hee hee hoooo!

These last couple of months our lives have pretty much revolved around the upcoming blessed event...the arrival of little Jackson. The tricky part is that we don't really know when he'll arrive. Our due date is still technically May 25th but the doc has pretty much said that once May 4th rolls around, we could see him any day. With that in mind, we pretty much dedicated all of April to baby prep. First item on the baby agenda was the "nursery" which had up to this point been our office/guest room. As of April 1st, it looked like a disheveled baby warehouse with car seat and crib boxes stacked high to the ceiling. A total overhaul was required.

We set to work to transform Baby Office Depot into Jackson's Room.

The transformation included my inaugural visit to the infamous land maze of Swedish furniture plenty, also known as Ikea...and shortly thereafter a LOT of furniture assembly which, thankfully, was mostly completed by Dan. Although, I did end up with a battle scar from my own construction efforts. Needless to say, neither of us is a fan of furniture assembly manuals. Apparently, they stopped using words in them and you're supposed to create a beautiful piece of furniture by inserting A into slot D but you have to first make sure that panel F is facing panel E. Otherwise, you'll have to take the whole thing apart and start over....again! Yea. That happened quite a few times.

Other than furniture assembly, we've tackled things like washing all clothing, bedding, and towels we'll need for Jackson's first three months of life outside the womb. Who knew babies required special laundry detergent?

We signed up for childbirth & labor class as they say all first time parents should. Instead of the 6-week-long course that seemed like it would be WAY too long to spend with a bunch of pregnant strangers, we opted for the 2 week crash course offered by the hospital where Jackson will be born. I was pleasantly surprised with the class and was glad that the material seemed more geared toward a natural childbirth experience. We spent 2 Saturday mornings watching videos of live births and practicing breathing in funny ways. Dan is especially excited about coaching me in the "hee hee hee Hooo!" breathing pattern when the time comes. He's been trying to get me to practice ever since we finished the class.

The highlights of the class for me included rolling around on the big, blue, birth ball and laying on the floor while Dan massaged my back or rubbed my hands with massage oil. Umm...what's not to love about that? Sign me up for another class if that's what it entails!

We also made an appointment with the local police department where a very nice police woman showed us how to properly install Jackson's car seat. It's a good thing we did because after watching her work her car seat installation magic, we realized that we never would've installed the thing correctly in a million years. Many thanks to our friends Stephanie and Kaleb for recommending the appointment.

The closer to my due date, the less brain power I seem to have working in my favor so I've spent each weekend driving up to Target to get the items I forgot to get the weekend before as I check off all my check-lists and make sure I have everything on hand for our trip to the hospital, for the diaper bag, and for postpartum care as well as for the last minute touches in Jackson's nursery.

Check. Check. Check. The baby checklist is slowly but surely coming to completion and we couldn't be more excited about finally meeting our little guy!

baby shower palooza

This past weekend Dan and I cashed in our our free flight vouchers (thanks to being bumped on our way home from Christmas vacation in North Carolina) and flew to Orlando for my first baby shower and six days of some much needed sunshine and time spent with our incredible East coast family and friends.

Mom, Dan and I spent a brisk, windy day at New Smyrna Beach. I spent the majority of the time sitting there in my beach chair wondering how I might possibly be able to tan the back of me since laying on my belly has been out of the question for quite some time now. If only our friend Becky Brown had been there with us to suggest the whole digging a hole in the sand thing then! I totally would've cashed in on that thought! Anyhow, we soaked in as much sun as we could in between chilly gusts of wind blowing in from the water and sips of hot coffee in effort to keep our teeth from chattering. A few hours later we left with smiling faces and sunburned skin (of course, my sunburn was only on the front half of my body).

On Friday, Mom and I enjoyed a day of pampering and girl talk in early celebration of her Easter birthday. We went for pedicures and a delicious lunch at Cheesecake Factory on a beautifully sunny and breezy day in Winter Park. Meanwhile, Dan hit up a local golf course and further deepened his golden tan (hmm...it must be nice to be able to flip over and brown both sides of your body!).

Saturday was the big event! Dan went out golfing with friends Casey, Ked, and Paul while us girls geared up for baby shower mode.

Mom and my sister Julie threw an incredible baby shower hosted at the home of Reidi Lott and we celebrated our much-anticipated little Jackson in style along with 40 lovely ladies who showered him with gifts and spoiled him rotten! There were enough dainty finger sandwiches and lady-like salads to feed an army and Julie stayed up all night the evening before creating the most amazing "boyish" cupcakes in the forms of puppies, lions, monkeys, one-eyed monsters, frogs, and tigers.


