Earthen Vessel

Summer Update...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:22:00 +0000

I have lots and lots of pics and video from our awesome summer! Once again we don't have internet at our house so I will be putting up posts when I am able. I am able to check my e-mail at my parent's house and every once in a while I will take the computer to Starbucks to use the free wi-fi there. Plus I am having too much fun being outside so I'm not doing much on the computer anyway! :) I promise I haven't gone away!

Oh summer...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Here is a little picture of what I have been up to! :)
I am just letting everyone know that we are now in LA after spending a week in Montana visiting Ruh's aunt and uncle and hiking in Glacier National Park. On Friday we will be heading from here to the High Sierras, Mammoth and Yosemite for more hiking! Most of my mom's side of the family will be in Mammoth so it is going to be a lot of fun! Once we get home to beautiful Western Washington I will be posting LOTS of pictures and video!

Daniel 1 Month Old

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Daniel was one month this last Sunday July 12th. I can't believe it's already been a month! He is really starting to fill out his skin! :)

Little Video of Daniel Camping

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Here is a little video of Daniel camping. It isn't that exciting but he is pretty cute! :)

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Daniel's First Camping Trip

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:17:00 +0000

So we haven't had internet for a while and it is getting pretty frustrating. So I am writing this post at Starbucks using the free wireless with my registered Starbucks card. I get 2 free hours everyday. Of course I won't be coming to Starbucks everyday to use the internet but I figure once a week is good. Daniel is at home with Daddy and I am getting a little time to myself. And Starbucks is a pretty nice place to go on the internet if I do say so myself. How many people can say they have a job that they enjoy going in to work even when they are on maternity leave?! All the girls are really excited to see me too but a little bummed I don't have Daniel with me. I have brought him in once and I will bring him in many more times I am sure.

But anyway, we went camping in the Cascades with Ruh's parents and my sis-in-law Ruhiyyih this past week. We made a bed for me in the back of our Rav4 and put Daniel in a Rubbermaid container to sleep in next to me. He and I stayed toasty and it made those middle of the night feedings a lot easier not being in a tent. The first couple of days were a little difficult and I was wondering what in the world I was doing but then I adjusted and it was a lot of fun. I am so glad Daniel and I went and I can't wait for our next camping trip.

Just a little video...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Here is a short little video of Daniel! He has the hiccups. He got them all the time when he was in my tummy and it seems like he still gets them all the time now! :)

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Daniel

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Right now our internet is down so I can't post updates! I am at my mom's right now so I thought I would use her computer to let everyone know. I will have more pictures and the whole story up soon! :)

Daniel Robert Dannells

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 01:16:00 +0000

This morning at 1:30am my water broke and I went into intense labor with contractions about 2 minutes apart. We rushed to the hospital and Daniel was born via c-section at 4:46am! He is 6lbs 8oz and 19 inches long. We are both doing good! God is so good! More pictures and the entire story to come! :)

Lemon Skirt

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Yesterday I made another skirt. This one is the same as the apple and pear one I made before. This was the third time I made this skirt so I whipped this one out pretty quickly! I also made a hair tie to match. I just love this fabric. I guess I am in to fruit right now too because I made the apple and pear skirt and now the lemon skirt. I also have some brown fabric that has more pears on it I plan on making this skirt out of. :)

It was very relaxing to spend a couple hours yesterday morning sewing after the day I had on Wednesday. I felt like I was able to unwind for a little bit. I was pretty sore and tired. My mom and I did a little shopping yesterday afternoon and I was walking a lot slower than usual. I have one more skirt I want to make before Daniel arrives on Tuesday because I have a feeling once he arrives I won't be sewing for a little while! :)

Turn, Baby, Turn and False Alarm

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:39:00 +0000

This last Tuesday I had my weekly doctor visit. For the past 9 months my doctor visits have been pretty uneventful. But this week the doctor did an internal exam and discovered that our little Daniel has decided to be heads up rather than heads down. He did a quick ultrasound to confirm that Daniel is most definitely breech. So he scheduled me for a version the very next morning. This is where he manually would try to turn Daniel by pushing on my stomach and maneuvering him around to the right spot.

My mom came with us the next morning and we had to be at the hospital at 7:30am to get checked in and have all my vitals taken. They put two little monitors on my tummy, one to monitor Daniel's heart rate and one to measure my contractions, which I have been having for a while now. We could also hear Daniel's heartbeat and it was just beating away as it should be. They put an IV in my hand but didn't actually hook me up to a bag or anything. It was just a precaution in case something went wrong or I went into labor and they would have to a c-section right then. I was given a shot of medicine that relaxed my uterus so it wouldn't contract while the doctor was trying to turn Daniel. The side effect of the medicine was feeling jittery and when you haven't had anything to eat since the night before (in case of emergency surgery) it wasn't a very good feeling and I felt a little nauseous too.

