More pictures!!!

Grandma had a good time holding her second grandson when we visited. (Aren't they a beautiful pair? I think so.)



Grace and Kade really enjoyed playing with Alonna's old Barbie Jeep. Sheesh, kids learn to drive so young these days!



Either Kade didn't want to ride with a woman driver, or he was a little too short to reach the pedal. (Can you tell he's sitting on top of Grace? They rode around like that for a while!)



Grace's first Fourth of July sparkler!



Grandpa took Grace for her first motorcycle ride down the street! She did okay, but that heavy helmet made her like a little bobblehead. :-)



Dad and Karl's Suzuki Savage 600's. (Dad's is blue; Karl's is black.)



And the picture you've all been waiting for...Luke's induction into the Manton Motorcycle Gang!

#2 of 4

The Cherry Creek Community Church worship band entertained us at their pig roast. See Luke on the far right, playing the electric guitar?



Grace brushed this pony before she rode him.



Grace's first pony ride! Thanks, Kathy, for letting Grace ride the pony! She had a great time!



Grace made fast friends with Abbie Belcher when we visited. I cannot believe Kelly and Abbie are getting so old!



I just can't post without a cute picture of Caleb!



And a cute picture of Grace!



We found a free beach in Lowell, not too far away. Grace loved playing with her shovel and bucket!

A Sampling of the First of Four Rolls of Film...

Hyo-Sun Kim, our Korean exchange student/sister for the year



Erin, Hyo-Sun, and Caleb at Hyo-Sun's going away party



Luke and Grace's first ride on the new lawn tractor, right before they cut down our jungle



Great-grandma Laga stopped by for a visit with her first great-grandson!



Luke and his kiddos on Father's Day



This picture is fun for two reasons. One: Grace didn't mind that we made her a "swimming pool" out of our wheelbarrow. Two: she's making the "monkey face." Who doesn't love the monkey face?



And who doesn't love this sweet face?

Terry Sturman is our favorite photographer!

Our new family picture, with all four of us!



The sweetest picture of our little 3-month-old Caleb.



Caleb loves his puppy, just like Grace loves her lambie. Thanks, Debbie (and Steelcase PDM)!



Peek-a-boo!

Jambo (Jambo!) means hello (Hello!)...

Week One of Backyard Bible Clubs is over! We had 35-40 kids every day (except Friday, when a bunch of them went away for the weekend or had swim meets.) It was a little chaotic the whole week, but we survived! We didn't see any salvation decisions this week, but we had some unchurched kids that were at least exposed to the Gospel. I hope we planted some seeds!

Our theme was a safari theme, called Kingdom of the Son. (It's a VBS curriculum by GospelLight.) It was all about the Lord's Prayer. I think it went pretty well, but I also feel like I was running around like crazy all week trying to make it happen, so I didn't get much of a chance to just sit back and listen to the Bible stories and lessons.

Anyway, we survived! I was (and still am a little bit) exhausted! It was a rough week for me and the kids - very tiring for all three of us. And housework went to the wayside last week, so we're trying to catch up now. Laundry and dishes - fun!

Hope everyone is doing well. Glad to hear that Mom and Dad Rumley, Zach, and Elyse are home safely from their trip to Georgia. Oh, and by the way, Emily's wedding is in LESS THAN 9 WEEKS! WHOA! Are you ready, Em?

-{lkr}

P.S. I'm in the process of getting pictures developed (FOUR ROLLS!), so more pictures to come...SOON!

Hog wild.

Yes, I did want to join the Manton Motorcycle gang after being able to drive that thing down the road at 65mph! It was awesome. Lacey will make sure that I don't join the gang, at least for the time being.

I never imagined being a biker, but 60mpg could convert anyone with a 25 minute drive to work. For the record, Lacey's Dad bought one first and has been riding them all his life, then Karl bought one.

Grace did get to ride and we will post some fun pictures of that once they are developed / scanned. She was scared at first, but got used to it.

Alonna has started a blog, and we updated our list of blog links over in the sidebar to include all the family blogs (I think). -->

Bed is calling...later,

--
Luke

A newer family picture:

Two steps forward, one step back...

