Why is it...

...that when Matt comes to visit we end up with holes in our walls?

It's so much brighter and looks ten times better already, even though I bought all the wrong boxes... (I just plain don't understand electricity...)

I never did get a good before picture, but this is what we started with.

Blessings.

Social Butterflies

So yesterday I took Cecily to the lab to meet my coworkers.  My old coworkers.  *mur*  Yup, I'm officially unemployed.  She wore her future scientist onesie...

It was good to see them all and be back at the lab. I don't really miss work; and yet. I basically spent three years of my life in that building with those people. It's weird that it's just over.

And then that evening Aunt Joanne and Sharon hosted a baby shower for her.  So she got passed around by lots of people yesterday.  I think it wore her out, she slept for 3 and 4 hour stretches last night!  Yay!  There was great rejoicing... or something.  Anyway, and then I took her to the grocery store today and now we're just chilling... in cloth...  I figured it was about time I tried them, even though they still seem kinda big on her.

Blessings.

All Hallows Eve

Apparently we're the grinches on our street... we don't have our light on tonight.  Mostly because we maybe have eaten most of the candy I had bought to hand out to trick-or-treaters... hehe. 

We had a fairly quiet weekend.  I escaped long enough on Saturday to go to the grocery store and get my hair cut.  Crazy hormones are making it grow so fast! And it was just long enough that when I'd lean over to lay Cecily in her crib in the middle of the night it would fall right in her face and startle her.  Not good.  *grin*  While I was gone Bob got to deal with a mess, which I love.  It's good for him. 

Sunday we made it to church all day and she was really good.  Overall it just felt really good to be back...  We went to the farm for supper.  Pretty much spent the evening watching the baby and laughing at the faces she makes.  They're such grandparents... positively elderly... hehe.  Troy and Trent came down to hold her too.  It amuses me to watch boys hold babies for the first time. 

It's Reformation Day.  I sang "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" to Cecily in honor of the occasion.
Blessings.

Lazy...

It's how I felt while watching John and Bryce remove our leaves. *grin*  Yeah, we were panzes and got somebody else to do it.  At least the somebody elses were Brad's Lawn Care... guys I grew up with... because realistically, the logistics of me trying to rake with Cecily are impossible, and Bob is busy at work and allergic to the outdoors right now.  So it was worth it and our yard looks lovely and leaf free until the last four trees lose their leaves.  I'm hoping it'll get really windy and blow them all out of our yard. 

Today I ventured out to Kmart and then stopped at DJ's Pumpkin Patch on the way home.  Cecily got to sit in the warm cabin while I picked out pumpkins and talked to Jeanne... good times. 

Matt stopped by this evening to see Cecily and check out some electrical stuff.  He's going to help put in a new light and medicine cabinet to replace the worlds most annoying fluorescent fixture.  Seriously, you flip the switch, wait five seconds, *flicker*, five seconds, one light comes on, few more seconds, other side comes on.  So hopefully one of these days he won't be busy or traveling and can come do some wiring.

Blessings.  

Happenings

We ended up having a sort of busy weekend.  We didn't go anywhere... but we had people coming to us.  And church. 

So Amber and Sarah made these awesome science onesies for Cecily... they crack me up. 



And here she's modeling her present from Uncle Jakey... it says "Panzer Division" on it... 

My brothers make me laugh a lot.  This is what Cecily has gotten from them:  a stuffed hedgehog, two panzer division shirts, a John Deere onesie, and a heartland bank bib. 

So Friday night Dang came for supper, but he left fairly early and then Jakey came over for a little bit.  Saturday we were lazy bums all day and young Matt came for supper and the evening (we weren't about to attempt to go to testimonies with Cecily, though I'm sad we missed them).   Rustin and Sharon and girls showed up a little bit later.

And then Cecily had about the worst night so far... she woke up hungry every. single. hour.  Half the time I hadn't even gotten back to sleep yet.  We finally gave her a bottle at 9am so I could get a full hour of sleep and still try and make it to church at noon.   

She looks so sweet and innocent in her new church dress.... not like she was up all night long... so deceptive.... haha.

