The Hutchings Family

Wildflowers & Whimsy: Skye Reve Fabrics Giveaway

2011-04-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'd love to win this beautiful fabric bundle from SkyeReve Fabric and make some cute skirts or dresses for Eva. Isn't it beautiful?

Wildflowers & Whimsy: Skye Reve Fabrics Giveaway

2011-02-25T18:19:00.000-08:00

Isaac is 6 months old now. And he is doing great....besides some weight concerns (he's down to the 2nd percentile in weight) but I am trying not to worry about that too much. He is sitting up pretty well on his own, doing great with eating solids, and we are transitioning him to sleeping in his own crib instead of sleeping all night with us (some nights are better than others on this).
And he's as cute as ever.
Eva has also been as cute as ever. She has been skipping naps most days and then I will find her sleeping in some crazy position on the couch or something. She loves her little brother a lot and loves to make him laugh. We are still constantly working on being gentle with him though. She is a smart little girl and constantly making us laugh with the crazy stuff that she says. We are so blessed with these two sweet kiddos.

Pictures

2011-01-24T15:28:00.000-08:00

Life has been hectic and good and therefore I have been neglecting this blog pretty badly. Here are some new pictures of my sweet kiddos.

Better late than never

2010-11-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

So, I am finally (2.5 months later) getting around to posting Isaac's birth story.

On August 24th, 2010 I had my 39 week appointment with my OB. He checked me and said I was 3-4cm and 80% effaced. Everything was looking good and I made an appointment for the following week.
At about 6pm that evening, Mike and Diane arrived from Twin Falls and we all headed to county fair. Mike and Diane were planning on going to see the Dooby Brothers at the fair while Aaron, Eva, and I saw the dinosaur exhibit and rode rides. When we all go to the fair, we headed to the dinosaur exhibit for a little while and then Mike and Diane got in line for the Dooby Brothers. After spending a little more time at the dinosaur exhibit, Aaron, Eva, and I went to get something to eat. Diane ended up not getting into the concert because she left the line to get something to eat and by the time she got back, Mike had already gone in and they would not let her in even though he was saving her seat. Luckily, Aaron checked his phone and saw that she had called and we met up with her by the covered seated area and we all ate something and then took Eva one some rides while Mike was at the concert.
I started having contractions at about 7:30pm and Aaron took out his Droid and starting timing them with www.contractionmaster.com. They were about 3 minutes apart and were lasting about a minute each. By the time we all got ready to leave the fair at about 8:40pm I was having to concentrate pretty hard during contractions. I had to slow down in order to walk and talk while I was having a contraction.
We decided to go straight home and get our bag packed and have Mike and Diane put Eva to bed and we would head to the hospital. I was started to say "I don't know if I can do this" and so Aaron knew we were getting close to baby's arrival. Mike and Diane (who were in a separate vehicle) wanted to go get some food at Jack-in-the-Box first since Mike hadn't had dinner but luckily Aaron told them they needed to come by the house first so Mike dropped Diane off at our house so she could put Eva to bed and then he went to go get food. After a 40+ minute drive home, 30+ minutes of getting the bag packed and getting Aaron's parents settled in and a 20 minute drive to the hospital, we arrived at the hospital at about 10:30pm.
As we walked down the hallway, I had to stop when I had a contraction and kind of rock and concentrate to get through it. Aaron hurried ahead and let them know we were here. A nurse came out into the hallway and said "Just making sure you're not having the baby out here in the hallway" and helped me to our room. They had me change into a gown and were going about things really leisurely until they checked me and saw that I was 8-9cm dilated. They immediately called the on call doctor and when she came in she checked me she asked if it was ok for her to break my water. I agreed and so she broke my water and then told me I was complete and could push whenever I was ready. I was feeling the need to push and so I got ready to start pushing. I remembered how hard the pushing stage was with Eva and I was dreading it. I said out loud, "I'm not ready for this." But then my body took over and started pushing. I couldn't stop if I wanted to. I kind of yelled "I don't want to do this" and the doctor told me I could stop and take a break if I wanted but my body wouldn't stop pushing and I yelled, "I can't." After 2 minutes of pushing, Isaac was born at 11:04pm. They placed him immediately on my stomach and dried him off and put a blanket over him. He was so beautiful. They got ready to cut the cord but I told them that we wanted to wait to cut the cord so they did. When we were ready to cut the cord, Aaron cut it. Since everything happened so quickly and we had the on call doctor that we had never met before, Aaron was great about letting the nurses and doctor know what our birth preferences were and everything happened just how we wanted. Since the pushing stage was so short, Isaac had a lot of fluid in his lungs and was coughing up a lot of fluid at first. Other than that, he was absolutely perfect at 8lbs, 7oz., 20 inches long and a head full of dark hair. Grandma and Papa Faulhaber and Nana Hutchings came in to meet him and the next morning Papa Hutchings and big sister Eva got to meet him. And around midnight on August 25 we brought our baby boy home.

Eva decided to give herself a haircut

2010-08-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

Yikes. Time to make sure all scissors are out of Eva's reach.

I told Eva as I was trying to fix her hair that I was so sad about her hair and she said, "It's ok mama, I'm beautiful." Smart girl. I could probably learn a thing or two from my 2.5 year old daughter about beauty....it's not what's outside that counts.
Here she is again after I tried to fix her haircut. Pray that her hair grows quickly.