Well, we had a great time in Manton! It was wonderful to spend time with my family and some friends. We got to spend quite a bit of time in the sun, too, so it's REALLY nice to have some color on our formerly pasty-white bodies.

When we got there on Sunday, my family had a little party for us, I think just because we haven't been there in a while, and people wanted to see Caleb. My grandma (from about an hour away) and great aunt and cousins came, as well as some friends. It was really nice to see everyone and not have to worry about trying to go to all their separate houses. They all came to us!

My dad, Karl, and Luke had fun riding Dad's and Karl's motorcycles. They got them recently. They're 2001 Suzuki Savage 650s, I think, and they match (except Dad's is blue and Karl's is black). Isn't that cute? I took lots of pictures, so I'll post some when I get them developed.

The only bad part about the weekend was Caleb's loss of sleep. Remember how he was sleeping through the night? Yeah, not anymore. DaRn! I'm tired again. Hopefully he'll get back in the groove soon. We'll see.

Now that we're back I've been overwhelmed with Backyard Bible Clubs stuff. They start next Monday, the 10th. I will be relieved when they're over.

Welp, happy weekend, everyone! Can't wait to see my Rumley sisters this weekend! (YAY for sisters and wedding invitations!)

-{lkr}

*The picture of the motorcycle is borrowed from the Internet. It's not actually one of their bikes.

Just plain ol' "T-Bone"

Oh, man.

Luke got a free trial subscription to download songs to our computer, so that's what we were doing last night. And I thought, let's try to find that T-Bone song we heard on the radio the other day. I like that song. Yes, it's Christian rap, and yes I'm whitey-white, but it has a nice beat and good lyrics, and frankly, we like to boogie. Even Grace likes to dance in this household.

SO, not knowing the name of the song, we searched for T-Bone. And one of us suggested that maybe T-Bone Burnett is his full name - let's look at his songs and try to find one that sounds like it might be the one we like. So, we picked a couple of songs and started to download them...Did I mention that we still have dial-up? Yeah, it took a while...But FINALLY the downloads were done, and I was so excited to find out if the songs were the right ones...

OH, MAN! It was the weirdest music ever. I wondered if T-Bone fell off the wagon or something. It was NOT rap. At all. Surely the person who made these songs was on drugs? Poor T-Bone. I lost all faith in him.

So, I signed off the Internet, because as we all know, you cannot use the phone and be online when you only have dial-up. (Oh, how I miss the wonder of having DSL.) Anyway, I phoned my local DJ, who answered, "WayFM?" Thankfully, he knew who T-Bone was, and he told me the name of the song I wanted to hear. So, I signed back on and downloaded it. And played it. And YES! It was THE song! Woo-hoo!

So, in a flash of inspiration, I said to Luke, "Google T-Bone Burnett." We found him. Yeah, he's not our beloved Christian rapper T-Bone. He's a scary, old white guy. PHEW! My faith was restored.

Boogie on, T-Bone.

-{lkr}

Manton, MI - here we come!

Things are going well. Caleb's still sleeping through the night like a champ. About 7-8 hours every night. Not bad! It sure makes for a happier mommy in the morning, let me tell ya!

We're excited to be able to go to the "northlands" (as Luke calls it) this weekend, to celebrate the Fourth with my family. It's been almost a whole 6 months since we've been there, so I'm really ready to be back. I miss my family! I'm excited to see my Mom, Dad, Alonna, Melissa, Karl, Kade, and Melissa's baby belly...See Jana and meet Trent...See Megan and Michael, their baby Sidnee, and their new house...See Megan and Tommy and meet their baby Teddy...See grandparents, aunts, and uncles...Swim in the pool, watch Grace ride in the Barbie Jeep with Kade, relax...Go to Melissa's ultrasound and "meet" my new niece for the first time...Go to the parade in Lake City, which celebrates "The Greatest Fourth in the North"...And oh, so much more! :-) I'm anticipating a great weekend! Manton, here we come!

Oh, but when the weekend is over, I will be in overdrive working on Backyard Bible Clubs, which start July 10. Yikes! I'm the new lady in charge, so I'm concentrating on pulling it off this year with not enough preparation for me. (The former lady in charge recently moved to NY. We miss her!)

So, that's what's going on. Hope everyone's doing well. The weekend's coming soon!!!

