New Mom Haircut

There's frost today. And a 'new to us' green Subaru sitting in the parking lot. BearHunter flew to anchorage to check out this hot item from craig's list and drove it home that same night. Just what we were looking for, with a warranty as well.

So you always see moms with short hair. I thought previously that I wouldn't be one of those women that chops off my hair just because I had a baby. But then came the stage when he grabs my hair with his wet hand and squeezes intently or just stuffs my hair into his mouth. Babies' grips are surprisingly strong and it is difficult to remove my entangled hair from his hand. When this happens repeatedly, and at night, especially if I'm already tired or thin on patience, it made me consider the haircut idea.

So after much mulling over the idea and possible hairstyles. I asked BearHunter's permission to do the chop. He was amiable to the idea and pointed out some of his preferred styles from the photobook I was looking at. Of course his choices looked like high maintenance. I had enough cut to send to locks of love, my first time. So that's really cool. And we were both pleased with the outcome. I actually have a lot of curl when my hair went short this time. Now it's time to figure out how I'm going to style it quick 'n easy.

First Snow

TodaY WE HAD OUR FIRST SNOW. Squeakums loves being outside. I think he could tell there were white things falling in the air, but he didn't show much reaction. Not yet anyway. You can see him looking at it. The snow came, and stuck, but melted soon. It came and went a few times. We're praying for safety as our family drives back to Anchorage today in a vehicle without 4WD.

Here you also see BearHunter in his Alaskan boots swinging a golf ball off into the Bay. It's a pastime of our director and as we were hosting an out of state mission team, he treated them to a few swings each.

Fun Times With Family

We have just said goodbye to BearHunter's family. The girls stayed two weeks with us, but his dad only one. Squeakums loved all the attention and we enjoyed our times together. Here's some snapshots of everybody. The girls got to join our potato picking this week. We bagged about 5 HUGE sacks full for the YWAM base. The dark green figure is BearHunter's dad while they went gold panning in the rain.

Visitors

What a pleasure to see some familiar faces. Our friends from home came for a short four days. It was wonderful to have someone who came just to see us. We hung out, went to BearHunter's last football game which they won (for a winning season), chatted over food, and shared pregnancy stories. Their baby is due on CallaLily's birthday!

And BearHunter's side of the family also began their visit that same weekend. So Squeakums has met both sets of grandparents. This time we pulled out the video camera, wishing we had with my parents' as well. Grandpa flew home tonight, but Grams and Auntie are here one more week, Yeah!

Squeakums is changing and advancing so fast. He's now grabbing things on purpose to pull them to his mouth. Pushing himself up more (may start crawling soon who knows). He can roll over from his back or front. And he's attempting to sit up, but has quite a ways to go yet. I started taking an infant massage class with him. He was the star pupil, so cooperative. He must love massages like his mother :) I'm hoping through the massage class and other playgroup that I attend to meet some people in the community outside of church. It's hard to know how to meet others. There's only about 4 other babies in the group, but I think it's a perfect environment to make some new mommy friends.

Ministry: the football season has ended, allowing BearHunter to jump back into more projects at the base. His involvement with the football team was worthwhile. He was the only unpaid coach for the team (out of 6 coaches). He got to know some of the players better than others of course. And he plans to work with them next year as well. Some of the players attend our church occasionally. Now he has a format to relate to them when he sees them on Sundays.

Almost four months old

We're looking forward to some visitors this week. BearHunter's family, all but his brother, will be up here for two to three weeks. We know they'll all be doting on baby. Who knows, will mom get more rest or less than usual?

At the same time two of our California church friends are coming for a long weekend. Their baby is due on Calla Lily's birthday! It'll be fun to hang out with some people that we have deeper relationships with. I'm looking forward to the refreshment of good friends.

We've begun Communion dinners at the YWAM base. We've chosen Wednesday nights as our weekly time to devote a couple of hours to fellowshipping over a meal. And experience the Lord's supper similar to how it was for the first century church. Not just juice/wine and crackers, but a whole meal together. There is something special about lingering at the table over good food and conversations, everyone sharing with each other. We enjoyed our first time last week and hope it develops into a highlight of our week. To accommodate a family atmosphere, we moved the tables together so we can fit 12 around one large square. Once the rest of the school returns, we'll have to create a new dining space, but for now it works perfectly.