Life in the Love Shack

"Dada!"

2010-09-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

Here is my amazingly handsome son! I think he looks a lot like both mama and daddy!

Yes, it's official, my son can talk!

Dada!!! from Hadassah Bird on Vimeo.

Since I took this video, I have heard other things that sound suspiciously like "dog" and "bye", but I'm not 100% positive on those just yet. Even if not, I can't believe that Oliver is starting to say real things! Or that he has 2 teeth!!! Yes, that's right - 2 teeth!!!
I haven't gotten a good picture of the chompers yet, because he won't hold still long enough - if you look VERY closely at the picture above, you can see a little bit of white next to his finger... they are ADORABLE and I feel like I'm looking at a toddler every time I see them peeking out of his little turtle lips! I know everyone talks about how fast babies grow, but I have never been so aware of it as I am now! I literally still can't believe I'm not pregnant anymore - let alone have a baby who is practically crawling!

three, two one... from Hadassah Bird on Vimeo.

He is getting around quite a bit more than this video indicates (it's about a week old), and I'm already having to baby-proof the house and keep an eye on him - somehow he gets around fast!

He also has started enjoying holding onto things standing up! He isn't pulling himself up alone yet, and of course can't be left alone whilst standing, but it's exciting and cute nonetheless!

And, now, here is a bit more loveliness for your viewing pleasure... oh how I adore my little one!

Look at him, doesn't he look like a little boy?? What happened to my little baby??

Oliver's personality is always becoming more and more vibrant! He has always loved to be outside, but he is getting much more explorative! (We have to watch those hands closely, they are fast!)

He has started eating solids (way later than most babies), but still isn't crazy about them. He definitely prefers Mama for all sustenance! ;)

He also likes flirting with the ladies! Wherever we go, he is constantly smirking and cooing at every woman he comes in contact with! He even flirts with his beautiful little friend Elvie! Here they are, holding hands (we didn't put them up to it, he totally reached for her and held it for several minutes!)

He is also VERY expressive - especially with his eyebrows! His facial expressions constantly crack us up, even his more scowly ones!

Well, folks, that's all for now! See ya!

Baby Dragon.

2010-07-28T16:39:00.001-07:00

I know, it's hard to believe. But, yes, my child even looks adorable making a terribly unhappy face... it's hard not to give in to him when he makes these faces at me - I mean, come on! How can I resist that face??

and then he makes faces like these, and gets away with even more!

Oliver is constantly switching back and forth in terms of which parent (or other family member) he favors... my family seems to produce very strong genes though, because he has strongly favored my dad, brother and now cousin Libi (look at that mouth area then go to Melissa's blog and scroll down to the bottom of the pictures on the right hand side "this is why Libi always gets her way"):

Oliver is definitely getting to the point where he is SO excited to see us, even if we're only out of his view for a matter of minutes! There is nothing more gratifying than being greeting by the most beautiful smile in the world, and an excited squeal of delight! He has always been a major Mama's boy, but he is definitely VERY in love with his daddy too (probably because he has such an amazing daddy)!
He continues to delight us with his laughter and joy... sigh.

He's finally grown into an adorable hat he got as a gift, and boy is he handsome in it! (my little turtle!)
My peace baby! :)

And now, ladies and gentleman... my son, the dragon vs. the dragon puppet... guess who wins? ;)

Dragon Vs. Dragon from Hadassah Bird on Vimeo.

oh my I am a slacker.

2010-07-11T08:58:00.001-07:00

Well I have no excuses for not updating for so long, other than being ridiculously busy as always...

Oliver is turning 6 months old on Tuesday - I can hardly believe it's true! He does new and exciting things every day, and continues to be a delightfully happy baby! He did have a nasty cold a couple of weeks ago (still dragging on), so he wasn't his normally chipper self for awhile... and somehow, he figured out VERY quickly what kinds of sounds get Mama's attention, so now he feigns being sad or angry very well! It's actually pretty hilarious, because he scrunches up his eyes in an angry face, makes an angry sound, but still wears a decided smirk on his lips... he is going to be quite the little stinker, I think! It's strange how suddenly they change from innocent little infants into plotting little babies! He is still mostly innocent, of course, but I'm definitely in for some sass later on! I enjoy it all, though, and can't wait for every moment!

As always, I have many things to do today, so I'll keep the written part short - enjoy all of the pictures!!!

Chubby slumbering baby.

Chewing on his blankie - a favorite hobby.

Oliver LOVES being outside!

He also loves Mama!

And Dr. Seuss!!

A little delirious after naptime!

And my goodness - he knows how to use those eyes to his advantage!

His chubby cuteness!

Mama's little walrus! :)

Daddy won't let me post any pictures online where his little manhood is in view, so this is all I will post of bath-times! His big fat belly is sooo delightful!

Saturday morning snuggle time!

Oh the delightfulness of him!

Snuggly man!

And I just took this picture this morning....
And immediately realized that it looks a LOT like this picture:
which just so happens to be my brother... it's a little weird.

4 1/2 Months!!!

2010-05-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

I know I know - I've been terrible about updating! The little man sleeps less and less, so I find myself without any time to even take pictures, let alone blog about them! But here I am, and here are some new delights for your viewing pleasure!

The biggest news is that Oliver starting sitting this week! He started out sort of slumped over his knees and then has gradually been learning how to keep himself straight!! The moments never last long, but Papa Jim was able to catch it a few days ago!

Speaking of Papa Jim - he and Nana Lynn came down for a visit because Uncle Jim and Aunt Dani came all the way from California to meet our little man! Oliver was quite taken with both of them - they got many more laughs out of him than I ever do!

Here are all of the Bird men together - quite a handsome bunch, I'd say! (of course, Oliver is the cutest of them all!)

Here he is, laughing the night away and charming us all!
He has also finally started to enjoy spending some time on his fat little belly (he used to scream every time I laid him like that), so I tried to catch some pictures of him talking and smiling at Mama! Unfortunately, I discovered how creepy the faces I make at him are... he seems to find it all very amusing though, so I'm sure I won't stop! :)

And of course, a parting gift of Oliver's beautiful sleeping face... sigh.

I just love that little man!

Nashville Flood Relief!

2010-05-07T05:37:00.001-07:00

To start off, apparently there hasn't been very much National coverage of the flood, but things are incredibly bad here. We are safe and everyone we know is safe, but all around us are families and businesses that have lost absolutely everything from this disaster. It is the most incredible (in the true sense of the word) thing I have ever seen. Staggering is probably the best way to describe it... but so is the response from people in our community, reaching out to help each other in an incredible (in the "awesome" sense of the word) way!

So, yesterday morning our longtime partners from Cool People Care contacted us about printing a shirt to raise money for the Community Foundation's flood relief program. We were very excited to get on board, and hoped that together we could raise some money to help Middle Tennessee get through this disaster... little did we know what was about to happen!

Within the first hour we had sold 100... within the first 8 hours we had sold over 700... then, last night, we got a phone call from the mighty Sam Davidson. He was going to try to get the shirt on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and needed us to print one right then! So, Andy rushed out, printed the shirt in record time, and drove it over to Sam, without knowing if it would actually make it onto the show or not.

It did. (click on "it did" to watch the video)

Since then, we have sold over 1,500 shirts (that's over $30,000 raised)! And now, this morning, local Fox 17 News will be featuring the shirt in their morning broadcast! AND, this coming Monday (when we are running around like maniacs trying to print all of these shirts), local Channel 5 News is coming by the shop (yes, that would be our HOUSE) to do a short clip of the shirts actually being printed!! Suffice it to say, it's going to be a BUSY weekend of trying to make our house and garage look more like a business than... well, a house and a garage!

We are SO overwhelmed by the response this shirt has gotten, and are so excited about all of the money that has been raised to help Nashville families recover from this catastrophe!

If you haven't bought one already, please do so now! The more we can raise, the more families we can help! Thanks!

Oh yeah, and Andy is now the face for the project. Him and his burly beard. It's pretty awesome.

Oh, and Andy just called me and said he was pretty sure he just saw Morgan Freeman. What a weird few days...

The flood!

2010-05-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

This is the road directly next to ours - literally only a few hundred feet away!!

Notice the car in the background - water is up past the tires!!

This is the craziest thing I've ever seen!!

oh yeah - and I chopped my hair off!

Hard to believe...

2010-04-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

my little man has changed SO much in the last few weeks! He is a little chatterbox (he started trying to repeat sounds I was making the other day)! He is able to grab toys and pull them into his mouth (and, believe me, EVERYTHING goes into his mouth these days)! He laughed out loud for the first time the other night! He sleeps through the entire night now! He is already growing out of 6-month size clothing (even though he's only 3 1/2 months)! And he continues to delight and overwhelm both of us with his beauty and joy!

We have been ridiculously busy the last month, so I have been absolutely terrible about taking pictures! I have kind of a lot of videos though, so check his other blog to see them!

Andy and I made it through Earth Day alive - things were VERY crazy for a few weeks, but somehow Andy kept plugging along and was able to get everything done on time! Since Earth Day, we have actually been really busy with a ton of new customers, so that is extremely encouraging and exciting! Things seem to be going very well for the business (though we covet your continued prayers) and we are planning on keeping Brendan on with us part-time! We are also POSSIBLY going to be getting a storefront next month, so that is terrifying and really really exciting!

We don't have time for much else besides baby and work (not to mention trying to make time to sit down and actually have a conversation together that doesn't revolve around those 2 things), so I don't have a whole lot else to report. I will try my hardest to be better about taking pictures and posting more often - everything he does is just so exciting I never want to step away for even 2 seconds to grab the camera!

love!

UPDATE : I just caught Oliver laughing!! Wait till the very end!

laughing!! from Hadassah Bird on Vimeo.

11 Weeks (almost)!

2010-03-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Oliver and Daddy - my 2 handsome men!

Tomorrow Oliver will be 11 weeks old! As you can see, he is becoming masterful at making himself look as pitiful and adorable as possible - quite to his advantage, I might add! He certainly knows how to make Mama swoon, that's for sure! I mean, seriously - who can resist this face??

This past weekend Oliver got to take his first trip to the zoo to celebrate cousin Libiya's 2nd birthday! He snuggled into daddy and slept through the whole thing, but it was certainly exciting for the rest of us!

(no that's not a 'stache and goatee - that's Libi's birthday cookie lovingly licked into oblivion!)

Oliver is still changing so much every day! One day I think he looks exactly Andy as a toddler, and then the next I think he looks exactly like me/my brother (apparently we look like twins from a distance)! Either way, he certainly is a handsome little man - and boy does he know it!

Looking like Mama.
Looking like Daddy!

He has recently fallen in love with his Owl mobile! He loves to watch them spin around and gets very excited about the music! Then, once they stop, he squirms and smiles and talks to them for a long long time! It has certainly given Mama the opportunity to catch up on some housework, so we're both quite happy about things!

Oliver smiling at his owls!

Oliver's Owls! from Hadassah Bird on Vimeo.

He also has been able to grab ahold of toys! I don't think he quite knows that it's happening, but he's definitely reaching and trying to grab things, so pretty soon I think he'll make the connection! He continues to smile and jabber at me all day long, and it is SO delightful that I almost cry at least 2 or 3 times a day! It's not hormones, it's just my baby! ...sigh... I love him. In case you didn't know already. :)

more soon! Check out his other blog for more pics and videos! www.oliverbird.tumblr.com

9 Weeks!

2010-03-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

Well I've missed a couple of weeks, but I think this picture MORE than makes up for it!!

