deep breathing

OK! June is almost over, and I'm not really sure what happened to it, but I am officially done with classes for the rest of the summer so I don't care! I'm also not quite sure which tornado hit my house and what happened to my organized scheduling of the past few weeks, but again... I don't care! I have many visions for the next 2 months -- visiting with family, cleaning the office, figuring out how to make my sewing machine function, finishing baby projects, organizing all of the stuff we have around here, reading a non-school-related book or two -- but I'm taking the next 2 days to just relax and not think about anything. (Also, it helps to have my car in the shop right now. Don't worry, just getting the A/C fixed so Benjamin stops melting every time we run errands.)

To help with the whole not-thinking plan, I thought I should finish posting pictures from our wedding weekend extravaganza. Oh boy! I posted a few pictures and Benjamin-related details over here, but thought I could share a few more.

Firstly, there were a few mistakes we made last weekend:
1. Deciding not to stay in Salem on Saturday night (after the rehearsal). We thought the drive back wouldn't be bad and we could slip out of the dinner easily (and early). That didn't end up happening and we were absolutely beat. Bad plan!
2. Not having a back-up plan for Benjamin on Saturday night (a place to take him in case the dinner went long).
3. Not having a back-up plan for Benjamin on Sunday night (I didn't want Corey to miss the reception, and Benjamin couldn't sleep with all of the activity and noise).
4. Deciding to stay in Salem on Sunday night. Corey came back home because he had to work on Monday morning, and we figured that it would be better for Benjamin and I to just sleep in Salem. Not so much! I was awake enough to make it home, Benjamin would have passed out in the car, and he probably would have slept-in on Monday morning if he was in his own crib. As it was, I slept horribly (without my 5 pillows, naturally!), Benjamin was up at 6:30 (thank you Mr. Train!), we practically woke the entire house-full of wedding party sleepers by trying to get out the door quietly, and we ended up back home over an hour before Corey even left for work. Stupid, stupid!
5. Trying to do everything by ourselves. In reality, I should have enlisted some help with Benjamin during the prep-period so that at least one of us would have been moderately rested.

I should say, though, that there were a few things we did right:
1. Bringing lots of different things (toys, snacks, blankets, etc) to entertain and distract Benjamin.
2. Bringing a booster seat for the pew so that Corey could distract him hands-free.
3. Allowing him to roam around freely and stretch his legs right before the ceremony so that he wasn't fighting us to walk down the aisle.
4. Having the cutest.kid.ever.

Oh well! Live and learn, I suppose. Despite everything, it was a really fun weekend and an absolutely amazing wedding, so we just let everything go and tried to enjoy it.

Some pictures:

rehearsal (they were really happy, I promise!)

2/3 of the bridesmaids
(although I'm like twice the size of both of them, so I should count for 2/3 on my own...)

detail of the ring-bearer pillow
(her grandma made it -- isn't it beautiful??)

spread that was waiting for us in the bridal room
(could there be a bigger bottle of champagne? we didn't drink it, obviously, but I'm not going to say that it didn't get enjoyed once the bride and groom had left the party...)

"I'm ready to go, coach!"
(note her 4 frappuccino bottles...)

finishing touches on the guest book

post hair-appointment...lovely, isn't it??

bridal party
(btw, the underwear in Ann's hands was "something blue" and Ann embroidered "it's Miller time" on the butt -- so fun! It helps to know that the grooms last name is Miller...)

dolling up

beautiful!
(I didn't get one of the back, but there were other flowers cascading down)

bridesmaids, all ready to go!

at the reception (little guy was already "sleeping")

the groom is really back-lit, but this was the only shot I had full-length so that you can see her dress...

the happy couple!

As I said, it was a beautiful wedding and so much fun, and I felt so blessed to be a part of the experience. I've got to watch my friend blossom into this romance (and trust me, it's been 4 years coming!) so it was such a joy to stand beside her as she became a wife. I'm trying not to be jealous that she's on a beach in Mexico for another week, I did get to spend over 3 weeks in Italy after all, but I'm excited for her to get back so that I can share in the fun of being married with another friend!

OH! I meant to say, for Betsy and anyone else who knows that 3 things always go wrong on your wedding day:
1. The hairdresser took much longer than they were supposed to, pushing us into a near-frantic get-ready-for-pictures rush.
2. The ring-bearer's pillow was stowed safely in my car at the reception site -- and I discovered this as we arrived at the church half hour before the wedding (thank God for errand boys!)
3. The button holding up the dress' bustle completely deteriorated mid-reception (thank God for safety pins!)

bragging, just a little

I'm mid-finals week, which is why I haven't posted a pregnancy update (although it's been written) and why I haven't posted pictures from our weekend-of-wedding fun. I'm only popping in briefly to say:

I just finished my final in 8 minutes. 8 minutes. It was multiple choice, 50 questions, and he told us to study the weekly quizzes from previous classes. In fact, the final WAS the previous quizzes... thus I basically read the beginning of the question, skimmed down the options, and found the answer. Seriously? That's it?