There were even a few special cupcakes in honor of daddy Dan that were golf tees and sand traps. Each cupcake and every bit of icing was made completely from scratch and they were seriously the most delicious and cutest cupcakes I'd ever seen! They were a big hit!

We even got to enjoy an impromptu maternity photo shoot courtesy of our sweet friend, Tiffany, who put our fancy, new camera to good use and expertly photographed us in rare form. It was a really fun photo shoot and we love how the pictures turned out!

We spent the rest of the weekend catching up with old friends, worshiping at my old home churches, and enjoying time with my family.

It was a busy but wonderful weekend that culminated with 3 suitcases and a carry-on full of the cutest baby clothes, toys, and accessories under the sun. (Thankfully, Mom and Dad will be bringing some of the loot when they come to Washington to see Jackson.) It's crazy to think that the next time we travel to Florida, we'll have a baby with us!

Football in February

My baby books and favorite pregnancy websites inform me that at 25 weeks our baby is roughly the size of a rutabaga and that my uterus is currently the size of a football. I have a hard time believing it can be so large when I look at my barely there baby bump, but I guess the docs know what they're talking about. Besides, I guess it's pretty appropriate considering that it's Super Bowl Sunday this weekend and the little guy can kick and cheer on his favorite team from the comfort of his football-sized home.


This weekend we indulged in our second annual trip to the quaint, Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA in celebration of an early Valentine's Day as well as in honor of the day that we met just 2 years ago in Steamboat Springs, CO. We booked 2 nights at our favorite Washington bed & breakfast, the Abendblume, and were again impressed with the grand luxury of our accommodations and the kind care of our hosts, Randy and Rene.

Another purpose for this weekend getaway is to celebrate one of our last weekends alone as a couple before our baby boy makes his debut this Spring. My belly is finally starting to protrude, only I didn't realize just how much of a baby bump I had acquired until I tried to paint my toenails while sitting on the floor of our cozy room at the Abendblume and discovered how challenging it has now become to comfortably reach the toes that have always been so easily accessible these 28 years.

The winter has been extremely mild in our corner of Washington so we enjoyed a weekend away at a destination where there was actually a covering of snow on the ground. We brought our new his & hers snowshoes (a Christmas gift from Mom & Dad Blankenship) and christened them with a hike in the nearby state park. There we finally took advantage of the opportunity to build our first snowman of the winter and what an incredible snowman he was! He towered over my head and looked especially dapper with his top hat, carefully and artfully crafted out of snow by none other than my creative husband.


Besides our snow hike, we hunted for an abandoned mine that we never did find and spent the rest of our time either relaxing around the bed & breakfast or eating ridiculously good food (most of which was German). I was a little jealous that Dan got to go in the hot tub while I had to sit out this time around but I guess it's worth it to not risk going into early labor, huh? It was an incredible romantic and refreshing mountain get-away and we won't soon forget it!

two years time

Two years. 24 months. 730 days. It sounds like a long time if you're waiting for something like a paycheck to arrive in the mail or standing on a corner waiting for a bus to catch, but in the grand scheme of things it's a period of time that passes by so quickly that it can feel like just the blink of an eye. I imagine that when our son is born we'll feel the gravity of this truth even more. One day he'll be nestled helplessly in our arms and in what will seem like the next moment he'll be running around on his own in search of furniture to climb over and toys to hide in strange places.

Today I'm struck with the stark contrast of the life I was living two years ago in comparison to my life today.

On this very date two years ago, I wrote a blog and my life looked quite different than it does today. Click here to read my thoughts from 2008: http://crosseyedcontemplations.blogspot.com/2008/02/leavin-on-jet-plane.html

Within just a few short months of writing that blog, I would write another much different from the first: http://danandjillblankenship.blogspot.com/2008/07/once-upon-time.html

Now in 2010, here I am two years older, hopefully wiser, and definitely more blessed. I am in awe of the beautiful chapter that God wrote into my story, a chapter whose opening lines began with that very plane ride to Colorado. I'm so grateful that it is God writing my story because He is an infinitely better Author than I could ever hope to be.

My hope is that I am today just as eager for God to unveil this next chapter in my life. As Dan and I await the birth of our son and continue to pray for a new job for Dan, I want to anticipate the next sentence that God is writing into my story as much as I, as a single woman, anticipated meeting my future husband.

