The Mixed-Up Adventures of the Merry Mederich's.

I'm a hard worker, but I have always preferred the weekends.  The weekends are busy, but they are usually full of things that I want to do.  Fridays have typically been date night.  Saturday mornings are designated for chores.  The rest of Saturday and Sunday are dedicated to rest and fellowship, both manifest themselves in many different ways.  The problem comes late Sunday afternoon when I get the Sunday Night Blues.  It's not that I don't want to go back to work on Monday morning, it's just that I much prefer the weekend.  On Sunday afternoon I get pretty bummed about having to return to the real world. Since November 3, I've been on something of a long weekend.  I've worked harder on this long weekend than ever before, but it's been so great!  I love being home with Justin and Via, but this sweet time called Maternity Leave is rapidly coming to an end and I feel like I have the worst case of Sunday Night Blues ever!  I su...

It has been way too long since I last blogged, but we have simply been too busy for me to keep up with my regular Sunday Summary.  Hopefully I am now back on track. It's hard to believe that tomorrow Via will have been in this world for a whole month already.  The last 30 days have been hard, but good.  My mom stayed with us the first week after Via was born, and Justin was off work the whole time too. It was great.  Then, my mom went home and Justin went back to work and I was all alone at home with this tiny human.  To say I felt overwhelmed is an understatement.  I was freaked out of my mind!  It was a hard second week.  I didn't quite have the napping thing down, and each feeding was taking an hour.  It was hard for me to tell if baby was hungry, tired, gassy, or just fussy and I felt so inadequate as a mom!  On Friday of the second week my sister, Rachel, arrived for a quick weekend visit and it is just what I needed! ...

On Friday, November 2, Justin and I headed to our 41 week and 1 day checkup.  I had been having consistently inconsistent contractions for days, but.......Still.No.Baby.  My doctor wanted to monitor me and Via for half an hour and was looking for us to score 10 out of 10 points.  After half an hour of monitoring us she only found 6 points - also my blood pressure was much higher than it had been during the rest of my pregnancy.  Justin and I listened as she explained that the placenta may not be doing the best job for the baby anymore.  She looked at me and said, "If you were the type of mom that was planning to have an epidural, then I'd say let's go to the hospital, put you on pitocin, and have this baby."  She went on to say that since we favored a drug-free approach we had two options: 1.  Go to the hospital and be monitored for 24 hours to see if we could make up the 4 points we were missing.  If all looked good, then we could go ...

This time of year always makes me pretty emotional.  Almost six years ago we unexpectedly lost my brother, Ryan.  Now, all these years later, I still tend to flashback to what life was like right before he passed.  He and I were both students at Century College, and we would always get dinner together on Monday nights because I had a break between my afternoon and evening classes.  Having always gone to a small Christian school, it was so nice to have my big brother show me the ropes.  I always remember Ryan, but this time of year is a different kind of remembering, and it's always something specific that sets off the season.  This morning it happened in church when we sang "Blessed Be Your Name."  I immediately flashed back to Ryan's funeral which of course brought the tears on in no time.  "Wow," I thought, "I can't believe it's already that time of year again."  It didn't take long for me to begin processing the idea that my little V...

Via is due in 11 days.  Crazy.  Most babies are born between 38 and 42 weeks, so she could really be born any day now.  Of course, she could also wait to make her debut in another 3.5 weeks or so...Whenever she comes I just pray that she is healthy.  I can't wait to meet this little girl! Plans are coming together for our move up north. Since we want to buy a house just as soon as we find the right one, we decided to accept the Mederich's generous offer of letting us live with them.  This will allow us to not be locked into a lease which is great.  We can start househunting right away and when we find one that meets our needs we will not have to worry about a lease hanging over our heads.  Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom in all of these things! Last Saturday Justin and I participated in a 5k.  I failed to read the fineprint and didn't realize that there was a 1 mile fun walk or a 5k.  Most 5k's I have participate...

This week I have been working on the nursery.  I really should have taken a "before" picture to contrast with the "afters."  For a few months the room was basically a catchall for all things baby.  No order to anything at all.  After being totally blessed at three different showers, Justin and I went out and bought the rest of the stuff we need to have a baby.  Now that we had all the stuff, it was time to get it together.  My favorite part! As I was preparing the nursery this week I kept thinking about Jesus' words in John 14:2, "I go to prepare a place for you."  Even though Via will only be in her Branson nursery for a very short time, it's important to me to have a place for her - to have a functional space where we are equipped to care for her needs.  It was so fun for me to do everything.  As I was enjoying arranging furniture, washing cloth diapers, and folding blankets, I couldn't help but wonder what kinds of things Jesus is doing ...

Last Saturday some of my Branson friends threw a lovely shower.  I believe Adria gets the credit for going with the "About to Pop" theme.  For food they served cake pops (key lime or chocolate, YUM!), jalapeno poppers, popcorn (kettle corn, butter, caramel, and cheese), and pink and orange soda pop.  For party favors there were ring pops, pop rocks, and blow pops.  Everything was terrific, especially the hosts and guests.  There was a point during the shower where everyone went around the room and spoke words of encouragement to me and Justin telling us why we are going to be good parents.  I will always treasure that moment and those kind words, especially when I'm feeling especially defeated.  Another special part of the shower is that every guest filled out a "Dear Via" card.  It was a fill in the blank situation with things like, "I hope you never fear, I hope you love, I hope you inherit, etc."  I can't wait for Via to read the...

It's hard to even know where to begin.  We have been out of town the last two Sundays, so I have not blogged in quite some time.  A lot has happened in the last few weeks.  First of all, we had a splendid time in Jamaica.  We arrived in Montego Bay at about 11 a.m. on Friday, August 31, and we were at the resort, in our suits, and on the beach by 1:00 p.m.  The hotel staff was so accommodating, and everybody seemed to give us preferential treatment due to my big baby belly.  All the guys on staff at the resort would say to Justin, "Much respect, mon!"  Being there and being pregnant was a pretty unique experience.  On Saturday we attended Jack and Stephanie's wedding and reception.  The wedding was beautiful and the reception was mega fun.  Here are a few pics. Waiting for the bride.   Sunset on the beach.   Reception on the boat.   Love this guy and this boat.  So fun!    ...

On Thursday Justin and I will leave early in the morning for Minnesconsin.  We hope to arrive in Osceola by about 6:00 p.m. and get our puppy settled in at the Wisconsin Mederichs.  Very early Friday morning we will begin our two-flight journey to Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Barring any major problems along the way, we should be on the beach by 3:00 p.m.  I can't wait!  We are definitely ready for this vacation.  I'm glad that our good friends, Jack and Stephanie, decided to have a destination wedding, because it is the perfect excuse to get away!  Getting through three days of work this week will be tough, because I'm definitely in vacation mode, but I have a lot to get done between now and Thursday morning.  Once again I feel my crochet skills have improved over the course of this week.  Using one of the books that Grandma Sylvia sent, I tried my hand at following my first pattern.  Previously I had just been using youtube tutorials,...