A Baby!

On 7/8/09 at 10 minutes to 11 pm, (I'm not joking), Lissa and I welcomed Miles Franz Joseph Grunert into the world. He's 7 lb, 12 oz, and 20 in. long. Mother, baby, and father are all doing well, and two of the three are trying to get more rest.

A fuller post is already written, but it won't be posted until I can get pictures posted at the same time. That is, after all, why you all read this.

Don't get excited

We're not in labor, nor (apparently) anticipating labor in the immediate future. We're coping with this as well as we can :-) But I thought I'd share some recent pictures to tide our readers over and show that we are still alive.

First phenomenon: my amazing swollen feet. For over a week now I have had

unrecognizable "Flintstone Feet" (Jon's loving appellation).

So I choose, at night: do I want to make improvements to my poor extremities by doing the recommended side-lying sleep pose while elevating my feet, OR do I want to SLEEP and not have back/hip pain in the morning? I have chosen the former

only once and concluded that, as fun as it was to have recognizable feet.... sleep is better.

On Friday, we received Leah and Matthew! up from North Carolina as visitors in our apartment; they very kindly came even further North for us, though they had already driven to Annapolis and were staying with Aunt Eileen and Uncle Chris. We got to show them around our place, catch up, let baby Abigail test-drive our changing table... :-) It was marvelous to see them in our natural habitat. On Saturday, we had an extremely enjoyable and

peaceful Fourth of July; I'm really not sure how it could have been better. We hung out with baby Abigail, played video games with Jamie, ate delicious food provided and prepared by Eileen and Chris, played

beanbags, celebrated Leah's birthday with candlelight and cake, and strolled down to the beach for to catch (some of) the Annapolis

fireworks. That was definitely the best possible location, as it was peaceful and allowed an amazing view of several fireworks displays, the bay bridge and the proliferation of BOATS lit up in the

harbor, AND allowed for a really smooth getaway. Perfect for a rather uncomfortable (okay, huge) lady and the parents of an infant.

Yesterday I enjoyed my spa appointment for which I had been staving off labor for a long time. It was.... indescribable. Massage, meditation in the Tranquility Lounge, private detoxifying lunch and beverages, manicure, pedicure.. I was so pleasantly psychedelic when I got out. It made me very aware of my body, but not limited by its discomfort, which would have been a perfect state of mind to begin to labor in... alas. Nothing.

We're determinedly basking in the full moon and taking long walks, but also trying to amuse ourselves with more usual summer pursuits, yet without going on trips or going far from home... this is a bit tricky. We're trying to cope with the leisure time as best as we can, though :-)

Co-Sleeper, Onesies

The results of our last shower :-)
Tie-dyed onesies are all ready to go! The co-sleeper is set up, though not attached to our bed as it will be when Toodles arrives. For now, I'm enjoying being able to easily get in and out of bed for another few weeks

One last shower!

We had a bit of a housewarming/shower/party at our new place last night. We have received SUCH an abundance of gifts and help that we are quite overwhelmed with it, and so grateful. God is really present to us in the love of our friends.

Below you will see (I'm tired of arranging the photos on the page ;-) some shots of the nursery (notice Pooh theme, much of which was gifts from Aunt Eileen; also note that Jon put up the crib immediately after we returned home with it, taking only about an hour), some shots of us tie-dying and some of our guests. Aren't they beautiful?

I'm wishing that this blogger was more user-friendly for editing and picture-arranging. Perhaps I'll acquire more skills. Anyway, I'm currently waiting to see how the tye-dyed onesies turned out, enjoying a leisurely lunch with Jon and preparing to received more guests to the new digs! These are some of my favorite occupations. What a joy this weekend continues to be...

Some pics of the new digs

We're moved out of Severn and into Pasadena! Some (not great) pictures of the new place follow:

Living Room



























Loo






















Laundry Room





















No pictures of the nursery yet, but we're going to IKEA to get the crib TODAY! Housewarming party set to occur this afternoon. School is out for both of us now, and summer is holding out her hands to us. "Do you always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it? I always wait for the longest day of the year and then miss it."
-Daisy Buchanan

34 4/7 Weeks

Just thought I'd let you know we're alive and well at nearly 35 weeks along. We've just moved and we're MASSIVELY busy cleaning and arranging and all. But thriving! Pictures and leisure time are coming soon!

News from Lake Wobegon

With about 8.5 weeks to go, we have done what I thought was impossible. We have traded in our old dilapidated addled-wagon cars for a brand new one and transferred insurance AND we have obtained an apartment, signed the lease and everything. We move in on the 30 of May. We are so grateful to God and all his angels for arranging this for us! I was really discouraged there for a while... to say the least.

The car is a 2009 (yes, brand new) Nissan Versa and it will fit our lives perfectly and we only need one, for our new lifestyle. Isn't it pretty?

The apartment is in Pasadena, which is, interestingly, in the same neighborhood my current job. I'll have to be REALLY careful to avoid high school hotspots in the area... But it's about 20 minutes' commute for Jon, which is better than many apartments we looked at, and it's SO pretty inside! 2 bedrooms, Pergo floors in the living room, tile in kitchen and MUDROOM (very small) for our FULL SIZE washer and dryer. Vanity. Beautiul bathroom. bigger kitchen with PANTRY. Pretty paint and NEW carpet in bedrooms. Just, aesthetically, a HUGE improvement over this place which will be IMPORTANT as I'll be spending a lot of time in the house next year, at all hours of the day and night... We'll post pictures once we've moved. Look for those in early June.

We've now had two showers (thanks Annapolis Area Christian School!!!) and a generous gift from my English department, so this baby will have all the furniture and clothes that it needs; again, once we're all good and moved, I'll post pictures of nursery. I'm VASTLY looking forward to the end of the school year when all I'll have to do is arrange the logistic for our new lifestyle and NEST in our new flat.

We went to a three-year-old's birthday party this weekend! Got to visit with Baby Scarlett Barschinger and formerly Baby J, now toddler Jeremiah... time flies. Check me out with Alissa and Marijke:

And below, I close with a shot of Jon, practicing...