Precious Moments

While in the shower today, I looked out and saw this:




No, I didn't take the picture while the shower was running...but I did hop back in after I got the camera just to get the right 'perspective' for you all!

Snow Day

All dressed up and excited to go explore in the snow!

First impression...not so sure


A favorite snapshot


Examining the white now on his mittens


Another favorite shot taken right before we really started to play!

The snow has been coming down non-stop since last night at about 8pm. We have about 6 inches on the ground and it's still coming down! It's not supposed to stop until tomorrow night - 18 inches in total they say. Knowing Colorado, it'll all be gone by Saturday, so we're enjoying while it's here!

This Past Weekend

This past weekend was one of many little changes, firsts, and lasts. Our little guy is growing up before our eyes.

Trying on daddy's shoes - big shoes to fill, and Lord willing, one day he will.


While cooking, I turned around and saw this. Mr. Independent had climbed up into the kitchen chair all my himself!


This was perhaps the sweetest moment of the weekend. We were getting ready to head out to a friend's house for dinner and Evan brought a book over to Scot, sat down, and obviously wanted Scot to read to him. So Scot got down, and started reading and little Evan planted himself right in Scot's arms. I think the book was read about 4 times before we just had to go.


This is the train Evan made the other day with various blocks in the play room. I just had to laugh.

In other news, it snowed yesterday and we had fun just hanging out. Yesterday was Evan's last day with the pacifier during the day. Today has been a little rough, but we'll get through it. We decided it was time since he now bites the thing more than he sucks it and I'm too afraid he's just going to bite the nipple off and choke on it. There are already 2 big holes on either side of the one he has now...so we're restricting it to the crib and car seat (when he needs to sleep). We'll see how it goes. We're also throwing the old one out and only using no-hole pacifiers.

I'm feeling great. I'm starting to feel little Drew move about some more. I have a Drs appt on Thursday, so we'll, Lord willing, get to hear the heart beat again. The pregnancy is starting to become more 'real'. I'm finally starting to have more of a preggy belly than just 'overflow', which is good.

Well, that's that for now. I have loads of laundry to do today along with cleaning the floors and vacuuming! Gotta love Mondays!

Baking cookies

While waiting for Scot to get home last night, and also while the over was at a nice 375 degrees, I decided to whip up a batch up chocolate chip cookies with Evan. Here are the pictures - the recipe will be on the recipe blog later today (i think!).

Getting started!


All creamed up, now for the chocolate chips!


He did such a great job at pouring...I was so scared I was going to picking them all up from the floor!


Mmm...YUM!


A double yum!

Peek-a-Boo

Evan LOVES (and always had) playing peek-a-boo and getting scared. Well, now instead of a blanket to play with, he plays behind chairs, under the table, or around a corner. Here are some pictures from yesterday!

17 Weeks

So I got an email this morning from babycenter.com telling me I was 17 weeks pregnant today. Really, I thought? Can I already be only 3 weeks away from the half-way point?! And I guess I am. I typically count the weeks by Sundays since that's what my last cycle says, but my due date, I guess, counts the weeks by Thursdays. Either way, I am in slight shock that I'm as far along as I am! Is this normal for the second pregnancy? With Evan, I was SO aware, all the time, of the exact week and day I was. Now, I actually have to think about it when someone asks me! The email did have some interesting news, though. The bones are starting to be more bone-like (hardening) and little Drew is growing quite a bit right now. He's gained about an ounce and an inch in the last week alone (no wonder I've been extra tired and hungry this past week!). It is so amazing to me how the Lord has worked all of this out.

I'm starting to feel little Drew move about and Evan is learning that baby Drew is in my tummy (or at least he acts like he does...for all I know, my belly - and not my belly button - is just Drew to him.) A funny story along with that, though. The other night after dinner, Evan pulled his shirt up, pointed at his tummy, and in his 15 month old voice, said "Drew" (although it sounded more like Dew). We laughed an had to explain that Drew was only in mommy's tummy. Since then, he'll come up to me, peek under my shirt or pull it up, and point while saying Drew. It's pretty cute.

In other news, it snowed yesterday. Thankfully I was over at a friend's house the majority of the day and we were able to sip tea and chat and enjoy the beauty. It's supposed to be nice again this weekend. Gotta love Colorado, right?

Hope everyone is doing well!

A Very Unexpected Package

Late last week I received a package in the mail from my pastor in Washington, Pastor Anderson. I had recently received an email from him telling me to be on the lookout, I was going to be getting something from the hands of his sister's sewing. He told me it wasn't much and I have to admit I was curious as to what might be in the package when I picked it up. Well, when I opened the little manila envelope, out fell 2 of the cutest pot holders I have ever laid eyes on, and what's more, my "Princess of Quite A Lot" logo was on there!

