Christmas in August

You see that smile? The smile on the face of my "I may be younger but I grew taller than you" little sister?
Well, she better smile.

She's holding evidence of my love for her.

Here's the scoop:

A few weeks before Christmas I e-mailed my beloved little sister in Ethiopia and inquired as to what she would like for Christmas. Postage there is a bit expensive and I wanted to be sure whatever I sent would be appreciated.

Her reply contained one item.

Only one.

This should make it easy, right?

Not exactly.

Her desire?

A nephew.

Well I can't exactly box that up and send it off through the foreign mail system, now can I?

Just barely guessing myself at that point as to what the Lord was doing within me, I laughed and thought, "wouldn't that be funny if I had a boy?!"

I wrote back saying that I might be able to fulfill that request, but she'd have to wait until August when she could come for a visit before we could know for sure.

God gave me a son... and her a nephew.

Smile away Summer, I did it all for you. =)

Merry Christmas, I love you!

Introducing...

Levi Anton 7 lbs, 8 oz, 19 3/4 in long

Blessed surprise at 12:40 this morning

Perfect in every way





Awed by God's great faithfulness and grace

Eight Months

See that Pregnancy ticker in my sidebar?
The one that tells me I only have four weeks left before I meet this baby?

I don't believe it.

One, because previous experience tells me due dates are something to be bypassed before Baby makes an appearance. Two, because this pregnancy seems to have flown by compared to my first two. Three, because I still can't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm actually having a baby. One would think that the feeling of having a bowling ball in my abdomen and all these kicks and squirms from within would convince me a little one is on the way. Instead, I keep forgetting and wondering what could be going on in there!
Wee Wagenhoffer #3 will make an appearance whether I believe it or not, and it seems my subconscious is picking up on that fact even if I can't fully acknowledge it. Nesting appears to be in full swing around here and every extra bit of time and energy is being spent on cleaning and organizing. I'm loving how much is being accomplished and hoping I can feel done before Baby arrives.
The other thing I'm hoping is in place before Baby comes is a name. Oh, we have a boy's name all ready (and it's NOT Maxwell, no matter how many dreams I have where I tell everyone that's my son's name) but we still have no idea what we will name a little girl should be blessed with one. Heidi is insistent she's having another sister. I've been trying to convince her a brother could be good too. She finally conceded and told me "Yes, Momma, you can have a boy baby. But first you will have a girl baby, then after this one grows up a little you can have another one and that one can be a boy. Actually, you could have one more girl to make three girls and then you could have three boys, that would work well!" I can see her point, another girl would be fun, but as I keep reminding her, God gets to choose, not us, and part of me is hoping for a boy just so we don't have to scramble for a name! Our absolutely not list is growing well, I just wish there were some names being added to the possibility list. Suggestions are always welcome!

Big Sister Loves Baby

I have been truly enjoying having a child old enough to know what's going on this pregnancy. How fun to share with Heidi the joys of anticipating a new babe and to see pregnancy through her eyes.
She's been making plans as usual and I love hearing her thoughts on all we need to have and do before Baby arrives. It started somewhere around the end of the first trimester. We were washing dishes together when suddenly she burst out, "We're going to have to buy a new sippy cup, Momma!" I was afraid she had broken something at first, but when asked why, she responded, "For the baby." Oh, I guess I wasn't really thinking that far ahead yet. From there the list grew: a new bed, a new high chair, plate, nob (her name for pacifiers which I've never used), blankets, pillow, teddy bear, rattle, and so on, all the essentials for a baby.
She is insistent we are having another little girl. When she first learned of Baby she prayed for a little brother. Then it came out that her plan was to marry him when they grew up. Once she learned that wasn't really an option she immediately began to pray for a girl. She always refers to Baby as a girl and refuses to listen when I tell her God might give us a boy. She quickly reminds me, "But I choose a GIRL baby!" I hope she's paying at least a bit of attention when I tell her it's God who gets to choose, not us.
She's also insistent that she needs to be allowed to name the baby. When last I asked her what she would choose if she were given such a privilege, she confidently replied, "Chunk, if it's a girl. Pond, if it's a boy. But it's a girl, so Chunk." I remind her that Daddy and I named she and Hannah and this baby will get the same treatment, even if we are stuck for girls' names.
One of my favorite things was her discovery that Baby could hear her already, and that sometimes Baby responds by kicking. Now she's talking to my tummy all the time. She loves to "make up different languages" to talk to baby in or just to run up to me and say, "I love you Baby!" Lately she's started sneaking up to me then loudly saying a random word like, "bicycle" or "sewing machine", then giggling and asking, "Did Baby kick you, Momma?" What delights me most is when Heidi decides to sing to Baby. The other day we were cuddling in bed and she sang a precious song so gently to Baby I just had to record it:

Little Baby don't cry
Let the sun come out to play
I will hold you little Baby
When the first stars come out to shine
I will put you in your cradle
I will stroke you
I love you little Baby

