Why Hello 3rd Trimester

1-29-2016

7 months

With open arms I am fully embracing the start of the third trimester! We made it! Little Lew is growing away, as you can see by my belly. It looks now like I'm hiding a soccer ball under all my clothes. I truly am enjoying everyday with this little man growing inside of me. 

Of course there are the new aches and pains that have decided to join us on this journey, but I try not to focus on those. If I'm feeling a little "woe is me" I make an effort to go look in a mirror. Seeing myself, my belly, reminding myself that my body is growing another human being (!), all the aches just sort of fade into the background. Yes they are there but are there for a reason.  They become background noise and not the main attraction. 

I've wanted to be pregnant for a long time. I've wanted to experience the joys and magic of growing a little baby, our little baby. Now that I'm able to experience pregnancy, nothing can make me not enjoy it! It truly is such a special time. A completely unique experience. I keep telling myself this is the only time I get to live this experience. I'll never be growing my son Lewis again. I'll never get to feel his kicks from the inside again. I'll be pregnant again, yes. But never with my Lewis. Focusing on that, thanking the Lord for that, and relishing in that is making this pregnancy so incredibly wonderful. 

I'm glad I have a positive perspective and I'm thankful that this pregnancy has been rather easy. I'm so grateful that we are here, at 28 weeks and 1 day. Give or take only 12 weeks till we meet this son of ours!

/ leah

On Slowing Down

1-26-2016

This little babe has given me lots of reasons to slow down. I've always been one to pile on the to-do list. I usually like to have one big day of errands and then the next day with nothing planned to relax. However, I always ended up not being able to sit still to enjoy that day of no plans. So, I always found something more to do to keep myself busy. 

With this pregnancy though I'm learning to space out my errands a little bit more and be OK it some of those things don't get done. Its taken a few weeks and a few too many rushed errands to realize that it's not only okay to slow down but it's good for me. I've been able to make more time for reading, writing letters, drinking more tea, and napping. All things I've been wanting to make more time for but just didn't. 

I'm getting into this habit now, the habit of slowing down, before Lewis comes.  I don't want to be that type of mom that rushes around like a crazy person to get everything done. I don't want him to feel my stress when we have an unmet yet unattainable to-do list. I want to be the mom who makes time to do nothing; that makes room for the little spontaneous adventures to happen. I know this is important now and will be even more when he arrives. 

Thank you little guy for making me slow down a bit. Life is meant to be savored, not rushed. 

/ leah

Sunriver trips + the start of Camp Hartmann

1-21-16

This month has been a great month for little getaways. We went to the same vacation city of Sunriver Oregon. We tend to only go to this Central Oregon town in the winter time. It seems to be the most relaxing and most fun at that time. Think snow and cozy fireplaces.

Our first trip we deemed Camp Hartmann. My in-laws blessed us all with a Christmas gift of a weekend away over the new years weekend. What a fun and special time we had. All 8 of us plus the two little ones cooking. ( My sister in law is pregnant with their 3rd due in May :) ) We rarely get this undivided time of the whole family. We relaxed a lot, played some games, and ate out at some local restaurants. We dubbed this time Camp Hartmann because we hope it happens every year. And with the growing number of little ones in the family it should amount to some good memories in the future.

It was especially cute to see my little niece and nephew play in the snow. My nephew was so bundled up he looked like Ralphie and it was just the cutest!

Our second trip to Sunriver was our annual MLK friends weekend.

 For the past 4 years we've been coming to Sunriver on the same exact weekend with about the same group. There were 13 of us this year. Each year the group changes just a little with new boyfriends or spouses being added to the group, but otherwise it's always the same people.

This trip is exhausting and fun! Exactly how it should be. We all stay up way too late playing games. We each share the burden of cooking meals and just really enjoy each other's company. We laugh a lot and talk about our new year plans.

It's really neat to have a trip like this to look forward to. Every year we know it will happen and it never ceases to be a fun time. It'll be fun to watch this group grow as It has already in the last 4 years!

/ leah

Naming Baby Hartmann

1-21-2016

6 months

Thinking of baby names has been a past time of mine since I was around 8 years old. Ever since I could remember, I loved to think of baby names. Ask my sister and she'll tell you how I changed my baby doll's name every week just because I wanted to use a different name. If that happens in real life I feel sorry for my husband - we'll have to have about ten kids.

When it came to naming this little one it actually wasn't as hard as I thought. I had my list of names that I loved and as I went through them before I brought them to my husband I was able to narrow them down to the top 10, yes I know top 10... Bringing them to my husband it was pretty clear which names he liked and which names he hated. He was quick to veto a lot but I saved my real favorites for last.

To start here are some names he vetoed right away, the reasons why he did not like them ( ) and the reasons I did:

                  Levi    (said he wears those) I thought this was a strong name and I loved the meaning behind it; joined in harmony.

                Davis    (too many people will call him Dave)  I like this name because it was more unique than David or Dave and is actually my Grandmother's maiden name

                Harrison      (Harrison Ford?)  Of course a guy would think of that. I thought this was a strong name and I liked how we could shorten it . Harry is a pretty cute little boys nick-name too

                 Nelson       (That's a last name) Maybe it is a last name, but how cute is it!? And I bet there won't be 5 Nelson's in his 1st grade class.

               Harlan         (sounds too country) My grandpa's name was Lloyd Harlan and I loved how classic and old it was. I thought it would be a good nod to family. Good thing I wasn't too in love with it, I didn't push it too much

There were about 5 others that he agreed to put on the maybe list for the next little boy we may be blessed with. The top contenders for this little man's name was Lewis & Clarke. Lewis is my Uncle's middle name (slightly different spelling with Louis) and Clarke is my husband's grandmothers maiden name. Those were definitely high on my list of favorites before bringing the list to my husband.We had to choose one and throw out the other for good, which made it a little harder because I really liked them both. But living in Oregon ... we can't possible have two sons named Lewis and Clarke.

 It took us a little while to really decide which one fit our man best (or so we hope fits!). After calling him by both names and listening to our families refer to him with those names our choice was set.

Lewis Thomas Hartmann

Both first and middle are family names. Thomas is my dad's, brother's, uncle's and cousin's name! A name I had to use on my first son. Lewis is also a family name as I mentioned above and we thought it was a strong name with a good ring to it.

It's pretty amazing now to have his name set-down; being able to refer to him as our Lewis, or Little Lew as I've been doing lately, is really magical. Having a name for him makes it a little more real and a lot more personal.

Hope he likes his name!

/ leah