My Best Friend's Baby

Joanna, who has been my friend since our infancy, had her baby this afternoon. Hannah Lynn is their first baby, and everything went perfectly.

Not only am I completely ecstatic for them, so thankful that everything went so well and that she's perfect and here, I'm encouraged. After spending so much time worrying about my changed due date and what that could mean, and then hearing all the stories of people who had C-sections, and how that was preferable to dying (which I totally agree), and after what I went through with Jasmine, I was honestly starting to wonder if 30% was actually a low estimate of C-sections, and if there were any women who went in hoping to go natural, who succeeded. (I know, it's my pregnancy emotions talking here...I'm really not that insane, but it was starting to feel like that was the case).
Joanna has given me hope again. She didn't take anything for the contractions. She sounded fantastic. Sounded happy and strong.

That's what I want. Yes, it's true, more than anything else I want a healthy baby and a healthy mom. But I can hope for higher, can't I? I mean, I could spend my life hoping for the bare minimum, or I can actually pray and hope for higher things than that. I could hope that Jasmine and "Placido" don't ever experiment with drugs or get pregnant as teenagers, and think that's as much as I can hope for. Or I can actually hope that they will choose to walk with the Lord from a young age, and that they will learn how to hear His voice and follow Him. (this is taken right from Josh's mom's lips, it's not my own brilliance). Sure, at the very least I hope for survival for all, but I'm encouraged that it's okay to strive for more than that.

If God has it planned that I should need a C-section or other interventions of some kind (even as little as getting induced) I will trust that He'll get my heart ready for that. But I am praying and believing that I don't have to give up my dream for a drug- and intervention-free birth, just because this baby's born in the hospital.

I should probably re-read this in the morning...so if it sounds like I'm repeating everything I said a couple weeks ago, don't get angry at me. I hope it came out the way I intended, that I'm relaxing about the future but at the same time not giving up on hope. Hope is a beautiful thing, and it's exciting to feel it again.

So thank you, Joanna and Hannah. You have given me hope again.

I've been Tagged!

Angela (go Yankees!) tagged me!


Write 5 weird things about you or your pets. Tag 5 people.

Coming up with 5 things that most people don't know....hmm.

1. I love cheese, but the crust is my favorite part of the pizza (no sauce!)

2. I am loyal to a fault. I will not shop at Tops, a "competing" supermarket, because we are a Wegmans family (7 of us work(ed) there, and they gave a scholarship to me).

3. I love languages, and I loved spelling tests in school, but hated English class.

4. I would rather get somewhere early and relax then, than to wait until the last minute to leave.

5. If I say something I mean it. I won't offer Josh my chocolate unless I'm expecting him to take it, and want him to.

And I tag:

Tamra
Sarah
Karen
Rachel
Kimberlee (don't have addresses for you)

Overjoyed!

I started making "Overjoyed" based on a song by Jars of Clay. But the title is so appropriate for how I feel right now.



You can see it (and buy it!!) here: digidreamer

Jasmine's new word

She kept saying this as she handed me the foods she didn't want :)




(she's eating egg, yogurt, apples, and a couple other things:

Layouts

Here are a couple layouts I did on Saturday (or Friday? I don't remember now)

Credits: Jan Crowley's Little Black Dress
Fonts: Carbon Type

Credits: sketch by Kimberly Geswein; 'Color Me Happy' kit by Tamra Burwick (both at digiscrapshak.com)
Fonts: uncletypewriter

Exciting things in the works!!

Liddy's Loft, where I was on the Creative Team, has decided to merge with Digi*Dreamer. There will be very exciting things happening next weekend...fun grand opening stuff. In the meantime, they're upgrading the forums, and thankfully that's settling in and getting more organized for the poor women working behind the scenes!

And I will have a bigger role there. A much bigger role :) I'm going to be a designer there!!!! I got a reply this morning from Holley, the owner of LL and now co-owner of DD. I'll give a link as soon as I have something in the store...I'm so excited!!!!!

A Tag and a Teaser

I have exciting news, but I'm not sure I can/should say anything quite yet. But I should be able to say something very soon :D

Sinead tagged me :)

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saens (Jasmine's been enjoying a Baby Genius CD with that music, so it's been in my head. Fun music!!) Why is the clarinet always the Cuckoo bird? Is it trying to tell me something?? (Beethoven did the same in his 6th symphony)

This is hard with "Sumo of the Opera" (Veggie Tales) on. Ummm,

2. Jeremy Camp's "Take My Life"

3. Todd Agnew's "It Is Well"

4. "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (Jasmine's favorite song, and one we sing a lot since we're watching so much baseball right now)

5. Madonna's "Material Girl" (one of the funniest things is seeing Jacob and Justin, 10 and almost 7, singing "and I am a material girl" to their Karaoke game!!!)