-{lkr}

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y...

...that's the Rumley battle cry!

Everybody ready? Last night Caleb SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! YAY!!! I woke up at 5:50am and my first thought was, "He hasn't woken up yet?!" So, hooray!

He's also started giggling a little bit. It's the happiest sound in the world.

-{lkr}

6:57 am

Wow, I am not really a fan of being up at 6:57 am, but here I am, showered and ready to go. The kids aren't even up yet! It's because Luke got up super early today (good job, honey!) to go on a business trip to Chicago for the day. (I'm sure he'll wave as he goes by, Portage Rumleys!) He gets to visit a conference called NeoCon, where Steelcase is unveiling three new office chairs. Pretty cool, huh? He'll have to write about it when he gets back.

On a happy note, we're making progress with Caleb's sleeping habits. He's not sleeping through the night yet, but he did GREAT with his naps the past couple of days. He goes down with just a little fussing (not much crying), and if he wakes up during the nap, he'll get himself back to sleep on his own. YAY! Last night he was up a couple of times to eat, but the night before that I fed him at 10:30pm before bed, 3:30am, and then not until 9:00am. That might not mean a whole lot to some people, but trust me, it's great! I'm hoping it just keeps getting better.

We went to Tom Ritchie's visitation on Monday. It was sad, but the family is holding onto the hope of seeing him again one day. For those who aren't sure how we know them, Luke's ministry team RISEN worked with their church for VBS one summer and also a SuperBowl party later on. And I had the privilege of going to Romania with Tom and Terre in January 2001. We worked with this ministry organization.

Hope everyone has a great day!

-{lkr}

P.S. Grace is 19 months old today.

Our "lawn"

I bought this on Saturday...


...and I am super excited to give a test run. I am sure after a couple of weeks I will be ready to train Caleb how to use it, but for now, I am excited. This will allow me to plow down our 2ft tall weeds and call it a lawn until we rototill and re-plant real grass in the fall. Woo-hoo!

Some sad news: Hyo-sun (my parents' exchange student from South Korea) is probably sitting in construction traffic right now on her way to Chicago to fly back home.

Some sadder news: Tom Ritchie passed away this past weekend unexpectedly. He has been a great leader in ministries in Grand Rapids and around the world, and his wife Terre is the executive director of Children's Bible Hour. Keep her in your prayers.

--
Luke

Graduation, dedication, and all-around cuteness

Emily and Dan-o: the graduates and soon-to-be newlyweds. Good job!


The Rumley girls at graduation - (left to right) Erin, Betsey, Emily, Elyse, Lacey, and Grace!


Caleb and I with my college roomie, Chaeli. She's #1! : - )


Grace in her Rose Hulman Institute of Technology hoodie from The Pretty Aunt. Go Rose!


Pastor Jeff holds baby Caleb during his dedication. (He talked about the Caleb of the Bible being wholehearted. We pray that for our Caleb!)


The man cub dressed up for his dedication. The shirt is from Angie and Dave - SO cute! Thanks, guys!


Aunt Melissa had fun snuggling with her favorite nephew all weekend.


Grace and Kade look like little twins, don't they?

One more time...It's a girl!

YAY! We found out on Monday that Melissa and Karl are going to have a girl! It's not 100% sure (never is until the birth!), but the ultrasound was fairly clear. They were hoping for a girl. So, we're all excited! Now we just have to wait until the end of September to meet my first, precious niece!

Another benefit of this gender is clothing. Melissa and I will be trading Grace's clothes for Kade's clothes, so Caleb will have some cute (FREE) clothes to wear, and vice versa for little Girl Webster. Yay for free clothes! Oh, and don't worry MomR, I'll still need to garage sale for clothes for Grace. We'll plan on June 3.

Oh, and here's a picture of Tayler Ellen Brewster. What a cutie!


-{lkr}

Picture Time!

Sleepy Caleb, 5 weeks old...





Grace likes to play behind the couch...



Grace and her baby brother...








Grace and her two church buddies - Noah (left) and Luke (right)...

It's a girl!!!

Okay, so I know those of you who don't keep up with us on a regular basis are thinking "What? I thought they already had their baby?" and "Wasn't it a boy?" Well, you're right about that! Caleb is almost six weeks old already! But...

