new blog site.

blog has been moved to....

here.

if i am linked on your page, change it!! i plan to delete this site in the next month or so.

this and that, for the uninformed.

on the sale of the house:
the inspection went alright - all we had to do was scrape all of the peeling paint off of the outside surfaces (luckily our house was brick, so there wasn't THAT much paint) and then repaint.
we scooted out to omaha on saturday the 19th. spent all day sunday doing the repairs, spent all day monday packing, spent all day tuesday loading the moving truck, just the two of us (and miette, but she wasn't much help!). on wednesday we dropped off our check at the title company and took off for illinois - our last trip for a long time on i-80 through iowa, and no, i won't miss that drive. we took half of our stuff (the stuff that mice wouldn't destroy) to the shed of the house we will be staying in, in tremont. the rest of it fit nicely in cam and erin's house - thanks guys!! also thanks to the lot of family members who took care of finn for us, during this insane-mad-rush house sale!
so the house is sold, it's gone, done... more on this later.

on moving into our new place:
the people who own the house are moving to france for a couple of years for work. they are waiting for their visas, and for their belongings to be moved, and then the place is ours. we are calling it more of a house-sitting situation, rather than rent, as we will pretty much only be covering the expenses of the house. we even get to look after their dog, an outdoor lab named kati. she's kind of old though. anyway, it's out in the country, in a nice little foresty area. we are really excited to not only have a place of our own, but to have a place of our own that is as beautiful and perfect for our family as this one will be. come and visit us! there is plenty of room!

on potty training:
i was planning to wait on potty training until we were settled into a place of our own... but it was taking too long. so finn went potty for the first time ever for grandma joyce while we were in omaha. and after that it was at least a week before he went again. yesterday we had a small breakthrough... finn went p.p. on the potty three times, and #2 once. it was great. he wore the same underwear almost all day. today has been a little less successful, but he did go once. he must have the bladder of a giant, because he didn't p. from 6:30 this morning until after 11! anyway, we are excited that he is starting to understand the whole process.

on finn's hair:
finn got a haircut. i couldn't handle the messy curls anymore. and i think he had had enough also. so on saturday morning when i got home from a sleepover with my sister-in-law's, i started the chop. it's not great, but it's not bad. i think it's way cute, and he looks so much older!

on miette:
she is doing great. she is almost 12 pounds now. she had her two month shots and cried and cried - i mean, screamed and screamed. she has been doing pretty well with her schedule and sleeping much better at night - although still not sleeping ALL of the way through the nite. she giggled for the first time on monday, for aunt caitlyn. (who i tease, because she get's all of the firsts!! first to see miette, first to hold her, first to be giggled at!)

on our laptop:
our laptop is fixed! well, kind of. it's not the same as it was before, and i can't get on the internet on it for some reason... but soon. which means, i hope to be posting LOTS of pictures and videos soon. there are pictures from my cousin's wedding, finn's haircut, some pics of baby girl... so stay tuned.

moving along: an update.

well, we have almost sold our house in omaha. we are waiting to hear back on the inspection, and so long as there aren't any major fixes, it's a go. we accepted an offer for a good deal less than what we paid for it, so we are broke! but it will be good to get out from under the burden. if it goes thru, we will be in omaha sometime in the next week (for a few days) packing up and tying up loose ends. pray that all of this goes smoothly.

we have found a place to stay in tremont, just south of peoria. the house is home to a couple who are moving to france for a few years for work. they have made it very affordable for us, so we are feeling very blessed to have the opportunity to stay there.

our laptop is broken. it says that it cannot find the operating system. so there aren't going to be any pictures up here for awhile. sorry (mom). the IT guy at justin's work says that we should be able to get the important things off of the hard drive, and try to reformat it, or something like that. blah.

please pray for justin's grandma borland, and the family. she is having some health issues, and the whole health care system isn't helping much.

hopefully this season of change will be over soon! thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

Radiohead Video "House of Cards"

This is perfect. You can drag the image to change perspective. Click on the Title of this post to view the video.

two months, yesterday.

wow... i can't believe two months has already gone by!
miette's crankiness has subsided a little bit, but will usually only flash smiles after she has just waken or just eaten. once in awhile, she will make little coo sounds.
she is almost sleeping through the night, from around 10:30 until around 4:30.
other than that, she pretty much just eats, lays around and sleeps (like most babies).

mo-mo, as we like to call her.

weekend in buckley

we spent our fourth of july weekend in buckley illinois, with justin's sister's family - the kennelly's. it couldn't have been a better weekend. good food, good sleep, boardgames, badminton, lots of kids running around enjoying the outdoors, good conversation - it was great.

thanks chari and darin, i can see this becoming a tradition!
here are some pictures.

finn's morning smile

miette's morning smile

finn and sparkler

maddie rose and sparkler

finn, mommie and sparkler

finn scowling at me because i made him take his shoes off in the grass - oh no! the world is ending...

katie, madeline and finn - almost all of them were ready to play in the water...

justin making finn play in the sprinkler...

finn showing how he really feels about the sprinkler... he loves baths, i swear!

justin and katie having a water gun fight

busy busy busy.

