Month: January 2017

Christmas 2016 in Review

Having a newborn at Christmas time was fun – it also made for a very quiet, at home celebration.

The day before Elsie was born we went out and found our tree, and then it very slowly got decorated bit by bit over the next couple of weeks.

I had bought the supplies for a gingerbread house last Christmas, and never got around to making one – so we were all ready to go this year without having to leave home! We made a sad little lopsided house, but I think the kids had fun.

Marian was very excited to wake up from her afternoon nap one day about a week before Christmas to discover the first presents under the tree! I didn’t have any wrapping paper, so everything got wrapped with white pattern paper and ribbons from my sewing stash.

I didn’t do really any of my normal cooking ahead of time for Christmas, which didn’t quite feel ‘right’…We did however make eggnog which was delicious. Here Marian is helping – her favorite ‘job’ is licking the beater, of course.

I think we can all agree that the best part of Christmas this year was snuggling Elsie! It was extra special having a newborn at this time of year as we told Marian and Alan about when Jesus was born.

Christmas eve when all three kids were finally asleep – Jordan and I still had to finish up the gifts for both Marian and Alan, and fill stockings. We were up pretty late.

Our tree this year was decorated with dried oranges, red and gold ribbon, copper wire starry lights, paper snowflakes, and pine cones.

Here it is, early Christmas morning.  We gave Marian a tea set, a new gown, a fancy dress-up dress, (both homemade) a necklace, and some books.

Alan was delighted with this miniature anvil and blacksmith’s hammer that Jordan made for him! We also gave him a vintage metal dump truck and some books.

Here come the sweet faces down the stairs Christmas morning, Marian was the most excited, and Alan was excited because she was excited!

Elsie was very unimpressed with Christmas, she slept most of the day.

Christmas afternoon we spent at Nanna and Papa’s house, and then came home and everyone took a nap. That was our very good, quiet little Christmas this year!

Meet Elspeth Victoria

On December 6th we were blessed to welcome another little girl to our family –

Elspeth “Elsie” Victoria

She was 7 lbs 8 oz, and 19.5″ long

So, a bit of the birth story – (thankfully much less dramatic than the day of Alan’s birth)

My due date was the 5th, so my Mom and two youngest siblings had arrived several days before, and we had been getting the house ready with some organizing projects, and trying to get our Dream Come True Bed orders for Christmas finished up. We had also found and cut down our Christmas tree the evening before.

Mid morning on the 6th I had some faint contractions, but they were so faint that I wasn’t sure whether or not they were actually anything. This continued for several hours while I tried to finish up some unfinished projects and some bedding orders for Christmas Dream Come True Beds, while Jordan and the kids got the Christmas tree set up. Finally the contractions started getting steady enough that they were obviously the ‘real thing’. It was about 1:00 pm. I asked Jordan to draw me a nice deep bath (we can do that now with our new bigger woodstove and water reservoir, post on that coming soon)  That was amazing and kept the contractions at bay for about an hour.

Our midwife was at another birth a couple of hours away, so she sent her daughter who is also a midwife. She was awesome, and we were very thankful she was able to come!

When she arrived I got out of the bath and went upstairs to the bedroom where my Mom had been getting everything ready for the birth. Quite soon the contractions started getting painful, and I needed Jordan to be right with me.

Very soon (really sooner than I was mentally ready) I was told the baby was ready to come, and I could push – so in not very long our little Elsie arrived! It was 3:18 pm. She was perfectly pink and round – hardly cried, and just seemed to want to go back to sleep after the slight interruption of being born! But, we had to wake her up so she could have her first meal – which she greatly enjoyed!

I had decided several months before that I would let Marian be at the birth (she was at Alan’s birth as well, but that was pretty much by accident) and she had been looking forward to it. As I was going into the last part of labor, she and Alan were going down for a nap, so we let her sleep for about 45 minutes. When it was obvious that the baby was soon to make her appearance, Jordan went and got Marian up, and she perched beside me on the bed – seeming to take the whole thing quite calmly.

She was enormously pleased that baby was a girl! Of course she had been telling us all along it would be a sister for her. (she says the next baby can be a boy now, because Alan needs someone!) We woke Alan up after the birth, and he seemed a little surprised to see tiny little Elsie. On the whole he was very excited and wanted to touch and cuddle Elsie – but he also kept repeating over and over in a confused tone…”My Mom….my Mom…my Mom…”

Here is Elsie getting her first check up.

Goodness, there’s nothing like that wonderful feeling of being done with the birth, and just knowing you can rest and hold the sweet new one.

Baby feet!

Alan does adore Elsie. They were both ready for a nap at the same time a few days after the birth, and he just wanted to snuggle. He looks SO BIG now! He is almost two years old after all, but after being the baby for so long, it seemed he doubled in size overnight when she was born!

Everyone loves Elsie! Grammie got lots of snuggles in before she had to go back to Texas.

Her little profile slays me.

She gets lots of sibling love! I have to watch carefully because they (Alan especially) are still learning about the word ‘gentle’.

Baby naps!

Elsie is quite a Daddy’s girl already. She loves to rock with Jordan by the cozy woodstove. Sometimes when she’s fussy I can’t even console her – but as soon as Jordan takes her and she snuggles her head down on his chest, she’s fast asleep and smiling.

We are SO happy Elsie is here, and can’t wait to see more and more of what her personality will be!