Preparing for Gordon

All of our Gordon-Preparations are done (with the exception of packing a hospital bag). I've sewed my heart out, crocheted until I felt like my hand was going to fall off and enlisted Brad's help to move some furniture. :) 

 Our room has been rearranged to accommodate the rocking chair, and bassinet. We - well - Brad, stacked our nightstands in the closet and pushed the bed against the wall to make this possible. I'm pleasantly surprised by how well it all fits! 

 We'd like to find a little table or set of drawers to put between to the bed and rocker - a place for phones and nursing/baby stuff. 

 The rocking chair used to be in the kids room - we switched it out for another chair and changed the corner in their room a bit. 

 Brad went to Detroit for a day to visit a church plant there and was able to stop at Ikea on the way home, he got this great "map" rug for the kids and new feather pillow insert for me(Baxter demolished one of mine - long, but kinda funny, story.). It has helped this corner not feel so bare - plus the kids have enjoyed it!

Here's a view from the rocking chair across the hall - I like that I have a (small) line of sight into the space where Lu and Michael play. I'm hoping this is helpful while nursing, time will tell. 

 Onto all the details on this adorable basinet!

 We are the third generation of Kidders to use this basinet! I love family heirlooms. Grandpa Wayne slept in it when he was a little baby and so did Brad and Aunt Amy! :) Lucy and Michael both slept in our pack-n-play during their first weeks but I am so thankful to have a smaller bed for Gordon in our smaller space. We're still hoping to utilize the pack-n-play though, the plan is to set it up downstairs in the dining room so we have a place to set Gordon up off the floor and out of reach of his siblings (Haha - that's probably wishful thinking!).

 To soften and freshen it up a bit, I made a liner from left-over boy-bedding fabric (this is what the crib skirt and curtains were made out of for Michael's nursery) and few custom mattress pads and sheets to fit the mattress of the basinet. 

 Here's Gordon's finished quilt! I wanted to use blue and green, like Michael's, but pull in some red (instead of orange - like M's) - I'm thrilled with how it turned out. :)

 I can't make my babies a quilt without green polkadot backing! :) 

 Matching pillowcase for me to use at the hospital and for Gordon to use later when he graduates from the crib to a big-boy bed. :) 

 I used the zig-zag fabric as inspiration for coloring for Gordon's afghan. 

 Granny Square Afghan 

 This is actually the same type of yarn I used for Michael's afghan - I even used three of the same colors (but added red)! (To see Michael's afghan, click here.) I knew I wanted red in Gordon's afghan and wanted to incorporate white with green or blue, but blue/red/white reads "americana" and red/green/white reads "christmas" - so I decided to use all four colors. :) 

 Customized Burp Cloths (I made 6, two of them are in the "put in hospital bag" pile).

 Mamma-Made Swaddles, two flannel and two gauze - I'm excited to try the gauze ones! I've never used them on my kiddos but have liked how they "wrap" when swaddling friend's babies. 

 My mom sent Gordon's "Grammy Blanket" and pillow a bit early! I love them! Lucy and Michael cuddle up in their Grammy Blankets with their matching pillows all. the. time in the living room - I'm excited for Gordon to join in the fun too! :) 

 Isn't that ABC fabric amazing? LOVE IT! 

 Here's Gordon's coming home outfit - I'm so excited about it! We are fans of the show Project Runway and this darling "suit" is similar to one of the "design a baby outfit" winners from a few seasons ago. I especially like that the zipper doesn't go all the way up the neck - zippers on new babies, in my experience, tend to be scratchy. 

 This isn't the shirt the outfit came with - but I'm sure you'll see it in other pictures on Gordon. It has monsters on it and I wanted something a little more "sweet" for his coming home outfit - not than an electric guitar falls into the "sweet" category ether though haha! The sentiments are "sweet" right? :)

Last but not least, my Uncle sent Gordon's "buddies!" Meet the "Gators" - aren't they adorable? I love their texture! Michael has his Moose and now Gordon has some Gators to keep him company. :) 

Ok Gordon boy, we're ready! Come whenever you'd like.

