Glasses and Ponytail

Coming to you live from nap time!  So, this one is gonna be short and sweet. ☺

Jacob's latest favorite thing is my glasses.  I don't know when or how the obsession started.  I don't know why he's so into them.  What I do know is that he says his word for them starting the moment I walk into his room in the morning.  I also know he's talking about them throughout each day, whether I have them on or choose to wear my contacts.  If I'm wearing my contacts and we're home, he sometimes goes to our room to the place where the glasses are to ask me to put them on.  If we're out and about, he asks where they are (if I'm wearing contacts) or comments on them (if I'm wearing them).

The kicker?  After saying his word for them, he often makes the sound I make when I'm prepping them to be wiped off.  You know, the "h" sound you make when you're huffing on them to fog them up before cleaning them?  He makes that sound at any mention of glasses - whether he's the one doing the mentioning or he hears someone else say the word.  Again, I don't know how or when this started; only that, apparently, I clean them often...probably because someone is always getting tiny fingerprints on them...

The boy also loves when I have my hair in a ponytail.  I can't remember when this obsession started, either, but I'm pretty sure it was several months ago.  He loves to play with my ponytail.  He looks for it when my hair is down.  He gets excited when he sees me putting in a hair tie.

The reason I'm sharing these quips, other than their obvious adorableness, is this:

If I'm in "glasses and ponytail" mode, it's probably because my hair is on day 2 or 3 and my eyes were too tired for contacts, which needless to say, usually means I'm not "feeling my look" as much as I could be.  But, in Jacob's tiny, sweet opinion, these are my best days!  He loves glasses days, and he loves ponytail days, and when they happen on the same day, he can't get enough of his mama (even more than usual).  On these days, when I'm potentially down on myself for not taking time to fix my hair or put on eye makeup, he's looking at me with so much joy and excitement.  

Please don't read into any of the self-image/vanity/whatever stuff that may be associated with this post.  My intention is not to fish for compliments or make you concerned about my own self-image.  I'm simply sharing this little nugget of a lesson I'm learning in motherhood that's probably bigger than I realize (or have time to write about, at the moment).  It just makes my heart happy, and I thought it might do you good to hear it, too.  To me, it is such a picture of the love God has for us, despite our "dirty hair" and "unconcealed faces," if you will.  ☺

I had intended to keep this all to myself and just post a picture of Jacob's outfit on Instagram, because I thought he was looking especially cute today, but instead, I'm writing this post and sharing a picture of us both.  ♥

And some of him, of course...

Enjoy the weekend, friends!

Out of time to come up with a witty salutation,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

those precious red baby Chucks

my trusty Norwex optic cloth (ha)

the super generous b-day gift from my in-laws - a Cricut!  (this is what my margin time has been devoted to, lately)

Extreme Makeover: (Byers) Outside-of-the Home Edition

Happy summer!  Or as my husband might say, "Nice spring we're having this summer, eh?"  No complaints, here.

I come to you this late June to (finally) bring you news of our outdoor home improvement projects!  They have been completed for several weeks, now, but you know how it goes with me and this blog thing lately...  Actually, I was just waiting a bit, so I could get pictures of the projects after they'd had some time to become more established.  ; )

So, without further ado, I'll let the pictures (mostly) tell the story:

Bryant did a ton of research about gardening, and as a result, we decided to try the Back to Eden method.  This involved starting with laying down a weed barrier (we opted for free cardboard).

This pile sat for a little while, patiently waiting for the next layer to arrive...

The weed barrier is covered with wood chips!  It was important to get these when the leaves were still green, so there was both green and brown matter.  We found a tree company that had to pay to dump their chips elsewhere, so they were happy to bring them to our house for free...and we were glad to get so many for free!  The only downside was the fact that they had to be hauled to the back yard manually.

Pictures don't really do the space and amount of work involved justice...

...but hopefully you get the idea.

It took a second load of wood chips to cover the rest of the area, and even then, there was still some uncovered grass left in the plot we'd planned.

All done, for now! 
We let this sit for almost a full year to let the cardboard and leaves break down and start enriching the soil (mostly clay, in our case) below it.

