Valor Zurishaddai was born on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 3:58 AM at home in a birthing tub in my bedroom attended by my midwife, Shannon, Ben, my mother, and three close friends of mine, Jessica, Lisa, and Shelby. (The birth story will be a separate post.) Ben caught him as he was coming out. He was 8 pounds 11 ounces and 20.5 inches long … the biggest baby on either side of the family in recent memory. Here he is just a few minutes old. He has huge hands and feet. His feet are almost as long as his shins.

Valor, accent on the first syllable, is the English word meaning bravery, courage, boldness, especially in battle. (It has NOTHING to do with the fabric velour. People are calling him that already! It never occurred to me that might happen.) The Hebrew would be khah-yil but that sounds like you’re trying to hack up snot so we decided not to use it. Zurishaddai (ZUR-i-SHAD-dai) is Hebrew for “the Almighty is my rock.”

Rinah fell in love with him immediately. She slept through the labour and woke up an hour afterwards. Sister and brother meet and kiss for the first time.

The first couple days, he was so sleepy he didn’t nurse very much. See how the preemie size onesie is still a bit big on him the third day. Then his appetite kicked in and oh boy was he hungry ALL the time. He outgrew that onesie by Day 9. Look at how fat his cheeks are getting. *sniffle* He’s growing too fast … WAY too fast. Rinah wore preemie size for at least 2 months and didn’t grow out of 0-3 month size till she was 9 months old.

This kid has so much hair. It’s been over 2 weeks since he was born and I still can’t get over it. He has crazy cool hair with patches that grow in all different directions. It’s also pretty funny looking after it’s washed. LOL.

Rinah loves him to death. I must be careful he survives all the sisterly attacks of affection. So far she hasn’t been upset or jealous of him even once. For that I am so grateful. I’ve heard lots of stories of sibling rivalry especially when the second child comes along and the first one isn’t used to having to split parental attention. She asks to hold him a lot, but tires pretty quickly of it.

One thing she does not tire of is Mama’s cell phone. That’s probably why it’s been acting funny lately. She’s been loving the cell phone to death, too. What I don’t tire of is her eyes. I could look into them forever.

My mother is visiting from Tokyo to take care of me and the babies for a while. I had been craving her cooking the entire pregnancy and now I have it every day!

Ben took a week off work to stay at home and help out with things. It was great having him around taking care of stuff while I tried to deal with all the after pains and engorgement and various, ah, discomforts. He’s getting pretty good at juggling two babies.

I can’t believe that 3 years ago I was in Tokyo thinking I would be single and childless for the rest of my life and now I have a husband and TWO kids and I’m living in America. There’s no way I would have believed it if you had told me.

I wonder where we’ll all be 3 years from now. (This last professional looking picture was taken by my friend Shilowe.)

Here’s my little monkey after her third cup of milk today. I love that her hair has started to get wavy.

With how huge I’ve been getting in the last month or so (my stomach sticks out halfway across my thighs when I sit down *sigh*), I haven’t been able to hold her as much, which has made her more clingy than she used to be. She’s talking a LOT but I don’t understand everything she says, and when I don’t, it often ends up in screaming stomping fits. Being in heavy teething mode hasn’t helped either. To top it all off, we finally figured out she probably had pertussis last month, which explains those frightening coughing spells. This has been a pattern for our family since Ben and I got married (getting morning sickness and mono at the same time). When something bad happens, everything has to pile on at once.

But she still is my sweet little girl. A couple weeks ago, I was crying about something I probably shouldn’t have been crying about. She heard me and came running, climbed into my lap, and wiped my tears away while she kissed me. I wish I understood what she was jabbering away about. And when I look like I’m in pain from some of the contractions I’ve been having, she comes over, smiles, puts her arms around me, and hugs me till they go away.

The sweet little brat is also learning a lot. She loves her blocks and her books. I read and play with her almost every day. (If you are looking for a cheaper alternative to HABA, try getting Plan Toys. They make a lot of the same sort of toys for less than half the price. I’ve got her a few and they are great!)

My friend Shilowe, who’s an amazing photographer, took these pics of me and Jessica last week.

Despite the hugeness, I’m glad to have some pics for this pregnancy. I only have one pic from the last time.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and e-mails. The baby is still inside and every day shows signs of wanting to come out but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s in the safe zone now at 38 weeks and hanging out so low that I’m having trouble walking. It feels like he’ll be here any day now.

For all those who’ve asked … we haven’t picked a name yet. Ben and I have a few names we really like but they sound atrocious in Japanese. And as much as I love the name Zurishaddai (”the Almighty is my rock” in Hebrew) I’m guessing the kid will not enjoy spelling out his name for the rest of his life.

Got any ideas?

I am 36 weeks pregnant tomorrow and am having way too many contractions. Please pray that I will have this baby later rather than sooner.