  



 We on the other hand.... haha.  O man.

We cut out right after the baptisms and came home and all took a nap.  So wonderful.  And then later we got milkshakes and Cecily had a pretty good night.  Huzzah! 

Blessings.



A rose by any other name...

... would smell as sweet. 

Or not.  Sometimes we call Cecily 'miss stinky-buns'.  We're terrible, I know.  *grin* 

Anyway... speaking of names... it's kind of cracking me up how people are having trouble with her name!  It's Sess-ah-lee.  (Sicily is a Mediterranean island and therefore a noun, which we are not fond of.)   Granted, it's not a common name- I only know one other Cecily.  But still- it's an old name.  A very, very old name. So funny, because I kind of figured that our criteria of gender-specific and slightly old fashioned would be easy for people.  Guess not!  *sigh*  We picked a weird name for our daughter and didn't even know it.... woe is us!    

So last night we took her to church for the first time.  I was a wimp and sat by Bob just in case.  (Since, you know, if she cried he would have been able to do something about it.)  She had the hiccups for a little bit, but then she slept pretty peacefully through the rest of the service.  *phew*  Ahhh... I have no idea what I'm doing!  What if she would have been fussy?  At what noise level do you take them out?? 

The rest of the night was not so good... third night in a row... ugh.  And then today some of my coworkers came to visit us, which was fun and slightly weird.  Colliding worlds...   

Blessings.

Weekend

We didn't do much this weekend.  Lots of relaxing and looking out at all the leaves in our yard that we just don't want to start raking.  Haha.  I'm thinking we should borrow a mower with a bagger... or bribe some people...

It was college weekend so Uncle Jakey actually came home and stopped by for a little bit.  He doesn't have much experience holding babies.... *grin* 

Cecily and I went for a short walk.  I feel back to normal, but a short walk is about all I can handle before I start to feel really tired and hungry.

Saturday is pizza night at our house and on a whim we decided to order Firehouse Pizza because it's our favorite.  Their sauce is the best and they deliver to T-town... well, this was the last weekend they were open.  So sad!!  We had to take a picture of the pizza and Cecily because she'll never get to experience the goodness of Firehouse... ok, maybe that's a little melodramatic since there are a few other locations in the area.  :)

Bob's aunt and uncle had a wiener roast on Sunday night.  The weather was great, but we didn't stay very long.  I need to ease into things slowly, and smoke makes Bob's allergies ten times worse.

Blessings.

She rules the night...

..and the nights, seem to last as long as six weeks...

*grin*  Billy Joel was really singing about newborns, right? 

Yeah, it's still pretty quiet around here.  Except that little miss Cecily has decided she wants to nurse for three solid hours in the evenings and then wakes up every hour or so during the night.  ugh.  So I'm tired, and Bob's tired, and this too shall pass right?!? 

We are getting the house clean today... Sally is here vacuuming and I gave the bathrooms a good 'christina clean'. 

One of these days I need to work up the courage to go someplace with her by myself... aahhh... maybe next week.

Blessings.

Quiet

Well, we made it through the first week.  And now Bob's back at work.  We miss him. And it's awful quiet around here... and I'm starting to get bored because I don't have a lot to do.  Since I'm supposed to be resting, and my Mom's been over a few times and done the little bit of work that needed doing, and I don't really need to cook. 

Pretty much all I've done today is read blogs and go for a short walk.  Boring, I know.  :) 

We've had lots of visitors... that helps break up the time a little bit.  And I feel like we have more food than I know what to do with already!  Aaahh.  People are too generous.  :P 

Mom tells me I won't be bored for long...

Blessings.

More pictures

We're home and surviving so far.  I'd appreciate your prayers for us adjusting...

Introducing

Cecily Rose Koch

Our second family picture... Although it doesn't look like it, my hair is now combed... not allowed a  shower yet.  :(

For those who care: She was born at 1:20pm, 7lbs 13oz, 20 inches long.  She's already an overachiever- she joins the 4% and actually came on her due date...  