A Little Tour of our Lansing Home

Welcome to our Lansing home! 

First a little explanation of our neighborhood. :) We live on a busy street - which we love - across the street from a greenhouse/nursery (I get to enjoy a view of some amazing flowers and don't have to water them!). Our house is a 5 minute walk (when you have little legs) from a great little park and tons of green space (there is a baseball diamond!). Our house is on the edge of a darling neighborhood (behind, or east, of our house) full of trees, houses full of character and friendly neighbors. So far, we've loved living in this home - it has been such a blessing (we agreed to rent it without seeing it, but knowing the owner was a believer and trustworthy) and fits us perfectly during this time of our lives. 

Our front porch - one of our favorite places to chat. (Since I took this picture, the owner has had the porch power washed and repainted the sides of the deck! It is looking so nice!)

Entering the house! 

The Living Room. The door on the right is the front door, to the immediate left are the stairs and the room to the upper left (with the built in drawers under the window) is the dining room.

From the opposite corner, another view of the living room (and my cute photo assistant who woke up early from his nap). 

Standing by the couch. The dining room to the right, Brad's closet is covered with the curtain (he generously  sacrificed convenience and let me store my clothes in our tiny closet upstairs).

Ok, moving toward the dining room. 

Dining Room. The table is not centered with the window above because of a large vent in the floor - I know... it bugs me too. :)

Looking from the dining room into the living room. Brad has said this house has "Pottery Barn" potential (love him) - look at the amazing molding! :) 

This door leads into the kitchen.

Standing in the doorway to the kitchen, looking in.

Sink, the door to the basement and the majority of the cabinets. 

The stove and workspace. We added the shelves above the kitchen aid (2 shelves from Ikea, $14 total - the only purchase we've needed to make to help this home be more functional for us). I've utilized the open shelving/top of cabinets above the refrigerator and kitchen sink to store small appliances, some pots and colorful dishes. It has been a pretty and very helpful way to store awkwardly sized items. 

In Pampa, where all my stuff was stored behind cabinet doors, I forgot how many red things I have for the kitchen! :) It's been fun to display them in this home. 

Standing by the basement door, looking toward the stove - the door to the dining room is to the right and around the corner is the....

Sewing room! AKA the mud room, but during the end of summer/beginning of fall it has been used as a sewing space a TON. :) The window on the right is the one above the table in the dining room. 

I've had those bulletin boards since high school - they've been so versatile! And this is the first time I've had a space for the "family" canvas - we received it for our wedding from my Aunt and Uncle (Thanks Betsy and David!), I've really enjoyed having a spot for it - the colors are perfect in this space. 

The door to the left goes out to the backyard. We have a large concrete patio area and a good sized backyard with decent grass and a few large trees. It's fenced in on three sides, Baxter has a chain right outside the door we put him on for easy "Outside" breaks and another, shorter, chain in the middle of the yard for when we need to leave him out for longer periods of time. 

Standing at the backdoor, looking into the kitchen. (We think this corridor used to be a screened in porch or something - the flooring and ceiling slope and when looking at the house from the outside it seems as if it was an addition.)

Ok, back in the living room - let's head upstairs!

At the top of the stairs, the first doorway to the left is the bathroom, second doorway leads to the attic "70s drug room" (which deserves it's own post... orange and green "shag" like carpet on walls and floor - it's not heated, so it's a storage space currently), third door on the left we're using as the master bedroom and the kids are in the room to the right. 

Bathroom - The shelves in the nook are ours, but all other shelves "came" with the house.

Standing with my back to the "Nook" looking at the sink

The bathroom gets a nice amount of natural light - which is nice, the kids don't need to be moving the stool to turn on the light all the time. 

