Josiah's Birth Story

On Sunday morning, September 19, I woke up at 2am with some light contractions. I started timing them and they were 4-6 minutes apart. I woke Micah up, and we called the hospital, then we headed out. When we got to the hospital we went to triage and they monitored my contractions and started my penicillin IV that I needed. At 4am I was 3-4 cm dilated, so we knew we still had a ways to go. When we went to the hospital with Andrew we were already 7-8 cm dilated, and this time around I wanted to get to the hospital before that point, so I was happy that we had time to get settled in. When we got a room we dropped off our bags and started walking. We walked for about 45 minutes, and came back to the room since my contractions were getting harder. At 6am I got in the jacuzzi tub, and it was wonderful! The warm water helped with the pain of the contractions. After an hour in the tub I felt like things were progressing fast, and the contractions were at the point where I had to close my eyes and focus on breathing and relaxing through them. And at this point my midwife was done delivering another baby, and was now able to check me. I was now 8cm dilated and 90% effaced, so things were going pretty fast. At 7:30 I felt like pushing, and Josiah was born at 8am.
It only ended up being a 6 hour labor, and I couldn't have planned it any more perfect than it was. I ended up getting the midwife I was hoping for (I went to a practice that has 6 midwives who rotate call). She got off at 8am, and Josiah was born at 8:04. This time around I wanted to get to use the tub and have a more relaxing hospital experience before I went into full blown labor, and we were able to do that. God is so good! And Josiah was born exactly one month before my mom's birthday.

Our nurse Vivian was wonderful, and very helpful.
Laura, our midwife,

Our cute little bundle has arrived.

Andrew's Room Makeover

Before Pictures


In preparation for the arrival of baby, we moved some rooms around. We moved Andrew out of the nursery, and made the guest bedroom his room. Then added the guest bed in the nursery. Our friend Michael painted Andrew's room for us, so that he didn't have to have a yellow room. Now it is a nice baby blue. Andrew LOVES his big boy room. Ever since we moved him into it we have had a much easier time keeping him in his toddler bed for nap time and bed time. He loves showing off his room to friends who come to the house. Now we would like to get some rub on decals of cars, trains, tractors, etc. to put on the walls.

After Pictures

The Nursery

Here are some pictures of our nursery all put together. Of course there are a few extra things in the room right now. We are trying to sell some things on Craigslist, so they are stashed on the bed in the nursery for now. But the crib is put together with all the bedding, the closet is filled and the changing table is all ready, and even has some new cloth diapers washed and ready to go.

Weekend Getaway

Recently Micah and I were able to go away for a night while my parents watched Andrew. One of Micah's co-workers was gracious enough to offer us the use of his mother-in-law's vacation house in Clearwater, which is a little tiny town past Enumclaw on the way to Crystal Mt. On our way out of town we stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up some fun, easy things to make for dinner. We had mini crab cakes, rice with scallops, peas and mushrooms in a cheese sauce and baby lava cakes for dessert. We spent our time relaxing, talking about how our lives would change with two little boys, and going over expectations for after baby's arrival. It was a nice time to get away and have some good conversation before our life gets really hectic.

Master Bedroom Makeover

Before Pictures

Recently we changed our bedroom a bit. We had our friend Michael, who is a painter, do some work for us (watch for more posts on the other work he did around our house). One thing we had him do was to take down the wallpaper in our room, and then paint the wall a darker tan. We slightly changed the colors in our room. They were tan, cream and green and now they are tan, cream and blue. We got rid of our green comforter, and replaced it with a duvet cover that is blue, tan and cream stripped. We also got a new dresser from IKEA. It is the one that matches our bed, and I have been wanting it for a looooong time. We still want to get the matching 6 drawer upright dresser, but that will have to wait. And on the wall with our bed we want to hang 3 pictures that have a cream frame and blue matting. Another thing we still want to do is get some blue drapes to cover our lovely foil covered window. :) Our window looks like this so that Micah can sleep during the day when he is on graveyard shift.

After Pictures

Bike Ride with Daddy

A few days ago Andrew got to ride in the bike trailer and go for a ride with Daddy. He loved it. When he came home all he could talk about was the bike trailer. And it was fun for him to have some Daddy time.

Shakespeare in the Park

One of the things we did to celebrate Micah's birthday was to go to a Shakespeare in the Park play. We ended up getting some Thai food to go, and ate it at the park while we waited for the play to start. The play we saw was As You Like It. Neither one of us had read it or seen it before. It was a fun experience getting to watch it performed outdoors. Next time I think I will bring a chair though, and we hope there will be a next time since we really enjoyed it, and the best part was it was free.

Picking Berries

A few weeks ago we went in search of some yummy blackberries. We were able to pick quite a few, over 10 cups worth. We found this great little spot in the valley near a business park. One of my favorite things about summer is berries. I was sad when our marrionberry bushes didn't produce as many berries as last year, so Micah suggested we go find some free blackberries. I like to have berries in the freezer for when I feel like making some muffins, so now I have a good supply.