At about 9am the doctor came in and they did another ultrasound to see exactly how Daniel was positioned. The doctor showed me on the screen that Daniel was practicing breathing and his little lungs were going in and out. He is getting ready to be out here with us! That was neat to see.

The nurse stood on one side of me and the doctor on the other. They gooped up my whole stomach really good with ultrasound jelly. The doctor place one hand low on my belly and the other hand up high on Daniel's head. The nurse held my hand they told me I would feel a lot of pressure. The doctor started pushing really hard and at first all I felt was pressure which I can handle but then I started to feel some really sharp pains. I said something and he stopped for moment to let me relax and then he started again and again I felt sharp pain. He told me I was just feeling pressure but I told him that I was definitely feeling sharp pains. So I took a few more deep breaths and tried to relax my body. I tried doing the lamaze breathing technique I learned in the birthing class and it helped me to calm down but then when he started pushing again, this time even harder, the sharp pain felt like a knife cutting through the inside of my stomach and I let out a cry of pain and the doctor immediately stopped. He said he was not going to continue because Daniel was not moving and it shouldn't be that painful for me. He said that when they try to turn the baby a lot of times once they start the baby will just easily flip all on his own but sometimes the baby won't move at all and there is usually a reason for that and he doesn't want to force it especially if the baby is in my pelvis. He also said that sometimes the shape of the pelvis can cause the baby to be stuck.

They cleaned me up and hooked me back up to the baby heart rate monitor and Daniel was doing just fine. The doctor went to find the c-section schedule to see when they could schedule one for me. The nurse told me all kinds of exercises I can do at home to try and get Daniel to turn on his own. He is pretty stuck in there but I am still going to do the exercises just to see if he might turn.

They have me scheduled for a c-section this coming Tuesday the 16th. Which is Daniel's actual due date! I had friends and family make predictions of when they thought Daniel would be born about a week ago and no one predicted his actual due date! But there is still a chance I could into labor before then and I would go in and they would do a c-section. And there is a chance, a small one, but still a chance that he might turn on his own and we could have a normal delivery.

So after a very exhausting morning we headed home. That afternoon I went over to my friend Ruth's house and Hannah Waldock and Hannah Clark came too and brought their little ones with them. Ruth set up the kiddie pool in the back for Gabriel (3) and Tirzah (3) to play in. We enjoyed a relaxing visit and the medicine they gave me to relax my uterus wore off and my contractions started again. We were sitting around the table and I got up for some reason and looked at my chair. There was a little moist spot where I had been sitting. I made a comment and Hannah C. looked at the chair and said, "Did your water break?". I went to the bathroom and things were pretty moist but there was no big gush or anything. So I went back and sat down again and a little while later I got up again and once again there was the moist spot. The girls told me I should call the birthing center to see what they would want me to do. I am Group B Strep positive so if my water breaks I am immediately to go to the hospital so they can give me antibiotics. The birthing center told me to come back in because I had had a version that morning and maybe it was ruptured some membranes. So it was back to the hospital.

I headed home to grab Ruh and we dropped Daisy off at my parent's and picked up my mom. Ruh and my mom were sure we were going to have baby but I wasn't convinced. I said it wasn't going to be anything and they would send us home. They hooked me up to all the monitors again and after a little while a doctor came in to give me an exam. I had never seen this doctor but he had to do the exam because my doctor was busy. Oh boy, I wish my doctor had been the one to give me that exam. It was extremely painful and it lasted so long. I started cramping really bad and it was just unpleasant all around. And in the end they didn't find any amniotic fluid and they sent me home.

(So I had to include this picture because I thought it was hilarious!)

Needless to say I was exhausted by the time we got home and was very glad to have that day coming to an end.

All the pictures are actually from the second visit to the hospital that evening. My mom said she would just delete all those pictures she took but right before I went to bed I checked my e-mail and she had sent out an album of the "False Alarm". I am glad she kept them because technically this has all been part of the process of Daniel being born.

So I will keep on updating but right now it looks like he will be born via c-section on Tuesday June 16th! I was hoping to be able to experience a natural childbirth ( I still may be able to) but as long as he arrives healthy I am fine with whatever way he needs to come out! I know the Lord is in complete control!

