holiday essie

a pictorial update...

a whole lotta nothin'

For those of you who have been following the drama that is essie's life, we figured out a remarkable way to help her sleep and also not be on the floor in a carseat. it just made me uncomfortable that she was sleeping in there, especcially after we have such nice REAL sleeping arrangements for her. bassinets are so cute, but only if there is a baby inside :) so (drumroll please) she sleeps in her bassinet with a boppy shoved in the back. i squeeze her little body in the middle and her head and back are supported by the boppy pillow. it's amazing. and she can actually sleep all by herself without grunting and groaning all night. maybe someday she will be like her papa (my dad) and enjoy sleeping in recliners. for now, the boppy it is. and what a lifesaver it's been while trying to pack up this house. i thought for sure it was never going to happen when she wanted to be held all the time. also, for those of you who are wondering what the heck happened to my phone.....it doesn't work in cambridge so we shut it off. house phone is 309-752-0218. please no creepy calls from strangers, all you blog stalkers. but for actual friends and family, that's the number until we move on saturday. after that, i'll have to post a new one when the phone people come out. well i better go, so much to do so little time and choir practice in a few hours! pics to come, if i could ever figure out which cord to buy :) i know everyone is dieing to see the princess!

1 samuel 1:27

"I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what i asked of Him." 1 Samuel 1:27

so i haven't posted for awhile....we have been very busy with our new little blessing essie lynn. we are so thankful to have such a beautiful *and well behaved i might add* little girl. life is good, but God is great.

"rasing mccain" by john rich

this is an amazing song for any red blooded, blue collar, "commonsense conservative"...trust me it's worth the download everyone. i think i may actually be in love with john mccain. or sara palin. i can't decide which. and we all have to give the mac props for finding the only attractive girl in politics (with an NRA membership, i might add).

left, left, left, right left...

for those who have been wondering....i have been confined to my left side. bedrest is junk and i believe it's even worse when they start telling you what position you have to lay in. chris and i are enjoying our last weekend as a kid free couple. i'm a little nostalgic about that already! it's weird to think it will NEVER be just us again (because even with a babysitter, it's still not the same) i wish he had a week off before the baby comes too, not just after! lol

for christopher...happy anniversary

new favorite song...amazing

matt is pregnant too! yay!

what a good friend, trying to make me feel better about being a large pregnant woman. this picture cracks me up. good luck, mariah, you're gonna need it!

they tried to push me back in the water, then they realized i wasn't a whale...

"swimsuits are not flattering, hence the sad face. also, it was hot"


"i love my baby daddy"

so after church on sunday, we thought it would be a great cheap and easy way to beat the heat by going to the public pool. i think we were the only people there over the age of 15 without children, but that did not stop me from sitting, yes sitting, in the baby pool for four hours. i tried to go in the big kid pool, but some kid threw a football at my face and chris yelled at me for being mean to small children. long story short, we had a blast but we're paying for it now. i am on a mission to get tan for mariah's wedding on august 2nd (also happy anniversary to the Nelsons i might add) and since i can't go to a tanning bed, i thought SPF 6 would suffice. no, no, no. i forgot that i haven't been out in the sun AT ALL since last august due to the whole bed rest thing. and apparently christopher put vegetable oil all over his body because i have never seen anyone burn like that in my life. it's ridiculous. to make matters worse, we were out of power from 5AM until about 11PM. it is so hot in our house and all of our food is gone. sad. so we spend all day trying not to touch things with our burnt bodies and putting aloe vera on. we are going back to the pool on thursday, but this time i think we will bump the SPF up to 30. i will not be the only girl without a tan in the bridal party.

the saddest day of my life...

"Throwing out any pretense of being neutral in the culture war, McDonald's has taken up the rhetoric of gay activists, suggesting those who oppose same-sex marriage (SSM) are motivated by hate.

AFA has asked for a boycott of McDonald's restaurants because of the company’s promotion of the gay agenda. AFA asked McDonald’s to remain neutral in the culture war. McDonald’s refused.

In response to the boycott, McDonald's spokesman Bill Whitman suggested to the Washington Post that those who oppose SSM are motivated by hate, saying "...hatred has no place in our culture." McDonald's has decided to adopt the "hate" theme used by gay activist groups for years.

Whitman went on to say, "We stand by and support our people to live and work in a society free of discrimination and harassment." Mr. Whitman has intentionally avoided addressing the reason for the boycott. This boycott is not about hiring gays or how gay employees are treated. It is about McDonald's choosing to put the full weight of their corporation behind promoting their agenda.

McDonald's donated $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in exchange for membership and a seat on the group’s board of directors. The NGLCC lobbies Congress in support of same-sex marriage.

