vibrant I can remember and we enjoyed lots of warm days and crisp evenings- and even a week that felt like a return to late summer in October! But there is no stopping the Eternal Season: Winter!! Temps have been in the 30s all week this week and it is generally cloudy, but one morning this week I woke up to the sparkle of the sun on the frost and thought it was beautiful. So I took some pictures in our front yard.

Every time I see this bush I'm thankful to whoever designed the landscaping in this house: it's always beautiful no matter what the season is! In the summer it's a vivid green, in the fall, the leaves turn yellow and contrast with the red berries, in the winter the berries stand in stark contrast to the bareness of the branches and the white of the snowy ground, and in the spring it is just covered with fragrant blossoms. It's my favorite tree around our house. :)
This is the little rosebush we planted in memory of the little one we lost back in May- it has grown from this itty bitty little thing into a very pretty little miniature rosebush- and the blossoms that once were red are now pink. Though the sting of that loss has faded much over the last almost seven months, and we have so much to be thankful for, I don't think I will ever forget completely. I'm glad we planted this little reminder.

My Little Girl- She Finally Has a Name!

Drumroll, please! We think we have finally decided on a name for Carolyn's baby sister!! I got permission from Brad to blog it, so it's as close to official as it gets before we put it on the birth certificate! We think we are going to call her Nora Kathryn. Here's the "why" behind the name.

I loved Nora from the first time I started to consider it- it's the sort of "old-fashioned" name that's sort of "in" right now, and though it's far from being the most popular, she probably won't be the only Nora she knows, so it's "different" without being totally out there. A few weeks ago we met a sweet little 14 or 15-month old named Nora at the apple orchard- just as cute and as spunky as can be- and so much like what I picture this little one being. Brad was there that day and it was the very first time I suggested a name and his first response was "Hey, I like that!" instead of "Well, I guess we can think about it." So it started there at Robinette's on Halloween and the more I thought of it, the more I loved it and really she has been Nora in my mind since then, though I tried to keep an open mind to give Brad time to really think about it and feel more settled (there's no umbilical cord and placenta connecting him to her; naturally, it takes a little more time to feel sure about something as important as a name. :))

Later I went home and started researching the name and I found out that Nora means "light." The more I thought about that, the more it seemed to fit. If you've been reading our blog this year, you'll know that just before I got pregnant with this baby, we lost another one. Those were hard days for me; a challenge to my faith such as I hadn't experienced before. I journaled a lot through that experience and the one thing that continually came to mind is just this image of darkness; of feeling like I'd never see light again; just putting one foot in front of the other, grieving that loss and still having to live life at the same time. I think that the most important lesson that God taught my through that experience is summed up in a Twila Paris song that came to mean a lot to me. It says "He is a Light in the deepest shadow, and the wings of a spirit in flight; He is a spring in the dry, burning desert; He is a song in the longest night." I felt closer to God in the midst of that darkness than I ever had before- and found that He truly was Light when all else around me seemed so dark. And then, impossibly sooner than I ever would have hoped or dreamed- in a stunning stroke of grace, there SHE was- this sweet little one growing inside. She wasn't the light itself- but a reflection of the true Light that shines no matter what else is going on- a reminder forever of God's grace and of the lessons He taught me about Light in darkness. So when I found out that Nora means "light" and started to put it in context of all this, it just all fell into place for me, and I knew we'd found the perfect name.

One of the things I love most about Carolyn's name is that she is named for someone who embodies our greatest hopes and dreams for her to become one day- her "Auntie" Carolyn, a true woman of God. I wanted to give Baby Nora the same kind of gift in her name- so her middle name is Kathryn, just like my mom. I can think of no greater aspiration for my child than that she would grow up to be something like my mother. My mom is wisdom and compassion and faith and humor and love and beauty all rolled into this amazing person that I feel I'm only starting to really know now that I'm grown up (I'm almost 28 now- yikes!- so I suppose that means I really am "grown up").

So that is where Baby Nora Kathryn gets her name. I'm so happy to feel like she has a name of her own now. It took awhile to settle on it- but now I'm glad we took our time because I think we've found just the right name for her.

