We hope this finds you well, enjoying the pre-Christmas fun and chaos. Elena has been very excited about the coming of Christmas this year…last week she was exclaiming how the decorations at the grocery store were “so beaUUUtiful!”

Some highlights for our family this summer included a week at a cabin with Nancy’s family in northern Minnesota fishing, playing, and relaxing, and also a trip to Chicago with Matt’s family. The kids loved Brookfield Zoo and the Field Museum and we also visited some of his family’s old stomping grounds from when they lived there years ago.

Matt took a new job managing the Web team for Desiring God, a Christian ministry based out of Minneapolis, though he still gets to work remotely from his home office here in Ames. He occasionally has an overnight trip to the Twin Cites for 2-day meetings with coworkers… and we get to tag along! Additionally, Matt manages Zeke’s, a non-profit music & arts venue in Ames, coordinates and leads music for our church, and occasionally teaches at the church’s college ministry.

Elena is almost 3-1/2 and likes to write her name, loves to be read to, and is always asking to do some sort of crafty project. She is definitely a “girly girl” who loves princesses, dancing and fancy dresses.

Kate is 14 months old now, still has a very sweet disposition, and has been walking like crazy for 2 months. She seems to be a little bit more accident-prone than Elena was; she has chipped both of her front teeth in the last two weeks! She greets Daddy with both arms extended and a giant grin when he comes upstairs at the end of the day.

(Matt is now stealing the keyboard to brag about his wife) Just prior to the arrival of Kate in 2008, Nancy pushed pause on her private music studio to concentrate her full attention and effort on caring for our home and family. I am constantly amazed at the skill and joy with which she performs this all-important task. She still finds time to mentor young women in our church, and helped to coordinate a playgroup for other young moms. Amidst all this she does a masterful job of keeping me sane, her most important and difficult task. I am so blessed and constantly thankful for this rare jewel that I have in her.

Wishing you true joy and peace this season through Jesus,

Matt, Nancy, Elena, and Kate

Apparently my 3 year old (nearly) daughter is a songwriter.

I was playing my guitar earlier today, and as usual Elena walked over and asked to start strumming the guitar. The difference is that this time, she started singing along. The tune was indiscernible, so I assume she was inventing it.

I think I captured the lyrics fairly accurately. Here they are.

Once upon a time
there was a happy little lady
and her name was mommy
and her name was mommy
and her name was mommy

And she was playing with her magic ball
and she was going to the potty
but she was not going in her pants
she was going all by herself
she was going
she was going
she was going
she was going
she was going
but not forever and ever.

So tonight I decided to make couscous (a first for me) as a side dish with our grilled Iowa chops for supper. (Mmmm-mmmmm!) (Matt did a splendiferous job of grilling, thank you my dear.) I’ve been on somewhat of a mission to have Elena try as many new foods as possible that are not choking hazards for her, so I gave her a bit of the couscous. (By the way, if anyone has any great ideas for healthy, baby-safe foods that one might not normally think of or a favorite snack your kids enjoy, I’d love to hear about it!) Boy, oh boy, did she love it! Matt and I took turns trying to spoon it directly into her mouth (no self-feeding for this food, folks!) and it just seemed like she was thoroughly enjoying the texture.

She must have still been on a quest for new taste sensations, because about 15 minutes later, I found her with her hands in the dirt of our ficus tree and a muddy tongue. :) At least she didn’t appear to enjoy the taste as much as the couscous, so hopefully there won’t be a take two of that scene!

I’m not extremely affectionate with Nancy in public, but I am more so around the house. One sure fire way to make Elena smile is to give Nancy a hug and a kiss. This always causes her to get a big grin, and giggle slightly, and sometimes even clap.

She’s only 11 months old, but somehow, I think she “gets it”. She knows that her daddy loves her mommy and that makes her smile. Good stuff.

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We posted 100 new photos of Elena on Flickr. We hadn’t added any in about a month and a half, so we know you’re all dying for a fix.

Set: December 2006

Set: January 2007

Today I caught myself singing the “eeny-meeny-miny-moe” rhyme to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in a baby voice while changing Elena’s diaper.

I am the mashup king!

By way of providing way too much information, here is the original poem from which twinkle twinkle, the nursery rhyme is taken from: The Star by Ann Taylor and Jane Taylor.

Elena’s First Laugh
Originally uploaded by mushin.