This spring, we had old railroad ties delivered, and Bryant hauled those to the back, dug out trenches for them, and put up the (very necessary) deer fence.

Ready to plant!

We didn't use the entire space this year - decided to start somewhat small.

Less than a month later!
Don't mind the grass/weeds.  We weren't able to get the railroad ties in before the cardboard/chips to prevent weeds from coming in from the sides, but we've been able to keep them pretty far from our plants and will get them cleared out for good before next season.
Check out those plants, though!  Everything is really doing well, despite a hot/dry start for them.

We've got a pretty great supervisor. ☺

Our first big harvest!  There's a cucumber in there somewhere.  Prior to this, we'd picked one cucumber and one zucchini.
The tomato plants are loaded with blooms and some fruit, already, and the potatoes look great, too!

I didn't get an intentional "before" picture, but found this one from last year after the step was finished.  The landscaping timbers were placed shortly thereafter.  Then, the baby came 3+ weeks early, so the front landscaping project was officially put on hold.  No one told the gladioli and weeds, though, so they just kept filling in the bed.

What you can't see is the many man hours and loads of elbow grease my awesome hubby put into clearing out this spot.  There were so many weeds and debris, in addition to a large pail full of gladiolus bulbs.  This picture was taken at dusk after we'd gotten all our plants in the ground and watered.  Shout out and huge thanks to my mom for letting us use her greenhouse discount and finding/asking people for plant/design ideas!

We had some cardboard left from the garden, so put it down between plants as a weed/gladiolus barrier, and I'm so glad we did!  It didn't cover everything, but sure made a difference.

This is the last of an almost-ten-cubic-yard pile of wood chips.  We used what we needed as mulch out front and took the rest to the garden! 

Added a second tier of timbers and were good to go.
This was a long time coming, and we are so, so glad to have it done!

Almost a month later and everything is still alive and filling in nicely! 

This guy likes to watch me pull weeds...and help himself to pieces of grass... ☺
It's amazing to me how many weeds and gladioli continue to find their way to the surface.

These projects have been hard work, but have also been a nice change of pace and somewhat enjoyable, mostly because we get to continue to see the literal fruits of our labor.

As always, thanks for your interest and support!  Let us know if you have any questions...or need any cilantro!  ; )

With a green thumb,

Kensy

Favorites of the day:

garden-fresh pesto!

quality time with family and friends

these two hard workers:

Our Birth Story

"Remember that time we packed our hospital bag thinking we were just being prepared, and our son was born 24 hours later?"

This is something we'll be saying for a long time to come, I'm sure.

For real, though – we had JUST packed our bag. Bryant said, “If we pack it now, he’ll come on time. If we don’t, he’ll come tomorrow.” And as he likes to say, now, "I was half right!"  Our baby boy gave us the best surprise by coming 18 days early, and we were so glad to get to meet him sooner than expected!

Here are the details for those of you are interested:

I woke up at about 1:00 a.m. thinking I was wetting the bed. I got up to go to the bathroom thinking, “Gosh – I’ve really lost all control…also, I haven’t peed this much in a long time!” (I’ve been known to have a “peanut” for a bladder when I’m not pregnant…so, when pregnancy squished that "peanut" in half (or more)...you get the idea.)

Anyway, I started to change the sheets, thinking the ordeal was over and I'd just go back to sleep (of course, we'd gone to bed later than usual that night).  Before I was able to wake Bryant, he rolled over, woke up from a dream, saw me out of bed with the sheets half off the bed, and said, "Woah!"  I told him what I thought had happened, but that the "pee" was still coming out.  Cue Google and a "how do I know my water is breaking" search.  All the while, I was still in denial.  Surely my water hadn't broken.  Surely we're not going to the hospital to check.  SURELY we won't be staying to have our son tonight!

Once Bryant was up for real, though, he was sure of what was happening and was in "go" mode right away.  He was so sweet to let me take time to shower, help get the sheets in the wash and put new ones on, make sure I ate something substantial, and tie up a few other loose ends (getting a b-day card in the mail, tidying up the kitchen counter, starting the dishwasher, etc....I wanted to do all the things!) before we left (because he knew we wouldn't be coming home for a couple days...I was still in denial, I think).

