September 05, 2009
8 1/2 months
henry amazes us anew each day. and it's been teaching me a lot about how God's mercies are new each morning, a lot like how henry's mood can be so cheerful and pure bliss after a good nap, regardless of his mood just beforehand.
God has continued to bless us with our home, our friends, our families. sure, we've spent a lot of time this summer on our kitchen, foregoing many longed-for camping trips or paddles for the sake of another drawer or cupboard. but in spite of that we've seen some of our relationships deepen, in particular with family but also with neighbors and some friends. henry and i have had some really good play dates over the course of the last couple of weeks since i resigned. and the last couple days i spent in a small bedroom upstairs at tim and heidi's painting while henry played with his cousins.
i've not really found a rhythm just yet i my new role of full time home economist but i've been told again and again to not be too hard on myself. it will take time to establish this rhythm. but here's a way i'm hoping to start it: weekly playdates on wednesday mornings at our house. so girlfriends, bring your kiddos and come on over. i've got lots of cheerios and toys, not to mention that espresso machine to make us all lattes. ;)
and speaking of the kitchen project, yesterday dan started in on the bathroom floor. now that's not to say that the kitchen is Done - we've still a ways to go in fact - but the bathroom is a surmountable project which has been waiting while the highest priority drawers and cupboards to be usable. above the 4' mark, the room is essentially done, but the floor was down to the subfloor awaiting infloor heat and tile and the lower half of the walls unprimed, awaiting wainscoting and trim. we knew that we'd have to be without a toilet and sink in there while these were being done and that's why they were down on the priority list. well friends, yesterday the toilet and the sink came off the walls and out. yes, the toilet tank was hanging on the wall. last night the backerboard went down, and the wiring for the floor heat.
and this morning, henry and i sent dan off to the woods with his long-lost friend chad, just back from new zealand. chad and kris have been with us on and off for the last couple of weeks and it is chad whom dan has oft disappeared with for winter camping expeditions. i've noticed in the last few weeks how much this project has been taking a toll on dan's spirit. he's an outdoorsy guy, right? we all know that. and he's been stuck inside every one of these beautiful weekends this summer, save one or two.
right now, henry's sleeping and kris has taken the girls out for a few hours. and the house is quiet. the whole neighborhood is quiet with most folks gone for the holiday weekend. i'm sitting enjoying a nice breeze on my front porch. it'd be really quaint if it weren't for that yappy chihuahua across the street.
so then, some of what henry's been up to of late:
two weeks ago on a friday, henry pulled himself to standing on a footstool in the living room.
one week ago on friday, he crawled up the two steps to the landing, chasing the dog who was laying on her bed.
now he's "cruising" along furniture and as of today, able to let himself down from standing withOut falling.
he's still army-crawling all over the place, as that is so much faster than up on his knees - at least for now. he can do it, but not real well just yet.
today he had baba ganoosh for lunch, with pita. and blueberries and banana and cheerios. next time i have to remember to peel the eggplant before pureeing it... it's a bit too charcoal-y for my liking but henry loves it.
he has said da-da once and ma-ma twice (27 and 30 july) but not since. and i'm fairly certain he said dog too since then. well, anyway he's said it and i'm fairly certain he knew what he was saying...
his eyes are turning brown, his feet are constantly dirty, and his knees have calluses from scootin' around all over.
his little elf-ear has rounded out, as have most of his features, tho he's still a string bean. at his last check up he was at 95% for weight but still off the charts for length.
he's figuring out his shape-sorter box, how the lid slides on and off. he's not able to get it back in the grooves if the lid is off but he sure tries!
he's still a pretty good sleeper tho when we tried to feed him ground up rice instead of rice cereal he gave us a few nights of fitful sleep because he wouldn't eat much of it.
and now's he awake from his nap and kris just returned, so i'll sign off there before battery goes kaput.