We're happy to welcome Tayler Ellen Brewster into our church family! Rusty and Kisha had their baby yesterday (Wednesday) at 4:06 pm. She was 8lb and 20 inches long. We'll go visit them in the hospital today, and maybe someday we'll be able to post pictures.

Speaking of pictures, I'm pining for a digital camera. We had Emily's over the weekend (because she accidentally left it here), and we took lots of pictures of the kids that we will post at a later date (once we retrieve them from said camera). Until then, we're going to have to just wait...

Hope everyone's doing great. Caleb's dedication and Mother's Day are both on Sunday. Exciting! Both the Rumleys and the Liabenows will be here (not all the Rumleys, but definitely all the Liabenows). We're looking forward to it!

-{lkr}

Congrats, grads!

Today was Emily and Dan's graduation from Cornerstone. GOOD JOB, EMILY AND DAN! Emily is a smarty-pants. She graduated Summa Cum Laude (with highest honors). Yay for her! So that means that we got to spend the day with the Rumley side of the family. Lots of fun and frenzy, that's for sure.

I also got to see my long-lost college roomie, Chaeli. It's been a while since we've seen each other, so it was really nice to see her again! Her crazy family was there because her brother Andy graduated as well. CONGRATS, ANDY!

That's all for now. We're going to go watch some old episodes of Lost, because we're completely addicted to the show. Bye!

-{lkr}

The art of sleeping...

If you don't believe it's an art, try teaching an almost-four-week-old how to properly sleep. Yikes.

I've been exhausted this week, probably because Caleb's been more awake this week than ever. (More awake = less sleep for me.) So, I decided to start sleep-training him, like we did for Grace. It's a long process, but she was sleeping through the night at three months old, and since about that age has gone down for naps and bedtime without a fuss. It's been wonderful!

So yesterday I put him down (in his crib) for an afternoon nap, and he slept for more than two hours! YAY! That's the longest stretch of napping he's done yet. I'm hoping to continue that pattern.

So, right now, both of my children are in their own beds, sleeping away. I'm going to go take a stress-free shower! YAY!

-{lkr}

Wow!

I am blown away by our amazing church family. The people at FHBC are just WONDERFUL! The shower was great. I didn't count, but probably 20-30 people were there. We played a fun scavenger hunt game, had tons of food, listened to a nice devotional about motherhood, and opened scads of presents. We received lots of cute boy clothes for Caleb, LOTS of diapers and wipes, and some other fun things like children's books, puzzles, toys, and bibs.

And Kisha got us a Snugli carrier, which I've already used, on my first solo trip to WalMart. I put the baby in the carrier and Grace in the cart, and we were off! It was great!

Oh, and I can't forget the yummy candy that Wendy bought. She got a bag of Rolos and a huge bag of yummy mini candy bars for Luke, as well as a bag of Dove chocolate for me! We're going to be on a sugar high until that's all gone! :-)

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Friday we'll hang out with Emily and Dan. Then Saturday will be full with rummage sales (FHBC and Ada Christian), Spring Splash, and a Steelcase hockey game. Fun!

I ordered this crib set for Caleb today. It's by Carter's, whom I love. I'm excited to decorate his room a little bit!

-{lkr}

Baby showers bring weeds and grass?

Our wonderful church family will be celebrating Caleb's birth tonight with a baby shower for us! Isn't that nice? We're hoping to receive some boy clothes, so that he doesn't have to wear Grace's pink clothes. We'll see! :-)

Luke's birthday was great! He took the day off, and we had a nice, relaxing day. I got him a guitar stand (for either his acoustic at home or his bass at church) and a Monster cable for church. Then we went shopping, and he got a nice wheelbarrow and a shovel. Manly toys. He got to use them on Saturday at our church workday and at home, where he cleaned up the yard some more.

Speaking of the yard, if anyone wants to come help plant us a lawn, you're more than welcome! It needs to be done! The weeds and grass are starting to pop up in patches, and we'd rather have a nice, green, weedless lawn. (Or as close to that as you can get by planting your own.)

