happy thursday

family photos

o.k.

i just noticed that julie posted some shots from our session with her on saturday on her website.

check it out. 

i absolutely love them.

jewelimage.typepad.com 

monday

very serious, she means business...

little succotash is one week old.  well, really a week and a couple of days.  where is the time going?

she is a good little gal, eating, sleeping, pooping.  she has transitioned nicely into our lives and home. 

she smiles a lot but can never catch it on film.  when i do though, oh boy, you will see it.  eli has a match game with cute graphic illustrations on them.  the other day when we were playing i turned over a piece that had a sunny smiling sun on it.  it is exactly what she looks like when she smiles. a great big grin and her eyes squint shut and smile upside down.  it is great.  i love it.

this week we are getting excited as c.j.'s mom, kathy, is coming to town.  eli hasn't seen her since christmas '07 so it will be a fun reunion.  hopefully the weather will warm up.  

and now for something completely different... {kind of}

so, it will be unavoidable seeing baby pics up here, like every other day.    

in other matters, yesterday i picked up our mail and there were the prints i had ordered from persimmonandpink.  i got one for each of the kids rooms.  they have great graphic artwork dealing with "churchy" matters.  i like them. 

also, we watched an amazing documentary "Man on Wire" the other night.  all i am going to say is: french dude sneaks into world trade center in the '70's with team, attaches wire between the buildings and tightropes for 45 minutes.  it is pretty unbelievable.  rent it.  

daily dose

will post thoughts soon, just snapshots for now. these are fresh from this morning.

enjoy, i know i am.

we like ida

so, this was me on saturday at about 4:30pm and the next picture (going up in order) was me about 2 hours and 20 minutes later.  

things. went. fast.  

i won't elaborate.  if you want the full story, ask me sometime.  here are just a couple of highlights: an epidural that didn't work, going from 5cm - here comes the baby in 20 minutes, a nurse in denial and a vacuum.  

i guess when i describe it that way, it sounds like a bad experience but it actually wasn't.  it all happened and was over so fast i can't complain.  just be embarrassed about totally losing it during the last big push which involved high pitched screaming and slapping of thighs like an orangutan....  c.j. would describe it in movie terms:  you know when priss gets "retired" at the end of Bladerunner?  ya, something like that... {if you haven't seen THAT classic, watch it and have a good giggle at my expense}. 

anyho, it is now 4 days later and we still can't believe ida is here.  like every parent thinks, she is perfect to us.  a well behaved baby that nurses well and is calm and happy.  everyday she looks different.  as a baby, eli looked a lot like her other than a completely different nose {if any of you out there are wondering}.  

bottom line:  we are SO happy.  

i am tired and slightly delirious.  i am going to bed.  

enjoy.

...2

today i decided to "walk it out" so i got dressed and headed for the mall.  

i felt pretty good for the first hour or so.  my pants stayed up, my feet weren't hurting and i wasn't burping up stomach acid.  however, around lunch time i was slowly falling apart.  i decided to park myself in the lounge at moxies and ended up ordering the wackiest combination of food.  a chicken thai noodle salad and 1/2 order of nachos.  yes, it went down real good...  

there was a office birthday party going on at the table behind me and at the end of the meal a girl busted out 6-packs of "crave" cupcakes.  i ALMOST pulled out a $20 and told her i'd buy one off her to top off my meal... 

2 days left (crossing fingers).  i may do it again tomorrow.

...3

yesterday i received a letter from  palm springs.  

it was from aunt yvonne, another one of great grandma wood (ida's) daughters.  it was a two-parter, some written at christmas and some written just after the new year.  it was just as touching and enlightening as the notes and cards sent by aunt betty and aunt ruth.

an excerpt:  

"Mother IDA lived for her family, her church and her community.  She was a good and thoughtful neighbour.  She was a DO-er and her life was a life of accomplishment.  As she stood and bore testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in later years, she often said, "I just pray that I can endure to the end."  She did endure and she endured with honor.  As I gathered the few things in her hospital room after her death, I felt a surge of wonder and awe for this special woman who was my mother.  A poem of Emily Dickenson kept running through my head.

"The bustle in the house the morning after death

  Is solemnest of industries enacted upon earth,

  The sweeping up the heart, and putting love away

  We shall not want to use again Until eternity."

It's true, but not quite, because, as I get older and experience some of the things mother Ida went through,  my understanding of her and my love for her grows.  It will be a a great day when we all meet in Eternity and have a finer understanding of each other.  Blessings to the new little IDA and may her life be enhanced by the name she will carry."

