Wings

We had an exciting event at our house this morning, a journey that began about 10 days ago left the ground today, and took flight. Ten days ago, Erin excitedly ran into the house with her newest pet discovery, a monarch caterpillar. We fixed a jar with leaves, a stick, and some water, hoping to keep the little guy alive until he made his cocoon. We expected it to take a while, but overnight, he started into the process. David saw him wiggling around while hanging from the lid of the jar, but didn't think much about it. When we checked later, the little green, pepper-esque chrysalis hung by a thread from the lid of the jar. Erin was pretty excited, and we continued to check it over the course of the next 9 days. Last night, David and I were inspecting it, and noticed it had changed color, and that we could actually see the beautiful wing pattern through the walls of the chrysalis. This morning, Avery came downstairs and was cold, so I picked her up, and she exclaimed "I see a tatterpillar! A tatterpillar!" She pointed to the jar on top of the bookshelf, and I saw the beautiful creature hanging from the lid, completely unwrapped from the blue cocoon.

I sent Avery upstairs to get Daddy and Erin, and we all quickly dressed and hurried outside to release the amazing orange and black masterpiece.

The butterfly was a bit nervous to fly, so we just let him spread his wings a bit, and get his bearings. He crawled on David's finger and Erin's arm (until she couldn't handle the tickling anymore), and then David set him on some leaves so he could choose his own flight schedule.

We all came in to eat breakfast, and Erin hurried back out to watch him. Half an hour later, she came bursting into the house with the exciting news of the first flight of her monarch. It was an exhilarating morning at the Rahija house! One of God's huge miracles wrapped in a small package!

Three Weeks or LESS!

We had our 37 week ob appointment yesterday, and came back with little to report. Baby's heart rate was 147 bpm, my bp was 124/72, and I am still measuring 1 cm smaller than I "should" be measuring on my belly. Next week, Dr Peck will start checking for dilating and effacing, so we have another week to wait and see what's going on in that department.

I think we have a name we like, which is a relief to me! We also have diapers and the carseat washed and ready to go, so I feel prepared in a way.

Grandma Gerstenkorn says we have to wait until the 24th to have this baby, Rachel says we need to wait until August 4th, and Grandma and Grandpa Rahija will be gone from the 25th to the 28th, so they have put in a request for either before or after that timeframe. However, Dr. Peck is back from his vacation, and aside from being off for the weekend, he said he's here for the duration, so we're just going with his schedule :) Any other scheduling requests will be considered, but probably ignored (especially if this baby is anything like her two big sisters!). Thanks for your prayers and support! We can feel it!

Erin's Firsts

Erin is turning into quite the big girl these days. Her sixth birthday is just around the corner, as is the first day of Kindergarten! She is very excited about this, and just a bit apprehensive. She seems to be in a pattern of "growing up" lately, as I was informed that she was too big for splashy baths, and preferred to shower by herself, and she could take care of the hair/body washing, as long as I was close by in case she got soap in her eyes. I secretly suspect that she really was just tired of Avery's little habit of sticking her little hand into butt cracks - this is actually quite unpleasant! However, we have tried to respect her wishes, and as time allows, she is showering like a big girl.

Another first is her transition away from training wheels on her bike! In under a week she and daddy mastered the tricks of balancing, pedaling, and steering simultaneously, and now they are bike-riding buddies. She LOVES to go fast, especially down hills (as does her daddy!), and asks David to go out riding from the moment he opens his eyes in the morning until bedtime, it seems! This mostly pleases him, except when he is hot and tired :)

The last "first" I have to share is the loss of her first two teeth! According to her, one day, she was chewing on a tumble weed stem that had a little "notch" in it. When she pulled it out of her mouth, her bottom left tooth caught on the notch, causing some initial looseness. Later that evening, we went to Pizza Street, and while biting into a soft cheese stick, the tooth wrenched more loose. She cried as it hurt some, and thankfully she didn't have a mirror, because there was some bleeding. Mommy has a bit of an issue with teeth, so lucky for me, while I went up to refill my drink, Erin reached in and just pulled the tooth out, wrapped it in a napkin, and shared her "surprise" with me when I returned to the table. She was so pleased, and shared her joy with anyone who would listen at Pizza Street. The tooth fairy visited that night, and left a quarter, which I have been informed by another adult, is a very low tooth price, but we have a book about the tooth fairy that says she leaves "a coin" under the pillow of her tooth donors, so I think we're okay for now. The second tooth came out two days later, after Erin twisted it out. I fear she views losing teeth as a lucrative situation, and I hope she doesn't try to pull them out before they are ready! Quarters are pretty valuable around here, because they work in the arcade games at CiCi's and Pizza Street! Fun times, fun times!

Pics of the Room

Here's some photos of the girls' new sleeping room. They are really enjoying it!







Avery's fallen off the top once, and one night fell out of her own bed three times - that was a fun night! However, she's quite the climber, and gets up and down off of the top bunk like a little monkey (much to the chagrin of her big sister!).

Sleeping Room Redone

The project weekend was a big success! The sleeping room has been transformed into a periwinkle paradise, complete with new bunk beds, new dressers, new night lights, and happy camper kids. I love it, the kids love it, and David is glad to be done :) If we have time, and I can get it ready, we'd like to do our room too, as I have paint in the garage for it, and rearranging our furniture will help for when the baby arrives and inhabits our room for a while.

We are continuing with the laundry project, and my amazing husband built me a clothes folding table yesterday (thanks to Mark for the 2x4s, from the closet tear-out project!). We can fit two clothes baskets under the table, and two on the shelf, so I can keep laundry sorted easier, and then fold the clothes to take upstairs instead of taking up the baskets of clean clothes that just stay in the baskets and "cure" while we use clothes out of them! I think it feels like we are finally getting this house under control! Yippee! If I can keep it maintained, we'll be doing great! Thanks to all who have helped me in Project Reclaim the House!