Oliver continues to get happier and happier every day - he's even started kind of cough-laughing at me when I make happy faces at him!! Of course, I say that he's getting happier every day, and he's been crying and yelling at me all day today for some reason... I think it's possibly because we were just in Ohio and he was being held 24/7, but I also think that he's starting to need a schedule of naps during the day. Normally he just sleeps whenever he wants and hangs out with me all day, but now I think he might need to be "put down" for real nap-times, because he has been GRUMPY when he's tired!

Another exciting thing is that he is finally starting to sleep longer in between night-time feedings! I've actually been getting up to 4 hours of sleep at a time! Oh it is glorious! And, despite what you may think...
daddy is getting plenty of sleep all along! :)

We traveled to Ohio this past weekend for my friend Oren's wedding! It was wonderful to see all of our Ohio friends, and Oliver got to see both Papas and both Nanas! Oliver was amazing during both car-rides, he slept almost the whole trip there and then the entire trip back! We had a fabulous time, and even had kind of a date at the wedding (since we couldn't peel Oliver out of Nana and Papa Johnson's arms!) It was lovely!
They had dress-up stuff for fun picture taking - I think we looked pretty awesome, eh? Or would that be scary? :)

....I don't feel like putting up a ton of pictures right now, so check out Ollie's photo blog for many many more! www.oliverbird.tumblr.com

Besides constantly staring at my son - waiting for him to do the next cute thing - I have been extremely busy with the business! March and April are/are going to be VERY busy for us - we seriously have too much work and are almost to the point where we may have to turn jobs down! Things were REALLY slow in February, so this sudden spike in jobs is a major blessing! Hopefully things will stay steady post April (we're hoping this busy-ness isn't a fluke)!

I'm learning, very slowly, how to be a parent AND run a business (not to mention, try to keep the house from falling apart)... it's a difficult process but thankfully I have a patient and helpful husband who doesn't mind cooking dinner when I'm pulling my hair out at the end of a long day! Speaking of my husband, he's even busier than I am! His services are definitely in high demand lately, and he has been running in a million directions just trying to keep up with all of the customers who want his services! I am proud of his efforts and amazed at how he continues to keep up with it all - what a great man I have!

Love to you all!

7 Weeks!!!

2010-03-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Oh dear oh dear oh dear! It's SO crazy that Oliver is 7 weeks old today! I know I keep saying that I can't believe how fast he's growing, but I truly truly can't! He is so amazing and every day is such a great joy, no matter how little sleep I get! :)

(snuggling on/staring at Mama...*sigh*)

Actually, this week he has started sleeping 3-4 hours in between feedings at night! I've actually been getting a decent amount of sleep! I think it's probably because I've had him snuggling in bed with me (sorry to all of those who are anti-co-sleeping, but I've done a ton of research and made my own decision as his parent)... he and I both sleep so much better when we're close, mostly because he's happy and therefore doesn't do his horse/goat/lion grunting all night long, so I actually get some real rest!

Sir Happy Fat Cheeks!

This week, Oliver weighed in at 12 lbs, 3 oz! He started off in the 10th percentile and now he is in the 95th!! Think he's growing fast enough? He is literally eating me out of house and home - I eat just as often as he does, if not more, just trying to keep up! :) I'm so happy and blessed to have a healthy, growing and lively baby! The doctor is always impressed with how he is developing, and I don't take it for granted at all!

Beautiful blue eyes!

He has really started changing in the last week or 2. While Nana and Papa Johnson were here he started smiling in response to seeing peoples' faces up close... since then he has REALLY started responding when he sees Andy and I, and often smiles a HUGE smile and flails his arms as if to say, "hey - I like you! Pick me up!" and we usually do... :) I mean, seriously, who can argue with this face??

He has also started making a lot of new sounds! A few weeks ago he started making "g" sounds when he would yell/cry... I actually heard an "n" a couple of days ago, and he has started cooing/talking when he's happy also! He's started combining vowel sounds for longer, more intricate "words", which is so very exciting!! He actually also started pushing to a stand in my lap over a week ago, which is really crazy!

(he's yelling at me in this picture)

Anyway - that's all the news for this week! I'll be posting even more pictures on his other blog - so be sure to check it out! www.oliverbird.tumblr.com

love!

6 Weeks!!?!?!?!?!

2010-02-27T13:33:00.000-08:00

Somehow, Oliver is already 6 1/2 weeks old!

He is getting unbelievably fat and CUTE! He weighed in last week at 11 lbs 8 oz - so he's literally been gaining about 1 pound a week since birth! His Dr. is very impressed with how fast he's growing, and said that I should be proud! :) I was already pretty proud, but it was nice to hear nonetheless!
Look at that HUGE belly - it's bigger than his head!
He is a bit over 23 inches long now (he was 21 at birth) - he's long like daddy!

The last couple of days have been a bit rough - I've developed a bit of a nasty head cold, mostly sinus troubles, but a bit of a scratchy throat as well... Then last night Oliver got horrendously stuffy (choking, not breathing, etc. etc.) so I was up literally all night with him... it was not fun. Today he seems to be doing slightly better, but I'm mentally and emotionally preparing for another rough night... hopefully this will be over soon.

Besides that unpleasantness, parenting has been such an incredible joy and delight!
Oliver is so strong already - he almost always pushes himself off of our chests so he can stare into our faces while we hold him! He is really good at making and holding eye contact, as well as following us when we move around. I had a video of him following the camera moving around, but it isn't working at the moment...

He has also started smiling in response to seeing us!!! I haven't gotten a good smiling picture yet (the batteries are always dead when he smiles) but I'll get one soon!
He is a wide-eyed beauty though - always interested in what's happening around him!

Nana and Papa Johnson came for a visit last weekend - Oliver was very excited to meet his Nana at last, and I think she was pretty taken with him as well! :)
Papa enjoyed his time with Ollie as well - and even got in a quick nap while watching the Olympics!
Speaking of Olympics - we've been dutifully watching every night since they started! We're sad that they are ending tomorrow, but I have to say that I'm looking forward to going to be at 7 or 8 again... the nights have been pretty rough since I've been staying up until 11 every night! Oliver received a gift of an official 2010 Vancouver Olympics onesie a few months ago - it's still too big for him, but we went ahead and stuck him in it for last night's Olympics!
Mukmuk!!

Also, I've started a new photo blog exclusively for weekly pictures of Oliver! We'll still be updating this blog with news of all the exciting things he's doing, but the new blog has many more photos on it!
Go check it out - I'll be trying to dutifully update it every week with new pictures!
www.oliverbird.tumblr.com

Love to you all!

Happy one month Mr. Oliver

2010-02-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

Since the last time we posted Oliver has passed his one month birthday! He is still sweet and gentle and generally all around fantastic! Sometimes it's hard to write about a little guy who's daily activities are still limited mostly to sleeping, pooping, eating, farting, eating again looking around and then going back to sleep but he has started to make some pretty fantastic faces! It's funny how proud we are of his every little scowl and grimace, it's just so amazing!

Oliver also had his first official bath this last week. He was pretty calm about the whole thing really. He cried a little bit when we got him wet but he adjusted to the idea pretty quickly. the second bath however was a different story. We started off by waiting for him to pee so that he wouldn't shoot his wee little spout at us while we were trying to clean him. After about a minute of being free from his diaper he managed to soak a wipe pretty well and we thought he was all drained...But it only took another minute and a half after he stopped before he proceeded to shoot a perfect golden stream right into Hadassah's face and onto his own face as well...we have come to find out that he has very good aim. Once Hadassah had cleaned herself and Oliver off enough to get in the bath she set him down into his nice warm bath where he proceeded to let loose yet another stream all over the room. In the end we opted to just give him a sponge bath and keep his man bits covered from the breezy world outside the confines of his warm diaper. It's a great life!

We'll post more pictures soon.

3 Weeks!

2010-02-03T11:52:00.000-08:00

Well it's hard to believe that he's already been with us for almost a month! Little man is really growing so fast - at his 2 week check-up (at which the Dr. likes it if the baby has gained back their original birth weight, which was 6 lbs. 9 0z.), Ollie weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs. 12 oz! It's been a week since then, and I'm sure he's gained more since then!
His cheeks are really starting to get super cute and puffy, and he has a major pot-belly! He's also starting to get a lot more alert during the day (and the night too, sadly *sigh*). His eyes seem to be turning from dark grayish-blue to a bluer color - I'm really hoping he ends up with his daddy's gorgeous blues!

(do you like the subliminal message?)

He's still quite the peaceful babe, although he is definitely starting to find his voice quite a bit more. He still really only cries when he's having intense gas pains, or if I think that he's working on gas but he's actually hungry... then he gives a few angry cries until I get the right idea.

His favorite method of communication is still a grunt/growl that sounds very much like a lion... and sometimes a bit like an angry goat. He's taken to making these sounds in his sleep, whenever he's not being held, which is making the nights a bit less restful for mama... but I'm learning to tune some of it out, and still managing to get at least a few hours (one at a time, of course) during the long nights...
(aren't his little legs SO cute??? They too are filling out nicely - no one can call them chicken legs now!)

He's already outgrowing his laundry basket bed, so I've actually starting putting him in the bassinette at night... it makes me sad not to have him only inches away from me during the night (although he's only about 2 feet away now), but he definitely needs the room!
My goodness, he's cute!

He's really starting to work on a great double chin...

Meanwhile, Mama is trying to get rid of her own double chin...
Though not quite meeting with success... ahem... notice him wrinkling his forehead for a good look up at the chin... Think he's using mine as a reference point? :)

These aren't the best pictures, but he truly is a very happy little baby! I know everyone says that babies only smile when they're having gas, but it just isn't true! Oliver smiles all the time, and we've even heard one tiny little laugh from him!!

He's really good at making eye contact already! Here he is, staring straight at Mama!

This is, by far, his favorite sleeping pose! I just realized the other day that when I sleep on my back, I do the same thing!!
I think Lewa is still confused by the whole thing...

And, finally, a little video, for all of you who haven't gotten to meet him yet... it's probably going to be really boring to you, because it's 1 minute of him making cute sleeping noises, but if you can make it through to the end, he does grace us with a few of his lion/goat noises (courtesy of me poking his legs to inspire his annoyance).
Hope you all enjoy!

More Oliver!

2010-01-26T15:02:00.000-08:00

Well tomorrow is Ollie's 2-week birthday! He already looks SOOO different from when he first came to us - his little cheeks are starting to get pleasantly plump and every little expression he makes is absolutely wonderful!

See how different he looks?

Week 1
Week 2

Yeah, he is the most adorable little man in the entire world (yes, I'm biased, but it's still true)! He finally had his first bath, albeit a sponge bath, and truly didn't even cry about it at all! He huffed and puffed a bit, but still no crying!
Afterwards, he got all bundled up in his cute hooded towel and snuggled with daddy!

Last week, Papa Jim came back in town to drop of Oliver's birth-day present: the most amazing dresser ever, designed and built especially for Oliver!
Pictures don't quite do it justice - it is surely a thing of beauty! Papa Jim built in 2 secret drawers, one on each side of the dresser... but on the left side he included an even more secret gift!
Yes, that's right, Oliver's very own iPod (mama and daddy don't even have iPods)! Papa Jim built in a weighted cord that sneaks down the back of the dresser and connects to built-in speakers! Mhmm. So, in the late night hours when Mr. Oliver decides he wants to be wide-awake and stare at me with those big blue eyes for hours, I can sneakily stick on some sleepy music and rock him back to sleep! It's really amazing and actually sounds really great!
Thanks Papa Jim!

Well, time to go make dinner. Here are some parting shots, just for your viewing pleasure!

Wide awake - look at those big blue eyes!

He's so long and skinny - just like daddy!

Very mis-matched, but very cozy (in his laundry basket, of course)! :)

We just love our little man!

Mr. Oliver!