6. Newsboys' "It is you"

7. Carman's "The Champion." Been feeling like reminiscing lately :)

So I tag:

1. GG :)
2. Karen
3. Sarah
4. Bev
5. Jenn
6. Josh (you can tell me your list at lunch ;) )
7. I don't know if anyone else reads my blog!!!

Belly--4 months

Here is a recent picture (Sunday). I think I'm showing now :D

New Scrapping "Ammo"

I think I'll have some fun pages coming :)

Video :)

I have a new Jasmine video for all to enjoy. Give the girl her Jenny doll and a tunnel, and she's like a cat in a paper bag :)



In scrapping news, I'm considering being a part of ScrapArtist's Apprentice contest for designers. I feel way out of my league, but at the same time think this might be just what I need to to push me to the next level. And who knows...maybe down the road I'll start selling my kits :)

Wine, Cheese and Chocolate Kit

I've been working off and on with this kit for a few weeks now, and decided it was time to finish and share it. I think I'm really excited about it...quite a bit different from what I normally make, but since this is only my 5th (I think) kit, that can still change while I find my groove.

I'd love to hear comments...positive or negative. I'm not sure that the colors on this computer are 100% accurate, so I really should have DH print out at least the preview, but please tell me if you think I should play with the colors more. Do you think it would be easy to work with the alphas like that, or is there a better way? :)

Get it here.

Meet Placido!

Here's our baby :)




"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well"(Psalm 139:14)

Ultrasound Report

Pictures tomorrow...I forgot that we don't have a scanner at home!

The baby is perfect. Everything is perfect. Measuring a few days smaller than their adjusted due date, but not enough that they'd officially change it. Hopefully enough that they'll give me a bit more time if the baby isn't born by 2/7 (the due date they've given me).

We likely could have found out if it's a boy or a girl, but s/he didn't make it obvious and we didn't want to know. So we will continue to guess and wonder, and be surprised in a few months :)

Ultrasound soon!!

Today's the day!!!

It's not until 5, though, so no need to keep checking here before then. (I'm sure I have tons of people reading my blog hourly for reports, right?) (right)

I changed the color because one of my readers pointed out that gray isn't really a very "me" color. The funny thing is, I chose that color to go with the header, which I then changed :) So now it's blue...and since that is my very favorite color, hopefully everyone else will like it too :)

We had a beautiful anniversary. Nothing too exciting or memorable, but there's nothing wrong with that. It was just wonderful getting the time together. We went to Red Lobster for dinner (sans Kewpie) and then picked her up, brought her home and watched our wedding video. I can't believe how much my little brothers and sisters have changed! Jasmine seemed to enjoy it too :) We watched a few minutes of baseball, but it was late and they were losing so Josh went to bed, and Jasmine and I joined him a few minutes later (after Jeter struck out and the game was over).

Today's the first day of school in this area. Justin, my youngest brother, starts first grade today, after being homeschooled for kindergarten. Mom's really struggling, and I understand, now that I have one of my own. I never understood the people who couldn't wait for their kids to go back...the house is so quiet when they're gone. And for someone who loves quiet, it still is a bad thing.
So today I am even more pleased that I'm never going to have to deal with "first day of school blues"...because Jasmine and I are going to celebrate that first day together! I can't wait to buy her school supplies and officially teach her...I'm sure it will be work and not just all "first day" excitement, but I'm really pleased that I will be the one teaching her, giving her the kind of education that my brilliant, well-rounded, socially-advanced homeschooled husband has!!

Like the new look?

I decided it was time for a change.

At some point I'll fix my header so it's as big as the frame that surrounds it, but I think I need to focus on something else for now :)

Three Years Ago Today

Wanna hear about our wedding?? :)

We chose our wedding date because we knew we wanted it to be "soon," so we were looking at September or October. We chose the weekend of the 5th/6th when we decided to go to NY to see the Yankees play...that weekend Boston was in town. So we planned on the 6th, but the pastor couldn't do that day, so we moved it up to the 5th, in the evening (Friday night).

We got married at my parents' church...a small, sweet church. Nothing too fancy about the building, but since my church met in a school auditorium and Josh's was in Buffalo, we chose Calvary Assembly.

We didn't want a big party. My sister Katie was my maid of honor (it had been a longstanding joke that the first one to get married would have the other as her maid of honor, and the second wouldn't have the first as a matron of honor. Sure enough, she asked her best friend Carly to be maid of honor, and I was a bridesmaid!) Brad, Josh's cousin, was the best man, and Justin, my youngest brother, who was 3 1/2 at the time, was the ring bearer. My sisters were too old to be flower girls :)

I had planned on a blue dress for Katie, since we wanted the wedding to be blue and white, but they had a beautiful wine dress that looked stunning on her, so we added wine to the colors of our wedding.

I picked out my dress the day Josh picked out my ring. I borrowed mom's diamond so I looked like I really was engaged, though I'm sure David's Bridal didn't care...they were still getting my money!

