Graduation Day!!!

Last night, Emmett officially slept in his crib!!! We are labeling today graduation day for this small victory. Granted, I had never tried the crib up to this point because of his obvious dislike for his bassinet but finally decided it was worth a try with the help of the angel monitor that our neighbors loaned us. (The angel monitor is one that tracks breathing/movement as well as sound so if the baby stops breathing for too long a time it alerts us.) I think we all slept pretty well last night :O)

2 weeks old yesterday and getting so big on us already!


~Olive

Marking His Territory?

So it took a bit for me and Emmett's Grandma Bahler to realize that newborn diapers no longer work......

Wednesday, early morning: Emmett does not like his bassinet. Longest time in it may be a whopping 15 minutes. For slrrp reasons, he sleeps with me. What do I find Wednesday morning (which was bound to happen) but a soaked through diaper and me peed on.

Same day, a few hours later: my mom lays down to take a nap with Emmett on her chest so I can take a shower, etc. She wakes up to find herself in a similar situation.... good thing she hadn't showered yet.

Same day, later that afternoon: my dad is holding Emmett on the couch. Emmett is becoming notorious for loud farting noises whenever he is pooping, which takes the guesswork out of a dirty diaper :0) He starts making these noises and my dad immediately starts calling for my mom to take him. In about 15 seconds, he went through diaper, clothes, and decently thick blanket to get my dad on his shirt.

Finally same day, late evening: just took a bath and was on his changing table getting ready for bed. We had yet to put any clothes on him when he starts peeing on his bedroom wall. I look around helplessly trying to think of what to throw on top of him until my mom realizes what he's doing and throws the towel on him.



What a day! We eventually wised up and went up a diaper size..... no problems since but we had to wander that day.... Who would his next target be?

~Olive

Emmett: 1 week (ish)

Going out on the town and loving my carseat!

Daddy and me...... Go Boilermakers!!!

All sprawled out, getting ready for my sponge bath.

Emmett lost only 1/2 lb. by Saturday after he was born. They typically want them to gain it back in two weeks. By Monday he was 10 lb. 11 oz. He'd gained almost a pound in only 2 days! Phew! No one can say he's not getting enough to eat!


~Olive

Our Little Miracle

God has given us a miracle.... and in all honesty a testimony to His power and love. Emmett Dean was born Tuesday March 9th at 3:30 pm, but its God's hand in his birth that give all glory and honor to God.

Despite 37 1/2 hours of labor (which included 6 hours of pushing), him originally being posterior and turning only by God's grace in the middle of the night, and having shoulder dystocia God gave us an amazing little boy......

Our little miracle......

• He is completely fine, healthy and big!
• Most posterior babies don't turn to the right position in the middle of labor, but our little man sometime in the middle of the night when we were trying to get some much needed sleep and weren't trying to find a way to turn him ourselves- God was letting everyone know it was He who turned our little man and He was the one to be praised.
  
• While its common with shoulder dystocia that the collar bone breaks getting them out.... no bones are broken.
• Despite finding two tears in the umbilical cord that we we're pretty sure happened from him playing with it in the womb, his vital signs were always good through delivery and it delivered life-giving oxygen when he needed it.
• He is a beautiful 10 lb 8 oz, 22 1/2 inches long boy.

You know.... when praying about whether to have the baby at home or go to the hospital, there was such a peace about having him at home. I couldn't really describe it and we weren't very open about it because we didn't want people to worry and not at all sure we wanted to explain it to everyone. There were several reasons why we wanted to have him at home but in the end, it was really God's overwhelming peace that was our reasoning. I know it's a hard thing for many to understand because it seems like such a risky thing to do (though people did it all the time not that long ago) but given the choice, I'd do it again the same way with our little man. God had us in His hands and told us to trust HIM. We are ALWAYS blessed beyond measure when we trust in Him and give Him our everything.

So many thanks to everyone who was praying. We felt your prayers through it all and we know God was listening. It's comforting to know that God answers and as always.... is in control.

