40 Day Renewal

Austin is officially 6 months old today!  What a big boy!  He is happily jumping in his Jumperoo, looking outside, and gnawing on his fingers.  I'm sure we've got similar weather to you, unseasonably warm and beautiful.  We'll definitely be going for a walk this afternoon to soak up the gorgeous rays!  If you were here, you'd see us looking like this walking down the street:

I think I forgot to mention last time about Dave's latest project to help our community.  He is co-hosting, along with our pastors, a 40 Day Renewal series at our church.  It goes through the 40 days of Lent.  You can check out the daily blog here to take part (sorry I dropped the ball, we're already on day 22, but it is never too late to make changes to bring you closer to God!).  While it is about losing weight and regaining health (or whatever changes you need to make in your life - meditating more often, reading your Bible, talking to God, organizing your weeks, etc), it also isn't at the same time.  The bigger focus is on your "Big Why" and the changes that need to be made to renew your focus and bring it all back to God.  We're also diving into what is your Purpose.  Why are you here?  You can read about that at the bottom of each daily post.   Hope you can plug in!  We've got people from all over the world taking part -- it's really neat to see the impact that can be made from what started as just an idea earlier this year.

While the little man is occupied for a few more minutes, I just wanted to upload a few recent videos we took of him.  Hope you enjoy!  He has changed so much since the last round of videos were shared.  And thank you for the emails last week, loved to catch up with some of you guys!  Lots of changes for so many great families in the last year.  :)!  What an exciting spring and summer to come!

 

Austin is about 3 months old here.  This was the first time he really had an all-out giggle fest.  Our friend Justin is facilitating the giggles.

 

4 months old

5 months  -  learning to crawl

  

5 months -- ready for a nap, slap happy

5 months  -  night of his baptism

Baby Schwartz Update

Hi all!

We're at 26 weeks this week.  Baby Schwartz sure is growing up fast!  I am now officially out of all my regular pants.  I'll admit to wearing Dave's shorts most days that I don't have to go out in public.  :)  Here's an updated belly picture that we took yesterday.  Had to laugh again, because we decided it was best to take it outside, in the sun, hence my squinty face again.  Next month will need to remember to do an indoor shot!  It's so cool to feel the little life moving around inside of my belly.  Surreal still sometimes.  And the weeks are just flying by.  Just a few more months to go!  We can't wait!

26 weeks baby belly

Next week we are starting our HypnoBirthing birth classes.  This is the natural birth method we have decided to go with.  I'll be combining it a little bit with the Bradley technique, and they go very well together.  We finally decided on HypnoBirthing for the sheer fact that it focuses on teaching mom (me) how to relax thru the labor, making it safe and easy for both mom and baby.  I've got to say, relaxing is one of my weaknesses, especially when having to work hard at something, so that was my #1 deciding factor on going with HypnoBirthing.  And if you haven't heard of HB before, just know it's not actually "hypnosis," as the name may suggest.  I won't be hypnotized or anything during the birth.  But it's the art of getting your mind to the state of self hypnosis (the super relaxed feeling you have just before you drift off to sleep).  We all enter this state multiple times per day (when we day dream).  Our classes will focus on teaching me how to control my enter and exit into that state of mind while still being in control of my body functions.  It's pretty exciting stuff!  So much more goes in to it, but that's the basis of the philosophy, used for hundreds of years!

For all of you Minnesotans who have been emailing asking for updates and wondering what baby items we need, well I'm finally getting this out to you!  Now please don't feel like you need to get us anything.  You'll see the list below, we have been so so blessed already with numerous items for baby.  What we need is simply your love and support thru the pregnancy and birth!  I love getting your emails and sharing the little parts of the amazing experience of pregnancy with you.  It's great to feel so connected to you all even when we're so far away.  xo!!

