Wednesday, October 15, 2008

October 15

Today is pregnancy and infant loss remembrance day. Each year, over half a million dreams are shattered. Out of 3.3 million babies born alive, some 30,000 die during the first 28 days. Another 39,000 babies are stillborn and miscarriage occurs in fifteen to twenty percent of pregnancies, while ectopic pregnancy occurs in one percent. Ever since I've joined the blogging world, I have been witness to many instances of infant death and my heart is crushed every time Im introduced to another family who has gone through such tragedy. I especially think of a friend who is in the hospital right now and does not know if her twins are going to make it or not. I have been praying for her all day and that she will be at peace and put all of her trust in God. The lastest news I heard was that she was on her way to Tacoma....Im assuming that meant Mary Bridge Childrens Hospital in case her babies are born, please uphold Brie in prayer.

Here are a few of my favorite verses on peace and comfort...
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 14:27


do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7

Blessed are those who mourn. They will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

I came across
this blog last week and thought it was a wonderful resource for those of you that have ever lost a baby. I hope you are encouraged as you read the inspiring stories from other moms, dealing with the same thing.

I especially want to thank
Katie for openly sharing about the loss of her dear son, Brenham as he came into the world for such a short time, I bet the lullabies in Heaven are wonderful, what a lucky little boy! She does not know how much shes inspired me and I hope I will someday get to meet her. Thank you Katie, you are an amazing woman.

Great Quote....

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." -Unknown

I have so much to be thankful for and need to spend more time focusing on the present and not dreaming about the future...thank you Angela for passing this along...I will definatley be putting this of the fridge!!

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Urgent Prayer Request...

My good friends Suzie and Amberlyn have introduced me to a friend of theirs who is pregnant with twins. To say she has had her share of scares the past few weeks would be an understatement. She is on her way to the hospital. She started bleeding a lot and we don't know what is going to happen. She asked me to get all of her prayer buddies praying for her and she is obviously in a very worked up state- understandably. I will keep you posted.She is 24 weeks along and did get the first shot to help the babies lungs develop.

Also for a woman at our church who was down in Arizona visiting family and had a heart attack, along with that, her kidneys started failing, it may be a few weeks or months before she is able to join us back in Washington again.

Also for a little girl at our church who was down in California the last few weeks for heart surgery. Please pray that her diziness will go away and she and her family will also be able to come home soon.

And after reading Amy's blog (and while you're still praying) please pray for her mother in law (Ryans Mom) who had to go to the hospital tonight for a possible infection. She has had to deal with a lot of news lately and just pray that whatever is going on tonight is easily treated and she will recover quickly.

Thank you so much

"I am not a boy" -Norah

Ok, so I know this shouldnt bother me but it does! Nearly every time I take the kids out I get asked how old he is (this happened 3 times in one night yesterday!)...and Im not talking about Jacob!! He, as in my daughter Norah If you have been to our house, or more specifically, Norahs room, you would see her endless amounts of girly clothing, top that off with every one of her pink blankets and you'd think you've got yourself a little "princess" nope...apparantley I'm a mom of 2 "princes". I think I may have a solution to this mess (besides putting her in the enormous flower headbands :) I am going to try and find a pink carseat (or cover). The one we got for Jacob was "gender neutral" or so I thought, but apparantly the sage green screams boy. Thats the only thing I can think of thats making people think I have a Noah instead of a Norah :) So before I go and buy a cover or even a new carseat (whatevers the cheapest) I beg anyone who is currently not using their "girly" carseat to let me buy it from you, or at least borrow it until she's into a toddler seat!!
::vent over::

*GIRL*




*BOY*




Monday, October 13, 2008

Family Day:: Spooner Farms

We our so lucky to have a great pumpkin patch just down the road from us! Its becoming an annual tradition in our household to take Jacob and let him pick out a few pumpkins!! There are so many fun activities for young kids such as face painting, tractor rides, a barn all decorated for children to do various activites, a pumpkin launching station, a corn maze and much much more!! It was such a beautiful day last year and this year proved to be the same!! We look forward to this yearly tradition and love seeing Jacob have so much fun...never a dull moment when he's around!! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from Saturday....

*My Stud Muffin*


*Steven showing Jacob all the pumpkins!*


*A cute father/son moment*


*Yet, another attempt at a family shot* Fail.


