The day we welcomed Hunter...

I was certain (after everything with Zack) that my body didn't know how to go into labor on its own. I know Zack would still be in there had they not used several medical interventions. I scheduled an appointment for Thursday (moving day) thinking...no knowing...they would schedule an induction because my boys tend to thrive in my arms past 36 weeks.

You know that saying if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans? Well he sure has a sense of humor. He was not going to come before Thursday because we had to move, I had to finish packing and this is the one week/weekend that childcare for Zack would be complicated.

Wednesday morning I was in a lot of pain...I figured I had overdone it the day before plus I had gotten almost no sleep. I brought a basket of toys downstairs, put out several of Zack's favorite snacks filled up 2 cups of juice and settled in for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse marathon. I took a shower thinking that might help. I ignored the "pains" as I talked about Zack and his speech issues to his case worker. They didn't go away. Around 10:30 I called Adam and told him that I may need him to come home just so I could lay down. I told him I would call after lunch if I still felt like crap. At 11:00 my water broke...I was pretty sure...and then I was positive. I was in the process of refilling Zack's juice and making his lunch when I ran to the bathroom. Zack followed me yelling "doose, doose" and then wanted me to hold him up so he could wash his hands. I started racing through the house packing as many boxes as I could for moving day and calling Adam with Zack following me thinking this was a really fun game. Adam raced home I called the doctor and several friends hoping someone could watch Zack. The doctors office had what seemed like a 10 min long message with several options...are you kidding? I'm in labor I have to listen to the options and leave a message???? It took several times before I decided to press zero and see what happened. They told us to come to the office so they could check things out before sending me to the hospital. I laid down while Adam finished getting Zack lunch and packing his bag.

At the doctor I checked in "um...my water broke so..." everyone was impressed at how calm I was...calm?...do they know what's going on in my head????

The doctor said we could go for a short walk or head to the hospital...walk?...um no! At 2:30 we were checked in.

After a very quiet, quick uneventful labor Hunter showed up at 7:27...just in time to be cleaned up and taken care of so Adam could watch the State game.

I'm not kidding when I say that it was an easy labor...I'm still waiting to wake up from a dream and have a real labor.

Grandpa Dalland

Yesterday Grandpa would have turned 90 years young...
I can't even imagine having that many years of life...but I'd be OK living 90 years if I had a life like his.  He passed away just under a month ago leaving behind the coolest wife EVER...hands down, 3 happy, funny, amazing kids, who married great people and (if I do say so myself) gave him 8 AMAZING grandchildren.  Not to mention the two (almost 3) great grandsons that are the cutest, smartest, sweetest etc... etc... etc... little boys that ever existed (according to their proud parents, grandparents and great-grandparents).
Grandpa not only had an amazing family (which is a tribute to his leadership), but was able to eat several snacks throughout the day along with his after dinner (cereal bowl full) ice cream, pretzels and cookies without gaining a pound.  TALK ABOUT A GREAT LIFE!  If you asked him what the secret to a long life was he would say "eat lots of red meat and no vegetables".
He was a hard worker (how many husbands do you know that clean bathrooms, serve their wives coffee every morning and pull weeds for 60+ years), a veteran, a Godly man who lead his family on prayer and laughter...I can't think of much more that a family needs.
I always enjoyed spending time with grandpa and I'm sure he had no idea how much I respected and looked up to him.  I remember one summer when I went to the lake early to "help" grandma and grandpa get the house ready for the summer.  I'm sure I wasn't the biggest help but I sure enjoyed the time as the only grandchild for a short time.  Anyway, I was at the dinner table after (I'm sure) an amazing dinner that Grandma cooked while she was clearing the table enjoying our after dinner ice cream (see...HUGE help).  We somehow started talking about maids.  Grandpa said  in his nonchalant way "I have had the same maid for over 50 years...I think I'll keep her"...it took me a second but grandma immediately started laughing her quiet laugh while washing dishes.  That little back and forth showed me how important laughter is in a marriage...I'd seen it before and I saw it many times after but I loved that grandpa could joke that grandma was his maid and grandma knowing that he would never treat her like a maid could laugh at his comment.  I know so many women who take things too seriously and a lot of men that worry about the words they use when talking to their wives...not my grandparents and thanks to them (and my parents...but lets face it no kid ever realizes their parents lessons until they are grown up)  I realized what I wanted my marriage to look like.
Even though grandpa was a joker who loved "quiet" and got "excited" when we all left, he would stand by the door when we were supposed to be back and secretly loved being surrounded by all us kids all summer.  I must say looking back it couldn't have been easy...2 grandparents, at least 2 mom's and 6 grandchildren, plus 2 dads when they weren't working and another 2 grandchildren and their parents when they weren't overseas in ONE house for a whole summer...talk about recipe for disaster, or at least annoyance.  We were all always welcome and he was always happy to see us, but I didn't realize how happy summers with his family made him until I became a mother.  I introduced my son (his first great-grandchild) to him when he was 5 months old.  I was worried that Zack would cry and be loud, I was worried that all our stuff would be in the way, I wondered if we would be in the way while they were trying to pack and move.  As soon as we walked in the door Grandpa took Zack and I saw a joy I had never seen from him, not that he wasn't a happy person but this was different.