much love,
cle
your host for this episode : carrie; 03:00 PM | Comments (2)
August 13, 2009
a kitchen update
the kitchen, though still quite far from done, is getting more and more functional by the day. ok, at least by the week. i just unpacked the utensil box and the silverware is now living in its own drawer, between the sink and the dishwasher, above the flour-bin pull-out. when you have a brick oven in your back yard, you just should oughta have a bin on rollers that will hold 50 pounds of flour. don't you think? pizza parties and many many many loaves of bread will abound from that oven (and flour bin) in the weeks and months and years ahead. on the other side of the sink, between it and the stove, are another 3 drawers: saran/foil/big utensils, towels and aprons, and mixing bowls/tupperware. to the right of the stove, the narrow cabinet is missing, as it waits in the basement for some final touches on drawers. it will soon (as in tonight or tomorrow) find its way back to its rightful home. the granite is being milled now for the "coffee bar", to the left of the fridge. once it's in, the final appliance will be set in place: the espresso machine. let me just tell you how eager we both are for that to happen.
as i write this, H Danger, has just figured out that the swinging door is a lot of fun. and, now that he just whacked himself in the tooth with it, that it's also a mite dangerous. or maybe not. he just did it again.
and now he sleeps. back to the kitchen...
early early this morning our house guests of 2 1/2 weeks left, bound for Detroit Metro Airport and points West, before heading back home to Cairo. tomorrow night, friends from my home town arrive for two nights. then Monday our New Zealand friends come back to GR, after 15 months away. they'll be staying here for a bit (hopefully longer than a bit, but that might be selfish of me!). all this to say that our kitchen has been busy and will be again for the foreseeable future with coffee and meals to share, even in its not-quite-all-there state. henry is quite content, usually, to sit in his sassy at the counter (clip on chair) with a handful of cheerios while i poly the inside of drawers or unpack boxes. he's getting so mobile now that it's no longer safe to leave him in the living room and expect that he won't make it as far as the fireplace or cords... heck he's So mobile now that he just follows me! but there are tools to be had under the counters yet, and things that could hurt a little man who has an affinity for waving and swinging anything he gets his hands on!
after the drawers are home, we'll move to the bathroom, which has been a lovely composition of old blue, primer, and new red on the walls and bare sub floors for a while now. remember last summer we did the shower (having started whacking out the tub 2 days before finding out we were pregnant... and told to cease any "strenuous activity"), so this "refurb" is only partial. the toilet and sink will have to come out so we can tile the floor and hang the wainscoting on the wall. probably be a week with just one toilet in the house. i think HD will suffer the most! ;)
ok, since the boy is still sleeping i should get crackin' on something productive... 4 loads of laundry down, and one guest bedroom overhauled already. and it's only 2 o'clock!
xo, c
your host for this episode : carrie; 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 06, 2009
henry danger at six and a half months
nearly six weeks have gone by since we last updated you. the kitchen is now about 90% complete. we expect the next 10% to take at least as long as the first 90%. henry has done a fabulous job of supervising, and is now steamrolling hither and yon to inspect our work. he likes the new wood floor - it's really slippery and he can slide/scootch himself along quite nicely, in reverse. he's slowly figuring out the forward gears. he sits up quite well now on his own and we have taken to calling him wingspan because when he's in his sassy seat (the "highchair" that hangs from the table or countertop) or in the backpack or nearly anywhere really, he's keen to spread his arms out like wings and flap a bit. his arms are really long. and sometimes he looks like a vulture when it's chow time.
our friends wick and kristen came for the long weekend to hang out with us and help out on the kitchen. we now have all the lights and all the appliances inside the kitchen and in working order! we even made eggs On the Stove yesterday and we ran the dishwasher too. it's really really quiet and it's not even got the back or side on the cupboard yet! friday night kristen and i went and got a (mini)keg of oberon to celebrate and it took three of us three days to finish it. lushes we are not. kristen was on baby duty And made lunches And she cleaned my bathroom for me. wick tackled the ceiling trim and figured out all the lights after i was able to finish painting the ceiling tiles (touch ups are still needed on the trim where it was nailed and caulked).
i'm off now to sand the counters while videos upload. check back later for glimpses of those.
your host for this episode : carrie; 08:37 AM | Comments (1)
May 28, 2009
the kitchen...
it's the morning of day four and the guys just finished breakfast.
