do not let him fool you ...

... he was totally happy about his post bath spiked hairdo ;)

Just a taste of fun I'm having with Instagram ;)

Follow me (dmschulte) for more pics!!!

my son

I remember feeling a little giddy inside the first time I used the phrase "my husband" to describe Dominic to someone after we got married. Just something about those words coming out of my mouth made it feel real and special ... and also kind of crazy too!

Well, I had the same giddy feeling this past week.

Only with a different phrase.

My son.

"Hi my name is Dawn Schulte and I need to make an appointment for my son Luke."

My son :)

He's here. And perfect.

Luke Wilfred Schulte.

Arriving December 1st at 2:23 pm, 8lbs 2oz, 21 in.

The day after my last post we decided to induce on Thursday the 1st, 3 days before my due date. Inducing was new to us and meant all kinds of new things, like showering and getting ready to go to the hospital, putting a roast in the crock pot for my family to eat for dinner, and taking a few photos.

One last belly shot. In the bathroom like all the rest have been :)

One last photo of our family of FOUR.

Baby birthdays are just surreal - even when you know it's coming - even when it's your third time around! Everything went really well. We got settled into our hospital room around 8:45 and just a few hours and one epidural later we welcomed our first son into the world.

A couple little girls are over the moon about our latest addition.

While we were at the hospital, Juliet asked my mom how baby Luke was getting out of Mommy's tummy. My mom tried to dodge the question (nice job mom). After a long pause, Juliet told her that "Baby Luke is going to be pretty small. Maybe he comes out of Mommy's mouth." My mom didn't correct her (nice job again mom). Thankfully that was the last anyone was questioned. Apparently she was satisfied with her assessment :)

Sharing her new hat with baby Luke.

This one was quiet when they came to visit at the hospital, observing and taking it all in.

Our first week didn't go exactly as planned. Despite stellar bilirubin numbers when we left the hospital, it spiked and we spent the better portion of the week like this.

So, that's where we've been!

Lots more photos on Flickr, but here's a few from our first photo shoot.

He looks a lot like his oldest sister, only with blond hair (hers was dark dark brown when she was born).

He's long and lanky with long fingers, feet, and toes. He had lots of girlfriends in the newborn nursery. Apparently it's not every day the nursery nurses get to snuggle with a handsome BLOND baby boy :)

We are forever changed because of this new life. Thankful. Humbled. And tired ;)

Once we aren't so jaundice/yellow you can bet there will be lots more pictures!

monday ramblings

Only 6 days till my due date. Single digits. How the heck did this happen?!?

Weird to still be pregnant. Especially considering I have been planning on having this baby ANY DAY for the last ... oh 5 weeks or so. Trying to keep the fridge stocked with essentials, the house picked up, toilets clean, etc. We went to the grocery store this morning to stock up ONE LAST TIME before little Luke arrives. Surely I won't need to go to the store again ... surely ...

Some super special pregnancy symptoms have picked up the last couple weeks, namely my funky blurred vision issue and crazy cramps/pains in my inner thigh/groin. Neither are really bad or unmanageable, just kind of annoying to be out with your two small children and have your eye go crazy so you barely see and definitely can't drive. Usually lasts about 20 minutes or so; happening about every other day. I had this with the girls too, but not nearly this much (maybe 3-4 times total). The cramping sharp pain must just be him hitting some nerves, but man it catches me off guard sometimes! I go back to the doctor on Thursday.

Hump day nuggets kind of fell off in November. There was an actual reason other than my laziness :) Corinne decided about 3 weeks ago that getting up between 5 and 5:30 is a good idea. Nothing like chocolate milk and Curious George before the sun comes up ... groan. So, I have been trying to go to bed around 9 since I've been getting up at 5 and this pregnant girl needs her sleep (especially when you factor in nighttime potty breaks, hip pain rotations, etc, etc). With the girls going to bed at 8, I just haven't had time to blog - or spend any "fun" time on the computer - lately. Every night I feel like I have to get the dishes done and the house picked up and ready for my water to break at midnight ...

So between trying to be ready for this baby at any moment and getting up at 5am nearly every day, November has been kind of exhausting. Guess the outlook for December isn't much different, huh??

HA!

So here's some November (pre-Thanksgiving) highlights!

We have only a couple days until she's two. Geez. How did that happen? That means I was in the hospital (for a week) this time just 2 years ago. Now I have a super silly, independent, but ever so sweet girl living with me.

She helped put her outfit together.

