I love…

little kids who try to smile so big they almost look mad…

little girls who love their uncles…

the immediateness of having to play with a new toy…

little girls who love their baby brothers so much that they read to them…

and so much that they share their “friends” with them when they’re upset…

So, although they told me at 4 1/2 months at the ultrasound that I was having a boy, I wasn’t convinced…My family doesn’t have boys. I come from a long line of women…

As I’m getting used to just what to do with a boy…I’ll share pictures because I know you’re all waiting!

Mom…pre-induction. Remember in an earlier post where I said I didn’t realize with Ellie how fat I was until after I had her and looked at the pictures? Same story here. I looked at these when we got home today and was like “holy crap, is that me?” Guess I didn’t realize just how big I had gotten.

Mom…post epidural. With delivery number 1, the epidural did not work – I was not looking this pleasant then…this is what a good epidural does for a person. After this, labor wasn’t really all that much work until the end.

The finished product. And isn’t he great? What a fun little guy.

Ellie’s first look at her new baby brother. I asked her when she got to the hospital that day where our baby was. She says “baby in you tummy, mommy.” I told her the baby wasn’t in my tummy anymore, to which she just looked at me in disbelief. I took Evan over to the couch so she could hold him…she gasps and says “that’s my baby Evan.” For now it seems, she’s pretty in love too.

This picture makes the blog because on Wednesday, Nathan and I were walking through the mall on our way to go pick out coming home outfits (glad we went on wednesday!), and we passed the cookie stand. I told him they looked good and said “remember last time when after I had Ellie, you brought me flowers? This time, I want that!” So, here it is…and tasty it is too! Ellie was pretty excited that this is one gift that is more for her and mommy than the baby!

Baby Evan Friesen arrived on Saturday morning…making the winner of the baby date guessing game…Stacey!

Okay – so when I saw Stacey on Thursday and told her I was being induced on Friday if I didn’t have the baby that night, I’m guessing she didn’t remember what day she had…because that was her day – either that or she was secretly thinking – “I’m gonna win this sucker!”

All I’m saying is if she’d have entered a date in the library pool…she’d have beaten out Matt for that prize as well!

Congrats to you Stacey…I’m working on finding an appropriate prize!

look for pictures of the new arrival in the next post!

This is the scene in Waverly these days…as the clean-up from the flooding begins…

drywall, kids toys, wood furniture, couches, and whatever else you can name line the streets waiting to be picked up and hauled away.

We are so fortunate, and it seems we keep learning lessons in humility as we watch others clean up and try to do our best to help. Some people say the offer of help is enough. We wish there were more we could do.

This is a picture of Kohlman park. Its right on the river. We were amazed at all the sand and silt that got moved around. Water is a powerful force, thats for sure…it looks more like the beach these days than a park.

And this is a picture of the school affiliated with our church…I know several teachers who teach here. One said “there was so much more we could have saved.” I suppose this is always the feeling you’ll have. You know what they say about hindsight.

The businesses of town were hard hit too. We’re hoping most re-open. We’ve heard of some that will have new locations…and some that just aren’t coming back. This is Dell’s Diner. Their food is amazing. Granted, we haven’t been there in roughly a year and a half…but you can only have so much of a good thing.

Its hard for me to see all of the destruction in this town. I wasn’t here for the floods of 99, and while Waverly isn’t my hometown…I’ve been in or near it for 12 years and feel connected to it and the community here. And what an amazing community it is. My heart hurts for the town…but deep down, I know Waverly will come back from this…its just hard to see right now.

Nathan and I have been “container gardeners” for a few years now…we usually try our hand at growing one thing in pots on the deck. Really, its all we can handle. We’ve had moderate luck with tomatoes – even growing them from seeds one year.

This year, we decided to try strawberries…figuring that we wouldn’t get any this first year because thats what the lady told us at the WalMart garden center. Apparently, little did she know…because we are getting a few strawberries – small ones,…but they’re there.

My dad was here one day doing some light home repair and says to me “you just wait…when you’re getting just about ready to pick that strawberry, you’ll say – I’ll give it one more day to get a little redder, and then I’ll pick it and that day, the birds will come and eat it…”
Well, what do you know…we got the first one…but it looks like we weren’t as lucky this
second time.

Was it a bird…we may never know…but the strawberry – gone. Perhaps we’ll have better luck with the next one. You may find a picture of me guarding it day and night in my next post! I can just see it now…me, on the deck, flashlight in hand, ready to scare off the birds.