29 years and counting

I'm laying on the bed in Mark's room at his parent's house in Whidbey Island. I'm on my stomach, which is still fun because for 8 months or so, I couldn't. I just finished watching Julie & Julia while rocking a fussy baby to sleep. Today included an early gift from my wonderful husband of getting up with Millie as needed last night so I could sleep. SO wonderful!! Also only the 2nd outing with my little family to a local Bistro where we enjoyed a casual lunch and jumped our first "feeding in public" hurdle with Millie. Tons of wonderful well wishes from friends and family. And of course a fantastic dinner and cake from Mark's family, as well as some wonderful gifts! All in all, a very fun birthday.

Today I couldn't help thinking back on last year's birthday. I have a terrible memory but remember clearly some moments from last December 30th. We were staying at my brother's place in Montana enjoying a lazy New Year's which included movies, video games, (for me) reading the Twilight series, sleeping in late and lots of food. For my birthday my brother made breakfast burritos and we later celebrated that night with dinner and gifts at my parent's house. But that afternoon I remember thinking how I was a little sad because the one thing I truly wanted, I didn't get... a baby. Okay, it sounds cheesy as I write it, but it's really true. By that point we had been trying for 5 months and nothing was happening and I was SO bummed and beginning to wonder if something was wrong and if it would ever happen but desperately trying to trust God.

So this year even though there wasn't an extravagant party or something "big", I found myself constantly being thankful that this year we are also celebrating the birth of our little Millie, who is now 1 month old!! I'm thankful that God had a plan for our family to include her and that it didn't take more time and effort than it did (because if you think about it, then we wouldn't have had Millie, it would have been a different baby and I wouldn't trade this one for the world!!)

It's funny how life just hasn't turned out nearly like what I imagined. It contains many of the pieces I had hoped for but not at all in the timing I would have wanted them. But it's true (and I need to remember this later) that it really is "better" this way. God's design and timing for our lives, no matter how much I doubt it, truly is better. Of course, I can say that easily now because I have everything I want... a wonderful handsome husband, a beautiful baby girl, a cute little condo, vehicles that get us where we need to go, just enough money to live on, and loving families that are eager to love on and meet our new daughter.

Now I'm off to get ready for bed and squeeze in an hour or so of sleep before the little one wakes up again. Maybe I'll get lucky and this will be a 3-4 hour sleeping time instead of just a 2 hour. And if I'm REALLY lucky, she'll go right back to sleep after she eats next and stay asleep, even after I lay her down in her bassinet.

And if there is any part of this that doesn't make sense, words left out, or the wrong word anywhere, it's because I'm so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open!!

Happy 29th year to me and I'm looking forward to seeing what I'll be reflecting back on when I celebrate my 30th!!

Christmas in Whidbey with the Peeples

Millie did PERFECT on the drive up to Whidbey. It probably helped that she didn't go to sleep until 4am the night before. But she slept the entire 5 hour drive with one stop to eat. I was shocked and pleased!

Me and Millie on Christmas Eve morning.

Millie after her bath in her Christmas Eve dress.

Family picture

Me and my precious daughter! By the way, her feet don't really fit into those shoes. Her outfit was really cute!! It was mixed/matched from lots of people. I bought the dress but got the tights from my friend Adri, the shoes from Allison McKenney (I'm pretty sure), and the sweater was handmade by Grandma Jean. She pooped through most of those layers by the end of the night, but not until after the service ;)

Daddy and daughter.

Another family pic. Not sure what Millie is doing in this shot, but who knows what she is doing most of the time ;)

Millie's first Christmas morning. She stayed up late the night before so slept through the entire morning. Her stocking is the same size as her ;)

This is her cute little Christmas outfit.

Millie with Grandma Jean.

Troubles with blogging

I have 2 challenges when it comes to blogging... and why I don't get a ton of pictures posted.

1) To save money, we down-graded our Internet a few weeks ago so it's MUCH slower than before. It takes a good 10 minutes to load 6 pictures and even then only 3 of them tend to load anyway. So it's a frustrating experience... after Christmas I might try another Internet option to see if that's better, but switching stuff like that is always quite the process!

2) My computer is old and therefore slow itself. So in addition to the Internet being slow, my computer is slow when it comes to playing with pics. My process for loading pics is reasonable but then I have to import them into a different location to make sure I keep everything together. So it's not simply plugging in the camera and then popping a few online.

Because of these reasons and wanting to spend more of my download time on loading pictures to the site where I can print them from, I've been trying to get facebook mostly current with pics since that gets more traffic than my blog. So if you are on facebook and want to keep up more with pics, please find me on there and check regularly for current pictures of our beautiful daughter and little family.

