She's here!

This post is LONG over due, but I just had to update you... a few posts back I mentioned that I was on baby watch. Well, tax day or not she sure made her entrance!

Little Abby Grace was born on 15 April.

Her momma pushed (yes... just the pushing) for 3 hours. 3 HOURS!! Can you even imagine?! Oof... it makes me tired just thinking about it. But she did SO great and now our pals Laurie and BJ are the proud parents of a beautiful little girl.

She arrived on her own schedule (meaning several weeks past her momma's ideal time, and even 1 week over her due date), but came out with a head full of dark hair (just like her momma) and the cutest little raspy cry you'd ever hear. Seriously, y'all. It's so sad!

But since it's not my story to tell, I'll leave it at that. Their now 3-member family is happy and healthy, and all are doing great.

Now, unfortunately, I don't have any of the pics from our visit to the hospital, but here's a few of when we went to visit them after their first night back home:

Congrats, guys. We're so happy for you and can't wait to see her grow!!

And just for giggles, here's typical "use" picture... it really doesn't get more accurate than this:

Craziness

We're never given more than we can handle, but that doesn't mean we don't start to feel broken by the weight of it all, right?!

I had a rough weekend. Some of that was captured in yesterday's blog. But the stuff not mentioned, as well as a pretty rough day today... let's just say I'm feeling pretty weighed down today.

And tonight I have to go to the clinic and meet with my client for a re-test, since she still hasn't gotten her period (and I think she's probably pregnant, and the last test was too early).


Don't get me wrong - I still absolutely LOVE volunteering and interning at the clinic. I really really do. And I'm looking forward to working with her again and helping her. I just pray that when I'm walking in, I'll be able to leave everything at the door and be Jesus to her when she needs it.


But now that, too, has me thinking. I wonder how many people have left baggage at that door.

Interns. Counselors. Clients.

I wonder what it would look like if we could put on our special goggles and see the kind of stuff that's just been chillin there for who knows how long.


I've heard the saying, before, that if everyone threw their troubles into a pile, we would each be quick to take back our own, after seeing it amidst the weight of all the others.

That's probably true.



This week should be full of interesting things. Some really good friends of ours are already overdue to have their baby girl, and I just CAN'T wait to meet her! Come on little Abby!! She's apparently just way too comfortable hanging out in there.

Sunday, on top of answering all of the questions regarding our worship pastor leaving, I was also lucky enough to field the "baby watch" questions.

*sigh*

Now I know how google feels.


Anywho - we're on baby watch. Kind've on neighbor watch (I'll still need to fill you on in all of that mess, soon. oh it's good... you'll love hearing all that action). Still recovering from our eventful and emotional weekend. AND I have a Dr's appt on Thursday. Fuunnn stuff.

I'm beginning to feel like the only solution would be planning a good vacation for just the two of us...





Can I get a Amen?!

Time to Grow Up... for a minute

**Scroll down for info on the coming Etsy shop and prices for my homemade Baby items!!

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As much as I LOVE love love making cute little baby shtuff, I thought I should attempt a few things for around the home, as well... seeing as how that's kind've the way I convinced hubby I should get a sewing machine to begin with.


You know - to spruce up the house on a dime? Yeah. That was my angle. ;-) Aaaaand it worked.




SCORE!


Anywho, this past Saturday, McStudly and I went to a cook out at the home of one of McStudly's AF buddies. It was fun! I already know him and his wife from when we went to the Kenny Chesney concert with them a year or two back, so it was good seeing them again.


Well, back to the point of the story: it was like an hour away, so we left their house at around 6 and got home by about 7 ish, or shortly thereafter. So I decided that since I was done making baby shoes and headbands, at least for a minute or two (HA!), that I'd finally make a pillow for our couches, since I'd already bought the fabric, and whatnot.


So I did it! I made an envelope pillow (you know, kind've like a sham, where you can stick the pillow form into the back of it with no zipper or anything? Yeah that kind.) and it actually turned out pretty awesome. I'm so proud:







And my next project:

I know it's hard to see - this picture didn't turn out so hot, but it's all I have for now. This is the mock-up of the baby bib I'll be making for little Kilea's shower, next month (or whenever it ends up being). I'm going to make a similar one for Baby Sierra (well, I will once I can figure out how to make an "S" that doesn't look craptastic), and possibly Eva, as well. And don't worry - I'll be sure to update you on the project progress as time passes! ;-)

Speaking of baby showers - does it strike anyone else as super odd to plan baby showers a month AFTER the baby is born? I mean, this isn't a last minute idea, but the people planning it have planned it that way from the beginning. How weird is that?! If you ask me, although something is better than nothing, they're going to have most of what they need by then, aren't they?