*Jacob stealing a sip of my 7-Up!*



*Riding a "pony"*


*He will climb and jump off anything!*


*A Spider, A Spider!!*


* We let him run free.....*


*Finding a pumpkin to take home*



*Wow...so many to choose from!*



*He loved it when Steven pushed him around!*


*Making the ducks swim down stream*


*What? You mean I can actually hit this stuff?*





































Wednesday, October 8, 2008

I've been tagged!!

My friend, Angela, tagged me with the task of telling you about 10 of Stevens' favorite things. I know I won't get them in the right order, but I hope I am close....



10. Coffee!!- Cant leave home without it (even if we're running late)

9. Home Depot- Its his shopping mall. Like most people go to the mall the day after Thanksgiving, you'll find Steven waiting in line at Home Depot.

8. Animals- He has a heart for animals, he loves playing in the backyard with our dog, Buddy, he will take him out to run errands with him in his truck and makes sure he gives Buddy some love every morning before he goes to work. You cant forget our kitties, he loves them too, he even lets all of the animals sleep with us...if that's not love I dont know what is!

7. Projects- I can proudly say that besides installing the carpet and granite countertop, Steven has remodeled our house completely on his own (he actually enjoys doing it too!)!! He's put up all of our molding, put recessed lighting in almost every room, painted all of the walls, replaced all plug and switch covers, installed a few ceiling fans, put up chair railing in the kids rooms, replaced all of the door and handles, built our fireplace mantle and facing as well as installed the kitchen cabinets, appliances and framed out every window in the house. I am extremely lucky to have such a handy guy around! What woman doesnt like a man in a toolbelt? :)

6. Movies- Steven always gets excited when he hears of a new movies coming out.
Unfortunatley, with 2 young kids, our theater experiences have seen better days. Not to mention it literally costs an arm and a leg to go out. I dont share the same excitment unless we're talking a good horror movie, our favorite genre. Almost every weekend hes requesting a movie to watch, now if only I could get him to stay awake for the whole thing!

5. Food- Do I really need to explain this one? :) My man can eat!!

4. ESPN- If you could set a homepage for your tv, like you can your computer, ESPN would be ours. He's gotta have his up to the minute stats!

3. Football- See previous response :) I love it though, I cant complain, we love to watch it all day on Sundays and look forward to Monday Night Football pizza!! Its something we enjoy doing together and I can appreciate a man who loves his football. (If you see us at early service, its because the Seahawks play at 10!)

2. Jacob and Norah- I could dedicate a whole blog post to this one. Where do I begin? I am so amazed with the amount of love that fills Stevens heart for his children. They genuinely light up his life. Even after working long 10 hour days, Steven finds the energy to give 110% to both kids. He plays with Jacob while holding Norah so I can finish making dinner. He wakes up with Jacob on Saturday mornings and gets him breakfast so they can have a little time together watching Saturday morning cartoons. He talks about them both even when they are in bed for the night and always makes sure to ask how they are doing whenever we talk on the phone. It melts my heart to see him with our "babies!"

1. Me- We're best friends and have a great time together. I would be so lost without him!!

Now its my turn to tag:
Michelle Patsey
Amberlyn Nemes
Stephanie Waletzko
Christia Palizzi

Amy Carlson
Mandi Martin
Jessica Murry
and
Suzie Bloom

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

911 :: What Is Your Emergency?


(Yes, the scrapbooker in me had to take a picture!)
That's the first thing I heard when I called 911 this morning. I was on my way to our first MOPS meeting of the year. I had gotten Jacob secured in his car seat, the diaper bag, cell phone and snacks were loaded up and all that was left to do, was to load up Norah. As I threw my keys over onto my seat (as Im shutting the door at the same time) I hear "click" and thought to myself...oops, that didnt sound good, and I was right. I had just locked Jacob in the car. I have no spare key, no home phone (my cell phone is in the car) and now Im going to be late. I tried to see if I could get Jacob to somehow push the lock on his door, in hopes he'll know what Im talking about and we'd be out in no time. Nope. Didn't happen. I had to grab Norah and go to our neighbors house to borrow the phone. It wasnt going to help to call Steven, because he doesnt have a spare key and we dont have AAA (my parents do, but even then, Im not sure that would help us at all) plus, they'd probably take awhile to arrive. So we called the non-emergency Orting Police Dept number and had no luck, no one answered. We had to resort to calling 911. The operator was super nice and had Orting fire dept on the way asap. (Phew!) Once they arrived in the big truck, 3 firefighters :) jumped out and noticed my "Emergency Medical Technician" sticker on the back of my car. They asked me if I was an EMT and I had to humbly admit that I was, adding even more to the embarassment. The guys were so nice and friendly and joked around with me. I joked back telling them "Don't worry, I'll definatley vote YES this November for Fire/EMS levy" they laughed. Thankfully, my neighbor stayed with me the whole time and brought Jacob over some snacks...he was still upset as to why 3 men were trying to open the car door, and why mommy and another lady were all outside and he wasnt. I couldnt blame him, I felt so bad! The whole process took just under a half hour and we were done. Off to MOPS we went. Jacob recovered well, with a sucker in one hand, and a firemans sticker in the other!! Thank you Orting Fire Department!! You guys rock!!