Little things about little Millie

Millie's 2 week stats: 8lbs 11oz and 22in long, everything perfect!

I thought I'd share a few fun things about Millie and how she spends her days:

- Millie has gotten rather squeaky in the past few days. She squeaks and makes little noises while she sleeps and also while she's awake. It's cute.

- When her dad is home, he changes and dresses her as needed. However, she likes to poo and/or pee while being changed by her daddy... it's cute ;) Except, anyone know how to get mustang colored poo out of a little white sleeper?

- Millie loves her hands. Since she was born she's liked to suck on them, flail them around, and pull them out of the tightest swaddle, so we don't normally wrap them up or cover them.

- Speaking of her hands, when she's eating she either holds her hands or puts them in little fists. That's cute too!

- Millie has gone out with me for several "outings" so far, the Christmas concert at church on Sunday night and out to lunch with Barb after a pediatrician appointment yesterday. Both of which she slept through completely! Which was nice, but didn't give her momma much practice at taking her out. But we have 2 more outings planned this week so we'll see how those go.

- While she sleeps, little Millie has a strange "twitch". It's almost more of a jerking that she does with her limbs and sometimes even her head. It sometimes gets bad enough that it almost wakes her up. We've been assured that it's nothing to worry about but you can't help but feel bad for her when it's happening.

- In the past few days she's also started letting out some little cries in her sleep. Her Dr said it's when she transitions to different "levels" within the REM sleep cycle. It used to be just one little cry and now it's gotten to be 3 or 4. It doesn't wake her up but makes you want to comfort her.

- Also while she sleeps (remember she spends most of her days sleeping right now) her preferred position is with her head slightly back and her little mouth open. During her first week I was feeding her in our bed one night and she had fallen asleep in this position over my left arm and I looked over to my left and saw her daddy in the exact same position... apparently she sleeps just like her dad ;)

- Millie is spending longer and longer periods of awake time on the floor, just kicking and waving her arms. She also likes to stare at some strange things, like the little square Ikea mirrors above our fireplace. I think it's the contrast between the dark wood on the white walls (yes, we still have white walls).

- Speaking of time on the floor, we haven't done much "tummy time" yet because she anything near her face she thinks is something to eat so she roots around the blanket until she makes herself frustrated... so tummy time hasn't been very successful so far.

- While being changed and dressed, Millie rarely cries. Not sure what she likes about the experience but she just lays there and moves her arms and lets and stares at things. She gets a little desperate when completely undressed but otherwise just hangs out while we're dressing and changing her. She'll start to cry if it takes too long though.

- Millie is kind of a social kid so far and does better when she's in the same room with people or being held but not so much when she's all alone. Strangely, she wakes up pretty quickly when she's in a room by herself.

- So far, Millie has a love/hate relationship with her car seat. To be honest, she hasn't spent much time in there. We didn't go anywhere between Monday and Thursday morning last week. She either screams off and on (although I think a couple of those times were because she was hungry and we were trying to make it home) and then there was yesterday... she fell asleep and never made a sound. I'm hoping she's getting more used to it. She'll need to before our 300 mile drive to Whidbey next week for Christmas.

- Millie doesn't actually cry too often. If her momma takes too long to feed her she lets out some frustrated cries or gets upset if it takes too long to change/dress her and the newness of the car, but otherwise she just doesn't cry very often. When she wakes up she spends anywhere from 3-15 minutes making noises and moving around before she wants to let you know she's waited long enough for some attention.

Speaking of which, she's letting me know she's ready for some attention so I have to go. Will post more pictures later. Sometimes a few minutes online is as good as I can manage each day. The slowness of my computer doesn't promote lots of pic posting time!

Life with baby

Millie will be 2 weeks old tomorrow. Time sure has gone by fast!! She is SO cute and likes to eat. I've had 3 days alone with her that went pretty well. We have even gotten into a little routine for 2 of those days. Although I can't imagine trying to care for a newborn with other kids!! I suppose when it's your first time it's all so new...

Mark has done a great job of picking up some extra tasks around the house and we're getting some meals this week, which will be SO helpful!! I can't imagine trying to cook when afternoons seem to be Millie's fussy time. And grocery shop... that seems extremely intimidating to me right now. Next week we have a few things we are going to try and venture out to. Will be nice to get out a little and try my hand at taking her places. She's not too consistent yet though so should be interesting.

Here are more pics of our little Millie.

Millie, asleep, with Daddy. He loves his precious little girl!

We managed to catch a smile while she was sleeping. It's SO cute!! I love her little arm up. She loves moving her hands and arms around and trying to eat her hands.