I started having some painful contractions on Saturday afternoon, but they were irregular and went away that night. They came back on Sunday at church, so I spent the rest of the day in bed. Ben took Monday off and took care of Rinah while I rested. Today, Jessica came and spent the day here and she is going to watch Rinah while Ben is at work for the rest of the week so I can get some rest. Starting tomorrow, Ben is going to work 6 hours a day instead of 8 and spend more time at home.

This baby is unbelievably active, fists and feet and knees and elbows sticking out everywhere. Ben says it feels like a washing machine. His heartrate is 146 and so far he has been head down (not breech!). He is hanging out really low and seems ready to come out.

My midwife checked me today and said I am 1.5 centimeters dilated, 50% effaced, and with how soft the cervix is, she guesses I’ll be having the baby pretty soon. She gave me some herbs and told me to rest. If the baby can stay put for another 8 days (till next Wednesday, when I’m 37 weeks), everything should be fine. I may be having a baby next week!

God bless you all. I’m going to bed now….

Every Mazda I see is mine … especially the MazdaSpeed3 hatchbacks. They are all mine. Here is one.

I close my eyes and I can see the colours and feel the pedals. Ohhh.

But a MazdaSpeed3 would limit our family to 2 children because it wouldn’t fit more than 2 carseats. At this point, it crosses my mind several times a day that 2 children might be just enough for this family. I can’t roll over in bed. I can’t walk without gasping and wincing and hobbling and waddling like I’m 80. Rinah grunts when she bends over and stands back up. She thinks that’s just what people are supposed to do. ROTFLOL. Some days I am reduced to crawling from sheer pain and discomfort. And I dread having to go through labour again. But I know that a few months from now, I will forget about all these piddly details and probably be dying to have another baby. Smack me.

So, with all these real and imaginary kids between me and my dream car, I should probably get a Mazda CX-9. It’s still a beautiful Mazda. It would fit a lot of kids. And look, it even comes with leather seats (so it’s easier to clean up drool and vomit and crumbs) and a nice house.

It’s still got the pretty lights even on the steering wheel. And one of those little car remote controls that unlock the car or even start it up before you get to it.

And it comes in red and purple. So shiny. Now all I need is 30,000 dollars and I’m all set!

This the kind of yukky horror we’re looking at. And it’ll probably die as soon as we buy it. And then we’ll get another one just like it that we’ll run into the ground.

And after all the braces and music lessons and college tuition and weddings are paid for, then I’ll be DEAD and I’ll NEVER get to drive a beautiful shiny Mazda. *weeps and wails and steps into grave and pulls tombstone over self*

IMPORTANT NOTE: Oh, wait. I remember now. I’m not paying for ANY weddings. If a guy is serious enough about Rinah, he is going to come get her with dowry in hand AND pay for everything. And if this next baby is a boy (and not a girl with a funky umbilical cord) then he is going to save up and be ready to do that for whatever girl he’s going to marry.

A friend of mine gave me a card with this Bible verse on it.

The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
(Isaiah 58:11)

Last Friday, my little girl came up to me, put her head on my lap, and said, “I love you.” Since that day, she’s said it to me every day. Sometimes she’ll put her hands on either side of my face, turn me towards her, and say, “I love you,” and kiss me. Nobody has taught her to do that so I don’t know where she picked it up, but it’s wonderful. It makes my day. I get up in the morning looking forward to hearing it.

A very happy baby at Baskin Robbins, where we went for ice cream last week. They had a super deal, 10 scoops per customer for 31 cents each … so I had 8 and she had 2. Soooo gooood. By the end, she had brain freeze but kept asking for more. It was also the day we painted her fingernails for the first time, sparkly purple like I used to. (Thanks to my cousin Christopher who cropped and doctored the pic for me.)

She’s also started repeating everything I say, which I’m enjoying for now, though I’m told it gets old after a few years. LOL. She likes to walk around the house nodding her head and saying, “I know, I know, I know.” But she gets that from her daddy. She also says, “Oh, man” most emphatically, something she learned from the pastor’s wife who watches her while I teach Latin a couple times a week.

Since the trip to Chicago, she’s been on a sort of potty strike and she’ll go if I take her but would not let me know when she needs to go and would always answer “No” very decidedly if I ever asked. A couple days ago, she started telling me again, which has been really nice. I was starting to wish I hadn’t tried EC because it didn’t seem worth it. She has been enjoying pottying and after peeing in the potty she does a little happy dance, stomping her feet, turning around in circles, clapping her hands, and telling herself, “Good girl, good girl.” Why is it I’m the only one who sees her cutest moments?

Here she is … very happy with daddy’s wireless keyboard.

Her molars have started coming through so she had her first iddy biddy bits of meat tonight. A chuck eye steak.

I first saw this on Moriah’s blog, and when I checked my mail later in the day, I found it in my latest Dr. Sears newsletter as well. I found it really encouraging.

No one on her deathbed ever wished she had spent more time cleaning, and no one on her deathbed ever regretted spending too much time with her children. - Martha Sears, 25 Things Every Mother Should Know