Down the hall a bit to the Master bedroom: 

Our teeny tiny master... :) 

Our curtains fit perfectly! This corner has been turned into "Gordon's Corner" since these pictures were taken - but info and pictures for that will need to wait until later this week. :)

There's my little closet - because we don't have space for a dresser in here all of my clothes are in there on a few shelves (out of season stuff is in the attic to allow for a bit more space). 

Across the hall is the kid's space! I say "space" because it's more than just a place for sleeping - it's a place to PLAY! It's taken some adjustment for the kids to learn how to play in a space that is different than the living room (where the majority of our toys were in Pampa) - but we've all adjusted. I don't mind if toys migrate downstairs - there's a basket in the living room for quick pick-up of things that belong upstairs (you can see it to the left of the buffet in the picture that Michael photo-bombed above).

Standing in the doorway looking in.

The sleeping side of the room. Our Ikea bunk beds have been working SO SO well. The whole co-sleeping in a queen bed didn't work for our kiddos - they enjoy having their own space. Lucy is up top and Michael sleeps on the bottom (his little body isn't tall enough to scale the ladder yet - which has actually been nice, we trust Lucy to not stand up and/or jump down... Michael, not so much....). 

Someday "the boys" will have the bunk bed in their room and Lu will have the queen in her room again - she'll have slumber parties with her brothers when guests come into town... this is the current plan anyway. :)  

Side note: I love saying "the boys." 

The PLAY side of the room! :) We had the rug from Lucy's nursery in Chicago but because we didn't need it, it's lived in the attic in Texas for the past three years - I like having it underfoot again. The dresser to the left holds all of Lucy and Michael's clothes and the one in the middle houses Gordon's (along with some blankets and too big/out of season stuff for Michael). 

The shelf above the kitchen was in the room when we moved in - it's worked well for toys the kids play with often but have lots of small pieces (Playmobil, animals ect). I've been rotating the toys on top of the kitchen out every month-ish (out of rotation toys are stored in the attic), it's helped us to keep play time interesting and also help the mess not to be too crazy-town. 

I love the pictures above the changing table - our "First family pictures" from after Lucy and Michael's births and some of my favorites from their first months. :) It's been fun to think about our first family picture after Gordon comes! What's he going to be like? (This is something I enjoy thinking about.) :)

This corner has changed a bit since I took this picture - I'll update you soon. You want a hint? Ok! Vroom vroom. :) 

Back out in the hallway - our wall with family pictures. I decided to arrange them right to left, which may look awkward from here, but you come up from downstairs from the right - so I think it works... where Gordon is going to fit? I have no idea. I may put the kids' baby pictures in the stairwell - we'll see. :) 

That concludes our tour! We do have a full basement, Brad's office is down there and the washer and drier - along with a bunch of boxes and stuff we don't need right now. I'll share pictures of the space at some point. Oh, the basement also houses our guest bed so YOU have a space you can crash at our house!  

Come visit soon! :) 

Growing in Trust & Cherishing the Now

Hi friends,

We are 19 days away from our due date. All Gordon-related projects are done and we are in the waiting game... when will our little lad arrive? Instead of focusing on the waiting I am trying to soak up every moment I can as we are family of 4 and work ahead a bit on a few mommy/Sarah-made gifts (December holds quite a bit of celebrating!).

I'll post later this week with the preparing for Gordon goodies! And I'm hoping to get some house pictures up so you guys can see where we are living.

We have settled into a basic routine and while it is never executed the way it's (ideally) laid out on paper - it's helpful for the kids and I to have a sort of expectation for each day. Brad has been working hard - crunching data, reading books and meeting with all sorts of people as we try to decide where to church plant. He's thriving in the environment and training provided at Riv, learning a ton and enjoying the some of the more nerdy aspects of his job (he's a spreadsheet-lover). :) We still don't know where we are going to live in a year, but are trusting the Lord to open doors and direct our desires.

