Sleeping Peacefully

My days right now are spent feeding, cuddling, watching and changing this precious little treasure. 

Little Brett is doing very well and continues to make progress every day. He is between 5lb 1oz and 5lb 2oz right now. His body temperature is great, and he could be moved to a crib if his jaundice levels will even out so that he doesn't have to go under  blue lights for it. The doctor told us this morning that he can go home as soon as he is eating everything on his own, and his jaundice readings level out. Please pray that  that day is in the very near future. He has made so much progress, and we are very thankful for that.

I never get tired of watching Matt with our little boy. He is a great Daddy. 

Father's Day

We didn't plan to actually be celebrating Father's Day in the true sense this year at our house, but wouldn't have it any other way now! 

This guy is the best Daddy ever!! He is so gentle, sweet, and loving with our tiny little Brett, and takes advantage of every opportunity he has to hold and touch him. 

We spent Father's Day afternoon with our little man, and I was even able to feed him his bottle. He was sleeping peacefully when we got there and continued to do so until it was time for his next feeding. Doesn't he look so peaceful? 

A special little card for Matt was taped to Brett's isolette when we got there in honor of  Father's Day. One of the nurses makes them for all the NICU baby parents on special occasions. 

Those tiny little footprints are SO adorable!!! This is one of those cards that will get saved in our keepsake box. It was so sweet of the nurse to take time out of her busy schedule to do that for us. 

Baby Brett is doing well, and we thank each one for your prayers. We really appreciate them! 

Arrival

Brett Matthew McFarland

June 12, 2013

4 lb 13oz.

18 1/2 inches long

Baby Brett made his arrival early Wednesday morning (12:01am to be exact) a few weeks early. We didn't expect him until July 19th, but he had other plans and decided to come at 34 weeks. Mommy and Baby are both doing fine. We are so blessed with this little treasure, and just fall in love with him more and more every single day. 

Brett will have to stay in the NICU unit of the hospital for a week...maybe two... until he gets bigger, but we know he is getting the best care possible while he stays there. 

I will blog more about all the details later, but in the meantime, enjoy some pictures of our little bundle.

Saturday and Sunday

We had such a busy, productive day Saturday, that I didn't take any pictures. We decided to start the day out a little earlier and try to get some things done before it got SO hot. By 11:00 that morning, we had put up a clothesline, mowed the lawn, Matt had tilled the garden, I spread manure over it, and he had tilled it again. By that time it was getting pretty hot, so we came in, got cleaned up, and headed to town.

 Matt had some birthday money and I had a little piano lesson money saved up that we put together and bought a porch swing for our new deck. We had seen it a few days earlier, and had tried it out at the store deeming it very comfy. I had mentioned picking up a couple of lawn chairs, but jumped on the idea of a porch swing instead. In no time the swing was purchased and loaded into the back of the truck, and we were headed home for a busy afternoon after grabbing a bite to eat in town as well as a grass trimmer to keep our yard looking spiffy.

It was our week to clean the church, so that was the next thing on our "To Do" list when we got back from town. We had that done in about an hour, and we headed home and assembled our new swing and the grass trimmer. I hung out some clothes on my new clothesline, and then Matt and I took turns trimming up our lawn. By supper time our dooryard looked amazing. Here is the one picture Matt took of our Saturday activities.

We ate supper out on the deck for the first time Saturday night! It was so beautiful and relaxing out there! I could have stayed there forever! After supper we made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up a few supplies before heading to Dad and Mom's to return their tiller. We stayed and had some ice cream with them, before heading home to grab showers and fall into bed. Not before Matt had cut down a bush near the front of our lawn that was full of tent caterpillars, though. :-) We enjoyed our productive day together, and found ourselves wishing Matt's vacation wouldn't end.

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My ever faithful photographer had his camera ready last night when we showed up at church last night to find a little excitement happening. Somebody pulled into the church parking lot before church last night with their car smoking. Some of Matt's sisters were at the church singing and saw the car pull in, went out to see if they could help, and found the car starting to flame with the lady who owned it trying to beat out the fire with a blanket. Pam tried to call 911, but the phone in the church wouldn't dial through. I'm not sure of the timing of all that happened next, but somewhere in the next few minutes Mr.Jim had been alerted and had arrived with a fire extinguisher, giving it to the lady and grabbing another one from the church to try to help. Also around the same time one of the Sedgwick firefighters happened to be driving by, saw what was happening, and radioed in the fire department for them. The fire did spread to a couple of trees, but by the time we got there, the fire had been put out, and the trucks were starting to clean up to leave. I felt bad for the poor lady, but she seemed to be doing OK, and thankfully nobody was hurt and the fire didn't spread any further.