My new favorite website...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 03:08:00 +0000

Okay, so I just found my new favorite website! It's amazing! It's www.morecloth.com. You simply go to the website and click on one of the color bars and it will show you all the fabrics in that color range on sale on Etsy! You must try it! Say it with me, "FABULOUS!"! :)

Baby Bunting

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:33:00 +0000

I have been busy getting Daniel's room all ready for him. I have been washing and putting away all the wonderful clothes we have received from baby showers and washing bedding, blankets and receiving blankets. I bought some Winnie the Pooh prints and framed them. I spent some time on Ebay looking for Classic Pooh stuffed animals to find all of the Winnie the Pooh characters. I didn't find all of them but I did find some. But there was one wall left in Daniel's room, the biggest wall I might add, that was completely bare. So I started looking for ideas.

Well, I was browsing through a sewing book when I saw a picture of a bedroom and above the bed was a string of homemade bunting. It was a "eureka!" moment and I had found my idea. So I went to Joann's and found two different fabrics I thought would go good in Daniel's room. I didn't need to buy very much, just 1/2 yard of each. So yesterday and today I spent a couple hours cutting out and sewing. I was going to do each fabric as triangles but then decided it would be fun to have two different shapes. I cut out 8X8 inch squares of fabric and then folded and sewed them. It was so simple and easy and now that empty wall isn't so empty.

I am going to take more pictures of Daniel's finished room very soon and post them. There is one more little craft project I am making for his room first.

Baby Update

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:11:00 +0000

No Daniel yet! My due date isn't until June 16th but one can always hope he will come early. My last appointment was on Tuesday and I am 1 cm dilated and having very early labor contractions that are not painful at all. Most of the time I hardly even notice them when I am up and doing things. This week was to be my last week of work but the doctor told me to take this week off because my feet and ankles are swelling pretty bad and four hours is too long for me to be on my feet. I work at a drive-thru Starbucks and there really is no time to sit down. I do get a 10 minute break in there but he said that just wasn't enough.

My little guy is still moving around like crazy. They say a baby's movement should slow some at the end because they are running out of room. Not Daniel! I am sure he is running out of room but that's not keeping him from stretching, kicking and punching (and he likes to punch my bladder and other areas down there that aren't so comfortable!). He has dropped and his head is down so he doesn't do flips anymore but he is still moving. It's too cute when he stretches his legs out because it pushes his little bottom out! I love to sit there and pat it when he does that. I'm thinking I am going to have my hands full especially when he can start crawling and then when he starts walking!

Early Thursday morning I went in to the emergency room with a severe migraine. I had called the 24-hour nurse and she told me to go in just to get checked out and you really don't want to take any risks when you are pregnant. It was one of the worst migraines I have had. I can usually get in the shower or put an ice pack on my head to take the edge off the pain but nothing was even touching this one. They took my vitals and then hooked me up to an IV. They gave me an anit-nausea medication which relieved my nausea instantly. Then they gave me a narcotic for the pain. The first dose took the edge off the migraine but didn't take it away so they gave me another dose. The doctor said the only way it would effect Daniel is to make him groggy so if for some reason he had been born right then he would have been loopy but it wouldn't harm him in any way. Well, not my son! He was still moving around like normal! See, another example of how much energy my little guy has! He was drugged up and still moving around! I'm sure he was feeling the effects of the medicine but that didn't stop him. So anyway, they kept me there for a little while to watch me and then they sent me home. Needless to say I slept better than I have in months! I am really hoping and praying I don't get another migraine like that while I am pregnant.

I have my next appointment this Tuesday and he will check me again to see if I have progressed at all. I know you can stay dilated at a 1 or a 2 for a while so I am not expecting anything, I am just hoping!

Handmade Baby Gifts

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:00:00 +0000

I love all things homemade. There is something about the fact that someone took the time to create a little something by hand that makes the gift that much more special.

Linda Christensen always makes a adorable fleece blankets to give to new little ones.

Here are onsies Barb Lewis made for Kyra and Daniel. She simply bought plain white onsies and then added her own little decoration to them. So cute!

And here are the bibs I made for little Kyra.

A Baby Shower

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:55:00 +0000

Last night Ruth Rogers and Hannah Clark put on a baby shower for Hannah Waldock and I at church. Hannah W. was in Bangladesh when little Kyra was born so the church wasn't able to give her a baby shower until now. It was so much fun having a joint baby shower. Especially since she had a girl and I am having a boy. Everyone got to giggle over boy clothes and girl clothes. My mom did the wonderful devotional and you can read it on her blog Overcomer. My mom is amazing!

At the beginning we played a game and Hannah and I were the only participants. We had to close our eyes and allow different baby food to be put in our mouths. Then we had to guess what we thought the baby food was. It was sometimes rather disgusting but it was fun and in the end I got two wrong
(though technically I got three wrong) and she got three wrong so
we both got a little prize.

