[not the] BEST BLOG EVER

Round Here...

Round here...

We've been enjoying a lovely spring...

With friends.

At the zoo.

 

And cheering on the Minnesota Twins.

Round here...

We hosted a wonderful Easter with my parents.

Followed by a fun weekend up north with Anthony's parents.

[pictures to come]

Round here...

We are starting to get excited to have a little new PINK beginning to hang around.

 

Round here...

I've been swamped at work on a new client.

And swamped in general (i.e., whenever I can fit it in) attempting to prepare for this exam tomorrow.

Round here...

We (well, I) ate through this book series (don't judge) and (we) saw the movie on opening night.

We may (or may not) even be preparing for a said-themed birthday/costume party for someone (yes, who is turning 39) this weekend. Pictures may (or may not) follow.

Round here...

Speaking of birthdays, a certain little boy has a THIRD birthday coming up in less than a month, and we can hardly believe he is growing up so fast. He is such a major joy in our lives. Oh to capture these moments and save them forever...

Round here...

Said little boy is almost/nearly/pretty much daytime-potty trained. I think. Knock on wood. We shall see but we are feeling pretty good about it...

Round here...

Life isn't perfect, but it's great and blessed and exhausting and wonderful nevertheless.

A Little Light Reading

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Sugar and spice and everything nice
That's what little girls are made of

Sunshine and rainbows and ribbons for hair bows
That's what little girls are made of

Tea parties, laces and baby doll faces
That's what little girls are made of
-author unknown

 

Last Tuesday was an eventful day. I was 19 weeks along and in for our mid-pregnancy ultrasound. And in case you haven't yet heard the wonderful news, Baby H #2 - or BH2 for short - looks great, AND we were so excited to find out...

We are having a BABY GIRL!

Actually I think Anthony was a bit shell-shocked... ("But I don't have girls," were I think the words that possibly came out of his mouth at one point...) But he has adjusted his thinking and is already talking about coaching her basketball team and taking her out on daddy-daughter dates and other fun new daddy-isms.

As for me, I had a sneaking suspicion about this one. Of course, that's easy to say now that we know, but a number of people can verify that there were numerous times I cautiously admitted I thought she was a girl. (I also had thought Park would be a boy, which incidentally he was and still is.) Mother's intuition or luck, I will take them both.

When asked previously, Park had been wavering on whether he wanted a baby brother or a baby sister. Depending on the moment or his mood, he would say one or the other. But he was so sweet when we told him the big news. It was so hard for me to wait until Anthony got home from work, but we told him together, and Park's huge grin and happy squealed, "Really? A gril (how he says 'girl')?" were extremely precious and heart-melting.

The following day we had a play date with an former daycare buddy who also now has a baby sister who's about 6 months old. And Park was so sweet with her - got right down next to her on the floor and said a shy but confident, "Hi there," and handed her the paci she had dropped just like he'd been helping little baby girls soothe themselves for years...

What a wonderful big brother he's going to be to BH2.

As for me, I'm finally starting to let myself feel like this pregnancy is real. It's more... concrete... now. Seeing that little one on the screen as the ultrasound tech scanned and poked and prodded, trying to get just the right scans and measurements... It was so, so cool and made me so, so thankful.

Of course we would have been thrilled with either the announcement of a boy or a girl... But there are certain things I'm now excited about since we know we're cheering for TEAM PINK... I'm excited for someone to get to dress in, well, pink, at least sometimes. I'm excited for long hair and to eventually talk to her about make-up and heels and shaving her legs. I'm excited for someone to pass down my doll collection to, and to teach to read the Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie book series. (I will try this with Park, too, for the record, but I'm not 100% confident he'll be all in...) I am excited to see how her personality develops. Will she be a girly-girl? Will she be more of a tomboy? Will she like to play the piano and read books, like her mama?

Either way, apparently BH2 is going to be quite a pistol (her father's influence? haha...). Several times the tech laughingly commented on how she kept squirming and moving all around and apparently didn't like being prodded from the outside. "I think you'll have your hands full with this one," she said.

