Abigail Christine

This pregnancy has been easier in some ways and more difficult in several others. Easier because I knew what to expect...the growing pains, the movement, the poking and prodding. Easier because I didn't have to go through the gestational diabetes processes, yet knew what to eat to maintain my health and was able to gain minimal weight. I feel like I have a fairly good idea about what childbirth and after will be like, despite "every birth being different," as I am regularly told by others. I feel good about all of that.

What some know and some don't is that last fall we had a miscarriage that resulted in two surgical procedures. I felt great when pregnant with David...never sick. I knew something was wrong when I felt sick all of the time, and then the bleeding started. I was diagnosed with a "blighted ovum" and told there was never a baby there. It was hard. We had just told family and then had to turn around and share the bad news. Women don't talk about this stuff, but as soon as I did start telling people, friends, family members, and strangers came out of the wood work to tell me that they shared in my experience. That is all a story for a different time, but my point in writing it here is to say that because of that experience, it made this pregnancy harder.

Every twinge, every time I didn't feel good - was scary and stressful. I have been so much more uncomfortable this time around, and haven't slept in what feels like weeks. I bled for the first 10 weeks. We only told our parents and my principal so I could go to all of my necessary appointments without too many questions. The first time we saw the heartbeat and saw our little baby on an ultrasound we both felt so relieved. At 12 weeks, we finally shared with the world the good news. 

At 18 weeks, we found out that this little baby is a girl. David was so excited! As long as he has been aware of "brother" or "sister" he has been telling us that he is going to have a sister. Thank goodness that worked out because I cannot imagine the 3 year old levels of disappointment if we would have announced baby was a boy!

Picking names is really hard for us as teachers. More often than not there has been a student with "that" name that we would prefer not to share names with our own children, we want something Biblical, something strong as an adult, but something cute as a kid. And something that teachers can pronounce at first glance (Lord knows our last name isn't easy!). David is Sam's middle name, King David in the Bible, and James of course has Biblical roots and is Sam's dad's name. David James Schlaich. And so far, we have avoided nicknames! For our baby girl, we have chosen Abigail Christine. Abigail was actually King David's wife in the Bible and a very well-respected and honored individual, and Sam and I both have a love for US History and feel like Abigail Adams was a very smart, strong woman. Christine is my middle name and just seemed to fit. But don't ask David if you can call her Abby! He will tell you that is NOT her name! :) We plan on calling her Abby for the record...

In the last two weeks, my blood pressure has slowly crept up and so yesterday my doctor made the decision to induce early. We check into the hospital Monday going into Tuesday at midnight, and should have a Halloween baby! At my ultrasound yesterday, she gave us the perfect "Thriller" pose...Halloween was meant to be! Monday I will just be Mom - I get to take David to preschool, make sure my house is in order, tuck him in that night at my parents' house, and then Sam and I will go to a late dinner just the two of us. We did the same the night David was induced and it was a special time for us. And during my 6 weeks of leave after she is born, I get to be Mom to both of my kids. I get to volunteer in David's classroom and take him to school. I get to be a more attentive wife. I get to cook better dinners for my family. I am so excited!

I know there is a lot of change coming our way, but I couldn't be happier. "For this child we have prayed." After everything last fall, I feel like Abigail is truly an answer to ALL of our prayers, and the three of us cannot wait to become four! Abigail Christine...you are already so loved and your village is ready for you!

Baby No. 2 here we go!

Greetings family and friends!

I can't begin to tell you how many times I have logged into this blog thinking that I should update, but then get side tracked or there is something more pressing I need to get done, so I click out and here is sits...neglected and not at all up-to-date! In fact, it has been over a year since the last post. I plan on trying to remedy this over the next few months. A couple of quick updates since our last post:

• The house in Airway Heights sold and we have bought a 1956 brick rancher "fixer-upper" in Cheney...closer to my parents and Sam's work...
• Sam now works for the Cheney School District as an elementary music specialist, the Jazz 2 Director at the High School and the Visual Caption Head/Instructor for the Cheney High School Marching Band.
• I am in my second year as a Principal Assistant in Spokane Public Schools.
• David is 4 and started preschool this year - he LOVES it! We are working with him to "be David" and not copy other kids' not so great behavior, and most of the time he does really well. His teacher really likes him and we enjoy reading his communication journal each week to see what he is up to. Usually has something to do with his great communication skills. :-)
• And last but certainly not least in the "major updates category..." we are expecting baby number two to arrive any day now...due in just three short weeks on November 10th!

So, even without listing all of the small things that we have been up to, the big things are BIG and have been BUSY with everything going on. Busy of course is not a change! Hoping to post another update later today or tomorrow about our precious baby on the way and how amazing it has been watching David get ready to be a big brother!

That's all for now folks!

~Heather

Green thumb?

I'm so excited! My garden is growing! I am totally flying by night here...no research...just seeds in the ground. Our parents have had gardens and recently Sam's dad expanded and up until recently my mom even had a greenhouse. Not me...just my two list planter boxes!

This year I planted green onions, radishes, carrots, spinach and bush beans. They are all coming in beautifully! We will be able to have a home grown salad! 

I will need to do research here soon because I think something is eating my bush beans. 

If nothing else, my flower pot is still alive!!!

The Schlaich Way

The Schlaich Way:

Every three years since we have been together we have had major changes. We were together for three years when we got married, bought our first home and I changed jobs. Three years later, Sam changed jobs, we sold our house and bought our current home, and shortly after had a baby. Is everyone seeing a pattern here?