She's gone from working simple peg puzzles (where one piece fits in a cut out) just a few months ago to a stinkin' expert. Girl will sit and work 50 piece puzzles with you! Her niche is more 15-24 piece, but still. She's amazing :) Working perfection - one of her favorite "games." We don't turn the timer on ... yet. Maybe next month ;)

I can't resist her coming up to my leg all decked out in mismatched (and often inside out) dress up clothes and asking "Mommy, dance with me?" She's into Curious George all of a sudden. She likes to do everything by herself. She loves to help me cook. And thankfully she's feeling much better after a visit to the doctor last week (another sinus infection).

And then there's this one.

Helping babysit baby Samuel. She loves to hold him :)

We've hit a bit of an ornery streak lately. She's testing limits. Just making sure us parent people will actually follow through and that we are actually in charge. We are talking a lot about listening to each other, loving each other, and I am asking the question my mom asked my sisters' and I when we were growing up (well, technically she still asks it!).

How does that make you feel?

Thanks for that, Mom. I now ask that question 10+ times a day. I am turning into you - dark circles and all :)

In the midst of the ornery outbursts, she's her regular sweet self. Thinking about others before herself and loving just to play pretend with her sister. She's got so much joy and energy for the holidays and special events (like Beetles bday) it's contagious. Her holiday spirit is definitely going to be carrying us all through this next tiring month. I mean, the girl is pumped for SNOW and WINTER and SANTA and COOKIES and EVERYTHING. I love it!

She went to her first movie in the theater this past weekend. Aunt Dan and Uncle David took her to see the Muppet Movie.

She's been pretending to be Aunt Dan - complete with a purse full of pretend snacks for a pretend movie in the living room - ever since :)

The girls got their first girl cousin this month! Yay for cousins! Little Lucy (Lucea Mae) was born November 16th.

We are anxious to squeeze her!

We put up our Christmas decorations the weekend before Thanksgiving. Just another something I wanted to check off my list cause this baby was coming any day ...

Daddy lovingly and sweetly explained that we should try to hang the ornaments on all different parts of the Christmas tree and that we shouldn't hang ones that look like each other right next to each other.

Needless to say, we had some ornament re-hanging to do after bedtime :)

I snapped these one Saturday afternoon in early November. I think they were playing outside listening to the TU football game.

Charlie was not very helpful during the photo shoot, trying to give Daddy a kiss and then pawing at his face.

And Corinne felt that playing with the end of the pinwheel was a good idea.

I tried. Group shot FAIL!

We've been doing a lot of this lately.

The girls play their instruments while Dominic plays his guitar. They love it.

Oh, and I have the best and easiest craft idea EVER to share. Pretty sure I saw it over at Artful Parent first a while ago, but randomly tried it a couple weeks ago and it has been a huge success with both girls. Behold, clear contact paper taped to window for sticking stuff on.

We've done tissue paper, glitter, sequins, and leaves so far. Both girls have really enjoyed it. Way more than I thought they would. I would have done it months ago if I'd known!!

Well, going to aim to get a Thanksgiving post up ... you guessed it ... before baby Luke arrives!

Happy Monday everyone!

hump day nuggets: pumpkin

hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

So every photo I took over the past week was pumpkin related. Most had a pumpkin in the picture. Except for this one. Me at 34 weeks.

And it's of me with our soon to be little punkin' so I guess I could throw it into the pumpkin category as well!

Tons of pumpkin pictures from the past week at Flickr, but here are the highlights.

On our trip to the pumpkin patch this past Saturday, Corinne was in a picture taking mood while Juliet was not. So I got a ton of pictures of Corinne. She'd pose, say cheese, and then ask to see the picture. Over and over again. Such a ham!

I also learned that the only thing I needed to do to get my girls to climb on the pumpkins was bring a friend! We met Zoey and her family at the pumpkin patch and because Zoey thought it was awesome to climb all over the pumpkins (she's 4 and totally knows what is awesome), Juliet did too.

We got a pumpkin to carve into a "Jack-o-lan-tren" as Juliet calls them. It's funny, I didn't notice Corrine's concern/disgust for the pumpkin guts as I took the pictures, but you can totally see that she was not so sure about the project!

Even though you can't really see it, I love Juliet's face here. It's so her.

Inspired by these adorable painted pumpkins, I decided that I'd let the girls paint our pumpkin. Corinne hasn't had a ton of exposure to painting (since it's usually something we do while she naps) and she LOVES it. Oh, and we don't find it necessary to wear clothes outside until it's below 80 degrees ... just in case you were wondering ;)

On the first day we painted with orange and white paint.

And on day two we added some blue paint.