The most adorable potholders ever!

I have a pillow that Pastor Anderson sent me from OR when I was in high school with the same "Princess of Quite A Lot" nicely cross-stitched across it. It's a small pillow - maybe 9 x 5 or something like that, but it has always been in my room and has always, and probably will always be, my favorite pillow. It goes back to a running joke he and I had when I lived in WA in middle school. My name means Princess and, being the little imp that I was (or so he said), he always said I was the Impress of quite a lot - well, I guess when he saw the pillow, he couldn't resist getting it for me. Something tells me that it was the same for the fabric that made these adorable pot holders.

My favorite little pillow.

So a big thank you to Pastor Anderson and his sister - I will forever treasure these pot holders!

Playing in the Leaves

The Zoo in the Fall

One of my dearest friends, Britt, and her darling daughter, Abby, came to visit us earlier this week and take a trip to the zoo. Tell ya what, the zoo in the fall is so much more enjoyable than in the summer. I found this out down at the zoo in CO Springs last week, too! The zoo isn't crawling with people, you're not sweating profusely, the animal are out more (sometimes), and for me, it's just a better overall experience.

Britt and I had a great time catching up and the kids (7 months apart) had a fairly good time, too!

Getting ready to do 'the loop' - all bundled up since it was a mite chilly when we started. Thankfully, the sun came out and we were nice and toasty by the end!

At the CM Zoo after feeding the Giraffes. He had so much fun!


This zoo has tons of fun stuff for kids to do all around the zoo - it was great!


Feeding the birds in the aviary. Mom had the lighter colored bird on her hand and was still able to snap a shot!

Playing on the slide before heading home!

A Scot Funny

Yesterday Scot and I decided to just get out and do something after being inside all day. With it being so cold and dreary out, we ended up just pursuing the aisles of Ross. While stopped looking at some ties, this is the conversation that went on.

Scot holding out a tie with the classic pink ribbons on it: "Oh look, this one's for breast awareness."
Me, looking at the tie: "No babe, that's for breast cancer awareness. I think men are already breast aware!"

We had a good laugh over that one!

It's Been Rough

Evan caught a tummy bug and his poor little bum has gone through some trauma. Saturday we went though half a tube of Desitin and about 4 days worth of diapers. To say the least, his little bum is in a rough place. Thankfully after a better day yesterday, lots of sleep, about 6 baking soda baths, and lots of air-dry time, we're looking better today.

There were a couple times on Saturday where the Lord really spared me from my attitude getting into a rough place. I was at my folks, and when I felt my patience getting thin, my mom was there to relive me. Thank you, Lord, and thank you, mom!

My crock-pot is in a rough place, that's for sure. I went to pull it out from it's little cubby yesterday and to my utter dismay, I couldn't find it. Scot brought it to OH and OK with him and I figured he just had forgotten to unload it from the car. Nope. He forgot to load it up. Period. So my crock-pot is in OK, under a sink. Lonely. What's worse is that I was really looking forward to making dinner tonight thanks to my crock-pot...and now I can't.

All in all - it was a great weekend. We just had a couple rough spots.

Drew Ariel

Scot finally decided which name he liked better, and I am happy to announce that this little guy is not just Baby E anymore, he is Drew Ariel Eskestrand!

To head off a few questions:

1) No, it's not Andrew, it's just Drew. While I like the name Andrew, I don't particularly care for the nick name Andy, which is odd, since I like the 2 Andy's I know, but Scot and I also wanted a name that couldn't be shortened, and since we both really liked the nickname Drew, we put it in the runnings. Drew also means 'wise' - and since we're really big into the meaning of names, that was pretty cool for us. (Interestingly, Andrew means manly, not wise...odd, huh?)

2) Ariel is pronounced are-ee-el. Ariel is a family name (just like Evan's middle name, my middle name, and Scot's middle name are all family names). My father's only sibling, my Uncle Marsh (Marcello), was never able to have any children, and we wanted to honor him by having our second child, boy or girl, carry his middle name. It's a traditional Hebrew/Jewish name, and it means "Lion of the Lord'.

I know a lot of people have different ways of going about picking a name, but this is the way we do it. We try to find a name that we like the sound of, that sounds good with our last name and this time we wanted one that also sounds good with Evan. Scot really wanted the first name to have strong meaning and I just wanted a simple, strong, masculine name that would be good as a child, a young man, and an adult. We also didn't want a popular name. While Andrew is a popular name, and Drew may be a popular nickname, Drew in and of itself is not popular. The other name at the top of the list we liked just as much, the only difference in the line-up was that it was truly an uncommon name, but it had no meaning what so ever. It was a tough decision, but I'm glad that we finally have a name for this little guy!

And if for some reason the ultrasound tech and I were seeing things at the last appointment, then the name for a girl is Elise Ariel.