Two years from now, what will my story look like? I'm sure I don't have a clue. What I do know, however, is that the Author who pens this story is constant and loving and knows how to expertly redeem a horrific tragedy into a beautiful love story. I know that I will one day have that happily ever after that I have always dreamed of - a happily ever after that lasts throughout all of eternity...in heaven with Jesus.

I praise God for this story that He writes. It's not really mine after all; rather it is fully His.

mini golfer

I've spent the last few months anticipating the sensation of feeling our baby boy move inside my belly. Week after week has gone by and in just these past few weeks I've started to feel the slightest little sensations - kind of like popcorn popping inside of me. They're so faint and so few and far between that I've often wondered if they were simply figments of my imagination rather than evidence of the life growing inside of me. Then on this past Tuesday night...the popcorn sensation graduated to 2010 Olympic games!

We'd just come home from Bible study and were sitting on the couch to catch the highlights of the day's football events and unwind before bed (ok so it was Dan watching the football and I was doing the unwinding). I was parched and poured myself a tall glass of ice water. Being part camel, I downed a second glass of ice water before I hopped into bed and began to wonder how many times my ever-shrinking bladder would wake me on this particular night.

It was at that moment as I lay in bed and Dan was still in the bathroom brushing his teeth and readying himself for bed that I started to feel a rumble in my belly that was unlike any hunger-induced growl I'd ever experienced. I felt the unmistakable, repeated punches and kicks of a 20-week-old little boy and it was incredible! Afraid to move and potentially disturb our little boy's dance moves, I hollered to Dan that he needed to come feel his son...NOW! He came as quickly as he could, but the little guy seemed to have either settled down or suddenly become shy at the prospect of an audience.

Both of us had our hands stretched across my belly and we waited for the next punch or kick. We waited. And waited. And waited. No movement. I remembered what friends have said in the past about drinking cold water and feeling their babies move in response so I decided to give it a whirl and squeeze another half glass of icy water into my bladder. I came back to bed and we eagerly awaited the result.

And it worked! Baby Boy Blankenship gave his daddy a solid high five right through my belly and it was nothing short of amazing! He punched and kicked repeatedly for several minutes before settling down again and Dan was so excited to be able to feel his tiny movements through my skin. What an incredible gift God had given us in that we could each feel the baby moving for the first time on the same day!

Since then the Olympic games have continued throughout each day and especially as I lay down each night to go to sleep. It seems that night time is his favorite time to practice his golf swing. Daddy Dan is aching to buy the little guy his first set of golf clubs and it seems pretty obvious that Baby is equally as eager to begin lessons. Even now as I sit here at the computer typing, our little boy is busy working towards a birdie.

I'm loving every tiny (and sometimes not so tiny) movement and reminder of the life that God is growing inside of me. I especially love feeling him kick Dan's hand as he places his hand over my belly to pray for our baby each night before we sleep. We might have an attention-hog on our hands though. Baby squirms and punches each time his Daddy kisses me. It's absolutely adorable.

I'm in love...with my baby and especially my baby's daddy.

it's a boy!

We've been looking forward to our 19 1/2 week sonogram for a long time now. Finally, we would find out (as long as the baby cooperated) whether we're expecting a little boy or a little girl.

When Dan and I first talked about having a family, we both expressed a desire to have a son first. We both love the idea of a big brother to look out for future little sisters in the family. But with me coming from a family of two girls and Dan from a family of five boys, we had no idea what God would provide. Either way, we knew we were going to love the stuffing out of this kid!

Now, Dan has insisted from the very beginning that our baby is indeed a boy. I hoped, but had no hint of certainty or gut feeling one way or another. Finally I was up on the table with jelly on my belly and we were seeing OUR BABY for the first time in over 13 weeks! Baby had gone from tiny blob that was indistinguishable on the screen to fully formed child! The technician skillfully worked to measure each bone and body part of our child and it was the most incredible thing in the world to see our baby's moving jaw and each perfectly spaced vertebrae as the tech worked his way down from head to toe. We watched up on the screen as the tech measured the tiny heart beating and each arm and leg. It was during the leg measuring part that Dan excitedly exclaimed, "So I guess it's a boy, huh?" and the tech quickly affirmed what was blatantly obvious on the screen.

It was about then that the tears started flowing down my cheeks. I was completely overwhelmed seeing our baby's beautiful form and watching him move his hands to his face and open and close his mouth. His perfect little nose was so clearly visible and I instantly fell in love with his tiny face. I looked at Dan and saw the pride that was oozing from his very being as he looked up at his son and I was completely moved by God's great blessing in granting us the desires of our heart by giving us a son.

