"I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him"- 1 Samuel 1:27

Introducing Miss Isabella Grace Mitchell.
Born September 23rd at 10:55PM. She weighed 7lbs 13oz and is 21.5 inches long.






Our family of three.

Completed Nursery

The lighting in this picture is really off the furniture is brown and the wall color does not look like that- but this is the view from the doorway of one window and the changing table.


Glider and quilt


My mom made the bed skirt, bumpers, quilt, and curtains for the nursery. We picked out the fabrics together and I love how it turned out.




Thanks Mom!


Her room is ready now we just need to add baby. There is a car seat in my car, baby clothes and towels in my dryer, and baby shampoo in my shower. As pregnant as I feel- ALL THE TIME- parts of what is about to happen still feel surreal. We have our 39 week appointment today. My favorite part of each appointment is hearing her heart beat. I plan to cherish hearing it these last few times as it will be the last times to hear it while she is inside of me. I love her so much! :)

State Fair 2010

It is that time of year again in Oklahoma when the Great State Fair is here! We went this weekend with friends, and I was glad I was able to make it. We enjoyed corn dogs, fried cheese, a cinnamon roll, and chocolate bread pudding. I have wondered if walking around the fair for that long was a good idea, as for the first time the swelling in my feet did not go down overnight. I did stop and sit to rest a few times. I'm sure I was a sight to see being 9 1/2 months pregnant. We caught the end of a dog show and enjoyed some of the other sights of the fair.


One of our favorites the Wisconsin cheese. They had a fancy new trailer this year...I liked what this cow was thinking.


I wanted to jump in that water- but there were signs everywhere that said so swimming so I refrained.


The girls at the fair.

Pivotal Jewels

In January I had this post about a silly fortune cookie, and today I submitted my letter of resignation at my job. I have always wanted to be in private practice. In my original plans, I had thought I would continue working at North Care and slowly build up private practice over a year or so and eventually just do pp. I began working some this summer on getting a practice going, and have been seeing a couple of clients for two months now. With adding a baby to our family, the time I already had scheduled off for maternity leave, and lots of prayer we concluded the timing was right and this was the best choice for our family. I had already planned to take off the next three months or so for maternity leave. During that time I am going to work on some marketing things and getting on more insurance panels. Then hopefully after the new year I will start building up a few more clients.

I always seem to struggle with change and making big decisions. In talking with my mentor this week she said "You know Annaleise, it is moments like today that are pivotal jewels on your path. Enjoy embracing your decision! What a day!"
I thought about those words a lot. Enjoy embracing your decision. Pivotal jewels? After the stress of wrestling with decisions I'm not sure I enjoy embracing them very much. Which is silly when you have made a decision that was carefully and prayerfully made. So here is to enjoying and embracing my decision. Life is changing in many ways, and I want to put more energy into enjoying it rather than looking back and questioning.

Here is the website that Michael has started for me. I am still deciding about the wording and other things I want to put on it that have not completely unveiled it just yet.

Generosity

You may remember the incident that happened at our house a few weeks ago with our door being busted in. The saga with the door went on and on and involved many "discussions" with the company that did work on the door, a stop payment on the check we wrote to them, and statements such as 'you need to make this right'. We were still left with a job that was incomplete. I wasn't involved in the discussions, but it was stressful for Michael. A few days later he got a speeding ticket putting the crowning touch on a terrible, horrible, no good very bad week for him.

We were surprised last week to get a check in the mail for $163. Sounds like a random amount, but it is the exact amount of a speeding ticket that had been reduced from 12 over to 1-10 over and without the double penalty for speeding in a construction zone. A family member had heard about what happened and sent us a sweet card with money for the speeding ticket. We couldn't believe it. How generous!

I have been thinking the past few days about how generous people have been with us.
Michael's uncle came and fixed the outside of our door that was not completed by the original company. He wouldn't let Michael pay him for the supplies or anything. Our family and friends have showered us with gifts for our baby. It is all humbling and overwhelming to think about.

We have talked about ways we can be generous with others- through small or big ways. Being the recipients of the generosity of others it is exciting to think about passing that joy on to others.
Being generous doesn't always mean giving money. Giving the gift of your time, compassion, and talents to others is so meaningful. I encourage us all to find a way to "be generous" this week.

Time with friends

I wanted to spend some time with girlfriends before Isabella came, and so my sister hosted some of my friends over at her apartment today. I forgot to take a picture before we started eating, but the table was really pretty with lots of yummy food.


I also forgot to take a picture while every one was there. I can only remember so much these days!


Heather made cute flower decorations and had a clothesline with some clothes hanging for Isabella.


The adorable cookies she had ordered!

I am so looking forward to meeting my little girl, but life will be very different carrying her around with me on the outside. It was really special to me to be able to have this time with friends. Thanks for everything Sister!


A few days away from 38 weeks...we are getting so close!

Happy 29th!

Happy last year in your twenties Michael!


We celebrated with friends at Mama Roja!


Dominating his candles


Celebration with my family

The weather was cooler than usual on Michael's birthday and OU won their game. It was a great day!

Football time in OKLAHOMA!

Today is Michael's 29th birthday, the first OU game of the season, and we have beautiful weather. I'm not sure there could be a better combination for him!

Michael wanted Chick-Fil-A for breakfast this morning so we ate there and have been doing things around our house before we head down to Norman. I am just going to hang out at the tailgate for a while and then head home. I am too pregnant to sit through the game and I still can't seem to get over last week's sickness. I will miss seeing the opening festivities and the ponies making their runs.

Happy Birthday Michael!



For some reason my OU shirt is not fitting me as well as it did last season...what is that about?!
I will be finding something else to wear! :)

Today's highlight

I have friends that rave about the pumpkin cream cheese muffin at Starbucks that they have during the fall. It has sounded good, but is also 9 WW points! Now that it is September they have their fall items back, and being 9 months pregnant I am not counting points. I went by on my way to work this morning and picked one up. It was really good! Now I will need to refrain from going by every morning on my way to work!

Even though the heat index was near 100 today I felt the promise of fall coming. We had a crazy rain tonight and big drop in temperature. So now I sit by a breezy open window hearing the sounds of the high school football game at Cassady. Life is good.

36 weeks

I had my 36 week appointment yesterday. I arrived 5 minutes late, exhausted, not feeling well, and tearful. Isn't that the person you want walking in your office! Anyway, I left feeling much more at peace and that possibly I can do this for another 4 to 5 to however many weeks. This was my 3rd appointment at the midwife clinic and have felt good about every appointment. You can check out their bios here. The lady I saw the last two times could be my grandmother and feels so very calming and wise. It has been a real blessing to me. Yesterday she validated some of the things that feel really difficult right now and put me back in perspective of why we have made the choices we have for our family. My baby will come in her own time, and that will be what is best for her.

So over the next month-or how ever long I have-I plan to blog about the moments we are enjoying presently and work as hard as I can to relish each day rather than wish for the future. While I will still feel excitement and readiness about what is to come I want to slow down and enjoy now. John Lennon once said "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans". Which I think is sad, but often so true. I don't think it is bad to plan for the future, set goals, and look forward to things. But, as with everything, I think there needs to be balance. Join me in focusing on enjoying your life for what you experience today, no matter how mundane or wonderful, and regardless of if you wish you were experiencing something different in your life.

*Someone can remind me of this when I talking about how I am so over being pregnant, exhausted from being awake all night going to the bathroom and not being able to get comfortable, and complaining about how bad my back hurts from carrying a bowling ball in my stomach. Or maybe you better not! :)