*Ruth 'Alohilani Cater

Little Ruth was born last Friday night - just over a week old now!  What a surprise - we were all (especially me) convinced she was a little boy. But what a gift. Three Little Cater women :)

Ruth was a name we had considered when I was pregnant with Vera.  In high school I heard a life- forming sermon on the book of Ruth, and held it so dear I swore I'd name my daughter that some day [my college roommates probably remember my first-ever email password was Ruthie:)].  When the time came to name our first baby, I had over thought it and Ben wasn't really excited about it.  So this time in the delivery room when the names we'd considered just didn't fit right, I was surprised when he brought it up, saying he really did like the name Ruth.  His dad's mother was named Ruth (and my great-grandmother too), and we like that we can honor the family in that way.

'Alohilani means "brightness of heaven" or "bright sky" in Hawaiian.  It makes us think of God's goodness and beauty, of the Western skies we miss so much - and then it happened to be a bright blue-sky day on the 7th when she was born.

Here are some pictures from the first week.  Soon I'll write up just how Baby Ruth (yes, yes) came into the world.

first meeting, such an incredibly happy moment I really looked forward to :)

 

***

*más house tour

Upstairs!  

I'd had this idea in my head for over a year for the girls' room - inspired by this and this.  We did paint over the blue in our first month here, but then it sat like that with no pictures on the wall or anything until last week. 

I had wanted a more poppy-reddish-orangeish but couldn't find the right one. I actually just went with this gypsy pink because I paid the most for the sample. It's fun ... and bright! They love it and had soo much fun peeling the tape off.

I also wanted to let them each do a square of paint using "tape tricks" - a little art activity we learned at the MFA last Feb.  They were so excited about this!  It was hard to not intervene and give advice, but worth it to have their very own creation :)  I put up the fairy alphabet cards earlier and they do look a little too messy... I love them though and am not sure where to use.  The rug is also a little too busy, but they do like it a lot, playing little games jumping on the colors.  I prefer a cleaner more sparse look but they do really love their room now.

One of their weekly chores is to clean out under the bed, which I wanted them to do before I took a picture.  It's hard to give them a task without them turning it into an opportunity for creative play, ie. bigger mess:

Sigh ... our room.  I would love it to be a peaceful sanctuary, but for a little longer it's going to be a pretty cluttered. I want to keep our guest room for guests at least for a while, and so baby will be in here with us to start.

One dresser was left by previous owners, the other was a freebie on the street. I'll put the changing pad and diaper stuff on mine on the right. Someday, grownup furniture. and pictures on the walls.  This was the color when we moved in - I don't love it, but can live with it.

This is the guest room a couple months ago - some stuff has been cleared out, and more stuff taken its place. I need to move that stuff to where it belongs before my mom comes next week!  No pictures in here either.  We got the iron trundle bed on craigslist too - love having space for people to visit. HINT.

Upstairs bathroom - we also have a half bath in the kitchen. We are so used to having more than one bathroom in the West, but found it pretty rare when we were looking at places here.

*tour de casa

I know some of you have wanted to see a 'home tour' .. I keep trying to get everything cleaned up and perfect to take pictures for that and you know... that's hard to make happen, especially the whole house at once! Also I have been slow to finish upstairs rooms and hang pictures, etc. But anyway, here is a decent little home tour. I even found some before pictures I snuck when we walked through the house the first time:

I love my kitchen and dining room so much!! LOVE them. They get beautiful light almost all day and have such a pretty view out to the back deck.  Cooking is so easy and enjoyable with so much counter and cupboard space.  Since we could never afford a kitchen remodel, I'm so glad it has easy colors.  and I love the gas stove!! I feel incredibly blessed and unworthy :)

Looks like I took this picture in back in November, probably thinking I'd put it up here.  I found this table on craigslist for pretty cheap - we love it!  For nine years we had the little 4-seater bistro table - it's so nice to have a real dining set. The chairs are pretty gross - I just need to get some fabric to reupholster.  They also sold us the little cart there in the corner where I keep placemats, napkins, morning devotionals and homework stuff.  We're hoping to get window treatments at some point and to replace the chandelier which gives a weird orange light in the evening.  Edie's little kitchen hutch is to the left.

This is the little nook off the living room. It's been a little hard to figure out, but it's a nice little space to have.  We got this pull-out couch on craigslist too. We want lots of space for visitors to crash if they need to :)  I kept half of the previous owners' cafe curtains up just because we need something there, but hopefully we'll get something better there soon. I have a hard time choosing something that 'pulls it all together.'

This is looking the other way. It is often really messy and doesn't look very put together, but oh well. Someday it would be nice to have a built-in or a nicer piece of furniture for TV and to keep toys in.

I love our living room as well.  I fretted over whether we should paint this one too, and now that the rooms on either side are gray, it seems to work fine (it's a light blueish greenish).  I still haven't really done much with the mantel - I need a Tamara-type to come over and help :)

part 2 coming soon...

*baby shower

Our good friends threw us a little shower last weekend which was very sweet. We're so glad to have this little family of friends here!

