thank you gifts...

I wanted to have thank you gifts for the labor and delivery unit and the postpartum unit where we will be delivering. Not only do I know that they work incredibly hard at what they do, but they are also friends, so I wanted to show some small amount of our appreciation. So for the units I decided to go with coffee and sweets (which caffeine is a huge way to make it through those 13 hour shifts...)

I am really excited about how they came out.

Then I wanted to have a little something for people that come to visit us and nurses that help us so I came up with these jelly belly treat bags. I think it's the Italian in me that wants to bring food ever where I go... (if you count jelly belly's as food...)

So here are the finished product!

I made 25 bags out of the bin from Costco...

I can't wait for out little man to get here!

stuffed pork chops

The other night we got to celebrate our little sister Mallory's birthday. Kit wanted to make apple stuffed pork chops and they were very tasty. We used this recipe from about.com. We are creatures of habit and we like to make things that we are familiar with and we very rarely go outside our box, but we really liked this one and so we wanted to share it.

(The picture doesn't do it justice, but most of the time, my food doesn't win any beauty contests...)

Birds Birds Birds!

The crib skirt is done and we just love it!

It feels like the nursery is done, we just have a few little details to add, I think we will add more birds up over the crib, and we can't wait to actually add Ryder!

The bathroom is done!

Our brother Andrew brought the doors for the cabinet over yesterday and it looks amazing. He custom built this cabinet for our little bathroom and the pictures to not do it justice... THANKS ANDREW!!!

So we had to show the finished product...

He put hydraulics on the doors so they never slam... how cool is that!

He thought of everything!

This is my little built in shelf in the shower... they thought if everything!

The bathroom is TINY so getting a good picture can be a little tricky, but again, we just wanted to thank our family for making this bathroom possible! It is amazing and we love it in there! Thank you for all your hard work!

Our "Blessing Way"

Our friends the Warkentin's threw us a "blesisng way" yesterday. It's not a shower, but a rights of passage into parenthood and it was one of the most beautifully significant experience that we have had so far in regards to our pregnancy and becoming parents.

I can't even explain all the details, I just wouldn't do it justice, but it involved our close family and friends. We ate a meal together. Then Kit and I shared our prayer requests for our pregnancy, labor, and parenthood. Then we wrote them on seeded paper (paper that has wild flower seeds in it) then planted them, symbolizing our giving them to the Lord. Then our parents prayed over us.

Then everyone shared affirmations and encouragements for Kit and I. Then everyone had written a letter to Ryder, and a special gift for our family to commemorate the blessing they had given us.

Again, I did not do it justice. It was a beautiful time with people that we love and I am so thankful that we have this community to welcome Ryder into.

Warks~ thank you so much for an AMAZING day! We love you!

And to our family and friends~ thank you for speaking into our lives and living life with us. We couldn't love you all more.

The proper care and feeding of husbands...

A couple of years ago I read the book "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands", and I think that it really changed how I do things in our house. I don't necessarily agree with everything in the book, but it made some great points that changed my mindset and the environment I create in our home, especially with Kit in mind.

For example, both Kit and I have jobs that require long hours and we both want our home to be a place of rest and unwinding after our long work days. So, for each other, we both think of what the house will be like when the other person arrives home from work. We take everything into account, from lighting to music to smells (think food...)... When we get home, there is relief when we walk in the door. We also try to greet each other with a 10 second kiss each time one of us arrives home.

Anyway, I have been thinking about those initial weeks after Ryder's arrival and how I KNOW the calm factor will probably go out the window, but I can still make the effort right?

So yesterday, I made a couple of Kit's (and my) favorite recipes to freeze and I was so proud of myself for thinking ahead.

So my hope is that even when I am still in my pajamas and it's 6 pm, and I'm delirious with sleep deprivation and I haven't showered for a day or so and I just want to cry, I know that our house will smell good, that Kit will be fed and that we will still have 10 second kisses coming our way.

Insomnia has it's perks...

I have a hard time sleeping in. Kit could sleep in until 11 am, however for me, sleeping in implies that I am in bed after 730 am. So with our pregnancy, I was not surprised that I would wake up early, however early has gone from 530 am to 330 am, which even for me is EARLY!

But this is what I saw out our kitchen window this morning, and it made me thankful that I was up to witness it. Isn't there something so amazing about sunrises and sunsets? So I had to share this photo with you. I hope that you have a great day (whatever time it started for you!)