He gave us 90 minutes to complete the test, which is why I'm now in the library (and will be, apparently, for the next 70 minutes), and then we're going to go grade it together. Guess we'll see if I should have taken my time ;-)

Last class tomorrow night, updates to follow soon!

names

I don't think I ever shared the story of how Benjamin got his name -- probably because I assumed that everyone already knew or no one cared. That could still be the case, but such is the power of being the blog-writer. Feel free to pass :-)

When our little guy was still Rhubarb, we had our name list narrowed down to 3 boys and 3 girls (yes, THREE. Because my husband doesn't like to make decisions, and I'm non-committal). When we went into the hospital, those were narrowed down to 2 boy and 2 girl names, with a strong preference for one of each (the second was a back-up in case the baby didn't look anything like the chosen name... although kids totally grow into whatever name you give them. As long as you give them reasonable names. Again, it goes back to be indecisive and non-committal.) Wow, that was an impressive aside.

Anyway, our top choice for a girl was Hannah Laura, after Corey's grandma (who has 4 different names, being German, but the first of those is Hannalore, pronounced as Hannah Laura would be). We're big on using family names, probably because we're big on using traditional names, and most of the previous generations weren't into the name-butchery of today. (They just gave really ridiculous nicknames, instead.)
Our top choice for a boy was (duh) Benjamin Isaac, Benjamin being a big family name on my mom's side (great-grandfather, great-uncle, second cousin once removed, second cousin, etc...) and Isaac being completely out of the blue. And now we get to the reason for sharing all of this!

When I was barely pregnant with Benjamin and still only suspected his existence, I was reading through Genesis and came upon the story of Abraham and Sarah. For those unfamiliar with the story and not in the mood to read it for themselves (see Genesis, 16-21), I'll sum: God promises Abraham that he will be the father to many generations, but his wife (Sarah) is infertile. In fact, she's allowed her husband to have a child with her maid since she can't get pregnant, but that's another story altogether. God comes to Abraham when he's 100 and says that his wife is going to have a baby, and that through this baby the generations will come. Sarah, being infertile and also 90 years old, pretty much falls over laughing. The story keeps going, and she does get pregnant and have a son (Isaac) but you get the idea. WELL, I found out I was pregnant a few days after going through this section, and it just kept playing in my mind. Obviously, I'm not too old to have a baby, and obviously, Corey and I didn't have to try too hard to get pregnant, but what stuck with me was the miracle of life working at all. Whether you're 20 or 40, using infertility treatments or too lazy for condoms, when you realize that life is growing inside of you, forming from nothingness into a new person, this joy just comes bursting out of nowhere. At least that's my bias :-) Sarah's reaction resonated with me because I felt giddy and giggly every time I thought of our little one, and I couldn't have hidden my astonishment either.

Fast forward to April, we're liking the name Benjamin but stuck on a middle name. There are several possibilities, but none of them feel right to me... and then I remember how I felt back in August. "How about Isaac?" I say to Corey, just in passing. He takes his usual, thinking about it for awhile position, but once the thought had come, it wouldn't go away for me. Thus, nothing worked for me except Benjamin Isaac (and naturally, I win). Of course, I didn't have to try hard to convince Corey... something along the lines of, "With a name like that, he's sure to get into heaven!" (Yes, we're twisted.)

In case you're wondering why God told them to name the baby Isaac (I didn't mention that, did I? Well he did.) it's because Isaac means "laughter." I kinda think that fits our little guy too :-)

And in case you're wondering what our second choices were... too bad! I don't want to have to commit to considering them again this time around ;-) (We will not be reconsidering Hannah Laura, however, because the aforementioned second-cousin Benjamin has a sister named Hannah, and we're too close with them to not have that seem weird. It is a nice name though!)

AND in case you're wondering what names we're thinking about this time around... I can honestly say I haven't got a clue. (God should feel free to hit me with some sort of insight any day now. I only think Rutabaga is endeering when the baby doesn't appear in technicolor, so we should really look into that.)