We have some obstacles to planting a lawn (besides money and equipment): (1) We have a groundhog. He digs holes. I guess we could still plant our lawn, but it will have holes in it. Silly groundhog. (2 - the bigger problem) Our phone line still isn't buried. Luke called on it, and they said they'd come bury it between April and July sometime. Nice timeframe, huh? But a guy was out here yesterday marking our electrical line, so maybe that's a good sign that SBC will be here soon. Otherwise, we may have to plant around the phone line, and fill in that strip of lawn later! How sad!

I'm pretty sure we didn't say this before, so CONGRATULATIONS to Emily and Dan! They were recently engaged, and are planning a September 16 wedding! YAY! Now I'll have my first brother-in-law-in-law (two "in-law"s because he'll be marrying my sister-in-law - make sense?). We're geeked for them, and are happy to welcome Dan into the Rumley clan. (Does he know what he's getting himself into? hehehehohoho)

Well, not a whole lot more going on in our lives. Spring Splash is this weekend. All the cool kids will be there.

Bye!

-{lkr}

A quarter of a century!

That's how old Luke is, as of today!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY, LUKE/DADDY!

WE LOVE YOU!


-{Lacey, Grace, and Caleb}

Caleb's dedication

Caleb's baby dedication is scheduled for Sunday, May 14, 2006 - Mother's Day! Could they have chosen a more fitting day to dedicate our son to the Lord? I don't think so! I'm excited.

It will be held at our church, Forest Hills Baptist Church, and the service starts at 9:30am. (Early, I know. Sorry to you college kids.) Let me know if you need directions or more information. We'd love to see you there!

On a side note, Grace is doing better now. She's seeming to be pretty much over her sickness (ear infection), and she's adjusting to having a new little one at home. She LOVES her brother - loves to hold him and pet his head and give him hugs and kisses. But she was a little mad at Mommy and Daddy for the first week or so, because we aren't able to give her all our attention anymore. She seems to be getting better now, though, for which I am SO thankful.

We'll be having company tomorrow night - our friends Dave, Angie, and Nathan will be visiting from Iowa! They'll stay with us on their way to see family in Detroit. We haven't seen them in a LONG time (a year maybe?), so we're excited to spend some time with them. And Angie is pregnant again, for another little boy. YAY for them! YAY for baby boys! :-)

Welp, gotta go feed the "man cub."

-{lkr}

It's a boy!

Yes, the rumors floating around the “blogosphere” are true. Caleb Aaron Rumley was born at 6:49am on Saturday, April 1, 2006!

I was nervous about labor because Grace’s labor was 44 hours long. So I was expecting a long labor with this one as well.

Here is the short version: I woke up with contractions at 1:45am and we left for the hospital around 3. At 4am, I was dilated to 4cm, and asked for an epidural right away. Around 6:15am, I finally received the epidural. The doctor checked right after that, and I was already dilated to 10cm! There wasn’t enough time for the epidural to kick in because Caleb was born 15 minutes later!

After just a five hour labor, he was born at 9lbs 13oz, 21-½ inches long.

Thank you for all of your prayers and concern; we now have a beautiful little boy to celebrate. Here are some pictures from day 1, many more to come.


Caleb Aaron Rumley


Caleb with mommy and daddy


Luke and his "man cub"


Lacey and her beautiful babies - Grace loves her little brother!

Monday

Well, I'm back from the doctor's office, and his answer was a resounding "no." While Friday (tomorrow) was definitely my day of choice for induction, he won't do it because of issues with their insurance company. (Apparently the insurance people don't like it if they induce before 10 days overdue.) Anyway, they also do not induce on Sundays, which is my 10th day overdue. That means we have to wait until Monday. We are scheduled for a Monday morning induction, but I'm still hoping this kid will get the idea before that and decide to come out on his/her own. We'll let you know.

Oh, and as far as dilation, the doctor says I'm now "an honest three." I was rooting for four, but I'm happy with three. I was fearing that he'd say I went back to one or something. (Probably an irrational fear, but at this point, I wouldn't be surprised! Pessimistic, I know.)

