Due Date

Today is my due date! When I woke up this morning and looked at my phone I had an alert telling me that our baby was due today. I looked over at the crib to see our baby boy waking up and smiled to myself. He will be three weeks old tomorrow already! The time has gone by fast; maybe because the days and nights tend to mush together. Honestly though, he has been such a good baby. For the most part only crying when he's being changed or when he's hungry. He sleeps well, like his mother I am told, and is just the cutest thing we have ever seen. Seriously.

This past week finally brought some nice weather after over a week of cold and rain. We took Charles on his first trip to the Park on Tuesday. This trip was made even more wonderful because our good friends from Norway, Helene and Ketil, are here with their two kids and they, along with Ashley, met us at the Park for the afternoon. It was heavenly. Walking through our favorite park with our new little boy, talking with friends and enjoying the warm fall weather.. it doesn't get much better than that. Chris and I went back again on Wednesday before he had to be back at church.

If you couldn't tell already, I really love the park. I think Charles likes it too, although both times he slept through most of it. Oh well, he will come to appreciate afternoons in the park eventually!

I really love this picture of him. It makes me chuckle.

It has been fun getting to know our baby boy over the past few weeks. Granted, he doesn't do a whole lot more than sleep and eat, but he is becoming more and more alert. His facial expressions, while awake and asleep, are pretty funny. I just can't get enough of him. Even his little farts are cute! I love every little thing about him and we continue to praise God for the gift of our son and for his health and safe arrival. God is truly awesome.

My most favorite time with him is after I nurse and he falls asleep in my arms. He's so tiny and smells so good and I love how he snuggles his little head under my chin. Be still my beating heart! Sometimes I don't want to put him down. I love my Moby Wrap- I can carry him around and get things done at the same time. It's also great for trips to the park when we don't want to bring the stroller.

Chris was holding Charles while I was finishing something so I could then feed him. He was a little fussy and Chris was kissing his face when Charles got hold of his nose and started sucking on it! Poor kid, he must have been hungrier than we thought.. no milk in there baby boy! haha. It was super cute and we both got a good laugh from it.

Without Further Ado...

... I would like to introduce you to our baby boy, Charles Gabriel

It was love at first sight..

We are so thankful to God for our beautiful, healthy little boy. Every time I look at him I am in awe at this little miracle that God has given us. We continually praise Him for all that He has done and all that He will do for our family. He truly is our Provider and Creator. We have so much love in our hearts for Charles, to the point of overflowing. He is just so precious and perfect! We know that God was with him as he grew and developed inside me, knitting him together into the little baby we hold in our arms now and we trust fully that God will continue to be with him as he grows up.

I just can't get enough of my little boy. I love looking at him and holding him and kissing him. I can't believe he is finally here! It's crazy how such a tiny little thing can cause so much joy and love in our hearts. We loved him before he was born and now that he is here it's amazing how much more love we feel. Thank you Jesus for our little boy. Please give us the strength, patience, wisdom and love to raise him into the man you want him to be.

My cup runneth over!

A Year Ago...

Recently the photos on our computer got messed up somehow, luckily we didn't lose them but we can no longer view them in iphoto. Instead we have to search for them in their dated files. I am SO thankful we didn't lose them, I think I would have cried,  but it does make it a little more difficult to browse through them or find a specific photo. It sure makes me wish we had named them instead of leaving them as the numbers. 

I was looking back through some of the files today and became a bit reflective. I decided to check out the photos from a year ago today to see what we were doing. Here's what I found...

That day we had gone into the city with our cameras to check out this park Chris had been at with the summer kids program. Before we entered the park we got some lunch and found a bench to sit at and eat. Almost immediately we were the center of attention to these little birds. Ok, I'll be honest, I'm sure they were more interested in our crumbs than they were in us but still..

They were getting kind of close so we decided to lure them in a little more and see if we could get some pictures. We tossed some crumbs on the ground closer to our feet and then set the camera down so it was level with the birds...

Sometimes it worked

Sometimes.. not so much

It was a good day and after our lunch with the birds we explored the art in the park. 

It's fun to look back on a given day and be reminded of what you did, where you went or what you saw. Even if it was having your lunch invaded by little brown birds. 

This got me to wonder about what I will be doing a year from now. What will those pictures show? Will we finally be in our new apartment?? I sure hope so! We will have an almost one year old! Boy? Girl? (we'll find out soon!). So many things can change in a year and it's exciting to think about what will happen between today and a year from today. I am excited to see what God has in store for us. 

