The New Digs

We've lived in our house for 4+ months now.

If my memory serves me correctly, I have yet to post a single picture of our new digs. Trouble is, there really isn't a "completed room". In fact, I cannot recall a single moment when our entire house has been picture perfect, let alone picture worthy. Having a baby less than 2 weeks after moving in kind of slows the remodeling-unpacking-decorating process down.

Even with very few pictures on the walls and decorations scattered sparingly around, I love our comfy home. We have put a lot of love and a lot sweat into this house. It's quite common for a power drill to be sitting on our kitchen counter and stud-finder to be left on the laundry room floor.

So, although not perfect and we most likely could show you imperfections in our work, we have stories to tell about this home. I spent the majority of my final month of pregnancy scrubbing tiles and changing electrical outlets (I assure you...the electricity was OFF while I did this!) :)

And now. Now, that we are moved and settled. I have kiddos to care for. Admittedly, I consistently prefer a spic-n-span type of home, but have quickly learned how to be okay with fingerprints on the windows and crumbs on the floor. And I've surprised myself with just how okay I am with this. I will never regret making play-doh snakes instead of doing dishes, or singing patty-cake instead of making the bed. So I share these photos not to prove we have a perfect home, but to show where we are right now. From September until now...with a baby, holidays, birthday, and most recently a bad bout of the flu in between...I'd say we've done alright. Hopefully in another four months it will reflect even more of our home.

Dining/Living/Kitchen

Please excuse the blank walls...work-in-progress! :) 

That rocking chair sticks out like a sore thumb...but it was my grandparent's and I hope to give it a "facelift" one day.

Rocking chair...see comment above. :)

I've never had a pantry before...LOVE! 

Zay's corner of the living room... 

Zay's Room

Zay picked the colors for his room...blue & yellow! 

My mom made Zay (& Ellie's) curtains and quilts for their beds. Love them! 

Grandma Judy bought Zay (& Ellie's cribs)...love those too!

Ellie's Room

Ellie's already got her big girl bed in her room too...garage sale find that we couldn't pass up! 

Love Ellie's crib and quilt...so girlie!

Master Bedroom

I (sort of) made the bed for you... :)

Thankful!

Being the month of November and all I thought I would finally get this post up and give a BIG shout out to our parents! Both my mom and dad and Shane's mom! They all have helped out in so many ways...when you move, renovate a house, have a baby, and change positions at your job...all within a matter of weeks, things can be a little hectic!!! 

I'm so thankful and I probably haven't told them enough how much I appreciate their help! Here are a few pictures of just one area we've reaped the benefits of our family's help...yard cleanup! Our house hadn't been lived in for over 5 years before we bought it...needless to say, the yard was a tad overgrown! 

(A picture when we still had Bongo! Still miss that pup!)

 Probably Shane's favorite part of yardwork...driving Dad's Ranger!

Zay was a BIG helper too!

Thanks to Dad's handiwork with his skid-steer, we have a driveway! 

waiting...anticipating...reflecting

I haven't had a whole lot of time to write on here lately.

Honestly, I haven't had a whole lot of time for anything...unless you count remodeling, moving, cleaning, organizing, scheduling, unpacking, attending appointments, squeezing in very few precious and 'normal' days for Zay and I, and embracing the rare moments of uninterrupted and meaningful conversation with Shane! We have pretty well been stretched to our limits the past few weeks. And through it all, I am so thankful.

We've plugged away and we are finally at a point where I feel like we are ready to bring our baby girl home...to a new home, a beautiful home we've put our very own blood, sweat, and tears into. We have an amazing backyard where Zay already runs off ample amounts of energy. All of our neighbors have been very kind and generous. We are more than content with our decision on our new home and community, even if the timing wasn't ideal.

But I don't want to write about our new home today.

My post today is a bit more meaningful than a house. Today it's our children that are on my heart.

I've had some emotions come over me this past week, that I honestly wasn't expecting. This entire pregnancy I've been so excited. Excited for another child to join our family, excited for Zay to become a big brother, excited to have a little girl, excited to see Shane become a father again...just plain excited.