So, we have no plans tonight, although it's gorgeous outside. Maybe we'll go for a nice, long walk. Then tomorrow evening is a Young Adult Get-together for our church. We'll go to that if we can. (There will be swimming, but I'm seriously doubting my willingness to get into a bathing suit at this point in my life.) We have no plans for Saturday or Sunday. I need to come up with something, because if I sit around all day and think about how pregnant I am, I will go crazy! Anybody have any ideas for entertainment?

Well, there's your update. That's all for now!

-{lkr}

No baby yet.

Every time I call someone, they think I'm in labor. So, I always have to begin the conversation with, "No, it's not what you think..."

I'm a week overdue today. Stubborn child. I have a doctor appointment at 1:00. They'll check to see if I'm dilated more (I hope so!), and we'll talk about inducing. I think I'm going to BEG the doctor to induce me tomorrow. We'll see what he says. I truly could wait until Monday, but I keep thinking, Grace was only 5 days late and she was 9 lb 12 oz. Every day we wait, this baby keeps growing and growing. I don't know if I can birth a 10 or 11 lb baby! Help!

Last night was "family night" at church, which means AWANA and POD groups. (POD groups are basically small group Bible studies.) I'm usually a Cubbies helper (ages 3-4), but I took last night off and went to POD groups. (A perk of being 9+ months pregnant, I guess.) It was nice to be able to interact with adults and discuss the Bible. The study they're doing is on II Corinthians. Last night was chapter 5, but we spent most of the time talking about our current bodies in relation to our resurrection bodies, and also about heaven and earth. It was so intriguing! I feel like Revelations is so intimidating, so I don't really ever try to read and understand it. And I feel like because of that, I have a lot of questions about the end times and heaven and such. AND I feel like a lot of my knowledge of the end times is based on my reading of The Left Behind Series. Augh! I love that series, but it's probably not a good idea to base my knowledge of eschatology on a fictional series, huh?

So, I think it would be SO interesting to do a Bible study on the end times and heaven. One book that Pastor Jeff suggested (and I've heard recommended before) is Heaven is a Place on Earth by Michael Wittmer, who is a prof at CU's seminary. We have it in our church library, and I think I will read it.

Hey, I should do something productive. But don't worry, we'll let you know when this little squirt decides to greet the world!

-{lkr}

Still waiting...

Well, this little one is now five days late. Grace was five days late. I wonder if this one will be even more stubborn than Grace? Goodness...

If I don't have the baby before then, I have another doctor appointment on Thursday. The doctor said we'll "negotiate" my induction then. He said they usually wait until ten days overdue, which would be next Sunday (five more days!). But then everyone I talk to keeps asking, "Oh, they'll induce you on a Sunday?" And I say, "I have no idea. I just figured, since that's ten days overdue." So, I guess I'll have to ask at my appointment, and let you know. If they won't induce on a weekend, maybe I can get him to do it on Friday instead of Monday. The sooner the better, I say.

But, that's all if the baby doesn't decide to come before that.

I did start having real-feeling contractions last night, pretty far apart. But then I went to bed (because it was late), and they stopped. I'm hoping they'll come back soon. I may lose my mind if something doesn't start happening soon.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (That feels a little better.)

-{lkr}

I think I can, I think I can...

I feel like the little steam engine trying to get over the hill, oh so slowly.

The doctor appointment was pretty good today. Not I'm-in-labor-and-having-the-baby-tonight kind of thrilling, but good. Last week I was dilated 1-2 cm. This week I'm 2-3 cm. That's progress, folks. The doctor also stripped my membranes. (If you didn't ask your mom, here's the short description from me - separating the bag of waters from the uterine wall inside the cervix.) It's not the most fun thing I've ever done, but not unbearable either. I hope it helps!

Oh, and for those of you who I haven't told yet, I say it now. I'm going to be an aunt again! Yay! My sister is having another baby - due October 8. Baby Webster #2 is on the way! Hooray! It'll give this new Rumley baby a playmate, since Grace and Kade have each other. I'm excited!

Well, have a great day, and keep praying for this little one to make an appearance soon! We're ready!

-{lkr}

Not yet

I'm SO ready to have this baby, but am still waiting. I've been having contractions, but not consistently enough to call it labor. And so we wait, and I become more and more bored and impatient and frustrated.

And Luke is an angel. He's so understanding and sweet to me. He's been rubbing my feet and back every day, and he came home early from work today just for me.