**On a side note, when we got home Jacob and I went out back to let Buddy out. I was talking to Steven on the phone when I saw Jacob shutting the sliding glass door. Immediately, I tried to stop him because I could see the stick that we keep in the door (inside) was falling into the slot as Jacob was shutting the door. Yup, we got locked out again...this time in our backyard. Thankfully, the front door was still unlocked and we got in just fine.
What a day!!

Stacy and Spencer:: Baby Issac

Please pray for this family.

-Thank You

Monday, October 6, 2008

Need Help::Pick Norahs Costume!!

I was given 2 costumes for Norah to wear this year for Halloween, problem is, I cant decide which one she should wear!! I am leaning toward the ladybug b/c it makes her look like a girl and I think she looks good in red...but we have a kitty at our house that looks just like her costume....ahhh! Will you help me make up my mind??
Thanks!!









Sunday, October 5, 2008

Playdate:: Pumpkin Patch!!

I have been lucky enough to find a wonderful message board online, full of great women from the greater Seattle area! Today, 4 of us were able to arrange a little get together and finally meet in person!! I had a great time and thanks to the girls, I got some cute pictures of Norah!! Here is a glimpse of our afternoon...


Me and my girl....


Messy, messy sawdust!!

As you can see, Norah wasnt a huge fan
of the wheelbarrow!!

Our attempt at proping Norah against the
pumpkins....she slid right on down (hehe)

Kim and her beautiful girl, Payton!!

Ashley and her little stud, Gage!!
Tami and the super adorable Addie!!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

You follow me....

and I'll follow you!! It a fun new feature on blogger (you can even remain anonymous!) Its just fun to see whos watching you!! Just scroll down to the bottom left of my page and add your name. I'll be sure to do the same to yours :)

Friday, October 3, 2008

Fabric purchased :: Opinions needed!!

Ok, so I took the plunge today and picked up some fabrics!! I would love to hear what you think!! I'll probably start with these and as I visit more and more fabric store pick up more along the way (*it's very addicting and I have a feeling I'll be going to a few more stores next week!)




I'll use pink fabric accents with this one! (zebra)


...so, whatcha think?? (Be Honest!) :)

Bugs... and a busy week!!! (LONG)

Ever since we've been living in Orting, (a little over a year now) I've notice one strange thing, there are some very odd looking bugs surrounding us!! Ive always been the type to let them go and not hurt them and Steven does the same, but the last few weeks have proved a little more challenging. Jacob loves to pick up these bugs, come inside, and proudly tell me "Mommy, mommy a bug, a bug!!" it takes everything not to freak out as it would probably make Jacob do the same, so I have to praise him and urgently figure out a way to make the bug disappear!! The other day Jacob picked up and earwig and by golly...those things really do pinch!! It freaked both Steven and I out and we quickly flicked it off of his finger. You'd think he would have learned a lesson in picking up bugs, but nope, he was back at it again, this time with a spider...and then a daddy long leg, a ladybug and a few other "foreign" looking bugs....Steven has also stumbled across a few abnormally large insects, furthermore FREAKING me out, especially when he wants to keep them and show my dad. We usually end up "googling" the image to try and figure out what it is. It keeps us on our toes (literally) that's for sure!!

Now that the kids and I are definatley back into the swing of things, we're doing a lot more, and this week was no exception!! Sunday night we had our good friends Andy and Suzie over for dinner and games!! We try and get together with them at least once a month and have a great time whenever we do so!! They do so well with Jacob and he loves them too! We feel so blessed to have them in our lives!!

Monday, we celebrated Angelas birthday at Bahama Breeze (oh my goodness!) it was SO good, I cant rave about that place enough!! We then headed over to Nordstroms together to try and spend the gift card I have but no luck, we had to get back at a decent time because Suzie and Andy were so kind in watching Jacob at their house for the night!! Thank you guys so much!!