What we have:
We've been so extremely blessed with new friends with big hearts both in Orlando area and Charlotte, as well as old friends in Minneapolis.  We have been given some great items in perfect condition that moms were ready to part with.  Wanted to post the list here, in one central place, so everyone is on the same page.  We already have -

Pack-n-Play with sleeper attachment
Car seat/stroller combo
Baby swing
Bumbo
Boppy pillow
Winter jacket/snow suit
Shopping cart cover
Dirty diaper bin
Bouncer chair
Moby wrap (baby carrier)
Set of cloth diaper
Plenty of newborn size caps and mits
Plenty of bibs
and most likely going to get a glider chair from someone on Craigslist

So, as you can see, we have a lot of the big items already.  We are so grateful for all of the support.  Thank you to all who have donated to our family!  We will keep the baby tithing circle going!

What we need:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW REGISTRY

Check our baby registry at Amazon.com.  What I love about Amazon is that you have the ability to check something off if you found it somewhere else.  So please please, our goal is not to get a bunch of gifts or have a ton of money spent on our baby.  We much prefer to have used or borrowed items, not only to cut costs, but our way of staying green.  If you don't mind helping us by keeping an eye out at garage sales, consignment stores, or asking friends if they have any of the items similar to what's on our Amazon list for sale, we would much appreciate it!  If you do find something for us, go ahead on the list and click the "Buying this gift elsewhere" link.  Thanks guys!!  We will happily reimburse the cost and shipping!

Clothes...!  This is something we're not putting on our registry.  Hoping to acquire all used clothes either from garage sales or second hand stores, or a family who is willing to give or lend to us.  Since we are doing an all-natural pregnancy and birth, we are waiting to find out if it's a boy or girl.  So hold off for now and picking out dresses or a lot of pinks or blues!  We're all for neutrals, purple, green, orange, yellow, brown...  Or in general waiting to get clothes for baby until after the birth and we know if it's a He or She.

We will appreciate:

Marshall's gift card
Amazon.com gift card
Harris Teeter gift card

Dave says hi to everyone reading this!  He's doing well both personally and professionally.  His start up is going great.  Most every day we're out at a community event of some sort meeting people and spreading the word of what we do at Family Healing Chiropractic.  His practice is growing and we're so happy to finally be settling into what we've been planning for so long.

I've got to say though, this North Carolina heat is brutal!  It's been 4 straight days of 90 degree weather.  At least humidity hasn't been too bad.  I don't know if it's just because we're used to Michigan/Minnesota summers, but we can't stand to be outside more than an hour!  Monday was brutal...we were at a 10 hour Memorial Day fundraiser event at a local band shell park.  At least we had the shade of our pop-up tent!   Besides the heat in general that day, let me just say it was no fun being pregnant, having to go to the bathroom every at least hour, and only having access to a porta-potty in 90+ degree weather.  That pretty much sums up my Memorial Day experience.  ;)

Also at the Memorial Day fundraiser, The Patriot Festival, they opened the day in a pretty amazing way.  Check out this clip.  Two paratroopers who were wounded veterans dove from high above the band shell and landed dead center of a flag marked out on the ground, surrounded by the crowd of people.  I was hoping to find a full video of the jumps, but all the news stations cut down their clips.  We had forgotten to bring our camera with us on Monday..  For Channel 14, the one I linked, the camera guy was standing right next to Dave and me shooting the entire 10 minute jump.  Too bad we didn't make the final cut, haha.  It was quite amazing to see and experience the paratroopers.  The patriotism in the crowd instantly grew stronger when we saw the red smoke streaming from their backs and the three flags drop down, waving thru the sky.  Such a beautiful tribute to all those who have sacrificed for our freedom.

Hope you all had a blessed weekend!  Take care everyone!

Hello from beautiful NC

Well folks, we made it!  We've been here in Charlotte for almost 3 weeks now, hard to believe time has gone by this quickly.  It took us that first week to really get settled in, drive around our south part of town getting to know the streets, and start plugging in to community groups and find a church.  But we've made great progress!

We started our trip up on Good Friday.  Not the most ideal time to be making a move, but with Dave's end date at his clinic in Orlando and start date in North Carolina, we really only had Easter weekend as opportunity for traveling.  The entire trip from Orlando to Charlotte was about 11 hours I think.  Plenty of stops along the way as baby was pushing on my bladder.. Dave didn't like that part so much "Um...Dave, don't get mad (because this is the third time in two hours), but I have to go..again."  "Now?"  "Yeah, like, NOW.  Next place we see, okay?!!"  Good times, good times.

