Update

Things have been slightly crazy in the DeBoer house these past few weeks. I'm feeling a little guilty that Elin is now 2 weeks old and I have yet to post more pictures or updates on how she is doing. It's not that I haven't been taking pictures, I assure you that I have been taking plenty! My lack of updating the blog has more to do with the fact that we have to be out of this house by Sunday at 5:00! Which means that we have had our hands more than a little full with packing everything up, signing papers for both selling this house and buying our new house, and organizing the move. Add to that the fact that we're adjusting to being a family of 4, learning about our new daughter's eating/sleeping habits, keeping up with laundry (Elin's digestive system works VERY well - lots of poop and spit up ~ yay.) and trying to keep a very active 2 year old from unpacking all the boxes we pack up. So, I hope you can understand and extend me some grace for not updating the blog. Believe me, it is on my to-do list. It's just a lower priority at the moment. I'll get around to it eventually... bear with me.

Here's a few cute pictures to (hopefully) satisfy you for the time being. :)

Sugar and Spice

And everything nice... that's what our little girl is made of!

Introducing:

Elin Joy DeBoer!

Arrived May 11, 2011

8:25pm

8lbs 6 oz. 20 1/2 in.

We are proud to announce that Elin Joy (pronounced Ee - lynn... yes, like Tiger Woods' ex-wife) made her debut Wednesday! She is healthy and beautiful and we are just, oh so thrilled with her addition to our family!

To put all the rumors to rest, yes, I was induced... and for purely selfish reasons. At my last few doctor's appointments I had not made much progress in terms of being dilated, etc. I simply asked my doctor at what point would he start talking/thinking of inducing. (I told him how my parents were coming into town and I was starting to worry that my dad may miss out on the birth of this baby if he/she is as late as Luke was) Honestly, I thought he would tell me we'd wait and see... nope. He shrugged and simply said, "let's see when I'm on call.... how's the 11th work for you?" Done deal.

I had mixed feelings about scheduling an induction before my official due date - like I was being a control freak or taking some of the 'adventure' out of going into labor on my own. Matt, on the other hand, was relieved to have something nailed down, especially in the midst of all the chaos in our lives right now. Not to mention that he now had set dates for making sub plans.

Our last picture as a family of 3

So at 6:45 am on May 11 we packed up and headed into Redlands Community Hospital ready and rearing to go! In fact, when I got hooked up to all the monitors at the hospital we realized that I was already having contractions on my own, just not strong or consistent enough to really take notice of - so who knows? Maybe May 11th would have been the date Elin was to arrive with or without the induction. Regardless, she's here! Perhaps eventually I'll update with more of the "birth story" but for now you'll have to settle for a few pictures.... plenty more to come, I promise. :)

Elin Joy - big, healthy baby girl!

Tired, emotional mama and new precious daughter

snug as a bug

Daddy's girl

Countdown

I am officially two days away from my due date so I thought I'd better post the latest baby bump pictures before this baby arrives and I get too far behind on the things of life. I've been feeling pretty good actually, MUCH better than I was at this point in my first pregnancy. I've been able to sleep most nights in my own bed, my ankles still resemble ankles (at least most of the time), I haven't retained as much water - some, but not as much as with Luke, and I'm far less anxious about every little contraction/ache/pain. The worst discomfort I'm coping with is carpal tunnel in my hands, which is more annoying than painful. But if this is the worst of it, I can deal with that! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of #2 - especially now that we finally agree on names (we may or may not have drawn the names out of a hat... whatever works right?) :) We are ready to meet him or her whenever he/she is ready to make his/her grand entrance!

37/38 weeks pregnant.

I wore this to work just after Easter and the students told me my belly looked like a giant Easter egg. Just what every woman wants to hear. :)

38/39 weeks along....

???? to go.

Blur

The last month has been a blur, a total and complete blur. Before any of our loyal blog readers start jumping to conclusions about why that may be, let me set the record straight... we have not had the baby yet. I am a few days away from my due date and feeling pretty good actually, so that's not the reason for craziness in the DeBoer house... at least not yet. :) Lots has happened in the past few weeks. I'm not entirely sure where to start....

About a month ago Matt and I decided to try and put our house on the market. We had been talking and praying about this for a long time. (We are staying in Southern California - sorry all out of state friends/family who were hoping we'd move back to the Midwest...not so. We're just hoping to find a home in Redlands - more central to where we spent the majority of our time) After talking with a friend who is a realtor we decided to go for it and see if we got any action. We spent the majority of our spring break cleaning, fixing, painting, etc, to get our house ready to list. We put our house on the market on a Wednesday morning and by the following Tuesday we had an offer! That's right, 6 days later we received an offer on our house! We couldn't believe it, especially in this market. We figured our house would sit on the market for a few months at least. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd be looking at an offer in under a week! We looked it over, talked with our realtor, friends and family, and of course, prayed like crazy about it and decided to accept the offer. The offer is contingent on us finding suitable housing - be that a rental or a home to purchase - but the buyer wants to close in 30 days. So that meant that we had to hit the ground running searching for a new place to live! And the search is still on! We found a house that we really like - excellent location, great layout, nice sized lot, etc. but needs quite a bit of TLC...ok, honestly it may need more than just some TLC, like some blood, sweat and tears, but we're willing to look past all that and see the home's potential, at least enough to submit an offer. Which is what we did. We submitted a low ball offer and are in the waiting/praying game until we hear back. It is a bank-owned house so things tend to take longer. In the meantime, we have talked with a very generous man from church who is willing to rent us his furnished home on a month to month basis - and include utilities, garage storage for our stuff, and cheaper rent than we pay in our current mortgage! God is SO Good!!

So where does all this leave us now?

We are set to vacate this house by May 31st at the latest and move into the rental. In the meantime, we'll hopefully hear back one way or another about home in Redlands and see what doors God opens and shuts. Oh yeah, and I'll have a baby sometime in there! Just to add one more thing to our to-do list. Do you think we're insane? I wouldn't blame you if you did. There have been times that I wonder if we've lost our minds, especially early on I could not imagine how everything was going to work out. But God is SO faithful. We have continued to be blown away with how He has provided.

Amazingly, we aren't feeling too stressed out or even overwhelmed. All along we have been praying that God will open doors and give us the faith to walk through them. At this point we don't really even know what to pray for except that God's will be done. We know that He is faithful and has blessed us in extreme ways, especially through this whole process. We are continuing to trust Him, knowing that He is in control, He knows what the future holds, and we rest in His amazing love for us.

SO, that about sums it up. Throw in Easter, busy spring months at school, church responsibilities, a trip to the Wild Animal Park, Holland Festival, and being 9 months pregnant... see why the month has been a bit of a blur?