2010-01-15T18:16:00.001-08:00

6 pounds, 7 ounces and 20 long inches of pure delight....As most of you dear readers have probably heard by now our very own Oliver James David Bird came into the world wednesday afternoon. So far even with the staggering lack of sleep he has brought about he is still pretty much the best little baby I've ever seen. Of coarse, I'm obviously biased but he has been super calm and sweet as well as generally mild mannered for basically his entire life and with such a cute little face on top of his skinny body he's pretty much perfect by my standards. I'm sure we will fill you in on every tiny little detail of his life rather soon but for now I will leave it at that. Enjoy the pictures!

beached whale.

2010-01-12T15:48:00.000-08:00

That's right, everyone. I'm officially huge. Well, to be honest... everyone that sees me tells me how small my stomach is, and how ridiculous it is that I'm literally due at any moment. Oliver's been a tiny little guy this entire time - but that doesn't mean that I don't feel big. Actually, sometimes I still forget that I have this big belly - until I move, or take a breath, or anything similar to that... :)

So, this is me at 38 weeks, 2 days (yesterday).
For some reason, I feel like my belly looks smaller this week than last time I took a picture... but I guess it's probably just about what I'm wearing at the time.

Anyway - no major updates. Had an appointment yesterday and Dr. says I'm somewhere between 1-2 cm. I do have to go back in tomorrow, though, instead of waiting a full week like normal... my blood pressure has been getting a bit high the last couple of appointments, and he wants to monitor me more frequently to be sure that it doesn't get unhealthily high... so, there's a chance that we may have to talk about inducing. *sigh* I'd really like to avoid that, because I desperately want to have a natural birth, but I also realize that I can't really control what my body is doing right now, and I need to listen to my Dr.'s advice in these matters... I'm just praying that I'll go into labor in the next couple of days, that way we don't get to the point of inducing. So, you can keep us in your prayers for that.

Besides sitting around waiting for Oliver to come, we've had a pretty crazy last week or so... Andy's computer got a really really bad virus and completely died... THANKFULLY he didn't lose everything on his hard drive, and was able to use my computer to back everything up. As of this morning (a week later), his computer is up and running as normal, and everything seems to be working properly. But, it was a stressful/frustrating week for him, because he's actually had a lot of work he should have been doing... so, we're trying to catch up/keep up and also make sure we have enough flexibility in our schedule for when Mr. Oliver decides to arrive. On top of that, I'm busy trying to pull together all of the business taxes... I am thankful that we don't have to pay someone to do our book-keeping all year, but even so, I really really really don't like doing it myself. Thankfully we have a real accountant to file everything properly for us - but it still takes me weeks to pull everything together for him... so, I'm desperately trying to get as much done as I possibly can before Baby gets here. So, you can pray for that too!

Besides working, working and now taking lots of naps (to help keep my blood pressure low) - the only other newsworthy item is Andy's beard. It's coming along very nicely, and he allowed me to take a quick photo shoot of the progress for you all. He still complains that it doesn't look good - but I think he looks great, and it's coming along very nicely (it hasn't even been a full month yet)! Enjoy.

Growing a beard has made him very pensive.

And happy...

And... like usual... he's quite the ham.
(this one is my personal favorite)

I think it looks great - don't you?

That's about it for now. I'll leave you with these lasting images... sorry that I'm not quite as good at posing for pictures as my dear husband is... he's got skills. ;)

That's right, people, that's a beard.

(and, no, that is not a basketball... it is a real baby)

Christmas. Bird Style.

2009-12-29T12:21:00.001-08:00

So we've had a successful Christmas-time! Our trip to Ohio went fairly uneventfully (minus a sore tooshy on my side of the car). We've had a great time hanging out with all of Andy's family, eaten lots and lots of unhealthy/delicious goodies, and laughed almost hard enough to pop the baby right out (thankfully, he's staying put for the moment)!

Speaking of which - I am now 36 1/2 weeks, and finally starting to feel hugely pregnant (and uncomfortable)! My pregnancy has been so easy and wonderful, I kind of thought I was home free... but I guess experiencing the normal aches and pains for only a matter of weeks isn't anything to complain about - I've really loved being pregnant so far! Here's what the current state of things looks like:

36 weeks!
(sorry for the shocking amount of skin in these later photos... I can't really help how huge it is though!)

Even though my mid-section looks like a wart on a blue-whale's face, the Birds decided they wanted to capture us all, in our current glory, for a Christmas card! Since Andy and I are both bad about making things like Christmas cards, this is the closest thing we'll ever "send" - so enjoy!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

In other news, I finally convinced Andy to try to grow his first beard (he's supposed to grow it out until I have Oliver, but we'll see...) Conveniently, this was also a great year for the return of classic Christmas sweaters. Please enjoy the following. I know I do.

Andy and big-brother Jim!
So regal... or something akin to regality. Or not akin to it at all. I'm not quite sure.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, introducing, for the first time ever, Mr. Beard, on my husband.
My handsome man - his blue eyes and Mr. beard's first official appearance! He still has a long way to go (it's only been 1 1/2 weeks), but he's making great progress!
I think Mr. beard is looking pretty great! Andy just says it's really itchy...

Well, that's about it... I might someday take a picture of myself (for posterity's sake), that includes more than just my gigantic stomach... but then again, I might not. I am not currently growing a beard, so the pictures won't be quite as exciting.

Merry Christmas, happy New Year's and all that!
Please do keep me and Oliver in your prayers - he really could come any day between now and February, and I'm really hoping for a healthy and safe delivery (so I can go naturally), so pray for us a lot in the next few weeks!! Hurray for Baby almost being here!!

love to all!

COOKIES!!!!!

2009-12-22T07:51:00.001-08:00

We had a cookie party with a few of our friends on Sunday. This is what it looked like.

this is what our party sounded like!

We love you all!

-A

The day you held my hand

2009-11-20T18:48:00.000-08:00

This past week I have spent quite a few hours late into the night working on finishing a set of songs for my friend Jacob's online record label called Holiday Records. Over the past year or so Holiday has been giving away free downloads from bands around the world every Friday and this week it was my turn. When I started talking to Jacob about contributing to his project I wanted to do something a bit different from my usual work so I set out in a new direction that I have been quite pleased with. While taking bits of old songs, bribing friends to play real instruments for me and pasting together snippets of me poking around on instruments I have no business touching, I finally ended up with four tracks that I'm pretty darn excited about. It's called A. bird - The Day You Held my Hand, you should go download it...www.holidayrecords.net

Enjoy!

-A

the day my computer died and we almost had to quit our business and I made a pumpkin cake.

2009-11-06T06:58:00.001-08:00

Want to hear a terrible story? Eh? EH?
So yesterday, my unfortunate husband lovingly/jokingly threw a notebook at my desk and accidentally caused a glass of water to spill all over my laptop. In a moment of desperation I grabbed my laptop, ran into the kitchen to dry it, and promptly dropped it (smashed into metal stove and then onto floor). We dried it off as best we could (including faithful blow-drying by said husband) and then left it to keep drying for a couple of hours (meanwhile, I took a nap). After said nap, I decided to give it a try and turned it on (even though my brain said, "hey, you should probably open that sucker up to make sure there isn't anymore water inside"). It worked perfectly... for 3 minutes... and then died... and wouldn't turn back on... I mean, it totally died... My unfortunate husband (racked with guilt by this point), got on his trusty old laptop and googled the heck out of solutions to the problem. He ended up taking the entire thing apart, only to find that the hard-drive (you know, the only important part of any computer) had a great deal of water on/around it. We dried everything out, and left it all sitting in front of a fan overnight. Things weren't looking good. Several prayers were said (although I think we were both a bit embarrassed about asking God to heal a computer). We went to bed.

This morning, when I woke up, I had a good feeling about the whole thing. And, lo and behold, my very fortunate (and now non-guilty) husband smiled broadly and said "it's working perfectly!" Disaster averted. Several lessons learned. Allow me to share.

Lesson #1: if you have a business that you run out of your home - you should probably keep a backup of all of your business files because, if you don't, you may have to quit the business when a glass of water spills all over your computer and destroys all those important files (I now have 2 backups)
Lesson #2: don't leave glasses of water next to your computer. EVER.
Lesson #3: don't throw notebooks at your wife's desk (even as a joke) if she was dumb enough to leave a glass of water next to her computer.
Lesson #4: don't leave glasses of anything liquid next to or near your computer.
Lesson #5: make a pumpkin cake whenever you realize that you may have destroyed your computer without backing up any of your business files. Eat as many pieces of the cake as possible.
Lesson #6: kiss your husband when he is racked with guilt for spilling a glass of water on your computer and possibly ruining all of those important business files you didn't back up. Remind him that you also dropped the computer on the floor. Chuckle. Kiss him again.
Lesson #7: NEVER LEAVE ANYTHING LIQUID BY YOUR COMPUTER.

The end.
Curtain.

New Friendly Arctic Clothing Line

2009-10-29T09:57:00.000-07:00

After months of putting it off, being swamped with too much other work and a healthy dose of designers block - if that even exists - The winter 2009-2010 FAD line is finally complete. Despite having ridiculously overshot my original July 30th deadline - yeah...I know it's almost November - I feel pretty good about this one. Although we haven't had a ton of success in the past with our clothing line we did have a sit down meeting with the buyer at our local Whole Foods/whole body and they are planning on picking up the line, which for the clothing line is a huge success. We'll keep everybody up to date if we have any other major progress come up as a result of it but for now feel free to click the mountains above to skim through the digital catalog.

-A

the mysterious case of the disappearing belly-button...

2009-09-27T19:24:00.001-07:00

So more weeks have passed... Baby Boy is growing like... like something that grows really fast... kudzu? He is quite the dancing machine - especially when I try to take a nap (a rare occasion, these days)! I'm telling you - he is going to be completely out-of-control once he's born... *sigh* I suppose I deserve it - I was quite rambunctious myself... I do seem to recall throwing elaborate dance recitals with my big brother *ahem* that lasted for hours and hours... my poor family lovingly watching all the while.

Anyway, here are the latest belly pictures - SERIOUSLY my stomach is getting huge! Every day I look in the mirror and I'm like "WOAH - slow down!" It's kind of freaky, and also exciting! I did read that this month he is going to double in weight (he's about a pound, right now), which is a VERY frightening thought!

Hard to believe that, in just a month, I've gone from this...

19 Weeks
To THIS...

23 Weeks

And the absolute worst part of this whole thing... Okay, well, first off... I'm REALLY weird about belly buttons. They kind of freak me out (especially those "outies" - no offense to those of you that have them... kind of). Okay, they really freak me out... and my worst fear was having my very own, ultra deep belly-button make it's way to the outside world... well, it's so close to happening already that I'm afraid it's too late...

(sorry for the creepy close-up...)

Every day I look down at it slowly dissipating... and it's very disturbing. I don't know what to do, but it seems like it's going to be completely flattened within a matter of days... what about the next 3 1/2 months??? Ugh... I shudder to think!

Anyways, besides being melodramatic about things like belly buttons, I'm feeling pretty good. Living in our new spider-free house is SOOOOO wonderful, I truly can't explain it. We're slowly getting through the "Baby Room" - which has thus far been a catch-all for random junk and boxes that truly belong in the attic (or the trash). I can't wait to clear everything out and start imagining baby land (I got some paint swatches today - wooohoooo!) It's all very exciting - it's silly how "girly" I'm getting about all of this, but I think it's good for me to indulge for once! :)

Things with the business have been pretty tricky lately... it always seems like we have these potentially HUGE jobs looming in the near to distant future, but making it until that time is the difficult part. It's constantly a humbling and emotionally/spiritually challenging thing, and I honestly know it's been so good for both of us. I've learned more about trust and faith in the last year than I think I've learned in my entire life. God truly is good and I KNOW He is going to continue to provide for us - no matter what that may look like. Trust me, we're not above considering shoe-less gyspy life at this point! ;)

Besides that, I'm still eating a lot... and some weird form of heartburn is my constant reminder to KEEP eating a lot! I can't seem to escape food no matter how hard I try (and seriously, how many different meals can their possibly be when you eat 6 times a day??) - although... 6 is WAY less than when I had to eat something every 45 minutes to keep from throwing up! Wow, those were strange times!

