Seven 9s and 10s

High-res elizabite: nicky36: If you are reading this, then I’m sure you know Elizabeth and Daniel. In the time that I have known them they have both gone through a lot, both separately and together. They are both amazing people with big hearts and complicated lives who work hard to be good parents and good partners.  And now they get to be good partners to each other and good parents together.  In celebration of this awesome internet arrival, and in conjunction with Elizabeth’s family in friends in Kansas, who are having a shower for Elizabeth on January 8th, I’d like to invite you to join me in being part of an “internet” baby shower! Elizabeth and Daniel have chosen to go to a local midwife for care. A ChipIn has been set up to help offset the cost of that care. If you have been following along with Elizabeth and Daniel and were wondering how you could show them your love and support, please consider helping them with a donation toward the gift of great medical care! Please feel free to reblog as much as you would like! oh, you guys are great! I’m going to cry. Thank you so much. Change and unexpected surprises can be incredibly difficult to work through financially, emotionally, and physically. This pregnancy was a surprise to say the least, and it would be wonderful if i could say it’s been nothing but unicorns, cupcakes, rainbows, and sunshine the whole way through, but the truth is that it’s been hard. Physically it’s been good. Much better than my last. Emotionally and psychologically it’s a struggle. We’ve had to learn to take everything one day at a time. We don’t know what the future looks like. We are just now getting to the part where we can plan for at least the birth of the baby. We aren’t much beyond that, but we know that we want this baby to come into our lives at home surrounded by support and love of family, midwives, and doulas instead of a hospital. Everything about this pregnancy points to the success of a home birth. I am healthy and in-shape. The baby is doing great. He is head down and in the best position for birth. Something my first never was. Our family is supportive. And above all else, I know that I can do this. All of you have been so sweet with kind words of encouragement and congratulations through this pregnancy, especially when I was at some very low points. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to all of you. Thank you so much. Elizabeth and Daniel are great people who are on the verge of becoming great parents. No amount is too small to chip in and help out. I love these friends and look forward to seeing what kind of magic they produce.

elizabite:

nicky36:

If you are reading this, then I’m sure you know Elizabeth and Daniel.

In the time that I have known them they have both gone through a lot, both separately and together. They are both amazing people with big hearts and complicated lives who work hard to be good parents and good partners. 

And now they get to be good partners to each other and good parents together. 

In celebration of this awesome internet arrival, and in conjunction with Elizabeth’s family in friends in Kansas, who are having a shower for Elizabeth on January 8th, I’d like to invite you to join me in being part of an “internet” baby shower!

Elizabeth and Daniel have chosen to go to a local midwife for care. A ChipIn has been set up to help offset the cost of that care.

If you have been following along with Elizabeth and Daniel and were wondering how you could show them your love and support, please consider helping them with a donation toward the gift of great medical care!

Please feel free to reblog as much as you would like!

oh, you guys are great! I’m going to cry. Thank you so much.

Change and unexpected surprises can be incredibly difficult to work through financially, emotionally, and physically. This pregnancy was a surprise to say the least, and it would be wonderful if i could say it’s been nothing but unicorns, cupcakes, rainbows, and sunshine the whole way through, but the truth is that it’s been hard. Physically it’s been good. Much better than my last. Emotionally and psychologically it’s a struggle. We’ve had to learn to take everything one day at a time.

We don’t know what the future looks like. We are just now getting to the part where we can plan for at least the birth of the baby. We aren’t much beyond that, but we know that we want this baby to come into our lives at home surrounded by support and love of family, midwives, and doulas instead of a hospital.

Everything about this pregnancy points to the success of a home birth. I am healthy and in-shape. The baby is doing great. He is head down and in the best position for birth. Something my first never was. Our family is supportive. And above all else, I know that I can do this.

All of you have been so sweet with kind words of encouragement and congratulations through this pregnancy, especially when I was at some very low points. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to all of you. Thank you so much.