notice how he is hogging Zack while Grandma is trying to also get some snuggle time...

I saw it again at Christmas...there weren't many Christmas that the Dalland side came "down south" for a green Christmas but I'm sure they didn't want to miss Zack's first Christmas.

I have several pictures just like this...I don't know who is happier

Grandpa let Grandma hold him in this picture...but I love that he took hold of his arm. 

Grandpa loved seeing him again this summer even though on our first visit Zack had an ear infection, really bad diaper rash and was transitioning from two naps to one...and I'll be the first to say it wasn't Zack's finest hour...even if the poor little guy had every reason to be miserable.

It warms a mother's heart watching someone else love her child...I know he will never get to hold Hunter and I won't have pictures of him meeting Hunter for the first time, but I know by the tone of his voice when we told him we were expecting again that he loved our littlest as much as our big boy.

We're Moving

Again...and it won't be the last time.

I never thought I would be so happy to move back into an apartment from a house. However I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is our long term home...the first home that will be OURS. The first home that we both love, the home we raise our boys in, the home we get to care for and work on. The home we can paint and decorate. The home where we can entertain and celebrate holidays.
When I told our realtor that we have lived in 9 places in the past few years he realized the pressure was on for him to find THE home for us...9 times! First we lived in my house with none of Adam's stuff because we knew it was very temporary. Then we moved to the Gold Lake Hotel in China for a month, then the Kande hotel for another month. We moved to our first apartment in China where we only had hot water in one bathroom until we lost it completely (try being 6 months pregnant and had to take cold showers for 3 months). We moved to another apartment. Before Zack was born we moved to a small flat in Hong Kong for a month so I could be near the hospital. When we moved back to the states we lived in two different hotels for a couple weeks each (with a 5 month old). When our stuff made it over from China we moved to an apartment here. We intended to sell Adam's bachelor pad but our tenants were nasty so we had to move in fix it up and get it ready to sell. Now we are moving to another apartment for hopefully only three months. Next stop our long term home.
Selling this house is such a blessing but the timing is not totally ideal. I am due in less than two weeks and our movers come next Thursday. We had sort of come to the realization that we would sell the house before the baby was born but the day before we were supposed to take a break from showings we got a call for a showing from 5-7:30 at night...Zack's witching hour/dinner/bath/bed...I ran home from the store cleaned the house gave Zack a bath threw him in his pj's and went to dinner (which lasted until the food came) so I drove around until 7:30. I get a call at 8:30 canceling the showing and asking if they could come Friday. Annoying! I told the scheduler to have their realtor talk to my realtor because it was my intention to have a super messy kitchen full of Christmas prep for the rest of the week. According to the other realtor they wanted to make an offer on Saturday...so OK one LAST showing before Christmas...one last time rushing Zack out of the house for a meal. Thursday night I got a call about another showing for Friday morning! What the heck! We had no showings in November and several in December and 2 the weekend before Christmas! I agreed and took Zack out for the entire day and night so the little monster wouldn't mess up the house. Saturday morning we get a call saying the people that saw the house Friday morning want to see it again because we are one of two that they wanted to decide between. On our way to hang at Target while they look at our house we get a call from our realtor with an offer from the other people who saw the house on Friday. Sunday we heard from the people who wanted a second showing and they weren't ready to make a decision but to let them know if the other deal doesn't happen because they liked our house best but had only started looking. On Christmas Eve we accepted an offer. Yesterday we had the inspection which showed no major issues. Friday our POD comes where most of our stuff will be stored. Next Thursday the movers come and Hunter is welcome to come anytime after that.