We know that many people will think we are crazy and wonder what we are doing. But, in the Schlaich Way, big changes are coming to us once more. We have thought long and hard and have done research and more thinking over the past few months...I would even venture to say past year, about what our future holds and came to the following conclusions:

I recently accepted a position in Spokane schools as a principal assistant. This is confirmation that I am only a month away from graduating with my administrative certificate. My job situation could change but that is a step forward. So...new job - check. 

Knowing that my loans will come due and I do not have a job lined up that pays on the administrative pay scale, along with the lack of safe feelings in our neighborhood, we have decided to sell our home. We love our house, and if we could transport it somewhere that we didn't have to call the police regularly for illegal activities, we would. David's safety is number one for us and this neighborhood has not turned out to be what it was supposed to be. We knew it was not our forever home so it's okay. The house is on the market and we are patiently waiting for it to sell. We have looked at a few houses (temporarily downsizing in order to achieve our five year plan/goal) and we are fairly happy with what we are seeing in the market (and shocked at the other half of the market we don't like!). Buy/sell house - check. 

There is no number three right now and no number in the works. We are good with that. We are excited to see what the future holds and are proud of our decisions and in doing what is best for our little family, even when the path is not always the easiest. :)

Aaaaaaaamen!

One of my favorite things that David does is say his prayers. I can say that this isn't something we really worked hard to accomplish with him. We didn't practice or push him to do this. We have been saying the Lord's Prayer every night at bedtime since the day we brought him home. About 6 or so months ago he started trying to say it with us. Now he can say the whole thing on his own! We've added some additions since he was able to say the prayer, including some blessings on family members (and Dawg, because who could possibly forget Dawg!?) and the closing sign of the cross, complete with gestures. Maybe more than loving watching David say his prayers at night is knowing that he WANTS to say them and reminds us if we forget! It truly is a beautiful thing seeing such an innocent child, one who does not yet know evil, pray to God who is good.

Our Father, who art in Heaven

Hallowed be Thy name. 

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses 

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil. 

Amen. 

"God bless Mommy and Daddy,

God bless my grandmas and grandpas,

God bless my aunts and uncles,

God Bless my cousins,

And God bless Dawg!

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Aaaaaaaaaamen!"

A picture is worth a thousand words...

To the untrained eye, it probably looks like the cup of hot chocolate was meant to be the focus of this picture. To be completely honest, originally that was the intent. A facebook post perhaps about how David went to bed fairly easy tonight and that now I could sit down and just enjoy the cup of hot chocolate in relative peace. I couldn't really get the "picture perfect" picture with all of the other "stuff" lying around. That's when I thought a little more about it all. 

• Yes, the cup of hot chocolate is significant because I am sitting down, enjoying my relative peace. When I first poured it (it is the cheap Swiss Miss kind fyi) the smell evoked amazing memories of camping at Eagle Lake and getting up early to go fishing with Dad and Grandpa or sitting around the fire waiting for them to come home from their fishing excursion. The smell is so comforting somehow. 
• In the back you can see Dawg's kong toy. Tonight we took him for a walk for the first time in ages because it is finally warm enough to take David out, too, without too much trouble. We were all happier for it. I'm grateful the weather looks nice for tomorrow so we can go out again. 
• The toy train on the couch is David's. Well, actually it is a very gracious friend's who let David borrow it after hours of fun with their train table yesterday. Remind me to buy one of those asap. Talk about peace! That kid was totally engaged and independently playing. IKEA here we come!
• The pillow is catching my eye. The tag on the pillow actually. It's just bothering me. I will have to turn it over before I go to bed. 
• The blanket envokes  feelings of comfort and warmth. It is perfectly weighted and soft. Makes me want to cuddle up with a good book...ah a book. Haven't read one for fun in ages. Looking forward to some of that over the summer when the sun is shining and we can go out back for David to play. 

Really though, that picture looks like clutter and a mess with stuff just laying around. But the cup of hot chocolate keeps me in my place for just a few minutes tonight...just long enough to think of happy things and the beautiful life we have, the two of us with our perfect little boy and amazing Dawg. Clutter or not, this picture tells a story of comfort and love. 

~Heather

Menu Planning

A month of trying to work off of a planned menu has just ended. For the month of January I decided to plan out all of our dinners and buy groceries  based on a very specific list. I didn't know how it would go, but wanted to at least give it a shot. We wanted to save some money (little trips to the grocery store always add up to at least $50) and I never know what to make for dinner so this seemed like the perfect experiment for our family.

Here are the results:

Cons:

• It took about two hours to plan our dinners for the month and make the grocery list.
• Our schedules often change, so on nights I thought I had time to cook, I really didn't, and that meant I didn't follow the plan and things got mixed up.
• Because of those schedule changes, we really didn't finish the month well.

Pros:

• I felt GOOD planning - I am a planner so it was a huge success to just sit down and write everything down.
• We saved a lot of money not  buying out as often and not making as many small trips for extra ingredients, etc.
• On nights we were able to stick to the plan, Sam was able to get things started before I got home and we ate dinner at a decent hour. This led to dishes getting done earlier, and us having our evening with David and then ourselves once he went to bed, without doing as much work.
• I tried new recipes! It was my goal to try 3 new recipes. It was really fun!

My plan moving forward is to create a list for about 20 meals (leaving room for some busy night where we eat leftovers or go out), and to just have the shopping done so that we can decide what to do the night before. That might help with the change in schedules. I think it was totally worth it - despite the initial planning time - because it saved a TON of time in the end. :)