We Put Grandpa to Work Too!

Four On a Couch

Last night we, once again, took advantage of free grandparent babysitting and attended an "End of SERVE" bonfire party. The team that put this amazing project together enjoyed some mellow fellowship and conversation about the week with each other and their spouses.

The night was a little sad too because in a few weeks this great group of youth pastors, who have worked so well together and formed such a neat friendship, is all heading in different directions. In the picture you see Dave, Schoon, Ryan and Matt. Dave is staying to continue his ministry here, Schoon is going to explore new opportunities, Ryan is taking a position in South Dakota and Matt is leaving for Seminary. Dave is sad to lose this wonderful support system and group of friends.

The Start of Grandma's Vacation

Tonight Grandma is very happy because Grandpa is finally here! Grandma's

"Week of Work" is over and now we can all be together and enjoy a more normal family visit. I joked that my mother-in-law came a week before her husband to be my servant while my husband was away at SERVE, but it wasn't such a joke! I am so grateful for her help and so appreciate her doing my laundry, cleaning my bathroom, keeping the kitchen tidy, vacuuming for visitors, changing countless diapers, providing free babysitting, helping give baths and read stories and, best of all, just giving Ella quality time while I was busy with Delia. Highlights of her first week with us include: outings to the pediatrician, Costco and Post Office, letting her meet some of our good friends, and fun stuff like Dinner My Way, visiting Dave at church to share dinner and praise time with the teams (picture above), and trips to the fountain park and outlet mall. Grandpa arrived safely late tonight, though. He has already loved meeting and cuddling with his new granddaughter. Hopefully more adventures are in store for us (that will be more exciting than Costco and laundry)...stay tuned!

Happy, Baby-Filled Arms

Yesterday my dear friend Teri came for a visit with her whole family. I must award Teri with the "Most Involved In My Pregnancy" Award. She was great at checking up on me regularly (especially toward the end!), desiring to know and keep track of every detail (like doctor appointments and landmarks) and sharing the enthusiasm for our new arrival. Teri is completely crazy about babies and her arms were just itching to hold our new one. She bounced a grumpy Delia to sleep like a pro and spent the majority of the visit cuddling and complimenting our Delia. I love this picture of me and my friend with all our daughters!

And here are her two daughters, Beth and Allie, sharing their mom's love for holding babies. (I'm surprised they got Delia away from her!)

Dinner!

Thanks to a wonderful franchise called "Dinner My Way" and my generous mother-in-law, I now have a freezer full of delicious meals.

Today we called Ella's favorite babysitter for the afternoon and headed out to play chef. "Dinner My Way" is a place where you can prepare gourmet meals in advance. You pick 6 dinners you like out of 14 choices and make them in a fancy kitchen with all the ingredients, instructions, measuring utensils and storage containers you need (and no clean up!). When you get home, you pop your fancy meals in the freezer, pull them out when you want and cook them according to the labeled instructions.

We look forward to amazing eats next week: BBQ Tri-Tip with Caramelized Onions, Cilantro/Lime Chicken, Stuffed Pork Loin, Tomato Balsamic Steaks, Southwest Pork Chops, Chicken Picatta and Berry Cobbler.

3 Babes in a Buggy

This morning we took Mom/Grandma and Delia to meet some very special friends. We spent some time with Jetta and her brood. Delia snoozed and snacked away with her new buddies, the twins, Peter and Cora-- a month older than her, but about the same size. Ella played SO hard with Thea, Kirsi, Annelies and Helia that she was actually sweating. We kept hearing loud squeals of happiness coming from the playroom while us 3 adults juggled the 3 sometimes sleeping, sometimes crying infants. We also shared a nice lunch before heading home for naps. We hope the merge of our important family and our important California friends was a fun time for everyone (for Ella and me it was!)

2 QTs

Delia Does Church

Today Delia made her official debut at church. Besides basking in all the "oohs" and "aahs," Delia also set some landmarks this morning. She decided to use the actual service to test her ability to stay awake during the day. She was successful-- she did so for the longest stretch of her so-far life. And though she didn't cry, she did make some loud and embarrassing noises... in her pants. So, she also decided to record this Sunday service event with her first blow out. It went through her pretty dress, through the blankie and through Mommy's clothes. I had to use her as my "belly accessory" to cover up the big orange stain as we hung around accepting all the "Congratulations!"

Tonight we went over to visit Dave at the SERVE project. So far everything is going great. Be sure to check out the link over there to left to see pictures and hear small descriptions of his involvement.