My Big Girl

It feels like lately Carolyn has been taking so many steps SO fast into the big girl world! She is almost completely potty trained during the day (no complaints from Mommy here!), she talks in complete sentences now, and as of this weekend, she's moved into a Big Girl Bed! We bought the bed back in June, but being the master procrastinators we are, we finally set it up on Saturday. She loves it!! The first day was sort of surreal- not what I expected from the transition at all- she slept perfectly for both nap and bedtime with no attempt to get up. Last night... wasn't so good... she got all wound up and didn't end up finally going to sleep until around 1am! Ugh! And I have never once since she was born been able to really rest at night until I know she's safe and sound and sleeping. So this means we'll both be tired all day today- and Brad's on call! I hope tonight goes better for us all. The big girl bed makes her seem so much older to me- but really, she is! She's rapidly becoming such an independent little person; I love it! And also, I like not lugging her over the crib rail anymore! It's getting harder to hoist her up now!!

Just Saying Hi

Brad was on call last night so when we brought him his dinner, we sneaked in to say hi to Little Baby. It was really kind of comical- neither of our girls was in a particularly cooperative mood! Little One was head down and facing in the exact opposite direction for a profile shot- Big One was having a hyperactive, attention-hungry moment and was climbing all over me while we tried to do this... so this was the best we got! Sweet little hand waving hi (Brad says this is actually two hands put together like she is praying- but it just looks fuzzy to me). :) We could also see that she's grown quite a bit since the last time we saw her 6 weeks ago- she fills up almost all the available space- but I know she'll get even more crowded- and so will I! And just to make mommy feel better, she made sure we knew she's still a girl- sometimes it all still seems too good to be true that we could have TWO girls!! It's three months til our "due date" and I'm so excited to meet this sweet little one- and to see my big girl become a big sister- there's just nothing sweeter in life than sisters. :)

Observation Night

Last night was the one night of the semester when parents are allowed to come watch their their little ones at dance class. I had a great time watching her and I really liked the way the class is structured- they keep things moving and do everything with fun music! It was pretty obvious after a few minutes WHY they don't have the parents in the room every week! All the two-year-olds were crazy! I was very impressed with how patient Miss Kym is with them!

Each of the girls has a hula hoop to (try to) stand in to help them keep their places. Carolyn actually does a very good job paying attention to Miss Kym- quite good for a 2-year-old, I think. All the girls really like the tappy dancing part of the class- can you blame them?
She likes Miss Kym very much. Not just everyone gets that smile!
They have been working very hard on "this is my left foot and this is my right foot." Carolyn very carefully tries to mimic Miss Kym.
Having a contemplative moment before the "ballet" portion of the class starts.
Here the girls are practicing their "plies"At the end, they do some tumbling and "creative movement."

I really enjoyed watching Carolyn have fun dancing and moving around. I'm sure it is even better for her when the room is not full of strange people and a distracting Mommy, but I'm still glad I got the chance to see her. I think she has really grown from having the chance to do this. :) This video really captures the experience better than still pictures- though still doesn't really come close to how CUTE it really was!

Civic Duties

****EDITED: If you feel the need to make nasty comments about what I have to say on my own family blog, please just type out what you need to say and then delete it before you send it to me; I don't appreciate being put down simply because I might have a different point of view than you do. If I continue to receive nasty comments on my posts, I will make this blog private.****

Today as I waited in line to exercise my civic duty, I thought about how different this election is for me from the one four years ago. Yes, that's us, with our "W's" raised proudly in the air (side note: I can't believe my hair was ever that short!). :) We had an "election party" with friends from church and stayed up until an insane hour just to see the final results from Ohio! :) Tonight, I'm not sure what we'll be doing, but I'm fairly confident that if the TV is on, we will be watching a movie. :)When I voted four years ago, I truly believed that "W" would change the world, make it a better place. Four years later, I really believe that the jury is still out on "W," though many people have condemned him right and left, especially in the last several months. I believed then and I still believe now that George W was the man God wanted in that office for the last eight years, and though I think he is human and made some mistakes, overall, I think that history will be kinder to him than the people he served for the last eight years. The events that have happened over the last 8 years and our country's responses to them have far-reaching consequences that our generation cannot possibly understand, and I think that generations to come will look back and be thankful that we had a God-fearing man in the President's office at this crucial time in our nation's history.