Day Off

Matt has been working out straight all week trying to get the deck built for us. Even though he has been enjoying the change of work from selling cars, we really couldn't call this week off a vacation because he has been so busy. He decided that he would fix that by not working on the deck at all yesterday, and just having a relaxing day together.
 It was a warm summer day, and we had already decided the night before that we wanted to go on a picnic for lunch on Friday, so we headed out around 11:00 to Acadia National Park to have a picnic on the sand beach there. We stopped in Ellsworth on the way and picked up supplies for a clothesline as well as sandwiches for our picnic. As usual the park was gorgeous, and I enjoyed sinking my toes into the warm sand on the beach immensely. There is just something about a sand beach that is so much more appealing to me than a rocky one.

After we finished lunch, we headed down to the water and I stuck my toes in to rinse off the sand that had stuck to my feet and legs. The cool water felt so good on such a warm day!

We were both getting thirsty, so we headed back to the car to get our drinks that we had left, and we headed to downtown Bar Harbor to do some sightseeing/
window shopping. Matt took me to our favorite ice cream shop there, and bought a cup of creamy ice cream for both of us to enjoy while we wandered around. We ended up going down to the pier and just relaxing on a park bench to watch the boat activity in the harbor.

Somebody's private yacht was in port and we watched as two guys meticulously cleaned all of the chrome, dark wood, and such that the boat was trimmed with. I couldn't get over how HUGE this boat was or how much it must cost to own something like that!! I told Matt that someday we would have one to dock next to this one. *wink*

A cruise ship was also in. This picture doesn't do it justice to show how gigantic it really was!! We could actually see this boat when we were driving around Acadia National Park.
When we were done our ice cream, our adventures took us into many little shops looking at jewelry and whatever took our fancy until we had worked our way back to the car.

Bar Harbor was the perfect place to spend a relaxing day off. It is always so beautiful there, and I could spend days just wandering through all the quaint little shops. Having a whole afternoon to enjoy with Matt was amazing! I've gotten so spoiled with having him home all week that I already don't want him to go back to work on Monday!

Baby Shower

Yesterday we actually got hot summer weather! I was beginning to wonder if summer was ever going to arrive, but it came in full force yesterday. Matt and I worked on the deck (and our suntans) until about 3:30, but by then it was just too hot to continue working. Our labors paid off though, and by the time we got done, we had the railing up all the way around. We just have to put the spindles in the railing now. Matt custom made the flower box that you see in the corner below. Wednesday was a rainy day, so we set up shop in the basement and worked on making one for each corner of that side of the deck. I can't wait to put flowers in them!

In the middle of working yesterday, when I was drenched in sweat and my hair a mess, I got a phone call from Leah telling me that somehow when they were passing out invitations they had "missed" me, and she and Mrs. Bamford and Sarah were hosting a baby shower in my honor that evening! Talk about surprised!! Usually I am a little suspicious about things, but everyone did a great job at keeping this a secret! Matt completely knew about it and had not so much as dropped one clue that there was a surprise shower being planned for us! He just stood there grinning and winking at me as I got the phone call from Leah. :-) I was grateful she gave me a little heads up so that I could get cleaned up from working.
The shower was so much fun, and everyone spoiled little Brett and I rotten. Mrs. Jan Bamford led the games, and she had very interesting ones. She passed around sealed,  unlabelled baby food jars and we had to name the baby food inside. It was much harder than it looked like it would be! Mashed, cooked baby food looks very much alike! :-) We then were given a page with clues and we had to name the body part of the baby that each clue described. Some of those were stumpers for this blonde brain. We also had an M&M guess where we had to guess how many M&M's were in the baby bottle she passed around. The last game was a list of old wives' tales predictions on whether the expectant mother was having a boy or girl. We had to fill in the blank with "boy" or "girl". Some of them were HILLARIOUS!!
"If the pregnant mother sleeps with her pillow facing north she is having a boy."
 "If her nose is wider now than before she got pregnant, she is having a boy."
How on earth did these people come up with these things!?!?!?
Matt's Mom led in a short devotional and went over a couple of names for the Lord that are so very helpful when you need help and guidance in raising children of your own ( or in any situation):El Shaddai, which encompasses aspects of both a father's strong, protective care and a mother's tender, loving care; Shepherd which shows the care and concern and work the Lord puts in to every one of us. With a God like this, we know we can turn to Him in any situation of life and He will be there ready and willing to help us. It was a great reminder to me, especially knowing that this little guy is entrusted to our keeping and he is an eternal being who needs to be taught about the Lord.
Pam decorated the most adorable cake for little Brett and I, and we snacked on cake, fruit, cheese and crackers. Here is a picture of Pam's handy work.

