Curtains Complete!

My mom helped me finish sewing the baby room curtains last weekend.

(She graciously sewed the hard parts.) :)

We were so excited to finish them!

The fabric is so wild. I am a big fan of it.

Thanks Mom!

Holiday Weekend in the Kitchen

Even though these photos were taken in the thick of things,

Bert did get a lot done in the kitchen over the long weekend!

-Existing cabinet shortened (for counter top overhang space)

-Under-cabinet fluorescent lighting installed and wired

-Wiring prepped for new outlets

-Wide utensil drawer installed and filled with stuff :)

-New faucet installed (since we woke up to a leak on Sunday)

Here are some "after" pictures:

I was busy too, but working on recovering an old chair and getting the Christmas stuff out.

Now if only we could get to a decision on counter tops and flooring!

thoughts on media

I am always up for a good conversation about how life is impacted by our media habits. (I was a Media Communication major after all.) And this article was a good read for me.

It's written by Beth Moore's daughter, Amanda, and posted on someone else's blog.

My biggest warning sign that I am drifting from sincere love for God is tolerating bad stuff of TV or wasting time watching TV. I went through a recent phase of this conviction starting last weekend and thankfully was able to confess to Bert and turn from it. There is such sweet freedom in forgiveness! And a fresh start.

bits of progress

And today Bert will be working on the super big utensil drawer (see space in first picture)!

I will be working on starting to figure out how to cover that glider...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have MUCH to be thankful for - because of Jesus!

Peace with God! Hope for eternity!

And many earthly blessings like family, food, and papaya-sized babies in the womb. :)

...God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

inherited artwork

I am so excited to inherit these original paintings, by my Grandma Yia Yia (mom's mom), for our household walls.

I have grown up loving her paintings, on display at their house in Torrance, CA and some in my parent's house in Savage, MN. Many others were in California storage - but not anymore! (Thanks to my parents' recent road trip!)

I especially love this one. I think it will live in our green-walled basement.

Last Year At This Time

It's fun to remember the blessings and joys of last year!

We loved our time with the Wassinks.

And we learned so much from their example of being great parents to this little one.

Wiped Out Oakley

Last week I got to watch my nephews for a few hours during the day. Much to their delight, I agreed to bring Oakley. We had a great time playing at the park and library, but when we came back to the house, Oakley was the main event.

She was very loved and chased around with her toy tied to the end of a stick from the yard. She loved it! However, when she got home, she was pretty wiped out. She was in rare cuddly form. J

A favorite quote from the day with the boys was when we were driving to the library and Miles told me “I ate a leaf to see if it would make me super fly.” I asked, “Did it work?”

He said, “No.” Then Jonah piped in, “That’s because he didn’t swallow it. It would work if he swallowed it.”

After a minute of confusion on my part I realized this is because the boys love to play Super Mario Brothers, and Mario needs the feather (‘leaf’) to gain flying powers. I wonder if he will try again and swallow the leaf next time…?

Miles also told me, “Oakley is a good cat. And Oakley is a really good name for her.” And Jonah, in his big first-grader way, told me that he “really enjoys spending time with her.” Love those boys!

first few sticks for the nest

We have begun to prepare the nest for Baby Eikum!

I spent time last Saturday clearing out the baby room. It was packed with chairs, tools, removed dining room art, worship music, and more. Now it only contains baby-related items and therefore is much more empty. :)

Here is an update on the room, so far:

• With Mom's help, I found a 6x9 rug I liked at Menards for $32.
• Mom and I have started the curtains, which are the splurge item for the room. The fabric is from Calico Corners and we have sewed 1 of the 2 panels. So fun!
• Beth and Bert moved my childhood dresser up from the basement. That will be decked out with a changing pad and be the 'changing table.'
• My collection of kid books is arranged on my childhood bookshelf!
• Baby's first toy is hanging out in the room already - a cuddly giraffe from Yia Yia (my mom).

We also bought a glider with ottoman from craigslist for $35. I like it in the living room upstairs and it will probably be there for a while (although I thought I was getting it for the baby room). I think we will just get a regular rocker for the baby room. I hope to cover it to freshen it up.

baby steps!

No, this is not about the baby. The title refers to kitchen progress!!!

Bert and our friend Eric worked on building cabinets last Saturday. They built both frames for our new cabinet structures, and Bert has been busy priming and painting since then. He's also built two of the pull outs that will slide out of the oven-side cabinet.

Today my dad helped move them in the house and it looks pretty exciting as the new kitchen begins to take shape.

Check out that glamorous old flooring that was unearthed when Bert removed the old cabinets!

I am thrilled to have an accessible counter top next to the stove! How convenient!

Coming along...

The next step will be building and attaching the pull-outs and drawers for these lovely new structures.

Fall Tradition

It’s a pretty well-known fact that I have a great mom. I just wanted to document a favorite of her traditions with us kids. She always buys us a caramel apple before Halloween, along with little pumpkins. This year, she got a little pumpkin for me, Bert, and the baby.

I can't tell for sure, but I think she might be excited to be a Yia Yia.

The "After"

You may remember back in July I posted pictures of Bert ripping out our shower enclosure. You may not remember, because that was a long time ago. Here are some final and finished bathroom photos to complete the set. Bert finished tiling and grouting late August and we had the tub resurfaced in September (by Bath Care, they were great!). At last, we call it complete.

I think Bert did a beautiful job tiling!

We went with large white porcelain subway-like tiles with small marble tiles to accent.

The corner shelves give lots of room for soap, shaving, and eventually baby stuff.

All in all, the project took from March (after Wassinks moved out) through September. We think that's not so bad considering the changes made in the yard this summer, and our general dislike to do house projects during the beautiful months of summer.

Let's close with a more artistic angle. We still love that floor tile!

Baby Eikum's First Photos!

We had our first ultrasound this week! It was amazing to get a sneak peek of what God has been putting together inside of me. Here are the pictures we got to bring home:

The process of the ultrasound was really wonderful. We got to see the baby which was awesome. And then we got to watch the ultrasound tech hunt down lots of important body parts, including the brain, kidneys, legs, arms, feet, and all four ventricles of the heart (that was cool - she zoomed in and slowed down the picture until we could fully see four little sections of our baby's heart). I was really in awe to see the intricate details of this new life.

The tech commented that the baby has a great angle to its ankle, which was funny to me. And Bert loved watching the legs kick and thought it was amazing that I couldn't feel it while we watched. We joked that the baby has restless legs already, just like him.

Some other interesting details we learned were:

-my placenta is on top, which is why it's a little less easy to feel the baby moving all the time (Jenn, your prediction was right!)

-the baby was sitting breach (butt down) really low, so she couldn't have told us the gender if we wanted to know in that position

-the baby is not 20 weeks yet, only 18, according to its size. So we get to have another ultrasound in 4 weeks where they can check the things they couldn't get this time like spine growth and a face close-up. (You can guess I'm excited to see that next time!) I think they need the face shot to show the upper lip/nose area in more detail.

-consequently, they pushed back our due date to April. I think it's the 5th.

Then we spent some time talking with our doctor, who graciously fielded many questions about birth. I've been learning more about the process and endless options for a birth plan. There are a lot of different opinions out there, and it was helpful to hear her wisdom as we start sorting through our own preferences.