Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Ella Grace! You are such a joy to me. You have an infectious smile and bring many blessings to me and others through your personality. You are too cute for words, and have made me a stronger and better person. I love you deeply!

Here is a brief re-cap of Ella's first year of life.

Month:

1. Sleep? Keeping my food down? These things are unnecessary!
2. I still don't understand why everyone thinks sleeping and keeping my food down is a big deal. But I will smile and enjoy bouncing with mommy and daddy.
3. I cut my first tooth! It then proceeded to go back down. Darn! Maybe next month.
4. Sink baths are the greatest & I also love bouncing in my rainforest!
5. Meh-meh-meh-mama, mmmmmmmmmehmmmmmmmmehmama
   
6. I can roll over! And it is tons of fun! Falling off mom and dad's bed- not so much fun. I also got to meet my Aunt Christina for the first time!
7. My two bottom teeth came in! These things are not as great as everyone cracks them up to be- do you realize how much they hurt?!
8. I. Love. Peek-a-boo.
9. I can crawl! And, I can also pull things off the shelves- SUPER FUN!
   
10. I climbed the stairs on my ten month birthday. I also took my first steps this month! I also figured out this talking thing is kind of fun! De-da-da, de-da-da
    
11. My mom decided teaching me "no" would be a good idea this month. I'm not too keen on that idea, so good thing I have the world's cutest smile. ;) I also got to meet my Uncle Quint & Aunt Chelsey this month!
    
12. I have this walking thing mastered- Mom can barely keep up with me....mwahahaha! I currently have 7 teeth and weigh just over 18 pounds. I am a lean mean running machine!
    

CANNING

Well, these past few months have been filled with sorting, packing, and unpacking. We feel all settled in, so what better way to celebrate than to start canning?! This was my first attempt, and I dived in with both feet. We used the rest of my husband's in-store bonus check to purchase all our canning supplies at Menards. So YAY for 60 "free" canning jars!

This whole canning thing started when my friend was given close to 3 paper grocery bags full of cucumbers. With cucumbers coming out of her ears, I said "hey, I can make pickles out of those if you want." Oh little did I know what I was diving into! Lol I found an easy recipe online for refrigerator pickles, and started slicing away. I realized after making about 40 cups of pickles that they had an expiration period of two months. Great....so I decided to buy canning jars and can them. I THEN realized a large soup pot is not a suitable replacement for a canner. Thus the desperate shout-out to my mother! Thank the Lord for sending her to me to save me from drowning after diving into canning with both feet!



My mom came with her canner, gave me a crash course on Canning 101, and 4 hours later, we had canned pickles (11 pints) AND canned jam! This jam mind you is nothing short of amazing. With apple juice concentrate (NO SUGAR ADDED), strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, lemon juice, and pectin, we made 10 pints of jam.





I LOVE MY MOM. She is a Proverbs 31 woman all the way!

I am hoping to continue with this new knowledge and can applesauce, apple butter, and my dad's famous sweet corn. I feel so domestic and am loving every minute of it!

After searching AND searching the internet for a non-sugar option for canned jam, and finding no luck, I peeled back the label on my jar of no-sugar needed pectin and found an amazing recipe! Most recipes online for non-sugar jam were for frozen jam, something that wasn't an option due to limited freezer space. So, after tweaking & guessing, here is the recipe my mom and I concocted:

8 cups pureed strawberries
5 cups pureed blueberries
2 cups pureed blackberries
10 1/2 TBSP pectin
6 tsp lemon juice
2 12oz containers frozen apple juice concentrate

Beware- this yields A LOT of jam! ;)

Another Catch-Up Post!

Well, needless to say the last 7 months have been life-changing, and a struggle to find some sort of balance between taking care of Ella's needs, and having enough time to ensure my sanity remains intact. It has taken much longer than I anticipated, but we're settling into a routine of sorts, and I have learned to not only function but thrive on 5 hours of sleep. I joke about it, but this is a huge blessing being that pre-Ella if I didn't get an 8-10 hour stretch, my whole body felt like it was going to fall apart....oh how we adjust.

First things first, HAPPY 7 Months, Ella Grace! You bring me great joy! Despite our days of teething & constipation, you still smile....way to work on being content regardless of your situation! ;)




Secondly, what in the world are we up to?! I'm so glad you asked!

