Nursery Update

Holden,

The nursery is almost done! We need a music wall with records and a boombox, a rug, to finish painting the letters white and hang them above the windows and to get a ceramic fish for our bubble mirrors. Then it is done! Here are some pics:



The shelf above your changing table. It has your Taurus oxen looking down over you, "The Dangerous Book for Boys" which Daddy bought a looooong time before you came along, and a lovely antiquey wooden stacker from Grandparents Weber.


Your letters are almost done! All I need to do is paint over the wood on the last few letters white, and it will be done. I am so happy with how they turned out...I think they are even better than the ones you can spend ridiculous money on in the store!



Up close bookshelf...you have tons of Serendipity books, which are Chris and I's favorite. The blocks spell out "son."


Bookshelf in full glory...it has little golden firefly lights all around it that are so soothing at night.


Welcome to Holden's room!


This sign was given to me in Gruene by Grandpa Weber and it says, "I made a wish and you came true." Very much true for you, baby.


Our curtains! We took a risk on the golden tentacles hehe, but we LOVE them. I wish I could get a better picture of them! They are so lovely they remind me of Christmas each time I look at them.


Another shot....


Your firefly coat hanger. I need a better pic for perspective....but we cracked up thinking about you having a coat hanger for your itty bitty jackets.


We are getting a ceramic fish to go underneath the bubbles so it looks like it is blowing bubbles up your wall:)


More bubbles! Love these!

XOXO

Mama

11 Days?!

Holden,

I can't believe the spinning baby is saying it is 11 days until your due date. Wow. Just wow.

Well, the house is much more put together than even 3 days ago. All the boxes have been sorted and either unloaded and recycled, or placed in the attic for storage. The trash people give us a recycling can and we can put mixed media in there: paper, plastic, aluminum unsorted. This makes being "green" so much more convenient for your mums. Your nursery is sooooooo cute. There are just a few more tweaks to do and we will be done. But you could come anytime and I think be happy with your accommodations.

Daddy is painting the final touches on the kitchen right now. A few minutes ago he was standing on top of the kitchen counter, hunched over and painting the wall, and singing Bad Religion to his ipod. It's one of those things that you just cement to memory as a set of variables you will see once in your life.

Earlier I went to Target (I live there) and made Daddy a surprise relaxation bag. Candles, wine, Beethoven, jalapeno poppers (he loves them), and a gift certificate for an hour-long massage. I also gave him a thank you card thanking him for how hard he works for our family and stating the magnitude of appreciation I have for his integrity and dedication to our little corner of the world. We both got a little maudlin....but then he totally scared me.

"Come here, sit down, I have bad news."

When people do this to me my nature is to not want to sit at all and to take the bad news immediately at that moment while I am in a standing position. I was terrified someone in one of our families was hurt. Or that we were facing certain financial ruin. But mainly that someone had died. It was that sort of somberness. I sat down out of frustration because it seemed that sitting would speed up the process of hearing the news.

Turns out that a woman from the neighborhood had come around to collect donations from members of Riviera Springs (official name of our subdivision) because a woman down the street just lost her daughter. Her 10-year old was playing with a shovel she found and in tossing it up and waving it about had touched a power cord, and severed it. She was electrocuted and died. This happened yesterday. The woman (Chris has the impression that she is a single mother) is from Mexico and all she wants to do now is go home to Mexico to be with the rest of her family. Chris gave her $100, which is all we can really afford to give right now, and we are going to see if there is something else we might be able to organize in the neighborhood...maybe bringing food around to her.

Tragedies like this are always inspiring of ambivalence. I cried thinking of her and for the loss of an innocent child. Yet how in the world can I feel empathy for a situation that horrible? I hope I never have to and to pretend to even empathize with that level of despair seems so arrogant or self involved somehow.

Regardless, I can not help but think that we are 11 days until you burst in this world, innocent and vulnerable. Subject to all the chaos this world has to offer...with us trying to protect and shield you as best we can but ultimately having little control over the elements of danger implicit with just being alive. To hear of a loss of a child a few doors down from us a few days before our child is born into the world is nothing less of alarming, horrible, and almost maddening.

I love you, Holden. Life is a precious, temporary, beautiful, and tenuous beast. I promise you that we will do everything we can to protect you. But please please please be careful.

Mom

This is the astronomy picture of the day. To me it looks like baby footprints. Your feet in the sky ready to touch ground any moment:

Nurserius Interruptus

Holden!

So unfortunately due to the dimensions of the room (it is nearly a perfect square) I can not get all of the nursery walls at once in a photo! So I had to take piece by piece pictures. We finally have the major furniture assembled (thanks to about six hours of work by your Dad and some help from your Mom) and all we have left is little furniture pieces and decorations.


I am making you decorated letters for above your crib! I am so proud of my craftiness, which I conceived of with just scrapbook paper, wooden letters, adhesive, and an Exacto knife.


Daddy making crib and your letters.



Ok since you have McAloon blood, you surely will appreciate all the time it took me to figure out that this was the perfect fan. Thanks to Uncle Andrew for coming over and installing into wall!


My cozy glider for the many times I will be up feeding you. You can see a little better the gorgeous seafoam green of your walls! We thought it would be a tranquil color.


Your beauteous crib. We took off closet doors and recessed the crib into the space. We laughed about telling you that you were living in a closet in your future. We plan to get some white mosquito netting to drape over the walls so it is not closet-like at all!


Your changing table/dresser. We are going to go get cute little glass pull handles for drawers tomorrow.