We checked in to the hospital around 4:30 a.m., and it was confirmed we were going to be having a baby that day!  My water had indeed broken (thank goodness I'd purchased some disposable underwear (lady diapers) on sale that week and had them handy to wear on the way...), and I was 80% effaced and dilated 2 cm.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from our room and settled in to await the arrival of our son!

Around lunchtime, the contractions started to get more "uncomfortable," but my progress was kinda stuck at 95% and 4 cm.  So, around 3:45 p.m., they put me on a dose of Pitocin to "get things moving," since my water had already broken.  True to their warning, the Pitocin resulted in stronger and more productive contractions.  I had decided to go through labor and delivery without an epidural and had planned to not opt for any pain meds.  I'd hoped to use the Jacuzzi tub as a "last resort" sort of relief, but when I got to the point of asking to use it, the nurse kindly reminded me that I wasn't able to, since my water had already broken.  So, at that point, I went ahead and asked for a dose of pain meds in my IV, since that was my only option for a bit of relief.  Not too long after that, it was time to push (for ~26 mins.), and then, we were holding our son!

Backing up a bit to that whole labor process: wow.  I need to say first and foremost: I couldn't have done it without my husband.  From the time he woke up when I was changing the sheets to the delivery of our son, he was the BEST partner I could've asked for.  He had done a ton of research in preparation for our natural childbirth and had began coaching me on relaxation techniques several weeks prior.  When the time came to implement these techniques and tools, he was ready!  Not only did he provide his own constant encouragement, but he even asked several women in my life to write notes of encouragement/support/distraction to give me during the many hours of labor!  He knows me so well.

I wish I could put into words what an out-of-body experience it all was.  I truly felt like a crazy person for a few hours toward the end.  I just wanted to be able to hug and thank all the nurses for enduring the moaning/yelling/writhing hot mess I was, but literally, all I could do was not-super-kindly ask for various "needs" during that time (a hand to push, less pressure there, another pillow here, etc.).  I can't imagine what Bryant was thinking/feeling seeing me like that.

Perhaps the most special part of the whole process was our awesome doctor letting Bryant assist with the delivery - he got to be the very first person to hold our son!  What an amazing experience for him.  I have to say, I am a little embarrassed by my initial face after delivery.  I think I was just in shock that the many hours of labor were actually over and I wasn't in pain, and I was also in awe of the baby they were placing on my chest.  It really took me a couple minutes to come back to my right mind and wrap my head around what was happening.  It didn't take long, however, for the joy, amazement, and gratitude to set in - our son was here!

Another cool thing about the whole process: there was an EMT student who had asked to observe our birth.  When she asked if she could, my only question before agreeing was, "Can you take pictures?"  She was more than willing to do so, and she caught some truly amazing moments that we will cherish for a long, long time.  She was also willing to assist with my labor needs, which Bryant was extra thankful for.  He told me, "I never knew how (physically) strong you were!"  Needless to say, he was glad for an extra pair of hands.

Our hospital stay afterward was wonderful.  We had a few visitors, but were also able to spend quality time together as a new family of three!  The nurses and staff were very helpful, caring, and encouraging the whole time.  They made sure all our questions were answered - even ones we didn't know to ask - and ensured our health and comfort during our entire stay.

Though I missed out on playing in a July 4th band concert (don't worry - we listened to "Stars and Stripes Forever" on the way to the hospital to make up for it) and the fireworks show afterward, we got to watch some firework displays from the floor-to-ceiling windows in our third floor hospital room.  It was a really special night!

So, there you have it!  Thanks for being interested and reading.  Hopefully, it wasn't TMI for ya.  ☺

Recovering well,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

the Moby wrap I scored at a garage sale

flowers from Baby Jacob ☺

meals and treats from friends and family - thank you!

