The baby's room!

Here are some photos of the baby's room. It is pretty much finished. I have some vinyl lettering I want to apply above the bed in the room, and perhaps a picture frame. But this is the majority of it.

This is the outfit I think our little one will wear when he's born.

This is my changing table. I got those canvas bins at Target, and I LOVE them.

The crib where our little one will sleep. The Moses basket is what he'll sleep in when he's in our room.

My nursing station. :) Right now I am kind of looking forward to those feedings, of course, I may feel differently two months from now! :)

A little sign I found at the Rustic Rooster in Willcox. It says, "God, please tell Mom cowboys don't take baths", I thought it was pretty cute, and the little straw hat is what my husband wore as a child. I would like for Nate to eventually make me some hooks out of horseshoes to hang beneath this for our boy to hang up his bath towel and clothes.

All the little clothes we have, waiting to be worn. I just can't believe we actually have blue!

And he totally won't be able to wear these for several months, but I LOVE them and can't wait for him to be toddling around in them. I can't wait to dress him just like his daddy in little wranglers and snap shirts.

And since I was showing the baby's room, I thought I'd throw in some pictures of the girls room that we redid this winter. It's pretty much done except for trimming out the closet.

The picture is taken courtesy of my sister, Alyssa. You can check out her other AWESOME pictures here

Some of the cross-stitch I've done for the girls with their names and date of birth and weight. Seems like a long time ago I labored over these. Needlework isn't my specialty!

The dresser I refinished, which we bought from Nate's grandma Zuck's sale. It turned out really nice.

The bunk bed our girls sleep in. Usually Larissa up top and Alaina and Charlotte down below. My sisters used to sleep in this when they were young. It's funny how quickly life comes around full circle. The pink color on the walls was actually quite difficult to paint. I think I painted three coats. But I am pleased with how it turned out and the girls now have their own "pink" room.  Hope you enjoyed the tour!

A No Mom

I have been trying to keep up with my journaling. I was doing really well for like two weeks, don't they say if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit? Well, I didn't quite make it that far! That third week just did me in. I picked it up Saturday night, and it had been over three weeks since I had made an entry! Time just flies on by. But as I was writing out what I did that day, a thought came to my mind about how often I tell my children "no". For example, that evening, and many previous evenings, my daughters have been asking for hot chocolate. Now to me, it seems totally illogical to want hot chocolate when it's triple digits outside. But they had been asking and I had been continually refusing. Mostly because they would want it in the evening, just before bed, and I would be tired, and just ready to go to bed myself. But Saturday evening, I told myself that I would make them hot chocolate. And they were so excited. And it really didn't take that much extra time. And the girls just sat around in their chairs with their little mugs, talking and sipping their hot chocolate. It was actually quite cute.
But I felt this nudge in my spirit about how often I say no to my kids. Often because I don't feel like it, or I am busy doing not very important things....like facebook for instance, or checking email, or just anything with the computer. It can totally be a time waster and drainer. And I was then quite humbled by the thought of how often God says yes to me. He says yes to me far more then no. Of course, there are definitely things that I would like or want, for totally selfish reasons, and He has said no to some of those things, but really, He is a yes God. We just take so much for granted, our eyes are veiled to how much He extravagantly pours his love and adoration upon us.
So I really want to try and be more of a  yes mom.....obviously within reason.  But when Charlotte sees her sisters swinging themselves on the playset and wants to swing and asks me, I need to say yes more often. Or when Larissa asks me to play piano, I need to say yes. I want her to learn how to play and to enjoy music, and how will that happen unless I do it with her? And when Alaina asks me to change her Ariel doll's clothes for the twentieth time that day (who makes these things? They are obviously not thinking about those of us who are constantly being asked to change outfits because our little girls fingers can't do it. They need to rethink their strategy...seriously.) I need to bite my tongue and help her out. Dying to our flesh is a daily thing. it will never go away, but as we do it more often, it will become easier.
Besides, I don't want to look back someday and regret that I didn't spend more time with them when they were younger. Because there will come a day when they will stop asking if I keep saying no.

The zoo and other random thoughts

Yesterday we ventured up to Tucson and took the kids to Reid Park Zoo. The kids had a great time. It was big enough for them to see lots of different kinds of animals, yet small enough that they could walk the whole thing and not be complaining about being tired. There were lots of mature trees, offering plenty of shade, which is much needed in Arizona in June.  Here are a few pictures of the excursion.......

Devin, my nephew. Doesn't he have the best smile?

The girls oohing and ahhing over some animals. Don't you love Larissa's face? It's like she's just getting ready to bark out some orders. And I can say that because I am a firstborn too, and know what it's like to want to be in charge.

Salma, checking out the animals in her super cool hot pink sunglasses.

back of an anteater

my little chickies

All the grandkids getting ready to ride the train with Grandma

The kids all crammed into the cabin.....

leaving Grandma to ride in the caboose all by herself!