Millie with Grandma, around 4 days told.

Beautiful baby face!

Floor time. I've tried "tummy time" but she just likes to eat the blanket ;)

1 week old. Jerry, Andrea and family brought us dinner and hung out for a bit.

She likes the bath! Look at that contented face. SO cute!!

Baby is here!!

Millie Elizabeth Peeples

Born Sunday 11/29/09 @ 3:56pm

8lb 7oz and 21in long

Here are some pictures. I left off the one where they put her on me right after her birth. I have a pained and confused look on my face in that one. It doesn't reflect the pure joy and delight I actually felt.

The labor and delivery was scary, short, painful, and weird. Scary in that I wasn't sure what to expect as the process went on and surprised that it was eventually all over with. I had no idea what I was doing and just did what they told me. I LOVED the drugs (don't judge) and made it reasonably far before getting them and am SOOO glad I did!! But also appreciated the experience before I got them.

The entire labor was only 9 hours long, including an hour of pushing. Wonderfully fast!! It didn't feel fast at the time but I'm glad it was what it was. We weren't allowed to have more than 2 visitors in the hospital at one time (originally had been told 2 people total), so in addition to my mom and Mark, my dad and Barb were able to pop in during our short hospital stay. We were admitted at midnight on Sunday morning, had the baby by 4pm, were moved to recovery by 8pm, and left the hospital at 4:30pm on Monday. Since being home we've had an appointment each morning and just today are able to enjoy a day at home.

We're SOOO in love with our little one!! Nights are rough, but somehow I don't really care when I look into that perfect little face!! I'm exceptionally grateful for Jean (Mark's mom) who has come to stay with us for the week. She takes care of everything so all I have to do is feed my child and take care of myself. Although just those 2 things are surprisingly challenging!! Hence the reason it has taken me so long to get this posted.

Without further delay, pictures!!

She sleeps like her dad ;) Don't worry, she didn't actually sleep here, I just set her down for a sec and couldn't help capturing the moment.

Millie's daddy LOVES his daughter!! Especially just holding her while she sleeps. Mark has been GREAT at taking his night time shifts and does almost all her changes and getting her dressed this week. We're bummed he goes back to work tomorrow.

I realized in these pictures that I'm not smiling as big as my heart feels. Not sure why... still recovering?

This has been my day-time location for the past 2 days. Everything I need is on the little table next to the couch, I have pillows, and limit my trips up and down the stairs. It's been quite cozy!

Life in the waiting lane

Instead of the fast lane... get it? Hah! Okay, that was fairly pathetic.

A day in the life of a woman awaiting an induction (not working and it's our first kid):

6:30 get up and go to the gym with mom and Barb

8:00 swing by the store for bread

8:15 come home and help husband get lunch and breakfast and eat breakfast myself

8:45 catch up on emails and blogs online while enjoying a little morning tv

11:00 get dressed and take a nap

12:30 get up and eat lunch, yummy leftover homemade mac & cheese, kill time on the couch and watch part of a movie

2:30 head to Starbucks for time with God and reading a book on how to care for our child when she comes out

4:40 stop by the store for ice cream to go with dessert

5:00 come home and make cheeseball, crochet and visit with mom until dinner

7:30 eat dinner with the family

8:00 a little veg time and crocheting in front of the tv with the fam

This morning we had a Dr appointment (nothing new, still on track for Sunday's induction), I took another nap, ate lunch, more time on the computer, etc. Mostly a repeat of yesterday. Although I am somewhat proud of myself for not just sitting on the couch watching soaps and eating bon bons. After my current time online I plan to breakout the scrapbooking. I'm practically caught up!

Tomorrow I'm enjoying a pedicure with mom and Barb, then dinner with family at Cheesecake Factory before the Thanksgiving Eve RESCUE concert at Sunset. I originally thought I'd have a new baby and wouldn't be up for going to the concert so am excited I can go! (Although a little bummed at the circumstances.) Thursday we're having a low key Thanksgiving day at Barb's with just the 5 of us. Friday is the family excursion downtown for the parade, then hanging out at Barb's. Saturday dad flys out and we head to the hospital right before midnight. Weird to think that in a week from today I'll be home with a new baby!!