I've heard parents say they didn't know how they could fit any more love inside their hearts with the arrival of a second child, but then miraculously, their love-capability just expands exponentially, and you not only love your first-born so much but also the second one just as much. I already have so much love for Anthony and Park and having another little one - a girl - to look forward to loving and having join our family as well. Well, it's just the icing on the cake.

God is good. We are blessed. And excited for what's to come!

"Perspective" - Featuring Guest Blogger Dennis Zimmerman

I love this post written recently by my wise, patient, best dad...  Thanks, dad, for sharing your thoughts! I know I can speak for not only myself but also Erin when I say we DO appreciate your (and mom's) perspective, and we love you! Mwah.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I guess it really is all in your perspective.

As a grandparent it has seemed logical to share some of my accumulated wisdom with my daughters and their families.  After all, it is good stuff.

Recently I have been fond of telling them, “Enjoy every moment because it all passes by so quickly!” From my vantage point at age 59 (I know, so young, right?) it is most certainly true. How is it possible the babies we brought home in our twenties are now presenting us with precious grandbabies? School years are mostly a blur, college years have come and gone, and so much more packed into our 39 years as a family, so my wisdom makes perfect sense…to me!

Somehow I have blocked out the long nights with a child who was sick and only would settle down if she were held and rocked. I seem to have forgotten some of the drama from the school years, when I heard things like, “Dad, those girls won’t be friends with me anymore.” Only a Dad from a house dominated by females would understand. It all seems to have happened so quickly.

So my girls may not have appreciated my perspective when they are awakened in the pre-dawn hours with a child who has an upset stomach and a fever with the associated fun that can bring, or a diaper change that negatively affects a newly pregnant mom, or another run to the ER to see if stitches were necessary after a serious thump on the forehead from an unexpected meeting with a wall.

I guess after reflecting a bit more that maybe those moments do not pass so quickly when you are in the middle of them. Maybe it’s only the passage of time that allows us perspective. So my new wisdom for today is: “Hold on! Hold on because this today is not forever! The circumstances that seem impossible, so overwhelming today will give way. Some days will be really tough, but better ones are coming.”

It’s all in the perspective.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Below...

Dad's the handsome guy in the red "Anoka Assembly of God" shirt, along with his brothers (my uncles Don and Dana) and my grandpa. And in the first shot - that's me in the middle, little sis Erin and Dana - three urchins who grew up in neighboring houses (well, Dana in one and me/Erin in the other - but you probably got that already...) on the family farm... 

 

 

Easter 2010, spent at my parents' in Paynesville... Note the similar foreheads between Park and Grandpa...

 

 

Here's a four-generation pic of dad, my Grandma Zimmerman, me and Park on the day in November 2009 we dedicated him at church...



 

Park and Cousin Hazel enjoying the laps of G&GZ (and I daresay - vice versa as well...) at our house on Thanksgiving 2010...

Valentine's Day 2012 Redux

Park had a GREAT Valentine's Day. In addition to what I can only assume was a fabulous party with his class at school - where they had had on their "listening ears" enough in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day to earn enough "hearts" in the "party jar" to enable them to watch the Charlie Brown V-Day movie... AND he came home with a sack full of Valentines and treat loot...

He also got special Valentines in the mail from cousin Hazel, both grandmas, and a great-aunt, among others.

What a day!

Here are some pictures showing some of the great reactions to opening his Valentines...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good times!!!

Avocados... and Trust

So Baby Hilden #2 - BH2 for short - is about the size of an avocado or turnip these days.

I am cautiously excited to be feeling somewhat better now that I have a few weeks of the second trimester under my belt. Now I'm not 100% nauseous and exhausted 100% of the time; instead I'm about 40% nauseous and exhausted about 40% of the time...