37 Weeks

We are now only about 3 weeks away from meeting our little one. We are getting very excited! Everything is ready for his arrival. Both Micah and I have been in "nesting" mode the last week or so. The nursery is ready, all the baby stuff is down out of the attic and cleaned and washed, the grass is mowed, the cars are washed and vacuumed, the clothes are in the dresser, and there are meals in the freezer. Now we are just waiting to see when he decides to make his debut.

Slight change on Blog Comments

Just an FYI, we have changed to a new comment setting. We have been getting more and more spam as comments on our blog entries. So to save us from manually deleting these nuisance messages, we have implemented a delay in the comments so we have to approve of them prior to publishing. We will do it as soon as the comments are received, so you shouldn't notice too much of a delay in seeing your wonderful bits of feedback in print for worldwide consumption. Thanks again for reading and making this such a fun way to share our life.

Andrew's Big Boy Bed

A couple weeks ago we transitioned Andrew to sleep in a toddler bed. It has been quite the experience. When we came home from vacation he started climbing out of his crib, so we decided we better put him in the bed so he doesn't end up hurting himself.
My mom got him the cute comforter set with cars and trucks on it. And we found the matching rug on clearance for $5!
Andrew has been doing better at sleeping in his big boy bed, and is very excited to show it off to those who visit. He still gets up at least once after we put him down for nap or bedtime. We think he just likes to be tucked in more than once. We're hoping this trend does not stay long.

Micah's Birthday

At the beginning of the month it was Micah's birthday. On his birthday Andrew and I came and got him from work to go to a midwife appointment, and then out to lunch. For lunch we went to a Vietnamese restaurant near our house. Micah loves Pho soup, and it's not something I enjoy, so he rarely gets it. We were surprised at how much Andrew ate while we were at the restaurant. He loved the soy bean sprouts, and ate everything we gave him. He especially liked the free ice cream for dessert.
Tomorrow we get to celebrate Micah's birthday some more on our date night. We are going to the Crab Pot in Seattle, and then to Volunteer Park to watch a Shakespeare play.

Reyna and Tex's Wedding

Last week we went to my cousin Reyna's wedding. It was quite the fancy affair at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle. The view was gorgeous! When I first found out that Andrew was also invited to this formal event, I was wondering what he was going to wear. My friend Lyndsay (who has two boys around Andrew's age) happened to have a little suit outfit and black dress shoes that she graciously let me borrow. Andrew looked so adorable, and he didn't mind the outfit too much.
When we first got to the wedding Andrew was really shy and wanted one of us to hold him. Thankfully Nana, Papa and Uncle Justin were also there to take turns holding him.
Andrew did really well during the ceremony, partially because he was scared of all the strangers surrounding him and also because Nana came prepared with Mentos. After the ceremony we enjoyed a cocktail hour of hors d'oeuvres and visiting with family. We kept Andrew entertained by taking him to the windows to see the "Big Guy Hammer Man" aka The Hammering Man in front of the Seattle Art Museum, riding on the elevator, and playing with cars I had brought along.

We ended our evening with the reception and a lovely dinner with a fantastic view. Since Andrew was with us, and Micah had to work early the next morning we weren't able to stick around for cake or dancing. We still had a fun time, and really enjoyed seeing how our family members are doing and celebrating with Reyna and Tex.

30 Weeks

These are only the second belly shots I have taken this pregnancy. I keep forgetting to do it. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. I guess it is because I am chasing after a two year old, so I don't have a lot of time to stop and think about being pregnant. Although lately it has been getting harder and harder for me to do things like pick toys up off the ground, or stand up from sitting on the floor. It is hard to believe that our little Josiah will be joining us in just a little over two months! One thing I am looking forward to is seeing if he has red hair like Andrew.

4th of July

Wow, I can't believe it has been so long since I last updated our blog! Well, to catch up here are some pictures we took on the 4th of July. In the afternoon we headed to Burien to watch the tow trucks in the parade. Andrew LOVED seeing them. We have the Airport/Burien Towing calendar, and he wants to look through all the pictures of the tow trucks almost everyday, so it was a big deal to see them in person.
Then we went to my parents' house for a BBQ. We had fun hanging out with friends and eating lots of yummy food. Once it started getting dark most everyone else left the party, but we stuck around to do a few fireworks. Uncle Justin had a small stash, and he let Andrew pick out which fireworks to set off. Andrew had fun watching the fireworks (from a safe distance of course). He even got to try out a sparkler for the first time.

Andrew's 2nd Birthday Party

This year for Andrew's birthday we had his party early since we will be on vacation during his actual birthday. And I decided to have a much smaller guest list than last year. We did a backyard beach party, and thankfully the weather cooperated, thanks to God for answering our prayers! The kids had fun playing in the little pool and sandbox. My mom made two really cute cakes, one was a fish, and the other was an aquarium. The kids loved that they were covered in candy!



And I made some little sorbet fishies. Our friends John and Tricia were wonderful, and provided the yummy sorbet for us.
Andrew was so cute when he opened the presents. He wanted to play with each one as he opened it, and who can blame him he got some fun things!
For the last few months I have been working on a playhouse for Andrew, and I was able to get it done in time for his birthday. Micah was a big help and did all the final seams for me since I was a little daunted by that task. So far Andrew has enjoyed playing with it. He especially likes to put the flowers in the mailbox.