Our house in Pampa is still on the market, the offer we received back in August fell through. (Although the initial closing date was set for the day after the government ended up shutting-down... so we still would not have closed on it even if the plans had continued... can't help but wonder if all this was orchestrated by God to remove some stress from our lives.) Please continue to pray with us that it will sell soon? We've struggled through a wide range of emotions in reg to the house-situation, but we are praying that the Lord will increase our trust in him and reminding ourselves that He will be faithful to take care of us.

Lucy is still as talkative and social as ever! It is rare for her not to dress up at least once a day. She is c.o.n.s.t.a.n.t.l.y chatting and LOVES to be a helper (she put on Michael's shoes for me the other day and then "read" him a book!). She has been making up the best songs about every day things (i.e.: "The Girl and the Bandaid") and is very imaginative in her activities she plans for us to do as a family - she made up a game we've started calling "Pumpkin Pumpkin." The rules are simple: While driving in the car, if you see a pumpkin point to it and say "Pumpkin Pumpkin!" It has been the source of much laughter as we've been out and about lately. :) Lucy asks "why?" all the time and is, at-times, slow to be obedient (very normal for a 3 year old, but still frustrating sometimes). She is working on asking for help nicely and not being bossy or whiney. She memorizes songs and verses so easily and will tell us if she got along with everyone in Sunday School - we've been encouraging her to remember kid's names so she doesn't have to refer to them as "the boy in the green shirt" or "the purple girl" ("Lucy, they won't be wearing those same clothes next time you see them so you need to remember their name.") Haha.

Michael is on-the-go! He loves being outside, in the backyard or at the park you can find him climbing and exploring. He loves roughhousing with his daddy. He also loves helping and if you ask him, he will happily carry trash to the trashcan for you or laundry to the hamper. He knows where the kids shoes go and will take off his shoes and put them away (in the right place!). He is learning new words (Most recently: "Bath" "Done," "More," and "Lu") and beams with pride when he accomplishes a new one! Our current, Michael-struggle is this: he will wake up between 6:30-7:00, drag a chair from his room to the light switch and wake up his sister by turning on and off the light. This is not something his mom and dad appreciate. Thankfully we can usually hear the chair scraping on the floor through the monitor and intercept him soon after the light has been switched on to remind him that it is still dark out (it is still very dark at 6:30) and that he needs to stay in bed. This morning we got another hour of kid-free time after our quick "reset!" Other mornings it's only 15 minutes, but we try to encourage the kids to stay in their beds until the sun comes up. :) (I know all that all too soon our schedule will be thrown to the wind - but for now.... it's nice to remain consistent).

I have been trying to live in the moment lately, not focused on what life will look like for us in a month or even what it has looked like in the past, but focusing on the now. I've enjoyed the grocery store trips when I can still fit all my kids into one shopping cart, along with a few groceries. I've cherished the all-through-the-night sleep I've been having. I've revisited the "to cloth diaper or not to cloth diaper" question (no answer yet... just thinking). I've sang along with my sweet family as daddy plays his guitar with no fear of "waking the baby." I've practiced lullabies and gentle touch with Lucy and Michael for when little brother arrives. I've been thankful, in the moments I feel "AHHH I can't do this with TWO, let alone THREE children!" that I am not alone in this parenting thing but have a fantastic husband who is super helpful and such an encouragement to me. I've enjoyed a longer than 3 hr date-night with said-husband, realizing that our alone time will soon be happening in smaller windows of time as there will be a hungry baby in the picture.

Our lives are going to change forever in a few weeks and I'm trying to have a good perspective on how long it will take for us to find a new "normal." So far, so good - not that that means I think it's going to be easy, but I think I've settled into a place of contentment and "Okayness" about all the unknowns in life right now - I'm growing in my ability to rest in trust.

Well, I'm going to make myself a cup of decaf coffee and take advantage of what nap-time I have left to do some reading. :) Scratch that! Brad just brought me a latte! Another reason to be thankful. :)

Happy Monday!