Well, I think that's about all the news for now... please keep us in your prayers (in terms of the business/finances/patience and faith)!

Toodly-oo!

My Week as a Mama

2009-09-18T04:08:00.001-07:00

So since Sunday morning, I've been watching Ari & Ivy while my dear brother and sister-in-law are reunited after 8 months of Air-Force induced separation. That's right, completely on my own. I watched them both for a week in January (at the very beginning of this journey - how fitting that I'm here at the end) but I had Andy there to help me last time, so it's been quite a different experience. I still have a couple days left, but we're picking up Nana and Papa from the Airport today (after their week-long missions trip to France), so at least I have some very jet-lagged reinforcements coming! :)

It's been interesting to see how different both of them are, in a relatively short time... they really do grow up SOOO fast and now I'm already thinking about what my own son is going to be like in 2-4 years (because I know it will go by so fast). It's also neat to see how they've grown through this whole thing - even though I know it's been trying for Emily and the kids to be separated from Nathanael, and even though I know it's been hard not to have a real home... I can see how God has been so gracious and loving, providing for their emotional and spiritual needs and how He has brought Emily and her kids closer in so many ways. He has taken care of all of them (including my dear brother) and I know that it has taught at least me a lot about His measure of provision and grace for us through ALL circumstances.

It's been an exhausting week (but what isn't exhausting these very-pregnant days?) - but a good one. I'm looking forward to going home to my own dear husband (sigh), sleeping in my own comfy comfy bed and not having my "dear" dog bark at nothing 10 times a night (she's been MAJORLY on edge since we got here - my pregnancy is really tipping her over the emotional and mental edge)... It's been good for me to be here, learning what it REALLY feels like to be a stay at home mom, and learning how to balance taking care of children with having some personal time and space to get some work done... I have to admit that I'm pretty nervous about keeping up with the business after Baby gets here - I know that God will help me and of course my husband will be there to stand in the gap (although he'll probably be just as tired as I am) - but it's still scary. Ahh the modern world, in which women are expected to be mothers, housekeepers and businessmen all at once... well, I guess our modern world doesn't place much emphasis on the mother part, but I certainly do. Just give me a business call while Baby is crying and see where my true priorities are... mhmm.

I did start a new project this week. Andy and I have picked out Baby's bed-set and room "theme"... I know, I know... I wasn't planning on going all out and registering for a full bedset and all the extras... but then we went to the Baby store and saw the most ADORABLE set ever, and we just couldn't help ourselves. *sigh* What do you think....?
Yeah, exactly... foxes, bears, turtles frogs, BIRDS, there's an owl you can't see in this pictures... SOOO cute! Anyway, Andy used some of the animals from the wall decals:
as well as the tree from our wedding invitations to make me a piece of artwork that I turned into a cross-stitch pattern! I just started it yesterday and I'm so excited! I think it's going to be really cute, and I really enjoy cross-stitching, so it's all quite wonderful! I can't WAIT to get home, finish unpacking all the last annoying bits of our move, and then start nesting!! Boy am I ready!

Sigh. I'll be 22 weeks tomorrow... 5 1/2 months... that means I only have 4 more to go! Ahhh! It's equally exciting and terrifying!

Alright, time to get the troops into the bath - oh how domestic I feel!

Carrots!

2009-09-12T15:23:00.000-07:00

Well hopefully he'll have red hair and freckles too (just to spite Nathanael)! ;)

Baby boy is growing growing growing - and I'm seriously thinking that he's going to be a gymnast or something because he is CONSTANTLY dancing around my insides! I keep talking to other mama's who say they barely felt fluttering at 2o weeks... I've been SEEING my stomach getting kicked for weeks already! It used to be every once in awhile, and now it's all day long! He's such an active little guy, I'm a little frightened to see how energetic he is when he comes out!

Anyway, it's really fun to experience all of this, but still sooo strange and surreal.

Here are the latest baby pics - I'm officially getting HUGE and I think people can tell that I'm pregnant now (instead of looking like a bit of a beer-belly fatty)!!

21 weeks

Along with the hugeness comes the intense feeling that a bowling ball is resting in my pelvis (not a pleasant thing) - I guess I'm carrying really low... It's also getting more and more uncomfortable to do "normal" things - moving from the spider mansion to the new house (more to come later) was really exhausting and I kept forgetting that I couldn't do all the normal things! It's still a constant adjustment, even just in what positions I can sit or lay down in... *sigh* but it's still exciting!

So I'm in South Carolina dog/niece/nephew-sitting for the week... poor Andy is left to finish moving the last bits from the spider mansion, and cleaning it out... but as of Monday night we will officially be FREE from the wretched house and will never think about it ever again! It's been SOOO wonderful to be living in a house where I don't have to shake the sheets and blankets out every time I get in bed, or kick my shoes around before putting them on my feet, or feel freaked-out every time I sit on the couch and think about all the spiders that MIGHT be crawling towards me, or jump every time I see any sort of bug at all! Honestly, I forgot what it was like to feel COMFORTABLE in my home! *sigh* Ahhhh, it's a wonderful feeling!

I'll take some pictures of our new place when I get back next week - it's cute and the perfect size for us (other than the shop being a bit small for Andy)... I think it will work well for us hopefully until we're ready to buy something in a year or so!

I can't wait to start getting Baby's room ready too! Mmm, nesting!

That's it for now!

MISTER Banana Bird!

2009-09-05T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a bit late - but it's time for the formal announcement!
To the immediate left and a tiny bit below "boy" is the little manhood! Our baby is officially known to be a beautiful, strong and healthy boy! I have been SURE that he was a boy the whole time, but it was still sooo exciting to find out for sure! Andy was definitely secretly yearning for a first-born son, so I know he is ecstatic! Here are some more pictures!!

Isn't he handsome????

10 fingers!! And in the second picture, he stopped squirming and hiding long enough to give a quick wave!!

This is where I get to brag about him being just like mama! In the left picture, he is most definitely giving the peace sign - "peace. love. save the baby whales!" And in the picture on the right, he has his 2 little feet crossed (1o toes), which is exactly what I do when I'm laying down!!!

We'll end baby pictures with a grand ol' from the bottom of his adorable bum, thighs and little manhood! He was squirming and kicking ALL over the place during the ultrasound, and made things a bit difficult for the dear nurse - she was a trooper though and got all the shots she needed. She said he is right on track and kept my due date exactly as it was before: Jan 23rd! He is in the 50th percentile in terms of size, so apparently he's not the big fat baby I was expecting (since he eats all of my food and leaves me starving all day long)! :) It was so incredible to see him and to find out for sure that he's a HE!

I think everyone on Andy's side of the family was expecting that first-born Bird son, but everyone in MY family was completely shocked (based on the shocking amount of girls born to my sister, and the fact that girls always seem to come first with the whole family)! I, for one, would have been shocked and delighted either way (because it's shocking and delightful enough just knowing there's a HUMAN growing inside of me)! I am sooo excited to meet our son - and I'm officially half-way through my pregnancy, so it won't be long now!

Other things have happened lately that I could write about... but, honestly, who cares??? :)

(Nathanael, I promise to put up the Weiss Family pics/videos soon!)

HURRAY for Baby!

Voting Time

2009-08-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

Look over there >>>>>
and vote on the poll - is Baby a girl or boy? Only a few short days left till we have an answer!

I promise to post a HUGE post in the next few days - we've been so busy I haven't had time to get to anything!

Quick updates:
We signed our new lease today (HURRAY) and get to pick up our keys on MONDAY instead of Tuesday!! I am SOOOO excited to never sleep in this house again!!!

Tomorrow (Saturday) we have another all-day event (similar to Earth Day, only in-doors) at the Williamson County Green Expo! We're both completely wiped out (it's been a long and busy week for both of us, especially Andy) but I'm hoping we'll have a burst of energy to make it through tomorrow! We actually paid to get a table at this event, so I'm praying that we make a bunch of great contacts and get some orders coming in! Things really picked up this last week or so (quite unexpectedly) so I'm hoping it will continue after this weekend! Pray!

Baby is VERY actively throwing him/herself all over my womb lately - it's been so noticeable that Andy actually felt it (he never seems to feel it when I try to show him) and I SAW a few huge kicks bouncing my poor little stomach around! It was very exciting and apparently this child is going to give us a run for our money - I can't keep up with him/her already (I refuse to refer to Baby as "it")!

All the other stuff (including belly pictures) will have to wait for a few days.
Pray for the Green Expo tomorrow - for energy and also for some new business connections!

Bum bu-du-bu-dum-bum-bum-BUMP!

2009-08-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Andy and I traveled up to Ohio for my dear friend Mindy's wedding! Andy takes every opportunity to make faces while eating, while I take every opportunity of making grumpy faces about the fact that we're on the road AGAIN (seriously, we travel more than anyone I've ever met!) This is, quite possibly, the least attractive picture of me yet. I laughed after I saw it and said, "that doesn't look like me at all!" Andy looked at it and said, "yes it actually does!" (He got smacked)

The wedding weekend was long and tiring (I was a bridesmaid and Andy therefore ended up being a "helper" for everything that could possibly need helping-with [grammar?]) but nonetheless, a lot of fun! The theme was a 50's Soda Shop, complete with ice-cream floats, live band (and a terrible DJ too) playing exclusively 50's music, and a lot of food!
All the bridesmaids got to get our hair done at a spa and, of course, in 50's styles... although mine just ended up looking kind of awkward, I think... The bridesmaids' dresses were cute though, eh? And, of course, Andy and I were cute to! ;)

The whole thing was quite fun, and it was great to be there for Mindy (since she was there for me when I got married!) Phew! So many weddings in the last few years, I really only have a couple of friends who haven't joined the fun yet! Of course, along with all those weddings (and general getting-older), come all the babies! I have been to my fair share of baby showers and far-away visits to best friends with gorgeous babies of their own!

Which brings me to my MAIN news item...
It seems like Baby bird has finally decided to make an appearance! While we were at the wedding, Mindy's aunt actually asked Mindy's mom (without my overhearing of course, so as not to offend) if I was pregnant!! That must mean that people don't think I just look kind of fat anymore! It's all very exciting, and it's helping me feel not quite so sad about all the new discomforts of having your insides (and outsides, for that matter) stretched and pulled every which way but the way they naturally want to go! :) The most exciting news is that we finally have our first ultrasound scheduled for September 2nd... and we'll be finding out if Baby is a girl or boy!! I am VERY excited about this (I've been SO good about not getting too impatient) - FINALLY we'll be able to start thinking about names!

Besides gearing up for boy or girl land, we're also getting excited for my BIG BROTHER who is going to be graduating a month from tomorrow! We're all so very proud of him and we can't WAIT until he and his family are reunited and settled into their new home (so we can finally visit them all again)!!!!
[Just so you know, Nathanael, using commas in the label area is really irritating and I only do it because you asked me to.]

