Family photos, Craftsmanship, & Special Delivery

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are in month 8.

My ribs and Beckett had a head-on collision last week. When it comes to the baby and body parts, the baby always wins. I can’t prove this, but I think he might have cracked 11 of my 12 ribs.

No one tells you that a 4.5 pound baby can wreak such havoc on an adult body.

I’ve spent the past 10 days in Kansas, with 3 more to go. We had a baby shower here on Saturday (that was faaaantastic), and I’ve taken time before and after to hang out up here. It’s way better than sitting in the 105 degree heat with nothing to do except think about my cankles.

While here, I’ve come across some serious treasures from my past.

First – the awkward Sarah. Unfortunately, I don’t think this is as painful as it gets. There are some better photos somewhere.


This is followed closely by the awkward Sparks family:

Which then prompts several great comparisons made on Facebook, such as Jared as Buzz from Home Alone:

(Too bad Buzz isn’t wearing a cool turtle neck.)

And Father Curt as both Ron Burgundy from Anchorman and Ned Flanders from the Simpsons. I thought both were spitting images of him – so I took the liberty of making (and distributing) a flyer for him to hang around the office at his church:
Hilarious. Such great family photos. It’s a wonder Jared and I were relatively well-liked as children with his turtle neck and my glasses.

Mom and I have been hard at work on a few projects I’ve been wanting to get done.

Project 1: The Fancified Onesies

Even though this is probably overused, I see plain white onesies everywhere with little shapes, animals, etc. sewn on the front. The stores and boutiques that sell them think it’s reasonable to spend at least $20 on each outfit….so we made our own. Hobby Lobby sells some pretty cute fabric and each onesie ended up costing around $2 to make.

Note: if you make some as well, do NOT buy Gerber onesies. They shrink a ridiculous amount.

Project 2: The Mobile

This doesn’t really look cute unless you’ve seen the bedding, but we made a mobile for the nursery out of cardstock and stretchy, stringy stuff (official name) from Michael’s. The colors are going to look awesome when everything gets put together. I may end up spending more time looking at it than Beckett.

Project 3: The Quilt and Blankets

What started as an offer from my grandma to make some blankets as a gift turned into my mom actually sewing them together when Nanny got too tired. Either way, we bought some awesome fabric from Jo-Ann Fabrics and made a few blankets.

If baby B doesn’t really like them, I will certainly use them. I mean, how cute are those dinosaurs and robots?!

I’m to the point where I’m not really loving being pregnant anymore. In the times I’m most frustrated/in pain/perturbed, I try to focus on the miracles and blessings of pregnancy.

A new mom recently told Momma Ned that her pregnancy was really a spiritual time for her. Right after her baby was born, she felt closer to God than she ever had before. The Bible talks about us being “knit together” in our mother’s womb and this new mom could just picture the baby leaving the hands of God and coming into her arms as he was born.

What a cool image, right?

I started thinking about that during church yesterday and I had this image of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit oooing and ahhing over Beckett. I can imagine God (who I still picture as a big, black woman thanks to The Shack) turning to the other two and saying, “Isn’t he perfect? This is some of my best work.” Then, they all take turns holding him and kissing him on the forehead before they tearfully, yet excitedly deliver him to our arms. (It wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they also slipped a little owner’s manual down when they passed him off.)

They must be so proud of their creation – each and every baby. Each and every adult.

Can you imagine? I can. It makes me all misty-eyed just thinking about it.

We can’t wait to meet you, little man. Until then, you just soak up all the oooing and ahhing of your Father.