McDonald's CEO Jim Skinner said the company will promote issues they approve. "Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world...and we do."

Take Action
• Sign the online Boycott McDonald's petition.
• Forward this to family and friends and ask them to sign the petition.
• Print and distribute the Boycott McDonald's petition.
• Call your local McDonald's. Speak with the manager. Tell him or her (in a polite manner) that you will be boycotting McDonald's until they stop promoting the pro-homosexual agenda. To find the phone number of your nearest McDonald's, click here."

~from the AFA website. there's tons more info on there, just too much to post.

goodbye big macs. goodbye dollar menunairres. goodbye twenty piece chicken mcnuggets meal. and the worse part is, after i read the article i REALLY wanted some french fries. supersized.

painting!!

so we found paint that was low fume for $16.00!! can you believe it!! the poor girl can't live in a blue room. and by the way, i only LOOK like i'm not wearing pants in this pic. i really am. i promise.

bonfire at the york's!

so fun times at our house last night...my sister robin and her husband anton and all their assorted children came to our house for a cookout and then a bonfire last night! super fun! the puppies were a big hit with the girls and adam even made an attempt to pet Boyface. chris came up with the great idea to get sparklers and that definately made the night exciting. i forgot how much fire it took to light sparklers. we made s'mores over the bonfire and had birthday cupcakes (i had to make sure all her kids had a suger overload right? what are aunts for!) but now i need to kick back and relax for a few days because by the end of the night, my feet looked like tobbogans. i could have went skiing on those suckers. ugh pregnant.



we are pooped after a fun night of food and family!


uncle chris helping adam light his sparkler...i love adam's face in this picture. it's priceless.


okay this is just getting ridiculous. i look like a very large bandana.

"while the djs play us, yellin Jesus saved us"

for anyone who is a secret christian rap lover....gospel gangstaz. love love love cuz "you can't turn a rat into a housewife"

salad shmalad.

YEP I DID TAKE THIS PICTURE IN THE DONUT SHOP where i ate
two donuts and hot cocoa.

so the funny thing about doctors is that in a week's time they decide i'm not fat anymore. i don't understand. my appointment was yesterday and everything is great and i'm perfect size and blahblahblah. i didn't care much for the disruption last week, i'll tell ya that much. yesterday she said whatever you're doing with you weight keep it up. so apparently to all you preggo girls out there, just ignore your doctor and eventually sometime in your pregnancy, you'll be doing the right thing. fat. ha. although i did have a cupcake for breakfast. shhh.

nap time in the york house

yes, she DOES like to sleep on a heating pad under a blanket. she is baby pancakes and she does what she wants. i can't help it, she's my favorite.

Ninja would sleep in front of the back door all day if he could...when we put him outside in the afternoons, he sleeps on the back porch for hours. he is probably the best dog in the world. he never gets in any trouble. on the other hand, there is one bad puppy....

Boyface likes to wrap himself around the leg of the couch. it's cute until he does something bad and hides all the way behind the furniture. Pancakes is the worst at that, she will hide and you can't find her all day sometimes. she gets scared easily.

Bear with me, until the baby comes i have nothing else to do except take pictures of dogs. i'm bored a lot.

it only LOOKS skanky.

i love this show and i can't wait until season four comes out. especcially since i can spend all summer watching the first three seasons that chris got me for mother's day. don't worry, it only looks sensationaly and skanky. it's really quality programming. AND lauren conrad would totally be my best friend if i lived in california. soooo next summer when we go there for vacay, i'm going to look her up. she'll be interested, trust me. we have so much in common! she hangs out at a place called le doux, i love chris ledoux; she always has a tan and beautiful clothes, i am a white girl in sweatpants. the list goes on and on. we could totally eat pizza together. well i bet she'd have a salad.

so mostly, i'm just really bored. this would be day number five that chris has worked in a row. and for those of you who think that's no big deal...he goes in to work in the afternoon and comes home at like nine am. so five days in a row is a loooooong time. i hate it here.

maybe too ambitious?

so after reading some of my friends blogs who are obviously more creative than i am, i really want to learn how to sew. except i have no sewing machine, fabric, talent, or patience. are those things that can be fixed? hmmmm....i think this may be like the scrapbooking thing. i really enjoy it....twice a year. and sewing machines are a lot of money for a fake hobby.