It's August!

2010-08-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Less than a month before we get to meet Isaac! It still doesn't feel real yet. I am really excited to meet him and cuddle him but have been missing Eli a lot lately too. It's really bittersweet.
Here's my big belly at 36 weeks. Not too much longer. Good thing too, I'm not sure I have much more room to grow.

Birthday weekend

2010-07-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated the birthday of two special little boys. Noah Jones, son of our good friends Dave and Emily, had his 3rd birthday party on Saturday and then our nephew Luke had his 4th birthday on Sunday. It was a fun filled, action packed weekend. Noah loves his trains so his mommy (and aunt, and grandma, and daddy) made an awesome train cake for him. Luke's birthday theme was "Up" (from the movie) and his cake was a house in the clouds with balloons and there had to be hundreds of balloons for decorations as well as a crazy water balloon fight. I made both of them t-shirts and I think they turned out pretty cute.

Eva's first haircut

2010-06-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

Before...

and after...

Baby boy finally has a name

2010-06-22T08:28:00.001-07:00

We finalized baby boys name on Father's Day. His name will be Isaac Aaron Hutchings. Isaac was always one of our front runners (even when we were picking boy names when we were pregnant with Eva) and the meaning behind it is what sealed it for us. Isaac means "laughter" which we like. We hope to do a lot of laughing with him. But, the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac was especially meaningful to us. Isaac was Abraham's promised son from God. And after losing Eli and then getting pregnant again and it being another boy, we feel as though this baby boy is our promised son from God that he is blessing us with.

3D pics of baby boy

2010-06-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here's baby boy at about 29 weeks. Is he cute or what?

26 weeks

2010-05-26T08:32:00.000-07:00

So, this past week I was pretty much a big mess. 26 weeks is when I gave birth to Eli and so hitting 26 weeks with this pregnancy hit me pretty hard and I was in a pretty dark place. Each day of that week brought back sad memories. The last day that I felt Eli move, the day that we confirmed that there was no heartbeat. The day that I went to the hospital to be induced, and then finally, the day that I birthed my baby boy's lifeless body. I felt as though I was in a pit that was too deep to get out of. I was feeling hopeless. Don't get me wrong, I would get out of bed in the morning because of Aaron and Eva but it seemed that was all I could do, get out of bed. I couldn't live life beyond that. I was just in the grip of depression.
We had our all church retreat this weekend up in McCall and it was just what I needed. First of all, just the 2.5 hour drive up gave me and Aaron time to talk and to just be together and I was able to express my feelings to Aaron. That helped me a little bit to not feel so alone. The Holy Spirit was really moving during the weekend and I feel like I am learning to live again. I found hope. I found purpose to live. Leave it to God to give me just what I need at just the right time. If only I would learn to always lean on Him and trust in Him instead of trying to survive on my own.
Ok, enough of the heavy stuff. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.
Here's my 26 week belly.

And some pictures from the retreat.

Life's not fair

2010-05-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

We all know that, right? But sometimes, it really just sucks. Today, a wonderful woman and her husband lost their forth child. Their first two, twin boys, were born at 20 weeks when I was still pregnant with Eva. Then, somewhat recently, they miscarried their third child. Today, at 20 weeks, she gave birth to another son. I pray that they will continue to lean on God as they have in the past and that they will find some comfort and peace in his loving arms. As I grieve for them today and revisit once again the pain of losing a child, this song is in my head. It was written by the lead singer of Selah and his wife after learning their sweet daughter Audrey had a condition that was "incompatible with life" while they were still pregnant with her.

I Will Carry You
There were photographs I wanted to take
Things I wanted to show you
Sing sweet lullabies, wipe your teary eyes
Who could love you like this?
people say that I am brave but i`m not
Truth is I`m barely hanging on
But there`s a greater story
Written long before me
Because he loves you like this

So I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All my life
And I will praise the one who`s chosen me
To carry you

Such a short time
Such a long road
All this madness
But I know
That the silence
Has brought me to his voice
And he says

I`ve shown her photographs of time beginning
Walked her through the parted seas
Angel lullabies, no more teary eyes
Who could love her like this?

I will carry you
While your heart beats here
Long beyond the empty cradle
Through the coming years
I will carry you
All your life
And i will praise the one who`s chosen me
To carry you

Another sneak peak

2010-05-12T10:29:00.001-07:00

Here's baby boy at 24.3 weeks.

He kept opening and closing his mouth. Eva said he was laughing.

I love yard sale season

2010-05-08T09:02:00.001-07:00

We went to a yard sale this morning and picked up some cute clothes for baby boy. The guy who lived there was a BSU basketball player and had a little boy who was probably about 18 months old. So, there was lots of cute little boy clothes including several BSU outfits (unfortunately, most of these were the wrong season). Our little boy already has a great wardrobe thanks to consignment sales, yard sales, and of course grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles. Today we scored 4 pairs of jammies, a pair of wrangler jeans and another pair of jeans, a BSU romper, 2 adorable sweaters and 2 cute long sleeve onesies.