Andrew: Andy is currently working full-time at the distribution center at Menards on the West side of Eau Claire. Starting in September, he will be going to graduate school part-time at UW-Stout in Menomonie. He was offered a graduate assistantship in the career services department & will be creating & analyzing surveys for the school's use. He is pursing his Masters in Applied Psychology. This is not a counseling degree. Its something he will use for a career in which he will be doing data driven decision making. Basically, my dear husband is the hottest nerd I know, and thrives off of analyzing things & making them better via the data he has collected. LOVE HIM!

Hannah: For the last 7 months, I've been staying home with Ella, spending time with my dear friend, L & her three kids. Andy jokes around about Ella growing up feeling like the youngest instead of the oldest because of how much those three spoil & fawn over her. Its too cute! Speaking of that family, my friend L is going to work part-time at her husband's office & they have asked me to nanny for them. This is a huge blessing, as I will be able to bring Ella with, and get out of the house! :)

And, another huge blessing is God has provided us with a temporary house! A family from our church is temporarily relocating to PA for the next 2-3 years. They have a gorgeous home, and have asked Andy & I if we will live in it while they are gone. Ummmm, yes please?! God's timing is so perfect! We've been on the look-out for an apartment for the last month or so (as well as a part-time job for me!), and within one week, God not only provided the dream nanny job for me, but also a place to stay that is within our budget, and is far beyond what we even imagined! He is good. He is good!

I hope to update at least once a month...we'll see how it goes, I feel like I go in stretches, I do really great for a month or two, and then no one hears from me in months. I am going to work on it!

Ella Grace Baldwin

Well, after not posting since the end of November, I am somewhat embarrassed, but maybe with the newest addition to our family, I'll be better at posting on a more frequent basis. Hey- one can hope, right? lol

Ella Grace Baldwin was born on December 29th, 2010 at 11:34 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz, and measured 19 inches long. She is beautiful! A lot of you have been asking for details, so here they are:

I started having noticeable contractions at 11 pm on the 28th. My dear husband came home from work at 1:30 am to find me sitting in the chair by the fireplace with a pen & notebook in hand, and the stopwatch on my cell phone ready to go. Most of my contractions were 60-80 seconds long, and by the time he came home were about 7-10 minutes apart. We loaded up the car, called our midwife, and headed north. As we were driving, I remember thinking, "this really doesn't hurt that much, I can definitely do this..." When we arrived at our midwife's birthing center (LifeCircle Birthing & Wellness Center) in Shell Lake, WI at 3:30 am, she told me I was at 1.5 cm and definitely in labor. However, she encouraged us to go home and rest until my contractions were stronger & closer together. We headed to my parents house, and by 7 am, I was contracting every 3-5 minutes and my thinking changed to "wow this is really intense and is definitely painful."

We called our midwife, and headed back to her birthing center. I went from 1.5 cm to 5 cm in 5 hours. Our midwife estimated that I would deliver our baby around 2 pm that afternoon. I was so excited, but at the same time thought to myself...2 pm?! That's 6 hours away! Well, Ella had different plans, because within 2.5 hours, I was completely dilated and was told I could start pushing if I felt up to it. Within half an hour, Ella made her entrance via water birth. It was the most beautiful and powerful experience of my life. Having a natural birth was something I've wanted since the day I found out I was pregnant. I knew it would be painful, and wasn't afraid of the pain, but learning to let go of pain in the midst of a contraction and trusting my body to do the work God created it to do was life changing for me. I never knew I was capable of doing something like this- I am blown away at the strength God gives when we think we can't go on. I am also blown away by my amazing husband who was a rock and a great source of encouragement & comfort throughout labor. I am beyond blessed!

Ella truly is perfect in every way (I know that as her mom I'm a little biased), and has already brought so much joy to Andrew & I. Despite sleep deprivation, figuring out breastfeeding, and poopy diapers, I am beyond content and filled with so much love and joy for our daughter. Andrew and I are so blessed to be parents and are enjoying it very much!

Another Chapter Finished

Wow...I am on a blogging roll!

As some of you know, I've been filling in at our church in the children's department. Today was my last day. I have had so much fun and have learned so much while spending time with and teaching the children at our church. They have truly wiggled their way into my heart...having a child come up to me, grab my hand and not let go, or give me huge hug makes it hard to walk away. However, I am blessed to know our children are going to be blessed beyond measure by our recently hired Children's Minister. She has so many great ideas, clearly loves the children, and has already become a friend. Below are some of the things I'm walking away with from my time with these kids...enjoy!