The last and final thing is that we've finally applied for a new house (to rent, of course)! We turned everything in yesterday and should be hearing back by Monday. If everything goes well, we'll start moving in on Sep. 1st and be completely out of the spider-mansion by the 14th!! It's all VERY exciting and I can't even tell you how delighted I am about the prospect of NOT living in this house!! Keep praying though, because we are still dealing with a landlord that wants to gauge us for money that we should NOT have to pay him (because of the circumstances)! I'm hopeful that God will show us favor and that we'll be released from everything with no penalties financially, but please keep praying for us!

Cheerio for now!

The Spider Saga.

2009-08-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

Ahhh yes, life in a poisonous-spider-infested house. What a joy it has been.

I'll spare you all the horrific and miserable details, but will inform you that we are all trying to be moved out of this miserable excuse for a "home" in the next 3-4 weeks. The search for new residences has intensified over the last week or 2 and I spend hours every day searching desperately for something that will work for Andy and I (price, location, space for workshop, etc.)

Living here has been the most challenging living situation I have ever experienced... bar none. I've always taken for granted that general feeling of safety and well-being that has accompanied me throughout the numerous homes I've lived in... but now I know the true value of such feelings. Living in a house where you feel unsafe, uncared for by your landlords, and incapable of bettering the situation in any way... it's not a good feeling, let me tell you. This has certainly been a test of patience and faith for all of us, and I'm praying that God is going to swiftly take us away from this place and bless our endurance through the last 6 months.

The search for new homes has been frustrating but is NOTHING compared to living here. Even though moving again so soon is not something any of us relish doing, it is WORTH IT just to get out of here! The Mossesses are looking into buying a home in East Nashville - a fixer-upper of a home with great potential for a good living situation and a great investment for future profit. Pray for God's favor for them to get the finances needed to purchase and renovate the house into a comfortable home for all of them. Andy and I have looked into several different rental properties but have yet to find the house that meets all of our needs (or even most of them). We thought we had found a place but are running into many potential difficulties for his workshop, so I don't think it's going to work out after all. It is discouraging, because the house and workshop were the perfect size, location and price... but there are challenges with the shop that we can't come up with good solutions to, and this is one of the most important features that we need to work out. I'll continue the daily searching - but please be praying that God opens up one door very clearly for us and very soon... I would love to have something decided by the end of this week, so we can have time to pack and get everything in order for the move and be out of here by the 1st or 2nd week of September.

PLEASE be praying.

Besides all of that excitement, things are going pretty well. The business has started to pick back up (after a painfully slow July) and we continue to trust God's provision for all of our needs. I'm feeling pretty good these days (getting some of my energy back - although still TIRED), and still enjoying pregnancy overall. I'll put belly pictures up again soon - it is finally starting to make an appearance that has people asking if I'm pregnant! Yay! We have about 3 weeks before we find out if we're having a boy or a girl and I can't wait! I'm getting more and more nervous about being a parent, but also more excited!

That's it for now... please be praying about our housing situation...

thump thump thump.

2009-07-29T16:24:00.000-07:00

Well I had my 2nd Dr's appointment today - it was a brief affair but I got to hear the heartbeat again! It actually made me a little weepy this time for some reason (and sadly Andy wasn't there to see me trying not to cry in front of the Dr)... I think I'm still just shocked that God has chosen me to be a mother at this point in my life (or at any point, really) - there are so many people that I feel would be more deserving and better prepared than I am, but I guess that's just how He works - mysteriously.

I am humbled and awed by the entire thing... I know He has a perfect plan for us, and will fulfill it in perfect time... even for those who have lost a child or struggle with infertility... I don't understand why He has kept me and my baby healthy, but I am thankful.

I have another appointment in 2 weeks, and then 3 weeks after that we'll get the first ultrasound and find out if we're having a girl or a boy!! I really think it's a boy, but I am totally excited no matter what gender Baby is!

And, even though people say it's rare or even impossible at 14 weeks... I'm almost 100% positive that I've felt the baby... I thought that I did a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't sure. Now, each day, I think I'm feeling more and more and it is very very strange and exciting! I asked the nurse about it and she said that it could be possible, since I haven't gained hardly any weight - so I'm just going to believe that I am feeling Baby moving! It's bizarre and sometimes seems a little creepy to think that there is a human being inside of me... but it's very wonderful too!

I don't have much other news besides Baby things... Andy and I have hit a (hopefully brief) rough patch with the business, and the next month or so is going to be very interesting financially. I know we'll be fine, and I know God is going to provide for all of our needs, but it is very difficult and scary (please be praying for our faith and patience). We have a lot of exciting things lined up for the near future with the business, but July was a very very slow month and it's just hard to make it during those slow times. We continue to feel like this is still our calling, and are trusting God to work everything out and keep us going.

Other than that... Andy and I have enjoyed playing the Wii lately, and I'm trying really hard to finish a VERY belated BD present for my poor brother. I promise it will be finished before your next BD... *nervous cough* I know you know what it is already, so please understand how painful of a process it all is... I don't want to hate what I'm giving you, if at all possible.

My stomach is really getting pretty big these days... but you'll have to wait until a Saturday for more pictures.

Cheerio!

Lemon Bird.

2009-07-25T10:00:00.001-07:00

I'm running out the door to drive to Atlanta for a Bridal Shower - but here are the 14 week Baby belly photos!

Baby is getting bigger!!!

I have another Dr's appointment on Tuesday - hopefully they'll be scheduling an ultrasound for next month to find out if it's a girl or boy!! Hurray!

SCIENCE!!!!!

2009-07-17T06:45:00.000-07:00

This past week I finished printing a job for the Nashville Adventure Science center which I was super excited about. For those of you who aren't familiar with Nashville this is our version of COSI or the Children's museum in Indy or any other fine establishment for nerdy kids that love to learn about science like me. It's still strange to me that we've landed jobs with big well known companies and organizations in Nashville and somehow, perhaps accidentally, found ourselves creating much respected and much prized work. On this job not only did I design the main print but they specifically requested that we put our name on the shirt somewhere and a breif explaination about what we do and how we got to be so awesome. Here is a picture of the print I put on the inside of the shirt under the tag.

Plum Bird.

2009-07-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well I'm officially 12 weeks today! I don't know if that means I've just completed my first trimester, or if I have 1 week left... either way, it's already gone by so fast!

Here is a reminder of Baby belly from 2 weeks ago...

And now, Baby belly at 12 weeks!!

It's quite larger than before, eh?? Miraculously, I still haven't gained any weight (a pound or 2 here and there have hung out for a day or 2, but then I've always gone back down to my original weight) - even though I definitely look a little fat now! I can't wait for Baby belly to be big enough that people can actually tell that I'm pregnant!

Not much else in Bird news at the moment... we had a great huge party last night for the 5 people that have birthdays in July: Eva (niece), Josh (cousin), Aaron (friend), Jessica (friend), and me (me). It was a lot of fun and wonderful to have most of our friends together at once!

Other than that, we're VERY loosely contemplating the idea of trying to buy a house this year (sounds impossible, but maybe worth a try?) so we shall see what happens in that department...

Andy wants me to stop blogging and play Wii with him now (I think maybe he secretly wanted one too... "birthday present" HA! ..... just kidding Andy, I know you got it for me!)

Early Birthday

2009-07-01T11:33:00.001-07:00

So since Andy and I will be on the road driving to Ohio tomorrow, he decided I should open my presents early...

I must say, I've never been a big BD person, but my dear sweet husband certainly had different ideas about the whole thing... I feel a little guilty for allowing him to indulge in such extravagance, but I guess I should just be thankful!!! :) And I was sooooo excited!

I didn't get any pictures from when I opened them, but here are a couple taken later...

AHHH! It was all very very exciting! We had talked about buying some of this months and months ago, but decided not to spend the money... little did I know Andy had plans of his own!!

We got to play Mario Kart last night and had a great time - it will be fun to play all the other games that came with the Wii itself and with the extra controller!

This is happy (and, as always, sleepy Mii! ;)

Also, since I haven't posted any baby-belly pics, here is my 10 1/2 week shot... I still haven't gained any weight, or even gained back the 5-7 pounds I lost at the beginning... I'm about 1 1/2 weeks from being done with the first trimester, though, so hopefully I'll "pop" soon!

And, just in case anyone thinks I'm trying to make excuses for a lot of extra ice cream or something, here is the real proof... although a bit late I suppose... (it's that little plus sign on the left)

Well, I suppose that's about it for now.

Thanks for the early Birthday Andy!!

heartbeat!

2009-06-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well I had my first doctor's appointment a few hours ago - it wasn't really as bad as I expected. They did have to draw some blood, which I never enjoy, but that wasn't even horrible - the lady did a great job and was really fast!

We finally got to hear our Little One's heartbeat - a solid and strong 164 bpm (sounded like a boy to me)! The doctor said everything looked and sounded great and that we should expect a healthy pregnancy from here on out! It was very exciting and VERY strange to hear the heart beating - mostly because it still doesn't seem real that there is actually a tiny little person growing inside of me... it's all very very bizarre and surreal... I suppose it won't really feel real until I'm actually holding Baby for the first time!

Funny thing though - they ask all of these questions on your first appointment, and when they got to the "do you want an epidural" and I said "no", the nurse's head shot up in disbelief - "Really? Are you serious??" She was shocked, and I laughed nervously... I'm going to try to go au naturale, but I won't be disappointed or bummed out if I do end up resorting to pain relief... so I'm planning on no meds, but I may end up signing the paperwork for them, just in case! ;)

It was quite an exciting morning, and now I'm ready for a nap!

____ we're in a tight spot!

2009-06-22T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well, my body has certainly been doing some strange things... it's amazing how it seems to have revolted on me, as if I have no control or say in any matters physical henceforth. It's definitely calling the shots, that's for sure.

I've had a few more cravings since the cheese incident, mainly for other dairy products. I really wanted Honey Nut Clusters, and then realized that I mostly wanted it for the milk (although I still don't like to drink it alone). I've always hated milk, so this has been strange (having 1-2 bowls of cereal each day *sigh*). Then I found out that Baby is growing teeth right now, and that my body needs extra calcium! Ahhh, the wonders of nature - it's amazing how God made our bodies to be so in tune with baby, even if we have no actual idea of what's going on, it just knows!

So I love milk, red meat (which is very very very unusual) and un-ripe bananas (unheard of - I have always HATED bananas - except when I was in Ethiopia where they have the most amazing bananas EVER! I'm serious - I hate bananas but these were the most delicious and wonderful things I have ever eaten... you should go there and try for yourself!)... Other than that, I hate pizza crust (previously my favorite part), and I've only recently been able to stomach the sweeter side of life (and unfortunately, this has brought on yearnings for ice cream and red velvet cake - both of which I have indulged)... *sigh*

We have our first doctor's appointment tomorrow - eek and yay! I really don't like going to the doctor (I never grew out of that one) but I'm REEEALLY hoping that we'll get to hear the heartbeat, so I'm also excited! Andy's going to come with me - hopefully to hear the heartbeat and also to find out what blood type he is (because I'm A-Negative and I may have to take some medication to protect the baby if he is a positive blood type).

Oh, and in regards to the title of this post - I have still not gained a single pound (in fact I lost about 5-7 lbs. in the first few weeks), and yet somehow, miraculously, my pants are all too tight! I don't have a baby bump yet, but I'm definitely getting a little extra padding in the waist regions - so, even though I haven't gained any weight, I'm getting fatter! Ahh, the wonders of nature at work yet again!

Well, I'm off to bake dinner for a family who just had a baby - even though it's naptime!

Midnight Cheese...

2009-06-11T22:29:00.001-07:00

Well I can't sleep at the moment - I'm wide awake because I suddenly got the strongest craving for Sharp White Cheddar about an hour ago... so I indulged and now I'm not sleepy! It's my first official craving, which is pretty exciting - thankfully it was a healthy one! I have wanted to eat a lot of grapefruit (well, just fruit in general I guess) but I haven't craved it, it just sounds good. I definitely was craving some cheese though - thankfully for my dear husband there just happened to be some in the frig... I don't know if I could have fallen asleep without it!