~Olive

41 Weeks And Counting

This is just a prayer request to anyone who reads our blog for patience. We are very excited that baby Lindberg will surely come any day now and as our excitement grows.... so does our impatience :O) It's sometimes hard to wait on God's timing but we're giving baby Lindberg over daily. Your prayers are VERY much appreciated :O)

40 Weeks: The Happy Couple

So we're still waiting.... if not more and more impatiently for Baby Lindberg to arrive. We're not worried that the due date has passed as that's common for first time mommas and technically, its just a calculated date..... but that doesn't make us any less excited.

I decided recently though that we need a 'family photo' before he's born for his scrapbook so what better time to take the picture than at 40 weeks (and 1 day) :O) So here's us, the happy couple.


~Olive

Baby Art

So I'm still decorating for Baby Lindberg's Room. I truly hope he's not waiting on it being finished to join us because I'm taking my time :O) It's been fun working on the projects though so I'm sharing a few of the more recent ones.

1
Popeye bought a bulletin board from a CAT auction for super cheap. I originally tried to make it magnet board because I didn't like the idea of push pins but that didn't work so great..... sooooo... I pulled the wood frame off of it and cut it into three equal pieces with a box cutter.

2
I found three pieces of material that I liked and wrapped it around the cork board, using a staple gun to keep it on. Super easy!!!

3

Finally... hung them on the baby's blank wall. I figure we'll eventually push pin things in it but for now, I'm just liking it as wall art. I'm still considering cutting out a cute elephant design or using ribbon on one of them to add a little 'bling' to the project but for now..... this is one more baby project that I had fun doing!

Flashback to Christmas

This is a quick flashback because I just now got the pictures :O)

We were asked at the last minute by a sweet lady at the Main Street Office if we'd be interested in setting up at T-Ville's Victorian Christmas. For those that don't know what Victorian Christmas it really is just what it sounds like. All the shops stay open late the two nights, there are tons of food stands, local vendors (if their goods are homemade and qualify) can set up. People young and old alike rent costumes and walk up and down Main Street dressed in Victorian apparel. It really is something fun to do (if the weather is nice).

Despite the cold and the possibility of rain, we set up a table filled with various projects. Ben, Lydia, and Hannah had been working on their Co-op projects with their groups that were finished and set up. We had watches from our previous festival adventures. We made a few things such as pecans, popcorn balls, warm drink mixes, etc that we bagged and set out. We had a few scarves and our handmade cards already made. It was sort of a hodgepodge of various items.

The fun of it had to be the dressing up. We, of course, couldn't be left out of the Victorian feel (and it was encouraged for all table vendors to dress appropriately for the time period :O)
Thankfully....... these kind of skirts hide the baby bump for me, the girls got to wear their hoop skirts, and Joel's attire was an easy 'Newsie' kind of look.

What A Night

So our Little Man, had quite the night last night and he's not even born yet. I suppose it's his mommy's fault (though never would I have dreamed he was still small enough to accomplish acrobatic feats at this point).

I was laying in bed watching something on my laptop, all stretched out in kind of a funny position. He was moving around as he likes to do in the evenings, kicking his feet around, pushing his butt out to the right side of my stomach, and kneeing me near my hip. All this is status quo and not extremely painful because he can't get a lot of power behind those kicks anymore (not enough room).

Anywayyyyyy..... Apparently, my stretched out position gave him a little bit more room than what he was used to and before I know it, his butt is pushing out in the middle left hand side of my stomach. I can still feel feet/knees digging into my side. I'm not sure how he's facing but He is NOT liking it much. I probably shouldn't have stood up, because I pretty positive that lessened his room to rotate, but I wasn't thinking about that at the time. He was kicking and kneeing, trying to get back to a comfy position... moving around but bumping into all sorts of organs. Poor guy.

