Jill Turns Thirty!

Jill's 30th birthday was last week on July 14. I should have a more portrait-type picture of her, but nevertheless here she is and here is my story!

My pregnancy with Jill was rather nerve-wracking. The previous August I had had a 2-1/2 month miscarriage. The doctor told us there was no reason that we could not have more children, and to wait a month or two and try again.

During my pregancy with her, we had two concerns: 1. that I would miscarry again and 2. that we would not make it to the hospital once I went into labor. My labor with Todd, who was four years old, had been less that two hours of contractions, and he was breech! We made it through the months all right, and as I approached my due date (I think it was July 24th) we began to carry a suitcase with us wherever we went, and also some emergency supplies!

It was a hot summer. We had gotten Todd a wading pool for his fourth birthday in June, and I stuck my feet in it often to cool off. I remember eating LOTS of watermelon, too!

A night or two before her birth, we were shopping at the mall, and I found some white eyelet fabric, and I showed it to Ken. "If we have a girl, I want a yard of this fabric!"

I went into labor on Friday evening, the 13th, and we went to the hospital, probably before midnight, but it didn't happen fast like we thought it would! I think it was about 4:46 AM that she was born, weighing 6 lbs. 15 oz. This was my first delivery to be awake, although Ken was outside the delivery room and not with me. They told me I had a girl, and plopped her on my tummy to admire, and I can remember saying, over and over, "We have a girl!" When I reached out to touch her forehead, it was a wonderful, velvety feeling to me. Thiry years later, I can remember it, even if I cannot describe it very well! I was still on the delivery table and thinking about little white tights and black patent leather shoes!

When I said, "Tell my husband!" they said you can tell him yourself, and wheeled me out of the delivery room, and there he stood. "We had a girl!" I shouted, or it seemed to me that I shouted, and then realized I was in a hospital where others were probably trying to get some sleep!

I enjoyed having a private room afterwards, because there were not semi-privates available. I was not back in my room very long until Ken and I began making plans to go to Quakertown for convention. He had a scheduled plant shut-down at that time, and we had hoped that if our baby was born early like others had been born, we could probably go. My mom and Aunt Bertha came to see us that day. Ken went down to Murphy's Mart and brought me back a yard of that white eyelet material!

So, we began life with a little baby girl. Roy was six and Todd was four. Jill was 3 1/2 weeks old when we went to Quakertown. We had hot sunshine the first day of convention and rain for the next three, but Jill fared just fine. Two weeks later we went to Newry, and I remember Leah Bolt telling me, "Alma, I can tell that your baby has grown since Quakertown!" We were so very proud of her.

Some months later I got the little white eyelet dress made for her, too!

And now, thirty years have past, and Jill has three children of her own!

I am back!

Wow, I haven't blogged for a while! Last week I put the garden pictures on facebook. It takes sooooooo looooooong to put the pictures here. I wish I knew how to do them easier and more efficiently.

So, it is time for an update on life around Beechwoods! The garden is growing wonderfully well, and we have had the first few zucchini. Soon they will be a bumper crop! I nearly have the whole garden covered with grass clippings now, and those rows that looked so far apart seem to be getting closer! I am glad I have room so that I do not have to crowd my stuff.

We had Heidi, Kirsten, and Shane for the week preceeding the 4th of July. We had lots of fun, and did some cooking and baking together, and toward the end of the week, we made the girls jumpers and t-shirt tops. They each helped on theirs and we had a great time in the sewing room! They were justifiable proud of the finished project!

Another memorable thing we did on Sunday, July 5, was to ride bikes on Rails-to-Trails in Brockway. We went with Teresa and her girls and my brother Glenn. Some went two miles in and two miles back, including four-year old Shane on his little bike--wow, could that kid pedal! Heidi, Hannah, Leigh, Teresa, Lily, Glenn and I kept going to the swinging bridge. When we got back out, my bike speedometer was at over 12 miles! Fortunately it is pretty much flat--otherwise this ole granny would never be able to pedal that far!

Todd and I convinced Ken to get a bicycle. He was concerned about biking because on his old bike, his hands went to sleep. He got on comfort bike, a Giant Sedona, the same model as mine. Last weekend we took two rides together and it was great! Biking is such great exercise, and it makes me smile!

Life has proceeded through July. I have been focusing on trying to get some sewing done this week and it has been fun. My new sewing room works very well. With three windows in the room, the natural light is wonderful, and I can thread my sewing machines without my glasses most of the time! I have four new skirts and two new tops so far.

We are enjoying our new downstairs bedroom. For a while it felt like a motel room! It has so much space and is close to our two bathrooms--no more nocturnal trips down the steps for me in the middle of the night anymore! We are pleased with our furniture, and haven't really filled up all the drawers yet! We have a table, about 30 inches square which I have set in front of the windows and it makes a great place for the laptop. Last week we moved a wooden rocker from the living room back to a spot beside the table. It seems like we end up spending time in this bedroom. I used to say we didn't "live" in our bedrooms--they were upstairs and on the small side, so we never spent extra time there, but this one is different. We used to always close the door on this room on Sunday morning, but now I am pleased to keep the room tidy enough that I am not ashamed to keep the door open!

We are looking forward to our conventions next month. Three weeks from now we hope to be at Freedom and another two weeks after that will be Newry. Tomorrow we go to workday at Newry.