We were so generously showered with presents with everything from baby washes, lotions, and powder; to nail clippers, thermometer, and diaper cream; to baby wipes and diapers, burp cloths, a little quilt, and much, much more. One package of diapers even looks like the baby is wearing little blue jeans when he has them on. When I got done opening all of the gifts, I had things all around my chair so I couldn't move, and that was how Matt found me when he came to pick me up. :-)
Thank you so much to everyone who blessed us with gifts, and to the Bamfords for hosting the shower. I had such a wonderful time, and the gifts were so very helpful in getting ready for little Brett's arrival.

Here is baby and I with all of our presents after Daddy brought us home last night.

Memorial Day/ Matt's Birthday/Deck Building

Matt has this whole week off and we both have been enjoying every minute of it. It's the first vacation he has had in a year and a half!!
 Monday was Memorial Day as well as Matt's birthday, and our day was packed full of activity. We started out the day by enjoying a birthday breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs that I cooked for him. Matt's friend Kenneth came down Sunday night and stayed the day Monday, so he was able to celebrate Matt's birthday with us. After breakfast, Dad and Mom McFarland and Charity arrived to help out with getting started on building the deck out back. The guys went right to work and I worked away at cleaning up from breakfast and visited with Mom, Charity, and April.
Around 9:30 the guys took a break from working on the deck, and we all went to Blue Hill to watch a Memorial Day parade that Jay was in. We met up with Rosanna and Gramp and Gram McFarland at the parade, and we ended up with the best spot to watch the little ceremony Jay participated in in the middle of the parade route. They paid tribute to all the soldiers who had died in active duty by floating a wreath down the river and a gun salute. Then they all stood at attention while the Last Post and the National Anthem was played by the local high school band, before continuing on with the parade. Here are some pictures Matt got of the ceremony.

A few more pictures from the parade.

After the parade, we headed back home and the guys spent the rest of the day working on the deck. It was beautiful day for working and they wanted to get as much done as possible in the beautiful weather. We womenfolk helped out where we could, making a couple of runs to town for supplies and passing hammers, nails, and screws as they were needed. Here is the progress they made in one day.

Around 5:00 the guys called it a day after all of the floor stringers were in place and a few decking boards were laid. We had invited Matt's family and Kenneth to stay for supper to celebrate Matt's birthday, so I fired up the grill, and the girls and Mom helped me get supper on. Jay and Rosanna arrived around 6:00 and we all sat down to a supper of hamburgers, hotdogs, steak, potato and macaroni salads, with raspberry cheesecake for dessert. I realized afterwards that I got so busy cooking and enjoying the meal that I forgot to take any pictures of the celebrations. You'll just have to trust me that there was a TON of food and we all were stuffed by the time we were done! By 9:00 everybody was ready to call it a night and Matt and I headed to bed tired, but so happy with all of the progress that had been made.

Baby Room Prep Part 2

This past Tuesday Matt had some time to work a little more on our baby room. The next step that had to be done was doing some patch up work with crack fill. The people who had the house before us had put chair rail up in the baby's room, but had not done it properly and on top of that had just used glue to attach it to the wall. Of course when I pulled it off, it brought the paint and pieces of the drywall with it. There were also many little nail holes which I'm assuming were made when the previous owners hung pictures in the room that needed to be filled. Matt went right to work and in less than an hour, the first coat of mud was applied and it was left to dry.

