With and For

One of my best friends Tim turned 25 on Saturday and I sent this to him as a birthday gift. He’s coming to visit us next week. Thought you might enjoy seeing one of the ways we get Asher to sleep. Boys got rhythm…

Officially 9 days past our January 25th due date and we’re still wondering when that guy is going to come. Theresa has been doing more resting, more walking, more eating, more peeing than ever before. We’ve gotten lots of good advice on how to naturally induce labor from spicy foods, pinching your achilles heel, pineapple and having sex. (Honestly I can’t even begin to tell you how many people from how many parts of our life and told me to have sex with my wife – hence the delay in posts).

In waiting we are enjoying the extra time for reflection and with each other as just the two of us. I’m still looking for jobs and learning from the 8 interviews I’ve had recently. Perhaps the birth will be tomorrow in which case we’ll look forward to posting more soon. Thanks for all the continued support, encouragement and advice along the way. Our dear friend and doula for the birth Danii tooks these pictures of Theresa this past week. Hope you enjoy, she is beautiful.

Here are some snapshots of our days as of late. There have been many days since we last posted, sorry for those who are checking in. This first picture is of Christmas with my dad (celebrated on the 30th in good Cecka fashion). We wanted to feel this grandson kick and then said something really funny, can’t remember what.

This picture is one of the first ones Tom took with our new camera. Baby is growing. Me in my usual place on the couch. Good season to be pregnant. Winter is good for napping.

We were not able to go to Iowa for Christmas because of the snow storm, which was a real bummer. But the weekend before we stayed there for a couple days to celebrate Tom’s brother, Josh. It was a great few days (all crazy like, in Parks fashion). We saw friends at the Cup (a quant little coffee shop in Cedar Falls-one of the only of it’s kind-frequented by Tom’s good friends).  Another surprise was getting to hang out with one of our staff from this summer, Martha, who is in town from a year in Africa. Martha was one of the first to know about our pregnancy and continues to be a very dear and supportive friends to Tom and I. Tom and his brothers got together for a quick photo with Josh in his graduation gear (what we were celebrating while in Iowa). This was a great event to watch happen in Joshs’ life!  Plus, getting to see the UNI-dome, who could pass up that opportunity? And lastly, another highlight to the winter has been a visit from our friend, Claire, who I lived with before marriage and now resides in Atlanta, GA. She was in town visiting friends and, well I think anyway, giving it another go as a true southern gal stickin’ out the freezing MN winter. This picture was taken just before she left. An afternoon snack of chai tea and stroopwafels (a dutch cookie that is irresistable). We were sad to see her go.

Pictures do tell a lot, but in between all these moments, Tom and I have spent a lot of time together these last few months. A time that we are both really thankful for in this season as we try to get “ready” to be parents and start that next chapter in our life together. Both of us have expressed that there is this dose of mourning the stage in our life that is ending. Inevitably, the mourning is coupled with excitement and anxiousness, which seems to be more of a position of balance/tension between the two rather than one all-encompassing feeling. The support and encouragement we have both received from friends and family has provided for us more than we can express. Truly, they are expressions of the divine. I know as we look back on these days, we will think on how the heck we got through it. And then, remind ourselves that we were not alone, not for a minute, but instead surrounded and supported.

As for the baby, he is doing everything that he right so far. Head down, back out, and moving like crazy. I think he will be a good baby, and if he is anything like Tom and I, he will be a very active little guy (Tom and I both “center stage” kind of kids).

Another big change in our lives is the possibility of Tom getting a new job in the near future. Dunn Bros. has been a great job so far for Tom. But the search for a full-time job continues…and continues. He is a very persistent person (which I have really come to admire in him) and dedicated to finding a job. They are out there, which is great, but so many have a ton of applicants so getting ahead has proven somewhat difficult. We are confident that something will work out soon and will keep you all posted on how it goes these next few months!

I could keep going, but should stop there. We will post again once our baby is born and let you all know how it goes. Thanks for tuning in…

T&T

We’re entering our seventh month and Theresa is certainly glowing and beautiful. Her coworkers (who are mostly single guys in their 20’s) recently commented on “no offense Theresa, but it’s pretty cool to watch you get bigger ya know?”

It is pretty cool. Here are a few recent shots showing off the belly, some time with our friends upstairs, Theresa’s birthday party and at the bottom Halloween… I went as empathy

After 6 weeks of no official work I’m back at it, like an old glove… or apron. I’m working at Dunn Bros Coffee downtown. Hoping this is very temporary but excited and thankful for the work and time spent creating something. I’m enjoying my co-workers and hoping to pick up a few new Minnesota nice catch phrases along the way. Come on by

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Last week, Tom and I visited some of the beauty that exists in Northern MN. These places fill my childhood memories. Some of my favorite memories as a kid were spent here. It is a treat to create some new ones with Tom. But even places like this can be hard to visit when the weather is not quite livable outside. What makes if worth it is quality time with the fam.

Although our stay was short, we did miss home a bit and were glad to return for the weekend.

Somewhere in Wisconsin we visited an organic farm for a day of picking, pulling, cutting, washing, preparing vegetables for a feast that Jim (member of the Porch Community and owner of the farm) wanted to host at the gathering that night. It was a grand ‘ole time. A first for us and definitely worth it. Just being out in the sun all day with our feet in the dirt and our hands in the food we were going to eat. It reminded me of other ways of living that I fully depend on and really know nothing about.

Except, now I know that you can eat the leaves off of beet plants.

“What is that little thing?” Theresa said, “not the umbilical cord, right?”

“No I think it’s his finger, or wait, maybe his leg…” Tom stated inquisitively.

“Nope, nope… that is the penis and there’s his little scrotum, I could say that it’s safe to say you’re having a boy!”

These words confirmed what our neighbor upstairs, Hope, guessed it would be. (She’s now 2 for 2 by the way). Everything looks healthy and our due date is still consistent with the end of January. We couldn’t be more excited and feel more blessed. Bring on the names!

Side view of him in the fetal position. Head is on the right side

Today we celebrate two fun things – my birthday and our friend Rita’s wedding. Woke up this morning to breakfast in bed and a treasure hunt! It was a lot more challenging than I thought but it led to a great surprise gift of concert tickets. One of the best parts of the day however was a surprise gift my wife spent lots of time on – a hardback, bound book with advice from men I love and admire closely and from a distant who are also dad’s – including our own.

Here’s an excerpt of some of my favorites:

“… as the salmon instinctually makes waves up stream to find it’s place of conception so shall you find your inner parent which will spring forth like a tiger when called upon.” – Alex Dow

“Oh yes my son and daughter you will be willing to sacrifice for this new slice of your lives together…” - Ron Parks

excerpt of pic from the book. Parents to be with their dads

“If you want to travel with the baby, 4 months is much easier than 11 months!” – Seth Clarkson

“Know you don’t know what you are doing and that knowledge will free you from having to know what you’re doing.” – Eric Iverson

“Always take time to listen to your child” – Al Cecka

“Being a great father is like shaving. No matter how good you shaved today, you have to do it again tomorrow.” – Reed Markham

So those are a few of the quotes. Thanks to those great guys for their wisdom and willingness to share. Speaking of one of those dad’s we looked outside this morning to see Eric (the same Eric quoted above) who lives upstairs mowing the lawn. He wasn’t alone however… he’s an awesome dad. Here’s a fun picture of Isaiah jamming with dad and helping mow the lawn.