We are arranging the room in a sort of bungalow manner, with the pieces facing inward and we are going to get a nice circle rug for the middle. It is so peaceful! The thing in the middle is my workbench for your letters.


I was a bit dubious when I picked out this lamp but it is super cute for your room and gives it more of a zen peaceful feel:) I will get it during daytime so you can see it's neat paper pattern.

Ok hopefully we can get better pics in the daylight and maybe of more of the room once we make more progress! It is looking so great and I can't wait to see you in it and put up your decorations!

Mama

You're growing a life within a life; the lips of wonder kiss you inside.

Your nursery is coming along!!! I just wanted to say we love you and our new house. Animals are coming apart at the seams and appear to be leaking all sorts of body fluids in reaction. Gross. Ok more later. <3

Falling asleep against the window pane

Holden,

Daddy and I are done weared out painting your Keep. It looks very good but still much more to do. Tomorrow the movers come and I will actually have a place to sit, which is incredibly exciting for me. Finishing up packing at the last night at the dorm. Love you.

I'm Just An Animal Looking for a Home; Share the Same Space For A Minute or Two

Baby baby baby blue,

We closed on your Keep today! We are officially homeowners of a gorgeous house in a neighborhood with a duck pond! I can't believe with all the obstacles and the time limit that we found such a wonderful place. It is lovely. We did the walkthrough today before we signed and Allen our realtor was already there, and had opened up all the doors. Wind was lightly breezing through the house and it felt like we were standing in an open field all by ourselves, holding hands and looking out together at the grand silence of the world. Except this was captured inside a space...OUR space! The owners had done a wonderful job of cleaning up, and left us a note that brought tears to our eyes. We plan to frame it and hang it up in the house, possibly in the garden.

It reads:

"Congratulations on your first home and the coming of your first child! These are wonderful beginnings and we pray you are as blessed in this home as we were when we started out with our babies. Hope you enjoy making the home your own- but just in case time and energy are short we left some of the paint we had for touch-ups if you should need it- but of course you will have fun doing your own thing when you are ready. You will have many wonderful neighbors here and lots of children for your daughter or son to grow with!

Enjoy and God Bless,

Laura and Blake

oh...p.s. The paint on the kitchen door leading out to the garage is magnetic- fun for whatever:)"

We plan to send them a thank you note through Allen. I mentioned that I could feel wonderful loving vibes from the house the minute we walked in, and this for sure was a house that a family had treasured. I am so excited to make our own memories here with you, our beautiful baby boy. One very very neat thing, that most people might think is NOT neat but we did, hehe, is that there was sidewalk chalk writing on one of the bricks on the front of the house. We think that the daughter that lived there, Hannah, who made the garden stone that once beautified the backyard, had written her initial there. It wasn't her last name, though. All it read was:

H.

Holden's Keep indeed.

Here are some pictures of you in my tummy, your pumpkin-like Mama, and your proud father:

Your father and the love of my life


Evidence this is meant to be your Keep...


Proud Daddy surveys his land


Our living room


The owners left and labeled all the paint they used!


Mommy and Daddy in front yard


Proud proud proud


Mommy and Daddy at front door next to your H


Daddy and Allen through the bedroom window



A beautiful THANK YOU to Ellen, who sent us these gorgeous tulips and a wonderful card congratulating us on the house. They go perfectly with...


The tulips Daddy got me a few days ago! We have a very decorated house right now (if you overlook all the boxes)


Daddy left today right after we closed (and purchased an emergency fridge as the sellers took theirs and we thought they were leaving it!) He is making the clouds in Corpus. In other words, working with the air emissions plant there. We decided we would point out the power plants to you when you are little, when they are pumping their epic white puffs into the air, and say that is where Daddy goes when he leaves for work. He goes to make the clouds:)

Big thanks to Tammany for being on-call in case I need to go to the hospital before Daddy comes home on Saturday! And to Alicia for being my stand-in Baby Daddy at birthing class on Thursday:)

We love you so much and can't wait to meet you! 30 short days to go, little one.

And of course, your 36-week belly dance:





Love, Your Proud Parents

Sister Golden Hair So Bright

Holden,

Daddy went on major nesting spree with me. We got washer/dryer, deep freezer, glider, and a plan for bed frames in the new house. I also got a lot of the hospital and diaper bag packed for when we will be running out to welcome you to the outside world.

We close on the house in two days! There was a terrible spot there where sellers were giving us flack about wanting us to pay half their deductible for a new roof that was damaged from last week's hailstorm. But we stalled on them and they want out quickly bc the husband lives in CO now, so they just conceeded to pay the entire thing. I feel a bit bad for them. It is a tough time for sellers. But I am happy for us:)~

Today we went to what will be our neighborhood park and daddy painted my tummy as a sun with planets orbiting. He was going to make it accurate with full planets and Miette and Spronion orbiting but I was complaining having to lay flat for so long on the ground so we only got in earth, mars, mercury, venus. The cars driving by were slowing down and wondering what shady business was going on with the girl with her shirt up and the guy kneeling next to her. It was amusing. Already making a big impression with the neighbors;)

Here are the designs on my almost 36-week belly!


Daddy's favorite picture


You can see your foot there on the top left. Dad got it poking out.


Totally awesome art! Belly has corners now!


The world revolves around me ;)


Up close of earth and poor tattoo. Oh and pants marks....That freaked my shit out when I looked at that bc I am terrified of stretch marks. A month to go and I am walking around slippery from all the lotion I am convering myself with. I found this lovely lotion from Mama Mio that I think i will continue to use after you emerge, it smells so yummy.

Love you!

Mommy