Baby's homecoming outfit

2010-05-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

So, while searching for something cute for baby boy (that's right, still no name) to come home in when he is born, I saw some super cute onesies on etsy.com. I decided that I could make them myself and yesterday I headed to the fabric store and picked up everything I needed. I think it turned out pretty cute if you ask me. I plan on pairing it with some brown pants and maybe a cute little newsboy type hat. :)

Eli's blog

2010-04-21T09:30:00.001-07:00

I finally got around to making a blog for Eli. It tells his story from the beginning. If anyone is interested you can check it out here. http://babyelihutchings.blogspot.com/ (warning, it's long) I also posted a link to it on the right hand column under Friends and Family blogs.

Fabulous find Friday

2010-04-16T11:19:00.001-07:00

So, we picked up this little beauty (the guitar, of course) at a yard sale today for $0.50. Eva is loving it.

And just because I can't handle how cute she is, here are a few more recent pictures.

20 weeks....halfway there

2010-04-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Curtains....finally!

2010-04-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making a curtain for Eva's room. I didn't have enough of the bird fabric so I had to piece it together with another fabric but I think it turned out pretty cute.

Making pancakes

2010-04-09T10:54:00.001-07:00

Eva insisted on helping make the pancakes the other morning. She had so much fun. It was a little messy but worth it.

And here are the pancakes that she made by herself.

Quad screen results

2010-04-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, at my ultrasound last week my high risk doc encouraged me to get the quad screen blood test. Since it was just a blood test for me and didn't pose any risk to baby I went ahead with it (I usually opt out of any extra testing during pregnancy and definitely wouldn't do an amniocentesis or CVS test which pose risk to baby but are the only way to test for sure for Trisomy 13). If you don't know, the quad screen tests for things like Trisomy 21 (Down's Syndrome), Trisomy 18 and 13 (Eli had Trisomy 13), and Neural Tube Defects such as Spina Bifida and Anencephaly. Anyway, the good news is that my numbers all came back great. 1 in 25,000 chance of Down's Syndrome, 1 in 6,000 chance of Neural Tube Defects, and no high risk for Trisomy 18. Yay!

Easter 2010

2010-04-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here he is

2010-03-31T14:04:00.000-07:00

Yep, I said HE! We're having another little boy. And he is perfect. We are very excited. So, without further ado, here's our precious baby boy.

This is what happens when Eva picks her own shoes

2010-03-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

16 weeks

2010-03-18T13:55:00.001-07:00

I had my 16 week appointment today and everything is looking good. I gained 6lbs from my last appointment (yikes!) but my doctor was happy with my weight. I think I need to start eating better though. Baby's heartbeat was in the 150's and we should have our big ultrasound in the next 2-3 weeks (we should get to schedule it tomorrow). My regular OB had to send a script over to the high risk specialist's office which is where the ultrasound will be and I should get a call from them tomorrow to schedule it.

My gender dream

2010-03-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

So, I dreamed last night that we were at a doctors office (I never remember my dreams but this is my 2nd that I've remember so far since being pregnant). It wasn't my OB's office or the high risk specialists office so I'm not sure why we were there but the doctor asked us if we wanted to know the sex and we said yes. So, he started the ultrasound but he was taking forever and he kept goofing around. He would say "there's the profile" but when I would look at the screen I could only see the reflection of the doctor's face. And then I woke up before I found out what the sex was. Darn it.

Making our hearts melt

2010-02-17T08:23:00.000-08:00

Eva has started randomly coming up to either myself or Aaron and giving us a hug and then saying "I love you mommy" or "I love you daddy". It just doesn't get any better than that.

12 week prenatal appointment

2010-02-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

and all is well. It was a routine, boring appt. which are the kind that I prefer. I only gained 0.8 pounds since my last appt. which totally surprised me so that was great. My blood pressure is perfect, all my tests have been perfect to this point, fundal height is right on, got to listen to bub's heartbeat. My next appt. is in 4 weeks and then my big ultrasound will be 2 or 3 weeks after that. I just looked and if we schedule it for exactly 3 weeks after my next appt., it will be on my birthday. I can't think of a better birthday present. So, we'll see if that works out.

Just a few new cute pics

2010-02-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

Baby #3 is on the way

2010-01-19T12:06:00.001-08:00

We had a great appt. with the doctor today and got to see baby on ultrasound and see the little heart beating. Baby measured 8 weeks and 3 days and was perfect. And I love the doctor that we are using this time, he is amazing. Baby is due August 29th, Eli's birthday.

Operation No Binkie was a bust

2010-01-18T09:23:00.001-08:00

So, after 5 days of Eva crying herself to sleep and us having to stay in the room with her for an hour every night for her to even go to sleep, we gave in and gave her binkies back. The last night of no binkies Eva only slept 6 hours (she normally sleeps 12) which means that I got even less sleep and I just couldn't do it anymore. So, we'll try again at a later date.

Today is a day to celebrate

2010-01-11T12:11:00.001-08:00

I put Eva down for a nap today without any binkies. If you know Eva at all you know this is huge. And....it went great. She cried for about 5 seconds (but it was a whiny cry, not a real cry) and then she was out. Whoo-hoo!

Eva's 2nd birthday party

2010-01-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

Eva had a garden party theme for her 2nd birthday party. Grandma and Papa F., Aunt Tami and cousin Payton, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Ryan and Luke and Lauren, and friends Dave, Emily and Noah all came to celebrate 2 years of fun with our beautiful Eva girl. Eva had so much fun that she refused to go to sleep afterward. Either that or she was still hopped up on sugar. Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy.