This girl is looking so old I can hardly stand it.

Cheesing for me again.

She's definitely the easier subject of the two.

And some randomness to top off a hump day post that's actually on time!

Third trimester woes have increased a bit. Sleep is kind of a joke for me these days and babies sure can make life uncomfortable for a mama ... but we just keep plugging along. I think my favorite thing about pregnancy is the potential. The unknown anticipation of EVERYTHING - from gender, to birth date, to looks, to likes, dislikes, etc, etc ... I find myself wondering and daydreaming about just about everything! There's just something crazy special about carrying around a big belly of potential :)

And one more random tidbit before I head to bed.

Dominic and the girls usually play outside till dark these days while I stay in doing the dishes and picking up around the house. Every night they have the same conversation. Juliet will point out that it is dusk outside. Then Corinne will try her best to repeat the word, but it currently comes out "ducks". Juliet tries to correct, informs everyone listening that "Beetles says 'ducks' instead of 'dusk'. That's silly." Tonight Beetles threw in a "It's ducks. Quack! Quack!" Silly girls :)


Note: Nugget format inspired by the very inspiring Nici over at Dig this Chick.

hump day nuggets: balance

hump day nuggets: little bits of the season in photos and words about the last week

Last Thursday night I was up from midnight to 2 am with one question on my mind: am I in labor? And I guess I'll never know exactly what was going on, but it felt a lot like contractions. There was definite changes in intensity and uncomfortable enough to wake and keep me up in the middle of the night. Contractions happening WAY TOO EARLY. They stopped and haven't been back since, but my 2 hour visit with the potential impending doom of preterm labor sent me into a very different mode from last week.

We had better get ready for this baby. I want to tell myself we have plenty of time, but the reality is, we may not.

I pray we have at least 5.5 more weeks (that would put me at 36 weeks).

So, I've been trying to find a balance between savoring and preparing. Between cool evenings on the trampoline and making a list of baby stuff that needs to be retrieved from the attic and purchased at the store.

I love that these two are so completely unaware of our stress and anxiety. They just live and breathe the very moment they are in.

It is so beautiful to watch. Real joy.

Their joy is pure. Their dreams are big. Unadulterated.

I want them to stay this way forever.

I was reminded this week that some where along the path of life this changes for many. Diminishes. We are told to settle for something lesser. Smaller. More mainstream.

I am unwilling to accept it. Joy is worth fighting for.

We are in a faith stretching season of life right now. A season where we are being challenged to remember and truly believe that our God is a God of big dreams. Seemingly impossible dreams. We believe that our God will deliver. That He desires for us to dream big, remain dependent on Him, and wait and watch for Him to deliver.

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other

And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?

- lyrics from Our God by Chris Tomlin

God is so much bigger than mainstream.

And so we have faith for bigger things. We dream. And we wait.




We had family visit over the weekend which is always reason to stop and just be. We savor every hour we have and then spend a lot of time waiting for our next time together.

Our next time together will include two more family members (and four sleep deprived parents) which is exciting. Baby anticipation is so fun.

Cousins are fun :) Annie w/ baby N (34 weeks) and me w/ Luke (30 weeks).

Oh, and just so you're not worried I'm becoming a health food nut or anything, I made these for our visitors. They are amazing. I recommend that you nuke them just a little before eating.

Source: kevinandamanda.com via Dawn on Pinterest

Pretty sure I've gained at least 2 lbs this week due to these babies and their chocolatey goodness.

Here's a play by play of Beet Beet eating her cupcake. Girl forks everything :)

And big news around here. It's open.

Our month dedicated to visiting the pumpkin patch as many times as possible has begun. And our Nebraska family got to go with us for our first visit of the 2011 season.

We likely won't be dong the pony rides again. For Beetles anyways ;)

Juliet sat like a pro.

Beetles spent the entire time trying to dismount the horse. She did say she had fun and announce "I did great job!" once it was all over which was kind of hysterical considering her "Mommy, need off!" pleas during the entire ride.

Till next time! (Juliet getting one last snuggle in with Uncle Jeff before he had to leave).

Our weekend wore me out. Seriously. Kind of pathetic considering we didn't do anything! Just yesterday I felt somewhat normal again. Monday and Tuesday I was beat by noon. Tuesday afternoon I fell asleep on the floor in the playroom during Beetles nap. Not sure how long I slept. Long enough for Juliet to color all over herself with a pen :)



Attempted group shot.



Beet with her My Little Pony hat on. Love those two.

More pictures at Flickr.



Note: Nugget format inspired by the very inspiring Nici over at Dig this Chick.