I'm still feeling pretty good - although I have had some pretty unpleasant nausea the last week+. It's not unbearable though, and I'm hoping it won't get worse!

I am starting to research some non-traditional birth options... no, I'm too paranoid for a home birth - but I definitely want to do things naturally, and I'm trying to see if there are any midwives in the area that I feel like I can trust. I'd rather not deliver at a regular hospital (I'm interested in finding out more about water births), but I don't know if there are any birthing centers in Nashville... It will probably take me awhile to make these big decisions, but meanwhile I do have a regular OB that I'm going to (the same Dr. my sister went to for her last 2 girls) - my first appointment is the 23rd! I'll be 8 weeks this Saturday and, although I haven't gained any weight yet, I definitely have a teeny-tiny pooch starting to form. I feel like it would be weird to post pictures of it on here... maybe when it's a little bigger?

Well, I am going to make a final attempt at sleeping - hopefully I won't get in bed and realize I have a hankerin' for anything else!

Bon soir!

p.s. I should probably start watching Wallace and Gromit every night - just so I can feel some comradery with Wallace as we both yearn for cheese!

Baby Bird

2009-05-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's right.

I never thought I'd be able to say this, but... I'm pregnant!

Look out world, Baby Bird will be here January 23rd, 2010!

Autobahn9

2009-05-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

Autobahn went really great this year (ie: we didn't total our car and we actually made it to the festival!). We had a great time hanging out with the other bands, and made a decent amount of sales (even though the turnout was a bit less than normal). Andy's show went really well, although there is a fantastic highlight at the end of this blog that you don't want to miss... but I'll say no more.

This is why he does it...

This is our table - we were next to iSatellite and the Reagan Eighties. We had the most colorful display, by far... and the best deals on what we were selling (because we were desperately trying to get rid of stuff!). I sat at the merch table all night, but I surprisingly didn't get as many of the jealous glares from other women as I expected. They kept their distance... a wise choice, indeed.

This is the new room that they had the festival in, it is WAY bigger than where they've had it every other year, which was very exciting! That big bright blur in the background is not a TV but a huge FISH TANK! I was pretty excited about the whole thing... but, come to think of it, the fish probably don't enjoy the booming base and flashing lights very much... I didn't see any belly-up, but I wouldn't be surprised...

This is Andy getting ready for his show... realizing that his inks are all really really old, and also expertly duck-taping his canvas to an "easel". What a jolly lad I have. :)

Andy's show...
the first stages of his painting (more below) and a few
moments of what I like to call sing/dancing...

And now, what I like to call dance/painting...

And no Cut the Red Wire show is complete without a
synth solo... which Andy mostly just makes up as he goes.

And now for the story of a painting that just kept changing...

(those are some nice shoulders, eh?)

The final product... we had a lot of people who wanted to buy it, but only

one woman was lucky enough to actually take it home...

And now, ladies and gentlemen... my favorite moment, and everyone else's favorite moment, of the entire Autobahn Festival 2009... it's a 3-minute video, but the grand finale doesn't happen... until the very very very end.... so strap yourselves in and get ready for the ride of your life... (it would be way better if the stupid camera had been able to focus on him... but sadly, much of it is a bit blurry)

Pictures

2009-04-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Earth Day:

This is our booth - and Andy talking to a potential client.
(one of the few times when I could sit - there were usually a line of about 5 people at all times, and we were both jabbering away)

Another shot (that's Ellie I'm holding, Anthony and Bekah's youngest - she was good publicity)

Andy hard at working talking about our inks and how awesome we are

Cutest small business owners ever...

and that's that.

Earth Day.

2009-04-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

So these last 2 weeks have been... absolute insanity.
To say the least.

Yesterday was the Nashville Earth Day Festival and we had our very own tent set up (pictures will come soon).

We gave out at least 200 of our brochures, and at least 1/2 of those people were actually really excited about what we're doing and are potential customers.

We are both terrified that we might suddenly start to have a ton of work coming in and not be able to handle it... which is a weird feeling considering how blank our schedule has been until the last 3 weeks.

God certainly blesses above and beyond what we even ask or think... let's just hope we can handle what He gives us! :)

We just might have to hire Brendan after all... (but don't hold me to it quite yet).

More to come about all of this, but I'm way too exhausted to think about it anymore.

Andy and I have sat around playing video games all day as part of our physical recovery.

It's been a bonding experience.
To say the least.

:)

oodilalee.

2009-04-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

So, for those of you who don't know.

Friendly Arctic printing has gotten some pretty grand jobs this month. We are printing shirts for this
and for this(as you can see below)

As well as several other exciting jobs for the month.

It's a huge step forward for us with the Nashville "green" community and I think it's really going to move our company in an exciting direction! Please be praying that God will open many doors through these jobs, and that we will continue to make enough money to keep living and working and occasionally buying things like socks. :)

Andy's also been busy with Plastiq Musiq, as we have a new artist's first album coming out on Tuesday - to hear a sample (and maybe order a copy, if you feel so inclined) go here

I've been busy trying to figure out why Tennessee's tax system is the most elaborate mess I've ever seen, and also playing a bit of Donkey Kong 1 & 2 with Estella... we can't all be heroes, eh?

In other news, life at the Love Shack 2 is going wonderfully and I think we're all enjoying living together! It's been great to be here for the lovely Moss girls' "growing up" moments, and I'm excited for many more to come! Lewa is beginning to adjust to having 2 other dogs in the house, and I think she's starting to let go of her irrational fear that someone is ALWAYS out to get me... hopefully the horrendously loud barking at the door will cease altogether very soon.

I've been contemplating recording some more music lately, and even went so far as to record 3 new songs this week... that is, before the recording machine deleted just about everything I'd done after more than 4 hours of pounding the piano and straining my allergy-ridden lungs to sound mildly on-key... suffice to say - it reminded me why I hate recording and why I should probably just sing my songs in the privacy of my room with the doors and windows closed.

Well that's about all, for now.

big brother.

2009-03-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud.

I tell ya - our family has birthed some pretty good lookin' stock in our time... of course there's a fair share of not-so-good-lookin' ones scattered around... ahem. But for the most part, we're all pretty darn-tootin' attractive, if'n ya' ask me! :)

It was awesome to be there for Nathanael's BMT graduation. In fact the whole experience was so great that it made me want to sign up just to wear those snazzy blues and march around in step all the time! (Don't worry Andy, I haven't made any commitments that you don't know about!) I'm definitely feeling more Patriotic than I ever have before - thanks to big brother (AHAHAHA) - and it's a surprisingly pleasant feeling.

This morning when we left the base we were running late and ended up being there when they were doing a practice "Charlie" exercise, in which all of the building and certain roads on base lock down to everyone... I thought we were going to get shot when I had to run Ivy inside a building to use the potty... but they didn't shoot us, thankfully, and we made it out okay. My favorite part about staying on base (besides all the lovely uniforms marching around in step all the time) was hearing Taps play at night over the loudspeakers. They play several different things throughout the day (mostly subliminal messaging/brainwashing, I'm convinced) but Taps was the best by far.

Actually Nathanael was the best thing by far.

And that's that.

night sounds swell into beauty.

2009-02-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

I've started to pack, and mostly I'm just ready to be at our new home...

But tonight there are a million frogs singing outside in the fields, and it's been so deliciously windy - I'm feeling a bit sad about leaving. Not necessarily to specifically be leaving this house and our life here, but more sad to leave the lifestyle that this home represents. It's not a fitting lifestyle for where we are in our life - trying to get a business started and figuring out how to sustain the necessities of life - but it's certainly fitting for where we want to be. This is where I want to be someday, when I'm not quite so young and over-zealous for busyness... Someday we hope to live life slowly; to enjoy the quietness of the world's beauty; to hear and smell the earth moving and breathing around us... but perhaps it isn't the time for these things. Perhaps it is only time to appreciate the idea of them, and to take that idea and apply it to life in every setting (yes, even in a city).

I read an article in National Geographic about wild Mustangs, and how they are being taken captive to make room for more land-grabbing. They say you can adopt one for $125 if you first take care of it humanely for one year. It made me remember some of my deeply-buried dreams. I've always been an animal lover, to be sure, but horses have always been different. Since my earliest days, I've fallen in love with every horse I've ever seen... true, since the accident, I've felt a little less Romantic about my land-lady's horses, but the general love has returned in full force... It is not the time in my life for these dreams, but I still hold them very dear and pray that someday they will be part of my life.

Returning to school is another pursuit of a dream - to be a director. I've started reading all these "classic" plays lately, and I have to admit they are often disappointing to my ideas and ideals of what theatre should be. I wish I could just walk into a theatre and say, "teach me everything you know, because I want to take what you know and use it differently than it's ever been used before." But I need an education, or at least a little training, to even get in the door. I'm excited about possibly doing this, but part of me feels like maybe it's just another way to busy myself...

Which brings me to my main point - what should we pursue in this life? It seems obvious to me that God gave each of us gifts, ideas and passions... but are we to pursue them because we love them, or because He may have called us to offer them to the world as a herald of His Love? And what if my passions don't seem to directly be "ministry"? What if I long to glorify Him by creating art (through theatre), or by wooing His beautiful animal creations into peace with and trust of mankind once again? Weren't we called to care for and rule over this earth and all of its creatures? And didn't David glorify God through his poetry, even though it was from his own thoughts and through his own lips?

Is it odd that I've always had almost an equal passion for loving animals and humans in nearly the same ways? I've always had a strange affection for the damaged/abused/neglected animals who simply need to learn to trust and receive tenderness unto healing... and I've always had a deep and brokenhearted care for the aching/wounded/desolate human hearts that yearn to be pursued with an honestly unconditional love... Of course bringing souls into an eternal relationship with Christ is the utmost purpose of my life, but these things have followed me along the way. It seems my love of animals has often led me into situations and conversations with people that directly focus on God's love for us, and His desire to teach us to trust Him... I've always felt like, if we can somehow reach past the brokenness between animal and human (because all of us are God's creatures, created for His delight and glory), that we could experience a depth of God's heart otherwise undiscovered.

I'm not, in any way, trying to say that animals are equal in value to humans... they do not have eternal spirits (as far as I know from His Word), and must therefore serve a purpose altogether different from our own... what I'm trying to say is that they still bear the mark of our mutual Creator, and I think they can thus teach us about His character, and His desire for a loving relationship of trust and vulnerability. If I can learn not to fear, but to gently and patiently pursue a broken-spirited and abused animal to the point of a trusting and loving relationship... have I not just witnessed how God pursues us? He is patient and gentle and honest - He teaches us to trust Him by re-teaching our minds and bodies to respond in a way other than fear. Though we may be brokenhearted and emotionally scarred from the affects of other people, He teaches us to trust HIM with every raw part of ourselves. He is the ultimate caretaker... and were we not charged to be the same caretakers to all of His other creations on this earth?

It is a difficult and precious task to put our hands to... tending to the plants of the fields, the birds of the air and the animals of the land... how often do we let ourselves look, with utmost adoration and tenderness, towards this earth we were told to be caretakers of? Does He not look upon us with these feelings? Perhaps He asked us to care for them because He knew it would be difficult, and because He knew that it would remind us of His everlasting, uncompromising, unfathomable and constant love and care for us...

Oh I'm going on and on and on... mostly I was just thinking about this abused horse that I worked with for months when I lived in South Carolina, and how he learned to trust me... and I was crying about it in bed, so I guess thought I should get up and write about it.