"Grandma Come on Airplane!"

This morning Dave picked up his mom from the airport and we've been enjoying her all day. Ella is in "show off mode," demonstrating all her tricks and pulling out all her books and toys. Delia is also happy to meet this important person in her life, though shows it in a slightly different way-- snoozing the entire day! We have 2 whole weeks with Grandma, so we'll keep you posted on what adventures we're up to...

The Joy of Visitors

Besides the happiness you feel from adding a wonderful new baby to your family, one of the other joys of having a baby is the overwhelming love you get from your church family. We found this to be true with Ella also. Every day we have had some visitors, all excited to meet and hold our Delia and many bringing us meals and generous gifts. We've been eating better this week than we normally do! Fresh baked bread, stuffed zucchini, fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella salad, every fruit in season stuffed in carved melons and amazing baked goods have been some of our favorite menu items.

Today my good friend Julie stopped by with her kids, another dinner for our freezer and a gift bag full of cute outfits and books. This week we look forward to some other very special guests-- Grandma tomorrow and the Girards on Thursday. How blessed we are!

Advice For My Friends

Hi cousins and buddies, this is Ella and I have to tell you something. Having a new little sister is the best thing in the world! Take my advice and get yourself a piece of this action as soon as you can! Sure, Delia cries every now and then and Mommy's arms aren't always as free to hold me and read me stories, but the presents are incredible! Everyday I get new stuff-- it's better than birthday or Christmas. I guess everyone is so excited that I have a little sister that they have to give me pretties, sister books, jammies, activity books, stuffed animals and (I got this today) elephant towels!

If you've been wondering if a sibling is right for you, I'll tell you-- it is!

And One More Thing...

It's not just presents, I'm getting so much attention too! Today Jonathan and Miss Amy came over to take me out for a bike ride. I had so much fun, we stopped and visited slides too. Hooray for my little sis!

Look Who's Awake!

Out and About

Today we all ventured out of the house for various outings. I am feeling great and was excited to start showing Delia off to some people.

The day started with Delia's doctor appointment. She is 5 days old today and we got lots of encouraging words from the doctor. She is eating so great, she surprised her pediatrician with how much weight she has regained-- twice as much as babies her age normally gain back! Ella, meanwhile, spent the morning at church with Dave. This week is our VBS and she had a real blast. She was swarmed with all her church friends (adults and kids) asking her about her new baby sister and making a big deal out of her. She did a craft, ate fun snacks, danced and sang and got her "token phrases" down for answering people's questions. Delia and I stopped by to get Ella and Dave for lunch. We were careful to hide out in the offices and kitchen to avoid the masses, but still got to see some important friends and make the introductions. "She looks exactly like Ella!" was the phrase heard most often at church today.

Hooray! When we got home, we finally met with our carpet cleaner and got that major thing crossed off the list. To get the girls out of the house, I visited my friend Kathy and her 4 kids. They were all really excited to see and hold Delia. Ella was once again entertained and thrilled with all Kathy's daughters' great girl toys...dress-up-o-rama!

With Delia being held by Kathy and Ella immersed in girl world, my arms had a break and I had a wonderful time visiting with my friend. Another bonus: my carpets are gleaming!

And here is Delia doing what she does best-- sleeping. She does this most of the day and for a few hours at night (I actually don't mind, this is when we do our best bonding!). Here are a few more things we have learned about our daughter in the days we've had to get to know her:

1. She loves to cuddle

2. She hates to be naked/have her diaper changed

3. She cries pretty rarely

4. She does not mind Ella "sharing" toys with her ("sharing" equals piling stuff on top of her)

5. She can sleep anywhere

Delia's Story

Many of you have already been able to hear the details of Delia's birth. We're so thankful for technology like cell phones, internet and email! For those who have not yet heard, here is how our little Delia entered the world after making us wait what felt like a million years for her.

On Thursday night Dave and I were moving all the furniture and stuff around and out of our house. We had an appointment to have our carpets cleaned first thing the next morning. Around 7:30 I started feeling some mild contractions...no big deal since I'd been "enjoying" these false alarms for about 3 weeks. These seemed somewhat regular, though, so we decided to time them. Around 11:00 pm they were still noticeable, but had not changed in intensity or time apart, so we just went to bed thinking that once again it was nothing. This was actually fine with me since I'm very excited to get my carpets cleaned and my house was in complete disarray!