Ah well. I'm sure it'll still be fun. ;-)

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Etsy and Baby Stuff:

For those of you that asked, I'm still deciding on prices and such to sell the baby shoes and headbands (and btw, I'm SO totally honored that you like them so much. It just makes my day!). I'm hoping to have an Etsy shop up soon, but if you're too anxious to wait for that, just leave me a comment, or e-mail me at sarahpuhl {at} yahoo {dot} com, and I'll get back to you on how long it'll take me to make them and/or ship them to you. I'm thinking about charging about $15, or a little less, for a set, but I'm not sure.

Be honest - is that a reasonable price? I want it to be inexpensive, but still cover the cost of supplies and shipping in the process. Would you pay that for a set? Maybe a little bit more for customization, or something? What about $15 for the set with flowers, and maybe $12 for the plain set, is that a good deal?

Let me know what you guys think and we'll go from there.

Feetsies

Here's a pic of Baby Sierra Grace's booties and matching headband.  

What do you think??

I took it to her parents while they were still in the hospital, and she put the headband on her - it was too cute!!  I love this new-found hobby of mine.  It's a blast to make the stuff and then get to see them on such wittle cutsies!!

Okay - moving on to another project... this one is going to be slightly more adult then the  others.

Like I Said...

I told you all that I've been getting awfully crafty lately, right?! Well, if these people would quit having babies, I could move on to a few more projects I've been wanting to work on!

Just kidding.... kind've.

Two Pastors in our church, their wives were due to have babies this week. Well, one of them done had the thing! Ha ha. Baby Sierra was born today. Congrats you guys!! I'm sure she's quite the lucky gal.

The others are set to be induced at nidmight - er - midnight (Sorry... a little Rindercella humor, for those of you who may remember) Wednesday evening. Little Kilea will be here before we know it!!

So with all these pretty little girls coming into the world, of COURSE I've had to make some adorable little baby accessories, right?! So a little set of shoes & a matching headband or two may or may not have been made for when they're a teensie bit bigger. If you scroll down, you can see the set I made for little Kilea out of a little fabric leftover from turning a dress into a shirt.

Sierra's wasn't finished, just yet. I thought I had time until Sunday, but it looks like she had other plans and insisted that she come today! Hopefully I can get everything finished tonight, or at least sometime soon and before she's outgrown it! ha ha.

Anywho - that's that. BUT I wanted to show you guys the fabric I bought to make a pillow or two for our couches (I can FINALLY replace those horrendous pillows that came with... HOORAY!!). Check it out (picture of fabric is darker than reality):

And for those of you wondering, YES I have some things up my sleeves for some little boys. I'm hoping to send some stuff to a certain blogger friend of mine, when I finally get the chance to finish it all (she shall remain nameless until I finally finish it and ship it out... then again, it's not rocket science if you want to try and guess).

So - what do you think? If I had an etsy shop, would you buy from me? I'd be cheap, I promise... and there'll be more options coming, once I get the chance to put my brainstorming session down on paper - er - fabric? :-P

Toodles!!

My Food Baby

See? Whatd I tell you?

Pretty ridiculous... And quite a bit painful, at times.

PS: This is not as bad as it can get... "the incident" was a bad day, so imagine it even bigger, if you can.

Normal...

This is about how I typically look on any given day, give-or-take. Stay tuned for the 'food baby' reveal...

Grub

So... I get to make dinner for Brittany and Jason, and their parents, tonight. They just had their beautiful baby, Tessie Leigh, and we're all helping them out by bringing them dinner so they can just relax and enjoy her. :-)

I'm excited. I wanted to mix it up and make them something different - so, I put my meatballs in the crockpot last night, and mixed my secret sauce together with it. And it smelled SO good when I got up this morning (and tasted yummy, too!). So they are having Meatball Subs for dinner.

I hope they like them (if you're reading them, and you don't... let me know, now, and I've got a back up for you!! I don't mind eating my meatballs all by myself - they're yummy!). But hopefully it'll be 'Mighty Good'. ;-)

But all this thinking about grub has not only made me hungry, but it also reminds me of the Lion King's Timon and Pumba. Remember how they used to show down on those little grubs?

Good times... good times....

WARNING: Images of little babies...