We split our trip into two days, drove about 8 hours to Augusta, Georgia to see Dave's brother Eric and family.  Were able to spend the night with them and part of Saturday morning.  So great to see them again -- I think it had been two years!  Their girls are getting so big, blossoming into little beauties!  On Saturday, we drove the remaining 3 hours straight up to Charlotte.  Beautiful drive as we entered South Carolina and into North Carolina.  We missed the trees!!!!  Let me say, Orlando (Florida in general) just didn't feel like home without the trees!  NC really reminds us of the UP, just a little bit warmer.  And we like that.  ;)

We stopped at Daytona Beach on the drive up to Augusta.

It was beautiful!

For these first few months, we'll be renting a room from a woman just to help us save a little cash as Dave begins his business.  We arrived and met her, got moved in (it only took us a half hour to get all our stuff moved from our car and put away in our room, ha!), then took a drive around the main part of town looking for natural grocery store options.  Unfortunately there aren't many co-ops here, one thing we miss most from Minneapolis.  There is also, surprisingly, no Whole Foods here!  We were shocked!  There is an Earth Fare, which is a small scale Whole Foods.  We'll be seeking out local organic grass fed farmers soon though.  It's been a while since we had some quality meat products, and Dave is sure missing his chicken and beef!  But Earth Fare will do for now.

Now, what else?  Well, probably the most exciting news is that Dave started his practice pretty much immediately after we moved.  As of today, he's about 3 weeks in.  We had Easter Sunday to relax, settle in, and celebrate all the good things God has done for us.  Then, Monday morning we were at the grindstone.  So far everything is going great.  My job is more of the networking stuff from home, setting up local events and community outreach for Dave.  And he's been doing everything else.  That's what I just love about Dave, he's able to go out and get it done.  He's doing awesome and he is SO happy to finally be living his dream.  I am so proud of him.  He is really in his element and already making a mark in Charlotte.  More news to come on this adventure I'm sure!  :)

I must share a sort of funny story about the apartment we're renting a room in.  The woman has a cat, but Dave and I are both very allergic.  She agreed to give the cat away the week before we moved in, since he was a mostly outdoor cat anyway, she wouldn't know the difference.  The only time she let him in was at bedtime.  So, we said "deal."  The apartment is a great opportunity and the rent was too good of a deal to pass up.  So we began our trip up from Orlando.  Well, we were about 2 hours from arriving at her apartment, and she texted us to say she came home from work to find her BOY cat had given birth to five kittens!!!  haha, for a few minutes we didn't know how to react.  We ended up laughing about it. I mean, how hilarious that for a couple years since she got the cat she thought it was a boy.  What a surprise that must have been to come home to!  Wanted to share a few pictures of the absolutely adorable little ones.  It just stinks for us as we're putting up with the cats in the apartment all this time until they're old enough to be given away.  Counting down the days (and so are my sinuses!), but until then we definitely enjoy their cuteness.

Five adorable kittens with mom.  Four grey & white, one black.

They just can't keep away from Dave!

They love to climb on him, but their little claws don't retract yet and get stuck in his mesh pants or shorts.

Precious!  Wish you could hear their "mews."

And, I think that's about it for now.  Oh, a little baby update..  Dave got to feel baby Schwartz kick for the first time tonight!  Very exciting moment.  He's such a proud daddy!!  Everything is going great, he/she is growing by the day.  I told Dave earlier that today was the first time my belly has gotten in my way.  But, I love it, wouldn't have it any other way.  Being pregnant is a really fun experience, such a blessing.  One more week and I'll post my monthly belly pic.  Right now it's looking like a little basketball.  I'm feeling great, just a little tired mid-day which requires (as I tell Dave, hehe) me to nap for an hour or two.  I actually felt it pretty bad this past weekend while we were out at an all-day event both Saturday and Sunday.  No nap either days, and man was I struggling!  So whenever I can get in a few extra zzzz's, it's a good day.

More in a week!