Kody, discovering his fingers

trying to capture a picture of everybody.  Larissa is taking this photo, and unfortunately, she cut off Hanna's head!

Here's my apron girl. She has been obsessed with aprons the last three weeks. First thing every morning she comes to me with an apron and she wears it everyday. Seriously. It's been to the bank, the grocery store, even to the zoo yesterday. The only place she hasn't worn it, is to church. And that's because I ask her to take it off. It does keep her clothes clean, though! But she's wearing them out and I am thinking I might have to make some more!

UPS delivery

This arrived by the UPS man today. Yes, this is my pool that I will hopefully be delivering our baby in, in about 7 weeks (or less.....I can be optimistic, right?) The girls can't wait for it to be blown up for their use. But I get it first! :) This is how I cope with my contractions and labor pains. I'd sit in the tub for the whole thing if I wouldn't drain all my energy from the heat. And sitting in the tub too long can actually stall or slow your labor down sometimes, too. So I try to wait as long as I can. Usually just before my pushing phase. Two out of our three are water babies. Alaina I couldn't have in the water because I waited to long to call my midwife, and she actually had to talk my husband through delivery! She arrived twenty minutes after Alaina was born! But in a water birth there extra things that you have to be careful of. For instance, it's very important that when pushing the baby out, that baby comes out in the water, so he or she doesn't take a breath. If they take a breath of air, then they could drown. But as long as they emerge in the water, it's just like the home they've been living in the last nine months. So that is why we couldn't have Alaina in the water. This past Saturday night, the excitement in the Zuck household consisted of watching my belly move all around as the baby was getting his exercise. It's so funny to watch the girls take in this whole baby thing. The other day, I mentioned that what I eat, the baby eats as well. So now at every meal Alaina likes to announce that the baby is eating what mommy's eating. Which then caused her to ask me if the baby poops and pees inside of me. I started to try and explain to here how that works, but then just told her that mommy's body takes care of all that. And then Saturday night, Larissa asked me where the baby was going to come out of...to be exact she asked if it was going to come out my behind. I knew this question would come, but it was just so hilarious. I told her no, and that we would talk about it later when she was older.  Oh, the innocence of children. It is so refreshing.  I am looking forward to meeting this little person. We are still undecided on a name, and the girls love to change their minds each day. We do have it down to two. And I am in the process of working on the baby's room. I will post pictures once it's complete.

Sowing and Reaping

I have been making my way through a Beth Moore bible study called the Psalms of the Ascent. It's only six weeks, and I thought it should be easy to get it done before baby arrives. I think I've been at it for two months, and I am only at week three! My motivation has been near zero to get this done. But yesterday I watched the week three video, and it was so good. I hope I can do it justice, trying to put it into my own words here. There are 15 psalms of the ascent and so we spend two days on each psalm. It really gives you a chance to study each individual psalm and tear it apart. one of the Psalms in week three we studied was this: Psalm 126

   "When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Our mouths were filled with laughter then, and our tongues with shouts of joy. They they said among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them."  The LORD had done great things for us; we were joyful.
   Restore our fortunes , LORD, like watercourses in the Negev. Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. Though one goes along weeping, carrying the bag of seed, he will surely come back with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves."  (HCSB)

One thing she focused on in her teaching was how everything we go through here on earth, every trial, every heartbreak, serves a purpose, and if we will just trust God, we will reap the harvest of those tears and the seed we were given. But sometimes we choose to eat the very seed we should be sowing. For instance, if we are struggling with forgiving someone who has wronged us terribly, and we go to church or bible study, and the word was on forgiveness, and it touched our hearts, brought tears to our eyes, caused us to feel tender, we then go home, feeling filled, but the instant we return to that situation, we don't apply what we have learned, we have chosen to eat the seed, and not plant it to harvest at a later time. Beth also shared the example of a remote tribe in Africa who was starving, they were given seed to plant to grow an abundance of food for the tribe, but rather then plant it and harvest a greater amount of food later, they ate the seed right away, and had nothing to show for it later.
This idea of eating the seed before sowing it and reaping a harvest really spoke to me. I think, rather I know, there are times I do that alot. Especially concerning my kids. I might read something or hear someone and think, wow I really need to apply that to my life. I go home, and within five minutes I am frustrated and angry and it's like everything I have just learned has gone out the window. This sowing and reaping thing takes time, and because we live in an instant gratification society, if we don't see change right away, we become frustrated and lose interest, or figure this is just the way life is. But God is into the long haul, transformation, TIME. God has patience. And I am so grateful He does. There are times I expect my children to immediately do what I ask, and when they don't I get so mad. (I am not saying instant obedience isn't important, IT IS), but the way I react isn't very gracious. But God is gracious ALL the time.
I want to become more of a sower, so that I can have a harvest to reap at the right time. I don't want to eat my seed right away and then have nothing to show for it in the long haul. I want to be the one who goes along sowing my seed in tears, yet knowing that I will be returning with shouts of joy, carrying my harvest.