Everyone was fascinated with my tummy.  John asks every time I see him if it's still in there and why :)

kiddie table:

decorating onesies for the bebe:

I don't think Edie has ever looked this princessy:

*36 weeks

Vera took this of me on Christmas day at 35 weeks.  I have to say this pregnancy is so so much easier than the previous two! I would never have expected that but take it as a huge blessing.  By the end of the day I do usually have excruciating back/rib pain, crazy water-retention induced sock lines, feelings of claustrophobia, occasional shooting pain down from my hips and a short reserve of patience, but on the whole I'd say I still feel decent. I'm even sleeping pretty well - well except for the cold.  I've had this crazy cold the last week which made for some comically miserable moments - like when I was battling through back pain while reading bedtime stories and the dry heat from the fire Ben started just didn't agree with my sinuses. My whole head seized and I could barely take a breath. I just sat there and started crying while Edie put her arms around me and tenderly gave me little butterfly kisses on my shoulder. I want to remember that - something about being mothered by your own children.  It's also pretty comical when I have to put on my snowboots - holy cow, I get a huge contraction every time.

I can't wait to meet this little one!  We all tap my stomach and tell it to kick once if it's a boy and twice if it's a girl :)  I had an ultrasound yesterday and the technician guessed [yes they are often way off] that the baby is only in the 42% right now - kind of excited that I may have a baby smaller than 9 lbs!  We are starting to narrow down names - something we had settled much earlier with V and E.  It's crazy thinking I may never [most likely stopping after this one] feel a baby moving inside me again - one of my most favorite things ever. Such a sweet, happy secret you carry :)  Anyway, I took out the bin of "little baby things" for the first time today and made a little stack of burp cloths and receiving blankets. We haven't set up the crib yet or assessed what we need.... I borrowed a lot in Utah and many hand-me-downs have run their course. Thankfully I've learned you don't actually need much.  I'm actually thinking pretty positively even about the new baby stage.. I feel like just maybe I will be able to handle it better this time?  I'll know the crying phase will end, the other child will eventually adjust, that I do not need to get any projects done or feel pressure to do anything but hold and nurse the baby and love my big girls [they'll eat too].  Maybe I'm in denial. I will say I am a little nervous about labor .... yikes. At least that one is over relatively quickly!

Anyway, those are my thoughts in these last weeks.

*navidad 2013

We really had a wonderful Christmas and week prior with Matty and Melissa here. I'm bummed because I ordered photos from my phone and then deleted them before I uploaded to computer, so I just have a few.  I'll find more somehow and add later...

I'd say the highlight for me was just spending time with family, lounging about and watching the girls love our visitors - makes us wish all over again we could just live close enough to do that anytime. Another highlight was the Christmas Eve service at our church - such a great, solid message, absolutely beautiful music and then a walk back through Boston Common - getting the girls excited that Santa was out there on his way.

Christmas Eve:

Normally I would say something like this is ridiculous and corny and takes away from the message, but our pastor really did an amazing job captivating the church with an excellent sermonette.  This is Ben who volunteered to open one of the gifts on stage - he "won" a pretty awesome flashlight : )

Matty took this of us on the way back from our night out [no kids]. We looked around the Boston Public Library before drinks [a super fancy bubbly water for me] at the historic Fairmont Hotel in Copley Square, then a cold and rainy walk down Commonwealth Avenue to the Eastern Standard near Fenway Park for dinner.  Loved it : )  

I love a fancy old hotel - especially at Christmas time!

Italian pastries in the North End:

these two LOVe Melissa, totally enamoured : )

our backyard:

Lobstah feast at home - turned out well!! boys did all the work, I made coleslaw.

hermanos:

I'll scrounge up more photos...

*Eloise

I hate to write this, but would rather just get it out there so you friends know... I haven't wanted to talk about it much. Last week Eloise was taken from her hutch by what was probably raccoons, though there were also coyote tracks. Matty had caught some checking her out the day before, and it just makes me sick and so sorry that I let this happen. She did spend that night inside, but then was out again during the day. I should have brought her in in the late afternoon, but just forgot and we think it happened in the early evening. Thankfully there was no trace of her and nothing to really clean up, except her destroyed cage.

We are all pretty devastated - this is the first family pet we've lost and I'm sure you know how incredibly special she was to Vera, and all of us. It's definitely been a teaching moment about life and death and grief, and we're thankful that this first experience was with "just" a pet. It is such a sad and horrible thing to have to break news like that to your child. It brought so many memories of my own bunnies who I loved dearly and who mostly died tragic deaths as well. I know it's not necessarily Biblical, but I don't mind telling Vera that Eloise is in bunny heaven hopping around with my Louie and Muffy. The whole thing really brought more understanding to her little soul about death, and she expressed herself that she wants heaven with Jesus "where there is no more dying or being sad." A combination of a genuine care for sweet, much-loved Eloise, hormones and a terrible cold have made me a mess too. Edie of course has no idea what it really means that Eloise died and talks about it with such bluntness - we just ignore her :)

 Anyway, that's our sad news.