Don't look if you're squeamish. But seriously... I have two quesitons for you. #1 - how can you look at this and not believe in God. And #2 - how can you look at this and not believe this is a CHILD until a certain point in the pregnancy? Seriously, though...

hands at 7 weeks in the womb

All essential organs have begun to form.
Elbows and toes are visible.
The fingers have grown to the first joint.
Facial features — the eyes, nose, lips, and tongue — continue to develop.
The outer ears begin to take shape.
Organs begin to be controlled by the brain.
The length is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch.

feet at 10 weeks in the womb

The unborn child is now called a fetus, rather than an embryo.
The head is half the length of the body.
The arms and legs are long and thin.
The hands can make a fist with fingers.
Red blood cells are produced.
The length is about 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 inches.

face at 12 weeks in the womb

The neck is present and the face well formed.
The eyelids close and will reopen at about 24 weeks.
Tooth buds appear.
The arms and legs move.
All body parts and organs are present.
The fibers that carry pain to the brain are developed; however, it is unknown if the unborn child is able to experience sensations such as pain.
Definitive signs of male and female gender are present.
A heartbeat can be heard with electronic devices.
The length is about 2 to 3 inches.

15 weeks

The skin is almost transparent.
The mouth makes sucking motions.
Amniotic fluid is swallowed.
Sweat glands develop.
The liver and pancreas are starting to work.
The length is about 3 to 4 inches.

21 weeks and fighting for life

Some experts have concluded that the unborn child is probably able to feel pain.
The skin becomes less transparent as fat begins to deposit.
Eyebrows and lashes appear.
Breathing-like movements become regular and are detected by ultrasound, but the lungs have not developed enough to permit survival if birth occurs.
The unborn child turns its entire body side to side and front to back.
The length is about 6 to 7 inches.

I'll probably finish this some other time. But I just wanted to say... this is THE coolest stuff EVER!!!

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Ignorance is.... STUPID!

You know that old saying ignorance is bliss? Well, I only agree when referring to "initial" ignorance. (Huh?!) I mean... when you initially find out that you know NOTHING about something... understandable. It is! But unless you are a child (when it's obviously okay to continue on about your business without a care in the world), then take it upon yourself to grow!

(Okay - this doesn't make sense... but in all fairness, I warned you about the confusion and lack of direction in my brain!)

But I think that a trap we easily fall into is comfort or complacency. Sometimes we say things like "I'd rather not know" or "I'm better off not knowing!" But are we really? Or is it an excuse to not feel guilty about something? Obviously, I'm not talking about joking around with friends, or something like that, but think about it...

As Christians, we get caught up in this cookie-cutter-idea of a world that because God loves us, he wants us to be happy and enjoy life and things will be easy and issues will be resolved by God and just resolve themselves. But that's SO missing the point!!! God gave you a BRAIN and the ability to fill it with knowledge and sound judgement. He also gave you a command to love your neighbor, not to avoid them until a problem goes away. When the bible talks about relationships we like to think about how people are supposed to treat us, but we TOTALLY miss or ignore the whole point that it's telling US how to treat OTHERS and NOT the other way around! God tells us to love other no matter WHAT they say or do to us, no matter how they treat us, no matter WHAT they say about us or our friends... we are to love them as HE loves us!!!

And how does he love us? Unconditionally. We screw up... he loves us. We screw up again? He loves us. The same thing over and over? He loves us and forgives us for it - and here's the kicker: He doesn't hold it against us!! So how can we EVER justify a decision where we do just that to another person? Whether they are a Christian or not doesn't matter. God didn't tell us to love the church... he tells us to LOVE. Period. Not conditions. No questions. No circumstances. He just tells us to love.

So what are we doing about it? Lord knows I'm failing MISERABLY! But we have GOT to wake up and start trying harder. It will take work, but it can happen. Just don't forget to love. If we do all these nice things, and help people, but we don't have love, we might as well have just thrown around a bunch of metal trash cans and called it a day, because it's just useless noise and empty motions. Do some homework. Read through 1 Corinthians Ch. 13 in The Message translation, and tell me what you think - what do we need to change, what are we doing wrong?


ALRIGHT!!
Enough seriousness for one day. Now on to the fun stuff!

A BIG shout-out to my Big sister... She's reached AND surpassed her goal of a 10% weight loss!! WOOP WOOP!!

And also - it's almost Mother's Day!! What are we planning? Not a clue... still working on it, actually. BUT I do know it will involve a lunch with Mom at the restaurant of her choosing, and that won't be decided until she says "I don't know! Why don't you guys just pick something!" and we all mull around until someone says "Olive Garden. It's done. Let's go - I'm STARVING!" So... after all that, we'll probably be at Olive Garden eating lunch on Mother's day, and I'm sure there will be SOME gifts involved! *tee hee hee* (insert additional innocent childish laughter here). More on Mother's Day plans to follow.

And on that note ... a BIG Shout-out to the almost-mothers out there!! Brittany is expecting her first little on and will actually find out if it'll be a girl or boy JUST before her first Mother's Day (isn't that cute?!), AND Kelly already knows she's having a girl, but it's still her first Mother's Day as well. And Finally, Terri is going to actually be able to HOLD her wonderful baby boy, Bennet, on her first Mother's Day! CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES!!!!!

Peace out! :-P