But I suppose that's rather foolish, isn't it?

Someday. Maybe.

life on the not-farm

2009-02-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Well it's official.

We've signed a lease with the Moss clan. We'll all be moving into our new gigantic home at the beginning of March.

Andy and I are very sad to be leaving our lovely farm house, but we've been considering it for some time now... the business is starting to bring money in, but it's getting more and more difficult to keep up with it, being over an hour from all of our customers and potential customers. It's a good move for the business.

I've also applied to a couple of colleges... still not sure if I'm going to go back or not, but I've been thinking seriously about it and decided to get the doors open now, in case I decide that I'm going to do it. I'm excited about the idea, and also absolutely terrified.

That's all.

I miss Andy.

2009-01-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

**CAUTION - what you are about to read is possibly chocked full of sentimental cliches and may or may not closely resemble my slightly abnormal version of a love note... Read on at your own risk.**

Andy's in Akron working on some of his new songs with Jon from Travelogue this weekend. I'm semi-stranded at his parents' house, which has been fun and relaxing, except for the fact that I've had

"Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my [Birdy] to me, to me!
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my [Birdy] to meeeeee!"

running through my head nonstop tonight.
Andy hates Bird jokes. But I'm not sick of them yet, so I get to make as many as I want. Harumph.

So we've been married for almost 7 months now - which sort of sounds like a really long time but is also way shorter than it feels like we've been married. We're at the point... let me rephrase that... I am at the point where almost everything he does drives me absolutely crazy... However, I'm also somehow at the point where it feels like something is missing when he's gone. Seriously? That is sooo cheesy... but it's also very true. I am simply awkward without him around.

So apparently I'm at the point where I can't stand him, but I also cant stand... not him. Er... the lack thereof. Something about a chicken.

Anyway. Someone told a friend of mine recently that she couldn't understand why Andy and I were together, that we didn't make any sense and she never would have imagined us as a good couple. I kind of thought it was funny at first, and then when I told Andy and he seemed upset that she had said that, I realized how ridiculous (and awful) it is for someone else to have any opinion on the matter at all. How could she, or anyone else for that matter, have the slightest idea of what we are like as one? I mean, maybe it didn't make sense for us to be together before we were married, but why should it have, when it is absolutely right now that we are married? Do people really think that our own eccentricities, differences and struggles really overcome what God has put together in His own hands? Do we believe that?

It's not news to anyone that Andy and I are total opposites, and in almost every way we possibly could be. And it's certainly not news to me that some of our personality quirks don't exactly "mesh" well together... In fact, that man rubs me so raw I can't stand it sometimes.

That is to say, he rubs my flesh (ie: sinful "nature") raw. Sometimes, like recently, almost everything he does irks my flesh in some way. His actions, his faith, his personality, his way of loving me... it all rips and pulls at my habitual way of thinking and being (and my way of living in constant self-defense) until it is a tangled mess of tears, anger... and eventually relief.

To be completely honest, I have never been more aware of my flesh than since we've been married. Sometimes Andy and I talk about this and I ask him if every little thing I do drives him crazy. He always answers "no" and seems very confused that I feel that way about him. My only explanation is that God must have brought him out of many of his fleshly tendencies already, and has yet to bring me through mine.

It is hard to admit that I am often frustrated or annoyed with him for no reason at all... It is also humbling to admit just how much God is using Andy in my life to break me, teach me and guide me, no matter how frustrated I am with him... I think I am gaining a new understanding of how man is the "leader". In our premarital counseling, our Pastor talked about how the man being the leader and the woman being the helpmate is not something that you do, but that it is something that you are. It is a God-given role (or position) that you step into when you get married. Then, I think it is a long journey in which we are refining tools in the life of your spouse, whether you (or they) like it or not.

What I mean is... I don't think that Andy is intentionally pushing my fleshly "buttons", so to speak, with the purpose of breaking me... nor is he trying to humble me by his strength of faith and trust in the Lord... simply by being my husband, he is my leader. That is, God is using him to lead me through the process of being refined into His Son's image. God is leading me to Himself, and away from myself (and my flesh), through my husband. Andy isn't just a leader in a worldly sense, but he is God's tool being used to direct me and take me deeper into healing, peace and joy in Christ.

Here is where I struggle... If I am truly going to believe this about him, I must also believe the same of myself. I can only hope that my irrational defensiveness and constant emotional detachment are being used to push his buttons, and causing him to seek God for the strength to overcome his flesh. I can only hope that the infrequent conversations we do have about God are leading my husband closer to Him. I can only hope that simply by being his wife, God is meeting Andy in his place of need, and helping him through me.

I wonder if I truly accepted this as who I am, not by anything I do or don't do but simply by being his wife... if I would have greater peace and feel greater freedom giving and receiving love.

And maybe if I acknowledged God's love and leadership and chose to faithfully trust Him, if it would relieve my fears in my marriage (and in my life).

I feel like God is slowly and gently directing me back to myself... that is, who He created me to be... and I have a hope that He is doing the same with my husband. Perhaps, as we draw closer to our identities in Christ, our relationship will start to make more "sense" to the outside world, but I highly doubt it. Mostly I just hope that we will continue to see how our unity makes perfect sense in our Creator's eyes, how He molded us to fit perfectly together, and how we are the undoing of our flesh and the building up of our spirit.

Simply by being.

.........

This is much more than I intended on writing, and perhaps too much for the "public" eye... and perhaps it doesn't even make sense as it was written... but here it is, my own version of a love letter.

I suppose it's more of a confession and a request for prayer for these struggles.

Andy, my darling husband, I love you.
Whether or not I'm very good at showing you... I do love you.
May we journey on, towards blissful brokenness, for many more days and months and years... together.

love,
yours.

oodilalee!

2008-12-08T06:39:00.000-08:00

Well we are about to finalize our first "real" job, and it's a pretty big one too! It's exciting to finally be moving in the right direction, although we have a LONG way to go before we'll be completely self-sufficient! It's very exciting though, and please be praying that it goes well and that we can line up many more jobs soon!

On another note, for all those who are coming to the Bird Farm of Love for Christmas, can you let me know when you are arriving/departing so that I can plan accordingly?

That's about it.

Peace, love and we had over a hundred cows stampede our yard a couple days ago.

be ye

2008-11-27T19:14:00.000-08:00

thankful.

for all things.

there are always some kooky delightful moments whenever families get together. it's a good thing too because most days are so drab that we forget how wonderful the zany times can be.
throw in a few butt-smacks, well-placed sarcastic digs, corny jokes where everyone groans and a long day full of good food, and life just doesn't get much better.

all this holiday is making me feel nostalgic about this coming Christmas. which is weird, because it hasn't happened yet. I just feel like it's going to be one to be nostalgic about for the rest of our lives, like the signal of an end to an era, a grand dynasty... and it's making me sort of melancholy and wistful for the past that it's going to be.

illogical, perhaps, but quite true.

I'm nostalgic for the future, and contented with the present.

this is a good life, to be sure, but for some reason the future seems like it's going to be even better.

what is this? could it be a sign of optimism... from ME?
to be sure.
a strange thing, but a good thing.

here's to a nostalgic-worthy tomorrow!

cut the red wire?

2008-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I forget that I have a band that people listen to, until things like this happen.

Weird.

-A-

A true blessing

2008-11-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

Nathanael...

After reading your dream I was so overcome with joy and delight that I feel any words of gratitude would fall short...So in return I give you the gift of the picture below...Enjoy

set your sails...

2008-11-09T06:31:00.000-08:00

Next week we'll be mailing about 100 boutiques in the U.S. with our winter catalog of shirt designs. Andy's been slaving all week (with my intense spurring) to pump out lots of new designs and I must say I'm pretty excited about it all. The designs are looking good, the catalog is looking good and I'm hoping that we'll get at least a 10% response... but 50% would be great too... or 75%.... aiming high - indeed.

It would be really great to have some income.

If anyone wants a copy of a the catalog, I'm sure we could work something out and offer our wholesale rates to our dearest friends and family... :)

Just think... you could look like this (minus the obnoxious necklace:

It's pretty great - n'est pas?

sigh

2008-11-05T06:15:00.000-08:00

[from the Hster]

I guess it had to happen sooner or later. (the election that is)

I voted for the first time - but I'm not telling anyone who I voted for. That's why they put you in a private little booth - for secrecy.

But I will tell you that 1/2 of the offices I voted for won.

And I thought McCain's concession speech was very gracious. And Obama's acceptance speech was starkly emotionless. Does that guy ever get even a little angry or delighted? Seriously.

And I wish Andy would let me get a new puppy like Obama is letting his kids. *sigh*

And in sum....... come, Lord Jesus, come.

Run back to the start...

2008-10-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

[by the female Bird]

The new Copeland album is out - produced by Aaron Sprinkle. It's really good. And I forgot about Aaron Sprinkle until now - he's really good too.

It's been a difficult journey lately. Life's been a floating bubble.

I think I've actually decided for myself that I don't need happiness or purpose... so why ask for it if I don't need it? As if I know what's best for myself. I realized recently that I've stopped asking God for anything... I've decided that realizing He is good is enough, and I need not see, comprehend or experience His goodness. What a sad cheat.

I'm starting to remember that He has given me desires, dreams, even passions... I've forgotten most of them because I've pushed them all far far away from my heart, but I believe that they will soon find me once again.

Not to be dramatic but... ever since the accident, I've felt more useless and purposeless than ever. I keep asking myself, "why would He save and preserve me? why didn't He take me home?" But why have I not been asking Him these questions? Why have I not been asking Him for guidance, for good, for provision, for joy?

To say I've become passive is a major understatement. Perhaps if I don't care about anything or anyone, nothing will ever disappoint (...and I will never disappoint). I haven't pursued anything. And I haven't turned around to see my own Pursuer... But I've been pursued.

Is it pride that keeps us from asking God for the abundance He promised?

Friendly Arctic Printing

2008-10-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

We wanted to put a post up here to show you all the work we have been doing over the past few months...The picture above is an attempt at a panoramic shot of the print shop...After a few months of buying equipment, working on promotional materials, setting up all the book keeping and putting together our website we are just about ready to take on new customers. Our web address is www.friendlyarctic.com we would love to hear your feedback...We also want to ask that you all be praying for us as we are going out to find customers. This is a totally new thing for both of us and we're both a bit nervous about it. We have faith the the Lord will provide for us with the business, but it's still scary for us to be out on a limb waiting for things to come together.
-A-

on the mend...

2008-10-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

Well it's certainly been an unusual week for us.

For those of you who don't already know - last Saturday Andy and I were horseback riding and the horse I was on reared, fell backwards and landed on top of me. He weighs somewhere between 1500-2000 lbs and yet I came out of it nothing more than a bruised kidney and a couple fractured ribs... oh, and I was very sore all over my body. But not paralyzed. Nothing major broken. And I'm alive.

All in all, I have to say that I'm absolutely blown away by God's miraculous mercy throughout all of this. I don't want to be dramatic about it, but I am acutely aware of how that accident could have ended up, and I am humbled by His gentle sparing of my life and health. Now that my general muscles have mostly healed, I am able to walk around my home with little more than chest pain. And now I'm able to bear the pain (which is SO much less than at the beginning) without taking those crazy narcotics I was on all week. So now I can move fairly easily AND think clearly without feeling like I'm laying in a boat on very tumultuous waters.

Can't say that I'm used to sitting on the couch all day every day (nor is Andy - who has been devotedly at my side, taking care of me like the grand husband that he is)... also cant say I'm used to taking any notice of my ribs in the least - now I'm constantly aware of them... but these are hardly large burdens to bare considering what happened.

