"Children, you are very little..."

As I sit here in the living room listening to my little one sigh in her sleep, I still can't believe that she's mine. No, not even after she kept Ben and I awake for most of last night. We finally put a warm washcloth with some Roman Chamomile essential oils on her tummy (at 5:00 this morning!) and she settled down and went to sleep...we should have tried that earlier! Maybe we'll try that before her bedtime tonight...

Anyhoo, the request for more pictures has been fulfilled! More to come, so check back soon!

A sleeping angel.

I love how her little hand wraps around my finger when I offer it to her.

"Okay, enough pictures! I'm cold!"
My little girl takes after me and hates to be cold. Her expression after her bath was just too funny not to photograph, though.

All clean and ready for a weekend up at Grandmum and Grandad's ranch.

Check out those curls!

Okay, so I really like her little hands!

"Working" with Daddy so Mommy can take a shower.

My adorable husband after his surgery. He probably doesn't remember me taking this photo. He was kind of out of it...
Nope, no baby in this picture, but this guy is cute, too.

Our little family on Easter Sunday.

Now, back to embroidering Brati's christening gown...
Come back soon for more pictures!

Don't blink...

Wow...I can't believe that one week ago today, my little one, Shapirti (Assyrian for "my beautiful " and my nickname for her) was born. It's been a long week for our little family...lots of new things to learn, to enjoy, and to experience together. I thought y'all might enjoy a few recent pictures...

Nap time with Mama. She's such a cozy little thing!

We had to run out the other night, which ended up being quite the ordeal! Ben realized that we hadn't taken the car seat out of the box yet, I realized that nursing the baby before we left the house would be a good idea, and once we were all finally in the car and pulling out of the driveway, I had another realization...diapers and wipes would be a good thing to take with us! We did make it to our destination and home again without any further mishap.

My...what big eyes you have!

The tail end of a yawn. Her yawns are big enough to be contagious and make me tired!

*sigh* Little fingers...

...and little feet. They don't stay small forever.

Wrapped up in a cozy blanket and catching sleep whenever possible.

A friend of ours made this adorable little hat for Shapirti...no, it doesn't match her outfit. Yes, it totally clashes with Ben's shirt, but she is SO cute in it!

A typical expression after she's done eating. Full, happy, and extremely drowsy.

Uncle Tom had to come back down the hill to hold her. After getting unsuccessful results from his many attempts to wake her up, he gave up. Maybe next time he can see her eyes!

And this is one of my favorites, so far. Morning time with Daddy. These two are just too cute together.

Check back to see more later!

~Tiffany

Introducing: Gus, Shapirti, Elphaba, Hermina, Brati, Yzma......

Yes, for a baby so new, she has gathered a lot of names! None of them are her "Christian" name, as that is still a secret until the baptism. But until then, any of the above will work! 

Now that Mom/Grandma/Amazing Helper has deserted us to take care of her own children, things have been busy!  Between keeping a wife fed and watered, keeping the house clean, and trying to get back on top of work (yes, these two cost a bit to keep alive!), I am a little swamped, so short captions this time! 

Waiting.....

On Saturday, we went to see the national touring of Fiddler on the Roof, which was passing through town. No reason to have contractions at home, when you can have them in a posh theater!  

Grammatic sentence structure weren't not they're strong suit...

A cupcake for dessert!

 Then back to battle. Tiff's view, for 19 hours. 

 A new view...all that work paid off!

The whole family, together at last!

 Doula Jacque. She was a lifesaver! Favorite quote from her: "Relax your body, let your cheeks sink into the bed, let your knees melt into the mattress...."

Having a baby is no reason not to have style. Co-ordinate your toes with the blankets!

Midwife Dawn, checking the temperature. 

Pink and healthy. 

"She weighs what?!!??!" 8lbs 4oz, and 21 inches long. Yikes!

Uncle Nic.... 

"Leave me alone!" She sleeps like her daddy. 

Resting, peacefully. 

Reading time!  We started reading "The Thirty-Nine Steps" before she was born, and we're pretty sure she wants to hear the end.

Eat, sleep, repeat...until further notice. 

Daddy working, while baby watches. 

 Yema oo brata shapirta evat. ("Mother and daughter are beautiful", in Assyrian!)

She has a tongue! A cute tongue!

"Come back and see more pictures of me, soon!" ~ Gus, Shapirti, Elphaba, Hermina, Brati, Yzma

She's here!....

**grin** More pictures soon....

A new addition to the family!!!......

*grin* Oh, you were expecting baby pictures? Nope, not yet. We still have a couple of weeks on that front....

Tiffany has been sleeping on a very sad metal framed bed for much too long. The pain and suffering were acute, so we found a very cute four-poster bed at an antique store, and it followed us home! We just had to take it in, and add it to the family.

Hiding amongst the hats......

Tiffany also has the living room all decked out with new drapes, which she very handily whipped up on her sewing machine. My contribution was whipping out the cash. We are still arguing over who deserves more credit.....

If Tiff had been taking the photo, she would have turned dials and pressed buttons. I got rid of the glare the old fashioned way!

Tiffany's newest creation.

Will the next post be about a baby? Stay tuned.....

"To see things in the seed, that is genius."

It's that time of year around here...the skies have been blue and dotted with what I like to call cotton candy clouds. The temperatures have been scrumptious (68 today), and the days are beginning to get longer. The forecast is predicting rain and chillier weather this weekend, and since we are still in the middle of winter, I'm expecting cooler days to push the beautiful ones out of the way...but they will only make Spring more welcome!

I've never been much of a gardener...a few flowers here and there (and the Tulips that our sheep ate...), but nothing very serious. I don't know what's come over me, but I've decided to really work at it this year and I'm looking forward to watching my plants grow, making my own home remedies, and eating fruits and veggies that come from our garden. But before the glamorous stage arrives, however, there is always work to do....

A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows. ~ Doug Larson

No pain, no gain...that's the quote, right? I spent several hours outside today clearing out the vegetable garden bed. The entire bed looked like the above picture...oh, and Stinging Nettles still sting.

*sigh* Good, clean dirt. A bit on the sandy side, but still, there were a TON of worms in there, and underneath all of those weeds I discovered a good bit of soft soil, and ready or not, I'm determined to make it work! We used an empty bed in our backyard last year, but you can't see if from the house, and there was a bunch of junk in it. So, we'll use it for a different project this year and keep our veggies and herbs where I can see them.

Currently adorning our driveway are the piles of weeds for our compost. I still can't believe how much came out of that bed!

Three varieties of lettuce have been planted next to my rosemary plant. Mmmmm, I'm looking forward to a fresh garden salad!

It isn't consistently warm enough to plant everything outside, and I don't have my front bed ready for my herbs, so the solution: Egg crates! How many days until the plants start coming up? I'll try to be patient...

Speaking of being patient, our little one is due in one month! A few people have requested pictures to see "the bump", so here is one that I got the other day.

Now, off to start dinner!