A few pictures from Christmas

2009-12-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Redeeming Christmas

2009-12-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

For a couple of weeks now we have been thinking about getting the Christmas decorations out and officially starting the Christmas holiday season. We weren’t really excited about it this year and actually dreading it a little for a couple of reasons. First, celebrating the holiday without our Eli (who was born still 3 ½ months ago and was expected on December 4th) is tough especially when we imagined spending Christmas together with our new baby. Second, because we knew that Christmas should be more than getting gifts, putting up a tree, and watching movies about Santa Clause. We’ve wanted to redeem Christmas but the problem has been knowing what to do to make it Christ-centered. This year we finally did something about it. The main reason that we finally decided to change things was because we want to raise our daughter to be a Christ follower. What is the best way to do that – model it by living it. That means changing a lot of things that we do, one of those being how we celebrate Christmas.

We researched on the internet for ideas of ways to redeem Christmas to make it Christ-centered again (which it never was for us). After a couple of hours we finally found a few ideas that we really liked and wanted to make as our own traditions. As a Christian I was surprised by how little information there was out there about this. That’s why we want to share some of these ideas with you. We hope that it encourages you to reclaim this holiday and throw off any hindrances that get in the way of celebrating Jesus’ birth.

1. Santa had to go – This in our minds was the easiest decision to make. The idea of Santa was a major diversion to bringing Jesus back into Christmas. We packed up all of our Santa ornaments and decorations (which barely fit into a huge box) and gave it to goodwill. Although it may be possible to still focus on Jesus and still have Santa, he does not add anything to Jesus, he is only a potential distraction, so he had to go. It made it much easier to get rid of Santa while our daughter is 2 years old instead of after establishing this tradition with her for 10 or so years. Here’s an article that goes into more depth of why these people had to cut Santa loose .

2. Christmas Tree – We decided that instead of setting up a traditional Christmas tree, we would setup a Jesse tree (called this because the first person in Jesus’ family tree – King David’s father). Think of a Jesse Tree as a sort of advent calendar, except that in addition to a countdown to Christmas, you go through a family devotion in the Bible, starting with creation and ending with Jesus’ birthday. Each day a new ornament that represents that devotion is put on the tree. For example, the first day you may put up an ornament of the earth and then read the story of creation. The next day an ornament of an apple and then read the story of Adam and Eve and the fall of man, and so on. Many of the resources online that we saw used a tiny branch or fabric cutout, but we kept our same tree with all the lights on it. Here is a link to some printable Jesse tree ornaments and one with daily devotions . We love this concept but we will probably call it a Jesus tree instead (more meaningful for our 2 year old).

This year we discovered this Jesse tree concept too late to make any ornaments ourselves but we plan on making them in following years and we’ll try to remember to post them next year. Not only is this a great way to remember the birth of our savior it’s also a great time to spend time with your kids making ornaments and doing daily devotions.

3. Gifts – We still don’t know what to do about this one. How do you focus on Jesus and at the same time get bombarded with presents. In this consumeristic culture it seems impossible. Here are a couple of ideas:

#1. I read a great article about one idea from John Piper’s website: “A new tradition in our celebration is the Shepherd’s Pouch. On Christmas Eve the children put their gifts to Jesus in little bags beside the manger, as the shepherds brought gifts of worship and joy to the baby. On Christmas morning Jesus’ gifts have been replaced with little fun gifts to the boys—symbolizing the gifts God showers on us.” Here’s the link .

#2. On Christmas morning go through your stuff (parents & kids) and find things that you can give to people less fortunate like clothes or toys.

#3. Instead of saying that the presents are from Santa you can say that they are from God - which is true since all things are from God.

#4. If people want to give you gifts then have them make a donate to your favorite cause (Compassion International, Against Malaria, Heifer International, etc). If they want to get gifts for your kids then ask people to get clothes or other things that your kids actually need instead of more toys. Also try to set a limit so people don't go crazy.

4. Family – Obviously our families will be doing Christmas their own ways, which is fine, but our family will be doing it differently. I’m sure we are going to get people saying how we are “ruining our kids by not letting them believe in Santa”, or that “there’s nothing wrong with Santa Clause – it’s harmless”, and “children need the myth to exercise their imaginations”, but for us it is critical to redeem this holiday* and focus our celebration on our Savior’s birth.

5. Other Ideas – Below are a couple of ideas that we have come up with this year. Please share your ideas with us (maybe we will add it to the list).

#1. Skip the movies about Santa and watch a movie about Jesus together as a family. We watched The Nativity Story this year which was great. It's another opportunity to talk with your family about Jesus' birth.

#2. Find a soup kitchen or another place to serve together as a family on Christmas morning.

* This holiday that we now celebrate as Christmas was originally Sol Invictus where people collectively worshiped their solar deities . Around the 3rd or 4th centuries the celebration of Christ’s birth was superimposed on the pagan holiday. Jesus was most likely not born on December 25th but probably in the spring sometime.

Aaron & Carrie Hutchings

Eli's due date

2009-12-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Today was Eli's due date. But, instead of holding my new baby boy, I'm thinking about how I had to say goodbye to him 3 months ago. We miss you Eli, and we look forward to holding you again someday.