I picked up some sandpaper today, so the room awaits my sanding down the rough spots before Matt can apply another coat of mud. Then it will be on to step 3...painting! :-)  

Mothers Day Hanging Basket

Matt and little Brett completely surprised me and gave me a Mother's Day gift this year. I was not expecting to celebrate Mother's Day myself until our little boy is actually here to cuddle in our arms. But when I woke up Sunday morning, Matt presented me with a sweet card from little Brett and a gift certificate to Surry Gardens Nursery.
 I set aside some time today and went to see what I would find to use my certificate on. I kind of had in mind either buying a hanging basket of flowers already made up, or buying the flowers to put together a basket of my own. I also had seen a hanging basket at Home Depot spilling over with peach/salmon colored flowers that was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I  wanted to see if I could find any flowers that might be close to that peach/salmon color.
 I enjoyed strolling through the greenhouses looking at all the beautiful flowers and plants     and came upon a cone shaped basket filled with a mixture of the exact color of flowers I was looking for. However I was not about to pay $40 for a hanging basket, so I resorted to plan B....replicate the basket with individual plants. After making several trips back and forth between greenhouses to compare the plants with what was in the basket, I was able to find everything I needed for a much more affordable price. They didn't have any cone-shaped baskets left, so I picked out my next favorite hanging pot and proceeded to the checkout. This is what I came home and planted.

I tried to get plants that weren't in full bloom yet, but looked healthy and had buds on them, so my pot isn't actually bursting with color yet. I'm hoping they will last through the summer better since I didn't get them in full bloom. Two little plants not in bloom yet will be a little white flower to add some contrast to the peach/salmon, and another plant not in bloom is a duplicate of the small peach/ salmon flower already in bloom.
This may get moved to our back deck when it gets built since we don't have a lot of room on our front porch as it is. We'll see when the time comes. For now I am so excited with how my hanging basket turned out and how cute it looks in the little stand we picked up for it at Home Depot. I have the sweetest husband and baby ever!!! I'm looking forward to enjoying my Mother's Day gift all summer. :-)

Projects with My Man

This afternoon my sweet man devoted some time to helping me with some projects around the dooryard. He started out by mowing the lawn so that I wouldn't have to, and then helped me with a project I was completely at a loss how to do. Last Tuesday he took me to Home Depot and bought me decorative cement blocks to build up my flower garden around the stump on our front lawn. I spent the whole day last Wednesday trying to get the ground level enough so that my rows of blocks would be level, but had no clue what I was doing. By the end of the day I  was farther behind then when I started. This afternoon my man offered to help me with the project and show me how to set the blocks. He went right to work, and what I couldn't do in a whole day, he did in an afternoon!! I carried the blocks one by one to him as he needed them, and he leveled out the soil and set the blocks. In the end my little garden was completely surrounded with the blocks, and I was feeling like one spoiled girl. We love working on little projects around the house together, and enjoy spending the time with each other even more!!
Here are some pics of my man hard at work and the finished product of his labor. Thank you SO much, sweetheart, it turned out beautifully!!

Piano Recital 2013

Every year my piano teacher holds a recital for her students to be able to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the year. She usually has to split it up into two nights to be able to fit all of her students in...one night would be too long. After months of practicing, last night was the night I was scheduled to play. After a busy day of running errands and going to appointments, I met Matt at the dealership and he took me to my recital. It is always so special to me when my man is able to escort me instead of having to go by myself!

The recital was held at a beautiful little place called Peaks Hill Lodge. It is a rustic place, tastefully decorated inside to fit the "rustic" feel.

Here is a panorama that Matt took to give you an idea of what it looks like.
I was scheduled to play 15th out of about 20 students that attended last night's recital, and played a piece called Flight of the Monarch written by Melody Bober. I fell in love with the piece as soon as I heard my teacher play it the first time, and even after having practiced it all these months and memorized it, I still love it. :-)

As you can see my music was well marked by the time I had it memorized and was ready to perform the piece. Mrs. Williams is very thorough in teaching and helping us memorize.

A picture Matt took of me playing from where he was sitting.
The Lord helped things to go very well, and I was able to forget all the people behind me and just enjoy playing my song.

Mrs. Williams and I after the recital.
Matt was incredibly sweet and bought me the dress I'm wearing especially for the occasion.  It made me feel beautiful which is not always easy to do with an ever increasing waistline. *wink* Thank you SO much, Babe!!
Matt's Dad, Mom, and sisters came to the recital too, and we all headed back home shortly after the recital was over, making a short stop for some ice cream before calling it a night.