As far as how it went, email me or something.  :)  All I'm gonna say here is that almost everything I didn't want to happen did... easy pregnancy did not equal easy L&D, unfortunately.  But we both survived and avoided a c-section so it's all good. 

Raise the Song of Harvest Home

So I was a little bored yesterday... there are lots of things I could have been doing, but I just didn't feel like it.  I'm not sure I buy that whole "nesting" thing, I feel more like being lazy.  Anyway, so I went to the farm to ride in the combine and ended up driving it for a few hours.  It was great. 

When I got there, there was a front blowing through.  I was so afraid it was going to start raining hard and I wouldn't get a combine ride... last year I didn't get to at all and it was very sad. 

One of my favorite things to watch- corn falling into the head- positively mesmerizing.

Mom was combining and she let me switch with her.  Trent was driving the auger wagon, Fred had the semi, and Lee R. was in the grain truck.  One wonders where the Old Farmer was....  hehe.  

Getting ready to unload on the go- I was driving and Mom was taking pictures.  I'm not sure when Trent suddenly got old enough for this! Yikesabee, I must be getting really old!  

And then... we look over and there he is, kicked back with his cool shades and a magazine.  The tractor got too far ahead of me only once that I had to shut the auger off so as not to unload corn on the ground....  Hehe. Sorry Trent, have to tease you just a little bit! 

It cleared up again.  Such a beautiful sight.  Through a dusty, smeary, combine window.  *grin*

Such fun, I mean, when else can you talk about dragging your snouts and it make perfect sense? 

Blessing.

Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves
Drift by the window
The autumn leaves
Of red and gold

I see your lips
The summer kisses
The sunburned hands
I used to hold

Since you went away
The days grow long
And soon I'll hear
Old winter's song

But I miss you most of all
My darling
When autumn leaves
Start to fall

I don't mind fall so much when it's beautiful out like today... but the last two grey, dreary days, no thank you.  Way too melancholy.

So far I'm not minding not working.  I've gotten to meet up with Amy and Natalie for lunch, and I went on a walk yesterday with Aunt Joanne. 

Randomly, I loooove going to OSF's Center for Health.  The architecture and decor are Prairie Style and the landscaping is just plain awesome.  *grin*

Blessings.

Done-ish

So at least one room looks halfway decorated.  :)  Probably because there's been a little bit more of a deadline.... haha.  Still can't say that I'm all that excited about the baby, but I am excited about how cute the room is!  The white against the green-blue just makes me smile... and the nine patch blocks... sadly, with the crib at the highest level you can't see the excellent box pleat in the crib skirt that took much math and measuring. 

Have I mentioned that I'm allergic to ironing??  I am.  I really should have ironed the curtains before I hung them up, but...  I did use my steamer on them, which worked great for the top half.  Not so much for the bottom half because, hm... steam rises!  O well.  The mobile makes me happy too.  Any thing that involves balloons, yarn, and copious amounts of glue is pretty awesome, really. 

My new rocker is awaiting pads.  The ones Mom ordered didn't quite match, but they were super cute- so now we need to decide if we should keep them or order different ones.  Right now it will be just fine with the quilt Grandma Beutel made.  Oh, and the highchair is just sitting here until it becomes useful... 

These are the shelves Bob and I had such fun hanging the other night.  They were left in the basement of our house so I cleaned them and gave them a fresh coat of paint.  The pictures are soooo cute, I got them on Etsy.  I especially like the little hedgehog one- it's called "My favorite book is blue."  Yes, please!  And the boy and girl duckies from my coworkers... hehe.  Hooray for ducks! 

 Hooray for wood floors.... that need a rug.  Unfortunately, area rugs are expensive.  And I'm not paying ridiculous amounts of money for something that will be in a babies room....that's shag... that isn't machine washable... and isn't vacuumable.  The one that I want that's fairly cheap and not shag and can be vacuumed and put in the wash is from Ikea.  Also unfortunately, they don't sell it online and I have no plans of going to Ikea in the near future.  *Sigh*  Anybody going that wants to pick one up for me?  hehe. 