Here's little Kyra!

And here's Daniel all ready to come out and play!

Even Kyra's big sister Tirzah received a few presents.

Daisy enjoyed looking at all of Daniel's clothes. I think it is starting to sink in that she has a little brother who is going
to be here very soon! :)

Here is Ruth's little Leo and Hannah's Billy. What would a baby shower be without babies around?! You can view the whole album of shower photos (taken by my mom) here!

Thank you Ruth and Hannah for a lovely shower!

What in the world is that?!

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Wed, 27 May 2009 03:00:00 +0000

It's my new best friend, of course! All pregnant women in their last trimester need one of these! Being at the end of my pregnancy it is becoming more and more difficult to put my socks on in the mornings I have to go to work. (On my days off I just slip on some flip flops.) I was telling my mom just how hard it is and she got all giddy and asked me if I wanted to borrow this thing. (I don't even remember what she called it.) She proceeded to pull out of a dresser drawer this little contraption. She bought it after she had hip surgery because she couldn't bend to put her socks on. You simply slip the sock over it, then holding onto the straps you slip your foot into the sock and pull the straps which pulls the plastic part out of the sock and "magically" your sock is on your foot without you ever having to bend over! Now that is FABULOUS! Thanks mom!

The perfect alternative...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:00:00 +0000

So yesterday I made the simple skirt I have been wanting to try! It was the easiest skirt I have ever made! And it is perfect for after Daniel is born because all I have to do is open up part of the waist band and tighten the elastic to keep it fitting properly. And don't you just love the fabric? When I saw it on sale at Joann's I had to get it. My mom asked me the other day what was the one thing that I really enjoy buying for myself and I immediately said fabric. I actually spent a couple hours the other day online just looking at fabric. A horrible waste of time, I know, but I got a lot of cute ideas.

Here you can see the hem I sewed on the skirt. I didn't want to do a plain straight stitch so I chose the swirly stitch. I also chose to use yellow thread instead of blue so it would be a little more noticeable.

And then I made a hair tie out of the extra fabric. It ties into a bow at the nape of my neck. I have two more fabrics I bought at Joann's and I am going to make two more skirts just like this one. I don't like wearing shorts in the summer and skirts are so cute I think they are a perfect alternative!

Lookie what I bought!

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Sun, 24 May 2009 00:47:00 +0000

So I decided to go ahead and buy the Robots Collection fabric bundle I found at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics Etsy Shop! Her price was actually the lowest that I could find online for that fabric. It will be arriving in the mail next week. I am thinking I will make a romper or two for Daniel and some bibs like the ones I made for Gianna and Billy. I also bought the Red Letter Collection fabric bundle from her as well. Isn't it fabulous!? I am so in to ducks and birds right now especially retro looking ones.

With the Red Letter Collection fabric I am thinking I am going to make some kind of tote bag. I found this very simple idea at Made by Molly's blog and I love it! I have the pattern for a tote bag almost like this one in the book I bought a little while ago called Romantic Home Sewing by Christina Strutt.

But I have so many sewing ideas I want to try that my mind is spinning so I need to just pick one and do it! So right now I am working on a simple skirt that if all goes well should take me no more than 30 minutes to make. I plan on having it finished this evening and I will make sure to take pictures and post them! It has a simple elastic waist band that can easily be taken in as my waist shrinks after little Daniel arrives. Well, let's hope it shrinks! :)

Lots of sewing projects and lots of posts to come, especially posts of little Daniel when he finally gets here! Only three more weeks to my due date, June 16th, but my mom thinks he will come on the 12th. And he can't come between the 6th and the 9th because my best friend Hannah will be out of town then and I want her to be able to come to the hospital. The only one who knows for sure is the Lord and the day He has picked fits into His perfect plan for Daniel's life. So I must be patient and he will be here when he gets here!

Annie's Scrumptious Chicken Thighs

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Sat, 16 May 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Here is a recipe I came up with after seeing several different recipes like it and then adapting them to make one all my own. These chicken thighs are perfect served cold to take along on a picnic. Or they can be eaten warm right out of the oven. To make them a little healthier than the other recipes I removed all the skin and excess fat from the thighs. One recipe calls for butter and oil to be put into the mustard mixture but I left out the butter and only added about 2 tsp of canola oil.