I've been thinking a lot about this pregnancy and how different it is from when I was pregnant with Park - even how different it has been from when I was pregnant with the baby who would eventually be a miscarriage at 8.5 weeks last March.

Pregnancy after a miscarriage is an interesting thing. Tenuous. Or maybe not - we don't really know as we're going through it - but it can definitely seem that way. I remember having virtually no worries about this sort of thing when I was pregnant with Park. I don't think "miscarriage" crossed my mind in any real sense.

That innocence is gone this time around. Now, having experienced the jarring tragedy of a miscarriage and being pregnant again, this time at age 35 (read: "Advanced Maternal Age" or as I prefer to call it: "AMA" - haha), I've really had to learn to trust and take this verse to heart:

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil. 4:6)

It's not always easy, and I'm certainly not perfect at it, but it's something we're called to do nonetheless. And it's also not like worrying about this pregnancy is going to help it along at all.

There are moments when trust and peace are hard to come by. Other times I breathe them in naturally. It's just been a very interesting, humbling experience.

I close with this passage, one of my new [old] favorites:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139: 13-16)

I can't wait to teach it to Park and BH2 some day.

By way of explanation...

Several blog posts have been sitting in my head, unwritten, for quite some time.

What happened, you ask?

I had planned to blog during over my lunch hour, but then I needed to work and make some progress on the ol' bill-paying to-do list.

I wanted to blog after Park went to bed, but then I decided to spend some quality time talking to my husband, with whom I hadn't really caught up all day.

I decided to blog over the weekend, but then I figured playing with Park (or meal planning, or grocery shopping, or housecleaning, or attending church...) was a lot more important.

I said I'd blog during Park's nap, but then I decided to nap instead.

I considered getting up early to blog, but then again - who was I kidding.

You see, there are many excuses explanations for my recent inconsistent blogging habits. I think you'll agree they are all reasonable, no?

Thanks for your continued support and readership. I am not going anywhere. I just haven't been ... here... very much. I would promise to do better, and ultimately that is the goal... but... there are many competing priorities in this life, most of which do trump ye' ol' blog.

Now... Where's my to-do list?

Becca's Blog

She's fun.

She's funny.

She's fabulous.

She's crafty.

She's witty.

She's a great mama.

She's real.

She's pregnant, and we're due about a week apart.

She's my friend.

She loves Jesus.

She's Becca Groves, and she has a fun blog you should check out here.

Yes, I am linking to her blog because I may win something if I do, but I would've linked to it anyway, had the idea come to me. In fact, I believe I've done it before. She's just that great.

Enjoy!

"When You Thought I Wasn't Looking"

Loves this and wanted to share...

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING (author unknown)

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make my favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking I heard you say a prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you make a meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I learned that we all have to help take care of each other.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw you take care of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw how you handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't feel well, and I learned that I would have to be responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw tears come from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking I saw that you cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking I learned most of life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking I looked at you and wanted to say, 'Thanks for all the things I saw when you thought I wasn't looking.'

LITTLE EYES SEE A LOT.

Gratitudes

Today is the coldest day on record in like a gazillion years. Or at least it feels that way.

It's prompting me to think about some things I am so earnestly grateful for. Not the least of which includes...

1. A warm, cozy house
2. A working car
3. A favorite pair of black leather Coach gloves I've managed to retain for over five years (a record in glove retention, people!)
4. A precious blessing expected make a big entrance and impact on my family in July 2012
5. Good doctors; medicine; prescriptions that are readily available; health insurance
6. Health, period
7. My grandparents, all four still alive and well, all of whom I've had the pleasure of growing up knowing, loving and hope to be like some day "when I grow up"
8. Weekend, laughter-filled double-dates with good friends at Red Lobster
9. My patient and loving husband... 'nuf said
10. This dear, adorable, spunky, funny little man, shown here, as he told us, "working" on his laptop from Grandma and Grandpa Zimmerman and his "iPad" from Grandpa and Grandma Hilden:

And so many more.

Tell me: What are you thankful for this brisk January day?