Our son. It feels so good to say he and him now instead of "its" or "the baby." I can't stop thanking God for this little boy that is growing inside of me and for the daddy that I see that Dan is going to be to him.

2010 is going to be an incredible year for The Blankenships.

Judging by this photo, it looks like he's a thumb sucker. Better start saving for braces now!
His profile is definitely the cutest baby profile ever. Just look at that nose!
No question about him being a boy, that's for sure.

Christmas Letter 2009

Well, the wedded bliss that began last November has continued on in true fairy tale fashion throughout all of 2009. We’ve had quite an eventful year here in the Blankenship family household. God has been so good and so very faithful throughout the year and we wanted to share some of the highlights of the year with you.

We rang in the New Year with friends from Mars Hill Church, a church which blesses us continually with the Truth of God’s Word preached faithfully each Sunday by our Pastor Mark Driscoll. Our home group from church meets each Monday and they are an incredible blessing through their friendship, support, and unconditional love as we study the Bible together and do life together. January brought the answer to much prayer with the end of a five-month-long job search for Jill. After sending out hundreds of fruitless resumes, a friend recommended Jill to The Sports Medicine Clinic where she now works as a receptionist. Her office is in Ballard (north Seattle area) so her commute is less than thirty minutes and she loves her co-workers which is another blessing!

In February, we celebrated Valentine’s Day early with a weekend getaway to the charming, Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA. Nestled amid snow-capped mountains, the tiny alpine town has all the charm of Germany complete with giant pretzels, polka music, and lederhosen-clad men blowing the shofar at the start of the day. We enjoyed sweet treats from the appropriately named Gingerbread Factory and frosty brews from the local pub, but our favorite find in Leavenworth was the Abendblume bed & breakfast. The beautiful, snow-covered lodge with its driveway lined by birch trees lit with Italian lights, plush king-sized bed, roaring fireplace, gourmet meals, genuine hospitality, and steaming hot tub seated under a blanket of stars created an experience that we hope will be an annual tradition for us.

On March 3rd we celebrated Jill’s 28th birthday and a few days later Dan took her to Forks, WA for her inaugural fly fishing expedition. With friends Dustin & Lisa, we waded waist-deep in the frigid waters of the Queets River in search of steelhead as rain, snow, and hail fell on our heads. We emerged from the river ten hours later half-frozen and without a single fish but it was an adventure to remember! Later that month, after several rounds of lay-offs at PSI, Dan was also laid off. God has been faithful to provide for us through unemployment and a few paint jobs and mortgages that Dan has done on the side. We are so grateful for God's provision!

In April as the flowers began to bloom, our string of visitors began. Our friend Charity came from FL and we gave her the grand tour of the Pacific Northwest complete with a day trip to Canada for some sushi in Vancouver, a day spent skiing on the slopes of Crystal Mountain, and an overnight adventure with local friends Ben & Becky to the Pacific Coast for razor clam digging and an ensuing clam bake!

May brought Dad & Mom Tyckoson out for their first visit to the Northwest. We loved introducing them to our hometown and, naturally, they fell in love with WA. The long weekend included the traditional visit to Pike Place Market to watch the fish being tossed through the air, a trip to the Skagit Valley to see the vibrant colors of the tulips in bloom, and a tour of the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park to meet the native moose, elk, eagles & the like.

June was bright with sunny days spent making homemade frozen custard and hiking to Tunnel Falls in Oregon or eating elk burgers in Portland with friends Victor & Evonne. Weekends were perfect for perusing the farmer’s market in downtown Edmonds and strawberry picking in the country. Our friends Ashley and Michael came to visit and together we took a ferry boat ride to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Their visit wouldn’t have been complete without a drive up to Paradise on Mt. Rainier in search of cascading waterfalls and summer snow.

Our first adventure of July was a hike up to the snow-capped summit of Mt. Pilchuk on the 4th of July for an incredible 360-degree view. Next stop was a trip to FL for the wedding of our friends, Ked & Christie Pomeroy. With Jill as a bridesmaid, we were busy with wedding festivities but still found time to spend a couple of days at Siesta Key Beach with Jill’s parents and sister Julie. Warm gulf water, fresh seafood, and white sand were on the agenda and we came home with golden tans that made all of WA envious. A highlight of the month was our strenuous climb to Camp Muir, the base camp for Mt. Rainier summit expeditions. The hike was barely over 9 miles roundtrip but with a 4,800 elevation gain it was as arduous as it was beautiful. Wild flowers, waterfalls cascading from the glacier, and gorgeous views of Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams were just a few of the perks on our way up. The descent had its own perk which we discovered sliding speedily down the snow-covered, slippery slope…on our rears!