the new addition to our family

apparently when people call me fat, chris buys me stuff. hey, it's okay with me! seriously, we have been looking at this puppy since we got pancakes because he is her brother. after all this time, no one had bought him. we see him every week when we go get their piggies (pig ears), and every time i cry all the way home. it makes me sad that he lives in a cage for all those months. what kind of life is that? i couldn't handle it. and i guess it doesn't help that i named him in april. you should never name anything that doesn't already belong to you. so with that, we now are a prould owner of yet another puppy. i love him and his name is boyface. any comments referring to how stupid we are are unnecassary. believe me, we already know. but it makes me feel better about being fat.

i knew it

so the doctor said i'm fat. i knew it.

hopefully it's genetic

look at my beautiful niece and nephew....i'm telling you with genes like this, essie is a sure thing.

mooooooo. i am a cow.

me and my baby daddy.....i just like to say that.
so funnest shower in the whole world. what nice stuff we got! now i just want this baby outta me. i'm ready for this pregnancy thing to be over with.

my street name is "Trips"

really and truly i think this is a great look for me. this is what happens to molly when she doesn't leave the house for seven days in a row. in the army they call these glasses BCG's (birth control glasses). apparently they did not work for me, hence the stomach. i should be in the magazines.

so i am a tard. last night i fell really hard on my tummy but i thought it was no big deal. yada yada yada, long story short, we spent hours at the hospital today. ugh, i hate that. i had to wear the monitors forever and get an ultrasound and see the doctor and all kinds of fun stuff. and by the way, they wouldn't let me potty. i was extra sad about that. im preggo, folks, my bladder goes off like an egg timer. for the silver lining, it was kind of neat when they had the monitors on. not for the usual reasons like hearing the heartbeat, blah blah blah. little essie got ticked off and started beating the crap out of one of the stethoscope things. it sounded like rapid fire. it's such a miracle how she can be protected so well from the shock of a fall, but then be able to feel a monitor strapped to my tummy. i'm telling you, my daughter is a tough cookie. but the icing on the tard cake is that when we were leaving we saw a bunch of brand new babies getting baths so i turned around to look at them and I ALMOST FELL AGAIN!! how humiliating would that have been to go back to the nurse's desk?!? soooo all's well that ends well....more bedrest for me. no getting out of bed at all for 24 hours. but essie is okay and God is good. although i will say that it did cross my mind that we could have left the hospital with a baby this weekend.....
and may i just add that i don't like when other people in my family are pregnant. i feel it steals my thunder. lol i am such a selfish person right? whatever.

he may be a nerd, but he's my nerd

so this is what our soldiers do over there...they put ninja bands on their heads and make muscles. lol i found this old picture of chris and his best friend mark and i thought i should share it with the world. dorks.

welcome to my world

not much to say after all

so here are some pictures of our baby. she is beautiful and she does NOT have a pig nose. although the nose she does have is rather large. but the doctor said everything looks good so that is a big relief. my only intructions are to quit losing weight. seriously, for once in my life i'm not trying! i even ate two mcdonalds biscuit bacon things, hashbrowns, and pancakes before my appointment. it didn't work! she is two pounds and two ounces, which is funny because that is about how much Pancakes weighs! so now we are just waiting...it seems like september is going to take forever to get here, but really it's only 90 days until our due date! i'm sure time will fly by. sorry about the quality of the pictures, once again it's a picture of a picture.

this one makes me sad because she looks like she is crying. poor baby.

i can't believe the 3d ultrasounds! they clarity always amazes me. no more squinting at traditional ultrasounds! lol anyway, chris thinks she looks like me.....what do all you people think? i think she looks a little like Pancakes which is good because Pancakes is adorable. ethier way she didn't get that schnoz from my side! thank you mr. york. just kidding she is gorgeous and we are so blessed to be able to monitor her progress so closely. we literally have pictures from week 6 every two weeks until now. how lucky is that? so now here's a picture of what she looks like from the OUTSIDE!

maybe i should invest in maternity clothes? lol

this was at mariah's shower. people think we're sisters.

our baby is beautiful!

so it's not the best picture because i took a picture of a picture with my camera but it does the job. isn't she beautiful?!?!?! believe me, i'm keeping an eye out for that pig nose. :) the doctor said that everything looks GREAT! all my fluids are good and there are NO HEMORRHAGES! yay! little esther is now one pound, four ounces. so she is just a little itty baby. what a relief after the past few weeks we've had! so we go back to peoria on the 17th of june. the next couple days are going to be little stressful though. we are between insurances for TWO DAYS. can you believe it? two days. so i have to wait to get my shots. i'm a little nervous, but it makes me feel better knowing that she is healthy.