since my birthday, the 19th of june, things have been busy.

there was, of course, my birthday, which was great. dinner with justin (free! since we had a gift card). and i got my haircut, which was way overdue.

then the 20th, miette and i tok the train up and over to chicago. we went mainly for my cousin lauren's bridal shower, but we also hung out with my mom and brother. my brother, zack, lives in the city in a great little condo. so we stayed at his place and he toted us around and was a great host. thanks zack!

well, when we got back from chicago, we noticed there was a bike shop just across the street from the train station. i have been searching for a bike for sometime now. i had saved some of my christmas money, and some other monies along the way just for this purpose. and we found one! bike shopping had been so frustrating since i am so short... not many bikes for me. anyway, we found one.

apart from a few dr. appointments, i don't remember a lot about the weekdays that week.

this last weekend was just as busy - we had to run a few errands on saturday, we hit some garage sales, and met with some people whose home we may rent. we are really hoping it works out with this house, it would be really good for our family - and visitors. then there was church and church activities on sunday...

this weekend we are heading to buckley IL to celebrate the fourth with chari and darin, justin's sister and brother in law. (and their three kiddos). we are quite excited; can't remember the last time we stayed at their house, might have been even before finn was born!

then next weekend we are driving to chicago (the suburbs at least) for my cousin's wedding - also very excited for this... we get to see all of my extended family, which is always a hoot.

after that, i am hoping things quiet down a bit!

girl in purple

miette is not a fan of smiling. she looks cranky most of the time - cranky or sleeping.

the kiddies

father's day

it was a great day.
these three all wore stripes.

quick update

things are well.

house still not sold. sheesh. oh well. may need to work on alternate plan soon.

miette is healthy, and at three weeks (can't believe she's almost four weeks old!) was weighing in at 8 pounds 5 ounces... which means she is above her birth weight, which is what they like. she is "petite," as the dr. put it, landing in the twenty-fifth percentile for weight and height. we are trying to get a good night time routine going on... but so far, our nights are pretty unpredictable with this girl.

finn is great. he tries his best to help with miette, but doesn't realize yet how gentle he needs to be -- or that she doesn't play with cars or read books. he has also tried to pick her up once! bless his little toddler heart.

justin is headed to a Geekway this weekend, a board gaming convention, in St. Louis. I believe this is something he has been looking forward to for some time. Other than that, he is enjoying work still, and keeping the 'nano-reef' up and running.

i am glad summer is here. glad that the windows can be open and ceiling fans on. i also have realized how bad my bug-a-phobia is, living here in the country. number one disliked insect at the moment: the june bug. totally huge and totally gross.

and that is that.

weekend sleep

while finn was busy playing with his cousins, miette took in a good dose of the zzzz's. here are various sleeping photos :)

weekend play

we had a great weekend, with a visit from the kennelly family and cam/erin family. finn absolutely loves playing around with his cousins. we really enjoyed seeing everyone! here are some pictures from the weekend.

finn playing soccer, alone :)

maddie, katie and caroline marching it out

maddie got window markers for her birthday - FUN!

justin and finn playing catch - or something

finn trying to keep up with his girl cousins

sick of dr. offices/health care places.

was in hospital for 3.5 days having a kid.
went to the pediatrician for miette the two days after i got out of the hospital.
went to prompt care on sunday for finn - he had pink eye.
and i feel another visit for miette tomorrow - looking like she may have picked up pink eye too.

i think this is a medical visit record for me.

for those wondering...

the results from miette's bloody stool came back inconclusive... there wasn't enough 'specimen' to test properly. so the doc told me to wait for a diaper that had lots of blood in it, and to scrape it off of the diaper as soon as possible, so that the blood didn't soak into the diaper. well, i waited and waited, and she didn't have a diaper with lots of blood in it... and now her diapers have zero blood in them! yea! so this means that my new diet (no dairy) is working and she does have an allergy to cow's milk or that it was just a newborn baby thingy. we will wait a while and then i will add some dairy back into the diet and see what happens... and that is the update on miette.

finn, however, has some crazy eye crustiness. hoping that it is NOT pink eye. cause that's just gross.

going home

we left the hospital on monday evening around dinnertime. it seems a lot has happened since then! miette's bilirubin level has been tested twice, both turning out with similar results, which made the dr. comfortable with the outcome and told us not to worry about it at all. we found some blood in miette's diapers. we are waiting to hear back if it is her blood or my blood (amniotic fluid still in the tummy...). if it's my blood, then it's not a big deal and it will pass (this is what we are hoping for!!) if it turns out that it is her blood, the doctor explained that it could be one of two things. first, and she suspects that it is this, is that miette could have an allergy to cow's milk, she could be lactose intolerant. which would mean i have to stop eating all dairy while breastfeeding. or secondly, it could be something worse, but she didn't want to tell me or explain it to me to keep my mind at ease. which i appreciate. so anyway, because of miette's bilirubin levels, she has been very sleepy and not very hungry. this can be frustrating as a parent, because you only want to see your child behaving normally! but the doctor said that she looks very healthy otherwise. and that she felt this would all pass in the next few days.

