Thanksgiving Weekend

Erik and I were able to host a group of friends (21 - counting children!) at our home on Thanksgiving Day. We were up early for a breakfast of whole grain gingerbread pancakes (delicious) and began preparations. The 20-lb turkey was in the oven by 9:00, and an array of other food had been prepared the day before. We arranged our dining table and a borrowed folding table side by side and carefully arranged place settings, including some little place-cards the girls and I had made earlier in the week. My mom had sent a beautiful centerpiece, and I loved the way the dining room looked before 11 little girls descended on it. :)

When the morning's work was done, Erik and I bundled the girls up for a run. They snuggled in for early and short naps, and then our friends arrived at about 1:30. We had a wonderful time of eating, sharing thanks, having a brief time of worship and hymns, and the boys even played football outside while the mommies cleaned up the kitchen. We felt blessed to have so many friends to share the holiday with!



The rest of our weekend included shoveling the pond to play hockey (Elisa is a pretty good puck-handler),



and taking a spur of the moment day trip to West Yellowstone to cross country ski. We left at 6:00 AM, arrived at 9:00, and skied from 10:00 until 5:00 - with an hour break for a picnic lunch at the car. Elisa tried her new (used) skis out for the first time. The expression of mixed determination and exhilaration on her face was priceless. She loved it, and wants to ski every day once "God gives us more snow in the yard." It was hard to get her back in the Chariot to let Erik and I ski for a few hours! She skied three times, each for about half an hour. I think Sadie will be ready to join her next year. It's amazing how easily little ones pick up new things. They don't worry about looking awkward or falling - they just do it!





On Sunday, we loaded the kids up again and headed out to the woods to chop down our Christmas tree. We found a tree quickly and tried to interest kiddos in sledding. They both took one run with Daddy, but the snow is not deep enough for a soft ride, so no one wanted a second turn. We returned home and shared some turkey barley soup with friends. We had a fabulous weekend as a family -- but this little baby and I are tired! :)

With Child

I know my sisters and mom would like to see my growing tummy, so I am going to post a picture, in spite of my hesitations about doing so. I've never actually taken a "belly shot" in my previous pregnancies, so this is a new and somewhat vulnerable experience! :) I had Elisa take the picture this morning after my doctor's appointment. I thought she did pretty well at actually snapping the photo while Mommy was centered in the viewfinder. It is a little blurry,but my tummy actually made it into the shot! Maybe we have a future photographer?
So -- here it is.
Gestational Age: 25 weeks, 4 days


Other Pregnancy Stats from this morning: (I am following in the footsteps of my big sister and friend Hannah by giving you all the nitty gritty details)
Fetal Heart Rate: 158
Blood Pressure: 124/76
Fundal Height: 24
Weight Gain: Hmm... maybe I'm not quite that brave! :)


I love being pregnant. I don't love heartburn, or the constant cramping in my ever practicing uterus, or the backaches. But I love carrying life inside my belly. This morning I waited at the doctor's for about an hour, perusing all the pregnancy magazines on the waiting room tables and wishing I had not left my book in the car, but not quite willing to venture into the cold to retrieve it. I was amused and a little offended by the trendy use of the slang terms "prego" and "preggers" in those hip magazines. To me, being able to nurture a life is so much more precious and frail than those slang words make it seem -- a gift not to be taken lightly or belittled. I prefer the old-fashioned terminology: being "with child," or "expecting." I am grateful to have a tiny child with me every moment of the day, and I am eagerly expecting God to fulfill His miracle of life by allowing this child to be born healthy and whole on the day of His choosing.

Praising Him for growing life!

A Birthday Party

Yesterday, Sadie turned two. She woke up in the wee hours of the morning in order to go potty, and never quite settled back to sleep, so she spent the day a little bit sleepy and snuggly. I had made whole wheat cinnamon rolls the night before (our family birthday morning tradition) and those baked while the girls and I sipped our morning decaf tea and let Erik sleep in. :) We had decorated her chair with pink ribbon and placed a construction paper crown and her present at her place. When Erik came downstairs, we shared breakfast with "Princess Sadie," and let her open the gift -- a collection of Paddington Bear stories.

After early naps and a family run in the afternoon, Sadie's friends came to celebrate with us. Three other families brought the child count to nine -- not including three-week old Megan, who slept soundly in her carseat throughout the whole party. The kids made teddy bear puppets, ate homemade pizza, ran around wildly through the house (our house is great for running in circles), and then sang "Happy Birthday" while Sadie got a little help from Mommy to blow out the candles on her teddy bear cake. She was pretty mellow... preferring to cuddle Mom or Dad rather than chase her friends. But she did like her cake - pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting. Yum!