Looks Like...

...we're having another boy!!

I went to the ultrasound place today for my first ultrasound for this pregnancy. Halfway through the US, the tech asked me if I wanted to know the sex. Of course! I said. She promptly told me she thought we were having a boy. I was so shocked, I actually asked her how she figured that out! haha. She smiled, and then simply told me in her Russian accent, "Vell, I saw ze penis". I told her I thought it was too early to see, and she assured me that it is very rare and unlikely to see the genitalia in such a small baby, but sometimes, and a very rarely sometimes, do they get a good shot!

The monitor was facing the tech and through out the rest of the measuring she had to do (I wasn't in there to find out the sex, it was just a routine size and measurement appointment) she kept saying at intervals, "oh yes - boy" or "yes - there it is again". Once I got to actually see the little guy, I really got to see him! She showed me 3 different views, and each one could not be mistaken for something else. She explained to me that female genitalia are smaller, and are, umm, more 'mound like'. This genitalia, folks, was anything but mound like. The tech did say, that she couldn't be 100% sure (wink wink) since it was still early, but that she was 98% sure. So for all you out there who were hoping it was a girl, you have 2% going for ya!

Along with all that, though, I got to see the little guy rub his eyes, stretch his arms, suck his fingers, stick his fist in his mouth, arch his back, and wriggle around. Isn't technology amazing? I am measuring just a little ahead of schedule - 14 weeks 4 days instead of just 14 weeks and 1 day. So that bumps my due date up to April 1st...

Names will be coming shortly - I think. We're going in between 2 right now and I'm letting Scot make the final decision as as I really like both of them.

14 weeks


This is supposed to be a profile picture. You can't see it nearly as well as on the monitor, but it's something!

Sucking his little fingers!

We Love Sundays

For us, Sunday's are not only our day of worship, but they are also our family days. Today after church, we headed to our favorite park, Wash Park, with home-made Carmel Apple Cider to look at the trees!

Kjerste had home-made spiced pumpkin chai on her blog the other day and I thought to myself, now there's a great idea - if only I liked chai! And then another friend, Kathryn, posted on her facebook (gotta love facebook, right?) that she had made her own carmel apple cider. Now that, I thought, is right up my alley! So I went out and bought the supplies for the yummy drink all for the price of about one and a half of the Starbucks kind! It was perfect! And, if I do say so myself, Scot and I enjoyed it as much as we do the Starbucks version!

For every 8 oz of cider (I cheat and use the packets), add 1 T of carmel syrup, top with whipped cream and cinnamon!


The park was great. The light breeze, the perfect Autumn temp of 60, the crisp air, the sun on our faces. We were truly basking in the beauty of God's creation. The trees weren't as colored as we had hoped, but it was still a wonderful afternoon walk around the lakes/ponds, people watching, and, of course, sipping our cider.


We had one of those moments this morning with Evan. Scot was getting dressed. I was blow drying my hair. We turned around and found Evan trying to get his foot (with his own shoe on) into one of my dress shoes! Scot was thankfully thinking as well as laughing and raced to get the camera. Hopefully, you are able to laugh with us, too.

We took my 14 week belly picture this morning, too, but I'll post them tomorrow along with, Lord willing, my ultrasound picture that I'll have by then.

This past week/end was full for me with putting up fall decorations around the house and cleaning...and cooking. Lots of new recipes on the food blog!

Hope all had a good Lord's day!

Also...

..a huge congratulations to Jared and Madeline!

Jared popped the question Tuesday night and Madeline said yes. We are all so excited to welcome her to the family!

Happy October First!

I can not believe it's October already.

Seriously.

Where did September go? My, my, my, how times flies, whether you are having fun or not. I woke up this morning thinking of my first ultrasound that was supposed to happen (but didn't due to sick ultrasound techs) and wondering what I was going to get to see. Turns out nothing and the baby viewing will have to wait til Monday. I was thinking how far away Monday seems to me, but then I realized that I flipped the calendar and really, it would be here before I knew it. Why does time always speed up like this? And I've heard that it only gets worse - I hope everyone who tells me that is lying.

Now that we're in October, though, it's officially, officially fall. Not only in the changing and sometimes even falling leaves outside, but also in just the atmosphere. People have pumpkins out and spiced candles. Fall decorations are everywhere you look in the stores - it's the signal that the holiday season is fast approaching. I have come around to really enjoying the holidays (I think it's something about being married with a family and my own place...) and looking forward to them, and this holiday season is no different. If anything, I'm looking forward to it more. My mom's mom is coming to live with my folks starting in mid-November until sometime in Jan/Feb time frame. We are all so excited.

That's my musing for today!! Here's Evan is Scot's old Conductor hat...too cute!