This ended up being a lot longer than I expected! Congrats to anyone who made it through. Brownies are on their way.

abundance

One of the women in my moms group (at church) is moving next month, and she asked if there was anything I might need for Benjamin/Rutabaga. She has a 5-year-old son and isn't going to be having any more children, so she has everything from the past 5 years just hanging out in her garage. I went over there last week to take a look and ended up driving home with a packed-full Jetta (I swear, I felt like a college student again, cramming every nook and cranny of the car). She's keeping her crib because it transforms to a daybed, but everything else is up for grabs. I came home with 10 boxes of clothes, from newborn to 4T, blankets, a swing, an inflatable bathtub, a learn-to-stand toy, an old-fashioned metal dump truck (still in the box!), a bouncer, and several boxes of random toys/books/gadgets. I probably came home with more than that, but that's what I can think of at the moment! I'm going back tomorrow to grab a pack-n-play and highchair, as well as a breast pump and a few other miscellaneous things that didn't fit the first time. Some of the items are repeats -- we have a pack-n-play, but needed another as Benjamin still uses his; we have a highchair, but it's wooden and doesn't recline, and Benjamin is just now big enough to sit up straight in it; and I have a pump, but she convinced me to take it "for a friend" because otherwise she's dumping it -- and those things are $$!!) Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty prepared for this baby... especially if it's another boy ;-)



Along those lines, if you know of anyone who might need some baby items, let me know. I passed on an exercauser, a walker, a stroller, an umbrella stroller, a tub mat, and about 3 different doll houses (random, I know, but her son had some developmental delays and they were part of his therapy)... and if I don't take them, she's just sending them to goodwill. Obviously there's a breast pump to pass along too (minus the intimate parts -- for sanitary reasons), and more baby boy clothes than we know what to do with (especially since we still have all of Benjamin's). I'm totally serious here -- I'm taking practically all of her stuff so that she can move in a month, but we really don't need much of it, and I'd love to be able to pass on the blessing.

(I suppose it helps if the mother-in-need lives in Oregon, too... just a detail.)

beach trip and bachelorette

I've been out of the action for a few weeks... Sorry about that! (A few weeks' worth of updates can be found on my little guy here and on my Rutabaga here.) Summer term is kicking my butt (lots of reading, projects/presentations due every week, the usual excuses), but I have TWO weeks left and only ONE paper left (we're going to ignore the reading for a moment) and that makes me feel great. Two whole months of summer vacation before I have to start classes again! (we're also going to ignore that I'm having a baby in October and thus will most likely end up starting my reading/papers for fall classes in August...) Didn't I say that June would be crazy? I think I foresaw this, but if I try to find the post I'll end up not finishing this one. Let's assume I did, because I'm bright like that.

The OTHER crazy June happening is also over in ONE week (Yikes!) My friend Anna-Lisa is getting married and I'm in the wedding, so we've had all sorts of excitement -- dress fittings (don't even get me started...), parties, last-minute details, and OH, by the way, Benjamin is going to be ring-bearer. So I'm going to have to figure out what to dress him in and how to effectively get him down the aisle.

In line with all of that, we planned a bachelorette party for last weekend, and we (ok, I) decided that it should happen on the coast. In my defense, I decided this back in February, when my husband had a job and I wasn't in the middle of summer classes. The other bridesmaids got on board, but our plans stalled out around the time my boy stopped having a job, for obvious reasons. So in the past month we've had to find a beach house (large enough to accommodate the 16+ people who were invited), organize our weekend, and somehow make it full of bachelorette fun. Yeah!

We ended up having to rent a house for 2 nights so Corey and I took the other night as a brief get-away. We were both kind of dragging our feet over the whole thing, bummed to be spending a lot of money when there is little coming in, but as soon as we got there all of that changed. Isn't that the way it always works? The house was absolutely amazing, with 2 levels and tons of space, not to mention beautiful views of the ocean. We had rain on Friday, which was unfortunate, but it was fun to hear it splattering against huge windows while snuggling up together on the couch. On Saturday we played around at the house until after Benjamin's nap, and then we took a trip down to the beach to introduce the little guy to the ocean. So much fun! The bachelorette guests (and guest of honor) arrived right around 3, which is when Benjamin was needing another nap, so I sent Corey back to Portland with a sleepy baby and geared up for a night of female-ness. I won't go into the details of the party, although I have plenty of pictures and stories, because some things are better left mysterious ;-) I will say, however, that we had a blast -- and took full advantage of the beach for sand sculptures -- and that it was a really relaxing night. We ended up having 8 total women (as opposed to 16+) but that meant plenty of room for sleeping and a generally cozy atmosphere. Hooray for success!

AND now we're back to the last minute prep / crazy life. This week I have to pick up my dress, find something for Benjamin to wear, organize the departure (bubbles? bird seed? what do we think?), double-check on the wedding night hotel accommodations, and start a final project for school. You'd think that means I won't be posting again soon, but it's a fun form of procrastination, so you never know ;-)

Some pictures from our weekend:

the house

view #1

view #2

my boys

my Boy

(some of) the bachelorette girls

beach!

look! sunshine!

the party girls (minus me, obviously)

ocean

my cuartie, Becca

my favorite twins

the bachelorette

sunset

...And that's all I'm allowed to share!