In August, we took a drive out to the desert for a weekend at Sun Lakes Resort in eastern WA. There we spent the weekend with Dan’s childhood friends swimming, boating, cliff jumping, and biking through the desert canyon. The sunny weather continued throughout the month and made way for an overnight sailing expedition, a hike up steep Mt. Si, a day at Seattle’s annual SeaFair to watch the Blue Angels soar overhead, and a visit to the beautiful vineyards of eastern WA.

September began with a weekend trip to Pullman, WA where we visited our friend Megan and made new friends with fellow Huskies fans there in Cougar country. On our way back home, we stopped at The Gorge, WA’s own breathtaking outdoor amphitheater, to see one of Dan’s favorites, the Dave Matthews Band. A friend had blessed us with backstage VIP tickets and we got to meet Dave before the show. It was definitely a performance to remember! In September we also welcomed the newest member of the family. Our adorable great-nephew Ryan Shane Ziemer was born on the 6th. The baby news didn’t end there though. It took 5 positive pregnancy tests for Jill to be convinced that celebration was in order but the doctor soon confirmed that Baby Blankenship is due to arrive on May 25, 2010. We were thrilled to announce our news in person not only to the Blankenships but also to Mom Tyckoson when she came for her second visit to WA. A scavenger hunt throughout our apartment led her to our oven where she found a baby bib boasting “Grandma Makes Me Smile” in bold, bright letters. Her reaction was priceless!

Fall came in all of its glory in October and Jill’s morning sickness did too. The twenty-four-hour-a-day nausea didn’t stop us from enjoying the beauty of the season with Sunday afternoon drives in search of vibrant, Fall foliage and other Harvest activities like winding through a corn maze and carving pumpkins with friends. Jill also made a trip to Florida for her ten-year high school reunion and to see her family and friends.

November was a month of celebration! On the 8th, we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary with a romantic, weekend getaway to Victoria, BC where we stayed 2 nights in a beautifully charming bed & breakfast. We enjoyed a walking tour of the historic city, high tea at a British tea room, a tour of a local castle, and a walk through the beautifully manicured Butchart Gardens. A few days later we began celebration of Dan’s 34th birthday on the 12th which sparked a week’s worth of parties and events. Next was a beautiful Thanksgiving day. The morning was spent with friends from church delivering meals to families in need and the rest of the day was spent with the Blankenship family eating enough turkey and fixings for an army! We took advantage of the long weekend and went along with Dan’s brothers, Joel and Rob, and sister-in-law Beth for an overnight trip to the mountains. By day we hiked in 3-4 foot deep snow and by night we kept close to the fire for warmth. The next day friends met up with us and we began our hunt for the perfect Christmas tree. With help from our friend Glory, we did indeed find the perfect Christmas tree whose trunk quickly met with the blades of the chainsaw and was accordingly tied to the roof of our SUV and taken home to be mounted and adorned with all of the classic Christmas accoutrements. (Our tree this year is much improved over last year’s Charlie Brown Christmas tree.)

December has already been a bustle of Christmas activity. Our home group bundled up to brave the below freezing temperatures and meet on the pier at the Edmonds waterfront to watch the Christmas ships sail by and hear the Christmas choir’s carols being piped from aboard ship. Christmas cookie exchanges, ugly Christmas sweater parties, and a trip to the local nursing home to sing Christmas carols with our home group are all upcoming events on our calendar. We plan to spend Christmas Eve here in WA with Dan’s family and then take the red eye to North Carolina to spend Christmas Day with Jill’s family.

In this very busy time of year we are constantly reminded of the true reason for this wonderful season. We are so grateful that God sent His Son Jesus Christ to come to earth as a baby, grow up enduring the trials of humanity, and die a brutal death on the cross so that we might be redeemed and live a life of eternity with Him in heaven! Our prayer for you this Christmas is that you find time to be still and remember the true reason for celebration and that your eyes would be wide open to see the many blessings that God has poured out on you and your family in 2009. We are praising God for your presence in our lives and will be praying for you in 2010. Please keep us in your prayers as Dan continues to search for a job and as God prepares us to be parents.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year with love and prayers from Dan, Jill, & Baby.