Today I voted again, because it is a privilege and a responsibility to do so. I am thankful to live in a country where my voice can be heard. I can't say I voted in this election with a whole lot of excitement, though. I felt like I had to choose the best of two evils, and I fear for the direction our country is heading, away from morality and the godly values that started America, and toward a system of less and less sense of personal responsibility and more and more governmental control and involvement in our daily lives. I am more thankful than ever that the tides of history are not ultimately decided by the fallible men and women who are written about in history books, but by the One who made it all and set all things in motion. I am grateful today to remember that He is in control and it is He that will guide and protect the generations to come as He has those that have gone before.

Halloween!

We had such a great time last night! I wasn't sure what to expect with a 2-year-old in a giraffe costume, but it was even better than my most optimistic hopes!
My sewing skills are really VERY basic and people who know me well would tell you that I often have grand plans and visions for things that never really materialize- so even I was surprised at how well the Giraffe Hat came out! It was actually cuter with the hat than it the original costume was- and more comfortable for Carolyn, too!
Our first stop was at the hospital, where the OB residents traditionally bring their kids for some pictures and treats. :)

Here's the crew that came this year: Tracey and her daughter Abigail, Melissa and her son Jacob, Leila and her daughter Sienna (forgive me if I've spelled things wrong), Stephanie and her daughter Ella, and Brad and Carolyn.
Ella is a little more than a year older than Carolyn, but they are close enough to have some fun together.
I love to watch Carolyn playing with older children- as she becomes increasingly more socially aware, it really brings out a side of her that is cute- it's fun to watch her imitate other kids instead of just us boring poky old grownups. And although I tried, this picture just doesn't capture how adorable the back of Carolyn's giraffe costume really was- they puffed up the bottom of the costume with a bunch of stuffing and she waddled around and it was so cute with the TAIL!
After the hospital satisfied her sweet tooth for the moment, we headed over to Heather and Rich and Rachel's for dinner and some trick or treating in their neighborhood. They have a great neighborhood for it because all the houses are close and there are a ton of kids and families there.
Carolyn and Rachel are ready to head out and want us to get done with pictures already! I was glad we got this nice family picture together. :) It's a rare thing anymore.
The kids stayed out a long time- at least an hour! Heather and I took them to the first few houses, then came back and passed out candy while Rich and Brad took them around some more. Brad said that Carolyn was so excited she practically ran from house to house, saying "Next House! Next House!" Both the girls had a really good time. :)
Here they survey the Loot. It seemed to work to give Carolyn a really small bag to carry; she didn't come home with as much stuff but still had a great time trick or treating. :) Her favorite treats were the suckers. She unwrapped them all and ate part of each one. :) We figured for one night we'd just let her have what she wanted. :)
Rachel was very systematic in her perusal of the candy. She poured it out and put it back in multiple times and very jealously guarded her stash against any intruders that might think of stealing some. :)
We grownups ended the evening enjoying one of the best apple pies I've ever made! I'm not sure what made this one come out so well, but boy was it good- I made it before we left but we cooked it there, so it was still hot enough to melt the ice cream... mmmmm! :)

Leaves

Yesterday we got a rare gift: Brad got a day off without asking for it or having to be on call the night before to "pay" for it. He's been doing an "out" rotation this month and the doctor he's been working with took the day off, so Brad got one, too. :) We had a great day together as a family- everyone got to sleep in and eat French toast for breakfast (at Carolyn's request), and then we went to Robinette's for what might be our last apples and donuts expedition for the season.Donuts were much appreciated.
Carolyn had fun climbing the steps and going down the slide.
I just loved all the crunchy, colorful leaves. If I had a better knack for getting Carolyn to look at the camera it would have been a wonderful opportunity for pictures.
We tried for a few- somehow this menacing, "don't take my leaves" look isn't quite what I had in mind for my wall. :)
In the end it's probably good that the battery died and we just had fun chasing Carolyn around in the leaves and watching her have a good time.
Fortunately the battery did not die until I had a chance to fulfill one of my un-met goals for the Fall season: taking pictures of some of the beautiful fall colors with the new camera that I am still LOVING.
These two pictures are actually the same picture, cropped two different ways. I can't believe how much detail I can capture just with pushing a button and how crisp it stays even when you crop it pretty small!
I love fall!