Right now I feel pretty good about things. Excited to have a baby and feel like I've had so much drama wrapped up in waiting for her to show that bringing her home almost seems anti-climactic. Not in the "she's not a big deal" way but more in the "having it finally happen may not be as dramatic as it has been so far, more of a relief" kind of way. Mom agreed that feeling like some of the drama is past might help ease the transition. Either way, I'm taking it one day at a time. Having fun with the parents, enjoying lots of downtown at home, taking naps, and relishing the last few days with my husband before the 2 of us become 3. He's really such a wonderful and amazing man. I can't wait to journey with him down this new path. I can't imagine doing such a scary thing with anyone else! I love him like mad crazy and love being around him as much as possible. He makes me smile and laugh ;)

Weekly pregnant pic... yes, I'm still pregnant

40 weeks and 1 days pregnant

I'm a day early on the Monday pregnant pic thing that I've done for the past 2 weeks, but whatever. The point being... I'm STILL pregnant!! I'm pretty sure I didn't think I would make it this far.

The parents are now both in town, which is fun. Poor dad leaves before our scheduled induction on Sunday (1 week from today) so he may have to come back later to meet his grandchild. But we should have fun this week with Thanksgiving and I'm officially on maternity leave, which I love so far!!

I'm starting to attend things I thought I wouldn't be going to. The first one being church this morning. Then the Thanksgiving Eve concert on Wednesday night, the downtown parade with family the day after Thanksgiving... and I think that's about it. I was originally thinking of avoiding all those activities but then adjusted to the idea and although I'll probably face all kinds of comments about, "when is this baby coming?", I'll grin and bear it. I try to refrain from sarcastic responses, a little. Today when someone asked, my response was something like, "wouldn't I like to know". That's not too sarcastic, right? I do find it somewhat amusing when strangers ask when I'm due and I now say "yesterday".

Currently we (my parents, Mark, Barb, and myself) are doing $5 bets on what day we think the baby will arrive. I'm playing it safe with Sunday, the day the Dr scheduled our induction. I would be more than happy to loose the bet, although $25 would be nice, but not worth the extra time if this child decided to arrive before then. Although I'm now expecting to have a 8 to 9 lb baby.

Speaking of our scheduled induction, the Dr didn't give us much of a choice at our appointment last Wednesday. I hadn't "progressed" any more than previously and he went ahead and scheduled it for 8 days after our due date, on a day he was working and late enough that they wouldn't end up sending me home if things didn't "work". So either way next Sunday/Monday we'll have our baby.

Thanks for those of you who haven't shared suggestions on how to bring labor on. I'm trying a few things but assume that God will bring this child when He's ready no matter what we're trying.

Monday pregnant pic day

Apparently Monday is pregnant picture day. Lordwilling one day it will be new baby picture day, every day!!

The coat I'm wearing makes me think of that Chris Farley skit where he would wear a too-small jacket and sing, "fat man in a little coat". This is, obviously, a non-maternity coat.

Mom is here, which is super fun!! Came home from work today to dinner in the crockpot, cake in the oven, and the house warm freshly picked up and smelling good. I could really get used to having dinner ready for me every night!!

There is still no indication that this child is going to come any time soon. She's due on Saturday. We're talking with the Dr at Wednesday's appointment about plan B. Although we're still on the fence about what plan B should be.

In the mean time, I'm plowing through my last week of work. Which I'm glad about since my back doesn't want to spend more than 5 minutes sitting comfortably in my work chair. It's too weird that it's my last week of work that reality hasn't set in!!

Pregnant pic

The nursery is completely ready. I have decided to give up on cleaning. My mom is coming out this week and is staying until after Thanksgiving (SUPER excited about this!!). And I can only think of a few ways in which I could be more uncomfortable. I told Mark tonight on the drive home that the reality of what is about to happen to us completely escapes me. So right now I'm focusing on the excitement of not having a child using up all my resources. And planning a few fun activities (New Moon ;) for next weekend in case this child has decided to stay in past her due date. I think I get a little too anxious about having her out when I think about how I get my very own baby in a few short days/weeks ;)

Here I am, 38 weeks and 2 days.

Can you see the stretch marks on the bottom half of my belly? They are quite nice. Looks like someone clawed me down there. And of course, they are made worse by the excessive itchiness.

Life and baby prep and guesses on due date

On the subject of life, Mark and I got up just after 7 this morning, threw some clothes on, grabbed some food and headed out to get in line for swine flu shots. Since our baby isn't here yet, Mark wasn't allowed to get one (they were doing priority people only) and I managed to score the last shot the people giving them had. Relieved to have that done although the baby may not come before it actually starts working in my system so going to ask the Dr how this will all work. The pic below is Mark and I in line.