Summer babies bring spring showers

Thanks for reading past the cheesy title of this post.  ☺  My initial thought was to write it chronologically ("Spring showers bring summer babies"), but we all know that's not actually how it works.  Thanks, pregnancy brain.  

Anyway, we have been so blessed by sooo many people over the past few months.  This baby boy is already very loved and well-cared for - what a lucky guy to have so many great people in his life!

Because words can't fully express how wonderful these celebrations have been, or how grateful we are, I thought I'd share some pictures of some of the kindnesses shown to us and festivities celebrating our growing family.

These are not chronological, for the record.  Rather, they're in order of my life's path, if you will.  It's such a warm/awesome/encouraging feeling to have people from all stages/places/circles of life continue to come around us and support us in so many ways.

Two wonderful friends from high school threw a shower for us in Topeka!
Such yummy food!

So many cute decorations, thanks to this talented, creative lady!

A special gift from the neighbors who where there for my parents when both my brother and I were born.
They gave Q a big baby bottle bank when he was born, so this was a nostalgic gift.

My brother and sis-in-law know my hubby all too well!  ☺

A most special gift from my jr. high/high school band director's wife.
(Yes, this one evoked a couple tears.)

Of course, my mom found a cat book!

Such a special gift from my BFF - a beautiful handwritten wall-hanging for the nursery.
(It's a Bible verse!  Joshua 1:9)

2/5 of the family I baby-sat for for several years from jr. high - college.  That super-grown-up young lady in the middle was the last true newborn who had been in my care regularly!  So...

...I'm thankful this pretty lady helped provide a newborn refresher course a few months ago! ☺
Love this sweet new mama!

☺

Lovely hostesses!

Our Lincoln(area) family threw us a shower, as well!

I couldn't get over the bow-tie forks.  So cute, right?!

The amazing baker/decorator of the delicious cookies - and a wonderful friend! ☺

"The three best friends..."

This guest book became an adorable wall-hanging!

So fun!

This hand-made decoration got to come home with us to find a spot in the nursery, as well!

Such a sweet, cozy quilt from one of my very-talented aunts!

We were overwhelmed by the generosity shown to us and our son!
(The guests brought books instead of cards!)

Our BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) group threw us and a couple engaged to be married a joint shower one night after study.  There were ice cream sundaes, adorable cakes, sweet words of encouragement and prayer, and an outpouring of unexpected gifts.  They sure know how to make a couple feel special!

When I arrived to teach lessons for the last time at the community center where I've volunteered for the past couple of years, there was a sign directing me to the eating area, and this is what was waiting for me!
What a sweet (in every sense of the word) surprise!

One of my students got in on the celebration!

Other students had kind notes for me.

A dinner invitation from our neighbors turned out to be a surprise baby shower with a couple other couples!
We felt so celebrated and supported and are very thankful to live by such wonderful, thoughtful people.
This quilt, made by one of the ladies' mothers, was one of several generous gifts.

Our church family blessed us with an absolutely adorable (and fun!) shower.
Several ladies came together to make it a really enjoyable morning with lots of delicious (and cute) treats!

This was melted chocolate...as were the messes in 7 other diapers.
The goal was to try to guess what candy bar each was!

Little baby leg warmers!

A most perfect outfit!

Homemade hot fudge favors!
(For the record, we'd received some of this for Christmas, as well, and it was definitely something I'd partaken of during pregnancy.  Needless to say, I was very excited to receive a refill! ☺)

♥

Even though we're not right next door, anymore, our former neighbors continue to bless and support us.
What a sweet surprise this hand-knit afghan was!

I'm truly at a loss for words.  We're just so thankful!

Everything has continued to go smoothly with this pregnancy.  We're down to weekly check-ups, now - hard to believe it's gone so fast!  Thank you for all your love and support, whether it be cards, gifts, words of encouragement, helpful hints and advice, and/or prayers!  It takes a village, and we're so glad you're part of ours.  ☺

As usual, thanks for reading.  We'll see if I get any more posts in before this baby makes his entrance! ☺

Appreciatively,
Kensy

Favorites of the day:

the nursery!  (pics to come soon, hopefully)

watermelon

my husband