A Few Firsts

Rebecca is growing and changing every day. Yesterday she had a few firsts of many I'm sure. After getting her all dressed for church, I fed her and put her in her car seat ready to go. A minute later she made a funny noise and when I checked on her she had majorly spit up everywhere - her first time really spitting up. She was soaked through and so was the car seat. Dan and I made it a team effort to get her changed and the car seat cleaned up. This is a great example of why families with young children are often late to church!

The other first happened last night. As some of you may know, newborns fill their diapers often, but they are usually pretty small amounts and not to messy. Last night I picked Rebecca up and she had leaked through her diaper for the first time and her back was soaked. I'm going to blame this one on the diaper though. I've been trying different diaper brands in order to find good quality at a decent price. This brand is cheap, but feels like cardboard and obviously can't handle leaks very well.

Here are some more pictures just for fun :)

This last picture is in Rebecca's room right over her crib. I got wooden letters to spell her name and decorated the letters with fabric. Pretty nice uh?

In other news, Dan and I got a new digital camera to take even better pictures of Rebecca, but this morning while trying to install the software onto our computer I realized our computer has too old of an operating system for our nifty new camera. I guess a new computer is next on the list to upgrade :)

Birth Announcement

For the past few days I've been working on Rebecca's birth announcement. It took me at least 30 tries to get that photo of her. And the picture of her feet was also not that easy to get - she likes to curl her toes. Anyway, I played around with Photo Draw and came up with this. I'm pretty impressed with how professional it looks (if I may brag a little :). I will send out copies in the mail, but I just couldn't resist showing it off first.

The Bouncy Seat

A friend of mine picked up this vibrating bouncy seat at a garage sale for me this past summer. What a $5 well spent! (Thanks Beth!) Rebecca spends most of her morning and afternoon naps in it. It has made for some great photo opportunities.

This is the first and only time I've ever caught Rebecca with her thumb in her mouth. Most of the time she tries to stick her whole fist in there with little success.

A few days ago I was working in the kitchen and could hear Rebecca fussing and grunting, but didn't want to leave what I was doing. She quieted down quickly and when I checked on her I found this. I guess she was able to find a comfortable position on her own. Resting peacefully. She almost always had her tongue out while sleeping.

Every now and then she enjoys her Soothie. She is even pretty good and holding in it her month.

Just a side note. Today, September 10, was my official due date for Rebecca, but we can't even imagine the last 11 days without her!

More of Rebecca

For those of you who would like to know, here is a short version of Rebecca's birth story. I really had an uneventful pregnancy and was hoping for an "easy" birth also, but at my 38 week appointment we found out that Rebecca had flipped and was now breech. In talking with our doctors we decided to try an external version where the doctor manually turns to baby by pushing on it from the outside. It was an uncomfortable procedure, but successful. This was on Tues. August 28. I did have some bleeding and the doctors decided I had best stay over night to make sure that the bleeding stopped and my water didn't break. The next day we finally got checked out of the hospital around 4pm. The doctors did not want me to go back to work so we thought we would just wait until our little one decided she was ready. But at 6am the next morning the doctor called and said he had double checked some of my labs and thought is was necessary for me to come back in. We returned to the hospital and I was induced at 9:30 am. Mentally and physically we got ourselves ready to have this baby. I labored until 1am on Friday and was still stuck at 5 cm dilated. The doctors thought it would be safest for the baby to do a C-section. So at 2:16am Rebecca Grace was born.

Here is Dan cutting the cord.

Rebecca weighed in at 7 pounds and 11.8 ounces.

Our first family photo.

Rebecca's first bath.

Although she did have a rough start to life and was bruised up, you'ld never know it by this picture - she's a sleeping beauty.

Rebecca Grace

Rebecca Grace was born on August 31 at 2:16 am.

7 lbs. 12 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long

She had quite the week leading up to her birth and has the war wounds to prove it. But she is a fighter and is a healthy and happy baby. Her bruises are going away nicely.

We are all at home now and settling into life as a family and we know who is in charge too!

Progress

We finally have a baby room somewhat together!! We still have 3 weeks to go, but I am ready to have this baby any day now. Dan and I went shopping for baby furniture on our 3 year wedding anniversary and found a beautiful crib and dresser at Baby Depot. Two weeks ago my mom came to visit for 3 days and sewed a gorgeous quilt, curtains, and dust ruffle. She even made some mattress pads and sheets for the crib and cradle. We got a lot done in a short amount of time. There are still plenty of finishing touches to do in the room, but it's stocked with diapers, wipes, and clothing. The "extra" stuff can wait for a while.

Did I mention that mom and I made this quilt up from scratch? Here was the process. We picked out wooden animals at Micheal's to use as pattern pieces. We blew them up on the copy machine and mapped out the quilt on grid paper.

Then we picked out fun and tectured material to make each animal look like the wooden one.

Then mom amazingly sewed it all together into a beautiful quilt!

Here are all the finished projects together in the baby room.This final picture is me at 37 weeks. Like I said I'm ready to have this baby in our arms!

Thoughts for Aug. 17, 2007

Does God owe us anything?
Does God owe us a job? Does God owe us a higher pay scale if we are working hard but only making $15,000 or working hard and making $65,000? Does God owe us a promotion over other employees who are less qualified than us or who work less hard?
Does God owe us safety driving over bridges or skiing on a lake or driving a golf cart recklessly?
Does God owe us answers to our prayers? If we really know our future plans would be perfect does God owe us then? Does God owe us our hearts desire for our dream career?
Does God owe us our dream house with everything in it we will ever need to raise our kids perfectly? Does God owe us children? Healthy children? Able-bodied children? Obiedient children?
Does God owe us a spouse who loves us and helps us with everything we need or want?
Does God owe us loving parents who give us good gifts and help when we need it or love when we need it or financial support to help us?

NO

This topic has been on my mind the last many days. It seems I have had different things pulling me in my life and in many different directions. And maybe as life changes and we seem out of control I realize more fully who is in control. God is in control and I fully trust Him with my life. I fear Him and know everything is working out His master plan.

But aren't we in control? As long as we continue to go to work I will always have a job and a paycheck and money to pay the bills and buy clothes and have fun and live life and be happy.

NO

Our hardest work is but rubbish if done for our gain. Our work should be for God's glory. Our children, our jobs, our talents, our gifts, our wages, our love; they should be for God. All of the things we have in our life are truly His first and we don't deserve any of it. I look down and see my heart pumping through my chest. Can I keep it going? What a wonder! My heart is pumping and Lord-willing will continue for many years to come. It just keeps on going, working very hard, doing the intent of it's creator. I realize very quickly I am powerless. Then in the next minute I think an evil thought about someone and deserve to be struck down. My sins constantly are piling up under the weight of God's wrath and nothing I do can remove them.
But scripture says:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him. Psalm 103:8-13.

We should praise His name for the many blessings we have, for saving us from the pit, for giving us new life, for allowing us another day on this earth, for giving us eyes to see, yes eyes. Can you imagine getting up this morning and not having eyes for a day. What an eternity before that day would be over and our life could move on! What an inconvenience! But when was the last time we thanked God for those bodily things that sustain us.