Mom is getting ready to go to the funeral of her mother's brother Tom's widow - Aunt Ardith - in Elk Rapids. two of Grandma's brothers who live in kalamazoo - Doug and Larry - are going to be passing through shortly to pick her up.
here's some footage to get you up to speed on the kitchen progress this week.
Pre-Demo
End of Day One - Monday 25 May
Day Two, the last of the wall, parts 1, 2, 3
End of Day Two - Tuesday 26 May
Day Three
End of Day Three - Wednesday 27 May
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:48 AM | Comments (1)
May 07, 2009
Demolition Man
Henry slept through me kneading three batches of bread this morning, but then was finished with his nap, and I still had a batch to do. We're making bread for thrashers because my Grandpa Henry turns 90 next Tuesday and this weekend we're having a birthday party for him in Ellsworth. Saturday, 4-6 at the CRC. You're invited. It'd be great to see you.
Anyway, we volunteered to bring bread enough for 200 luncheon sized sandwiches, figuring we needed 16 loaves *12-14 slices each. That means 4 batches of my Big Batch Bread (see the Recipes category on the side bar for that recipe). I started it Tuesday. We'll fire the oven this afternoon when Dan gets home from work. So - back to the subject at hand, I was done kneading 3 batches before he woke up, but then he wanted a clean diaper and out of his bed. I brought him down to the main floor and laid him under his gym and turned on some music so I could finish. When I was finished this is how I found him.
and here's a pictoral update on our patio kitchen project.
your host for this episode : carrie; 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2009
Fabulicious Raspberry Cheesecake
i started with a recipe off recipezaar.com. and of course modified it. here's mine:
crust:
5T butter
1t vanilla
3/4 c flour
1/4t cinnamon & nutmeg
1/3 c sugar
1/3 c chopped pecans
combine and press into bottom and 1" up sides of a 10" spring form pan. refrigerate 20 minutes then bake 20 minutes at 350. reduce oven to 300.
filling:
1# cream cheese
1/2# ricotta
2/3 cup sugar
2t vanilla
2T lemon juice
2 eggs
beat cheeses, vanilla, lemon, and half of sugar. beat the eggs with the other half of the sugar - oh high for 5 minutes. fold together and pour over crust.
sauce:
1 cup raspberries
2T powdered sugar
combine with a fork or spoon then press through a sieve or tea strainer to remove seeds. and yes you want to add the sugar first, otherwise it will clump. drizzle this in a thin line in a swirl (starting from the center) over the top of the cheesecake. then using a skewer or knife, drag it through the cheese (again starting from center) to make it look like a spider web.
bake an hour at 300F. cool in open oven at least 2 hours, then refrigerate overnight.
i just made this again as a birthday treat for our friend diane.
your host for this episode : carrie; 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
April 25, 2009
henry danger at four months
henry's down for a nap now, and i should be getting going with dan on the patio kitchen sink but we're both moving a little slow this morning.
henry's been sleeping a lot more lately, like three nights ago he slept 10 hrs straight, except for a moment at 12:30 when he just needed his nuk and blanket returned to him. we stopped swaddling him and have just been laying a blanket on him - he likes to pull it up over his face. works great b/c then his hands are occupied so he doesn't pull on his nuk and his eyes are covered and blocked from any visual stimulation. usually he's asleep within moments of laying down. love it.