Now for the rest of the house... only problem is, I'm having a hard time deciding if I want to do the same things as at the duplex or not... I'm very indecisive.
Blessings.



Kicking down the cobblestones...

So I've been kind of a lazy bum all week.  Which I love.  *grin*

I went to the doc on Tuesday and then returned some stuff.  Apparently Target has registry problems because I ended up with triples of a few things... which is no fun when people see their gift twice at showers, and no fun for me because returning things is never a smooth process. 

There were a few spots in our bathrooms where there was no trim and the old linoleum was curling, so to keep the new stuff from doing the same thing they told us to put in some quarter round.  Not hard, except that we don't have a miter box or a miter saw... so I resorted to the coping saw and a square... which worked great.  Except that the walls/vanities aren't necessarily square... it's not the best job in the world so don't look too close.  Ok, it's pretty bad.  But it will serve its purpose until we can get new vanities.  Which I want to do right now!  The counter top in one bathroom has a pointless overhang that I banged my head into.  Hard.  It hurt.  I had a bump for a day or so.  

Dang came for supper last night.  Otherwise, I've been trying to put stuff away and get it out of boxes and into closets and onto shelves.  We finally got some pictures hung on the walls tonight.  Poor Bob got the lovely job of helping me hang shelves in the baby's room.  Drywall anchors and I do not get along.  At all.  And he's been getting random opinion requests for what to hang where.  Hehe. 

So the other day I had the windows open and heard one of my favorite things... "Band, a-ten-HUT!"  Yeah, I like where we live.  :)  Although, it's very sad that T-town doesn't have a competitive marching band so I could listen to the awesomeness every day...

Blessings.

Footloose and Fancy Free

Well... it's over. Kind of sad so I'm trying not to think about it. I took in cupcakes on Friday, and the ladies that I work with the most took me out to One World for lunch. I left early because I had nothing left to do and I hate goodbyes.

Friday night was potluck. Aaron and Katie hosted at his parents house way up in the northern wilds. Hehe. Janelle and I rode with Dale and Meg and Maria because it would not have made much sense for Bob and Brent to drive all the way home and then turn around and go back the same way. Maria got to go to 'Grant and Hannah's eat pizza' so we got to see a little bit more of the Stark county countryside. Good times... and C and J's house is awesome... only slightly jealous. :)

I found my sewing machine last week so I got my quilt square done in time for quilt club on Saturday morning. And then my sister hosted a baby shower in the afternoon. The decorations were great- my Grandpa Schlipf's baby gown on the right with some of his crocheted shoes, and one from the trunk of Wyss baby things on the left, with some other awesome vintage baby things. So cool!

Bonsai san is excited to be a big brother.

Sunday was pretty quiet. We ended up going to Bob's parents for supper. Today I finally got the house clean, although, I've mostly been a lazy bum. *grin*

Blessings.

As our lives change...

As we go on, we remember, all the times we, had together....

So life seems to have slowed down a little bit.  Which is great.  There are still boxes sitting around, but now it's mostly things that we need to figure out where we want to store. 

I attempted apple cider doughnuts with apple juice instead of cider... yeah, they're good, but they don't taste like apple.  Which is very sad.  I guess I should have been patient and waited for cider.  *grin*

We finally got the garage swept out- hooray!  There were also a whole bunch of random shelves and hardware stacked in the corner... and a random pallet nailed to the wall.  Um... why would you nail a pallet to the wall?  We couldn't think of any logical reason.  Bob sawed it all into pieces and we're hoping the garbage men take it today.  One of our older neighbors saw that both of us were home and came over to introduce herself... and invited us to church... very sweet of her.  I really like our new neighborhood. 

The Beutel chili supper was Sunday evening.  They make good chili.  And lots of other good food too.  I made a butterscotch peach pie (out of the Farm Journal Pie Cookbook) and I'm kind of glad that there were leftovers.

This is my last week of work.  It's weird.  And very bittersweet.  We all went out for lunch today and Bob joined us. 

To quote Scarlett, "I can't think about that right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow."
Blessings. 

For The Record

I can still touch my toes.  And hold it for quite a while.   Bob can't. 