we had lunch with our pastor yesterday. love love love him. he is probably the nicest guy in the whole world. if anyone is looking for a great church, cornerstone christian fellowship www.cornerstoneqca.com is it. it was nice to catch up one on one with him. at bible study on wednesday night, we were discussing mark 8 and how jesus healed the blind man. whenever he spit on him and then he touched him, and the man could see a little but jesus touched him again and his sight was completely healed. so at bible study we were talking about different reasons people think jesus touched him twice and different theorys on why that's the only place in the bible where he did that. well yesterday at lunch, i told jerry my theory on why i think jesus did that. i said that i think jesus gets a kick out of doing things like that (healing us, helping us, blessing us) and it kinda reminds me how on christmas when you open your presents but then someone hides the really good present and busts it out at the end and its way more fun! i think jesus sometimes has fun with us. then mr smartypants york says "well actually, i think jesus was bringing him to a new level of faith...blah blah blah, im so smart." and jerry said yeah i tend to agree with chris. thanks a lot jerko. i still think im right, my answer makes me feel nice on the inside. we were also talking about how the word beg in the bible in two spots actually means lamentations or mourning. jerry was trying to explain that yesterday and i think i understand it because there are times when i feel like i beg God for things or for circumstances. but whenever we were going through all of our losses, it seemed like even though i knew what was going to happen, i felt like i begged God for our babies. it was a different kind of beg though. more like a mourning, or lamentation. so i can see why that term would be used when stephen got stoned and when sad things happen. sometimes we beg God because we are so helpless to do anything else. hmmm this blog is long...are you hapy ira?

well, i need to go eat! have a wonderful day!

ok seriously about those leggings...

i'm telling you, they look adorable in the mirror. i guess the nurse today was right when she said not everyone can look like the girls in the magazines. i think she was calling me ugly in a nice way.

so we went to to doctor today... i had a huge list of questions for my midwife. i was very impressed since she doesn't deal with mthfr. she answered most of my questions, and the answers she didn't know she looked up and called me when the office closed. so now we are just waiting to hear back from peoria about my shots because apparently this..

...isn't normal. super disgusting, i hate my stomach. but luckily i dont have any stretch marks lol. it's really frustrating because every time i have a problem with my shots i have to stop taking them for a day or two, but the doctors also say the shots are the only thing keeping me prego. PLUS she put me on three more supplements that i was apparently supposed to be on the whole time, but my perinatologist never prescribed! AND a new prenatal which will help me process folates better since my body is not doing a very good job of it. ugh. more pills. so for a midwife, i think rita is doing pretty good. i guess we find out if i have to go back to peoria sooner than scheduled or if i need another ultrasound first thing tomorrow morning. i don't really see the good in going on and off so many medications all the time. it's annoying because every perinatologist i see says something different because apparently there is very limited info about mthfr. i dont know. im annoyed.

bizarre

sooo....of all weird things that could have happened to me today, because weird stalks me, at church tonight my high school secretary was there. (all the faculty from my old high school go to my church, kinda fun. except it's not so fun to see the principal....i'm still scared of HIM. remember mr. olmstead?) she always asks how i am like four times a week, and she asked me today what is exactly wrong with me. weeeelllll, i told her what i have and she was like 'you're kidding me! i have mthfr, too' no freaking way! out of one in a bazillion people, i know someone personally with the same blood disorder. bizarre, right? she said she had to go all the way to mayo clinic to be diagnosed because no one around here will deal with mthfr (which i knew that but i didn't realize you had to go THAT far). i thought it was a crazy coincidence.

so rev. helms had some wise words today : "if the shoe fits, take it off." i thought that was kinda cool. he was talking about how people say 'thats just the way i am' and instead of saying that we need to be replacing the way WE are for the way God is. so i guess the first STEP (haha) is taking off the ME shoe and putting on the GOD shoe. i sounded kinda smart right there.

can you believe chris and i went yard saleing for nine hours yesterday. bedrest, shmedrest. my doctor is going to kill me. BUT we got a lot of really cute clothes and a lot of really neat things! does anyone know why people try to sell baby clothes with puke stains on them? i was sicked out. excuse me folks, i would like my baby to stain her own clothes, thank you very much. she doesn't need your babies help :)

okay, well i am tired and my dogs are lonely. adios!

for amy....

and anyone else who wants to see my gorgeous niece!

did you ever get to see these pics? the photographer took them at the wedding. the top one is my favorite! she's so funny :)

two tickets to the gun show

dang!


i think i'm dying. this pregnancy thing sucks. i never stop puking, my head hurts all the time, and my backaches keep me up all night long. according to my OB- she is very happy because that usually means everything is going well. hmmmm....going well for whom?

also.... if i am 24 weeks, isn't that six months? but september is still 31/2 months away. that does not equal nine months. how many months am i really gonna be pregnant for? i'm seriously confused.