Annie's Scrumptious Chicken Thighs

12 chicken thighs (skin removed and all excess fat)
1/2 cup French's mustard
4 garlic cloves finely minced
1 tbls dried rosemary
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt (the mustard has enough salt in it already)
1-2tsp of canola oil
About 1 1/2 cups of dried bread crumbs
Fresh lemon juice from about 1/2 a lemon

1.) Preheat your oven's broiler. Place the chicken thighs in a baking dish and sprinkle with fresh lemon juice. Put under the broiler for 5 minutes, remove, turn over and place under broiler for another 3 minutes.
2.) Mix together the mustard, garlic, rosemary, pepper, salt and oil in small bowl. Brush (or use your fingers) the mustard mixture all over each piece of chicken then roll in the bread crumbs until evenly coated.
3.) Place back in the baking dish and back under the broiler for another 5 minutes until the top of the thighs are slightly browned. Then turn down your oven to 400 degrees and cook another 10 - 15 minutes until the juices of the chicken run clear.
4.) Eat that night for dinner or put in the fridge and take them on a picnic on a beautiful sunny day! :)

Totally disgusting...but I want one!

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:46:00 +0000

I was watching an episode of Paula Deen's Home Cooking and she needed to separate some eggs for a scone recipe. Well, she pulls out this little pot that looks like a man's head and puts her eggs in there and pours out the egg whites. Well, guess where the egg whites came out of...his nose!!!! I was laughing so hard! She had a good giggle over it too. So I searched for this egg separator online. Here is a picture for you amusement (and hopefully not your disgust!).

Fabulous Fabric

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:21:00 +0000

If only I could add fabric to my Target baby registry! I found this fabric at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics' Etsy shop. (She also has a blog I really enjoy browsing.) I was trying to think of what I could make for Daniel with these fabrics and I came across another wonderful blog, Sew Liberated, and she has sewn an adorable little romper for her baby boy. But alas, these fabrics are a bit out of my price range and the pattern Sew Liberated used costs nearly $16! I could buy quite a few baby clothes with the money I would spend on fabric and the pattern that I don't think I could justify it. So I went hunting online for a cheaper romper pattern and found a Simplicity pattern on e-bay for $4.00. Now if only this fabric would go on sale. Joann's is having a great Memorial Day weekend sale and even if I can't find this exact fabric there I am sure I will still be able to find another fabric I like. But I do think this fabric is just fabulous!

Mother's Day

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Mon, 11 May 2009 01:35:00 +0000

We had a very relaxed Mother's Day and we spent it at my parents. We all sat around the kitchen table to eat lunch and then my mom, Ruh, Daisy and I enjoyed a rousing game of "Oh, Heck!". I am so happy Ruh has finally learned how to play so now he, my mom and I can play whenever we get together.

We also took some "mom-and-me" photos and since we didn't get a family picture on Easter this year like we normally do we went ahead and took one today. I never realize how huge I am getting until I see a picture of myself! But at least I am getting huge because I am pregnant and not just because I am eating too much!

I am 35 weeks along and don't have too much longer to go. I can't wait for little Daniel to be here. I feel like I have been pregnant for so long and sometimes I wonder what it will feel like to not be pregnant anymore. Honestly, I bet I'll miss it! But that's okay because I want to have three or four more after Daniel. :)

Baby Bibs

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:11:00 +0000

This past Monday we had a double baby shower at church for little Billy and little Gianna. They were both born on March 16th. It was fun having a shower with a boy and a girl because we all got to squeal over little boy and girl clothes. I really wanted to make something special for each of them and I found a pattern for some baby bibs in a sewing book I bought recently, "Bend the Rules Sewing". I really enjoyed picking out each of the fabrics. I can spend hours looking through the fabrics at Joann's. I wanted them to have a retro/vintage look to them. I only took pictures of the ones I made for Billy since I had already wrapped the ones I made for Gianna. I love that they have the little snaps on them. I was going to use velcro but the snaps are so much cuter and they won't stick to the baby clothes like velcro can. I also enjoyed making the little tags to put on the packaging. These bibs are so quick and easy to make and just so cute. I plan on making a bunch of these for my little Daniel for when he arrives (in about 5 weeks!). :)

Computer Problems

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:35:00 +0000

Hi everyone! This is just a quick post to let you know we are having computer problems. I am at my mom's right now using her computer. For some reason our computer is not letting me on blogger so I won't be blogging for a little while until we get it figured out. I will probably come over here every once in a while and put up a post or two. I can still read everyone's blogs and leave comments it just won't let me edit mine. WEIRD! :)

Remembering...

iloveruh@yahoo.com (Annie) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:45:00 +0000

I found this video on one of Gabe's fellow soldiers' myspace page. It is in memory of all the guys who died in Gabe's Company. Gabe was the first one killed and he is the first one on the video. (Remember to pause my music player on the left hand side of my blog so the audio doesn't overlap.)

A co 2-3