Then the last few weeks I've found myself feeling other things. Like a little guilty or sad for Zay. Weird. I guess before the last few weeks, I never even considered I would feel these things. Whenever I've read things about "cherishing the last moments" with the first born as an only child, I've almost always dismissed them. I suppose I've always been eager to think in terms of how the other children feel. And being the second born among my own siblings, I think to myself, well the second born (and any children after) never get that one-on-one attention from mom and dad! Therefore the first born is so fortunate! There is no point in feeling bad that they are going to have to share that attention now...

I guess it proves that there probably is something to be said about birth order and how it affects us.

None-the-less, I've been extra thankful for my first born these past few days. As I'm nearing the end of my pregnancy I am fully aware that my days of just hanging out with Zay are limited. I am so appreciative of Zay and his sweet personality. Yes, of course there are moments when he is just a typical two-year-old...but I also get to see him be the sweetest of sweet little boys. He still wants to snuggle on my ever shrinking lap-space. He smiles so big and bright when he sees me enter the house/room/car. He yells a "love you, bye-bye daddy" that is so full of meaning, as Shane is leaving for work. He rarely fusses when going down for his nap and/or bedtime. He requests to pray for certain people before bed, it absolutely melts my heart when he says he wants to pray for 'mommy' or 'daddy'. He gets it...most days probably better than some adults understand the power of prayer. Child-like faith - love it! And it never fails...if mommy and daddy forget to mention Bailey and Bongo in their prayers, we must add an addendum to that prayer and ask God to bless those puppies! Our dogs are the most prayed for pups in the world! :) And the sweetest little "AH-MEAN" at the end makes me so happy.

I just can't say enough of how proud and overwhelmed I am with God's gift of Zay to our family. I can't imagine how another child will bless our family as well. It should only be a few short days before we get to hold our sweet little girl and see Zay become a big brother. What an exciting time for our family. Thanking God for both of our blessings today!

Children are a blessing from the Lord. -Psalm 127 

Baby Girl Austerman...updated pics!

I thought I would post some quick pictures of our little girl...hoping these are the last ultrasound pictures and the next ones are of her in our arms!!! Shouldn't be long now...I'm now dilated between 4-5cm...nearly half way there, but no painful contractions (just braxton hicks)! Maybe this will make for a quick and easy labor...I won't get too excited - ha!

I also have some major catching up to do on this blog...our new house, renovating the entire main floor in our new house, moving into our new house, and my husband changing positions at his job...I'm thinking by the time I get around to catching up on those things, our baby girl will be here!

We obviously don't mess around when it comes to doing exciting events all-at-once in our life! :)

For now...enjoy the pics of our little gal!

Check out this little girl's hair! The questions is...is it red like her brother's???

Profile

Look at her chubby little cheeks!

Not sure if you can tell, but she's touching her hands to her toes!

And her mouth/nose!

36.5 Weeks...

Oh my...I can hardly believe that in a few short days I'll be FULL TERM! And this baby girl will be joining us very, very soon! 

I'm so excited, but very nervous as well. We have so many things we are juggling right now, with renovating our new house and getting moved in the next couple weeks, not to mention the most important thing weighing on our mind...our little girl's health. 

We have continued to have ultrasounds every 2 weeks to monitor her growth. Even though we thought we would be done with these, the doctors have recommended we keep a close eye on her. The main area they are watching is her head size. They believe that she has a small head basically due to familial reasons, however we won't know anything for sure until she is here with us. The ultrasounds do not show any other markers or indicators that she is unhealthy in any way, so we are all hoping that she is just on the low end of the spectrum for head size. This has been very hard for me to release my worry, but I know that God is forming her just the way he has planned. We are certain that she will be perfect, regardless of anything that might pop up. As expected we have everything in line for her PKU and hypothyroid screenings to be rushed and we will know if she has either as soon as possible. Beyond that, we declined doing any prenatal screenings, etc so we don't know any further information at this point. 

My prayers have been consistently that God help Shane, Zay and I be the perfect family to this little girl. I know he has hand picked us to love her! Each day I'm amazed at how Zay's presence in our family is perfect! He's brought so much joy and love and perspective and humor to our family, only God could have orchestrated something so special. I know that our little girl will bring about the same perfection. I know there might be some issues that come up...expected and/or unexpected. I pray that we can handle all the emotions and know that God is with us each and every step of the way. 