What I wish I had the gumption to say when others put words in my mouth or want to think my thoughts for me

"So, you're hoping for a boy this time." It's the statement I hear most often when people discover we're expecting for the third time.
"Actually," I sometimes reply, "I'm hoping for a baby". The wonder of life growing within continues to leave me in awe, and I honestly couldn't tell you whether I want a boy or a girl more. What I want is whoever this precious eternal being is that God has chosen to place in Karl's and my care. Others don't seem to get it. They assume that after two girls we must only be having a third to "try for a boy". Um, if that's all I was doing, wouldn't the outcome be a bit more predictable if I would just adopt? Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a little boy... just as much as I would love another daughter. I figure I can trust God to know exactly who our family needs.
Once we have established that boy or girl would be equally welcome, the next statement usually goes something like this, "Just so long as it's healthy, right?"
Healthy would be wonderful. In fact, I do pray for our babe's health. But does that mean I wouldn't love and wholeheartedly accept our baby should it be less than healthy? Of course not. I have been blessed by two wonderful and healthy daughters who I am very grateful for. But who am I to think that I should only have healthy children? Who am I to say that God can't place an unhealthy babe in my arms? As I said before, I trust God to know exactly who our family needs. I would love for our baby to be healthy, but by God's grace would accept and praise him for an unhealthy child just the same.
Our God is great and the gifts he gives are always good and perfect. I'm so excited about this new gift He is blessing me with and want to accept with open arms who He chooses to give, no strings attached.

She's Giving Me A Complex

I'll be the first to admit that I have never been slender, and that after Hannah, my stomach never exactly returned to its former state, and, now that I am expecting again, it seems to know exactly what it needs to do to accommodate a growing baby - expand. I do not, however, believe it to be as big as Heidi would lead me to believe. A few times a day now she pats my tummy and tells me, "Yep, it's growing and growing and growing." Then, the other night, I was carrying her to bed and she began to yell,
"Oh, oh, oh!!!"
"What's wrong?" I asked with alarm.
"I going to fall!!!!"
Not sensing any impending danger, I asked her why.
"It's your tummy, Momma, It getting so big I can't hold on any more!"

Hmmm... we're still at the beginning of this race, I wonder what she's going to think when we get closer to the end.

Name of the Day

Were Heidi given naming authority and she were to have a little sister, the greatly deliberated and finally decided upon name for today would be:

Apple Petonia

Sadly for her, Dad and Mom are still thinking of maintaining naming rights.

Any Suggestions?

We could use your help.
Before I had children, naming them seemed to be one of the fun parts. I knew it carried a certain amount of responsibility, I mean, the name I gave would essentially be that child's identity for life, but fun, none-the-less.
I neglected to factor in the fact that my child would have a father. Small oversight on my part, I know. And that father would have a say in what our child's name was. And that father and I would have very DIFFERENT ideas as to what constitutes a good name. Suddenly, when pregnant for the first time, I was confronted with the fact that, not only was naming a child fun, it was HARD!
Actually, we agreed on a boy's name the first day. Not bad! I knew from that moment we would have a girl. We didn't officially decide on a name for our poor firstborn until the morning after she was born. Then our second came along, and we used up our reservoir of girls-names-we-can-agree-on. Now we're expecting our third. What if God blesses us with another girl? Will she be forced to go through life nameless? Will one of us have to resign ourselves to a name we don't like? Will we each have our own name for her (I know of a couple who did that) and totally confuse the poor child?
Do you have any suggestions? To help you out a bit, and try to narrow it down a bit more than those overwhelming baby name books for us, I'll fill you in a bit on our naming ideals. The best way I can think to describe our style would be familiar, yet not too common. Karl leans more toward the familiar (Rachel, Sarah), while I lean more toward the uncommon (Karis, Annika, Daria). We DON'T want to do another H. I really debated about doing two, but three would simply be too much. And we like names that are decidedly feminine, nothing that could sound like a boy. For Karl, it can't sound too close to something else (example Daria = diarrhea, Natalia = Nutella) and he has to have heard it before. For my California friends, this gets a bit tricky as he had never heard the name Summer until he met my sister, yet names like Gerhard, Dietrich, and Lynden are common fare. Please, suggest away! But don't feel too bad if your suggestions aren't used, we are obviously overly picky when it comes to choosing names for these wonderful children God blesses us with.

Blessed

"I feel rotten" I tell him, hand rubbing my abdomen.
"I'm sorry" he responds.
"I'm not" I say, mischievous twinkle in my eye.
A questioning eyebrow.
A nod and a smile.
Laughter.


Why would I be happy about feeling sick? Because I know it's only a small price to pay for the wonder of life growing within. Yes, I'm expecting! Wee Wagenhoffer#3 should be here sometime in August. Our official expected meeting date is August 14, but I'm guessing Baby may follow in sisters' footsteps and we'll be introduced a little closer to the end of the month. I'm already thinking it's going to be hard to wait that long to hold this little one in my arms.