Our Son is 2!

Lots of things happening this summer.  Henrik turned 2, we are expecting another baby and in the video below Henrik predicts what the gender is (you have to listen close)! We will not know till September 30th (my due date). It is too cute!  Doug and I have had so much fun watching him grow.  He is getting so big.

Just thinking about him makes me smile really big.

The way he laughs.  The way he says boaths, bubbleths, buckths, momths, the way when we pray for who we are thankful for he says “Dadda”.  How he wants to make friends at the park.  His love for all of his family.  How he says his cousins names in the most random moments. Ice cream, digging (lots of digging), and gator rides with grand parents, crackers with great grandparents, hand holding and leading around  Auntie DD and Uncle Dic (Nic).  Wheeler rides at Bucks and Grandpa's house. The way he has to build with his Legos, houses with lots of holes in them. The way he rides his bike with so much confidence, but he has sea legs.  The way he will just come and jump on you if you are sitting on the floor.  He mumbles, mamma, dadda, mamma, dadda when he plays with his toys.  How he wants to be rocked when he is tired, and held by his mom who is very pregnant!  His love for food... more and more food.  He loves his blue and yellow submarine in the bath as if he lived on it along with the duckies that fit inside. His love for trucks, trains, and MICKEY MOUSE. The way he is silly, funny, and the center of attention.  At first he wanted to talk about the baby, and now he does not even tell us the name he has picked out, which is "dadda" ( he did the first couple of months)..... I think it is his own inside joke. There is so much to this little 2 year old who stole our hearts.  He has a smile that will light up the room. The amazing Henrik..... 

Our Son is One

On this day that I write about Henrik, our son, is turning one years old.  I am reminded of something my husband said to me in the first few days he was born.  I was very focused on the small things,  "Doug you need to hold him to stimulate him to create a bond,  Doug you need to talk to him so he knows your voice, and Doug why don’t you know what I am thinking, don’t you know you can change his diaper."  A few days of this and Doug hugged me and gentle said, “Liz it isn’t about the small picture.  It is the big picture here.  As long as he feels loved by us and he sees the love we have for each other that is what counts.”  So simple and true.  So over the last 347 days when I  have gotten overwhelmed at the to do’s or the go- go-go of  life, I have made sure to make our son feel loved and to see that Doug and I, the people who love him the most, love each other as well.  The big picture…. a real love story.  Because today and always I can’t imagine this without Doug, I can’t imagine this without Henrik, and I know they couldn’t imagine this without me.

He has changed us, he has made us better.  He has taught us so much, about selflessness, love, hope, happiness, the big picture, and the love we have for each other as a family and husband and wife. He is so beautiful, and every day I get to wake up to him.  To see life through his eyes.  He is a part of Doug and I, and I am so blessed to see that grow in him every day. 

July 12  we celebrated the 1 year of life that our son has been with us.  We thank God for every day we get with Henrik, our beautiful blessing, our little miracle.

Henrik you are so fun, silly, amazing, unique, happy, courageous, but timid, loving, easily excited, easy going, handsome, serious with new things,  a quick learner, and so interesting to watch.

Please turn up the volume and watch Henrik's first year of life. Thank you, love always Liz and Doug.

Love You Cards, For any Occasion!

I hope you enjoy this and have fun sending a letter to someone special in your life.  I always love getting and giving cards, they can be so pricey at the store. So here is a free and simple card to print at home.  You have to fill in the inside.  My favorite part!

All you need is a computer, printer with color ink, and paper.  I prefer a cream cardstock 67lb weight, this can be purchased at Staples or Office Max.  I have this cream cardstock on hand, it comes 125 sheets for $5-$10.  Imagine how many cards you can make for this price.  You are going to need envelopes as well, in which ever size you decide to cut this card into.  The cheapest envelopes are at Walmart.  I have 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" envelopes as well as 4 3/4" x 6 1/2" (great for shipping a 4x6 photo) envelopes in bulk for different occasions both bought at Walmart.

Here is the simple design printed onto the paper, for a big card, you can just fold this in half and begin.

For a smaller envelope you can size this to fit.

Cut into it, and before you know it you have a hand made card!