Elena has a new trick. Tonight we were taking some pictures of her and Nancy. I was trying to get her to smile, and so was making goofy faces and noises and heard the most amazing sound I’ve ever heard in my life. Elena laughed for the first time (that we’ve heard).

I’ve decided to quit doing everything else I do (including my job) and instead pursue trying to make her laugh again. ;-).

Seriously… a laughing baby… beautiful music.

I have figured out that The Joshua Tree is Elena’s favorite album. Two nights in a row, she has been fairly cranky, whiney, inconsolable, etc.

The first night I put on “Streets” and she was instantly quiet, and asleep by about the third chorus. The next night, I put on “Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”, again, instantly quiet, and she was asleep by the end of the song.

Nancy insists that it is far to early to detect ANY pattern in her behavior, and that her falling asleep at those exact moments has only to do with the fact that I put the music on after a good while of her crying and she is worn out by that time and would have fallen asleep anyway. I disagree wholeheartedly. Elena loves U2. Larry Mullen Jr. is her favorite.

Fyew! What a crazy and amazing 2.5 weeks it has been! Our lovely little lady is doing so well…I thought I would give you an update :) (For the readers who are guys out there, these are probably details that you’re not so interested in, but I have a feeling some of the gals will get a kick out of them ;))

This week, Elena:

• got a bellybutton! Yay! (the umbilical cord stump fell off)
• slept 4 consecutive hours during “the process known as night” (what Matt calls it since it’s not necessarily sleeping or going to bed)
• has been sporting a cute little curl on the top of her head (note that this is NOT a fauxhawk, it’s a CURL)
• made the heavyweight class! At her 2 week appointment she is up to 8lbs6oz from her birth weight which the doctor was really pleased with.
• has just been an amazing little girl that her parents adore!

One thing that I have been thinking about is what awesome friends and family we have around us…we have been so grateful for phone calls and visits, meals, gifts, and help around the house…we feel totally blessed by you guys! Thank you :)

I’m back at work today, attempting to see how a quasi-normal schedule will go. Nancy’s mom has come down to be with Nancy for the day to help with the transition a little more. I think I am still going to take a few days off, though, just to ease into things.

In other news, I think I went a whole day yesterday without taking any pictures! Silly me.

In case you were worried, Archie is starting to get used to the idea of having Elena around.

(This picture was a bit posed, but captures the essence of the situation.)

I uploaded some new photos to Flickr, get to them through my photos navigation link…

Rich Mullins is going to provide the soundtrack for Elena’s early childhood if I have anything to say about it.

I have selected a lullaby to use until I write a sufficient one for her (the only lyrics coming out of me right now are gushing sappy praise songs to God… but I’ve got a lullaby cooking…)

It’s an old hymn called “All The Way My Savior Leads Me”. The arrangement is by Rich Mullins and sounds more or less like this.

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate’er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All of the way my Savior leads me
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Though a spring joy I see

And all the way my Savior leads me
Oh, the fullness of His love
Perfect rest in me is promised
In my Father’s house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings it’s flight through the realms of the day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

Also, ever since my first full day with Elena, this Mullins song has been running through my head, only replace Aiden with Elena and man with woman (which doesn’t work in the meter of the song, but you get the idea.) Hear Let Mercy Lead here.

Aidan you’re young
But Aidan you’re growing fast
Me and your mom
And all the love we have
We can only take you so far
As far as we can
But you’ll need something more to guide your heart
As you grow into a man

Let mercy lead
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave
There’ll be a drop of grace
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
And I’ll meet you in that place
Where mercy leads

Aidan the day
Aidan the day will come
You’ll run the race
That takes us way beyond
All our trials and all our failures
And all the good we dream of
But you can’t see yet where it is you’re heading
But one day you’ll see the face of love

Let mercy lead
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave
There’ll be a drop of grace
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
Where mercy leads

Sleep
Eat
Sleep
Eat
Change Diapers
Sleep
Eat
Sleep
Change Diapers
Eat
Sleep
Visit with friends
Eat
Sleep
BATH TIME!
Eat
Go for a walk
Sleep
Eat

(More pictures uploaded to flickr if you’re interested…)

Nancy and my name choices for our baby were a closely guarded secret up until now (though the boy name will still be kept in a sealed file for potential use at a later date.) I know you were all on the edge of your seats to find out the name, and most o f you went “oh… that’s it??” when we finally let it be known… but I suppose you are still curious about the significance of the name.