I do have a doctor appointment on Thursday at 1pm, and they'll check to see if I'm dilated more. I'll also have them strip my membranes. (Ask your mom if you want to know what that means.) That might help the labor start. If we don't have the baby by next Thursday (41 weeks), I'm thinking about asking to be induced.

Not much more happening around here.

-{lkr}

Gross (but good) things...

Two pieces of fun (and gross-ish) news...

(1) Our amazing daughter, Grace, who is only 16 months old, POOPED ON THE POTTY last night! Isn't she cool? We bought her this potty recently. She loves it. She loves to sit on it, sometimes with her clothes still on, sometimes not. But last night she finally squeezed out the littlest poop rock you could imagine. And yet, we're excited and telling the world. : - )


(2) I had my 39-week check-up yesterday. (I'm beginning to feel like I live at the doctor's office.) And he said I'm dilated between 1 and 2! YAY! It's not a lot, but it's a start. And it's better than last time. When I went into labor with Grace, I stayed at 1 for FOREVER - like 24 hours. (That's a long time when you're having contractions, trust me.) So, I'm excited that I already have a head start on last time. YAY!

In other news, I got to see another doctor today because I have an ear infection in my right ear. Oh, joy. So, I'll be taking amoxicillan four times daily for ten days. Oh, well. As long as I regain full hearing in that ear soon, I'll be happy.

It's the weekend! Hope everyone has time to relax and have some fun!

-{lkr}

Thoughts of a crazy pregnant lady

One week until baby Rumley is due! WOW! I'm SO ready to have this child. I've been feeling yucky all week, and having light contractions, but what does that mean? The baby will come when he/she wants to. DaRn. I have a doctor appointment again today (as I do every Thursday now), and I think they're going to check and see if I'm dilated. I really want the doctor to say, "Oh, good. You're dilated to four." (For those of you that haven't had kids before, you have to dilate to 10 before the baby can be born.) But I'm sure he'll say, "Nope. Nothing. Nada." (Probably not in those words, but that's what I'll hear.)

Either way, I keep telling myself that the baby will have to be born within the next three weeks, if not sooner. They won't let a woman go more than two weeks overdue anymore without inducing. So, I WILL have a baby within three weeks.

I've also been thinking, "What am I thinking!?" I mean, why am I so anxious to have this baby? Pregnancy is by far the easiest phase of parenting! Once this kid is out, everything changes! (Lots of good changes, yes, but lots of challenging ones, too.) Let's just say Grace has been gaining "spunk." She's testing her limits. And that makes me want to stay pregnant a while longer...But then I remember how yucky I feel, and that if I stayed pregnant for another nine months I would truly be as big as a whale, and I decide that I want to have this baby NOW!

See why I feel crazy?

-{lkr}

Good weekend, sad news

We stayed home all weekend, which was relaxing. Friday night Luke was a sweetheart and brought home Panera for dinner (YUM!) and "Just Like Heaven" for entertainment after Grace went to bed. It was wonderful!

Then we spent Saturday relaxing and running some errands. I got my watch battery replaced so I can keep track of the time between feedings when the new baby arrives. Soon!

Sunday was great, because my mom, dad, and little sister came to visit! They came to church in the morning and then spent the afternoon at home with us. We made pizzas for lunch and just hung out - talked, looked at pictures, played a no-pressure game of Taboo. It was nice!

We got some sad news after evening church, though. Luke's 19-year-old cousin committed suicide on Saturday night. We'll be going to the visitation tomorrow in Lapeer, and the funeral is Wednesday. His family could really use some prayer.

On a much happier note, we're going to have our youth pastor's family over for dinner tonight. They are such fun people, and we love to have people over! I hope we can always use the home God's given us to be hospitable and to encourage others.

That's all for now!

-{lkr}

Never mind...

We're not going up north now, because Alonna came home sick from school today, and I feel like poo. (It's a congested-head/cold type of feeling. I can't breathe through my nose.) And Grace is getting over a double ear infection. SO, we're just going to stay here and recoup, and not chance catching Alonna's sickness. We'll go up north when we feel up to it after the baby's born. (SORRY to my family. We miss you!)