My appointments are down to weekly now too! And this week I was dilated to 2cm. Yay! Although I don't put a lot of weight in that number, knowing that I was 1.5cm at 36 weeks with Zay...then went overdue! But it is still exciting to know that my body is preparing!

And here is what is will probably be my last prego-pic. I'm nearing the size that I'm just uncomfortable and big and not enjoying having my picture taken anymore! :) 

Stay tuned! I hope to have a post up on our new house soon...given that I don't have a baby or anything! :) Thanks to all our friends and family praying for our little girl and helping us with all the transitions we have going on in our life right now. Even with uncertainty, we are blessed beyond words!

Nesting...

I think the nesting urge has hit me! Although, I have 7 weeks to go, I know that there is a lot that needs to happen in those 7 weeks! 

If everything goes as planned, we will be moving right before our little girl is born. However, up until this point things haven't really been working out as planned (issues with our new house that are completely out of our control) so we might be moving AFTER she is born...we will see! 

Either way, I'm trying very hard to take things in stride and know that even if we don't get moved beforehand, I'm blessed that this time after having a baby I will be staying home rather than returning to work. This will allow me time to unpack, organize, and decorate when I have time and not be rushed. I'm also counting on having my mom and my mother-in-law around for some extra hands...and to help me stay sane with all the moving, renovating, entertaining a 2 year old and getting to know a brand-new baby! Thank goodness for family!!!

In the mean time all I can do is pack and prepare...so I'm finding myself coming up with small ways to fulfill my need to nest! :)

With the renovations we are doing to our new house, Shane and I found a picture of these shelves and spice racks that we will incorporate into our new kitchen! I like how clean and organized they look! And so much nicer than storing our spices in the plastic containers they come in!

A few weeks ago we picked up the jars/shelves while on a trip to Ikea with my parents. Along with my little helper, I washed, labeled and transferred the spices over! 

Screwing the lids on was the perfect job for this little guy!

All done! Aren't they pretty! Just have to pick up a few more jars, but they are all ready to be put on the shelves in our new kitchen! Yay!

A weekend back in the Cedar Valley!

This last weekend we were back in our old neck of the woods! We finally had our house closing...feels pretty good to be mortgage free! Although, we've been looking at A LOT of houses down here now, so it probably won't last long! :)

While back in the Cedar Valley - we were able to stay with the Duncan's for part of the weekend. We had so much fun! Sometimes it's hard to believe that these three boys are only 6 months apart...you probably wouldn't guess it by size, but they sure do love playing together. And I'm sure that friendship will only grow as they grow up! Soon there will be another little Austerman to join the fun...I keep wondering if it will be another little boy or a little girl that is tagging along with the boys. Even if it is a girl, that's ok - I spent many a days chasing my older brother and his friends when I was younger...they might not have appreciated a 'girl' joining the mix, but it didn't phase me a bit! 

On our way to the park for some playtime! What a great wagon they have! And can you believe how identical these boys are? All weekend I could tell them apart without any problem, it helped that Mr. Riley had a tiny scratch on his nose...but seriously, I'm getting better each time!

Leyton riding the Spaceship!

And then Riley came to join him!

Riley having fun on the slide!

We enjoy the Duncan family so much! They were in our church small group for 5 years or so, and we enjoyed hanging out with them when we were all just couples, then we went through pregnancy together, and then to new parents. It's hard to find friends that you've shared so many memories and life changes with! We are so blessed by their friendship! 

Missing our friends from Waterloo!

A couple of pics found on my phone......makes us miss ALL of our friends back in the 'Loo!

The Duncan boys!

Our friend Lindsay! Zay LOVES to flirt with her! :)

Goodbye...215 Derbyshire

Well, we just keep on trucking along making new changes for our family and in our life. One of which - we moved! We are now renting a townhome in Mechanicsville, Iowa and getting used to small town life. That's a post for another day!

For today...a little farewell to our home in Waterloo. It's been such a wonderful home to us, and the place where we brought our little Zay home from the hospital to. I dearly loved this home, but I know with all my heart that our 'home' is where we are all together as a family! Shane, Zay, Bailey and Bongo...that's who make my house a home! :)

And for the memory books - some pics of our old house!