Love, Aunt Yvonne

at christmas, mom gave gave all the girls in the family beautiful jewelry boxes that she had bought in hawaii.  they are precious petite treasures.  the one i received was a little blue bird. 

mom wrote in her card, "This coming year will be a special one for you. Your joy will be full as little Ida joins your family.  What a blessing to have her come to the family.  We have all been waiting "years" for her and no one more than you have felt this long passage of time.  This little box is meant to be symbolic of my love for you --"The Blue Bird of Happiness" is coming to roost at your home."  love, mom

today, i am thankful for the outpouring of love i am experiencing from family and friends on every level.

my doctors appointment yesterday revealed that things are moving along and ida should be here by the weekend.  paperwork is in place to be induced on saturday if she hasn't come by then (if it is not busy at the hospital that is). 

this news is VERY exciting to c.j., eli and i and made things become VERY real.  

we are on the cusp of something great and couldn't be more happy.

 

...4

one of the last things on my mental list of "being prepared" was some type of baby holder, bouncer, lounger, cotty thingy (you know what i mean).  

i started looking around, peeked online a bit. i soon realized you can really get crazy with these things.   they vibrate, bounce, swing back and forth OR up and down, there are mobiles hanging at every possible view point for the baby, neon lights... well, you know.

on new years day, after our fun family stay downtown, we decided to walk around the mall for a bit.  i popped my head into bo bebe and what did i find sitting on the floor, by himself, with a little SALE tag attached to him.  yes siree, a little oeuf baby lounger, just the one i had wanted, but didn't think i could find in the city OR get here in time.  what a treat! 

i have my last doctors appointment today.  

hopefully by the weekend i can post a pic of my great find, filled.

...5

when i sit in bed and look to my left, this is what i see.  it has been this way since mid-november probably.  two hospital bags, packed.  one for me and one for ida.  

why have i had bags packed since then?  who knows.  i figured that i would get things ready incase something happened, you know, in mid-november!?!?!  but now they are relevant.

i guess i just don't want to think about anything, when it is time.  i don't want to wonder if i have packed socks or deodorant or a nursing bra.  i just want to walk up to this change table, pick up those bags and be completely confident that i. am. ready.  

then the only thing i will have to worry about is making the magic happen at the hospital.

...it's the final countdown

today marks 6 days from my due date.

is this going to be a long week? it might be if you read this blog because i will probably be posting something "baby-related" everyday to kill the time.

if you don't know julie miller, you should.  she came by last week and took some photographs of me here at the house before i officially give birth.  so, for todays "baby" blurb you can check out her website and see the results.  thank you julie, you are a miracle worker.

jewelimage.typepad.com

enjoy.

the tail end of 2008

chatting about good times in bethlehem...

eating hot dogs at the mall, the fire alarm went off, when i looked up, they both had tissue sticking out of their ears... reminded me of mr. bean.

new years eve before bed.

playing games at the hotel..

swimming was fun.

these two didn't like the first course... it was a swiss cheese dip that was quite pungent... you should have seen elis expression after his first bite...

can't. stop. reading.

eli talking to c.j. on the phone.

at alberta theatre projects to see robin hood on elis birthday

officially 7!

busted out the table top hockey on christmas day.  i think this was dave and chucks board from a 15 years ago.  cleaned up nice.

mary and joseph.

more bethlehem small talk.

*rats, i added these pictures, thinking they would be in some type of sequential order, but alas they are not.  so... consider them a little random glimpse of the end of the year.

we have had a really nice few weeks.  it has been calm and quiet and birthdays, christmas and new years were easy going and different.  

we had christmas morning here at our house just the 3 of us, then out to mom and dads for food and fun.

elis birthday was celebrated with a play and supper out.

new years was spent here in calgary, downtown at the eau claire sheraton.  we went for fondue earlier in the night then went back to the hotel to swim and play games.  i think we were all in bed by 10:00pm.  in bed i read through my journal entries from this past year, reviewed the 31 goals/resolutions i had made (i think i only accomplished 5 or 6) and then started thinking about this new year. 

eli woke up in the morning to find that mother goose had come and left a small gift for him to start the year out right.  nothing like a C3PO keychain and random star wars guy to kick things off, eh?

and today, today is the first day in january.  eli kept saying, "there is still snow on the ground?!" thinking that because it is a new year AND january that the weather would change magically over night.  kid logic.

today we ate a tasty breakfast, packed up, checked out, went to the old studio, swept floors, finished up, bought a HD camcorder, walked around the mall, ate hot dogs and didn't care about time or anything at all really.  it was really satisfying.

when i got home tonight, i had a unexpected email from aunt betty.  i don't know her as well as i know some of my other great aunts, which is a shame.  she must have heard i was looking for insight from great grandma woods children about great grandma wood (AKA ida).  it was such a touching note.  i bawled and bawled.  

as of this moment, i have 16 days to go... did you know that is my number?  16.  

anyho, aunt betty concluded her letter with, "may god bless your baby, Ida Burton, and also you Jessica, and your husband in the raising of this precious little spirit.  likely right now Ida is instructing this baby for her exciting journey into this life." 

what a wonderful way to start this new year.