justin and i have not been sleeping very much! the dr. had wanted miette to be fed every 2 hours, so when you add the 30-40 minutes it takes to feed and diaper her, you are left with a little over an hour in which to sleep in - four or five times a night. we were both able to take naps today which has helped quite a bit. don't know how things would be going if we weren't staying with justin's parents... justin's mom has been enormously understanding and helpful in taking care of finn for us.

so there's your update and here are some pictures of miette's homecoming! will let you know when we find something out.

miette, miette, in the little blue isolette...

this little incubator cube is also called an 'isolette,' which rhymes with our new daughter's name! fun fun.
miette's in the blue because her bilirubin levels were a bit high. she has been in there since around 10AM yesterday, only coming out to eat! she didn't like it at first, but she has decided to change her attitude.
as of around midnight last night, miette's weight was down to 7 pounds 1 ounce. so the doctor felt that with the higher bilirubin levels, that she needed a supplement to breast milk. so she has had about 3 ounces of formula since then.
this morning, her bilirubin levels were down to 9 (from 12), so the nurse thought she would be able to come out today. the doctor is in the nursery now, so we will soon here about her weight and when we get to go home (my doctor said i was fine to go home today, but can stay until miette is ready to go.) i will keep everyone posted :)

**in a few of the pictures you may see that miette's feet look like they are in casts! the bilirubin test involved taking blood from the heel, which is easier to do if the foot is nice and warm... so they put warmers on the feet and wrap them up in diapers! it was pretty funny looking....

miette eloise

born on may 9, 2008 at 1:13 pm.
8 pounds 2 ounces, 19 inches long.

"miette," pronounced 'mee - et' is french for small and sweet.

"eloise" pronounced 'el-o-ees' is french for intelligent and smart.

the c-section went alright. i had some pain in my left side, and near the middleof the surgery i noticed that i was able to move my leg around (this is not supposed to happen!) the pain in my left side was bad enough to make me cry, and receive more meds on top of the spinal block. i was told that they suspected it was an air bubble. it DID go away. and i DID make it through. i am surprised that caitlyn still has her hand; i was squeezing it so hard!

miette was born with a knot in her umbilical cord. the nurse i spoke with afterwards said that we were extremely lucky, as many babies with this problem do not make it. she was crying like crazy! i didn't get to see her much in the operating room, since i was slightly bleary eyed and in lots of pain, but they brought her to my room not too long after the whole thing went down. she was so small and cute! and in my opinion, she looks just like finn did, only smaller. and more hair. this morning, miette was looking a little yellow-y orange, so they did the jaundice test, and stuck her in this litle cubicle with a blue light. she is not able to come out except to eat! poor gal. they will test her again this evening, and probably keep her in the cubicle until tomorrow morning. she is naked except for her diaper and has to wear these little eye goggle things. boo.

i am recovering much quicker than last time. this hospital has given me a lot less drugs, and i am thankful for it. last time i remember being so out of it. but this time i have been quite coherent! i have had some difficulty sleeping, but most everything else is just fine. a little abdominal soreness, which i am sure will get worse someday down the road, when i am not able to sit on my rear all day long.

finn came in to meet miette yesterday. he did really well. (for him!) he didn't want to hold her, but he did kiss her cheek a few times. i think he was so distracted by everything else, and excited to see mom and dad, that he didn't really care much about the new baby.

now we are just excited to get back home! and dress our little girl up in her own clothes, sleep in our own bed, and move on with life!!

wait almost over.

went to the doc today, and because of this and that, he decided to take baby out tomorrow. so around 12:30 the incision will be made, and we will be a family of four.

andy's wisdom.

waiting is exciting.
but also frustrating.

especially when you are a 'planner.'
like me.

c'mon little baby.
i've got nothing going on.
just waiting on you.

polling...

being that delivery day is just around the corner, and justin and i have managed to keep this baby's gender a secret, i am wondering what everyone else thinks we are having! so tell me what you think... what are we having? how big will it be? WHEN will it arrive?!

the last spoiling.

i am 37 weeks along today. finn came just past 38 weeks. i am trying not to get anxious, but i feel like this baby might not be too far away. so, because of that, we wanted to make sure we got in one last time of spoiling finn as an only child. we have talked about the new baby with him, but being that he is only two, and hasn't been around a whole ton of babies, i don't know that he really understands --- this could be a shocker for him!
so we took him out to get his very own baseball cap. he LOVES hats. really. he loves them. and when we found the hat, we also spotted the baseball gloves... i thought for sure that he would be too little for one of those, but we tried one out, and he was actually able to catch a ball with one... and he even picked out the one he wanted... justin wanted him to get a different one, but he insisted on this blue rawlings one. we went to borders to try to find him a book about becoming a big brother, but there wasn't much... so we went to eat at culvers. which was probably more for me than anyone else! anyway, we had great fun, and finn is totally crazy about his new things. we are keeping the glove and soft baseball put away until baby actually comes.
and for those of you who don't know... baby is scheduled to arrive may 16th around noon, if it doesn't make it's appearance before then... as of this past thursday i was measuring 39 weeks... so i am hoping for sooner than the 16th, but i guess we will all just have to wait and see.