family of three

I was at a garage sale last week and a little girl about Ivar’s age fell off of a tricycle and hit her head really hard. Everyone froze at the sale as the babysitter went to scoop her up explaining, “it’s been a really big day for her…she just met her little sister this morning at the hospital. And she’s wondering where her mom and dad are.”

On the walk home I got weepy (not really hard to do recently) thinking about Ivar and all of the change that is ahead for that little boy. Soon he’ll be the one meeting his little sibling, and then he’ll watch his house be boxed up and then he’ll find himself waking up in a new room.

Dear Ivar,
My sweet baby boy. Soon we are going to add another member to our family and one day we’ll try really hard to remember what life was like before this new sibling joined our clan. We’ll become a strong  family unit and our hearts will grow in size once more (seemingly impossible, but we know it is true.) We are so excited for you to have a playmate, a lifelong friend, someone to share family inside jokes with.

But I want you to know how precious these 20 months have been as a family of three. You are the joy of our hearts and bring us laughter, entertainment and happiness like we have never known. You get all of the attention and this works well for all of us. You love us as much as we love you.

Last night the three of us went to REI and then to Target. And we all shared an icee at Target, taking turns sipping from our different straws. You loved being a part of the sharing, spoke up if we were skipping your turn and screamed excitedly as the icee approached your face. You make our errands actual events, our to-do lists become memorable outings.

In the mornings you yell for Daddo and he will get you out of your crib so you can help him make his coffee. Then the two of you check the garden, set the sprinklers and eat some raspberries. You will also use this time to take petals off of the flowers. Never the dead flowers. Always the thriving ones. You are proud to help.

Some mornings you will join us in bed, but lately this annoys you as it is obvious you believe it is time we all start our day. You want to get down off the bed, but only if we get down too. It is time to be up and moving.

Life is going to change a lot with a new baby. Attention will be split and there will be quite a bit to adjust to. And then we'll move to the new house and settle into new rooms and routines. I have been praying for all of our hearts during this season of transition. It might be rocky for a while. I am sort of bracing for that. But I also know that babies grow quickly and we will find our rhythm in a few months. I have asked Jesus for extra grace and patience as we all adjust to a new home, a new baby, a new sleep routine (or lack-there-of).

But I am so excited that we get to bring you with us. Of course we do, because you’re our son. But in some way I am looking at you to serve as a constant within all of the changes ahead. You’ll still be full of silliness, full of joy for life, full of Ivar-goodness. I like knowing that it is the three of us who are heading on this next adventure together. We’ll adjust together, grow in love together, fall hard for this little baby together and continue to live our days fully alive.

So Ivar Nicholas. I think I got a little off track, but what I really set out to tell you is that these 20 months have been sweet, sweet  months with you. I will always look at the pictures from this season and think of the memories we have as a family of three with fondness, happiness and joy. Because you are our first born, our sweet little boy.

37 weeks

I just cropped this picture and need to acknowledge how great my husband is. This picture makes me laugh, realizing what a sport he is to put up with my photo ideas...so that when I say, "here, hold this watermelon like it's a baby!" he actually does, and then gives the camera a half smile. He's good to me. (This picture is a throwback to the one we took with a pumpkin when I was preggers with Ivar...at the end of this post)

We are 37 weeks and I'm feeling great. I tucker out easily, but found out today that I am pretty low iron and that taking a supplement might really help with energy. And basically I am just very pregnant with a one year old. That's the biggest reason for being tired!

Our closing date and moving date has been moved up a month so that we will now move ten days after my due date. Not sure how that will all turn out, but I'm sitting loose and have boxed a whole lot of our house up already. It's going to be a busy and full summer, but it's all wonderful stuff and I'm not too bent out of shape about the timing. Wouldn't have picked it, but I'm determined to make it work!

Next week I'll start sharing bits of our new place. We could not be more excited about the home we're moving to. And thrilled that everything is coming together so quickly so we can move in and get settled.

backyard camping

Friday night we "camped" in the backyard. It's the only way to camp when you're nine months pregnant and have a one year old.

We went into the night with hopeful (though very low) expectations. Ivar was wired. He kicked his legs around like a donkey, diving into the sleeping bags and thermarests while yelling, "Mama! Daddo!" He laughed and screamed and in time, four of our neighbors had come over to see what kind of party we had going on in our backyard.

At 10:30 he still hadn't really settled down. We read our books, and he dove over our bellies laughing and saying our names as if to say, "Mama Daddo! What on earth are we doing? I am delirious tired and you still haven't put me to bed and we're all together and I love it!"

A bit before 11:00 Rory and I pretended to be asleep and Ivar lay between us. And then I felt a tiny finger go up my nose and heard Ivar say, "hello, nose."

We laughed so hard. And Ivar started kicking his legs again, force laughing and yelling, "Mama! Daddo!" I think that's about when we gave up on the idea that we might all sleep together in the tent that night.

I actually did fall asleep and at some point Rory took Ivar into his crib.

I slept soundly until 1:00 when I had to use the restroom for the fourth time. And then we decided we had nothing to prove and moved into our bed. I was achy the next day, but actually was surprisingly comfortable out there with my four pillows propping my back, belly, knees and head.

raspberry season

Earlier this week I gave Ivar a few raspberries to try and showed him where I picked them.

He didn't forget.

Now, when we go outside, he walks right over to the patch and helps himself. He does a decent job picking the ripe berries, but it doesn't really matter if the berry is fully red yet or not. And it doesn't matter if the stem is still on it when he picks. He eats it all and mmmm's while he feasts.

summertime