She loved the refurbished antique doll bed from Nana. It's adorable, and was the perfect present. Twice today, she has tucked baby Faith in bed and sang, "Jesus Loves Me" to her sleepy doll. Now, we have four "daughters" to tuck in their cozy beds at each nap or bedtime, since Elisa's doll Abby sleeps in the old American Girl doll bed I saved up for as a girl living in this same house! She also made a grand production of tucking Grandma and Grandpa's stiff and shiny $2 bill in her piggy bank, and wearing the new fuzzy clothes from Uncle Adam and Aunt Kristen.


Blowing out the candles!

"See cake again, Mama. See cake," was the afternoon refrain.

Plates of pizza and lots of little girls. Believe it or not, nine girls and one lone and brave little man.

This is actually from today, but I am not good at rearranging the pictures I upload. Erik went for a long run in the snow this afternoon, and came back with a frozen beard, and in Sadie's words, "Covered snow, Dad. All-covered snow."

Happy Birthday!

Things we love about our Sadie --

~She is silly.
~She is sweet.
~She is a snuggly girl.
~She can say her ABCs (most of the way through; she tends to skip HIJK and go straight to LMNOP)
~She can sing entire songs unprompted, and dances with actual rhythm.
~She is timid about new experiences, but usually loves them. For instance, walking in the snow!
~When you give her correction, she cocks her head and says, "Oh," or "Sorry," and then (usually) changes her behavior.
~She is sensitive and receptive to instruction. She definitely has a hint of Wachob stubbornness, but the times of outright rebellion to our direction are few.
~She adores her big sister. If Elisa is still napping when she wakes up, she asks repeatedly to go "wake up sissy, please." However, she has also been known to pinch her big sister when big sister is not responding as she would like. We're working on that one.
~She loves "God-books," and will actually leaf through my devotionals and Bible for quite some time with interest.
~She is excited to be a big sister. When I weaned her a few months ago, I told her she had to stop nursing because the baby in my tummy needed the milk. She instantly stopped, and will often reach down my shirt and remind herself, "Mommy's milk, for baby." That might be more info than you wanted, but I think it's darling.
~She is becoming a more adventurous eater. In fact, tonight, she ate a tiny piece of banana pepper off Daddy's salad. Even I won't eat that! Her favorite foods are still waffles, oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, pizza, and peanut butter - on anything.
~She loves her big girl bed, and has made that transition seamlessly.

We celebrate you, little two-year-old!

Random Fall Photos

I promised Emily and Michelle a blog post - these photos are a little old, but hopefully you can appreciate the girls in all their sweet excitement, and also the way fall vacillates so often between snow and sunshine here in the mountains. :)

It has been a busy fall -- Erik has enjoyed many weekends of hunting with his friends, and we were blessed to have another elk to butcher and freeze. I love feeding my family organic, grass-fed, free-range elk! :) I don't necessarily love grinding and chopping the raw meat, but I am so thankful for God's provision of a full freezer.

Elisa and I are loving morning preschool. I think the program is great - it emphasizes learning readiness and education through story, rather than drilling my three-year-old on letters and numbers, which is definitely my preference. She loves listening to chapter books, and making crafts, and doing daily devotions. And Sadie enjoys hopping up to the table and engaging in learning with us. :)

Elisa is also doing Awana. Sadie cannot wait to be a Cubbie. She memorizes all the verses with Ellie, and she can sing, "We are Awana Cubbies, We're happy all day long. We know that Jesus loves us, that's why we sing this song!" She just doesn't have the official blue vest.

I am growing and so is the baby within me. I can't quite wear my maternity clothes yet, which is too bad for my sweet hubby, who has to see me in his comfy sweats most of the time. I think I am finally showing enough for a stranger to notice, but I'm not sure. I'll post a picture soon and you can tell me. :)


Elisa playing in our first snow. We don't have any on the ground right now. She is my little mama, clutching her Abby doll constantly and meeting all her needs for food, comfort and sleep like a veteran mother.

Sadie wouldn't sit in the snow! We'll have to get over that.

Erik on his first hunt of the season. It took about six more weekends before a small bull finally crossed his path.

Playing in the creek in mid-September.

Getting dirty! We are definitely raising outdoor children. :)

A Big Girl

Sadie Pearl - our almost two-year-old - has had a very exciting week! Early last week, we began the adventure of potty-training. I pulled out a package of pretty panties and said, "Sadie wears undies now! Sadie is a big girl. She goes potty in the potty!" We put away the diapers and made a fast transition. The first day was rough, as it seemed she couldn't quite relax on the potty chair, but by Tuesday evening, she was getting the hang of it. She has not had an accident since Friday, and has been going independently for the last two days, meaning she tells Mommy when it is time, rather than Mommy issuing reminders to stay dry every few minutes. I am so proud of her! We still are using our Bum Genius diapers at naps and bedtime, but she is very pleased with her panties, and Mommy is pleased too. So is big sister Elisa, who loved sharing in the prize M and Ms Sadie was earning during the process.