This is probably not new news to ladies who have had babies and Little Man is a very good inside-the-womb baby. It was a bit of a shocker to me thus far. I was feeling a little nauseous at that point from whatever he was bumping but he eventually made his way back to his comfy spot.

I'm a little sorer today but no worse for wear. What a night though!!! It was definitely a sleeping-in morning after that!

~Olive

'Baby' Check-Up

So I had my 'check-up' today as the due date gets closer. Everything is looking good and I'm super thankful for that. The baby is still in a good position and extremely active.... which hasn't changed much over the past couple of weeks. Even the midwife got a good chuckle over his movement. She felt around and after feeling where his spine, head, legs, etc were at she declared that we are NOT having no little petite 7 lb baby.... not surprising. Popeye was almost 8 lbs 11 oz so this little baby Lindberg is taking after his daddy apparently. (Although we are in no way competing or desiring to compete with Eric and Ris's Handsome Chunk ;o)

I wasn't 100% sure until talking with the midwife today but the baby has definitely 'dropped' so things are getting a little bit more uncomfortable and I suppose I'm waddling more like a penguin than before. I haven't really been ready for him to come out and meet us yet but then I've been feeling really, really good. I'm thinking though if we have many more weeks of this grinding feeling, I'm definitely going to be ready.

Still, at almost 38 weeks I'm content to say... when he comes, he comes. Does no good trying to tell baby Lindberg (or God for that matter) when he needs to show up. :O)



oh yeah, and we finally chose a name... phew. But we're still not telling ;o)

~Olive

Christmas Photos

So the little boy I baby-sit for is such a doll and growing up sooooo fast!!! For Christmas, I thought it would be nice to give his parents photos of him at 10 1/2 months. So we put on a studly little man outfit and took a few shots. I created a collage of the photos to show because its so hard to just choose one :O)

After it was all said and done, we wrapped it up and gave it to his parents from him for Christmas.... because of course, he sat there and gave his cutest smiles for me ;o)

Week 27

Baby Project #1

Baby projects had kept me busy for a while as I stressed about the details of the baby's room. I didn't want to buy new items so I decided to 'refurnish' items that we had or ones found at the dollar store.



#1 Taking a cd/dvd shelve and change into book/cd shelf for the baby's room..

Before being painted with the sliding doors off.


Sliding Doors being primed.

TA-DA!!!!! Finished Shelving.



It's supposed to look snowboardish for a boy....
I decided not to go babyish in the room b/c they grow so fast so our 'little man' will not be seeing baby blues and pastely colors.

~Olive

Pumpkin Candle Holders

The homeschooling group that I've been leading this fall got together and made Pumpkin candleholders. By rubbing some spices on the bottom of the 'lid' it was supposed to smell like baking pumpkin pie when lighting a candle in it. I hope that they got to experience it with their take-home pumpkins. I thought mine would last a few days while I was gone but Matthew came home to only half a pumpkin and a bunch of goo on material. He quickly discarded. Maybe it's the weather difference from back home but we know for next year!!!

A House Divided at the Ag Expo

Popeye and I occasionally do something fun... get out of the house sort of abnormal fun. Despite a very busy schedule, we decided to go to the Ag Expo. This thing is huge. Like internationally huge! Neither of us had been so we headed off somewhat early in the morning to check it out. We were supposed to meet some friends there but soon decided that we'd never find them.....
There was a lot to see... Popeye in particular interested in the cattle breeding section, me in the home and family building (where though tempted didn't buy anything .... even though I wanted to ;o)



We agreed to disagree when looking at the field equipment though..... our backgrounds have us drooling over two very different brands. Don't worry, despite the title of the blog, we won't let it come between us.

Popeye was a Caterpiller fan, of course. He whooed and awed over the engine in this thing. I admit it was a pretty impressive monster to look up at.

Me on the otherhand, was raised to be a John Deere girl through and through. Here I am sporting the newest John Deere style and wishing I could get one for my daddy.