Elizabeth and Daniel are great people who are on the verge of becoming great parents. No amount is too small to chip in and help out. I love these friends and look forward to seeing what kind of magic they produce.

Hmmm. So it has come to my attention (via reagank) that these PSAs didn’t air outside of upstate NY.

This isn’t the specific commercial that I remember (mine definitely repeated “Never.” as the last word), but this gets the point across.

It worries me that apparently the number of baby shaking incidents was high enough in my area that they had to make a PSA about it.

Later tonight I’ll give you a picture you haven’t seen before, but until then, here is the story of my Twitter avatar. I was but a wee infant.  My family had gone camping up in the mountain that you can see off in the distant background.  Early one morning my father was gathering firewood, cutting down dead trees, etc.  One of these dead trees was magnificently tall and it fell with tremendous force.  The impact against the cold frozen earth sent shock-waves up the mountainside, instigating a devastating avalanche. The snow barrelled down the slope with ever-increasing speed and furiosity as my father picked me up and ran back towards our campsite.  Before we knew it, the snow had engulfed us and my entire family was being propelled downward by this unthinkable tragedy. It seemed like an eternity before we finally stopped, but it was probably only about a minute. The avalanche had deposited us into a deep ravine at the base of the mountain.  Miraculously, I was not buried and ended up resting atop the flow of ice and snow - as if you were pouring milk into a bowl of Lucky Charms® and all the marshmallow treasures floated to the top because they weighed less than their oaty brethren.  I cried out to my family but there was no response, so I did the only thing I could - I crawled. I crawled out from that ravine and slowly traversed miles of frozen forest before finally seeing a ski lodge off in the distance.  As night was quickly falling, with my last minuscule strength, I pushed open the door and crawled to the edge of a staircase, screaming.  This picture was snapped by someone at the base of the stairs. Startled by the screaming, she was quick enough to grab a nearby camera and capture this picture of me. You can tell I was cold because my tongue is clearly blue and frozen. My family was rescued.  They had been trapped beneath the snow but protected in a natural snow-cave that had formed around them as they tumbled down the mountain.  To this day, I still bear the emotional scars of that fateful day. (GCPOYT, started by inthefade)

Later tonight I’ll give you a picture you haven’t seen before, but until then, here is the story of my Twitter avatar.

I was but a wee infant.  My family had gone camping up in the mountain that you can see off in the distant background.  Early one morning my father was gathering firewood, cutting down dead trees, etc.  One of these dead trees was magnificently tall and it fell with tremendous force.  The impact against the cold frozen earth sent shock-waves up the mountainside, instigating a devastating avalanche.

The snow barrelled down the slope with ever-increasing speed and furiosity as my father picked me up and ran back towards our campsite.  Before we knew it, the snow had engulfed us and my entire family was being propelled downward by this unthinkable tragedy. It seemed like an eternity before we finally stopped, but it was probably only about a minute.

The avalanche had deposited us into a deep ravine at the base of the mountain.  Miraculously, I was not buried and ended up resting atop the flow of ice and snow - as if you were pouring milk into a bowl of Lucky Charms® and all the marshmallow treasures floated to the top because they weighed less than their oaty brethren.  I cried out to my family but there was no response, so I did the only thing I could - I crawled.

I crawled out from that ravine and slowly traversed miles of frozen forest before finally seeing a ski lodge off in the distance.  As night was quickly falling, with my last minuscule strength, I pushed open the door and crawled to the edge of a staircase, screaming.  This picture was snapped by someone at the base of the stairs. Startled by the screaming, she was quick enough to grab a nearby camera and capture this picture of me. You can tell I was cold because my tongue is clearly blue and frozen.

My family was rescued.  They had been trapped beneath the snow but protected in a natural snow-cave that had formed around them as they tumbled down the mountain.  To this day, I still bear the emotional scars of that fateful day.

(GCPOYT, started by inthefade)