When I woke up around 6:00 am, I was annoyed that once again we were teased. I figured that if it was real labor, I would have woken up in the night and we would have had to leave. So I got up, ate breakfast and realized the contractions had started again-- this time more intense and only 3 minutes apart. I waited awhile, woke up Dave (still not sure this was anything) and we got ready. Around 7:15 we called the hospital and explained the situation and they said, "You better get over here!" I think because the contractions we still not very painful to me and I was so used to not getting my hopes up, we still felt confused if this was the real thing! We got Ella up and dressed and ready to go to her friend Jared's house.

When we got to the hospital, it was about 8:30 am. My doctor was just making his rounds, so they admitted me, broke my water and things started immediately! Delia's labor was much more intense and painful than I remember Ella's being. Many people have told me that your second pregnancy's labor goes about twice as fast, though, so I imagined that with each contraction my body was making twice as much progress. The thought that it could be done soon motivated me and once again I didn't need an epidural. Around 11:30 I told Dave to get a nurse because I needed to push. The nurses and doctor came rushing in and sure enough we were ready to go! They hustled to get all their stuff set up. It only took 2 good pushes before Delia arrived. It was amazingly fast and, though painful, a huge blessing to have lasted only about 3 hours (the bad part, at least).

My recovery is going great too, much better and quicker than Ella's. I felt good almost right away and took only an occasional Tylenol for pain while in the hospital. I was moving around soon after and feel pretty energized still (even though I'm averaging about 3 hours of sleep a night). We had to wait much longer than we thought we would for our dear daughter, but once she decided to make her entrance, we couldn't have scripted her birth any better! What a blessing and testimony that God really does answer prayer and have the best plans in place for us!

Today was coming home day and, though my house is a complete mess and the carpet guy has to be rescheduled (good thing I "nested" so carefully and compulsively for all those weeks and weeks!), things are going okay. Delia is doing great. She sleeps most of the time (except night, of course) and is a fantastic eater. Ella is having a hard time today, but we expected she'd need the most time to adjust. We'll continue to keep you updated on our new and exciting lives. We expect this week to be a fun one, but to also have its challenges.

Delia or Ella?

Here's a fun little test for all you who have been asking if Delia looks like Ella did as a newborn. Look at the following pictures and identify which little VM girl you are seeing. The more we study Delia and the more her face looses those "just born" features, we think the 2 look alike! Of course Delia has her own special look (broader lips, darker and straighter hair fuzz, a rounder face, less chin, much bigger and brighter stork bite...) but she certainly does resemble her big sis in the first few days of life.

Promised Pics

First new family photo.

Proud Daddy


Ella's first glance at her new sister

You just had a baby?

Close-ups

SHE'S HERE!

For everyone that has been anxiously checking the blog waiting with us for the good news, it is finally here! The growing VM family has grown!
Delia Kristen was born at 11:48 am. She was 8lbs. 4ozs. and 20 in. long. She looks beautiful, and everything went really well. Jen, especially, did great!

My apologies to those who I have not been able to call yet, but I will be getting to that soon. Also, look back here later tonight for some photos.

Most especially, thank you to all of you who were praying for us and thinking of us.

Distraction

One of the perks of being a pastor in this area is the free pass we get every year to play as much mini-golf as we'd like at a place called Funworks. Today we took advantage of it and performed a little science experiment: when it comes to mini-golf, how are you more greatly handicapped...with a child in your belly or a child on your back?

Besides getting answers to this burning question, we also enjoyed the time together and the distraction from not being in labor. Ella was being a bit of monkey at home today, so it was a great outlet for her to run and climb in the play area without us having to keep saying, "NO!" She really is fearless-- climbing the highest towers, shakiest bridges and flying down the big slides on her own!

Making Salsa With Daddy

With our tomato plants going crazy, Dave has been getting lots of opportunities to perfect his recipe. Today Ella helped.

Happy and She Knows It!

The length of this video is long, but we hope you get a smile out of the enthusiasm with which Ella proclaims the "AMENS!" in this favorite song. We have been enjoying the video feature of our new camera and this was a bit of a test...

"All Done Balloons"

102 days ago, Dave made me a very special "New Baby countdown," 100 ladies with 100 balloon tummies. I got to pop one each day that I was pregnant in anticipation of our due date. Well, sadly we ran out of balloons on Saturday. I know the news that we are still waiting is getting old, but from the perspective of the finished balloons and our due date coming and going uneventfully, I thought I'd whine a little more. Here's some good news: I get to be treated to my first pedicure if the baby has not arrived by tomorrow! Dave told me I could enjoy this luxury if I went past my due date.