So - in sum - I'm great! I'm alive (and again, not to be dramatic but, I'm unusually thankful to be alive). I'm walking (although much like a hobbly old lady - now I know what I have to look forward to). And I have fabulous odds for a perfect recovery (considering that Andy wont let me do anything for myself and my mother is constantly reminding me to "Rest, rest, rest!").

It's been an odd week, to be sure. But it's been a good one too.

Here's to breathing deeply without wincing, and many more adventures on horseback to come!

Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam

2008-09-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

First off - something shocking happened a few minutes ago.

The phone rang. We both stared at it for a minute and Andy finally decided to answer it. All I heard was "Okay... nuqjatlh? What is it? ...Okay..." Click. He hung up. He informed me that a man informed him that he had a delivery for us and that it was, amazingly enough, two million dollar checks. But he hung up on the man! How could he???

The phone rang again. I decided to answer it this time and get to the bottom of the matter. "nuqneH", I said. A difficult-to-understand man (of some foreign ethnicity I am assuming), informed me that he had a delivery for us from Las Vegas, Nevada. I said kindly, "but we aren't expecting any deliveries," and he replied "it is from the lottery and you have won 5 million dollars and a Rolls-Royce." I said, "no," to which he said "you play the lottery" and I said "no, we do not." He said, "well you have won and I have a delivery for you," but I responded firmly "no, thank you, we don't want those things." There was a long pause and he said, incredulously, "why not?". My reply was, again firmly, that "we don't play the lottery," to which he asked "you never play _____ [some name of some lottery ticket]?" and I said, "No, thank you, goodbye." Click. I hung up. What I should have said was, "Hab SoSlI' Quch!"

I wonder if I did the right thing? I mean, 5 million bucks? What a total bummer... maybe Corky (the previous tenant) played and won and never claimed his prize? Or maybe if I had given this strange man my address, bank account and social securities numbers I could be totally loaded right now? I guess I'll never know...

On a lighter note - well, not really - I'm not even registered to vote but I'm having a major crisis about who I would vote for if I were going to... I don't like either of them, and I really don't feel supportive of either on more than 50% of their standpoints, so I don't see how I could make a final decision... I hate to say it, though, but I feel like I might vote for Obama (if I were actually voting that is) simply for my general Democratic or "liberal" leanings... and yet I hate to think that I would vote for him because I just don't like him much at all... Oh, I dont know! What ever will I do about my non-existent potential voting decision??? Oh, gefilte fish!

On a much lighter note - or is it? - Andy, in response to Nathanael's McCain/Borg insinuation, would like to contribute this small gift to the political discussion... just some food for thought. He likes to call it "Barack-Oklingon" but I personally like to say "nuqDaq ' oH puchpa' ' e '" everytime I see it!

Translation.

the goings on...

2008-09-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Major updates:
1) Andy got hissed at by a snake. Literally. It stuck it's head in the air and hissed at him. (I'm jealous that I missed it - I've always wanted to hear a snake hiss!)

2) I'm going to attempt making a Pot Roast today.

3) Christmas on the farm! We're so excited that most of the Johnson clan will be taking the hike to come stay on our lovely farm to celebrate Christmas and Dad's birthday! I'll be sure to have a wild Christmas-cookie-baking-festival with Melissa in preparation for the 9,000 people who will be bunking here!

4) It's starting to get chilly! Early mornings and late evenings on the farm are pretty much the most incredible times ever... the moon has been ridiculously bright (brighter than I've ever seen in my life), and giving everything a bluish glow all night long (I've had several post-midnight visits to the horses, who have surprisingly welcomed me into their herd, even when it's dark)... In the mornings everything is covered in a delicious fog that hovers around the house and fields as the sky starts to light up with dawn. Andy's started busting out the socks and thermal shirts - despite the fact that it gets up to 85 during the day :) - in an attempt to convince the weather that it is, indeed, okay to get ridiculously cold any day now. This is my favorite time of year.

Other than that : we are desperately still trying to get everything ready to get the business going... please pray for us. Things are finally coming together, but we are WAY behind schedule (we had hoped to be up and running by Sept 1st, but now it's looking like Oct 1st before we'll actually start to have business). I know everything's going to work out, but it's a little more than stressful not having an income and hoping that the business does really well when we finally do get it started. We have enough savings to survive for quite some time, but there's just something painful about watching money go out without any coming back in.... I hate money.

We've been playing a lot of Scrabble lately. It's the only game we have that works well with just 2 people - although I think we're about to start playing Yahtzee as well, just to give our life some variety - it's been a lot of fun, although sometimes it gets lonely with just the 2 of us.... well, there is always the "other woman" (ie: Andy's computer) to occupy Andy when he gets bored... I've started to turn to Charlene and Buford (ie: my piano and amp), to pass the time. I even recorded a song the other day... but don't tell anyone.

I want to make beef jerky soon.

muchlove.
HRB

a jolt to the spirit

2008-09-03T10:11:00.000-07:00

this is Hadassah...

I've been very neglect in my pursuit of God lately. It would be easier to say, "I haven't been reading the Word as much as I should... I haven't been praying enough..." but I won't say that, because I have often frequented my life with these things, and yet stood far from God's outreaching arms.

The past couple of weeks have been a slow breaking through of my personal walls - namely "busyness", "exhaustion", "dissatisfaction", "fear", "petulance", and "disbelief" - and, ever so softly, I have begun to desire my Father's heart once more. I suppose it is largely because I have witnessed the breaking of others' around me, and have desired to shower them with a love, truth and grace that is not of my own making. I have hoped that God would use me to minister to those around me, yet I have not placed my hope in Him. Faith has become something that I have but do not use. I have not even asked Him to lead me into a desire for Him. I have not asked Him for faith. I have not asked Him for hope. Yet I have asked Him to use me to give it to others... do I think I cannot truly hold it as my own? Do I think I am, perhaps, not deserving of living it daily? Do I think that my only purpose is to give these gifts to others, but never rejoice in them as my own?

I read Colossians today. Here I was barraged with jarring reminders of the truths God has been teaching me for the past 2 years. As if to say, "have you forgotten Me already?" He directed my eyes to rest upon the very truths I already knew! The words I have wanted to say to others... I've been looking for a message of hope for my friends, yet today I was met with one for myself. I was at once encompassed with amazement and bowled over in awe at how unbelievable His truths are. They have made no sense to me, even as I spoke them with absolute certainty to others. It's as if I have discovered a blessed mystery that has been within, unbeknowst to me, and has at last been found again! I did not find anything new today, nothing about God or about my life has changed in the least... but I remembered something today, something that has rested in my heart since the day I died and received my Savior's life as my own.

It's been there all along, it's just that, for some strange reason, I have been looking for something else. Something outside of myself to change myself within. But Christ Himself is within me, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Col. 2:3). And He in me, "the hope of glory," (Col. 1:27) is already completed. There is nothing outside of myself that I should seek. There is nothing more than what I already have that can make me holy. There is no external, nor even internal that I lack or should desire. It all rests within me. Now. At present.

"For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him [Christ]," (Col. 1:19) and "in Him you have been made complete," (Col. 2:10).

I am moved deeply within my spirit. I am humbled. I am awed.

"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." (Col. 2:8) ..... I have been seeking truth according to myself. I have needed to prove to myself that which is truth. But here is the most ridiculous of it all...

I am the proof.... and He in me... the hope of glory.
Not my glory, but His.

I now hold fast to what I know.

The day-to-day things

2008-08-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

So many delightful/disturbing things have happened on the farm in the last week that I hardly know where to start.

First - we saw some of neighbors wrangling a stray herd of cows... in their Chevy truck! It was a very disturbing/delightful sight, with a lot of whoopin and a-hollerin out of windows... *sigh*

Next - we saw two of our other neighbors wrangling a stray cow... on horseback! This was purely delightful... *sigh x2*

A few days later - I ran into about 25 loose cows hanging out in the yard of an abandoned house off of our driveway... it was a bit disconcerting, but mostly delightful. *sigh sigh sigh*

After that - we saw a 6-8 foot black snake crossing our driveway in the middle of the night (thankfully we were in our car)... this was not delightful in the least, but VERY disturbing. *shriek*

The Olympics are over - after many nights of excitement, patriotism (SHOCKING) and many tears from me during the inspirational Visa commercials... seriously, I've been a weepy mess for the last 2 weeks... darn good advertising those Visa folk have - so now we're enjoying Netflix and rotating between the entire collection of the James Bond movies, Freaks & Geeks marathons, Jane Austen films, and Fred/Ginger evenings... this has been entirely delightful, and almost never disturbing (except for when I'd weep at the Visa commercials and medal ceremonies). *sigh shriek sigh sigh sigh sigh*

No new pictures at present.
Come visit us.

-the Birds

Secret Project # 1

2008-08-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody...

This past week Hadassah and I took on a secret project in preparation for a large get together we hosted at our house. We knew the dining table we had would not even come close to accommodating the close to 20 people we invited, so we decided to put our arms to good use and build a table that would fit more than four people around it...Here are some pictures chronicling our adventures in the land of woodworking.

After borrowing some plans from a DIY website, we went to Lowes and bought all of the wood we needed. We had the fine chaps at Lowes cut the big pieces for us but the rest of the sawing and sanding was left up to us.

While we were at Lowes I tried to convince Hadassah that it would be much easier if I bought a power saw to cut all the wood so my arms wouldn't " fall off" while sawing all the wood. After the initial shock and look of absolute horror and fear for my safety left her face we decided that the tools pictured above would be the safe route, and thus the one we went with.

After we cut and sanded it all my faithful wife stained all the boards.

After the stain dried I went about assembling all the different parts.

We were pretty proud once it started to look like a real table.

And here is a shot of the finished table in our dining room. About an hour after I got it all set up in the dining room people started showing up for our get together. It was a good thing we had the giant table too, we used it for Dinner, board games and then Breakfast the next morning...Project# 1...Success...

God Bless

A&H

and the journey begins.

2008-08-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hello. We hate blogs (or at least the word "blog"), but we've given in and we're going to have one anyway. Congratulations to the internet, you've managed to steal that much more of our souls from us.

Welcome. Enjoy. It wont be quite as great as actually living on the Friendly Arctic Farm of Love, but you can enjoy it vicariously, eh?

Allow us to introduce you.

This is our farm. It may have droopy ceilings and uneven floors, not to mention wasps and large spiders, as well as smelly closets... but we love it. It's 90 years old and comes complete with rockers and fireplaces... it's a great home. Come visit us.
These are our neighbors... quite literally.
Come visit us.

This is our driveway... at exactl 0.9 miles long, it's a good morning workout. Also comes complete with abutting creek (completely dried up at present, due to drought), a flattened and rather large snake (Andy's afraid of it so we can't take walks at present), lovely sprawling fields, an abandoned house (anyone in the market?), and... well, it's just lovely.
Come visit us.

This is our river, the Piney River... well, it's not really ours, but we do have our own private path down to it. And there's a lovely spot for swimming nearby. And so far, no snakes.
Care for a swim? Well then, come visit us.

And this is Lewa. She loves it here. (and she's gorgeous).
Lewa was so happy when she realized she had a yard - she bounded about like a Gazelle (or maybe she was mocking the goats, who are a bit frightened of her... although not too frightened to snort, sneeze and stomp at her if she doesn't maintain a healthy respect and keep away). Anyway, she's deliriously happy, after being cooped up in an apartment, as you can imagine.
Lewa would like us to communicate to you, in lieu of her quit drab typing skills (having paws and all), that she would like you to promptly come and visit us.

Thank you for spending a few moments with us.
We hope you received the not-so-subliminal message to come visit us.
Right now.
Seriously.

Thanks.