-{lkr}

Streptococcal

Weird word, huh? I think it sounds like a dinosaur. But, alas, it is a bacteria that I am "colonized" with. Isn't that the most disgusting thing you've heard today? I had to get tested for "Group B Strep" at my last OB appointment. (Not to be confused with Group A Strep, which causes strep throat.) I didn't have this bacteria last time I was pregnant, so it would be uncommon for me to have it now. Welp, come to find out, I have it. Darn! Now I have to have antibiotics through an IV during labor. Makes me look forward to the whole birthing experience all the more. Which, by the way, is due in less than three weeks now.

And we're going to my parents' house for the night tonight, for our last visit before the baby comes. So, please pray that I don't go into labor while I'm there. I mean, what are the chances that my water would break three weeks before I'm due on the one night that I'm out of town? Not a great probability, but it's Murphy's Law that says what can go wrong will go wrong, right? Anyway, I'm just praying I can come back tomorrow evening with a baby still in my belly.

As for our other baby, she's growing up! Grace is learning to stack her Lego blocks, and she's trying to learn to jump (which is like acrobatics for a 15-month-old). And today she colored with crayons for the first time. What a big girl! I think she might be left-handed like her daddy, but we'll have to keep watching and find out.

Okay, everybody have a great weekend!

-{lkr}

The countdown is on!

As of today, we are officially 8 months / 36 weeks along, which means that D-Day (Delivery Day) is coming in just ONE month or FOUR weeks! Yikes! Are we ready?

The bigger and more uncomfortable I get, the more ready I feel. I guess that's how it's supposed to work. I'm sick of being BIG! I long to wear normal clothes again, and not look as big as a house. Not too much longer...

On a different note, we're hosting our first get-together at the house tomorrow night! Our Young Adult Sunday School class is coming over for some munchies and games. Fun! I'm nervous that not many people will show up, but I know that we'll have a good time with the ones that are coming.

Well, everyone have a great Thursday!

-{adminswifeshusbandssonswife}

Tiny Tim...

Well, we've made a decision. Just to be fair to both dads (or grandpas, in this case), if it's a girl, we'll name her Timothea Davida Rumley.

Hahaha, just kidding.

Baby names...

So, I realized this week that I’m 33 weeks along, which means that in only four weeks (at 37 weeks along), the doctors will say something like, “It’s okay for the baby to come any time now.” In FOUR WEEKS?! Whoa! Where has time gone? It truly doesn’t seem like all that long ago that I found out we were pregnant, and now I’m suddenly rushing around like a mad woman, trying to figure out what to pack for the hospital and wondering how we’re going to survive as parents of TWO kids.

Oh, and what to name the baby…We’ve had a boy name, since we didn’t get to use it last time. But a girl name? Nope. We really like Madison Joy, but it seems that Madison is the most popular name ever right now. I don’t want my daughter to have four other kids with the same name in her class in school. So, I read through our entire baby name book yesterday and wrote down some other names that are nice. Luke and I are considering these first names: Ava, Avery, and Aubrey. (I shouldn’t have bothered to read the rest of the book after “A.”) For middle names, we could still use Joy, or Elaine, or Kae/Kay/Kaye. I kind of like Aubrey Kae, or Ava Joy…(I do like Avery, but my best-friend-growing-up-Jana’s-sister-Jaime just had a girl, and named her Avery Jane. So I’m not sure on that.) Any opinions? Other suggestions?

Grace update:
She’s getting two teeth in on the bottom now. Maybe they’re more molars? Poor kid. She’s having a hard day. She finally just fell asleep for her morning nap at noon. I gave her Tylenol, but I think I’ll give her Motrin for the next dose. That seems to help more with pain.

Other than the pain-induced naughtiness, she’s a sweet kid. And smart. (Of course, I’m her mother, so I’m biased.) But she can make animal noises for a lion (growl), horse (squeal), and pig (grunt, grunt, grunt). Isn’t that cute? And she learned how to turn our light switches on and off. That’s less cute. But it’s fun to watch her grow and learn. I have a feeling she’s going to seem like such a big kid when the new baby’s born.

That's all for now.

-{lkr}

P.S. I'm working on getting digital pics on the desktop computer, so I can put some on our blog. You'll know if it works!