Regarding baby prep, my mom has been here for a few days and has helped me make AMAZING progress on getting the final details in place and all our wonderfully pink gifts put away. Although we had the furniture in place, we still had to figure out where all the little things were going to go and mom has been great! She's good at organizing and just sort of took over. Especially after yesterday's shopping trip when I was too tired to do anything other than sit on the couch. As we were out yesterday from around 10 until nearly 4, Mom and Barb kept laughing at me as I said things like, "my back hurts and I don't know why." Because apparently the reason "why" was very obvious to them.

We still have a few small things left to do, but for the most part we're ready!! At least as ready as you can be to completely change your life from what you've known for the past 2 years. It's exciting and scary!!

I want to find out what people are guessing for when the baby will come. We're due on the 21st (3 weeks from today) and the Doc says he's estimating she'll probably be early and not late. So far mom is guessing the 18th. No one else has made a guess yet. Anyone else want to weigh in??

I'm HUGE!!

Okay, this is a TERRIBLE picture of me, but as a profile shot... I can't believe how HUGE I am!!! The baby is all in front. Currently she likes to push out a lot, I keep trying to tell her that won't give her any more room, but she doesn't see to be figuring that out. And she pushes a leg (assuming it's a leg) out on my right side all the time. We sometimes like to pick on her and push back until she moves a little ;) I'm also enjoying her periodic hiccups. She just recently started to get them and frequently gets them a little while after I eat lunch or dinner.

Baby shower

Yesterday Barb and Sharon Mulder threw me a baby shower for my Sunset family. I work there, do ministry there, and have been attending for almost 7 years so it was quite the crowd! My friends are very generous and other than having to take a ton of pee breaks and getting sleepy, it was a wonderful afternoon!!

Me and Rose. She is the wife of a guy I work with and I got to know her at Gift last week. She's awesome and is learning maternity massage... I'm taking advantage on Thursday ;)

Me (36 weeks) and Barb. Thanks for the beautiful location, yummy food, and wonderful party!!

Jilly Gosset, know her from my job as admin. She's an awesome woman!

Little Nike's from my friend Jenna who I've been hanging out with since she was a Junior in HS. She's now graduated from college and is a career woman.

Rose picked out an outfit that was the hit of the party. SUPER cute!!

From L to R, Janet, Julie, Bethany and Rose. Janet is my boss and gotten to be a good friend. Julie start off as Barb's friend and is now mine as well, she's also offered her arms to hold the baby as needed. Bethany is the wife of another guy I work with and a good friend. And Rose, again ;)

These are just a few of the 20-25 people who were able to come. Barb's place was quite crowded. It was fun to see friends from so many different circles, our realtor, friends of Barb's, former co-workers, current co-workers, friends from student ministry, and all some how associated with Sunset. My mom was even able to come!! She's in town for a work thing and managed to get away for a few hours to join the party.

This was our second/last shower. So now I'll be spending the weekend with my mom trying to finalize the last few purchases and then plan to organize all our wonderful new clothes and accessories in the nursery so we're all ready to go!

At our appointment last Wednesday the Dr said he thinks the baby should be more early than late, which is exciting! So I'm hoping all these early plans will be necessary ;)

Jared's visit

Last Friday (the week before last), Jared flew through Portland for a short 12 hour layover on his way to Denver with our uncle Jerry for the marathon. We had dinner at Barb's, watched a little ol' skool Tremors and then back to our place to bed and up early to meet up with Jerry on the way to the airport. It was a fun quick stop!

Mark's 31st birthday

Last Friday (10/9) my super wonderful husband celebrated his 31st birthday. Well, he worked that day, but we celebrated a little in the morning and evening.

Here is Mark enjoying his birthday breakfast. I made it nearly the way he wanted. But he was gracious about my minor mistake and we had a fun slow morning anyway.

We spent our evening in the usual way, dinner and a little tv. I made a special dinner that we ate at the table instead of in front of the tv (we realize this habit will change soon). Here he is opening up his card and gifts. It was a modest year in the gift department.

On Saturday we had a yummy breakfast at Elmer's and then headed to the beach to use up a free hotel night we won from a friend. Thanks again Sara! Our hotel was at Lincoln City and we got there in time to wander around town a bit before we checked in. We first killed time at the Outlet malls, but didn't hardly buy anything. And then grabbed food at a little hut and took in a bit of the kite festival. This is me, 34 weeks. I bought this non-maternity white fleece at Old Navy not long ago. It's currently my only coat that fits!

Mark's coat was one of his birthday presents. He really liked it, which I was thrilled about!

We opted for a fish dinner since we were at the beach and ended up at a pretty cool place.

All in all, it was a really fun weekend! We didn't do too much but enjoyed our last little solo get away for a while. Will be fun see how we celebrate Mark's birthday next year. Life will sure be different!!