One day, I asked the kids this question: "If you could ask Jesus anything, what would you choose to ask?"

- I would ask Him what its like to forgive

- I would ask Him what it was like to die on the cross for us

- I'm not trying to be funny, Miss Hannah, but I would ask for a lot of money....like $100.00!

- Ummm Miss Hannah, I'm not trying to be funny either, but I would ask for an unlimited supply of cheeseburgers

The week before Thanksgiving, we told the kids that we had a special snack planned for them. But, the kids were having a hard time paying attention during the lesson, so I told them that if we didn't get through the lesson because of poor listening, we wouldn't be able to make the snack or eat it. Half way through the lesson, I asked the kids to calm down, and one of them cries out in anguish:

"YOU GUYS, THINK ABOUT SNACK!"

One Wednesday night, we were talking about the story "The Good Samaritan." In the Bible, it says a teacher of the law was the first to pass by the wounded man. So I explained this to the kids as a pastor. I said, "after the man had been lying on the side of the road, a pastor walked by. What do you think he did?"

Their responses were:

-He prayed for him

-He asked God to heal him

-He helped him

-He took him to a hospital

"Well, that's what you think he would do, right? But this pastor looked at that man, and crossed to the other side of the road, and kept walking!" To which one of the kids yelled out:

"HE'S NOT A REAL PASTOR! A REAL PASTOR WOULDN'T DO THAT!"

As one of my friends pointed out this morning, isn't it great that they have such a clear understanding of how a genuine pastor should act? Way to go to the parents

who have clearly instilled this understanding of truth!

And last but not least, today we were talking about reputations and what that means in our walk with Jesus. One of the kids says to me: "I've never even heard of that word before!" To which I replied, "well, that's why we're learning about it!"

There are tons of more things these children have said or blurted out in class that have caused me to struggle to not laugh (or at times lose my patience) but later on, have caused me to ponder on the truth of their statements. Sometimes, I think its easy to blow off what kids have to say as unimportant, or rude if it means they interrupted us to say what they wanted to say. But God has taught me a lot about faith and patience during my time with these kids...and I feel I learned the most during outbursts. I finished this chapter today with bittersweet but overall, thankful feelings and excitement for what is yet to come for these amazing kiddos!

Be blessed by the children in your life this week!

Surprise!

Well, for Thanksgiving, I was expecting the usual Baldwin tradition...family arrives around 11, stays for lunch, football, and then helps eat the leftovers for dinner. This year, Andy's Aunt Donna (mine too!) and cousin Sarah planned a surprise baby shower for us! It was tons of fun, and I realized once again how blessed I am by the family we share. Enjoy the pics!

We were pinned with ribbons that say:

"Dad To Be" and "Mom To Be"

Look how happy my husband is! I am so blessed! :)

And, what is a baby shower without
balloons and a banner?

We played this ridiculous (but fun!) game in which we had to sift through
rice and pick out the safety pins WITH rubber gloves on...
do you know how hard that is?!
At the end of about 3 minutes, Aunt Donna called off the game. I
had found 1 saftey pin, and Andy had found 2.

Andy says: "Babe, no big deal, but I doubled your score"

A sample of the adorable outfits & baby gifts we received.
Thank you, Baldwin family!

Pregnancy Pictures!

I do apologize to those of you who don't have facebook...I've been pretty diligent about uploading pictures there, but not here. Better late than never, right?! ;) Anyway, here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

16 weeks
19 weeks...downtown Sault Ste. Marie, MI
23 weeks....heading to a wedding!

25.5 weeks...heading out for a date in EC w/ Andy!

32.5 weeks...attempting to get a good belly shot on my own


33 weeks- girls weekend in the Dells!

I couldn't resist- my tankini is officially too small! LOL!

34.5 weeks- modeling our ADORABLE Pack 'n Play from MJ & Kate :)

35 weeks:
Andy: Hannah- you're smiling kind of cheesey
Hannah: BUT I'M JUST SO EXCITED!


35 Weeks:

Thanks Quint & Chels for the carseat- I LOVE it! :)

I realized at 35.5 weeks that Andy & I
don't have many pictures together....thus the following two photos:

By far my favorite photo so far! :)

35.5 Weeks...pretty much sums up how I feel

35.5 Weeks...only 4.5 to go! Woot-Woot!