2009-12-01T09:33:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

1st snow of the season

2009-11-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Eva wasn't impressed. She just kept saying "dirty" and "mess".

Happy Halloween

2009-11-02T13:41:00.001-08:00

from the Flintstones.

Halloween Preview

2009-10-15T13:07:00.000-07:00

I finished making Eva's Halloween costume and I tried to take some pictures of her in it but she wasn't in the picture taking mood so they aren't great but here they are. Eva as Pebbles Flintstone.

Here he is

2009-09-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally sharing a few pictures of Eli on here. Here's our beautiful baby boy...definitely a Hutchings. :)

Results are in

2009-09-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

Before Eli was born we had an amniocentesis done and a bunch of blood drawn from me (Carrie) to run tests on.
About a week ago we got the results of those tests and found out that Eli had Trisomy 13 and I had cytomegalovirus (CMV) both of which could have caused the hydrops that he had.
We are still waiting for the results of the autopsy and then we will meet with a specialist who will go over all these findings in greater detail with us. While it has been helpful to us in our healing process to know the results, they have also been hard for us to hear and have caused some turmoil for us at first until we are able to reconcile some things within.
We will never be able to express to all of you how much your support, kind words, cards, meals, and prayers have meant to us during this time of sorrow and grief. God is good even through all of this and we are able to see the blessings that He has given us and continues to give us even in times of great sorrow.

The story of our baby boy Eli Hutchings

2009-08-30T07:13:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank everyone for their support, thoughts, and prayers over the last few days and continued support and prayers. It has helped knowing that we have such wonderful people surrounding us during this time.

Here's Eli's story....

On Thursday, Carrie called the midwives because she hadn’t felt little Eli move for 2 days and was really worried. When she went in to see them, they confirmed there was no longer a heartbeat. Aaron was in Donnelly for work that day and couldn’t get home right away so Carrie’s mom came over to be with her and convinced her to go to the ER. At the ER, a couple of ultrasounds were done which again confirmed that Eli was no longer living. Carrie had to have some blood drawn so they could do some tests to determine whether her health was in danger at all. When those tests came back showing that Carrie was in good health, we had some time to decide how we would like to proceed. We had the option of waiting and seeing if Carrie spontaneously went into labor or we could choose to induce labor.

Aaron got to hospital and we eventually decided to go home that night and come back the next morning to start an induction. So, we got to the hospital at 8am the next morning (Friday, August 28th). They ran some tests (an amniocentesis and some blood work) and then started the induction with Cytotec at about 10am. The induction took much longer than we were hoping but once Carrie felt the need to push, it was only about 3 minutes until little Eli was born at 12:50am on Saturday August 29th, 2009. He weighed in at 1 pound, 10 ounces and was 11 ¾ inches long. We were both exhausted and Carrie was still a little out of it from the Stadol that the nurse had given her about a ½ hour before Eli was born to help her relax but we were able to rest a little bit. Then, a professional photographer from Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (they take professional pictures of stillborn babies for free) came and did a photo shoot with Eli and Aaron and Carrie at 3:30am. After that, we were able to sleep for a few hours and then spend the next day just holding and spending some time with Eli. His grandparents and two of his aunts were able to come meet him and say goodbye to him. His big sister Eva Grace also had the opportunity to come meet her little brother and give him kisses and take some family pictures with him.
Aaron and Carrie then had some more alone time with Eli to say their goodbyes and then came home at about 3:00pm and were able to get a good night’s sleep last night in our own bed. We had an amazing team of doctors and nurses with us at the hospital (the on call doc that we got on Thursday and Friday was the best doc we could have asked for) and were able to talk with a bereavement counselor several times as well as a financial person to help us figure out all the financial and insurance stuff. It has been amazing how many little blessings we have been able to see through this tragedy already.

We are now waiting on the results of the amnio and bloodwork as well as an autopsy that we chose to have done on Eli to try to determine what caused his death and to determine how likely it is that it may happen with future pregnancies. Eli had something called Hydrops which is a lot of excess fluid around all his organs which can cause heart failure. What we don't know is what caused the hydrops (there are numerous different things that could cause hydrops) but we do know there was nothing that anyone could have done to prevent it.

We were blessed to have had Eli with us for the short time that we did and while we wanted him so badly to have stayed with us for much longer, we trust that he is now in the arms of Jesus.

This has by far been the most difficult thing we have ever been handed and we know it will continue to be difficult for quite a while but through everything we know that we have a God who loves us and is worthy to be praised.

Tuesday and Wednesday = clean floors and laundry

2009-08-26T10:23:00.000-07:00

I think the title says it all. Pictures of my carpets and piles of laundry would be pretty boring so there won't be any pictures accompanying this post. :)

Monday = clean bathrooms

2009-08-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

I started a new cleaning schedule today and today was bathroom day. I haven't REALLY cleaned the bathrooms in a LONG time so it ended up taking me 6 hours (with some breaks in between) but the bathrooms are now the cleanest they've been probably since we've lived here.

Camping

2009-08-18T09:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we headed up to Baker Lake (kind of by Sun Valley) this weekend with Aaron's parents for a weekend of camping. The days were a lot of fun filled with biking and hiking and smores by the fire but the nights were a different story. Eva did not sleep well which means that I did not sleep well. I think I got about 1.5 hours of sleep the first night, the second night went better and I got probably a good 7 hours of sleep, and then the third night was turning out to be like the first night so we left and headed home at 3:00am. We got home a little before 6:00am and then slept until about 10:00am.