I love how cute this looks sitting on a table.  The cardstock gives it the weight it needs to be able to sit folded on any surface. 

Here is the image to print out. Just slide it to your desktop, right click and select print!

Here is a fun and simple Thank You card.  

Prayer Box

This idea has come back to me.  If you haven’t read Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers yet, it is truly a must read.  Any ways, in the book, I am not giving away anything  hereJ, there is a women who has a prayer box.  She writes down her prayers puts them in a box and then from time to time she goes back to the box to see the prayers that have been answered or the ones that she is patiently waiting on.  I think as someone who believes in God and the power of prayer this would be such a beautiful thing to do and something I am about to start.

So as I was laying in the bath today, I realized God has answered a lot of my prayers.   The prayer that he has answered most recent was to make the weaning process bearable for me.  Now let me back up and tell you my son didn’t take the bottle those first 4 months.  He wanted nothing to do with it.  So there would be days that I would try and for 10 hours he wouldn’t eat.  I felt very discouraged and began to think about when it would be time to wean, how difficult this would be for me as I stay home with him during the day and I would have to be the one to deny him my own milk.  Those days that I would try and things would fail, I would pray to God to give me what I could handle as he grew and would wean.  I remember rocking Henrik, trying to give him the bottle, and him screaming his head off.  I would try to soothe him with singing. I would pray and prayer and ask God to give me what I could handle.   Well he is 8.5 months; I decided and was ready to wean him.  He has taken the bottle with no fuss.  He gets excited to eat and it is truly a blessing to be able to feed him this way.  So as I sit here I just can’t help but think of that prayer, and in God’s own timing he made it all bearable.  I feel so thankful and blessed.   As for any women out there experiencing trouble with breast feeding, the bottle, or your new bundle of joy, remember God is always there to listen. Here is my new pray box, for those prayers worth writing down:)

Tiny Miracles

I don’t know where to start!  But here goes.  I have the most beautiful family. My mom is the strongest person I know. She is someone who has really lived this life. She has a story.  My sister Jessica has her strength, and I love to talk with her. Her stories are little miracles, just like my mom’s stories!  The faith those two walk in will make your jaw open wide.

Yesterday I got a call from my sister.  We shared the most amazing stories of love, hope, and tiny miracles.  Of joy, of real honest to goodness joy that just comes over you.  Here are two of the stories below!

Her story: Well let me start by saying, we lost my dad’s dad this last week and this reminded my sister how blessed we are to have our dad.  My sister decided to grab everything my dad has made the girls and her (my dad who at some point in his life was an artist made handmade cards and rocks with drawing on them) and she set it all on the fireplace mantel.  My sister was out for the day and while she was out, her daughter Ava, 5 years old, asked her grandma for a piece of paper folded the long way.  She without anyone's help and without telling anyone what she was about to do, she replicated one of her Grandpa’s art works from sight (one that was on the fireplace mantel).  She even signed it like he did and everything.   Ava placed it right next to Grandpa’s art on the mantel.   Well Jess still had no idea of this.  The next day Jess was doing something and looked over at the fireplace mantel and saw something next to Grandpa’s hand drawn card.  She looked closer to see her daughter had drawn a replica.  Her heart was so over joyed, she feel to the ground.  She explained it as a joy that overwhelms you, a joy that brings you to tears.  That is all she said. I sit here and think about the joy she had.  I am not sure what she felt, or why she felt what she felt, but I know that as a mom you would feel that your child understands ways to show love, ways to show that she is thinking about you, and at such a young age, what a beautiful gift.  Jess says she will cherish this memory forever.  Here is the art work below:

My story:  While visiting my parents, the last night my mom and I were talking on the drive home. We both brought up my dad and how he loves to talk. He will get you sucked into a conversation and he won’t let you go.  We laughed and laughed.  He is always talking about God.  It is truly a beautiful thing.  One day a long time ago God put on my heart be thankful he is talking about God and not about sex,other women, or pornography.  Be thankful for him!  Well I spoke up that night and told my mom what was on my heart and we both just looked at each other and smiled.  My mom said in the most excited voice, “You Got that right.”  We then headed in to the house went into their bedroom where my dad was laying and my mom crawled into bed with him.  They were so giddy and full of love.  I grabbed my little Henrik and brought him in by them, and laid him on them, and Dad was silly with him and then my mom was silly with him. I grabbed my camera and it is the only picture I took all week of them, but it is a moment I want to cherish forever.  The love my parents have is strong, deep, hard, crazy, and amazing.  We want so much to change people, when all God wants from us is to see the good we all possess.  The picture of Henrik lying with them in bed:

That morning we shared tears, love, and joy.  She reminded me how blessed we truly are!  