We did have a really nice weekend. On Friday night we got a last minute babysitter and went over to Pastor Bruce's to play games with the rest of the church staff and spouses. It is fun to play games when you are frustratingly still pregnant...you get lots of sympathy and in terms of gaming and strategy, people are overly nice to you! (I won one game and didn't come in last for another because of this!) Then on Saturday, Dave took a big chore off my list-- grocery shopping with Ella. I got to stay home and get some things done and rest. At night we decided to have a fun dinner. We turned our fast food into a picnic at the fountain park. A highlight for Ella was trying the swinging monkey bars with Daddy's help. At night we rented an awesome movie, we'd totally recommend it to any of you-- The Prestige.

Beat the Heat

We are in the midst of a typical July heatwave here in the Central Valley. It was 109 yesterday. Today it "cooled" off to 103. Because hanging out in the air conditioned house in just your diaper/underwear is only fun for a little while, we are trying to find other creative ways to keep cool. Yesterday there was Swim Day-- the water felt wonderfully refreshing and we all actually swam! Today, Amy and Jonathan invited us to take a walk around the mall. The invitation was two-fold: one, to enjoy some visiting and free air conditioning and two, to try and walk this baby out. We did take several laps around, but we also did a good amount of breaking for all the great sales and some Starbucks!

Here is Ella enjoying some snacks at Swim Day yesterday.

Impossible! An actual smile while shopping? Here are Ella and Jonathan entertaining themselves and each other while their mommies hit the clearance racks. (Hint to other moms: shopping with a toddler is much more tolerable when they have a friend to chat, sing and kick with!)

And here is Ella modeling the new swim suit and flip-flops I got a fantastic deal on while shopping today (there's a matching cover up too!). Maybe we'll test these out in our little pool this afternoon.

NOT Born on the 4th of July

So, even though "Have a Baby" was not on the list of things we did today, it was still a special and fun day. Dave was able to take the whole day off, so we had lots of quality time as a family. We all started out by getting dressed in our Old Navy flag shirts-- yes, we VMs will sacrifice nerdiness for patriotism! We have one for the baby in a NB size too, guess she'll have to wear it later. Then we went out shopping for the new digital camera Dave has been researching. We found it and have been practicing with it all day (it takes video too, so be on the lookout for those!)

After a late nap and some time in our little pool, we had a wonderful BBQ chicken dinner. Ella really enjoyed her first corn on the cob.

We weren't sure if we'd do fireworks or not tonight, but decided to give it a try since we successfully put Ella on a later schedule. It was the best part of the day! We did not go to the park they were actually being shot off at, instead found a little secret park about a quarter mile away. It was perfect because the view was good, parking was easy, it had a playground to keep Ella busy and we didn't have to worry about scary booms. Ella actually showed no fear (or sleepiness!) at all, exclaiming after every single firework, "That a pretty one!" and doing much clapping/dancing/cheering. She was cracking us up. Over all, it was a great holiday!

And in case you are wondering when we will get to that "Have a Baby" thing on our list...Dr. Pont changed his story at yesterday's appointment. Again, no additional progress has been made and instead of, "Any time now!" he said he's pretty sure I'll go at least another week. He even had a conversation with me about inducing, but I'm not so down with that.

SERVE

As many of you know, one of Dave's big up coming projects is SERVE. He has been asked to be the speaker this summer. SERVE is a week long project hosted by the area CRC churches and their youth pastors. High schoolers and adult leaders come from all over the US and Canada to do work projects and have lots of fun here in Central California. They have a neat website that is updated pretty regularly and will be updated daily when the project starts. Click here to check it out. I'll put it on our list over to the left, also.

The Beast that is "Nesting"

Here is why I am ready to be done being pregnant: I'm sleep-deprived, achy, irritable, living in the bathroom now and of course impatient to meet our new baby. Here is why Dave is ready for me to be done: the longer I carry this baby, the more projects I find for him to do! I excuse this insane honey-do list as "Nesting," a strange and compulsive urge to get my house perfect before the baby arrives. This week he caulked my shower, installed a new ceiling fan and fixed a big problem with my closet. At 3:30 am one night last week we were woken by the terrifying sound of my wooden clothes rod splintering and my whole closet crashing down. I first thought a piece of our house had fallen off and this fright kept me awake the rest of the night. Dave has been, of course, giving me a hard time about having too much clothes. Just what we needed-- another project!

What's worse? The waiting? The aches and pains? The actual labor? Right now I think it's this Nesting!