Tuesday, we had my good friend Alicia, and her little boy Jaxon over for a playdate. They did so well together and had a blast being boys!! I look forward to getting to know her better this year in MOPS as well!!

Wednesday, Alicia and I met up yet again, this time at Pioneer park in Puyallup, also joined by our friends Stephanie and Audrey and their little girls!! We all had a blast and the kids sure tired themselves out playing so hard! Im glad we went when we did as it rained this morning!! Audrey and I know each other through our mom and baby group and I met Stephanie on an online message board, oddly enough everyone knew everyone even though I had never met Stephanie in person before! It was awesome..and we were all blown away how we all had seperate connections to each other!! Its a small, small, world!!

We kicked off the AWANA year at church last night as well. Jacob is now a "puggle" ..its the name of the group for the 2-3 year olds!! I cant believe my little boy is going to be saying his own verses, doing little crafts, having little class parties and learning more and more about Jesus!! It makes me so happy to know that he is learning so much about Him at such an early age, I just pray Steven and I take every possible opportunity to teach him as well, because I want nothing more than for my children to come to know Christ at an early age.

Today I was able to spend time with my best friend Katie! She was so sweet and brought us lunch (as well as an adorable brown puffy vest for Jacob) one of the many benefits of having a best friend that worked at Old Navy!! We were able to catch up and have some great conversation before she had to leave for work at her new job (Coldwater Creek) officially open at the Tacoma Mall tomorrow!

Our church is having its annual womens mini retreat this weekend!! I always look forward to it and this year is no exception!! I've already talked to a few new ladies that will be coming, and Im thrilled to get to know them better! I am thankful that Steven will be home and will be able to watch Jacob for me. Its a great time of fellowship with one another and a much needed break away from the stresses of life to get in some female bonding!!
On that happy note, have a great weekend...
Keren

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Tuesdays Ten...

1. I had a new favorite restruant: Bahama Breeze!! We went last night for my best friend Angelas birthday

2. We are going to Maui in 6 months!

3. I am so excited to start purchasing fabric for the nursing wraps coming soon! (And thank you everyone for all your support and interest, I will be starting them in the next few days!)

4. I am learning how to cook...and enjoying it!

5. I won my fantasy football game last week by .5 (that's a half point) phew!

6. I am going to meet 2 girls from my message board this Sunday (who I have never met before) and another that I havent seen in years, Im really excited to reconnect!

7. This Friday and Saturday is the women's retreat at church!! They are always so much fun and it will be a nice break!

8. Praise God, Steven still has a job...and things are picking up. He does, however, have an interview for the union on the 30th of Oct. Pray for guidance on his decision (Thank you!)

9. My dad is participating in a "medical study" for (3) 10 night stays which began last week. Poor mom :( ...he's also going to be missing Jacobs 2nd birthday. Im bummed.

10. We lost our kitty (Teekie) for 7 days and just found her 2 nights ago under our neighbors house!!! We were so happy!!

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Coming Soon::Nursing Covers!!

Ok, so if you dont know, my mom has an amazing talent of sewing. Growing up, I was constantly wearing dresses and outfits she had made for me. I remember our days at the fabric store picking out patterns for new clothes and letting me pick the styles I wanted to wear. To this day she can just look at a pattern and make it. She enjoys making crib sheets for expecting moms as well as blankets, curtains and pajamas for Jacob :) I took for granted all the time and effort it took making all of that stuff and now I wish I would have taken her up on the multiple offers of learning how to sew. I have decided to start making nursing covers (aka "hooter hiders") my good friend Danielle made one for me and I use it so much!! I love it, its especially handy at the mall or at church. It allows me to still see what I'm doing without overheating Norah!! I will start out with help from my mom (keep in mind, I have never touched a sewing machine...ever!) but I consider myself a fast learner and with the coaching from my mom, I believe it can be done! She even has an extra sewing machine for me to use!! I am so excited to start making these trendy covers, but I need your help. I've always gone to JoAnns for fabric and they dont always have the cutest of designs. If you live in western Washington and know of fabric stores (besides JoAnns) would you please pass them on..or even online fabric stores..I would greatly appreciate it!! I would love to have some hip, modern styles to choose from!!! Stay tuned for updates on my "sewing expeditions!" Eeekkk Im SO excited!!

*In case you dont know what Im talking about heres a sample that I found online: