Easter 2014

I think as I've gotten older, Easter has meant more to me as I seek to really understand the power and meaning it holds for our faith in Christ.

John 11:25-26
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."

We were at home for Easter and had a restful weekend.  We went to a Good Friday service at church, spent Saturday at the park and playing outside, then went to church on Sunday morning.  Sunday, we truly rested.  I think Bryce took a nap while Maddie napped, and I just piddled around on my computer.

Our little stinker doesn't stay still for photos anymore.  Seriously.  There's much coercing and not much cooperation with a 1 1/2 year old.  I did the best I could, but didn't get a great shot of her in her cute little Easter dress, but I love how her spunky personality shows up in some of these photos.

Barely can hold her still (and keep her in my arms with that basketball of a belly!

Love this picture.

Bryce and I had a lot of time to reflect on the meaning of Easter over the few weeks before and that weekend.  Our faith wouldn't mean anything if death had mastered over Christ after he hung and died on that cross.  Because he rose, we can have hope that surpasses anything this world has to offer us, any hardships that we may face, even death.  Now that is radical and amazing.

Romans 8:38-39
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ.

Romans 6:8-11
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Baby boy projects

I bought the fabrics that I loved for the little one and they sat there in the office/nursery for weeks.  I just stared at them.  Finally, I decided to go after it and make March my sewing month.

Minky blanket...

I just looked up a bunch of minky blankets on Etsy to see what sizes people normally do.  Then I cut the fabric and just started sewing.  Sewing with the soft minky is hard!!  It stretches weird and pins are very important.  A lot of the blankets don't have seams down the middle, but it was moving all over and driving me nuts, so I went ahead and sewed 3 straight lines down the middle to hold it together.  I love it!  It's so soft and cuddly.  Plus, the fabric makes me think of taking a walk on a brisk day with 2 little cuties in our double stroller.  Surprisingly, this minky blanket was completed in one sitting, maybe a total of a couple hours.  Bryce graciously gave me a Saturday "off" so I locked myself in the office, listened to music, relaxed, cut, and sewed.  Alone time has become very precious to me even though I consider myself an extrovert!

Boppy pillow cover...

This was harder.  I used this tutorial.  It was my first time sewing a zipper because I didn't want it to have a "pocket"opening.  Well, it's obvious that it was my first time and I need to go back and fix it because it's oddly sticking out.  I just don't have the motivation to do it right now.  It will still function completely fine, it's just my OCD nature that will be bothered by it every time I use it.

The makings of a quilt...

It took me forever to decide what pattern to choose for his quilt.  I loved so many quilts that I saw on Pinterest.  Finally, I saw this one and thought it was simple enough for me to take a stab at it.

(via)

I also could not for the life of me choose a size for the quilt.  Should it be a baby quilt?  A toddler quilt?  A lap quilt?  I wanted it to have a long lifetime.  I decided on a lap/toddler quilt.   I looked at this list of common quilt sizes for reference.  That way, he can use it as a blanket later and as a baby, we can just fold it in half.  I basically came up with my own measurements for the pattern in an excel spreadsheet.  Then I cut my fabric.  It takes a long time to cut fabric.  There's definitely a technique to it-ironing, folding, cutting, repeat.  You can't cut too many layers but if you do individual layers at a time, it takes forever.  And here I am.  A pile of cut fabric waiting to be made into a quilt (minus the white lines that still need to be cut).  I'm afraid I'll probably box up my sewing machine until after the baby and the big move.  So it will be awhile before I have any finished quilt.

Now we just sit and wait for baby Carter to make his big entrance into this world.

Baby boy has a name...

We are so excited to meet...

Carter Michael

There's no special significance to "Carter" but it's always been on our list for boy names that we love.  "Michael" for my Dad.  We love how it sounds together.  I also like how "Madison and Carter" sound together (not that it's important, but I will probably be calling their names together a lot in the future!)

I get so excited seeing his name on this sweet onesie that Aunt Ashley sent us!

What a day

Yesterday was one of those days...those days where for a few moments, you wonder why you thought you were strong enough and patient enough to be a mom.  You wonder which is better-sobbing, screaming, or pulling your hair out.

We had to have the entire house clean, organized, and freshly vaccuumed for the real estate professional photos.  We stayed up late the night before cleaning and wiping everything down, moving boxes of clutter to the garage, and taking almost everything off of counters and tables.  I spent the morning corralling Madison to keep her from pulling things out and dropping crumbs everywhere.  Then for her nap, she decided that 25 minutes was plenty of sleep for the day.  So she cried for the rest of the hour that I left her in the crib.  We do a minimum of 1 hour quiet time, whether that means sleep or not.  Then they show up for pictures.  It only lasts for 30 minutes.  Phew. As soon as they leave, she spills an entire cup of juice and walks around with crackers leaving a trail as she goes.  After the crackers end, she insists to "kalki" (color), but not with crayons or kid markers or highlighters, it HAS to be sharpie markers.  "Kalkiiiiii!!!! Kalkiiiii!!!!!" Well, the answer is "no," my sweet loving daughter.  We don't color for fun with sharpie permanent markers.  But of course, NOTHING will do but sharpie markers.  And she knows the exact drawer that we keep them in.  She hangs on the drawer and I start getting scary flash forwards of drawers and cabinets breaking a few days before we put our house up for sale just because of her tantrum.  She proceeds to scream for over an hour (not exaggerating) as I try to offer her everything else that usually makes her happy.  Then I just walk away, take a seat in the other room, and try to breathe.  

After an hour of a toddler following you around the house screaming, you think you may go crazy.  Thank goodness a friend invited us to walk to the park and it was a gorgeous day.  Once we came home from the park, it was back to "Kalkiiiiii!!!!!"

BUT, then Dada got home, I got to sit down and put my aching 38 week pregnant feet up, and she started happily reading books.  Bryce asks, "So, you said it was a tough day?"

I just sat there in our family room quietly watching her.  Then all of my frustration and exhaustion from the day melted away and I was reminded of how thankful I am for her life.  I mean, how can you watch this sweet little one reading books to herself and not smile?

I had to grab the ipad and take this video of her in that very moment so I wouldn't forget it.  She was looking at a math workbook that Mimi sent to us for when she gets a little older.  Apparently she wanted to start working on it now.




Being a mom of a toddler is a serious emotional roller coaster.  It's like we got on the ride, they strapped us and then we were off full speed ahead.  There's no getting off.  There's no break because even when you get a date night or some time away, you are sitting there either talking about them or thinking about them.  One minute, my eyes are filling with tears of joy as I watch her grow.  The next minute, I am ready to scream at the top of my lungs in ultimate frustration.  I am learning so much about myself, motherhood, my little precious girl, and toddlers.  In the midst of it all, I am thankful for the journey and thankful that every day is not like yesterday.

(VERY) Big news for our little growing family

The next few months hold quite a few big changes for our little family.  Not only will we be welcoming our little guy around the end of April (due April 27th), but we are also MOVING!  And selling our cars!  And our house!  Yikes.

Yes, you heard that right.  This is crazy news, even still to us.  All of this feels a little unreal and I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember that it is happening.

We are moving to Switzerland!!

If you find the city of Zurich, just directly above the little red plane is a small farming town called Bulach.  This will be our new home town as of July 2014.

(via)

Bryce has been working for just over a year and loves his job.  He loves the people he works with, the challenging projects that he works on, and the little bit of travel that he has experienced.  So far, it's just been Switzerland about every 4-6 months and Washington DC.  He is doing really well and I am so thankful for this job and what a great fit it has been.  Just after Thanksgiving, it was mentioned that going on assignment to the Switzerland office was a possibility.  After talking it over with everyone including me, by January, he had officially signed a contract for an 18 month assignment in Bulach.  We shared with our families over Christmas and slowly started telling a few close friends, my boss, and coworkers.

I have been working from home 20-25 hours a week in marketing/project management for 5 years now.  With the new baby, a new country, a new language, a new home, I won't be returning to work after baby boy is born.

Right now, we're trying to figure out all the logistics of the move, our stuff here, stuff we'll need to get there, dates, etc.  Needless to say, we have a lot on our minds right now with the little one coming and the big move quickly approaching.  Oh, and putting our house up for sale in less than a week.

Since I won't be working, my goal is to get more regular about blogging, especially once we move, so you all can follow along in our journey abroad with little ones and a whole new life to learn.

In the meantime, check out this interesting list of Swiss facts.  Bryce really likes #5 and #31.

Pregnancy #2 Progress: 36 weeks

I'll be 37 weeks on Sunday...so really, this little guy could come any time now.  I'm really hoping that he comes right around his due date so our schedule works out nicely.  But really, we all know that these things can't be scheduled perfectly.  Living plane rides from family who wants to meet a new little baby makes scheduling extra difficult.  I am pretty envious right now of those who are just a car ride away from parents and in laws and siblings who are eager to help in the first weeks after a baby...take advantage of that and enjoy it :-)  In the meantime, I'll keep thanking God at the wonderful friends he has provided for us here that continue to bless us!  AND for the family that will be able to fly out and visit.

Belly:

Here's one from this past week.

Aches, pains, cravings, and everything else:

Not much new.  I'm feeling pretty good, not sleeping great, and pretty uncomfortable with my basketball belly.   Thankful that the acid reflux hasn't been too bad and that I can get around fine.  I have noticed that by 7 or 8pm almost every evening, my feet start to ache.  That's when I'd like to call it a night and go to bed, but bedtime usually happens at 9:30/10pm for us.  

Still craving sweets, sweets, and more sweets.

Little boy is active but slowing down because I think he is running out of room in there.  His movements now feel like little mini jabs into my side or pelvis.  I keep trying to imagine holding him or just watching him in his bouncer seat kick those little legs.

We have a LOT going on in the next few weeks, of which I'll share on the blog in the next few days.  But for now, I'm taking deep breaths and trying hard not to stress.  

Also...I'm SOOOO excited....I have my baby shower tomorrow with a bunch of sweet girl friends!!!!  I cannot wait!