What were you doing a year ago today? 

Where's the Dog??

The one day I don't have my camera with me.. ugh!

I usually carry it with me in my purse in case I come upon something I want to take a picture of and today I left it at home. We went downtown for lunch after church and it was raining a little so I took my umbrella in my purse and left my camera at home. I thought to myself, 'I should just bring it with too, you never know... ' but I didn't want to be lugging around a heavy purse so I left it. I left it!! 

As we walked to Chipotle we saw a couple walking with a leash.. but there wasn't anything at the end of it. You know, like one of these

After we finished eating we decided to walk around for a while. The rain had stopped, it was nice out and I totally didn't need my umbrella anymore. 

As we walked around Court and Montague streets we began to notice more and more people walking their invisible dogs. They weren't really interacting with people, just walking their dogs like nothing was weird about it. One guy almost lost his 'dog' and had to pull it back when it tried to chase a pigeon as he was walking across the street! haha! I started to count how many we saw and by the time we left was up to 52. It was really entertaining to hear the comments others would make about the strange dog walkers. 

After learning a few days ago that October is 'Adopt A Dog' month I thought that maybe it was some sort of awareness thing but like I said they weren't really trying to talk with people, you know- encourage them to adopt a dog, so maybe that wasn't it. 

When we got home I tried to look it up online and learned that factory that made the original Invisible Dog leashes in the 70's was located in the area and had been closed down but was recently bought and converted into a three story art center opening next weekend. It didn't mention anything about a promotional stunt being done, but what else could it be?? The article said that the new owner sold many of the wacky artifacts left in the factory out of the street level thrift store but that he wouldn't sell the 200 dog leashes. What a cool way to promote the opening of an art center right? I mean, it got us to find out about it and want to go to the opening on Saturday. This had to be it. 

But no, as I looked into it again this evening I found the real story behind all those people on a Sunday stroll with their invisible pets. And it's so cool! Have you ever heard of Improve Everywhere? They did the stunt in Grand Central Station where over 200 people all froze at the same time. Well, this was one of their missions. And we were witnesses! Over 2,000 people participated in the mission today and guess where they got the leashes? The old factory/new art center appropriately called The Invisible Dog. I only wish we had heard about it before and volunteered to be dog walkers too. Dang. 

AND I wish I had brought my camera so that I could post photos.. double dang! But if you want you can check out Improve Everywhere for some photos and stories from today and videos of their other fun missions. 

Waiting..

I am a week and three days into 'life as normal' again. It's kind of weird, I have been off bedrest for just over a week and it already seems like so long ago. As I began that journey and looked ahead to the time it would finish it felt as though it would never come. What a great feeling to now look back and say "thank you Lord for getting me through that- it wasn't that bad after all".

The first day off bedrest landed us in the hospital again with contractions. I hadn't even left the house yet that morning when the pain started but we went a head with our plans to go to Babies R Us first and get some things in case this was the real thing. It wasn't. We drove to the hospital around 6:30pm but I wasn't any more dilated and the contractions stopped after a while. I have decided that three really must be a charm and the next (third) time I go to the hospital will be the one and we will come home with our baby! 

Needless to say we had to put off our trip to Perkins and went Sunday instead. Totally worth it!

The rest of the week was filled with some cleaning and getting things ready for Baby. There was also a movie with a friend, two trips to the cafe and park, a lunch with my husband at 5 Guys, and board games with our new pastor and his family. 

Best news of the week? I am now at 3 cm!

Best part of the week? Getting the crib up and ready! 

I love looking at it. I love imagining what it will look like with our little baby sleeping in it. 

There is still come cleaning to be done.. you know how when you clean and organize sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better? Well, that is the state of our apartment right now. However, as for the baby stuff, we have pretty much everything ready. The baby clothes and blankets are washed, the carseat is ready to be put in the car, the stroller is ready to be pushed, the crib is up and the diapers are purchased and my hospital bag is packed and by the stairs. Now we just wait for our baby to arrive!

As of 5:00....

Today's To Do List:

*11am meet Ashley at PostMark Cafe

*grocery store

*WIC office

*call Personnel and Payroll offices at work

*laundry

Done So Far:

*11am met Ashley at PostMark Cafe

*1:30 Prospect Park with Ashley

*4:30 home

What a HOOT!