the village

i know it's a cliche... a vociferously overused one at that... but parenting really does take a village.

a few weeks ago we had a visit with our amazing midwives and one of them remarked on how lucky little adeline is. she said, "in her whole life, the only hands that have touched her have been those of people who love her." not very many people can say that. and it is certainly true for adeline. what a wonder!

every single day i look at this impossibly beautiful child and i think to myself, "there's a whole world, right there, contained in that little body." when she smiles and coos at the ceiling fan or the starkly patterned table cloth or the faces of her parents, my heart breaks a little -- in the best possible way. when she makes that pitiful little face before letting out an ear-splitting wail, i can't help but laugh a little. her biggest tragedy right now is a wet diaper.

i know we can't keep it that way. i know we can't protect her from bumps and bruises and disappointment and heartache forever. and it's not that i really want a problem-free, pain-free existence for her. but if i'm being honest, i'd have to say that this time of shelter and protection and meeting her needs as perfectly as we can is really lovely. and the fact that it is so fleeting makes it all the lovelier.

but we really couldn't do it, this parenting thing, properly if we didn't have such a fantastic support system. our family, our friends, our small group, even our co-workers... they make this life path we've chosen... well... possible. because sleepless nights and diaper rash and gassy babies and crying jags (for both baby and mommy) and that all-consuming feeling of immediacy... it just gets overwhelming at times. and in those times, there's our village. a group of amazing, loving people whose hands we can trust with our little treasure.

and isn't that what life is all about? finding people and sharing life with them? and carrying one another’s hopes and sorrows and having faith when they can't find it for themselves? and bringing meals and changing diapers and taking beautiful pictures and generally helping to celebrate new life together?

yes. that’s what it’s all about.

anyhow, enough of my esoteric musings. here are some pictures to keep you company.

ain't she somethin'?

baby blue.
(taken by sarah kieffer)

this pic was taken at our welcome-to-the-world party
by our very own photographer extraordinaire,
sarah kieffer.
you should hire her. i'm serious.

addie's first trip to the apple orchard

tummy time!

so serious.

aviator baby.

addie loves daddy.

the fam.

the three heaner kids, great grandma ruth
and happy, well-loved adeline.

addie and our awesome midwives,
vanessa and jennifer.
they are like family to us.

mommy time.

kisses!

adeline likes to roll with her homies:
two plush puppies we've nicknamed
spike and bowser.

meet adeline

she's a month and two days old, now... so we're a little behind in posting this, as seems to be the trend.

anyhow, here she is. our little bundle.


adeline meadows heaner
born 7/27/11 5:03 pm CST
in our home
5 lbs 1 oz, 18.5 inches tall


she is the sweetest thing ever. seriously. we're not even biased.ok. maybe a little biased.

a bit of a non-starter...

so, our closing was put off. again. we should be closing next tuesday or wednesday. we've heard horror stories about short sale closings, so on the whole, this has been a pretty easy ride. and it's not like we'll be twiddling our thumbs (never did like that word... "twiddling." yuck.)

now we have more time to clean and pack our apartment. YAY!

in honor of not being home owners (yet), i thought it was time to post the promised video of our first little home. but when i tried loading it... well... that was a non-starter too. so pictures will have to suffice.

without further ado, i give you 2226 dupont:

the verdict is in.

we had a "secret" ultrasound last week...

"secret" because we didn't want to get people's (read: our moms') hopes up just in case little baby heaner decided to keep us in suspense yet again.

well, LBH (little baby heaner) was a teensy bit more cooperative this time. the doctor who did it has been doing ultrasounds for 36 years and he said he was staking his good name on the fact that we'll be having a:

(that's not my tummy -- i'm only 6 months along, for goodness sakes! -- just thought it was a cute image)

yes. it's a girl. we couldn't be happier. bring on the frilly dresses and cute bonnets!

in other news: we're closing on our house tomorrow, so we'll have updates for you on that very soon.

much love to all.

best laid plans...

well, you know what they say. even the best laid plans go awry. or something like that.

the house closing got moved back another week. we're looking at closing on may 5th now. which really isn't so bad.

we have flexible and totally amazing landlords (if you're looking for a lovely one-bedroom, ours will be available soon. you know... god willing and the creek don't rise).

we have friends who are willing to roll with the punches with us (or at least rearrange their calendars yet again to help us move).

we have a rocking realtor who keeps us informed, even when she doesn't have answers for us (if you're looking to buy or sell a house, whitney kieffer is the way to go).

and now we have waaay more time to pack and clean and prepare. the moving date has been reset to may 15 (she said, knocking on wood).

reality sets in

it's official. our apartment is a mess. there are boxes everywhere. granted, they're packed boxes -- which is really what we're going for here. but still. we've done something to get ready to move (more like 80 things) every day, just to keep the proverbial ball rolling. and last night, tim-the-wonderful finished packing and cleaning the basement! it looks fantastic and was so much work. it was so lovely to come home after work and class and see that we were still making progress.

the other day, before the boxes had started to overtake every walking space, i took a little video of our first home together. maybe i'll post that at some point in the future for those of you who never got to visit our cozy place.

it's bittersweet. leaving. starting a new chapter together. owning something as massive as a house. becoming adults. it's exciting and frightening and a bit of a blur. but i'm starting to feel like, hey, this is actually going to happen.

one of the weirdest things about this whole process has been that we've had to stay ready for change at a moment's notice. frankly, that's made the past few months a tad stressful. we're never sure whether we're in for another long delay or a frenetic few hours of trying to get massive amounts of obscure paperwork together.

we had a visit with our midwife last week. she asked us how we were coping with the moving/house buying stress... whether we were fighting a lot or more cranky with each other... and the happy truth is that even though this has been a stressful time, we're doing really well. in fact, we are closer than ever before. rather than pushing us apart, all the change and the intensity has brought a peculiar (wonderfully peculiar) unity between the two of us. i'm guessing that has something to do with grace. and God's faithfulness.

but i'm just guessing.