Eva's new room

2009-08-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Here is the progress so far. I still have to finish the walls and then paint some musical stuff on them but I'm getting there....slowly but surely. Once I'm done with this we can move Eva in and then start repainting her old room for baby Eli.

Before....

The process....

And getting a little closer to the end product....

Eva singing her ABC's

2009-08-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Oregon coast 2009

2009-07-27T09:04:00.000-07:00

Every other year we head down to the Oregon coast with all my family (parents, sisters, and their families). They do it every year but we only make it every other year as the other year is spent with Aaron's extended family. We had a blast this year going to the aquarium, hanging out on the beach and in the hot tub, eating at Mo's, and just having a great time with family. Eva had lots of fun playing with her cousins and she got to see her Gigi and Papa Wally (my grandparents) as well as great aunt Debbie and Gail and great uncle Chris and my cousin summer and her little girl McKenna. On our way up we stopped in Newberg to visit the McConaughey's and on our way home we stopped in Newberg to visit our friend Jamie. Jamie and her husband Luke have chickens and goats and Eva got to pet the goats which she thought was a lot of fun. Check out our shutterfly page for all the pictures.

Give me names!

2009-07-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am so tired of searching through thousands of baby boy names online so I am giving you all the task of commenting with boy names for us to consider for this little guy. C'mon, help me out.

Oh Boy!

2009-07-08T09:32:00.001-07:00

It's a boy!!!!

4th of July comparison pictures

2009-07-06T12:19:00.000-07:00

Last year....

This year....

4th of July

2009-07-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July in Melba with Carrie's family. Ryan drove his pick-up in the parade and Payton and Luke rode in the back (with Tami and Brenda) and threw candy to everyone along the way. The kids had lots of fun hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then of course we went to the big fire works show later that night. Eva thought the fire works were really cool but the loudness of them kind of scared her.

17 weeks

2009-06-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

Everything has been going great so far with the pregnancy. No symptoms to speak of except some tiredness and being hungry all the time. This pregnancy has been going so much faster than when I was pregnant with Eva. Here I am at 17 weeks along and having to start wearing maternity pants.

At the playground

2009-06-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

There is a little playground in our subdivision that is about a 20 minute walk from our house so Eva and I headed there today so I could get a little exercise and Eva could have some fun outside. She absolutely loves being outside and would spend all her time outside if she could.

To all non-pregnant people

2009-06-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

I read this today and thought it was funny...so, I am sharing with all of you.

Dear Non-Pregnant Person,

1) The appropriate response to a couple telling you they are having a baby is 'Congratulations!' with enthusiasm. Any other response makes you an arse,

2) Through the wonders of science, we now know that babies are made ONLY by the mother and father- not grandparents. Unless the baby is in your uterus or you are the man that helped put it there, you may not ever use the phrase 'my baby'.

3) On the same note, unless you made the baby as defined in 2, the pregnancy, birth and raising of the child are not about you. You do not have input. No one wants to hear your opinion unless they ask for it.

4) The body of a pregnant women should be treated the same as any other body. You would not randomly touch someone's stomach if they were not pregnant, nor would you inquire into the condition of their uterus, cervix or how they plan to use their breasts. Pregnancy does not remove all traces of privacy from a woman.

5) Likewise, no women wants to hear comments on her weight- ever. A pregnant woman does not find it flattering that you think she is about is pop, must be having twins, looks swollen or has gained weight in her face. Telling her she looks too small only makes her worry that she is somehow starving her baby. Making such comments invite her to critique your physical appearance and you may not act offended. The only acceptable comment on appearance is 'You look fabulous!'.

6) By the time we are 20-30 years old, most of us have picked up on the fact that the summer is hot. We are hot every summer when we are not pregnant. We don't need you to point out that we will be miserably hot before the baby comes.

7) There is a reason that tickets to L&D; are not yet sold on Ticketmaster. Childbirth is actually not a public event. It may sound crazy, but some women really do not relish the idea of their mother, MIL or a host of other family members seeing their bare butt and genitals. Also, some people simply feel like the birth of their child is a private and emotional moment to be shared only by the parents. Like everything else is life, unless you receive an invitation, you are NOT invited. This includes doctor appointments, ultrasounds, labor, delivery, the hospital and the parents home. You do not decide if you will be there for the birth or if you will move in with the new parents to 'help out'. If your assistance is desired, rest assured that you will be asked for it.

8) If you are asked to help after the birth, this means you should clean up the house, help with cooking meals, and generally stay out of the way. Holding the baby more than the parents, interfering with breastfeeding and sleeping schedules and making a woman who is still leaking fluid from multiple locations lift a finger in housework is not helping.

9) The only people entitled to time with the baby are the parents. Whether they choose to have you at the hospital for the birth or ask for you to wait three weeks to visit, appreciate that you are are being given the privilege of seeing their child. Complaining or showing disappointment only encourages the parents to include you less. I hope this helps- it sure makes us feel better.

Signed, All Pregnant Women __________________

Although, I do have to say that I am okay with people touching my tummy (once I actually look pregnant) and luckily for all of you I won't make anyone wait three weeks to visit. :)

More yard sale scores....I love yard sales!