Becoming A Mom.

Becoming A Mom.

What an amazing week/month it truly has been.  I have been blessed beyond my dreams.  My little man was born on July 15^th and I am in awe of his features, his love, his little smiles and smirks, the miracle of his birth, and the recovery of my body. Each day I got better and better.

Well I should start by telling the tale of his birthday.  I went to the doc appointment at 9:00am that morning. As I was walking in they called and asked to reschedule for noon.  I accepted, went home and started moving.  I did stairs, danced, and then more stairs.  At 11:00am I felt clear fluid flow in small amounts and knew it could be my water.   I waited it out till my doctor’s appointment and sure enough my water bag had ruptured, the doctor said I was going to be admitted and that he would finish breaking the rest of the water bag in 1 hour.  I screamed with joy, hugged him, and then went into tears.  The wheel chair came to wheel me down to the labor room and I was laughing, smiling, and full of excitement.  People that saw me, said you are the happiest person in labor we have ever seen.  I was not contracting yet and that was truly the reason. 

I called Doug, my husband, at work and told him I was being admitted.  He went home to pick up my already packed bags. Before long, Doctor Reinardy broke my water bag, and then came the contractions.  Two hours later I called for the “oh so needed” epidural and then Doug and I waited and watched TV as I experienced no pain and relaxation.  I continued to dilate and at 6:30ish I progressed to 10 cm.  I started pushing with all my might. He very slowly was making his way out into the world. At 9:00 I couldn’t imagine pushing for too much longer. I looked at the Doctor and asked if he had any suggestions. He said we could suction him out.  I looked at the Doctor, then the nurse, and then Doug and asked them for their opinions. Everyone was quiet and the Doctor said you’re the boss.  I pushed two more times, and then said with authority, “Get the suction.”  At that point they literally broke down the bed and got ready for delivery.  Two long and hard pushes later there he was. 

I couldn’t believe my eyes.  You were so big.  The doctor, the nurse, your father, and I couldn’t believe our eyes. You were so big and beautiful.  I was kind of in a shock.  I was so excited, I did it.  I brought you into the world. I would have done anything for you.  I will do anything for you.  I felt so blessed to have you.  I was so amazed by everything.  What my body was capable of doing.  How amazing you were.  How you had lived in me for 9 months and now you were out living on your own. The blessings came in by the thousands that night. You had all your fingers and toes. You were so precious and hold-able!

The moment that I remember the most, besides the pains of labor, were when you were strolled into our room at 4:00am for your first real feeding. I saw you, and I thought that’s my baby.  He is so beautiful.  He is perfect.  He is a miracle.  That moment I will cherish.  Your eyes wide open, your skin so soft, you were looking at me.  I felt so alive.  I felt as if I was right where I was supposed to be.

Love always,
Your Mom - Liz Bladorn

Oregon or Bust Images from 2012

Oregon we love YOU!

It is truly amazing to look back at where you have been!  Last year at this time a few girl friends and I road tripped to Oregon.  I never went through my images and pulled out the best.  Well today my friends I did just that.  I found favorites and favorites and would love to share them with you.  These were taken in Glacier Mountain, Montana on The Road to the Sun, the Oregon Coast, Yellowstone National Park, and places in between. 

Words from my trip that I reflected on today:

• It truly is amazing how we all see things, but what we take from them, what we each truly see is our own story.   It is our own depth to life.
• Beauty is in everything, we have to seek it!  It is always there.
• Embrace life, look at it with love, as a blessing, as hope.  
• With my camera in hand, I feel so blessed to see so much abundance at once.
• I look back to reflect on what in my life is a blessing.  I love nature and the ways it makes me feel.  I use to think it gave me the feeling, but I too have to welcome it in.