he still fights the bottle but he's pretty good about taking it from aunt jacquelyn or uncle jeff. not so much from daddy and certainly not from me. he's eating cereal now, about 1/4 cup twice a day, and this week we gave him a jar of pears - over about 4 days. tomorrow we'll open another jar of something - we bought pears, apples, peas, and sweet potatoes just for the jars and to see the consistency. and we've learned that he Loves it cold! we were nervous the first time we gave him the pears cold from the fridge but he Loved them.
he's rolled over a few times now front to back, usually over his right side, and just once over his left when no one was looking... i had gone downstairs to get the computer and left him happy on his tummy in the nursery and i came back up to find him on his back with a big ol' grin on his face. and dan finally witnessed it a couple nights ago... the first times were during the day, except once when he did it in the evening with house church around but dan was in the kitchen for a minute. seems like he's almost ready to roll back to front too but he doesn't know what to do with his arm.
let's see, what else? he's been tracking so much - watching me cross the room, watching the dog move around, turning toward sounds. and i Think he's now realized that the baby in the mirror is himself and that lady holding that baby is me... not sure exactly but it seems like. he's standing really well on his feet now for quite a while, like a few minutes before buckling his knees, and i'm just holding him for balance. he's been getting so much more vocal too - more range of pitch and such happy sounds... usually. if we miss a cue and he's tired and we don't put him down (like what happened 30 minutes ago) he gets worked up and doesn't go down so easily and he's sure to let us know.
and he's now a pro at passing toys from hand to hand, and the other day he saw his toy camel (thanks ms wendy!) on the arm of the couch and seemed like he was reaching for it. when i picked it up and held it within his reach he wrapped his little fingers around the camel's leg on the first attempt! no shaky arms or uncoordinated movement, just all very intentional! my boy is blowing my mind! and yesterday we read a book together on the floor (during tummy time) and he was So interested in the photos as well as the text. i suppose the letters (of different colors and fonts and sizes) are nicely contrasting on the white page.
ok i suppose i should go do something "productive" before henry's up from his nap.
love you all,
carrie
your host for this episode : carrie; 09:38 AM | Comments (3)
April 09, 2009
a henry update
a year ago today is when we found out we were pregnant. and my, how life has changed.
i had been in grief counseling for about three months, and had been making great strides in getting through the grief of having lost two children and giving our future family over to God. i prayed many times that winter with Hannah, as is recorded in the first chapter of 1st Samuel for the Lord to "look on the affliction of His maidservant and remember me, and not forget me, but give me a son" - or daughter, i did not care anymore. i, like hannah, was greatly distressed and wept bitterly Often. i felt like society judged me for being 30 and married but without child after 6 years of marriage. i ached each time i rode the bus and there were teenage girls being dropped off at the alternative high school, either greatly pregnant or carrying their new infant. my heart raged at the injustice, screaming "why Lord do you give them a child? they can't take care of a child? we have a home, a stable family, and so much love to provide a child? WHY THEM and NOT ME?" i still don't have the answers to those questions. perhaps i never will.
but with the help of my counselor i had been making progress, allowing God to work in my soul and remind me of his love for me Outside of granting my wishes. i was beginning to feel whole again, to feel like i had value and worth regardless of the presence or absence of offspring.
and on Good Friday - or Bad Friday, as we like to call it in our house - I laid down all my desires for a family; laid them right there at the foot of that cross and wept bitterly some more. that was March 21. i walked away from the cross that day with a lighter feeling on my shoulders, as though a heavy burden had been lifted. as though someOne had taken my hand and was helping me stand straight again.
we found out later that many friends had spent time in prayer for us that same day, some even spending multiple hours on their knees on our behalf.
fast forward two weeks and a bit to a pregnancy test because i was a couple days late and my temp charts were still up. it was positive.
again i wept, but this time not bitterly. such joy - though cautious joy - was overflowing my heart that i could not contain it in my eyes. we'd conceived, and without the assistance of the dr's "turkey baster", but as husband and wife with the help of the holy spirit. every day of the 8 weeks that followed were tenuous. i truly felt as though a life was literally hanging in the balance of my diet and actions. i stopped drinking coffee. i stopped drinking wine, except for an occasional sip here or there. i stopped swinging sledge hammers at the cast iron tub in our main floor bath...