I got the third dress I tried on...it was perfect. Not too fancy, but beautiful. It's ivory (so I didn't look too washed out) without a train...pretty beadwork on the top and partially off-the-shoulder sleeves. The headpiece was exactly what I always wanted (I didn't have my dress picked out, but I had chosen my veil): a wreath with a veil down the back. It cost almost as much as the dress but it was worth every penny.

We had dear family friends do our pictures. They did Katie's, Daniel's and our weddings, and did a fabulous job. They have a huge family too, so weren't at all intimidated by the family size in the family portraits. Beautiful, beautiful pictures. We had someone from my church do the videotaping, and they did a great job but it took months before we got the tapes.

After the wedding, we intended for people to go downstairs for cookies, but at the last minute Josh's mom suggested we should have some non-sweet munchies too, since people might not have had time to eat on the way. Josh's cousin, a caterer, took care of that, and made fabulous hors d'oeuvres.

The ceremony was short and sweet. My friend Joanna (who's been my friend since birth) played piano for us. I walked down the aisle to "Joyful, Joyful." Perfect words, I love Beethoven...and it was what my mom walked down the aisle to as well.

We had two pastors doing the service. The pastor of the church I was going to until we got married did the vows, and the missions director of my former church did the sermon and communion.

During the rehearsal, the pastor mentioned not letting the rings drop: "They roll!" Josh almost forgot, and nearly dropped my ring, but caught it in the nick of time (which he is always doing...he almost never lets anything fall. He really should play baseball) Everyone laughed, and that is the moment everyone remembers from our day.

The pastor thought it might be helpful to put a red sticker on the floor for Justin, so he would know where to stand when he got to the front of the church. Justin took his job quite seriously, and stood with both feet on that little red dot. When Katie tried to turn him so he could watch the ceremony, he had to do it so that his feet didn't get off the sticker. I couldn't have asked for a better-behaved ring-bearer.

When we took communion, Daniel, my brother, played "The Wedding Song" (I know, but the words really are amazing. There's a reason it's played all the time. I love the symbolism of the Marriage Feast to come!) We used a communion plate and cup that was my dad's from early in their marriage, that he had recently given to Evan, I think. Simple and beautiful.

After the wedding was the receiving line, meeting all of Josh's extended family and the friends that hadn't come to the shower, introducing him to my side. We had just over 100 people there, which was perfect. No more could have fit in the church!

Then we cut the cake, and had a hilarious moment when Justin stepped forward, just as we were ready to feed each other, and asked for a piece. Everyone cracked up. He got some as soon as we fed each other (nicely).

Brad gave a toast, which everyone enjoyed (the photographers enjoyed it more than anyone). Very fun and sweet.

And then we left. I had Katie help me take off my veil and the thousands of bobby pins holding it up...I couldn't have done it by myself, and Josh wouldn't have been comfortable with that. We stayed dressed up, and went to the hotel.

One more funny story: we were at the hotel parking lot, and Josh accidentally locked the keys in the car, but thankfully the trunk was open. So he climbed through the trunk to get into the car. Someone pulled up and told me there were better ways to spend our wedding night :)

Oh, and the kids all decorated our car. We didn't have time to get it clean before we left for NYC, so we didn't...and it sat in my brother's apartment parking lot for a week. So the chalk kinda cooked on. It took some serious washing to get it all off when we got home!

You can see pictures, as well as the story of how we met, here.

Ultrasound next week!

Next week is a busy week. Monday is Labor Day, Tuesday's our anniversary (3 years!) and Wednesday is the 'big' ultrasound.

The big question everyone asks: will we find out what we're having.

The answer: NOPE!!

Well, hopefully I won't be silly and cave in like I did with Jasmine (it didn't matter, she was discrete and wouldn't let us find out anyways). But since I know how wonderful it was to wait until the day she was born, I don't think it will be as big a temptation this time.

Jasmine's birth was such a wild experience, but the eye of the storm, the moment of peace in all that preceded and immediately followed her birth, was when Josh told me we had a little girl.

Sure, it would have given us more peace about the fact that we never did have a boy's name chosen. We could have gotten her lots of pink things (because, as you know if you've seen pictures of her over the last 15 months, she certainly doesn't have enough PINK!). We could have referred to her as "Jasmine" the second half of the pregnancy.

But the "unknown" was so much fun. It was great having people guess what I was having (many guessed girl until they saw how low and in-front I carried, and then they started saying boy). And it was fun calling the baby "Jethro."

And this time, I think it works well that we call the baby "Placido." Jasmine will likely associate Placido with my belly, and then ______ as the baby, and not wonder what happened to ______ the belly-that-got-in-my-way :D

I can certainly understand everyone who chooses to find out. Even though I love leaving it a surprise, the fact that i could possibly find out on Wednesday is a pretty exciting feeling. But I won't let go of the memory of Josh telling me that we had a daughter, and I'm looking forward to letting him tell me again this time :)