*grin*

There shall be showers of blessings...

For some reason, I only ever hear Willie Nelson singing that song in my head.  From an old record.  Yes, I know I'm weird.

I'm really not sure if I'm ready for summer to be over.  I'm glad it's not stifling hot anymore, but I'm not looking forward to cold... at least this year I can park in a garage!  *grin*  And maybe, if we can find a cushy love seat or two comfy chairs for cheap or free, I can curl up with some cocoa in front of our fireplace.  Which we probably shouldn't try and use until we get it inspected and cleaned... hm... candles on the hearth it is... hehe. 

Anyways, it's been a mostly quiet week so far.  Tuesday night I hosted sewing club and basically forgot to invite half the ladies.  *sigh*  My brain is officially mush.  We've been feeling carpet tacks in the doorways, not good, so the carpet guy was supposed to come out and fix that Wednesday afternoon...  I had a doctor appointment and errands to run, so my poor Mom came and chilled all afternoon and he never showed up.  Slightly annoying. 

My coworkers had a baby shower for us yesterday... so weird.  And it makes me feel so mercenary... why, yes, you can buy me all sorts of baby things and then I'll be quitting in a week and will see you very rarely, if ever again.  Mur.  It was fun though, and the cake was wonderful.  I got to bring home the balloons too, which I love. 

Fallish weather makes me want apple cider doughnuts... I wonder if I will have time to make them anytime soon...
Blessings.

I've got my gear in my pack...

We spent the first part of Labor day weekend camping with our potluck.  It was great fun, but soooo hot.  I'm a big fan of camping when it's not 90 degrees.  Or in the mountains.  Or up north.  Ah well, we were with cool people so it was totally worth it.  I pretty much forgot to take any pictures... oops. 

One of our Christmas presents last year was thermarest sleeping pads for camping.  They're pretty much amazing, when you can sleep on your back.  Um... yeah, I'm not supposed to.  So we borrowed an air mattress from my parents.  It had an electric pump and since there wasn't any electricity at the timber we brought along our power inverter... that decided not to work.  Bob ended up taking it to Rollyn's and inflating it there.  By the time he got back, it had already deflated some.  Ahh.  Deep breaths.  Just slightly frustrating.  We started off the night mostly off the ground, but every time I woke up more of my body was in contact with the parched, hard, baked earth.  In the morning we were on a nice flat piece of plastic... so comfortable.  hehe.  Honestly, the worst part of the whole thing was probably my attitude because I slept pretty well (for camping) and I wasn't sore in the morning.  And I guess now I have bragging rights, because how many other people can say they've slept on the ground at 36 weeks?  *grin*

Saturday was rather warm... I spent most of it in a lawn chair just chilling and laughing at the kids running around.  Then the rain came through and we had to scramble to get everything undercover.  I was glad we'd already packed our tent and stuff up.  Mary and I went back to our house to get my veggies for the evening and freshen up a little bit and made it back to the timber just in time for the second wave of rain and the storm.  We ended up eating supper in the cabin and then moving to the Beutel cabin for s'mores later on. 

After church Bob and I headed over to Kaleigh's house for an Arizona trip reunion... Bob went, I didn't, but I've heard all about it.  :)  Mike was there, and Jomama... It was really good to see them all again, and see K's horse and mule.  hehe.  The weather was awesome.  I love how nice and cool it got.  

Monday I slept in and it was wonderful.  We got the baseboard all back on and painted- hooray for no more nail holes staring at me!  And some curtains hung... and the house clean and laundry done.  Then I decided that we needed another lamp in the living room.  The duplex had wall lights so we never needed lamps, now our house has no wired lights at all in the living room.  Which, in my opinion, is crazy.  I get the whole mood lighting thing, but it's really nice to be able to see sometimes... or all the time... like for cleaning, or reading, or just sitting.  I don't like dimness.  Anyway, we went lamp shopping and then got pizza for supper. 

And back to work today... as Bob reminded me, my ninth to last day.  Aaahhh.  Don't want to think about it.
Blessings.