~Olive

Baby Shower Up North

While I was up north my aunt amazingly put together a baby shower for me (and Popeye, though he couldn't be there). She had very short notice as I didn't want to promise anyone I was coming up until I was sure because I don't like disappointing people... namely grandparents and parents :O)

The baby shower was adorable!!

She had a corsage, yummy yummy cheesecake from the cheesecake factory!!, adorable pacifiers that she and my cousin had made from lifesavers and jellybeans, and of course yummy food!! We didn't think many people would be able to make it because of the short notice but how wrong we were!!!!! Even grandparents, friends, and awesome sister-in-laws who had to drive 2+ hours came!!!!!! My favorite part had to be seeing everybody (even if I didn't get to talk too long to one person). It's so hard when I go home to spend time with those dear to me... of course those who live away from their family and friends can back me on this!!


More pictures to enjoy:

Mom and me opening presents

Me and Zoie

Me and Cara (my first time getting to meet this darling little girl!!!!)

Grandparents 50th

The main reason for heading up north was for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. This is a big deal anymore because so many don't seem to even make it to their 25th (or 10th in many cases) let alone 50 years of loving and putting up with each other :O) We spent a few whirlwind days getting ready for the big event which lasted about 4 hours..... ah , I love doing this sort of thing. Actually, I was very blessed to even be able to help because the daughters were the ones putting it on.... I just got to help :O) My sis was instrumental in getting the scrapbook done on time... we flew! Doing 30 + pages in about a day.... along with a few centerpieces.

It was all worth it though as grandpa and grandma thoroughly enjoyed the day. My mom and aunts did a GREAT job planning it all and getting things ready!!!! My Aunt Melody has a special touch when it comes to decorating and she did a great job making what was just a community building feel warm and inviting!!!! Her husband did a great job packing it all back into the van!!! :O)


Here are a few pictures of the day to enjoy:




~Olive

Heading North

So Melissa and I headed north, leaving at 11 PM because her cousin's husband Dennis was coming up with us and he is a night driver. This was great news though because it really makes the trip go faster... especially those big cities.

Our big excitement though was not long after we started. Dennis had to swerve quick to not completely run over a huge tire that had busted in the middle of the road. As it was, we still hit part of it. We didn't think too much of it though and kept on going. It wasn't about a half hour later the oil light came on and the car was smoking. We pulled over and sure enough... we had a bad oil leak. Unsure what was wrong without a good flashlight, we limped to a close gas station where thankfully! there was a police officer... Praise the Lord! He let us borrow his flashlight and Dennis was able to determine that there was a hole in the oil filter. That was excellent news! Easily fixed. The cop was ever so nice to drive Dennis to the nearest Walmart (about 1o minutes away) while Melissa and I sat in the car and waited. It wasn't long and we were back on our way.

We were however thankful for our wise husbands and a faithful God who knew that we would need Dennis along.... and a cop not far away :O) Who knows if we would have been able to figure it out on our own as we joke... neither one of us even knows how to change a tire :O)

~Olive


P.S. The rest of the trip went fast and we made it safely there!

Cutie Pie!!!

This is the darling boy that I now baby sit for a couple times a week. I've only watched him twice so far but I was sooooo sad to see him go. His mom had me take his 7 1/2 month pictures (which is why I have photos of him) but he is such a doll. He smiles almost all the time and that's doing pretty good when you have teefers growing!!! He's such a snuggler too. He loves to bury his face down into your shoulder/neck, especially right after he wakes up. I told Popeye if our little boy is just half as cute.... we're in great shape!


~Olive

It's A Boy!!!!

So we found out that out spunky little one is a boy! There is definitely no doubt about it from the sonogram photos.

The baby is bigger than expected and the new approximate due date is Feb. 14.

The sonogram was super cute. The baby yawned and waved its arm. Despite the orange juice I drank and the piece of candy I ate, his arm was behind his head and the lady said that it looked like he was getting ready to take a nap. Hopefully that's a sign that our baby will be able to sleep through about anything.... :O)

-Olive