As part of being a big girl, Sadie decided she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed. I wasn't quite ready to make that transition, as Sadie is the easiest child to put down for bed. Literally, she falls asleep within 2 or 3 minutes every time. I wasn't sure how moving to a big girl bed would affect that. But - we decided to grant her wish, and on Sunday, our neighbors gave us a twin bed they had in storage. So we now have a potty-trained princess who no longer sleeps in a crib. Yeah, Sadie!





I love the girls' room. It is an absolute hodge-podge of hand-me-down furniture, and I think it's adorable. And I love the fact that the girls use the comforters Michelle and I had growing up, and that the only item we've purchased for their room is the bookshelf - which I bought for 20$ in college and painted last week with leftover paint from covering my kitchen chairs this summer. Oh, and the toddler rail on Sadie's bed. They love their room, too.




Sadie pulls up her pants by herself after going potty. She can't quite get the pants over her cute little bottom, though. :)

Catching Up

My friend Monica sent me a message the other day, reminding me I had not updated our family blog for over a month. It has been a full month! The girls and I were blessed to visit Washington for five days and spend time with my sister, my mama, little Ephraim, and my dear friend Ashley -- all on our way to spend a week in Alaska with Erik's parents. Erik joined us in Anchorage, and we had a wonderful, sunny week with Grandma and Grandpa Wachob. We camped for two nights on the bay in Seward. Erik and I saw porpoises from our sea kayak. So beautiful! The girls loved being with their grandparents, and adapted amazingly well to time and schedule changes.

We arrived at our house only minutes before our friends Erin and Karl pulled in from Colorado. They spent three nights with us before driving to Oregon and Washington for their own fall vacation. We were so thankful they included a stop at our house on their road trip itinerary. :)

Then, last weekend, Erik's brother and sister-in-law flew in from North Carolina. Kristen had planned a surprise trip to reunite the brothers. Due to a missed flight, they ended up hitchhiking from the airport, then stealing my hubby's car from the parking lot of the hospital and surprising him by pulling up in front of our OB/GYN office in his hijacked Land Cruiser. I had an ultrasound scheduled that morning, and they were about 14 hours later than planned. The surprise went off with different timing than Kristen and I had planned, but it was awesome! The boys hunted elk in 12-degree weather, and all of us enjoyed the adventure of wood-cutting and hot springs soaking with friends.


Okay, so we have a very basic scanner, and I realize these photos are terrible. But, meet our baby! We had not gone to the doctor yet, so this visit at 19 weeks was the first time we had heard the baby's heartbeat or seen him/her. Erik and I have been holding this precious life so lightly in our hearts as we realize it is a gift regardless of whether he or she is ours to keep. With my heart in that mode of both tender thankfulness and also recognition of life's fragility -- I was almost shocked to discover that our baby is beautiful and healthy and well. Praise God!

As we are parents of two girls, you can imagine the response of those whom we share our happy news with. "I bet you are hoping for a boy this time!" A friend in our Bible Study even went so far as to pray out loud that God would give us a boy. As I have taken in those (well-meant) comments, I have worried that Erik would feel similarly - that he would also have the mindset that our family "needs" a boy. But, as we have talked and shared our hearts, I have discovered that my amazing husband does not feel that way at all! Both of us will be thrilled regardless of who this child is. We are overwhelming thankful that the baby is growing well and seems healthy. Whay a joy! God is good. So, we decided together to let God keep His secrets and wait until the birth to find out the gender of our little bundle. And for those of you beloved friends and family who have been praying for a boy - you can stop! God's already made that decision, and we are thankful that He is the one who gets to! :)

I thought about posting a belly picture, but I don't show very much yet to the naked eye. Or perhaps, I show to the naked eye, but not the fully clothed one. :)

We are loving fall and the crisp air -- the way it can be frosty and frigid at dawn and then warm up to the 50s. Our favorite time of year!

Butterflies

Elisa and Sadie love butterflies. In fact, they think butterflies are absolutely exquisite. They love wearing the butterfly wings they got at a friend's recent birthday gathering. They love watching butterflies in the garden. They love reading stories about butterflies. And they love, love, love clothes bedecked in butterflies.

Yesterday, I found a box from Nana in the mail. Inside was an outfit for each girl. Elisa's pink shirt was smocked with, you guessed it, tiny butterflies! Sadie's, however, was striped, with an embroidered apple on the pocket. Elisa looked at the bounty and frowned. "Mommy, Sadie will be so, so sad, because mine has a butterfly and hers doesn't. Sadie, are you sad? It's okay. Even if it doesn't have a butterfly, you still just smile and say, "Thanks for the shirt, Nana.""

I love hearing the little lessons we teach Elisa come out when she is "mothering" her little sister. "Sadie," she said the other day, "When Mommy tells you to do something, you just say, 'Okay.' You don't argue." Or, "Sadie, you don't get to have dessert unless you eat all your dinner. You should eat your dinner, like me."

My little caterpillar is morphing into a very grown up, and exquisite, butterfly. :)