I'm so glad that this is all happening. I love that God has worked it all out and I am confident that he will keep Hunter on the inside until after we move...and even more confident that he will help us find our perfect home...in less than 3 months so we can get in there in time to celebrate Zack's second birthday.

Pure Joy

My friend's 4 kids outgrew their Cozy Coups and offered to give us one...we are truly thankful!

Somehow he figured out that going down the hill is fun!

"ohhhh that was good"

"could I be having more fun?"

"I could do this all day"

There might be something else Zack loves more than this...

hanging out with his daddy.

35-37 Weeks

How Far Along: 37 weeks

Maternity Clothes: and Adam's t-shirts

Best Moment This Week: Hosting Christmas! (twice) and throwing my first baby shower!

Weight Gain/Loss: +14 lb

Gender: BOY...Hunter (still working on it) Milton

Movement: All the time.

Food Craving: spicy hamburgers and milkshakes

What I miss: bending over, being comfortable, sleeping a full night, breathing etc...

Sleep: about 5 hours a night (much better than the 1 hour I had with Zack at the end)

What I am looking Forward to: MOVING! (not something an 8+ month pregnant woman usually says)

Symptoms: huge belly, fatigue, sore back, swollen feet, major pregnancy brain, lots of braxton hicks

Same/Different: at the doctor we found out that my low hormone level struck again...Hunter is in the 20% for weight which isn't concerning except 4 weeks ago he was in the 60%. They will continue doing weekly growth scans to see if it looks like they need to take him early. We basically are certain they will induce early (unless he comes on his own) because Zack although was basically starving in the womb thrived outside. Inductions aren't always the answer but when it comes to where the baby will do best my boys need out.

Tummy Shot:

Christmas Eve...man that belly is big!

Christmas 2012

I was so excited that my due date allowed me to selfishly require our family to spend Christmas with us at our house.  I loved hosting Christmas!
My parents, grandma, brother and sister-in-law came on Christmas Eve and left on Christmas afternoon.  We enjoyed the amazing Christmas service at church before heading home for a traditional Christmas dinner of Chili and baked potato's.

Pinterest makes entertaining so much cuter!

We opted to make life pleasant for all of us and put Zack to bed before opening gifts...

Adam got a bin full of "daddy toys"...everything you need to play outside with two boys!

don't worry Zack got to open all his gifts in the morning after breakfast.

I love this picture because I have an almost identical picture of him last year

"tsoose"

he didn't really get the hang of opening gifts

but he did love playing with them!

he didn't really understand that the toy was in the box.

SLAM DUNK!

  

yes this big wrapped gift was in the room all morning while he played around it...we had to put the ball on the table to make him notice it and I had to poke holes in the paper and rip it enough so that he could see what was in there before he took a basketball break.

I mean really...TAKE OFF THE REST OF THE PAPER...silly boy!

"cheese"

Step up from mega blocks...my baby is growing up

Christmas night we opened our stockings...since Zack doesn't understand we told Santa not to bring us much...

he did bring Zack a ton of cars and trucks!

On the day after Christmas Adam's parents, siblings  spouses kids and dog came for a big breakfast and stayed until late afternoon.
I love spreading out Christmas activities!
We opened gifts but since there are more kids involved the gifts were much more fun!

finally getting the hang of it!

Making an elephant noise

He has a "Little People" farm book and now he has the "Little People" farm...we are LOVING IT!

How exciting to spend Christmas with a dog!

A Christmas full of toys!  He is going to love sharing all these things with Hunter!

I am so glad we took a moment to take some family pictures:

I am kicking myself for not getting family pictures while my side was here and I hate that I didn't get any pictures of Zack in his spiffy Christmas sweater in front of the tree.  I told Adam to take pictures of Zack in his Christmas jammies in front of the stockings or tree or both...instead he got our happy boy playing with his new Basketball hoop...can we say scholarship?

There are about 15 that look like this "CHEESE"  I'm sure the only reason he wasn't by the hoop was to sneak a cookie

and another 7 that look like this

and 4 that look like this...I was in the shower but I can imagine this session going like this "Zack stand in front of the tree" "tee, tee" (as he plays ball).  "Zack look at the presents" "ba, ba...woo hoo!" and so on.