(if you are dying to use your biceps (and proper lifting techniques), we'll be moving on saturday, april 30. pretty, pretty please let me know if you're coming so i can make sure to have enough food. i hate not having enough food. email lisaheaner@gmail.com.)

moving (possibly) quickly.

hello, friends. meet our house. house, meet our friends. aren't you happy to know each other? things are moving quickly. or it seems that way, now. after months of uncertainty and set-backs, it looks like we'll be closing on our little house on april 28th afterall. we are excited. and packing like crazy. (wanna help?)

no answers... yet.

i think the universe is trying to teach me something...

something annoying...

like patience.

we had our ultrasound on april fool's day.

and the joke was on us.

little baby heaner kept its legs crossed

for almost 45 minutes.

the ONE time they were uncrossed,

baby made sure a hand was there to keep the privates private.

little stinker.

so, we're in for another surprise (among many, i'm sure).

honestly, i was pretty disappointed to begin with.

but now i'm feeling a little better.

it will be fun to be surprised.

and it's not like we had any specific plans for

prepping the nursery or anything...

speaking of our future home...

we also had our house inspection on april fool's day.

turns out the joke was on us again.

the house had been winterized, but we noticed an icicle

on one of the basement pipes when we first looked at the house.

we notified the plumber.

he came out on friday and fixed those pipes

before de-winterizing the whole house.

unfortunately...

a pipe in the upstairs bathroom had also frozen.

when the plumber turned on the water main,

niagara falls appeared in the front main floor bedroom.

luckily, the plumber and inspector caught it quickly

and got a mop in there.

so there was no damage to the wood floor.

the ceiling is a loss, though.

and this puts our closing date even further off.

please pray that we'll have wisdom about this house.

we don't want to be stubborn or miss God's will for us.

but we really do love this house.

and it's such a fantastic deal.

so... we're waiting.

and learning to be patient.

and content in all circumstances.

(at least... that's the goal here.)

kind of a big day

today is kind of a big day.

we've got our ultrasound at noon today.

i know, i know...

it was silly to plan an ultrasound to discover

the gender of our child on april fool's day.

but so it goes.

hopefully, we have an un-shy, immodest child.

i dreamt last night that it was a boy.

there's been a bit of scrambling since we found out that

we had verbal approval on the sale of our house.

we got all the paperwork together,

and are breathing a big sigh of relief that

THAT part, at least, is done.

we're hanging on to each other

and trusting that our God knows what we need

better than we do.

then tonight, we have our house inspection.

if all goes as planned, we could be in our new home by

april 29th!

big stuff, people. big stuff.

teeny tiny update

we had our first visit with a midwife last monday. she was fantastic. and we got to hear our little one's heartbeat. i cried. tim grinned. the midwife smiled knowingly at us. it was perfect. tim was even able to record the heartbeat on his phone. we'll try to post it here if we can figure out how to be techies.

then we got some disappointing news: the healtheast midwives (and st. joseph's hospital) don't allow VBACs. our midwife suggested that we connect with the generations midwives (who DO follow VBAC patients) and st. john's hospital (which also allows VBACs). so i did. no luck. they're not taking any more deliveries in august and there isn't a waiting list.

i was devastated. so i contacted our birthing class instructor and she had some suggestions for us. we're going to pursue home birth. (!) i am really excited about this possibility, since it's what i've wanted to do from the get-go. i was discouraged from attempting a home birth by my medical doctor because she said i was too old -- but i'll only be 33 and i'm in good health. so... we're going to meet with this midwife in our home and see what she says. i'll keep you posted. keep your fingers crossed with us!

in other news...

tim is 29 today. last year of his twenties.

to celebrate, i surprised him with a trip to benihana. some friends met us there to surprise tim, as well. we had a great time and ate way too much yummy food.

then we went to see "the fighter." very good movie. it was a fun day. i'm building him a cake for his actual birthday. something scrumptious and decadent. i love celebrating this man. he is the joy of my life and i am the luckiest women on the planet.

happy birthday, timothy. i love you.

the waiting begins

we put in an offer on a house last week... i know, right?!?

we were pretty excited about the whole thing.

only our second time out looking and we found

this phenomenal house for a ridiculously low price.

so, we went for it.

it's a short sale.

and now that the sellers have signed off on the deal,

we're just waiting to hear from the bank. i've heard rumors that this process can take months.

so we're trying not to hold our collective breath.

but our fingers are definitely crossed (maybe our toes, too).

we'll keep you posted!