the remainder of the spring and early summer i tried to rest. i was so very tired. and nerves - though not all out anxiety - kept me from being at ease. on june 1, i announced to the world on this site that we were expecting again and i asked for your prayers. we had made it over both of those first big hurdles of the first two miscarriages at 8 weeks and then 12. we were breathing a little easier but knew we still had a Long way to go.
summer was spent finishing the brick oven and shower renovation... of course dan did most of the work, as well as most of the cooking and cleaning and laundry because of my exhaustion. fall was spent prepping the nursery and taking birthing classes and getting a beautifully bulbous belly from my high-protein diet. except for bumping into things because it protruded so far and finding it difficult to get roll over in bed i didn't get too annoyed by it, and actually felt so beautiful. definitely blessed and maybe even proud of my "bump".
feeling the first flutters of his butterfly stroke were amazing and when he would start a tap dancing routine when i laid down to bed i couldn't help but laugh.
and now, Henry Danger Elzinga is nearly four months old. i'm a Mom, with the bulging biceps from carrying a near-20 pounder to show for it!
he's started standing now, supporting himself on his own legs while i hold him up for balance. and we've gotten through our first cold. yes, we. he and i both had a cold last week. (dan is still recovering...) i brought him to the dr even, because i was concerned for the bit of a rattle i was hearing in his chest. what did she say? she said he's cutting a tooth - CUTTING A TOOTH! - so he's got extra saliva and that's what i'm hearing. my little boy is growing up so fast.
his eyes are still blue, and great grandpa henry says that his dad's eyes were the very same shade. with that said, i'm hoping they stay this color then. he's getting a bit of hair - mostly on his eye lashes though! and he's entirely Out of the 3-6 months set of clothes we have. he still loves bath time but has graduated to showers with dad now. he absolutely Loves "airplane" and he's tolerating tummy time better now, holding his head up at a right angle to the floor now and looking around and focusing on things. and he's about to roll over any day now, i'm sure of it.
i want to express my gratitude to you. you have read and listened to us tell our story countless times. and now you celebrate with us over the miracle in my arms. may God bless you as much as He's blessed me By you.
xo cle
your host for this episode : carrie; 10:43 AM | Comments (2)
March 24, 2009
some more lovely videos
They're all in chronological order, with the exception of the first one, a personal favorite: my Grandpa and my son, Henry and Henry, telling stories - 6 Mar, almost 11weeks old
Diaper Free! 28 Jan, 5 weeks old
Paparazzi 2 Feb, 6 weeks old
Mom and Henry's New Game, 2 Feb, 6 weeks old
Early Morning Chats with Grandpa, 14 Feb, almost 8 weeks old
Snoozin with Great Grandma Kathryn, 14 Feb, 8 wks
Arm Wrestling with Grandpa, 14 Feb, 8 wks
Grandma's Chandelier, 1 Mar 10 weeks
The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers, 6 Mar almost 11 weeks
Gonna Get Tigger, 6 Mar 11wks
Silly Grandpa Noises, 6 Mar 11wks
Shower Time (don't worry it's G-Rated), 11Mar 11wks
Gym Time, 13 Mar 11 wks
Adelaide and Henry - play date, 14 Mar almost 12 wks
Adelaide laughing at Henry's misery, 14 Mar 12 weeks
Bottle Feeding Endeavors, 16 Mar 12 weeks - two days After carrie has gone back to work!
Tummy Time Torture, 23 Mar 13 weeks
your host for this episode : carrie; 01:12 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2009
want to get really pissed off?
watch this 60 minutes clip (it's only 13 minutes long) and let me know what you think:
Watch CBS Videos Online
your host for this episode : carrie; 07:54 AM | Comments (1)
