The Rocking Chair

The time is soon approaching that Melanie should not be traveling too far from our home and hospital in St. Paul. So, we took one of our last opportunities to go visit family in Iowa and got a special surprise. This wonderful rocking chair is a family heirloom now handed down to us.

As all good stories tend to be, the particulars of the chair's origins are a little vague. What is known is that sometime around 1900 a relative came to the United States by boat from Germany. The only possession she chose to bring was this rocking chair. Nobody knows how old it was at that point or if she was the original owner, but it seems certain that the rocking chair was beloved.

barn at bruce and jenny's country home

Eventually the chair came to my father, Bruce. Not wanting to part with the rocker but without a purpose for it, he held the chair in storage. Seeing that Melanie and I would be able to make good use of it for nursing and rocking his grandchild to sleep, he nicely gifted it to us.

a pup with the chair

Mel and I had a fabulous stay with Bruce, Jenny and their three big pups at their beautiful country home. We also got to enjoy a visit with other family, Marsha, Ron, Jesse and Eleanor who all seem excited to have a new family member on the way. We were very happy to get caught up with all of the good things happening for our family, and getting to bring home a bit of family history made a great trip even more special.

I first knew the chair as belonging to my grandmother, Gladys. I wish she and my grandfather, Carl were still alive to meet their great-grandchild, but it is nice to at least have a reminder of them present. Now, this well travelled rocking chair is with Melanie and I in St. Paul waiting to support the latest addition to the family.

the rocking chair in its new home

32 weeks

Not a fun week to be 32 weeks pregnant. We've had extreme heat warnings with high temps and high levels of humidity. For most of the week, even at 10 or 11 at night, the temperature would still be in the high 80's or low 90's with a heat index above 100. Comparisons to the Amazon jungle were rampant. Turns out when you're pregnant, the jungle is not the place you want to be. Luckily some respite is on the way.

The baby bump at 32 weeks

Baby Bump

The progression of the baby bump - from 15 - 30 weeks... 10 more to go!

Second trimester

15 weeks

19 weeks

22 weeks

25 weeks

Third trimester

27 weeks

30 weeks

I have been one of the lucky ones in that I've felt pretty good throughout my pregnancy. I'm still exercising, although by the end of my second trimester, I started to modify my workouts quite a bit. 

It's been both strange and cool to see (and feel) my body changing this much. I first felt movement around week 23 or 24 and Chris felt the baby moving shortly after I did too!

The Crib

We recently found a crib on Craigslist that we liked. It turned out that it belonged to Mac and Paru, some friends of ours from Crossfit, so that was a coincidence! I went to pick it up and Mac helped me load it into the car. It was a hot humid day and Chris was at work so it was nice to have some help.

oscar pondering the changes

I was going to walk to the Farmers Market that's about 2 blocks from our house after I picked up the crib, but wimped out due to the heat and just drove there on my way home.  I had to have some strawberries. I've been craving fruit my whole pregnancy.

chris' birthday blueberry pie

Sunday, July 3, was Chris' birthday. We mostly relaxed - and ate a lot - but also took some time to set up the crib.

Oscar and Toby were both curious about what was going on. Oscar, in true Oscar form, was right in the way nearly the whole time. Gotta love him!

oscar "helping" 

This was our first big step toward being prepared for the baby's arrival.

done!

New Life

our baby's first picture

It's a small world. So they say, but with many of our family and friends spread so far apart the sentiment doesn't always ring true. This site is one measure we can take to make the physical space that separates us feel like a little less distance. Major life events are best when they can be shared with those that you love. We are thrilled to welcome a new life into our family and wanted to share a little of the excitement of this very major event with all of you.

On April 29th, at twenty weeks, we got our first ultrasound and got to see our baby for the first time.

The little one is due September 15.