To be honest, it was “randomly” chosen during a name brainstorming session. I threw the name out there and it was a “that is it!” moment. We loved the way it sounded. Once we had decided, we realized several significances to the name (I love working backwards like that. It’s how we did (r)evolve, which by the way, is coming no later than Aug 11.)

My grandmother’s name was Lena. She passed away a number of years ago and is sorely missed by our family (especially my grandfather, my only living grandparent.) I think this is a beautiful way of honoring her. We then had to pick a middle name that fit just as well. Rose. Rose was the name of Nancy’s great-grandmother, and just flows very nicely with the name Elena.

Once we had agreed and finalized the name we wondered what in the heck it meant! A quick search revealed that “Elena” is a Russian (or possibly Spanish) rendering of Helen, that’s right, as in Helen of Troy. Some further research revealed that the Greek (that is, the original) spelling of Helen of Troy’s name transliterates to “E-L-E-N-A” (roughly) in English. In Greek if a word starts with an “E” it (usually) is pronounced with an “H”. I have caught myself pronouncing the H from time to time (Helena). Funny stuff.

Helen of Troy, the face that launched 1000 ships…

Elena: (Greek) torch, corpusant, RADIANT LIGHT, SHINING LIGHT…

Yup, that will definitely do for a name. Our hope and prayer is that some day she becomes a shining light for God. Right now, she is definitely a shining point of creation :).

Also, Nancy loves the latino culture, and perhaps some day we will end up in some sort of mission to a Latino population. Elena is certainly a latin name. It fits well.

Finally, Nancy and I (but mostly me) got a kick out of the fact that Elena Heerema looks and sounds roughly like Sindarin Elvish… (Tolkien fans rejoice).

I love you, Elena.

Just put some photos up on our Flickr stream. Enjoy. I am :)

I would like to announce the birth of our daughter, Elena Rose Heerema, who entered this world at 8:03pm on Tuesday, January (thanks Ben) July 25, 2006.

7 lbs, 15 oz. 20 inches long 13.5 inch head.

Beautiful, perfect, fearfully and wonderfully made, masterfully knit together by our creator in her mother’s womb.

Nancy is doing wonderfully.

Labor started around 3am tuesday morning, things really got rolling at 1pm though, good strong, working contractions. We got to the hospital around 7, and the baby was out at 8:03. Very rapid! Nancy did this all without the use of medication of any sort (this was our preference though it is understandable that it is necessary in some circumstances.) She is such a trooper.

Thank you all for your prayers.

I would post pictures, but I forgot the cable that goes from my camera to the computer! It’ll have to wait until the morning. Massive apologies.

So for those of you hanging on the edge of their seats, dying of suspense for news of a new baby Heerema, no news yet :) Nancy is doing really well, the baby is doing really well, apparently, it’s just not time yet.

If you want the news as soon as anyone is going to get it (outside of immediate family of course…), you can sign up for our announcement E-mail list. I will E-mail vital stats and hopefully a picture as soon as we have one.

Until then, check out this enlightening article making a case against labor induction.

About “due dates”:

Actually, the percentage of babies born exactly on their predicted due date is so small it’s a wonder we bother with due dates at all. It’s perfectly normal for 80 percent of healthy babies to have anywhere from a 38- to 42-week gestation. Several generations ago, a physician might tell an expectant mother that she was due “sometime in late October or early November”; today, women are given a “precise” due date, often determined by ultrasound testing. Many instances of so-called postmaturity result from nothing more than an inaccurate due date.

How labor starts:

Up until recently very little was known about how natural labors actually begin. Scientists knew that the release of oxytocin resulted in both uterine contractions and milk production. Pioneering research by scientists at Cornell University, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand, suggests that it’s the baby’s brain that initiates birth.

These researchers discovered a pea-sized region of the fetal sheep brain called the paraventricular nucleus, which actually serves as a biosensor designed to trigger the events leading to a birth. Two hormones, corticol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), reach peak levels in the fetal bloodstream just before birth. Peter W. Nathaniels of Cornell University suggests that the “fetal brain may act as a tiny monitor, tracking its own development.” When the baby is ready for birth, the paraventricular nucleus signals the fetal pituitary gland to increase ACTH secretion. The pituitary, in turn, tells the fetal adrenal gland to secrete more cortisol. These hormonal increases cause changes in the mother’s hormones, including the release of oxytocin, which lead to uterine contractions.

Of course, this is just one set of research. I just found it interesting.