2009-06-12T09:57:00.001-07:00

Yard Sale scores

2009-05-30T11:38:00.001-07:00

Yay for yard sale season. We got all kinds of great stuff at yard sales this morning for cheap.
Some clothes and shoes.

A couple of toys (the football is really for Aaron), a helmet, and some suction cup bowls.

A music maker with microphone.

A bath toy organizer.

A height tracker for Eva's room.

Lots of books.

A travel bed for our next baby.

A cute little kitchen for Eva to play with.

Heather graduated!

2009-05-28T11:42:00.001-07:00

My niece, Heather, had her high school graduation last night. Way to go Heather!

Pics from Memorial Day

2009-05-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day also happened to be my brother-in-law, Ryan's, birthday so we headed over to a BBQ at their house. I got lots of good pictures and thought I would share them with you. :)

And some more Lauren pictures

2009-05-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

Lauren Beth is here

2009-05-21T20:16:00.000-07:00

My sister, Brenda, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Lauren Beth at 1:01 am on 5/21/09 (her due date). Lauren weighed in at 8lbs, 6oz and was 20.5 inches long.
Congrats to Brenda and Ryan and big brother Luke!

Fairy Eva

2009-05-17T20:30:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to get a free photo session with Lauren Harms of Ooh LaLa Photography the other day. We haven't seen all the photos yet but here is a preview. Do we have one cute little fairy or what?!

Lookie what I made

2009-05-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make Eva a fun summer dress and I finally got the motivation today. It's the first dress I've ever made and I didn't use a pattern so there are a few improvements that could be made but I still think it turned out pretty cute.

I guess she needed a nap before lunch

2009-05-07T11:30:00.001-07:00

I knew it was too quiet...

2009-04-28T14:12:00.001-07:00

Eva has an announcement to make

2009-04-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

If you haven't already heard...

Happy Easter 2009

2009-04-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Easter 2009 consisted of two easter egg hunts (neither of which Eva was all that impressed with...although she did enjoy playing with the eggs) and hanging out with good friends. Sunday was a full day starting with brunch at church and ending at about 8:00pm when we left Dave, Emily, and Noah's house. Eva had a great time playing with Noah (thanks for sharing all your fun toys Noah) and did a great job despite having no nap. Thankfully she passed out as soon as we put her down when we got home.

Phoenix and Mexico 2009

2009-04-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well, we spent the last week (9 days for me and Eva) in Phoenix and Rocky Point, Mexico and had a great time only to come back to snow here in Idaho. Anyway, the whole reason I planned on going down was to go to my doula workshop in Scottsdale (it was about a 25 minute drive from the house in Phoenix). For those who don't know, I am working on my doula certification. A doula is a woman who provides emotional and physical support to a woman in labor. The workshop was great and now I need to move on to the other aspects of my certification. I have to attend 3 births before I can be certified so if any of you know a pregnant woman who would like to have a cheap doula, send her my way.
On to the other stuff. We spent 3 days in Mexico soaking up the sun and playing in the sand and swimming. It was a great time. Eva wasn't too sure of the sand at first but eventually started to get used to it. She enjoyed the water, as usual. We got to see family that we haven't seen since Christmas which was wonderful.
Here are some pictures....there are a lot but I will try not to overload you too much with pictures.

The sun will come out....today!

2009-03-14T15:56:00.000-07:00

It was warm enough today to go for a walk and play at the playground. So, we headed down to Barber Park for some fun family time. It was great except for the mosquitos.

Eva's first bloody nose

2009-03-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

Thursday night Eva lost her balance and hit her nose on one of her toys. Here was the result.

Independant Eva

2009-03-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Eva always wants to feed herself but she still isn't very good with a spoon. Here are a few pics of what she looks likes feeding herself some yogurt.

Snow day!

2009-03-06T09:10:00.001-08:00

Eva is not a big fan of the snow at all.

Pay It Forward

2009-03-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, as I was checking out everyone's blogs today, the Jones' blog had this Pay It Forward thing that I thought was a great idea so....

Here's the deal:
- The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a fun little something from me. I will have to put some serious thought into it but it will be something very cool. :)

- The catch: you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, put a "Pay It Forward" post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you’re going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your surprise!

- Make sure I have your email address. And remember that only the first 3 comments will get the gifty, so be quick! Have fun!

More walking

2009-02-28T18:54:00.001-08:00

It didn't take long for Eva to really get the hang of walking. These videos were taken several hours after Eva's very first unstable steps.

New favorite place

2009-02-28T15:27:00.001-08:00

Eva has decided that her new favorite place is any small space she can crawl into.

Eva's first steps

2009-02-28T14:50:00.001-08:00

Eva finally took some real steps by herself. She took a few steps while her daddy and grandpa were watching and then later took about 5 steps by herself while mommy was watching. Aaron was lucky enough to catch her first steps on video.

Eva's first painting

2009-02-23T08:23:00.001-08:00

So, what do y'all think.....do we have an aspiring artist or what?!

Happy 60th Papa

2009-02-23T08:15:00.000-08:00

Carrie's dad just celebrated his 60th birthday. We all went to Louie's fo dinner and when we are in Oregon this summer we willbe sending him on a fishing/crabbing trip as his birthday present.

Eva's version of walking

2009-02-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

Eva showing off how smart she is (smarty pants)

2009-02-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

The animals Eva knows

2009-01-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

Pigtails

2009-01-30T09:10:00.000-08:00

For daddy's birthday, Eva wanted to look as cute as possible but her hair was just out of control so I put her hair in pigtails for the first time. Is she cute or what?!

More to eat, please!

2009-01-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

Eva has started putting "sentences" together.

Signs

2009-01-21T08:29:00.000-08:00

Eva has been picking up on signs like crazy lately. Here are a few.

1st Birthday party

2009-01-05T09:31:00.000-08:00

Eva's 1st Birthday party went off without a hitch. I just about had a breakdown before the party trying to get everything ready and make Eva's smash cake (which just wasn't working how I had planned). Luckily Aaron came to the rescue and finished the smash cake. Everything turned out great. Grandpa and Grandma Faulhaber, Aunt Tami and Uncle Ray, Aunt Brenda and Uncle Ryan, cousins Heather, Payton, and Luke, and friends Sarah and Amanda and Dave, Emily, and Noah all came to help us celebrate.
Payton and Luke were very helpful big cousins helping Eva open her presents and blow out her candles on her cake. Eva didn't make a mess at all eating her cake but she sure did love it. She got all kinds of new toys and clothes and even though she didn't take a nap before the party she had a great time and did really well.

More please

2009-01-05T08:50:00.000-08:00

Eva finally learned to sign "more" (we've been working on it for months). And now she uses it all the time. Now our job is to try and figure out what she is asking for more of since she uses it constantly now.

Whenever you ask Eva to say "mama" she always says "dada" instead. It's really funny but one of these days she better start saying mama too.

Hip Hop family

2009-01-01T11:08:00.001-08:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Red Robin Birthday Lunch

2008-12-30T13:54:00.000-08:00

We went to lunch at Red Robin and since it was Eva's Birthday, she got a free birthday sundae. She liked the whipped cream but wasn't a fan of the sprinkles.

Happy 1st Birthday Eva!

2008-12-30T08:08:00.000-08:00

Today our baby girl turns 1 year old. I can't believe how quickly it has come, she's not a baby anymore. Her party is this Saturday so I will post pics then.

It's a girl!

2008-12-30T08:07:00.000-08:00

Eva's new baby cousin, that is. My sister Brenda just found out yesterday that she is having a girl. She is due in May and Eva can't wait to have a little girl cousin to play with.

Christmas in Phoenix

2008-12-30T07:53:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in Phoenix. We played tennis and went for a hike....and when we came home to Boise there were several inches of snow on the ground. Eva stayed with Aunt Angela while me and Aaron and his parents went to the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego. We had awesome seats and it was a really close game....it would have been great if BSU would have won but it was fun anyway.
Eva was definitely the star of the show as we hung out with all the relatives. And we had to borrow another suitcase to bring all her gifts home....she's not spoiled or anything.
Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

Early Christmas

2008-12-17T19:19:00.001-08:00

Since we are heading to Phoenix to spend Christmas with the Hutchings' this year, we got together with the Faulhaber family (us, Tami and Payton, Brenda, Ryan and Luke, and Grandma Faulhaber) last weekend to decorate sugar cookies and make Christmas candies. Eva got to open all her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Faulhaber, Aunt Tami and Uncle Ray, and Aunt Brenda and Uncle Ryan. And cousins Payton and Luke and Grandma Faulhaber opened their presents from us. We had a great time and ended up leaving with way too much cookies and candy.

Eva has something to tell you

2008-12-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

We don't know what it is exactly but she apparently has something important to say.

Eva's first fat lip

2008-12-12T09:10:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, I look over to see Eva chewing on her upper lip. Next thing I know, her mouth is all bloody. She gave herself a fat lip by chewing on her lip.

Claus and Paws

2008-12-08T11:25:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we attended the annual Claus and Paws event at the Boise Zoo. Admission was free to the zoo for the day and Santa was there for pictures. Eva actually enjoyed seeing the animals at the zoo this time and "barked" at the monkeys. I'm pretty sure she thinks all animals are dogs. :)

Happy Thanksgiving! (a few days late)

2008-12-01T09:19:00.000-08:00

Eva had a great first Thanksgiving. Grandpa and Grandma Hutchings came up from Twin Falls and Grandma Hutchings made a huge feast (it was yummy!).
A few things we are thankful for:
1) A loving God who takes care of us and is always faithful.
2) Loving family....I can't imagine my life without my amazing husband and beautiful daughter. I am lucky enough to have wonderful parents and in-laws as well as sisters and brother-in-laws and nephews to fill my life with love and laughter.
3) Health - Thank God that we are all healthy.
4) I'm thankful that in these hard economic times we are doing ok. Even though I lost my job I know that we are going to be okay.
5) I get to be a stay at home mom for a short time while I look for another job!

Pasta faced!

2008-11-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

Eva had a great time eating ravioli with tomato sauce for dinner! Needless to say, she went straight into the bathtub when she was finished.

Baby Shoes

2008-11-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

My newest addiction...ok, it's not really new but Eva needed new shoes and we didn't want to spend a ton of money on them so I made some. They are going to go in Eva's Christmas stocking.

Flash Back Friday

2008-11-14T09:04:00.000-08:00

Here's an oldie but a goodie....Eva is just maybe a few hours old here.